When I entered kindergarten, I was absolutely terrified. I had this elementary school anxiety problem that made me not want to attend, and it was so bad that it made me sick to my stomach. What compounded my anxiety was the fact that I had to play on the same playground with older kids. The older kids intimidated me. They were more experienced, were bigger in stature, and knew how to muscle their way to what they wanted, especially if a kindergardener stood in their way.

I just experienced the General Assembly meeting at Anderson this past week. I observed one patriarch of the CHOG talk about the past and how many GA meetings that he had been a part of. The stories were nice and the messenger is a very reveared person, even to me and my family. What insued through the rest of the 2 day meeting were people sharing how long they had been on the playground, I mean, attending GA. It was almost a huge Justice League of pastors showing their superpowers, and there was this air of intimidation.

What saddened me the most was a simple attempt to discuss something that was not on the Justice League's agenda. This was an idea that countered the obvious resolution that had been made to the GA. The idea was not a bad one, it actually made some sort of sense, but the movement and intimidation factor was so great, that the idea was a mere toot in the wind. I am no great business meeting mind, those types of meetings still intimidate even me at times, but I know when the bigger agenda wins.


We all still play on the same playground, but who let the bullies in?

Ryan Bolger has some good thoughts on his blog with these two posts Lesslie Newbigin and Mission to the West and Where to Go with Newbigin. [Well Ryan has more than just these two good thoughts, I'm just drawing your attention here.]

Scot shares his experiance on a sunday with an emergent church. Nice read. this might help clarify for some, just what we're tlaking about. Or it may not. His post is HERE. Check out Emmaus Community directly HERE.

I got this from Backyard Missionary. The audio file is of Tim Keller talking about our context. How the gospel can adapt to cultures. How many religions can't. his point is that we all contextualize. Things will go better once we all admit this. Our kids can look look back and see easily. he said it's hard to see, until about 50 have passed. Check it out, Good stuff. [PS click on the header to get the audio link.]

This is an article on Rob Bell and his Noomas, in the Chicago Sun-Times. The comparison to Billy Graham is a bit much, don't ya think? LINK