I will start off with this. I am a fan of Tim Keller.
I don’t always agree with him. But then I cannot think of anyone I always agree with. But I love several things about him more than I disagree with him in a few theological and practical areas.
1) I love that he wrote “The Reason for God” while he was a pastor in a church. I think that writers who are having to walk out the realities of their views in a local church context benefit greatly from those experiences. What you are thinking about and writing about has to connect with the daily lives of those you are sharing life with. There are certainly a number of very powerful writers that I truly enjoy that I stepped out of pastoral ministry. So, my appreciation for Keller’s path isn’t a condemnation of anyone else’s.
2) I love that Keller’s church, Redeemer Presbyterian is so heavily focused on serving New York City. Hope for New York literally mobilizes thousands of people to serve each year. I love that.
3) I love that Redeemer Pres. has managed to reach a very diverse group of ages and races. Personally, I don’t think I have done as good a job of that as Keller has.
Here, Keller speaks as a part of the authors@google series. He was there soon after the release of his book, The Reason for God, and is speaking to the main reasons why people would find reason to believe in God, and why others would not. I really enjoyed it.
Hope you do to! Please let me know if you have any comments/thoughts about what he was speaking about. I always love to hear what you are thinking!
Peace.
I have really been struggling with when/if I should write another book.
I have struggled for who knows how many hours over the topics and over the invasive nature of writing. It takes time, thought, prayer, struggle, time, time and time.
I happen to love my ministry role at [nlcf] and my family even more that that. So, Tracy and I have really struggled with this decision. I have a wonderful agent who has helped in my thought process about the book and has never really pushed me either way, several good friends who have helped me work through different ideas and timelines, so I feel like I have had every benefit I could ask for. But I still couldn’t decided what to do. A couple of weeks ago I decided I needed to take some more time to really decide. And through a number of different avenues, I think I have.
I wanted to share an amazing email I got from Bill (who asked that I change his name.) He is a minister (in a state that is farther west than Virginia) and is in ministry (of some type) :)
The reason I am sharing this email is that he states in it the exact reason I started writing the first book. If you are interested in reading what he said, take a look after the jump. I appreciate his giving me permission to do so. (more…)
This past Sunday, The Roanoke Times ran a review of Should We Fire God?. Overall, it was a good and fair review, while certainly not the strongest the book has gotten. If you haven’t seen it, you can read it here. Here is a quote from the review that was very kind.
He writes in a personal tone and presents the message of redemption in a clear manner while interweaving his own story of disbelief. The book reads like a candid conversation with the author on a very difficult subject..
What is interesting is a blog the reviewer, Stephen Escalera, wrote about the final, edited version of his review. I am including one paragraph of his response to that final version.
While I am excited about having a review published in print, I am also very disappointed with the editing. As published, the book comes across as rather postmodern with perhaps only a hint of the gospel. However, the book is very strong on presenting the gospel and I said as much as originally written in my review. However, in the editing process, the key paragraph of the review was pared down to say next to nothing about the author’s message in his book. I’ve posted the paragraph as it was originally written, with all the bolded section indicating what was omitted:
You can read the rest of his thoughts here. Stephen just started following me on twitter (nlcfjim) and I am definitely following him as well. I would recommend his blog Eskypades as he has an interesting reading list and some very interesting thoughts on many of those books. I have only been able to peruse it a bit, but have liked what I have seen so far.
Just thought this was an interested look into the world of reviews.
For the record, I have no reason to think that the Roanoke Times had any ill motives in editing down Stephen’s review. The more writers I know and speak to, this is a pretty normal thing. Just another piece of the puzzle.
Peace, Jim
I have broken one major rule of blogging.
And I am about to break another.
The first rule of blogging is that if you want your blog readership to grow, then post consistently. Obviously you want to post high quality content, but you need to do that regularly. Over the past couple of weeks I have just been too busy to post much at all.
The second is that it is best to stay in your own lane. What that essentially means is you are most helpful to the blogospere if you select a couple of subjects that you care about and have some experience in, and stick with those. Unless your blog is intended to be about everything, then scaling it back to a few things can be good.
I say all this because I am about to step into a new blogging area. Don’t know if I will be regularly swimming in this particular pool or if this is just a brief dip. Either way, here goes…
I have been under a fair bit of pressure lately. Not exorbitant, but not light either. I am the husband of a wife that I dearly love and truly enjoy spending time with, and the father of three kids. Noah is thirteen, Seth is eleven and Emma will be ten this summer. Between math, sentence diagramming (thanks Jenna for guiding us through that one,) puberty, soccer, basketball, piano, girls saying mean things about you… It gets busy fast.
Then there is my ministry with [nlcf]. As we enter a different season as a church, several of the things that we will be doing are things that I will be heavily involved in. I love working with this church! I truly do, but one of the hardest things I do each week is figure out what I won’t do that week so that I can live a life of balance.
Then there is Should We Fire God?. I will be honest with you, doing what needs to be done and what I would like to do for the book could easily be a full time job all by itself.
I manage Seth’s soccer team, try to exercise, get enough sleep, have some growing friendships and have a meaningful and growing relationship with my Messiah.
It is a lot to do. Please hear this, I am not complaining and I am not saying any of his so that anyone reading this will feel sorry for me. Everything that makes my life intense during this season is borne out of a blessing I am enjoying. So… let’s be clear with that.
All this run up really just leads me to the reason I am blogging tonight instead of sleeping (or watching Glee.) The speed and pressure of life can sometimes make it easy to pass over moments where I have the opportunity to connect with someone. Tonight I almost missed one with Seth.
Tracy mentioned to me that he seemed more upset than usual and so I stopped what I was doing and went up and talked with him about it. After we dealt with the issue that had made him frustrated, he just kept going and I was privileged to be along for the ride. I got to hear his frustration with a kid in his class, his fears about talking to his coach regarding some things he doesn’t understand, the new type of clothes he likes (Aeropostale), how he is as long as the mattress when we extends his arms, how nervous he is about starting middle school next fall, and why he never gets in trouble doing his morning work.
We didn’t talk about much in great depth, but we talked about him. I loved it, probably that twenty or thirty minute conversation was a highpoint of my day. And I almost missed the chance – had he not been in such a bad mood and had Tracy not been paying attention I probably would have.
The scriptures tell us that children are a blessing from the Lord. Yes, they are a responsibility and yes that responsibility is very heavy at times. Tonight, I just sat in my sons’ room and enjoyed the blessing. I was blessed to hear about his emerging life and I was blessed to be reminded that I can be two feet away from someone and completely miss what is going on in their world.
Here’s to hoping it doesn’t take an abnormally bad mood for us all to have those moments in the future, eh?
Peace,
Jim
This just in…
Jim Pace, a Virginia Tech graduate, long-time Blacksburg resident and pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship, is claiming the right to walk into Books-A-Million in the First and Main Mall from 7-10PM, and start defacing books. Claiming to have written one himself, he promises to try to restrict himself to signing his own alleged book. As the evening progresses, however, he said he might extend his signing to books written by other authors and even some nicely produced calendars. Pace has repeatedly referred to this a autographing or signing. Regional BAM management contests his use of those terms. Here is an official statement:
It isn’t that we want to harrass this likely very troubled YOUNG man. If his personal delusions include him having written a book, then that is fine with us. Our issue is with his use of the term signing. We feel that for that term to apply, the signature must somehow increase the overall value of the book that is signed. We feel defacing is more appropriate as Mr. Pace is merely ensuring that no one can return his book to our stores, and that the owner would have to list it as used on ebay. We wish Mr. Pace all the best and hope that he gets distracted and just forgets to show up.
Mr. Pace was unavailable for comment as he was busy trying out new pens. We promise to continue following this story as it unfolds.
I have a friend named John Chanlder. I actually have two.
Both are very smart, innovative and loving followers of Jesus. This review comes from the one that has relocated to Austin Texas to start a community of Christ followers called Austin Mustard Seed. You should take a look. He also blogs at somestrangeideas.com.
The reason I am posting his blog review is not just that it is good. I have promised to post any really scathing ones I get… I least I hope to have the courage to do so. The primary reason is that I truly respect both his theological approach and his ability to effectively reflect on what he is reading. He is one of those friends that if he were to say this is a good book, you should take a look… well… I do.
Thanks John for sharing. Take ‘er away…
At the Ecclesia National Gathering in February, my friend Jim Pace pulled out of his bag a galley copy of his now released book, Should We Fire God?, and handed it to me. Seeing Dallas Willard across the small conference room, I wondered aloud if I could get him to sign it for me.
Thankfully, Jim has a sense of humor.
In fact, he’s one of the funnier people I know. But there’s a lot more to him than his humor. I’ve shared many a late night discussion with him, diving into some of the deeper topics of theology and life, and he (almost) always impresses me with his thoughtfulness.
It’s a curious thing to read a book by someone you know. Sometimes, you feel like you are hearing a voice from someone that doesn’t match up with the person you have talked with and spent time with. Other times, you can picture the person sitting before you, talking as you read, even hearing the words in their voice. The latter was my experience with Should We Fire God?
Jim has pastored in a campus church near Virginia Tech for over a decade. As the Virgina Tech shootings unfolded in 2007, Jim found himself in the middle of the questions and hurt that filled his own mind, the city of Blacksburg, and our nation. This book came out of the honest question about God’s seeming absence in such a tragedy. Jim tackles a difficult topic with grace as he mixes his knack for telling a humorous story with his ability to think below the surface on hard issues. Both play well with each other, allowing the reader to laugh, ache, and ponder their way through the pages.
There are many books that have been written that tackle the problem of evil from a Christian worldview. Some dive so much into theology they lack a connection with the heart, others come across as trite. But a handful are able to grapple with both the heart and the mind in this difficult topic. Jim has written a book that fits in with the last group.
So, yes, in case you didn’t hear, Blacksburg has the distinct “honor” of hosting a group of protesters from Westboro Baptist Church. If you aren’t familiar with the name of the church itself, they are the “godhatesfags” people. Let me give them the chance to tell you why they are coming. The following is an excerpt from their website.
Virginia Tech N. Main St. & E. Roanoke St. (SW Corner) WBC to picket Virginia Tech to connect the dots. God sent the killer because of your proud sin! You raise your kids to believe they can disobey God with impunity, and that His commandments are all on the table to be disposed of whenever you please. That’s why they think fornication, adultery, and sodomy are all just in good fun (instead of the filthy practices they are), and that’s why the wrath of God is on them. God is cursing you by killing those same children that you have lied to all their lives. VA Tech was just GodSmacked — another of your students murdered — and you still refuse to heed and obey the standards of God. Woe unto you! “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness…!” Isa. 5:20. You’re going to Hell, and you’re taking your kids with you.
Ahh… if it wasn’t so offensive and if it didn’t deal with such painful memories, it would almost be funny.
As the fact that they were coming has settled in, I, and many other leaders in NLCF and other local churches and ministries, have been asked what our response is going to be to the protest. The suggestions have ranged from completely ignoring the whole deal to some things that verge on the illegal. 
The question, are they accurate in their perspective of why these horrible events seem to keep happening here? is easily answered with a very loud NO. Understanding how to respond in a Christlike way to them is a bit more difficult. We need to reflect carefully to come up with a response that blends the purity of God with the love of God. Obviously, the best blending of qualities that we can look to is Jesus.
Three different possible responses to their protest have received the most attention, so here are my thoughts on each.
On the issue of aligning with a plan that will raise money for groups that are not specifically Christian groups.
The most widely accepted plan for responding to the Westboro protestors is to put up a table near each of their protest locations, then raise money for the groups they are protesting. Personally I love this idea. It takes the opportunity they are creating to produce something good. Love it, love it, love it.
Some that I have spoken with are concerned because the groups we will be raising money for are not Christian groups. When reflecting on an issue like this one, I think that we look to how Jesus interacted with non-Jewish people or those who weren’t following the Jewish code in his day. Clearly those people were doing things that God didn’t want them to do, just like any of us. But Jesus went straight for them. Now we don’t know what jokes he laughed at when he was at the parties that earned him the label of friend of drunks, and which ones he would have turned away from, but we know that the people at those parties liked him. They sensed an acceptance from him. To me, that is important. I feel compelled by this to be as involved with as many groups as we can possibly be. There are many groups that are pursuing aspects of the reality God is calling us to be a part of, they just aren’t doing it out of devotion to him. I believe we should look to see where we can link up in cases like this, certainly there would be reasons that would make that desire impossible, but I haven’t seen anything in what we are raising money for that rises to that level in any way.
Also, the shootings were a very communally felt moment for us all. I feel that to come together in responding to this protest is the right thing for us to do.
On the issue of concern about sending a thank-you note to Westboro Baptist Church.
An additional component of the raising money plan was to potentially send WBC a thank you note. The note would thank them for giving us the opportunity to raise money for those groups and give them the amounts we were able to raise. Obviously, there is a bit of sarcasm in there, and personally, I like the idea. But I have been hearing very good points that it is an unnecessary slam on them. That it seems cruel.
All I can say on that one is that the arguments against sending the thank you note are very solid. Because we are cooperating with what the university’s student government is doing, we at NLCF don’t control whether or not it is sent anyway. Ultimately I am cool either way. In a great book, The Humor of Jesus, many of Jesus’ puns and one liners are brought more to light. I think Jesus took little shots here and there to make his point. He never did it passive aggressively, he was always moving towards an overt point and the zingers were used to make the point another way. So, I can get behind the letter as that zinger, and I can respect the opposing viewpoint. I am cool either way.
On the issue of showing love to the protestors.
Some have suggested that if we really want to show counter-cultural love to WBC, we should seek to serve them in some way. Give them water, food… all Ex-Lax free. :) Personally I love the question of how do we love them, as we are called to love our enemies, but I disagree with this way of doing it.
The more I reflect on it, the more I sense the Westboro protestors should be seen as modern-day Pharisees. They are sporting a very false righteousness and in the process, they are almost completely missing what God is doing. Jesus told the actual Pharisees that they picked up on some parts of truth and missed others entirely. Very much what the WBC people are doing. So, if we look at Jesus’ response to them, he tended to express grace towards them in other ways. As I have reflected on the gospels, I tend to notice that he goes after them in response to their accusations, their attempts at entrapment. It doesn’t seem like he seeks these moments out so much as he responds what they are trying to do to him. So I don’t think we should plan to go after them verbally or otherwise.
While I like the concept of handing out water to them, and LOVE the fact that the question of how do we love our enemies in this context is being asked, I would suggest we not do that. One reason is that Jesus’ strongest words seemed to be reserved for those who were misrepresenting the truth about God. People that should know better. He said it would be better to tie a stone around your neck and drown yourself than intentionally mislead people about the faith. He called the Pharisees one of the most unclean things they would have known in their day. He referred to them as nicely painted tombs, places where bodies were decaying. His point was that they way they were calling others to be clean rendered them unclean. They were focusing on an outward show and missing the centrality of inward humility and faith. Strong stuff.
One thing we need to understand is, that was grace. Jesus was showing them grace by speaking very directly to what was warring against their souls. Hatred and arrogance like the Pharisees and the WBC folks demonstrate is not neutral to your heart, it tears them apart. Exposing that for what it is, is love. I think the other way Jesus showed grace was by allowing anyone (for example Nicodemus,) to come and be helped. He didn’t say, “You are one of them, get out of here!” He would allow ANYONE to come to him if they came with a heart of humility. That is why you see him talking to prostitutes, alcoholics, blue collar workers, white collar workers, people from the lowest strata in society to the very highest, and also to Pharisees.
But, if you challenged him in arrogance, whatever you were: a rich young ruler, a scribe, or one of his own brothers, you got the challenge right back.
Jesus also had very challenging words for those who used the power they had been given wrongly. He truly cares about how we use the power that is available to us. I don’t believe that the Westboro protesters seek God in faith and humility before they decide to protest every site they travel to. And I don’t think they would be willing to speak to those they have hurt with any sense of godly love.
I believe they have become what they claim to be against. I believe they have become a protest organization that claims it speaks on behalf of God, whether he would have them speak or not. They are not open to being in community with other churches and they are not willing to submit to the broader body of Christ. I believe they protest simply because that is what they do. I feel that they have become a protest organization.
The way I think this works out is like this… We don’t come with water or any other affirming gesture, or with aggressive posturing. If any of the WBC people show a desire to speak or come to us in humility and honesty, we should be prepared to respond with love. If anyone else in the crowd begins to attack them, if the police aren’t there, we defend the Westboro people. We pray for them in faith that God is capable of showing them the error in what they are doing.
It would also do us well to make sure that we aren’t the same type of person that they are. Are we willing to allow others to speak to the deep parts of our lives? Are we willing to allow others to show us how our lives could more reflect the love and life of Christ?
God, please be with us as we go through this.
Jim
Christopher Hitchens and I don’t agree on a great deal. He has written a number of books, God is not Great, Why Orwell Matters, and The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, among many others. I like his writing style but I disagree with almost every position he takes. But I saw an article he wrote on Slate, and have to say that I agree with an awful lot of it. He is dealing with the repeated reports of covering up child sex abuse by priests in the Catholic Church. If you haven’t read Hitchens before, you will notice his characteristic overstatements, but, his argument is a very fair one. Let me know what you think. Is he being fair or not?
Take it away Christopher…
I know that I am very fortunate. Throughout this entire book process I have been blessed to have many people that are very well connected really like the book and want to help me out. As a result I am getting offers for interviews left and right, magazines, blogs, and offers to speak at churches to get the word out. I have been humbled by all of it.
It has been a struggle too. I have a longstanding struggle with success. Sometimes I like and want it too much, other times things are fine. I definitely swing back and forth on that one. One way that struggle shows itself is that I have felt very strange telling people about the different interview opportunities, speaking engagements, you name it, that have come with this process of releasing the book.
I have been challenged by good friends to get over myself and to just let people know what is happening. I have been told that everyone is perfectly capable of checking out the links or skipping right over them. Proverbs tells us that “wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” I have very good friends who are willing to care about me enough to help me to get over myself.
If this is the last book I ever write, I am perfectly fine with that. Well, almost perfectly fine with that. If this is the start of a writing gig that becomes a part of my ministry here that would be great too. Either way, here I am. Getting over myself. For at least a while.
One of the more recent interviews was with Russell Trunk who is the Director and Editor in Chief of ExclusiveMagazine.com. Russell has interviewed Guy Ritchie, Peter Jackson, Nicolas Cage, and Sarah Silverman; among many others. I know, I know, “which one of these is not like the other?” running through your head too? He also has interviewed some authors I respect quite a bit, and… drum roll please… Air Supply! For real, Air Supply!
Russell was actually very gracious and asked some very in-depth questions. I love it when the interviews get into the guts of these tough issues, Russell very deftly did just that.
Here is the interview with me. In the interest of being someone who is over themselves, I will be posting more of my interviews and whatnot here. Probably not all of them, but then, getting completely over myself takes time right?
Thanks for all your support through this. Remember, April 8 is just around the corner! In gratitude for your prayer and help in all this… I give you a very special gift. Just drink it all in. Let it waft over you…. ahhhh….
Your welcome, Jim
Should We Fire God? – Trailer from Robbie Poff | Highland Films on Vimeo.
Maybe our world is violently spinning out of control and those of us with faith in God are just the last ones to get the memo. Maybe there really is no one in charge. Maybe we are like kids in the back of a car careening down the highway with no one at the wheel, frustrated at all the swerving but confidently telling ourselves that someone must really be up there. How could there not be? Maybe April 16, 2007, is and should be the final nail in a coffin full of them already: the final example of a God who either doesn’t exist or is so impotent at his job, he’s hardly worth following. — Excerpted from Should We Fire God?
Please feel free (and encouraged) to share this video with anyone that you think might resonate with the above quote. Whether they, or you, are like me; an apprentice of Jesus who has questions about the amount of suffering in our world, or are someone that is not a follower of Jesus but is curious about those answers. Anyone that you think reflects on these issues…share away!
BTW – I forgot to ask Robbie to include the fact that the book will be out April 8, but is available for pre-orders on Amazon.com and other sites right now, is being offered for the Kindle and will be available as an audio book as well. Could you mention that when you share it?
If you are willing to post the video to your blog, facebook page…you name it. Help a brother out, eh?
Many, many thanks, props and spirit fingers to Robbie Poff at Highland Films for doing a fantastic job on the trailer. If you need, or would benefit, from video work but don’t have the capacity to do so…cannot recommend him highly enough.
“This book affected me deeply. It’s one of the greatest treatises I’ve ever read on life’s deepest questions about God and the whys in life. I think the Lord has produced a classic through Jim Pace. It will be read and studied by skeptics and seminarians, peasants and presidents. Very few have written so well what so many have wondered when it comes to God and suffering.”
—
