What’s better than 1,000+ college students attending a mainline church conference on their Christmas break and loving every minute of it? Maybe the Twins winning a World Series, but not much else. With my good friend, Taylor Lewis Guthrie Hartman, I am Co-Directing the next College Conference at the Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina! [...]
Scrapping Sunday School? Faith Development Today
Last weekend I spoke on a panel for a congregation’s Task Force on Faith Development. The congregation is a strong one with a great history and vital programming for all ages. It’s also, of course, enmeshed in our culture and congregational leaders are increasingly aware that their current model of Christian education, worship, and discipleship training [...]
Theological Doctrines, Plain Speech, & the Public Square
What basic Christian tenet, doctrine, or word have you struggled to “translate” into plain speech? That question is part of an essay prompt I’m considering for a July writing workshop with Kathleen Norris at the Collegeville Institute at St. John’s Abbey and University in Minnesota. Can you help me think out loud on this one? [...]
Mark Vitalis Hoffman on technology and the body of Christ
My day has arrived to be featured on the Religion and Media Blog Tour 2012 with Professor Mark Vitalis Hoffman (website, blog), Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. (More information and a listing of all the tour stops here.) In August, LTSG, in partnership with Luther Seminary, will launch of [...]
Blog Tour on Religion and Media
Today marks the start of a Blog Tour on Religion and Media organized by the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. The tour on Religion and Media will run April 30 – May 11 and is intended “to engage in a wide-ranging conversation with bloggers and their readers on issues related to religion and media.” This [...]
A year without a church
It’s been one year since I left my position as pastor of a lovely rural congregation to lead The Project F-M, a ministry that delightfully defies easy categorization but could not be called a church. It’s been one year since I’ve preached regularly, presided over the sacraments, led funeral services, visited shut-ins, taught Sunday school, [...]
Review: Heidi Campbell’s, “When Religion Meets New Media”
When I talk about new media in church contexts, the lens or framework people use as they speak of technology says a lot about the direction of the conversation. Some people, such as those who think the church should change to attract new younger members, praise technology for its amazing capabilities. Others, such as those suspicious that there is too much change in the church will speak of the deleterious effects of technology. Such conversations can become difficult to moderate, but the task will be easier for me now that I’ve read Heidi Campbell’s When Religion Meets New Media.
Negative Gut Reaction to Smith’s, “Lost in Transition”
This will be less of a review than a gut reaction to the book Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood by Christian Smith. I’m sure Smith’s scholarship is top-notch; his output and dual appointment in sociology and theology at Notre Dame is most impressive. I don’t know anything about his research methods, but [...]