Thursday, June 30

grace is harder then law

it is harder to live in grace, than it is to live in law

it is harder to forgive, than it is to judge
it is harder to love, than it is to hate
it is harder to include, than it is to exclude
it is harder to engage, than it is to ignore
it is harder to share, than it is to hold
it is harder to accept, than it is to reject
it is harder to welcome, than it is to walk away

it is harder to live in grace, than it is to live in law.

posted by john o'keefe | 11:45 AM | |


Saturday, June 25

what is "emergent evelution?"

emergent evolution: noun: evolution that according to some theories involves the appearance of new characters and qualities at complex levels of organization (as the cell or organism) which cannot be predicted solely from the study of less complex levels (as the atom or molecule) -- [the blog]

we have changed the name of the "postmodern theology blog" to "emergent evolution" to fit more with what we have in mind. our thought is to be a place where change can happen - and the "spark" of change can find a home. we will be using the defination as a guiding light to what we are about. many are voices on the blog, and if you would like to add your voice, head over and leave a comment and we will give you the hook-up.

posted by john o'keefe | 11:22 AM | |

Tom Cruise and Billy Graham

Tom Cruise is committing the "sin" of having strongly-held beliefs. Read about it in my article here >>>.

Link

posted by Charlie Wear | 10:31 AM | |


Friday, June 24

go for it :)

Take the MIT Weblog Survey

posted by john o'keefe | 12:15 AM | |


Tuesday, June 21

jordon's health

i just read wendy's blog, which sent me to jordon's blog, and i just read he had a "borderline heart attack" [his words] - it freaked me out. jordon, bro - you, wendy and mark are in my prayers - i read he is doing better - but this health thing is something very important. if there is anything you need bro - reach me and i will do what i can - man, just the headline caused me to freak - i know we have never touched flesh, but dude i have know you for years bro, and would like to keep it that way :) love ya bro.

posted by john o'keefe | 11:19 PM | |


Sunday, June 19

Never buy a lawnmower from Sears

The story:

In the process of moving we are gaining land. Now, that is not a big deal for many people, but by moving across country we are gaining "land" in the new house. While that may seem cool, one needs to remember that now I have to spend Saturday mornings mowing a bigger lawn. What was once done with a nice craftsman push mower, will now take a riding mower. Which brings me to my story.

While looking around our new town we stopped by the local Sears to see what a "riding mower" would cost. While we were there, a couple of sales people came up and wanted to help, which was cool. So, we started to ask questions. Not being from the area, we had a lot of questions. However, before any of my questions were answered, one of the sales people asked how long we had lived in the area. I mentioned that we were interviewing with a church and that if all went well, we would be out at the end of July. With that, the following conversation took place:

"You're a pastor?" he asked (with a big emphases on the "you're")
"Yup." I replied, looking over at Tina.
"Where are you interviewing?
"We are talking with Connection." (By the way, this is the best church in the world)

[more...]

Link

posted by john o'keefe | 5:27 PM | |


Saturday, June 18

An ironic orthodoxy

An excerpt from Dan Hughes
A Generous Orthodoxy still inhabits the world of capitalization. So while I take my stand with the generous I must say unequivocally that it is not enough to be generous. If orthodoxy is to remain useful in our vocabularies I would suggest that we require an ironic orthodoxy at least as much as a generous one.

orthodoxy is at its best when left uncapitalized and inextricably commingled with orthopraxy such that ideas and embodied instantiations are not held up as discrete units of correct belief, but as the situated hospitality of a particular community. orthodoxy is a living cosmos of loosely coupled patterns of body and mind. From the outside, when cast in terms of the ecosystem orthodoxy inhabits, we find that it is recognized as a certain hospitality in all directions: toward oneself, toward those communities that have a loose tie through a degree or two of separation and those that are in fact collectives of strangers.

Link

posted by Wendy Cooper | 10:03 PM | |

The Megachurch that's Reinventing Itself

From Rev Magazine
In the yearlong leave of absence from his duties at CCOJ, Kallestad found himself reflecting on the spiritual emptiness he was experiencing, and the growing realization that the megachurch he had helped to create was “missing the mark” in transforming people into disciples of Christ. CCOJ attracted a lot of seeking people, but was there much real spiritual growth happening?

Kallestad’s physical heart was slowly healing, but his spiritual heart wasn’t. In the early morning hours of November 22, 2002, Kallestad found himself on his knees in prayer, sobbing. “God,” he prayed. “I’m broken. I don’t know what to do.” He remembers his body being ice cold and his heart pounding very hard. “The words of ‘I Surrender All’ kept going through my head as I kept telling God, ‘I surrender, I surrender.’ I heard a voice that quietly said, ‘I have healed you.’ I thought the voice was my wife talking to me, but she was sound asleep,” he said.

The next day, Kallestad went to his cardiologist, who was stunned with the healing of his heart. Both agreed it was a miracle.

“My heart attack caused me to get hungrier for God,” Kallestad said. “I was CEO of a burgeoning organization, and dealing with structures and systems and finances. It wasn’t about people and relationships. I could sense God calling me back to what’s most important. And when I realized that what we had [at CCOJ] was not working, my hunger intensified.”

Insights From an Unintended Sabbatical
As 2003 began, Kallestad continued to plead with God to show him the future for CCOJ and began to consider who would be his successor to his ministry. In the recently published book, Passionate Church: The Art of Life-Changing Discipleship (Cook Communications), he shares how this time away from his ministry did anything but give him peace of mind:

“After my heart attack and six-way bypass in January 2002, I began to consider who might be the successor to my ministry. It would have to be just the right person, someone capable of raising and managing a multimillion dollar budget as well as the staff and programs of a megachurch. It would need to be someone who could effectively reach the 20- and 30-year-olds I was struggling to reach.

“I discussed this idea with other pastors across the country. But it was in Washington, D.C. that I felt the ground shaking all around me. ‘Why would anyone want your church?’ a pastor there responded. ‘Anyone who is serious about ministry today does not want to be stuck raising money for maintaining buildings and mortgages. They want to be on the cutting edge of making a difference.’ As hard as it was to hear, I knew what he had just said was right.”

During his unintended sabbatical and recovery from the heart attack, he had time to devote to study and reflect on the church in the postmodern era. He read books on the “missional church” and the “emergent church.” He spent time learning from leaders in these movements, such as Dan Kimball—pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, author of The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations (Zondervan), and a regular contributor to this magazine. He also consulted with Brian McLaren, often called a guru in the emergent church, and author of A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-Yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian (Zondervan). (Yes, that’s the real subtitle.)

Kallestad slowly became certain that the church-growth methods he knew, wrote about in his doctorate, and used to build a megachurch, weren’t working anymore—not even cutting-edge methods of entertainment evangelism. “In our zeal to attract seekers, we became very presentational,” he said. “We believed no one wanted to give anything, no one wanted to sing anything, no one wanted to be known—all of the ‘seeker principles.’ In my spirit, I knew that the old principles and practices, including those for seekers, weren’t working. And I was dying inside.”

Link

posted by Jordon | 8:51 PM | |


Tuesday, June 14

looking to help the emerging in the uk?

a bud of mine from the postmodern theology egroup posted this, and i just felt the desire to post it here:

Dear Global friends,

In short: UK Scripture union Holt summer mission desperately seeks 4 (or more) leaders to fulfil it's quota to go ahead this summer, do you like working with children and can you spare a week in August?


At length: [link]

posted by john o'keefe | 12:26 PM | |


Monday, June 13

a survey worth taking :)

i know, i am not big on surveys - but i thought this one was worth taking - and it is very short, very short.

a friend of mine at "forministry.com" is considering starting a new blog exclusively devoted to scripture engagement in a emerging/postmodern context. what i love most about this idea is that they are not saying "this is what we are going to be." here is what my friend tells me about the blog:
"I wish I could give you a compact blurb regarding what our new blog will be, but we're still trying to determine that. The best I can do is tell you that it'll be committed to the evolving dialog taking place around the Bible in the emerging postmodern context."

that is just so cool - if you can, please take the time to hit this link and take the survey - it's helping build the kingdom and getting more people involved in the conversation.

link

posted by john o'keefe | 1:38 PM | |


Sunday, June 12

The First Ooze Couple is Married!

Lydia Schoch and Drew Costen's Wedding June 11 2005 111

Link

posted by Shok the German | 4:01 PM | |


Saturday, June 11

How To Build Community

  • Turn off your TV
  • Know your neighbors
  • Look up when you are walking
  • Greet people
  • Sit on your stoop
  • Plant flowers
  • Use your library
  • Play together
  • Buy from local merchants
  • Share what you have
  • Help a lost dog
  • Take children to the park
  • Garden together
  • Support neighborhood schools
  • Fix it even if you didn't break it
  • Have pot lucks
  • Honor elders
  • Pick up litter
  • Read stories aloud
  • Dance in the street
  • Talk to the mail carrier
  • Listen to the birds
  • Put up a swing
  • Help carry something heavy
  • Barter for your goods
  • Start a tradition
  • Ask a question-hire young people for odd jobs
  • Organize a block party
  • Bake extra and share
  • Ask for help when you need it
  • Open your shades-sing together
  • Share your skills-take back the night
  • Turn up the music-turn down the music
  • Listen before you react to anger
  • Mediate a conflict
  • Seek to understand
  • Learn from new and uncomfortable angles
  • Know that no one is silent though many are not heard.
  • Work to change this.

    • posted by Jordon | 10:19 AM | |


    Thursday, June 9

    Consumerism in Christendom

    A conversation on consumerism in Christendom "Moneychangers in the Temple" has "raged" on since May 2 05 on TheOoze message boards. Check it out >>>.

    Link

    posted by Charlie Wear | 7:20 AM | |


    Wednesday, June 8

    Emergent women leaders...

    jackiewyse starts a thread on TheOoze message boards like so: "Hey there friends.

    I wanna hear stories of women who are doing amazing things in the emerging church. Women who preach and plant churches, write and speak and lead. Women who sing, dance, paint, dream and prophesy. Women whose devotion to God's Reign inspires you and those in your community.

    Who are the women leaders in your emerging church?

    Please tell their stories."

    Link

    posted by Charlie Wear | 5:38 AM | |

    Andrew Jones ponders "emerging church" movement?

    "A big question at Wikipedia regarding the global Emerging-Missional Church is this: Is it a movement or not?

    It hasn't been easy to answer. Some countries have seen fast organic growth, spontaneous reproduction and display definite signs of being a movement and other countries just have a few networks or even just a few churches and would not be a movement at all.

    I was stumped . . so I asked my history teacher from Fuller School of World Mission, Dr Paul Pierson."

    Link

    posted by Charlie Wear | 5:27 AM | |


    Tuesday, June 7

    Next-Wave for June05 is online...

    Next-Wave, with a new design, is online here >>>. Enjoy.

    Link

    posted by Charlie Wear | 10:39 PM | |


    Sunday, June 5

    A pastor at the gay parade

    Dan Kimball, author and emerging church pastor, reflects on carrying the burden for the church and the culture. Check it out here >>>.

    Link

    posted by Charlie Wear | 8:00 PM | |


    Friday, June 3

    Emergent response to critics

    The pdf file containing a 4-page response to emergent criticism can be found here >>>. It's worth the read.
    Ooze founder, Spencer Burke, is one of the authors.

    Link

    posted by Charlie Wear | 7:21 AM | |


    Thursday, June 2

    An adventure story?, on a message board?

    fr33d1 starts a collaborative, message board, adventure story at TheOoze with this phrase: "In a galaxy..."

    Link

    posted by Charlie Wear | 6:25 AM | |