One problem with Jen University is that for every book I read or podcast I listen to, there are a dozen more of equal or greater caliber just waiting to be discovered.

Jen U may be a ten-year program.


This week I discovered yet another resource that will add on at least a semester. The Veritas Forum is a program of university events featuring scholars and authors and assorted other thinkers discussing “life’s hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life.” The organization goes after two groups of speakers: “one with a deep and growing understanding of how his/her life, faith and work connect with the story and person of Jesus Christ, and one with a differing worldview, in order to compare the differing answers to our hardest questions.” Veritas began on university campuses and its name comes from the word used in the mottoes of many of them, including Harvard and Yale.

Although none of the forums are scheduled around Nashville anytime soon, the site offers short video excerpts from past events as well as a number of books and other resources. It’s TED meets seminary and I’m addicted. And resigned to never graduating from my own school.

Filed under: resources, the church Tagged: atheism, TED, Tim Keller, Veritas

This week, People of the Second Chance launched “Never Beyond,” a series of posters representing well-known characters—historical and current, real and fictional—who have harmed society. Each of them, like this first one featuring Casey Anthony, asks “Who Would You Give A Second Chance?”

The idea is to challenge our core beliefs about forgiveness and grace. POTSC invited me to participate in the blog campaign about this project, and yesterday I wrote a whole post about how forgiveness doesn’t mean being a doormat but it means choosing freedom by giving up the right to punish the other person, and the importance of letting go of anger and resentment, and how even though it may seem impossible to consider forgiveness it’s the path to health, and yada yada yada.


Then I read this.

Two white teens in Mississippi, Daryl Dedmon and John Aaron Rice (why must southerners always have two first names?), got drunk and decided to find a black person to beat up. The first one they saw was James Craig Anderson.

“Dedmon pummeled Anderson repeatedly as he crumpled to the street, according to officials,” said the CNN story. “After the beating, some of the teens left and some got into the truck. At this moment on the video, Anderson becomes visible, as he staggers into view and walks toward the headlights of the truck. The truck suddenly surges ahead, running over Anderson, then continues at high speed away from the scene.”

They ganged up on a man, beat him severely, then ran him over. A man they’d never met. Because of his skin color.


I don’t know how to forgive that. I don’t even know how to talk about forgiving that. Instead of Casey Anthony, I see Dedmon and Rice on that poster, and instead of offering them grace I want to hit them with shovels.

I exaggerate (a bit), but any honest conversation about second chances has to acknowledge how terrifically difficult it can be. We can all picture a person on our own poster, someone we simply cannot imagine forgiving, and our abstract enthusiasm for a movement of “scandalous grace” must become a specific resolve to extend that grace to real people in real life.

So how do we get there? Is anyone beyond a second chance? What if they never feel remorse or admit guilt? How do we live out this movement of mercy in a world of evil?

Filed under: life, resources

Last week I was asked to contribute to “The 100 Best Externally Focused Ideas of 2011,” a downloadable resource that will be available this fall.

These ideas cover a range of categories: adoption and foster care, tutoring and mentoring, prison ministry and crime prevention, homelessness, hunger, single moms and crisis pregnancy, business as mission, health care, elderly and widows, public servants and city government, refugees and cross-cultural, special needs, human trafficking, mobilizing college students, families serving together, and more.

So I spent some time this weekend reviewing the last year of Buzz columns and thinking about the various churches I’ve learned about through work with Visioneering, the Association of Related Churches and the NACC.

It was encouraging to come across so many great examples:  the Refuge Medical Clinics developed by Southland…..”God Behind Bars” with Central in Vegas……My Safe Harbor with First Christian in Anaheim…..Cartwheels & Coffee at Area 10. I came up with two dozen examples to write about.


But that means we need about 75 more. (Do not ask me to do more difficult math than this.)

So think about the categories listed above and the churches you know—who’s doing something to make a difference in their community or around the world? Who’s created a program other churches might want to try? This resource will be a great way to get the word out about innovative approaches to outreach, and it might even inspire the people who read it to do something new.

Don’t be shy—leave a note in the comments with the basic info, or email me (jen@seejenwrite.com) with more information. The person who provides the most examples we use for the list will receive a copy of The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community and, when it’s available, a copy of the complete list. AND my eternal gratitude.

Filed under: resources, RM, the church, work Tagged: Area 10 Richmond, Cartwheels and Coffee, Central Christian Church, externally focused, First Christian Church Anaheim, God behind bars, My Safe Harbor, refuge clinics, Southland Christian Church, The Externally Focused Quest

Last week a megachurch that has faithfully subscribed to Christian Standard for years decided to cancel their subscription because of a few recent articles from the “In Opinions, Liberty” column.

To call this ironic is an understatement.

The whole point of this new feature is to spark discussion on ideas in the spirit of the “in essentials, unity” slogan we like to quote. But instead of welcoming thoughtful dialogue on some non-essentials, this Christian church apparently wants to shield its members from thinking about them. And I’m appalled—not as a Standard Publishing girl, but as a believer.


For one thing, it’s a perfect example of the parent/child relationship that tells Christians what to think, not how. Do we discourage people from thinking critically because the ensuing discussions are too much work? Or is it because we’re afraid of the conclusions they may reach?

Aren’t we part of that whole “truth will set you free” thing?

Or perhaps it’s the topics recently covered in the column: Giving more money to global missions. Rethinking the need for expensive church buildings. Studying the doctrine of hell. Working for unity. Cultivating a global worldview. The effectiveness (or not) of small groups.

People are already talking about many of these issues. Others need to be talked about (and just might lead to changes the minister and elders would love to see). Church leaders can either ignore this reality or proactively provide resources that offer a Bible-based perspective. If we’re going to treat church members as children, let’s at least encourage “the kids” to explore risky topics with us.


Whether it’s reluctance to have the messy conversations or lack of faith in the brain power of its members, I’m disappointed by this church’s decision. But I think Christian Standard should feel a certain pride in its recent brush with censorship. When people opposed to thought find you too dangerous, it just might be a sign you’re doing something right.

Filed under: holy crap!, opinions, resources, RM, the church Tagged: censorship, christian standard, critical thinking

OOOOOOH the irony.

My friend Jeff recently invited me to contribute to a synchroblog (a bunch of people blogging on the same topic) about how to break through creative blocks. And I couldn’t think of a thing to write.

Experiencing writer’s block while working on a post about writer’s block is thirteen kinds of ridiculous, but I know why it’s happening; when I scrolled through the list of Christian “names” who had already written, I was intimidated to submit my little post into the fray. Suddenly it seemed necessary to not only contribute something to the discussion, but to do so with wit AND originality AND humor AND insight AND spiritual depth.

A tall order. Before working on this I’d been sitting in my hotel room in Mobile, Alabama eating peanut butter cookies. That seemed much easier than trying to compete with these other voices.


And that, of course, is the reason I’m stuck. When I write to compete instead of contribute, readers never get my best work. When I try to impress people, I miss the chance to impact them.

“If you want to write, you can,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes. “You’re a human being, with a unique story to tell, and you have every right. If you speak with passion, many of us will listen. We need stories to live, all of us. We live by story. Yours enlarges the circle.”

That circle may be thousands of blog readers or a handful of Twitter followers. Resist the temptation to compare circle sizes; instead, consider what yours needs. What concerns them? Enrages them? Confuses them? What are they talking about, struggling with, laughing at? What stories are they living?

The usual suspects will always collaborate to block our creativity, whether it’s writing a blog post, a church enewsletter, or a book. But I’m learning (thanks, Jeff!) that one of the best ways for me to spark a new thought is to stop managing my “image” and start serving my readers. Considering my community is not only easier than trying to be the next super-blogger, it’s also a lot more fun.


What circles of influence do you have? What do those communities need from you this week?

Filed under: giving & giving back, resources, work Tagged: blogging, creative block, standing on giants, synchroblog, writer's block