Post-Restorationist

I will begin to contribute with several others on Post-Restorationist Perspectives blog. What we are seeking to write about and discuss is a Post-Conservative Theology in an American Restoration Movement Context.

This idea was adapted from Dallas Willard’s introduction to “The Post-Evangelical” by Dave Tomlinson. Here is the adaptation:

“Post-Restorationism is by no means ex-restorationism. There are, of course, ex-restorationists, and even anti-restorationists, but Post-Restorationists are Restorationists, perhaps tenaciously so. However, Post-Restorationists have also been driven to the margins by some aspects of Restorationist church culture with which they cannot honestly identify.”

So please take a look at the blog and join the conversation. Also, be looking for new additions to the restarted Post Restorationist Radio

mw

The Voice And These Tough Times

The Voice: New Testament
I have talked several times on this blog about The Voice Project and its effectiveness for ministry, personal study, readings for worship, etc. But, this time they have reached a goal of putting your hands a complete New Testament reading. This source is very insightful but also makes for a more engaging and I feel, visual reading of Scripture. With there use a script writing and “commentary” from the perspective of the writer of the book, this resource is something that you can not go without. I would highly recommend this resource for personal study, groups, worship, and really any setting that there is use of the New Testament. This is something that will be good for new readers to the Scriptures can use and visualize the story and insight into what they are reading. The Voice Project is something that I have used and been “involved” with (from an outsider) since the beginning and this is something that will be useful to many people. I am looking forward to the other resources that will come out from them. See the product and others HERE!

Max Lucado’s For These Tough Times
This was the first book I have read from Max Lucado in a long time. But I have to say that it was an enjoyable and inspirational book. This book is a gift size book but is very timely especially after the year that many have experienced and the way that 2009 is beginning. The book begins with a chapter on Where is God and reminds us that God is overall and the effects of a broken world doesn’t effect us. God’s Great Love is a great reminder that God is for us and love us. Max talks about good ultimately overcoming evil but then goes into a section about in the silence God speaking to us and then some thoughts on prayer. These are great reminders for people going through tough times. One of the most moving parts of the book comes at the end where he has a copy of the prayer he gave at the National Prayer Vigil after 9/11. The prayer is entitled “Do It Again, Lord” in which he talks about God’s working in times of darkness in the lives of people throughout Scripture. You need to read this prayer…it will become a prayer for you in times of trouble. Again, this is a gift size book from Max Lucado but, I feel is one of his better books in this size and again is a timely inspiration during some of the turmoil that are going on in this day and time. The product is from Thomas Nelson Publishers and can be seen and purchased HERE!

Greatest Interpretation Ever Given…

Some of you may have seen this from the Youth Specialties e-newsletter but I have to share it:

Review: GloboChrist

In his book, “GloboChrist”, Carl Raschke’s main question is how can we take the Great Commission and look at it from the lenses of postmodernity. This is an important question and idea to think about. With an understanding for this time and culture, this book is the postmodern/global “Christ and Culture”. With his use of examples and relevant contextualizing ideas about consumerism, Christianity and mass market and Islam, Raschke explores the world around us and how we can truly live out the Great Commission. Raschke is daring, challenging and refresh in his writing and thinking that will fly in the face of most thinking and models an important way of thinking in this global society that is emerging today. This is a important book within a conversation of how do we respond to the world around us.

God’s Droppings, Eating Jesus, and a Pastor Boxing Satan

So the title of this post sounds like the beginning of a bad joke (or possibly the exact opposite), but this is just some of the great stories that author Matthew Paul Turner offers in his newest book, “Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God despite a Holy Mess”.

This book is something like I have never read before. Turner offers a great combination of thought provoking stories, great, hilarious, witty humor, and a chance to take a walk down memory lane in some form or another. At many times I could picture myself in some place or another, in other places I sat there thinking “this couldn’t of happened”, and some of the stories just made me say “Wow” and thank God for the up bringing that I had.

The book is about Turner’s journey as a young child into the world of an independent, fundamentalist Baptist church. With parents that had a sincere desire to follow God, Turner takes us into his world of coming to know God in a sometimes confusing world. However, with all of the entertaining stories and humorous happenings (again, see the title of this post), Turner turns our attention into the beauty of finding God among the mess of a sometimes tainted “religion”.

For me, this book is one of the most “real” books on spirituality that I have read. This is life in the church, especially in that time. This is Turner’s story with his early journeys with God. Sometimes the journey will be filled with humor and sometimes horror but what Turner points us to is a continual search for true relationship with others and with God.

This book is great for young and old. This book is great for those that have been in the church for a long time and even for those who aren’t in the church or have moved away from the church. This is a most read and one of those books that was hard to put down and so enjoyable to read. It was such a nice change in pace of reading from other things I read.

So pick up a copy today! You can order at Amazon.com right now!

CHURCHED: GO BUY IT!!!

My friend Matthew Paul Turner’s new book “Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess” is out and available on AMAZON! Its a great book and I am planning to review the book later this week; so check back for that. But trust me….this is a great read! So check it out!!!

To Vote or Not to Vote

Relevant Magazine has an interesting section of their current issue on Christians and voting. I wanted to share a few quotes from one of the articles:

“How do we engage the political conversation? We wanted to think deeply and theologically about it as Christians—how to engage or disengage, or appropriately engage. There was an inherent—and I think, healthy—suspicion about putting all of our hope in one day, or one vote, or one candidate or party.”
-Shane Claiborne-

“I think theological grounds can be made for that, on grounds of coercion, or what it means to call Jesus our Lord. Where your vote goes is kind of where your wish or hope is going,…I think Christians should be very unsatisfied with the whole nature of coercion. In some ways, there is a latent violence that sits under the voting mechanism.”
-Chris Haw-

“We’re very careful not to say, ‘Don’t vote,…Think very critically. Pray. Study Scripture. Whatever you do, do it with fear and trembling, with our neighbors in mind, with the poor in mind, with kids in Iraq in mind.”
-Shane Claiborne-

“Eliminating poverty requires not just taking care of the victims of poverty; it requires transforming the infrastructure of poor countries. Do they have the roads for them to get food? When it comes to building roads, airports, facilitating transportation and communication, all of which are essential, and providing massive educational programs, which are essential to overcome illiteracy, I don’t think the Church alone can do it. We need a partnership,”
-Tony Campolo-

“My contention is that if anybody asks if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, the answer should be, ‘Please name the issue,’” he says. “On certain issues, I’m going to come across as someone who likes what the Republicans say, and on other issues I will come across as saying what the Democrats say.”
-Tony Campolo-

“A love for our own people is not a bad thing, but it’s a love that doesn’t stop at the border,”
-Shane Claiborne-

“We’re inviting people to think,” he says. “That’s what a lot of people have been scared of: not trusting people to think for themselves with the help of the Spirit of God. Some folks go out and organize for one of the candidates. Others say, ‘We’re going to write in Jesus.’ Part of the beauty of it is saying, ‘We’re going to trust that the Spirit is at work in different people’s hearts in different ways.’ Ultimately, [we hope] whatever they do is seeking first the Kingdom of God and embodying their politics with their lives rather than just trusting in a single candidate or a single politician to change the world for them.”
-Shane Claiborne-

“What is more important than how we vote on Nov. 4 is how we live on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5,”
-Chris Haw-

“We vote every day with our lives. We vote every day with our feet, our hands, our lips and our wallets. We vote for the poor. We vote for the peacemakers. We vote for the marginalized, the oppressed, the most vulnerable of our society. Ultimate change does not just happen one day every four years.”
-Shane Claiborne-

Tony Campolo wrote a book called “Red Letter Christians”

Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw wrote “Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals”

If you are thinking of participating in the voting process there is alot of partisan sources out there. Here are some helpful sites I have had recommended to me:

www.factcheck.org
www.politifact.com

These are non-partisan sources who check the claims from both sides against the facts. They are free and easily accessible resources.

A great day….

Not many speeches move me everytime I hear it but this is one of them:

Even though, MLK Jr. was taken from this world way before his time, his influence and change to the world is so impactful. I am thankful for his influence, passion, and faith that this world can be change through love, virtue, and compassion….may we live daily with those things in mind.

Book Reviews

The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue by: Mark A. Noll and James Turner
It is refreshing to read a book that is looking at two different views with some similarities but for the most part is talking about two separate perspectives and be able to have this discussion in a positive dialogue that will hopefully enhance both of the views and be able to bring them closer together to work for a common cause. Both Mark Noll and James Turner help to do this within the discussion of Christian educations. Noll represents the evangelical side while Turner represents the Roman Catholic view.

This is a good read working with the university level of Christian education. Their call to be about the process of learning in a faith based institution with an array of ideas, principles, and beliefs but set with the foundation of the Christian faith is something that all Christian educational institutions should be aiming for. However, for someone like me that is working with education and spirituality on a secular campus, this book has some good insight into the role of faith in our modern university settings.
This book is put out by Brazos Press which is a division of Baker Publishing Group.

New Monasticism by Jonathan Wilson- Hartgrove
This book gives good insight into the movement and really helps to draw churches and Christians back to a reforming idea of what it means to be a Christian in this day and time. This book is a good introduction into the new monasticism way of life and will inspire to live out the calling of the kingdom of God in your communities that you live in now. This was a refreshing book but also a challenging book on how we live our lives in this day and time. Some of the ideas are radical but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing at all 

This book is again put out by Brazos Press which is a division of Baker Publishing Group.

I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt by: Vince Antonucci
This was a good book that was a simple read but enjoyable one. There is some good humor in it with some thought provoking ideas on living out an authentic life. There is nothing earth shattering in this book, however Antonucci is personal and straight forward with stories and ideas and what kind of life Jesus is calling us to. This is a refreshing book that was an enjoyable summer read. This book is put out by Baker Books.

The Faces of Jesus by: Frederick Buechner
This short book was a great meditation for me. These are six simple chapters about the life of Jesus (split up as Annunciation, Nativity, Ministry, Last Supper, Crucifixon, and Resurrection). He takes these stories and combines them with a historical view to help give a human view of who Jesus was.
He also uses artwork to help bring alive the stories which he tells throughout the book. Buechner really gives great insight to the stories that brings the life of Jesus to life for the reader. A great read for focus and meditation. This book is published by Paraclete Press.

Two Reflections & Another New Experience

This year began three new experiences for me.

The first was being an adjunct professor at Wilmington University. This has been something I have been working towards for several years. I was a little worried because I had no idea if I was going to even enjoy teaching. I just knew it was something I wanted to try (it could have been an expensive try with getting a degree, etc). But I really do love it. It’s something I enjoy doing. I enjoy learning the information and thinking of creative (sometimes) ways of presenting it. I like for the student’s to engage with the information and it is enjoyable for the dialogue and for the learning both ways. I have taught Mythology the past 2 semester and in the fall I am teaching Mythology again along with an Intro to Psychology class.

The other two experiences coming in the form of being a director of a week at Camp Manatawny (the week was for 10 & 11 year olds). Lets get this straight…I haven’t worked with this age group since I was about 16 so I was a little worried about it. But it was a great week. Here are some of my reflections from the week (posted on Intermediate 1 Week Blog):

After many years of being involved with Camp Manatawny, I had my first experience directing a week. It came with challenges and a good bit of nervousness, however with it came some great memories and joys. This years theme was based off of the Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything and we learned about what it means to be a Hero for God. Through our lessons, memory work, devotionals, and even athletics, we learned what this meant. We learned alot but we also played alot. We had a game called Peacekeepers, sock hockey, LOTS of water balloons, a flour war and some silliness at the campfire. We had visitors like a revolutionary war solider, Judge Rufus (for Kangaroo court), King Ugabuga, and Chief Manatawny made a special appearance.

I can’t thank the parents enough for sending your children to camp. I hope they enjoyed the experience and will want to come back. Thanks to the campers for a tremendous week. They were full of energy but were a joy to be with and work with. Thanks so much to the staff. Without you it would have not been as smooth of a week as it was. I cherish all of you and thank you for wanting to be apart of this great thing called Camp Manatawny.

I hope that many more people will be apart next year for our week. We are already in the works for things for NEXT YEAR!!!! It is already shaping up to be a great experience. One new component we are going to add is a service project. We will be partnering with Compassion International and each camper will make and decorate a bear and we will be sending them to children in 3rd world countries to have. We have alot more things on the way. We will keep you up to date about things going on with the week as that start to come out. We hope you will want to be apart.

Thanks again for everything and see you next year!!

The last experience (so far…and it hasn’t started fully) is working with the campus ministry at University of Delaware, Blue Hens for Christ. I am now the campus minister and looking forward to it. Lots of things are going on and so far the studies have gone well with the students (great discussion and variety of thinking….its really refreshing). Here is a short article I wrote this week for a few local churches for their bulletins:

The fall semester is coming quickly. I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with the college students of Blue Hens for Christ (BHC) and also along side the Delaware Christian Campus Ministry Foundation (DCCMF). This has been a busy summer. BHC has had small group meetings and Tuesday night dinner and devo. Many of the students worked in Delaware this summer and participated in working at Camp Manatawny and other camps as well as projects such as the Urban Plunge at the Sunday Breakfast Mission. Also, several of the BHCers were getting married or preparing to be married this summer. We averaged about 25-30 students on Tuesday nights during the summer. The DCCMF has been busy as well this summer. The foundation launched their new website: www.dccmf.org. This has information on the foundation and also the ability to donate online. The foundation is working on promotional material as well as making presentations throughout the Delaware Valley to gain more support of the campus ministry. Also, Phase 1 of the student center or campus house (17 East Park Place in Newark) will be completed before the beginning of the Fall semester. As I write this article, the new bathrooms are being put in; a new handicap accessible entrance is being added along with a new entrance for the apartment on the second floor. The house is changing daily and the years of hard work with construction are beginning to show progress. But the fruits of all this continue to be the students. The BHC students continue to build relationships with each other and with God, and continue to serve the world around them. Each time the students are in the house playing cards, watching a movie, having small group studies, praying, eating, and sharing their lives together, the efforts of time, money, sweat, blood, and tears are visibly well worth it. Thank you for your continued support and prayers for the campus ministry and the foundation. The fall schedule is filled with small groups, dinner and devos, projects with local organizations, retreats, charity walks, retreats, and mission trips. Please come down and visit the house and see what is happening. We need the continued support in many different areas (prayers, volunteers, financially). But as you can see the fruits of your labor, prayers, and gifts are being shown each day.

So if you would like to support this campus ministry; check out www.dccmf.org and you can give on their. Also keep this ministry in your prayers.

So this has been a good chunk of the summer for me. I hope to write about my experience in Mexico and I also have some book reviews including my continuing reflection on Peter Rollins’ new book.