By Jeff Brumley Baptists, communion and wine are words rarely used together. But they will be the next four Sundays as First Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio, hosts an Episcopal parish for worship while the latter’s building undergoes renovations. The…
Don’t overlook the season of Epiphany
In November 2011 I had the privilege of hearing N.T. Wright speak. His lecture title was, “How God Became King.” It’s been over a year since that day and it still sits as one of the more profound moments in…
So help me God?
By Molly T. Marshall The afterglow of the great national celebration of our democracy lingers. Inauguration ceremonies offered a vision of who we are becoming as a people and called us to craft a future more progressive, more inclusive and…
Wild Goose 2013 dates announced
By Bob Allen Dates and venue have been announced for Wild Goose 2013, an annual festival of music, spirituality, social justice and art for progressive evangelicals under a theological and missional tent commonly known as “emergent Christianity.” First held in…
No Final Judgments – One Southern Baptist and Emergence Christianity
Friendships transcend labels. More than ten years ago I ventured with a friend to a conference not organized and characterized by my denomination, Southern Baptists. The event was the National Pastors Convention hosted by Leadership Journal, Zondervan, and Youth Specialties,…
Am I Emergent-Baptist?
I minister on the periphery of Baptist life, trying to start a progressive Baptist church in the heart of the old empire. I’m old enough to remember well the Baptist wars of decades ago, and yet new enough to ministry…
Emergence Christianity, Baptist life, and Flannery O’Connor
A little over a week ago, I walked into the Gibson guitar factory in Memphis, and gathered with six others to begin our tour. The group was fairly evenly divided by gender, with three men and four women. We asked…
CBF and the emergence Christianity movement
Last week I attended the Emergence Christianity event in Memphis featuring Phyllis Tickle, Brian McLaren, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and others. The emergent crowd is an interesting group, with lots of diversity: age, denomination, and plenty of piercings and tattoos if not…
Sermon says: ‘Keep Church Weird’
By Jeff Brumley Becky and Joshua Speight were walking the walk last year when they preached on the need to “Keep Church Weird.” “Our congregation had never seen a dual sermon before, and we had never written one together,” Becky…