This timely post comes from Shaun Groves‘ blog:I’ve always ignored those people: The ones who get very upset at Target this time of year and decide to e-mail me and the rest of their address book about it. This year, to those people, I would now like to preemptively say: Simmer down. And also…There was a time in American history when Christians could be counted on to get angry about the right stuff - the stuff that seems to have made Jesus angry. In the 1920s, for instance, when Saint Nick became the patron saint of American consumerism, most Christians in this country opposed the holiday because of its inextricable connection to materialism and self-indulgence.In 1931, the New York Times surveyed Christmas sermons and found that they held…

Rick McKinley is pastor of Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon, and the guy behind the Advent Conspiracy movement. I first interviewed Rick for Leadership a few years ago. We also serve together on the Origins Project. A few weeks ago Rick interviewed me about The Divine Commodity for one of the Advent Conspiracy podcasts this month.

I’m pleased to see that even Time Magazine has caught wind of AC. The recent article juxtaposes Advent Conspiracy with the Religious Right’s crusade to keep Christ at the center of the shopping and marketing frenzy of this season. Folks on the Christian and political right are blasting retailers who use “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” in their advertising.

McKinley and Advent Conspiracy seem to have a better grasp not only on the purpose of Advent,…

The second installment of my Vocolo (Chicago Public Radio) conversation with host Brian Babylon is now available. Last Friday we talked about the birth of Jesus–a story familiar to many people. But the conversation focused on Mary, the strange events surrounding her pregnancy, and what a virgin birth would mean for our world today. We also looked at the cultural and political dynamics of the day.

Listen to the conversation here:

Listen to last week’s conversation about Jesus cleansing the temple:

In October I sat down for a brief interview with Brian Babylon, a host on Chicago Public Radio’s “Vocolo” (95.5 FM), about my participation with the Interfaith Youth Core conference at Northwestern University. We had a great conversation about matters of faith, culture, and the church.

In December, Vocolo is doing a series of broadcasts about faith. Brian invited me to be a guest each Friday this month to discuss familiar, but often misunderstood, stories from the Bible and how they apply to contemporary issues. I’ve had the privilege of doing a number of Christian radio programs before, but this was a first: 30 minutes to talk about the Bible and apply it on public radio.

December 4th was my first segment. I was able to do it in studio…

Promise Keepers new focus on women and messianic Jews:“Promise Keepers is not a men’s ministry. It is a ministry for men.” -Raleigh Washington president of Promise Keepers. Read more.

The Manhattan Declaration’s focus on abortion, gay marriage, and religious liberty:

“We argue that there is a hierarchy of issues. A lot of the younger evangelicals say they’re all alike. We’re hoping to educate them that these are the three most important issues.” -Chuck Colson. Read more.

Pastor on relocating to Chicago to plant a church:

“I just had one of those moments like ‘Holy crap … what are we doing?’” -Mark Bergin. Read more.

Rick Warren on paying $1500 for counseling early in his marriage:

“MasterCard saved my marriage!” -Rick Warren.

Zondervan’s decision to stop publication of a book deemed racist by Asian-Americans:

“The growing churches…

The peaceful, neutrality-loving citizens of Switzerland voted last week to ban the construction of minarets in their country-a decision not welcomed by the country’s 400,000 Muslims. For those unfamiliar with Islamic architecture, minarets are the steeple-like towers attached to mosques from which the call to prayer is broadcast.The referendum was not a matter of preserving the alpine skyline, and some are saying it shouldn’t be interpreted as a restriction upon religious freedom either. Rather it’s the latest battlefront in Western Europe between advocates of traditional European culture and the recent influx of non-European immigrants.

While many leaders in Switzerland’s government and churches opposed the ban, the measure won with a significant 57.5 percent of the vote. This is from The Washington Post:

But backers of the measure said from the…

Can you correctly identify the source of the following quote?

“You must defend those who are helpless and have no hope. Be fair and give justice to the poor and homeless.”

16% of Americans surveyed believed the statement came from President Obama–the number one response in the study. 9% said the Dalai Lama. Martin Luther King Jr. came in at 8%, and Oprah Winfrey garnered 4%. And 3% said Bono. Taken together, 54% of American misidentified the correct source. Only 13% got it right–the Bible (Proverbs 31:8-9).

“The survey illustrates the reason we created ‘The Poverty and Justice Bible,’” commented R. Lamar Vest, president of American Bible Society, “to highlight God’s concern for the poor, marginalized and oppressed.”

“The Poverty and Justice Bible seeks to challenge the notion that the Bible is outdated…

I have a goatee. Back in high school when I first grew one (yes, I’ve been able to grow a full goatee since age 17), the goatee was still a novelty. It was a facial hair configuration reserved for the young, the rebellious, and those in desperate pursuit of cool.

But now it seems like everyone sports a goatee. Celebrities, political pundits, and pastors. In the world of church fashion goatees used to be reserved for youth pastors… his way of identifying with the young. Those days are long gone. Even Rick Warren has a goatee. The rebel beard has been tamed. It’s gone mainstream.

I’ve shaved mine off a few times. Some people prefer me without it. As one member of my church said when I arrived on a…

“A clash of civilizations.” That’s how many in the media and in politics describe the relationship between Muslims and Christians. This popular narrative, however, does not capture the full story. Yes, there is a faction of Islam that is hostile and even aggressively violent toward the West. And there are some Christians who ignorantly scrawl Bible versus on the gun barrels of their tanks. But there are also people like Pervaiz Masih.

Pervaiz was part of the poor, Christian minority in Pakistan. He was illiterate. He worked as a janitor at the women’s campus of Islamabad’s International Islamic University. When a suicide bomber disguised as a women tried to enter the crowded cafeteria, Pervaiz confronted him at the doorway to prevent him from entering. In the struggle the bomb…

Last month I sat down for breakfast with Ed Stetzer while we were both in Phoenix for a conference. Afterwards Ed “tweeted” about our meal together and commented that for some inexplicable reason “Skye isn’t on Twitter.” He gave me some playful grief about it on our drive to the conference, and others have asked why I don’t Tweet as well. So I decided it was time to finally show my cards.

First of all, I don’t believe Twitter is evil, wrong, or in any way immoral. And I’m not condemning my many friends who love to Tweet. But it’s not for me. Here are the top 10 reasons why I don’t use Twitter (not that there’s anything wrong with it).

ONE

My life really isn’t that interesting (and in most cases,…