Rating Churches...

I've recently become the online director of a new website: ChurchRater.com! The site itself is a blog of sorts with a very heavy emphasis on discussion surrounding the "rating" of churches. Here is what I envision ChurchRater becoming: A dynamic, thinktank sort of environment, where any thinkers, atheists, agnostics, Christians, pastors or various kinds of leaders and teachers can come together and dialogue about the Church...

• how the church functions
• how it perceives itself
• how it is perceived externally
• what Christians see in it
• what non-Christians see in it
• what is good/bad/ugly/hilarious

How can I get people to take time to fill out a rating survey? Especially non-Christians. I'm most curious about their feedback (as always) so I'm open to suggestions.

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

God, Mom and a Circle...

My wife is the new program director at a Montessori school. She loves it, which makes me very happy!

The other day, she witnessed the following conversation between three 4-year-old girls... *

• Girl 1: Teacher! I met a girl who doesn't believe in God!
• Girl 2: I don't believe in God.
• Girl 3: Well, if I'm grumpy I don't believe in God. But if I'm not grumpy, I kinda do; but not as much as I believe in Mom and not as much as a circle.

*note: I've updated the wording here per my wife's corrections

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

Hater Jesus

My best friend Chris is an actor out of Portland.

He recently starred in a new music video that will be gracing MTV shortly, by the band Everclear. In it, Chris plays a mean-spirited "Jesus" who does horrible things to other people.

The music video is called "Hater Jesus" and at the beginning reads:

Dedicated to Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and all those who hate in the name of Jesus.

Pretty powerful stuff. Click here to read about the video...
www.SPIN.com/Features/HeyThisIsAwesome/2006/06/060623_EVERCLEAR/
There is a link to watch the video, but I would caution you - there is some fairly graphic imagery that will ultimately be blurred out when it hits MTV.

You can get more details on the character and meaning of "Hater Jesus" at www.MYSPACE.com/HaterJesus.



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

Adventures in Missing the Point...

Forgive me for seeming political. I hope I would be just as hard on misguided Democrats (and I think I am).

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is SO MUCH MORE than a few carefully selected, politically charged, socially foreign (to most Evangelicals) "sins."

When will Christians become more indignant about starvation and disease than they are about queers and liberals? I guess too many of us are part of the problem - comfortable, wealthy and white.


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

Fewer Moments of Truth...

Fewer Encounters With My Atheist & Agnostic Neighbors

I've been blogging less and less lately, and several of my regular visitors have e-mailed, asking "Where've you been? Why aren't you writing?"

I have the canned answer that lets me sleep at night: "Oh, well, work and seminary are really kicking my butt, so I'm spending every spare moment possible with my wife." Sounds good, right? Very noble... but not entirely true.

Yes, I'm busier these days than I've ever been. And work and seminary are most certainly taking a great deal of my time.

...but I'm starting to realize that a huge and underlying reason I haven't been blogging or writing (working on my book) lately is that I'm not spending much time with non-Christians. I haven't been getting out of my own bubble. Monday through Friday I'm working eleven hour days with online homework in the evenings. Weekends, I'm just trying to decompress... usually I go to church on Sunday mornings. Any social time my wife and I spend is with a few friends from church.

When I'm only around Christians, my life doesn't just feel out of balance, it is out of balance. In fact, I believe there are things God wants to say to me that will only be said through non-Christians. For whatever [numerous] reasons, I am not stretched fully without my atheist, agnostic and "other" friends. I need them.

On my friend Jim Henderson's website www.DoableEvangelism.com, we had a discussion about whether a Christian pastor could "pastor" (verb) non-Christians, or members of other religions. We were thinking about the concept of the Catholic and Anglican parishes, and how the priests assigned to these areas were responsible for serving the needs of everyone - even those who didn't attend the church. What a concept!

So in a pluralist, postmodern setting, can I be a pastor/disciple/brother/counselor/shoulder-to-cry-on for my atheist/agnostic/pagan/Buddhist/Islamic/Hindu/Wiccan/Star-Trek-fan brothers and sisters? I already believe the answer is most certainly "yes," (it MUST be!) but how does it look in practice? ...and how do I avoid being excommunicated from my Conservative Pentecostal church while practicing this scary pluralist pastoring.

I mean, didn't Jesus kind of model this?

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