Bruce Reyes-Chow is a consultant who served as founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, until May of this year, and was the former moderator of the General Assembly of the 2.3 million member PCUSA. He recently wrote a piece about what Progressive Christianity is for Patheos' new Progressive Christian portal. In the article, he suggests: “You might be a progressive Christian if . . .” You can be described, but not defined . . . The Progressive Christian Read More …
The Unique Vocation of the United Church of Christ (#0414)
The United Church of Christ is currently in the midst of General Synod 28 (July 1-5) in Tampa, FL. Yesterday afternoon, I joined other members of local churches from across Florida as guests at a special community wide afternoon worship service. The Rev. Dr. Laurinda Hafner, Senior Pastor of Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, preached a prophetic sermon marked by hope, which included these words: A year ago Bishop John Shelby Spong, the former Episcopal Bishop Read More …
Reuniting Old Friends (#0413)
This morning I am preaching at Naples United Church of Christ in Naples, FL. You can read the full text of my sermon, Reuniting Old Friends, here. For more information about the books referenced visit my reviews of Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood (2011) by Alan J. Roxburgh To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World (2010) by James Davison Hunter Putting Away Childish Things: A Tale of Modern Faith Read More …
Demand for Intelligent Internet Video (#0412)
TED is "is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading." TED conferences "bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less)." Writing for Mashable, Sarah Kessler shares the story of how recordings of these talks have now been viewed 500 million times: When Director of TED Media June Cohen shopped around the idea for a television show featuring lectures from the organization’s famously elite Read More …
Never Complain About (#0411)
Jon Acuff, author of Stuff Christians Like (2010) and Quitter (2011), recently blogged about complaining. In that post he shared his past personal experiences of complaining about various aspects of church life, before learning how unhealthy his perspective had become. In contrast, he suggests a better way for members and active participants to respond to areas of church life they see as less than ideal: then I learned a pretty powerful truth about church volunteers that forever Read More …
Half Way Through 2011 (#0410)
I spent a great deal of time in my youth on soccer fields. While no two games were the same, we always paused at the midpoint for half-time. During the half-time break the coach helped us evaluate our performance during the first half and offered recommendations for what we needed to do in the second half. Unfortunately there is no national half-time holiday each year to remind us to stop and assess our performance and consider what changes we need to make in the Read More …
The Stages (or not) of Grief (#0409)
In the June 28, 2011, edition of the Christian Century, Thomas G. Long contributes an article that questions the wisdom of the idea of well defined stages of grief. Over the last generation, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) gained widespread acceptance and led to the creation of a "cottage industry of bereavement counselors and grief managers" (p.35). Drawing on Ruth Davis Konigsberg’s new book The Truth About Read More …
America’s Best Read Cities (#0408)
Across the country book stores have been closing their doors as more and more people opt to purchase their reading material online. Amazon has secured a seemingly ever increasing share in the market and has begun to leverage this new position. Recently, Amazon announced its list of America's "Most Well Read Cities," which is based on "sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format" for the calendar year to date for "cities with more Read More …
Your Congregation’s Connection to a Denominational Brand (#0407)
Matt Carlisle, founder of Big Heart Design, a web and social media strategy consultancy located in Nashville, TN, recently blogged about the relationship of local congregation's to their denominational brand. He writes: If your church is part of a denomination, your congregation more than likely has used church-wide logos or branding statements to promote your ministry. From the logo printed on business cards to the sign in the front lawn, most American churches are identified largely Read More …
No Vacation Nation (#0406)
Rebecca Ray and John Schmitt's report for the Center for Economic Policy and Research, "No-Vacation Nation," explores how different America is from the rest of the world's industrialized countries when it comes to vacation: The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation. European countries establish legal rights to at least 20 days of paid vacation per year, with legal requirement of 25 and even 30 or more days in some Read More …