lifeasmission

I was listening the other day to a message given by a teaching pastor that I respect.  He was teaching on baptism, specifically whether or not aspiring members needed to share the official doctrinal stance of the church before being accepted as members.  Rather than addressing that question directly, he decided to take a round-about [...]

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From the Associated Press:
Ohio church: No kissing, tickling allowed
CINCINNATI (AP) — The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has issued a detailed list of inappropriate behaviors for priests, saying they should not kiss, tickle or wrestle children.
The newest version of the archdiocese’s Decree on Child Protection also prohibits bear hugs, lap-sitting and piggyback rides.
But it says priests may [...]

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I am the lone single person amongst a group of folks (7 couples) trying to figure out what it means and looks like to let what it means to be the church flow from our sharing of lives together.  A couple months ago we decided that we would spend a number of weeks hashing out [...]

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I was with some friends (Bobby, Julie, Eve, Jessica, Amy, Clark, Clay, Cassandra, Joy, Olga) last night and we were discussing the best romantic comedies of all time. I of course won by letting everyone know that the best romantic comedy of all time is, as we all know, “Say Anything.” It wins [...]

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In conjunction with my previous 2 posts, I was reminded of this post which I titled, but never wrote. It is something I have been thinking about for a while and maybe now see a bit better, or feel a bit stronger, what I meant when I thought it up.
There is something in each [...]

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I have long been admirer of Derek Webb and his music. I had some stuff to say here, and even made a presentation to go with one of his songs.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpha5IeyEpM[/youtube]
One of his most recent songs, with Caedmon’s Call, was featured the other night on Grey’s Anatomy (not originally their song). I didn’t see [...]

 

 Ten Thousand Angels - Derek Webb and Caedmon's Call: Play Now | Play in Popup

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(more here)
This year I had the good fortune to be able to host an annual New Year’s Eve Party for a bunch of my Malone friends and plenty of others.  The party was doubly significant in that it also marked the completion of a bunch of restoration that I’ve been doing on my home.  For [...]

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A new friend shared this quote with me the other day from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s work, Life Together.
He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

As I was thinking about this, I [...]

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I just finished listening to an interview by Ingrid Schlueter of Crosstalk and Slice of Laodicea with Doug Pagitt.  Look for the title, “Emerging Church Confusion,” on this page if you’re interested in listening.
I thought about going into detail about all the misconceptions, misunderstandings, straw men, exaggerations, false dichotomies, etc., that marked Ingrid’s assumptions and [...]

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When I was in college I had a professor who used to talk about “sweet Jesus love.” He never exactly described it, but we all knew what it was and what it wasn’t. Someone would tell a story about someone doing something unexpectedly sacrificial for someone else and he would say, “Yeah, that’s [...]

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