For years I’ve been trying to help people see that popular consumer culture is a form of religion. It offers us a sense of value, identity, and context that traditional religions once provided. Similarly, pop culture has sacred symbols. How do I know this? Because when one of these symbols is altered the faithful will rise to protest the act of irreverence.

The Coca-Cola Company learned this lesson in 1985 when they released New Coke. And earlier this year when Gap changed their logo, hoards of angry white females rioted via social media. Gap relented and the retail deity’s image was restored.

The latest victim of pop-culture blasphemy: Superman. Photographs have leaked from the production of Warner Brothers’ new film Man of Steel showing actor Henry Cavill wearing…

Two years ago I was invited to speak at the first STORY conference held at the Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois. Ben Arment, the mind behind the event, moved STORY to downtown Chicago last year. And this year Ben has given me the opportunity to be a part of the gathering again. I’ll be speaking briefly on Friday, September 16. STORY is intended to be a conference for the “creative class” within the church. In advance of the event, I was interviewed by Jeff Goins about imagination, storytelling, and creativity. Check out the interview below, and visit Jeff’s blog to read more about STORY, how you can be a part, and who else will be at the event.

What is your best personal definition of…

Back in March I was in New York City doing some scouting work for This Is Our City, a new project Andy Crouch is leading for Christianity Today. While in town I stopped by to visit with Gabe Lyons and the crew behind Q. In our conversation Gabe asked me about my new book, With. It was still about six months away from being released, but I shared the main concept of the book with him. Gabe responded by saying he’d love for me to share those ideas at the Q Gathering. We had just finished talking about the 2012 Q Gathering in Washington D.C., so I told Gabe I’d be happy to speak at the conference. “No,” he said, “I want you to share this in…

Yeah, it’s a bit anti-climactic since Amazon has been shipping the paperbacks for two weeks, but today marks the official release date for my new book, WITH: Reimagining The Way You Relate To God.

To celebrate I want to share two things with you. First, in the back of the book I’ve acknowledged a few people who were instrumental is helping me get the book written. I’ve copied those acknowledgements below to again show my appreciation.

Secondly, if you’d like to read another brief excerpt of the book, head on over to Out of Ur–Leadership Journal’s blog. There you’ll find a short section about what it means to desire God and not simply use him. And don’t forget to order your copy at Amazon.com! Thanks…

“Slug Bug!” WHACK!

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about cars and design on this blog, but an article about the redesigned 2012 VW Beetle caught my attention yesterday. Paul A. Eisenstein shares a brief history of the iconic automobile originally designed by Ferdinand Porsche in the years before WWII. As Germany sought to rebuilt its industrial base following the war, the little Beetle became an affordable, utilitarian workhorse for the masses.

Eventually the Beetle’s appeal became global and sold over 23 million units. Although the last original Beetle was sold in the United States in 1979, the car remained in production in Latin America until 2003.

In the 1990s American designer J Mays developed a modern re-interpretation of Porsche’s original Beetle design. The car entered…

Last week was the Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit. The annual conference is a convergence of business, government, social, and church leaders curated by the WCA and headlined by Bill Hybels. Past Summits have featured speakers like Bill Clinton, Jack Welch, and Bono. But the buzz surrounding this year’s lineup (or “faculty” as the WCA likes to call them) was focused on who would not be there.

Days before the event Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz withdrew because of an online petition launched by Change.org. The gay-advocacy group accused Willow Creek of being anti-gay and threatened to boycott Starbucks if Schultz spoke at the Leadership Summit. The controversy was widely reported in the press, and as 165,000 people gathered at 450 locations around the world for the WCA…

“How radical do I have to be?” the suburban mom asked. She had recently read a number of Christian books decrying the self-centered nature of much of the American church. The authors had apparently had enough of the consumer orientation of their congregations. As a remedy, each of the books calls readers to live a counter-cultural life of radical sacrifice and mission. The books, while inspiring, left this woman feeling “exhausted.”

“I totally agree with the their assessment of the church. We are too self- centered,” she explained. “But how radical is enough? Should I sell my house and car? It is wrong for my kids to be attending a private school? Do I need to move oversees and work with orphans? I want to really experience the…

It has been quite some time since I’ve posted anything on SkyeBox. In case you are wondering where I’ve been, and I doubt many of you have, I’ve been working on finishing my next book, WITH: Re-imagining the Way You Relate to God. The project has been consuming all of my writing energy, and a good deal of my time as well. I’ve been hiding in my attic office (a.k.a. the fortress of solitude) writing and editing and rewriting and studying and writing and weeping and writing. But I’m drawing near to the end, and I should be doing more work on other things soon enough. I am excited to share with everyone the ideas I’ve been focused on in WITH. Stay tuned for more about that in…

Over the last few years I’ve had the pleasure of being a guest on “PrimeTime America,” a program on Moody Radio hosted by Greg Wheatley. numerous times. Greg is now hosting a new program called “Inside Look” on Saturdays where he goes much deeper with a single guest for an hour. On Jan 15 I was his guest. The first half of the program focused on my background and a discussion of big trends in the church today. The second half was an exploration of my upcoming book, WITH: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God. Listen to the interview on the “Inside Look” website. (Some versions of Firefox may not play the audio file.)