Welcome back.

Live from the Biola-Talbot Emerging Church Conference, it’s going well. We’re on our lunch break (pasta and salad, not bad). There are about 400 of us here, under a hot canopy on the Biola lawn.

The WWF of the Emergent world (as Spencer Burke called this) has begun and it’s been all it was billed to be. There have been some tense moments but mostly lots of good conversation and understanding of one another. Burke has been my personal favorite so far, (1st time hearing him live). His passion on the changing scene of “Power and Control” resonates. Dr. Webber (“Younger Evangelicals”) has been great talking about worship moving from Me-centered to God Story-centered. Good idea.

Dan Kimball has been good with stuff I’ve heard before, candles, band off the stage, lots of experience and stations in worship (as in the worship service). Get his book “Emergent Worship” ,if you want more on this. I liked his pastoral heart.

Dr. DeWeese (Talbot seminary, apologetics, “Reclaiming the Center”) got up and said something like “postmodern church is a fad, it will pass…” That didn’t get many amen’s from the younger pastors in the room. It was a fair statement that didn’t seem to get an appropriate response from anyone on the emergent side (McLaren was greatly missed).

The emergent side seemed to lack a theological spokesperson at this debate (again, McLaren would have been great). The emergent side had more practicioners and sociologists present than theologians. Talbot had mostly theologians on their side. Their staff was very complimentary of the emergent church for the most part. They each had a section at the end of their talk called “critique” or “concerns” with the Emergent church. Dr. Scott Smith had an actual “response to Brian McLaren’s epistemology” presentation, with handouts and everything. I will post more on that later.

I’m here with 4 staff and 3 leaders. Great lunch conversation about what this means to us at Bethany. Our senior pastor is here, which is good and interesting. I got to see some Long Beach pastors I had never met before and talk to others I knew.

UPDATE: My opinion of the conference is that (as one guy mentioned) some were talking Russian and others Spanish. Laura’s comment that “the real issue in the emerging church is ecclesiology and missiology, not philosophy” is good but is not enough. We need to talk about emergent theology and philosophy. Theology and philosophy shapes our ecclessiology. Dr. Webber was good, but he seemed to shy away from speaking on behalf of the emergent camp, even admitting that he may not be invited back to these things, or that he’s not sure why he was put in the emergent camp to begin with.

My second thought is that it seems that emergent pastors, practicioners and sociologists would like a sense of ‘blessing’ from places like Talbot. Tell us you support us, ‘fan into the flame’ the gift that God has put in us. You are our elders, we respect you, we don’t do it like you do and we heed your ‘concerns’ and ‘critique’ that’s good for us in fact, it refines us, it makes us stronger. We’re not children that need to be disciplined or fixed anymore. Now let us go, but bless us, encourage us, give us some $, in fact, give us as much as you can, and then let us do what we do. I was proud of many of the Talbot staff for doing this. Some of the emergent pastors came in hesitant, can I even say somewhat defensive (I don’t blame them, I’d feel the same way). But as the day progressed the ice began to melt.

And for the emergents among us, let go. The blessing may never come in the way you’re looking for. Power and control (as Spencer talked about) does weird things to people. But engage the advice of your elders, heed the words of wisdom regarding ‘boundaries’ and ‘theology’ and even ministry. I’ve benefited from being in the modern church, even though I am who I am, but the interaction, the ‘messy-ness’ of it all is worth the growth it brings.

Ryan Bolger (Fuller Seminary) represented Emergent/UK very well. Andrew would be proud. He alluded to the recent conversation at Fuller with prophets and practicioners from Europe. Andrew wrote about his recent visit to Fuller here. Ryan was amazing because he’s been around the world. He said that for Emergent in Europe this is about SURVIVAL not about relevance. Wow, maybe we need more of that here.

In Latin America, Emergent is about JUSTICE. I wish Ryan had spoken more regarding Emergent/Latin America. God is at work there as well as in other parts of the world.

Other bloggers who reported the conference:
The A-Team Blog.
Melinda Penner.
Timbo.
Laura’s Writings which was Andrew’s favorite.

Into the future,

davidT