K-Love - Home of Paradigm Shifters?

I met Oregon's Regional Manager of K-Love Radio at lunch the other day. It was a weird, random occurrence. He happened to be an ex-member of our local chapter of Rotary, and sat right across from me.

When Ted Gillette introduced himself as a K-Love director, I told him I was a George Fox Seminary student. "That's my alma mater!" he exclaimed, and we began talking.

Many who know me are aware that I think fairly little of K-Love. To me, it's a shiny, happy ad campaign for white, middle class Christendom. It overpromises and under-delivers on a life without problems, full of happiness and blonde children with ponytails and tragically.

But as Ted and I talked, I started to hear some very shocking things. First he said, "I don't like to call myself a Christian... that word is defeating. It turns people off. I just follow Jesus." Keep talking like this in public, I thought, and you won't stay with K-Love very long. "Postmodernity is everywhere. Even in rural, smalltown Oregon." He was speaking my language. "I'm a paradigm shifter," he continued, "I used to think I'd go into the ministry as a Reformer, but I realized several years ago that real change came through healing ministries. That's what I do. That's how you change the church... through healing, on a local level. The foundation of the church needs healing - it's sick."

We went over to my office after Rotary and talked for another hour. Ted listed the approaches he's used in ministry (he particularly likes Len Sweet's SoulCafe concept), discussed some of the people he's met (Tony Campolo and Don Miller to name a few...) and talked lovingly about the young gay couple that visited his church several weeks ago.

This was not the human face of K-Love I expected. Watch a music video by ZoeGirl if you want a taste of my old impression. But now I wonder if, even within this Audio Empire of Christendom, this Tower of Babel of Christian Entertainment... God is still breaking hearts and healing minds and even... changing paradigms. I guess if Ted Gillette can read SoulTsunami and A Generous Orthodoxy and Blue Like Jazz and reach people who don't find Christ through 4Him or Michael W. Smith, then thank God that K-Love is paying Ted's salary!


please read more about my thoughts on the evolution of Christianity at http://emergingchristianity.blogspot.com

Interviewing Len Sweet...

Questioning (E)mergent?
Little was happening in my relational/missional/spiritual life lately. For how much I pride myself in getting out of my comfort zone and getting into peoples lives... well, I've been enjoying the safe, comfortable, clean joys of marriage. And who could blame me?

But something in my spirit was churning... my desire for adventure juxtaposing my boredom with God.


I've gotten several e-bulletins from Emergent Village lately that sounded more like 700 Club pitches: personal testimonies about "why I gave money to Emergent!" This did nothing to improve my mood.

Then it occured to me! If you read some of my recent posts on www.EmergingChristianity.blogspot.com, you'll know that I am taking an online class taught by Len Sweet. I remembered that Len said a few things in class, when we met in Portland for a weekend, about the "selling out of Emergent," and the political hijacking that's taken place there. Feeling the urge to churn the waters a bit, I called up Len and asked if he'd be willing to do an interview on the subject. I e-mailed Relevant Magazine at the same time to see if they'd be interested in the story. Boy, were they! I got several responses from multiple editors there: "Yes yes yes, this is exactly what we've been talking about lately. But no one with Len's credibility is willing to discuss this."

And believe me, Len's scared too. At first he said, "No. Absolutely not. I'm not going to get into that mess..." but then he softened. "Over the weekend, the Lord really worked on me. I like the spirit in which you're doing this (in kindness, love, and relational conversation)." And if Emergent is a Conversation then someone better talk about where it's heading!

I still haven't sat down to do the formal interview with Len yet, but I'm really excited because I worry that the postmodern church won't know what it's missing if all it's offered is a 1960s-Style Social-Justice-Christianity ala Jim Wallace and Bryan McLaren. Forgive me both, Jim and Bryan, because I love you and I love your hearts. But we need more spirit. Spending our lives, identifying which political or governmental bill is "Godly" is, I think, an Adventure in Missing the Point.

More to come...

Forgive me for being so sporradic in writing lately. With my lovely wife, Seminary, and this project for Relevant, as well as a church Easter Drama to produce... I'm tired.

But thank the Lord, I'm getting my wind back!

please read more about my thoughts on the evolution of Christianity at http://emergingchristianity.blogspot.com