My longtime friend and intellectual Al Lincoln has been emailing me regarding various contemporary topics in ministry. We are considering starting another blog. Here are some excerpts...


[Al] "There is another possibility. Our current millenial generation may be looking for a connectivity that goes beyond being American. They want to be global Christians, and are willing to give up the American Dream and suffer with fellow Christians around the world. Of course, this does not take away the statement "poppycockish naivete! In the end, they'll still need to have a decent wage-earning job or business, and that only comes through the discipline of working hard for pay." I think that accusation will certainly be true for any youth missions person who ends up having a lot of debt to pay in the mid-twenties."


[Nathan] "Said that to say this... I am rather obviously a bit jealous that I haven't jumped into the missionary thing, but the sacrifice now is to find your way through the twisted postmodern economy so that you can get

1. enough stability so that your dreams/calling/vision can remain sustainable - and this comes through job skills/education (as much as I hate to admit it). Otherwise each time you have spiritual breakthrough you lose your job and must scramble again.
AND
2. enough free time at the end of the day & week to re-cultivate your d/c/v and re-engage.
AND
3. once you have truly "arrived", see if you really have enough character not to sell out to the "relentless barrage of Capitalism we call the Western Christian Compromise". After all, you deserve it, I deserve it. We had to stick this thing out and now enjoy increased student loan payments, but also respectably higher wages. We did our hand-wringing and bleeding-heart sympathizing and both-sides-of-the-story scrutinizing back in the 90's, and now life is too busy to worry about that stuff as much anymore... We can leave that ambassador / reconciler mandate with the IVCF folks, right???"

Blog in the works? Perhaps. Vote in comments.