It's not often that you get the chance to listen to one of  Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential Evangelicals, but that is exactly what I had the opportunity to do last night at Spring Arbor University.  Brian McLaren was in town to talk about his new book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope.

Brian M. (who invited me along) has a great summary here of the ideas that were discussed last night.

McLaren's main point seems to be that Christianity, or at least how the institutional church practices Christianity, is more concerned with what's going on within the walls of the church building than what is going on in the World at large.  He groups the current crises facing us today into three categories, Poverty,  Planet and Peace.  When was the last time those topics were on your church's leadership agenda?  McLaren feels the successful "Future of Faith" is dependent upon the followers of Jesus turning our attention outward.

There was nothing McLaren said that I disagree with yet I was left with a sense that the evening was incomplete.  Brian M. refers to it as a "Yes, but..." moment.  McLaren refers to a "framing story" in defining how we interact with the world and states that Jesus calls us to a new "framing story" through entrance into the Kingdom of God where we are called to lives of sacrifice, humility, concern for others, etc.  McLaren never touched on role of repentance through the saving faith of Jesus Christ and it's role in allowing enterance to the Kingdom, which is odd considering the series was titled "The Future of Faith".

Regardless, the evening was good and the company was great.  36 hours later I'm still mulling over the significance of what was said and maybe more so what wasn't said.