This Bud's For You, Brother!

The recently revamped Slice of Laodicea website, now known as Christian Research Network pointed me to the following tibbit of "news":

Theology at the Bottleworks is run by a wildly successful congregation of young St. Louisans called The Journey. The Schlafly [Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, MO] program is part of the church's outreach ministry. And it works.

Every month dozens show up at the brewpub to drink beer and talk about issues ranging from racism in St. Louis to modern art controversies to the debate about embryonic stem cell research. First-timers are invited to check out the church on Sunday, and Journey leaders say many have. Theology at the Bottleworks is just one of The Journey's ministries, but it has helped the church grow from 30 members in late 2002 to 1,300 today...

The Journey is part of what sociologists of religion call the emerging church movement.

(Read the whole story here.)

Boy, I could go all sorts of directions here, but I'll just focus on few.

• I don't claim to be an expert on the "emerging church," but everything I've read causes me to think--"you're not the boss of me"--everytime I see the term. I want to gag every time I see one of these groups talk about being "relevant" or "cutting edge", blah, blah, blah. Like they've discovered something NEW or they've got a better handle on what people need. It's just Purpose-Driven Church with a different book cover.
  
• Looking on The Journey's website, I notice they've got a link to the "Super Bowl." Seems the Journey folks are cancelling church services so people can get together at one of four locations and enjoy "your own beverage" (wonder what that would be), pizza and hot wings. Here's the link.

OK. I love this one. Seems Hillary Clinton is in the middle of a town hall meeting in Iowa this past Sunday, and an individual in the audience asks: "what she had in her background that would make her a good commander-in-chief, given that the world has 'evil' leaders and a lot of them 'happen to be men.'" Her response?

Clinton rephrased the question for the audience because most did not hear what the man said. "The question really is," she said, "we face a lot of dangers in the world, and in the gentleman's words, we face a lot of 'evil men.'

"People like Osama bin Laden comes to mind."

She paused.

"And what in my background equips me to deal" --Clinton waited a beat and got a gleam in her eyes -- "with evil and bad men?"

Bingo.

It took about 30 seconds for the crowd to stop guffawing.

The Chicago-Sun Times article goes on: "Clinton may have unwittingly said something people thought was about her storied marriage to Bill Clinton. The New York senator offered conflicting explanations about her intended target at the news conference. Her warmth turned chilly when a reporter said the audience may have thought the "evil man" was about the "bad side of Bill.''

"I don't think anybody in there really thought that," she said.

Yeah, RIGHT!!!