Faith.Tech.Culture
I saw floating around FB a link to a NewsOK article (autoplay video warning) that talked about how not 100% of donations to the American Red Cross are guaranteed to go to Oklahoma. And this is a problem. While there is a solution in that donations to UMCOR are 100% given to the victims, the [...]
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of hanging out with a church planter who does lots of missional church behind-the-scenes work: getting to know the community, the people, the needs, and the aspirations…and allowing those factors to dictate what the church looks like. And what she told me shocked me. She told me of [...]
I really resonated with a blog post by Scot McKnight “Incarnation is not a Ministry Strategy” as he talks about how recent efforts to brand a ministry as “incarnational” water down the term. Read it here. McKnight is reflecting on a book by Andrew Root about the topic and he says this: In the “incarnational [...]
So, yesterday was fun. Over 80 comments on “Over 45? Texas UMC doesn’t want you in Ordained Ministry.” And today, my good friend Josh Hale, who sits on their BOM’s executive committee, posted a clarification of the reasoning. It is a good read, check it out and it helps us give more context to the [...]
Like Marty McFly being called “chicken” in Back to the Future, I also have a temper-tantrum point and it’s called ageism. Specifically when I’m treated like a kid or called “sport” or “tiger” or I am told “you will make a great pastor someday” and other comments that reflect on my youth (I’m under 35 years old). [...]
Response to some really bad.hacks While any commentary on the horrors of Newtown, Connecticut, may be premature, there is no such prohibition on commentary of the commentary on Newtown. Specifically, commentary by two people representing Christianity who took to the airwaves to present to the world where God was in all the violence…but the God they [...]
This is a three-part series on Baptism. I declined to perform a baptism. That sounds like an incredible statement from a Christian pastor. Baptism is the key word in the Great Commission, to baptize all the nations. Baptism is the entry point into the kingdom of God. Baptism, according to some understandings, wipes clean original [...]
The unbreakable doctrine?This is a three-part series on Baptism. Two this week, the third next week. Ah, you knew it was coming right? Infant Baptism. The quintessential Ordination question in the Bible Belt is always “will you uphold and practice infant baptism?” to weed out the Baptists and those without a Wesleyan understanding of baptism [...]
This is a three-part series on Baptism. Two this week, the third next week. In the Book of Worship, Baptism has three primary interactions: Pledges of fidelity by the baptizee (or the parents/representatives of the one being baptized) The congregation responds that they will participate in offering a loving community for the one being baptized. [...]
Luke 9:49-50 and Teleological ConcernMars Hill Church in Seattle (a steady supplier of this blog’s bad.hacks category) has a new home for one of its church sites. It’s a historical parish right in downtown Seattle. Oh, did I mention it’s a former United Methodist parish? In 2007, First UMC Seattle moved from its longtime home (pictured above) in the shadow [...]
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