with kindness
Here's a music video featuring some photos from our Everything Must Change tour this spring, some from the Amahoro gathering in Rwanda/Burundi in May, and a few others too.
I just had a tremendous time at the Preaching Peace conference at Messiah College in PA, and will be at Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids Sunday. Plus there's a book-signing Saturday night at 6 pm at the Baker Book store ... Please come say hello!
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Naivete, Cynicism, and Wisdom
I posted over at Progressive Revival a short report about another case of viral misinformation about Barack Obama. I recounted how over the last few weeks, Mara Vanderslice, Amy Sullivan, and others have “drawn needed attention to some more and less subliminal messages coming from the McCain campaign.” These McCain approved TV ads have linked Senator Obama to the – gulp – Anti-Christ, using imagery and language Evangelical Christians would resonate with.
A similar message has been virally worming its way through the internet, this one evoking – gulp again - Adolf Hitler. The viral message ended with the predictable “If you agree this is important, pass it on. The mainstream media will not do it for you!” It claimed to have been written by "Bill Brown, a highly respected retired member of the Billy Graham team." Thousands believed the claim and passed on the email – after all, it was on the internet!
Some internet-savvy noses detected a hoax. They surmised that Bill Brown was a fictitious name, but my friend Steve Knight new better. He, also a former employee of the Billy Graham team, knew that Bill Brown was a real person who had in fact worked for the Graham organization. What he didn’t know was whether Brown had actually written the letter.
So – in a wise move of avoiding both naïve credulity and presumptive cynicism - Steve made the wise move of checking out the story with Brown himself.
I’m including his email in its entirety, because I think it’s a model of good communication.
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for Poets and Songwriters … invitation from Amber
My friends Amber and Chad invite you to enter their story and respond with your creative abilities ...
For further background, you might want to read this ...
To post your reply, go to Songs for a Revolution of Hope here ...
Need for a song:
I have been listening to Brian McLaren’s new CD and David Crowder’s newest CD, Remedy. Feeling inspired by both in different ways, I have found myself wondering if a talented musical artist could put to words exactly what I have been feeling this past year. You see my life, our life, took a dramatic turn a couple of years ago when our son, Peyton, was diagnosed with autism. We jumped into looking for ways to help him reach his max potential. He was very sickly and so the first response was to find a doctor willing and able to understand our unique situation and not just label him “failure to thrive.” After much searching, we found a doctor who was a pediatrician but moved into natural healing. Within 6 weeks of implementing this doctor’s approach, Peyton gained 5 pounds and grew 4 inches. During this time, we also jumped into every therapy possible to help Peyton who was almost two learn to crawl, sit up, walk, play with toys, eat anything other than baby food and eventually speak.
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Q & A … about us “old folks”
Steve Knight (who does a tremendous job with the emergentvillage.com blog - thanks, Steve!) passed on this comment/question from the site
Not sure this is the place to say this, but will give it a swing. I am a seventy-two year old Mennonite and am much taught by emergent thinking. Question: Is there any room for "old folks" in the movement? I ask you that, Brian, because I see something that looks like a little gray in your beard...
First, you're quite charitable, as "a little gray" is now a major understatement. (I was buying a fishing license recently and the form asked "hair color" to which I replied ... none.)
Second, as a 52-year-old, I'm right between you and 32-year-olds, so I think there's room for all of us. In my speaking, I frequently encounter people well over 80 who truly "get" what we're about.
Third, there's not only room, but there's a special need for older, seasoned voices.
And fourth, I think there's a special need for folks of an Anabaptist heritage like yourself. Your community has centuries of history practicing what many of us are just beginning to learn. So thanks for this good question!
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