I’ve been a Christian since 1980, and a Pentecostal/Evangelical pastor since 1985. I’ve been a pastor on both coasts of the continental United States. First, in Carlsbad, California: a beach city in North San Diego County. Then in the infamous and beautiful New England port city of Salem, MA. I’ve ridden the waves of the … More The Diminishing Returns of the Evangelical Movement
A Brief History of 20th Century Evangelism Activities: Personal Soul-Winning Tools: The American Tract Society: At the turn of the 19th century, short gospel tracts were being distributed for a quick readable presentation of the gospel. In Boston and New York City, societies were established for the printing of gospel tracts. The two organizations merged … More Too Earthly Minded to be any Heavenly Good – Part 4c (evangelism techniques)
Alan and his wife Deb and I met at Burning Man in 2010. Since then we have rubbed shoulders a number of times, but most frequently it has been in a missional space at Burning Man. That is a minor part of this conversation. The topic at hand is Alan’s disenchantment with much of the … More Wild Theology live Podcast with Alan Hirsch on post-COVID-19 Christianity
This episode of the Wild Theology Podcast covers the subjects of why I believe it is important to be an enigmatic/mysterious Christian, and why I wrote the recent blog post asking if the Evangelical Church has sold it’s soul for a Trump presidency.
On occasion, I spend an inordinate amount of time on something political. This is because I feel passionately that Christians should be a model of God’s love in all aspects of life, and there a seasons when the political landscape appears to have serious spiritual ramifications. This impeachment season of President Trump has been one … More Has the Evangelical Church Sold It’s Soul for a Trump Presidency?
Premier Christianity Magazine in the UK, and the Church Mission Society have posted a couple things from me in the last few days. The Church Mission Society posted an interview about Halloween, Burning Man, Witches, and festival work. I was a speaker at their conference about “Mission among People who are Spiritual but not Religious”, … More Halloween Blog Post and Interview in the UK
Burning Religion is certainly my most ambitious literary project to date, but it would not have been conceived without the long hard years of working as a pastor in the rather (in)famous little city of Salem, Massachusetts. Almost 20 years of monthlong Halloween entertainment and outreach projects, and befriending the Witchcraft community in Salem helped … More The Reformation of Halloween: Where Burning Religion Began
The last two weeks, I have spent time in two deeply spiritual locations: Land’s End in Cornwall, and Avebury – at one of the famous stone henges. These locations have afforded opportunities to develop relationships with people from other faiths and to engage in spiritual discussion and gatherings with them. In Saint Buryan at Land’s … More Land’s End and Avebury: engagement with other faiths
Phil and Priscilla arrived in Dayton, TX at the home of Paul and Joy Burwell at the end of February. The plan was to stay a month in Texas. First stop was north of Houston with the Burwells. The second stop would be Austin, and the final stop would be Brownwood with the Browns, but … More Adventures with Priscilla in Texas
After leaving the Ocala, Florida Rainbow Gathering, I was told to watch out going through Mississippi. The hippies told me that Mississippi was known for Missing Hippies. To the contrary, I am still here, and having a great time. Don and Amy Rylander have a Thursday evening gathering in a Coffee House in Brandon, MS, … More No Missing Hippie in Mississippi!
I started following the Jesus Way in 1980. I was too late for that counter-culture charismatic religious event called the Jesus People Movement, and too early for any of the revivals that would later occur in the Vineyard and Hyper-Charismatic circles. This was much like the rest of my life. I am a product of … More Now or Later? the movement of our soteriology
I wasn’t raised in the evangelical church or the Catholic Church, and nobody did anything nasty to me in those settings when I was young. Nobody did anything nasty to my childhood friends in those settings either. Of course, most of them, like me, had their church in the pool, the beach and the sun, … More I do not have your hang-ups
Words, words, words…we are inundated with words. They come as promises. They come as protests. They come as expressions of frustration. Most of us have fallen to one side or another of the debates and word-wars of politics and social issues. And I say “fallen” purposely. We are all either falling for something, or falling … More A Voice from the Dark – Prophets of Exile
In full disclosure, I am white Christian, and therefore would appear to be part of the power structure of conservatism, but I did not vote for Trump, and my own history shows me to be somewhat of a rebel to the system. If you don’t understand how Evangelical Christianity fell into what appears to be … More How Could the White Christians Do This to Us?
For me, one of the largest lessons of this election has to do with the ears of America. In a general sense, they are closed. This is not something I did not know, but I have been mildly surprised by the severity of this self-imposed deafness. Before the election of Donald Trump, the left spent … More A President Born from the Sewage of Reality TV: no one was listening
Burning Religion 