by Bret Capranica | Apr 11, 2008 | Seeker-Sensitive
Fascinating to watch the potential changes at Willow Creek. I simply wonder how significant the movement is. Between Two Worlds: Willow Creek: “We’ve Really Upset the Christ-Centered...
by Bret Capranica | Jan 30, 2008 | Humor, Seeker-Sensitive
I learned some great theology today. God get’s pleasure when I’m a doofus. I am regularly a doofus and find myself mourning over my doofus-hood often. I find no real lasting pleasure when I do doofus things. I hate my doofus activities. But, God’s enjoys it. Watch the video at the end of Denny Burk’s good analysis of Rick Warren on the Colbert Report. Denny Burk » Rick Warren on the “Colbert...
by Bret Capranica | Apr 3, 2007 | General Theology, Seeker-Sensitive
Notable comments from Rick Warren on his belief in biblical inerrancy, especially as it relates to the book of Genesis. Can you discern his position. Denny Burk » Rick Warren on...
by Bret Capranica | Feb 16, 2007 | Ecclesiology, Seeker-Sensitive
Want to see some of the upcoming changes at Saddleback Church? Read the highlights from a recent Vision Night as Rick Warren casts a new vision. It is “40 Days with a vengeance” and some interesting verses to support it all. Saddleback Church – Vision Night...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 12, 2006 | Bookreviews, Ecclesiology, Seeker-Sensitive
On the revamping of the church by men such as George Barna “The expectations of the postwar baby boomers have been shaped by such a therapeutic bounty and surfeit of on-demand entertainment that small, struggling, one-dimensional churches may well appear unattractive and uninviting however real and faithful their worship and service may be. In order to offer a rich array of programs to this new generation – a large selection of Sunday school classes, support groups, and specialized pastoral staff from which to choose, good child care facilities, and engaging (or even entertaining) worship services – churches have to become large. This generation is used to working and living within large bureaucratic structures, so they may well feel more at home in the corporate environs of a megachurch than in the more familial context of a small congregation. That may explain why a new megachurch emerges every two weeks in America” (74). “What is going to happen when churches meet all of the felt needs of their consumers and then realize that they have failed to meet the genuine need for meaning? Meaning is provided by the functioning of truth – specifically biblical truth – in the life of the congregation”...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 10, 2006 | Bookreviews, Ecclesiology, Education, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching, Seeker-Sensitive, Theological Education
In my quiet time, I begin by reading from a book that will stimulate my mind and heart about sanctification or practical life in the church. Recently I have begun reading God in the Wasteland by David F. Wells. I want to share a few excerpts from his book that I noted during my fifteen minute-a-day reading time. On the current reactions against formal theological training: Noting the how the early colonial American trends in the mainline schools were producing polished institutions, there was a strong reactions against them. “This ambitious drive [among the intellectual schools of colonial America] produces some savage anti-clericalism but also because the insurgent leaders were “Ëintent on destroying the monopoly of classically educated and university trained clergymen.’ Their sermons were colloquial, “Ëemploying daring pulpit storytelling, no-holds-barred appeals, overt humor, strident attacks, graphic application, and intimate personal experience.’ The point of it all was to engage the audience. Charles Finney despised sermons that were formally delivered on the grounds that they put content ahead of communication, and, although both he and Dwight L. Moody had their own theologies, they both vigorously opposed “Ëthe formal study of divinity'” (65). “‘As the common man rose in power n the early republic,’ says Hatch, “Ëthe inevitable consequence was the displacement from power of the uncommon man, the man of ideas.’ Never again, he adds would America produce people of the caliber of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison in the realm of politics or of Jonathan Edwards in the realm of theology” (67). In light of some of what we have seen in the modern Seeker Sensitive and Emergent Church...
