Presby-Musings

Evolving In Monkey Town: How A Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask The Questions - Rachel Held Evans, Zondervan (2010) Rachel Held Evans is the latest in a growing line of bloggers-turned-authors of a certain age (25-35ish) who are coming to grips with their former fundamentalist and/or conservative and/or evangelical Christian upbringing in a postmodern, post-Christian, post-Christendom culture.  Like Jonathan Acuff , Matthew Turner & Anne Jackson , Evans has used her blog as a source for material for her book, and to stay connected with her fans and readers.  She is a writer, who has had articles in a variety of publications, has worked for newspapers and lives in Dayton, TN with her husband.  Dayton, TN also happens to be the location of the famous Scopes trial that was held there 80 years ago when Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan argued over evolution being taught in public schools.  The trial essentially made a spectacle of Christi...

Anne Jackson is a self-described Christian author, blogger, speaker and activist.  She is the author of the best-selling Zondervan release Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic (2009), she serves on staff at Cross Point Church in Nashville, she also is a passionate advocate for Compassion International and will be a rider on the 2010 Ride:Well Tour, a cross-country cycling tour in June and July of 2010.  The goal of the trip is to rasie awareness and funding for water wells in Africa and is part of the Blood:Water Mission initiative.  Anne has recently completed her second book, Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Articles on Confession and Grace , which will be released by Thomas Nelson publishers in August of 2010.  In addition, Anne's blog, www.flowerdust.net , is one of the most visited and followed blogs in the country.  She has traveled to Uganda and to India with Compassion International and will be at my church--the First Presbyterian...

So I have been working on finishing up my book, and it's going slow.  It's slow for a couple of reasons:  1) I have this pesky "other job" that takes up my whole day & 2) I have been unplugging from all electronic media at 9 PM every night.   Now the "other job" thing needs some clarification.  To begin with, it's not a job it's a calling and I couldn't do anything else even if I wanted to.  I know because I have tried.  God stubbornly refuses to let me off the hook.  Even if money was no object--let's say for sake of argument I had a TON of it---I would still be the pastor of the church I am currently serving.  I might dress better and have a bigger TV and get the dents in my car fixed... but I would still do what I do.  I love it.   As to the unplugging----it's been a pain.  My wife has been my accountability partner on this one.  When I say "accountability partner" I mean she is the one who has held my feet to the fire, s...