Jen U may be a ten-year program.


This week I discovered yet another resource that will add on at least a semester. The Veritas Forum is a program of university events featuring scholars and authors and assorted other thinkers discussing “life’s hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life.” The organization goes after two groups of speakers: “one with a deep and growing understanding of how his/her life, faith and work connect with the story and person of Jesus Christ, and one with a differing worldview, in order to compare the differing answers to our hardest questions.” Veritas began on university campuses and its name comes from the word used in the mottoes of many of them, including Harvard and Yale.

Although none of the forums are scheduled around Nashville anytime soon, the site offers short video excerpts from past events as well as a number of books and other resources. It’s TED meets seminary and I’m addicted. And resigned to never graduating from my own school.

The idea is to challenge our core beliefs about forgiveness and grace. POTSC invited me to participate in the blog campaign about this project, and yesterday I wrote a whole post about how forgiveness doesn’t mean being a doormat but it means choosing freedom by giving up the right to punish the other person, and the importance of letting go of anger and resentment, and how even though it may seem impossible to consider forgiveness it’s the path to health, and yada yada yada.


Then I read this.

Two white teens in Mississippi, Daryl Dedmon and John Aaron Rice (why must southerners always have two first names?), got drunk and decided to find a black person to beat up. The first one they saw was James Craig Anderson.

“Dedmon pummeled Anderson repeatedly as he crumpled to the street, according to officials,” said the CNN story. “After the beating, some of the teens left and some got into the truck. At this moment on the video, Anderson becomes visible, as he staggers into view and walks toward the headlights of the truck. The truck suddenly surges ahead, running over Anderson, then continues at high speed away from the scene.”

They ganged up on a man, beat him severely, then ran him over. A man they’d never met. Because of his skin color.


I don’t know how to forgive that. I don’t even know how to talk about forgiving that. Instead of Casey Anthony, I see Dedmon and Rice on that poster, and instead of offering them grace I want to hit them with shovels.

I exaggerate (a bit), but any honest conversation about second chances has to acknowledge how terrifically difficult it can be. We can all picture a person on our own poster, someone we simply cannot imagine forgiving, and our abstract enthusiasm for a movement of “scandalous grace” must become a specific resolve to extend that grace to real people in real life.

So how do we get there? Is anyone beyond a second chance? What if they never feel remorse or admit guilt? How do we live out this movement of mercy in a world of evil?

These ideas cover a range of categories: adoption and foster care, tutoring and mentoring, prison ministry and crime prevention, homelessness, hunger, single moms and crisis pregnancy, business as mission, health care, elderly and widows, public servants and city government, refugees and cross-cultural, special needs, human trafficking, mobilizing college students, families serving together, and more.

So I spent some time this weekend reviewing the last year of Buzz columns and thinking about the various churches I’ve learned about through work with Visioneering, the Association of Related Churches and the NACC.

It was encouraging to come across so many great examples:  the Refuge Medical Clinics developed by Southland…..”God Behind Bars” with Central in Vegas……My Safe Harbor with First Christian in Anaheim…..Cartwheels & Coffee at Area 10. I came up with two dozen examples to write about.


But that means we need about 75 more. (Do not ask me to do more difficult math than this.)

So think about the categories listed above and the churches you know—who’s doing something to make a difference in their community or around the world? Who’s created a program other churches might want to try? This resource will be a great way to get the word out about innovative approaches to outreach, and it might even inspire the people who read it to do something new.

Don’t be shy—leave a note in the comments with the basic info, or email me (jen@seejenwrite.com) with more information. The person who provides the most examples we use for the list will receive a copy of The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community and, when it’s available, a copy of the complete list. AND my eternal gratitude.

To call this ironic is an understatement.

The whole point of this new feature is to spark discussion on ideas in the spirit of the “in essentials, unity” slogan we like to quote. But instead of welcoming thoughtful dialogue on some non-essentials, this Christian church apparently wants to shield its members from thinking about them. And I’m appalled—not as a Standard Publishing girl, but as a believer.


For one thing, it’s a perfect example of the parent/child relationship that tells Christians what to think, not how. Do we discourage people from thinking critically because the ensuing discussions are too much work? Or is it because we’re afraid of the conclusions they may reach?

Aren’t we part of that whole “truth will set you free” thing?

Or perhaps it’s the topics recently covered in the column: Giving more money to global missions. Rethinking the need for expensive church buildings. Studying the doctrine of hell. Working for unity. Cultivating a global worldview. The effectiveness (or not) of small groups.

People are already talking about many of these issues. Others need to be talked about (and just might lead to changes the minister and elders would love to see). Church leaders can either ignore this reality or proactively provide resources that offer a Bible-based perspective. If we’re going to treat church members as children, let’s at least encourage “the kids” to explore risky topics with us.


Whether it’s reluctance to have the messy conversations or lack of faith in the brain power of its members, I’m disappointed by this church’s decision. But I think Christian Standard should feel a certain pride in its recent brush with censorship. When people opposed to thought find you too dangerous, it just might be a sign you’re doing something right.

My friend Jeff recently invited me to contribute to a synchroblog (a bunch of people blogging on the same topic) about how to break through creative blocks. And I couldn’t think of a thing to write.

Experiencing writer’s block while working on a post about writer’s block is thirteen kinds of ridiculous, but I know why it’s happening; when I scrolled through the list of Christian “names” who had already written, I was intimidated to submit my little post into the fray. Suddenly it seemed necessary to not only contribute something to the discussion, but to do so with wit AND originality AND humor AND insight AND spiritual depth.

A tall order. Before working on this I’d been sitting in my hotel room in Mobile, Alabama eating peanut butter cookies. That seemed much easier than trying to compete with these other voices.


And that, of course, is the reason I’m stuck. When I write to compete instead of contribute, readers never get my best work. When I try to impress people, I miss the chance to impact them.

“If you want to write, you can,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes. “You’re a human being, with a unique story to tell, and you have every right. If you speak with passion, many of us will listen. We need stories to live, all of us. We live by story. Yours enlarges the circle.”

That circle may be thousands of blog readers or a handful of Twitter followers. Resist the temptation to compare circle sizes; instead, consider what yours needs. What concerns them? Enrages them? Confuses them? What are they talking about, struggling with, laughing at? What stories are they living?

The usual suspects will always collaborate to block our creativity, whether it’s writing a blog post, a church enewsletter, or a book. But I’m learning (thanks, Jeff!) that one of the best ways for me to spark a new thought is to stop managing my “image” and start serving my readers. Considering my community is not only easier than trying to be the next super-blogger, it’s also a lot more fun.


What circles of influence do you have? What do those communities need from you this week?

Genesis begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth and Revelation leaves us with the promise of a new heaven and new earth. The 14 generations noted in each phase of Matthew’s genealogy are sets of seven, indicating perfection (if not an exhaustive listing). The first-born sons of the Israelites are spared from the final plague before the exodus, but this mercy sets in motion a new sacrificial system and paves the way for The Son to redeem us all.

Perhaps it’s my hard-wired love of story or maybe it’s just my compulsive need for symmetry and closure, but the rich symbolism and connections running through the biblical account are one reason I believe God’s behind it all.


So I was captivated by N.T. Wright’s lectures on the Gospels this past Saturday. The good bishop spoke at a church here in Nashville and more than 500 of us crammed into the stuffy gym to sit on plastic chairs, take notes until our hands ached, and thoroughly love the experience.

Wright’s theme was we have missed the big picture of the Gospels: that they are the story of how Israel’s God became king of the world and the challenging, paradigm-shifting ramifications of that idea.

He urged us to consider four aspects of the four accounts: Jesus as the culmination of the story of Israel, Jesus as God’s return to his people after leaving the temple, Jesus as the beginning and renewal of the church, and Jesus introducing the empire of God vs. the empire of the world.


It was a full day and I’d need to write at least three more blog posts to summarize all the great material. But I was especially happy when—in addition to amazing discourses on Old Testament prophecy or the theology of suffering or a million other things—he also tossed in fascinating insights about the story.

For instance, those three generational accounts in Matthew not only symbolize perfection in each set of 14, but the overall structure—two 7s, two 7s, two 7s—point to Jesus as the seventh 7—the complete fulfillment, the year of jubilee.

Samuel foreshadows John the Baptist. Isaiah 55 replaces the thorns of Genesis 3 with juniper. Jesus defeats temptation where the Israelites could not—the wilderness.

On the sixth day of creation God creates man before resting on the seventh day. On the sixth day of a dark week 2000 years ago Pilate announced, “Here is the man!” before Jesus spent the seventh day “resting” in the tomb. (Implication? The 8th day of the new creation is going to be awesome.) And baptism is a symbol not only of our death to self and our emergence into new life, but of the Israelites’ rescue in the parted Red Sea, the creation of life from the waters, and the rescues of Noah and Jonah.

Maybe this is is stuff every first-year seminary student already knows, but we’ve already established I have some stuff to learn. One of Bishop Wright’s books has to be next on the list for Jen University. I’m starting Simply Christian today. Who wants to join me?

A few weeks ago I asked for help brainstorming answers to the questions “How did we get to a post-Christian America?” and “Where do we go from here?”

As expected, you shared some excellent thoughts and they helped me form my own response and shoot my (super low-tech) video for the Destiny Leader online conference.

The event starts this Thursday, May 5 at 8 am PST/11 am EST and is scheduled to last about four hours. You can watch any and all of it for free by registering on the website. And believe me, you want to be watching. I am the weak link in a strong chain of speakers including my dad (yay!), DJ Chuang, Mike Foster, Shaun King, Miles McPherson, Carlos Whittaker, Jud Wilhite, and even a couple of women (glad to be on the list with you, Allie and Lucille).

This is one of the busiest weeks of my year (more on that Friday) but I plan to tune in for as much as possible. These are truly good questions, and I can’t wait to hear some answers.

Check out the conference here.

I spent three days in another gathering of great Christian leaders discussing church and cultural trends and theology. And I was reminded for the 389th time that because I’ve not gone to seminary or studied some of the thinkers and topics covered there, I have less to contribute to these discussions.

During this meeting we also had the opportunity to share something good happening in our ministries. From church merges or learning Spanish to preach in two languages (whoa) to community gardens feeding the homeless, these guys had great stories to share about making a difference. And I realized I once again had little to contribute because I spend my days crossing off copywriting and social media to-do lists that make groups like theirs successful.


“Helping organizations doing good to do better” is my Twitter bio and it’s grown into a fun career. But it means I have nothing that’s “mine”—nothing I lead, nothing I’ve launched. At the same time, I feel unequipped to strike out as a leader without more grounding in history, philosophy and strategy.

So I need a project and I need to learn—how did I not think of Jen University before now?

This new school will include books, blogs, podcasts and magazines. It will not include homework, papers, internships, sororities, or courses involving terms like “cosine” or “lipid.”

To paraphrase Good Will Hunting, you can get a great education for $1.50 in library fines (although I may use this as an excuse to buy a Kindle). I’m compiling a master list of stuff to read and I welcome your suggestions for the best resources in biblical studies, ministry trends, spiritual formation, leadership, theology and doctrine. (I’d even like to see the syllabi from your own graduate programs—email jen@seejenwrite.com.)


It”s time to think about what I want to accomplish before my status changes from “emerging leader” to “over 40, kind of emerged, and not that effective.” Tomorrow I turn 35 (good grief) and Jen U officially begins—Kindle donations welcome.

I am pleased to now offer you this same opportunity for shameless self-promotion, but for a different purpose. (My Google Reader currently has 423 unread blog posts. When I start asking you for additional “fun” reading suggestions you’ll know I’ve struck oil in my driveway and retired.)


But back to the purpose: in a few weeks, Christian Standard is going to add some new features, including a section called “Media Matters.” The idea is to feature the books, magazines, podcasts, blogs, apps, and websites that would be of interest to Christian church leaders.

I’ve been asked to compile these each week, which is great fun but requires a steady supply of material. We each have our own lists of blogs we read regularly, sites we check daily, books we love to recommend and other resources we couldn’t do ministry without. And I’d love for you to share your list.

Please leave a note in the comments with the online and print resources you think I just can’t miss—the stuff you recommend and forward to others. You’ll be helping each other find great stuff, helping me start strong with a new project and making a positive contribution to CS. (And yes, go ahead and include your own blog.)

Some were dismayed: “It is unspeakably sad when those called to be ministers of the Word distort the gospel and deceive the people of God with false doctrine,” wrote Justin Taylor (no relation ).

Some were intrigued: “If we’re honest with ourselves, we can acknowledge that we don’t know everything; that we have questions and even doubts about certain things,” said Eugene Cho. “While we might be attracted to absolute clarity, we  must yield to the possibility that there are some things that are mysterious; they are not fully attainable – as of yet.”

And some were smug: “Farewell Rob Bell,” tweeted John Piper, seeming to imply a) Bell is no longer a Christian and b) Piper gets to decide.


But here’s the statement I find most significant:

“What we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important because it exposes what we believe about who God is and what God is like,” Bell says.


I’ve not read Bell’s book and when I do his conclusions may bother me. But I’m glad he wrote it, because the doctrine of heaven and hell and its implications for evangelism, pluralism and other isms is huge—and a major reason many people can’t accept Christianity.

It’s an issue we must deal with. Unlike Piper, I don’t know what Bell believes or if he is, himself, damned for writing it. (Because I’m going to READ IT FIRST.) But the reaction to the book and the blogs is proof of the need to talk about it.


Here’s the video that sparked the controversy, and here’s Glen Elliott’s recent article on the subject. What do you think?