Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
— Elie Wiesel
Sunday's Coming
People frequently ask, “How do I become an outlaw preacher?”
This video pretty much sums it up.
(via Jeremy Ritch)
Discovering Your Context Is Crucial
For those of you able to make it to the TransFORM East Coast Gathering, you may remember this delicious morsel. For the rest of ya’ll, enjoy some good ol’ fashioned whiskey preaching. Phil Shepherd tells it like it is in his most recent podcast straight from the conference.
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Running time: 1:17:21
The Thirteenth Step
It amazed me at how many … have been abused, rejected, dehumanized, and cast out of the churches they so dearly cherished for many many years.
The church could learn a lot from Alcoholics Anonymous, a group that is saddened when any individual is hurting or falling behind.
The Sermon That Needed to Be Preached
One of the most powerful sermons delivered in recent times was almost never preached. Our dear friend John Harrison was just on Pastor Nar’s Losing My Religion podcast to teach us a thing or two about touching the untouchable.
I can’t speak for the scientific or medical communities, but we in the general public weren’t too sure of how easy it was, or how many ways there were, to “catch” AIDS. It sounds kind of stupid now, but we were afraid to one degree or another of salad bars, toilet seats, door handles… and when we found out this person was coming to the studio, some of us got nervous. One of our jobs, you see, was to put a lavalier microphone on the guest, which meant, by design, close contact — touching. This person was surrounded by AIDS every day. What if we could “catch” AIDS by miking her?
Listen to the podcast and read the full text of the sermon on John’s blog.
Outlaw Preachers 2: Queermergent Edition
with Khad Young and Adele Sakler of Queermergent
Wherein we discuss being blog bouncers, discussing like ducks without being hangry, patience and trust in the midst of mediocrity, agnostic Christianity, grace versus expectations, and, ultimately, getting rid of god.
All while enjoying a delicious vegan breakfast.
No dogs were harmed in the making of this podcast.
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Running time: 40:05
Resources:
- “Angry Conversations with God” by Susan Isaacs
- “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller
- “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less” by Barry Schwartz
- Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice (video)
Store Open, Haiti Relief
It has certainly been far too long since anything new has been posted. Good things come to those who wait, and we are proud to announce the very first Outlaw Preachers t-shirts and sundries at Outlaw Preachers General Goods.
Through the end of January, every single penny made from the sale of outlaw goods will go to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development fund.
If you do not need a fancy shirt for your gorgeous bod or stein for your root beer, please head straightaway to the Red Cross donations page and give whatever you are able in whatever way you prefer.
Outlaw Preachers 1: Grace Bombs and Shotgun Evangelism
with Khad Young, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Brian Yarbrough, Nar Martinez, Connie Waters, Angela Harms, and Vince Anderson
Wherein we discuss ending Christian euphemisms, Biblical idolators, the Bible as the fourth person of the trinity, dropping the grace bomb, Anchor Church versus shotgun evangelism, and the Radical Love Project versus adventures in missing the point.
All to the tune of the bonus track from Ship of Beggars by the Dead City Shakers. (iTunes link) (Amazon MP3)
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Running time: 47:07
See also:
Outlaw Preachers Precast: Susan Isaacs
This is the sixth and final Outlaw Preachers “precast.” No more precasts now. On to the real deal. Subscribe to the podcast today.
I am Khad Young, Outlaw Preacher at Metamorphosis in Los Angeles.
When I arrived in California about a month ago, the first person I stopped to see was my friend, Susan Isaacs. She is the author of “Angry Conversations with God” and currently on the Million Miles tour with Donald Miller. She is an actress, comedian, and Lutheran who did a little couples counseling with God.
We talked about spiritual gold diggers and buying and selling Jesus. Listen to the story of a seventy year-old outlaw.
We agree that we go to church to find the one unchanging thing when everything else around us is changing.
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Running time: 23:49
Resources:
- “Angry Conversations with God” by Susan Isaacs
- “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller
- “The Jesus I Never Knew” by Philip Yancey
- “Luke for Everyone” by N. T. Wright
Outlaw Preachers Precast: Nadia Bolz-Weber
This is the fifth of the Outlaw Preachers “precasts.”
As I journeyed across the country from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to start the Los Angeles branch of Metamorphosis I met with some very gracious outlaw preachers. These conversations are a sort of sneak preview of the podcast.
Outlaw Preachers will be a roundtable discussion style podcast featuring an eclectic mix of outlaw preachers in conversation about theology, philosophy, ministry, and all things outlaw.
My beautifully foolish conversation with Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber (@sarcasticluther on Twitter) starts with a sermon she preached at House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver called “Being an Outlaw Preacher.” She relates that she tried to be a Unitarian and ended up marrying a unicorn. I am reminded just how long of a (cultural) commute it is to the Borg. And we take a second look at the Biblical story of Jesus and George Bush at the well.
We fail miserably if ever we read into a text that we are doing things right.
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Running time: 23:09
Outlaw Preachers Precast: Tim Breyfogle
This is the fourth of the Outlaw Preachers “precasts.”
As I journeyed across the country from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to start the Los Angeles branch of Metamorphosis I met with some very gracious outlaw preachers. These conversations are a sort of sneak preview of the podcast.
Outlaw Preachers will be a roundtable discussion style podcast featuring an eclectic mix of outlaw preachers in conversation about theology, philosophy, ministry, and all things outlaw.
Hanging out with Tim Breyfogle feels like hanging out with a longtime friend — and he is fast becoming one. I’m sure you can hear it in our conversation as we discuss the origins of Agenda of Grace Ministries that he runs in Dallas. I am the gluttonous vegan who rebukes Tim’s parenting skills while we both evade a beat down from the grace police, blame everything on Jay, and turn the funny up to eleven.
You can find Tim writing on his blog, Fallen and Forgiven, and on Twitter.
We agree that God’s grace is bigger than our theology, even if we don’t agree on anything else.
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Running time: 38:07
Resources:
- Saved! (2004)
- God Hates Goths
- The Internet Is Like Whiskey
- “Guns don’t kill people. I kill people — with guns.” (YouTube)
- Titus 3:4-9
- Galatians 5:15
Hate Bomb! ringtone
Please to be enjoying this bonus super cool awesome ringtone for phone or technology device calling can make.
Outlaw Preachers Precast: Connie Waters
This is the third of the Outlaw Preachers “precasts.”
As I journeyed across the country from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to start the Los Angeles branch of Metamorphosis I met with some very gracious outlaw preachers. These conversations are a sort of sneak preview of the podcast.
Outlaw Preachers will be a roundtable discussion style podcast featuring an eclectic mix of outlaw preachers in conversation about theology, philosophy, ministry, and all things outlaw.
Coming to you not–so–live from the Outlaw Suite in magnificent Memphis, Connie Waters, Family and Faith Formation Minister at Highland Heights United Methodist Church, encourages us to explore outside the four walls of the church. We talked about not being Wonderbread Christians but Easter People. It is a kick in the pants for your soul.
You can find Connie writing on her blog, Art in the Creator’s Image, and on Twitter.
We stayed in the garage long enough to become cars and promptly drove out of it.
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Resources:
Outlaw Preachers Precast: Tim Kurek and Matthew Paul Turner
This is the second of the Outlaw Preachers “precasts.”
As I journeyed across the country from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to start the Los Angeles branch of Metamorphosis I met with some very gracious outlaw preachers. These conversations are a sort of sneak preview of the podcast.
Outlaw Preachers will be a roundtable discussion style podcast featuring an eclectic mix of outlaw preachers in conversation about theology, philosophy, ministry, and all things outlaw.
I caught up with outlaw writer Timothy Kurek in Nashville and had the pleasant “Godincidence” of also running into Matthew Paul Turner (also on Twitter), author of “Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess.” We talked about not tearing people down before building them up and insecurity salvation. Matthew wanted to be the Michael Jackson of Christian music and Barbie finds out how hot hell is.
We don’t think grace makes enemies.
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Resources:
- “Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess” by Matthew Paul Turner
- “Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality” by Donald Miller
- Grace and Atheism
Outlaw Preachers Precast: Pastor Nar
This is the first of the Outlaw Preachers “precasts.”
As I journeyed across the country from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to start the Los Angeles branch of Metamorphosis I met with some very gracious outlaw preachers. These conversations are a sort of sneak preview of the podcast.
Outlaw Preachers will be a roundtable discussion style podcast featuring an eclectic mix of outlaw preachers in conversation about theology, philosophy, ministry, and all things outlaw.
While we were both stopped in the Nashville area, I was blessed to have lunch with Pastor Nar. You can find him on Twitter and Facebook. We talked about spiritual mutts and glimpses of grace.
Pardon the noise. Future audio quality will only improve and the waitresses are not rolling silverware longer than the first five minutes or so.
We glimpsed grace that day.
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Resources:
- Adam Walker Cleveland
- 1 John 2:7-14
- Donald Miller on the “danger” of grace
- C. S. Lewis on “The New Men”
- Ephesians 4:5-6
See also:
