Presby-Musings

"Before you say 'no,' you have to say 'yes." With this provocative and confusing statement, Rob Bell began a talk on Identity to a roomful of learners---mostly pastors and church leaders---at his recent 2Days With Rob Bell event in Laguna Beach, CA. Then he shared a parable... It seems a first century rabbi was journeying home late from a dinner in a nearby village.  There was a fork in the road that led to his village.  If he went left, he would find himself at a Roman military outpost.  If he went right he would find his way home.  It was dark and he had drunk a bit of wine and he inadvertently took the left fork.  Some time later he found himself at the wall of the outpost.  A Roman guard called out to him, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"  The rabbi didn't answer.  "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"  The rabbi called back to the soldier, "How much are they paying you to do this?"  The guard was ...

When Rob Bell released his book Love Wins , both he and his wife began to realize that their lives had fundamentally changed.  The firestorm of controversy that the book created, followed by the tidal wave of harsh criticism that was leveled at Rob both shocked and surprised them both. The Southern Baptist Convention essentially anathematized him. A flurry of books was produced to refute the "heresy" that Rob supposedly espoused in Love Wins.  John Piper, the renowned Baptist and scholar publicly renounced Bell with a dismissive tweet that simply said, "Farewell." Then there were the bloggers who took to the Internet and said the most vile, hate-filled and unChristian things possible.  And I am talking about the Christian  bloggers. And throughout all of this, Rob never responded publicly.  He didn't take to the internet.  He held no press conferences other than the press that he did to promote the book.  There was an extended edi...

There are three kinds of people in this world. 1. People who have heard The Rev. Rob Bell throw down a sermon that blows their mind and calls them to faithfulness. 2. People who have seen The Rev. Rob Bell's ubiquitous NOOMA video series where he throws down some teaching that blows their minds and calls them to faithfulness. 3. Everyone else. If you are in the first two categories, you probably asked yourself while you watched or listened, "How in the world did he just do THAT?"  And then you sit there with your mind blown and your faithfulness stirring in a direction you did not expect. And you wish you could preach/teach just like Rob. Okay.  I admit, that last bit was pretty much just my baggage. But I'll allow for the possibility that there might be others out there like me who would really love to get the chance to sit up close and personal and listen to Rob talk about the craft of preaching. This past week, I had the chance to do just that. ...

For the second half of the 1st day of the 2Days with Rob Bell event Rob discussed a topic that he is including in his latest book which is in it's second draft.  Rob took some time to discuss Spiral Dynamics, a theory of development, and why it's important for our understanding of theology, calling and Christian stuff.  Spiral Dynamics Spiral Dynamics is a theory of development that essentially states there are stages of consciousness that humans move through, beginning with early or lower stages of basic consciousness to later or higher stages.  Depending on our circumstances, emotions and baggage we may drift back and forth between these stages, but the idea is that we transcend the "lower" stages while including them--in other words we don't leave behind the previous stage. I know.  It's as clear as mud. Here are the levels, which are identified by both definition and color codes.  Maybe seeing them will help in clearing it up a bit. Archaic (b...

The second half of Day One of the 2Days with Rob Bell Event covered a lot of ground.  Rob taught about Calling, Preaching and then did some teaching on Spiral Dynamics, which is a topic he is covering in the book he is currently writing.  In this post, I'll cover the Calling and Preaching topics.   Calling Rob began this portion of his teaching by affirming the way that so many pastors and Christian leaders struggle with their sense of call.  He told us that this was natural. "When you become tuned in to who you are as your true self," Rob said, "you begin to ask 'Who am I to do this?'" He then encouraged us (in true Seth Godin fashion) to simply create, to do, to write, to preach, to lead---whatever it is that we have been called to do. We should not, he told the group, hold back our gifts because someone else is better at what we do.  "Sometimes we hold back because of somebody else," he said.  We'll say, "but someone h...

The first day of the inaugural  2Days With Rob Bell event has come to a close. Fried though my brain might be, I feel as though I need to write down some thoughts for those who might be curious about what we've been doing. To begin, there are 50 participants---mostly pastors, but also some lawyers, entrepreneurs, at least one doctor, some non-profiteers, youth pastors and church workers, to name a few.  Roughly 1/3 of the participants are women.   We are from all over the United States and Canada. The event is taking place in an intimate setting overlooking the ocean, and there's not really a bad seat.  Rob sat in front with a couple of flip charts and a stack of notes.  He is tanned, and wearing flip flops.  0 to Californian in 5 months. Introductory Things Of course, he began by asking us to open our Bibles and turn to Matthew 3, and he read the story of Jesus baptism.  I say "of course" because Rob is still a pastor.  On...

Tomorrow morning I am heading to Laguna Beach, CA for the first ever 2Days With Rob Bell  event.  Rob Bell is hosting this intimate conference with only 50 participants, and for once I was Johnny-On-The-Spot and got registered before it filled up. For those of you who are familiar with my fairly open man-crush on Rob, you understand why this opportunity has me geeking out at a pretty high level. All kidding aside, I have been listening to Rob's sermons, reading his books, attending his speaking engagements and learning from him for a very long time.  To get the chance to do a small conference like this is a rare privilege, and I hope to get the most out of it. When I attended Rob's Poets, Prophets & Preachers conference a couple of years ago, I left a changed man, and a transformed preacher.  I learned more about the creative process of preaching in one weekend than I learned in entire semesters in seminary. [Exception:  I have to say that the doct...