intersections

VIDEO - Viral Hope

Earlier this year a book that I contributed to was published by my friend, JR Woodward. This book was an Easter project in 2009. During the 50 days of Easter 50 authors wrote approximately 500 words each explaining what the Christian good news is about. The audience was our local city newspaper. In my case, I wrote for the LA Times. The results is a book called ViralHope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs (and Everything in Between). This book would be ideal for a devotional book or for a discussion group.

Above is a video that was recently created to promote the book, which you can buy on Amazon.com by clicking here. I also have some copies in my office to sell. Contact me directly if you're interested.

Mass Mailing the Gospel?

The gospel is not mainly a 'good idea' and anytime we claim we can reduce it down to a pamphlet we end up...well, reducing it. But the gospel that Jesus lived, and then died for, is irreducible in that sense. It must be lived out in community. By claiming the gospel can be mass mailed we are weakening the power of the gospel in our time. I don't want to be a part of that.

The fact remains that Jesus calls us to get up off the couch and lay down our lives for people. If the gospel could be mass mailed, don't you think God would have avoided risking his "one and only Son"? The nature of the truth of God's good news required Jesus to be incarnate among us. Why would it be any different now?

In case you missed it, I posted an article with this title on the Spectrum Blog last week. The statement above is part of a comment I added today after quite a few commenters misunderstood my point.

Here's the piece in its entirety, but I'd encourage you to also join the conversation over at Spectrum.

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This morning I received an email from Remnant Publications. I don't usually pay attention to these emails but this one really caught my eye. The subject line reads, "Evangelilsm [sic] by Mass Mailing." My first thought was, "This is a joke...an eye-grabbing headline to force me to look deeper only to discover the author of the email reminding us that, of course, we cannot do evangelism by mass mailing."

It did grab my eye, but when I looked deeper it quickly became clear the author is not jesting. The headline inside the email reads, "Hit the streets with soul-saving literature without leaving the comfort of your own home!" (See the email here)

Missional Church class at La Sierra University

I'm teaching a Masters level Professional Studies course at La Sierra this quarter entitled Missional Church. If you're curious about what we're doing, here's the syllabus.

I'm thinking of offering a version of this class by webinar in the Spring through the re-church network, so stay tuned for that.

It's Really All About God

My dear friend, Samir Selmanovic, has just published his first book entitled, It's Really All About God (buy on Amazon) and what a way to start. This is not a review...that will be coming soon. But I will tell you that this is a radical, peaceful vision of the force for good that religion can and should be in the world, told through the intimate, personal lenses of someone who hase expereinced so much of the good and bad of religion.

There is a review at the Spectrum website by my friend, Brenton Reading. You can read that here.

The blurb I wrote for inside the front cover says this:

“Samir has written a book that reads like an extended poem; an ode to life. Where others see only the darkness and destructiveness of religion, Samir sees beauty and hope. Where others see only competition and violence, Samir sees synergy and life. And his vision is no simple syncretism; a blending of all religions into one inoffensive ‘smoothie’ of goodness and light. This book is a celebration of postmodern ‘otherness’ of the first order. It will inspire you, frustrate you, maybe even anger you. Samir will not answer all your questions or tell you exactly what to do next. But if you’ve ever felt that nagging deep in your soul that God is lurking just beneath the surface in places you have least expected, you need to read this book!”

I will write a review here after I get a chance to read it again.

Please go buy this book and read it. In the meantime, check out this short video of Samir talking about his book.

Adventism I can believe in

(Crossposted at the Spectrum Blog)

Seventh-day Adventists are perennially concerned about identity. Who are we? What do we believe? Who gets to decide? Our anti-creedal position stands over against our ever-expanding list of Fundamental Beliefs; our belief in 'progressive revelation' over against our claim to have the truth.

I am one that believes this dialectic tension is good for the church and that our determination to live in that tension is generative and healthy. But there are many voices who wish to collapse all such tensions into a single pole, declaring once and for all what the "truth" of a certain issue is. This is usually accompanied by a corresponding move to define out those who do not believe in this more narrow interpretation of what counts as a "real" Adventist.

A Felicitous Journey

Part two of our 6-part blog series over at the re-church blog has been up for a couple of days and the conversation has begun. This week's essay is written by Samir Selmanovic, founder of Faith House Manhattan and the author of the forthcoming Jossey-Bass book, It's Really All About God.

I'd love to have you head over there and check it out. Especially those of you who have been reading along with us and know the subject of the chapter, your comments are especially helpful. I think Samir has posed some vitally important questions for us to consider, especially as pastors and Christian leaders in our world today. Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite.

I ask myself, why would I then take up this journey of deconstruction? Why not turn the tools of deconstruction against itself (deconstruct the deconstruction) and settle for something of substance? Life is short. I want to die in one piece, constructed and whole, with my family and friends around me, also constructed and whole. And my hope within me, also constructed and whole.

Think of it. He describes people on this journey as “people who crash-landed,” “frightened by the mysterious” and always partially “lost.” We are supposed to live under “hauntological principle?” We are invited to embrace “contingency” on a journey that has “teeth” and “bite,” a path seeded with “interrupted passages and missteps,” maps with “multiple tracks” and “counterpaths” on every turn. And to live in the world where other people are “shores we will never reach!” He calls this place, our very own lives (yes Christian lives too) “very spooky.” He brings ghost back into the Holy Ghost. He summarizes the situation we find ourselves in as the “postmodern condition.” It does not sound like a journey or a path to me. It sounds like a chronic disease.

Read the whole thing here.

Can We Handle the Truth?

A few weeks ago I announced a Summer Reading Group though the re-church network, a collective of emerging, missional Adventist leaders that I co-founded back in 2000. The book I chose is What Would Jesus Deconstruct? The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church, by John D. Caputo. Caputo is Thomas J. Watson Professor of Humanities at Syracuse University and is known for his work on Derrida and deconstruction (a quick look at his faculty page at the Syracuse website makes we want to drop everything and enroll to study with him).

What Would Jesus Deconstruct? is the winner of the ForeWord Magazine Best Philosophy Book of 2007 award.

The book discussion is taking place at the re-church blog and starts today with a post by me on the first chapter.

Here is an excerpt from the first post which went up today.

rest

I have an article in the current issue of Vibrant Life magazine (which, by the way, has been completely redesigned under the leadership of my friend, and Seminary classmate, Heather Quintana. If you think you know about Vibrant Life magazine, you should check it out again).

My article is about the Sabbath. The tagline they gave it perfect: "We live in an overworked, hyperconnected world. So how can we recover our humanity? Sabbath rest is a good start."

You can subscribe, or request a free issue, here.

Fear, Freedom and the Problem with Certainty

Cross-posted at the Spectrum Blog.

I am increasingly aware that behind so many of the debates that happen on this blog (and most others) and behind most of the theological and administrative hand-wringing that is, I guess, an irreducible part of Adventist life, is fear. Fear of the other, fear of a loss of identity, fear of a loss of “ground” that has been gained over many years through difficult debates. This fear is not the exclusive provenance of the conservative part of the church, though, by definition, conservatives are “conserving” the past and by their own admission are fearful or anxious that the traditional ways are being lost. Believe it or not, I am sympathetic with their concern. Liberals or progressives or [insert favorite euphemism here] are also fearful; fearful of a new inquisition or retrenching, or being excluded or whatever. Suffice it to say, there is enough fear to go around.

Summer Reading Group :: What Would Jesus Deconstruct?

It’s hard to believe…but, summer is here. And with summer comes time spent with great books. So, re-church is announcing a Summer Reading Group. We will be blogging through What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, by John D. Caputo. This is an enjoyable and challenge jaunt into postmodernism, Derridian deconstruction and the gospel. Caputo has a playful, sharp and ironic style that is sure to rub us the wrong way and spark some great conversation.
There are 6 chapters and we will blog one chapter a week for six weeks, starting July 13, so you have time to get the book and start reading. Our bloggers will be:

::Ryan Bell, Senior Pastor of the Hollywood Adventist Church
::Samir Selmanovic, founder of Faith House Manhattan and Pastor of City Lights
::Zane Yi, Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at Fordham University in New York City.

Please drop a comment at the re-church blog if you plan to read along with us. The blogs will be posted there and we invite your comments, questions, challenges and insights. This will be a much more enjoyable experience if you participate in the comments.

Please invite anyone you know that might be interested in this group and lets have some fun this summer reading together.