brain spinning week

An afternoon with Tony Jones, author of Post Modern Youth Ministry and 30 other youth pastors, has left my brain barely able to function; in a good way if that is possible.

The afternoon with Tony was well worth the 4 hours. He gave an excellent 30 minute synopsis of Postmoderism or at least his take on Postmodernism and the folks who shaped it philosophically. The rest of the time was mostly discussion. We covered everything from absolute truth and the metanarrative to the Superbowl antics of two weeks ago. So I walk away from this experience with my radar even more sensitive to those things within my context that smack of the negatives of modernity. To put it another, those things which create a sense of dissonance within me as a postmodern individual.

For example, at church this week we are doing a "dialogue day," which is a misnomer. It is not so much a dialogue as it is questions taken from the congregation and answered by our senior pastor. These dialogue days, in the past, have been very successful for what they are. But one man giving his answers to everyone's questions, no matter how well seasoned the answers are with grace and truth doesn't sit as well with me as it used to. I suggested to our Management team, which the Sr Pastor and I are both a part of, that we let the other folks in the congregation try to answer the questions while the Sr Pastor moderates. The idea was met with mixed reviews. It basically boiled down to the fear of a loss of control. I'm glad to say it was mostly a fear of someone saying something insensitive in the name of Christianity. Rich did say that he would do his best to make the morning as interactive as possible where it seemed appropriate.
That is, still to me, one of the coolest parts of our community of faith at Crossroads. Change or suggested change is never met with a flat out no. It is heard, valued and appreciated.