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My Brother’s Conversation with a Pastor (and why he left the faith)
By Steve on March 10, 2013
About thirteen years ago my brother moved with his wife and two children from our childhood home in suburban Detroit to Salt Lake City. He did this with about 35 other people for the purpose…
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Rob Bell and Hell Pt. 2: Wrestling With God
By Steve on March 7, 2013
A couple posts back I wrote about an evening I had last week discussing Rob Bell’s debate on “hell” with Christian author Adrian Warrnock. That post generated more than my usual humble levels of traffic…
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Treadmill Christianity…and How to Hop Off!
By Steve on March 6, 2013
Years ago I was at a Christian leadership conference in Asia. One evening the guy leading that particular meeting felt to pray for anyone who wanted “a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit.” He asked everyone who…
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Rob Bell…And Hell!
By Steve on March 2, 2013
Last night a group of friends and acquaintances gathered together in Central Hong Kong. It was a Friday night, the work week was over, and so they came together to drink a little wine, eat…
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Awaiting Aslan: Finding Our Identity in the King and not the Message
By Steve on February 27, 2013
When I was a teenager I loved reading C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Once when I was home sick from school I read Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair complete through…
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Weekend Update: Oscar Special 2013
By Steve on February 24, 2013
It’s Oscar Sunday again and as a movie aficionado I can’t help but weigh in (as I do every year) on my Oscar predictions. Best Picture: Argo – It’s going to be a toss-up between…
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Hype-Grace?: A Response to Michael Brown
By Steve on February 23, 2013
In a recent article gaining a lot of traction on Charisma News, Dr. Michael Brown has taken issue with, as he would say, “hyper-grace”. As I read the article I am struck by how his…
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He’s Got The Whole World…In His Hands!
By Steve on February 20, 2013
“The world is not my home…I’m just passing through.” So sang Larry Norman to millions of “Jesus Movement” Christians in the 1970s. I was one of them! I loved it and the line re-enforced the…
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Christians in Retreat? Why the Church prefers Tulsa to New York
By Steve on February 19, 2013
When Paul the Apostle began his Christian ministry he seemed compelled to bring the good news of Christ to the most influential cities of the world. Cities like: Corinth Ephesus Athens and finally to Rome….
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Take a “Journey” this Lent Season!
By Steve on February 16, 2013
What special activity are you doing for Lent this year? As someone whose Christian faith was shaped by the early Jesus Movement of the 1970s, and later by independent Charismatic church life, the ritual of…