Mike King

Can the "E" word be saved?

USA Today featured an article called "Evangelical: Can the 'E-word' be saved?"  I knew within seconds of the Ted Haggard announcement that the word Evangelical (which is a wonderful word rich with history and meaning - and describes my Christian tradition) would be under intense scrutiny. 

Here is an excerpt, "Who's an evangelical? Until last year the answer seemed clear: Evangelical was the label of choice of Christians with conservative views on politics, economics and Biblical morality. Now the word may be losing its moorings, sliding toward the same linguistic demise that 'fundamentalist' met decades ago because it has been misunderstood, misappropriated and maligned." 

Read the whole article here.

Five Streams of the Emerging Church

Scot McKnight, professor of religious studies at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago and prolific writer, is featured in Christianity Today with an article called "Five Streams of the Emerging Church".  I appreciate Scot's examination, critiques and enthusiam for the issue of the emerging church - an issue that is not going away.

Read the article here.

Shout out to Rustin Smith and LifeBridge Church

Rustin Smith is the pastor of an EFCA Church plant in Belton, MO called LifeBridge.  Rustin has the heart of a pastor and is a good thinker.  Rustin is having key leaders in his church read Presence Centered Youth Ministry.  Here is his post on his thoughts.  I have been getting more and more opportunities to not only speak into the youth ministry world but also into the broader issue of Ecclesiology.  Youth Ministry will never be what it should be unless we address it in the context of a larger ecclesial focus.    LifeBridge is meeting in the Belton Community Center.  Twenty five years ago I was involved in a church plant with my friend Gary Brewster - we also met in the Belton Community Center.  This should be fun!

Super Sunday

Last Sunday was a really great day.  It started out for me at Pathway Community Church.  Kevin Schutte who has become a friend, is the pastor and has a huge passion for God's Kingdom.  Kurt and Emily Rietema, YouthFront staff members who head up our ministry in Croc, Mexico, were commissioned and prayed for as ministers in this community.  I was invited to participate and speak about Kurt and Emily's life and calling.  It was a sweet opportunity.  The church also introduced a refugee family they have committed to sponsor.  The family just arrived in Kansas City last week from a refugee camp outside of Rwanda.  Kurt and Emily were the contacts with Catholic Charities to initiate this relationship.

After the service was over I raced over to Jacob's Well for an Appreciation Lunch for 300 or so of our volunteers.  I love hanging with my friends.  Everyone was buzzing about the amazing service I had missed and the awesome message delivered Isaac Anderson.  I had nearly two dozen guest that were visiting during the evening service so I was really looking forward to worshiping with my community.  Mike Crawford and the rest of the musicians were amazing in leading us into worship through prayer and singing.  Isaac Anderson spoke about the Law and the Blessings that came when God's people were faithful to the covenant and the curses that came from their disobedience.  Isaac tied in the shaping of Matthew's Gospel and showed how events in Jesus life tied into the life of Moses (ex. both Moses and Jesus escaped from Kings who wanted them dead, both introduced Covenants, etc.).  Isaac shared examples of blessings and curses that would come based on the Israelites behavior toward the first covenant.  Isaac then turned to Jesus' Sermon on the Mt. and reviewed all the blessings.  He ended by reminding us that the hearers of Jesus message in the 1st Century, 2nd Temple culture of Israel would be bracing for the curses to follow Jesus' blessings.  Isaac revealed the lack of curses was the result of Jesus being accursed on the Cross so that we could have Life to the Full.   With all the original music and the Eucharist... it was all more than a little overwhelming.  You could hear sobs throughout the sanctuary.  What a great night.

After the service it was off to McCoy's in Westport with Tim Keel, Kevin Schutte, Kurt Rietema and several other church planters and denominational leaders for good food, drink and conversation.

On Sunday we continued a series we have been doing on Being Blessed and Blessing. 

Thanks GMan

Here is Gman's list of Top 20 youthworker blogs.  Thanks Gman for including this blog.

Most Important Theology Books in Past 25 years!

David Tatum tagged me to contribute to a list of best books of theology published in the past 25 years.

This is the criteria:

Name three (or more) theological works from the last 25 years (1981-2006) that you consider important and worthy to be included on a list of the most important works of theology of that last 25 years (in no particular order).

The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age By George Lindbeck (1984)

         

                                                                              

The Politics of Jesus By John Howard Yoder (written in 1974 but it makes my list as a second edition 1994)

                                                                                                            

    

The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology By Jurgen Moltmann (1993) 

    

                    I will tag Chris Folmsbee on this topic   

Learn to dance like a white man...

I watched this video on my son, Daniel's Blog, too funny...

A Pericope from Jeremiah for today...

Jeremiah 7:1-15 - The Temple Sermon

Jeremiah 7:1-15 is often called The Temple Sermon.  This pericope is very relevant to the contemporary conversation concerning justice and the manner in which the Church of Jesus Christ should respond to issues such as poverty, oppression and immigration.  The theme of God’s preferential option for the poor; taking care of orphans and widows; and embracing the “least of these” was not a new concept that Jesus introduced during his earthly ministry.  These issues are revealed throughout scripture as an integral aspect of the character of God. 

The beginning of this text states that this is a word that came to Jeremiah directly from God.  Jeremiah is instructed to proclaim this message at an important and symbolic location – “the gate of the Lord’s house.”  Those who came to the temple to worship were expected to embrace “powerful ethical demands.”  Those who enter the temple to worship are worshipping a God who insists on obedience to God’s covenant commands.  Jeremiah makes it clear – God’s people needed to amend their ways and reform their allegiance to God’s covenantal requisites.  God’s promises and blessing for his people were contingent on their faithfulness to his commands.  Jeremiah’s fellow Jerusalemites held the erroneous view that they were protected because God’s Temple was in their city.  This thinking is not unlike many North American Christians who view their favor with God being correlated to the idea that somehow North America is God’s country, a new Israel.  God speaks through Jeremiah to set them straight, calling for a reformed attitude and a renewed behavior.  Jeremiah sets forth the conditions that should be met in verses 5-6.  Jeremiah addresses the propensity of God’s people to foolishly chase idols and foreign gods. The end of the text deals with the reality that judgment would come.  What God had done to Shiloh was the same thing God would do to Jerusalem and all of Judah.

This text focuses on the sin – corporate sin – of the people of God.  So many negative effects surface when we focus our preaching only on “individual” sin.  “Assuaging individual guilt encourages a privatized faith, and a merely privatized faith runs counter to everything in the Judeo-Christian Canon.” (Passion, Power, and Purpose; Coleson, pg 30)  The Church of Jesus Christ must respond with a more biblical responsibility to the needs for justice.  This text reminds us that God will judge us based on these issues (Matthew 25).  

I think many North American Evangelicals assume that the idea of justice is something liberals schemed up and even more believe the concept of taking care of “the least of these” was first initiated by Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry.  Addressing these issues from the Old Testament broadens the scope of understanding.

  <-- Jeremiah, the Prophet by Rembrandt

The Text

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ^2 Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the Lord. ^3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. ^4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.”

^5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, ^6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, ^7 then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.

^8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ^9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, ^10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!”—only to go on doing all these abominations? ^11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord. ^12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. ^13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, ^14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh. ^15 And I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.  Jeremiah 7:1-15 ^[1] 

---

^[1]The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989 . Thomas Nelson: Nashville

A Feast of Theologians

                       “Is the Reformation Over?”
                    A conversation among friends
    George Lindbeck, David Burrell, and Stanley Hauerwas                                        January 18 – 19, 2007
                              NTS Chapel

On Thursday night and all day Friday, I - along with around 100 others - spent nine hours engaged in a conversation between George Lindbeck, David Burrell and Stanley Hauerwas.  What a privilege to hear three world class theologians sharing their stories of how they were formed spiritually and theologically.  They engaged with each other and the rest of us on the subject of ecumenism without doctrinal compromise.  It was great to experience this historic gathering with fellow students, professors and other friends.  I sat with Shayne Wessel, Moe Didde, Aaron Mitchum and Tera Yakel.  This was so good.  I will let you know if these discussions are made available in audio form.  It was amazing to experience how sharp George Lindbeck still is at the age of 84 years-old.

                        

Family Updates

Here is a little update on our kids.

Last night Vicki, Jessica and I were invited to Micah (our firstborn) and Anne's house for a wonderful meal.  Anne can cook!!!  We watched the second night of American Idol premiere and laughed a lot.  Anne continues to work as a Nurse and runs Dr. Chhatre's (yes, double h is correct) office.  Micah is still with Comcast and just moved to a much better schedule. 

Daniel (our middle son) is working for Saltmine which is a very cool company.  Today was Lindsay's first day back to work as a Nurse at Children's Mercy Hospital since Alexis' (our new granddaughter) birth.  We had Alexis all day.  I stayed home as late as I could to play with her.  Here is a picture I took of her.

 

Jessica (our youngest) has finished all her pre-req's and this week started the nursing  program at Rockhurst University - Research.  Today was her pre-pinning. Rockhurst University is an excellent Jesuit run academic institution.  Anne and Lindsay graduated from there.  This semester Jessica has to study philosophy and theology in addition to her nursing classes.  She thinks she is going to get a lot of help from me on those two subjects but I've got classes of my own to deal with, so we'll see.