I recently wrote about the relatively unremarked issue of gender dysphoria and believers opting for gender reassignment. I wrote that I had communicated with Assemblies of God leadership about this issue some years ago, and that I believed a position paper is in order — now, not at some later date when it becomes a "real" issue.
And it has begun. I'd say the issue is now real.
While it hasn't surfaced within the Assemblies of God yet, I suspect it will within the next few years. Meanwhile, The Church Report Online released a special report in its May 2007 issue, titled: "Identity Crisis: A Transgender Minister Reappointed to Lead
Last year, on October 3, I did a live interview with John Hall and Stephanie Fraschetti from Word-FM about the "Jesus Camp" documentary that was then the height of Evangelical fear-mongering (start here if you don't know what I'm talking about: "Jesus Camp: Brainwashed in the Blood — or Is it Spin?"). At least that was before the Ted Haggard fracas blew up.
Not long before this interview took place, I had also been interviewed by MSNBC for its program, "The Most." (If you're interested, see "Jesus Camp and BlogRodent on MSNBC."). It was interesting experiencing these two interview formats back-to-back. I enjoyed being on "The Most" as a floating-head talker, but I really enjoyed chatting with John
Just a very quick note to say that I've updated the PneumaBlogs list in recent days to include some stellar new names, including:
A Jewish celebration occurring about 7 weeks after Passover. It was on Pentecost that the Lord gave his Holy Spirit in Baptism to believers.
[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Passover, Pentecost[/tags]
A Jew, one of Jesus' twelve disciples, preached to multitudes on the Day of Pentecost, when the Baptism of the Spirit was given, and thousands were saved. Peter was arrested shortly afterwards. It is possible that he was martyred at the hands of Nero, in Rome.
[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Jesus, Nero, Pentecost, Peter, martyr[/tags]
I’ve described elsewhere here my first experience at an Anglican church when I attended my boss’s ordination to the deaconate in the Anglican Mission in America (sometimes jokingly referred to as “Anglicans missing in America”). That night opened my eyes to the growing charismatic world within a much older church tradition than my own (the Assemblies of God). Of course, I’ve heard of Episcopalian, Lutheran, Catholic, and other mainline churches going charismatic for years, but I’d never stepped foot inside an old-school church reveling (or at least basking) in the Spirit.
Of course, I didn’t see any of that swinging-from-the-chandelier or slaying-in-the-Spirit business going on, but imagine my provincial Pentecostal surprise to see firsthand that charismatic renewal in a mainline church doesn’t just mean they get to wear those spiffy tab-collar shirts. I encountered an
