by Jeremiah Hinton

A deeply regrettable concession that the church has made to a culture obsessed with the exploitation of sexuality is the equation of purity with belovedness. In a bid to occupy one extreme of a culturally constructed whore/virgin dichotomy, the church has departed from the essential truth of the gospel. You are loved now. As you are. There are no special vows, requirements, rings, oaths, or behaviors needed to receive the graceful extension of God's love. The equation of sexual purity with God's acceptance of us is not only a gross misrepresentation of Jesus' boundless love, but

I’ve been obsessing all month over the SCOTUS opinions on the two historic cases around same-sex marriage.

Yesterday, I nearly missed my bus due to lingering too long over the SCOTUS blog‘s liveblog of the morning announcements. Today, I felt anxious enough that I bummed a cigarette off of someone. I was mentioning how obsessive I’ve become about this to a friend who replied, “Yeah, I’m keeping up with the announcements by watching your facebook updates.”

by Daniel Tidwell

I am convinced that the Christian life is about formation–formation that is never meant to end.

It is a continual unfolding and expansion of our capacity and embodiment of love for God and Neighbor. It’s just this simple/complex: giving and receiving love.

by Daniel Tidwell

Sometimes you get told something so often you believe that it’s true.

There are stories so ubiquitous that we take them as inerrant fact and as truth (see what I did there?).

by Daniel Tidwell

I have realized that I am surrounded by incredible people. There are so many people in my life who are deeply thoughtful, compassionate, imaginative, soulful people. I’m not idealizing. Some of these people I can’t stand to be around. Others I can’t stand when I am away from them. Either way, it seems that I do a lot of falling over and these are people who meet me on those grounds.

by Daniel Tidwell

We are standing at the edge of Elliott Bay, laughing as we launch rocks into the cold waves of Puget Sound. We stagger and try not to impale each other as we flail uncoordinatedly, lobbing slippery stones with our left hands. We are both right handed.

by Daniel Tidwell

What I think should be quite clear is this: I see the Bible as very important for the church. I also see the church as far more important than the Bible. It is a document of and for the church. If you are not a part of the Christian faith and/or you do not hold the Bible as important, then this discussion may not be for you.

by Daniel Tidwell


We are excited to share this series with you. Daniel was a guest panelist at our event this January. This series was originally posted on his blog. For more information on this series, read the about page or Daniel's introduction.