book list

The book list of 2006 consisted of...(in chronological order).

The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian Mclaren. I thought this book was alright. I found that the secret wasn't all that secretive. 7 out of 10.

Managing Non-Profit Organizations by Peter Drucker. For the kind of book it was I thought it had some great insights about leading volunteers, fundraising and other non-profit kind of things. A 7 out of 10.

Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne- Good book- recommend it to anyone. It's very easy to read and is full of Shane's experience as political and social activist. It also describes the new monastic community he started with some friends called The Simple Way. 8 out of 10.

blue like jazz by Donald Miller- This was probably the 6th time I read this book. Love it. 9.5 out of 10

The Last Word and the word after that by Brian Mclaren. I held off on reading the last book of the New Kind of Christian Trilogy because I needed some time to digest the first two, which I really liked. The theme of the third installment of Dan Poole and Neo's story is the formers understanding of Hell and his journey to reach some conclusions on the matter. As always, Neo pointed out some things I didn't know but... also, as always, left me a little confused, which I suppose is his point. Good book though. 8 out of 10.

Completely Pro Life by Ronald Sider. This book discusses a consistent ethic of human life as it relates to abortion, the poor and nuclear arms. It was written in the early 80's so the argument about abortion and nuclear arms was a bit dated (ie. references to wade vs. roe and the big bad soviet empire), but the part about the poor was real good. 7 out of 10

eleanor rigby by Douglas Coupland. I really liked Life after God a couple years ago and finally read another Coupland. The basic premise is a 36 year old single woman discovers she has a 21 year old son who is terminally ill and who comes to live with her. The description sounds sappy but its actually a fairly entertaining book essentially dealing with the main characters sense of loneliness. 7.5 out of 10

To own a Dragon by Donald Miller. I would say I liked this book 3rd best out of the four that I've read (followed by BLJ and Through Painted Deserts). It was interesting, light hearted and at some points laugh out loud funny. Don's a great writer but he'll be hard pressed to ever exceed Blue Like Jazz. 7.5 out of 10

Blankets by Craig Thompson. Buy this book. That's it, no description -it is simply a book that if you ever get the chance you should buy it. The coming of age story of a boy who is raised in the christian subculture and then leaves the faith. 9.5 out of 10.


I might be missing some but that's all I can think of. A fairly light year but after reviewing a few syllabi for this coming school year-- 2007's book list is going to be ridiculous. yikes.

the house.

I realized that I don't really like being alone. By alone I mean- in Toronto at my house with no one around for days on end. I thought I would like this a little bit but I'm not a big fan. I wish Paul Randall was here. Jay and Jay are at Urbana and Chris Clements is at a dinner party for the rest of my life (it would seem). The good news is that I got some work done at Wesley Chapel, watched a couple movies and even picked up a digital camera (I'm a little behind...) so that I can document my year in the south.

To combat the emptiness of this house I invited a couple of the youth over for some serious video gaming. It'll be good to hang out with them for a couple hours.

So far I like facebook.

the book of faces

For a long time now I've tried to be against things that are trendy. I suspect this has something to do with my pride and/or stubbornness- although I'm not sure in which ways. Par example, I refused to watch the t.v. show '24' for the simple reason that everyone was watching it. After three years I cracked, watched one episode which was swiftly followed by the entire season...and then two other seasons.

The same will be said of Facebook. After about a year of 'facebook this' and 'facebook that', I decided that I would join. Now, just so you don't think I'm a slave to trends I would like to clarify that IF I was staying in Toronto and in relative contact with friends there, then I doubt that I would join. However, in light of the impending move to school-- I think it might be a good way to stay in touch.

So, facebook away.

Haggard

sex scandal in the evangelical church.

I came across this interview with Tony Campolo about the scandal. I loved what he had to say and was especially impressed with the way he ended the interview.

thank God for...

Wesley Chapel doesn't have a Senior Pastor...ah crap...
You can find more of these videos here.

al r hounsell

I've known Al r Hounsell since 2001 and the days of Leading Edge. We've seen a lot in our time together at Tyndale, including a number of councils, one 6th floor apt. and some genuine good times. Al recently started his own blog- boring so far, but I'm sure it will pick up in light of his new theological positions. Here's to you Alan:

the weekend.

I took the kiddies to Acquire the Fire this past weekend. I forgot that I hated it.

Opps.

It wasn't all bad though, the kids had a good time and Skillet was amazing.

Today I got my oil changed at Mr. Lube- it was the single greatest oil changing experience of my life. All I had to do was sit in the car while the staff provided me with complimentary newspapers and beverages. I imagine this is the male version of a trip to the spa.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

The blog title was the name of a play I was in for Gr. 12 Drama back in the day. The line that was repeated constantly throughout the drama was "Good neighbors make good fences and good fences make good neighbors". I was reminded of this today when I read that the US is building a 1000 km fence to keep illegal immigrants out of their country. In the play the neighbors end up becoming suspicious of one another (what are they hiding over there?, why can't I see what's going on?) and the morale is that good neighbors don't have fences.

You can read about the fence here.

I wonder if we'll reach the point where the US needs to put up a fence to keep out Canadians? I also wonder if there's a better solution than a 1000km fence?- such as helping Mexico become a place where a person is able to make a living and actually wants to live there...

Red is the new White

About a year ago we saw the emergence of those white bracelets that were all about making poverty history. Now, apparently red is the new white.

The new red campaign. hmmmmmmm....
Summary: With Bono and Oprah as the spokespeople, large corporations have agreed to give a portion of their sales to developing countries going to the Global Fund to eliminate AIDS in Africa. Example- 1 $200 ipod is worthy of a $10 donation from Apple to the fund.

I appreciate the thought, the percentage of money and the effort. However I think it is a fairly sad commentary on the western world that we need to be motivated by ipods and designer jeans in order to give money to the poorest of the poor.

IF I was going to buy an ipod, I probably would buy a red one. However, since I didn't plan on buying an ipod, I'm still not going to spend the $200 just because $10 goes towards life saving drugs. If I really cared I would donate straight to the cause without the thought of a reward or what I can get out of this deal.

There are probably going to be a lot of people (errr- middle-upper class white people) who do get involved and pat themselves on the back for splurging for that extra ipod all in the name of humanitarianism.

That is weird.

Really weird.

Humanitarianism.
Buying an ipod.
Humanitarianism.
$100 jeans.
Weird.

The really strange thing is that it probably will be a successful campaign- when simply telling someone that people are ACTUALLY DYEING wouldn't be much of a motivator.

Ian has some thoughts on the matter here.

If you don't need that ipod, Mike Todd has something you could try--donating straight to foundation of the world's leading AIDS activist, the Stephen Lewis Foundation with nothing but a receipt to show for it.

The Trip

Oct. 13, 5:15am
I wake up when my dad comes into the room and says that I'm late. Jay and I were supposed to fly to Minneapolis but had a late start as we were supposed to leave the house about 30 minutes earlier-- not a good start to the day.

5:34am.
A quick stop at Tim Horton's (despite our being late, we've always got time..) for a medium dd and we're off again.

5:45am
Driving along the QEW, everything is fine.

5:46am
White out conditions.

5:51am
We see our first car stuck in the snow trying to depart the highway. A quick survey of the scene tells us that this guy is going to need some help, and with not a lot of people around... 1st car pushed out of the snow.

5:58am
Turn on the radio for this little tidbit "Buffalo is experiencing an unprecedented storm in the history of weather" - no jokes, that's a direct quote. (3 hours later we hear this little nugget "If you have an emergency you'd like to share on the air give us a call"-- ya, if I'm in an emergency, the first thing (or last thing) on my list of to-do's is to call talk-radio.)

After that it was pretty crazy- we decided to press on to the Buffalo airport, despite the fact that we knew our flight was delayed- this was an adventure! After an hour and half of waiting for the Peace Bridge to open we finally crossed the border into the war zone that was Buffalo-- massive trees down everywhere, deserted highways, no power- it was crazy. Anyway, we spent the morning pushing cars out on route to the airport, which we arrived at around 10:45am, to find out that our flight had been pushed back to 7:30am, the next morning.

That was the first day of operation: visit Ian and Lauren (with a quick stop at a wedding in Minneapolis). It was a great 36 hour with the Mclarens-- full of poker, Arrested Development and my first ever trip to the Olive Garden.

grocery list?

I haven't posted anything of real substance in quite a while, as Fulford would say, it's mostly been "the grocery list". I don't think I intended for this blog to become that (listing the events of the day...) it just sort of happened. However, someone did say something that struck me in church yesterday. We had a guest speaker in at Wesley Chapel named Raif. He's short, Egyptian and loves to laugh. He is also an evangelist, which made for a pretty good Sunday morning on Warden Ave. His sermon was essentially on the Good Samaritan and while I don't remember all of his points, I do recall one tidbit that jumped out at me.

I have always understood Jesus' story as one where we are called to emulate the Samaritan, who unlike the priests and the Levite, actually helped out the wounded man. I figured this involves things like taking care of people who are in need, loving the unloved, crossing the road and going to the hurting people. This I believe is still an important part of the passage. What Raif said that stuck out to me was that he, Raif, was the man on the side of the road, and that I was too, and that in our broken, beat up state- Jesus crossed over to my side of the road, brought me to a near by inn and paid for my recovery.

Anway, just thought that was an interesting twist to the story.

Going away to a pastor's retreat this week with the Free Methodist Church. Who would have thought that 3/4 of Epiphaneia would be going on a pastor's retreat together?.. that is strange, but I gotta say, I'm looking forward to some serious poker and interesting dialogue.

format

I wasn't digging the black anymore-- it was a little too 2005...

Highlight of the day: a trip to Blockbuster with Mike Albano where he rented Lost, season 2. He mentioned that he's putting together a 24 marathon for season 3 sometime in the near future.... I'm not sure I could handle that much Jack Bauer in a day but I'd give it a shot.

Also, it's a terrible feeling to arrive at a meeting that you find out was yesterday...opps- gotta find that dayplanner asap.

in class

Yes, I'm in class. I hadn't pictured this scenario four months ago, but here I am, sitting in the chapel at Tyndale on a Monday night, listening to a new psychology prof. talk about fetal development. What could be better? I'm not a student (t.a.ing...), but being in this class is actually kind of fun.

Here's a sample 'story' from a frosh--- classic frosh, keeping the stereotypes up...

(about a mothers strange cravings during pregnancy).

frosh: "My mom craved Vic's when she was pregnant with my brother"
class: "vic's?'
frosh: "ya, like that Vic's Vapour rub stuff, my dad says she ate it like ice cream"
class: 'ewww'.
frosh: 'yo check this out the cool thing is that my brother's never had a cold a day in his life...'

classic.

nostalgia

It's September 1st, which means a renewed commitment to my blog. There's a chance that I'll have my own dot com before I move, but for now blogspot will have to do. What's happening? Well, most recently I watched the Tyndale videos that Ernie put together a couple years back. I'm just starting to realise how great those times were. I suppose it caused a sense of nostalgia, which I think is amplified by the fact that I'm not starting school in a week for the first time since kindergarten- strange feeling.

In other news, Ian and Lauren are moving to Manitoba. This move (in less than 24 hours now) is a sad one for me, even though its good for them- three years aren't really that long though- Lord knows the last three have gone by pretty quick.

for Cathy

I'm not sure if it's spelled with a 'C' or a 'K' (I'll go with C), but the last two times I have seen Cathy Mclaren, one of the first things she says to me is "you need to update your blog".

And so, for you Mrs. Mclaren- the blog is officially updated. It was nice visiting with you and Jim today- Pickelbarrel tomorrow- I'll see you bright and early!

A couple thoughts for tonight-
1) Ashley and I went to see Nacho Libre and, to be honest I had that whole Napoleon Dynamite first time feeling after I left. That is to say, after watching N.D. the first time I didn't laugh once through the whole thing, however I did watch it many, many times after that and it got progressively more funny- until about the 13th time, then I think it peaked. This movie had received a lot of hype, so I had high expectations- and it probably would have been more funny if some people in the audience weren't having falling out of their seats in laughter at some parts that really weren't funny- but, at least I got to see midgets wrestling, and that was well worth the price of admission (no offense to little people- I'm a fan of "little people, big world", sort of).

2) This week is crazy for drafts, with the NHL draft yesterday and the NBA coming up on Wednesday. I'm very excited to see what develops with the Raptors, however it's the Leafs who are making some noise. I was pretty happy with their pick and the trade for Raycroft but it seems that multiple sources are reporting that the Leafs are in serious discussions for Pronger. Now, as I Leafs fan I do tend to think that all players in the NHL could eventually end up on the Leafs and the media would have me think that every free agent will sign here this summer etc., but Pronger as a Leaf? holy smokes. For the record I don't think this is going to happen- my hunch is he'll go to Ottawa. Stinkin Sens.

C'est tout.

American up here...

Last Monday Steve and Nathan and I went out for lunch to talk about the conference and where we see this whole thing going next year. In response to something I said Nathan tapped me on the front of my head and said "That's because you've got American up here". This moment was probably the most outraged I've been in a long, long time. It was borderline sin. Well, okay... sin.

Lately I've been thinking about Americana and what it would be like to live there and subsequently what exactly do I think about their culture and specifically-war, because really, most of what I know about the States revolves around war. I have the opportunity to study there next year, so I figured I should really start thinking about these things, in order to avoid blindly becoming a card carrying Republican (or Democrat for that matter), if I end up going.

I think there are a ton of issues to think through here, but my initial sentiment is that I'm a pretty big pacifist. I can't really see a scenario that justifies blowing the hell (they are fighting evil...right?) out of another country- even something like 9/11. Recently I have seen two documentaries that attempt to show the other side of the war coin in America- Loose Change which is about the shadiness of the 9/11 events, and Why We Fight, which shows the war in Iraq as the result of a tradition of lies, increased Imperialism and the rise of the military industrial complex (priorities which are set to benefit corporations as opposed to what benefits the country- ie. contracts given to weapons producing corporations). Why we fight has a number of interviews with people from Iraq, who say that they supported the U.S. until they started bombing them- their neighborhoods- their parks- and until the vast majority of the people wounded or killed in this war were civilians.

I have also been reading a book by Shane Claiborne called Irresistable Revolution. He has some very interesting stories about interning with Mother Theresa and fighting policitians for the rights of homeless people in Philadelphia. He also talks about a trip to Iraq- I found it particularly interestingl- He says "essentially I went to Iraq because I belive in a God of scandalous grace. I have pledged allegiance to a King who loved evildoers so much he died for them, teaching us that there is something worth dying for but nothing worth killing for".

Maybe I only think this way because I was raised in Canada and we're the peacekeepers. Or maybe what I'm really trying to understand is what are the politics, ethics and practices of a people whose citizenship is more about a kingdom than a country.

"dunner" aka: firetruck

I don't think I've posted a picture of these two online yet... welcome to my blog Benjamin and Katrina... nephew and niece..



- they don't look like the blueberry girl from wonka in real life...not sure what is going on with this computer..

Favorite lines from Benjamin include: dunner (a firetruck..), lion, no, and unca Ciss...

Thursday night was my last class ever at Tyndale UC with only 1 exam to complete the undergrad. The last class was a bit of a doozy, with a group presentation that went off the tracks for a solid 7 minutes, (complete with references to the problems with the Emerging Church of all things!) only to slowly return and make an alright recovery. I realized that I have a problem laughing during awkward situations, although I was aware of that before. I don't think that I have stopped to think about what life after Tyndale will feel like, or to reflect on what has happened in the last five years but I've got some time to do some soul searching.

My thesis is finished, marked and handed back. I did okay for blasting that thing out in 3.5 weeks...although it did have some weak points, which Professor Evans was sure to drive home during my defense...thanks dawg..really appreciate that.

Hanging out with Cam tonight for the first time since Christmas, my guess is that the hockey game and a pub will be invovled.

my personal...

The idea of church, its value and function, its life and processes, are formed within us as we learn about and experience it. Everything that I understood church to be was the result of being raised in one. I think this may be true of a lot of what we might call "the younger evangelicals" (book still on my shelf... summers coming!), who grew up in the albatross that is the evangelical church. Now, I must admit that I did not have a particularly negative experience in my 'home' church. In fact, I still have a lot of family friends there and speak with the youth pastor on a regular basis. The trouble was not with my church but more so with my understanding of it, which at some point contributed to my very elitist, personal church.

I was an idiot.

To be quite honest, I really had no time for churches from other denominations, let alone the Catholic church- dear goodness-we should drop off some tracts. I suppose I had no concept of church history, the universal body of Christ or the notion that my church might ever be (gulp) wrong. I'm not saying that it is, or was, only that I didn't understand the church as a group of people whose messy lives are connected in this thing called salvation, and that its not, and probably never will be a perfect community.

All of this to say, I think that the idea of personal church is what has caused so much anger when people dissect and critique the Emergent Church because it is different than what we have come to know as 'the church'. We think that if there is another way to 'do' or 'be' church, that our way is wrong and thus the Emergent Church is an attack on our 80 year old traditional church. We think that we have to defend our church and our church practice, that we must go on the offensive to prove that EC is wrong and thus be validated in our own experience of church. After all, if our church isn't wrong, our church doesn't need to change.

I don't think that right or wrong is the question I'm asking. I was speaking with Craig Carter the other day and he made this statement, "I'm more concerned about why 450 people are showing up on Saturday than whether Mclaren's understanding of the atonement is orthodox". Regardless of right or wrong, why is this happening?

I don't expect many answers soon, its probably hard to pinpoint and involves a lot of, shall we say...conversations. Nonetheless, I'm happy that its happening and am more excited about the future of the church than ever before.

the day after

An entire 13 months of planning all came to a head yesterday- and I honestly need to say that I was overwhelmed by how good God is- demonstrated so many times throughout that period, and especially yesterday. Overwhelmed.
Nathan has summed up a few of his highlights, so I'll try not to duplicate too many...but here's a list of my favorite things about yesterday, beginning with...
* The guy sitting on the green couch while Don Miller is being introduced: Chris to Don: "Do you know that guy?" Don to Chris "No. I thought you knew him." Chris to Don "Ah crap".
* The craziness that was 7:30am-9:30am.
* Chris Seay might be one of my new favorite people- I didn't get to sit in on his sessions for too long, but from speaking with him over the couple of days he was around- wow.--- warm, friendly, congruent.
* Our volunteers were absolutely AMAZING- I'm not sure I have words to describe how good they were yesterday- and how God used them to bless people- seriously- outstanding. Thanks Alicia, Siobahan, Dirks, Jardin, Sarah, T-Pot, Nathan, John, Naomi, Rachel, Christina, Joy Beth, Danielle, Sharon, Michelle, Dan, Katie, Fulford and Ashley!
* The random people I met who were so encouraging.
* I wasn't in the first worship time, but I was in the second and I was overwhelmed by presence of the Spirit in that room- never experienced anything like it at Tyndale before. Jay, Big D, Katie and Dave K.- thank you so much.
* Having my arm nearly ripped off by our President as he created a moment that I will never forget- and yet its a blur even now- it happened so fast, but his words will stay with me for a long time.
* The atmosphere, the joy in people, their graciousness.
* An email from George and a phone call from Pernell after the conference.
* The crazy things- such as not knowing where Mclaren or Miller were for the first hour...or losing a large amount of money, only to find it in the garbage- athankyou Lord.
* Encouraging words from our new friends, Don, Tom & George.
* Chris Ricci and his team.- so much preparation- and so well done. To me, IT does well when you don't notice them (ie. not looking back to see why the sound guy has screwed up...)- as long as I've worked with Chris Ricci, I have never looked back- so professional, hard working- and wants it to be as good as we do... thanks Chris.
Finally...
* The boys and all of our MSN meetings, restaurant meetings, the speaker phone, forums, the bp, the emails,- the hours and hours... something good has begun, and I love that its with each of you. Single tear.

Anyway, those are some things off the top of my head. I might post some more later- maybe some pics to go with it. You can find tons of extra stuff at the website- and please, if you were there- take advantage of the forums and try and flush out and wrestle with all that you took in.

four weeks and counting

The time has almost come.

I think the travesty of my time at Tyndale will be that I didn't take advantage of an environment of learning. Somewhere around year 3 I learned how to do well without really learning anything (so I may have learned one thing...). This, I think is what Garber talks about in the Fabric of Faithfulness when he says that students "'getting all A's but flunking life' is a possibility lurking around the corner of everyone's life.."

One of the things that I am most looking forward to after graduating is learning.
Although my thesis has been great and I have learned a ton of interesting things-- mostly that the authors of Scripture had some serious literary talent, that the history has a message, and that understanding life through personal wants/desires was part of the lowest point in Israel's history-- so how much of it should be part of my life?

The rough copy of the thesis has been handed back- one week until the final copy is due.
The Boys Next Door clinched a playoff spot.
OCCAA volleyball championship- I announced my official retirement in an emotional press conference - Canon 25 didn't show up.
OCCAA basketball championship- M. Mackneer, Kyle and BIG BOY!- three peat baby! I would like to thank Nathan for some serious heckling- I feel like together we accounted for at least +7 tyndale points and -8 Redeemer points...
The conference is SOLD OUT! holy smokes.
Going to the Leaf/Sabres game with Ashley and the Boadways on Thursday....I'm nervous...its in Buffalo.
I saw Dave Arnold last weekend- woah- its been too long between visits.
Elections are coming-- should be very interesting-- no..I have decided not to run.
Spring Banquet with Bodner is coming up- Mar. 31
Concert....Robbie Seay Band, Chris Seay, Ginny Owens, Waterdeep, and...an artist named Rob Pepper-- April 7th at Tyndale.
Oh..I friggin love my housemates-- and I realize that's a fairly girly thing to say but what can you do?...maybe the most fun I've had in a long time! Paul, can I have a cookie?...two?
Ah yes, the biggest decision of my life is coming... the fork in the road, which way to go? I applied to Eastern's Graduate School in Pennsylvania (is that how you spell it?) to do an M.A. in International Development... so Lord... ?

four weeks and counting.

the NBA

If you've followed the NBA in the last 5-10 years or so...this article is hilarious-- especially Babcock's 'comments'.

the week so far

We knew this was coming. You never want to say it out loud (unless you're Harry Neale or Bob Cole) but Team Canada was terrible. Terrible you say? Maybe its not that they were terrible as much as we weren't 2002. That was an epic time in my life and produced many moments that I will never forget. Where was the Sakic Supreme this time around? Where was the pass between the legs, the dazzling stickhandling Theo Fleury, the "the whole world wants us to fail, but we'll be there"--remember that?

Death where is thy sting? Ovechkin- that's where.

I like him, except when he plays for Russia- that kid is good. Maybe the best player in the world right now.

We looked lost the whole tournament and today wasn't a surprise based on how we've played. Hindsight is a beautiful thing and we could argue about who would've made the big difference. But, we look forward to you 2010 and revenge on home ice. We look forward to you our Captain, J. Iginla (strangely ineffective this tournament) playing along side the likes of a battletested Staal, Spezza and Crosby, Nash, Phneuf... with Luongo in net- fresh off a Stanely Cup victory with the Leafs.

Well, it's hump day and the thesis is a lot further than it was on Sunday night...13/60 or 47 to go! Is that glass half full or what!

reading week

It's you and me thesis, let's do this.

emerging churches

Andrew Jones said this way better than I ever could.

"I have been listening to the latest wave of criticism against the emerging-missional church in USA and I don't know if i am more angry with the critics for getting it so wrong, or angry at emerging church practitioners for either not communicating the heart of what we (the global emerging-missional church) are doing . . or not knowing it in the first place.

The emerging church, if i listen to the more extreme critics, is just about changing the style of church to attract people and keeping them happy, of accepting any wind of doctrine without critique, of finding the coolest hippest trends and adopting them in a sunday service. Of being postmodern to attract postmoderns. Of careless adoption of any ancient practice regardless of its origin or affect, of finding identity in protest against the Modern, Enlightenment or Constantinian models of church. What the heck is that? What does that have to do with the emerging church? If there are one or two new emerging churches who have lost the plot, or never saw it clearly to begin with, and are now giving the other hundreds of emerging churches a bad name, they should be lovingly confronted with the better way of Jesus. Do it yourself before other traditions do it for you. A little yeast impacts the whole lump....

Read the rest here.

k[no]w Emergent!?

As some of you may already know, I’m organising a conference with a couple goods friend called The Evolving Church. We invited Brian Mclaren, Donald Miller and Chris Seay to come because their writing has struck a chord with us and we feel like they are saying things that we needed to hear. We think this is a good thing.

What I have found in the last couple months of planning this thing is that a) people think this is an Emergent conference and b) there are some people who think Brian Mclaren and company are the anti-Christ. First, I’d like to clarify some things about this conference. We are in no way pushing the Emergent ‘agenda’ (whatever that may be), but are really concerned about the Church and feel that there are a lot of people our age who may be thinking the same thing. Our experience inside church was not necessarily detrimental to our understanding of the Church, but we think that Church, especially in North America, has not been in operating in the manner which God has called it to.

Yes, Brian and Chris are forefront in the Emergent movement but this isn’t a conference to discuss Emergent, its to discuss how we, as the Church in Canada can take on the vocational attributes that we may be lacking. It is not a ‘local church’ bashing conference, but a chance to understand where we can go from here.

It’s sort of my running joke with Fulster that Emergent has left itself undefined, contributing to the overall stigma that it is simply pushing a post-modern agenda. Ie: what do they believe? "we don’t know, they just won’t say…" While I will admit that Mclaren has been more publicly inquisitive than affirming in regards to issues of doctrine, Emergent has defined itself here at Emergent Village

Some people may not agree with this or other Emergent ideas, or the things that some people who associate themselves with this movement write, (Sweet, Pagitt etc.) but that doesn’t disqualify them from speaking about the state of the Church in the 21st century, does it?

I have come across some blogs that spend way too much time dissecting every sentence of these people as their act of service. I have found that every time I read these blogs it leaves me disappointed, not because I’m pro Emergent but because it is often done with a mean spirit, using absolute propositions and leaving no room for dialogue. It has been my experience that these statements only lead to putting people on the defense, which only further a separation between the two sides and certainly isn't edifying. Emergent may be wrong about a number of things…its true! But saying ‘you are wrong and I’m right and that’s that’ is only widening the denominational divide among believers. It’s like I have to take sides between Emergent and non-Emergent. To think this way is to miss one of the points of the movement, which is to recognize that denominations have destroyed us and if we could only talk about our differences with open minds and a heart that is seeking to be faithful to God, then we’d be much more effective as ambassadors of Christ.

In other news, I dropped C.S. Lewis and picked up Managing Non-Profit Organisations. I like it. Our floor hockey record: 2- 0- 1, but that may change soon as our goalie will be away for most of the rest of our games, so I may be strapping on the pads—seems like a fitting end to a my last season (Lord willing!).

tagged

I don't normally respond to these kind of things but since Nathan Colquhoun has requested it, I will defy his (usually correct) instincts and reply. I was tagged...

Four Jobs I've had:
Blockbuster "rewind boy"
Selling Snowboards @ Skiis and Biikes (why two i's in bikes.. ? not sure either)
Relief Worker @ The Gateway
Maintenance @ Fair Havens

Four Movies I could watch over and over:
Braveheart
Home Alone
Magnolia
Back to the Future

Four Places I've lived:
Smithville
Toronto
Huntsville
Beaverton

Four T.V. Shows I love:
Arrested Development
Wonder Years
The West Wing
Seinfeld

Four Vacations Spots I've been to:
northern Ontario..
Peru...not exactly a vacation though..
Boston...
Philadelphia

Four Favorite Dishes
spaghetti
chili
pizza
rolaids!

Four Sites I visit often:
www.yahoo.com
www.theglobeandmail.com
www.epconference.net
www.thestar.com

Four Places I'd rather be right now:
Smithville
Beaverton
anywhere with AJ
Blue Mountain

Four Bloggers I'm tagging
http://www.puritas.blogspot.com
http:eemc.blogsome.com
http://www.thebrooks.blogspot.com
http://thesilverstrian.blogspot.com

the election.

For anyone who wants to know what Stephen Harper is really up to...these may be the funniest commericals I have ever seen- no jokes. Yum Yum is my favorite, but this one is good too!

Jack

1143 times. That is the amount of times that someone has asked me if my middle name started with an "S". Imagine if it did? Two C.S.Lewis' in the world- no way! Unfortunately, or otherwise my middle name does not begin with an S. The only reason I bring this up is because I chose a class specifically devoted to the writings of C.S.Lewis as my very last class at Tyndale- the last one! Where does the time go...

I think over the next little while much of what makes in onto this blog is going to be devoted to sharing what this 20th century literary artist has to say. I begin with a quote from book one of Mere Christianity,

"The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it is not. If you leave out justice you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials 'for the sake of humanity,' and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man."

Absolutism... it's destructive. Thinking that I am right, that I have all the answers to the most pertinent questions is destructive. Now, there are things that I believe to be absolutely true and I don't think that Lewis was essentially arguing for an absolute principle. But in the context of the church...here is exactly what I wrestle with: who is right, who is wrong and does it really, honestly, truly matter? At the moment, I'm not convinced that it does. Of course, if someone started baptizing in a church with pig's blood while wearing little to no clothing...my 'not caring' would probably go out the window and I'd look for some sort of standard by which to function as the body of Christ. The bible you say? I just need to talk to Nathan Colquhoun about this...

Jokes. Really, he's a great guy who's asking some questions too.

In other news, I'm also going to be giving a thesis report every now and again. So far in terms of page numbers I'm 0/70, but that's not terrible...it could be worse, right? I could not have a topic... well, let's not get into that.

surprise additions

Beth Veale has been added to the list of conference workshop leaders. Don't know who Beth Veale is? She is a principle at a gradeschool in Toronto, and in the words of Darryl Silvestri, "she's money baby, money". Also, Jarod Siebert has been added as a workshop leader- I believe he was part of a church plant a while ago called Next Church in Kingston. Now he works for the Mennonite denomination as a church advisor. Everything is coming together...and REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

church practice.

I heard a story the other day. Apparently the underground church in China is exploding. The first thing that struck me as different from church in the West in that this church is led almost entirely by women. The reason for this is largely unknown, however its speculated that the native men may think that the Christian faith is the equivalent of being a panzy and so they stay away. This sounds funny coming from a country where freedom of religion doesn't really exist.

The second thing I heard about the underground church in China is that a lot of the churches (which are unconnected) have their own little quirks that sound fairly ridiculous to us. For instance, before embracing Christ, one of the current leaders of a church spent three days in mourning because of their sin. And so the church that this person leads requires each person to spend three days in mourning once they choose to follow Jesus. Another leader vomitted just before conversion. Apparently they thought this should be common place and so now the true mark of a Christian for this church is to vomitt at the point of conversion.

This sounds ridiculous and totally unbiblical but...

Think about our churches. Is there anything we do that is like these traditions? Think of this- the altar call. We know what it means. It is not unexpected in some of our churches and it is usually associated with a conversion experience or the first step towards salvation. The altar call was first used by Charles Finney as a way to sign up recent converts to fight for the abolition of slavery. Of course, the altar call experience is not found in Scripture but somehow we manage to make it a focal point of our evangelism services. Oh well, I guess that's just part of becoming a Christian...right... no?...

podcasting

I'm looking for some good podcasts. Any suggestions?