“Failure to launch is not an option.”

June 6, 1984

March 29, 2023

I attended a faith deconstruction conference in Seattle last weekend. So many many things happened, I got hold of so many new bits of theology I’ll be studying over the next while, all as part of my momentous journey to get at the truth of the question: Who is God?

One of the panelists, of whom I was not previously familiar, was Tony Jones. My first impression of him was mixed, I didn’t quite know what to think. He’s five years my junior, tall, slim, athletic, and balding. He wears dark rimmed glasses that intensify his presence. He’s a striking figure, intense and fiercely charismatic. When he spoke, I hung intently on his every word.

Tony was a key figure in the “emergent church” movement during the 90s and the early 2000s. I was working very hard during that period in time, and my career was on fire. I was traveling constantly. I’d dabble in attending church now and then, mostly the megachurch flavor, but I was never consistent. Also, the constant emphasis on tithing made me uncomfortable, mostly because I didn’t tithe. I’d by then made a choice not to allow my life’s decisions to be ruled by fear. I recognized that my constant unease over the whole tithing message was not an ideal way to engage with God. Instead of dealing with it, instead of finding a church where I felt at home, I simply gave up on church…