Tag: doug pagitt

Hitler does emergent


(embedded video)

Some of you might have no clue what they’re talking about here. So as a brief background, Tony Jones recently stepped down as the National Coordinator for Emergent Village. After he stepped down, Josh Case (now part of the Nick and Josh Podcast) posted a video suggesting that as part of the idea and concepts behind Emergent Village and “crowd-sourcing” (my words, not his) anyone who takes part in Emergent Village should now be a National Coordinator (I would add that it’s very similar in idea to the fact that because of Christ, we’re all now part of the priesthood).

But regardless, while this is a slam against Emergent Village I’m going to say this is greatness. Very funny. The “Scrawny Kiwi” writes that Matt, who posted the video, said it was made by Randy Brandt.

If you don’t quite understand the above video, maybe you’ll get a kick out of an earlier version that came out after my beloved Cowboys lost to the New York Giants in the playoffs last year.

re: Church Basement Roadshow

Jim Palmer has a good review of the Church Basement Roadshow in the latest edition of Next-Wave.

From Jim’s article:

Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Mark Scandrette led the event, which combined an “old time gospel revival” setting with a different kind of message that invited people to imagine a Christianity that was more anchored in the life and message of Jesus.

From what i heard and saw last night, a person who may be drawn to this expression of Christianity would be a person who:

  • feels like they don’t fit or benefit by the “traditional/cultural” forms, practices, and expressions of Christianity, and have an aversion to the “one size fits all” mindset.
  • can’t relate to a mental/heady Christianity but are prone to the idea of a new way of life based on the values of Jesus.
  • doesn’t thrive in the typical systems and infrastructures of organized church.
  • feels marginalized in the typical Christian class system of professionals (pastors, church staff) and amateurs (”lay” people), and desire to be empowered.
  • desires relationships of love and acceptance, where hard questions can be asked and explored without fear of rejection.
  • thrives in the freedom of creative expression, and imagines Jesus more as a revolutionary who lives on the street in solidarity with marginal peoples, as opposed to a politician wielding power from an air-conditioned high-rise office.

related ::
Church Basement Roadshow
SSL :: soul graffiti – experiments in truth
SSL :: church basement roadshow (video of the event)

Church Basement Roadshow

For those of you who missed it (or want to see it again – like myself) – video of the Church Basement Roadshow is now available online.

The video comes from the Church Basement Roadshow stop at Disciples Fellowship in Birmingham, Alabama.


Church Basement Roadshow from Steve Knight on Vimeo.

HT :: Emergent Village

related ::
church basement roadshow
emergent village

Top emergent books

Tall Skinny Kiwi shared his top 5 emergent books for American readers back in June on his blog (just saw the post :-().

Here’s his top 5 (plus a few others) ::
1. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures, by Ryan Bolger and Eddie Gibbs.
2. The New Conspirators, Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time, by Tom Sine.
3. The Emerging Church, by Dan Kimball.
4. The Church on the Other Side, by Brian McLaren.

Runners-up for 5th:
The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, by Tony Jones.

Revolution, by George Barna.
The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claibourne.
The Great Emergence, by Phyllis Tickle.
The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community.
Also: Rising From the Ashes: Rethinking Church, by Becky Garrison.

Worth a mention: It might be almost 40 years old but “The Emerging Church” by Bruce Larson and Ralph Osborne (1970).

—

To be honest, as someone who was called an “emergent sympathizer” today I haven’t read any of these books — yet. I actually ordered two of them earlier today and hope to read them soon – that is if a couple others I’m expecting don’t reach my mail box first.

The books I’ve read and recommend as part of the “emergent movement” and or just faith in general are (in no particular order):

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren. Probably one of the first “real emergent” books I read and one that had a great impact on my thinking and understanding.
Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. Another great book that talks more about the history of kings, empires and the role of God-followers along the way.
A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Pagitt. This book has left me asking a lot of questions. It’s not one I’ve recommended to a lot of people just for that reason but I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
A Peculiar People by Rodney Clapp. I don’t know that Rodney Clapp considers himself emergent by any means but his ideas really came to life after reading many of these other books before hand.

btw – if Mr. Tall Skinny Kiwi happens upon this blog post – we’d love to have you join us for an episode of the something beautiful podcast. tell us when and we’ll take care of the rest. 🙂

related ::
tall skinny kiwi ::emerging church: top 5 books for american reporters
something beautiful podcast

six degrees of Christianity

This is cool.

Co-Occurrences of Names in the New Testament (more complete data)

It’s like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon or Friend Wheel, but for the names and people of Scripture. Basically its a visual representation of people who are connected in Scripture by being mentioned together 3 ore more times.

Very cool way to visualize how Scripture seems very big on relationships with one another.

Related ::
Wikipedia :: six degrees of Kevin Bacon
Doug Pagitt talks about hope and being relational
SSL :: Facebook Friends Wheel