Underground Hip Hop
Thoughts and musings on hip hop culture.The Sacramental Nature of the Church
If a sacrament is a means of grace, or to improve upon an Augustinian idea, a visible sign of both invisible and visible grace, how might the church be sacramental? This is a question I have long been wrestling with and the suggestion I made in my dissertation was...
Nitpicking the #NashvilleStatement (while not being “liberal” or “progressive”)
The hot button discussion in American Evangelicalism this week is the recently released "Nashville Statement". This is an attempt by some Reformed Evangelicals to clarify their views on sexuality; the statement has raised a fair amount of agreement and a fair amount...
“Traditioning” in the Vineyard: A Pastoral Value for Sacramentality.
Below is a copy of the paper I presented at the 2017 Society of Vineyard Scholars' annual gathering (PDF can be found here). I essentially argue that sacramentality is essential for Vineyard theology and praxis, especially the regular celebration of Communion....
Jesus Didn’t Seem to Preach Many Expository Sermons!
I have a huge interest in homiletics, the art of preparing and delivering sermons. I've read dozens of books on the subject, written a lot on it, and trained a lot of preachers in the past decade, not to mention having taken a number of courses in my undergrad and...
Discipleship: The Process of Becoming like Jesus.
I've long been intrigued by the elusive subject of Christian discipleship. As a "child of the church," having spent the entirety of my life in and around churchianity, I'm well versed in numerous definitions of what it means to be a disciple and yet, as I've read...
Kingdom Ministry: Life, Questions, and Beer & Cigarettes
Over the years I've been approached by a few people who wanted to either use the gifts they believed they had or be trained and equipped to minister through speaking (e.g., preaching, teaching, training, etc.). In simple terms, they wanted opportunities to speak from...
Happy Women’s Day: Giving Women the Same Interpretive “Freedom” As Slaves
As I have continued studying issues related to women in ministry, gender, and hermeneutics (biblical interpretation), I have come to the conclusion that the Bible requires that Church does all that she can to both encourage and empower women to actively pursue...
Preaching 101: Provoking Hearts & Minds Toward Jesus & the Kingdom
Preaching is the art of provoking hearts and minds toward Jesus and his kingdom. I believe it's an art because I'm convinced it's similar to painting or composing music. You can take a class on painting and learn the basic mechanics of brush strokes, but that's way...
Does Our Order of the “Now” and “Not Yet” Prioritize?
One of my favorite worship albums is Jeremy Riddle's "The Now and Not Yet." This "now and not yet" theology was made somewhat "famous" amongst Evangelicals by the scholarly work of George Eldon Ladd, especially in his The Presence of the Future and The Gospel of the...
Hiding Behind the “Ministry Guise”: Avoiding the tough questions
Reading through the Gospels and taking Jesus' words seriously, not to mention reading through both the Old and New Testaments, leads me to the conclusion that it's perfectly "normal" for followers of Jesus to face persecution and to suffer. I mean, Jesus said that...
