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UPDATE: Here’s a post that has a perfect feel for the idea of heaven that I grew up around- and that still surrounds me here in the mountains. (PHC= Pentecostal Holiness Church.)
The message of many evangelistically focused conservative Christians is about heaven: How to get there. What will heaven be like. Why heaven is our […]

(Yes, Virginia, there’s a review of N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope coming very soon.)
I grew up and was formed in a version of the Christian tradition that practiced a remarkably simple form of Christianity.
It was about going to heaven.
This life was preparation for heaven. God was preparing a place called heaven with lots of mansions. […]

Before getting into the substance of this essay, I want to mention how little I care for much of the terminology I’m going to use.
As a Christian humanist, there are two sources for my view of human beings: The image of God in creation, and the image of humanity in the incarnation/resurrection of Jesus. I […]

“I am on a post-evangelical journey, discovering what it means to be vitally connected to Jesus.”
A truly prominent, not-post anything blogger has put forward the following theory:
Those who use the prefix “post” to describe themselves are claiming to be smarter than those who don’t.
Example: A “post-modernist” is saying “I used to be mired in the […]

Walking through the faculty dining hall where I work, I heard someone use the phrase “freedom in worship.”
It occurred to me that I’ve heard that phrase in just about every evangelical setting I’ve ever been part of, and I’ve used it a lot myself.
As a teenage Christian, I joined with thousands of others insisting that […]

I’ve written on this subject in another essay: When Loving You Is Killing Me: Thoughts on the Small Church Pastorate. After almost three years, I’m in a slightly different place with this story. Less bitter. More aware of my own failures.
Twenty years ago, I became a pastor. I’d wanted to be a pastor since I […]

UPDATE: Read Tim Keller on putting the Gospel in Context.
David Bayly says thumbs up.
I hope that this contribution to the important discussion on contextualization going on in evangelicalism will be received and read in a constructive way. I am not trying to take issues with personalities. These are important issues. I am not defending those […]

Sometime in the past, I read an interview with Michael Card and he was asked a question about contemporary praise and worship music. Somewhere in his answer, there emerged the comparison of the current contemporary music scene to an industry, and the music emerging from it was the product.
Art. Creation. Industry. Product. Useful categories for […]

Also of interest on this topic: “Does the Story Matter?” (From December of 04)
Here’s my original review of Schaeffer’s book, and a later link to an interview with Schaeffer.
“My father sexually abused me.”
“Both of my parents are in prison on drug charges.”
“My dad had another wife and kids in another town, and we just found […]

Baseball fans: what are some of your thoughts and feelings as the new season begins? Best memories? Ironies? Tragedies?
Tomorrow at 1:05 EST, the Cincinnati Reds will take the field against the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater, Florida.
The long, dark winter of the soul will be over here in the Spencer household.
My life runs on three calendars. […]

I’d like to come clean about a couple of things.
I’m not getting on anyone’s case here. I just believe I should get this on the record for my readers.
First, I have a book review agreement with a major web site. They send me books to review every few weeks, and I actually review them. (They […]

UPDATE: A very fair piece at Christianity Today’s Liveblog.

I want the people to know
That He saved my soul
But I still like to listen to the radio
They say that rock and roll is wrong, we’ll give you more chance
I say I feel so good I gotta get up and dance
I know what’s right, I know what’s […]

I’m very interested in what current SBTS and other SBC seminary students have to say about your future in the SBC. Will you stay if Calvinism becomes a divisive, “lose your job” issue in the SBC? Would you prefer a Driscoll, Piper or Mahaney Network (T4G) to the current SBC?

CLARIFICATION: I’m a post-evangelical, and that […]

Unless you’ve been brought up in the insular confines of fundamentalism, it’s going to be hard to understand what it’s been like for me spending three days with “the other kind” of Christians this week. “The other kind” in this instance are mainline protestants, almost entirely Presbyterian Church USA, ELCA Lutherans, ECUSA Episcopalians and a […]