faithmaps blog

An Around-the-Room on Coverage of Harold Camping's Incorrect Rapture Prediction

2011-07-07T23:24:00.001-04:00

Background, reflection, and fall out from Harold Camping's prediction that Saturday 21 May 2011 would bring massive earthquakes, the rapture, and the beginning of Earth's end:

New

Background

Responses

Hour of the Apocalypse passes quietly, believers confused and philosophical
"Believers reactions mixed to unfulfilled doomsday"
Tom Evans, Family Radio board member and spokesman, indicates that the board of Family Radio will need to have a "serious meeting" with Camping.
Harold Camping's daughter reports her dad's self-confessed "bewilderment." In this same article, Evans also advises that he's moving his family back to California next week.
Ed Stetzer, a contributing editor for Christianity Today, provides reflection on the proper attitude of Christians as they wait for Christ's return.
Followers of Camping deal with the disappointment.
Christian Leader calls on Camping to Repent
CNN interviews Family Radio Spokesperson

Camping Announces Rapture will be in October 2011

ESV Study Bible Notes Plus the NIV (2011)!

2011-06-12T18:02:00.002-04:00

I'll be the enjoying the best of both worlds when on the road. The ESV Study Bible is too large to carry along while traveling. So I'll be carrying along my new Thinline NIV and accessing the ESV Study Bible Online!

A New Bible Reading Project: The OT Prophets in Historic and Christocentric Perspective

2011-06-11T15:25:00.005-04:00

So I've decided to embark on a new Bible Reading Project and plan to do most of my reading in the new NIV that's just been published. I don't think I've ever read all of the OT Prophets in one fell swoop, so I'm planning to read them in chronological order (I haven't decided whose chronological scheme I'm going to use yet). But to provide background, I'm going to read all the relevant OT history first. I began reading a few days ago with 1 Kings 12, just after Solomon dies and the when the Kingdom is divided into Israel and Judah. I'll either begin reading the first Prophets as I get to the first one chronlogically, or I might read all the history first and then begin with the Prophets - haven't decided yet. To help with background, I'm going to simultaneously work through FF Bruce's Israel & the Nations, which was revised by the London School of Theology's David F Payne in 1997. Bruce's work won't reflect more recent scholarship, but he's articulate, succinct, reliable, and will provide a very solid overview of the other nations with which Israel interacted through her pre-Messianic history.

I think it would be balanced and would also provide interesting perspective on the Prophets to at the same time read through the Gospels. For background on this, I plan to use Robert H Stein's relatively brief survey Jesus the Messiah. Since that won't likely take very long, I'll probably just continue through the whole New Testament chronologically as well.

On Bible Translations: "Befriend Faithfulness?"

2011-06-08T18:59:00.022-04:00

This afternoon I was flying from Boston to Baltimore after a couple of days with one of my clients and I was reading Psalm 37 in my little English Standard Version (ESV) NT with Psalms and Proverbs. While reading I came across

"Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness."

37:3

Befriend faithfulness?

No clue what that means.

The margin note reads "feed on faithfulness" or "find safe pasture."
I also thought, "Who says 'befriend' anymore, anyway?"

It made me want to buy the most recent revision of the NIV. There's a history behind that statement.

On my flight I was reading the ESV because I really like the translation and have read it for a long time. I'm old enough that I grew up on the King James Version (KJV) and the ESV stands in that translation tradition, being based on the Revised Standard Version which, itself, was based on the KJV. So when I read the ESV, it feels, well, KJVesque. Plus, my favorite study bible, hands down, is the ESV Study Bible (see my thoughts on that Bible here in a piece I did a few years ago for Leadership Network).

But stumbling across that seemingly archaic phrase today on the plane brought up for a me an internal debate I've been having for years: NIV or ESV?

NIV, which is the abbreviation for the New International Version, is the best-selling English translation according to the Christian Booksellers Association. Before the ESV was published in 2001, I read both the NIV and the New American Standard Bible (NASB), a translation's that's historically been accused of being so literal as to be "wooden." Part of my early enthusiastic reception of the ESV was probably because, being in the KJV translation tradition, it's phrasing is more elegant than the NASB (and, I would say, a bit more paraphrastic - and I don't mean that pejoratively).

My undergrad degree is in Classical and Koine Greek and I also have a Master of Divinity degree (though my Greek is quite rusty), but historically I've preferred the NASB or the ESV in the New Testament (which is written mostly in Koine Greek) because I could discern the Greek written beneath it and in the Old Testament I've preferred the NIV. I paint with broad brush here, but the New Testament is more analytically written with its predominant pedagogical agenda so it's suited perfectly to the more literal translations. The Old Testament, on the other hand, is primarily story and so the more paraphrastic translations (such as the NIV), in my opinion, fit it perfectly.

But I'd really prefer to read just one Bible.

I remember years ago when some guy in my church when I was going to seminary bound together a Hebrew Old Testament and a Greek New Testament, so I suppose I could bound a NIV OT and a ESV NT, if I could find two volumes of the same size.

But, short of that, reading "befriend faithfulness" on the plane nudged me back toward the NIV camp and so I determined that after I landed I would drive to my local Christian Bookstore and price one of the many Bibles with the newest revision of the NIV that was just published this year (unofficially being called the NIV 2011). (The NIV 2011, by the way, replaces Biblica's controversial Today's New International Version, which was never embraced by the evangelical community due to the controversy around gender-neutral language. Some of that controversy continues to dog the NIV 2011). I was looking for an full NIV Bible with which I can easily travel but which also doesn't have tiny print. It also needed to come with a good box that would protect it in my luggage or backpack. This NIV Thinline Bible seemed to meet the bill and I purchased one. So I'll read this NIV until a desire for more analytic expression puts me back in the ESV camp!

The truth is that the NASB, the NIV, and the ESV are all fine translations. I exclude the KJV not out of disrespect - its language is majestic and classic - but only because its language is 400 years old and many adults who didn't grow up with it simply will not understand all of its phrasing.

What's most critical is that we allow the Scriptures to serve their original purpose: as a conduit for the relationship between God and us.

Oh, and here's the NIV 2011's version of Psalms 37:3:

"Trust in the LORD and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture."

This is a test to see...

2011-02-27T11:50:00.001-05:00

....what happens when I post to the faithmaps blog and cross-post to Facebook with a graphic.

Malcolm Muggeridge

2010-04-30T14:54:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned this passage to two people in a week:

Malcolm Muggeridge led an interesting life. He was the British journalist who popularized Mother Teresa in his Something Beautiful for God. He was a journalist in England for the Manchester Guardian. He was with the British intelligence unit serving as an operative during WWII with MI5. He went on to become an editor of the famous British satirical journal Punch. I believe he became a Catholic while in his 70’s.

In this passage, Muggeridge notes how, counterintuitively, an appreciation and perspective on our eternal destiny increases the value we place on our temporal surroundings.

How can I ever explain to those who insist that we must believe in the world to love it that it is because I disbelieve in the world that I love every breath I take, look forward with ever-greater delight to the coming of each spring, rejoice ever more in the companionship of my fellow-humans, to no single one of whom – searching my heart – do I wish ill, and from no single one of whom do I wish to separate myself, in word or thought or deed, or in the prospect of some other existence beyond the ticking of the clocks, the vista of the hills, the bounds and dimensions of our earthly hopes and desires? To accept this world as a destination rather than a staging-post, and the experience of living in it as expressing life’s full significance, would seem to me to reduce life to something too banal and trivial to be taken seriously or held in esteem.

…

In other words, the Christian proposition that he that loves his life in this world shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall see it projected and glorified into eternity, is for living, not for dying. After all, it was a St Francis who truly loved the world he so gaily abjured, as his enchanting prayers and canticles convey; not a Pere Goriot who so cherished its commodities. It is misers and Don Juans who moan; spendthrifts and saints are always laughing.

….

All I can claim to have learnt from the years I have spent in this world is that the only happiness is love, which is attained by giving, not receiving; and that the world itself only becomes the dear and habitable dwelling place it is when we who inhabit it know we are migrants, due when the time comes to fly away to other more commodious skies. "

from Chronicles of Wasted Time

no longer emerging

2010-04-13T23:00:00.003-04:00

This is a post I've considered posting many times.

Today Shane Claiborne wrote on Sojourners' website:

"So all that to say, I find the “emerging church” language, at least the Emergent™ brand, utterly unhelpful. So I will not spend much energy, beyond this note, to try and defend, or for that matter destroy, what seems to me little more than a brand name for a product no one can identify. There are many great things that have come out of the “emerging church” discussions and communities. "

I found a lot of resonances with Shane's post and I like the positive tone with which he ended that comment. It's not my purpose here to depreciate the entire emerging church conversation past and/or present.

For myself, I used to be excited by the emerging church. I was in one for 12 years; I pastored in one with one of the founders of the emerging church and had a wonderful experience while employed there. I've written a lot of articles and posted a lot of posts on the emerging church.

I'm just not sure what the term means anymore, having spilled a good bit of ink myself over its exact definition.

A number of months ago, I quietly took "emerging church" off of my blog's subtitle. I'm pretty sure no one noticed.

Everything I've written I still believe. I still love Jesus; I still try to follow Him. I still love Christ's church. I still intend to labor in Kingdom. My life, in fact, only has significance to the degree it's Christocentric.

It just seems that the term "emerging church" doesn't mean what it used to mean. Or maybe it would be more honest for me to say that the term doesn't mean what I used to hope that it could mean.

When Next Wave turned 10 in January of 2009, the publisher asked me to pen a cover story for that issue. I wrote something of a retrospective on the emerging church. I'll finish this post with the same conclusion I wrote then:

"And so the tenth anniversary of Next-Wave arrives at a critical moment for the emerging church conversation. Theological differences indeed threaten the short-term cohesion and long-term viability of the emerging church and yet in the midst of those differences, many claim some genuine ecclesiological and theological advances that may yet prove to have long term significance.

Fortunately, followers of Jesus Christ are not ultimately reliant on their own brilliance, devices, and stratagems to co-labor with God in His Kingdom. Submitted hearts can call on God for His wisdom and guidance and trust that the Spirit will lead. Human institutions, movements, and conversations come and go. But surely sometimes God chooses the canvas of human efforts to paint beautiful portraits.

Ultimately, of course, the criterion by which the long-term success of the emerging church conversation will be judged will be the degree to which it has precipitated a greater love of God and others."

And with that, I wave goodbye to the emerging church. I have enjoyed the ride. I have been blessed by the ride. I have sometimes been frustrated on the ride. I have many friends still on the ride and I'll celebrate their kingdom victories and continue to call them friends.

But for me the ride's over. Now, I'm just a Jesus-follower.

McKnight on McLaren's A New Kind of Christianity

2010-03-01T02:30:00.001-05:00

"Alas, A New Kind of Christianity shows us that Brian, though he is now thinking more systemically, has fallen for an old school of thought. I read this book carefully, and I found nothing new. It may be new for Brian, but it's a rehash of ideas that grew into fruition with Adolf von Harnack and now find iterations in folks like Harvey Cox and Marcus Borg. For me, Brian's new kind of Christianity is quite old. And the problem is that it's not old enough."

Dr. Scot McKnight's review of Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christianity in the March 2010 issue of Christianity Today.

Wow. I haven't read Brian's latest yet and let me say I consider both Brian and Scot to be friends. The interested charitable response would be to read Brian's book and decide for ourselves, which I'm sure Scot would also recommend.

Our Troubles and Our Responsibilities

2010-02-28T12:43:00.001-05:00

I had a sobering conversation this AM with one of the members of the work team I led to Louisiana after Katrina. He's just back from serving in Haiti. His team delivered 18 babies though only 14 survived. He said the poorest person in the US is rich even beyond the dreams of the folks with whom his team worked. I was struck by how insignificant many of the concerns we have actually are. We're all fabulously wealthy and we don't even know it. And yet with that wealth, we are responsible. I am responsible. What will I do?

Andrew Jones Says Goodbye to Emergent Village

2010-01-09T12:31:00.001-05:00

"Also over is any official relationship I have left with one of those emerging church groups called Emergent Village."

link

Andrew Jones on the Emerging Church

2009-12-29T11:24:00.002-05:00

"In my opinion, 2009 marks the year when the emerging church suddenly and decisively ceased to be a radical and controversial movement in global Christianity."

Andrew Jones

Andrew posts some reflections on the international history of the emerging church conversation.

from blogs to facebook

2009-12-28T19:48:00.003-05:00

"Why keep up a blog for friends and family? FaceBook is much simpler. Twitter is even faster. Blogs are content-heavy. The other social media sites keep it simple and light. With the turn to other social media, the number of active blogs is on the decline."

Trevin Wax offers some great thoughts on the current state of the blogosphere.

I have noticed this myself.

From 2001 until 2008 I blogged very frequently, often daily. But I've noticed that since I've started using Facebook, my blog posting has declined significantly.

This shifting in the social networking universe makes some sense. While blogging is very easy, starting and maintaining a Facebook presence is even easier. This means that over 350 million people are today on Facebook (more people than reside in the United States and every other country except for India and China) and, as a result, many bloggers are spending more time on Facebook where there are more people who read their comments.

A downside of this, however, is that it's tending toward more superficiality of expression. The driving force of this is the 420 character limit of Facebook status updates (despite the fact that Facebook does offer the Notes option which has no such limit).

The relative potential superficiality of online expression - on blogs or Facebook - is also a function of the declining cost of information. When publishing is expensive, published expression is more carefully considered, created, reviewed, and edited. When publishing is very inexpensive, patient creation and approval is no longer necessary and quality can decline. The brevity of expression can exacerbate this feature of online expression.

Thankfully, online expression is only potentially relative and not necessarily so. Facebook is very popular now. Over time, I believe different social networking venues will feature different levels of considered expression and the desired qualitative level of expression will be more easily found.

the writings of dr jon gold and the faithmaps discussion group

2009-11-29T09:41:00.006-05:00

After being unavailable for the past three years, I'm very pleased today to be able to announce that the posts of the late Dr. Jon Gold - fully indexed - are again available to the public on the faithmaps discussion group.

In addition, all faithmaps discussion group posts are now available and searchable here.

On 1 September 2006, I posted my last moderator's message to the faithmaps discussion group on yahoogroups. I had decided to shut down the group and had announced that decision on 22 Aug. It was a controversial decision. The group was launched on 16 may 2001 (see the first post here) as an adjunct to the faithmaps.org site. It grew to have over 325 registered members. There were several months where we ran over 1000 emails. It became an online community. It was not a church but church happened on faithmaps. Friendships started on that group. There was, yes, a lot of controversy but that was sort of built into the group's design as there were only two criteria of participation:

1 - an interest in "tools for navigating theology, leadership, discipleship and church
life in postmodernity," and

2 - mutual respect. On the latter, once a month we posted this message which detailed the group's expectations and consequences for disrespect.

But after five years I finally came to the point of realizing that I no longer had time to moderate the group properly and so shut down the group.

But when I did so something happened that I did not plan. Shutting down the group caused the archives to no longer be public. This was not my intention at all. I had wanted our public conversations to remain public for those who were interested in them.

One of our participants was a professional philosopher - Dr. Jon Gold - and I especially wanted his contributions to the group to remain public. He wrote with a vast knowledge and understanding of philosophy and theology combined with deep Christian conviction and so his posts were of particular significance. Making his writings again available to the public has been very important to me as Jon passed away on Friday 23 July 2003. In fact, I viewed Jon's contributions to our online community as so critical that even before he passed I had indexed his posts by subject. That index is available here. I had also gathered in a separate list books that Jon had either recommended in group or to me personally here.

So since 2006, from time to time, I've attempted various things to make the group's archives public. A few days ago, I succeeded.

Enjoy!

Matt Chandler

2009-11-26T23:16:00.003-05:00

Matt is the Lead Pastor for The Village Church in Highland Village, TX. Today he had a seizure, fell and hit his head. After being rushed to the hospital, it was discovered that he had a small mass in his frontal lobe. He'll be seeing a neurosurgeon next week.

Please pray for Matt and his family.

Mark Oestreicher is...

2009-11-06T19:50:00.002-05:00

...blogging again!

Free Tim Keller Sermons!

2009-10-22T03:00:00.001-04:00

Justin Taylor reports:

"Redeemer’s Sermon Ministry has been faithfully recording, cataloging and reproducing all of our sermons for the past 20 years. To celebrate all 20 years of our history, and to meet the growing demand for our church’s teaching in New York City and around the world, we have created this resource of 150 sermons and lectures covering a broad array of topics, completely free to download and share.

The recordings chosen for the Free Sermon Resource were culled from classic sermon series as well as lectures and seminar addresses delivered to various Redeemer ministry gatherings, and are intended to present to the listener the full scope of teachings they would receive over several years of active involvement at Redeemer."

Free sermons are avail here.

Mark Oestreicher is Leaving Youth Specialities

2009-10-21T23:35:00.001-04:00

Read the Zondervan Press Release here.

Mark's a friend and I was sad to hear this. However, I feel confident that he will soon find a new platform for his kingdom service.

Toward More Effective Leadership Teams: The Necessity of Open Disagreement

2009-10-18T14:05:00.001-04:00

Cross posting a link here to something I just posted on OrgImpact on this subject.

The Objective and Subjective Nature of Morality

2009-08-08T10:22:00.004-04:00

Author Joseph Myers asks:

"Morality is relative. It is seen as a circumstantial stewardship of good instead of a constant set of settled rules...good or bad...thoughts?"

I definitely believe in moral absolutes (e.g. adultery is always wrong) but there's a particular scenario that I've been thinking about that makes me think sometimes there might be relatives. I would love to hear responses to this:

If I find a Salmon P. Chase $10,000 bill (which has not been printed since 1946) then I think it's morally incumbent on me to make some attempt to find the rare bill's owner.

But if I see a penny on the ground, I think nothing of simply picking it up and walking away.

OrgImpact and Shelby Foote's The Civil War

2009-08-01T12:18:00.001-04:00

I'm not abandoning the faithmaps blog, but I have started a new Organizational Development and Leadership Blog entitled OrgImpact. Today I posted some thoughts about Shelby Foote's The Civil War.

Please Pray for Rick Meigs

2009-06-14T14:04:00.002-04:00

Please keep Rick Meigs in prayer. I just learned that he was riding his motorcycle when he was hit by a truck that crossed the double-yellow line and then drove off. He is in the hospital in critical condition in Boise, ID. He has two broken rips, a broken arm, two collapsed lungs and a ruptured speen.

Rick blogs at The Blind Beggar and has been a critical voice in the missional church conversation through Friend of Missional, a very important networking and content site in that movement.

Looks like Brother Maynard is doing a good job with updates.

A CRITICAL TV ALERT

2009-05-30T17:17:00.002-04:00

If you with me are one of the 16 of us that religiously watched Pushing Daisies, the last three episodes of the series are showing tonight at 10 PM ET/9 PM CT and then on the next 2 Sats at the same time. Fire up your DVRs!

My Favorite Copyright Notice

2009-05-25T10:20:00.003-04:00

Loraine Boettner's 1932 notice for his The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination:

"Any one is at liberty to use material from this book with or without credit. In preparing this book the writer has received help from many sources, some acknowledged and many unacknowledged. He believes the material herein set forth to be a true statement of Scripture teaching, and his desire is to further, not to restrict its use."

New Susan Boyle

2009-05-24T21:23:00.001-04:00

"More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice” for First Time"

2009-05-15T20:09:00.000-04:00

Wow - this is kind of surprising.

Tony Morgan Leaves New Spring

2009-04-30T11:19:00.001-04:00

However, yesterday afternoon we (Tony, myself and the rest of our leadership team at NewSpring) all came to the incredibly difficult and painful conclusion that Tony should no longer be a part of the staff at NewSpring Church. It was not a decision that was made in the moment; in fact, lots of prayer and discussion has taken place over the past several months leading up to this…and everyone knows that though it was not an easy choice, it was the right choice.

- read the rest of the announcement from Perry Noble's blog

Are you a Dragon?

2009-04-29T01:23:00.001-04:00

"When attacked by a dragon, do not become one." Marshall Shelley

Great quote posted by Paul Littleton.

The Death of Perspective?

2009-04-25T14:49:00.010-04:00

Today, Editor & Publisher, the newspaper trade publication that I read regularly to keep up with the industry I was a part of for 20 years, reports

The Audit Bureau of Circulations released this morning the spring figures for the six months ending March 31, 2009, showing that the largest metros continue to shed daily and Sunday circulation -- now at a record rate.

According to ABC, for 395 newspapers reporting this spring, daily circulation fell 7% to 34,439,713 copies, compared with the same March period in 2008. On Sunday, for 557 newspapers, circulation was down 5.3% to 42,082,707 [link added].

The Wall Street Journal just launched an interactive site that documents current circulation and negative events for major newspapers in the United States since 2006.

Meanwhile, online media continues to grow at an unprecedented rate.

Twitter, the online service that allows users to post updates on whatever they wish in Wired reports that in that same month, US users doubled to 9.3 million bringing the number of users worldwide to 19 million. Significant growth continues. Web 2.0 Journal estimates that 1.2 million people have joined Twitter since Oprah featured the service on her show on Friday 17 April. Though blogs are far from dead, Twitter is the new blog and extends the popular media trend that combines truncated content with heightened immediacy.

Closely related to the Twittering phenomenon is the growing popularity of Facebook updates. On Wed 8 April, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the online site had crested the 200 million user mark. A significant portion of this growth is now comprised of those over the coveted demographic of the 18-35 set. Carmen Musick of the Kingsport Times News reports, "Between June 2008 and January 2009 the number of Facebook members between the ages of 35 and 54 nearly quadripled - increasing 276 percent- and members older than 55 tripled...."

Only the most anachronistic Luddite would depreciate the enormous benefit that online media brings to the developed world. But, at the same time, this type of growth is coming at a cost:

I am concerned that the ubiquity and immediacy of information can precipitate a loss of perspective.

For example, there used to be a typical news cycle for most journalistic organizations that allowed for reflection when considering the events of the day. This enabled writers and editors to bring perspective into their coverage of news events. The 24-hour news cycle, on the other hand, tends to erase this advantage. Media observers such as Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in their book Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media Culture note that journalists have gravitated toward "sensationalism, entertainment, and opinion" and have moved away from "verification, proportion, relevance, depth, and quality of interpretation" (see 24-hour news cycle).

Francis McInerney and Sean White, authors of FutureWealth: Investing in the Second Great Wave of Technology, might characterize this trend as another example of how society changes as the cost of information declines.

But I do not believe this trend is permanent.

I do believe that the natural desire for wisdom means that, despite the current upheaval in media, new (or, perhaps, renewed) journalistic voices that balance breaking news with relevant perspective will rise through new media. Sensationalist fare can only satiate the superficial palate.

Until then, those who desire reflective perspective will have to search a little harder for it, listening carefully through the din for the more discerning voices that can still be found.

Analagously, I believe that those of us who participate in online expressions of spiritual community - whether through blogs, twitter, facebook, or what have you - need to be cautious that we don't lapse into religious superficiality. Loving and following God takes time. Deepening spiritual friendship and community takes loads of time. Working through differences of opinion cannot generally be done via blogger or twitter. Nearly by definition, meditation can't be done quickly!

I love online media. I enjoy blogging, facebook, twitter, online community, all of it. But from time to time we need to remind ourselves that this new form of communication is not omnicompetent.

The Origins Project

2009-04-24T09:03:00.002-04:00

Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus, Scot McKnight, and the good folks at the Origin Project have relaunched their site as they launch their organization. This is a group I'm very excited about. I see them as working to capture the best of the emerging church conversation while staying tied to Christian orthodoxy through their commitment to the Lausanne Covenant and other historic creeds. You can read more about this new group here.

Their blog is here.
You can sign-up to get updates on the group here.
Keep up with upcoming events here.
Participate in their online community here.

"Father tried to sell 'Slumdog Millionaire' girl"

2009-04-20T03:30:00.000-04:00

so sad.

What Does War Have to Teach Us?

2009-04-19T13:21:00.005-04:00

For a while, I've been searching for a good single volume history of what was known as The Great War. I'm mostly through Barbara Tuchman's celebrated The Guns of August (1962) and am finding it helpful, detailed, and insightful. The book was so influential in its day in its description of how one decision leading to another leading to another can result in a conflagration such as that of WWI, that JFK had his staff read it during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But it only focuses on the year 1914 and I have been looking for something more comprehensive. I believe that I have found that volume in GJ Meyer's A World Undone - The Story of the Great War, 1914 - 1918.

The drama that was the Second World War has eclipsed the memory of WWI in the modern mind. This is too bad as we have much to learn from this first great European outbreak. The results of that first war were staggering. Death estimates of military and civilian deaths in the WWI range from 9 to 16 million. The percentage of European populations lost was devastating. 3 out of every 4 Russion soldiers, for example, were killed, wounded, captured, or went missing. 10% of the Britain Expeditionary Force was killed. Nearly 45% of the Rumanian force died during the war.

At the same time I'm reading these 2 books on WWI, I'm also working my way through Shelby Foote's very engaging three volume The Civil War: A Narrative.

This is a new kind of reading to me as long-time readers of this blog know that I've focused my reading on historical biography, which I read for lessons of leadership. But studying these wars is giving me a better context to evaluate individual performance in these crises.

More to come.

Thank you God!

2009-04-16T15:41:00.000-04:00

Skye does not have reflux!

Thanks to those of you who prayed!!!

prayer request for skye-baby

2009-04-16T08:53:00.003-04:00

At 2 PM today, Skye's going to take the rather uncomfortable VCUG test which will let us know if her October 2008 surgery was successful. Please pray that the test will reveal no outstanding problems in her remaining kidney (or the nonfunctioning one that she still has). Please also pray our dear one will be as comfortable as possible. Thanks.

Background:

I guarantee that this...

2009-04-14T23:21:00.001-04:00

...will make you smile.

A Wonderful Easter Morning Surprise

2009-04-12T15:04:00.005-04:00

Our alarm clock went off at 4:45 AM. A couple of years ago we discovered a sunrise service at nearby Sugarloaf Mountain and I figured we'd leave 75 mins before the 6:15 AM start just to play it safe. But the announcer on our alarm clock informed us that the temperature would be in the 30's so Beth said, "Forget it; that's too cold" and in a very un-spiritual manner, I happily rolled over to continue my slumber.

But Beth couldn't go back to sleep and immediately started wondering if she would regret her decision. She loves Easter Sunrise Services and we always go. So at 5:15 she says,

"Let's get up and go."

"But honey, none of us [5 of us] have gotten up and to get there right on time we'd have to leave immediately."

"Oh, we'll be little late; let's go!"

[with some sullenness] "Ok."

We didn't get out the door until 5:45 AM and I figured we'd get to the service about the time it was wrapping up. Beth asked for my opinion as to our timeliness and I revealed my thinking. She asked for my Blackberry and started struggling through pages not optimized for mobile viewing looking for a closer alternative sunrise service. We exited Interstate 70 to head to Damascas, MD where we had seen an incomplete page indicating that there might be a sunrise service there.

Then we saw a little sign on a country road advertising a nearby sunrise service. We couldn't believe our "luck."

It's about 6:10 AM. We drive a couple of miles and notice that to our left is a beautiful vista of rolling hills where the Sun was scheduled to crack the eastern horizon at 6:36 AM. We come upon a small group of mostly elderly folks standing right by the road immediately in front of a small and quite lovely United Methodist Church. Happily, we had stumbled upon Howard Chapel, a 149 years old church community in Mt. Airy, MD.

The congregants were quite dressed up; we're not. Nevertheless, I whip our van into their parking lot and we quietly make our way to join the gathering of maybe 30 or 35 folks. After a few remarks, the Sun beautifully rose and, after pausing to observe this, we step into the building, which was built in 1880 and hear a rousing brief meditation from the woman who apparently was their pastor.

Beth and I attend a megachurch in the Baltimore suburbs. I think they had 7 Easter services today. The production values are high. But there was something refreshing about walking back into a church culture I stopped experiencing on a weekly basis thirty years ago. And I don't mean to imply that high production makes a worship service insincere. But our experience this AM was raw, relatively unprocessed, and felt real. I was struck by how the fact of Jesus' rising from the dead transcends culture.

He is risen!

It was a marveolous and serendipitous Easter Morning surprise that we will not soon forget.

Ten Books

2009-03-23T03:30:00.000-04:00

from Jesus Outside the Box:

"This can be a quick one! Don't take too long to think about it! Ten books you've read that will always stick with you! First ten you can recall in no more than 15 minutes! Then tag ten others!"

My 10 Books

Fallen Angel

2009-03-22T01:26:00.003-04:00

This new film about Larry Norman, who passed away about a year ago, looks very interesting.

Jon Reid reviews the new movie here.

Michael Newnham has an interview with the Canadian documentary filmmaker David Di Sabatino behind the film here.

Related: Metapost - Larry Norman Goes Home

ht: Andrew Jones

Taylor Redux

2009-03-18T03:30:00.000-04:00

Kenny Sheppard has posted some more helpful links on Charles Taylor.

On Charles Taylor

2009-03-17T01:00:00.003-04:00

For a couple of years now, Kenny has been encouraging me to read Charles Taylor. At his suggestion some time ago I purchased Taylor's A Secular Age. Publisher's Weekly summarizes Taylor's philosophical tome in this manner:

In his characteristically erudite yet engaging fashion, Taylor, winner of the 2007 Templeton Prize, takes up where he left off in his magnificent Sources of the Self (1989) as he brilliantly traces the emergence of secularity and the processes of secularization in the modern age.

In the first paragraph of A Secular Age's first chapter, Taylor himself asks,

One way to put the question that I want to answer here is this: why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in our Western society, while in 2000 many of us find this not only easy, but even inescapable?

Kenny's about to finish his course work at Johns Hopkins here in Charm City and if I don't finish the book soon, I'll lose my most valued interlocutor.

Towards the end of completing Secular Age, I've begun reading through this helpful overview that Kenny suggested.

The current nearly monolithic secular culture, when viewed from at least a prima facie perspective, is fascinating to me and I'm looking forward to learning Taylor's perspective on how this has come about.

In Search of the Quinessential Baltimore Diner, Continued

2009-03-15T03:30:00.000-04:00

I believe that this is Year 3 in which I have partnered with Kenny Sheppard (Prolegomena) in search of the Perfect Baltimore Diner. Since our first breakfast we've visited:

(Kenny, is this list complete?)

On Saturday, Kenny, who's working on his Ph.D at Johns Hopkins on atheism and the intellectual history of 17th century England, and I visited the Silver Moon Diner. It was great! The food was fantastic; Kenny's even become a Scrapple aficionado. But best of all was the great conversation with my good friend.

Kenny took the picture above and a few others which can be found here. (For reasons beyond my capacity to imagine, we have not taken pictures on every single visit).

Is the Recent Resurgence of Calvinism Changing the World?

2009-03-13T03:30:00.000-04:00

It is according to Time Magazine.

ht: justin taylor

if you want to understand what happened to our economy...

2009-03-10T20:34:00.000-04:00

....just click here.

Economic Recovery, Media Coverage, and Hope

2009-03-09T03:30:00.001-04:00

Princeton psychologist Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel prize in economics a few years back for his work in Prospect Theory. One of Dr. Kahneman's revolutionary findings was that when individuals make economic decisions, those decisions are 70% emotional. Previous to Kahneman's discovery, economists would theorize that people make their decisions based on their best rational analysis as to what course of action will result in their keeping or acquiring the most money. But that's not the way it works most of the time.

I thought about Dr. Kahneman on Friday when I was having an interesting discussion with an economist about the troubled United States economy and media coverage. She agreed with me that negative media coverage does inhibit economic recovery. When I thought about Dr. Kahneman, I realized why.

We spend because we have a hope that our spending is a good decision. We invest on hope. If media coverage underlines the doom and gloom, then spending and investing will be suppressed.

This line of thinking reminded me of FDR and how optimism and hope was such a crucial aspect of his leadership. Through both the Depression and World War II, FDR always communicated that America would eventually triumph over all obstacles. Obama was communicating a similar optimism this past Saturday when he said, "We will get through this."

Colin Powell has said that optimism is a force multiplier. This is true for the economy and for many - if not all - areas of human endeavor. Dr. Martin Seligman, of the University of Pennsylvania, details the positive results of optimism in his book Learned Optimism. Malcolm Gladwell, in his most recent book Outliers, similarly explains how individuals work longer and harder through difficulties when they believe that the result of their extra effort will be positive. Their hope then drives them to superior accomplishment.

Jesus followers have a firm basis for optimism in a God who loves us and has all power. He alone can give us a peace which "transcends all understanding" (Phil. 4:4-7). In the midst of financial tsunamies, health crises, relational heartbreak, etc., sometimes our only psychological basement - at times the only foundation for our peace - is our knowledge of the character of God.

ESV Study Bible Online Now Available to All

2009-03-02T15:21:00.001-05:00

until the end of this month:

link

This is a very valuable resource that's worth checking out!

Three Questions

2009-02-23T03:30:00.004-05:00

A few days ago, a dear friend of mine shared with me three questions that a mutual friend used to center herself. I was talking to Beth about this, but couldn't remember two of the three questions. I did recall that one dealt with being present. Beth and I formulated three questions of our own that I've been using the last several days. They've been helpful. They are:

Am I At Peace? Do I trust God with all my worries and with my soul (Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:6-7). Beth shared with me the image of a pebble being dropped into a calm pond. The pond responds perfectly to the pebble - or the boulder - and then returns to its previous calm. When we are at peace with God, our responses to trouble can be measured and appropriate. If we do not have that peace, then we are absorbed with self and our precarious situation. If we do not have that peace, then the best that we can come up with another is either a deceived calm or an act.
Am I Present? Having peace from and with God, I am then in a position of strength. With that strength, I can afford to focus wholly on either the person in front of me or on the task that is serving the person who is not present. The vertical must enable the horizontal. The past is gone or is covered by Christ's cross. The future I can trust to God, for I cannot control it now. But I have been given the gift of being able to focus on the right now.
Am I Purposed? Since we are both at peace and present for the other or for the task, we can be intentional in the moment. We are able to move most fully out of our love for God and for the other (Matthew 22:37-39). God's love purifies and focuses us.

More Great Sportsmanship

2009-02-20T14:42:00.001-05:00

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!""

- and Stacey Sublett points us to this gem.

a beautiful story of sportsmanship

2009-02-19T22:28:00.001-05:00

"He went alone to the free throw line, dribbled the ball a couple of times, and looked at the rim.

His first attempt went about two feet, bouncing a couple of times as it rolled toward the end line. The second barely left his hand."

read the whole story

Todd Hunter...

2009-02-16T03:30:00.000-05:00

...has a new website! Check it out.

Our New Dog: Raider Sport Shields

2009-02-14T18:03:00.006-05:00

We took a dog break for a couple of years. But with my traveling a lot, Beth and the girls really wanted to get another dog for protection and so we rescued Raider, a boxer (?)/lab (?) mutt who is one of the sweetest dogs we've ever met. She's a puppy but her large paws indicate that she won't stay small.

We lost our last dog because we had to have her put down as she was so vicious. So this time we wanted to be more intentional about raising up our dog and so we hired Tecla Walton with Angel K-9 who has been super helpful. We have learned a lot.

I've posted more pictures of Raider here. We are very much enjoying this magnificent beast!

"U.S. judges admit to jailing children for money"

2009-02-12T22:10:00.000-05:00

unbelievable. I'm speechless.

"The Lincoln Canon" by Fred Kaplan

2009-02-08T19:36:00.008-05:00

Another indication of the slow excruciating death of the industry I poured twenty years of my life into was the Washington Post's recent announcement that next week will be the last edition of its Book World as a stand alone publication. The Sunday Washington Post is my only newspaper subscription. I try to read it in hard copy every week. Being a bibliophile, I especially enjoy learning about new books from reading Book World.

Now, in truth my first sentence was melodramatic; for both the news industry and Book World will be continuing in digital form. But until digital paper becomes cheap and ubiquitous, our eyes will continue to prefer the written page to the digital. I don't mean that people will have that preference; I mean it literally. Our eyes find it easier to read ink on paper than letters on screens. So while as a blogger of seven years I clearly embrace the digital age, I retain a sentimental attachment to the printed page.

But I digress.

What moved me to eulogize the Post's Book World was, once again, another incident of my learning about great books from the publication. Fred Kaplan offered a great piece highlighting the best books available in the Lincoln biographical corpus. Longtime readers of this blog know that I have an affinity for historical biographies, so I thought they might be interested in this piece.

photograph from wikipedia

Some Thoughts on The Shack

2009-01-31T17:10:00.012-05:00

As of today, The Shack has been #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List for 36 straight weeks. At the time of this writing, The Shack was the #6 best-selling book of all categories on Amazon.com.

I cannot remember when I've finished a book and then promptly began it a second time the very next day, but that's exactly what I did with The Shack a couple of weeks ago. I finished my second reading of the book a few days ago.

I found the book to be quite powerful. Realizing that the book is controversial, I nevertheless am giving the book a qualified recommendation and am encouraging my friends to read it discerningly.

Some of the critiques that one reads of Young's work are theological. I do not believe it's invalid to criticize the theology behind a creative piece of fiction, but I do think it's unrealistic to expect comprehensive systematic theology from such a work. Some things are simply not addressed in a work of fiction that we would expect to be addressed in systematics. And so I'm hesitant to agree with those critiques that have foundation in a charge of incompleteness. Nevertheless, I did find theological shortcomings in the book though I also appreciated other aspects of the work.

I did not agree with all of the comments in the book regarding authority and hierarchy. I got the impression from reading The Shack that all hierarchy is an unmitigated wrong. I, on the other hand, believe loving authority is not only legitimate on earth but that we also see it in the Godhead (in distinction from what Sarayu claims on p. 122).

I also was not sure what Young was getting at when he had Jesus say that He did not wish for folks to become Christians (p. 182). I have no problem with anyone saying that organized Christianity does not always equal true Christianity, but Jesus comments here seemed to be overstatement.

One critique of The Shack is that it promotes Ultimate Reconciliation (UR). When I read the book, I wondered about this myself. My feeling is that the book had the flavor of Ultimate Reconciliation. Moreoever, Young's story collaborator Wayne Jacobsen in his article Is THE SHACK Heresy? asserts earlier drafts of the the book did reflect William P. Young's leanings toward Ultimate Reconciliation at that time.

However, Jacobsen writes, "While some of that was in earlier versions because of the author’s partiality at the time to some aspects of what people call UR, I made it clear at the outset that I didn’t embrace UR as sound teaching and didn’t want to be involved in a project that promoted it." However, Jacobsen also implies in his article that the collaborative process itself had an affect on Young's theological views including, it would see, any predispositions Young had toward UR. And I believe Young when I have heard him say emphatically in subsequent interviews that he believes in Hell.

Regarding the critique that the book does not accurately convey the Trinity, for myself I was not looking for it to definitively portray the Trinity. It's a work of creative fiction and clearly the author took some liberties. When I have taught theology I have told my students that the day that I explain the Trinity to them in such a way that they go, "Ok, now I get it! That makes perfect sense" that is the day that they can be assured that I have no idea what I'm talking about. We should not be shocked that our finite minds cannot completely comprehend the One Who is infinite. And I felt that there was a definite tension in Young's portrayal of the Trinity that was consistent with the mystery of "God in three persons." But do I think Young got it right? No, of course not. But I do feel that he gave an interesting portrait of God.

One aspect of the book I appreciated was the honest treatment of the most difficult theological question encapsulated in Mackenzie's terrible tragedy: Why would a loving, all-powerful being allow six-year-old Missy to be brutally murdered? I was satisfied that Young did not attempt to provide a definitive theodicy but that in the book the author gave some hints toward an answer that had to do with humanity's freedom to choose. I personally believe that a completely satisfying theodicy is not possible this side of the Jordan. I appreciated that Young did not wrap this theological problem up in a artificially contrived bow.

But perhaps the aspect of the book I appreciated the most was the portrayal of God's personal involvement with Mack. I do believe that God's omnipotence implies his ability to deal with each of his creatures with loving individuality. It was moving to see Young's portrayal of this.

And so I found the book helpfully provocative but I am sensitive to, and in some cases sympathetic with, those who might critique its theology in places. I am also open to being shown that I have missed theological deficiencies in the book that should be highlighted.

But all these concerns expressed, I cautiously recommend The Shack as one way to helpfully challenge our paradigm of God in a way that might lead to a fuller understanding of Him.

Other Information Available Online About The Shack:

You can learn more about William P. Young here.
See a video of William P Young sharing the story behind the story.
Mark Driscoll on The Shack (mostly critical)
Wayne Jacobsen: Is The Shack Heresy? (mostly favorable)

Jacobsen is an author who was one of Young's collaborators on the story and co-founded Windblown Media that publishes the book.
Tim Challies' Review of The Shack (pdf) (mostly critical)
Al Mohler on The Shack (audio) (mostly critical)
Greg Boyd on The Shack (mostly favorable)
Christianity Today Review: Fiction for the Faith-Starved by Cindy Crosby (mostly favorable)

all tim keller, all the time

2009-01-26T03:30:00.000-05:00

Just took a look at this great site after learning about it from my friend dj chuang.

Talking with Pete Rollins about Knowing

2009-01-20T07:12:00.000-05:00

Peter Rollins and I are talking about knowing on Tony Jones' blog after he critiqued a comment I made in the Ten Years Out article on the history of the emerging church in North America.

Reminds me of the chat Brian McLaren and I had about epistemology 8 years ago (which I mentioned to Peter, as I thought it might be relevant to his critique.

Next-Wave has a New Editor

2009-01-20T03:30:00.000-05:00

Next-Wave's new editor is Scott Bane. Many thanks to Bob Hyatt for his two year stint in the same role. Next-Wave's founder and publisher, Charlie Wear, talks about the history of Next-Wave and this transition here.

The Emerging Church: Diverse Voices in North America and the Worldwide Conversation

2009-01-19T03:30:00.000-05:00

Be sure to check out the good conversation in comments on Andrew Jones' blog post around the Next-Wave Retrospective on Ten Years of the Emerging Church in North America.

There's a healthy interest in hearing more about the history of the emerging church in the rest of the world and more about the diversity of voices in North America that were not represented in the article.

Next-Wave's publisher Charlie Wear expresses a desire for more articles covering these other aspects of the emerging church.

Ten Years of the Emerging Church: A Retrospective

2009-01-16T12:31:00.002-05:00

Charlie Wear of Next-Wave asked me to pen a piece on ten years of the emerging church in North America. To pull this together I interviewed:

The piece was published today and can be found here.

The interviews behind the piece (which covered more topics than I did in the article) can be found here and here.

Comments welcome!

Info Request: Best Bruce Cockburn Albums?

2009-01-02T17:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, Papa's mentioning of this artist in The Shack and that Brian McLaren and other friends like him have prompted me to buy a Bruce Cockburn album?

Suggestions?

Listening to God in 2009

2008-12-31T17:37:00.003-05:00

The ever-productive blogger Justin Taylor provides us with a multiplicity of options for reading through the Bible in 2009.

David Wayne

2008-12-26T22:52:00.003-05:00

Pls continue to pray for my friend David Wayne. He's learned that he has Stage 4 Liver Cancer. David has two large tumors in his liver and it has spread to his lymph nodes. His daughter, Jollette, is being faithful to post updates here.

Merry Christmas, Everyone

2008-12-25T07:07:00.001-05:00

Look up because He looked down.

As a Public Service: Things Never to Do on Facebook

2008-12-24T09:17:00.002-05:00

jordon cooper twitterpoints us to this great list.

Gallup: Economic Hard Times Isn't Increasing Church Attendance

2008-12-22T11:19:00.001-05:00

"PRINCETON, NJ -- Despite some news reports to the contrary, a review of almost 300,000 interviews conducted by Gallup so far in 2008 shows no evidence that church attendance in America has been increasing late this year as a result of bad economic times. In September, October, November, and so far in December, about 42% of Americans reported that they attended church weekly or almost every week, exactly the same as the percentage who reported attending earlier in the year."

- see the whole article here.

Please pray for David Wayne

2008-12-21T23:46:00.003-05:00

Please pray for my friend and fellow blogger David Wayne, who has just learned that he has cancer.

Churches as Strength Based Organizations

2008-12-16T16:30:00.002-05:00

If you are aware of a church that would consider itself a Strength Based Organization, would you let me know in comments?

Thanks!

The Origins Project

2008-12-08T03:00:00.001-05:00

I promise that my post this weekend questioning continued use of the term "emerging church" was just a setup for this post!

I had read Dan Kimball's post The Emerging Church: Five Years Later about a new network he Erwin McManus, and Scot McKnight were starting. Today, I found Dan's 20 November 2008 post about this new network initiative which is being called The Origins Project. Here's part of what Dan writes about the origin of this envisioned community:

The more I felt myself not connecting to the theological direction and arguments happening in some of the emerging world - the more I felt the natural desire to be formally linking up with these friends who had the same passion. I also kept hearing over and over and over again when I was speaking places around the country, that many people still wanted to be discussing evangelism, especially amongst emerging generations. Yet many people were understandably confused by what was being noticed as streams of "the emerging church" as Ed Stetzer, Scot McKnight and Mark Driscoll were communicating about them in various articles and talks. So it was getting quite confusing as people were hearing all these things with so much variation occuring within the emerging church circles. I just know I was originally drawn into the emerging church world to be in it for mission, for evangelism, for seeing new followers of Jesus and whatever it takes innovatively without compromising the teachings of Jesus and Scripture.

So it just felt right to begin talking together with others to be encouraged, to be reminded of mission, to be fueled in creativity for the mission. Yet we all were theologically committed to the importance of doctrines like in the globally and multi-denominationally shaped Lausanne Covenant. (We are using this covenant as our statement of faith, so to speak, so from the beginning although we are diverse in many things we do, we are in alignment about the things within that).

I am someone who thrives on relationships with other leaders who are in this whole crazy mission together. So I have lately had such a boost of energy being around this group and dreaming about how we could all be partnering together in fueling this passion we all have. We are a diverse group for sure, but I believe there are a lot of people like this. So as we have been praying and thinking, we want to be extending this conversation and community to be together figuring out how to support, energize, dream and forge ahead on this evangelistic mission of Jesus.

The rest of Dan's post is here.

I personally am glad to see the utilization of the Lausanne Covenant as a theological foundation for this new organization and I'm genuinely excited about learning more. Their website is here though it's obvious this network is just now being formed.

Should we still say "emerging church?"

2008-12-05T18:37:00.007-05:00

I've been following with interest what seems to be a bit of a trend away from the emerging church/emergent nomenclature (Dan Kimball, Andrew Jones, etc.). I have to say that I find resonance with this discussion. In the past, I've written quite a bit about defining "emerging church." A lot of the ink I and others have spilled on this topic have revolved around the various agendas behind the use of the term. In my opinion, the fulcrum for the controversy is the theological revisionism that's attached itself to the labels. This is in contrast to the essentially evangelistic impulse that was originally - in my judgment - behind the popular use of the term "emerging church."

Now, I'm painting with a broad brush, obviously. I myself am a bit revisionistic theologically, but most of my participation in the movement in my writing, etc. has been along the lines of the "relevants" and the reconstructionists (using Stetzer's famous taxonomy). But I do wonder if the term has lost its punch because of all the confusion.

Some people moving away from "emerging church" are moving towards missional, as in its popular conception it's not theologically revisionist. Many know that for the last year I've been interviewing missional leaders and doing some writing for Leadership Network around this topic (my second piece on this should be out soon). But I think it remains to be seen if this term will take in any intergenerational sense. In the meanwhile, I do find "missional" a helpful term. That being said, I find it highly interesting that no less a missional luminary than Mike Frost recently complained that "missional" also is losing its distinctive meaning as it's increasingly being used as the new, hot buzzword.

Terms are important, but what's more important is the heart and spirit behind the terms. I am deeply grateful for what I've learned from the emerging church and what I'm learning from the missional conversation. Terms come and go - what matters is that we are listening to the Scriptures, to God's Spirit, and to each other and then, as a result, loving God with everything within us and our neighbors as ourselves.

"Pushing Daisies"

2008-10-20T03:30:00.000-04:00

Beth and I used our DVR this weekend to catch up on our Pushing Daisies.

The show, which was nominated for 12 Emmys after its first season run, is completely unique. The storyline revolves around

Ned (Lee Pace) - a pie maker who can bring people back from the dead with a touch, but who then must touch them again to send them back to death before sixty seconds elapse or someone else will then die.
Charlotte, aka "Chuck" (Anna Friel) - Ned's childhood sweetheart and girlfriend who Ned can't touch because he brought her back to life and kept her there,
Emerson Code, played by the delightful Chi McBride - a private investigator who has discovered Ned's usefulness in solving murder cases and who insists on continually referring to Chuck as "dead girl," and
Olive Snook, played by the wonderful Kristen Chenoweth, who works at Ned's pie shop and has a crush on Ned.

The cast is rounded out by Chuck's "aunts," Lilly and Vivian Charles, played respectively by Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene, who raised Chuck after her mom (supposedly) and her dad died.

I'm blogging about Pushing Daisies simply because the show is so very excellent. The writing is amazing - Beth and I often rewind just to hear such scintillating lines as Emerson Cod's "The mimes just pulled up in a trailer, and they ain't talkin,'" when the team was at a circus attempting to solve a series of murders. The sets and backgrounds are consistently whimsical and beautiful. The acting is top drawer. And the stories and subplot lines are sometimes profound.

I grew sad after the first few episodes of the first season because I did not believe the writers could keep the quality up. But so far this season is even better than last season. I am a longtime fan of Kristen Chenowith (the West Wing, Wicked), but felt that last year she was shoehorned in because of her enormous talent. But this season they are integrating her into the mix of ongoing plot arcs and the separate week-to-week story lines very nicely.

In short, Beth and I are very much enjoying this delightfully produced show and I recommend it.

"ESV Study Bible Goes Back to Press Prior to October 15 Publication Date "

2008-10-15T20:36:00.002-04:00

Crossway just issued this press release that reads, in part:

"Wheaton, IL— With pre-publication demand surpassing the first 100,000 printing, the ESV Study Bible has already gone back to press for a second printing of 50,000 copies, with a 50,000 third printing soon to follow.

Mark Traphagen, Web Sales Manager for Westminster Bookstore in Philadelphia, PA, reports record-breaking sales for the new Study Bible, making it “by far the fastest selling new product in the history of our store.” But industry insiders don’t expect sales of the new study Bible to slow down after the publication buzz subsides. “Early results indicate that this is going to be a very key item for Mardel this Christmas season,” explains Dylan Hillhouse, Bible buyer for the key retail chain."

- my "First Look" as the ESV Study Bible

The Future of Smartphones

2008-10-15T03:30:00.000-04:00

found a nice article on PC Magazine that I excerpted at Leadership Network's Digital blog.

Light as a Feather

2008-10-15T02:30:00.000-04:00

I've been happy the last couple of days and I realized why. Skye's impending surgery had been such a dark cloud. Now it's over and she's fine. She's been recovering beautifully and is going back to school tomorrow, though in a wheelchair. She doesn't really need it; our primary strategy is to protect her from other kids bumping into her!

Thank you all so much for prayers, notes, food, cards, etc.

This surgery is considered 98% effective and we should learn in a few weeks if it worked, i.e., stopped the reflux so that she'll stop getting infections in her one good kidney.

So far so good.

The ESV Study Bible: A First Look

2008-10-14T00:06:00.001-04:00

I commented on my initial impressions of the new ESV Study Bible on Leadership Network's Book Blog.

Profane Audacity

2008-10-13T03:30:00.000-04:00

In response to my earlier expressed sentiment, I've begun reading again Greg Bahnsen's Van Til's Apologetics and just came across this great John Calvin quote:

"Contentious disputes arise from the fact that many think less honorably than they ought of the greatness of divine wisdom, and are carried away by profane audacity."

from Calvin's Commentaries on 1 Peter 3:15

overwhelmed

2008-10-10T19:25:00.002-04:00

Well, it happened again. More people from our church we don't know dropped off more food for us. One myth about megachurches is that they've forgotten how to be church. Surely sometimes that's true, but our megachurch has been taking care of us ever since Skye went into the hospital. Honestly, we're deeply moved.

The New ESV Study Bible

2008-10-10T17:51:00.002-04:00

Looks like it's being published Monday.

Lately, I'm reading the NIV and TNIV more, but I'll definitely be picking up a copy of this fine translation and Study Bible.

skye and theology

2008-10-09T12:54:00.003-04:00

There's something wondrously clarifying when you have the luxury of just focusing on one crisis.

My wonderful company has freed me to completely focus on the recovery of our dear one.

Skye, by the way, is doing very well. Her pain level since Tuesday's surgery has been far lower than we anticipated. And - more importantly - our surgeon says the surgery went well and he has no reason to think that her recovery won't go well. This surgery is considered 98% effective in stopping reflux which will protect her one remaining kidney. There is even a low probability that her other kidney - currently working at 4% - might improve in its functioning. But if it doesn't, you can live to 100 with one kidney.

Johns Hopkins, the FDA and Q-Med in Sweden, who makes the Deflux Skye received in 2003, are studying the material Dr. Mathews removed, as Skye is the only known case where reflux returned 5 years after the injection of Deflux. And we're only aware of three cases where the Deflux calcified, which we discovered earlier this year when we learned one of Skye's kidneys had failed.

So we're hopeful for Skye and hopefully something will be learned that will protect other children.

But this sudden stopping of my life after nearly four months of intense ramp up in my new job with Gallup has made me want to get back to basics.

I need to read theology again.

Far more foundationally - and more to the point - is that I need to get a fresher and deeper vision of God.

It's so easy to get lost in the wasteland of continuous activity.

Skye Update

2008-10-07T14:20:00.003-04:00

Skye went into surgery at 10 AM and was supposed to be done at noon. At 2 PM Dr. Mathews came out and let us know that she had done well.

Thank you for your prayers!

Now we enter the recovery phase. A big milestone will be walking sometime tomorrow. If all goes well, Dr. Mathews says that Skye should be able to go home Thursday or Friday.

She will be in a good bit of pain, but Hopkins will be giving her something for pain management. And we do need all her plumbing to fall back in sync, so please pray about that.

Thank you, everyone; and thank you God.

our dear one

2008-10-06T21:07:00.003-04:00

Skye's in surgery tomorrow at Johns Hopkins at 10 AM est.

Dr. Mathews is planning to remove her deflux and to reimplant her ureters in an attempt to stop the reflux and protect her remaining kidney.

Your prayers would be greatly appreciated

- history

Out of Ur Reboots

2008-10-01T19:44:00.003-04:00

Jordon Cooper delivers a pointed critique of Christianity Today's Out of Ur blog (and makes a much appreciated and unexpected gracious comment about the faithmaps blog) and, in comments, Out of Ur responds with some news.

Skye - Baby

2008-09-27T00:25:00.002-04:00

A most sincere thanks to those of you who have emailed us asking for an update on Skye.

Yesterday as I was flying home from Phoenix, Beth met with Dr. Roger Voigt, getting a second opinion about Dr. Mathews suggestion that we remove the Deflux our dear one received in 2003 and, instead, do a surgery that will reimplant Skye's ureters.

Voigt concurred and speculated that Skye might have lost her kidney due to an obstruction precipitated by the Deflux to begin with. This was very frustrating as we did the Deflux to begin with to protect our little girls kidneys. So we are scheduled for surgery on Tuesday 7 October. I've blocked out 10/7-10/14 as no travel days for Gallup while Skye recovers. Your prayers are appreciated.

It's our hope that this is the end of Skye's kidney problems.

- this history

Churches in the Missional Renaissance

2008-09-03T03:30:00.001-04:00

I just returned from a two day meeting in Dallas at Leadership Network with Reggie McNeal, Eric Swanson, DJ Chuang and church, civic, and business leaders representing ten cities.

The group is part of Leadership Network's Missional Renaissance Community which is being co-lead by Reggie and Eric. LN asked me to write up some of the learnings of the gathering for their larger constituency and other interested parties.

They've just published the first paper based on my interviews with nine of the churches participating.

Churches in the Missional Renaissance: Facilitating the Transition to a Missional Mindset

Here's an excerpt:

Some of the leaders in today’s missional churches began moving in that direction as they became increasingly uncomfortable with traditional church-centric ministry.

Greg Bouvier, executive pastor at Sheridan Lutheran Church in Lincoln, NE, explains, “Essentially we realized that we were really consumer-oriented and just helping people get their needs met. It came to feel that we were really just very focused on ourselves. I came to feel that I was doing a fair amount of good for people who already have a lot. I felt that I was providing wonderful services for people who already have a plethora of services at their fingertips. I didn’t feel that I was making their lives better because if they didn’t get what they needed from me they could probably get it from someone else. We felt that the Spirit was calling us to take the focus off of ourselves and to move it out!” Greg feels great about the switch, feeling that they are moving into a position of helping folks who wouldn’t be assisted otherwise. He says that their ministry is “really to the least of these. It warms my heart to know that I’m not just making the comfortable that much more comfortable.”

The second paper I'm working on now will benefit from the further insights of the additional ten churches we've added to the original nine.

Reggie also has a book called Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church that's coming out in February 2009.

These city, business, and church leaders are truly pioneers as they seek to holistically serve the needs of their respective communities.

The New Media Frontier

2008-09-02T03:30:00.001-04:00

Just received a box today of copies a new book being published at the end of September called The New Media Frontier being published by Crossway. I had been asked to contribute a chapter on the nexus of social relief/justice and new media in terms of what churches and Christians are doing.

The editors have set up a blog for the book which can be found here.

Roger Overton, one of our editors, has helpfully listed here some outlets where the book can be purchased at a discount.

Here's the full table of contents for the book and a summary:

The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ
edited by John Mark N. Reynolds and Roger N. Overton

will be published by Crossway Books in September 2008.

Table of Contents:

Foreword: Hugh Hewitt (HughHewitt.com)
Introduction: Roger N. Overton (www.ATeamBlog.com)

Part One: The Landscape of New Media

1) The New Media: First Thoughts -Dr. John Mark Reynolds (Scriptorium Daily)
2) The Future of New Media -Dr. John Mark Reynolds (Scriptorium Daily)
3) Three Cautions among the Cheers: The Dangers of Uncritically Embracing New Media - Matthew L. Anderson (Mere Orthodoxy Blog)
4) Beginning Bloggers Toolbox -Joe Carter (Evangelical Outpost)
5) Beginner’s Toolbox Part II: Even Newer New Media — Podcasting, Video Casting and More – Matthew Eppinette (Americans United for Life) and Terence Armentano (TerenceOnline.blogspot.com )

Part Two: Engaging New Media

6) Theological Blogging -David Wayne (JollyBlogger)
7) Blog as Microwave Community – Dr. Tod Bolsinger (It Takes a Church Blog)
8.) Pastors and the New Media -Dr. Mark D. Roberts (MarkDRoberts.com)
9) Navigating the Evolving World of Youth Ministry in the Facebook-MySpace Generation - Rhett Smith (RhettSmith.com)
10) Evangelism and Apologetics - Roger N. Overton ( www.ATeamBlog.com)
11) Professors with a New Public: Academics and New Media –Dr. Fred Sanders (Scriptorium Daily)
12) Virtual Classrooms, Real Learning –Dr. Jason Baker (BakersGuide.com)
13) Politics & Journalism -Scott Ott (Scrappleface.com)
14) Blogging and Bioethics - Joe Carter (Evangelical Outpost) and Matthew Eppinette (Americans United for Life)
15) Social Justice, Social Relief and New Media -Stephen Shields (FaithMaps.org)

Here’s a summary of the book:

We’d like to offer some direction for how Christians can use the new media with discernment and grace. Many of the contributors to The New Media Frontier began using new media at the encouragement of national radio host Hugh Hewitt, so we are delighted that he has provided a foreword for the project. Roger Overton presents a brief introduction to the concept of new media and why Christians should engage it with wisdom. Part One of the book addresses new media in general. Dr. John Mark Reynolds begins with a chapter examining the history of human communication in order to provide a fresh perspective on what new media really is. In the second chapter, Dr. Reynolds looks to the future of new media and stresses the urgency for Christian involvement before the opportunities vanish.

Matthew Anderson contributes our third chapter by looking at what dangers new media pose for those who uncritically dive into it. His chapter advocates the careful use of wisdom in consuming and creating digital content. With the foundation laid by these first three chapters, chapters four and five spell out exactly how consumers can become creators in the new media. Joe Carter explains how to blog in chapter four and in chapter five Matthew Eppinette and Terence Armentano explain how to podcast and vlog.

Part Two of the book looks to specific areas in which Christians can utilize new media more thoroughly and specifically. These areas include: Theology (David Wayne), Community (Tod Bolsinger), Pastoral Ministry (Mark D. Roberts), Youth Ministry (Rhett Smith), Evangelism & Apologetics (Roger N. Overton), Academics (Fred Sanders), Education (Jason Baker), Politics (Scott Ott), Bioethics (Joe Carther & Matthew Eppinette), and Social Justice (Stephen Shields).

While these brief explorations of each topic will in no way say everything that could or should be said, we do hope they can help to start a process of critical assessment so that when Christians use new media they will do so in a manner consistent with the character and quality of Christ. After finishing the book, readers should have an effective understanding of how they can advance, demonstrate, and utilize the Christian worldview through the use of new media.

Though it’s only in the beginning of development, we will have a blog dedicated to the book at NewMediaFrontier.com We also have a Facebook group up and running. I’ll post some of the major announcements regarding the project as they happen here, but you’ll always be able to find out more through the NMF blog and Facebook group. We’ll also do some sort of tie-in with next year’s GodBlogCon, which will be September 18-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

please pray for steve mccoy's wife molly

2008-08-25T23:40:00.001-04:00

link

alltop.com

2008-08-16T23:40:00.004-04:00

Wow.

Guy Kawasaki's alltop.com has selected this blog for its church page. I'm honored! I'm going to have to start blogging again! :)

Just discovered that and I had never heard of the site until Andrew Jones mentioned it. Neat.

Seriously, though, I have never traveled so much in my life and that's precipitated the dearth of blogging.

Two weeks ago I was in Omaha, NE for a week, then Waterloo, IA. Tomorrow I'm going to Chicago, then Ocean City for 2 days at the beach, then to Dallas for Leadership Network's Missional Renaissance Community. Then September will be the busiest month I've had since starting Gallup 16 June. I'm absorbing Gallup's primary constructs, meeting great people, and working with some incredible clients. When I'm home, I try to really be home and focus on the family. I anticipated this much travel early but we've some government clients coming on line now and that will be a special focus of mine moving forward and so I won't have to travel as much. But for now, it's a season of chosen imbalance. I'm grateful to God for my new role. I've also been able to meet some of the folks in Gallup Faith and hope to one day begin working with them. But I'm also happy I've been able to continue my work with Leadership Network.

My three greatest challenges are consistent quality time listening to and responding to God and working out. Still trying to figure that out with this schedule and I must figure all three out.

Prayer for Skye Requested

2008-08-13T23:11:00.004-04:00

- Background on Skye's condition

Update: The good news is that Skye has experienced virtually no pain since her hospitilization in Hopkins in February. However, we were surprised to have learned a few weeks ago that Skye's Reflux had returned. Then later, Skye experienced some infection that broke through to her blood. Antibiotics seem to have cleared it right up, but Skye's surgeon at Johns Hopkins nevertheless wants to talk to us tomorrow morning about the possibility of doing major surgery to remove the Deflux that's calcified and reattaching her ureters as a means by which to stop the Reflux. Obviously our primary goal is to protect her one working kidney and the continuance of Reflux is a serious concern that must be addressed.

Your prayers for wisdom - and Skye's healing - would be appreciated.

galluping away

2008-07-24T22:49:00.002-04:00

That seems to be the favorite metaphor of my friends to describe my life right now. I am utterly in the midst of a season of chosen imbalance as I orient myself to my new job. I'm having a lot of fun, working with different organizations, traveling a lot, learning a lot, making new friends in this great organization. It's deeply humbling.

Not sure when life will reach a new equilibrium. Everything is a learning curve but I don't think it'll always be that way. I do plan to come back to blogging one day.

Meanwhile, here are some pics of my new work digs.

prayer request for skye teresa

2008-06-29T22:48:00.001-04:00

Hi, all.

Thanks so much for your friendship, prayer & support for us and Skye. Skye is being tested again tomorrow & Tues at Hopkins, both for kidney function and for reflux in both kidneys. We are asking God to totally heal her. It's our understanding that's the only way her kidney function will be restored. At the least, please pray that her right kidney will still be functioning at a high level and that she will not show reflux at all. The best news we have so far is that she has not had one SINGLE BOUT of pain on her left side since February! That in itself is so wonderful, I cannot tell you. Before then she had a full day of serious pain in her left side every 4-6 weeks [for 3 years]. We are very thankful for this and also that she is still active and basically feeling well.

Aside from the above, please pray for excellent nurses, veins that cooperate (she has lousy veins from my side of the family), and swift test results so we're not left wondering (her doc is on vacation until the end of July).

We will let you know as soon as we have answers. Thanks again,

beth :o

- background on skye's condition

sort of out of pocket

2008-06-18T23:02:00.002-04:00

ramping up to new gallup job is time-consuming! blogging may very well be quite light.

i'm enjoying the change. I'm blessed with a beautiful new office in downtown DC. I've lived in the DC area since 1988 but have spent very little time in DC so it's a neat exploratory time. I'm using the train to commute daily. Gallup is a great organization and the people are truly wonderful.

rexmiller.net

2008-06-17T22:21:00.001-04:00

my friend rex miller of millennium matrix fame has launched a new site!

Tim Russert - 1950-2008

2008-06-14T17:23:00.001-04:00

The tragic passing of Tim Russert has resulted in a veritable flood of statements praising his political passion and journalistic acumen. Sometimes such a passing results in hyperbole. That such encomiums are justified is indicated by the praise that Time Magazine gave him when they recently chose him as one of the top 100 most influential people for 2008.

UPDATE: There's so much good material online and on tv now about Tim and his life. I just noticed a particularly insightful piece on USA TODAY's site by Michael Gartner, who was President of NBC News from 1988 to 1993 and persuaded a particularly reluctant Tim Russert to take on the Moderator role at Meet the Press.

Newsweek Editor Jon Meachem has also posted a piece on Russert's religiosity.

Books on the Emerging Church

2008-06-11T03:30:00.000-04:00

A-List Emerging Church blogger Andrew Jones holds forth.

Emerging, Emergent, & Missional

2008-06-10T00:01:00.000-04:00

Dave Dunbar, President of Biblical Seminary, goes on record with a helpful piece regarding distinctions between the terms emerging, emergent, & missional (pdf).

Dave's piece prompted Scot McKnight to ask his readers to weigh in.

I've commented on the emerging church/emergent distinction in a number of places:

ht: steve knight

The Future of Emergent Village

2008-06-09T14:31:00.001-04:00

"Having accomplished much more than we’d expected, we, the Emergent Village Board of Directors, feel we are at a crossroads as an organization. As we look ahead to the future, we are seeking input and counsel from three groups of people.

First, we are asking people who are highly committed to Emergent Village to give us their counsel.
Second, we would value input from people who value the emergent conversation.
And third, we would also like friendly critics to offer their input."

- see the entire post and a link to their brief survey here.

New Online Resources

2008-06-06T00:01:00.000-04:00

I Howard Marshall's New Testament Theology
Craig Keener's Bible Background Commentary

ht: Justin Taylor

Einstein's God

2008-06-02T10:37:00.002-04:00

I posted a review on Walter Isaacson's recent Einstein: His Life and Universe on Leadership Network's Book Blog.

Our Continuing Search for the Quintessential Baltimore Diner

2008-06-02T03:30:00.000-04:00

kenny sheppard provides details here.

whither twitter

2008-05-31T11:14:00.002-04:00

I've been twittering since 10 March and still feel conflicted about it. So, faithmaps blog readers, why do you twitter (if you do) and what do you get out of it?

thanks.

McCain, Obama, Clinton Joint Statement on Darfur

2008-05-29T11:00:00.001-04:00

"Today, we wish to make clear to the Sudanese government that on this moral issue of tremendous importance, there is no divide between us. We stand united and demand that the genocide and violence in Darfur be brought to an end and that the CPA be fully implemented. Even as we campaign for the presidency, we will use our standing as Senators to press for the steps needed to ensure that the United States honors, in practice and in deed, its commitment to the cause of peace and protection of Darfur’s innocent citizenry. We will continue to keep a close watch on events in Sudan and speak out for its marginalized peoples. It would be a huge mistake for the Khartoum regime to think that it will benefit by running out the clock on the Bush Administration. If peace and security for the people of Sudan are not in place when one of us is inaugurated as President on January 20, 2009, we pledge that the next Administration will pursue these goals with unstinting resolve."

- read the entire statement here.

Rick Warren's PEACE 2.0

2008-05-29T03:30:00.001-04:00

Rick's rebooted PEACE:

Time has a piece on Rick's new modified plan
Christianity Today has weighed in.
The Christian Post covers it.
The UK's Christian Today posts an article on the new initiative.
The Orange County Register in Rick's backyard offers a treatment.
and Leadership Network's DJ Chuang provides another one of his usually impressive around-the-rooms on the PD Summit and on PEACE 2.0 here.

kenny sheppard on tony jones' book the new christians

2008-05-28T12:52:00.002-04:00

"The New Christians is a loose kind of narrative. It tells a story that moves from the “old ways” to the “new”, and it does so through a set of relatively discrete stories about this process. These smaller stories are punctuated in turn by sets of definitions, “dispatches”, and more concrete sets of arguments. It is, then, a kind of mosaic, where anecdotal narrative, theological disquisition, dictionary, and popular history meet. The book is meant to engage on many levels, providing, it seems, several ways of reaching the reader with the message: the emerging church has a history, a theology, a set of practices and institutions that are robust and here to stay. It’s an apologia. And it is here, I suspect, that critics who wish Emergents to set down their beliefs will find fodder for their arguments. It is where I take issue in this review, but for different reasons."

- read kenny's full review on tony jones' book the new christians