The first Friday of March is the World Day of Prayer. According to a suggested press release available from the World Day of Prayer USA Committee's website: World Day of Prayer (WDP) is a worldwide ecumenical movement of Christian women of many traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year on the first Friday in March. Services begin at sunrise in the Pacific and follow the sun across the globe on the day of celebration. Each year a different country serves Read More …
Multiethnic Calling (#0290)
Mark DeYmaz is the founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas and the co-founder and current Executive Director of the Mosaic Global Network, which is a relational network of local church pastors/planters, researchers, educators and ministry leaders, that exists to catalyze the growing movement toward multiethnic economically diverse churches. His article in the March/April edition of "Outreach" featured brief excerpts from key speakers at the Multi-ethnic Church Conference, Read More …
Reasons to Tweet (#0289)
Frank Viola is an author and popular Christian conference speaker. He has written numerous books on the deeper Christian life and radical church reform, including From Eternity to Here, Jesus Manifesto (co-authored with Leonard Sweet - read my review here), and Pagan Christianity (co-authored with George Barna) as well as Finding Organic Church, Reimagining Church, and The Untold Story of the New Testament Church. To connect with Viola, friend him on Facebook, follow Read More …
Being a Welcoming Church 2.0 (#0288)
Elizabeth Drescher is a religion writer and scholar of Christian spirituality. She writes commentary on religion, culture, and social media for the online magazine, Religion Dispatches and multiple other journals. Drescher's first book, Tweet If You Love Jesus: Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation, will be published later this year. Currently she teaches in the undergraduate program in Religious Studies and the graduate program in Pastoral Ministry Read More …
What is Progressive Christianity? (#0287)
Progressive Christianity is a relatively new term that might not exist today without the work of ProgressiveChristainity.org. In 1994 when the Rev. Jim Adams (shown at right), then the rector of St. Mark's Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., founded the organization as The Center for Progressive Christianity there "was no known organization, scholar, or church leader publicly using the term, 'progressive Christianity.'" Within eight years, the term was regularly used "by scholars, Read More …
Review of Open Source Gospel (#0286)
Landon Whitsitt. Open Source Gospel: Ten Commandments for the Future of the Christian Faith. E-book, 2010. Available online at http://landonwhitsitt.com/open-source-gospel/ Meet the Author Landon Whitsitt is an ordained Presbyterian (PCUSA) pastor who serves as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Liberty, Missouri, and as the Vice-Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which is the second highest elected official in the 2.3 million Read More …
No More Interim Pastors? (#0285)
The Author Anthony Robinson is an ordained United Church of Christ pastor who currently serves as President of Congregational Leadership Northwest. He travels throughout North America as a speaker, teacher, preacher, consultant and coach serving congregations and their leaders. Robinson has taught at several schools including Toronto School of Theology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle University, and Vancouver School of Theology. He is the author Read More …
Decoding the “I’m Not Being Fed” Complaint (#0284)
Steve Mathewson is the Senior Pastor of the Evangelical Free Church of Libertyville, Illinois and the author of The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative (2002). He wrote "What 'I'm Not Being Fed' Really Means" for the March/April edition of Collide. In the article he suggests five possible meanings people may intend when offering this remark: I really am not being fed The church is not meeting my needs You are not addressing my struggles and challenges I do not Read More …
Lead by Letting Go (#0283)
The Reverend Canon Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is an Episcopal Priest, Director of Spiritual Formation and Anglican Studies and Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. Previously he served as Canon Educator, Director of Programs in Spirituality and Religious Education, and Acting Program Area Manager at Washington National Cathedral. He is the author of seven books as well as numerous scholarly articles and Read More …
Internet Replaces TV News (#0282)
Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center released the findings of their latest national survey about Americans' main source of national and international news. The survey was conducted in December 2010 and included 1,500 adults. The chart at right illustrates how the results of this survey have changed over time. Among the significant changes: From 2002 to 2010, television showed a 16% decline (from 82% to 66%) In 2010, for the first time, the internet has surpassed Read More …