Articles for tag: Jim Tune

Let”s Meet for Dinner

By Jim Tune Let”s meet for dinner. I”d be willing to host. Jesus himself said, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking” (Luke 7:34). Eating and drinking a lot. New Testament scholar Robert Karris says, “In Luke”s Gospel, Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.” Interesting. What is the Son of Man doing when he comes to earth? The Jews expected him to come with a vengeance, defeating God”s enemies and vindicating his people. Instead he shares a meal. Meals are a powerful expression of welcome and friendship in every culture.

March 4, 2015

Life Starts Now

By Jim Tune Most people live their whole lives on either side of now. In her memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert writes about a friend who, whenever she sees a beautiful place, exclaims in a near panic, “It”s so beautiful here! I want to come back here someday!” Gilbert writes, “It takes all of my persuasive powers to try to convince her that she is already here.” Often we”re so trapped in thoughts of the future or the past that we forget to experience, let alone enjoy, what”s happening right now. Most negative thoughts concern one”s past. Most anxious

February 25, 2015

Culture & Public Square Race

A Little More Substance, Please!

By Jim Tune We cannot cry over a story we don”t know. That much I”m sure of. Events in Ferguson, Missouri, the Eric Garner tragedy in New York City, and other controversial stories divide and confuse. I often wish I had more of the facts behind these tragedies. Something tells me I would respond more appropriately if I knew the people””the victims, the police officers, the circumstances. Even then, as a white male and beneficiary of a host of advantages since birth, there are gaps in my experience that cannot be easily closed. Empathy is in short supply in the

February 18, 2015

Rejoice Already!

By Jim Tune For most of us, our joy and contentment in life is highly dependent on our circumstances. This has been true of me more often than I would like to admit. I have let my fearful and petulant demands keep me from enjoying the only world God has ever made, and the one life I have to live. You probably know these reassuring words spoken by Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” What many of us don”t know is their context. Born in 14th-century

February 11, 2015

Church & Ministry

A Matter of Love

By Jim Tune I love the local church. At times I”ve been one of its harshest critics, but these days I”m coming to peace with “church.” The church can be an easy target, and it”s tempting sometimes to just blast away. It”s harder””and a lot more character forming””to live in it day after day, bearing with one another and serving faithfully (and sometimes thanklessly). The disgruntled “church stinks” crowd needs to be careful lest their disillusionment becomes an idol that defines their identity. Some have said, “The church is kind of like sausage””it”s better just to enjoy the thing and

February 4, 2015

For Such a Time

By Jim Tune “I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why did it come to me? Why was I chosen?” laments Frodo, after discovering the power of the mysterious inheritance that has come into his possession. In response, Gandalf offers a sober appraisal: “Such questions cannot be answered. You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.” In challenging Queen Esther to act on behalf of the Jews, Mordecai offers similar counsel. He

January 28, 2015

Church & Ministry Church Leadership

An Inconvenient Truth?

By Jim Tune I”ve heard the axiom “Love everyone, but move with the movers!” shared by speakers at leadership conferences. There”s truth in this counsel. I”ve had to encourage people to find another church when they became obtusely stuck on some element of vision or direction. At some point, I”ve had to weigh the value of giving disproportionate amounts of energy to people who refuse to change or compromise. So yeah, there”s some wisdom in moving with the movers. That said, I”m not entirely comfortable with this approach. Sometimes in order to truly love someone like Jesus did, you just

January 21, 2015

Care & Counseling Grief & Suffering

The Ultimate Question

By Jim Tune When life delivers pain or confusion, our first response is often to look at God and shout, “Why is this happening?” This is what we are really asking, “Why did you let this happen?” Sooner or later we will all end up sitting in a hospital waiting room, funeral home, or lawyer”s office, asking ourselves, “Is God still in all of this?” When shaken by tragedy, we do well to ask ourselves if we can still believe in a God who lets bad things happen. I”ve had a few personal bouts of what Philip Yancey calls “disappointment

January 14, 2015

Wild

By Jim Tune The Pacific Crest Trail is a 2,650-mile hiking trail that reaches from Mexico to Canada. Starting in desert chaparral near the Mexican border, the trail climbs along the backbone of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. It winds through Oregon forests and skirts along the shoulders of volcanoes like Mount Rainier in Washington. In the spring of 1995, a disillusioned 25-year-old Cheryl Strayed hit the trail to lose her problems. Strayed shared her story in her best-selling memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. She had never been backpacking before setting out on

January 7, 2015

No More Laters

By Jim Tune Sometimes I struggle with the tendency to live by the motto, “Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.” Mark Twain took things a step further when he said, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do day after tomorrow just as well.” There is both humor and truth in Twain”s axiom. On a more serious note, I think Dan Carruth captured the truth about procrastination when he wrote, “The biggest lie we tell ourselves in the area of action is, I”ll do it later.” The interesting thing about “later” is it can”t easily

December 31, 2014

The War on Sleep

By Jim Tune Have you ever heard people brag about how little sleep they require? An article in The Spectator magazine highlighted this problem in modern America: Our war on sleep is hard to miss. TV interviewers ask today”s hard driving achievers how long they sleep. . . . When the guest leaves, the interviewers bat the question around with each other, boasting about pulling “all nighters” or claiming “I”m OK with five,” revelling in a festival of one-down manship. If the standard recommendation of eight hours a night gets mentioned, it is treated with genial contempt. Napoleon, Florence Nightingale,

December 24, 2014

Starting at the Bottom

By Jim TuneÂ Most religions begin “at the top,” but Christianity begins “at the bottom.” The mystery of the incarnation should stir our hearts every day. Much of what we learn about the incarnation we learn as children and revisit annually during the Christmas season. I wonder if we are ever guilty of treating the incarnation as a beginner”s doctrine: a nice opportunity to do something for the children and invite our friends to church. The remarkable union of God and man in the incarnation is no minor point of theology. God the Son took on flesh and dwelt among

December 17, 2014

Why I”m Hoping to Lose

By Jim Tune In his memoir Report to Greco, Nikos Kazantzakis reflects on his early years as a searching, God-haunted man needing direction from God. One summer the young Kazantzakis climbed Mount Athos to visit a monastery. There he met Father Makarios, an old monk with a reputation for deep wisdom. In one remarkable exchange, the young Kazantzakis asked the monk, “Do you still wrestle with the devil?” “Not any longer, my child,” Father Makarios replied. “I have grown old, and he has grown old with me. He doesn”t have the strength.” The young man assumed that the battle must

December 10, 2014

Culture & Public Square Politics & Government

Power, Politics, and the Kingdom

By Jim Tune There seems to be a set of unwritten rules and preferences concerning which political party one must belong to in order to be considered a Christian of good standing among many Evangelicals. I have heard such things as, “I am sorry, but I really have to question your faith if you”re a Democrat.” Of course, the left can serve up remarkably similar disdain by inferring that no real thinking person could possibly vote Republican. Both sides claim to cherish freedom, democracy, and the American way. Political differences are so polarizing that they can readily turn friends and

December 3, 2014

Jim Tune

Mary, Most Perplexed

Jim Tune, Mary, Luke 1, MMPI, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, perplexity, doubt, authenticity, Abraham and Sarah, Elijah, Jezebel,

November 19, 2014

Conferences & Gatherings Organizations & Events

Journeying Together

By Jennifer Johnson I”m really excited about the 2015 International Conference on Missions. One reason is the president, Jim Tune, asked me to speak. My first sermon was to 1,800 Indian teenagers in a building that could seat 600, the second was for a group of jaded New Yorkers, and now my third will be to a convention hall of a few thousand. I like to focus on easy audiences. But I”m especially looking forward to the convention after talking to Tim Cole at the Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship and learning more about both the church planting emphasis at next year”s

November 19, 2014

Swords, Plowshares, and Evangelicals

By Jim Tune The Sermon on the Mount has been speaking to me in fresh ways lately. In the tradition of Alexander Campbell, I am trying to read these passages without viewing them through any particular Evangelical, sociopolitical, or theological lens. You can imagine how difficult this is to do. My biases rise up in protest””especially when I read what Jesus taught about peacemaking and loving enemies. Please don”t send me any hermeneutical treatments of the subject. I”ve read them all. But in times of honest reflection, I find myself pushing back when it comes to all the Evangelical escape

November 13, 2014

Conferences & Gatherings Organizations & Events

One Convention, Seven New Churches

By Jennifer Johnson “You know, if we”re going to spend all this time and effort in planning a convention, it would be great for it to have a long-term impact,” remarked Tim Cole in a planning meeting for the 2015 International Conference on Missions. Cole, director of church planting at Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship (VEF), says he can”t take credit for what happened next; some members of the team suggested the churches in Virginia plant a church, then some others suggested they plant one on every continent, then someone else mentioned Antarctica might be a challenge. Today the plan is

November 12, 2014