Great spoken word poem.

The Christian Booksellers Association has just published its list of best selling bible translations. Here are the lists for 2011, but keep in mind that the ranking is based only on sales in U.S. Christian retail stores. 2011 - Based on Dollar Sales New International Version King James Version New King James Version New Li

If Robert E. Lang and Arthur C. Nelson are right, there is a birth of a new geography: “megapolitans,” regions that encompass counties and cities linked through man-made and natural connections sharing common economic, landscape, social, and cultural characteristics. Their new book details this urban geography.

I have the Kindle books listed below that can be loaned once for a period of 14 days, at no cost to you. If you have a Kindle (or a Kindle reading app) and would like to read one of these titles, just leave a comment telling me which title you want* and your email [...]

“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.” — 1 Corinthians 3:1 “Have we made the church a gigantic nursery full of spiritual infants, some of whom are well into their senior years? May God raise up tho

The Barna Group has spent the last five years exploring the lives of young people who drop out of church. The research provides many insights into the spiritual journeys of teens and young adults and uncovers these five myths: Myth 1: Most people lose their faith when they leave high school. Myth 2: Dropping out of church [

“The Son of Man … a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” Luke 7:34 ESV Jesus was more than someone concerned about the spiritual destiny of those he mixed with on a daily basis, he was their friend. Here is how the dictionary defines friend: A person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal

I’m a big supporter of the “slow movement” which is all about taking time to enjoy the journey of life, as opposed to the desperate need to arrive, meet the goal, accomplish the task, do as much as possible in as little time as possible. The slow movement is not about doing things slowly, but seeks [...]

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’ [...]

Helped organize a neighborhood event this morning along with the Stephens Creek Stewards and Portland Bureau of Environmental Services. We got a neighborhood work party together to help protect the wetland on our street from Purple Loosestrife and other invasive weeds. We filled two garden waste recycling containers, saved

My friend Sonja Andrews recommended strongly that I read Kathy Escobar’s new book, “Down We Go: Living Into the Wild Ways of Jesus” (Civitas Press, June 2011). Since I highly respect Sonja’s judgment and have been reading Kathy’s blog for years, it was an easy call. The first thing that grabbe

Good things happening at Sacred Roots Community in Portland. Explore this community in this well done eight minute video.

In this 11 minute video, Palau Association President Kevin Palau interviews Imago Dei Community Pastor Rick McKinley. Good discussion on how the holistic gospel doesn’t separate or try to remove or even compartmentalizes, but understands that both proclamation and social justice need each other. They are both part of the

David Dunbar, President, Biblical Seminary, writes his Missional Journal every couple of months and it is always something I make time to read. This month he asks, “Where are the Missional Evangelicals?” It’s a good thought provoking read where he first lays out the issue: “The positive and enthusia

If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. —Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love reading Mike Breen. In his post today, “Obituary for the American Church,” he tackles the temptations that are slowly insinuating themselves into everything we call church. They are: A culture of Celebrity (affirmation) A culture of Consumerism (appetite) A culture of Competition (ambition) It is a good r

Notorious Leader of an Underground Liberation Movement Wanted for the following charges: Practicing medicine, winemaking and food distribution without a license. Interfering with businessmen in the temple. Associating with known criminals, radicals, subversives, prostitutes and street people. Claiming to have the author

Alan Hirsch on the word missional. The word when it describes everything, describes nothing. If we lose this word, where do we go? What other words do we use to look at the future of the church and how do we recalibrate it?

Around this time last year a number of people were working toward a “Missional Manifesto.” The intent was to say, “This is what we mean when we talk about being missional.” It was not the manifesto’s intent to say this is what everyone should think or say about the term. For whatever reason, the writing [...]

A new song for me that I’m really enjoying is Tab Benoit’s rendition of “Shelter Me.” Lyrics the earth can shake the sky come down the mountains all fall to the ground but i will fear none of these things shelter me lord underneath your wings dark waters rise and thunder pounds the wheels of war are

Just made my 150th Kiva micro loan since beginning back in 2007. Gaspard Munyarubanza is a businessman in Rwanda. He is 41 years old, married, and has 6 children between the ages of 2 and 16 as well as one other person in his care. Four of his children attend school. This loan is his [...]

“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” (Matthew 10:40) We are the presence of Jesus in this world. Only through us, individually and corporately, does the world see Jesus. A reason why “way of life,” behavior, and practice, not just words, are

Anthony Bradley, associate professor of theology and ethics at The King’s College in New York City, writes an interesting commentary entitled “Too missional for abortion?” He queries: All of this has me wondering why the missional, center-city evangelicals, who are all about “justice,” “

In my last post I posed this question, “Wonder what Jesus’ definition of ‘living life as beautifully as we can’ would suggest?” Here are a number of passages I’ve been reflecting on around this question: Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they