Thanks for your gracioius response. Appreciate your encouragmenet for me to “emote” which I desire to do appropriately and yet prophetically as needed.

Will definitely follow-up on the 24-7 prayer movement in Lebanon and the guy from Beirut. Thanks for the contact!

and i value what you witness and how you respond – and i do take it seriously – thanks for letting me lean back a little on what you have said

i think its great that you have the freedom to blurt out what you are feeling and thinking

instead of just what you are thinking

great that you can take a risk and throw some emotionally charged thoughts out into the blogosphere – keep doing it. it certainly get more milage and has more credibility. you could say these blog posts are ‘love at first bite” . . . he he he . ..

now i will go back to aug 7 post re: beruit to see if you had any contact with 24-7prayer.com and their ministry in Beruit

btw – met a lovely emerging church guy from beruit who is now blogging at inthemindofasam.blogspot.com and giving the skinny on what is going on there

peace out

I think both are motivated in part by a knawing sense of frustration, evidenced in what I wrote on August 7, about missional needs such as Beirut and our inability to find those men and women –in the existing church or the church that is emerging—who can or will “lean in.” Both posts (9-2 and 9-3) vent some of this frustration as I have observed barriers which keep such engagement from happening.

Of course Andrew is more widely knowledgeable regarding the emerging church and I would never pretend to his breadth of exposure or understanding. This organic movement of the Spirit we call the “emerging church” is multi-faceted and incredibly diverse and none of what I write is a critique applicable to all by any means. Such a critique should not be applied universally and there are many, exquisite exceptions.

However, in the emerging milieus of which I am aware and from the growing body of writing that give it definition and shape, I believe these may be some of the unique pitfalls that could stifle the kingdom potential latent in the movement.

Andrew, I wonder if you may be an aberration of sorts because of your cross-cultural experience, perspective and sensitivities which would naturally make you and yours immune to some of my observations. And perhaps my words are over the top for the emerging venues in which you circulate. If the shoe doesn’t fit, please don’t wear it. My apologies to you or others for characterizations that may not apply.

Also, Andrew, blessings on your “blog-fast” for September. May it be the time of renewal and perspective you are seeking.

a lot of these criticisms are washing off my back as i read them and i wonder which expression of EC you are referring to.

yesterday i preached on matthew 13 – 7 parables of kingdom – and spoke about the fiery furnace and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

yesterday i responded to a comment by someone who asked one of my best readers and contributors was alive in teh 70’s. i told her that he (Futurist Guy) was over 50. And there are quite a few people on my blog over 50 – as well as teenagers – its hard to tell these days and age doesnt seem to matter as much as mindset and worldview.

the other thing that happened yesterday was, after a baptism, the church came over to our new-monastic style community but it was so seemless that nobody knew –
i am sure you criticisms fit some new angry expressions of EC but i rarely encounter these in my travels.

peace and blessings to CRM team in SoCal. Hope to see you sometime in 2007.

Seldom have I seen so much truth on a single page. What a needful antidode you have provided. Will we take it or will we die forgotten on the fringes after all the endless talk about being authentic, missional, and relevant?

Dear Lord, give us more elders as this.