Tribal Church

I’ve been told that my new book, Reframing Hope is now at Alban’s distribution office (you can get the first chapter and a great deals on it here).

It was a very fun book to write, because I was so excited about the topic. But it was also challenging. I talk a lot about social media, so I felt like it was important to be fully engaged with blogging and Twittering as I wrote it. And since social media can be a total time suck, it often took over my writing hours. I started speaking and traveling more, because Tribal Church did well, so that often took my days off. Then there was that weird second book thing. There can be a bit of pressure, internally and externally, to make your book better than the first one. With your first one, you can labor away in obscurity, but with the second, there are expectations…. Through it all, I’m pretty sure that I threw away more pages than I wrote (that’s not usually how I do things).

Eventually I learned to balance my time a bit more and turn off the Internet when I needed to. I even realized that I don’t need to put up a blog post every day, and it’s okay if I don’t respond to every comment, even when the comment is critical of my work (that was very freeing, indeed). I learned to turn down some speaking engagements. And I got over that second-book thing. And after a good long time, it’s out.

Now, I want to thank you all for your comments and conversations. They have fed me throughout the process. The book and article recommendations, your reflections of when I was on point and when I was off, the interview suggestions–it was all of great value as I put the manuscript together. I struggled as I wrote the acknowledgements for the book. Some of the people were easy to point to. There was, of course, my family, my husband, Brian Merritt, and my daughter, Calla. Diana Butler Bass wrote a great forward, and I was humbled by the kind endorsements of Phyllis Tickle and Paul Brandeis Raushenbush. Ruth Everhart, MaryAnn McKibben Dana, Jan Edmiston, and Leslie Kingensmith were all a part of a writing group that I attended as I formed the proposal. As I wrote, I worked closely with Bruce Reyes-Chow and Landon Whitsitt on God Complex Radio. They are pastors, true techies (I’m not so much), and the former Moderator and present Vice-Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). They both have a unique perspective on the church. I learned a great deal from them, both in practice and long conversations.

But other people were a bit harder to point out. Ryan and Meredith Kemp-Pappan have been great friends and support throughout. And there were networks that I was a part of and struggling with as I wrote: RevGalBlogPals, Presbymergent, Beatitudes Society, D-mergent, Outlaw Preachers, and Transform. Each one of them, in their different ways, are faithfully sorting out what it means to be church in this time and place.

It’s sort of overwhelming when I imagine the great network of people who have encouraged me and fed me throughout. I think of those people in the Bible—the prophets, slaves, and outcasts—who ended up in the wilderness. They were hungry and exhausted, and somehow a raven came with bread, or manna poured down from heaven, or they miraculously saw a well in the horizon. I know I’m far from the wilderness, and I’m no slave or outcast. I don’t want to be too dramatic about all of this… but I have to say that I’m overwhelmed with gratitude when I think of all the generous spirits of the people around me. People who have said kind words, linked to articles, extended invitations, and sent emails. On many dry and anxiety-filled days, these things nourished me more than you could know.

I cannot thank you enough.

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Recently, I’ve had a lot of people picking my brain about how they can become a writer/speaker. Here’s what I tell them… or what I wish I would have told them, depending on the situation.

1) Have something to say. Yeah, I know it seems obvious, but there are a lot of charismatic people out there who… well… don’t have much to say. You don’t want to be one of those.

How do you figure out your message? Well, pray about it. If you listen to someone else speak, and you get really, really angry, figure out why. Is it because they are not saying it the way that you would? How would you say it? Listen to your own petty jealousies, because they just might be directing you. Think about what gifts that you bring to the ministry. Do you have a unique perspective because of your religious background, age, ethnicity, technological skills? Have you done some interesting activism? Is your church growing? Do you have artistic, poetic, or musical skills? What do you have to say that the church is dying to hear? Be certain that you’re passionate about the subject, because you may be speaking about it for a long time to come.

2) Produce work. When you know what the topic is, then begin to read everything you can on the subject. Don’t just limit your reading to church books. Reach outside of our field and find out what other experts are saying as well, because sometimes the most interesting work is done when a religious leader takes cutting edge research and then reflects on it within his or her context. Then, start to write. Blogs have lost a bit of steam, but they are still an excellent way to get started when you don’t have another platform. Writing a blog can get you into the discipline of working every day. You can rework blog posts for magazine articles. And, for a while, more people knew me from my blog than my published works.

While you’re at it, begin to use Twitter as a public figure. Yes, Twitter matters. Talk to people. Unlock your privacy settings. Put your real name, position, and blog on your bio. If you’re used to being semi-anonymous on Twitter, it may take some of the fun out of it, but it’s also a powerful tool in making publishing connections. I have a wonderful friend who randomly Twittered his book idea, and a publisher contacted him. I have been contacted three times by publishers who are interested in my work because of Twitter.

3) Get published. Once you have your blog up and running, look for other places you can be published. We all think we know more than Elizabeth Gilbert, and we want to be the ones with the New York Times bestseller and big movie deal, but we may not be able to get a contract with Penguin right away. But there are places you can get published. There is a ladder. It’s not that hard to climb, but you may have to start on the bottom rung. Look at your denomination’s weekly newsletters. Are there respected religious blogs that you can write for? Often if a publication is not paying its writers and/or it has to publish often, then they’re always looking for good stories or book reviews.

Publishing (like so many things) is in a strange transition at the moment. Most publishers are having a hard time figuring out their strategies during this Internet age. This makes them very wary to publish authors who don’t sell, but it may also be helping them take a chance on newcomers. At least that’s how it seems. I don’t know… what’s your sense of this?

4) Don’t back-stab (i.e., I just changed “we all know more than Elizabeth Gilbert” to “we all think we know more than Elizabeth Gilbert”). And certainly don’t backstab in public. I said to be aware of your petty jealousies, but don’t blog about how much you hate another author. (Just to be clear: I love you, Elizabeth Gilbert). You might only have six people reading your blog, but one of them is the person who set up the blog alert to find out the feedback on his book. The religious writing world is very, very tiny. If you want to write, then you may have to be careful with your snarky comments. Of course, you can write something like this sweet homage.

Don’t write a nasty review of an author’s book on Shefari, and then turn around and ask her for a contribution to your blog. She read your review. And she might be your editor one day. Even if she’s not your editor, she may be making editorial decisions about you. (Publishers–large and small–contact me regularly to ask me what I think about certain authors or book ideas. And I’m just a small fish. I know I’ve advised against authors who have been rude to me. Not out of pettiness or vengeance, but the experience left a bad taste in my mouth when it came to their work.) You may criticize in broad terms, you might have a constructive dialogue, but don’t throw your hope-to-be colleagues under the bus. It might give you a short-term audience, but it makes you untrustworthy and it might destroy you in the long run.

5) Help and ask for help. You have a great amount of power in this new era of publishing. You can write a good Amazon review. You can Twitter when you’re enjoying a book. If you want to be a published author, help to promote the authors you enjoy. Some authors might ignore it when you do (authors often ignore me), but the smart ones will pay attention. I have scored big interviews for God Complex, because I’ve helped the author promote his or her book. I’ve made great friends this way too.

When you’ve been working hard on proposal, ask for help. And women, I’m talking to you. For some reason, it seems that men contact me for help often, and women rarely do. I mean, really close friends will send off a proposal without asking for my help. What can a seasoned author do for you? He can look at the query and proposal and tell you where your mistakes are. Often, he can make a contact with the publishers and put in a good word for you. Of course, you need to build a relationship with the author before he or she will do this. And some authors don’t have the time. There have been situations when I can’t get back to someone with advice, because I’m swamped. If I’m one of fifty people copied on an email, I’ll ignore the request. I can give advice as one person, but I don’t have time to be part of a survey. If you don’t hear back from an author, don’t take it as a failure, it’s just the nature of writing. The workload is often feast or famine, and when it’s feasting time, then the writer has to concentrate hard on prioritizing. He may not get back to you, but that’s probably not because your work sucks. It’s probably just because the writer has put it on the back-burner and forgotten. Or they don’t have the time to help new authors.

And… that’s my advice for publishing, but I’ve gone on too long and haven’t gotten to speaking. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow. So, what would you add?

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As different opportunities come up, I am coming to the startling realization that there are only a certain number hours in the day, and the hours that were once filled with blogging are now filled with other stuff.

But, I do want to let you know about the other stuff. I’m writing for the Huffington Post’s new Religion section. I was happy to see that my first post on Miriam’s Kitchen made it on to the first page. At least for a while. (Scroll down. Below the Lame Oscar Moments, below the Hustler article. Keep scrolling… there.) There will be a link to my blog on HuffPo, but I’m not sure what it is yet. I’ll be writing there a couple times a week, so I’ll let you know.

Also, God Complex Radio is doing really well. Most recently, I interviewed David Batstone about Not For Sale and the modern abolitionist movement. Coming up on Friday, we’re celebrating Women’s Day with an interview with Cynthia Rigby on the life and legacy of Mary Daly. Ryan Kemp-Pappan is also on that episode. And, I had a chance to talk to Eboo Patel for a podcast that will be coming up on the 19th. And if those amazing people are not enough to get you to iTunes to subscribe, then you surely will when I tell you that Serene Jones will be on a couple weeks following Eboo.

I’m doing a monthly post for Duke Divinity’s Faith and Leadership blog.

And… finally… I want to let you know that I’m going to be at Stony Point on March 21-23. I’ll be leading a seminar, along with Rick Ufford-Chase on Ministering to the Missing Generation, and registration is still open if you’d like to come.

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The study of theopoetics fascinates me. Scott Kinder-Pyle first introduced me to the word, although as a lover of literature, poetry, and God, the idea has always compelled me.

In exploration of this idea, I am hosting a conversation with two wonderful Poets on God Complex Radio today.

Ted Kooser is a National Poet Laureate, and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Literature. My husband knew him before he was famous (or at least before he was famous outside of Lincoln, Nebraska). He was Brian’s poetry professor, and his instruction had a great affect on the way that we preach and write. I owe him a great debt for that.

Nancy Arbuthnot is a poetry professor at the US Naval Academy. Her talent as a writer is matched only by her gifts as a teacher. She teaches poetry at Miriam’s Kitchen and Calvary Women’s Services. She teaches children, teenagers, and adults. And, she is going to teach us some techniques as well.

Join us live, today at noon (EDT) if you can. If you are not able to be there live, you can pick up the download by clicking on the BlogTalkRadio box on the right-hand side of this blog.

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I live in a beautiful house. I’m surrounded by beautiful art and furniture (most of it came from flea markets, charity shops, and thrift stores, but, seriously, I’m really blessed). I live comfortably and do not lack for anything. Except maybe a refrigerator. The freezer door opens every time we close the fridge door, and sometimes we find all of our ice cream full of crystals in the morning…. And an oven. All of the knobs are missing and it’s hard to tell what temperature we’re cooking at… but I digress. The point is that I’m satisfied.

And yet, I write about money.

I love my on-line buddies, many are deep in the wonderful world of free culture. The idea is that all information should be free and readily available for public use and modification. It runs parallel with a very Protestant idea that receiving the good news should not come at a cost, and should be creatively spread.

And yet, I write about money.

There’s a reaction against people who have spent years gouging the flock on a regular basis for prayer cloths and televised agape. And in the Emerging church discussion right now, there is a frustration that the leaders have “sold out.”

And yet, I write about money.

I know there must be a line somewhere, and I’m not sure how to point it out. Maybe… it’s right here… no. I can’t figure out exactly where it is….

But there is a line between getting paid for work–which is a very biblical concept–and fleecing the flock. And most of us, pastors and even the conference-leading writers, who publish with a company, are barely getting paid for our hours.

Do I write about money because I’m a greedy, materialistic jerk who could never be content? No. As I said in first paragraph above, I am very satisfied with what I have. But I just hate the judgment that can be dished out against people who are getting very meager payment for the hours and hours of work that we are doing.

I would claim, “I have a family that I need to provide for.” But, that would be hollow. I would fight for any single woman to be paid for her work as well. She deserves it too.

And that brings me to my point… I recently met Joseph Stewart-Sicking who is doing research on women clergy. He’s comparing his data to studies that were done ten years ago. I asked if women were doing any better with pay equity, and he said that we’re not. He explained that the only real difference is that women seem to be more resigned to their fate these days than in the studies of the first group of ordained women.

And that’s why I write about money.

Sisters, we’ve got to do it for ourselves, because no one is going to go out of their way to give us a raise, which means we could spend our entire careers at the minimum salary.

We, the generation who grew up with girl-power, we were told over and over again that we could become the President of the United States if we put our minds to it. Yet, we’re ending up on the bottom of the heap time and time again in our professions. We, women who graduated at the top of our seminary class, are finding it hard to compete against the men who only got through Greek because we spent so much time tutoring them.

Seminaries are still recommending less qualified men over experienced women for better paying jobs. Our denominational governing bodies are still giving shinier endorsements to men than to women.

Even though women far outnumber men in our pews, laywomen have not been fighting for equity; in fact, many women on church search committees would rather have a man in the pulpit. Many women on our personnel committees overlook the injustice between pay in our staffing models.

And so, I write about money, not just for me, but because I don’t want to read in ten years that men are still far out-pacing women with salaries and positions. I’m thinking about those girls in past youth groups who looked up to me and decided that they might go to seminary. I don’t want them to expect discrimination, because I didn’t fight for the wages of clergywomen.

There is serious injustice. And so we need to learn to balance our “I would do this even if they didn’t pay me” attitudes with a bit of fight.

(And now, if a certain woman on our personnel committee reads this, she will surely roll her eyes, since I turned down a raise last year…).

photo by owlsplace

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I was sitting in Starbucks, waiting for an early morning flight, getting ready to go to Austin, Texas. It was pretty quiet in the airport, there was just the Starbucks soundtrack playing, so I thought I’d check up on my email. As I look at my inbox, I realize that I’ve been getting a lot of questions about writing lately.

About a month ago, I taught a workshop with Jason Byassee about writing and the pastoral life. We did the same workshop three times, which was a good thing, because so much of what we had to say was the same. So, by the third time around, we had figured what we were each going talk about, and we had it divvied up pretty well.

Jason talked about how the importance of writing newsletter articles well. He explained that it’s easier than ever to get published, especially if you’re willing to do the work of reviewing books. But, it’s harder than ever to make money from writing.

Most significantly, Jason emphasized the importance of pastors building a relationship with the editor of the local paper. Take them out to lunch. Ask what you can do for them. Because when something important happens and we need to speak out, then it will be crucial to have that relationship in place. He talked about being a pastor during the aftermath of September 11, and not being able to challenge the Anti-Muslim sentiment that arose in his local paper, because he didn’t have a relationship with the editor.

There was one place where we differed in opinion. Jason said that as an editor, he often encouraged people to rewrite everything so that there is no “I.” Kill every cliché and the first person pronoun, and your writing will be much stronger.

Of course, Jason and I write different sort of material. He’s an editor for the Christian Century and he writes theological books. “I” is not appropriate in the sort of material that he edits and writes.

I, on the other hand, write sermons, church newsletters, and blog posts. And even with my books, journal articles, and textbook material, I often use “I.”

There are many reasons for this. One is that people are interested in other people, and “I” has a way of embodying facts, stats, and arguments in a way that makes them a little more compelling, entertaining, and fun to read.

It’s also because I don’t really believe that writers have a fair and balanced view of anything. Good journalists and writers are passionate, and they usually have a point to make. As pastors, we come to a text carrying a heavy load of history and tradition. We open our text and ourselves, allowing the Sprit to completely transform us through the reading. But we’re still there.

Using “I” allows me to fully acknowledge that I am in the room. This is my perspective. I hope that there is something in the particularities of my story that has wide resonance, and perhaps even some truth in it, but nevertheless it is mine. For most of our writing that’s understood, since we are the ones standing in the pulpit or we have our names on the article. But I don’t mind if I go that extra step of including the first person pronoun.

Right now, the Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, acknowledges that her background helps her to form decisions. She even when so far as to say that it allows her to make better decisions, and since her background is not one of white privilege, there is great controversy about this. Limbaugh calls it “reverse racism.”

I call it justice. The fact that she has a particular background that she is willing to bring to the court, her ability to acknowledge how our experience shapes our reality, is a powerful and important claim. It’s true of every justice, including the white males.

We cannot divorce ourselves from our decisions, text, or writing. We bring ourselves to it.

So where do stand on this? Do you use “I” in your writing? Why or why not? Do you think it’s more interesting or less to hear a personal perspective? Or would you rather edit it out?

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I am fascinated by change, and I love reading and talking to smart people about how publishing is changing. I wish that I could quote specific people, but since I have not gotten any permission, I won’t.

I will say that I’m in the midst of an interesting stream of people who are thinking about this stuff all of the time. My husband and I have friends who work for NPR. My colleague, John Wimberly, is on the board of the Presbyterian Outlook. I write for Alban Institute, and, of course, I have a wonderful group of creative friends who write and keep up with all of this.

So, let me tell you what I’ve gleaned recently…

We have heard the horrible news of newspaper after newspaper going under. What is happening? What will people be looking for in the future? Here are my predictions, which aren’t really mine because they have all been stolen from people who are much smarter than me.

If publications dig in their heels, and stick only with print media, they will die a slow and sad death. There’s just not much growth in print-only media, and the business there is based on nostalgia. If companies hold on to print-only media ideals, they will end up with an increasingly older, shrinking demographic as their readership.

I know it’s painful. I know we are longing for the way that it was, the smell of an old book and the feel of having a newspaper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, but younger generations don’t pick up newspapers and they subscribe to few magazines.

And so publishers need to begin thinking of themselves as media outlets, instead of just people working in newsprint. They will need to start diversifying into informative websites, podcasts, twitter blasts, social networking, and whatever else might stick.

Alban does a good job with this. They don’t just publish books, or a magazine, but they have webinars, emails, podcasts, blogs, and twitter updates. They have consultants and speakers. And they are even rethinking their educational events so that they might be communities of spiritual practice and learning. They are exploring the possibilities of on-line publishing. 

News will be distilled to fit onto a Blackberry/iPhone screen. We have gotten more and more used to headline news, the scrolling bits, and the distillation of a story into 140 characters or less.

Book demand will increase. This was actually a surprise to me, but a friend in the industry said that people will be looking at short headlines, but when they want to read more, they will turn to books. The in-depth reporters that are being laid off from newspapers, will start writing timely volumes. He forecasted that the quality and pricing of books will go down, and the demand will rise even more.

So what do you think? What would your predictions be? What will all of this look like for church leaders? Will we also be expected to be versed in the multiple mediums? Should seminaries start teaching classes on how to create podcasts and give pointers on what to put on a blog? Should denominations offer continuing ed on social networking? Should pastor search committees be looking for aptitude in these things as they search for a pastor? (For Presbyterians, should it at least be listed as one of the skills on our PIF?) Should we keep putting our church advertising money into newspaper ads? And (at the very least) shouldn’t our colleagues quit ranting about how all this stuff is a just a waste of time?

Photo by alankcrain

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I’m holding in my hand a thick manuscript. One that needs a whole lot of editing and a summary chapter, but it’s in good enough shape that I feel like I can start blogging again.

Dave Eggers says that if you’re writing a book, an important thing to do is to print out the manuscript, hold the paper in your hand, feel the weight of it. Pay to have it bound, if it’s not going to a publisher.

It’s a good exercise. I don’t like to waste the trees, so I try to do as much electronically as I possibly can, but a couple times in the process, I print it out. I’ve learned to take care of the papers, too. Treat the words with respect. It’s easy for me to let them get lost in the shuffle of school notices and church minutes, let them get dog-eared and coffee-stained, but it’s a vital practice to act as if they’re important thoughts (even when in the midst of editing, I feel like they’ll never be fit for public consumption).

For those of you who write, I’ll update you a bit on the editing process. Because it’s excruciating some days, and wonderful the next day. Right now, it’s difficult, because it all seems out of order, parts of it are bloated, while other parts feel anemic. It kind of reminds me of when I was a kid, and I would find a smelly roadkill possum on some deserted road. In the Florida heat, some of the parts would swell, and others would be all flat….

So, I’m just concentrating on the volume, the quantity, the structure, and trying to feel good about it.

Thanks for your patience, while I concentrated more on it.

There have been some other wonderful developments in our lives around here in the last month, while I was away. I’ve been to the Presbymergent coordinating group gathering (Leslie Scanlon wrote an insightful article on it). I’ve also been with the Disciples in D.C., the Methodists in New Jersey, and the Presbyterians in Pennsylvania, as well as a Fund for Theological Education event at my Alma Mater in Texas.

The most exciting thing that happened was that Michelle Obama came to serve our guests at Miriam’s Kitchen, the breakfast and social service program that’s housed in our church. She wanted to highlight Miriam’s commitment to fresh food and their healthy menu. I was impressed by her warmth and generous spirit. She kept her secret service on their toes as she greeted the homeless men and women. 

Also, Bruce Reyes-Chow–our esteemed Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)–and I are starting an Internet Radio Show, which you can read about more here. We are incredibly thankful that Landon Whitsitt will be the Program Producer and Heather Scott will be the Tech Producer and Engineer. We’ll be discussing politics, faith, and culture, beginning on May 4 (well… we might talk about those things before May 4, but on May 4 is when we’re going on air). Andrew Sherman came up with the name “The God Complex,” and now we need to think of a tagline.

Any thoughts? The Twitter feedback has been fun:

• God Complex: 2 people with 3 names talking about 1 God with many names (Camille LeBron Powell)
• The God Complex: How We Live in this Earthly Rental Community (Fritz Gutwein)
• The God Complex: WIIFM Alternative Radio (What’s In It For Me) (Zach Sasser)
• God Complex: scrutting the inscrutable (Jim Bonewald)
• God Complex: conversation as complex and inscrutable as God (Jim Bonewald)
• God Complex: it is really not that difficult (Brian Merritt)
• God Complex: We’ve Figured it Out (Brian Merritt)
• God Complex: Easy Cures (Brian Merritt)
• The God Complex: If Years of Theologians didn’t confuse you, we’ll give it a shot (Mark Smith) 
• The God Complex: We Tried The God Simple and that didn’t work (Mark Smith)
• God Complex: you wouldn’t understand. (Brian Merritt)
• The God Complex: It’s Only A Neurosis if the majority think it is (Mark Smith)
•  The God Complex: No Longer a Gated Community (Mark Smith)
• The God Complex: Catch It! (Mark Smith)
• God Complex: Does This Divinity Make Me Look Fat? (Brian Merritt)

Visit Bruce’s blog and join the discussion, and I’ll make sure I post more information when we know it. 

It’s good to be back. Life wasn’t quite the same without y’all.

photo by objecthoag

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JusticeSeeker from Presbyterian Bloggers interviewed me for their book club. Here’s a copy of the interview. You’re also welcome to go to the PCUSA blogger site and comment.

I assume that your Mother keeps a copy of Tribal Church on her coffee table, but does your Executive Presbyter?

I’m not sure if my Exec has read it, I saw him carrying a copy of it once. There was a bookmark in it… but he’s never said anything to me….

The Presbytery hosted a Tribal Church event and I was asked to speak to our council a few weeks ago. I’ve been invited to lead discussions at a number of Presbyteries (next month, I’ll be in the Presbytery of Charlotte). The book has done well, not only with Presbyterians, but also in Methodist, Episcopal, Brethren, Quaker, and even Jewish circles. So, yes, the institutional church has been very receptive to it. I was also surprised to find out how much it is read internationally. I often get correspondence from people in Canada and Australia about it.

Overall, I think people are concerned for the church. We look out on our congregations and we see a group of people who probably won’t be around in twenty years. We love our faith communities, and it’s very scary when we think about our long-term futures.

There is another concern that is arising. People are not only asking, “How can our church grow? How can our denomination survive?” As important as these questions are, people are also beginning to have real concern for young adults.

When we begin to look outside of our own survival, we start asking, “How can we communicate the love of God to a new generation? How can we reach out to them? What do they need? What do they want?”

Those are the kinds of questions that generate a love and desire for understanding. When we begin asking those questions, then we’re no longer just an ingrown denomination, looking after ourselves, but we create an environment where fruitful ministry will take place.

It’s that gentle shift from “What can they do for us?” to “How can we be the hands and feet of Christ to them?”

Have you seen any tangible applications of the ideas in your book that you find particularly interesting?

The most immediate application that has been really amazing to watch has been within individual families. I often get parents who write me or talk to me at conferences and say, “Thank you so much for helping me understand my son.” Or, “I could never figure out why my daughter was not settling down, until I read this.” This was certainly unintentional, but I’ve been very pleased that some generational breaches are being mended in our own families.

I live in a very different part of the country from the coasts. We have a very low cost of living, housing prices are below reasonable (yes, you can buy a small, older but decent house with fenced yard for five digits), people here without family or other cultural roots tend to be older adults not younger, also serious financial problems tend to cluster in the 50+ crowd. So, I had a hard time seeing large parts of your book as being about younger adults — as opposed to older ones. Now that the book has been out a little while, have you seen discussions of these ideas being applied to more than just young adults?

Wow! A house for five digits! That’s great. We all need to move to Oklahoma City.

There are certainly characteristics in our generation that have been in every generation. Americans have always moved around a lot. The elderly in our congregations lived through dire economic times, and they had no credit cards to hide the suffering. The extreme debt that has plagued our generation is now becoming more apparent across the country, and so communities of understanding and support will be crucial during this difficult time.

As we see areas of common ground between generations, the careful work that church leaders will need to do is to make sure that we don’t shrug them off and say, “So what? We went through the same thing when we were young. That’s just life!”

Instead, we can begin asking, “I remember going through that too. What did I need when I was in that situation? What helped me through it? Was there anything that the church, my friends, or my community did that really made me feel connected and supported in a desperate situation?”

In South Louisiana, I often heard people talk about growing up in the Great Depression, and they would say, “We didn’t really miss the money that much. We knew that it was bad, but we had our family, our friends, and our church. That’s what really mattered.” But a new generation is going through some difficult times, and many of them do not have families, friends, or churches to support them.

You are preaching this Sunday on Fear. For those of us who have never written a book but have always thought we would like to, where in the writing process have you been surprised by fear?

For about ten years, I wrote. I filled journal after journal. I began four books (a how-to book about being a woman in ministry, a book about my grandmother’s death, a thinly-veiled autobiographical “fiction” book, and a children’s book) and, of course, I wrote sermons.

The difference now is that most of what I write gets published. And, for some reason, that small difference conjured up a lot of fear.

I know people who are sure that every word that comes out of their mouths is true and right. They have all kinds of confidence. I am not one of those people. I’m not only unsure of myself, but I also hate conflict. Internal conflict, external conflict, it doesn’t matter. I just don’t like it.

So, I was fearful the entire time I wrote Tribal Church. I come from a family of very conservative evangelicals, and I thought for sure that they would completely disown me when they read it (they didn’t, but I’m pretty sure it’s not on the coffee table either!).

But it wasn’t just my family. My brain cooked up a new fear every morning. I didn’t have the proper credentials (because everyone who writes a book has to have a Ph.D.). I wasn’t cool enough to speak for my generation (all emerging authors are edgy, and I don’t even have a tattoo). I’ve never been the pastor of a big church (after all, you can’t write about ministry until you’ve had a mega-church). On and on it went….

Then, I thought about the critics. I began to think about every seminary professor who told me that I was a poor writer and I remembered every rejection letter I got from a magazine. I thought about the fact that in this day and age, everyone’s a critic. Even if a person cannot complete a sentence, he can post a nasty review and give you one star on Amazon and it will affect how many people will buy your book.

All of these things loomed large in my mind as I wrote (and they still do), but I keep working through them.

My husband often tells me, “You live in your head too much.” And he’s absolutely right. The thing that helps me to get out of my head and muster up some courage to write is that I have a sense that God’s calling me. When I can’t stand my internal, fearful conflict, or I become afraid of the criticism that I encounter in seminars and workshops, I go on a walk and pray through the fears. Then, I know that there is something outside of my head that’s pulling me in my vocation, and I become renewed in my passion—imagining how we can lead effective and vital churches in a new generation.

Are you planning another book?

Yes. I’m writing another one for Alban and I’m getting close to finishing the first draft. The working title is Reframing Hope, and it’s about many of the cultural shifts that we are going through and how the church can engage and respond.

Is there a question that you are surprised you don’t get asked more often?

Yes. In Presbyterian circles, I often hear the question, “How can we get our confirmands back? How can we keep our children in the church when they grow up?” But the question that we don’t always ask is, “How can we reach out to a new generation (regardless of their ecclesial or social background)?”

I was in a Presbytery meeting recently, and a candidate described how her great-great-grandfather laid the cornerstone for their church. There was an audible gasp of approval that erupted from the presbyters.

Of course, it’s a beautiful story, a narrative of a church that connected from generation to generation. But in this time of denominational upheaval, I wonder, can we begin to expand the narrative to include others?

When so many young adults have not been raised in a particular tradition, we may not be able to wait for people to have the right pedigree before they can feel appreciated in our churches. If we want to welcome young adults, we need to have that same sort of excitement and admiration if a person stands up and says, “I grew up in a Pentecostal Church. No one in my family went to college. My parents were divorced. And I was a truck driver before I went to seminary.”

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A Pastor Friend was moving to Arizona for a job. He had multiple interviews with the church nominating committee, he preached for the congregation, he went through the excruciating congregational vote. Finally, he met with a clearance committee from his denomination.

A Pastor from the Committee said, “You have a blog.”

“Yes,” Pastor Friend answered.

“Well, that could be a problem,” Committee Pastor continued, “Some of your opinions are ‘out there.’ And you need to gain trust with your congregation. In order to do that, you really shouldn’t tell a congregation your opinion on anything for at least the first three years of your ministry.”

Please discuss.

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