When I hear Christians talking about something “we” ought to do, it often disturbs me how easily they confuse what “we” should do as individual Christians, as the church, and as citizens of a secular state. Christians from the ideological right often ask the state to base its policies on a Christian understanding of marriage, … Continue reading »
Administrative Note
Well, I haven’t blogged very much here lately. I’ve been awfully busy coming up to speed on things over at the church. (I posted a picture here of my new computer at work.) I hope to begin posting a little more frequently here, but the reason I’m posting today is to make sure everything is … Continue reading »
Church Web Site Up
Hey cool! Soon after I got here I asked the people who do that stuff to migrate us from the old web hosting service to the new one. And now, here you go: the new web site of Jewel Lake Parish. Yay! For the technically inclined, here’s why. First, it’s marginally less expensive. That’s not … Continue reading »
Alaska
We buttoned up our U-Pack trailer on Wednesday, March 7, expecting it to arrive in Anchorage around March 21, or perhaps a little later. Instead it was here a week later, on March 14. It went by road to Seattle, where it was then shipped to Alaska. The world is not only flat, it’s small.
Children dying of exposure
I read two terrible news stories today, and I can’t help but play connect-the-dots with them. A 3-year-old girl from America’s northernmost community died and her younger sister suffered hypothermia after their mother and the mother’s boyfriend left them in a locked bedroom with a window open to a temperature of minus 30 degrees to … Continue reading »
Dawkins is Agnostic, Not Atheist
“New Atheist” Richard Dawkins describes himself in this interview (which includes a brief video snippet) as an agnostic, rather than an atheist. Interesting, coming from the author of The God Delusion. And fair enough. Atheism is a belief every bit as much as faith in God. Dawkins is smart enough to realize that claiming a … Continue reading »
Tempus Fugit
According to Wikipedia, the Joshua Tree was given its name by Mormon travelers in the mid-19th century, who saw it and were reminded of a Biblical story in which Joshua lifted his hands up in prayer. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Joshua was one of Moses’ lieutenants, and later his successor. Nothing I’ve read about Joshua … Continue reading »
High-Percentage Tithing “Accelerators”
Here’s an article about some things that are found in Presbyterian churches with a higher-than-average proportion of people who contribute a high percentage of their income to the church. (Did you get that? These are factors that, when you find them in a church, give you grounds to predict that the church will have a … Continue reading »
New Call!
I’ve accepted a new call. Assuming that all the denominational processes work themselves out, then effective March 12, 2012, I will become pastor of Jewel Lake Parish in Anchorage, Alaska. You can’t photograph a church, but here’s the building they meet in: (Click to enlarge).
Tab Sweep – Small Groups, Hitchens, Mainline Planting
A quick list of some things I’ve read lately that are worth sharing: First, the short but provocatively-titled “Taking Our Groups Off Life Support.” Key graf: If we are going to take our groups off life support, we are going to need permission to re-imagine what gospel-centered community looks like. We will not change the … Continue reading »