Moving On Without Me

It's been good to hear that the youth ministry at Hightown Baptist in Luton is moving ahead in big ways. The web site looks sweet! (Way to go, Jon!)

Please continue to keep these young people and their leaders in your prayers! Pray also for Pastor Keith Berry and the rest of the church leadership.

Cool, Thoughtful Art

Found this little online art gallery, thanks to a post over at Jonny Baker's blog. Art that makes you think is the best kind, in my opinion, though I realize that artistic expression can be important merely for it's intrinsically aesthetic value. (warning: some of the art on that page may be offensive to some.)

Speaking of Jonny Baker, he's got another great post from a few days ago in his creative and innovative worship tricks category. Attaching a video projector to the outside of a subway train?? Good stuff. Check it out here.

More Healthy Critique of Evangelical Theology

There's a new book out called The Problem with Evangelical Theology that seems to ask some great questions and tackles key controversial theological issues with a recklass indifference to stepping on the toes of traditional doctrinal views. Sounds like my kind of book. We need more discussion/writing that challenges the comfort of our conclusions that our theology gives us, without challenging us to think more deeply and love God with all our minds.

I particularly like what author Ben Witherington says in this interview with CT:
"I think part of the problem is that we are still doing theology in an Enlightenment frame of mind, as if it were a string of ideas that we should logically link together, and once we've produced a nice logical circle, then we're home free. The truth is that life is a lot messier than that, and the Bible is more about stories than the history of ideas that are embedded in the stories."

(HT: Rhett Smith)

Thoughts on Christendom & Mission

I've been reading (or rather, feeding on) a book that has been opening my eyes to the way that outside forces, other than Scripture, have shaped the modern day evangelical church and adjusted the very fabric of our purpose from being missional to being institutional. Last night in particular, some things really began clicking in my own heart and mind as Darrell Guder gave a very concise description of this shift:

"I have stressed that the concrete presence and action of Christians in the world was their witness, their way of carrying out God's mission by demonstrating what the gospel was. Now, Christian activity was gradually being recast as the disciplines of Christian behavior that would prepare one for heaven. Rather than reading the canonic Scriptures as equipping for mission, the church began to understand them as sacred texts that provided guidance for spiritual improvement and perfection." (p. 111)

Guder explains in chapter five how the christianizing of the Roman empire by Constantine led to the current model of Christianity called "Christendom." When the Protestant Reformation came along, the leaders of the movement (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc.) addressed the errors in the Catholic church regarding salvation, ecclesiology, etc., but never challenged the “Christendom” paradigm as a whole. In fact, they kept the “Christendom” model intact and, in Guder’s words, “maintained the Christendom focus upon the management of each soul’s salvation on earth in preparation for heaven.” Guder goes on to say that German theologian Jürgen Moltmann was right when he “does not think that the Reformation succeeded in changing these patterns inherited from the Constantinian turn.” (quoting Arne Rasmussen, p. 114.)

There are so many implications and directions to go in discussion of these things. For now, I’ll just affirm how much sense this makes to me personally. In the last several years, I’ve had this nagging sense that the way we manage and organize (and debate) the evangelical body of doctrinal truth is not altogether a precise treatment of God’s truth as a whole. Take, for example, the categories of systematic theology, such as soteriology (the doctrine of salvation), pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit), hamartiology (the doctrine of sin), eschatology (the doctrine of the end times – a modern day classical favourite), etc. After being introduced to all of these “-ologies” in Bible college, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had stepped into a science laboratory. That’s why it hit home when I read this statement from Guder: “The theological disciplines were profoundly re-shaped by the intellectual environment that adopted and adapted the scientific method as authoritative.” (p. 116)

The special emphases on “the end times” and securing our place in heaven (while somehow devaluing the mission we are to be about as God’s people on the earth NOW) coupled with the emphasis on Jesus birth, death and resurrection (while devaluing the significance of his life and ministry BEFORE arriving at the cross) has never really been adequate in my own heart and mind.

I could go on to think through issues of the Body of Christ with the modern day attractional models intended to bring people from outside the Church into it’s meetings and functions. And I could talk about the interesting ways that I’ve heard pastors communicate spiritual maturity in terms of faithful attendance at the meetings of the church and the great time and energy poured into buildings and facilities. Then there’s the funny tensions that exist in evangelical circles regarding our relationship with “the world” and even our definitions of “the world.” (I still get funny looks from some Christians when I say I’m not a big fan of “Christian music, whatever the heck that is” and that I’ve been spiritually inspired by a lot of non-Christian artists in music, film, and literature.) Perhaps these tensions are all likely the result of the “Christendom” model of faith handed down to us through centuries, finding it’s source in Constantine’s christianized Roman empire.

There's a lot I'm still wrestling with and pondering over. That should do it for now. Comments and questions and contributions to the discussion are welcome!

Good, Healthy Conversation within Emerging Church

I'm of the opinion that there is a lot of good, healthy conversation going on in what is known as "the emerging church," particularly when the conversation is on more of a theological level that informs praxis effectively. However, I'm increasingly discouraged by comments and attacks that come from the self-proclaimed gatekeepers of evangelical Christianity. These are mostly men who have contributed much to the academic and pastoral circles of the Christian faith in the last 30 years or so and who deserve respect and a listening ear. However, oftentimes, the things that they are writing and saying in reaction to the "emerging church" conversation are not consistent with the character and wisdom that they are known for, at least by me and a few other amateur church leaders and thinkers.

One Christian leader in particular who has seemingly softened his tone and been very helpful in his responses to the emerging church is Michael Horton, who contributed to the book Church in Emerging Culture: 5 Perspectives. He had a very gracious discussion online with Andrew Jones last spring that was somewhat softer than his contribution to the book. If you surf around enough on Andrew's blog, you'll also discover something of his interaction with D.A. Carson, author of Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church. Recently, I also came across this interaction on John O'Keefe's blog with yet another criticism.

In response to the flurry of reactions, opinions, criticisms, and responses to the emerging church dialogue, a few prominent members of this club got together and wrote what I would consider a very gracious, gentle response (and even "subversive rebuke?") to these reactions.

I'm sure there are more recent online conversations between established evangelical leaders and those in the emerging church conversation. (Too bad that there is this "us and them" dichotomy that is developing over the issues, but I guess it's consistent with both the history of protestantism, not to mention the very name "PROTESTant.")

The reason I'm pointing these things out is because I have a lot of friends, family and supporters who are following my life and ministry in Europe. An increasingly big part of that ministry is connected to this movement called the "emerging church." (I myself am not particularly excited about labels, but I realize they can be helpful.) As I think through and blog about some of these issues that are being thrown around by the EC, I realize that there are plenty of people out there who listen to/read respected evangelical leaders who are issuing blanket condemnatory remarks about the EC (eg., Chuck Swindoll, Michael Horton, D.A. Carson, etc.) And without doing the research and thinking through things for themselves, they are buying in to the views of these men about the EC dialogue.

Within historical Evangelical Christianity, there seems to be a tendency to dismiss someone completely whom you might have a disagreement with in one area of theology/doctrine/philosophy. This may be a result of an evangelical presupposition that bad or innacurate theology has the power to corrupt one's mind and even usurp the sovereignty of God. Therefore, in this view, we should put up our defenses and protect ourselves. It is because of this mentality that I have heard people say things like, "Ooo, stay away from those people or from that website because they promote this or that heresy." (In other words, "Don't think for yourself, let my version of 'sound theology' indoctrinate you and do the thinking for you.")

Rubbish. This protectionist, defensive posture is nowhere found in scripture. In fact, if we are to obey Jesus' command to love God with all of our minds, we should be willing to dialogue with people of all sorts of viewpoints and perspectives with humility, realizing that no human being has the monopoly on truth, even in spite of the fact that God has "clearly" revealed Himself to us in Scripture. If this means having an intelligent, respectful conversation with someone outside the narrowly defined boundaries of evangelicalsim, then so be it - especially if it sharpens us and causes us to think more deeply about the issues at hand.

Having said that, I understand scripture's warnings about false teaching and the like. The problem is that it is much too easy to misuse those passages to put controls on our own doctrinal opinions, thus granting ourselves immunity from whatever false teaching is out there threatening our controls.

My apologies if this informative-essay-turned-rant has developed an antagonistic tone (with a British flare - "rubbish"? where'd that come from?). That is not my intention. Evidently, there are some tensions and frustrations that have been bubbling under the surface of my own heart that decided to come out during this increasingly lengthy blog session.

Much more to be said about these things, but I think it's time I cut myself off and turned my attention back to the wedding planning. =)

Good/Bad in the City of Angels

I'm here in LA until Friday representing Greater Europe Mission during a special global vision week emphasis at Azusa Pacific University. Here's a little summary of my time thus far:

Good: Rental car handoff between Rick Roberts, leaving to fly back to Colorado, and me, arriving at Ontario airport.
Bad: It’s a PT Cruiser. (The exclusively preferred car of women over 40.)

Good: Southern California weather.
Bad: Southern California smog.

Good: Hanging out with college students, talking about good music, etc.
Bad: Trying to play salesman to college students (and not doing it very well).

Good: Great coffee shop on campus at Azusa Pacific.
Bad: At least 3 Starbucks sightings around the hotel and college campus.

Good: Dinner at “In ‘n Out”.
Bad: Trying to find “In ‘n Out” (in a PT Cruiser) after being given faulty directions by the guy behind the hotel desk.

A Burden for a Particular Corner of Europe

Okay, so I mentioned that I’d give a little more explanation re: our decision to head for Ireland next summer, and here I am distracting myself with a lengthy post about a Rolling Stone interview with Bono. (OH! By the way, I forgot to mention that, in the interview, Bono mentions the African ubuntu concept that I blogged about a few months back. Okay. I’m done with Bono.)

When Kristy and first agreed to visit Ireland, we were really just going through the motions of responsibly researching our “other option” aside from church planting in Cologne. I really liked what I saw in the Cologne team and thought there was really good chemistry and an impressive mix of gifting and ability. However, while we were there, it just never felt right for various reasons and I sensed that Kristy felt the same way. I’m not one to go solely on feelings, but after a few days in Ireland, I was reminded of the sense of calling that I had during my short-term experiences there and in England years ago. The burden on my heart for the peoples of Ireland and Great Britain went deeper than feeling to the level of passion and conviction. I wanted to be there.

On our rather lengthy list of pros and cons, there were smaller, more peripheral things that added up and pointed to Ireland, but this sense of being at home in Ireland and the UK was the pivotal issue for me. It means closer proximity to friends and colleagues that I’ve gained in England and thus opportunity to build on the ministry foundation I have there in a variety of ways. It also means potential involvement in future GEM church planting initiatives in Great Britain.

However, it also means a step of faith. With the Germany opportunity, I knew the chemistry and gift mix of the team that had invited us and how Kristy and I would fit in. In Ireland, there isn’t a specific church planting team context immediately apparent for us to join. In fact, there are several teams and initiatives in the Dublin area – none of whom have actually invited us to join them. But that’s okay. It just means having the faith that God will provide guidance, insight and wisdom on how to fit into what He’s doing.

Having said that, I look forward to working with Phil Kingsley, the Ireland field director. Phil has a 25 year history of working with the Irish church and a tremendous amount of respect and credibility with Irish church leaders. He’s also very engaged in the church planting dialogue and networking in the country. There’s also Rod Taylor and the burgeoning GEM Youth Ministries, to whom I will be committing a portion of my time and energy. After a few minor setbacks, the process of developing training curriculum for European youth workers is well under way and I look forward to staying involved in that work. Phil and Rod are the ones who’ve persisted in getting Kristy and I to Ireland.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or with regard to anything in this explanation needing clarification!

RS Interview with Bono

On the flight into LA this morning, I read the cover story/interview of the latest Rolling Stone magazine, featuring U2's frontman. (I think this is Bono's 12th appearance on the RS cover.) RS writers and editors seem to have varying degrees of openness and sensitivity to spiritual matters, but for the most part, they seem pretty hostile to evangelical Christianity (which I can sometimes relate with) and to faith in general. Unfortunately, I don't think their readers share the same general hostility to spiritual things. I personally get the sense that, though many people in American culture have a revulsion to elements of American evangelicalism, they’re not necessarily ready to reject the true God. I think Glen Galaxy (frontman for the band Soul Junk) was wise to tell one concert crowd, “Consider the possibility tonight that what you've rejected is not God, it's man's attempt to play God.”

Anyway, in this RS discussion with Bono, the interviewer asks very direct questions about the Christian faith that he is increasingly open to talking about. Bono seems to respond with some tentativeness when he says this:

“If I could put it simply, I would say that I believe there’s a force of love and logic . . . behind the universe. . . the story of Christ makes sense to me. As an artist, I see the poetry of it. It’s so brilliant. That this scale of creation, and the unfathomable universe, should describe itself in such vulnerability, as a child. That is mind-blowing to me. I guess that would make me a Christian. Although I don’t use the label, because it is so very hard to live up to. I feel like I’m the worst example of it, so I just kinda keep my mouth shut.”

Wow. I wonder if we can use Bono’s example to replace the Evangelical “how-to” evangelism formulas. Set aside your “Four Spiritual Laws.” Set aside your hotel-issued Gideon Bible. Set aside your “seeker-sensitive” church services. And in their place, just share your heart of wonder for the poetry of God’s story. (Please note: I’m NOT saying that those other things are all bad.)

Notice his reticence to call himself a “Christian,” not necessarily out of shame, but because of a humble recognition of what it means. Bono has seemingly counted the cost of what it means to call himself a Christ-follower. But here’s a man who has gotten the attention of world leaders and the wealthiest of businessmen to act on behalf of the most marginalized, victimized people in the world – echoing the example of Jesus. And he calls himself the worst example of a Christian.

Later, Bono says this: “I also have enormous respect or my friends who are atheists, most of whom are, and the courage it takes not to believe.” If you’re a Christ-follower, just think to yourself for a moment. Are your brothers and sisters in Christ generally known in society for the respect that they have for atheists (or agnostics or the everyday, run-of-the-mill non-Evangelical Christian, for that matter?)

There are plenty more jewels in the interview, but I’ll just end with a couple more quotes.

Speaking of his relationship with the other band members:
“They make me a better singer [and writer]. The idea of being in a room surrounded by people who agree with you is terrifying, ‘cause I’m not sure I’m consistent enough in my own judgment.” (Oh, man. Could this be an example of an appropriate attitude for Christians in the context of biblical community? What about theologians who see their own doctrinal opinions as black and white truth?)

Speaking of the evangelical movement in the U.S.:
“I’m wary of faith outside of actions. I’m wary of religiosity that ignores the wider world. In 2001, only seven percent of evangelicals polled felt it incumbent upon themselves to respond to the AIDS emergency. This appalled me . . . Amazingly, they did respond. I’ve started to see this community as a real resource in America.”

I haven’t actually picked it up myself, but there’s a book that came out last spring that’s essentially one big interview with Bono. I’m sure it contains some more insightful nuggets about the enigmatic rock icon.

1-4-1 PDX

Just received an e-mail from an old friend who has a burden for the homeless, particularly in Portland, OR. I love what Crystal is doing because it puts very practical handles on ways that everyday people with a few bucks in their pocket can help. Check out the the website that's up and running (but still a work in progress) to get the big idea behind the vision. (LINK) There are already great organizations and ministries throughout the U.S. that seek to meet the needs of the homeless, but I think Crystal's fresh and innovative vision is something extra special.

Tragic News from Waco, TX

Got some news of tragedy today. Kyle Lake, pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, TX died yesterday during a baptism that he was leading. Apparently he grabbed a mic while in the water and was electrocuted. I personally have been blessed by some of Kyle's writing through Relevant Books and the magazine.

Kyle's book, Understanding God's Will, was released exactly one year ago today.

Please be in prayer for Kyle's wife, three young kids, and the UBC community.

Adventures in Wedding Planning . . . and Ireland

I'm beginning to resign myself to the fact that my current situation in life will not allow me to have any sort of consistency in the blogosphere! Yesterday, Kristy and I spent what seemed like hours registering at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target. (Click on the links for the registry at each place.) They finally kicked us out of Target at 10pm when it closed.

Kristy was able to pick flowers and colors (black and purple) for the wedding this last week. We also had a pre-marital counseling session, got the invitations out, met with the wedding coordinator, ordered our wedding bands, and decided on a tuxedo place.

On Tuesday, we went to a Switchfoot concert at the Ogden Theater in Denver. It was a great show and I was hoping to write up my own little review, but alas, wedding plans call. I'll say this for now, though: Jon Foreman has stage presence. I could tell the front man was battling a mild cold from the get-go. Just wasn't hitting the notes 100% and quite often was opting for the lower harmony notes. With his voice struggling and probably feeling other cold bug symptoms, Foreman made up for it with stage antics and, in response to chants from the crowd, a few spontaneous vintage numbers from the bands pre-Atlantic Records days.

In between all of the wedding preparations, Kristy and I were able to confirm that we are definitely headed for Ireland. For the sake of time, I'll just post part of an e-mail that I sent off to a few of our colleagues in Ireland today:

After a crazy process of prayer and consideration, Kristy and I have decided that Ireland will be our destination next summer. It was a bit unexpected for both of us, given our excitement to be involved with the church plant in Cologne, but it's much more consistent with my own heart burden for the UK/Ireland (oops, I mean Ireland/UK) corner of Europe. This is just one "pro" in a longer list than that of our Deutschland option. I look forward to talking through how I might split my time between the needs of GEM YM and my desire to apply my rather short inventory of gifts and abilities to the church planting dialogue in Ireland and the rest of Western Europe. I also look forward to seeing how God will use Kristy's many gifts and skills with GEM YM and in areas of social justice in Ireland.

Hoping to get some time this next week to blog a few thoughts from this great book I keep talking about (I know, I know - that's what I said last week!), as well as a few more details about our decision to head for Dublin. We'll see.

Prayer for Slovakia

Been busy with wedding prep this week, so I haven't had a chance to give much time to the blog. Last week, I tried getting caught up with some online prayer for Europe and I asked Kelly Shattuck if he could provide a prayer from his experience in Slovakia. Kelly and his family have been in that country for several years doing youth and camping ministry. (LINK) When asked about his ministry, Kelly's heart bleeds for that former communist country, once connected to the Czech Republic. (Czechoslovakia used to be my favorite word to say as a kid.)

"Father of Grace in Heaven, we pray for the leaders of our churches in Slovakia that they would experience the saving & keeping grace of Jesus Christ and live in intimacy with Him on a daily basis. Break the bonds of legalism. Shatter the fear of evangelism. Tear open the closed groups afraid of reaching out to new people. Free the Slovak believers in Christ from fear, doubt, negative self-image and restore to them the joy of their salvation, the peace that overcomes all doubt and the recognition of who they are in Jesus Christ.

"We also pray for the young people of Slovakia. We pray that there would be a revival of incredible proportions that would impact the entire world for Jesus Christ! We ask that Your Spirit would be free to mold the minds, dreams, desires and plans of the young disciples of Christ that they would radically change their youth ministries, churches, cities and country! Let them experience the joy of living by faith, not by sight or creed or legalism.

"Above all, we pray that every believer in Jesus Christ would be bold to build relationships with those who don't know Him and be free to share their love for You with them in the most practical and tangible of ways.

"Thank You, Lord, that You have heard our prayer and that You will answer in Your time. We look forward to that day! Amen!"

Thanks, Kelly! Our hearts and prayers are with you and your family and the people of Slovakia!

Coffee with an Attitude

I feel so spoiled back here in the States. There are at least 4 coffee shops with decent coffee along Academy Blvd. in Colorado Springs (3 with free wireless internet access) - and that's not even including the 3 or 4 Starbucks that I've seen around.

At the moment, I'm sitting in Peaberry and couldn't help but chuckle at their take-away cup wrapper thingy (what the heck do they call those things anyway?), pictured above. I can only assume they're taking a shot at a certain aforementioned coffee shop empire in particular.

Funny enough, on the back there's a patent number and "Portland, Oregon" in small print. I'd be careful, Peaberry. You mess with Seattle, you mess with the whole Pacific Northwest. You can't be pickin' a fight with Seattle and not expect little brother Portland to sit idly by, thinking it's your friend. =)

Hooray . . . A New Label from Barna

Okay, so that post title sounds really cynical, but the Barna article to which I'm referring is actually pretty interesting. (And I just happen to be growing especially tired of evangelical Christianity's preoccupation with labels.) The article is a summary of Barna's latest book, Revolution. Really, he just seems to be writing about the disillusionment of many Christ-followers in the U.S. (though it's happening all over western society) and the subsequent search for new forms of church that go beyond the status quo of most American evangelical "Christendom" churches. Could be an interesting read, especially in light of Barna's statistic/polling expertise, though I've got a growing "to read" list of books that will probably go deeper theologically than Barna's usual fare. I'm sure this one will be widely discussed throughout the blogosphere.

Thanks to Kristy for the link. Wait a minute - you're supposed to be shopping for wedding dresses with your mom today, not passing along blog fodder. =)

Wedding Plans and European Prayer Catch-Up

The last several days have been full of wedding plan activity. The wedding planning itself hasn't been too exciting, but it's been really good to be able to spend time with Kristy every day. Obviously, she's enjoying the whole thing more than me, which puts a little smile on my face to see her excitement. There's been a little stress, due primarily to the fact that we're just getting on top of some things that are usually done 3-5 months before a wedding (e.g., pre-marital counseling, purchase of a wedding dress, invitations, etc.) It's all good though. Hopefully the invitations will be going out in the mail tomorrow or Friday. We got some help from a woman who works at Kinkos named Heidi. Heidi was a student in the youth ministry where I interned during my Bible college years. It's been good to see her and talk about some memories that we share together from our days at Brush Prairie Baptist Church.

In the midst of all this transitioning back into life in these United States and wedding planning, I realized today that I've neglected my personal commitment to pray for Europe! So I'm hoping to get back into that. I've missed Russia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. (Kristy posted a nice little prayer for Romania, if you hadn't noticed.)

I think Russia could particularly use prayer in light of the corruption that exists at so many different levels of society, due in part to a former-KGB president who regrets the fall of communism and the Soviet Union. Pray that God's people would exist there as a voice of light and redemption and Jesus-like character.

I'm going to try and have a colleague in Slovakia provide a prayer for that county, since he has been doing youth ministry there for several years.

And Slovenia? I have absolutely no idea how to pray for that country. Try the link above for some prayer requests, and then click here for more info. about the country. Answers.com always has a wealth of information as well.

That's it for now. I'm currently reading a book that has me doing some very deep thinking about the missional nature of the church. I'm hoping to blog some thoughts from that book in the near future. Stay tuned . . .

The Eagle Has Landed

Kristy and I landed in Denver on Sunday night, just before a large snow storm blew through the area. The next morning, we woke to 7 inches of snow. On Tuesday, we packed up Kristy's belongings that were being stored at her parents' place in the Denver area and headed down to her townhouse in Colorado Springs. That night, I went over to the Roberts' place, where I'll be staying until the wedding.

The last few days have been full of sunny weather (the snow didn't last long - that's Colorado for ya!) and many efforts to get settled in with such basic modern luxuries as phone and broadband service.

Observations that have sent my head spinning since arriving back:
1. Cell phone service is ridiculously expensive and not nearly as accessible here in the States as it is in Europe, especially if you're not interested in signing 2 years of your life away with Verizon.

2. All this space to drive on the roads makes me dizzy. Could it be that I actually miss the smaller, narrower streets of England?! Maybe I've just developed a case of agoraphobia.

3. The variety of choice in restaurants and coffee shops is bewildering. This is a strange one for me. I love the convenience of having at least 3 different coffee shops around with with great coffee and free wireless internet, but at the same time, all these places to eat and shop and . . . well, consume . . . it just all smacks of materialism and vanity.

It reminds me of something I came across in cyberspace recently.

Own Less
If you don't own the latest thing,
it won't go out of date.
If you don't own much,
you won't have much to lose.
If you own next to nothing,
you won't worry about ending up with nothing.
If you own less than you want,
you will still have more than you need.
If you spend less money on things,
you can spend more time on you.
If you own less, you will value it more.
If you own only what you can carry,
you will carry less baggage around with you.
Travel light.

(HT: Jonny Baker)

En Route to Colorado

Kristy and I are travelling back to the States separately today. Would’ve cost us a good $100+ to travel on the same flight. I was hoping to get some Wi-Fi action here, but I only seem to be able to pick up a weak T-Mobile signal, way out here in gate 3 of terminal 4. Aside from that, I can’t even find any electrical outlets. Almost makes me feel like I’m in a cyber-countryside, where things are slow in catching up with the technology of the WWW urban sprawl. Wow – I sound like a techno-geek.

When I got to the check out counter, the lady made me take a book and a pair of jeans out of my big suitcase and put it in the smaller one to bring it down 1 freakin’ kg to the international weight limit. Worse yet, my laptop briefcase weighed 12 kilos, 6 over the limit. I have never had to off load my briefcase on a flight to be checked in. So I took the laptop bag out and proceeded to stuff it with some magazines and the book I’m currently reading, along with my Palm. When I got up to the security line, it hit me that I’d left my MP3 player in the main briefcase, which would be enjoying it’s first ride in the belly of a Boeing 777. Under my breath, I said one of those swear words that are permissible in Britain, but still taboo in American evangelical Christianity.

Walking through the airport on the way to my departure gate, I noticed an “inter-faith” prayer room. This is the first time I’ve flown out of Heathrow through terminal 4 and I’ve never seen an inter-prayer room in any of the other terminals, or even any of the other airports for that matter. There was one Muslim man in the room who had spread out a prayer mat and looked like he was preparing to bow toward the east. Couldn’t help but wonder how followers of The Way might plug in with such prayer rooms in redemptive ways. (And I don’t mean leaving gospel tracts littered throughout the room.)

Report from Dublin

Kristy and I are having a great time here in Dublin. There's been an absolute flurry of activity in church planting dialogue here in recent days. This past weekend, Jonny Baker was here speaking for a Church of Ireland group. When Kristy and I arrived at the GEM Youth Ministry office on Tuesday, I was pleasantly surprised with an opportunity to meet Andrew Jones and chat about emerging church stuff for a brief amount of time. He titles his blog "Tall Skinny Kiwi," and after meeting him in person, I can confirm that he is all three. The guy read three different books during his stay of maybe 24 hours here in Dublin, including "Blue Like Jazz." Since he lived and ministered in the Portland (OR) area for a few years, he knew many of the Portland sites mentioned by Donald Miller. The Jones family was staying with Phil Kingsley (the GEM Ireland field director) en route to the U.S. Phil's eldest son, Matt, and his family have recently joined the GEM Youth Ministry team here in Dublin and he has written up a little blog post of his own about hanging out with Andrew.

On Tuesday evening, we joined a group of church planters for a pint of Guinness at this traditional Irish pub with brilliant live music. It was essentially just 3 people with fiddles and I think some traditional Irish instruments playing softly in the background. Coolest pub experience I've ever had. Was also blessed by a conversation with a guy named Will from the mid-west U.S. who had been living in Dublin for three years, just getting to know Irish culture and connecting with people in various settings, looking for ways that God is at work in Ireland.

Anyway, more later. Time for bed. Tomorrow, Jon Covell is taking Kristy and I out to the Irish countryside to some ancient castle and celtic ruin sites. We fly back to Luton late tomorrow night.