Issue24_JanFeb07-web

NORMA JEAN

PIGEON JOHN

ZION I

THE SCENE VISITS BOSTON

SHANE CLAIBORNE

A NEW YEAR’S MANIFESTO

GOD. LIFE. PROGRESSIVE CULTURE.

*BEN

FOLDS DEFENDS JESUS, HIS LYRICS AND A DOG

7 BIG QUESTIONS Warren, Driscoll, Bell, Winner & Others On the Future of the Church

Regina Spektor + OUR GUIDE TO

15 MUST-HAVE BOOKS, CDS AND DVDS

RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM

AR K E Y OO

ISSUE 24 | JAN_FEB 2007 $3.98 US/$5.98 CAN

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GOD. LIFE. PROGRESSIVE CULTURE. RELEVANT magazine January/ February 2007, Issue 24 Check out daily news, podcasts, music videos and features at RELEVANTmagazine.com

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Cameron Strang > cameron@relevantmediagroup.com

EDITORIAL Cara Davis | Editorial Director > cara@relevantmediagroup.com Adam Smith | Managing Editor > adam@relevantmediagroup.com Tia Stauffer | Senior Associate Editor > tia@relevantmediagroup.com Jesse Carey | Web Content Producer > jesse@relevantmediagroup.com EDITORIAL INTERNS: Hannah Fischer, Scott Gurley, Danny Miller CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Anthony Barr-Jeffreys, Mark Batterson, Jason Boyett, John Brandon, Fred Burrows, Jeff Cartwright, Shane Claiborne, Kent D. Curry, Karen Green, Dominick Haas, Kurt Heller, Brett McCracken, Greg Owens, Angela Pappas, Lisa Phillips, William Pilgrim, Patrick Reeves, Mark Steele, Alecia Stephens, Louisa Thomason, Rick Warren, Mike Weaver, Ed Young

MARKETING Derek Roth | Marketing Director > derek@relevantmediagroup.com Betsy Keller | Marketing Manager > betsy@relevantmediagroup.com Erin Watson | Marketing Coordinator > erin@relevantmediagroup.com MARKETING INTERN: Kristen Bajalia

Looking for believers...

DESIGN

Alliance Theological Seminary enhances your academic experience so you can impact the world. Are you willing to be discipled and to build a relevant faith? Then ATS offers you an educational, lifechanging experience. ATS is looking for believers who are ready to become fully equipped men and women of God. It's what the world needs. It's what Master of Divinity Master of Arts in Counseling ATS is all about: chal- Church Development Bible & Theology Master of Professional Studies lenging the mind, Urban Ministry Church Development Pastoral Counseling maturing the soul, Missions Urban Ministries Chinese Ministries developing a relevant Master of Arts Old Testament Korean Ministries faith.

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ATS offers a culturally diverse, academically challenging, and practical learning atmosphere that prepares you for ministry. Visit the campus in Nyack, NY, or the campus in New York City to see what our locations offer.

Alastair Sterne | Creative Director > alastair@relevantmediagroup.com Jeremy Kennedy | Senior Art Director > jeremy@relevantmediagroup.com Anna Melcon | Art Director > anna@relevantmediagroup.com Chris Hendrixson | Junior Designer > chrish@relevantmediagroup.com Shawn Romano | Digital Creative Director > shawn@relevantmediagroup.com Flynn Atkins | Music and Video Production > flynn@relevantmediagroup.com Michael Sevilla | Web Designer > michael@relevantmediagroup.com Pablo Alejo | Web Developer > pablo@relevantmediagroup.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Chris Hendrixson, Johan Lundeberg, Kevin Russ, Erik Stenbakken, Alastair Sterne

ADVERTISING Chris Stephens | Sales Manager > chris@relevantmediagroup.com > 407 660 1411 x611 Chris Bany | Account Executive > chrisb@relevantmediagroup.com > 407 660 1411 x617 Melissa Smith | Account Executive > melissa@relevantmediagroup.com > 407 660 1411 x610

ADMINISTRATION Maya Strang | Operations Manager > maya@relevantmediagroup.com Nick Becerra | Project Manager > nick@relevantmediagroup.com Matt Andrews | Project Coordinator > matt@relevantmediagroup.com Wesley Smalls | Fulfillment Coordinator > wesley@relevantmediagroup.com Rachel Gittens | Fulfillment Assistant > rachel@relevantmediagroup.com Kaley Crebs | Customer Service Representative > kaley@relevantmediagroup.com

WRITERS’ GUIDELINES & REPRINTS www.RELEVANTmagazine.com/editorial

JOBS www.RELEVANTmagazine.com/jobs.php

TO SUBSCRIBE Web: www.RELEVANTmagazine.com/subscribe Phone: (Toll free) 866-512-1108 Rates: 1 year (6 issues) U.S. $12, Canada $19, International $26

SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Web: www.RELEVANTmagazine.com/subservices Phone: (Toll free) 866-512-1108 U.S. and Canada, 386-246-3412 International

Nyack, NY • New York, NY

RELEVANT Issue #24 Jan/Feb 2007 (ISSN: 1543-317X) is published bimonthly for $12 per year by RELEVANT Media Group, Inc., 100 South Lake Destiny Drive, Suite 200, Orlando, FL 32810. Periodicals postage pending at Orlando, FL, and additional mailing offices.

Call: 800-541-6891

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to RELEVANT magazine, P.O. Box 420863, Palm Coast, FL 32142-9291.

Apply online:

www.nyack.edu/ats

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SEVENGLORY 11/22/06 12:36:59 PM

FIRST WORD

CAMERON STRANG

The New Year Means BIG CHANGES at RELEVANT

challenged to see God differently, learn to live outwardly and have a greater impact on the world around you.

RELEVANT.TV In late December we completely relaunched our broadband music video channel, RELEVANT.tv. Featuring industry-leading technology and the most gorgeous interface you’ll ever see, RELEVANT.tv is becoming an online destination like no other. Not only can you see our feature videos each week, daily slices and other multimedia goodies, you can now watch hundreds of videos on demand, comment on them, A couple of issues ago I told you about vote for your favorites some changes on the horizon for and more. We’ve been in development on the RELEVANT. Well, as you can see by new RELEVANT.tv for the very different-looking magazine months, and I think you’ll currently in your hands, the horizon is enjoy the difference.

here.

The changes, though, are going far beyond a simple redesign. Top to bottom, everything we’re doing as a company is evolving. The mission is clearer, the determination more singular, and to be quite frank, we’re just having a lot more fun now. You’ll be seeing a new emphasis on dynamic media and online content from us, and yes, by saying that I’m foreshadowing a major announcement later in the column.

Here’s a look behind the scenes at everything going on: THE MAGAZINE Let’s call a spade a spade: RELEVANT plateaued a bit in 2006. The reason? The company grew in so many areas that our staff and resources were no longer able to solely focus on the magazine, which has always been our cornerstone. We honestly just lost focus of what’s most important.

We want to make a magazine whose content, design and creativity stands up next to any in the world. We want to impact culture and make an eternal difference in our generation. We want to keep pushing the envelope and ask ourselves, “What if ...?”

Some very cool things are in store for this magazine. You’ll start seeing it in places you haven’t before. You’ll read things you wouldn’t expect. But more than anything, we hope you’ll be

THE WEBSITE On the heels of the new RELEVANT.tv is coming an all-new RELEVANTmagazine. com. You might have noticed some recent visual updates, but keep watching because this month and next we’ll be rolling out a ton of new content features, a complete new look and user-driven enhancements all over the site.

With daily content and several hundred thousand visitors each month, RELEVANTmagazine.com is already the leading website for God-hungry, culturally savvy young adults. But this year, we want to see it grow even more.

Hey, if we want RELEVANT to impact culture, we have to dream big, right?

THE PODCAST The RELEVANT Podcast, easily the most fun part of my job each week, continues to grow and be an absolute blast. If you haven’t checked out the podcast yet (which you can get at our website or iTunes), definitely do. There’s news, interviews, music performances and a whole lot of nonsense. But in a good way.

THE NETWORK The RELEVANT Network, our resource kit for young adult ministries, is being completely overhauled. Not only has the Network’s publication, the RELEVANT Leader, recently been expanded from a newsletter to a full-on magazine, but

everything about the Network is getting a new look and a renewed focus this year.

The RELEVANT Network is setting out to eliminate the disconnect between the Church and our generation. Get more info at www.RELEVANTnetwork.com.

RADIANT The newest member of our family, Radiant, is celebrating its one-year anniversary. If you’re a twentysomething woman and haven’t found what you’re looking for in other women’s magazines, you’ll probably find it in Radiant. Check it out at www.radiantmag.com.

THE BOOKS So, that foreshadowed big announcement is this: RELEVANT Books as you’ve known it for the last five years is going away. Of course, the change is not nearly as dire as it sounds—it’s actually a proactive decision we’ve made to change directions as a company and allow us to spend more time focusing on the magazines and web.

We released 20 books in 2006, and, frankly, it was just too much. Our company was upside down; every spare moment (and dollar) was spent on books, and we found ourselves becoming a traditional book publisher—something we never wanted to be. So, to get things back in order, we’ve pulled the plug and are making a drastic shift. We’re taking all the time and money that were previously going into books, and are instead refocusing on the core things we feel God has called us to do.

Will we publish books again in the future? Possibly. But if we do, you can bet they will be very select titles that no other publisher would ever do.

We want everything that comes from RELEVANT to be unique, innovative and life-changing. If we’re not progressing, we’re regressing, and we never want to simply tread water. We want to change the world.

In life, and in business, if you find yourself going a direction you don’t want to go, you change course. So that’s what we’re doing. And I’ll tell you, the future never looked so bright.

CAMERON STRANG, 30, is the president and founder of RELEVANT Media Group.

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“In the spirit of Anne Lamott and Donald Miller, Tara Leigh pours all of herself into Here’s to Hindsight, bleeding pain, beauty and gut-wrenching honesty into every page. And this book is frustratingly good. I actually grieved finishing it, fearing the loss of a friend.”

—MATT WERTZ, musician

AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES NOW

OR SAVE 20% AT RELEVANTSTORE.COM

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LETTERS COMMENTS, CONCERNS, SMART REMARKS > Send your love and hate mail to feedback@relevantmagazine.com.

It seems to me that Barack Obama (Slices, Nov./Dec. 2006) and a lot of his counterparts will say whatever it takes to get elected. When your life in public and life on the job (i.e., the way he votes) don’t line up, I think that could be called hypocrisy. What a sad state of affairs to be in.

—JERRY WILKINSON / Kansas City, Kan.

the editors of RELEVANT should spend a day with the leadership of Gamblers Anonymous, Teen Challenge, Way2Hope and the dozens of other gambling addiction programs and learn about the real harm that gambling causes to people and to society.

—JAY A. HERNDON / Las Vegas, Nev.

I have to thank Craig Borlase for being so honest and blunt in his article “Skepticism and Christ” (Nov./Dec. 2006). It really hit home for me. I am no stranger to sharing Jesus with my friends and peers. But, like Borlase, the biggest problem I have found with friends is not disagreement, but rather, a passive respect for my faith. I honestly believe that this one thing— prayer—is what is missing in our attempts to share the hope of Christ with the world.

—ANDREW IRONSIDE / Keswick, Ontario

I want to congratulate you for printing an aesthetically pleasing magazine every month and for being true to your word by publishing progressive articles that speak to young adults in today’s America. I would enjoy more interfaith dialogue in your magazine, perhaps dialogue between Christians that are considered to be more liberal or conservative or Christians and those from other faiths.

—JOEL DURHAM / Oklahoma City, Okla.

Your reviews of music are nauseating as you make judgments in three categories: music, lyrics and spiritual content. The only category I take issue with is “spiritual content.” What kind of a place are you in to judge the caliber of spiritual content a band has to offer?

—ROB SWEITZER / Virginia Beach, Va.

Kudos to what you guys and gals are doing at RELEVANT. Your magazine speaks to me directly from cover to cover every issue. The only thing I don’t like about the magazine is the six months per year it doesn’t arrive in the mail. Here’s hoping there’s a monthly mag in the future. Keep up the outstanding work as today’s Christian voice that “gets it.”

—MIKE BIGGS / Dallas, Texas

> We’re not judging whether a band’s spiritual content is positive or negative. We’re simply rating to what degree the album talks about spiritual issues.

> We’re working on it, Mike. In fact, this year we’ll be making the first step by adding a seventh issue coming your way in December. And that’s just the beginning.

The Emerging Church movement has taken seriously the call to social justice and addiction issues in its support for ministries such as To Write Love on Her Arms, XXXchurch, Invisible Children, The One Campaign and others.

RELEVANT always seemed to place itself at the forefront of this call. However, the article “Daniel Negreanu Plays It Straight” (Nov./Dec. 2006) is inconsistent with this position. Perhaps

Is there any way to find and download old RELEVANT Podcasts? There are several I want to go back and listen to again ... the Don Miller interview, the “storytime with Jesse” about the copy machine, Tyler’s piano bar performance, the Gary Busey vs. Willie Ames episode, the grape lady episode—well, the list goes on, really.

Help!

—VERN COLLINS / Boone, N.C.

> We’re glad you asked, because we recently added a podcast archive to RELEVANTmagazine. com. To listen to each and every one of the 70+ RELEVANT Podcasts we’ve done, go to www.

RELEVANTmagazine.com/podcastarchive.php.

I am just curious as to why your five finalists for the RELEVANT Nation contest are all men.

Where are the women? This sure isn’t very balanced. Quit contributing to the idea people have that Christians marginalize people, including women. Yes, I am offended!

—ADELE SAKLER / Via the Internet > Like you, we were alarmed by the absence of women in the list. Out of hundreds of nominations, only a couple were women, and those entries didn’t meet all the qualifications.

We felt including a superficial write-up would be insulting to the thousands of women out there who are doing serious, impactful things with their lives.

Rick Warren’s statement “Four Attitudes That Preclude Relevance” (Nov./Dec. 2006) argues that the Church needs to do more to combat AIDS. He uses the acronym A.I.D.S. to describe people’s attitudes toward those with the disease: Avoidance, Intolerance, Distance and Superstition. Quite poetic. So, what is Warren’s answer to these four attitudes?

Why, Repentance, Acceptance, Presence and Endurance, of course. So, according to Warren, we combat A.I.D.S. with ... R.A.P.E. Good job, there, RELEVANT magazine editors.

—CHARLIE MANN / Via the Internet > G.U.L.P. Come on, John Mayer’s not that bad.

—ERIN ADAMS /Via the Internet > Yes, he is.

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SLICES THEY’RE NOT

TOYS; THEY’RE

DESIGNER

TOYS COLLECTING STUFF ISN’T JUST FOR COMIC BOOK NERDS ANYMORE

A strange trend started showing up in Japan and China about 10 years ago.

Artists were taking apart toys and recreating them, changing them into new, bizarre creations that ended up sparking a movement.

Today, limited-run designer toys are one of the hottest items in the urban landscape.

“We call these toys ‘designer toys’ in deference to the fact that it is the designer (or artist) that is so important to the character of the toy, not the other way around,” Kidrobot founder Paul Budnitz says. “The toys are true works of art; like a painting on canvas, the artist imposes his or her particular vision on the final object, only instead of a flat piece of fabric, the ‘canvas’ is a three-dimensional sculpture made of vinyl.”

The following is a quick look at some of the industry’s notable players and where you can shop to start your own collection.

MEET SUG: SUG IS A SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENT BY UNKL BRAND. AND YES, HE HAS AN ATROPHIED HAND.

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Misc.

KIDROBOT Signature Toy: Dunny Designers: Tristan Eaton, Paul Budnitz Nationality: American Based in: New York, NY Website: www.kidrobot.com

TOKIDOKI Signature Toy: Cactus Friends Designer: Simone Legno Nationality: Italian Based in: Los Angeles, CA Website: www.tokidoki.it

RED MAGIC Signature Toy: C.i.Boys Designer: Richard Wong Nationality: Canadian Based in: Hong Kong Website: www.redmagicstyle.com

FRANK KOZIK Signature Toy: Snorkin’ Labbit Nationality: Spanish/American Based in: Pacific Rim Website: www.fkozik.com

MARK JAMES Signature Toy: CardBoy Nationality: British Based in: London, UK Website: www.cardboy.tv

PLAY IMAGINATIVE Signature Toy: Trexi Designers: Darren Gan, Jacky Teo Nationality: Singaporean Website: www.playimaginative.com

• Rapper Lil’ Wayne is in trouble after throwing money into the crowd at a show in Baltimore.

The crowd rushed the stage, and three people were injured. Lil’ Wayne should have taken a lesson from Diddy, who told us years ago that mo’ money just means mo’ problems ...

• British soccer star David Beckham’s Jeep, which was stolen in Madrid, has apparently turned up in Macedonia after being seized in a raid on a human smuggling ring a year ago.

Macedonian officials say they will sell the Jeep if Beckham does not claim it ...

• Fried Coke is becoming a big hit at state fairs.

The treat involves fried balls of dough smothered in cola syrup. Most doctors agree that the sticky snacks are only slightly healthier than injecting grease into your neck with a syringe ...

• In other Coke news, the two people responsible for plotting to steal Coke’s secret recipe admitted their guilt and could face up to 10 years in prison. The pair intended to sell the recipe to Coke’s rival, PepsiCo. Upon hearing news of the heist, Colonel Sanders immediately put the 11 secret herbs and spices on lockdown ...

SINCE U BEEN PUNK The band list for Bamboozle Fest this year: Fall Out Boy—check, AFI—check, Taking Back Sunday—check, Kelly Clarkson—huh? Festival organizer John D’Esposito hinted to MTV News recently that the former American Idol winner may play at the famous punk/emo festival being held May 5-6, 2007, in East Rutherford, N.J. While the pop diva has courted punk fans by working with former Minutemen bassist Mike Watt, her receptivity at the predominantly alternative festival might leave a little to be desired. For a full list of bands (which actually includes a number of Christian artists, including Mae, Underoath and Relient K), check out www.thebamboozle.com.

LIBYA NEEDS LAPTOPS TOO One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit group started at MIT, is developing a low-cost wireless laptop for use in schools in impoverished countries. The small, colorful computers are powered by hand cranks, enabling them to work in areas without electricity, and are expected to cost between $100 and $150.

The laptops have network capability so they can interface with one another, and the group is researching inexpensive ways to connect the computers to the world wide web. In October, Libya became the first nation to sign up for the program, providing the machines to its 1.2 million schoolchildren. For more information, check out www.laptop.org.

RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM / 17

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SLICES Misc.

• Nearly four out of every 10 babies born last year were out of wedlock, according to government health officials.

While out of wedlock births are commonly associated with teen mothers, this time the majority of the pregnancies occurred in twentysomethings.

The teen birth rate actually dropped last year to the lowest level on record ...

THE TAO OF DWIGHT The Office’s Rainn Wilson is set to write and star in Bonzai Shadowhands, a film about a down-and-out, aging ninja. Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) is slated to direct, but really, wouldn’t you rather see a movie starring Jim?

• HBO and AOL are set to launch a comedy website called This Just In (www.thisjustin. com) early this year featuring current eventsrelated humor and exclusive video content. The site won’t run current HBO programming, but archival stand-up footage will probably be made available there. Finally, Sinbad will have a resting place ...

Super Disappointments :( > The debut album from Brit-Rock supergroup The Good, The Bad and The Queen hits stores Jan. 22. Consisting of former members of Blur, The Clash, The Verve and Fela Kuti, the album is expected to be amazing. But we’ve all been let down by supergroups before (Audioslave and Velvet Revolver, anyone?), so we decided to suggest a few potential can’t-miss supergroups we’d love to see.

Dry Ocean

Steve Perry

Flava Flav

Rick Allen

Journey

Public Enemy

Def Leppard

WHY IT WOULD WORK Steve Perry may be the greatest vocalist and songwriter of our, or any, generation. He’d actually make a great supergroup all by himself, but Dry Ocean would let him push genre boundaries.

WHY IT WOULDN’T The band would end up with just a bit too much ego and wouldn’t be able to hold itself together. Plus, Flava Flav is just weird.

Ewe Boat Destroyer

JESUS IN THE NEWS What’s the first thing that will happen when Jesus returns?

According to the upcoming film Vortex of Revelation, set to begin production this summer, He will bring Abraham Lincoln back from the dead. The movie centers around the Second Coming, and portions take place in Gettysburg, home of the historic Civil War battlefield. As the dead rise again, so does the South, and the town is flooded with Union and Confederate soldiers. Though details are sketchy, we assume Honest Abe shows up on the scene to quell tensions, though we’re not sure how he made the trek from his grave in Springfield, Ill., to Pennsylvania.

A new website, ChristianVolunteering.org, offers a way to connect people with specialized skills to volunteer projects in need of their help. The U.S. Department of Labor stated in 2005 that faith-based volunteers accounted for more than 35 percent of all volunteerism. The website offers professionals like lawyers, web designers and computer programmers an opportunity to volunteer for faith-based organizations.

James Hetfield

Phil Keaggy

Flea

Metallica

Himself

RHCP

WHY IT WOULD WORK The king of all metal frontmen combined with possibly the best guitarist in the world and a guy named for an insect. That’s a recipe for success.

WHY IT WOULDN’T Contrary to expectations, Ewe Boat Destroyer would be an acoustic trio. Fans couldn’t handle it.

Tomahawk Chainsaw

Maynard Keenan

Mylon Le Fevre

Rip Taylor

Tool

Christian Rock Legend

Comedian

WHY IT WOULD WORK Taylor’s hijinks would balance out Keenan’s brooding personality.

But more importantly, Le Fevre has indisputable crossgenerational appeal.

WHY IT WOULDN’T Keenan’s dark lyrical stylings, Le Fevre’s hair and a flamboyantly dressed prop comic showering the audience with confetti?

Wait … that would be awesome!

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“Crowder and Hogan masterfully address both sides of the phrase ‘high lonesome.’ Their book is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking. Until we can vote Ralph Stanley for president, this study of death, the utterly absurd appearance of chickens and why bluegrass is secretly the most important achievement of Western civilization will do quite nicely.” —ANDREW BEAUJON, author of Body Piercing Saved My Life

In an honest, profound look at the connection between death, the soul and bluegrass music—that’s right, bluegrass music—best-selling musician David Crowder comes to terms with a Savior who understands suffering and a God who grieves.

From exploring the death of the soul in mainstream culture to uncovering slave spirituals in the DNA of bluegrass, Crowder discovers that grief is one of the truest ways to follow Jesus ... and realizes that death is not the ultimate calamity.

David Crowder*Band B COLLISION or (B is for Banjo), or (B Sides), or (Bill), or perhaps more accurately (...the eschatology of Bluegrass)

WWW.DAVIDCROWDERBAND.COM WWW.EVERYBODYWANTSTOGOTOHEAVEN.COM

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SLICES Misc.

• Queen guitarist Brian May has released a book on astronomy chronicling the “complete history of the universe.”

Evidently, May left his doctoral studies in astronomy to join Queen in 1970. Given his background, one can only assume he helped maintain the scientific integrity of the band’s Flash Gordon soundtrack …

• Microsoft has shelved plans to adapt its popular Halo video game series into a movie.

However, viewers can comfort themselves with the fact that the film would have locked up and crashed several times during viewing …

• Members of a Methodist church in South Africa have vowed to stop financially supporting the church if it doesn’t expel 1,500 refugees from other African nations that have sought asylum within its walls.

Church members say the refugees have exhibited unruly behavior. An anonymous church elder said, “We can no longer afford to keep the drunkards and prostitutes” …

• A German motorist who followed his car’s navigation system’s command to turn right was surprised when he careened off the side of the road and into a portable toilet. Apparently, RELEVANT columnist Mark Steele isn’t the only one to be burned by NeverLost ...

SOUNDBYTES

SHE BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE Scientists in Switzerland are assembling the world’s largest machine—a supercollider which they say will be capable of recreating the conditions of the Big Bang. The researchers are hoping to create and observe what they have dubbed “the God particle,” a theoretical particle that factors heavily into the Big

Bang Theory. To do so, the scientists will collide more than 800 million protons a second to try to understand what conditions were like at the birth of the universe. According to our calculations, there’s about a 30 percent chance that this experiment won’t cause the universe to implode.

A A RELEVANT TIP SHEET

DVD Picks AMERICAN RACE RELATIONS ON FILM In honor of last year’s best-picture winner, Crash, and Spike Lee’s award-winning HBO documentary When the Levees Broke—both racially charged and worth seeing—we thought it would be appropriate to highlight other notable films on American race relations.

JOEL HUNTER , pastor of Northland Church in Orlando, Fla., was recently named president of the Christian Coalition, only to step down weeks later citing differences in priorities. Hunter wanted to expand the scope of the organization to include issues of poverty and the environment.

When I accepted this role several months ago, I knew that my approach to political involvement was different than the approach that the Coalition had taken in the past. And during the transition, our differences of philosophy became more apparent.

They pretty much said, ‘These issues are fine, but they’re not our issues; that’s not our base.’

To tell you the truth, I feel like there are literally millions of evangelical Christians that don’t have a home right now.

Manderlay

Do the Right Thing

C.S.A.

(2006, rated R)

(1989, rated R)

(2006, not rated)

> In Manderlay, a woman named Grace visits a 1930s Southern plantation that has inexplicably retained a slave system. Grace frees the slaves and orders them to take control of the plantation and earn their own prosperity in a new free system.

Things get ugly, and all sorts of insidious commentaries start to emerge.

> Do the Right Thing is set in Brooklyn on one hot summer day when the melting pot of NYC begins to bubble and boil over. Blacks, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Koreans and more collide as the perfect storm of bigotry and frustration is released on the sweaty city streets.

> Directed by University of Kansas professor Kevin Willmott and filmed in the abolitionist stronghold of Lawrence, Kan., C.S.A. is a mockumentary that proposes—in a not-so-nuanced way—an alternative history of America if the South had won the Civil War. The film focuses our attention on the absurdity of slavery.

These are issues [poverty and the environment] that Jesus would want us to care about.

There ought to be more than just gay marriage and pro-life issues, because the Bible is concerned with all of life. We need to do everything we can to heal the sick and to protect the earth.

SOURCES: The Orlando Sentinel, The Lakeland Ledger

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SLICES Misc.

• The drama surrounding the making of The Hobbit is reaching epic proportions.

Peter Jackson, the director of the Lord of the Rings series who gained hero status for his work with the trilogy, is locked in a legal battle with New Line Cinema, which owns the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s work. It’s not likely the two camps will come together for the next film, meaning if there’s any way in Middle Earth that The Hobbit will be a Jackson-directed blockbuster, some legal disputes will have to be settled.

And in Hollywood, those things can take awhile ...

L-R: Luke Garro, Aaron Stuart, Travis Shettel

PIEBALD THE QUESTIONS THAT MATTER > With their new album Accidental Gentlemen coming out this month, we caught up with punk-rock veterans Piebald. But, knowing their disdain for typical interview questions, we decided to ask frontman Travis Shettel a few hard-hitting questions from the book series Would You Rather?

Would you rather vomit marbles or sweat cheese? > Definitely vomit marbles. It sounds a lot more sanitary, and I can’t even imagine how you would smell if you sweat cheese.

Would you rather belch the sound of a gong or sneeze the sound of a bowling strike? > Sneeze a bowling strike. That’s such a loud noise when you’re far away from the pins at the alley. Think how freakishly loud that would be coming from your mouth!

Would you rather have Boba Fett thrusters in your nose or roller blades built into your feet? > Oh, man! Boba Fett thrusters would be amazing. It could potentially hurt your neck, but you would think if you were born with those, your neck would be structured to handle the strain.

Photo by Alphabet Amy

• TV for Dummies is on the horizon.

Publisher John Wiley & Sons has teamed with Hell’s Kitchen producer A. Smith & Co. to create a television series based on the content from more than 1,000 “Dummies” books.

There are currently more than 150 million copies of the franchise in print ...

• Holiday shoppers at Manhattan’s Jack Spade store were surprised to see a frog dissection kit among the items for sale. The kit contained scissors, a magnifying glass and a frog carcass. The store pulled the product after numerous complaints from customers ...

• The sale of contemporary Christian music grew more than 11 percent in the first half of 2006 compared to the same period in 2005. Despite being the fastest growing area of the industry, Christian music still only accounts for about 6 percent of all music sold ...

GET TO KNOW…

ROCKY Rocky Balboa stepped back into the ring this December to go the distance one final time (insert dramatic musical sting here). We sat down with the man himself, Sylvester Stallone, to see what’s occupying his time now that the Italian Stallion has hung up his gloves.

Movie I’m watching: The Lion in Winter “It dealt with the trials and tribulations of a royal family on the brink of collapse. You find out that they have the same problems that poor people have, maybe with more on the line, but the same thing.”

Book I’m reading: Restless Souls “It’s about the Karen tribe that’s a Christian tribe being persecuted in Burma. They’re undergoing horrible persecution. I thought that I would like to do a movie about that, so that’s what the new Rambo is about.”

On who would win in a fight between Rocky and Chuck Norris …

“I’m going to pass the buck on Chuck. He’s a tough guy, but he picked the wrong guy to get in the ring with.

Rocky’s going to rock his world!”

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IN THEATERS JANUARY 2007

For more information about THR3E, including theater locations, please visit

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SLICES Misc.

• Fans attending London’s World Music Awards were disappointed when event organizers advertised that Michael Jackson would be performing his hit “Thriller,” and the King of Pop instead sang a couple verses of “We Are the World” and then left the stage.

Many attendees felt cheated out of their money as tickets cost upward of $180, but what would one expect from a smooth criminal? ...

> BIG, QUESTIONABLE, LOVE Polygamy may be the next form of marriage up for political debate. An estimated 40,000+ men, women and children live in polygamous communities, and many are finding a public platform to rally for the decriminalization of the practice. Principle Voices, a pro-polygamy group based in Salt Lake City, Utah, says it is trying to shift the focus of its message from religious freedom to political freedom. Many in the pro-polygamy movement credit the HBO drama Big Love, about a man with three wives, with creating more tolerant attitudes toward polygamy.

• Due to budget constraints, the operators of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge are considering selling corporate sponsorships. With any luck, commuters might soon drive across the Gulden’s Mustard Gate Bridge ...

• A Eugene, Ore., man received a nod from the Guinness Book of World Records for creating history’s largest rubber band ball.

The monstrosity weighed in at 4,594 pounds ...

WHAT IS THE SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUE THAT YOU FEEL DESERVES THE MOST ATTENTION?

FEMALE CIRCUMCISION 7%

GENOCIDE IN DARFUR 25%

AIDS CRISIS 20%

CHILD SOLDIERS 28%

HUMAN TRAFFICKING 23%

• The Fragrance Foundation, a group that monitors perfumes and colognes, found that 2006 was a record year for celebrity-endorsed fragrances. Stars as varied as Hilary Swank, Jennifer Lopez and soccer star David Beckham all have high-selling lines. All the while, sales of Eau de Busey remain shockingly low ...

Flavor of the BI-MONTH A 6 THINGS TO PAY ATTENTION TO IN JANUARY & FEBRUARY

New Year’s Eve Midnight Run—Central Park, New York City (Jan. 1) > This run delivers food and clothing to the city’s homeless. If you’re in NYC for New Year’s, you can work off some holiday weight and help people in need. www.nycvisit.com Invisible Children Tour (Starting Jan. 15) > The nonprofit aimed at helping children forced to be soldiers goes out on the road showing its gripping documentary. Check out the website for a date near you. www.invisiblechildren.com Anberlin—Cities (Feb. 20) > For their third album due out in February, Anberlin actually asked fans to leave their phone numbers on the band’s message board so the band could call and ask for advice and input on the record.

Let’s hope they only took the good advice. www.anberlin.com Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) > More than 192 million Valentine’s cards are given annually, while retailers sell about 8 billion of those candy hearts that no one actually likes. This year, consider doing Valentine’s Day shopping through www.benevolink.com, a website that allows you to buy from your favorite retailers and donates a portion of the proceeds to a charity of your choice.

Amateur Super Bowl Ads (Feb. 4) > This year not one but three companies sponsored contests offering people the opportunity to make their own ads for the Super Bowl. Anyone with even a shred of talent ought to do better than last year’s Diet Pepsi spots.

The Secret Lives of Men and Women (Jan. 1) > Frank Warren follows up his 2005 release, PostSecret. PostSecret collected decorated post cards sent anonymously to Warren, unveiling personal secrets ranging from funny to disturbing. This follow-up shows more of the social experiment. postsecret.blogspot.com

Total Votes: 2,252

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t Ex clu ran TNI V s siv e d lati : T o he isc ou n o f R offic nt at i RE ELE al LE V A VA NT NT sto re .co m

A

REVOLUTIONARY NEW STUDY BIBLE...

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Introducing the Today’s New International Version Study Bible from Zondervan, designed for YOU. With more than 20,000 notes, a topical study index, and a two-color interior, this is a revolutionary study Bible. It’s as comprehensive as a study Bible gets, and the Zondervan TNIV Study Bible remains the #1 requested TNIV Bible. There’s no better choice for engaging your mind, restoring your soul, and going deeper into God’s Word.

Pick up your Zondervan TNIV Study Bible at your favorite bookstore, buy it online at RELEVANTstore.com, or visit www.TNIV.com for more information.

PRAYERS FOR JUSTICE

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SLICES

NowOnRM.com CHECK OUT RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM FOR NEWS, VIDEOS AND CONTENT ADDED EVERY DAY

GOD < Q&A WITH PHILIP YANCEY > Author Philip Yancey has spent his career confronting skepticism with compassion and honesty. Eric Hurtgen talks to the celebrated writer about his most recent work, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? > www.relevantmagazine.com > search: philip yancey

LIFE < AN INTROVERT’S CONFESSION > Society naturally favors the outgoing. After years of assuming he was socially stunted, Joel Hoffman discovers that being an introvert is OK. > www.relevantmagazine.com > search: introvert

PC < AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID BAZAN > Chris Troutman talks to David Bazan about his solo efforts, his dark lyrics and life after Pedro. > www.relevantmagazine.com > search: david bazan

Misc.

• With so much feedback pouring in from recent episodes of the RELEVANT Podcast, we’ve added a new Podcast Feedback page where emails from listeners are posted. We’ve also freshened up the message boards by giving a face-lift to threads about personal time with God, politics, entertainment and, of course, a Talk to RELEVANT forum ...

• In recent editions of our weekly online newsletter, 850 WORDS OF RELEVANT, we’ve heard from influential voices like Ed Young, Derek Webb, Jim Palmer and Tara Leigh Cobble, who have weighed in on headline-grabbing topics and issued personal challenges.

The articles are designed to keep you in touch ...

A RTV VIEWER TOP TEN

1. Beck “Nausea” 2. Jet “Bring It On Back” 3. Blindside “When I Remember” 4. I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness “The Owl” 5. The Killers “When You Were Young”

6. Imogen Heap “Headlock” 7. DJ Yoda “Wheels” 8. Starflyer 59 “I Win” 9. My Chemical Romance “Welcome to the Black Parade” 10. The Dears “Whites Only Party”

A RTV SPOTLIGHT VIDEOS

DEEPER WALK In an effort to give our readers more Deeper Walk devotional content than we could in one page of the magazine, we’re proud to announce the creation of a far more robust Deeper Walk section at RELEVANTmagazine. com. Editor Winn Collier will not only continue bringing original teachings online, there is now also a Deeper Walk newsletter you can sign up for. Below is an excerpt of just one of the great teachings available at the website.

BETTER THAN SEX I had to read it twice. Three times. I’ve heard of martyrs thrown at lions, martyrs stretched on the rack, martyrs beaten and stoned and starved to death. I had never heard of a martyr persecuted with sex. However, when I encountered Saint Jerome, a church father born into the fourth century, telling of a martyr seduced by a voluptuous temptress, a man who resisted by biting off his own tongue, I was bewildered. What would make this man go to such extreme measures, biting off his tongue so the surge of pain would be more powerful than his surging libido? What would make a young man hold so fervently to his conviction, particularly in a moment when to give in would feel so good?

I don’t know if Jerome’s sex-tortured martyr was resisting because he was holding out for marriage. Clearly, however, he was radically intent on holding out for God. And God is always—always—better.

—WINN COLLIER

Sufjan Stevens “Put the Lights on the Tree”

Arctic Monkeys “Leave Before the Lights Come On”

Switchfoot “Oh! Gravity”

Norma Jean “Blueprints for Future Homes”

The SoftLightes “Heart Made of Sound”

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins “Rise Up with Fists!!!”

Podcast Corner Check out this stunning poster for Watch Out Woolsey! sent to us by podcast listener Spencer Fruhling.

Why would Spencer make this for us?

And what the heck is Watch Out Woolsey? Check out the Podcast Stuff page at RELEVANTmagazine. com for those answers and many, many more.

To hear this and other conversations of equal depth and importance, subscribe to the RELEVANT Podcast on iTunes!

Tune in to music that matters every day at www.RELEVANT.tv New videos are added every Wednesday, so take that!

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To Buy: 1.800.458.2772 LifeWay Christian Stores threadsmedia.com

COUNTER CULTURE

> RELEVANT NATION CONTEST WINNER

Bill Yeager, 27 KENYA YEAGER GROUP

BY SCOTT GURLEY IT CAME TO HIM ONE NIGHT as he lay in bed; Bill Yeager, an IT and software designer by trade, was asking God to reveal a new business direction for him.

Doing business in his former home of Kenya was not what he had expected. But that is what he heard.

Yeager’s mission: “Use business as a tool to bless [Kenyans] with great jobs, benefits, education and an influx of economic stimulation,” he says. “I realized if this worked, we could grow it and change Africa.”

As the idea developed, Yeager Kenya Group, Inc. was born, and the plan took shape in the form of onions, green chilis and sweet potatoes. Yes, really.

It just so happens most Kenyan farmers cannot afford pesticides or fertilizers; therefore they grow their crops “the old-fashioned way, what we call organic,” Yeager says. For the farmers, this meant they could have a valuable product for the global market. All they needed was certification.

So, for the past year, Yeager has given nearly every spare moment to the arduous task of certifying his farmers according to international organic standards.

While he and his wife put every last cent and then some into the effort, a longtime friend from Kenya, Jane Wachara, has handled the on-site work there.

The result: In November 2006, 1,200 Kenyan farmers were certified to sell organic produce in U.S., European and Japanese markets.

“We want to spread across Africa like wildfire, connecting as many communities to the global economy as possible in many different industries, not just agriculture,” Yeager says. “We will pour money back into the communities in the form of building schools, health care facilities and investing in infrastructure.”

For those debating a leap of faith, Yeager says, “Just do it—no matter how crazy it sounds. God loves faith. He says so in the Bible, over and over again. He absolutely loves faith, and it makes Him so, so happy to see us when we close our eyes, take a deep breath and take the plunge.” > Learn more about Kenya Yeager Group, Inc. at www.yeagerkenya.com. > ONLINE BONUS: You nominated them. You voted for them. Visit RELEVANTmagazine.com/nation to read the RELEVANT Nation finalists’ stories.

A PEOPLE’S CHOICE A CONTEST FINALISTS Dero Sanford Little Rock, AR Age: 29 Dero Sanford is a photographer and volunteer with an organization called Kenya Relief, which is dedicated to building the economy in Kenya, village by village.

Dango Cellan Seattle, WA Age: 25 Dango Cellan is the drummer for Amber Pacific, a band signed to Hopeless Records.

His mission is to use his platform as a missionary to impact the punkrock world.

Michael Spielman Loves Park, IL Age: 31 Michael Spielman created a website, abort73.com, designed to educate teens and college students about the true nature of abortion.

Spencer Nix Canton, GA Age: 30 Spencer Nix founded a nonprofit ministry, Grace to the Nations, with the mission of “connecting the community of believers to the community of need.”

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journey to faith was found along a lonely road weaving through California, Berlin, Hong Kong, and New Orleans.

Along this path, she moved from a place of struggling against God to resting in His total acceptance.

In Confessions of an Amateur Believer, this unwilling atheist shares her first encounters with God moving beyond the mass-produced fluff coming from much of organized religion to a place of authentic faith.

To read a chapter sample, please visit www.thomasnelson.com/confessions

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ARTISTS TO WATCH >

MindySmith

SPOTLIGHTS

MINDY SMITH DOESN’T LIKE to be

WEBSITE: www.mindysmith.net MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/mindysmith FOR FANS OF: Neko Case, Elliott Smith, Emmylou Harris

classified. The Nashville singer/songwriter has a country flair, but doesn’t consider herself country. She has a deep spirituality running throughout her music, but wouldn’t call herself a Christian artist. Ultimately, she’d rather just be known as an artist. “I don’t want to be a Christian artist; I don’t want to be a secular artist, not any more than I want to be a country artist,” Smith says.

“I just want to make music in the most honest way that I can. If someone is going to take the time to listen to what I have to say, I might as well take the opportunity to discuss or present things as I know them.”

Certainly, with musical influences ranging from Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss to The Cure and Depeche Mode, Smith is more complex than a simple genre classification. Her newest release, Long Island Shores (Vanguard), is rootsy, spiritual and sincere. Smith says the album’s themes of faith and its trials are very personal to her. “For me, in all honesty, faith has been a roller coaster ride,” Smith says. “It’s a spiritual struggle. If someone tells me that they don’t have a spiritual struggle, then I don’t really buy it. Every day I come up against walls, and I need to have a relationship with a higher power. I choose to have faith in God.” Music has been a cathartic process for Smith. She has used her songwriting many times as an emotional outlet.

“I’m confident that I put probably more [of myself] than I should in my music,” she says. “My songs are very healing for me.”

Though Long Island Shores’ themes of faith, love and loss may seem like typical Nashville fare, Smith’s poetic songwriting and gut honesty bring a depth and profundity that have garnered comparisons to another famous Smith: Elliott. Perhaps that’s one classification Mindy Smith wouldn’t mind.

— FRED BURROWS

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MC ZION DOESN’T consider himself an artist. At least he didn’t when he and up-and-coming beat master Amp Live first started their duo eight years ago.

Growing up in Oakland, Calif., he would memorize Bob Marley, LL Cool J and other rap artists. “I loved music; I just didn’t take it that seriously,” he says.

“Cats would be like, ‘yo, rap that one song.’ I could rap whatever you want.”

Five albums later, the Oakland-based hip-hop group Zion I (pronounced “Zioneye”) has been making quite a name for themselves, especially gaining recognition for creating positive, socially conscious lyrics. Zion explains the way social activists have influenced him. “I look up to Bob Marley, cats like Malcolm X, freedom fighters [and] people who are very strong in their faith and stand up for what they believe,” he says.

Zion I’s name, like their music, has a spiritual side. “When we thought about doing the group, we both had what you’d call a spiritual awakening,” Zion says. “We took [the name Zion] from the Bible, like Mount Zion. It’s the place where everybody is safe and protected.

The ‘I’ is representative of ourselves as well as the people who hear our music.

There is a sort of divine spirit in all of us.”

—HANNAH FISCHER

WEBSITE: www.zionicrew.com MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/zioni FOR FANS OF: Talib Kweli, OutKast , A Tribe Called Quest

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SPOTLIGHTS

L-R: Eric Miker, Josh Reedy, Boone Daughdrill, Brian Bunn

DECEMBERADIO DECEMBERADIO FEELS THAT SOMETHING valuable has gone missing from the music scene in recent years: skill. “A lot of people play three or four chords and then want to start a band,” lead guitarist and vocalist Brian Bunn says. “I think music has suffered a little bit. It has gotten to be all about just being in the band as a way to be cool.”

So, the Virginia outfit tries to hearken back to classic rockers who focused on musicianship. “Our influences come from things like Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn—all the old guys and guitar greats,” Bunn says. “Back then it was about skill and technicality, and it was an art. You had to know how to play your instruments. We want to bring some of that back to music.”

Their approach is paying off. Receiving a nod from Billboard magazine on its list of faces to watch in 2006, DecembeRadio seems poised to bring their music to a much larger audience. However, as a band that tries to keep their faith at the forefront, Bunn says hitting it big isn’t really a priority. “We are definitely not one of these bands that just want to use Christian music to get to the mainstream,” Bunn says. “We love the Church, and we are very ministry-minded as a band.”

Yet, the recognition certainly has helped. DecembeRadio has gotten

the opportunity to play some major events and showcases within the record industry and introduce a much broader audience to their music.

“We’ve had a chance to do a lot of big events around the industry,” Bunn says. “We actually did one a couple of weeks ago with Kid Rock, believe it or not.”

Bunn admits that the band is still amazed at the measure of success they have achieved. “Sometimes from the inside we still just feel like the garage band or just four guys that love to play music,” Bunn says. “It’s a real humbling thing.”

—DOMINICK HAAS

WEBSITE: www.decemberadio.com MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/decemberadio FOR FANS OF: The Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz, Jet

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ence ership Confer d a e L s ie tr is 2007 Student Min 28 – March 2, ry ua br Fe Willow Creek

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11/22/06 11:04:00 AM

THE SCENE WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD > YEAR-ROUND APPEAL

YEAR-ROUND APPEAL

BY LOUISA THOMASON

> Boston is a city that is both intimately historic and energetically modern. One of America’s oldest cities, it remains a vibrant part of American culture. Much of Boston can be visited on foot while a historic public transit system links the rest of the town. Join us for a tour of local hotspots and discover Boston’s charm and allure.

Boston locals forget why they live there in the winter, but they wouldn’t think of living anywhere else in the summer. The Boston Common, or Boston’s oldest central park, is filled with people and activity, including free “Shakespeare in the Park” performances on various Saturday nights throughout the summer.

For water lovers, a ferry service delivers day-trippers to a handful of interesting Boston Harbor Islands, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod. Kayaks can be rented to explore the Charles River. To add a twist of adventure: tour the river by moonlight (see www.skipaddle.com/boston/rates.php for rates and pick-up locations). And nothing says summer like Fenway Park. The ballpark boasts real grass, a manual scoreboard and die-hard fans. The experience is simply classic.

Fall here is celebrated with its own ritual, as students return to school en masse, coffee drinkers duck in for a latte with laptops and reading glasses in hand, and the leaves begin to change. The collegiate sporting event of the year is “The Head of the Charles.”

The world’s largest two-day rowing event, it draws as many as 300,000 spectators to the banks of the river each October. As the leaves reach their prime color, make sure to head to Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, which has more than 10 miles of beautifully landscaped roads and paths.

A tower stands in the graveyard: the reward for climbing its narrow steps is a view of Boston and the treetops that can’t be beat this time of year. While exploring, discover the famous graves of American greats like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Winslow Homer.

Old City Hall

CENTRAL LIBRARY IN COPLEY SQUARE: Through April 1, visit John Adams Unbound, an exhibit featuring more than 3,800 books from Adams’ personal library.

Faneuil Hall

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THE BEAT

SPIRITUAL SPOTS

BOSTON BEAT

SPIRITUAL SPOTS

Boston is home to one of the most vibrant medical and academic communities in the world. You can’t get Boston if you haven’t been to Cambridge with three major universities (Harvard, MIT and Tufts) as well as a world-class hospital on one subway line within five stops of one another. Boston is intimately historic not only because it is the smallest “big city” in America, but because the city’s present life is constantly and intimately conversing with its history.

An ultra pedestrian-friendly city, you can comfortably walk around a majority of the city within a day. The Freedom Trail (www. thefreedomtrail.org) is a 2.5-mile trail that links 16 historical sites around Boston. It is a great way to experience the old and new strains of city life playing together.

While some of America’s oldest preaching legends (think John Winthrop and Cotton Mather) passed through the pulpits here, it is no longer considered smart to be “spiritual” in Boston. Yet despite the overriding cynicism with which religion is viewed, there is a wealth of Christian history and a vibrant practicing body of believers. To experience it, all you need to do is walk through the doors of any one of Boston’s first churches. Trinity Chapel in Copley Square has a rich gold interior that was recently restored to an otherworldly brilliance. Park Street Church was not only the site of William Lloyd Garrison’s first anti-slavery speech, but also has a thriving evangelical congregation to date.

The Society of St. John the Evangelist (www.ssje.org) is an active Anglican monastery in Cambridge. The simple chapel of rough-hewn gray stone is a stark contrast to Trinity Chapel. The monks host worship services on Sunday mornings as well as a sunrise Easter service that is unforgettable. The monastery doubles as a retreat center for those seeking solace in the midst of the pressures of everyday life.

Other lively evangelical church bodies are The Cambridge Vineyard, famous for its stellar worship team; Christ the King, a Presbyterian church renowned for successfully splitting church resources between a Brazilian body and an American body (if you speak Portuguese, visit the evening service); and Grace Chapel in Lexington, heralded for solid biblical teaching and the pastor’s recitation of large chunks of memorized Scripture.

SMALLEST ‘BIG CITY’ IN AMERICA: (Clockwise from left) Downtown City Centre, Boston Common, Fenway Park, Boston at night

ONLINE BONUS: Visit RELEVANTmagazine.com’s current issue section to see a list of Boston events and attractions happening this month and next.

LOCAL FLAVOR

LOCAL FLAVOR Here are a few favorites that locals wouldn’t miss and visitors shouldn’t either.

• Anna’s Taqueria in Cambridge: cheap, healthy and oh-so-good burritos.

• LA Burdick is a famous boutique chocolate shop in Harvard square that has the richest hot cocoa you’ve tasted.

• The North End is Bostonians’ favorite culinary destination. Any one of the restaurants is good, but visit Mike’s Pastries for some world-class cannoli or tiramisu.

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: The collections were acquired by Isabella herself and are housed in a reconstruction Venetian villa designed to display her treasures. It is grand and cozy at the same time.

Don’t expect to pick out the Degas on the wall; Isabella didn’t believe in labeling great art as she wanted viewers to come to their own opinion of the work.

• “Southie”: Historically the Irish part of town, pubs and restaurants abound. Catch a footie match (European soccer) at The Banshee.

True footie fans can give Red Sox fans a run for their money.

• Crane Beach in Ipswich is a short 40 minutes by car. Stop at The Clam Box on the way back for some famous fried clams.

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REVOLUTION TAKE ACTION AND DO SOMETHING >

PUT DOWN THE KNIFE THE FIGHT TO STOP FEMALE CIRCUMCISION

BY ALECIA STEPHENS

“Educating people is empowering them. It is only through their minds that you can change the attitude of people,” says 26-year-old Rugiatu Neneh Turay, director of the Amazonian Initiative Movement (AIM), a group that has led the fight to end female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

It is estimated that 130 million women have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). Also called female circumcision or female genital cutting, FGM is used as an initiation rite in many African cultures, though the practice is seen as a human rights violation against women by many international aid and rights groups.

Turay knows firsthand the pain of FGM. She underwent the procedure as a 13year-old. “They used a crude penknife; it was so painful,” Turay says. “I bled excessively for two days and fainted when I wanted to walk.” The ritual is often carried out in unsanitary conditions with instruments that are used on multiple girls without sterilization, which increases the likelihood that the girls may contract HIV. FGM is extremely painful, and the immediate complications include shock, excessive bleed-

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ing and infection. Many girls die outright after having the procedure performed.

Long-term consequences include difficulties in childbirth, urinary incontinence, painful intercourse and reduction of sexual feelings. Many women also experience great psychological damage as a result of the practice.

Turay focused her efforts on fighting FGM when one of her cousins died as a result of the practice. It was then that she formed AIM. AIM’s focus is in raising awareness of the dangers and harmful effects of FGM through organized workshops and seminars. These seminars work to convince the traditional practitioners of the procedure to stop by teaching them about the harmful side effects and dispelling cultural misconceptions.

Turay has a unique perspective to offer the practitioners of FGM. She was not only a victim of the practice, but also at one time a practitioner. “I was circumcised at 13 and have myself circumcised 23 girls since then,” she says. “This [was] the only way I [could] earn a living, take care of myself and feed my children.” Because of her background, she knows the challenges involved in fighting FGM. Her organization must not only convince practitioners that FGM is wrong, it must seek to provide them another source of income. A local practitioner or midwife, usually an older woman of a village, performs the procedure. For most of these traditional practitioners, performing FGM on young girls is their livelihood since the families of the young girls will pay them with money or food.

At a rally in Sierra Leone on July 28, 2006, 15 traditional practitioners of FGM signed a public declaration that they would end their practice. The declaration that each practitioner signed states that she realizes the “dangers, atrocities and human rights violation caused as a result of the practice of FGM” and that the “continuation of the practice is not in the interest of womanhood and my community.” Turay says that AIM has registered about 1,200 practitioners who have agreed to stop the practice if given alternative means of income.

However, Turay believes that the root of FGM lies in the way women are viewed in many African societies. In Guinea, where it is estimated that upward of 90 percent of the women have undergone FGM, a girl is not considered a full member of society or seen as a true woman until she is circumcised. Women who refuse to undergo FGM are ostracized by their village and society at large; they are seen as children, not adults. Most men refuse to wed an uncircumcised woman, and in a culture where women have few rights and marriage is a means of survival, they are left with few options. Though many women might be opposed to the procedure because of their own experiences, they will allow their daughters to undergo FGM to ensure that they are considered marriageable and therefore have a place in society. “Unless we address women’s lack of rights and low status, we can never create a just society which is able to meet the needs of all community members,” Turay says.

With the weight of cultural tradition behind the practice, FGM has proven difficult to stop in most African countries. Though several nations, including Guinea, have passed laws against FGM, the practice still continues, and according to Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) News, legislation may cause the procedure to be driven underground with families fighting to hold on to what is seen as “traditional” practice. Though the cruelty of the practice has been condemned by international organizations like the United Nations and Amnesty International, such criticism has done little to effectively stop the ritual. Regardless, progress is being made, however small, to stop FGM and ensure that future generations of women will not have to endure such pain. In Guinea, both the head of the state department and the first lady have spoken out against the practice. In neighboring Sierra Leone, however, no laws exist against FGM. There is no easy solution for fighting female genital mutilation, but Turay has hope. She believes that through education and offering alternatives, a new generation of girls can escape the horrors of FGM. “We want to see people dropping their knives,” she says. “We want to see parents and girls becoming more open about the practice. We want the victims of the practice talking about it and ready to say ‘no,’ so that the government will know women are ready for a change.” 2

Numbers • 130 million

SPOTLIGHT

women have undergone FGM. • Every day, as many as 6,000 girls undergo the procedure.

• FGM is practiced in 28 African countries and various places throughout the Middle East and Asia.

• It is estimated that FGM occurs at a rate of 3.8 girls per minute.

• Each year, an additional 2 million girls are at risk of undergoing FMG. SOURCE: www.care.org

The Coordinating Body on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children is a non-governmental organization formed in 1988 that is recognized by the government of Guinea. Through its efforts, an article has been included in the Guinean Constitution that upholds the right to physical integrity of the person and condemns all forms of inhumane treatment. The organization has produced four films on female circumcision, as well as brochures, leaflets, radio and television programs, seminars, information and training for journalists, religious leaders, opinion leaders, former practitioners, educators and health professionals.

> Web Resources IRIN News www.irinnews.org > A news organization of the United Nations Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance www.religioustolerance.org > Details positive and negative aspects of religious practices; it condemns FGM World Health Organization www.who.int > A United Nations specialized agency for health issues National Women’s Health Information Services www.womenshealth.gov > A U.S. government resource for women’s health information U.S. Department of State www.state.gov > Facts and statistics on countries of the world Amnesty International www.amnesty.org > Sign petitions to stop FMG

SOURCES: IRINNews.org, U.S. Department of State (www.state.gov)

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STATEMENTS led by everyday Christians and will: • Mobilize millions of Christians— This new reformation will be realized by releasing the latent potential of all believers, moving many into effective ministry for God’s kingdom where in the past they simply sat in the pews—hearers instead of doers of God’s Word. The New Testament never suggests that the work of God would or even could be done entirely by professional pastors and missionaries. The world is too big and the needs too great. A global spiritual awakening will only take place when average, ordinary Christians catch the vision.

• Multiply the number of churches— God promised to build His Church, and one way Have you ever considered that almost to do that is to start new all of the major changes in the world churches. In dozens of have been accomplished by a small places around the world, percentage of the human race? In other we are seeing explosive growth—“churchwords, about 300 leaders throughout planting movements”— history have been responsible for where congregations pushing humans toward a new vision are being started so fast that no one knows for the future. exactly how many there For instance, Homer wrote epic are! We need to start millions of new poems that inspired the advance of churches all over the world, and that will Western civilization. Hippocrates laid never happen if we only rely on full-time, the foundations of modern medicine. ordained pastors. The fastest-growing Copernicus changed the way people segments of the Church today are thought about the universe. Einstein where everyday Christians are planting revolutionized science with his theory churches. of relativity.

• Work to eradicate the global giants— And a Catholic priest named Martin Literally billions of people around the Luther began to question the direction world are oppressed by five giant probof the Church. He questioned the many lems: spiritual emptiness, selfish leadextra-biblical rules and regulations. In ership, poverty, disease and ignorance. effect, he told people, “We’ve missed It is inexcusable that people today are the purpose, and we got away from the dying of diseases for which we found Bible as our authority. We’ve got to get cures a century ago. Billions of people back.” live in hunger and poverty when we have Under God’s direction, Luther’s lead- simple, low-cost ways to help them start ership led to a massive reformation in providing for themselves. And we know the Church, and most of us are who the solution for spiritual emptiness and we are as Christians because of what selfish leadership. What do you think he did. could happen if God’s people prayed Now, 500 years later, I believe God against these global giants, prepared is starting a second reformation—a for action and then, in faith, moved to reformation of behavior that will be as tackle them? revolutionary as Luther’s reformation of • Create cooperation between belief. Most of us know what we believe; churches—God timed the invention of a the problem is we’re not doing what new technology—the printing press—to we believe. God calls us to be “doers of the Word,” and if we are faithful, the result will bring global glory to God. The coming worldwide reformation will be

RICK WARREN

Five Signs of the SECOND REFORMATION

facilitate the emergence of the first reformation. So, isn’t it significant that He has timed the development of a new technology—the Internet—at this point in history, when we’re poised for a second reformation? The web has made distance irrelevant. You can be in Singapore, Moscow, Perth or Buenos Aires and talk back and forth every day. Churches can support each other, pray for each other and encourage each other, even if they’re on separate sides of the planet. As web technology continues to spread, God will use it to transform the world.

• Carry the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the world—Habakkuk says, “For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of God” (Habakkuk 2:14, NLT). That’s the whole point of any reformation. At Saddleback, we believe the P.E.A.C.E. Plan could potentially engage 10 million churches training 100 million small groups in order to mobilize 1 billion disciples for the global glory of God. That kind of mobilization and cooperation will result in all people having an opportunity to hear the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ!

The Church is the greatest force on the face of the earth. Think about the exponential explosion of ministry when millions of small groups in millions of churches organize in such a way that each person can do his or her part! As much as this staggers the imagination, this is precisely what God wants to accomplish in the world through His Church. We have His word that His victory is inevitable and unavoidable.

If 300 people working separately brought about so many major turning points in human history, imagine what would happen if 300 of us, led by the Holy Spirit, worked together to launch this second reformation. This is your moment in history. The question is whether you are going to be one of those 300. d

RICK WARREN is founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. www.thepeaceplan.com

“Now, 500 years later, I believe God is starting a second reformation.”

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‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:4, TNIV).

In Matthew 7:4 We call it “a fall from grace”: a Christian the word plank in the original language is man or woman caught in some type of a picture of a crosssexual, financial, legal or other ethical beam that holds up or moral indiscretion who falls from a an entire structure. position of high esteem. The most recent Some of us have example involves Ted Haggard, founder and this critical crossbeam that holds up former senior pastor of New Life Church the entire structure and former president of the National of our lives, blinding us from our strugAssociation of Evangelicals (NAE). gles—and blinding us Have you ever wondered where from the way God views others and our that phrase “a fall from grace” comes own lives. from? Galatians 5:4, “You have become “Hypocrite!” Jesus says in verse 5. If estranged from Christ, you who attempt you are trying to assume God’s throne to be justified by law; you have fallen of righteous judgment, then you are from grace” (NKJV). a hypocrite.

How telling that we use that particular People say to me, “I don’t go to terminology to describe an incident church anymore, because churches (usually of the high-profile variety) of are full of hypocrites.” Let’s just lay moral failure. By doing so, we tip our our cards on the table. We’re all hypotheological hand. While we talk a lot crites! Being a hypocrite means assumabout God’s inexhaustible grace and ing a role that is not yours unconditional love, when it comes right to assume. Sadly, too many down to it, we still believe that grace is churches are communities of exhaustible. We know that we owe our criticism instead of communisalvation to Christ’s grace-giving work ties of compassion. on the cross. But it doesn’t take long Criticism is like a boomerbefore we trade in that boundless grace ang. Matthew 7:2 says, “For for the boundaries of the law. in the same way you judge In biblical terms, a fall from grace others, you will be judged, is not the sinner saved by grace who and with the measure you is caught in moral failure. That is a fall use, it will be measured to to grace. A fall from grace is the self- you.” So, if you want to get righteous person who tries to earn his or what you are giving, go ahead and give her salvation through the guise of moral it. But be ready for its return to smack living, declaring that Christ’s work on the you on the back of your head. cross was unnecessary—at least for them.

That’s why we need to humbly allow Let me ask a simple question: Do we Jesus to yank the plank of criticism from our eyes. Once we do, two things really believe in grace? Or not?

When scandals hit the news wires happen. One, we can see the mercy of and our TV screens, I’m reminded how God in our own lives. And two, we can easy it is to preach and teach grace, extend the mercy of God to others. but how difficult it is to live out on the Because I am not getting what I deserve rugged plains of reality. And I say that from God, I have the power to release as I search my own heart and attitudes. others from what they deserve. I’m able I say that because I struggle through the to give them what God has given me— gamut of emotions, sometimes throwing love, acceptance and grace. critical glances toward a “fallen” man or Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not woman in the Church. “Can you believe justifying, rationalizing or any other he did that?” I’m tempted to say with an type of “-izing” the moral indiscretions air of arrogance. And then I recall my of Pastor Haggard or any other Christian own shortcomings, and a not-so-popular leader ensnared by sin. What I am saying verse comes to mind, “How can you say, is that it’s time to let God be the judge

A Fall to Grace

ED YOUNG

STATEMENTS and take our proper role as fellow sinners saved by grace. And maybe it’s time for us to stop putting other human beings—who can’t possibly live up to our expectations—on moral pedestals. Maybe it’s time to remember who the standard bearer of our faith is: Jesus. Maybe it’s time to put aside our human nature and, as the apostle Paul suggested, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to yank the plank. Search your heart today and take some time to pray for Ted Haggard, his wife and family, his church, his accuser and the thousands who have been impacted by his ministry. Regardless of the extent of his moral indiscretion, let this be yet another wake-up call as to how spiritually vulnerable we really are. In situations like this, we scream for accountability, but we have to realize that no matter how much accountability we have, we’re still vulnerable to the enemy’s tactics

“I’m reminded how easy it is to preach and teach grace, but how difficult it is to live out on the rugged plains of reality.” to deceive us and bring us down.

When it comes to temptation, particularly in the sexual arena, we always overestimate our power to resist and underestimate the enemy’s power to persist. Only as we walk daily in the grace of Christ can we find the humility to say, “There but for the grace of God go I.” What once was hurt/What once was friction/What left a mark, no longer stings/Because Grace makes beauty out of ugly things. (“Grace” by U2) d

ED YOUNG is pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas. www.edyoung.com

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STATEMENTS But I keep quiet. I pull out my laptop to catalog some photos. I’m returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic, where I’ve been reporting on an organization called Healing Waters International. It’s a ministry that uses clean drinking water to equip local churches to meet the needs of the urban poor. I’ve seen some of these churches in action.

I’ve talked to their pastors. I’ve met the people in their neighborhoods and eaten in their homes. I’ve gotten equal doses of devastating poverty and unbridled optimism. I’ve been inspired.

Next to me, in Row 21, Mrs. Pancake Makeup whispers something to Mr. Just for Men, who’s getting more and I don’t catch their names. They’re sitting beside me on the flight from San Juan to Dallas. more agitated as he fiddles with his Row 21. Seats D and E. Moderately observant unresponsive television. Whatever journalist that I am, I deduce a few things. she says seems to Number one: They’re on theirCo i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha way work. He leans back in his chair, closes Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da back to the United States Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha after having his eyes and presses the button to Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da spent a week cruising the Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha Caribbean.

I recline his seat.

Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da know this because he tells me, “We just It doesn’t recline. He pushes the Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha spent a week cruising the Caribbean.” button again and leans hard against the J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da Also, he’s wearing an ugly Tommy seatback. Nothing. He sighs theatrically.

J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha Bahama shirt. With toucans on it. Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha She pats his arm.

J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da Number two: They’re old but don’t I pull up one of my favorite photos.

Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da want to admit it. She’s smoothed over Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha It’s a little girl from a barrio deep Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha J^[h[Êi dej^_d] je Zh_da her wrinkles with an overabundance within Santo Domingo. She’s maybe 3, Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha of makeup. On the spectrum between the same age as my son Owen. She’s “Natural Beauty” and “Tammy Co i[Wj Ze[idÊj meha Faye wearing ratty underwear and running Bakker,” she’s drifting into raccoon- barefoot on the rocky slope behind her eyes territory. He, on the other hand, is a plywood hut. There’s sewage trickling firm believer in the age-defying powers of Just for Men gel. And I’ll be honest, here: The chocolate-brown tone of his combover is quite tasteful, even if it’s a shade darker than his eyebrows.

Number three: They have money to burn on blingy accessories but aren’t so extravagant as to fly first class. The wife has a grandmotherly selection of big nearby, but she’s smiling. Kids always rings on her fingers. The husband sports smile when they run, even if their famia gold chain, a gold watch and a couple lies live in hell. of gold rings of his own. He might have The flight attendant arrives to serve gold teeth, but I never see him smile. drinks. My grumpy neighbor orders a The non-smilingness begins right out Diet Coke. The attendant frowns. of the gate, because the little personal “I’m sorry, sir,” she says. “We ran out TV screen in the chair in front of him of Diet Coke a couple rows back. How doesn’t work. It’s completely blank. He about Diet Pepsi?” grumbles to his wife about it. I want to Boom. He lets her have it. “There’s tell him that he’s not missing much—just nothing to drink! My seat doesn’t work! a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond in The screen doesn’t work!” His voice is which, apparently, Ray and his wife are loud enough that the people around having some sort of misunderstanding. suddenly become really interested in,

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Co iYh[[d Ze[idÊj meha

JASON BOYETT

AIR RAGE IN ROW 21

well, whatever else catches their eye. “Come on!” he shouts. “Can you please tell me something on this plane that does work?”

Please understand: I am about as violent as a bowl of oatmeal.

But suddenly I want to unbuckle my seat belt, return my tray to its locked position, stand up and kindly punch the guy in the mouth.

I want to unfurl an epic tapestry of smack. Nothing works? How about the four turbofan engines creating enough aerodynamic thrust to keep our 400ton airplane from plummeting into the Gulf of Mexico? Apparently, they work.

But I am a pacifist. I don’t assault him physically or verbally. Nor do I take what might have been the best approach, which would have been to swivel around my laptop to show the guy a personal slide show of the Dominican Republic. Where I met children who had no reclining seats, no television screens, no Diet Coke and also no shoes.

My rage subsides, and I get back to work. He goes to sleep. We land in Dallas. The next day I tell a well-traveled journalist friend of mine about the stupid, self-absorbed nutbar in Row 21, and how I wanted to judo chop the entitlement right off his face.

He laughs. “I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened to me,” he says. “You’re always shocked at that ugly American thing when you’ve seen how the rest of the world lives.” I nod in agreement. No doubt.

“The problem is that the anger you feel about it usually goes away after a while,” my friend says. “And before long, you’re acting the same way, and you don’t even notice it.”

That was 12 months ago. And God help me, he was right. In a world of overwhelming need, may I always be aware of my own arrogant self-importance. And may I always want to punch it in the mouth. d

“I’ve gotten equal doses of devastating poverty and unbridled optimism.”

JASON BOYETT

is the

author of Pocket Guide to the Bible (RELEVANT Books).

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FELLOWSHIP CHURCH DALLAS-FT. WORTH, TEXAS

turning WHAT IF into WHAT IS

FEATURING ED YOUNG

BISHOP T.D. JAKES | DR. ED YOUNG MARK DRISCOLL | CRAIG GROESCHEL

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11/22/06 1:04:20 PM

STATEMENTS

MARK STEELE

THE LAUGH MONKEY Have you ever had that dream where you are alone on stage and everyone in the audience is expecting you to answer a question you didn’t actually hear? And also, it’s church. And also, you’re naked.

That’s what performing comedy is like.

I have spent the last 15 years doing, among other things, improv and standup comedy. This has perpetuated two consistent identifiers of my life: an unending sense of anxiety and a flaring rash when others ask me to “do something funny.”

I’m not complaining. I appreciate the God-given gift to bring others joy. But I don’t always feel like turning it on. As a matter of fact, there are moments I know that I cannot turn it on—that I will fall flat on my face during the attempt and that the already-awkward moment will end with the cursed comment “well, he was funny last time.”

I am not alone in this anxiety. We each have that one talent that some find amazing and others find annoying. The refined or sometimes unhoned detail of our existence that God seems to find a way to use even when we resist its label.

The difference is: most of us are not called upon to perform this unique skill at parties on a moment’s notice.

• “Jason, do that quantum physics thing for Mandy.”

• “Teresa, act like you’re doing a price check on my ham sandwich.”

• “Now you get over here and show your grandmother how you won that wrestling title.”

But, no. Comedy comes with obligation. I am required to do it—and do it justice, even when I feel like doing the opposite. I don’t want to joke on my bad days, and I don’t want to bandy about witty repartee while I’m having my gums scraped by the dental hygienist. Look at me! I’m the laugh monkey! My life calling has been reduced to the equivalent of throwing

Use what I’ve given you to work with and do something impressive.

Impress an image of how Jesus can work through you when you’re not really in that great a mood.”

That’s why it’s called a calling.

Because even when we’re wandering far away from home, the Voice beckons us back.

Every day, I have opportunities to destroy someone else’s perception of Christ by giving in to my own comforts while calling my path His. The true miracle is that if I take the complicated choice and actually deny myself, revealing Jesus when all around expect a more human response, there is no chance that they will see me. They will see Jesus instead, and one will not be confused with the Significant Other.

The truth is, “doing something funny” isn’t done for the benefit of the doer. It’s done for the benefit of the one who needs the laugh. To that end, it doesn’t really matter how the doer feels about the matter.

It only matters that he does the something funny anyway. Who knows? In the process, the doer may just burst into laughter himself. d

“Comedy comes with obligation. I am required to do it—and do it justice.” my feces at my pile of banana peels in the corner for applause. I don’t want to be the “do something funny” guy! I just want to be a human being who gets to be the opposite of funny except for the moments where it works best for me!

And I quickly realize that I follow Christ in the same way.

Where He would quicken me to walk in His path especially in the moments I most want to stray or stop and rest, I would prefer to obey Him when it is most rewarding or impressive. Unfortunately, those moments are the exception. God’s rule sounds more like this: “Hey, Mark: right now, in your bad mood when you don’t particularly know or like or appreciate the smell of the other person asking you to be like Jesus—yeah, right now. Be like Jesus.

MARK STEELE is the author of Flashbang: How I Got Over Myself (RELEVANT Books).

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WITH

GO DEEPER The Danger Habit

by Mike Barrett

Amped for adventure, dulled by responsibilities? Always searching, never settling? Being a believer doesn’t mean you have to leave your daredevil self behind. God has given you a love of risk for a reason. Learn to focus your energy on the one chance that’s really worth taking—faith in a God that is anything but boring. Mike Barrett writes to every fidgety believer who’s itching for more, using modern-day and biblical stories of adventure to prove that living on the edge can be the Lord’s work. Find what it is you’re fighting for, and discover the adventure God made you to live.

MICHAEL BARRETT is a full-time tech-

nology business executive and the teaching pastor for Coast Vineyard Church in Lincoln City, Oregon. In 2002 he founded the Oregon chapter of Christian Surfers United States and currently serves on the national board of directors for CSUS. To feed his own danger habit, Michael is an avid surfer and occasional rock climber.

“

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I caused significant pain to my own wife and kids while struggling with an addiction to risk, the pursuit of extreme sports, and an overwhelming feeling of being bored with many Christians and standard church life. My epiphany came a number of years ago when God broke through it all and showed me how ‘propped up’ my life was without His real presence and power. In the end, we sold our suburban home, moved to the Oregon Coast, and started a ministry to surfers. Countless lives were changed; my wife and I even became pastors. Once dead to the life I had pursued, God gave me back an adventure I could never have previously dared to hope for.

—Mike Barrett

”

Available at bookstores everywhere.

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Q&A

PIGEON JOHN HOW HE AVOIDS BEING PIGEONHOLED

BY ANTHONY BARR-JEFFREY

Pigeon John is unabashedly nerdy and inexplicably cool, an everyman whose mix of West Coast hip-hop, jazz and rock is both fun-loving and poignant. His Quannum Projects debut, Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party, is as wonderful as his unpredictable live show.

Provocative, offbeat and witty, Pigeon John is captivating everyone from critics to fellow rappers to middle-aged NPR listeners. Pigeon talked to RELEVANT and broke down the risks and payoff of life as a Christian hip-hopper in the general market.

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How do you see your evolution from being part of two of Christian rap’s premier groups (Brainwash Projects and L.A. Symphony) to being on one of the general market’s most highly touted and respected rap labels?

Brainwash Projects and LAS—we were all young hip-hop dudes that were Christians doing stuff at the Good Life (early ’90s spoken word club that launched many careers), doing church shows.

And we were from L.A., not from Nashville, Tenn., where the line is drawn and very clearly [laughs].

So getting into the Christian market and the underground market—we never drew any lines, we never even thought we had to. When we realized that lines had to be drawn, there was the frustration of some people (in the group) saying, “I just want to do underground rap,” or ”Man, I don’t ever want anything to do with the Christian [industry]” because we got hurt! Frustrating situations started happening, and you start to get defensive and hurt and never want to do it, or want to do it but maybe for the wrong reasons. And then you mix Jesus with money, and you question, “Are you slangin’ Jesus?”

It gets real dangerous emotionally and a little bit spiritually.

With me leaving that area, I just wanted to be in the general market and focus in and do my best, but not change my content or my love for God or wanting to share the love of God. During that time I realized that God speaks to people when He wants to, and it changed my whole perspective on trying to save souls instead of a capitalist way of Christianity. I found more freedom in doing it this way versus the other. Kind of like when David faced Goliath, and the king put a big old structure on him, and he said, “Fool, I can’t do it like that. I gotta be all half-naked with the stone. Then I’ll know what I’m doing!” I had to go through all of that. I’m freer over here.

So you find it easier to do your art in the general secular market?

It is easier, but it’s also harder because no one is watching you, no one is checking you. In the regular world, there is a lot more responsibility because if you have a beer, it’s not a big deal. People aren’t looking at you trying to learn from you; they are pretty much trying to party with you. So it’s a lot harder musically but also to live here, and it challenges me as a Christian to say [to myself], “OK, what are you doing?” And then you instantly realize, “Fool, you are not any different than these people. I just think I’m different because I have Jesus in my life.” But a lot of times it’s scary. In my old world, when you are on stage rapping at a youth group, you are setting an example. People instantly look up to you. So it’s a little harder in the world.

Like anyone would know—bartenders, mechanics or whoever—it can just be harder to really live it.

Since you seem to be constantly touring and making cameos on other folks’ projects, have you come across other “artists of faith” in the general market who you’ve found supportive or just connected with?

Just last night I was talking to my buddy in the group Old Dominion, Onry Ozzborne. We were just hanging out backstage, and I mentioned Smoke, one of their guys, was on Sphere of Hip-Hop (which mainly promotes Christian hip-hop). I didn’t know Smoke did that because when I met Smoke, I just thought, “Oh wow, he’s in Old Dominion; he’s a really cool guy.” Onry, who is also in the group Greyskul (Rhymesayers Records), whose whole vibe is quote-unquote “dark and wild,” said that when they started Old Dominion, seven of the 10 MCs were Christians. He said that it may sound dark, but man, what we are doing is “God Rap.” I think Jesus doesn’t tell on Himself. He wouldn’t wear His own shirts; He doesn’t have a corporate marketing plan or anything like that. He doesn’t want to do a subculture. He’s not into that at all. I think He moves in strip clubs, in bars, in churches, in restaurants. He just moves everywhere, and inviting God into “everywhere” will only strengthen everybody. I find it really encouraging when I see that. I think it’s more meaningful and more legit when someone hears God when they’re not trying to hear God, through music that isn’t found at a Christian bookstore. That just seems mad. Go to a Christian bookstore. Get a Christian message. “Oh man, I’m getting touched by a ‘Christian’ God, and now I’m a Christian.” That may be legit and there’s a lot of good in it, but I think there is a lot of good in the mystery of God and things that aren’t really explained.

You are like a mad scientist on stage—mixing your faith and unpredictable craziness. Do you have any hesitations about that approach?

I’ve never once gotten on stage and heard someone say, “Get off the stage!” or “Hey, you’re a Christian, no way!” Never, bro, never. I got more [flack] when Brainwash Projects used to do the “Fight Song” where we would actually “fight” each other; I got more flack for that and “Mucha Muchachas,” a song about “Man, I’m dealing with girls, and I don’t want to masturbate that much.” I got more flack from the Church for doing that than anything in the regular market. I could do a song called “Jesus Christ Rules the Heavens.” They don’t care; they are like “OK, we’re open; I like it if the beat is hot!” I think when you take God out of a box, it gets really easy to be open.

What would you say to Christian artists working in the general market?

I just want to encourage humans in general to return to that original idea of “What does God

want me to do?” Try to make the wisest decision, do that 100 percent and don’t give up. I think we can make a difference no matter what genre or what industry a person is in; just knowing that I’m supposed to be here changes my whole perspective. It takes away a lot of pain, guilt and frustration, all the wastes of time that God has nothing to do with. 2

THE PIGEON JOHN ANTHOLOGY 1998 BRAINWASH PROJECTS The Rise and Fall of Brainwash Projects (Jackon Rubio)

1999 LA SYMPHONY Composition No. 1 (Eartube Empire)

2001 PIGEON JOHN ... is Clueless (Syntax)

2002 L.A. SYMPHONY The Baloney EP (Kulture)

2003 L.A. SYMPHONY The End is Now (Basement Records)

2003 PIGEON JOHN ... is Dating Your Sister (Basement)

2005 PIGEON JOHN ... Sings the Blues (Basement)

2006 PIGEON JOHN ... and the Summertime Pool Party (Quannum)

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FAITH

NO MORE WHY ARE SO MANY TWENTYSOMETHINGS LEAVING THEIR FAITH?

BY JESSE CAREY

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David Kinnaman is the vice president and strategic leader of The Barna Group, a leading research group targeting Christians in the United States that uses scientific research analysis to help reveal underlying issues that contribute to the drastic decline in twentysomething church attendance.

Kinnaman believes there is a series of factors that can lead to an exodus once teenagers hit college age. The first is the slow realization that, It doesn’t make sense anymore. It’s an idea that is common among free-thinking college students and increasingly independent young adults.

“One of the primary things is that they haven’t been taught to think,” Kinnaman says. “As we look at the interviews with teenagers and with young adults—their perspective theologically, and even their perspective about the world—very few have what’s called a ‘biblical worldview’ or perspective about the world that’s informed by the principles of Scripture.”

The research also finds that, along with the lack of empowered thinking, the “one-size-fits-all ministry” discourages engagement, especially from a group as independent as twentysomethings.

The disengagement only furthers doubt fueled by questions without easy answers. Often, young adults like Strahand know the “right” answers, but lack the theological and philosophical instruction to apply it, not only in an academic setting but also in times of doubt and fear.

To help this problem, Kinnaman says that many ministries have attempted more relational strategies, but, on a practical level, it’s nearly impossible for a small handful of leaders to maintain personal interaction with every individual. It’s a problem that leads to another key element in the process of disengagement: a lack of discipleship, with many ministries neglecting to develop leaders among their congregation.

Strahand reveals, “Had I stayed in the church, I’d still be ignoring my gut feelings about the gray areas of Chris-

Jill Strahand was like a lot of Christian teenagers. She grew up in a home where both parents were believers and raised her to regularly read the Bible, pray and, of course, go to church. By the time she reached high school, Strahand was actively involved in her youth group—leading worship, helping the Christian club at her school, attending Bible studies.

Reflecting on that time in her life, Strahand says, “My boyfriend at the time and I were even the token Christian couple at church.” She also remembers, “If anyone asked me about God or Jesus, I’d start to get excited that they would be accepting Jesus into their life and join the Christian family.”

Strahand was “on fire.”

When her family moved, things slowly began to unravel.

Strahand tried another congregation in her new city and immediately joined the worship team. But the experience just wasn’t the same now that she was getting older.

“I felt too old to be a part of the high-school groups but too young to be with the college groups,” she says. “I started phasing out church events, using my part-time job as an excuse, but I still was ‘on fire’ for God. Soon, I started to have seeds of doubt about Christianity itself, but I knew all the ‘Christian’ answers and would tell myself those so that I would believe again.”

When it was time to go off to college, her disbelief grew, and the “Christian answers” she had been taught were no longer working. The support group of peers that Strahand developed in youth group was no longer there to help.

She says she blamed the doubt on a “lack of fellowship with fellow Christians.” Shortly after that, she completely abandoned the faith that, she thought, seemed to have abandoned her.

“It still took a long time not to label myself a Christian anymore, mostly because it was scary,” she says. “I think I hung onto my religion so long because I was terrified of what people would think.”

Today Strahand doubts that she ever really believed in the first place.

Strahand’s story is not uncommon. The latest numbers are staggering, as a recent survey from The Barna Group suggests only one-fifth of twentysomethings have maintained the same level of spiritual activity as they did in high school. Barna’s research shows that twentysomethings—even ones who were very active in church during their teen years—have lower levels of church attendance, study time, Bible reading, donations to churches and small group involvement compared to older adults.

Perhaps the most jarring statistic reflects the overall attitude of twentysomethings when it comes to maintaining the faith of their youth: 61 percent of those involved in church at some level as teenagers completely disengage in their 20s.

tianity. So for me, it was a good thing I lost fellowship, because it was reaffirming all the ‘Christian’ answers I would be telling myself. Now that I’ve had time to step back, I can see how everything ‘makes sense’ in the Christian box.

There are no unanswered questions; it’s just faith. In all honesty, I wanted to believe since it would make everything so much simpler, but now I’ve seen the world from a different perspective.”

Her thoughts only confirm Kinnaman’s ideas about discipleship.

“A problem with a lot of churches is that we just have a fixation with attendees rather than disciples,” Kinnaman says. “Youth groups, whether they care to admit this or not, fall into that same track; if we can get more butts in the seats, we must be doing something right. And yet discipleship is a very individualized proposition.”

But Strahand admitted it was her own lack of fellowship with Christians that served as the tipping point. And for Christians who stick with the faith, fellowship is often the factor that serves as reinforcement in the tough times.

Rob Fauch is a 23-year-old recent college grad. Like Strahand, he was raised in the church. While at college, he encountered other Christians who were leaving the faith, growing bitter and challenging ideas that they’d always known, but he says that what grounded him during this time was not a flashy young adult church service—it was relationships with fellow believers.

Though he doesn’t deny the importance of attending church in his own life, he says it was crucial to maintain a community of close friends who supported and shared his faith.

“God did not intend for us to walk alone,” he says. “The Church seems like it is going in this crazy direction of huge multimedia presentations and all this stuff, but I really think that people want other real people. Every single relationship you have should emulate your relationship with Christ in some way, so if you are missing that in your life, you’re not going to be connected. The Church has done such a terrible job of making sure that Christians stay connected.”

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He says that too often his peers see that leaders are caught up in creating a “Super Bowl-like event” and miss the mark of what twentysomethings are really looking for in a time when so many struggle with loneliness, depression and purpose.

Strahand’s situation is not uncommon, and Kinnaman thinks that the problem of doubting “gut feelings” can be fixed through real-life application and finding life purpose in Christianity. This idea has to do with the focus of twentysomething ministries; when young people are in college, their thinking is consumed with figuring out their own identity and finding out what they want to do in life.

Kinnaman says that because every person is completely unique, finding the right career path for using individual gifts and passions becomes a primary focus, and often one —Rob Fauch that is not effectively addressed.

“We are learning that very few churches have any kind of program that asks not just ‘how do we build people theocomfortable, easy lifestyle that is often associated with church. logically,’ but ‘how do we build people in terms of their voca“I feel like Christianity, within the Church, has been painted as a fairy tale, meantional and educational and gifting choices’—how to help them ing every great fairy tale really ends at the beginning,” he says. “You close a movie understand their leadership ability,” he says. “That will help or a book with some great romantic scene in which a relationship really finds itself them play out their most important role as a human being.” at the beginning, and that’s how many churches present Christianity. And what we But Kinnaman is optimistic when it comes to facing the are trying to do is to talk about that fairy tale not being the ending, but being the issues at the source of twentysomethings going down the beginning. The romance, and the story of God, is one that allows you to wrestle path of doubt. with what happens after the final scene of a fairy tale.”

“Doubt is not a bad thing,” he says. “Doubt is a really Part of this “ever-after” faith is not only welcoming questions, but embracing healthy part of the way God created us intellectually. Some them. “What Status tries to do is to ask those great questions as a community, not people have a lot more doubts just by their very personality. just let people ask those questions on their own or feel on the outside for asking God has given them the gift of asking really tough questions— questions about faith or who Jesus is and how that is represented in the local challenging the process. That’s a leadership gift. That’s a real church,” Loveless says. spiritual gift, a prophetic kind of gift.”

The ministry has a heavy focus on home groups and Bible studies, modeled Kinnaman believes that the doubters—the very same indilike house churches, where members of the community face issues, doubts viduals who are leaving the church, like Strahand—actually have and questions head-on. Through emphasis on small groups, along with a large some of the most powerful leadership potential. But to reach Sunday-night service, Status raises up new leaders who are equipped to deal and equip those looking for big answers, the Church must find with young adults seeking the deeper answers. practical ways of providing them.

“Like any other relationship, there are going to be times that suck, there are going to be times where you question the relationship, there are going to be times you are frustrated because you’re not experiencing what you used There is hope. This holistic thinking about ministry is becoming to experience, and we want to embrace those things about the spiritual joura grassroots movement, sparking upstart, often unconventional ney and following in the ways of Jesus,” he says. “And we want to do that in churches across the country. Status, a twentysomething group in community and in relationship with one another. We are trying to draw people Orlando, Fla., has become its own entity after getting its start as into the life of the Church.” a young adult service for a parent church. In the last two years, To Fauch and other faithful twentysomethings, staying connected to the the ministry has grown to attract more than 1,000 twentysome“life of the Church” has been the most important part of maintaining not just things a week, many of whom have never set foot in the parent his basic beliefs, but also his daily walk of faith. His advice to those slipping church’s Sunday-morning service. But at its core, Status isn’t about away from faith and the Church is to connect with people who are in the big numbers. It’s about reaching individuals who are dealing with same situation. doubt through one-on-one relationships and an emphasis on small, “People that have that mentality, that are on the edge or on the line, weekly home church meetings. for every person that is like that, there are 10 or 20 other people just like Josh Loveless is the “NexGen” pastor at Status, and he believes them,” Fauch says. that the disconnect between the established church and authentic Today, Strahand’s doubt and the story that started when she unplugged twentysomething ministry communities stems from a dissatisfacfrom community reflects that of many twentysomethings. But fortunately tion with the way church has been presented. At Status and other for those who have walked away from their faith, there are more and more rising young adult ministries, he says the congregation wants to deal young believers who have found the value of Christian relationships and with “the uncomfortable weight of the Gospel” not just simple ideas. a community of twentysomethings who are not quite ready to give up Loveless says that many twentysomethings are not satisfied with the on them. 2

“The Church has done such a terrible job of making sure that Christians stay connected.”

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HARDCORE KIDS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

A

BY DANNY MILLER AND CARA DAVIS PHOTO BY JOHAN LUNDBERG

NORMA JEAN IS BEST known for a few things: their Southern brand of hard-hitting, bone-splintering hardcore, their love for barbecue (the band sells trucker hats that declare “I stop at all BBQ pits, firework stands and Norma Jean shows”) and their explosive live shows. A Norma Jean concert is as visual as it is aural. Rapid-fire videos filled with violent, disturbing imagery project behind the band, while skin-crawling audio loops and creepy movie quotes blast between songs. If the goal is sensory overload, consider it mission accomplished.

ANATOMY OF A ROCK SHOW “If I watched our show, I’d be stoked,” lead singer Cory Brandan says. “If people are gonna come pay money and see us, we should make it worth [their while]. When they go away, we want them to have gotten their money’s worth.”

As headliners of the Radio Rebellion Tour (also playing are Between the Buried and Me, Fear Before the March of Flames and Misery Signals), the band decided to pull out all the stops. “We built these huge speaker cab walls,” drummer Daniel Davison says. “We are doing more video stuff than ever. We are using more samples, more lights. We added a percussionist. It is definitely our biggest and best.”

“We wanted to have the coolest looking live show of the year,” Brandan says.

Though the video images Davison created for the tour are dark and disturbing, Brandan insists there’s no message. “The imagery, and all the stuff that Daniel makes, it’s just abstract,” he says. “It really doesn’t have a meaning. It just looks cool.

When it comes to our music, it’s just music we love. We don’t really believe a sound can be Christian or non-Christian. As far as our live shows, they are a product of us just wanting to make it a fun experience.”

But it’s not like they haven’t thought out their presentation.

In fact, Norma Jean hopes to raise the standard of the rock show scene. “It seems like in a lot of rock stuff and hardcore there isn’t that much thought put into the show except just to go up there and rock out,” Davison says.

The only problem this presents, albeit a good one, is how to top it the next time around. “It’s hard, because you get to a point with every record where you sit around and ask, ‘How are we going to out-do this?’” Brandan says. “It’s the same with the live show; it’s like, ‘How are we going to top this?’

It’s not possible.”

Norma Jean went into the studio looking to make a record that captured their live energy. To goal wasn’t to out-do the last two records, Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child and O God, The Aftermath (both on Solid State), but to simply have—yes, you guessed it—fun. Redeemer (Solid State) is the result.

“I haven’t heard any complaints about our records being pretty different,” Davison says. “O God is pretty different from Martyr, and Redeemer is pretty different from both.”

Brandan says he felt like he had “something to prove” when recording O God, as he was just joining the band as

a replacement for former lead singer Josh Scogin. The album was overly thought-out. Every line and every note were intentional. “There was a lot of brainpower on that record, a lot of thinking and planning,” he says. “Not just the music, the artwork itself. Everything we did throughout that whole process was so thought-out.” The intentionality was recognized: the CD’s artwork was nominated for Best Recording Package at the 2006 Grammy Awards. [The award went to Aimee Mann’s The Forgotten Arm.] HERE’S TO YOU, MR. ROBINSON This time around, the band wanted to throw out inhibitions.

To accomplish that task, the band brought in producer Ross Robinson, who produced platinum records for nu-metal icons Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot before producing post-hardcore acts Glassjaw and At the Drive-In. “If there was one person we could have picked, it would have been him,” Davison says.

“Somehow it worked out for us.”

When Robinson first met with the band, he asked them to write this record like it was their first and last. “I think that was in the back of our minds,” Davison says. “There was a goal. Early on in the writing process we talked about what we wanted out of this record, and one of my main thoughts was I just wanted it to be a very high-energy record.

“It was very natural; the songs came to us very quickly,” Davison continues. “This one grooves a lot better; it’s still super heavy, but we also brought in a lot more melody.”

Brandan says the album is meant to evoke emotion. Like their live show, the band hopes to take listeners beyond the music and into an experience. “I really want people to feel this record, feel the emotions that we were having while we were writing it ... That’s part of the reason you won’t find very many lyrics inside the CD because we want people to listen to the

“We wanted to have the coolest looking live show of the year.”

—Cory Brandan songs and not think too much,” Brandan says.

Even if you can make out the lyrics, you’ll mostly find abstractions: Holy ghosts and talk show hosts/How I panic as you fail/Your conscience is a wolf/Walls are being built/ Deception wears its veil.

While their lyrics don’t “out” them as Christians, Norma Jean’s faith is central to their life. “Most people know we are Christians,” Brandan says. “What we believe is the cornerstone of our lives. It’s the most important thing to us.” Brandan feels their lifestyle and the example it sets are more important than their style, whose dark imagery seems contradictory to being a “light” in the world. “We always get along with all the bands we tour with,” Brandan says. “They are all good friends of ours; they all have respect for what we believe.”

Don’t judge a band by its metal: Norma Jean is about more than just fun and games (and seriously fun hardcore). 2

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> ONLINE BONUS: Check out more photos of Norma Jean at RELEVANTmagazine.com

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JESUS MY LIFE WHY EASY LIVING ISN’T NECESSARILY BETTER LIVING

BY SHANE CLAIBORNE, PHOTOS BY ERIK STENBAKKEN I KNOW THERE ARE people out there who say, “My life was such a mess. I was drinking, partying, sleeping around … then I met Jesus, and my whole life came together.” God bless those people.

But me, I had it together. I used to be cool. And then I met Jesus, and He wrecked my life.

The more I read the Gospel, the more it messed me up, turning everything I believed in, valued and hoped for upside down. I am still recovering from my conversion. I know it’s hard to imagine, but in high school, I was elected prom king. I was part of the in-crowd. I had been planning to go to med school. Like a lot of folks, I wanted to find a job where I could do as little work as possible for as much money as possible. I figured anesthesiology would work, just put folks to sleep with a little happy gas and let others do the dirty work. I was ready to make lots of money and buy lots of stuff. Mmm ... the American dream.

But as I pursued that dream of upward mobility, things just didn’t fit together. As I read Scriptures about how the last will be first, I started wondering why I was working so hard to be first.

And I couldn’t help but hope that there was something more to life than the popularized American version of Christianity. I had no idea what I should do. I thought about leaving everything to follow Jesus, like the apostles, and hitting the road with nothing but my sandals and a staff, but I wasn’t sure where to pick up a staff.

There were plenty of folks talking about the Gospel and writing books about it, but as far as I could tell, living out the Gospel had yet to be tried in recent days. So youth group got a little old—the songs got boring, the games grew stale, and I found other places to meet fine women. I wasn’t sure the church had much to offer. Of course, I didn’t dare stop going to church, convinced that “going to church” was what good people did, and I didn’t want to become like “those people” who didn’t “go to church.” Heathens. So I sucked it up and went every week, often cynical, usually bored, but always smiling.

In college, I got involved in every club and student group, but I didn’t meet God in the halls of my Christian college like I had expected to.

One night, I was hanging with two buddies who told me they were going down to the city to hang out with their “homeless friends.”

I was a little startled. First, I couldn’t believe that there were people living on the streets of Philly through the winter. And second, I was puzzled that my college buddies, Chris and Scott, who sat around listening to death metal, had become friends with them. So they invited me, and I went ... again and again. In fact, every chance we got, we would head for the city. And this was only the beginning, as the people in the alleys eventually stole my heart.

From my experiences on the street, I began to wonder what it would look like if we decided to really follow Jesus. In fact, I wasn’t exactly sure what a fully devoted Christian looked like, or if the world had even seen one in the last few centuries. From my desk at college, it looked like some time back we had stopped living Christi-

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anity and just started studying it. I knew we were not going to win the masses to Christianity until we began to live it. So I went looking for a Christian, hoping to find someone else who might be asking, What if Jesus meant the stuff He said?

Mother Teresa seemed to be giving the Gospel a pretty good shot, so my friend Brooke and I decided to contact her for an internship in Calcutta. After a series of tries (most of which ended with people thinking we were joking), we finally got in touch with Mother Teresa, who told us to “just come.”

I thought we were crazy, but when Brooke and I got there, I saw that dozens of people from all over the world had come to join the work—ordinary radicals just trying to figure out how to love better. We quickly settled into a little hostel across the street from the Mother House, where Mother Teresa and the sisters lived. We met volunteers from all over the world, ranging in age from 18 to 80. Some had been there for years.

There were missional evangelicals, curious atheists, simple pilgrims and wild revolutionaries. They taught me to love, to risk, to dream.

I fell in love with the Home for the Destitute and Dying and spent most days there. I helped folks eat, massaged muscles, gave baths and basically tried to spoil people who really deserved it. Each day, folks would die, and each day, we would go out onto the streets and bring in new people. The goal was not to keep people alive (we had very few supplies for doing

“I found Christ in the lepers, the children, the destitute, the workers. I began to recognize that Christ lives in me.” that) but to allow people to die with dignity, with someone loving them, singing, laughing, so they were not alone.

While the temptation to do great things is always before us, I learned the discipline of doing ordinary things with great deliberation. Mother Teresa used to say, “We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”

I had gone to Calcutta on a search for Christianity, hoping to find an old nun who believed that Jesus meant what He said.

And I found Christianity, but it didn’t just belong to Mother Teresa. I saw that eternal love all over Calcutta. I found Christ in the lepers, the children, the destitute, the workers. I even began to recognize that Christ lives in me.

Mother Teresa always said, “Calcuttas are everywhere if only we have eyes to see. Find your Calcutta.” I knew that my Calcutta was the United States. When we returned, about 30 of us from college continued dreaming together about another way of doing life. We had no idea what we were getting into. We had no big vision for programs or community development. We wanted only to be passionate lovers of God and people and to take the Gospel way of life seriously.

We bought an old house in the middle of Philadelphia and began living as a community together, which we named The Simple Way. We hang out with kids and help them with homework in our living room and jump in open fire hydrants on hot summer days. We share food with folks who need it. People drop in all day to say “hi,” have a safe place to cry or get some

water or a blanket. Sometimes we turn people away, or we play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who answers the door on tired days. We run a store out of our house, and neighbors can come in and fill a grocery bag with clothes for a dollar or find a couch, a bed or a refrigerator. Sometimes people donate beautiful things for us to share with our neighbors; other times they donate their used toothbrushes.

We reclaim abandoned lots and make gardens amid the concrete wreckage around us. We plant flowers inside old TV screens and computer monitors on our roof. We see our friends waste away from drug addiction, and on a good day, someone is set free. We see police scare people, and on other days, we find an officer who will play wiffleball with his billy club. We rehab abandoned houses, and we mourn the people who died in those properties. We paint murals, and we try to make ugly things beautiful. Instead of violence, we learn imagination and sharing. We share life with our neighbors and try to take care of each other. We hang out on the streets. We get fined for distributing food. We go to jail for sleeping under the stars. We win in court. We have friends in prison and on death row. We stand in the way of state-sanctioned execution and the prison industrial complex.

We wrestle to free ourselves from macrocharity and distant acts of charity that serve to legitimize apathetic lifestyles of good intentions but rob us of the gift of community. We visit rich people and have them visit us. We preach, prophesy and dream together about how to awaken the Church from her violent slumber. Sometimes we speak to change the world; other times we speak to keep the world from changing us. We are about ending poverty, not simply managing it. We give people fish. We teach them to fish. We tear down the walls that have been built up around the fish pond. And we figure out who polluted it.

We fight terrorism—the terrorism within each of us, the

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THE SIMPLE WAY

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SHANE CLAIBORNE is the author of The Irresistible Revolution (Zondervan).

for more info on 7, 10 & 14 day trips contact Christiana Rice 800.777.6658 ext. 142 christiana@nieucommunities.org www.nieucommunities.org

terrorism of corporate greed, of American consumerism, of war. We are not pacifist hippies but passionate lovers who abhor passivity and violence. And it is on the cross that we see what love looks like when it stares evil in the face. That scandalous grace proclaims that no one is beyond redemption. If we didn’t believe that, we could rip out half of our New Testament, for it was written by a converted terrorist named Saul of Tarsus. It is that cross which has led many of us to war zones like Iraq as extremists for love, as people who believe that there HAS BEEN INVOLVED is something worth IN STARTING … dying for but nothThe Another World Is Possible ing worth killing for.

DVD Series That is the war we A DVD series that uses teaching, stofight, the war of the rytelling and song to address issues Slaughtered Lamb, such as poverty and war. who conquers evil www.awip.us with love, whose answer to terror is Potter Street Records grace. We pledge A record label featuring folk and an allegiance that experimental artists. runs deeper than www.potterstreetrecords.com nationalism, a loyalty that transcends Cottage Printworks biology or ethnicRecycles thrift store shirts and prints ity. We are people new messages on them such as of rebirth, or at “Jesus Was Homeless” and “Love Your least we are trying Enemies.” A portion of the profits help to be. We spend fund The Simple Way community. our lives actively www.myspace.com/cottageprintworks resisting everything that destroys

life, whether that be terrorism or the war on terrorism. We try to make the world safe, knowing that it will never be safe as long as millions live in poverty so the few can live as they wish. We believe in another way of life—the kingdom of God—which stands in opposition to the principalities, powers and rulers of this dark world (Ephesians 6:12).

I almost feel selfish sometimes for the gift of community. The beautiful thing is that there is enough to go around. Once we get past the rebellious or reactive countercultural paradigm and muster up the courage to try living in new ways, most of us find that community is very natural and makes a lot of sense, and that it is not as foreign to most of the world’s population as it is to us. Community is what we are created for. We are made in the image of a God who is community, a plurality of oneness. When the first human was made, things were not good until there were two, helping one another. The biblical story is the story of community, from beginning to end. Jesus lived and modeled community with His little band of disciples. He always sent them out in pairs, and the early Church is the story of a people who were together and were of one heart and mind, sharing all in common. The story ends with a vision of the new community in the book of Revelation, where the city of God is dressed beautifully for her lover, this community called the New Jerusalem, where heaven visits earth and people are fully reconciled to God and each other, the lion lies down with the lamb, mourning turns to dancing. And the garden takes over the concrete world!

But that doesn’t mean community is easy. For everything in this world tries to pull us away from community, pushes us to choose ourselves over others, independence over interdependence, great things over small things, going fast alone over going far together. The simple way is not the easy way. My life was pretty easy before I met Jesus. 2

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RELEVANT *

Recommends > Winter is the best time of year to just stay home and curl up with a good book. Or watch a movie. Or pop on an album and stay in your pajamas all day. So next time the urge to do nothing hits you, reference this handy cheat sheet of some of our favorite media options. We guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

• The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical (Zondervan) — Shane Claiborne A remarkable treatise about living in true community with one another and the world, Claiborne’s book is at times so convicting you’ll have to put it down.

Fortunately, it’s so compelling you’ll have to pick it back up.

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• Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (Scribner) — Chuck Klosterman

* BOOKS

Klosterman, an editor for Spin magazine, has become the unofficially crowned disseminator of pop culture. The book collects his essays as he comes in contact with a variety of bizarre people and drops cultural references at every turn.

• Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (HarperSanFrancisco) — Richard Foster

• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Vintage) — Dave Eggers

This seminal work on the practice of

nominated book, a quintessential glimpse

spiritual disciplines is never outdated.

into twentysomething angst and ennui,

Foster’s warmth makes what could be musty

you’ve made a horrible mistake. In turns

practices seem rich and alive while his vast

heartbreaking and hilarious, this book

intellect lends credence to his authority on

chronicles the author’s life as a young man

the issue.

in the years after both his parents died of

If you haven’t read this Pulitzer Prize-

cancer and Eggers took guardianship of his 11-year-old brother, Toph.

• Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation (Zondervan) — Sarah Cunningham Plenty of voices exist that express disillusionment with the Church. Sarah Cunningham’s letters to the Church show her journey through disillusionment. It’s a refreshing perspective.

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* MUSIC • k-os: Atlantis: Hymns for Disco (Virgin) k-os may be one of the best hip-hop artists out there. His beats are distinctive, his lyrics profound and his message positive.

• Between the Trees: The Story and the Song (Bonded)

• Enter the Worship Circle: First Circle (Blue Renaissance)

The hook-laden debut CD from this

Perhaps one of the watershed worship

young and talented band is infectious.

projects of all time, the 1998 collaboration

Get it now, because all indications are

of 100 Portraits and Waterdeep still yields

that you’ll be hearing a lot from them

a raw, honest and intimately spiritual

in the months ahead.

experience. The best part about the album is that all of the songs are deeply personal but still accessible in a corporate worship setting.

• Nerina Pallot: Fires (14th Floor) London songwriter Nerina Pallot has been called the new Carole King. The moniker is fitting as she writes beautiful music with weighty and reflective lyrics.

• Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.: Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager (Atlantic) British singer/songwriter Sam Duckworth mixes acoustic guitar with electronic backing. The music he creates is thoughtful and unique.

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* MOVIES

• Bottle Rocket (Sony Pictures) Every twentysomething should own

• Good Night, and Good Luck.

(Warner Home Video)

Wes Anderson’s etude to the shiftless

George Clooney comments on the media

malaise many feel in their 20s. Anderson’s

and its responsibility to inform the public

characters try to combat this tendency

in this simple yet brilliant work. Rarely has

with grand larceny, yielding hilarious

dialogue been so exciting.

results.

• Nacho Libre (Paramount Home Video) No matter how sophisticated your sense of humor, Jack Black in stretchy pants is funny. The movie is surprisingly tender and heartfelt in addition to being flat-out hilarious.

• Walk the Line (20th Century Fox) Possibly the coolest man ever to walk the face of the earth, Johnny Cash’s wild years and subsequent conversion are detailed in this well-executed biopic.

The soundtrack alone makes the film a must-see.

• Thank You for Smoking (20th Century Fox) Thank You for Smoking paints almost everyone in a negative light. Politicians, lobbyists and Hollywood execs get equally smeared in this bitingly satirical film.

> ONLINE BONUS: Check out more of our picks at RELEVANTmagazine.com

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DOGS, DOGMA AND WHY HIS SONGS AREN’T POLITICAL

BY ADAM SMITH

an you hear the dog?” Ben Folds asks, laughing. Just to make sure, he holds the phone up to the panting canine’s mouth.

I can indeed hear the dog.

Folds is currently in a car with his manager, his bass player and a large Golden Retriever.

It’s not his dog, either. While walking home during our interview, he spotted it running down the sidewalk and darting perilously close to traffic. He called some friends to help him corral the animal, and now they are driving around Nashville looking for its home. At this point, needless to say, our interview has been interrupted a couple of times.

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This fits right in with Folds’ personality. He is a homebody who rarely strays more than a few blocks from his house in Nashville, who frequents the same two coffee shops, and who has made a career of being the antithesis of a rock star. He is a 40-year-old suburban husband and father who will always be more concerned with the fate of stray dogs than with impressing interviewers.

Yet, atypical or not, he is a rock star. His legendary, energetic concerts keep audiences in rapt attention, as Folds walks on his piano, hits the keyboard with his stool and gives it other kinds of rock ‘n’ roll level abuse. At one point in his career, he would even dive off speakers onto it.

Yet, Folds’ over-the-top stage persona is rooted in a down-to-earth personal life. And it’s that side that shows up on his latest album, Songs for Silverman, which finds him much more grown-up and introspective. Though he maintains his fun-loving demeanor, he is no longer the clownish piano punk rocker of his youth. He has something to say.

One of the most noteworthy songs on the album, “Jesusland,” finds Folds touring through middle America, appalled by the amassing of wealth and the use of Jesus’ name to push consumerism. In one line of the song, he laments, Town to town/broadcast to each house/they drop your name but no one knows your face/Billboards quoting things you’d never say/You hang your head and pray for Jesusland.

I ask him if modern-day misconceptions of Jesus bother him. “Yeah, well, I just think it’s one thing to misquote somebody, but it’s another thing to completely stand diametrically opposed to what someone taught and then use it to make money,” he says.

Folds believes that if Jesus walked through America today, He would likely be shunned by many of the people who preach His name. “The people who are preaching Jesus don’t approve of longhaired homeless people, people with no possessions,” he says. “It’s not considered a good thing.”

I mention to him how much Christians in their 20s seem to have latched on to the song, making it their own, finding some kind of solidarity in its message.

Did he expect it to find that kind of audience? “It’s just something I felt, and when you write what you feel, people connect,” Folds says. “It came from touring and looking out the window, and whether you are religious or not, there is a religious experience of seeing a beautiful sight. To just continue to cover this beautiful sight with loads and loads of billboards and condos and trash, and then using the Jesus brand to sell it is just kind of sad.

“It does no good for the teachings of a great man to put it across billboards and political campaigns,” Folds says. He believes that the use of Jesus as a brand to sell products and promote patriotism works at crosspurposes with Jesus’ message. “If that’s your first exposure to a great man, it’s a negative exposure.”

Folds insists, though, that his primary purpose of the song was not to make a political or theological statement.

His songs come from a place of emotion rather than policy. “It’s not as much about making a statement,” he says. “It’s more about how I feel.” But he is willing to

ruminate a bit on the way he feels politics have become embroiled in faith. “Just using the name Jesus these days implies for some weird reason that we are talking about politics. Last I remembered those were two separate issues. There’s politics and then there’s religion, and to some extent they have to live in each other’s back yards, but I think everyone agrees that the two are overly linked at this point. They’re uncomfortably linked.

“It just makes me think about our president, that Pat Robertson guy,” Folds deadpans. “Oh, wait. Wait a minute, that’s a different guy. It gets confusing sometimes.”

TELLING STORIES Listening to Folds’ music, one cannot help but be struck by the stories he tells and the characters he creates. It is hard to think of Ben Folds without thinking of names like Fred Jones, Alice Childress, Zak and Sara. Why does he create such elaborate characters?

“I think it’s disarming and effective,” he says. “It’s refreshing for me not to be going, ‘I, I, I,’ all the time.”

However, he often finds that fans expect these stories to be true and imagine some kind of association between Folds and the characters in his songs. There is an obsession in America with delving into the meaning and background of lyrics, Folds says. “People are definitely interested in the autobiography of songwriting, especially in the U.S.,” he says. “It’s different in other places, like the U.K. and Australia. It’s kind of expected to be a character. I mean, David Bowie didn’t really go to Mars, but everyone’s OK with him singing about it.”

American songwriters, Folds says, are held to a different expectation. “Bruce Springsteen can’t say that he went to Mars because he is faking it. The guy’s got no Mars cred! But, did he have to go to Mars?

“It is going to get his point across better if the listener is disarmed by something. That’s what happens in life.

If you just sit there playing a big minor chord and say, ‘I am sad,’ that’s not the way life works. We try to make songs about life even if you are singing about Mars.

I ask Folds how he feels about having fans reinterpret his lyrics in ways he may not have intended. “You never know what it’s going to mean for someone,” Folds says.

“You spend all this time crafting a song and finding out what it means to you, and then someone will take one line, and in the context of their life it’s going to mean something different, and it’s going to be pretty cool. If you get too serious about your art, your response can end up being, ‘No! I meant that, not something else.’”

Is he comfortable with the idea of people misconstruing his message? “You have to get comfortable with that, because once you let it out, that’s what it is. Some songs you have a very specific agenda with can mean something completely different to some person. What

“It does no good for the teachings of a great man to put it across billboards.”

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can we do about it? You can’t worry about it.”

As we discuss the nuances of people injecting meaning into songs and an artist’s ownership of his lyrics, Folds abruptly stops. “Hey, can you hold on for a second? We think we’ve found the dog’s owner.” The line goes silent.

After about five minutes, Folds returns. The dog has been reunited with its owner, and all is well.

After some brief celebration of the animal’s safe homecoming, we return to our conversation.

Does he ever marvel at the creativity of what listeners read into his lyrics? “I think if you marvel too much, you kind of are admitting some ambiguity in your songwriting,” he says. “If everyone is misunderstanding you, then you must not be making your point.”

BEAUTIFUL FILTH Regardless of how fans choose to interpret them, Folds’ songs do seem to make their point. Often he does so by using the dichotomy of profane lyrics set to a beautiful melody. It’s a game Folds has played since he was a teenager, when he would write haunting piano tunes and try to work in the most profane words possible, just to see if listeners would notice.

Folds admits that part of that mischievous teenager still lives in his songwriting. “I think it’s interesting to put people’s brains and hearts in odd places,” he says. “It does something for me.”

This approach seems especially evident in Folds’ iTunes exclusive, expletive-laden cover of a Dr. Dre song, the very title of which is so profane it’s unprintable.

I jokingly assert that the Dr. Dre cover can take on a spiritual feeling when put to a nice melody. He answers, in utter seriousness, “Yeah, actually for us too when we did that. Obviously we thought it was funny too, but also we were really going for a feeling. This is stuff that is said on the radio. It’s bleeped out, but everyone knows what they’re saying. It’s sold millions of records. These kinds of messages, why is it OK and why can someone write off a gangster rapper when he is saying those things? And then, here is a white boy who sings it with a pretty melody, and they go, ‘Wait a minute, what is he saying?’ I could almost see making a career out of that sort of behavior.”

Perhaps this is partially why Folds writes such tight melodies. It draws attention to his lyrics and the dichotomy they often present. It achieves his goal and puts people’s brains and hearts in odd places. “You take it more seriously when someone is singing a coherent melody,” Folds says.

“One of those things that I have found in my melodic songwriting is that it makes you listen to the words. It’s a pain because I envy writers who can sing whatever because no one notices or cares. But I really feel that I can’t get away with a couple crap lines with whatever I am doing.”

In drawing people to his lyrics and telling emotional tales, Folds deals with the feelings that surround hot-

“I think it’s interesting to put people’s brains and hearts in odd places.”

button issues rather than trying to make a polarizing social statement. This kind of raw emotion seems to transcend people’s stances on political topics. One such song is his seminal hit “Brick.” The song deals with an experience Folds had as a teenager, taking his then-girlfriend to get an abortion. Rather than making an assertion about the issue or offering an opinion, the song connects on an emotional level, describing the pain and sorrow associated with the decision Folds and his girlfriend made at such a young age.

“I think a lot of people didn’t know what that song was about at all, and I think that’s fine,” Folds says. “It wasn’t really written for them. It was for someone who had been through the experience, and we realized that when we started to get lots of mail from people who had been in the same situation saying how they had connected with the song. If I had put out the word, ‘Here is a political statement about this and this,’ then they would have felt that they had to go straight to their politically driven emotions.”

It seems he’s given people a common emotional outlet, regardless of their views on the subject.

“That’s what I want to do,” he says. “I’m going for it, and if that ever happens, then good.”

Another of Folds’ stories with which fans have deeply connected is a song called “Not the Same.” The song tells of a friend who converts to Christianity and is not the same person. “The story is a true one,” Folds says.

“It was a high-school friend of Darren Jessee, my old drummer, who had taken an acid trip, went up a tree, stayed there all night long and came down and was born again, basically. There is something really ironic about that, but at the same time it makes sense, too.”

Though the song has become known as the story of the band’s converted friend, it didn’t start out that way.

“Originally the song was going to be a list of things that happen after which you were not the same,” Folds says.

“That happened to be one of the things on the list, and I thought this was one of those things that was much more interesting than, ‘You ate a sandwich, and you weren’t the same.’ I honed in on that side of it a little bit.”

Folds refers to a cryptic line in the song. “Everyone asks about the line someone died on the water slide,” he says. “That was a reference to a local TV evangelist who built a water slide in my hometown, and a kid died. I thought, this guy shouldn’t be in the water slide business.

He’s in the preaching business. Once your ego gets bigger and you take on more and more responsibility, you have to take responsibility for things like that. So someone died on his water slide. I thought he wasn’t the same after all that. That’s what I was referring to. Sometimes I think that these songs mean more to me, but at the same time they are open songs for other people too.”

This is the musical legacy Ben Folds is creating. His thoughtful lyrics and imaginative stories connect with people on a deep level. He manages to simultaneously be a part of rock music and lampoon it. And, through all this, he still finds the time to rescue the occasional errant dog. 2 > ONLINE BONUS: Check out an audio transcript at RELEVANTmagazine.com

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CHA C HA HA S SE E

TH T THE HE H E LLIIION ON O N WWW TROMB NET

A NEW YEAR MANIFESTO

BY MARK BATTERSON

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LET ME MAKE A New Year’s prediction: Your biggest regret at the end of 2007 won’t be the things you did that you wish you hadn’t. Your biggest regret on Dec. 31, 2007, will be the things you didn’t do but wish you had. According to two social psychologists, Tom Gilovich and Vicki Medvec, time is a key factor in what we regret.

Over the short term, we tend to regret actions— things we did that we wish we hadn’t. But over the long haul, we tend to regret inactions—things we didn’t do but wish we had. Their recent study found that action regrets outweigh inaction regrets 53 percent to 47 percent during an average week. But when people look at their lives as a whole, inaction regrets outnumber action regrets 84 percent to 16 percent.

I have my fair share of action regrets. I’ve said and done some stupid things that I wish I could unsay and undo. Who hasn’t secretly wished that they could fly counter-rotational around the earth at supersonic speeds and reverse time like Superman? But I’m convinced that the deepest regrets at the end of our lives will be the risks not taken, the opportunities not seized and the dreams not pursued.

CHASING LIONS 2 Samuel 23:20 highlights one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in Scripture, but it’s more than that. It’s a microcosm on how God calls us to approach life. It tells the story of Benaiah, who chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it.

Scripture doesn’t tell us what Benaiah was doing or where he was going when he encountered this lion. We don’t know Benaiah’s frame of mind, but Scripture does reveal his gut reaction. And it was gutsy. It ranks as one of the most improbable reactions recorded in Scripture. When the image of a man-eating beast travels through the optical nerve and registers in the visual cortex, the brain has one over-arching message: Run away.

That is what normal people do, but lion chasers are wired differently. They don’t see 500-pound problems. They see God-ordained opportunities.

For most of us, finding ourselves in a pit with a lion on a snowy day would pose a substantial problem, but you’ve got to admit something: I killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day looks pretty impressive on your résumé. Not only did Benaiah land a job as David’s chief bodyguard, he climbed all the way up the military chain of command to become commander in chief of Israel’s army.

Benaiah was the second most powerful person in the kingdom of Israel, but his genealogy of success can be traced all the way back to a life-and-death encounter with a lion. It was fight or flight. Benaiah

was faced with a choice that would determine his destiny: run away or give chase.

YOU HAVE A CHOICE When opportunity roars in this new year, you have a choice to make: run away or grab life by the tail.

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue Godordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and the last day of your life.

Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating.

Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. And remember: If God is for us, who can be against us?

What if the life you really want and the future God wants for you are actually hiding in your biggest problem, worst failure or greatest fear?

Maybe it’s time to apply for your dream job, admit your addiction, reconcile the relationship, ask her out, take the exam, go on a missions trip, mentor someone, stop attending church and start serving, add a stamp to your passport, take a night class, start a business or write the manuscript.

When we don’t have the guts to step out in faith and chase lions, God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him. And the truth is this: The greatest regret at the end of our lives will be the lions we didn’t chase.

I’m convinced that many of us are one chase away from our dreams becoming reality. I can’t promise it will be a short or an easy chase. In fact, it will probably scare the living daylights out of you. But where you end up in life really does trace back to how you react when you cross paths with a lion.

I don’t know what problems need to be reframed, fears need to be unlearned, risks need to be taken or opportunities need to be seized. But I do know this: Your choice to run away or give chase will determine your destiny.

It’s a new day. It’s a new year.

Embrace the opportunity. 2

DO SOMETHING! > Five ideas for making the most of the New Year.

1. GET INVOLVED Check out these opportunities to volunteer. www.habitat.org www.serviceleader.org www.nationalhomeless.org 2. TAKE A TRIP Go somewhere cool and do it cheaply as well. www.couchsurfing.com www.cheaptickets.com 3. TAKE A CLASS Check out local community colleges for art, writing, music or cooking classes. Learn something and become a well-rounded individual.

4. SET UP A SCHEDULED BIBLE READING PLAN There are several good plans that will take you through the Bible in a year. www.oneyearbibleonline.com www.bibleinayear.org 5. GET IN SHAPE Seriously. This year is the year.

Check out some resources to help you. www.bodyforlife.com www.smallstep.gov

MARK BATTERSON serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

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11/28/06 11:22:36 AM

Q&A A ‘SINNER’S’ LOOK AT CHRISTIANITY HUMORIST ROBERT LANHAM FINDS THE FOIBLES OF THE FAITHFUL

BY KAREN GREEN

In The Hipster Handbook, humorist Robert Lanham poked fun at the über-cool twentysomething indie set. In Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees and Other Creatures Unique to the Republic, he pointed out some of the most bizarre individuals in society. In his newest book, The Sinner’s Guide to the Evangelical Right, Lanham turns his eye toward evangelical Christianity, particularly the extremely conservative political leaders of the movement. The book is a satirical send-up of the culture, but it is often pointedly scathing in its indictments. RELEVANT asked Lanham about his experience as a non-Christian researching the Christian subculture.

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You seem to be a master of finding the wacky idiosyncrasies in culture.

That’s one thing I really like about [living in] New York. You don’t really need to go out and spend money; you can just sit back and people watch. I’m a people watcher. I’m also from Virginia, which is, of course, in the South. You get a whole different breed of strange systems of people in the South as well.

Why did you decide to deal with this specific subculture?

Well, I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian family. I went to a megachurch when I was in high school. I had the background.

I guess what really got me interested in doing The Sinner’s Guide to the Evangelical Right was being perplexed by the last election, how mobilized the Evangelical Right had gotten behind George Bush, who in my opinion doesn’t really exemplify what I know as Christian values. With my background, I think I’m quite versed to do a send-up of the evangelical political conglomerate.

the best way to get the message out. For people like me that consider themselves to be fairly liberal, sometimes I had to insert a joke to keep from crying.

What was the most troubling thing you found while researching for this book?

It was troubling to me to see how politicized the evangelical movement has become, and it seems like most people I talked to weren’t even aware that this is not the way evangelical Christianity has always been in the United States.

What was most pleasantly surprising?

People are very kind and warm for the most part within the evangelical movement. With the book coming out, I really was afraid that evangelicals were going to be boycotting this book and sending me evil letters and that sort of thing, but Christians have been really excited about it. That’s been the most surprising thing. Meeting people like Jay Bakker who I don’t see eye to eye with on every issue, but he is such a refreshing voice. It’s refreshing that there is this growing emerging movement. Not all evangelicals are of the same mold.

“You’d be amazed at how much access you can get as an insider if you just end your emails with ‘Have a blessed day.’”

Did you have a lot of access to the people you talk about in the book?

I had pretty good access, but there were some people that were very hands-off. I tried and tried to get an interview with James Dobson, but his personal handlers said that he only does interviews with people that conform to his ideology. You’d be amazed at how much access you can get as an insider if you just end your emails with “Have a blessed day.” I was surprised at how much time I did get with people like Brian McLaren and Rob Bell. People like that were happy to give interviews. They’re sick and tired of being pegged in the same world as James Dobson and Pat Robertson, and they are ready to get out of there.

What about this book would appeal to evangelicals?

The message that evangelicals are finding in it is that there is a little bit of irony attached to the fact that it is supposed to be a guide for sinners, but actually the people that I discuss in the book seem to be bigger sinners than the people they are accusing of being hedonists. You’re talking about people that have supported pre-emptive wars, people that have supported torturing people, sending them to secret prisons or throwing the first stone at homosexuals.

What is your message to non-Christians?

I was really trying to get at how the evangelical movement has been hijacked by right-wing pro-business Republicans essentially. I wanted to show people that there is an enormous infrastructure that has been operating for 30 years that has been trying to attach hot-button issues like gay rights and abortion and lower taxes to a Republican platform with an evangelical base. It’s been going on for so long it’s become a ministry. I thought it was important to lay it out in a satirical way. If you add a little humor and melody to it, I think that’s

What led to the decision to feature “Evangelical Voices,” a perspective from evangelical laypeople, throughout the book?

I was trying to drive home that it’s not the everyday people.

It’s the leaders that have distorted what evangelical Christianity is all about. [The “Evangelical Voices” in the book] are like the moral center of the book. You can tell that these people are trying to do their thing and genuinely have values. My sister is an evangelical. She’s one of those people that I turn to. Yeah, we don’t agree on everything, but she is one of the kindest people I have ever known and doesn’t try to push her faith on me. She has unbelievable ideals and values, and is one of the most optimistic people I know. 2

IDIOSYNCROLOGY ROBERT LANHAM’S BOOKS CATALOG BIZARRE SUBCULTURES IN THE UNITED STATES.

2003 THE HIPSTER HANDBOOK (ANCHOR)

2006

2004

THE SINNER’S GUIDE TO THE EVANGELICAL RIGHT (NAL)

FOOD COURT DRUIDS, CHEROHONKEES AND OTHER CREATURES UNIQUE TO THE REPUBLIC (PLUME)

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SEVEN LEADERS ON WHERE THE CHURCH IS HEADED, WHAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED AND THE CHALLENGES THAT LIE AHEAD The face of the Church in our generation is changing. New styles of worship are emerging, a new sense of community is growing, and a new focus on justice is taking center stage. With so much transition and upheaval, charting a clear course can be difďŹ cult.

For guidance, RELEVANT asked seven core leaders of faith their take on the future of Christianity.

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What trends in church and worship styles do you see? Are they positive or negative?

Mark Driscoll: I’ll be happy when we have more than just prom songs to Jesus sung by some effeminate guy on an acoustic guitar offered as mainstream worship music. Right now most worship music is still coming from the top down through such things as Christian radio and record labels. But the trend today in a lot of churches is writing your own music to reflect your culture and community, and I pray this trend of music from the bottom up continues.

Frederica Mathewes-Green: As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I’m glad to see communities digging into the treasures of the ancient church, particularly in terms of seeking beauty. The less we try to make worship like an evening in the family room, the more we make it something directed beyond our familiar experience—bringing us to the God of beauty, awe and mystery—the better. My personal hunch is that this is more attractive to seekers, too. The negative, I think, is a consumerist attitude, in which worship leaders shop for the elements they find most appealing, rather than joining the ancient community and seeking to understand something beyond their limited experience. Consumerism feels like “being true to myself” or “choosing what rings true to me,” but it’s actually isolated, lonely, myopic and culture-bound.

Rob Bell: I believe that the old polarities are fading. More and more people understand that traditional and contemporary are simply irrelevant ways to talk about things. What changed the world in times past? Let’s look at that. Let’s look at historic movements. Let’s look at periods of great transition. Handel’s Messiah is an unbelievable piece of music. I wouldn’t think to call Handel a Christian composer. He’s a composer.

Erwin McManus: What do we mean by worship styles? Why

do we still equate singing and even what we are doing on Sunday with the whole of worship? There is something powerful about singing to God as an act of worship, but it is time to reframe our perspective and our language to genuinely encompass all of life as worship.

What is a negative tendency of this generation as it relates to the faith?

Mark Driscoll: This generation can be a whiny bunch of idealists getting together in small groups to complain about megachurches and the religious right rather than doing something.

Lauren Winner: Our failure to tithe. I hear all the time: “I just can’t afford to give right now.” I hear that from my middle-class American peers. I wonder, if we “can’t afford” to give now, why not? And if we “can’t afford” to give now, when will we be able to afford to give? I know of nothing that will transform someone’s spiritual life more abruptly than beginning to tithe. If we want to learn about dependence on God, tithe.

If we want to have our treasure in heaven, tithe. If we want to have any hope of having solidarity with the poor, tithe.

Efrem Smith: I’m very concerned about the continual influence of consumerism Christianity and a Christianity that is very self-centered.

Even in some of the social justice initiatives that I see, I wonder at times if it’s really about social change and kingdom advancement or if it’s about the sense of accomplishment and adventure one gets from the experience. Christian television (even with its good side) seems to push consumerism, capitalism and individualism. It’s not that these traits are so sinful as much as it limits the Gospel message and keeps us from kingdom community and reconciliation.

THE PANEL

ROB BELL Pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church; Grand Rapids, Mich.

MARK DRISCOLL Pastor of Mars Hill Church; Seattle, Wash.

LAUREN WINNER Author of Girl Meets God (Algonquin)

EFREM SMITH Pastor of The Sanctary Covenant Church; Minneapolis, Minn.

RICK WARREN Pastor of Saddleback Community Church; Lake Forest, Calif.

ERWIN McMANUS Pastor of Mosaic; Los Angeles, Calif.

FREDERICA MATHEWESGREEN Beliefnet.com columnist

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What positive tendency do you see in this generation?

“Our greatest challenge will be to learn how to move this into blessings for others, or we will continue to be more selfish and indifferent to the cries of the world.”

Mark Driscoll: I see a resurging interest in culture and viewing the United States as a mission field, which are very encouraging trends and desperately needed.

Lauren Winner: I look around me and see people willing to name and sit with doubt. I see people taking seriously our charge to steward the earth. I see people questioning culturally —Rob Bell specific gender roles that have been, in an earlier generation, presented as holy writ. I see people who sense that the Gospel about what we believe, but this new reformation will be about behavior. is not a call to compartmentalization, but a call to love that encompasses It will be about the Church—individually and congregationally—becoming all of our life. I am privileged to visit a lot of Christian colleges. I always more than just hearers of the Word: they will become doers of the Word.

We will begin to consistently and continually act upon what we believe. leave completely encouraged about the future of the Church. The faculty I meet are so committed to their work. The students always ask such keen I believe your generation will be the one to complete this great questions and are clearly seeking after faithfulness. If you want to be reformation. It will be your unique calling and God-sized task. There is no doubt in my mind that you are the Reformation Generation. Leading encouraged, go hang out at a Christian college for a few days. the way in this great cause won’t be easy, but that’s the challenge before Efrem Smith: I’m so excited to see this generation dealing with the historic divide in terms of race as well as the social gospel church versus us, as my generation mentors and supports your generation to serve out the evangelical church. I believe this generation is less tolerant of the God’s purposes in your lifetime. kinds of division across race, class and place that generations before Mark Driscoll: There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. them have become comfortable with. I believe this generation wants Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a something beyond the homogenous church. dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Erwin McManus: I think we are all trying to figure out what it means Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. to be the Church as opposed to just doing church.

In Revelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy What do you see as the greatest challenge for young Christians in I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because the next 10 years?

I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and Rick Warren: The greatest challenge young Christians will face in the hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, next 10 years will be leading the Church through a new reformation that and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics is being swept in through the Spirit of God. The first reformation was of Christianity.

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Frederica Mathewes-Green: I am afraid that every Christian is going to be increasingly challenged by violent Islam in ways that will be harder and harder to tacitly ignore. Ironically, much of what Islam hates about America are things that Christians ought to likewise resist: gluttonous consumption, recreational shopping, celebrity culture, trashing of the environment, the trivializing of sex, the sexualizing of children, the killing of unborn children, artificializing women’s bodies, depriving boys and men of a coherent and worthy identity, jingoism, any belief that being “American” takes precedence over membership in the body of Christ. If we are going to face the threat of death for what we believe (as Christians have been doing for 1,300 years in Africa, Asia and the Middle East), let it truly be for what we believe, and not for Angelina Jolie, the “4th Meal” and extra cupholders.

Rob Bell: The unbelievable amassing of wealth and consumer goods that we have at our fingertips in American culture. Our greatest challenge will be to learn how to move this into blessings for others, or we will continue to be more selfish and indifferent to the cries of the world. These insane amounts of goods that are at our service are not doing good things to our souls.

Lauren Winner: I suspect the next 10 years will be years of turmoil and hardship the globe over, and with that will come a surge in a certain kind of American patriotism. Therefore, American Christians will be challenged to remember where our true fealty lies. I’m not saying there’s no place for patriotism. But Christians are people whose first allegiance cannot be to a nation-state, not to any nation-state. Increased geopolitical tension may tempt us to forget that.

Erwin McManus: We know intuitively that getting bigger and bigger isn’t working. One trend I see is the rejection of growth for self-discovery and the pursuit of authentic community. So we keep whittling our spiritual community to a smaller and smaller and more exclusive inner circle. The problem is if the diagnoses are wrong, so will be the cure. We are moving from large and self-indulgent to small and self-indulgent. The problem isn’t size but value systems. If we keep asking the wrong questions, we are just going to get better wrong answers. The solution to lack of community isn’t to give up on the community.

How should Christians be involved in the political system?

Rob Bell: At our church we bring out the fact that the Gospel is obviously political, yet we are aggressively nonpartisan. We are interested in being a voice for those who have no voice. Too often the party line becomes, “If you’re a Christian,

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then of course you’re voting like us,” and that’s crazy. As the people of God, our postures should be aggressively nonpartisan and always veering toward the oppressed and the marginalized and those who have no voice, as opposed to the endless self-preservation and protection. In our city they’re shutting down community pools because they say there isn’t funding for it. So there are all these kids, especially in the urban center of Grand Rapids, who won’t be able to swim in the summer. We think that would piss Jesus off. For us it’s not right that on one side of town they’re building pools and on the other side of town they’re shutting them down. That’s an injustice. We think Jesus is about pools.

Lauren Winner: I have arguments with dear friends who didn’t vote in 2004 because they were so disgusted with all the options. I understood their disgust, but I was totally undone by their choice not to vote. My feeling is, we don’t have the luxury of not voting. American policy has a major impact on the whole world, and most of the world can’t vote in our elections. Those of us who can vote have, in my view, an obligation. I myself am an active Democrat.

I don’t think the Democratic Party is perfect, and I don’t agree with every detail of the party platform, but the fact that a political party is not perfect does not exempt me from participating. This is, of course, larger than a question of just voting or participating in partisan politics. It is really a question of Christians participating in the civic sphere. Participating in the public sphere might mean using, and supporting, public libraries whose budgets are being slashed across the country. It might mean bringing Christian traditions of just war or pacifism to bear on American militarism. It might mean volunteering in your neighborhood public school, whether or not you have kids who go there.

It might mean being committed to live in one place for a long time, for it is only when we live with some stability in one place that we have the opportunity to reckon with the long-term consequences of our individual and civic choices.

Efrem Smith: We should be involved in politics in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He never sold out to the Democrats or Republicans. He ticked them both off as he served as a prophetic voice. We must speak truth to power and advocate for the poor, the outcast, the sick and the unborn.

The Church ought to be transforming government, not the other way around. I’m concerned as an evangelical that my church has traded in being prophetic for power and privilege.

How can a Christian fulfill a passion for social justice as a middle-class American?

Rick Warren: The Bible teaches that pursuing social justice isn’t an option for a follower of Jesus.

We must care about what God cares about most—

As a one-of-a-kind devotional, The Book of Worship incorporates Scripture, readings, and beloved hymns for a unique personal worship experience every day of the year. With this fresh and inspiring devotional, you can rejuvenate your quiet time as you are led into a deeper communion with your Savior.

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Available at your local bookstore or by calling 1-800-241-6733

11/28/06 4:40:02 PM

“We are presently in a cultural tide pool. Culture is in an imitative frenzy.”

—Erwin McManus

and that is bringing lost souls home to Him. But our ministry is to the whole person, not just his spiritual emptiness. Clearly, God cares about His creations—the billions of people He’s placed on this planet who now suffer at the hands of injustice, not only spiritual emptiness but also egocentric leadership, poverty, disease and inadequate education. You may not be able to personally make a difference for everyone, but you can make a difference for someone. You don’t have to travel far from a middle-class neighborhood to find and fight social injustice. In fact, you don’t even have to leave your neighborhood because, in this day and age, you can engage the sin of injustice no matter where you are. But here’s the other fact to consider: God created the Church so we would work collectively. In other words, you were never meant to take on social injustice alone. By joining your efforts with others in your congregation or small group, you’ll be surprised at all God can do!

Frederica Mathewes-Green: I am cautious about the self-label “I have a passion for social justice.” I think it gets in the way. It subtly feeds narcissism, judgmentalism and a temptation to excuse failings because,

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hey, I’m “passionate.” It also insinuates a belief that there are “us” and “the people we’re helping” as if that is two different categories.

After the 2004 election I heard a pollster say, “We Democrats used to be the party of the poor.

Now we’re the party that identifies with the poor.”

That’s worth meditating on. I’d say, choose a cause that is deliberately uncool, just to be on the safe side.

Lauren Winner: In my town, there are many Christians who have said, “I can’t fulfill my Christian passion for social justice and be a middle-class American, so I’m forgoing the latter”—that is, in order to be in solidarity with the poor, they live below the poverty line. They are living the preferential option for the poor. The danger is that I see them and think, “Well, if I’m not willing to live below the poverty line, I just shouldn’t bother with social justice or solidarity for the poor at all.” I have to work against that temptation, which I think comes from Satan. Maybe one day I will live below the poverty line. At the moment, I don’t, and I am no less called to solidarity

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with the poor and to social justice than my brothers and sisters who do.

Typically, middle-class Americans satisfy their desire to be social justice by devoting occasional Saturdays to some service project or writing a check to a good cause. Volunteering and writing checks are great, but they may not sufďŹ ciently impinge on our lives. What if we asked how our daily routine affects the poor? How shopping at stores with cheap prices but lousy labor policies, for example, contributes to the oppression of our neighbors? How each out-of-season piece of fruit we eat, shipped to us from around the globe at great environmental cost, furthers the disparity between our â&#x20AC;&#x153;footprintâ&#x20AC;? and that of someone in the developing world?

I ďŹ nd the opposite of quietism in the Jewish text Ethics of the Fathers, which says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You are not obligated to complete the task, but nor are you exempt from beginning it.â&#x20AC;?

Where and how do you feel Christians can have the most impact on culture?

Mark Driscoll: Christians need to get upstream to have the inďŹ&#x201A;uence to change what culture is made of. What I mean by that is, culture is like a river, and most Christians are a downstream bunch who tend to complain about the junk that ďŹ&#x201A;ows down to them on TV, in movies, in politics.

To change things, we need to stop just ďŹ shing junk out of the river of culture and get upstream where all the junk is being thrown in and sent downstream to the masses. The key is to get wise Christians upstream running record labels, TV stations, businesses and other places to be a force for good, like Joseph and Daniel.

Lauren Winner: Before Christians can think about having an impact

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on culture, we need to recognize that cultural artifacts suffuse our daily lives. The architecture of our neighborhoods, for example, is part of culture. The width of sidewalks and the presence (or lack thereof) of front porches are cultural artifacts, and they teach us to be and do a certain way. Our kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; after-school schedules are cultural artifacts. Those after-school schedules simultaneously bespeak our values and teach us what to value.

Efrem Smith: By serving the least and the lost and not abandoning our inner cities. Inner-city subcultures such as hip-hop are having a major inďŹ&#x201A;uence in the world. The Church can have a major impact by inďŹ&#x201A;uencing the inďŹ&#x201A;uencers at a grassroots level as well as having a more biblical and holistic agenda of justice. For too long weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve allowed the two major political parties to divide the Church and limit our kingdom impact.

Erwin McManus: We are presently in a cultural tide pool: music, fashion, art, ďŹ lm, church. Culture is in an imitative frenzy. Imitation is good as long as it moves us to emulation, which should move us to innovation, which is where we begin to express and experience our uniqueness. It is time to risk and create the future. This is where we can have the greatest impact on culture. We can choose to create a compelling future. There is never simply one future being created. There are always competing futures at play. The ones that are most powerful and compelling become magnetic and create a force of human momentum. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how movements start. Someone decides there needs to be a tear in human history. The past as we have known it needs to come to a close, and a new future must be created. And isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t this the ultimate calling of the Church: To create the future? 2

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FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE GETTING TO KNOW SINGER/SONGWRITER REGINA SPEKTOR

BY ADAM SMITH Spektor’s childhood was also shaped by a love of music. Her father would return from business trips in Eastern Europe with bootleg copies of Beatles and Moody Blues albums.

When Spektor moved to the United States and learned English, the songs seemed even richer to her. Music quickly became a hobby, then a fascination, and then a full-time pursuit.

The music Spektor now creates draws from influences of jazz, folk and even hip-hop, all backed up by her classically trained piano stylings.

This eclectic mix is further accented by Spektor’s often-quirky vocal acrobatics. Spektor beatboxes, uses vibrato and often switches between English, French, Russian and Latin within the same song. Whereas Soviet Kitsch was minimalist and sparse, her new release Begin to Hope finds Spektor exploring a more pop-inspired sound with

Growing up in the Soviet Union, Regina Spektor did not have a typical childhood experience. She spent her early days in the waning era of Communism as a member of one of the most historically persecuted groups in Russia. “I’m a Russian Jew,” she says. “That is such a particular and unique thing. In Russia, there was a government policy of anti-Semitism. Growing up, all I knew about being Jewish was that it was bad.”

This all changed when Spektor’s family moved to the United States when she was 9, and, for the first time, Judaism seemed to have positive connotations and a rich tradition. “To move to the Bronx where being Jewish is not a bad thing, it was such a change,” she says.

Spektor remembers what it was like to have her culture opened to her. “In America we did our first holiday rituals. It was very exciting. To not have it [and] then experience it, it was all very delicious, very colorful. Being a part of that feels really good.”

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fuller instrumentation.Lyrically, Spektor tends to weave fictional stories with her music rather than choosing to disclose information about her personal life despite the very unique circumstances of her upbringing and the stories it yields. “It’s not something I do,” she says. “I don’t often reveal myself. Some people do, I know.” Though she is often compared to Tori Amos, who exposes deep parts of her psyche through her lyrics, Spektor’s songs are most often tales of imagined characters peppered with biblical and literary references.

It’s not that she is uncomfortable revealing herself through her music. Rather, she finds it more effective to paint pictures and create characters. “It’s more interesting, you know?” she says. “I definitely am not trying to completely hide myself or anything. I feel like as best as I can I want to populate my stories with interesting characters. It feels more true than trying to figure out my personality and express it.

“I mean, I have a really good family and good friends,” Spektor says, claiming she doesn’t feel the need for a cathartic channel.

“When you already have that understanding in

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was so beautiful,” she says. “Another person will say that a show of Regina’s is like listening to cats being tortured. ‘Why can’t she sing a melody? She is always doing weird [stuff] with her voice.’ Someone will say, ‘Her piano playing is so minimalist,’ and someone will say, ‘Her piano playing is like a 2-year-old.’ Someone will say, ‘She is so sweet and innocent,’ and someone else will say ‘look at that shtick, trying to

B E C A U S E ...

“In the end, all these traditions [are] about a connection with the higher power.”

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be cute.’ No matter what I say someone gets something out of it.”

Spektor makes an effort not to pay much heed to such disparate opinions and stay grounded in the midst of growing attention.

Another grounding force in Spektor’s life is her Jewish identity and heritage. Spektor still feels connected to her faith and culture, though she is not as diligent in her practice as she once

was. “I don’t practice strictly,” she says. “I’m not Orthodox, but it’s one of those things where you find your own level of practice. I still go to synagogue.

“In the end, all these traditions, all the levels people practice their religion at, it’s not about that,” she says. “It’s about a connection with the higher power. The ability to connect. To worship. I think I have a fair balance now. I don’t know, though. Maybe throughout life I will get more Orthodox again.”

Spektor believes that much of worship is about self-evaluation and continually appraising one’s closeness to his or her faith. “I think true understanding comes through reassessing and readjusting your life and not waking up 30 years later and realizing that you aren’t worshipping the way you want.”

This unique perspective and self-evaluation have created an artist who is making music that is original, off-beat and as fun as it is profound.

With the attitude she takes toward her art, her critics and her personal life, Regina Spektor is a lot more than Soviet kitsch. 2

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your personal life, you really get the freedom through your art to express what you want.”

So, does she tell stories because she feels she has means of self-expression more fulfilling than music? “I wonder ... It sounds pretty legit, right? But as soon as you say it, I don’t know,” she says. “One day something seems right that I say, but the next day I’ll read it, and I won’t even really know if I believe it.” Indeed, for all her storytelling, Spektor is still very much a part of her music. “I am in my music,” she says. “My personality is in there even when they are characters. They are still pulled from my sympathies to them and my empathy and my love of them or my hate of them. My point of view is in there.”

Some have incorrectly drawn conclusions about Spektor based upon her music, including many critics. Though, by and large, critics have been very kind, Spektor still puts little stock in their opinion. After all, the reviews often contradict one another. “Somebody will come to a show of mine, and they will say it

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KEY

REVIEWS

LYRICS

MUSIC

SPIRITUALITY

7—INCREDIBLE 1—COVER YOUR EARS

7—GROUNDBREAKING 1—SCREECHING CATS

7—A LOT 1—NONE

Switchfoot NO ONE EVER TAKES SWITCHFOOT SERIOUSLY. And no wonder: Their latest release is just further proof that enthusiastic yowls and yelps from a blond-haired Californian can sell records faster than any label head ever dreamed. Yet even their hit songs have an underlying intelligence and (watch out, secular radio!) spiritual OH! GRAVITY fervor. The themes are always about making the most of your time on earth, crawling COLUMBIA before you walk (or just being content with crawling) and smelling the roses.

Of course, there is still a lot of yelping. Frontman Jon Foreman just can’t help GENRE: SURF ROCK himself on songs like “Burn Out Bright,” which seems like an imitation of former LYRICS: AVG. 7 glories. And while the promising “Dirty Second Hands” single hinted at an earlyMUSIC: 6 period Rolling Stones revival musically, these are all mostly alterna-anthems for suburbia. “Awakening” is the best toe-tapper here, escalating into a palatable SPIRITUALITY: 5 Nirvana state, but it’s still just a bunch of crazy guitars and scorching vocals from a cool white dude.

Yet, Switchfoot is an interesting anomaly. The band members write literary exurban odes that wink-wink at you about fleeting stardom. They know, for example, that driving a Lexus has a certain appeal (on “American Dream”), and sure, the camera is pointed in their direction, and it’s owned and operated by MTV. But every great gift on this earth pales in comparison to eternal bliss. They’re saying, go ahead and smell the roses, but remember who made them and don’t get too distracted. Oh! Gravity gets better with each listen because you start to hear truth amid the posing.

The only gripe with the band is that they keep hinting at the answer, and even sort of call you over to the cross and say “God’s right here,” but never really play their hand. They’re the best band in Christian music who could be atheists, and often pass too easily for Foo Fighters light. It might be easy for people to choose any door (Scientology?

Buddhism?) on the road out of the City of Negativity. —JOHN BRANDON

Switchfoot

6

86 / RELEVANT_JAN/FEB 07

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In Stores March Sixth, Two-Thousand and Seven

Everything Starts Where It Ends

REVIEWS Tom Waits

Bright Eyes

ORPHANS T

NOISE FLOOR TOOTH & NAIL

DJ Shadow

ANTI

SADDLE CREEK

THE OUTSIDER UNIVERSAL

John Legend ONCE AGAIN SONY

R&B

GENRE: LYRICS:

4

AVG.

MUSIC:

7

5

SPIRITUALITY:

4

John Legend is sort of the Beck of R&B. On his sizzling follow-up to a Grammy-winning debut (Get Lifted), he croons, emotes and jives like a grandmaster of the genre. His voice wraps perfectly around luscious pianocentric arrangements. Sometimes lyrically trite—he keeps singing about “making love”—the music keeps you guessing through various organ interludes and ooh-la-la female choruses. —JOHN BRANDON

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GENRE:

AMERICANA

EMO

GENRE:

HIP-HOP

4

AVG.

LYRICS:

1

AVG.

MUSIC:

5

4

3

4

MUSIC:

SPIRITUALITY:

SPIRITUALITY:

1

2

GENRE:

2

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

7

SPIRITUALITY:

3

4

LYRICS:

A three-disc, 54-song collection of previously unreleased work, Orphans breaks down into Waits’ rock songs, ballads and songs too weird to be classified. Waits may be one of America’s greatest songwriters, and this album showcases his talent wonderfully. At turns bizarre and heartfelt, Orphans is a great collection for its sheer variety. —KH

The tracks that Conor Oberst cuts from his albums are better than most songs other groups keep on theirs. This 16track collection of leftovers is an interesting cross-section of the music of Bright Eyes over a seven-year period.

Although the album is disjointed, all the songs are solid and listenable. —AP

The Outsider is DJ Shadow’s desperate attempt to be taken seriously as a musician. But perhaps it would have been best to stay the course with the slick originality of his previous two releases. This album seems disjointed and gimmicky by comparison.

It’s more of a résumé for his production skills than a serious musical effort. —JC

11/29/06 9:50:53 AM

Menomena

Shiny Toy Guns

... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Swan Lake

Vineyard

FRIEND AND FOE

WE ARE PILOTS

SO DIVIDED

BEAST MOANS

MORE THAN EVER: LIVE ...

BARSUK

UMVD

INTERSCOPE

JAGJAGUWAR

WORD

FUNK

GENRE:

4

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

5

SPIRITUALITY:

2

3+

GENRE: LYRICS:

Somehow Menomena creates music that can be appreciated by jazz and rock lovers alike. The band has combined pianos, saxophones, glockenspiel and an array of percussion to create a refreshing album. At turns chaotic cacophony and straight-forward pop, Friend and Foe is an indie album that is actually indie. —DM

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TECHNO

ROCK

GENRE:

2

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

7

SPIRITUALITY:

4

4+

GENRE:

4

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

6

SPIRITUALITY:

2

4

If a twentysomething techno rocker singing in the first person as a robot and lamenting the annihilation of humanity is your thing, welcome to Shiny Toy Guns.

Their debut has a Snow Patrol mentality: let the emotion reign and the lyrics linger. But, musically, they’re a disco take on New Order superglued to Augustana. —JB

With So Divided, the misleadingly named Trail of Dead have produced an album sleeker and more melodic than its predecessor Worlds Apart. Melody always manages to rise above the cacophony of heavy percussion and guitar squall. In particular, “Wasted State of Mind” shows off lead singer Conrad Keely’s voice and how far it’s come since the band’s early days. —JC

INDIE

GENRE:

3

AVG.

LYRICS:

7

AVG.

MUSIC:

4

4

3

3+

MUSIC:

SPIRITUALITY:

SPIRITUALITY:

7

6

Canada seems to be exporting some of the best music in the world right now. That’s why Swan Lake, a supergroup of Canadian indie artists comprised of members of the New Pornographers and Wolf Parade, should be a shoe-in for greatness. However, the artists get a little too caught up in their own grandeur. The album meanders when it’s meant to soar. —JC

WORSHIP

More Than Ever: Live from the Rockies proves one thing: You don’t have to stage a live recording to manufacture a worship experience. Casey Corum and others emote on songs like “Sweetly Broken” and “Bless His Name.” An erstwhile (probably collegeage) crowd whoops and hollers in the background like they mean it this time. —JB

11/29/06 9:52:11 AM

REVIEWS The Procussions 5 SPARROWS FOR 2 CENTS

RAWKUS

Brand New

Badly Drawn Boy

Califone

THE DEVIL AND GOD ARE RAGING INSIDE ME

BORN IN THE U.K.

ROOTS & CROWNS

BEYOND MEASURE

EMI

THRILL JOCKEY

BEC

INTERSCOPE

GENRE:

HIP-HOP

GENRE:

LYRICS:

6

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

5

SPIRITUALITY:

7

6

Colorado isn’t exactly known for its hip-hop scene, but Colorado Springs natives The Procussions are proving that geography has nothing to do with talent. On their latest release, they mix great production with socially conscious rhymes. And though they aren’t afraid to present a realistic view of life’s hardships, they always show a light at the end of the tunnel. —JC

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EMO

GENRE:

6

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

7

SPIRITUALITY:

6

6+

Long Island rockers Brand New seem to get exponentially better with each release. Their new album is no exception.

Spiritually poignant and heartfelt, the band rises above their emo beginnings to achieve a sound at times reminiscent of Pink Floyd. The spiritual struggle is overt, as the album’s title would suggest, and frontman Jesse Lacey makes you feel every note. —JC

BRIT ROCK

GENRE:

4

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

4

SPIRITUALITY:

4

4

Badly Drawn Boy’s music was groundbreaking at one point. At this point the novelty has worn off, but the talent hasn’t. Damon Gough’s slow, creeping melodies and introspective lyrics still separate him from the army of pretenders created in the wake of his early work. Born in the U.K. is a striking ode to his homeland and his hero, Bruce Springsteen. —DM

Jeremy Camp

INDIE ROCK

ROCK

GENRE:

4

AVG.

LYRICS:

7

AVG.

MUSIC:

4

2

4

4

MUSIC:

SPIRITUALITY:

SPIRITUALITY:

7

5+

Califone is an alternate-reality indie band: their music barely stands on shaky legs, a Jenga puzzle ready to collapse.

Loosely related audio samples threaten to derail every chord progression. Meanwhile, halfcrazed lyrics prick annoyingly at your subconscious. Yet, somehow, it all works. “Our Kitten Sees Ghosts” is a woven wonder. —JB

Call him the Christian American Idol. Jeremy Camp’s smooth-rock “I love You, God” songs are curried takes on Steven Curtis Chapman, but his upbeat numbers (“No Matter What,” “Tonight”) will rattle your cage, especially at full volume. And “Take a Little Time” screams crossover hit with its oozing, spacious warmth. The guy is Melodious with a capital M. —JB

11/29/06 9:53:10 AM

The Shins

Disciple

Joanna Newsom

WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY

SCARS REMAIN

YS

SUB POP

SONY

DRAG CITY

Beck THE INFORMATION INTERSCOPE GENRE:

INDIE POP

LYRICS:

5

MUSIC:

7

SPIRITUALITY:

3

GENRE: LYRICS:

6

5

MUSIC:

3

SPIRITUALITY:

6

Don’t buy Wincing the Night Away expecting the full-bodied anthems you’ve known from The Shins in the past. The album is far more lo-fi, channeling more of a Smiths vibe.

Yet, it is a supremely enjoyable experience. Still melodic at its core, the album also mixes in some interesting synth work.

Surprisingly, the laid-back ballads stand out more than the upbeat tracks. —JC

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FOLK

GENRE:

AVG.

LYRICS:

7

AVG.

LYRICS:

4

AVG.

5

MUSIC:

7

6

SPIRITUALITY:

6

6+

MUSIC: SPIRITUALITY:

3

4+

HARD ROCK

AVG.

If you came to the Disciple party three years ago for their self-titled label debut, be careful: The band still has their Guns but lost a few Roses.

Blistering screamo rounds out the heavy old-school jams.

Buried in between all the mayhem, the ballad “After the World” is told from a Christ-onthe-cross perspective, and it’s probably the best song they’ve ever written. —JB

GENRE:

Joanna Newsom may be an acquired taste, but she’s one worth acquiring. Her harp-accompanied folk tales are vivid and beautiful. The whole album has the feeling of a Renaissance fair, but it somehow manages to avoid being kitschy. Broken into five lengthy narrative poems, Ys is an amazing accomplishment of poetry and art. —KH

FUNK

The Information is a somber collection of songs with a lonely yet futuristic feel in the vein of Ziggy Stardust.

The album offers loads of extra content, from DVD features to stickers for decorating the cover. At turns techno, country, rock and folk, The Information is the type of eclectic performance people have come to expect from Beck. —DANNY MILLER

11/29/06 9:54:19 AM

REVIEWS Hezekiah

Jeremy Enigk

HURRY UP & WAIT

WORLD WAITS

SOULSPAZM

Pivitplex THE KING IN A ROOKERY

REINCARNATE

SELECTRIC

Damien Rice 9 VECTOR GENRE: SINGER/SONGWRITER LYRICS:

2

AVG.

MUSIC:

7

4+

SPIRITUALITY:

4

Damien Rice continues where he left off with O, with an album of haunting and reflective ballads that paint vivid pictures with eloquent imagery. His lyrics are still biting, at times explicit and oftentimes depressing.

Though this album does not seem as fully realized as O, it is still a beautiful collection of moving and moody songs. —DANNY MILLER

GENRE:

HIP-HOP

GENRE:

LYRICS:

2

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

7

SPIRITUALITY:

1

3+

Hezekiah lays down some great beats and some very witty lyrical work. His penchant for clever wordplay and verbal acrobatics is the highlight of this album, making him a talent well worth watching. However, some of the more misogynistic—not to mention explicit—lyrics spoil what could otherwise be a great effort. —JC

EMO

GENRE:

5

AVG.

LYRICS:

4

AVG.

MUSIC:

6

5

7

6

MUSIC:

SPIRITUALITY:

SPIRITUALITY:

3

4

Perhaps the world wasn’t waiting for former Sunny Day Real Estate frontman Jeremy Enigk’s first solo album in a decade, but old-school emo fans have practically been foaming at the mouth. They won’t be disappointed. Enigk’s voice soars, and his lyrics hint at a spiritual profundity. Some of the tracks were written more than 10 years ago, but they still stand strong. —JC

ALT ROCK

Not quite as funny as FM Static, but with a tighter sound than The Lonely Hearts, Pivitplex falls into that same “too smart for alternative rock” segment. Their power-pop actually has power. “Everything’s OK” blisters like eggs on a pan; “I’m Alive” sounds so blissful and effortless, it could make The Beach Boys blush. —JB

92 / RELEVANT_JAN/FEB 07

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11/29/06 9:55:02 AM

Art Brut

Busdriver

Pilot Speed

Tahiti 80

Grits

BANG BANG ROCK & ROLL

ROADKILL OVERCOAT

INTO THE WEST

FOSBURY

REDEMPTION

DOWNTOWN

EPITAPH

WIND-UP

MILITIA

GOTEE

GENRE:

HIP-HOP

GENRE:

4

AVG.

LYRICS:

3

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

5

7

1

3+

MUSIC:

SPIRITUALITY:

SPIRITUALITY:

4

4+

GENRE: LYRICS:

BRIT ROCK

South London’s Art Brut consists of frontman Eddie Argos’ yelled narratives atop gritty three-chord anthems.

Heavily distorted guitar mixes with wild drum beats provide the mid-tone background to his talking. Filled with clever British humor, Art Brut’s lyrics have a repetitive approach encapsulated in the track “Formed a Band.” —HF

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Busdriver spits socially conscious, machine-gun fast, jazz-influenced rhymes. The album’s production matches Busdriver’s voice beat for beat, and Busdriver matches the production, not only rapping to the beat but to the melody as well. Roadkill Overcoat is a balancing act performed admirably, catchy but not repetitive. —DM

ALT ROCK

FUNK

GENRE:

HIP-HOP

6

AVG.

LYRICS:

5

AVG.

MUSIC:

5

4

1

4

MUSIC:

SPIRITUALITY:

SPIRITUALITY:

7

5+

GENRE:

5

AVG.

LYRICS:

MUSIC:

5

SPIRITUALITY:

2

4

Into the West is Pilot Speed’s U.S. release of their recent album Sell Control for Life’s Speed. Bringing in a slightly Brit feel to their Canadianrock roots, Todd Clark’s falsetto vocals hearken back to early Radiohead. Overall, the music is clean and the tunes are catchy, but it leaves something to be desired in the way of originality. —HF

Tahiti 80 makes you want to dance. Fosbury showcases Tahiti 80’s own brand of French funk. Sometimes it sounds like American dancepop; sometimes it’s more of a slow-grooving ‘70s jam.

The vocals are reminiscent of Jamiroquai. Tahiti 80 occupies a separate musical space; this album isn’t like anything you’ve heard, at least not recently. —AP

Grit’s newest release shatters many of the preconceived notions about the veteran Christian hip-hoppers. On this album, the duo decides to go with a Dirty South sound, and they do it alarmingly well. The only regret is that they didn’t hit upon this style years ago.

Regardless of how you’ve felt about past Grits releases, Redemption is an album befitting of its title. —JC

11/29/06 9:57:58 AM

BOOK REVIEWS

THE NEW FRIARS

AGAINST THE DAY

AUTHOR

AUTHOR

SCOTT BESSENECKER

THOMAS PYNCHON

PUBLISHER

PUBLISHER

INTERVARSITY

PENGUIN

GENRE

GENRE

SPIRITUALITY

FICTION

SCOTT BESSENECKER, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL PROJECTS for InterVarsity, tells the stories of a new generation of young Christians who are sacrificing the American dream in order to live alongside the destitute. The remarkable people Bessenecker profiles have often chosen to live in impoverished conditions in order to better serve the people around them. All the while, Bessenecker provides historical examples of young people who gave their lives in service to impoverished communities, showing the modern-day connection to ancient monastic movements. From the outset, he gives a framework of historical Christian movements that have sought to ease the suffering of the poor.

The people Bessenecker profiles are presented with raw and scintillating honesty. Moreover, Bessenecker’s frustration with global poverty is quite overt throughout the book. This is not merely a detached journalistic treatise. It is an empassioned and emotionally charged plea. This kind of personal engagement with the subject is what makes the book so riveting. The author looks on poverty with disgust and heartbreak, and upon the people fighting it with reverence. —KURT HELLER

RECLUSIVE CULT HERO THOMAS PYNCHON RETURNS after almost a decade-long hiatus with a novel as sprawling and labrynthine as his fans have come to expect. The book spans from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair to a few years after the First World War. Once again, Pynchon introduces a formidable cast of characters, jumping back and forth between them in a dizzying fashion. The characters are as quirky and varied as ever: engineers, mathematicians, balloonists and gamblers. Even Bela Lugosi and Groucho Marx make cameos.

The social commentary here is unmistakable. In his own description of the book, Pynchon says of the era the novel covers, “It is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.” The sarcasm is practically palpable.

The book can be very daunting at more than 1,000 pages, not to mention Pynchon’s habit for meandering between characters and time periods. Yet, for the dilligent reader, Against the Day is an extremely rewarding read. At turns hilarious in its absurdity and gut-wrenching in its descriptiveness, Pynchon’s latest is enormous, beautiful, frustrating and wry. —MIKE WEAVER

The Great Omission

Only Revolutions

AUTHOR

AUTHOR

Orthodoxy AUTHOR

DALLAS WILLARD

MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI

G.K. CHESTERTON

PUBLISHER

PUBLISHER

PUBLISHER

HARPERSANFRANCISCO

PANTHEON

IGNATIUS

GENRE

GENRE

GENRE

SPIRITUALITY

FICTION

CHRISTIAN CLASSIC

Dallas Willard is the Christian author who other Christian authors want to read. His Spirit of the Disciplines remains one of the landmark works of Christian literature. The Great Omission collects his writings and lectures from the past 26 years and presents a remarkably consistent treatise on the role of discipleship in the life of the believer. Willard expounds on the need to journey beyond salvation into transformation to the image of Christ. He promotes the importance of spiritual disciplines. Willard warns against the cost of living a stagnant life, saying, “Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil.”

One of the most helpful aspects of the book is the last several chapters where Willard discusses books that he recommends for spiritual formation. —AS

Mark Z. Danielewski continues the experimental fiction writing he became known for with House of Leaves. The novel centers around two teenage lovers, Sam and Hailey, who are eternally 16. The characters each narrate a road trip across time and America. Like House of Leaves, the structure of the novel is as important as the story. One side of the book is Sam’s account. Turn the book around and upside down, and you’ll find the events narrated from Hailey’s perspective. The novel comments on the best and worst aspects of American history while also telling a heartfelt love story. However, Danielewski’s strength in writing can also become his weakness.

Characters and plot often take a back seat to the bizarre structure he creates. While the focus on structure and typography may cause some to chalk Danielewski’s work up to pretention, he nonetheless weaves compelling tales through mindbending and unique techniques. —KH

This is actually G.K. Chesterton’s conversion story. Yet it is not a come-to-church change he chronicles, but rather the troubling philosophical considerations over Christianity that he weighed with an honest heart. He realized the immortal truth of Christian orthodoxy.

Throughout these essays Chesterton simultaneously champions the oddities of biblical truth, skewers the reigning philosophers of his day using Christian common sense and exposes conventional wisdom with arguments that feel surprisingly contemporary.

On nearly every page he carelessly sprays fresh ideas about nature, optimism and pessimism, sex and even the mythological fairies in a convincing, accessible manner sure to convince open-minded readers (the same manner C.S. Lewis later used to great effect in his own essays). Most importantly, Chesterton reveals how this supposedly hidebound orthodoxy is actually the deep source of joy available to anyone brave enough to discover the discovered truth. —KC

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CONTENTS COVER STORY

BEN FOLDS Gives us a guided tour through “Jesusland.”

| 12 | FIRST WORD | 14 | LETTERS | 16 | SLICES | 30 | SPOTLIGHTS | 36 | THE SCENE: BOSTON | 38 | REVOLUTION: PUTTING DOWN THE KNIFE | 40 | STATEMENTS | 48 | PIGEON JOHN | 50 | FAITH NO MORE | 54 | NORMA JEAN | 56 | SHANE CLAIBORNE | 60 | RELEVANT RECOMMENDS | 70 | NEW YEAR | 72 | ROBERT LANHAM | 74 | 7 BIG QUESTIONS | 80 | REGINA SPEKTOR | 86 | MUSIC REVIEWS: Switchfoot | 88 | 27 ALBUMS YOU SHOULD KNOW | 94 | BOOK REVIEWS

REGINA SPEKTOR: LOOKING LOVELY AS USUAL

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PRAYERS FOR JUSTICE

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