Listen in as I interview David Batstone of Right Reality and the Not For Sale Campaign.

David and I discuss the problem of modern day slavery, what people can do to fight this problem, and the issue of ethical business practices. read more »

Listen in as I interview Todd Bouldin of Pepperdine University. Todd is the Director of the Lilly Endowment Program on Vocation, Assistant to the Provost for Art and Media Initiatives, and is co-founder of the new MFA (masters of fine arts) program in Screen and Television Writing at Pepperdine.

Todd and I discuss the new MFA program at Pepperdine, the role of Christians in culture, the role of Christians in politics, and the upcoming election.

Listen in to an interview with my friend Andy Crouch, editorial director of for The Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today. Andy has written a new book released this week called Culture Making: Rediscovering our Creative Calling. In this interview, Andy and I discuss an alternative to Christians seeking to change culture through politics, why non-Christians shouldn't fear Christians seeking to create culture, and examples of culture making.

I highly recommend checking out Andy's new website, Culture Making, and getting his new book.

Culture Making referenced in this interview:
Chick-Fil-A
In-N-Out Burger
Kiva
Prison Entrepreneuership Program

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Daniel Radosh, author of the new book Rapture Ready. Daniel wrote the book to investigate Christian pop culture and came away surprised at what he found. I highly recommend checking out his book.

Daniel and I had a great time discussing the "Culture War" and civility in the public arena. While I am sure that Daniel and I have many differences, I couldn't have found a better guy to enjoy a morning chat with.

Yesterday I wrote about the loss of community in America and mostly talked about what we have lost. What do we have now?

I lived in San Diego for almost 3 years from 1999-2001. The neighborhood we moved into was intended I believe to encourage community. There were public green spaces instead of individual private yards, lots of sidewalks, and the homes were oriented so as to encourage interaction. Yet somehow there was absolutely zero community. And not for lack of trying. There is only so many times that you can try to strike up a conversation with neighbors as they are trying to escape back into the confines of their home. I'll never forget the day we moved. We had a moving van out front and my next door neighbor walked by. "We'll miss you John." Yeah, that's how close we were. read more »

My friend Jeff Shinabarger wrote a very thought provoking post earlier this week about community in the wake of tornadoes that came through his neighborhood in East Atlanta. His post ended up being a great topic of discussion with my posse this week and prompted these thoughts from me:

I've been thinking about this idea of community for years and I can't quite put my finger on what has caused a general decline in the sense of community. Many people talk about the rise of suburbs or wealth as primary reasons but I think that those are but small contributing factors. Many of my friends grew up in suburban neighborhoods in Atlanta or elsewhere and had a tremendous sense of community. I know that I did in my prototypical suburban neighborhood. In my cul-de-sac infested suburban sprawl neighborhood, I have at one point been inside every single house in that neighborhood and dozens in surrounding neighborhoods. And not just those where my friends lived. There was a sense as a kid that I could get in almost as much trouble with another adult in the neighborhood as with my parents; parents weren't afraid to actually discipline other people's kids even if they hardly knew them. I have talked about these experiences with friends who grew up in other parts of the country, with friends who grew up in poverty stricken neighborhoods, and those who grew up around the country club and while the details may differ, the general experience of community was the same. read more »

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing my friend Chris Heuertz, Executive Director of Word Made Flesh. Chris has a new book arriving on bookshelves next month called Simple Spirituality: Learning To See God in a Broken World. In this interview, Chris and I discuss his time in India with Mother Teresa, his impetus for this new book, and how this idea of spirituality can sometimes conflict with common perceptions of Christianity in a Western culture.

For those of you disillusioned with Christianity or those who lament the state of organized religion, I encourage you to check out how Chris and his community is "serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor." read more »

Last week I wrote this meme about some of the common perceptions of Christians and what Christians should be known for. This meme has spread quite a bit and while the perceptions differ, there is a common thread in what people say Christians should be known for. Love.

Too often Christians aren't known for love. They are known for making stances against things, protesting for "family values", and for showing anything but love for others.

Well I am sick and tired of hearing about Pat Robertson, Ann Coulter, James Dobson, or worse, Fred Phelps. They are no more representatives for Christians than Osama Bin Laden is for Muslims.

Today I'd like to highlight a friend of mine who people should think of when they think of Christians.

Last year Jamie Tworkowski found himself spending five days helping a girl that a treatment center wouldn't take and who was struggling with addiction, depression, and suicide. Since then, Jamie has accidentally founded a non-profit organization, To Write Love On Her Arms, to bring hope and help for young people dealing with depression, self-injury, and suicide. I'm not going to attempt to retell the story; Jamie has told this girl's story here. read more »

My friend Gabe Lyons has just co-authored a fantastic new book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters. In it he and David Kinnaman explore many of the negative opinions that people have about Christians. Not surprisingly they learned that many people think of Christians as being judgmental, hypocritical, anti-homosexual, too political, and sheltered. (Here is an interview I conducted with Gabe)

I'm curious as to what other impressions people have about Christians.

I'm going to tag five of my friends to write their four things about Christians: three negative perceptions and one thing that Christians should be known for. So here is my list:

1. Christians don't create anything original. They only mimic the world around them.
Just go in any Christian bookstore. You will see "sanctified" Christian books that are almost identical to books in B&N or Borders. You will see t-shirts that are rip offs of "secular" apparel, yet with Bible verses. There are even Christian workout clubs. Yet why is it that the Christian version of so many "secular" (I hate the word secular) items are so often totally lame?

2. Christians get offended at everything.
It seems like every day Christians are getting riled up about something - be it DisneyWorld, supposed persecution of Christians in America (puh-leeze!), or even cursing in the work place. Sometimes it feels like Christians disagree with the first part of the bumper-sticker that says "Christians Aren't Perfect, Just Forgiven".

3. Christians are just waiting to be "raptured up" and couldn’t care less about this world.
What with books like the Left Behind series telling Christians that this world is all going to burn and many Christians’ visible revulsion at being good stewards of the Earth, it is hard to think otherwise.

4. Christians should be known for their unfailing love for others.
By others, I don't mean other Christians. I mean all other people. Especially those that are hard to love. The poor. The sick. The widowed. The outcasts. The oppressed.

A few of my friends are doing this. My friend Chris Heurtz of Word Made Flesh helps the poorest of the poor around the world. My friend Jamie Tworkowski of To Write Love On Her Arms helps people suffering with depression and suicidal tendencies. And my friend Daniel of Meet Justice is working to stop child sex trafficking in Atlanta.

I'm tagging the following five people to answer "UnChristian: 4 Things About Christians" and link to the book to read more about this topic:
Joe Carter of Evangelical Outpost
David Wayne of Jollyblogger
Brother Maynard of Subversive Influence
Daniel Larison
Michael Spencer of InternetMonk

You don't have to be tagged to answer these questions. read more »

This short clip highlights some of the findings in the new book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity and Why it Matters By David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. The real shame is that Christians are the ones who have unfortunately created these negative feelings.

I'd love to get the thoughts of my readers on this topic. Do these characterizations seems accurate? How about as it relates to Christians in politics?

Here is my interview with co-author Gabe Lyons.

Today I interviewed my friend Gabe Lyons of the Fermi Project about his new book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters.

Gabe and David Kinnaman of the Barna Group co-authored this book in which they explore some of the common perceptions that people have about Christians. Those perceptions include judgemental, anti-homosexual, and too political. I highly recommend people picking up a copy of this book.

I am particularly interested in the section on politics in this book. As regular readers of this blog probably know, I am very interested in changing the nature of political discourse in this country particularly as it relates to interactions between conservatives and liberals, Christians and non-Christians. Over the next few weeks, I am going to be focusing on this topic and will be interviewing more people that are challenging many of the preconceived notions of how Christians should approach politics. read more »