If you’ve read Relevant Magazine you’ve probably read something written by Jesse Carey and if you’ve listened to the Relevant Podcast you’ve laughed out loud at something he’s said.
Jesse joins me to talk about said magazine and podcast, also journalism, and being star struck when he met Lebowski himself, Jeff Bridges.
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It’s the Seminary Dropout year end review. For this episode I’ve asked my friend Chris Morton to join to talk about the first year of Seminary Dropout. We talk about just a few of the great guests I’ve had on the show; Jamie Wright, Tony Campolo, Grace Biskie, and Scot McKnight.
Chris’s passion is to connect people, both to Jesus and to each other, this has led him to help start a church community called Austin Mustard Seed, where he serves as Community Developer. Chris graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary. Chances are good that as you’re reading this, he’s sitting in a coffee shop.
In addition to the years recap, I also check in with my friend Tony Kriz. Tony appeared on Seminary Dropout 1 as my first ever guest so I thought it would be fitting to check back in with him a year later to see what he’s up to and thank him for agreeing to be on the show when I was just a guy was going to eventually have a podcast. Be sure to listen as Tony give Seminary Dropout its first ever EXCLUSIVE!
Brian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor, of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. He is a passionate reader of theology and philosophy, an avid hiker and mountain climber, and authority on all things Bob Dylan. He and his wife, Peri, have three adult sons and five grandchildren. He is the author of several other books, including Unconditional?, Beauty Will Save the World, and A Farewell To Mars. Follow his blog at www.brianzahnd.com.
Why would the pastor of a large and successful church risk everything in a quest to find a richer, deeper, fuller Christianity? In Water To Wine Brian Zahnd tells his story of disenchantment with pop Christianity and his search for a more substantive faith.
“I was halfway to ninety—midway through life—and I had reached a full-blown crisis. Call it garden variety mid-life crisis if you want, but it was something more. You might say it was a theological crisis, though that makes it sound too cerebral. The unease I felt came from a deeper place than a mental file labeled “theology.” I was wrestling with the uneasy feeling that the faith I had built my life around was somehow deficient. Not wrong, but lacking. It seemed watery, weak. In my most honest moments I couldn’t help but notice that the faith I knew seemed to lack the kind of robust authenticity that made Jesus so fascinating. And I had always been utterly fascinated by Jesus. What I knew was that the Jesus I believed in warranted a better Christianity than what I was familiar with. I was in Cana and the wine had run out. I needed Jesus to perform a miracle.” –Water To Wine
Tripp is the founder of Homebrewed Christianity, a popular progressive theology podcast and website that garners over 50,000 listens per month. He is the Director of Theology and Humanities at Hatchery, a church planting center that incubates innovative, sustainable models of church. He is currently finishing a dissertation in Philosophy, Religion and Theology at Claremont Graduate University, and he is working on the first book for a ten volume series with Fortress Press, Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus: Liar Lunatic, Lord or Just Freaking Awesome. More info: www.homebrewedchristianity.com
Christology is crazy. It’s rather absurd to identify a first-century homeless Jew as God revealed, but a bunch of us do anyway. In this book, Tripp Fuller examines the historical Jesus, the development of the doctrine of Christ, the questions that drove christological innovations through church history, contemporary constructive proposals, and the predicament of belief for the church today. Recognizing that the battle over Jesus is no longer a public debate between the skeptic and believer but an internal struggle in the heart of many disciples, he argues that we continue to make christological claims about more than an “event” or simply the “Jesus of history.” On the other hand, C. S. Lewis’s infamous “liar, lunatic, and Lord” scheme is no longer intellectually tenable. This may be a guide to Jesus, but for Christians, Fuller is guiding us toward a deeper understanding of God. He thinks it’s good news—good news about a God who is so invested in the world that God refuses to be God without us. -From the Publisher
Based in Redondo Beach, California, Hatchery LA is a church planting center that incubates innovative, sustainable models of church – with a goal of launching nine new churches each year and ultimately building the Silicon Valley of Church Innovation.
The traditional church, as we’ve known it, is fading from the landscape of our culture. That’s why we’re looking for Innovators who are passionate about planting a new kind of service-centric church…what we call a “Common Cause Community”…
A “Common” journey in the way of Jesus.
A “Cause” to rally around on a regular basis.
A “Community” of people where relationships are nurtured.
These churches – or Common Cause Communities – will look more like a coffee shop, urban garden, or after school tutoring center, than a teaching-centric, weekend gathering. Our three-year training program empowers Innovators to earn a Masters in Theological Studies while launching a ministry the world is waiting for.
Interested in advertising on Seminary Dropout? For rates and information contact me at shane@shaneblackshear.com
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Natasha Sistrunk Robinson is a leader, speaker, writer, and anti-human trafficking advocate. Natasha has studied education in racial reconciliation, prayer and fasting, and biblical justice. She love’s passionately serving God and his people, bringing Him glory, and pursuing His kingdom work by sharing and living as she puts it ‘in the redemptive power of the cross’. In addition to being a wife and the mother, she’s dedicated her adult life to equipping, nurturing, and empowering a generation of leaders, mentoring and teaching women; and promoting education while serving and uplifting her community.
Today’s Christians do not simply want nice fellowships and cookie-cutter answers about how to deal with life. Though churches are filled with good ministry programming—activities, outreach events, and an endless selection of options—many churches neglect their fundamental mission to make disciples.
Christians want to mentor and to be mentored, though they may not fully understand what that means, the significance of this desire, or how to get there. The church must rise to answer these questions, meet life’s challenges, and develop creative ways of equipping modern women to mentor well. In Mentor for Life, Natasha Sistrunk Robinson lays a solid foundation for mentoring that is based on God’s kingdom vision, challenges women to consider the cost of discipleship, and the high calling they have received in Christ. It shows how to develop mentoring relationships that function communally in existing small groups that are diverse and inclusive. It also presents a mentoring framework of knowing and loving God, understanding our identity in Christ, and loving our neighbor, which encourages theological reflection and cultivates a basic Christian worldview.
Filled with examples from Robinson’s experience in the military and business world, this resource gives readers the wisdom they need to disciple others and as a foundation for kingdom service. –From the Publisher
