Spectrum Interviews

Hope Channel's Woman Preacher in the Middle East

Alita Byrd — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:09:47 -0700

Kalthoum Qewar, a Jordanian speaker, is the main speaker in a new Adventist television series produced in Lebanon for the Arabic Hope Channel.

It is unusual to see a woman preaching in the Middle East. But Qewar has planted four non-denominational churches, organized women’s conferences, and trained hundreds of men and women in ministry.

Qewar believes that there is no difference between men and women in Jesus’ sight.

She says in some ways, it is easier for women than men to minister in the Middle East. “Women can open any door in any house. Women can just go in and in kindness touch teens, children, women. They are good at relationships and talking. A man cannot go in so easily – he needs his wife beside him.”

The new Hope Channel series, called "Maa Umm Salaam" (With the Mother of Peace) is in Arabic and addresses women’s issues. It is part of the Channel’s programming designed to reach the 330 million Arabic speakers around the world. It is scheduled to begin airing in June 2010, and an episode will be broadcast every week throughout the year. In each episode, Qewar talks about a female biblical character and an attribute connected to that character. For example, in one episode she speaks about Hannah, and about how praying can change one’s circumstances.

Qewar is a practiced speaker. With a small crew, she recorded 54 half-hour episodes in just two weeks in July 2009.

Qewar planned and wrote all of the episodes herself, and rarely had to do any retakes. A few cameramen, a pastor to ensure any theology was in line with Adventist beliefs, a woman to check on language and pronunciation, and Qewar herself made up the complete crew during taping. Even with language barriers the group felt like a real team.

“We had a great time,” Qewar said. “We could all feel the atmosphere – the love. It was special. I can’t put into words the experience I had. We were all caught up in the atmosphere – even the cameramen who didn’t understand Arabic. They were so encouraging.”

There were challenges with the taping. One problem was the sporadic electricity – common in Lebanon. Sometimes it blinked off 15 times in half an hour. “When it came back on I had to go back to the same energy and gestures and voice,” Qewar said.

The show was taped at the newly renovated, Al Waad Media Centre on the campus of the Adventist Middle East University in Beirut.

Qewar was very impressed with the professionalism of the Hope Channel. “Their technical skills are like CNN,” she says. “They are taping in digital. The volunteers are experts. You don’t find this with other channels.”

Qewar has a direct style of speaking. While she covers spiritual subjects, she addresses them in a practical way, relating them to everyday life. She talks about issues that are not often addressed, but are important in women’s lives. She says she hopes to empower women of the Middle East and help them to become more confident in their spiritual walk and be positive examples in their homes and communities.

Women in Muslim countries are often seen as second-class citizens, Qewar says. “The only thing that can help women is to be free in the soul, from the inside,” she says. “Dressing and acting like Americans or Europeans is not the answer.”

While the series is aimed at women, Qewar feels sure that both women and men, Christian and Muslim, will watch it. She hopes that viewers will tell their friends about it, and audience numbers will grow. “Some Muslims will probably watch it in order to attack what I am saying, but the Holy Spirit will get hold of them,” she says.

Qewar herself is not an Adventist. She doesn’t consider herself a part of any specific denomination.

“I have attended Adventist services,” Qewar said. “There is an atmosphere of respect and love and caring there. People pray together. That is the most important thing.”

Qewar said that is why she decided to create her show under the aegis of the Adventists.

Her life has taken Qewar to many different places. She and her husband Dahood moved to Denmark after they were married in 1980. But everything was not happy in their home. Her husband was addicted to hashish and had relationships with other women. “Nobody talks about these things, but I had to face them,” Qewar says. She and her husband went through some tough times, but they worked through their problems; Dahood accepted Jesus, became a Christian, and changed his lifestyle completely.

Those experiences helped Qewar to help others.

“One day a friend was crying in my kitchen,” Qewar said. “She told me about some very similar things she was going through with her husband. That’s when God impressed on me that many women were going through difficult times, and that by sharing my own experiences, I could help them. I told God I couldn’t share – it hurt too much. But finally I gave in.”

Qewar and Dahood started a ministry in Denmark to help broken families.

In 1984, the family moved back to Jordan, and began working full-time in ministry. They started a local non-denominational church, and over the next two decades, Qewar and her husband planted four different churches in Jordan. Qewar established women’s and youth ministries in the churches. She developed a program with a detailed curriculum to help women in their own lives. She also began a leadership training program for men and women in churches. She wrote dramas for the groups she worked with, as well. Qewar started the National Women’s Conference in Jordan, which has grown into three small conferences every year. Dahood studied theology and became an ordained pastor in 1992.

In 2002 Dahood and Qewar immigrated to Texas with their children, near to where her husband’s brothers and sisters and their families were living. Their six children, now aged between 28 and 14, went to American schools. The next year, her husband was diagnosed with colon cancer, and he died on the last day of 2003. Qewar flew back to Jordan to bury him.

Since then, Qewar has been traveling back and forth. In Jordan she works on her training programs, conferences, and maintains her close ties with the churches she helped to start.

When she is the in the US, Qewar does not have a public profile: she worked at WalMart until last May.

Now – after finishing her series for the Hope Channel – Qewar is looking for a job, and thinking of writing a book. She hopes to go back to ministry full-time at some point.

Qewar is full of energy, and has more ideas for projects than one person could accomplish. She has a lot of irons in the fire and is waiting to see what works out next. Qewar is determined to keep making a difference in people’s lives, whatever she does.

Read more about Kalthoum Qewar’s story on her website at http://kalthoumqewar.com

The new Spring issue of Spectrum, to be published at the end of April, will focus on Adventist women ministers around the world. Subscribe now to be sure to receive your copy.

A Year at the Center for Action and Contemplation

Rachel Davies — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:33:18 -0800

See also Joelle's article in the spirituality section of our website.

Joelle Chase is an intern at the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Spectrum asked her what it's like and how her experience is shaping her faith.

RD: What is the Center for Action and Contemplation?

JC: The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) was founded in 1987 by a Franciscan Catholic priest named Richard Rohr. Fr. Richard wanted to offer a practical integration of contemplative spirituality for social activists, having observed that they often burn out or their energy becomes just another violence against a cause. The CAC is a nonprofit organization providing experiential education that combines spiritual practices and social/eco-justice concerns. The idea is for action to flow out of a deep, centered compassion and for spirituality to be grounded in a practical, lived-out gospel. Richard emphasizes the “and” in the center’s name. He teaches that we need a nondualistic mentality that values “both,” that does not compartmentalize life into sacred/secular, good/bad, us/them, but welcomes God in God’s various forms. The CAC is all about inviting humans into a more grown-up, yet childlike, stage of life where we act out of love, without needing to label things, realizing that we have never been separated from the source of that love who is visible in every being.

The CAC employs only fourteen staff and nine part-time work interns; it's little, but loud! Fr. Richard's latest book, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See, is #1 at Amazon for books in the mysticism category. Our little resource center distributes all of Richard's materials (he's written over fifteen books and recorded many, many talks: we joke that he has not one thought left unrecorded) to a large audience. We publish a quarterly journal, Radical Grace, and send out daily meditations via email. Typically between 500 and 1,000 attend the conferences in Albuquerque several times a year in addition to Richard's almost constant travel for speaking engagements. This summer he tours the UK (with a stop at the large, ecumenical Greenbelt Festival) and South Africa as well as many U.S. sites. Richard has been invited to speak to groups representing many faiths, from Baptists to Buddhists.

RD: How is the CAC shaping Evangelicalism, particularly emergent conversations?

JC: Last year the CAC offered an Emerging Church conference with Brian McLaren, Phyllis Tickle, Shane Claiborne, and Alexie Torres-Fleming, and we are following up with another Emerging Christianity event this April. 2009's presentations focused on a fresh understanding of Jesus, spirituality that links contemplation and action, social justice and holistic mission, and authentic community. Emerging Christianity continues and deepens the conversation between Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and other Christians.

RD: How did you become an intern and how long will you stay in Albuquerque?

JC: After graduating from Andrews University, I spent two years teaching at a one-room Adventist school in Montana. The experience was an initiation, a lesson in letting go of expectations and the known, both in my work and in my relationship with/understanding of God. I realized the elementary setting was not life-giving for me, but didn’t know what else to try, so I decided to take a year off to listen before diving into another degree or job. After living in an isolated, conservative area, I was ready for kindred community. The communal living aspect of the CAC internship sounded welcome, even to an introvert like me! I am here for the nine-month internship, ending mid-May (though I’ll be staying on as part-time staff for the summer). The CAC welcomes work interns for 3, 9, or 12-month internships and hosts paying interns for short 9-day border immersion trips to El Paso and Juarez.

RD: What are your responsibilities and how are they enriching you as a person?

JC: I work in the programs department, organizing and promoting Richard’s speaking events which includes planning his itinerary, finding venues, calling and emailing potential attendees, and proofing conference materials. The CAC hosts several major conferences each year in Albuquerque, most recently Following the Mystics through the Narrow Gates: Learning to See As the Mystics See with Jim Finley and Cynthia Bourgeault. I’m enjoying working in a networked, interdependent family that shares the responsibilities of the CAC’s mission. It’s a welcome relief after working alone and bearing the entire responsibility of a school. In the past learning new skills has been intimidating, but the atmosphere of patience here has helped me become more assertive and willing to try new and challenging things.

The CAC staff participates in spiritual formation as a team every month, making the center feel like a community where we not only work together, but also share one another’s personal spiritual journeys. Work interns spend 25 hours a week at their assigned jobs and15 more hours in formation. Formation includes two 20-minute meditative sits a day, group spiritual formation (on topics such as shadow work, contemplative prayer, body prayer, eco-spirituality), social justice (focusing on, for example, the violent situation in Juarez, restorative justice, fair trade concerns), and environmental care (permaculture, mindful eating, local farming, simple living).

RD: What in your spiritual journey led you to be interested in the work of Richard Rohr? What have you learned from other spiritual traditions at the CAC?

JC: I began participating in a spiritual formation group at a small Adventist-run retreat house in Buchanan, MI (Still Waters: www.comebestill.org ) several years ago while attending Andrews University. The group leader, who also became my spiritual director, introduced me to Richard’s work. I immediately responded, as so many people do: “I already knew this! I just didn’t know how to put it.”

Though I joined a group that had been together for five years and had already formed close bonds, I felt that my soul had come home. The combined gifts of spiritual companionship (including one-on-one spiritual direction) and meaningful materials (e.g. David Benner’s trilogy: The Gift of Being Yourself, Surrender to Love, and Desiring God’s Will; Robert Mulholland’s book on spiritual formation and the Bible, Shaped by the Word; Rohr’s recordings: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, Shape of God—Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity, Healing Our Violence through Centering Prayer) grew a dormant longing for God into a passionate experience with Love. My long-held intellectual ideas about God became less important, and relationship with and transformation through God became central.

With my new vibrant experience also came a bit of a quandary: how could I continue reading scripture, listening to sermons, and hearing familiar hymns that spoke of a violent God? The “container” (this is what Richard calls the first half of life in which we’re given structure and a sense of our specialness) that held my growing up years seemed too small. It didn’t have room for my expanding view of God. Alden Thompson’s Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God? and Rohr’s Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality encouraged me to read between the lines and to notice the themes of God who is continually revealing Godself to humanity, ever changing lives and perspectives into more peaceful and gracious forms. Accustomed to and perhaps somewhat tired of the Adventist lingo and traditions, I’m finding fresh meaning to old truths in the context of Buddhism, Native American spiritualities (recognition that God’s character is visible in the natural world), Sufi mystics (my favorites are Rumi and Hafiz), and Catholic ritual (genuflection, blessing, liturgical calendar).

What has been most challenging to me is learning how to move from contemplation into action. Thomas Merton laughingly accused the “contemplatives” in his monastery of simply being introverts. That is probably true in my case! And it is taking time to discover what the balance between moving and being will look like in my life and to what action I am being called. This seems to be a listening, waiting time…

RD: What are your co-workers like at CAC? How many interns are there and what kind of background do they have?

JC: As a nonprofit, the CAC seems to draw young people without a family to support and retirees who don’t want to quit working just yet. A strong group of core volunteers (again, mostly retired folks) comes regularly, dedicating a combined total of hours exceeding that of the CAC’s paid staff. Staff and interns come from diverse backgrounds including a Sufi, a Slovenian Franciscan nun, a Mennonite pastor, a Jazz singer, an Episcopalian accountant, and a Seventh-day Adventist with dreadlocks (me); we range in age from 23 to 65; we represent most of the Enneagram numbers and diverse personalities. The work internship program can accommodate eight interns, though we currently have six, living together at Stillpoint, a house down the road from the CAC offices.

RD: With the experience you’re having now, what do you find yourself thankful for in Adventism and what do you hunger for more of? Do you see anything like CAC happening in the Adventist Church?

JC: I am grateful for the safe and, for the most part, gracious container Adventist culture has provided me with. My Adventist education instilled critical thinking skills and an in-depth knowledge of a narrow subject area. I smile often when I’m the only one, in a Catholic gathering, who remembers the details (names, passages) of a particular Bible story. Adventist parents and the broader church family loved me thoroughly and well, giving me the structure I needed as a child and the freedom to explore I need now as a young adult. My experience in the church has been short (only all of my 26 years) and limited (within more rural, small congregations), so I’ve seen only bits and pieces of Adventism. I am encouraged by professor-friends who have a wider view of the church from their travels and interactions with other SDAs. I appreciate the open conversations taking place here at Spectrum and elsewhere. I wish for more love and less fear, that the church as an organization would move toward freedom in spirituality and practical gospel living. I’m proud of ADRA and the tangible ways it expresses Jesus’ teachings, and I hope the church as an institution will take on compassionate action as a more central mission.

Though I haven’t been a part of it yet, GODencounters seems to be nurturing a lively and relevant spirituality within Adventism, and I’m eager to see more people discover an authentic experience of God. I do think that, on a small scale, Adventists are moving away from tribalism and rigidity into expansive love. Many Adventists I know are reconnecting with the ancient roots of our faith that value mystical experience.

Will there be something like the CAC in the Adventist church? I don’t think it will actually fall under the church umbrella. Though Richard is a priest at the local Catholic parish, he isn’t very popular in the Roman Catholic Church as a whole. His teachings push the edges of what is officially acceptable. This particular growth in Adventism will probably continue through individuals and small groups who dare to risk misunderstanding and alienation, while the bigger organization takes smaller steps and tries to keep us wild ones in check!

RD: What are your plans post CAC?

JC: I’m not finding that place where, as Frederick Buechner puts it, my “deep hunger meets the world’s deep need.” But I have an inkling it will involve organic farming and sustainability practices. I will spend this summer volunteering at a small farm here in Albuquerque. Perhaps after that I’ll hop from farm to farm for awhile to learn some practical skills before settling down more permanently. I want to find a landscape, community, and vocation niche that will allow for a mutual giving and receiving of Life.

Visit www.cacradicalgrace.org to learn more about the Center for Action and Contemplation.

See also Joelle's article in the spirituality section of our website.

Adventist House Churches

Rachel Davies — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:21:39 -0800

See also Milton's article, featured in the spirituality section of our website.

Milton Adams is a pastor in the Florida Conference and is founder/director of Simple Church, a network of lay-led Adventist house churches dedicated to touching the lives of unchurched people. Spectrum asked Adams why Simple Church started and how it is being implemented within the denomination.

RD: What initially provoked your interest in house churches?

MA: George Barna wrote a book, Revolutionaries, where he stated that 20 million Christians left the conventional church between 2000 and 2005 – to go find God. To go find God! I was amazed.

In The American Church in Crisis, Dave Olsen addresses this North American trend from a different perspective. In 1990, 20.7% of Christians attended church on a given weekend. In 2007, 17.1%, and for 2010, it is estimated that 16.6% will attend church on a given weekend.

These kinds of statistics caught my attention and started me on a search that was missional: How do we reach people in our western culture? So I kept reading and researching.

Barna continued in his book by noting that house churches are one place people are going to find God. Since house churches seemed promising, my wife and I decided to start one. We called it Simple Church. Now it is growing into a global network.

RD: You used the term “conventional church.” How do you define a conventional church?

MA: A public building (church or store front) + professional leadership (pastor, staff, and Bible workers) + programs = “real” church. This definition finds its roots in the fourth century. Adventism usually gives Constantine credit for changing Sabbath to Sunday, but he also influenced the replacement of lay-leadership with professional spiritual leaders and he moved “church” from the house to the basilica, or cathedral.

RD: What does a “Simple Church” look like?

MA: Simple Church is such a different missionary paradigm that it is difficult to adequately describe it. One needs to experience Simple Church.

But in short, Simple Churches meet on Sabbath. Our particular location meets on Sabbath at 10 am for brunch. At 11 am our focus shifts to some singing, check-in, and “God moments.” At noon we begin a 90 minute relational Bible study. Lunch follows the Bible study, and usually by 3 or 4 pm our home is quiet again – but not always.

The Simple Church Network averages 15 people per location with a range of 5 to 35. On average 30% of adult attendees are unchurched or “secular” people.

RD: Why has the Adventist Church not attempted something like Simple Church before, or has it?

MA: It has, and it is – outside of North America. But it is only recently that house churches in North America have gained momentum. The reason for this could be that for the past 100 years there has not been a “need” for this method here in North America. But culture has changed around us. The question Adventism will increasingly face is, “How will we respond? Will we be a mission that is well organized or will we be an organization that has a mission?” There is a significant fundamental and directional difference between the two.

RD: Why do we need Simple Church?

MA: My answer to this is four-part:

1. Financially – Simple Church uses a low-cost, grass-roots method of reaching people. Olsen says that America would need, as of 2008, 24,240 new churches of any kind, every year, just to keep up with population growth. Conventional church planting models are becoming cost prohibitive in many areas.

2. Missionally – Simple Church network statistics seem to indicate that house churches are indeed accomplishing the goal of reaching unchurched or secular people in western cultures. Specifically, we are reaching those people that conventional church is not reaching.

3. Biblically – Simple Church empowers common lay-people to do the work of ministry. Our church theology says that every member is a minister, and we teach the “priesthood of all believers.” But functionally and structurally our church says there is a clear distinction between lay-people and the professional pastor, evangelist or more recently, Bible worker.

4. Stewardship – Research is revealing that the average conventional church in North America will spend as much as 64 percent of its budget on staff salaries. Additionally, it will spend as much as 30 percent of its offerings on maintaining its buildings. Researchers say that churches spend between 82 - 96 percent of their financial resources on maintaining themselves. If 82 percent of my portfolio investment dollar went into maintaining the investment firm, I might have something to say.

RD: As house churches continue to take off the ground, how do you see them working together with our existing institutional churches?

MA: The question of “working together” is usually a question with unspoken expectations that need to be explored. So from a general perspective, Simple Church first and foremost asks missionary questions.

1. As Christians, what are the best ways to contextualize “Go and make disciples” in our culture – baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded?

2. As Seventh-day Adventist Christians, what are the best ways to “go” and share the “Everlasting Gospel” such that additional and/or unnecessary barriers can be removed? This is what missiologists call “indigenization.”

Assuming that these are the same questions conventional churches are asking, we may be using different methods but we are working together toward common goals.

RD: Who are your partners and supporters in the denomination?

MA: In general, denominational leadership has been very supportive. For example Don and Marti Schneider spent 11 hours in our home one Sabbath. The first 5 hours were spent experiencing Simple Church, the remaining 6 hours understanding the network's infrastructure and the intention behind it. Mark Finley also spent about 4 hours with me asking similar questions. These church leaders were both appropriately cautious, yet very supportive of Simple Church’s mission, message, and method. Michael Cauley, Florida Conference President, has provided ongoing encouragement, advice, and a location in which the Simple Church network could be birthed.

But what has been most meaningful to me over the past months has been the support and encouragement that our denomination globally has given to this experimental project. I would be the first to say that it is premature to assess both 1) Simple Church’s long term effectiveness and 2) the denomination’s response. I hope and pray that both with be positive.

RD: How does Simple Church relate, organizationally, to the existing Adventist church structure?

MA: It is a recognized church, just like any church in our denomination. So far three conferences (Florida, Ohio, and North New Zealand) have voted Simple Church at the conference executive committee level. At the time of this interview a handful of other conferences, both in North America and overseas, are at different stages of exploring the possibility of partnering with the Simple Church Network.

RD: What happens with tithe? What do you do with the money you save on church budget?

MA: All tithe is remitted to the local conferences, as with any Adventist church.

Offerings are used by the specific Simple Church locations to help people. In other words, we do not spend offerings on asset items or on inventory items for improving or restoring a facility, but for improving and restoring lives. And, yes, it means the network of Simple Churches has thousands of dollars to help people.

RD: If Simple Church is meant to operate without a paid pastor, who takes care of leadership?

MA: Like Adventist Frontier Missions, Simple Church missionaries are mentored and coached from within the Simple Church Network. We do not put this additional responsibility on local church boards, pastors, or conference leadership. In fact, Simple Church home- grows its leadership; those who do the coaching/mentoring have actually raised up and multiplied a Simple Church.

RD: Do Simple Church members participate together in any activities during the week, like outreach or small groups?

MA: Yes and no. Simple Church encourages its missionaries to actually simplify the “religious rat-race.” Midweek activities focus on 1) “hanging out with” secular and unchurched people and 2) giving one-on-one Bible studies--often the KidZone and Come Alive/Stay Alive Bible study series. In fact, KidZone is often used with adults who are young in their Christian experience. We have found it to be the best series available for working with secular people – thanks to Kurt Johnson of Voice of Prophecy and Pastor Karl Haffner of Kettering, Ohio.

RD: How many “Simple Churches” exist right now, officially? Do you personally keep track of them?

MA: Simple Church started with two families 19 months ago. At present there are 6 locations going, 5 of which are in North America and 1 overseas. There are another 12 groups that are at various stages in the training process.

Yes, the network does keep track of them through a very simple grass-roots accountability process.

RD: If someone reading this wanted to learn more about starting a house church, how could he or she get involved?

MA: Simple Church is designed to train and mentor 21st century missionaries no matter where you live, with one stipulation: you will need an internet connection!

Go to www.SimpleChurchAtHome.com and click on the “How do I get started?” link.

Also, one could attend the March 21 webinar, “Simple Church - What is it? Why consider it? And how to start it” For more information, and to register, go to: https://www.gotowebinar.com/register/115929592

Downtown Atlanta

Rachel Davies — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:23:08 -0800

Chris Bullock is a young pastor and church planter employed by the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Spectrum asked Chris about his approach to church planting, and how his ministry team is impacting downtown Atlanta.

RD: How and why did Fusion Church begin? How did you choose your name?

CB: Well, the “why” is always more important than the how. Simply put, FUSION was our response to the Gospel Commission to go make disciples. To make new disciples, we need to go where God is building his church: the lives of people. Church planting is all about extending the Kingdom of God into the homes and hearts of people who are not yet following Jesus. This is our why. The missio Dei is our why.

And the how? First off, church planting is always done in partnership with God. The Apostle Paul describes us as "co-laborers" with God. FUSION began because four of us were praying that God would use us. He then brought us together. Before we did anything, we spent several months meeting in living rooms and coffee shops just seeking God in prayer and sharing our ministry dreams with one another. It soon became evident that all of us shared a common passion for relational evangelism and church planting.

The first thing we did was start a young adult cafe worship on Friday nights at the church where I was on staff, 20 miles north of downtown Atlanta. Soon after, we began prayer-walking downtown every Monday night for a year. We were asking God to give us his vision for the city. We had amazing experiences ministering to street dwellers and receiving their ministry to us, meeting residents and business owners, etc.

During that time, the Georgia-Cumberland Conference approved our proposal to begin a new city church. We did surveys to see what people thought about their community and to ask what a church might look like that existed to benefit the community. We went to listen, as learners. Amazingly, it worked! Never once did we have a door slammed in our faces and we even had unchurched and non-Christians tell us that they appreciated our approach since we weren't there on our soapboxes preaching down at them.

We left the church where I was on staff just ten months after beginning the FUSION young adult worship, which had about fifty in attendance at the time. We told people we did not want them to come with us unless they were on board with our mission. Only a few did follow us and it was a year before FUSION launched as a new church. Our goal was to build a church from the outside-in rather than to gather a critical mass of believers.

The name FUSION came during the first months that the four of us were meeting and praying. We had pages of our values, missional dreams, ideas of what a healthy church should look like, etc., and we were looking for a name that would best describe it all. We exhausted tons of options before coming to the name FUSION. It was rather humorous because all four of us instantly knew it was the right name. FUSION describes our lives being united (fused) with Christ and with one another, and when this happens, God's power is unleashed in and through us. So our vision or tagline is: “Unleashing God's Power Together.”

RD: Why did you choose Atlanta as the venue for Fusion?

CB: I'm convinced that God chose our place. I tried to be a church planter in other cities in the past, but those doors always closed. That said, let me share some startling facts about Atlanta. Having 5.5 million people in the metro-area, we are the largest city in the southeast U.S. The I-285 perimeter around the city is a 64-mile loop. There are over 250 square miles inside the perimeter and within that area we only have Adventist churches that are ethnic-specific, i.e., Hispanic, African-American, Caribbean, West African, Portuguese, etc. As thankful as I am that we have these wonderful churches ministering to their specific target groups and languages, we are missing the mark on inclusivity. And so we are not reaching the demographic that prizes evidence of inclusivity while deciding which communities to be a part of.

Also, Atlanta's average age is 33— about five years younger than the national average. Young professionals are moving into the city and creating gentrification. So there is a huge need for young, multi-ethnic, socio-economically diverse churches that speak the eternal Gospel in today's language. I wish I could say that this problem is isolated to Atlanta, but unfortunately it is shared by most every major metro-city in the United States. Since the majority of the population now lives in cities and the majority of Adventist churches are outside the cities, this is really a crisis. Recent social changes in American cities pose significant opportunities for us, and so demand our prompt attention. But unfortunately most Adventists seem either ignorant or apathetic about what’s going on.

RD: Your website describes Fusion as a “new emerging faith community.” What does this mean?

CB: We are not trying to classify ourselves as an "emergent" community or any other label, which is why we also left off the denominational name Seventh-day Adventist. We want to be known more for what we do and what kind of people we are than because of our label or what we say we believe. If our goal is to show people who Jesus is, then we must be his hands and feet. People do not care what you believe until they believe that you care. By "emerging," we simply mean that our new faith community is rising up from within the city, and it consists of all sorts of people of faith. There are non-Christian people of faith regularly attending our worship gatherings and small groups. We want to honor and respect wherever people are at, coming alongside of them in their journey to share what Jesus means to us. We hope he will become their hearts desire, as he is ours.

RD: What contemporaries inside and outside the Adventist church have shaped or inspired your mission at Fusion?

CB: Back in 1998 I was personally inspired by Pastor Roger Walter to become a church planter. That was my first pastoral assignment and the year Roger came to Colorado to start “The Adventure” church.

Derek Morris has been a very important spiritual mentor in my life since 1996. We have also been inspired by Shane Claiborne, Louie Giglio, Mother Teresa, Alan Hirsch, Francis Chan, Ed Stetzer, Richard Foster, Margaret Feinberg, Russell Burrill, George Barna, Thom Rainer, Neil Cole, Leonard Sweet, and a host of others. We are tremendously blessed to partner with our conference president, Ed Wright; VP ministerial, Harold Cunningham; and church plant director, Bill Levin, who give us incredible support and loving accountability. They make it possible for FUSION to function with an Adventist affiliation and we are grateful to them and their leadership teams.

RD: Are other churches like Fusion growing up in Adventism right now?

CB: Yes. It appears there are some that share similarities with us, although we are all different. Matt Gamble was working with Steve Leddy at the 24/7 Ministry Center in Seattle before going full-time as an international speaker. I love what Steve is doing to multiply churches. Ryan Bell in Hollywood, CA, is making a mark in his city and on Adventism. Jay Perry, Adam Breiner and Matt Segebartt at reNEW Church in Shakopee, MN, started from scratch with just their team as half-time paid pastors. Those guys are missional entrepreneurs. I'm sure there are also others in the U.S. and around the globe with whom we would share similarities and I just don't know about them.

There's also a movement of "organic" house churches within Adventism. In sort, there are tons of other Adventist churches and ministries out there that I admire and respect. What I would like to know, however, is whether or not there are any Adventist churches that have taken the "launch" approach, as opposed to the "plant" approach to church planting.

RD: What is the difference between a church launch and a church plant?

CB: Basically, a church plant starts with a core group meeting and the goal is to add numbers to that core group as they continue meeting. This appears to be how most new Adventist churches begin. A group decides to start a new church and to begin from the inside-out (with their own group). Many wonderful and successful churches have started this way. In doing a church launch, the primary difference is that it begins from the outside-in, since it begins with the people in the community as the launch team. In this approach, the community is your church.

RD: At Fusion you receive people as partners rather than members. What is the difference, and what does it mean to be a partner of Fusion Church? Approximately how many partners and other attendees come to Fusion each week?

CB: On the local level, FUSION has no membership. Membership gives a false impression that you have special privileges and can lead to an arrogance of entitlement. The church is not a club that you join and pay dues to, consuming all its benefits. We are a faith community, and each person has something to contribute to the community and its mission. Therefore, we have partners. We recognize that people are on a journey, and if at this point in their spiritual journey they would like to partner with FUSION Church, then they must adhere to certain standards and practices, and be affiliated with the belief system of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Our goal is to set the bar high because we take discipleship seriously, instead of giving away membership in order to make our church look good on the books. We believe that a healthy church has far fewer members, or partners, than they have in weekly worship and small groups. Since FUSION is only 11 months old, we are just now about to begin with our partnerships. We are attempting to implement a system that holds people accountable in the areas of evangelism, discipleship and authentic spiritual growth. Our attendance runs 50-70 and we have over 40 in small groups.

RD: What kind of people come to Fusion and how does the community collective understand its Adventist identity? How do you see Fusion enlarging Adventism as a denomination?

CB: We are reaching mostly young creative professionals, which is our primary target audience. The average age is roughly 28. We have some families with young children as well as some college students, but the majority are young professional singles. (Though two of our biggest supporters, Richard and Elaine Green, are 69!)

You'll find Caucasians, Asians, African-Americans, Jamaicans, Haitians, doctors, filmmakers, students, graphic designers, web developers, accountants, homemakers, chefs, musicians, nurses, Wal-Mart clerks, biologists, teachers, etc., worshiping together and in small groups each week.

At this point, the identity of the community collective is more closely associated with FUSION than with Adventism. However, the power and health of any denomination is in the local church. If our local churches are not healthy and strong, our denomination will be weak. Our community and attendees learn about Adventism through the local church, not from the General Conference or even the division, union or conference. It concerns me that some Adventists demonstrate loyalty to the global church at the expense of their local church. If the Adventist denomination wants to be relevant, we need to empower local churches. This is going to require greater trust and less control coming from administrative leadership, while at the same time we cultivate loving accountability and support. FUSION can enlarge Adventism by creating healthy local churches.

RD: What does a Sabbath morning look like at Fusion, and what other activities are your partners involved with throughout the week?

CB: Sabbath morning begins early with setting up since we are a portable church, in the sense that everything we use comes out of and goes back into a storage area every week. We have breakfast available at 10:45am and worship begins at 11:15. During the worship we also have a FUSION Kids program. We do not have Sabbath school but instead use our weekly EPIC Groups (small groups) to facilitate deeper study and community outreach. On some weeks you'll find FUSIONeers doing servant evangelism projects, going out into the neighborhood to meet a small need in a tangible way or sharing an invitation to join us for worship. Some of them volunteer at various community service organizations. Last year we did a Valentines karaoke party in a homeless shelter, which was a lot of fun both for us and the residents. We also continue to do community bridge events, which are non-religious events put on for the community and hosted by the church— a park festival, game or open mic night at a local establishment. Our favorite so far was when we hosted an Art Gala and featured local artists through a silent auction.

RD: What future hopes and dreams do you have for Fusion Church?

CB: As God enables us to grow, we don't want to become a mega-church, but a multiplying church. I would like to see us start three new churches, or campuses, within the first five years of our existence. That is my hope and dream. I want to partner with God in creating healthy local churches that take seriously the Gospel Commission to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Meeting the Team: David Trim

Rachel Davies — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:58:18 -0800

In August 2009, Spectrum welcomed its newest team member, David Trim—a scholar with a wide variety of interests and a very unique area of specialty. Here is a sampling of discussions on European Adventism, race relations in the British church, and religious violence.

RD: You have quite an international background. You are British, but you were born in India and you grew up in Australia. Where do you consider yourself to be from? How do you bring to together your various ethnic identities?

DT: I consider myself to be both Australian and British, and I’ve always stayed interested in India. One of our family’s favorite things when I was growing up was to show slides of our time there. I have a few memories, but with some I’m not sure whether they are real or if they've come from hearing all the stories!

RD: Now you’re living in the United States. What’s it like and what brought you across the pond?

DT: Well, I’m actually not here for much longer. Pacific Union College has an endowed visiting chair in history, the Walter C. Utt professorship, and I was fortunate enough to be offered it (and then lucky enough that they asked me to stay on for a second year). My wife is from Central California, and in the past I had a couple research fellowships in this country— a month at the Huntington library near Pasadena and two months at Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington. Because of those experiences, I came here thinking I knew America pretty well. But I’ve learned that actually, one has to live here to know it.

RD: What’s your take on American Adventism versus European Adventism?

DT: Adventism was planted in Europe by America, but it always struggled and was really shaped by the local culture. On the other hand Australia, being culturally between Europe and America, had an easier time absorbing the Americaness of Adventism. So Australian Adventism is like American Adventism in many ways, but European Adventism is less so.

The most striking thing about European Adventism is that it’s so small, and minorities sociologically have certain ways of behaving. Being an Adventist in America is easy because we’re reasonably well known. We’re larger than a lot of small Christian denominations; we have the hospitals, schools, and universities. And since Adventism is a religion of self-improvement, it tends to be middle-class and prosperous. So if you’re an American Adventist, you grow up just assuming that certain things are possible.

But in Europe, where Adventism is small and not nearly as prosperous, there’s almost a siege mentality— a sense that certain things aren’t possible. There’s a sense that the rest of society isn’t going to be interested in what the church does.

I think sometimes Americans don’t realize the value and infrastructure that our educational and health care institutions provide, even for those who don’t send their kids to an Adventist college. There are some Adventist hospitals in Europe, but I can count them on the fingers of one hand and t. There are none in Britain. In the entire country of the Netherlands, there is no Adventist high school and I think only one Adventist primary school. In Britain there are probably fewer than ten primary schools and two high schools for 25,000 Adventists. Somehow these things have just never been a priority for us. In Germany for a while the church looked like it was about to take off, and so the institutional structure is a little bit better in some parts of the country (though it still doesn’t compare to the States).

RD: I wonder if that kind of “can’t do” attitude is contributing to the decline of the church in Europe, or if it’s vice versa and the decline is giving European Adventists a "can’t do" attitude.

DT: I think more the latter than the former. And the fundamental issue is that Europe is very secular and has been for much of the twentieth century, so this is not just an Adventist problem. Most churches have been in decline up until recently, though in the last ten to fifteen years there’s been a kind of spiritual renaissance in some parts of Western Europe.

In the 1880s Ellen White made the point that Adventism hadn’t started right in Europe. The original missionaries tried to use strategies that worked in America without being sensitive to the very different cultural context in which they were. From what we know (this is an area where Adventist historians need to do more research), it seems that American Adventism was always drawn from land-owning farmers who therefore had some money. It’s remarkable that such a small group was able to send and support missionaries abroad.

In Europe the middle classes were uninterested in this little religion from America, and so only the working classes were attracted. Then in the mid twentieth century, Adventist growth came in France, Britain, and the Netherlands through immigrants from the former empire (the West Indies and Africa). So again the existing lower socio-economic bracket made it difficult for the church to appeal to more prosperous people.

RD: How are immigrant Adventists and local European Adventists getting on these days?

DT: I think they get along very well now, but that hasn’t always been the case. One of my best Newbold students went on to do an MA in history at King’s College London, and for her thesis she wrote on the history of race politics in the British church from 1950-1980. It actually shook her faith a little because of what she discovered about the reality of a lot of white attitudes in the church.

But that was in the past. In the late seventies and early eighties the church went through a period of angst and even bitterness. But then it recognized the problem and chose to deal with it in a way that other churches in Britain did not, and in some cases still have not, done. The first non-white bishop in the Church of England was only appointed in the twenty-first century, despite the fact that the Church of England also draws a lot of its support from immigrants who are more religious than secular Europeans. We, on the other hand, started getting minority conference presidents in the early eighties, and in 1990 an immigrant from Jamaica became a Union president. That is thanks to steps the church deliberately took in the late seventies.

So yes, our history was unfortunate, but better than some. We can’t be proud of what happened in the fifties, sixties, and early seventies, and we mustn’t think that everything is perfect even now. But I think we can be proud of the response we took. I say Thank God for the immigrant community. Without them the church in Britain might just barely exist!

RD: Your PhD dissertation was on the English involvement in the European religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. What light has this background shed for you on the religious aspects of the current US Iraq/Afghanistan wars?

DT: Well it certainly gives one a perspective on the wider war against radical Islam, which isn’t just an issue for America after all.

I’ve always had an appreciation for the significance of religion as a motivating factor in wars. I think post-religious people in the west have tended to think of religious wars as one of those relics of the Middle Ages. Western people have assumed that since they couldn’t conceive of fighting wars in the name of religion, nobody else could. What some have failed to realize is that actually the world is more religious now than ever; it’s only the wealthiest parts that are less religious. That’s why 9/11 came as such a shock to the western world. The religious side of it was bewildering.

One response I’ve heard is that religion doesn’t drive people to kill, but the perversion of religion. That’s actually just a matter of semantics— a way of ducking the problem by redefining it. The truth is that sincere, middle of the road members of a number of Christian churches and other religions throughout the world have at times sincerely believed they were obliged to wage war.

Another thing Adventists will say (and they share this view with many secular scholars), is that ordinary people don’t fight; they’re misled or duped by their leaders. Social and economic history was the dominant paradigm when I started my studies, and to some extent it still is. So the assumption has always been, “Well, people might use religious rhetoric, but it’s really just a cover for economic motivations.”

RD: And you don’t think this represents the entire truth?

DT: No, I don’t think it does! Very clearly there were people who used religious rhetoric and the power of religion to cover motives that were either personally economic or geo-politically advantageous. But I think this represents the minority. The majority have waged war for a variety of complex reasons, of which socio-economic factors have only been a part. Religion itself is also a very important part of the matrix.

RD: How extremely disappointing. I wish we could blame religious wars exclusively on other motivations.

DT: Well, I think that’s what we’d prefer. I first encountered this desire when I was starting out as a PhD student in the mid/late nineties. I understood why secular atheist or agnostic historians would find it so difficult to grasp that the people who did these things were genuinely motivated by religious considerations. But I was rather disappointed to find Adventist scholars also saying that ordinary people fought because they were misled, stirred up by the rhetoric of their leaders, or compelled. It struck me as ironic that religious people too wanted to deny the reality of religious motivation. But it’s precisely for the reason you touch on: we don’t want to admit that it’s true.

RD: I’d like to deny it, yeah. Absolutely!

DT: My research was on the actual Englishmen who went to fight in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. For most of that period England as a nation was not at war, but Englishmen still went to Europe to fight in the wars of religion. After examining their writings and patterns of action and so forth, it’s very clear to me that these ordinary people looked at the world around them and said, “We’re in the time of the end; the antichrist is at work. I am required to combat the antichrist.” Or they saw their fellow believers being persecuted and felt obliged to help them. Most of these people were not duped or misled.

Another thing people like to do is dismiss all participants in religious war as mad or irrational. I’m particularly frustrated when media or commentators dismiss Jihadists as fanatics, because if you call them fanatics then it means you don’t have to understand them. We have to learn what makes them tick so that we can disarm them. A good example of this not happening is Waco, where the FBI decided that David Koresh was basically just a fanatic. There’s a scholar who has interviewed all the surviving Branch Davidians and his belief is that when the siege started at Waco, Koresh didn’t believe they were in his predicted apocalyptic scenario yet. He wanted to talk to the FBI people about the book of Revelation, but they didn’t want to do that. This scholar believes that if the FBI had been willing to talk to Koresh about his bizarre interpretations of biblical prophecy, then they might have actually eased his suspicion. But by treating him as a nut instead and increasing pressure the way they would with a secular person holding hostages, they just entrenched his opposition by convincing him that his apocalyptic scenario was about to unfold.

RD: That’s a fascinating hypothesis and also very troubling. I’m sure it has applications for today.

DT: Well, I think it’s true with Jihadists. Rather than just saying that they’re fanatics, we need to understand what’s motivating them so that we can stop them.

The people I’m particularly focused on are Calvinists. And Calvinists were the chief cause of war in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe. Of course, they were often defending themselves against persecution, but on a whole they were far more militant and militarized than any other Protestants. They were like the Jihadists today because they didn’t believe that the political process was secular, and so for over a hundred years they caused or were major factors in wars and revolutions throughout Europe.

Ultimately, of course, Calvinists integrated into the existing political system. I’m still researching this, and I’m not a hundred percent sure why, but my hypothesis right now is that they lost their political aggression once they felt secure that their religious rights would be respected. Perhaps we can find an analogy in that for radical Jihadists. If we can assure them of their religious rights, then the aggression may diminish. But again, it means coming back and understanding why are they doing what they do, rather than just saying, “It’s irrational; it’s mad. We can never understand it, so let’s just destroy it.”

RD: Your research provides great evidence for people who would like to undermine religion by pointing to history. So why are you still religious? If it’s so socially dangerous, what’s good about it? Where does the teaching of peace fit into all this?

DT: That’s a very good question. I think first and foremost we have to be honest about the truth of the relationship between religion and war. I do believe Adventists should be peacemakers in the world around us, but we can’t do that if we turn a blind eye. If we’re looking to engage with the secular world then we have to deal squarely with evangelistic atheists like Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others. Yes, religion does have the innate capacity to provoke war. And I’m not a pacifist! I think we have to be very cautious about war, but I believe there are times when war is justified. Some religious wars have been a matter of defense. Particularly in the post-reformation period, some of the European wars of religion were Protestants defending themselves against Catholic persecution (and vice versa later on). So just because religion causes war doesn’t mean that religion is evil or wrong.

RD: But of course then you have to deal with the question of why religion causes the persecution that necessitates defense. One thinks especially of the crusades.

DT: Yeah, it’s troubling! I have done a seminar on this at churches around the west coast, asking why religion leads to intolerance and persecution. People often say that the crusades were to convert people, but actually the crusades never really had as their overt intention any designs to convert anyone (which is just as well, because they succeeded in converting no Muslims. Just the opposite!) The crusades were about facilitating pilgrimages and defending territory that was perceived to be Christian.

RD: So when you know all this, why are you still a believer?

DT: Well, for a variety of reasons I just believe in the truth of Christianity. I believe that there’s a God, and I find the scriptures to be intellectually compelling. Nothing humans do is going to shake that. I have a fairly cognitive approach to belief, I guess.

I also believe Christianity to be true at a deep, personal level. I’ve seen it work in my life. And although religion leads to intolerance, persecution, and communal violence, it also produces incredible devotion to others. Almost all the major charities and development agencies working in Africa began as Christian groups, and many of them still have that connection.

And so going back to these evangelistic atheists who want to condemn Christianity, well they have to be true to historical reality as well. If we’re going to say that religion has done all these bad things, then we have to say that religion has also done all these good things. And not just Christianity. Giving alms to the poor is also one of the five pillars of Islam. Hinduism and Buddhism likewise encourage people to give money to the poor.

Religion has also contributed to many scientific discoveries. The history of science and technology in the late nineteenth century shows very clearly that the idea that religion and science or religion and progress are opposed is just not true. Much of the leading scientific research that made breakthroughs during the first scientific revolution of the seventeenth century was done out of Christian devotion. And even during the late nineteenth century, many scientists were motivated by their Christian faith and their desire to find out more about God’s creation.

So religion is actually a tremendous force for good. My research just happens to focus on the negative side! I think if you were to put the negatives and the positives into some kind of cosmic balance sheet, you’d find that religion has been more positive than negative. In any case it has that potential. We have to come back to the example of Christ in the gospels, and if we do follow that then we’ll be peacemakers, peace builders, and contributors to our communities. We’ll make this world a better place, even as we look forward to the second coming that will make things perfect.

RD: What do you do for Spectrum and for how long have you been doing it?

DT: I learned about Spectrum in the mid-80s when I was a teenager becoming aware of what was going on in the church. I liked it because it was dealing with issues in a way that not all of our church magazines were doing at the that time.

I’ve been overseeing the Sabbath School section of the website since last August. I met Bonnie Dwyer at the Adventist Society of Religious Studies conference in 2008, and we got on well immediately. She asked me to submit the paper I’d read there to Spectrum, and then asked me to submit some other presentations as well. They’ll be published in the print journal at some point down the road.

David Trim received his BA from Newbold College before attending King's College London, where he wrote a PhD dissertation on English involvement in the European wars of religion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From 1998 to 2007 he was on the faculty at Newbold College, teaching history and theology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and has held visiting fellowships at the University of Reading (UK), the University of California at Berkeley, the Huntington Library, in Pasadena, and the Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington, D.C. Until the end of 2009 he was the Walter C. Utt Visiting Professor of History and Religion at Pacific Union College. His publications include books on military and religious history, 30 scholarly papers (articles in peer-reviewed journals, or book chapters), and articles in Seventh-day Adventist publications such as Liberty Magazine and The Adventist Review.

Adventist Fresh Expressions

Rachel Davies — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:17:23 -0800

Peter Roennfeldt is a church planter and pastor, having served as a public evangelist, seminary teacher and “pastor to pastors” over the course of his career. Peter says, “It’s been a lot of fun supporting and equipping church planters and pastors in about 50 countries, cultivating church planting movements, supporting insider faith movements within Islam and Judaism, and facilitating church planting.” He and his wife Judy have been directly involved in planting 28 Adventist churches while supporting the planting of hundreds others around the world. It is believed that at least 800 Adventist churches have been planted with their support. Peter is also regularly invited to meet with and train church planters for mission organizations and at evangelical seminaries. He currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he is employed by the Victoria Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Question: What is your position at the Victoria Conference, and how do you spend most of your time?

Answer: For the last four years I have been an Associate Ministerial Secretary, supporting pastoral families and providing resources for church planting and evangelism. I also “pastor” three church plants and two house churches by facilitating teams to lead, develop and multiply the ministries of these churches. I spend most of my time cultivating the vision of multiplying new expressions of church— environments in which unchurched people can experience God and community. In my spare time I coach international ministry teams via Skype, provide resources and pass on inspiring stories, facilitate ministry equipping opportunities, and regularly consult with church planting teams and various missional agencies.

Question: In your work, what dominant trends have you observed in the developed world in terms of interest in religion and spirituality?

Answer: It was not long ago that we spoke of western/northern societies as secular. Today we speak of them as spiritual, understanding that spirituality has been redefined. Many describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. Of course, they mean that spirituality represents the values of life determined by relationships, and not necessarily biblical faith.

Other significant trends include the movement of people across the globe and the changing demographics of the western/northern world, with Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam now being among the fastest growing religions in these societies.

Lastly, we observe that church attendees are aging, with the church and its message having little impact on young adults, singles, full-time working couples, professionals, and blue-collar-workers.

Question: Why do you think traditional church is losing its relevancy for so many today?

Answer: It would be presumptuous of me to think I had the answers. Nor do I want to say “traditional church” is not relevant to some. But the fact is, people are “voting with the feet” and leaving. Why? First, church is often not answering the questions of life today (even though the gospel in fully relevant). Second, the church often functions as an institution of modernity.

There are other challenges as well. Christians now read their Bibles differently. We read whole chapters, books and stories instead of isolated verses. Together with this, we have access to research into what church was like in the early years. We find that it was not institutionalized or denominational, but house-hold based: a participatory and open fellowship, a community of conversation defined by the crucified and risen Christ. Through reading the Bible and history many have concluded that there should be no clergy/laity divide. And today, many are growing weary of the politics, structures, controls, micromanagement, hierarchies and exhaustion of church systems. They are seeking faith “on the path of life,” a faith that makes a difference. In fact, perhaps for the first time in Christian church history, people are now leaving churches to grow spiritually. Just as 500 years ago the Bible was taken back by the people, today the church is being taken back by the people, but they are seeking biblical and pre-modernist frames!

Question: If traditional church isn’t going to work for forthcoming generations, what are our options as a denomination?

Answer: As Adventists we have prided ourselves on being a “movement.” While this term has not been applicable to Adventism in a western/northern context for a very long time, it points to the possibilities of change and relevance. I think we live in a time of great opportunity. For if we could deconstruct our modernist frames and release people of all ages to explore biblical concepts of church, and if we could relate our message to the life-questions of the twenty-first century, then we could find forms of church that are highly relevant.

As a denomination we cannot structure "fresh expressions" of church, but we can ask that they function by two or three principles. For example, we can encourage them to agree on a basic statement of faith, to support a tithe that fosters a global vision, and to recognize a contact or contact team with whom church administrators can relate. These simple points today constitute the essence of our structures for local churches within conferences.

Question: What do you mean when you talk about planting “fresh expressions” of church? You have a lot of real life examples from your work. Can you share a few?

Answer: In my mind there are three essential elements of fresh expressions, all stemming from a “we’ll come to you” mentality. We are no longer living in an era where the church is at the center of society. Few people are wondering what we believe and desiring to come to us, so we must be in their lives and communities. Church is not what we do on Saturday morning, but rather life itself. In fact, we may not even gather on Saturday morning, but perhaps on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, or Saturday evening. It may even be that an “Adventist fresh expression” could gather for worship on Tuesday evening, and that Sabbath (kept holy and special) is dedicated to God for family and community in other ways.

The basic elements of “fresh expressions” are: 1) All of life is spiritual, so God’s kingdom is in our lives. 2) All are ministers in all of life, the presence of God to people. 3) Faith is lived in the life of our communities: in work, service, participation, etc. Worship times are simple, participatory, experiential and relational— with the Word, the Spirit, and food (always)! There are no clergy privileges, for all believers are kleros (they know Jesus and are ministers of the gospel), and all are laos (fools for Jesus, identifying with his cruciform nature). People conclude that God is like how we treat each other and others— women and children, the disenfranchised and disadvantaged, youth and singles, people of other religions and no religion, etc. Our forms, priorities, expectations and structures are our message and declare our mission! “Adventist fresh expressions” choose to identify themselves blatantly with the status reversal of God in Jesus as expressed in Philippians 2:1-11.

There are so many examples I could give, and those I mention will protest that they should not be presented as an example.

• In Steigen (in north Norway), Jan-Erik and Gunhild Hansen were disturbed. Their established church was aging. Traditional evangelistic methods (seminars and public meetings) touched few. Starting from “what has God placed in our hands?” they organized a horse-riding club, then a mechanics and photography club for teenagers. They exhausted themselves conducting a camp for the young people of their community. While attending a “church planters’ x-change” meeting, they were encouraged to see that they were planting a new church. Although this was difficult for them to accept, they returned home to invite parents and community people to join their project on the basis of their kingdom values. Community leaders provided support and funding. Now ten to twelve years later, with multiple clubs, Bible discussions, and life-sharing opportunities, parents and teens are accepting Jesus Christ.

• Revive (in Melbourne, Australia) didn’t start out of an established church. It started with young adults who were disconnected from church and, in some cases, God. By personal invitation they were encouraged to attend a spiritual retreat— to sit, explore the book of Acts, pray conversationally and engage in unplugged worship. No follow-up program was planned or put into place. But over the next 5-6 months the Spirit of God touch the lives of little clusters as they met, talked, prayed, and read their Bibles. Today Revive engages many in a weekly “Vive Café” for community families, which is supported by multiple community stores, offices and restaurants. It provides food for the disadvantaged, facilitates small groups, Monday prayer meetings and mid-week church services. It supports justice issues, missions in Thailand and Uganda, and community houses for at-risk youth and indigenous people. Worship at 4:00 pm on Saturdays reflects radical devotion to and enthusiastic worship of God, with many coming to Jesus and being baptized. This “Adventist fresh expression” now engages with hundreds each week, and not just during worship services!

• LIFE (Living in Faith Everyday) Home Church gathers for worship on Saturday evenings (6.00-8.30 pm) in Joe and Cynthia Stigora’s Pennsylvania home. Earlier this year I caught up with them again in a downtown Philadelphia hotel. When I first met them they were leading a church plant one hour from their home, but conference leaders encouraged them to plant closer to where they lived in an unreached population. They organize an annual conference in a motel conference center, but other than that everything happens in their home. Follow-up discussions from their convention event, ALPHA programs, community meals, social events such as swim parties, etc., all attract local friends and families. This is an “Adventist fresh expression” of church!

Question: Would you align fresh expressions with the emergent church movement? Why or why not? How did you arrive at the term “Fresh Expressions”?

Answer: While emergent church discussions are relevant, and the terms emergent and emerging have been used, in Australia the idea of missional has taken a higher profile, and in Europe it’s “new expressions” or fresh expressions.

The term "fresh expressions" was not coined by me, although "Adventist fresh expressions" may have been! Our use of Global Mission was borrowed, and the LifeDevelopment.info program of the GC Center for Post-modern and Secular Society comes directly from Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church. Likewise, I have adapted “fresh expressions” as a term first used by Anglicans in England. While Michael Moynagh rightly argues that the term emerging connects with the past or inherited church and also looks to the future, it has been damaged by the perception that proponents have been against everything related to established church. For many, the term missional is foreign— not even recognized by spell-checks! The term "Adventist Fresh Expressions" has a sense of connection, yet at the same time it suggests newness, movement, relevance, justice and a future!

Question: You’ve talked about a group experimenting with informal conversational prayer in England. Is the experiential aspect of faith typical for “Fresh Expressions”? Why or how?

Answer: “Fresh expressions” are experimenting with putting prayer, faith, witness and church onto the path of life. They cannot just sit by and talk about injustice; something must be done. Worship is experiential— with participation, informality, fellowship and contemporary expressions. Agape meals, anointings, interviews, dialogue, prayer rooms and stations, Bible reading, prayer journaling, community meals, engagement with social issues, fellowship with the disadvantaged and downtrodden, small groups, etc., are regular features of life in an “Adventist fresh expression.”

Yes, conversational prayer is part of life for these “fresh expressions.” We pray everywhere and anywhere: in cafes, on the street, and in busy thorough-fares. Conversational prayer is talking with God and each other at the same time, listening and interacting with what each is saying to God (usually with our eyes open), using everyday language and tones of voice. This means that people may be seated at a table beside you in a cafe, but they just see you talking. If they hear you, and sometimes they do, they are attracted by the fact that your talking with God is not carried out in a special religious language. Conversational prayer is the easiest way to involve people who have never prayed, and a great way for believers to fellowship with God and each other. (For more on conversational prayer, check out www.newchurchlife.com.)

Question: How widely spread in Christianity and in Adventism is this new model for church planting? How fast is it spreading? Where do you see signs of its presence in Adventism?

Answer: My interaction with hundreds of leaders from many missional organizations confirms to me that “fresh expressions” are widely spread within Christianity. I am frequently invited to speak with Christians who are initiating new things for God, and the variety of their expressions of church and witness is staggering. I am amazed by their passion for God and their total commitment to sharing the gospel and preparing people for the coming of Jesus. Recently I took a week-long holiday with over 200 Christian leaders who gathered to explore and share insights into planting new and biblical expressions of church. Although I only met one or two among these highly committed Christians who had ever known an Adventist before, I did find four who were themselves Sabbath keepers!

I sometimes speak of spontaneous and strategic church planting. “Adventist fresh expressions” tend to be more spontaneous. Unfortunately there are times when they are suppressed, perhaps because they are misunderstood by our highly structured and controlling organizations. In places where they have been affirmed, “fresh expressions” have become a very healthy part of the movement that is Adventism. Everything indicates that they are multiplying, and across all age groups. As one denominational leader said to me recently, “They just happen, and we don’t always know about them!”

Question: What role do you see pastors and church administrators as having in this movement? Are you hopeful about the future of the Adventist church?

Answer: Many today, including young adults who are disconnected from Adventism, see little relevance in denominationalism. The role for pastors and administrators, I suggest, is not to fight but to run with this trend and to help fresh expressions discover an identity under the umbrella of Adventism. Our message is holistic, but so often I hear Adventism defined by what we are not— “we are not Baptists, we are not Catholics, we are not Pentecostals,” etc. Who wants to identify with people who “aren’t” anything? What young people will give their lives to a structure that is neither organic nor a movement— that has no vision and no participation in shaping the next generation of church?

You ask about whether I am hopeful about the future of Adventism. I have been planting churches and equipping pastors and laypeople in hundreds of churches for 39 years. Sometimes I am hopeful, for I see the enthusiasm and spiritual vitality of those who are planting the next generation of Adventist churches.

But I also witness the death of vision and spiritual connection and the loss of confidence in Adventism that happens when church hierarchies seek to micromanage, control and ensure that new ministries reflect past established patterns. We need to identify the “constants” we wish to affirm, and then release every kind of Adventist fresh expression that the Holy Spirit inspires us to initiate.

Question: What books, blogs, or conferences would you recommend to those interested in learning more about fresh expressions of church?

Answer: There are a growing number of books being published on simple and organic church. I recommend Robert Banks’ Going to Church in the First Century (Jacksonville, Seedsowers Christian Books Publishing, 1980); Neil Cole’s Organic Church— Growing Faith Where Life Happens (San Francisco, Jossey-Boss, 2005); Ray S. Anderson’s An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches (Downer Grove, InterVarsity Press, 2006); and Roger W. Gehring’s House Church and Mission: The Importance of Household Structures in Early Christianity (Peabody, Hendrickson Publishers, 2004).

There are a number of fresh expressions sites on the internet that give background to the use of the term and its origins within Anglicanism. Within Adventism, Milton Adams provides resources on simple church at www.SimpleChurchInfo.com, and I blog at www.newchurchlife.com. During May 2-8 2010, Monte Sahlin and I will team up to lead an Adventist Fresh Expressions conference joint-hosted by the Ohio and Pennsylvania Conferences in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Contact Monte Sahlin at the Ohio Conference for more details.

Meeting the Team: Jonathan Pichot

Rachel Davies — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:29:17 -0800

This week we meet Spectrum's Drupal guru, a history and french major studying at Pacific Union College.

Question: How did you get involved with Spectrum and what are your responsibilities?

Answer: I became formally involved with Spectrum around December of 2007, but I had been reading Spectrum for about a year prior. During my freshman year at PUC I discovered the burgeoning Adventist blogosphere of which the Spectrum blog was an important part. It was exciting to discover a group of Adventists asking uncomfortable and important questions and discussing them openly and intelligently. Some of my favorite writers I discovered at that time were Ron Osborn, Alex Carpenter, and Julius Nam. I started my own blog, using it to contribute my own perspective on the topics being discussed. I ended up writing an article for the Spectrum blog on Adventist higher education which attracted a ton of comments. That hooked me to the conversation.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, the Spectrum team was moving forward on a redesign of their website built on Drupal, a content management system with which I was familiar. Sometime in late 2007, a member of the team discovered that I had some knowledge of Drupal and invited me in on the conversation as a consultant. They ended up giving me a contract to prepare the website for launch, and in the end hired me long-term to provide development and support. My current responsibilities are still primarily centered around Drupal, making visual and structural adjustments to the site. I also prepare the weekly email newsletter.

Question: Your family emigrated from France to Michigan a few years before you were born, moving to Berrien Springs, Michigan before you began grade school. What was it like growing up bi-cultural in such an insulated community?

Answer: Interestingly, I’ve only recently realized how insulated a community it was. Berrien Springs is an anomaly in Southwest Michigan. In our little village of less than 2000 people we have Southeast Asian, Korean, and Mexican food stores. On any given Saturday you can listen to a sermon in Spanish, Korean, Tagalog, Indonesian, French, and occasionally Serbian or Czech. It was commonplace to hear different languages in the halls of Andrews Academy. Sometimes, when my friends and I were feeling particularly reflective, we would realize that each of us had parents from another country: Rwanda, Philippines, Korea, Cameroon, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. Berrien Springs is not ethnically insulated; it is religiously insulated. My bi-cultural upbringing in Berrien Springs was not at all strange, it was the norm.

Question: You value your French heritage and went to live and study in Montpellier after your freshman year at Pacific Union College. What can you say about European Adventism and how it compares to American Adventism? Where do you find yourself as a French American?

Answer: The biggest difference with French Adventism is that it incorporates elements of French culture. I imagine Adventism blends with the culture of whatever country it is found in. One primary difference I’ve found uniformly across the church is its politics. I have yet to meet a center-right French Adventist. Every French Adventist I have met supports the French Socialist party, the largest left-wing party in France, which is roughly the equivalent to the Democrats in America. They understand the gospel to be fundamentally about helping the poor and underprivileged, leading them to support substantial social programs. The French concept of solidarity is very important to them. Remember, although France is certainly more socialist than the United States, the Socialist Party has not been the ruling party in France since 1993.

Yet the American-centric nature of Adventism does push French Adventists to look to America for religious inspiration. I have heard French Adventists wish that religion existed as publicly there as it does in the United States. They see the religiosity of Americans as a good thing compared to the staunch secularism of the French. Not too long ago, the French school week broke on Sunday and Wednesday, meaning Saturday was a school day. Many French Adventists would have to miss one day of school every week. I hear them talk wistfully of having a society that was more religious, that cared about the idea of God, and where the Adventist church had a larger presence. Most of the French churches are small and insular. It is not easy being young, single, and Adventist in France. My French cousins often wish they had Adventist university campuses like those that exist in the US.

Question: How are you experiencing the world of ideas now as an explorative young Adventist? Who are some of your favorite authors and how have they impacted your worldview?

Answer: Before I entered college I did some extensive reading on education. I became convinced of the importance of an education grounded in the classics, what some call the ‘great books.’ Some of my favorite authors from this time include Neil Postman, Mortimer Adler, Robert Maynard Hutchins, and Jacques Barzun. This led me to apply to schools with great books programs. I applied to PUC for its honors program, which was inspired by the program at St John’s College, which itself was built on the work already done at the University of Chicago. Since coming to college I haven’t had as much time to read on my own, but the honors program has not been a disappointment. It has exposed me to many new authors. Though I wasn’t sure freshman year that I chose the right school, I’m now very thankful that I ended up at PUC.

Question: Of all your experiences, what event or idea has had the deepest impact on your spiritual life?

Answer: I believed God was guiding me when I made my decision to attend PUC. Though I did regret the decision for some time, it has proved a good one. The thoughtful Adventists I encountered through the honors program there have helped me develop a healthy understanding of my church and community. In some ways, they saved my Adventism.

The class “Self & Society,” taught by Dr. Greg Schneider, stands out as one of the best classes I’ve taken since coming to PUC. It helped me frame my religious background so that I could freely embrace Adventism as a community while remaining skeptical of its truth claims. Such a class, for me, is Adventist education at its best. It’s a class for young Adventists who want to engage with their church but are not sure how they can believe in all it stands for.

Question: What are you doing at Pacific Union College and what are your professional goals? What on-campus clubs and activities are you involved with?

Answer: I am the online editor of the C2, the campus newsmagazine. I am also student senator representing off-campus students. Those activities keep me busy enough.

I’m not yet sure what I want to pursue out of college. I’ve been interested, to varying degrees, in journalism, government, academia, business, and law. Really, I have no idea what I want to do. I’m planning on spending a few years teaching English abroad, hopefully in Vietnam and then France. After that, I will likely apply to graduate school.

Question: What are some of your favorite hobbies?

Answer: I actually had more hobbies in high school. Since coming to college I haven't had the time to keep up with them. Recently, I have been trying to start running again after two surgeries on my right knee. I also enjoy a good match of tennis every now and then. I am looking forward to the World Cup in 2010. I like keeping tabs on tech and media news and national and local Michigan politics. I recently bought an older BMW and I’ve enjoyed learning how to repair it with the help of a friend. And now that I live off campus, I’ve enjoyed learning to cook. Playing around with technology remains a hobby, and one that at least I can get paid for.

Meeting the Team: Alexander Carpenter

Rachel Davies — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:43:29 -0800

This week we introduce Alexander Carpenter, who oversees the blog here at Spectrum.

Question: How did you get involved with Spectrum and what are your responsibilities?

Answer: I was in my late teens when I read my first Spectrum. It was one of the last that Roy Branson edited and it included stories of growing up Adventist as well as a long article on the role of comedy in the life of faith. I was hooked. I would often retire to the seminary periodical section at Andrews University (feeling out of place as an undergrad) and read issues between classes. I met Bonnie Dwyer because one of my English professors invited me to a meeting during my junior year. I pitched a story on cinema as religion and spent the summer reading Paul Tillich on culture and Mircea Eliade on religion while watching films and nervously rewriting the article dozens of times. It was my first article for the magazine.

After graduation, while in India, I emailed over a short reflection essay on a bittersweet Sabbath visit to Spicer College. Then when I returned after a year (five years ago), Bonnie invited me out to lunch and offered me a job at the Roseville office. I started by helping to archive all the old issues and by doing whatever else the Adventist Forum organization needed. I created the blog after I started graduate school, and as the site has grown I've enjoyed working with a whole new group of folks who are creating a community for Adventist conversation.

Question: You spent a year assisting with micro-credit projects in Bangladesh. What continued impact does this have on the projects you’re involved with now?

Answer: In the middle of my time at Andrews, I took a year off to volunteer as a grant writer with ADRA Bangladesh. My time there certainly pushed me away from focusing on individual relief work toward larger issues of systemic reform in religio-political structures. ADRA’s 10,000-member women's empowerment project works well by moving power from the men and realigning it with women in villages across the country. And while there is plenty of corruption and harmful ethnic political wrangling inside and outside the church, the few hundred thousand dollars that the governments of Sweden and Australia provided went a very long way. After living in a moderate Muslim country I can testify to the fact that the best way to keep folks from turning toward violence is to make sure that they can feed their families and have basic personal freedoms.

Question: One of your many current activities is serving on the advisory board for the Beatitudes Society. What is the Beatitudes Society and why does it excite you?

Answer: It is part of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy! Despite the hyperbole, there is truth to that in some folks' minds. Glenn Beck's recent bête noire, Van Jones, was on our board until President Obama asked him to lead the White House's Green Jobs initiative. We actually work to develop emerging Christian leaders in order to build a progressive network for justice, compassion and peace as expressed by Jesus in Matthew 5.

I really like this organization because we are very intentional about reaching out to moderate and progressive Christians in seminaries and giving them a community of hope in a slough of literalism and phobia. This is the faith that moves mountains - just like the faith of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dorothy Day. Folks forget that many of Spectrum’s first-generation writers were directly involved in the Civil Rights movement while many others in the church stayed silent. Forty years later we see who was on the right side of history. The same will hold true again in a few years as the arc of history continues to bend away from the timid who sit in the middle and attack those who stand up for social justice today. The reason I work with The Beatitudes Society and Spectrum is because I see a growing movement among my generation to push beyond the recent preference for just personal piety. It's time to balance that with prophetically-inspired action to help the poor in spirit as well.

Question: You spent a year in Mumbai, India researching the Bollywood film industry. What was that like?

Answer: Great fun. I worked on ads for Toyota and Samsung, and had my face plastered on billboards around Mumbai and danced in the back of third-rate movies. It was a small-stakes way to learn the highs and lows of how popular visual culture gets created and consumed in the developing world. My collaborator, George Kimmel IV and I produced, directed and wrote a short film, Solipsistic Suicide; or, She Could Kill for Sleep! which got me hooked on making films while also getting me interested in work that actually pays.

Question: Your full-time job is teaching in the Department of Visual Arts at Pacific Union College. What are some of your favorite classes? How do the visual arts inform your theology?

Answer: Thus far, I have taught History of Western Art, History of Photography, Modern Art, American Art, Elements of Cinema and The Media and the Christian. I'm particularly interested in social histories, which I've been able to pursue through a couple of those classes. Beyond the temporal, for me, the visual arts function as windows into the Divine Presence. As reflected in early Christian theologies of synthesis and the use of icons for mediation as well as works by Mark Rothko and Bill Viola, at a personal level I find human creativity being linked to something always, already infinitely universal.

Question: You were involved in the production of This Adventist Life, a PUC drama that was performed at the recent AAW/AF conference. What is the play about and why did you do it?

Answer: Mei Ann Teo of Pacific Union College's Dramatic Arts Society (the creators of Red Books: Our Search for Ellen White) and I took a spin on National Public Radio's This American Life format to explore a variety of stories, images and sounds from around the Adventist world.

Along with a fantastic crew of talented actors and brilliant writers, we mixed documentary theater and film into This Adventist Life. We were attempting to remix representations of the spectrum of Adventist cultural and moral experiences from cleanliness and missions to food, sex and Uncle Arthur while raising questions about memory, narrative and meaning. These included: How do we find and fashion “present truth” from our personal and collective cultural experiences, beliefs, and recollections as they constantly work to define Adventism and our own lives? Who gets to make meaning from a story, a book, a flavor or a hope, or the habits of a culture? What role does a person's age, passions, and church membership get to play in our definition of this Adventist life?

By crafting a very personal play from these shared questions, we aimed to stir up memories, remix some truths, and foster a constructive conversation about what this Adventist life meant to those who were in our audience, and what they meant to it.

Question: Where do you get your ideas for the Spectrum blog?

Answer: From what I read and watch and listen to and from the growing network of brilliant Spectrum blog readers who contribute to the conversation.

Question: You don’t have much of it, but what do you like to do in your spare time?

Answer: I like visiting various parts of the USA. I'm fascinated by American regionalism. In fact, it really bothers me when folks on the Right or the Left allow politics to lead them into bashing any part of this country.

I enjoy playing racquetball and golf. I like touring museums and driving my 4x4 to hang out with friends in the desert. A significant part of my early conscious years was spent in high desert mountains. When I return to those far, rough horizons, I am in heaven.

Meeting the Team: Jared Wright

Rachel Davies — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:05:49 -0800

This week: An interview with the editor of Spectrum's film reviews section.

Question: For how long have you been involved with Spectrum and Adventist Forums? What do you do now that you are an official part of the team? What do you contribute to the team on a personal level?

Answer: My first exposure to Spectrum came during my undergraduate studies at Southwestern Adventist University. A professor showed us a stack of magazines in the library and told the class that Spectrum tackles issues not usually addressed in official church publications--things like women's ordination, evolution, and homosexuality. This was in 1999. I went back to the library on my own time and started leafing through old issues, feeling very much a renegade and enjoying it. During my two years as a high school teacher in Thailand, Spectrum became my online connection with the pulse of progressive Adventism. It became my community, in a sense. I began writing my own blog, Adventist Environmental Advocacy, and occasionally contributed to Spectrum's blog. I joined the web team about a year ago, and currently serve as film reviews editor.

I suppose if I were to characterize the contributions I feel I make on a personal level, I'd have to invoke my theological/ideological commitments. I am committed to equality for same-gender couples. I am committed to equality for female Adventist clergy. I am committed to giving equal representation and voice to under-represented minority groups. I am committed to fostering academic freedom and artistic sensibilities in Adventism. I am committed to participating in community. I am committed to helping to construct thorough, rigorous, and sensible theologies. These commitments find their way into my writing and editing, whether consciously or not.

Question: You have chosen the nontraditional route of obtaining your seminary education from La Sierra instead of Andrews University. Why did you choose La Sierra? How has the program enriched your faith and ministry? What was your background before coming to La Sierra?

Answer: La Sierra University has a reputation. I hear it from people talking in hushed tones about "that" school or "that" program. A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I am pursuing an M.Div at La Sierra--first, that La Sierra offers the degree, second, that I would choose to enroll in it. It was a choice I didn't make lightly. Church subsidy for seminarians at Andrews University means that students there pay less than $5 thousand a year out of pocket. I'm paying almost four times that much (and by I, I mean my wife Jodi, a nurse who is headed for canonization).

I jokingly explain to people that if I receive a call someplace where it gets colder than 40 degrees F, then it's not God's will. People keep telling me I shouldn't say that. I have loved my education at La Sierra. It is academically rigorous, intellectually probing and honest and very thorough. While I appreciated my undergraduate work (two years at Southwestern and three at Southern), and I had good relationships with many of my professors, I got the feeling at times that tough questions went overlooked, and I was frequently given the party platform when I might have preferred critical analysis. La Sierra has really pushed me to think analytically, lucidly, and openly. And in doing so, it has buttressed my faith tremendously.

Question: What are your professional goals? What kind of ministry excites you the most?

Answer: My first and most pressing professional goal is to become employed. In today's economy with an M.Div. from a school perhaps slightly ahead of its time in Adventist circles, and with the commitments I've mentioned, I am fully aware that not every door opens to me. At the same time, I cannot imagine not doing some kind of ministry that allows me to capitalize on my interest in and passion for some of the issues I've noted. I'm sure that there is a niche in this world that I can fill. It might be a narrow one, but that's alright with me. I'm a little bit skinny anyhow.

Question: In what significant causes do you believe, and how are you championing them currently?

Answer: In addition to the things I've mentioned above, I care very much for environmental stewardship and healthy living. I think that those concerns go hand in hand; healthy living is good for the health of our planet, God's creation, and vice versa. I'm not necessarily coming from a place of ethereal earth worship, which so many Adventists have gotten hung up on. I'm coming from the understanding that I best honor God by caring for my body and by caring for God's creation (and after all, triathlons and vegetarian cookery are fun). I advocate for the causes that matter to me with my pen (keyboard, I guess), my ballots, and my billfold. Though I do it pretty poorly at times, I recognize, I try to champion the causes that matter to me through my lifestyle.

Question: You are on the blog roll for a new site called Constructing Adventist Theology: Exploring Christian Theology in a Christian Context. Who is involved with this project and where did the idea come from? What do you hope to accomplish?

Answer: Matthew Burdette, a fellow ministerial student at La Sierra, created the blog and invited my participation. Several other Adventists, mostly with roots in Southern California, collaborate on the blog. I don't want to say more than I know about Matt's motivation, but for me, it has to do with a few factors: the blog provides an outlet for my theological thinkings, it provides a contribution to the corpus of Adventist theology, and it provides a platform for dialogue not only with other Adventists, but also the broader theological community (that is, if they happen to stumble upon an admittedly obscure blog by a few left coast Adventist thinkers and writers).

Question: What is the greatest gift you hope to give to the Adventist Church in your lifetime?

Answer: I'm pretty confident that I will never be a famous evangelist or pastor, and almost certainly not an administrator. I'm a relatively slight white guy with a receding hairline who once entertained visions of being a professional pathfinder, a pearl diver, an artist, and then a professional cyclist. My aspirations still shift, but if with my commitments and my skill set I can leave a legacy of faithful engagement in issues of equality and of stewardship of mind and body and resources (in which I include our collective theological ruminations), I think I will feel about as successful as I can be!

Does that sound a bit idealistic? Ask me again in ten years, and we'll see where I stand.

Question: What is the greatest gift you have received or are receiving from the Adventist Church?

Answer: Three things come to mind:

One, the notion that human understanding of truth is dynamic, not static. We call it "progressive truth." It's been with us since the days of our founding mothers and fathers, it's found its way into our definitive statements of belief (the preamble to the 28 fundamentals), and it continues to be an incredibly helpful sensibility to bring to bear on discussions of the issues du jour.

Two, a holistic view of humanity that takes bodies in their richness and diversity very seriously. It shows up in our health systems, our educational systems, our theology, soteriology and our eschatology as well as in our humanitarian work. I am hopeful that it will also find its way into church policy on women leaders and homosexuality.

Three, I am grateful for the uniquely Adventist understanding of Sabbath. Many denominations observe sabbaths and some "non-Adventists" practice Sabbath in deeper ways than most Adventists do. Even so, the uniquely Adventist Sabbath-observing ethos I've inherited reminds me of the importance of the rest-work-rest rhythm of life and of the inescapable fact that however important my work feels (at Spectrum and elsewhere), my work has neither created all that has been, nor sustains what is, nor ensures what will be. Sometimes it takes stopping doing my work to remember that.

In addition, the Sabbath commandment in Deuteronomy 5 has some deeply profound implications for how we treat unskilled laborers, undocumented workers, resident aliens and immigrants. While I can't directly credit Adventism for pointing out some of those insights, without the understanding of Sabbath that Adventism bequeathed to me, I would likely have never thought to explore the possibilities.

Meeting the Team: Rich Hannon

Rachel Davies — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:03:35 -0700

Question: What do you do as the tech expert of the Spectrum web team? What is the most difficult part of your job?

Answer: I share technical responsibilities with Jonathan Pichot. He focuses on Drupal – which is the software product used to build/render the website. I am more involved with Apache/Linux, plus interacting with our Internet Service Provider.

Question: Where do you live and what do you do?

Answer: I live near Salt Lake City, Utah and am a software engineer. I work for Juniper Networks (a competitor to Cisco), based in Sunnyvale California. I’ve been married for 39 years and have three adult sons and one grandson. My wife Sherri is a nurse and does conflict resolution mediation on the side.

Question: As one of the more biologically ancient members of the Spectrum team, what’s it like to work with so many young people? What unique contributions do you make as someone who has more years under your belt?

Answer: Is ‘biologically ancient’ similar to ‘older than dirt’? :) Actually I find age difference one of the less significant parameters that matter to me when working with people. I have had friends two generations ahead and two behind me. What matters more is how we think, our values and passions. Being older provides only one thing – more experience. But that alone doesn’t generate wisdom. Whether I have any of the latter is for others to judge.

Question: You’re a fourth generation Adventist who attended public school in the ‘50s and ‘60s and then enrolled at Andrews University. What was it like to move into the Adventist system of the ‘60s after growing up in the public education system? How has your experience shaped the way you engage with the Adventist community today?

Answer: Well what passed for meat in the cafeteria was pretty pathetic. :) Seriously, my experience at Andrews was transformative. No Damascus Road, but those four years in a thoughtful, Christian setting, cannot be overestimated. Initially though, it was a bit of a culture shock. The majority of my classmates had gone through the Adventist system before college and knew the subculture – and jargon – way better than I did. And each academy had its clique to begin with. Still, in hindsight, I don’t regret going to public schools before college. I’m pretty content with the balance provided by the inside/outside perspective I acquired.

Question: In 1987 you contracted a stomach bug that impacted your life and family in significant ways. In retrospect, how did it also impact your faith?

Answer: I was chronically ill for somewhere between 5-8 years. The first several were the worst, before a tentative diagnosis and treatment. It felt like I had the flu every day. I think the presumed spiritual benefits of ‘longsuffering’ are highly overrated. It was just a miserable, drag-down, seemingly never-ending experience. There was a two year stretch where I didn’t go to church. Very, very hard on my family also. Oddly, I guess, I never gave up believing, although I don’t think there is much ‘credit’ in that. I just put the question on the shelf. One upside was that all that down time made me an even more voracious reader than I was before.

Question: Over the years you have acquired a passion for history and philosophy. How has your study affected your Christian experience?

Answer: It has been pivotal to whatever growth I’ve had. The more history – and biography – we can ingest, the more perspective we acquire. And while some deride philosophy (‘what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?’), wrestling with these issues can purge sloppy thinking and reduce religious hubris.

Question: You’ve been subscribing to Spectrum since the ‘70s. How has Spectrum and Adventist Forum evolved over the years? What has kept you engaged?

Answer: I’m sure it has changed over the years, but its relationship to Adventism hasn’t. Spectrum (as well as Adventist Today) is where you turn to for information about and discussion of issues that the institutional church needs to wrestle with and often does not or cannot. And with the more recent web presence it provides real-time examination and a greatly expanded reach.

Question: How are you involved at your local church? Are there any other Spectrum readers in your congregation?

Answer: Presently I teach a Sabbath School class. There are definitely other Spectrum readers in my congregation as well as several Advisory Council members.