Category Archives: Missional

Helping Sensible People Believe the Crazy Stuff Christians Profess

Posted on December 28, 2016 by

Tim Keller and Pete Enns Any reader of my blog has a clue of how much I owe to Tim Keller, but only a clue. I follow his sermons, lectures, and books very closely. I’ve gained immensely from him. My … Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Links and Notes, Institutional Church, Missional, theological | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Can Denomination Be Helpful When Churches Are Dying Because We Don’t Understand What Church Is For?

Posted on June 30, 2014 by

The Wrong End of the Tree My friend Pete wrote a response to my last structure piece. He noted, and I agree, that these structure conversations are starting at the wrong end of the church. The crisis at the denominational … Continue reading →

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Plantations, Colonialists, and the Innocents who wander there

Posted on May 12, 2014 by

  When Whitey Moves I’ve been playing “wanna read it, don’t wanna read it” with Christena Cleveland’s piece on “Urban Church Planting/Plantations”  It’s easy for me to retweet or “share” on something that with a minute’s reading I think “yeah, that’s … Continue reading →

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Seeing the Ukraine Conflict in the Temptations of Christ

Posted on March 5, 2014 by

Ukraine This video caught my eye. http://nyti.ms/MLqimF The Ukrainian soldiers trying to recover their dignity by “going to work” guarding warplanes. The Russian troops (sans flags) preventing their advance to their base, firing warning shots. This is of course a … Continue reading →

Posted in How to become a Christian, Institutional Church, Missional | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Evangelical Hammer

Posted on January 7, 2014 by

The Naked Pastor has a moving and perceptive piece on another moving and perceptive piece by Ted Haggard. Both are worth reading. Haggard notes the one dimensionality problem of some evangelicals. In my case, I was taught that life transformation took place … Continue reading →

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Moving Beyond Attracting the Dormant Zombies of Christendom

Posted on April 3, 2013 by

What does Madison Avenue Have to Do with Jerusalem? In the late 90’s I was a pastor reading business books with my missional cohort in our Sacramento mission field. We were attending conferences at Willow Creek and Saddleback trying to … Continue reading →

Posted in CRC, Institutional Church, Missional | 2 Comments

Tim Keller’s Gospel

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

Pt. 6 of The Postmodern Logic Behind Emergent Calvinism Homosexuality as Justice Litmus Test This video of Tim Keller handling the question of homosexuality nicely illustrates both our postmodern context and how Tim Keller’s theological adjustment of Reformed theology differs … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture commentary, Missional, theological | Tagged | 6 Comments

The Epigenetics of Emergent Calvinism

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

Pt. 5 of The Postmodern Logic Behind Emergent Calvinism Making My Calvinism More Emergent As I worked on the intended “Epigenetics” post last night I had to face the question of how much stuff I’m reporting of is Tim Keller’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Institutional Church, Missional, theological | Tagged | 11 Comments

Stalking Tim Keller

Posted on May 20, 2012 by

Pt. 4 of The Postmodern Logic Behind Emergent Calvinism Discovering Tim Keller in the Sacramento Cluster I was first introduced to Tim Keller’s work by Roger Greenway in a missions class at Calvin Seminary at the end of the 1980s. … Continue reading →

Posted in CRC, Missional | Tagged | 4 Comments

Judas as one hurt by Jesus

Posted on February 25, 2011 by

I’ve read a lot of books complaining about treatment people have received from the church. I can’t say that any of the poor treatment was justified. I doubt it was. People hurt people. I’ve also done a lot of figuring … Continue reading →

Posted in Missional, Pastoral Identity | 4 Comments