• hello Simeon, welcome to the Broncos. Now hurry up and get to the QB! #
• why is it that twitter tools doesn’t sync up with my timezone? #
• dear Karl Rahner…don’t you think a paragraph that spans five pages is a little long? #
• nice follow up with a four page paragraph — you mock me #
• note to self…bring a mouse when you are going to do design work #

• finished reading UnChristian — hopeful to get a review on the blog soon #
• Pancakes and maple syrup for the ladies of the house, maple macchiato for me #
• painting max’s room — we’ll be ready for you buddy! #

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Dave Kinnaman since college; our wives have been good friends going back to their glorious Jr. High days. The time we have spent together has been sporadic, but I always know a thoughtful and engaging conversation is in store when we spend time together. Most of all, Dave and I share a passion for how the church can have a meaningful engagement with our culture, and I know that when we talk, I will walk away with a number of new ideas to mull over.

Several months ago, Dave told me he was working on a book. Based on the conversations we have shared over the years, I expected he would have worthwhile things to write.A few weeks ago, Dave and his family were up for a visit, and he gave me an advance copy of unChristian. My expectations have been met.

Dave is now the president of Barna Research, and unChristian is based on some intensive research they have done on the perspectives of 16-29 year olds regarding Christianity. Dave’s conclusion is that the way that the Christian faith is viewed by this age group is, well, unChristian. Somehow, as followers of Jesus, we have become known for exactly not what we want to be known for.

I’d recommend this book for anyone who desires to help shape the church in the next decade. The research alone serves as a good wake up call, but Dave — and some other notable Christian thinkers and practioners who comment at the end of each chapter — offer good thoughts on how the church can find a way forward…and undo the un.

• hmm…i know Pages can read Word Doc’s, but can’t it export them? #
• Oh man, i need this coffee #
• a long lunch with old friends, and now a Broncos game — that’s a good Sunday afternoon #
• oh yeah…you can export from Pages — just use the Export command…that’s what I get for trying to do it first thing in the morning #

I was tagged for confession a week or so ago by Christine Sine. The instructions for the meme are:

1. Apologize for three things that Christians have often got wrong. Your apologies should be directed towards those who don’t view themselves as part of the Christian community. Alternatively, apologize for things you personally have done wrong towards those outside of the church.
2. Post a comment at the originating post so others can keep track of the apologies.
3. Tag five people to participate in the meme.
4. If desired, send an email with the link to your blog post at the Christians Confess site, giving permission for your apologies to be added to the website.

This is not an easy process (as I state in the third one). Perhaps most difficult has been narrowing it down to these three! Each of these could be a series of blog entries, but I hope I have boiled each down to a sentence or two that will suffice:

• I confess that we have spent too much time and energy being concerned about what is going to happen beyond this physical reality. Christians often get so fixated on what is in store in some kind of other world eternity that we lose sight of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the physical present.
• I confess that we have not given women their proper voice as a result of some poor Biblical intrepretation throughout our history and in the present.
• I confess that it is easy for me to see all the ways Christians have been wrong in how they have interacted with outsiders while ignoring the reality that I have probably been guilty of everyone of them at some point. It is painful to think of the possible things I could write because I don’t want to even allow them to be identified with the Christian faith that I want to be a part of — yet I know that most of these things have been present in my own faith expression at times.

Tag…you’re it!
Eugene Cho
Meredith Dancause
Mike DeVries
Jamie Mulhern
Ken Nussbaum

• hmm…twitter being a little funky for anyone else today? #
• dark at 8:30. goodbye summer #