“The fundamental element that defines the quality of our lives is the people we surround ourselves with and the conversations we have with them.” Over the past twenty years, Randy Elrod has dedicated himself to connecting cultural influencers. In 1999 he founded the re:Create Conference, an invitation-only international community of creatives and influencers that met annually…

I naively believed I could divert the Trump machine from its goal, the simultaneous lobotomization and pickpocketing of his base. With his ancillary purposes of strip-mining the future — forgoing a hopeful tomorrow for the coal-mines of yesterday — and doling out little heaps of nationalistic horror for his worshipers to stoke their fires. Trump…

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes and 46 seconds. I see Spring everywhere. Especially in the Tennessee Mountains. She’s bustin’ out all over. Let me attempt to help you savor her too. And to encourage you not to be a secret voyuer. Plunge into her and engage with all your being and with all your senses….

5 out of 5 stars Estimated reading time: Less than 3 minutes. The following quote sets the context for this remarkable book. “It is a point of urgency for Americans to understand what the FBI really does, and why it matters so that the citizens of this country can join together for the common good….

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes, 24 seconds. On a pivotal day in June 2011, I lost over 10,000 of my Christian family, friends, and peers. In one day. My social networks and the Arts conference which provided my income became a barren wasteland. What had once felt like a stalwart tribe of people — left me…

So thrilled to announce the Kindle version of my latest book is now available for pre-order for a limited time for only $9.99. That is a 33% ($5.00) savings. #ABetterTribe #LossOfBelonging #Amazon Click HERE to pre-order.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 13 seconds.   In the Moral Ethic I am describing, man’s obligation is in the straight and narrow; his duty is not so much to the world in a broad sense but to those within the actual, physical walls of the church about him, and the idea that of backsliding from…

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 12 seconds When the white evangelical man voted for Trump, he was not being hypocritical, only compulsive. He honestly wants to believe he is following the Bible he worships, and if he stubbornly continues to defend Trump and his ilk with righteous indignation, it is perhaps to shut out a…

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 21 seconds.   This post is about the white evangelical man. If the term is gender-specific, it is because I can think of no other way to describe the people I am talking about. They are not the females, nor are they white-collar people in the usual, college-graduate sense of…

I am an encourager. It is who I am at the core of my being. I value reading deep and wide—time-honored classics, philosophy (with an emphasis on the American transcendentalists and the existentialists), psychology, fiction, biography, and current events. I do my best to practice the lost art of empathic listening. To fully hear and…

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 15 seconds. It is bad for America to be divided into “two sides.”   It is bad for Democrats to be working without coming to grips with a painful reckoning of the party’s shortcomings—the narrowness of its coalition, the cloistered cluelessness of its elites, its intramural disagreements about the future…

Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 39 seconds.  “Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion” by Dr. Marlene Winell Psychologist Marlene Winell is known for coining the term Religious Trauma Syndrome. Leaving the Fold is a book that examines the effects of authoritarian religion (fundamentalist Christianity in particular) on individuals who leave…

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes, 21 seconds. I spent a portion of time yesterday at Cinqwani, our sacred ground on the southern ridge of Kalien commemorating the Winter Solstice. I have constructed a giant Mandala (aka Native American Medicine Wheel) of rocks gathered from every corner of our land. It is pictured below. Seasonal changes…

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes, 59 seconds It was at an emergent church conference in the early 2000s when I first heard Doug Pagitt use the term deconstructing religion. He convincingly talked in heady terms about actively disassociating from our roots in conservative, evangelical Christianity and “deconstructing” contemporary expressions of Christianity. In an interview with PBS…

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes, 3 seconds. The questions began in 1980 at the Southern Baptist Church in which I served as a naive 22-year-old minister of music when the pastor preached a sermon one fateful Sunday evening entitled “Why Doubting God Is A Sin.” Always a voracious reader, I was also in my second year…

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes, 36 seconds. A few nights ago, my new friends, Heath and Adam, asked me if I ever had the desire to sing again. When I replied with an immediate no, they asked why. I did not have an answer that evening, but their question has caused me to examine the issue…

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes, 43 seconds. Long-time friends were over for dinner at our beach cottage a few nights ago, and as we enjoyed conversation and cocktails before the meal, we mentioned that coffee hour and cocktail hour conversations were non-negotiable for Gina and me. Our friend inquired, “Every day? That is hard to fathom…

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 52 seconds. The second most enchanting place of my life was the Goodwill store on Dodds Avenue in Chattanooga. I’ll never forget the way it smelled walking through the door. A thick, oppressive must would hit you in the face. For an imaginative boy, it was an ever-present reminder that the…

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes, 28 seconds.   The pristine island of St. John in the Virgin Islands, the majestic Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains of Australia, the picturesque Resurrection Bay in Alaska, the artistic Montmartre overlooking Paris, and the iconic Villa Cipriani in Asolo, Italy, are five of the many enchanting places of…