Recently, I posted some thoughts on the relationship between the nostalgic trends in baseball stadium construction and the ancient-future trend in some church circles. Yesterday, I was in a conversation with someone who had read that post and who wondered if (even though I obviously know nothing about architecture) there had been any conversation in … Continue reading A View From the Window →

Laughter is a protest scream against death... --Mel Brooks Posted by Hello

I've mentioned in a past post that I have been hanging out on-line at the Church of Fools, serving as a honorary reverend for this "virtual church." However, I realized in a conversation today that I really haven't shared much on that part of my life, a new chapter which has probably slowed down my … Continue reading Hanging Out At the Church of Fools →

This will probably get me in trouble, but I couldn't resist.... Posted by Hello

This will probably get me in trouble, but I couldn't resist.... Posted by Hello

I've crossed paths with Renee Altson (sometimes known as Iphy) on the net several times in the past years. Renee has just published a book (through Emergent YS) which chronicles her story of faith. I haven't read the entire book, but the sample chapter blew me away and I am looking forward to getting the … Continue reading stumbling toward faith →

You can tell that you have been slacking off in your blogging when Doug Pagitt has blogged more than you. Okay, I'm back from Disney, so hopefully things will pick up here.

No, I am not dead. We've been at Disney World for the past week. You would think that Disney, as a technology innovator, would have WIFI or high speed access in the rooms. Nope, only dial up and I was too cheap to pay my provider for roaming charges. So I've finally found a coffee … Continue reading 109219140549112828 →

There has been an article floating about by Tim Bednar on spiritual blogging titled "We Know More Than Our Pastors." Tim's thesis is that the synergy of the combined blogging community represents a source of knowledge that is great than any one church leader. It is a logical hypothesis, which I agree with for the … Continue reading You Know More Than Your Pastor . . . and You Still Need Us Anyway! →

Jerry writes: If the neocons hated Hillary, they are all going to stroke out with Teresa, which would suit me just fine.

Through the influence of my good friend Karl, I have been accorded Reverend status at the Church of Fools. What does this mean? Well, I will be occasionally leading services on-line and will hang out when I have a moment to act pastorally. It's interesting to enter into pastoral conversations with folks all over the … Continue reading Rev. Jay →

Thanks to Kevin I saw a jump in folks who read my blog from around 40 a a day to over 150. Now that the crisis is over, we're back to the normal level. I wonder if I take a close up picture of my feet and post it on my blog if I would … Continue reading More Homelessness →

This past week, I had my normal Wednesday morning breakfast with the guys. It's an eclectic group. Four of us are seminary trained. There are two ministers, a sex educator, a lawyer who specializes in non-profit law, and a journalist. As the morning was wrapping up, my friend Jim was telling me about his recent … Continue reading Baseball, Architecture, and the Post Modern Reality →

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In my desire for pastoral confidentiality, I refrained from using the real name of "The Homeless Guy," forgetting of course that Kevin posts his name in the FAQ's on his blog. So, from now on the pseudonym will go away and we can speak honestly of a person that we read and know. Several folks … Continue reading Kevin →

"Bob," the guy I mentioned in my last post, is trying to get back to Nashville. While I think he may have made some bad decisions in heading out west (he grew up their), the reality is that he has a support community here in Nashville if we can get him home. I am willing … Continue reading Help A Homeless Guy →

There is a guy I met back in May during the Emergent Convention who blogs at http://www.thehomelessguy.net/. This guy, who I will call Bob, has some distant connections with my church and has been in the homeless community in Nashville for a long time. I had been happy to see that Bob's life had taken … Continue reading Prayers for The Homeless Guy →

It has been a fairly slow time in the life of my church. The summer slump is in full swing, and in spite of what Lyle Schaller and George Barna would say about the Seven Day A Week Church, I'm not really sure I mind. It's been good to slow down, to not think much, … Continue reading Thinking about time →

The latest NORC study... Link Between 1993 and 2002, the share of Americans who said they were Protestant dropped from 63 percent to 52 percent, after years of remaining generally stable, according to a study released Tuesday by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. At the same time, the number of … Continue reading Protestant Majority Disappearing in U.S. →