My college roommate, Dave Schreier, teaches middle school in Ohio, and during the summer he operates a wedding photography business. But what really gets his blood pumping is helping others. He regularly travels internationally both to further his experiential knowledge as a geography teacher and to take stunning photographs. (Check out some of his images from Alaska, India, Peru, and Papua.)

A few years ago Dave traveled to Papua New Guinea where he met a remarkable woman named Aunty Rosa. This meek woman has made it her responsibility to care for, feed, clothe, and educate many of the homeless and orphaned children in her village. Dave couldn’t stop talking about the children and showing me his photographs. He also couldn’t stop thinking about how to help Aunty…

“If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today.”
-Martin Luther (maybe)

We looked at the popular evangelical view of the end of history in part one. From that perspective it would be utter foolishness to spend the final day planting an apple tree. But are there other ways of interpreting the end of all things and Luther’s apple tree–ones that don’t make planting a tree seem quite as absurd?

There seems to be a growing popularity today for radical Calvinism. Yes, there are many moderate Calvinists who find Calvin’s writings to be a helpful guide to understanding Christian thought and Scripture, but who do not hold Calvin on equal standing with Christ. (I for one really…

Not long ago I came across a curious quote supposedly from Martin Luther. “If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today.” The saying is most likely apocryphal, but whether or not Luther said it is not my concern. (Strangely, the line was used on more than one occasion by Martin Luther King Jr. as well and it sometimes falsely attributed as original. But that is neither here nor there.)

The reason the quote has stayed with me is because I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on what people think about the end of the world and the climax of history (otherwise known as eschatology by the theologically inclined). With all the hubbub about earthquakes and tsunamis and…

There are some, perhaps many, who view evangelical Christians as the religious equivalent of ambulance chasing lawyers. They feed on pain and tragedy for selfish gain. It’s an opportunity to cram their message of faith in Christ down the throats of people who are desperate and frightened.

This unflattering reputation has been deserved in some cases. There are some in the evangelical camp who see value in nothing else but “rescuing souls from the flames of hell.” Their own reading of the New Testament and understanding of the scope of God’s redemption leave no room for valuing temporal, bodily, earthly compassion. It is a warped and in my view fundamentally unchristian way of responding to pain.

What’s unfolding in Japan right now is an opportunity for us to…

While in Cape Town last month for the Lausanne Congress, I met with a number of friends who each participated in the 12 Cities | 12 Conversations tour leading up to Cape Town 2010. About half way through the congress we gathered to talk about the experience, what we were learning, and how the Lausanne Congress might impact our ministries in the US.

The video features Jim Belcher (author/pastor), Margaret Feinberg (author/speaker) , Dan Cho (The Veritas Forum), Paco Amador (New Life Church, Chicago) , Sara Groves (song writer, musician), Jedd Medefind (Christian Alliance for Orphans), Bobby Gruenewald (LifeChurch.tv), and Bethany Hoang (International Justice Mission).

12 Cities | 12 Conversations – Cape Town 2010 from ConversationGatherings on Vimeo.

A few weeks ago I got connected with the leadership team of the Luasanne Movement. The group dates back to 1974 when Billy Graham and John Stott brought church leaders from around the world to Luasanne, Switzerland, for a “congress” on world missions. Another Luasanne Congress occured in 1989 in Manila. A thrid gathering is now set for Cape Town, South Africa, in October 2010. It will include over 4000 leaders from over 200 countrie–the largest, most diverse gathering of Christian leaders in history. And for the first time more than half of the delagates will be from the Majority World.

As I move toward greater involvement with the efforts to organize Cape Town 2010, I’ve finally picked up a book that’s been on my desk for some…

This story comes from Change.org:In 2007, a case of crucifixes purchased by St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York was traced back to a factory in China where girls as young as 15 were forced to work up to 19-hour days, seven days a week.  Today, Christian items from bible covers to t-shirts are being made in factories which abuse and traffic workers.  And some Christians are standing up and refusing to stand for slavery.The Just Holy Hardware Campaign has launched this week as part of a movement to end slavery, especially slavery of children, in the production of religious items.  The initiative, based in Australia, aims to provide religious organizations with paraphernalia made under fair labor conditions, with a “no-slavery” guarantee. Sr. Pauline Coll, a representative on the national executive of…

Last year during the presidential campaign, an interesting trend was observed. The Christian segment of the population once believed to be a monolithic voting block turned out to have more diversity of thought and opinion than previously believed. The hold of the Religious Right, Christian Coalition, and other GOP-leaning groups over the evangelical brand started to loosen.What emerged was a new, generally younger, more urban, and less politically idealistic group of Christian voters. Michael Lindsay, author of Faith in the Halls of Power, refers to them as “Cosmopolitan Evangelicals.” According to Lindsay they have the following characteristics:● They reject signifiers of “populist” Christianity such as the Left Behind books and Thomas Kinkaide paintings.● They are less involved in local churches, but highly involved with parachurch organizations.● They

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I know Eric Bryant through our participation together with the Origins Project. On his blog, Eric has been doing a series of teleseminars with church leaders and thinkers. On June 1 (3-4pm Central) he will be interviewing me live about The Divine Commodity. The teleseminar is free, but you need to sign up in advance to participate.

SIGN UP HERE for this free, live teleseminar.  

Eric’s teleseminars are similar to conference calls where you can dail in and listen/interact live, or you may listen online via live streaming audio. By signing up you can also submit questions to Eric and me to answer during the call. Check out other recent teleseminars on Eric’s blog.