Category: faith

The Easy Way Out

Friday night, Laurie and I went with Brian and Heather to hear Rob Bell speak on his “The God’s Aren’t Angry Tour.” We weren’t entirely sure what to expect. I think Brian and I had a basic idea, he would talk – without PowerPoint, or visual aids and would be fairly good at it. I think Laurie and Heather may have had an even lesser idea of what they were going to. Heather tried to explain it to someone as a “not a conference.”
In the end I walked away curious, contemplating and amazed. Bell spoke for nearly two hours without notes, a chalk board, white board or any other visual aids other than a replica of an alter on the stage.
He dressed in plain clothes – black jeans, a black shirt, white belt and tennis shoes. And he walked onto the stage, applauded the audience and went right into his message. There was no, “Thank you Dallas.” No, “I’m so glad you’re here.” Just the message he plained to give.
Continue reading The Easy Way Out

Huckabee, Obama, Rudy, Hillary, Edwards and Romney

Kay and Rick Warren have invited 3 Republican candidates (former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney) and 3 Democratic candidates (Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John Edwards) to speak at the 2007 Global Summit on AIDS and the Church.

Clinton has already agreed to attend the others are reportedly working on their schedules.

Should be interesting

Why community groups?

I posed a question to my community group last night, “Why are you involved in a/this small group?”

I thought the answers offered some interesting insight into why our group has come together. I’m sure this varies from group to group and person to person, but it seemed that community and intimacy with others seemed to be the predominant answer.

As the leader, I think (maybe selfishly) I hoped they would all say, “to learn more about the Bible.” But for those last night, building community and friendships is what really made them say, “Let’s get involved.” And their answers make sense. While Bible study is a large part of our meeting, the group really comes alive when we share life together. Whether or not that’s in the middle of looking at a passage of Scripture or eating a taco, sharing life experiences with others really seems to put a spark in people’s eyes.

Rudy and Pat

Gail Collins, editorial columnist for The New York Times, has an interesting look at Pat Robertson’s endorsement of Rudolph Giuliani.

Back in mid-2001, when Mayor Rudy Giuliani was busy committing adultery, lurching into his divorce and third marriage and rooming with a gay couple he promised to marry as soon as the law allowed, who among us would have imagined that one day he would be endorsed for president by Pat Robertson?

Truly, Sept. 11 changed everything.

Actually, Robertson, the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, has had peculiar positions on the terror attack. He once said it was nowhere near as big a deal as the problem of judicial activism, and on another occasion he explained that the destruction of the World Trade Center was God’s punishment for abortion and “rampant secularism” on television. It’s hard to understand what drew the two men together. Rudy has hedged his positions on quite a few issues lately — but he has yet to suggest that New York had it coming.