The October 2007 issue of Bill Dahl’s The Porpoise-Diving Life zine is out. Robbymac is the guest editor for this issue, and he selected the theme of Charis-Missional for this issue. He recruited me, Emerging Grace, and one other person to generate content for the issue, originally slated for publication in July. Our fourth had to drop out due to other circumstances, but Phil Wyman submitted a couple of pieces through Bill to tag himself in at the last minute. This one felt a bit awkward, for a few reasons. First, we rushed through June to complete the issue, but a computer crash around that time left Bill scrambling all summer so that he couldn’t update the site until late August, when the August issue went live and stayed up through September. By that time, Rob, Grace, and I were asking ourselves, “Maybe I should read what I wrote back in June to see if I still agree with it?” I didn’t re-read my pieces, but… no matter.

Yesterday I sat back and didn’t comment — I was busy with other things, including some writing, but it seems to me that something needs to be said about this whole Mark Driscoll flap. And right off, this isn’t about Driscoll, or Pagitt, or Bell, or even Don Carson or the matchstick boys. It’s about criticism. And I hardly know where to begin… but challenges have been issued, and though most of them aren’t directed at me personally, I think I’ve got something to say (alright, I always have something to say, whether or not I should say it). There are times when criticism deserves a response, as do certain kinds of responses to criticism. I said yesterday that I probably had things to say that could get everyone upset with me… and while that’s not my intent, there are things that need saying. And I’m just dumb enough to be the one to say them.