July 2008 Archives

As we stepped out of the RV, Mark turned to me and said, "This feels like tobacco territory."

We were in Burlington, North Carolina, in the parking lot of JR Cigars, home to the largest humidor in the world. Walking in to this Taj Mahal of Tobacco is an overwhelming experience, especially for someone like me who has a weakness for the dog rocket.

We wandered about the 500 square foot humidor for over an hour, receiving wise guidance from a grizzled cigar jockey with a Fuente dangling from his lips. It was glorious.

So, believe it or not, we'd rather not drive our whole 40' RV with trailer into Manhattan on Friday. We're looking for somewhere safe to drop the RV and borrow or rent a truck with which we can pull the trailer into NYC. Somewhere between Edison and Newark would be best. Please drop a comment with any ideas.

Last week we had a few days off from the tour and Tony and I went to see Dark Knight, the new Batman franchise film. Indeed this film was more sinister and melancholy than so many super hero movies--and yet more realistic in terms of the ambiguities involved in trying to be a helpful contribution to the world.

The week between legs was spent in New Orleans with my sons Taylor and Ruben. We toured the town, took a road trip to Mississippi and rented wave runners in Biloxi. We ate the fine and fatty foods of New Orleans and took in the scene on Bourbon Street. We met up with our friends the Bachmans and they toured us around their city. I also reconnected with April who I knew when she was in high school and I worked at Wooddale.
To sum it up, we had a great time and it was the best being with my boys.

We are back in the saddle of our steel horse and our first two shows of the third leg went great. The first show was in New Orleans at Sojourn Community - they were fabulous hosts. The show had good energy and the space was terrific. The space was reminiscent of the first space we had for Solomon's Porch - upper floor of an old building, exposed brick and a loft feel. The folks of Sojourn we great hosts.

Saturday's show was in Birmingham, Alabama. It was one of the best shows yet. The good people of Disciples Fellowship and Journey Church hosted us. We were in the Disciples building which is set-up somewhat like a theater, so it work well for the show with the lighting and all.

Both shows were well received by the audiences and seemed to be an encouragement to all involved. I remain amazed at how gracious people are in hosting us and how much good comes from the face to face engagements around the show.

If you have a chance to come and join us here is our remaining schedule. Details can be found under the Tour Schedule section on the right side of this page.

Monday July 28: Nashville, TN
St. Bartholomew's Church 6:30pm

Tuesday July 29: Charlotte, NC
Portico Church/Johnston Memorial Presbyterian Church

Wednesday July 30: Raleigh/Durham, NC
Emmaus Way/New Community Church

Thursday July 31: Washington D.C./Baltimore, MD
Wesley Seminary/American University

Friday August 1: New York, NY
Marble Collegiate Church

Saturday August 2: Pittsburgh, PA
Hot Metal Bridge

Sunday August 3: Grand Rapids, MI
Fellowship Covenant Church

Monday August 4: Indianapolis, IN
Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church

We've been to a lot of cities so far, and it's funny how many people in these cities claim that they are:

- The buckle of the Bible belt

- The least churched city in America

- The city with the most witch covens per capita

- The city with the best Bar-B-Que

Well, we don't know about the first three, but we're doing our best to determine the truth about the fourth. Yesterday we stopped at Dreamland, a spot that was frequented by Mark two decades ago. It was good, not great. I liked the sauce, but the meat was sub-par. Doug gave high marks to The Joint in New Orleans, and I liked Gates in Kansas City.

We'll update you on the BBQ in the coming few days.

In an effort with Relevant.com we have launched a site called ReThink Christianity (www.RethinkChristianity.com). The site is designed to be interactive with posts and videos. Each week we will have a new question that we are looking for a written...

Due to an unforeseen emergency the shows in Austin - Saturday, July 19 and Houston - Sunday, July 20 have been postponed. If and when shows can be rescheduled we will post the information here. The shows of leg 3...

For the next four days we have a documentary filmmaker traveling in the RV with us recording our every movement and conversation (ala. Cinéma vérité technique). He joined us yesterday and has filmed us doing the show, loading up the...

Recent articles in both Newsweek and The New Yorker have discussed the changing face of evangelicals in the American political landscape--particularly younger evangelicals who seem unwilling to carry on the hard-line, single agenda politics of their predecessors......

Having one's book reviewed is almost always a good thing. It means that someone is reading your book and taking it seriously enough to reflect on it and write about it. The editors over at the Out of Ur blog...

After learning that we dress up as old-timey revivalists for the Church Basement Roadshow, some have supposed that we are making fun of American religious tradition. This could not be further from the truth......

We've had some great shows in the past few days, but last night may have taken the cake. We presented our show in the basement of the stately First United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas. The basement was packed --...

It's Saturday, and that means Religion sections in most major newspapers. And, believe it or not, some of them are covering the Roadshow: Fort Worth Omaha Tulsa Austin...

I've written a post over at another Beliefnet blog, God's Politics, about the tour and what we've learned about 1908. Read it HERE....

Tomorrow, Friday, at 4:45 PM Central Time we will hold a drawing for the "door prizes" from the West coast leg of the tour. Prizes include a Nano preloaded with reading and writing from our books, and a load of...

Wesley Seminary is one of our Roadshow sponsors, and I posted over at the "A Word from Wesley" blog. Read it HERE. See all of our sponsors listed in the right sidebar....

If you've been to the show, or seen my YouTube videos (or even on the off-chance that you've read my book), you know that Trucker Frank is a friend of mine and a guy I've spent some time with. Well,...

The seventh installment of the A Christianity Worth Believing videos is now up. This one was shot in front of Temple Israel with Jon White. All the videos of the series can me found here....

Church Basement Roadshow...

As Doug and I were driving the RV from Bend to Edina last week, I read to him the essay by Andrew Root on Lost and eschatology. Being that Doug and I are both fans of Lost and of eschatology,...

Update - We have a location for the Show Sunday July 20 - Copperfield Church, 8350 Hwy 6 N. Houston. Thanks J.T. for taking us in. After the first 12 shows, which went great, we have learned a few things...

Over the weekend I went with one of our house mates to see "Wanted" the new action thriller staring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie and directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Action movies are one of my guilty pleasures and on the...

I had a long chat with a reporter yesterday. She's writing a story for News 21 about the changes afoot among "evangelical" voters in the coming election. I put scare quotes around "evangelical" because much of our conversation revolved around...