Adam McLane

Tag: theology

  • The Economics of Preaching

    click image to see full size Have you ever thought about the economics of preaching? Probably not.  If you were to take a moment to think about the value we ascribe to the action of preaching in the American church, you may start to wonder if we’ve overvalued it. Think about it from an organizational…

  • Teenagers are Desperate for Good News

    One reason youth ministry is flatlining is crappy theology. Kara Powell, executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute, was recently interviewed by Relevant Magazine about the present reality that youth ministry presents a faith students easily walk away from in college. She was asked, “Do you think there are any misunderstandings or misconceptions that contribute to young adults leaving the…

  • To go deep, you have to go wide

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how our students so quickly dispatch their faith in early adulthood. As I’ve read Sticky Faith, Almost Christian, Christians Smith’s research, and played host to the Extended Adolescence Symposium last week I’ve been taking it all in and trying to figure out “why.” Why is it that so…

  • The gradual transformation of evangelical eschatology

    Those raised in evangelicalism were taught to believe that the world will only get worse until the Lord returns. Culture degrades, morality disintegrates, and the world falls apart to the point that only Jesus can rescue us from certain self-destruction. Listen to almost any traditional evangelical voice and you’ll hear this language peppered in. Things are…

  • Jesus is the worst sales pitch ever

    Have  you ever sat in on a timeshare presentation? You’re on vacation, spending $100 every time you get out of the car with your family, and a very nice front desk person tells you… “Mr. McLane, if you’d be willing to sit down and talk with us about our vacation packages, we’ll give you $100…

  • Lead us to the river bank

    Can you imagine what was running through Moses’ head as he stood there on the bank of the Nile waiting for Pharoah to arrive? (Exodus 7) I’m doing what God told me to do. (Kept on Repeat.) Uh, why didn’t I write that down? Did God say today or was it next week? Why didn’t God…

  • Minister by doing

    Religious leaders get hung up in theological ideological debates, Jesus did not. One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”Jesus answered them, “Have…

  • It’s going to take all types

    The church in America isn’t growing In every community around the United States only about 5-10% of people attend a church on any given weekend. (Easter & Christmas, let’s bump that to 15%.) If you believe that Jesus intended His church as the primary instrument of the Gospel spreading and prevailing in a community… this…

  • I’m a walking contradiction

    My life in a Bible verse: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who…

  • The God of Discomfort

    God doesn’t call us to a life of comfort. As an overweight, gainfully employed, hyper-educated American Christian– that phrase convicts. Recently, when I spend time in God’s Word, the Holy Spirit has illuminated in me this truth in a brand new way. God doesn’t call us to live a comfortable life. He calls us to…