June 2008 Archives

When we were planning this tour I expected that we would have a bit of time each day to hang out in neighborhoods and taste the local specialty cuisine--like Stumptown Coffee in Portland. Instead we often arrive just in time to set up and have to leave for the next town just after the show. We were in Portland for only 6 hours and all of that time was spent in a church basement. We spent the night at an RV park in Richfield, Washington--an ex-urb about 30 miles North of Portland. In the morning Tony and I walked to Lava Java-- a café we had seen driving in the night before located in a strip mall across the street from the RV park. We entered the café with low expectations but were surprised to discover they serve Stumptown beans and the two guys behind the counter were as fastidious about coffee as any conscientious barista in San Francisco or Seattle. These guys even knew the names of the owners of Ritual and Blue Bottle--two of the best coffee roasters in San Francisco. One of them had just returned from Guatemala where he had visited a premium coffee plantation. He motioned toward a shrine of photo's along the wall, pointing to the particular supplier he had met. To make small talk while they prepared my Macchiato I mentioned how much I enjoy cup of excellence coffees prepared with a Clover machine. I thought they would be impressed, but instead they both rolled their eyes and pretentiously informed me that The Clover Company had recently been sold to the Man--Starbucks. Clover coffee is so six-months ago!

"How did a specialty coffee café end up in a strip mall in Richfield, Washington across from an RV Park?" Apparently the owner bought the place not knowing anything about coffee but guessing that a café close to the freeway would be a good business/real estate investment. Slowly he began learning about bean quality and small batch roasting and eventually entered the United States Barista Competition. Unfortunately most of the café clientele in Richfield, Washington don't care that these baristas will only prepare traditional espresso drinks in the proper ceramic vessel with only the finest single origin beans and precise blends. Imagine the torture of being a world-class barista who has to fulfill constant requests for a lattes with two shots of hazel nut syrup or explain that you don't make frappuccinos with sprinkles.

Specialty coffee culture is a social phenomenon that is highly networked and relational, strives for beauty, excellence and meaning and signals the future despite its small piece of the market. Thanks to Lava Java for bringing a piece of the future and the richness of coffee to Ritchfield, Washington.

One of my new favorite blogs, is "Spiritual Politics" by Mark Silk, professor of religion and public life at Trinity College. Last week, he unloaded on a particular televangelist. Guess which one:

Of all the vile, fake, lying-ass, money-grubbing shyster scumbags on the face of this planet, there is perhaps none more loathsome than [NAME REDACTED], a human haircut with plastic baseball-size teeth who has made a fortune selling the appalling only-in-America idea that terrestrial greed is actually a form of Christian devotion.

Answer HERE.

[UPDATE: It wasn't the relatively objective Prof. Silk who uttered the quote, but Rolling Stone's Matt Taibi. Mark sets me straight.]

You may know that the Church Basement Roadshow is built around the content of books written by Tony, Mark and me.
If you did not know that you certainly will after attending one of the revivals. We each do material from our books for about 60 minutes of the show. So, the entire show is not just us as the revivalists but us as ourselves.

I am posting here one of the videos of the content of my book that I use in the show. There are other videos from my book at my site. Take a look at the videos if you would like to know a bit more about my book - A Christianity Worth Believing.

See Right Sidebar for Info and Tour Dates

Doug and I pulled out of Bend, Oregon at about 10:30pm on Tuesday night, following the final show of the West Coast leg of the tour. Over the next 42 hours, we drove, slept, ate like crap, and saw the wide-open expanses of our country that make up Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

The most visually stunning part of the drive was surely on Wednesday afternoon and evening, when we skirted the western and northern boundaries of Yellowstone National Park. And I'd place the Badlands of North Dakota in second place.

On Thursday morning, somewhere in western Montana, we put "coffee" into our Garmin Nuvi GPS, and it showed us Serendipity Coffee House in Dickinson, North Dakota, 56.6 miles ahead. (When you're driving 1,800 miles, 56.6 miles does not seem very long to wait for a decent cup of coffee.)

We pulled into Dickinson around 11:30 and dragged our sorry selves into Serendipity. And there, on the counter was Thursday's issue of the Bismarck Tribune with a large headline reading, 'Emerging Ministry.' What followed was a feature article on Prairie Table Ministries, started by Lutheran pastor, Scott Frederickson.

When I showed the article to Doug, as he emerged from the bathroom, he almost fell over.

We caught up with Scott by phone later in the day, and he and Doug had a nice chat.

And I could only think, That's the most appropriately named coffee shop I've ever heard of.

Find Tour Dates and Info on the Right Sidebar

Earlier this week, Bruce Reyes-Chow was elected moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA). This is great news, for various reasons. First of all, Bruce is a great guy and I count him as a friend (even a real friend, not just a Facebook friend!). There's been a lot made (at least in Presby circles) that Bruce was unique among the four candidates for several reasons: he was the only non-white, the only one not to wear a tie, and the youngest.

And, the word "emergent" has been thrown around a lot, too.

Bruce is, indeed, emergent. He pastors a church that he planted in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, a church that he planted. He's a part of the Emergent Village cohort there, and he affiliates with Presbymergent. I had the pleasure of speaking at an emergent event with him at his church last year.

Bruce offers great promise to the PC(USA) in his two-year term - and, let it be said, the PC(SUA) has been about the most interested in emergent ideas of any denomination. Bruce will push the organization in a missional direction, he'll open doors for younger people, and he's just got a great, warm, and inviting personality. On our West Coast leg of the Roadshow, younger Presbyterians repeatedly told us how excited they are about Bruce's election. Bruce is to the PC(USA) what Tiger Woods was to golf and Barack Obama is to politics.

But here's my big caveat: the PC(USA) is a huge, hegemonic, and possibly intractable bureaucracy. Bureaucracies are really excellent at only one thing: self-sustenance. They mitigate against significant change and they chew up and spit out entrepreneurs. Bruce may be able to provoke a two percent change, or even a five percent change, in his two year term, but will that be enough? And who will succeed him? Will the next moderator continue Bruce's agenda?

All this, of course, remains to be seen. Regardless, I'm looking forward with great anticipation to see what Bruce can accomplish.

Tour Dates Available in the Right Column....

Darrin at Precipice Magazine says, "After some sweet hymn-singin' from the older clan, their 21st century offspring each took a turn on stage, either to read from their books, or to shed light on the context that gave inspiration for...

Allow me to disabuse you of the notion, should you be so temped, to think that being on a 32-city tour is in any way glamorous. First it's amazing how much energy goes into set up and take down of...

We are heading to Bend, Oregon for the 12th show of this first leg. The tour has gone great. But exhausting. Last night in Seattle, we had the privilege of hosting our friend from the Emergent Jewish Rabbi network (we...

In the memorandum that we sent out to hosts for the Church Basement Roadshow, we delicately requested a healthy meal before the show (i.e. No pizza). The organizers of our first three shows interpreted "healthy" in exactly the same fashion...

While chatting with Mickey Maudlin after our show in San Francisco on Thursday, he happened to mention that Harper One had flown N.T. Wright over for the day to appear on The Colbert Report. Well, the adrenaline rush of the...

From the San Diego Union-Tribune: It's not often that you can go out for an evening and enjoy book readings, musical theater and a spiritual message - all in the same place. But that's exactly what happened for those who...

Pomomusings says, "In addition to simply being a time of book promotions and craziness and zany antics (all of which will keep you laughing), there are moments of beautiful poetry, autobiographical reflections and being challenged theologically. Doug shares about pursuing...

SEE THE RIGHT SIDEBAR FOR INFO AND TOUR DATES Julie flew in to SFO last night and joined us halfway through the show. We had a great night at the Inn, including a midnight burrito on the streets of the...

We had a great time in the 'burbs of Sacramento last night in a bright, gleaming new church on a hill. After a beverage in the parking lot with some of our volunteers, we pulled out the RV for the...

(See right sidebar for info and tour dates) Three forty-year-old guys in an RV all summer, pretending to be revival preachers from a century ago. Sounds unlikely? Well, it is. And just about every night, sometime during the show, I...

For Info and Tour Dates Show update from Fresno, California After a lovely day off (our only one of this leg of the tour) we rolled into Fresno, California to University Presbyterian church. The people were friendly, helpful and encouraging....

Click here for Info and Tour Dates We received this nice note from one of our opening weekend hosts: A quick note to say how thankful we are that you rolled through our town. The Spirits fires been a blown'...

The 40" Country Coach Tribute 260 that we're driving is not our own, nor are we renting it. It is owned by a longtime friend and all-around great guy, Michael Toy. Michael is also a sporadic blogger, and he's...

View Tour Schedule HERE - Come and Join us....

View the Tour Schedule Here On Saturday, after we groggily got up in the RV and packed everything up in Santa Monica, we drove into LA and lunched with our friends at IKAR Synagogue. Sharon Brous, the rabbi at IKAR...

View Tour Schedule HERE - Come and Join us. The Rollin' Gospel Revival officially began Friday night, June 13 at Risen Church in Santa Monica California. We launched the show with two rehearsals under our belts and great wonderment in...

The revivalist from the midwest are heading to the land of plenty today. Scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles this afternoon. With sleep lowest on the priority list and hope at the top the two, The Professor and Big Brother,...

Dear Readers-- Due to a planned technical upgrade taking place on Wednesday June 11th, the Beliefnet Blogs will not display any new content, and commenting will be disabled. We aim to be back up and running by the end of...

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I'm busy returning emails and neck-deep in last-minute planning for the Roadshow, and, in the background, I'm watching Scott McClellan perform his umpteenth interview about his book, What Happened. And I wondered, what has happened to him in the gauntlet...

Deep within the American psyche is a longing for convertive piety. We are a nation and culture of extremes and polarities: The Saturday night drunk who weeps in repentance on Sunday morning; The Sunday night holy man who leaves his...

Allen Lockwood Withee was born on March 7, 1871 in Wessington Springs, South Dakota. He was raised in the big city by caring traditional parents who valued the simple life and devoted personal piety. At the tender age of 12...

The Church Basement Roadshow is a concept event, so I thought I would post a hint at what the show is about. Here is a link to the intro to the show. This will give a picture of the content...

Against all odds, a long lost recording of the Ben Johnson Boys, which included The Professor, the Preacher, and Big Brother, has just surfaced. Here it is!!!...

They're available HERE....