A Take On An Evangelical Manifesto

Apparently “radical” Christians are not the only ones getting in on the manifesto love. A committee headed up by Os Guinness has recently published a document entitled An Evangelical Manifesto. With the emphasis being on the “An” (because one has to have a disclaimer on anything one writes now a days), the focus of the document is on recovering the essence and definition of the term “Evangelical,” particularly in the public square. So far the watchdog bloggers have been kind, but it is probably only a matter of time before Os and company get grouped in with Marx and the Unabomber for using the word manifesto.

Despite the unwanted baggage the term “Evangelical” has picked up over the last several decades, this manifesto is a declaration that that label, if properly understood, still conveys “all-important truth.” This is the twenty first century Evangelical’s attempt at doing what John Wesley did with his sermon The Character of a Methodist: distinguish what a true Evangelical really is in light of recent public questioning and counterfeit productions. This delineation comes in three mandates, written in the first person plural:

1. We Must Reaffirm Our Identity
2. We Must Reform Our Own Behavior
3. We Must Rethink Our Place in Public Life

There is as much to love in the document as there is to loathe, and everyone will have their favorite targets. The early responders have focused on who was and was not invited to be charter signatories, and then drawing conclusions from the snubbed list as to the true intention of the manifesto. Among this crowd is Warren Smith (who wonders where the conservatives are) and the Emergent Village blog (which briefly notes that Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Doug Pagitt were not asked either).

Please brace yourself for my next statement…but…I actually agree with Al Mohler’s take quite a bit (wow, that felt good to get off my chest!). The prime definition of “Evangelical” given in the manifesto is the sort of lowest common denominator approach that doesn’t really say anything at all. I realize the goal is unity and consensus, but the question of “what is an Evangelical” is tied up in history that makes the whole “Evangelicals are people who simply define themselves according the ‘good news’ (from the Greek word for gospel)” a little too a-historical for me. The authors insist that while the term “Protestant” has lost its usefulness, “Evangelical” still endures. They assert that the essence of “Evangelicalism” is pre-Protestant. Am I missing something in my reading of history? Then again, Mark Noll– a Christian historian of the top shelf– signed it, so what do I know.

James K. Smith has made these connections as well and has thrown one more in there that really gets at the heart of the issue. In response to the first mandate’s identity markers, Smith writes:

“…such definitions define “Evangelical” by what evangelicals THINK and BELIEVE, rather than what they DO. That, I think, reflects just the sort of modernism that gives us evangelicalism (and fundamentalism) in the first place. In contrast, what defines Orthodoxy or Catholicism is liturgy, the practices of the faith.”

Much of the manifesto is dedicated to repenting of behavior unbecoming to a true “Evangelical,” but most of the attitudes and actions listed seem to be aimed at the more Fundamentalist side of Christianity. This leads me to believe that one major aim of the document is to place further separation between Evangelicals and those political Fundamentalists that are still getting all the press. This group of “Evangelicals” has little to do with Colorado Springs, and they want to make that clear without resorting to finger pointing. The major question that many of us should ask is whether or not this group of “Evangelicals” is simply falling into the trap of creating a Religious Left to battle the Pat Roberton’s of the world. Not to say that you are guilty by association, but Jim Wallis’ signature should be in all CAPS. He might as well have taken a few of his articles from Sojourner’s, smashed them together, added a few more devotional phrases, and Os Guinness could’ve written his bit about “civility” and taken the rest of the year off.

But as mentioned above, there are good things that need to be said of the manifesto. The document is highly Christocentric, something that has been sorely missing in Evangelical public engagement in the past few decades. The constant focus on the person and work of Jesus should make us all shout out an “Amen” or two. There is also call for constant renewal and reformation that strongly denounces any falling in love with the status quo. Of particular interests to the Jesus Manifesto crowd, coming byway the section entitled “The Way of Jesus, Not Constantine:”

“We Evangelicals trace our heritage, not to Constantine, but to the very different stance of Jesus of Nazareth. While some of us are pacifists and others are advocates of just war, we all believe that Jesus’ Good News of justice for the whole world was promoted, not by a conqueror’s power and sword, but by a suffering servant emptied of power and ready to die for the ends he came to achieve.” (18)

So what are your thoughts?

Have you read this Manifesto? Would you sign it?

Where do you place yourself in the spectrum–are you an “Evangelical?”

Michael Cline is a co-editor of the Jesus Manifesto. He considers himself a freelance pastor and and over-employed learner who currently attends Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. When not snuggling with his wife, he’s blogging at www.reclinerramblings.blogspot.com

Find Yourself In The Faces Of Others

Who are you? What makes you who you are? How comfortable are you with the person you are becoming?

These questions grow ever more urgent in a world where the media and society seem determined to form and shape us according their ideals, their demographic categories and their fashions. Increasingly, it seems, who we are is defined at the surface level – body fat percentages, smoothness of skin, awards on shelves, zeros on bank statements. I can’t help wondering, though, how we can really know ourselves without giving attention to our souls. And how we can know our souls if we focus only on ourselves?

In South Africa we have an indigenous word that has become somewhat overused since the birth of our new democracy in 1994. This word is Ubuntu and it means, “I belong, therefore I am” or “I am a person because of other people”. Ubuntu affirms the connectedness of all human beings with one another, and acknowledges that individuals can find little meaning or truth in isolation. It reminds us that we can only really find ourselves in the faces of others.

This truth lies at the heart of Christian spirituality. We proclaim that our God is both One and Three, that God’s essential nature is community, is relationship. God has never existed in some isolated, divine individualism. The essence of God is love expressed and received – diversity brought into complete unity. The challenge of worshiping this Triune God is to live out what we pray and sing in relationships. We cannot love the Trinity without also expressing God’s nature and purpose in communities of love, service and shared life.

And if we will embrace this call, we discover a hidden gift of immense and eternal value. As we join with others to love God and live out our faith, we discover that we are truly connected – that the universe and everything in it is an expression of God’s Word, and is filled with God’s breath. And, as we gaze on all these ‘others’ – God, people, creature, thing - we find our place, we discover our souls, and we learn to know who we really are.

So, let me ask again – who are you? Who are the people that help you to know the answer to this question? And what would happen if you expanded your community to embrace those that you might prefer to exclude? Let me encourage you, in the weeks ahead, to seek God in your community. Not just your church community, but that of your town, your country, and even the world. Seek God in those that you disagree with and those you are afraid of. Seek God in those you consider your friends, and those you consider your enemies – for they are all created and loved by God. And as you find God in these others, as you discover your connection with these others, you may experience a surprising thing – you might just see yourself looking back from their faces.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and forever shall be. Amen!

Author Bio:: John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.

Fighting With Forks: The Food Crisis Battle

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Songs for Ordinary Time

Come late November, the seasons of the Christian calendar will begin to recycle themselves. Advent will bring hopeful waiting and preparation, followed by the celebration of Christmas, identification with Christ’s suffering during Lent, redemption of Easter and the fulfillment of Pentecost. Yesterday we celebrated the promised gift of the Spirit of the Trinity. Today, we start counting Ordinary Time.

Ordinary Time…

The time of growth…

The time of day to day clinging to the vine and working out our faith with fear and trembling…

The time of going beyond the hopefulness, the waiting, the celebrating, the preparing…

The time of fleshing out what it means to be the Church and bring the Kingdom here on earth as it is in Heaven.

Ordinary time is when the Body of Christ stops staring up into the sky and starts living as the type of community that becomes the hands and feet of God toward a watching, waiting world.

Ordinary time deserves a soundtrack of its own.

Christmas gets entire sections of music stores devoted to it, and its such a tiny sliver of a season in comparison.

For the purpose of continuity, I’m using Pentecost as a jumping point, since the tracks came together in the midst of that focus.

Please feel free to suggest additions to the list… there’s no rule that says they all have to fit on one disc.

1. Joel – Daniel Amos

   I’ll pour my Spirit on all flesh, your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions… they will return to me.
   

2. Holy Spirit Come – Kate Miner

   Holy Spirit come. Holy Spirit dwell. Fill your Church with joy overflowing and peace overflowing and love overflowing in all of your Glory. Come.
   

3. Bhajo Naam – Aaradhna

   (This is an interpretation… the song is in Hindi… another tongue…)
   Sing His name, chant His name, the beautiful name, Jesus’ name…
   

4. Peace – Robbie Seay Band

   We can feel you move, and cannot stay the same. The winds are blowing strong. God of heaven come. Breathe peace. breathe your peace on us so we might breathe you deep.
   

5. Take to the World – Derek Webb

   Go in peace to love and to serve, and let your ears ring along with what you have heard, and may the bread on your tongue leave a trail of crumbs to lead the hungry back to the place you are from. And take to the world this love, this hope and faith. And take to the world this rare, relentless grace. And like the Three-in-One, know you must become what you want to save, ‘cause that’s still the way He takes to the world.
   

6. Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah – Randall Goodgame (original hymn: William Williams)

   Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy powerful hand.
   

7. Section 13 – The Polyphonic Spree

   Don’t fall in love with diamond rings or tragedy will somehow find its way in all that you hold true. Keep ‘em amazed with your mild devotion to majesty… keep the light on in your soul.

8. Said & Done – Speed the Plough

   On the way to work, I rush past people just like me. We’re really not alone, we’re just living life so separately… I could reach out for your hand and I am really not alone.
   

9. You Don’t Love God (If You Don’t Love Your Neighbor) – Rhonda Vincent

   Oh, you don’t love God, if you don’t love your neighbor, if you gossip about him, if you never have mercy, if he gets into trouble and you don’t try to help him, then you don’t love your neighbor, and you don’t love God.
   

10. Ben Franklin Must be Proud – Eric Hurst
    
    Hallelujah for the great American way, Ben Franklin must be proud - make all your money, then you throw it all away on a life that keeps you down. And I would never trade my life, and I would never give back time, and I would never trade my life… oh, I love the simple life.

11. On Time – Victoria Williams

    There once was a man with a clock on his hand, sour note in his heart, a tight grip on his plan. One day he awoke, back to hard times and spoke, “How long have I been blind to the fact that you’re always on time?”… They say no one will know the day or the hour. They say to just watch and pray and walk in His power. Because if you’re ahead, or lost way behind, then how will you know that you’re always on time?
    

12. Hush – Waterdeep

    When you feel like the days just drone on and on and on, and you feel like the nights seem quickly gone, and on the inside, you feel like your heart’s just gaping wide, and on the inside you feel like no one’s on your side… well, I AM.
    

13. Pass in Time – Beth Orton

    So much stays unknown till the time you are strong. Did you imagine you could ever feel so strong, and all your pain just turns into relief? All your doubt becomes your own belief? So come on now, come on now, child. You’re here just a while. You might as well smile, ’cause tomorrow, you just don’t know. It will pass. It’s gonna pass.
    

14. Tarantella – Madison Greene

    Come oppressed and broken child, serve around the firelight, sleep not a moment now, be not tempted by the night. Come abandon hopelessness… arouse your limbs with hope. The Drum, it calls you “dance!” There is life within you yet!
    

15. Past the Wishing – Sara Groves
    
    I’m gazing in these deep well waters, where the pennies of my life have all been cast, and I’ve decided I am going to save my money and do something that lasts. And you’ve shown me my “man of Macedonia”, you’re calling me further on. And I’m tired of saying “It’s a nice idea… I wish it could be done.”

Photo by clickykbd

Kimberly Roth is a co-editor for the Jesus Manifesto. She over-thinks and cares way too much, so she rambles on at www.barefootbohemian.blogspot.com.

Pentecost – The Tongue Untied

How did God choose to release the Church into her calling? Pentecost. How did God start off Pentecost? By getting His Spirit to get a hold of, and control of, the tongue.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4 NKJV)

God created the tongue as a powerful member of our body. James compares the tongue to the rudder of a ship and the bit that controls the horse (James 3:3-5). Great ships and their rudders are designed with great care, because these ships are useless if they cannot be controlled. A magnificent vessel cannot fulfill its purpose without a rudder capable of maneuvering it through every port, storm or shoal. Similarly, these great vessels require a captain at the helm capable of taking firm control of the rudder and directing it.

It is just like God to go for control of the rudder. He always goes to the core of every issue – whether it is the root of bitterness, the need to forgive or the call to be a rejoicing and thankful people in every situation. When He released His Church into the world, God started by firmly placing His hand on the helm controlling the rudder – the tongue. He sacrificed so that the Church could walk in freedom and now He directs it so that it fulfills its freedom destiny.

God loves to release blessing through things mankind considers insignificant. Paul describes God’s choice at overcoming the strong through using the “weak” (1 Cor 1:26-28). He confounded the wise by using the “foolish.” And using the “least” gift, He started His great Church – the gift of tongues (1 Cor 12:28). I believe God did this for several reasons. First, He wants us to know that He does not need our abilities nearly as much as our submitted availability. He can use anything available to Him and do spectacular things with it. Second, this encourages the weakest member within the Church. God honors and uses the least to do spectacular things. I would likely have chosen some other gift to release salvation to thousands – maybe healing, or the prophetic gift or the gift of evangelism. That would have been more “reasonable”. Third, if God can do that with the least gift, what can He do with all the spiritual gifts He has placed within you?

The tongue has one final and critical role – it is the mouthpiece of our heart’s expression.

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. (Matt 12:34-35 NKJV)

All that lies within our soul will find its expression through the tongue. All that we treasure will find its way out through the tongue. When God controls our heart, then the tongue releases His Word for our world. If hurts, pride or ambition have a root there, then our tongue will betray that we refused to allow God inside to deal with these issues.

Pentecost is a great day to declare afresh in the Church that God controls of the rudder. He has control of our tongue – my tongue – and it speaks as “the Spirit gives utterance.”

Author Bio:: David Peacock is one of the pastors on staff at The Lighthouse Church in Kuwait. His wife Becky and two youngest children live and minister there with him.

Destination Written Upon My Feet

When May bleeds into June, rousing summer in its wake, a subtle yet significant loss will be felt in the music world.  The May-June issue (#75) of No Depression magazine, will be the final print issue published.  There are whispers of things to come, such as expanded web content and a semi-annual book version compiling feature-length articles, but the loss of the magazine is a blow to Americana fans, nonetheless.  Many of my favorite artists were selected from obscure ads in the margins of No Depression’s pages, or circled from lists of influences in ten-page reviews of artists I had already come to know and love.  The magazine was to alt-country fans what Al Mohler’s blog is to reformed theologians.

I have to be honest for a moment, and admit to our readers that I am partially responsible for the demise of a magazine you may care absolutely nothing about.  You see, I allowed my subscription to lapse several years ago, picking up only the occasional issue here and there, and cheating on it often with younger, hipper issues of Paste promising free CDs.  Luckily for our readers, this article isn’t really about the magazine at all. 

Featured prominently in this farewell issue is one of my desert-island, all-time, top five bands, the Old 97’s.  Next week the band will release its latest offering, Blame it on Gravity, and the article was a testimony to the band’s perseverance and the band mates’ commitment to one another.  The primary songwriters and leads of the band, Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond, have a friendship that dates back some-odd twenty years to their days in Dallas, Texas.  These days the two make their homes on opposite coasts, but the music still finds a way to creep out of their souls and meld together into something consonant.

Murry Hammond’s story has long intrigued me.  The man who co-lead an unforgettable experience at Deep Ellum’s Gypsy Tea Room four years ago leads a roots-style weekly worship in California.  In a phrase, he’s my kind of guy.  His faith often seems to crop up in interviews and reviews, and Hammond does not shy away from discussing it.  John Marks, the author of this Old 97’s tribute and retrospective, notes: 

Listening to [Hammond’s solo] record in contrast to Miller’s The Believer, it’s hard to imagine that Hammond, who opens his solo debut with “What Are They Doing In Heaven Today”, has remained lifelong friends and musical partners with Miller, who penned that gorgeous ode to one-night stands, “Fireflies”.  To put the difference in the starkest possible terms, it’s hard to hear much Jesus on Miller’s last record, or much sex on Hammond’s new one.

Hammond, naturally, comes to the defense both of the presence of God and of the presence of sex in his music.  Neither the presence of the creator of the universe or of procreation in the band’s lyrics was surprising to me.  As an avid fan and admitted music junkie, my mind immediately raced back to a humble interview with Murry Hammond published in 2004 on the seminal Christian-media webzine, the Phantom Tollbooth.  In that interview, Hammond was asked how he reconciled the themes of the Old 97’s music with his Christian faith.  As a writer and as a follower of Christ, his explanation has stuck with me over the years. 

While I am most definitely still a work-in-progress, I think I’m kinder to people because of my pursuit of God, I know my marriage is better for it, and I think I’m a more honest songwriter because of it. How some writers can discuss their craft without getting into their most important influence is beyond me. Creativity is one of the fundamental elements of God’s character, so how can you separate the faith of the writer from his or her writing?
 
Personally, I tend to write the same song, every time. I write about redemption. I got a pile of them! My life has been a cycle of moving toward God, then moving away, then toward Him again, so redemption plays itself out over and over again in my life. In every song I write, I illuminate some part of that ongoing dialogue between the Almighty and myself, of being restless, or injuring myself then being healed by God, of feeling alienated or disenfranchised in some way, then finding connection and hope in the upward reach.
 
But what happens most in my writing, is I’ll put a microscope on a specific part of the redemption story, such as with the character in “Up the Devils Pay,” who is struggling with his dark and light sides. Imagine that the act of crying out to God can be shown as a strip of film, say, a scene where a man realizes his need for God, reaches upwards, God meets him and the man is transformed. I tend to not write so much about the entire sequence, such as Hank Williams did with “I Saw the Light,” but rather, I will zero in on a portion or even a single frame and describe where that character lives and what he is feeling. As much as I ponder writing about the portion of the sequence where God lives to give grace to the hurting world, I tend to write my songs back toward the beginning of the film, where the man first realizes and struggles over his need to be redeemed. How can you tell the whole story of redemption without telling about the poor creature that needed it in the first place? That human end of redemption is not often written about in a way which attempts to really move the listener, at least not in modern Christian music, but this is what I most often attempt to do. I feel that I hit occasional bulls-eyes there, and people respond instinctually, at a soul level, and they get it. And grace is illuminated in some way. I just feel most strongly in my heart for the regular person who is hurting, and is searching for a home.
 
All people take music very, very personally, and Christians are no different. Some might ask why would a musician of faith write and sing about anything else but God? Why would anything other than a song of praise escape the lips of a follower of Christ? To me, it’s much like a calling to ministry: Why aren’t these children of God plunging themselves into ministry? Because some are given talents that call them to step up on the pulpit, while most of us are called according to our other talents. We are called to put our light up where we live in our homes, among our neighbors, in the office buildings, in the schools, in the coal mines, as writers, as truck drivers, as artists, railroaders, country-rock bands.

What say you?

Can we talk about grace, without understanding the need for it?

Can we talk about sight without at least a cursory knowledge of blindness?

Will people who are searching for what Christ has to offer pay us any mind if they don’t feel, at least a bit, like we know where they are coming from? 

In that same Phantom Tollbooth interview, Murry also touched on the vitality of his friendship with the men in his band. 

…I have figured out one good thing I can do for my band mates, and that is to simply to give them a safe place to bring that most private part of themselves to, without judgment or ridicule. They know they can open up to me about God, and occasionally we’ll visit that place together, in different ways for each guy. It has been a positive experience between my band mates and my self. They are pretty good guys. You know what they say, Some plant seeds, some tend seeds, some harvest. We’re just tending seeds around here.

Kimberly Roth is a co-editor for the Jesus Manifesto. She over-thinks and cares way too much, so she rambles on at www.barefootbohemian.blogspot.com.

Contest Clarification

I just got an email from someone with the following observation:

I saw your blog post on the writing competition.  I actually was thinking about writing something. But I’ll share with you an observation I had as I read your intro explaining it…It didn’t seem clear.  I don’t really have a clear understanding of what you are asking for.  Maybe it’s just me…

I think this astute reader may be right. Maybe it wasn’t clear because the only experiences I’ve had with writing competitions were with obscure theological journals. It may be worth me clarifying a bit. Maybe I should have kept it simple like this:

Explore the message of Pentecost in our contemporary world. You can do that in any way that you’d like…but keep it to less than 1000 words. We’ll give awards for each of the Jesus Manifesto categories (except interviews and book reviews).

Writing Contest Deadline is Sunday

Our Pentecost Writing Contest closes on Sunday (May 11). I’m starting to get a bit nervous. We have WAY fewer submissions than anticipated. Ponder the following:

• If you are scared off by the $7 entry fee, I’d be willing to waive it for those that are low on funds. The idea for a fee was to help make the award money bigger. JM doesn’t have a budget, so I’ll you ponder just where the award money comes from.
• Your chances of winning at this point are very good. Fewer submissions means a higher chance of winning.
• Don’t be intimidated by our judges. We’re all nice people. Take a risk.
• Feel free to paint outside of the lines. The Pentecost theme is meant as a creative starting point. Take it wherever you’d like.

Get the word out…tell your friends. Tell your enemies.

Hey, I care about those poor people too!

I’m tired of being accused of indifference to the poor. Fringe folks and radicals (like the readers here) usually give me a hard time. Sure, I’m wildly successful. Sure, I wear $140 pants. Yes, I drive an Audi and/or my wife’s Lexus SUV. But just because I am the affluent pastor of a suburban megachurch doesn’t mean that I don’t care about poverty. I care about those poor people too!

Every week, I look over thousands of faces…looking to me to help them understand what it means to follow Jesus. We all know that Jesus cared about poor people. And in my own way, in my own suburban context, I too have a ministry to the poor.

Hey, maybe it works for some of you to live among the poor in urban neighborhoods, doing your gardening, protesting, letting people in off the streets, or whatever-else-it-is-you-folks-do. But the rest of us are looking for more practical, mainstream ways of caring for the poor. Here are 10 things I, or my church, have done in the last year to help alleviate poverty:

1. Invite high profile speakers and or musicians to help raise awareness. Last week we had a huge youth concert at church featuring Derek Webb. That guy is ALL ABOUT caring for things like poverty. In the past year we’ve had guest speakers from Bread for the World and Evangelicals for Social Action. We even had Shane Claiborne come speak at a special youth and young adults rally last year. Sure, these sorts of events are expensive. But you can’t put a price tag on awareness.
2. Promote the One Campaign. In the southwest corner of our lobby (by the E parking lot), we have an information kiosk where people can learn more about the One Campaign. And every quarter, we include a blurb about the One Campaign in our projection announcements.
3. Give some of your church budget to global poverty. We set aside 1% of our multi-million dollar budget for World Relief. That ends up being a lot of money. And when we spent $19 million on building expansion last year, we put $190,000 towards organizations like Compassion International and Bread for the World. At our church, we have particular concern for foreign poor people.
4. Do a sermon series. Last year, I did a sermon series called “Poor People of the Bible.” Each sermon began with a hilarious little skit featuring different poor Bible characters. At the end of each sermon, I offered practical steps for faithful living. Sometimes it was a hard task…especially with the teachings of Jesus. Jesus overstates things a lot and it takes serious translation work to help it apply to my congregation.
5. Serve the poor. Since there aren’t any poor people in our suburb, we have built partnerships with urban soup kitchens and shelters. My small group, for example, helps serve breakfast to the homeless every month. It makes my heart feel warm to help out. Afterwards, as a reward, we treat ourselves to a swanky brunch at our favorite restaurant.
6. Buy Fair Trade. Most people are poor because of bad choices. But some people are poor because they can’t get a decent wage. That is why it makes sense to buy Fair Trade goods on occasion. For example, whenever I order a double mocha at Starbucks, I make sure that they use Fair Trade Coffee. My wife could spend hundreds on new purses, but sometimes she make a sacrifice by making hand made purses from women in Peru. Since they only cost $90, she usually buys two at a time.
7. Put pocket change into those little cans at grocery checkout lines. I think that money goes to alleviate child homelessness. Every little bit helps.
8. Create jobs. Most of our janitors at church were unemployed for a long time before we hired them. Sometimes people need a helping hand. And personally, by utilizing a gardening service and a maid service, my family is employing exactly the sort of person who would be poor without a job.
9. Don’t throw it away, donate it. It may be junk to you, but often times, poor people aren’t that picky. Consider donating it to Good Will. After all, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
10. Vote for Obama. While I can’t official endorse a candidate as a pastor, as a person, I am endorsing Barack Obama. In the past, I’ve always voted Republican. But Obama fills me with such hope. A vote for Obama is a vote for hope. If you vote for anyone else, you don’t care about poor people.

Pastor Chad Ellens doesn't exist. He is the satirical creation of Mark Van Steenwyk. Fictionally speaking, Pastor Chad is lead pastor of the Crossing Pointe Community Church in Brook Springs, Colorado (a suburb of Denver). His 5,000 member church is pushing the envelope on what it means to follow Jesus in large buildings with a large budget. Ministry is his passion, but his wife Tammy and their 2.5 kids is his life.

Biblical Economics 1-0-what?

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