Ever Ancient Ever New Book Review

Before I was even aware, I was part of a movement. Through God’s Providence, I stumbled onto the Daily Office, then one book, then another, and then a podcast or two. All of my evangelical and charismatic instincts and questions were finding fulfillment and answers in the sacramental tradition. Eventually, my wife and I moved four hours away to join an Anglican church in the hope of becoming church planters. We found a treasure hidden in a field: history, tradition, Eucharist, and the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. To our surprise, everywhere we went we found others on the same journey and with the same experiences, feelings, thoughts, and even books and podcasts. In Ever Ancient, Ever New (Zondervan. Grand Rapids, MI. 2019), Winfield Bevins gives a concise summary of this movement of young people into the liturgical tradition. Although a priest in the Anglican Church in North America, Bevins makes no apologetic for Anglicanism specifically. Instead, he draws from his experience as a church planter and professor to tell the stories of young people who are disillusioned and discontent with their current “low-church” experience (whether of the evangelical, non-denomination, or charismatic variety) and are making their way into churches and traditions rich in liturgy, history, and the sacraments. 

Book Review: The Next Christendom by Philip Jenkins

This was originally written for my Missional Formation class at Asbury Theological Seminary.

In The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford University Press, New York: 2007), Philip Jenkins persuasively and dramatically argues that in the next 50-100 years the center of global Christianity will shift from the traditional strongholds of Europe and North America to the booming regions of Africa, South America, and Asia. Using history, theology, anthropology, and sociology, especially population predictions, Jenkins shatters the typical secular Euro-American predictions of Christianity’s inevitable decline. Instead, all indications point to a growing and thriving Christianity for generations to come, albeit one that is increasing global, poor, brown or black, and Pentecostal (a problematic term that includes many denominations and “Spirit focused” movements). 

Book Review: Santa Biblia by Justo Gonzalez

This was originally written for my New Testament class at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes by Justo L.

Gonzalez (Abingdon Press, Nashville: 1996) is a short and concise theology book expressing various interpretations of the Bible from a Hispanic perspective. Gonzalez plays the role of editor, compiler, and commentator on the views of pastors and professors, teasing out what it looks like to interpret “the Bible through Hispanic eyes (21).” He explains that this book is needed because “perspective is important for two complementary reasons: first, because it cannot be avoided; second, because it should not be avoided (15).” Perspective cannot be avoided because, despite the claims and efforts of modernism, we are still imperfect, biased, and sinful creatures who inevitably bring our experiences into the reading of Scripture. Furthermore, perspective should not be avoided because our differences are not merely hindrances to objectivity but actually gifts to one another. Like different views of the same landscape, the Holy Spirit gifts different cultures and people with different perspectives in order to build one another up within the one, catholic church. In light of this gift to the church, over the course of the book, Gonzalez defines five key elements of the Hispanic experience that informs their perspective and interpretation of Scripture: Marginality, Poverty, Mastizaje and Mulatez, Exiles and Aliens, and Solidarity.

Glory and the Longing To Do Great Things

Some men long to do great things.  Nay all men, worth their salt, long to do great things.  They long for heroism, for the epic and adventurous.  Some may deny they feel this way and others will defend their apathy, that they are just different and that’s okay.  But I don’t believe God made men to be average, to coast along in the ordinary.  There is no ordinary person made in the image of God.  No, that is quite extraordinary.  In the Bible, God calls it Glory.  There was infinite Glory for God before the world began.  He created the heavens and the earth to declare the Glory.  And He created us to share in His glory, that we may be little glowing containers of it.  It is all around.  In the mountains and the sunsets. In the eyes of a beautiful woman whom you love. In symphonies and snowfalls.  It inspires. It builds. It melts.  How is it possible that the human heart, the self, that space right above your gut we call the soul, can be so filled with awe and butterflies that we can stare at water falling off of a cliff for hours on end and leave longing for more? 

IHOP, APEST, and The Danger of Playing Para-Church

(Note: this post was written several months ago after the release of the Rolling Stone article "Love and Death in the House of Prayer." I hesitated to publish it then but am publishing it now that time is passed and I feel good about it. Understand it is coming from a place of love for both IHOP and the Church, desiring "to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son.")

I have spent a lot of time at the House of Prayer lately.  Not the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, which has been doing 24/7 prayer and worship since 1999, but the local off shoot here in Des Moines.  IHOP Iowa (IHOPIA, which is almost just as long as far as abbreviations go) is open 4 hours a day during the week and features live musicians occasionally, but mostly plays a live feed of the IHOPKC worship room.  Lately, I have been spending 1-2 hours there a day and playing guitar once a week. 

There a lot of things I really like about IHOP. I attended One Thing, their big conference every year, this past December and had some profound encounters with Jesus. Since then, I've really been learning a lot. The greatest thing I enjoy is the chance to break out of the usual routine of 15 minute spiritual disciplines and instead take the time to spend an hour or two in the presence of God.  It forces you to actually engage with a God usually relegated to the margins of our schedules.  In a time when I am beginning to raise support for my new job with InterVarsity, this time has deepened my intimacy with Jesus and trust in Him in profound ways.  

Gods of the Copybook Headings

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

August and September Update: BEING A CAMPUS MISSIONARY IS TOTALLY AWESOME and other new stuff

Wow, it is the beginning of October and I am about to turn 24 on Friday.  The last month and a half is an absolute blur. I finally understand the hectic NSO (new student outreach) season. There have been so many new students and events and cool Jesus things that I could write an update for each week!  Nevertheless, I will hit some of the major events that God brings to mind.

Being on Campus

Man, I love college students! Overall, I am just thrilled to be working on campus. I am living in a house right across the street from campus with a couple other recent college grads. I am grabbing meals with students to talk about life and Jesus.  I am playing pickup basketball with students.  It kind of feels like I'm back in college but instead of going into debt I am getting paid, instead of going to class I meet with students and do Jesus stuff, and instead of doing football all the time I am playing ultimate frisbee. It's the life! I am truly experiencing that "if you love what you do it won't feel like work." I am unbelievably grateful to God for calling me here and so blessed by how He has prepared me to bless these students.

From our event "Muffin Mania," giving away muffins on the first day of class.