New book. After a few years on the road, I have written this Road Tramp Theology — Love Big or Go Home. … More Love Big or Go Home. New Book on the Inherent Nomadic Nature of the Gospel is Live!
I have been working on a book entitled Love Big or Go Home over the beginning of this year. It is a theology of mission based upon the idea that the Gospel is inherently nomadic, and that this nomadism informs how we approach the world. By saying this I do not mean to assume that … More Love Big or Go Home nears completion
You can stay at home and go out for the purposes of the Great Commission at the same time. Not recognizing this potential limits our capacity to touch the world, I talk about this potential in Wild Theology Podcast #25 Wild Theology Podcast #25 – Love Big or Go Home. You can go into all … More Wild Theology Podcast #25 – Go Local
Today, I was reading an article from the BBC about the recent letter from Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell. There is nothing new in this BBC article (except the letter from Marian), and in fact, the information is a number of years old. We were already talking about this stuff at my first Burning Man … More Burning Man, Growth Struggles, Cultural Course Correction…
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
My last days of summer mission in the UK involved a week and a half of Welsh language in the National Eisteddfod. The Eisteddfod is a Welsh language, poetry, music, art and culture event. It is the largest event of its kind in the world, and brings over 100,000 Welsh speakers together each year. This … More Learning Welsh, Facing Poverty, and Meeting Pagans in Cardiff
“Who are you?” said the caterpillar. This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I-I hardly know sir, just at present- at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then,” said Alice. “What do you mean by … More The Problem with Finding Ourselves: Lessons from the Desert Fathers
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
The above video is a clip of the Brown family from Brownwood, TX. Below, Sandi and the girls share their stories about being involved in festival ministry in Salem, and at the Stonehenge Solstice. From Sandi: I have been involved in several different streams of Christianity, from Baptist to Charismatic, to now not really affiliating with … More Thoughts from the Browns about Festival Outreach
The English word “weird” comes down to us from an Anglo-Saxon and Germanic etymology. The Anglo-Saxon word “wyrd” was defined as destiny, and in the 15th century the English word “weird” was still defined as “destiny”, or “having the power to control fate.”[1] Today the word “wyrd” is used among the Nordic heathenry. They consider … More I am Looking for Wyrdos
I am catching up on things I did not have time to do this October, even as I close up the last little loose ends of a busy, busy month. The things that happen in October embody some of the dreams I have for the rest of the world. A growing group of my friends and … More A Jew and a Gentile walk into a Cigar Shop…
I gave a primer on ministering in festival settings, more specifically in Salem, MA in October with a touch of information on the changing face of Neo-Paganism as it is expressed currently. Lauren Hallee recorded it onto Facebook Live. Thanks Lauren! And so I thought I’d share it with the wider world of Phillowers (those are Phil … More Lessons on Ministering in Salem, MA in October – video
I am coming to the 10th anniversary of being splattered onto the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The article was entitled, “Befriending Witches Still a Problem in Salem, Mass.” Those were difficult days, and the next four years would be filled with even greater difficulty, but looking back, I can say, I would not … More Befriending Witches Still a Problem: Looking Back, Looking Forward
I have been in Salem, MA pastoring The Gathering since June 1999. Over the years, we have been at the center of creating events, and helping Christian ministers to act like regular people when they come to the city of Salem in October, and now the monthlong outreach has expanded to over a dozen events, … More Announcing the Big Transition: from Salem to the World
Burning Religion 