Adam McLane

Category: Culture

  • Rejecting the rejection of community life

    In the mid-20th century architects like Mies van der Rohe envisioned simplicity and wholeness in urban centers. Into the chaos of the city their residential designs sought to bring wholeness and community. (For reference, see Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.) They attempted to convince residents that an amazing community life could be had within just a…

  • Pop Culture Christianity

    Am I the only one disturbed by the latest trend that Christians are chasing pop culture & news so they can share their unsolicited opinion? Part of my appeal in becoming part of the church was that it was an other-worldly, safe place where it didn’t matter that I wasn’t up on the latest fashion…

  • God grew tired of us

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32IxyvoSZKo Last night I finally watched God Grew Tired of Us. It’s a beautiful film worthy of 90 minutes of your time. (And available for streaming on NetFlix.) Our neighborhood, like a lot of other communities in the United States, has become a place of refuge for many people relocated here because of war. I’ve…

  • St. Patrick’s Day Prayer for the American Church

    Green beer, revelry, parades, and dyeing the river green. These are the things we think about to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. However, when I think of Saint Patrick, I think of one of the greatest missionaries to have ever walked the planet. Born in Wales, trafficked as a teenager and sold into slavery in Ireland.…

  • What’s cooler than a billion? 7 billion

    So if I read that correctly… the church is going to need to become more urban in the next 25 years. Are you moving that way? HT to Fuller Youth Institute

  • iPhone, Your New Cigarettes

    The parallels between the iPhone in 2011 and cigarettes in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s are stunning. It’s iconic. It’s celebrated as the cool thing. It’s a status symbol. It’s celebrated in the media. It’s manufacturer is getting rich. There are cheap imitations. (Sorry Android users) It’s addicting, but not viewed as a serious…

  • Lord, change me first

    What motivates people to change? Here’s a list of things that I’m coming to terms with… Things that I see which don’t change people or organizations but should: (Generally speaking) Biblical truth Their current reality, state, or condition Current position, authority and/or aspirations of Scientific research or law Reading books about other organizations or people…

  • Leave me alone

    Maybe I want to be in debt, eat crappy food, and watch endless hours of mind-numbing television? Has it ever crossed your mind that the reasons I do this are because I want to? And maybe, just maybe,  don’t want to be fixed? Maybe it’s not about addiction? Maybe it’s not some sort of freudian…

  • Sick Puppies – Maybe

    When the generations prophets cry for change you have to ask yourself: Am I a catalyst for the change they are calling for or am I the object the catalysts are fighting against?

  • Stop Throwing People Away

    There is something going on in church culture that I can’t stand. And it’s something I think we really need to change. And it is something we can change right now, in this moment. It’s this. We have a tendency to throw people away because they do or say or write one thing we don’t like.…