Rob Bell. credit: www.robbell.com

Rob Bell is a pastor, speaker and author. Opinions on Bell vary throughout the evangelical community. To some, he is a revolutionary and engaging presence, a new Billy Graham for a new generation.

To others, he’s a heretical hipster, a charlatan whose message is heavy on social justice but seemingly light on Christ.

Personally, I find a lot of value in Bell’s writing - even if I don’t always agree with him. In fact, one of the reasons I respect him is because he’s the first to admit that he doesn’t have all of the answers, that he’s just adding his thoughts to a discussion that has been ongoing for centuries.

I think Bell sums it up nicely in his book Velvet Elvis:

Test it. Probe it. Do that to this book.
Don’t swallow it uncritically. Think about it. Wrestle with it.
Just because I’m a Christian and I’m trying to articulate a…

The Red Door - a ministry led by Kathy Price of Wisconsin - meets every Sunday at the Willowdale Saloon in Janesville, WI. The full story about The Red Door can be found here at the Beloit Daily News website.

According to the story,

In an effort to minister to those turned off by traditional religion, Price
holds services at the bar at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday. A social beer and
cigarette is allowed as well as chicken wings, coffee and donuts.

Price continues,

I want the people who don’t want to go to church, those who are wounded and broken, especially from religion…I want to reach out to the person who believes a beer separates them from God.

Many people are hesitant to attend church, Price said, because they feel they
aren’t good enough, or are too sinful. For example, some feel they can’t live
with their boyfriends or girlfriends, must cease swearing, or driving and
talking on the…

Rob Bell courtesy Beliefnet

Pastor/author Rob Bell launched a boisterous discussion last week when he attempted to define the word “evangelical” during an interview with the Boston Globe.   Here’s the exchange between reporter Michael Paulson and Rob Bell that’s been getting most of the attention:

Q. What does it mean to you to be an evangelical?

A. I take issue with the word to a certain degree, so I make a distinction between a capital E and a small e. I was in the Caribbean in 2004, watching the election returns with a group of friends, and when Fox News, in a state of delirious joy, announced that evangelicals had helped sway the election, I realized this word has really been hijacked. I find the word troubling, because it has come in America to mean politically to the right, almost, at times, anti-intellectual. For many, the word has nothing to do with a spiritual…