Cwillz Spills

I recently accepted a position at Christian Outdoor Leadership Training (COLT) and have moved to Takrio, Montana just outside of Missoula.

Mom and I next to my VW Vanagon Syncro

Before leaving my friends, family, students, and church in Columbus, I purchased a VW Vanagon Syncro.  My mom accompanied me on the trip across country.  We were in the middle of the third full day of driving when my mom made the first special request to stop for anything the entire trip.  We got off the interstate in rural eastern Montana and found a restaurant/bar where she could use the restroom.  From the looks of things I thought there may have been 500 people in the town.

We pulled out of the parking lot to get back on the intestate and the engine cut out.  We happened to be at the top of a long hill, and there was hope for a gas station at the bottom so we coasted down hill and barely pulled into the local gas station.  I did some tinkering and concluded that the problem was my fuel pump.

My Syncro with its family members in Worden, MT

A local offered to give me a ride to the mechanic in the town.  When we arrived I was told that the mechanic would not be available until late that afternoon.  Drat.  Plan B was the mechanic at the gas station in the neighboring town (which was about a half mile away across the highway).  After about 20 minutes of phone calls and talking, one of the townspeople remembered that there was a guy in town that only worked on Volkswagens.  Really??

Randy of Randy's Bugworks

So we called him and got directions.  He ended up having the exact part I needed.  What were the odds? As we pulled up, we could see the sea of VWs this guy had.  I thought I was in VW heaven.  This is the man who lives the dream, Randy of Randy’s Bugworks:

I am getting settled out here but am really missing everyone back home. Especially my students.  I love you guys. Please keep praying for me as I start something new. I’ll be sure to keep in touch as this adventure called life continues to unfold.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Krista Tippet and Zondervan recently teamed up to host a discussion with Charles Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Clairborne about Evangelicals and politics.  There is great input from all three, exploring the tensions that I like to  flesh out with my friends like Neil, Adam, Jennifer, Scott, Ben, Dauthan, Bryant, my small group, and others.  Here is a small taste:

The full versions are available(web stream or MP3 download) on the Speaking of Faith site and on iTunes for free.

A few of my thoughts:

1) I want to be like all 3 of these men when I grow up.  Each has been very faithful with what God has given them.

2) I felt a little bad for Chuck Colson because I think he didn’t get a chance to speak as much.  Maybe that isn’t true, but I really wanted him to say more.

3) Notice there are honest and somewhat should-be abrupt disagreements between these men (the most obvious being Shane’s blatant anti-military stance), but it is clear  that these guys are on the same team.  Hopefully the core group of people that follow each of them agree on that.

4) Greg’s story about mixing nationalism and faith really hits home with me.  It bothers me deeply that many Christians I know’s view of Christ is inseperably entangled in Americana.  See this post.

5) Where are the women? Momma T!

6)Where are the minorities? Discussion about Dr.King does happen quite a bit in the session, which is a starting point for the necessary inclusion of minority voices.

7) Colson is a tough old man and I love his fatherly tone when he suggests that others need to have the courage “take a political stance” and go from there.

There seems to be a big tension between Augustinian thought and Jesus thought, or at least the expressions from those who emphasize one over the other.

Which one of these men would you vote for if all three were running for president?

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

I was recommended this video.  It’s a panel hosted by some of the editors over at Chrisitanity Today.  The panel members include both critics, participants, and young unassociated listeners of/to the emerging/Emergent church movement.  I encourage you to watch the whole thing and not just parts, as each panelist shares a unique part of their stories at different times.  It is 88 min long, so take the time if you have a strong opinion or listen to a leader who has chosen to take either a pro/against stance on the Emerging conversation:

A few questions I ask about this:

Where are the women/non white males?

What is the difference between philosophical postmodernism and cultural postmodernism?

What if the panel started with each member sharing the gospel?

What is the frustration really about? It seems to me that it all boils down to someone being personally disaffected in some way with other Christians in the past.

This quote was read towards the end, and I also had read the article and thought it was an awesome response (Mark Galli, CT, “On the Lasting Evangelical Survival”)

What I will do, to my dying day, is work with anyone who knows he was lost but now is found, whose Bible is worn because she repeatedly looks there for God to speak, who finds the Cross the most meaningful of symbols, for whom the Resurrection is not just a doctrine but a power, and who wants nothing more than to find new and creative ways to share the evangel of Jesus in word and deed. I’ll work with these people no matter what scholars decide to call them.

AMEN!

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Not talking about cocaine.  Sorry.

I haven’t blogged in a bit.  It’s hard to get back in the habit.

Update:

1) there is some cool discussion happening over at Adam’s blog with ex-christians and a few of us youth pastory types.

2) We have seen several students begin to follow Christ recently!

3) I’ve been fishing, either with tremendous success or tremendous failure.

4) Tatango is sweet.

5) I started writing a book.  If you are the type of person that thinks about the direction of the American church/the holisitic Gospel/evangelism as social justice and social justice as evangelism, you should talk to me as I write.

6) I’ve been teaching a high school small group on Genesis, reading up on interpretations of Revelation, and letting Jesus ruin my life as I know it by reading Luke-Acts.

7) I’ve discovered the glory that is “The Bible Experience” by Zondervan.  They hired a bunch of celebrities to read the Bible….finally I have a better way of hearing it as the story I should hear it as. It’s fresh, legit, and true; Word (of mouth) of God.

That’s the Q&D. I’ll posting.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWilLZ