SoulCycle
I attended my first SoulCycle class last year after my barista told me it was like “an orgasm, followed by the deepest religious experience of your life … like you’d…
Get Heaven To Your People
My office is notoriously fun, on account of my strange collection of artifacts, objects, and works of art. I have turned my workspace into a curiosity cabinet, a laboratory almost…
Friendship Among God’s People
Nikolas von Zinzendorf, a wealthy Saxon landowner, graciously hosted and received Moravian refugees during a season of Catholic persecution. Key to both their missiology and ecclesiology was the primacy of…
Change Church
Our church has had to reinvent herself a few times. We began as a Charismatic collection of Holy Rollers from Oral Roberts University, but after a few years realized that…
Sacrament and Alignment
One of the most powerful sacramental experiences I’ve experienced at Westwinds took place at Grand River Brewery. We held services during open hours for two years at Grand River, and…
Images as Apologetic
The prophets employed stories, images, and metaphors as their default apologetic. Nathan, for example, knew he wouldn’t have success confronting King David directly, so he told the King a parable…
Adventure Time
Somewhere, somehow, we’ve bought into the notion that serious study is preferable to joyful encounter, that critical thought is better than exuberant laughter. Could that be why so many churches…
The Magic and Mystery
I love to tell stories to children, and whenever I do, they never ask me if the story was real. On the contrary, children first ask the important questions like,…
William Tyndale and Philanthropy
The Church is the one institution that exists for those outside it. – William Tyndale William Tyndale (1494-1536) is most famous for his outlawed translation of the Bible into English…
The River of God’s Generosity
As the river of God’s generosity passes through us, we can choose where to direct that generosity, but we cannot hold it in. We are like culverts. We can channel…
Blessing of the Animals
We know that God’s plans to restore Creation do not merely include humanity, but also the non-human inhabitants of this world (animals, plants, etc.) and the world itself. To help…
God Helps You Find Your Work
John Dominic Crossan is a well-regarded liberal scholar, and in his assessment of the Lord’s Prayer, he asserts that we are better meant to understand “Our Father” as “Our Householder.”…