Jeremy Jernigan Posts

The Diversity Culture

I recently joined a group of selected bloggers that receive early copies of books in exchange for writing reviews of them. The first book I chose is called The Diversity Culture: Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hippies, Political Activists, and Everyone in Between. Written by Matthew Raley, the pastor of Orland Evangelical Free Church in northern California, the title of the book alone grabbed my attention.

The premise is fairly simple: he weaves the narrative of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-26) as an example of how to engage those who are different than yourself in conversations about Truth. I thought this was one of the real strengths of the book. His writing in these parts has the ability to bring the story to life, and I agree that it is an amazing example of the point he is trying to make.

Raley also sets up two stereotypes and contrasts them: a woman at Cafe Siddhartha (the birth name of the Buddha) and a Baptist at Cafe Siddhartha. This is one area where he lost me. I’ve never been one for stereotypes, and I felt like he lost momentum every time he would reference these two make-believe people throughout the book.

The book does have some interesting and articulate parts, but overall, it failed to fully engage me. I never got lost in a chapter (in a good way). In fact, it often felt like I was pushing through a section just to see what was next. In addition, he did something that I’ve grown to loathe with so many Christian writers today: taking pot-shots at megachurches. For example, he states that “the reality is that the growth of megachurches is the result of many evangelicals making the same choices, adopting a religious lifestyle that matches American consumerism. The responsibility for megachurch superficiality is broadly shared.” It sounds like he is arguing that growth = superficiality. That isn’t Biblical, or accurate. Anyone can make a straw-man church and then tear it down. His description of megachurches hasn’t been what I’ve seen at Central or a handful of local megachurches in Arizona.

Despite this, here are a few quotes that stood out to me and developed his point well:

“We interpret people as stock characters, as members of groups. Jesus interpreted the woman at the well using a story about her as an individual.”

“People wear and carry objects that feed stories about who they are, how they see themselves, and what their agendas are. Sometimes the mixed signals are calculated and even defensive, but in other cases they simply reflect the bearer’s experiences–and evangelicals can have trouble discerning which.”

“…we can see how John pits individuals against their groups. Whether the characters are Jesus’ disciples or his enemies, the crowbar that pries them away from their worldly loyalty is their knowledge of Scripture. The pattern is consistent throughout John’s gospel…”

“We cannot break the power of groupthink by opposing it with more groupthink. We need to restore one of our oldest appeals: Sola scriptura. The signature of biblical Christianity has always been freedom of thought.”

“Once an individual is thinking for himself, he is ready to meet Jesus.”

A Chilling Irony

Don’t know how I missed this one in July, but in talking with my Dad this morning he told me of the recent controversy of Amazon deleting illegal copies of the book 1984 from user’s Kindles. The irony of this story, to any who have read this book, is so unbelievable that I’m amazed I’m seeing this on verified news agencies and not in Hollywood.

Click here to read the article. Here is my favorite quotes from it: “‘Of all the books to recall,’ said Charles Slater, an executive with a sheet-music retailer in Philadelphia, who bought the digital edition of ‘1984’ for 99 cents last month. ‘I never imagined that Amazon actually had the right, the authority or even the ability to delete something that I had already purchased.'”

Apparently most Kindle users didn’t even realize Amazon had the ability to do this. It seems that they’ve designed their very own system of “memory holes.” Makes me glad I haven’t jumped on the Kindle bandwagon yet. It would be like me going to my bookshelf to reference one of my books and it has mysteriously vanished. I’d be a little ticked.

I’d love to hear your feedback on this. What do you think of Amazon’s ability to delete books? Are we on track to 1984 or is this blown out of proportion? Would this hinder your desire to buy a kindle, or does this not bother you at all?

A Story of Redemption

I was having lunch last week with my friend Tom and he shared with me an unbelievable story of how God has been working in his life lately. I had goosebumps as he told it to me. I asked him if I could blog it for you guys to read and he sent me the following “Reader’s Digest” version. This is absolutely incredible, and it shows the opportunity we all have to experience the thrill of God’s Spirit if we would choose to listen.

“I have been blessed with a personality that draws people to me; very passionate and outgoing. For most of my years my God-given talent was abused by me. I used it to attract and control women and was very abusive to them mentally and physically.

Over the past few months God has been working on my heart in accountability, reconciliation, and owning my past. My wife and I talked about me seeking out those who I have hurt, as I did her, and let them know I’m not who I used to be. With her blessing I proceeded.

And then God rocked my world. Last week God spoke very clearly to my heart to find a girl from 25 years ago named Terri. I Googled and Facebooked her but no luck. That Sunday at church, no one showed up to drive the trams, so I drove. On the last run through the parking lot, I stopped by a person walking and asked if they needed a ride. She said no. But when she spoke I immediately recognized her and said…Terri? Stunned, she looked back and said Tommy?

Terri got on the tram and I told her my God story, then she told me someone invited her to come to Central and that she was supposed to go to the 11am service but ended up at the 9:30 service and didn’t know why. There was no reason for her to be on campus at 9:30 that Sunday morning other than God had orchestrated this event. We met later in the week and God allowed me to spend 2 hours in reconciling my past and sharing my faith with her. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do but it was worth it. God can restore everything to his good if you don’t ignore the Spirit’s prompting. I was able to ask Terri and God to forgive me and I was free from the guilt and shame.” – Tom

Deploy to Your Community

Here’s your chance to add to the messages at Central each week as we employ open source sermon prep (or more accurately, “crowd sourcing”). In a couple weeks, we’ll be in our series, Now More Than Ever, where we’ll be celebrating 50 years as a church. The focus of this series will be on carrying our cross and how we can fulfill the third D of our strategy (discover, develop, deploy). We’ll be highlighting 50 ways in 50 days on how to serve others. Let’s brainstorm for the week where we’ll deploy to your community.

So if you can take a moment, please leave a comment with any ideas you come up with concerning movie clips, quotes, scriptures, illustrations, stories, etc. for the topic of deploying (or serving) to your community. The sky is the limit, so think creatively and share some of your genius with us.

Jesus Loves You: This I Know

I was given a copy of Craig Gross’ new book, Jesus Loves You: This I Know. Craig is the founder of xxxchurch.com and the author of the book The Gutter. The book has the look and feel of a Rob Bell book, but the title takes anyone who grew up in the Church down memory-lane (just try and read it without that song getting in your head).

The overwhelming strength of the book is the perspective of stories that it offers. While it doesn’t unveil any absurdly deep theological ideas, it offers unique stories that drive home the message. The book is co-written by Jason Harper, a pastor who decided to get a one day a week job doing something that nobody liked: cable company collections in order to see if he could live out his faith just as well as he could surrounded by Christians.

Some of my favorite stories from the book included Craig’s time with Porn King Ron Jeremy (which involved a WWE wrestling event between them and a dinner at Hooters). I also loved the example of the Red Frog Crew in Australia that makes a focus of serving people lost in the gluttony week of Schoolies.

Here are a few of the quotes that stood out to me:

“I’ve asked those who doubt Jesus where their issue lands, and so many times it’s not with Him at all. It has been with rules that have replaced relationship. The issue has been interpretation of Scripture, not the investigation of a Savior.”

“That is what Jesus does. He brings purpose out of pain. He brings life through death.”

“Society demands justice; Jesus delivered mercy. People want to get; Jesus gave. People want to forget; Jesus remembered. Skeptics demand an explanation; Jesus died to deliver the definition.”

“[Ron Jeremy] said that I [Craig], as a pastor, would be more embraced by the porn industry than he would be at a church.”

TR + Kanye West

What do you get when you mix Tomorrow’s Reflection and Kanye West?

Click here to find out.