Category: Uncategorized
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Rise of the Jesus-Followers
Erin McCrum has written an excellent article published over at CMA Resources. Since Erin quotes me (among others), why wouldn't I like it? No, seriously, it's an excellent piece: The term Jesus-follower (or follower of Jesus or follower of Christ) is on the rise in the United States. More and more Christians are calling themselves…
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Irreligious Followers Beget Irreligious Followers
(Note: this is the last part of chapter 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on. You can now download all of chapter one its entirety here–though it will still go through several more edits.) In all cases, though taking many different shapes, the living church-as-a-movement will lead to an outbreak of followers begetting…
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Forget the Church — Follow Jesus
Today is an unplanned post because I got an early look at Newsweek's cover (to the right) along with the cover story by Andrew Sullivan entitled, "Christianity in Crisis." I reserve the right to be excited about this article without claiming to agree with every sentence or statement. I know that some will discount the…
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Cloneliness is Not Next to Godliness (book continues)
(Note: this is a continuation of chapter 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on. The first part of this chapter is here, then here, and then here.) Above all, followers of Jesus, by definition, are not clones of those around them. Our cultures invite us to fall into lockstep and become clones…
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Children & Family Are At the Heart of It
This post digresses from my book-writing to highlight an article that reminds us how important it is that we keep our own children and family at the heart of our church expressions and spiritual life. The simple, Biblical model is that our church gatherings, as well as our whole walk with God, embrace the family…
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The Predictable Way or… (Ch. 1 Continues)
(Note: this is a continuation of chapter 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on. The first part of this chapter is here and then here.) The Predictable Way or the Jesus Way We often love Jesus but, really, we love even more our comfortable religious boxes, our titles, our roles, and our…
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Audacious Followers (Ch. 1 Continues)
(Note: this is a continuation of the start of Ch. 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on. The first part of this chapter is the previous post. Also note that much of this particular section of writing is taken from a previous blog post, so if it has a familiar ring, that's…
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The Awakening Irreligious Church
Mel Gibson, in the movie Braveheart, portrays the true story of the Scot revolutionary, William Wallace. The common folk were poor and routinely stripped of their lands and treated with contempt by their overlords. While the movie does not depict all that motivated this young man, he was surely impacted by two significant turning points:…
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Do You Have a Story to Share?
I am continuing to think through my next book with your help and collaboration. Your input has been awesome! For the background on this, you can go to my last post. Now, I want to ask you for stories. Your own stories (or maybe even others). Real-life illustrations from real people walking out the truths…
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Working Title and Thesis for the ‘Irreligious’ Book
Based on your input (recorded here and here) and my own convictions, I have come up with my first attempt at a working title and thesis for my next book. The word ‘working’ means that it’s still being worked on and is, therefore, NOT in final form. This is why I bring it to you!…