OK - Brian McLaren is coming here on Monday morning (May 9) to share about his controversial book "The Last Word and The Word After That:A Tale of Faith. Doubt and a New Kind of Christianity" and answer some of your questions (that you will leave as comments on Brian's post) He will be posting different thoughts on other blogs also. Here is the complete list:
Tallskinnykiwi
Jordon Cooper
Jen Lemen
Dwight Friesen
Paradoxology
Pomomusings
BRIAN'S HELL
Most of the conversation will happen in the comments section under Brian's blog post, but to make things interesting, we have set up a virtual hell next to Suddenly Seminary in which to have an online discussion. Its called Brian's Hell. You will probably see me in the room. There will be NO coffee or tea in this room, because there is no coffee or tea in hell, as everyone knows. But you can sneak out to Boaz Lounge to whet your virtual caffeine addiction. Suddenly Seminary has both tea and coffee.
Preperation:
Read these posts and related comments.
1. The Grilling of Brian
2. Does the Church Believe in Heaven?
First time in Habbo?
Check on these guidelines for Suddenly Seminary or read on for details
When?
Monday 9th at 7pm GMT to 11pm GMT. (NOT 7pm as I originally said) Thats 6 hours ahead of Brian in Washinton D.C. You can check the right time on my right column.
How to get there?
Go to Habbohotel.co.uk. Do NOT go to the .com site.
Enter the site, sign in, get an account if you don't have one, and dress yourself.
Search for "TallSkinnyKiwi"
You will see all my guest rooms.
You must use the password "Boaz1" to get into ALL the rooms.
Either, go straight to"Brian's Hell"or, a better idea is to the guest room called "SkinnyPort". This room is the hallway to all the other rooms.
When you get to SkinnyPort, you will find teleports to various rooms, including Suddenly Seminary and Boaz Lounge, and the virtual 24-7 Prayer Room. You are welcome to go into all the rooms, and if we get too crowded or get too many hecklers, you may want to take your friends for a coffee at Boaz Lounge and talk there for a while. I might be popping around the various rooms.
The teleporter on the far left will usher you straight into Brian's Hell. No guarantee that Brian will be there when you arrive - he is also busy answering questions on this blog and others. But I am hoping he will find his way into the room. Look for a habbo character with a bald head.
More on Brian
Brian McLaren has his own site called A New Kind of Christian but I find that Jason Clark usually has the skinny on Brian, and often uploads Brian's articles on emergent-uk. Jason also offers the DVD with Brian speaking in London. I mention this DVD because I am also on it, despite not making it onto the cover credits. [curse my ego]
Brian has written a stack of books but I have always favored his first one. It was called "Reinventing Your Church" - a lousy title that Brian never liked and it had an offensive cover picture of a workman holding a wrench (spanner). Eventually Zondervan relented and went with Brian's first choice for a name - "The Church on the Other Side". I still recommend pastors and leaders to read this book. it has the right stuff, and as always with Brian, that gentle tone that I hope gets adopted by the church in general. His latest trilogy, to be honest, never really grabbed me in the way his first book did. I glanced at "A New Kind of Christian" after hearing fantastic reports of the book, and because people told me I was in the book (ego-stroking is always a sure way to get me to pick up a book). I realize the book has had a great impact around the world, but as for me, I just didn't really connect with the creative-fiction type approach. Still, it will be a good exercise to discuss the book.
Some memories with Brian:
Go-carting in Prague, 2003 From left: Matt Glock (International Teams - France), Me, Grace and Brian McLaren, Debbie (my wife) and Molly Smallen (Young Leaders) holding our new baby (Tamara). Brian joined us in Prague for a conference on"Ministry in the Post-Modern World", hosted by Boaz and the International Baptist Theological Seminary.
"He was a little older than us, and a whole lot balder, but we all really liked him. Not just because he was smarter than us. And better looking. But because he was nicer than us. And we needed someone with a good attitude."
TSK on Brian M, May, 2003
Lets Not Bring Up The Silly Controversies.
There are lots of Brian McLaren slams going around but the worst is an article being re-posted by many sites. Its an inaccurate slam by Frederick Meekins who wrote Pastor Seeking 'With It' Reputation Ventures Close to Heresy. Meekins also has a blog called "The Masked Conservative" where he attacks Presbyterians, smoking and drinking, tattooing, and provides a link to an anti-Southern Baptist article.
This is NOT the kind of discussion we want to have, so please . . . no wrangling about words, no arguing, no divisiveness.
Thanks to EmergentNo who took the article off their site.
Lets have a good productive conversation that allows us all to move ahead . . .
