The Jesus Disconnect (5): The Processes of Discipleship

So how does the material in the “rest of the Gospels” come into the Christian life? What are the “processes of Discipleship” we see in the first half of the Gospels that should be integrated into faith in the crucified and risen one.
1. We should start with affirming the perspective we’ve gained. The Kingdom of [...]

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The Jesus Disconnect (2): How does the ministry of Jesus fit into our consideration of Jesus?

How does the ministry of Jesus fit into our consideration of Jesus?
In 1982, I returned to seminary and took a job as youth minister at a church near the seminary. Because of some of my studies in seminary that semester, and because of something I heard Dr. John Piper say in a sermon, I determined [...]

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The Jesus Disconnect: What and Why?

I want to write some posts exploring what I am going to call “The Jesus Disconnect.”
Nothing has impressed me more in my last few years of writing, reading and discussion than the disconnect the average Christian believer feels from the ministry of Jesus, specifically his miracles, exorcisms, teachings, training of disciples and encounters with individuals [...]

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What does the Osteens’ Gospel Produce?

NOTE: Just for the record, I think the civil case is a money grab and a waste of the court’s time. But that’s another post for another blog.

Jared nails it. Read him, because I’m just stealing his stuff.
The prosperity Gospel has nothing to do with Jesus.
The Osteen trial is providing all the evidence you need- [...]

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A Spirituality of Frustrated “Certainty”

One of the many children of the original “Wretched Urgency.”
In his outstanding, must-read book, The Myth of Certainty, Daniel Taylor uses a narrative method in some portions of the book that I’m sure many of you can relate to. The protagonist, a moderate Bible teacher who finds himself teaching at a fundamentalist Bible college, is [...]

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Two Words On Red Plaster: Thoughts On the “Vatican Splendors” Exhibit

I am traveling all day and may not have web access for a while. So be patient with moderation. Thanks.

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to tour the Vatican Splendors collection at Cleveland’s Western Reserve Historical Society. The traveling exhibit contains selections from the Vatican’s collection of art and artifacts. Much of the exhibit concentrates [...]

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Jesus says Cross the Line

One of my readers sent me two very interesting links. The first is on the phenomenon of “subcultural segregation,” especially of the politically like-minded, and the second is on a similar topic, but more applied to the overall quality of civic life in our culture.
Let me translate some of these ideas out a bit: For [...]

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Pray at the Pump: A Meditation on Jesus and Economic Discipleship

Several days ago, I posted an invitation to discuss Jesus and Gas Prices on this blog. It’s a topic that, to a large extent, will reveal how much we really can engage our imagination with the concept of Jesus shaped discipleship.
For example, one evangelical has taken his particular view of rising gas prices and started [...]

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Stand Where I’m Standing/See What I See: A Review and Response to Louis Bouyer’s Critique of Protestantism

This is a three part post dealing with a classic Roman Catholic critique of evangelicalism followed by a missional defense of evangelicalism on my part.
If you haven’t read Bouyer, you will be at a bit of disadvantage. Same if you don’t know anything about Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
In part I of [...]

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WWJT: Three Doors Down

I’ve developed a serious case of “What would Jesus think about this?” Trust me, it’s just as annoying to me as it is to you.
I don’t claim to know perfectly what Jesus would think about anything, but going on what Jesus says in the gospels, I’m usually able to get on the right road and [...]

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