Yesterday evening we took off to the Morden Corn & Apple Festival where we ran into some friends from way back that we haven’t seen in years. Back in the pre-children days, they were part of one of the best small groups we were privileged to lead in the ol’ CLB. He resonated when I used the phrase “ecclesiastical vagrant.” There are so many out there.

And… on with the linkage, noting that I’m dedicating item #11 to my good friend Robbymac.

1. Former Leader offered a personal post that shows the pain of having relationships cut off after you pass over the church threshold for the last time.
2. Jason Clark gets personal as well; identification for those who struggle with depression.
3. Len Hjalmarson on sin management, beginning with a quote from Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy: “The gospel of sin management produces vampire Christians who want Jesus for his blood and little else.” Len concludes by asking, “What would happen if we moved from substitutionary atonement as our key metaphor in understanding Jesus work on the cross to Christus Victor?” Whosus-whatsus? If you’re not familiar with Gustaf Aulén (the term is taken from his 1931 Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement), a thorough overview of the concept subtitles itself, “Understanding the Cross from the perspective of grace rather than legalism.” It’s a subtle enough shift in thinking that some could miss it, yet it’s quite significant. Do you think of salvation as God purchasing you out of slavery, or is salvation the abolition of slavery?
4. Earl Creps wonders about Missional Fatigue, and Makeesha wonders about Earl’s wondering.
5. Michael Morrell is blogging — finally, he says, but he launches with three years’ worth of archives.
6. This is new: Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership, from Regent University.
   

   The Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership (JBPL) is a refereed scholarly journal that aims to provide a forum for international research and exploration of leadership studies focused on the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

   Representing the multidisciplinary fields of biblical, social-science, historical and leadership studies, the JBPL publishes qualitative research papers that explore, engage and extend the field of knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon of leadership as found within the contexts of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

   To stimulate scholarly debate and a free flow of ideas, the Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership is published in electronic format and provides access to all issues free of charge.

   I’ve downloaded the first issue to my “To Read” folder, which still has too much “unfinished reading” that I intend to get to.

7. Some poetry: “When I Became a Christian,” by Adrian Plass
8. I found a “Christian Audio” site that offers MP3 downloads for sale; may audio books etc., including several free downloads — the free one of the month is Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection, plus a stable of author interviews.
9. Faith+Values: Little altars everywhere: “In the era of big-box churches, small, multicultural congregations that focus on serving those in need in their neighborhoods are growing quickly.” 664 churches of under 100 people have begun in the Twin Cities since 2000, only half that number started in the 1990s; in the 1980s there were just 135. The pace is still accelerating; a good article via Makeesha.
10. Even Godwin didn’t see this one coming: catsthatlooklikehitler.com
11. Bon Scott or Brian Johnson? (Huh? Who?) A controversial scholarly paper by University of Calgary economics professor Robert Oxoby. In case it isn’t obvious, it’s a joke — he literally wrote the paper in a Vancouver airport when he had 90 minutes to kill and nothing better to do. He just didn’t realize that some people who should really know better would take it seriously. I just want to say, for the record: my vote is for Bon Scott, even though the first semi-post-Scott album certainly had its moments. Oh, those Aussies… this export was atonement for others of that time period.
12. Bloggers have the power, even to catch NASA screwing up.
13. Chris Erdman has announced he’s Saying Adieu to blogging. His blog has been an important one and its absence will be felt.
14. The Robbie Seay Band has a new album coming out, but you can download it for free if you consent to two new sources of junk email newsletter subscriptions. My experience suggests you don’t need a working email address to proceed past the form page… make of that what you will. (via)
15. Missing the point. “Good golly Miss Molly!” indeed.
16. I do pay attention to where some of my traffic comes from… interesting to see who links to what stories, and you discover things like The psychology behind the ‘Starbucks experience’ linking to one of my older very popular posts, Starbucks, Snobbery, and Church Vocabulary
17. It’s a sad sign of the times when I link to Shooter in the Church: A police officer’s advice on how to prevent, and react to, a gunman at church. The sign of the times part is obvious; it’s been a few years already that volunteer childrens’ workers in the church need to have police background checks. The sad part is that I have to say that it’s a good article, and an issue that some of the larger churches should be paying attention to.
18. When I saw the “Detox Your Spiritual Life in 40 Days” Book Review, I kinda groaned, “Noooooo….” Where do people get the idea they can fix everything in 40 days? Obviously I haven’t read the book, but my experience with the church detox 12-step tells me 40 days isn’t likely to get you past the first step, let alone the whole program. I don’t think he means quite the same as that when he says “detox” though.

Quizlet for the week: What’s your theological worldview? I did this one two years ago, so I was curious about whether I’m shifting… looks like I’m less theological in general, and slightly more liberal. Whatever. I would probably self-identify fairly differently.

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern, You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don’t think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 79% Neo orthodox 75% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 68% Reformed Evangelical 64% Roman Catholic 61% Modern Liberal 43% Fundamentalist 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 36% Classical Liberal 29% What’s your theological worldview?