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7 Leadership Lessons From Phil Jackson’s Coaching Career | Big Is The New Small

May 9th, 2011 by

phil jackson

7 Leadership Lessons From Phil Jackson’s Coaching Career | Big Is The New Small.

Scot Williams is one of the best church leadership bloggers out there and in light of the Lakers meltdown, this is a good post. Phil Jackson’s coaching success is not an accident and there are lessons for church leaders to be found in his career. If there is one I would point to as perhaps the most important it is to strive for #2 as an outcome – win without the coach. Too many churches are personality driven rather than mission driven teams that create new leaders. Check out the post and Scott’s blog.

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Posted in Blogs, Leadership Resources | No Comments »

Wired Jesus Podcast #59 – Investing In Hell

Apr 25th, 2011 by

Well, Lent was certainly interesting and perhaps the most interesting part was the continued debate over Rob Bell’s book, Love Wins. While the press coverage is largely done, the debate among pastor people and religious blogs is continuing. During this season when we remembered Jesus suffering, death, and resurrection, one segment of the church focused in on an eternal hell of torment and torture for the majority of the human race to make sense of a God of love and the life of Jesus.

Now I spoke more about the book last podcast but as Easter arrives, it still points out how offensive the thought of of a God of unconditional love and grace is because it means that God will love and welcome those who are least deserving. It means God is not constrained by human limits, standards, and emotions. It means God is not limited by even death.

Which is the point of Easter and the resurrection. God has complete power over death, on this side of it and beyond.

But there is an entire stream of the church that is built on investing in hell, creating a system of salvation that makes huge amounts of money, terrorizes people “into heaven”, and perpetuates a story of divine brutality and abuse as love. And that is what Love Win threatens. But by its very nature, I would say that this form of Christianity is dying because it no longer connects with most people today and in the end, really is not descriptive of the God Jesus proclaimed. Its coming apart and few people under the age of 35 care that’s a good thing, because it has happened before and the Church came out better for it.

Download the podcast here.

Links:

Here is a great Robot Chicken clip about heaven that points out how our very human sense of justice and fairness is offended and confused by the possibility of unconditional love and grace. While its intended as a joke, it does point to what unconditional really means and how offensive that can be.

monkey town
Rachael Held Evans is one of my favorite bloggers and is also author of the book, Evolving In Monkeytown. Here is her post on Rob Bell and Christian pop stardom.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Posted in American Culture, Death and Dying, Fundamentalism - Preserving 19th Century America For the Future, Heaven, Hell, and Afterlife Pasttimes, Jesus the Christ, Love, Rob Bell and Love Wins, The Organized Church, Wired Jesus Podcast | 4 Comments »

World Harvest Church – Ultimate Giveaway

Apr 20th, 2011 by

easter giveaway for jesus

World Harvest Church – Ultimate Giveaway.

Jesus Christ is risen today,
Haaaaaa leee luuu jah!
Brand new cars to give away,
Haaaaaa leee luuu jah!
Who did once upon the cross
Haaaaaa leee luuu jah!
Suffered to win you an Xbox.
Haaaaaa leee luuu jah!

You have got to be kidding me.

And people complain that Rob Bell talking about a gracious God is heresy and this garbage of Jesus saving you from hell so if you are faithful and give to Rod, you will receive salvation and financial prosperity is accepted?

Hope to post a podcast by the weekend. Not necessarily about this but when church members showed up on his college campus to hand out flyers to come win a car to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and give your live to him to save you from hell… well, can’t pass up on this. Just too weird.

Just read the description. You can’t win from Jesus unless you give to the church first.

At World Harvest Church, we love Easter! And we want to share it with you so much during one of our two Easter celebrations. When you join us for Easter Sunday morning, you can register to win fabulous gifts including:

A Certified Pre-Owned 2008 Honda Civic LX from Lindsay Honda
46” Samsung Flat-screen TV
Apple iPad
HP Touch-Smart Personal Computer
Nintendo Wii
Cisco Flip Video Camera
$500 Wal-mart gift card
5 – $100 Kroger gas cards
Pastor Parsley is asking us to sow our Resurrection Seed offering at this service – our very best gift, in honor of the best gift ever given to fallen humanity. Then, we will celebrate the harvest that was the result of God’s Good Friday seed – a family that experiences miracles, healings and victory over the darkness of this world. This will be a service you will never forget – plan now to be here for all that God will do among us!

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Posted in American Culture, Heaven, Hell, and Afterlife Pasttimes, Weirdness, Will the Real God Please Stand Up? | 4 Comments »

The Coming Death of National Denominations, Part One – George Bullard’s Posterous

Apr 12th, 2011 by

The Coming Death of National Denomoinations, Part One – George Bullard’s Posterous.

While this is not “new” news, more people are pointing to it – denominations are going extinct and mostly doing it by their own choice. The economy has been a recent factor, but unlike natural selection, many denominations and congregations are choosing to be dinosaurs when they have the ability to adapt to the 21st Century. Despite the “faith of our fathers” defense and “taking a stand for pure doctrine”, the issue is not fidelity to the core confessions of the Christian faith – the issue is choosing particularly North American manifestations of Christianity as being normative for all times and all places. Whether its fundamentalist Evangelicalism or Protestant Liberalism/Activism, neither do much to create a coalition of program congregations rather than discipleship communities.

Until the denominations figure out what relational authenticity and faith formation for discipleship, the larger structure will decline and local congregations will be left to decide if they want to march off the cliff with the administration.

And some say I’m an optimist.

Posted in American Culture, Leadership Resources, The Organized Church | No Comments »

Love Wins Discussion Post

Apr 6th, 2011 by

This started on Facebook but a running post here on Wired Jesus might make a better venue for discussion, especially considering my next podcast that is in the works is on the larger issue of the evangelical uproar over the book. Rob has not said anything new, as he says, but I would say the difference now is that you have an entire institution, industry, and theology built around the need of a literal, eternal hell of torment as a motivator to make a decision for a loving Jesus, join a church, and be a consumer of evangelical media that perpetuates the belief. The longer the discussion goes on, the more I see parallels with the Reformation – instead of using words like indulgences or a building project like St. Peter’s as the beneficiaries of hell, this strand (please not, I am not branding all evangelicals with this) of Christianity is following the same pattern: In order to be saved from a wrathful God you must turn to Jesus and give your life and cash over and then spend your remaining days spreading the same message lest you fall under wrath again.

All in the name of Jesus.

At this point I’m halfway through the book but I would be interested in hearing from everyone what they are taking from the book and if you are involved in a congregation, what the response is there.

Let the games begin!

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Posted in Books - Print Is Not Dead Only Different, Fundamentalism - Preserving 19th Century America For the Future, Jesus the Christ, Rob Bell and Love Wins, Will the Real God Please Stand Up? | 5 Comments »

Hidden in a cave: First ever portrait of Jesus found in 1 of 70 ancient books? | Mail Online

Apr 3rd, 2011 by

early jesus

Hidden in a cave: First ever portrait of Jesus found in 1 of 70 ancient books? | Mail Online.

Very cool discovery.

The image is eerily familiar: a bearded young man with flowing curly hair. After lying for nearly 2,000 years hidden in a cave in the Holy Land, the fine detail is difficult to determine. But in a certain light it is not difficult to interpret the marks around the figure’s brow as a crown of thorns.

The extraordinary picture of one of the recently discovered hoard of up to 70 lead codices – booklets – found in a cave in the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee is one reason Bible historians are clamouring to get their hands on the ancient artefacts.

If genuine, this could be the first-ever portrait of Jesus Christ, possibly even created in the lifetime of those who knew him.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1372741/Hidden-cave-First-portrait-Jesus-1-70-ancient-books.html#ixzz1IUIObbTK

Posted in Jesus the Christ | No Comments »

Rob Bell and C.S. Lewis (by Jeff Cook) | Jesus Creed

Mar 23rd, 2011 by

wired lewis

Rob Bell and C.S. Lewis (by Jeff Cook) | Jesus Creed.

One of the best reflections on this matter by an evangelical and I believe he is spot on when he concludes with this:

The debate over Love Wins is not actually a fight only about doctrine. It is about angst caused by different cultures and philosophical precommitments. It’s about language and how we articulate what is real. It’s about the acceptance or rejection of postmodern ways of expressing what is most vital to us. It is about two cultures crashing together like a cold and warm front and causing a storm. Sure Rob is throwing theological hand grenades in that trailer and on the back cover, but as he rightly says in the intro to Love Wins, he’s not claiming anything new. We would be wise to pursue the real dialogue—the more important dialogue—at hand in American Christianity. We need to openly converse about postmodernity and modernity, their effect on doctrine, and especially how Christians who assume very different epistemologies can actually champion each other instead of drawing pistols every time they disagree in this new century.

Its a cultural/generational/communication clash more than over doctrine. Unlike the fictional Left Behind, the real left behind will be the relevance of the Christian Church if it remains bound in 19th and 20th Century American Protestant constructs. I just wish I could find a direct link to Jeff’s blog.

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Posted in American Culture, Blogs, Fundamentalism - Preserving 19th Century America For the Future, Generations - Guttenbergers vs. Googlers, Heaven, Hell, and Afterlife Pasttimes, Postmodern Perspectives, Rob Bell and Nooma, The Organized Church, Will the Real God Please Stand Up? | 1 Comment »

Wheatridge Ministries Weekly Devotional

Mar 23rd, 2011 by

wheatridge

My latest devotions for Wheatridge Ministries – Of Heaven and Hell – Lent and Love Wins.

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Posted in Heaven, Hell, and Afterlife Pasttimes | No Comments »

A Question about Martin Bashir’s Question | Jesus Creed

Mar 19th, 2011 by

A Question about Martin Bashir’s Question | Jesus Creed.

You learning something new all the time. I don’t watch much MSNBC but Martin was very dogged about having Rob Bell answer the either/or question on salvation and personal decision. I had no idea he was an evangelical and to my own embarassment, I stereotyped him as a secular person. My bad – I didn’t think Christians were allowed in mainstream news departments.

However, the outcome is largely the same. A large stream of evangelical theology is based solely on an individual’s personal decision, not God’s, including the possibility of God giving second chances even after death. If there is, then evangelism based on the threat of hell falls apart that you have to consider that Jesus came for more than saving us from God’s wrath.

It sounds positively Reformation era. I seem to recall Martin Luther having a problem with a similar position held by the medieval Roman Catholic Church. But, of course, that was different. I don’t know why, but I’m sure telling people that they will go to hell unless they make a personal decision for Jesus, join a Bible believing church, and tithe to it/Benny Hinn/John Piper/the late Oral Roberts/etc.. is completely different from needing to buy an indulgence from the Pope that frees you/your relatives from Purgatory or Hell because Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’ enough.

Yeah, completely different.

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Posted in Death and Dying, Fundamentalism - Preserving 19th Century America For the Future, Heaven, Hell, and Afterlife Pasttimes, Rob Bell and Nooma | No Comments »

I am The Woman at The Well: Is Jesus Anti-Gay?

Mar 17th, 2011 by

woman at well

I am The Woman at The Well: Is Jesus Anti-Gay?.

I was looking for some clip art on google for the biblical story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well and I found this blog called I Am The Woman at the Well by pastor Pamela Donnan. She is a pastor back in the Chicago burbs where I used to live at a congregation called The Well. Looks like they are doing very good ministry in reaching emerging generations.

I love this quote:

Grace is not a doctrine. It is a Person. If it were a doctrine, it would be something you could take a little of or a lot of….. like something at a buffet table. As a Person, you either take All…… or nothing.

Jesus. Just Jesus.

Brilliant. That’s a sermon right there. Better than that, it is simply pure truth. I enjoy what I’m reaching in her blog and I think I would really connect with her preaching as well. It seem very grounded in real life and taking on real issues with grace.

Check out her blog. I know I am.

Posted in Blogs, Cool Congregations | No Comments »

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