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)
A Brief (and extremely incomplete) History of Major American Evangelism Influencers: Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758): Although the 20th century influences on Evangelism are the primary focus of this section, one cannot avoid the American Great Awakenings as fundamental influences in the development of American Evangelical evangelistic praxis. The Mathers, the Williams, and the Stoddards are just a … More Too Earthly Minded to be any Heavenly Good – Part 4b (influential personalities)
This section in the ongoing study series is extremely long, and will be broken into three or four parts. The topic of evangelism is fundamental to the understanding of Evangelicalism, and this multi-part topic is evidence of this fact. In this part of the series, I look at the history of evangelism theology and praxis … More Too Earthly Minded to be any Heavenly Good – Part 4a (some popular theologies informing evangelism)
On the verge of moving to the UK (you know, that place which the more famous country of Wales is a part of) ;-), I am back in Salem for another Halloween. I’ve been involved with events in Salem’s monthlong Halloween since 1999, which makes me sound like a tagline on a company motto. Needless … More Another October in Salem – is it the last?
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 was my tweet on Friday April 10th. If the world order was benevolent and intelligent this would be a Sabbath year for the earth, and a jubilee year for the people. Unfortunately, the world order is seldom benevolent and only intelligent on short-term gains. The world just might be taking a Sabbath without our … More Are We in a Nature Imposed Sabbath?
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?
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
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
Burning Religion 