Burnside Writers Collective

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 2, 2005 in Church Technology, Culture, Monk Dev | 2 comments

The Burnside project I’m working on got some press in it too:

One of his big plans, in fact, is to make the Rose City the hub of a national network of unconventional Christian writers, which he’s calling the Burnside Writers Collective. There’s Chris Seay, the pastor at ex-witch Kelly Hall’s church in Houston, author of books called The Gospel According to Tony Soprano and The Tao of Enron; McKinley, pastor of Miller’s own congregation, Imago Dei, will publish Jesus in the Margins this fall. Miller is characteristically self-effacing, calling plans to coordinate the promotion of a select bunch of writers through a website “a bait-and-switch operation, a cynical effort to sell more books.”

Miller sent me a bunch of stuff this morning, so we should be wrapping up pretty soon. He also sent me an article from Relevant Magazine, where he mentioned Burnside again:

Miller’s currently planning a creative community called the Burnside Writers Collective, an outlet for a group of writers/thinkers/speakers who are writing similar literature. “I want to create a catch-all for like-minded thinkers,” Miller said. “There are some cool voices out there that I think are entertaining and real and raw and profound, so it will be cool to shine the spotlight on some of these voices.” The initial lineup includes Miller, McKinley, Houston pastor and author Chris Seay and singer/songwriter Derek Webb. “We will make their stuff available online, and then also plan river trips, conferences and this sort of thing people can go to, to spend time with them,” he said.

I’m going to see if I can post the article…it’s for the March/April 2005 issue.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 2, 2005 in Culture | 6 comments

I just got this feature on Donald Miller from a secular perspective. After talking about all his success, why doesn’t he have any coverage in local media:

How come? Simple: Miller’s a Christian. Half his sales are through religious bookstores. The afternoon photo shoot is for a slick magazine called Relevant, basically a hybrid of Spin and Entertainment Weekly aimed at the youth-ministry set. At Harvard, he’ll address the Veritas Forum, a gathering of Christian intellectuals. In Toronto, he’s speaking at a Christian college so small even he hasn’t heard of it. The stage version of his book will run at “faith-based” venues in Canada’s biggest city.

Or how about our Christian brothers quote:

The weird thing is, Miller is not just a religious fish out of Portland’s hyper-secular water. He’s also an oddity among Christian authors. Some Christians don’t care for him one bit. “I truly believe that Blue Like Jazz is in large part a heresy masquerading as Christianity,” says Vince Bissey, one of Miller’s most vociferous online critics.

The whole article on Donald Miller is here.

We all love legalists.

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 2, 2005 in Church | 6 comments

I was thinking today of all the legalistic things people do as Christians to fit in. How many people burned their cds? Thought it was wrong to drink or dance? I’d love to hear some things you’ve seen/done that were done from legalism.