America Hating Flag-Kneelers

When someone kneels during the national anthem, they’re not doing it because they hate America, hate the flag, hate our troops, or whatever else they’re accused of by our various outrage & anger fabrication specialists (or OAFS, for short).

OAFS know how good moral superiority feels.  That’s why they point out for us all the people at whom we should be angry, and to whom we therefore get to feel morally superior.  Moral superiority feels so good that we’ll come back to feel it over and over and over again, making us such devoted, loyal fans of our favorite OAFS that their voices become the only ones we can hear.

Sights and Sounds from “Church Bells at Midnight”

So many times while I was writing Church Bells at Midnight, I wanted to be able to not just tell the story, but also show you its sights and sounds. I hope that by sharing some of them here, those who found the book meaningful will feel a deeper connection to the events by seeing and hearing what it was like in the years leading up to, during, and after those 51 difficult days.

Along the Way: The Upward Way

Steve is on my personal Mount Rushmore of teachers. Read and find out why.

Oboedire

For more than a decade I have been on a journey often referred to as “emergent Christianity.” [1] It has taken me into that part of Christianity called “progressive.” It has been a life-changing experience in more ways than I can name in this post. Many of my previous Oboedire posts illustrate the specific expression of my progressivism.. And as the song says, ‘I wouldn’t take ‘nothin for my journey now.”

One learning along the way is how progressives are caricatured as those who don’t believe much, those who “dillute” the faith and are theological minimalists. My journey into a more progressive Christianity has revealed that the exact opposite is true. The fact is, progressives are maximalists, people who affirm the Grand Story that comes from God to us all. Far from “going down the slippery slope,” progressives are those who sing, “I’m pressing on the upward way. New heights…

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An S.O.S. for our Warren Willis Team!

Hey Everybody, my daughter, Jenna, is on the Warren Willis Camp Counselor Team this summer, and they are really struggling. With fewer paying kids at camp this year because of the pandemic, they ended up not able to afford the number of team members they wanted, so the remaining counselors are spread really thin, and with a smaller camp staff they’re each doing extra weeks of work crew instead of working as counselors with kids. Counselors have been quitting, morale is super low, and they’re just trying to survive until the end. They are awesome people and will give everything they have to give every camper a great experience, but since they are “on duty” 23 hours per day, they end up making about 70 cents per hour, and just really feel underappreciated. Chances of any of them coming back next summer look slim, which would be a terrible outcome since the counselor team is one of the main strengths of the camp every summer.

I’m attaching a couple links:

Click here for the list of this summer’s current remaining counselors. Perhaps you can have your congregation members adopt a counselor and send them a note in the mail, and…

Click here for an Amazon Wish List of things Jenna and another counselor said would be very much appreciated by the team. The rest of them don’t know that I’m sending this to every church and pastor I can find to see if we can’t shower these counselors with appreciation to let them know how thankful we are for them! Send something to the group, or divide up the names among your congregation.

The mailing address should be set on the wishlist already, but in case you need it:
Summer Leadership Team
c/o Warren Willis Camp
4990 Picciola Rd
Fruitland Park, FL 34731

I hope we can come through and be a source of encourgement and endurance for this amazing team!

Sincerely,

Matt H.