Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Steve Wright has posed an interesting question on MissionalCOG: can the "haves" and "have-nots" get together at church? And, of more import to him, can they do so at his new church? IMHO, the class stratification of American Protestant and Evangelical Christianity is one of the sorriest aspects of what has been otherwise represented as …
Continue reading "Is It Possible for the “Haves” and “Have-Nots” to go to Church Together?"
There seems to be a growing dissatisfaction in the way American Evangelical churches are going these days, and there is emerging a group of spokesmen for this feeling. I've taken a look at the likes of Leonard Sweet and Brian McLaren, but another one of those who is looking for a new way of doing …
One frequent contributor to Virtue Online is Mike McManus, whose best known efforts are at saving marriages. He was featured on the 7 March 2008 700 Club, and that segment is this week's (delayed) podcast.
"Keyboard Brian" responded to my piece on tithing. He probably should have read my latest back and forth with Russell Earl Kelly. I was very gratified at Dr. Kelly's response; it has lightened this whole discussion. One thing's for sure: you have to give credit to a man who's legally blind and hang glides! In …
On my companion site vulcanhammer.info, I have an entire section devoted to my business dealings in China. In the epilogue to that, I make the following commentary: The triumph of the Communists in 1949 led to cutting off the Christian church (official and unofficial) from the outside world, organisationally and otherwise. But in the long …
Dr. Kelly responded to my post, a reaction itself to the CBS Sunday morning piece which featured Dr. Kelly on the subject of tithing. This whole adventure has to rate the most frustrating back and forth I have experienced in the time I have been maintaining this web site (it started in August 1997, so …
Continue reading "Russell Earl Kelly: A Different Point of View"
It seems that our mainstream media won't get off the subject of tithing, and it also seems that Russell Earl Kelly is making the most of it. Some of you remember I went back and forth with Dr. Kelly last fall on this subject: the pieces were as follows: The Backlash Against Tithing Pickett's Charge …
One of the objectives of many "post-modern" Christian authors is to faithfully echo the style (if not the message) of our culture. But, even though I read and reviewed Leonard Sweet's book The Gospel According to Starbucks, I never appreciated how successful he was in doing that until I saw Starbucks' Chairman Howard Schultz' address …
Continue reading "Starbucks’ Transformation and Leonard Sweet"
Every time I get discouraged at the way U.S. Evangelicals operate, it's good to see some sense coming from somewhere else, as is the case with Sunny Lee's article about the North Korean commando turned South Korean pastor Kim Shin-jo: Kim believes that foreign aid to North Korea has its limitations and that true change …
Matt Boyd's posting of Rickie Moore's eulogy of Brenda Taylor in 1996 brings back a lot of memories and provokes a lot of thought. But I must make some explanation first. Up until now I haven't spent a lot of time on this blog concerning my own church, which I am both a member and …
