Shopping Malls and Altar Calls

July 20, 2009 //

In The Next Evangelicalism, Soong-Chan Rah identifies consumerism as one of the Western cultural captors of the church. If you’ve been around church for awhile, you’re probably familiar with the idea of “church shopping.” Church shoppers ask many of the same questions when taking a trip to the mall or choosing a church:

What style am I looking for? What’s the lowest price I can pay? Do I want the convenience, and predictability, of a nationwide big-box retailer? Maybe I’ll check out that hipster boutique?

And, even for those who are not shopping around, the primary question is not What can I give? but, rather, What can I gain? As my friend Jason Coker points out in a recent post, The Mega-Freeloader Church:

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Categories church, communication, community, Kingdom of God, missional

Friday Freebies: Crazy Love

July 10, 2009 //

Hey friends, must be a busy week here in the home office because we’ve got two — yes, count them, two — Friday Freebies in one week!

Some of our friends here in SD who run a great business called Christian Audio are offering a free download of Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love during the month of July.

Francis has been a featured speaker at many Passion events and is the teaching pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Southern California. Francis is an engaging, challenging, passionate speaker — in the written version of Crazy Love, I keep hearing his preaching voice. In that sense, I think the audiobook version might communicate the message of his book more clearly.

Categories books, church, freebies

Friday Freebies: I Can Haz Chikin

July 7, 2009 //

While I like Chick-fil-A sandwiches, their ads have always given me the creeps. Something about the scrawled “hand”-written messages seems kind of unhinged. It’s like LOLcats, but not cute or funny. Yes, I am definitely over-thinking this!

In what could exponentially increase the ick-factor for me, Chick-fil-A will be hosting their 5th Annual Cow Appreciation Day this Friday, July 10th. Come into a Chick-fil-A dressed as a cow and receive a free meal (and, probably, make a bunch of kids cry!). Just imagine a restaurant filled with cows eating fried chicken.

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NOTE: Since this freebie is running this Friday I thought I’d publish this blog post a little early. That should give you enought time to make your own scary cow costume.

Categories food, freebies

Review: The Next Evangelicalism

July 1, 2009 //

The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity by Soong-Chan Rah, opens the door to hard conversations that we, as followers of Jesus, must no longer avoid. Talking about race, reconciliation and idolatrous captivity of the church is uncomfortable but, if we are serious about redemption (both within and through the church) we must engage these sensitive issues.

I am increasingly exasperated by those who write off Soong-Chan as an “angry Asian man,” and nothing more. In the introduction, Soong-Chan explains:

There are portions of the book that are intended to provoke. There may be times when the reader may react with anger, derision, defensiveness and so forth. But as you read through the major arguments of this book, I hope you will find my deepest concern for the church, the body of Christ… The true intention of the book is to bring reconciliation and renewal to the church in America.

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Categories asian american, books, church, faith, justice, Kingdom of God, race, reconciliation, reviews

Give It Away

June 15, 2009 //

One of my favorite questions these days comes from Charles Lee:

How can we become a better expression of God’s love to the world?

When I came across this story about Sub Pop Records giving away college scholarships, I was both encouraged and challenged.

Encouraged, because I love the indie/punk DIY spirit — with this scholarship, Sub Pop is helping to foster music, creativity and the arts in the lives of three young people from the Pacific Northwest. Punk, to me, is not about three-chords and an attitude; it’s thinking differently about and making a difference where you live.

I am also challenged to deeply consider what kind of church I hope to be a part of and to help pastor — one whose community is better off because we are here. I’m not only talking about funding scholarships or other humanitarian efforts (although, if we’re honest, the church in general could probably do a whole lot more of that) but fostering a spirit of generosity and creativity that reflects the head-spinning generosity and creativity of our God.

We want to become a church who serves, loves, prays for and is a good neighbor to those around us. We want to give more than we take, to bless more than we are blessed, and to become a better expression of what the love of God in Christ actually looks like.

Categories church, college, community, indie, Kingdom of God, music