Will Samson

Rod Dreher on The Iraq War

Rod Dreher, of The Crunchy Conservative, has a great list of five things he no longer believes as a result of the Iraq Invasion. Well worth the read.

(HT: Bob)

Brian McLaren Interviews in Publisher's Weekly

Publisher's Weekly has a great interview with Brian McLaren regarding his upcoming book, Everything Must Change. Here is the link:

Emerging Star: RBL Talks with Brian McLaren

Back from Chicago

Well, I am back from Chicago and wow, so much to say.

Great to see dear friends (truth be told, this is what gets me to so many of these events) including Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones, Lilly and Rob Lewin and Spencer Burke.

Great to meet in person or strengthen friendships with Mike & Julie Clawson, Jeff Kursonis and Al Hsu.

Also great to hang with a new friend, Mindy Caliguire, who has an awesome ministry called SoulCare. I received two of her books and will be blogging about them soon.

Expect some news in the next six months about a conference on suburban spirituality.

The highlight of the trip was the book release party for Justice in the Burbs. Lisa and I are both thankful to Baker/emersion and Emergent Village for the chance to launch this book with them.

Teenage Affluenza

Below is a fabulous clip entitled Teenage Affluenza that resonates well with themes from Justice in the Burbs, as well as our upcoming book on consumerism:

HT: Geoff & Sherry

It's Always Fun Until ...

Someone gets gored in the leg. Ewww:

Thanks, Steve

Tony Jones on Albert Mohler's Show

Last night Tony Jones, National Coordinator of Emergent Village and someone I am privileged to call a friend, was on Albert Mohler's radio show. The show was hosted by Russell Moore, who was sitting in for Mohler.

It is well worth listening to the whole 37 minutes, not skipping through either the commentary by Moore that came before the interview with Tony or the thoughts offered afterward. I thought Tony was gracious, thoughtful and loving in the face of some really silly questions and unloving characterizations. Great job, Tony.

To listen to the show, click here.

Back from Atlanta

We are back from Atlanta and the International Christian Retail Show. I could regale you with tales of the Holy Socks and the Scripture Candy, but, truth is, I avoided those aisles. I figure God will sort it all out. A pleasant surprise was the quality of some of the gifts, including some great icons and other Orthodox and Roman Catholic stuff. That was a nice change. There was some great handmade and other quality gifts that hardly qualify as "Jesus junk."

We got to spend time with our friend Bryan Brock from Christopher Matthews, an independent Logos bookstore in Maryland. He has made a commitment to selling these kind of quality gifts as a way to keep great authors like Henri Nouwen and Marcus Borg on the shelf, authors that are tougher for a small bookstore to stock. If you are in the Baltimore area, please visit Bryan's shop. Lisa and I will be there for a book signing some time in the fall.

If there was a highlight from the show, it was getting to hang with the folks from Christian Audio, one of the coolest companies I have discovered lately. They have some amazing titles, including a selection of Wendell Berry novels. Stop by their site and check out their selection.

The Christy Awards were great. Lauren Winner spoke and gave one of the most loving and hopeful speeches I have heard in some time. It was a great gift for a group of artists (i.e., Christian novelists) that are often the Rodney Dangerfields of the Christian publishing world. I will post a link to her speech when it is made public.

We got to speak to a lot of publishers and see dear friends, including Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones, Tom Davis, Troy Bronsink, Melvin Bray and Mike Morrell.

Justice in the Burbs Promo Video

We put together a promotional video for Justice in the Burbs. Thought you all might be interested:

Heading to Hot-lanta and the ICRS

We are leaving in a few hours for Atlanta (also known to all the cool kids as "Hot-lanta"). We will be attending the International Christian Retail Show, nee CBA, nee money changers in the temple.

Judging from the last comment, I could use your prayers the next few days. Not only do I go Jeremiah at such a place, but I also get quite hypocritical. Pray that I would have the eyes of Jesus and be able to see God at work in ways I had not imagined, even if that is through a Thomas Kincade painting or Holy Socks.

Also, be watching for the soon-to-be-released promo video for Justice in the Burbs!

Book Release Party in Chicago

Justice in the Burbs releases soon. Baker and the Chicago Cohort will be hosting a book release party next month at the end of the Emergent Midwest Gathering.

The party will be held at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Park Ridge (1006 Gillick St) from 7-9pm on Saturday, July 21.

Check out the up/rooted site for more details. Hope to see you there!