Next-Wave starts its tenth year this month. Its weird because way back in 1999, Rogier Bos, or "Ro" (as he likes to be called) interviewed Doug Pagitt and I for a Next Wave article when we were in Southern California. And here I am, in Amsterdam, asking Ro about Next Wave.
Next-Wave is older than The Ooze and has more informative articles on and by the emerging church than any internet publication I know. It was the brainchild of Charlie Wear but it took a Dutchman with some web-savvy to give it life. Ro ran Next-Wave in the early days but was called back to the Netherlands where he ended up with Christian Associates, a Netherlands based Christian mission that starts churches in emerging culture.
Next Wave went back to Charlie Wear and later on, Bob Hyatt jumped in to help it along. In 2005 I was asked to present a paper to a number of American organizations and foundations regarding the emerging church. I googled the heck out of the blogosphere for articles and Next-Wave consistently came up with the goods. I would say its the leading online mag for the emerging church and certainly the longest running. Its a great resource.
Over the years I have contributed a few articles, most of them in an untimely fashion, but Charlie tells me that my article “Buffy the Backside Slayer” (2002) was the favorite article ever on Next-Wave. I read it over again today. I had to laugh about the bit where i say I would wait on the colon cleansing tea because last week I finally took my first toxic fast and drank nothing but colon-cleansing tea for a few days. I guess my body is joining the revolution.
Anyway, happy tenth! May you have ten more.
