Here's my focus for this week from N.T. Wright:


The longer you look at Jesus, the more will you want to serve him in his world. That is, of course, if it's the real Jesus you're looking at. Plenty of people inside the church and outside it have made up a "Jesus" for themselves, an invented character who makes few real demands on them. He makes them happy from time to time, but doesn't challenge them, doesn't suggest they get up and do something about the plight of the world--something the real Jesus had an uncomfortable habit of doing.

This weekend I'm in Fresno, CA with some good friends who put on the ZOE Conference. The conference is quite unique--it's a resource to encourage churches all over the United States to stay faithful to following the Way of Christ in a consumer culture. My task is to present the theology and practice for living life in search of God in the places, people, and spaces we would least likely suspect (an idea I tend to call the "margins").

Now that the Garth Brooks saga is behind us (ok, I'm over it)--we can get on with kingdom things.

UPDATE: I just read one of the best pieces I've come across in Christianity Today or her affiliates--and it's written by some friends (Wade Hodges and Greg Taylor from Tulsa, OK). Check this out. It's a must read.