Times & Seasons

What You Don’t Know About Your Minister

Chance Hunter — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:43:21 +0000

Y…ou may not know this, but your minister is hiding. They might be hidng their taste for microbrewed beers. Or cheap boxed wine. Or their alchonolism. They might be hiding their love of anime. Or monster truck rallies. Or gay cinema. But they’re hiding something. Because that’s what their job demands. One of the great misconceptions about ministry is that ministers are completely open about who they are. Or

What Your Minister Gives Up for You

Chance Hunter — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:22:34 +0000

What would you say if you learned that your minister was making the majority of his personal income not from the church but from ownership of a payday loan establishments next to the church? Or what if you found out she makes a good living writing erotica under a pen name?

The Skinny on the Bible—Pervasive Interpretive Pluralism

Chance Hunter — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 05:01:26 +0000

His main argument looks to be this: the plain fact of pervasive interpretive pluralism, especially by biblicists themselves looking at the same Bible, makes biblicism bunk. In other words, if what biblicists said about the Bible was true, they'd agree with each other.

Dear John Letters and Unitarian Universalism

Chance Hunter — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:02:56 +0000

The thing about Dear John letters is this: If the same things keep coming up over and over again, it’s because they’re telling you the truth about yourself.

Who Did You Say the Word of God Is?

Chance Hunter — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:41:27 +0000

If I told you Christians are completely wrong about what the Bible says the Word of God is, would you be interested in knowing what the Bible says is the right answer?

Clergy Misconduct Meets Decision Fatigue (Or, Clergy Misconduct, Neatly Explained)

Chance Hunter — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:55:26 +0000

Someone ought to put this NYTimes article on decision fatigue—the theory, backed up by some studies, that willpower is finite resource that depletes with each use—with Deborah Pope-Lance's lecture on clergy (mostly, sexual) misconduct. If someone were to do put together the two of them together, it might go something like this...

Lessons Learned from a Christian Hunters Dinner at the Local Megachurch Food Court

Chance Hunter — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:41:47 +0000

If you're a corporate vendor at a megachurch's Christian hunters dinner, your shirt should have patches. Lots of them.

Interested in Young Adult Ministry?

Chance Hunter — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:50:15 +0000

If you’re interested in young adult ministry at all, you need to check out the new national 2030s initiative headed up by folks in Atlanta, who have an eight year old program with 100 active folks. You can read my post about starting it all here….

How to Make a Postmodern Pietist—The 6 Ingredients You Need

Chance Hunter — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 02:48:35 +0000

If you want to make a postmodern pietist—and I hope you don't—here are the six ingredients you need.

Are You a Postmodern Pietist?

Chance Hunter — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:58:04 +0000

She had moved from a life with Christian fundamentalists to a life with environmental fundamentalists. It made me desperately want to be sure I wasn't doing the same.