Greg Peters over at The Scriptorium has a good analysis of the ECUSA House of Bishops Statement. This line is a home run: “Of course, we are going to veil all of this under the guise of ‘pastoral care,’ but we’re going to do it anyway.”

GetReligion also has some thoughts. Apparently, “The New York Times gets it.”

I’ve just added Sideblog, so keep your eyes here for some tiny morsels of theoblogical insight. They’re like chocolate chips for your brain.

I’ve also just upgraded to WordPress 2.3, so if you see some wacky formatting in my older posts, I’m workin’ on it.

This time at the Convergent conference. Via bob.blog:

He uses the word “heresy” in and around the discussion, and while he doesn’t apply it directly to the forehead of either Brian, Doug or Rob, he doesn’t leave a whole lot of doubt as to what category he places these guys in mentally…

I agree with most of Bob’s analysis here. I used to enjoy his preaching, but eventually found him to be something of a one-trick-pony. I grew tired of his abrasive style six or eight months ago. About a year ago I was listening to both Driscoll and Bell (after my late discovery of Nooma), but my iTunes stopped updating them long ago because I wasn’t listening (I am still listening to Matt Chandler, though). I quit listening to Bell after six or seven weeks when I realized his preaching wasn’t breathing any Spirit-life into me. Driscoll’s was, but it was sucking it all back with sarcasm and condescension.

Adam has some other things to say about the lecture.

For those of you who don’t want to listen to the entire 80+ minute lecture, here are some ridiculous snippets from it:

• I don’t mind a conversation…but when God speaks, we are not to converse, we are to obey.
• Brian McLaren was asked this question: “What is your position on gay marriage?” His answer was this: “You know what? The thing that breaks my heart is that there is no way I can answer it without hurting someone on either side.” To which I would respond: “Now you have hurt God.”
• The Southern Baptist Convention of North Carolina is bringing him [Doug Pagitt] to teach in October. Shame on you.
• If Rabbis don’t love Jesus, they have a bad hermeneutic.
• The Bible is all about Jesus. Ultimately, it’s all…about…Jesus.
• Brian McLaren also has a new organization called “Deep Shift” and I think somebody inadvertently put an “F” in there.
• I believe Emergent is, like Judas, in the process of hanging itself.
• And all the nonsense of emerging, and Emergent, and new monastic communities, and, you know, all of these various kinds of ridiculous conversations; I’ll tell you as one on the inside, they don’t have converts. The silly little myth, the naked emperor is this: they will tell you it’s all about being in culture to reach lost people, and they’re not.

I agree that points 1, 2, 6, and 7 are pretty “ridiculous“. But I’d like to point out a few things.

First, while I have no idea (since I’m lacking context and I can’t read Mark’s mind) where he was going with the “now you’ve hurt God” comment, McLaren’s response to the question was an act of cowardice. If you want to be a spokesperson for the Truth, you have to be willing to speak it, understanding that someone’s going to feel hurt. You don’t have to worry though, because if you’re really speaking the Truth, and that person is really hearing it, a soul will be saved. But it’s impossible to speak the truth if the thing that breaks your heart is that someone will be hurt by it. The thing that breaks my heart is that Christians are willing to compromise so much to be considered forward thinkers.

If you’ve read my review of Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, you know how I feel about Doug Pagitt. He is a skeptic in the purest sense of the word. He offers no constructive position theologically, but only casts doubts on others beliefs. His biggest critique of Driscoll seems to be that his theology hasn’t changed in ten whole years (I wish I could pull quotes but a friend borrowed my book and moved to Kansas). He criticizes Dan Kimball’s (or John Burke’s, I can’t remember) image of a ship in a storm anchored by Christ. It may move, but it stays rooted in the truth. Pagitt criticizes it by suggesting that the ship should be moving from port to port, not staying still. I don’t think they should invite him to teach, because it seems that he’ll simply teach them to doubt traditional doctrines and be willing to fold on the major issues of the faith.

Why is it ridiculous to say that a rabbi that doesn’t love Jesus has a bad hermeneutic? I guess it links to the declaration that the Bible is all about Jesus. Everything in the Old Testament that follows Abram’s call is about the fulfillment of the promise. How is that promise fulfilled? In Christ.

As for the last statement, I’ve been wondering about this lately. Missional Reformed churches seem to be reaching so many more people for Christ than “pomo” and Emergent movement churches that the trumpet call from Emergent Village and others like them is beginning to ring hollow. It seems that most, if not all, liberal/progressive/emergent theologians are the “disgruntled children of evangelicalism” (see here, here, and here). Are they reaching the lost? It would seem that for all their talk, their best bet in reaching lost souls would be in Seattle, where Driscoll is booming with over 6,000 members (claiming 40% as converts), and Karen Ward’s Church of the Apostles has around 80.

You’ll also find that a lot of Driscoll’s critics “are just as smug and sure as he is”, while they decry his rigid theology and arrogant manner. While Mark is clearly stretching the upper age limits of adolescence, he is seeing emergent theology quite clearly.

I’m not one to attribute many things to Satan. I don’t completely ignore his influence, but I won’t blame him for my car’s bad breaks or for keeping me from getting insurance (again). But sometimes I really wonder.

For instance, I’ve been having this crisis of confidence in some areas of life, particularly interviewing for ministry jobs. Sometimes I feel inadequate, and even during the times I don’t, I’m almost certain I’m the opposite of what any church is looking for. I was having a bout with the former last night when I started reading “Pastor Provocateur” a CT article about Mark Driscoll. At one point Gerry Breshears says this about him:

“Since then, I’ve come to realize that Mark is a blinking genius,” Breshears says. “He is a first-rank intellect. A lot of his success comes from his amazing intellect and entrepreneurial ability that’s one in a million.”

Tony Jones says, “He is uncommonly intelligent. He is uncommonly articulate and humorous.”

My first thought was, “Man, I hope one day people are saying things like that about me.” How stealthily Pride slipped in! I didn’t even see it coming. In fact, it was a half-hour or so before I recognized it for what it was. Pride and ego stepped in, not to fill the void left by my feelings of inadequacy, but to make it deeper still. Those thoughts seized my weakness to get me focused on myself.

I had just read the article “Assurance and Humility” by A.A. Hodge at theResurgence.com where he says that self-consciousness appears where Christ-consciousness is lacking.

If one is really united to Christ in a union so established that Christ is indeed in possession of the soul, the whole consciousness will be taken up with what I would call Christ-consciousness, and there will be no self-consciousness.

So all this worry, fear, anxiety, and uncertainty I feel about the search may be saying to me that I’m not putting my full trust in God to place me where I ought to be. Is Satan to blame? Or is he simply seizing the opportunity created by my imperfection?

Loosely related: Do We Have to Sin?

I recently took the leap into an active search for a ministry position.  There’s a lot going on there at the moment. I’ve done a phone interview for a youth ministry job in Texas, and have a lunch meeting with a minister from Canada on Friday.  I’m waiting for feedback on a couple of questionnaires I’ve responded to, and have a standing invitation to take an associate position in Kansas City (with a full-time job on the side).  Add to that the missionary testimony we heard in church this morning, and my wife and I have a cacophony of voices trying to draw our attention.  How do we know which one is God’s?

There’s always the story that gets beat into the ground in the beginning of either One Night with the King, or the Nativity Story (I really didn’t care for them enough to remember these little details)  about the “still, small voice.”  Of course, God’s voice sounded like thunder after Jesus’ baptism.  Back to square one.

I have, for a long time, believed that no matter where you go, if you go there serving God, you will be blessed in your service.  A choice to serve God is never wrong.  But at the same time, if you follow His leading, the road you travel will be a little easier, the blessings a little bigger, and the joy a little sweeter.

It’s clear to me now that when I took my last job I was not following God…I was following myself.  I ignored some pretty distinct tugs in my spirit and said yes, and things got worse from there.  But I went to follow God, and I think my ministry there was blessed in many ways.  I also learned a lot about God, and about myself in the process.

So how do I go about the process this time?  I’ve been asking for leading, and maybe when those tugs come again, I’ll heed the warning.  But what if I don’t get them? Or what if I’m too dull to notice?  Do I pack up the family and take off to the destination of our choice and serve God there?  Or do I wait here until I’m certain? I’ve got a long way to go.

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