by Philip Gray Free-Lance Writer “Training Today’s Leaders for Tomorrow’s Churches” is the motto for New Church Specialties, a Christian consulting organization that largely reaches Nazarenes. But New Church Specialties and the affiliated New Church University (where pastors and leaders are mentored and trained) are a conduit for the new spirituality, and their G12 Master’s … [Read more…]
by Understand the Times with Roger Oakland When I first began writing in the field in the late 70s and early 80s the term “Spiritual Formation” was hardly known, except for highly specialized references in relation to the Catholic orders. Today it is a rare person who has not heard the term. Seminary courses in … [Read more…]
“As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” Proverbs 25:25 Lighthouse Trails Publishing is pleased to present our first music CD. Good News in the Badlands by Bob Ayanian is a very special collection of Americana gospel folk songs. The lyrics are both uplifting and edifying for the … [Read more…]
At the recent Calvary Chapel Senior Pastors Conference in Murrieta, California, attending pastors were each given gift bags that contained an assortment of books, teaching CDs, and other items. At least some of the bags contained a copy of a book written by David Timms, a professor at Hope International University who puts an emphasis … [Read more…]
Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts is a non-denominational college founded in 1889 to train Protestant missionaries. It has approximately 2000 students from 40 states and 23 countries. Unfortunately, the school has now been added to a growing list of Christian colleges that incorporate contemplative spirituality into their schools’ programs and students’ lives. In the case … [Read more…]
It was Shakespeare who said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. In the case of the “new spirituality” that has pervaded so much of Christianity, emergent church by any other name is just as harmful. While some are saying they are not “emergent” but are emerging, the overall beliefs (and mission) … [Read more…]
Emerging/emergent spirituality is making serious inroads into Christianity. Churches and Christian colleges, unaware of the subtle undermining of such spirituality, are embracing teachers and leaders of this movement and pointing others to them. Often they are unaware of what these teachers really believe and teach. In light of an event (Movement 2009) scheduled to take … [Read more…]
The 2009 National Youth Workers Convention will take place this coming Fall in three major US cities. The conference is presented annually by Youth Specialties. As we have stated before, this is one youth worker convention that should be avoided. Attendees will receive a hearty dose of contemplative/emerging spirituality. Books, DVDs, seminars, and more will … [Read more…]
Today, it is the 2009 Holocaust Remembrance Day, and around the world people will be stopping to remember the atrocities committed against six million Jews and around five million others, murdered because of the madness of one man – Adolph Hitler. For those of you who follow the writings of Lighthouse Trails, you know we … [Read more…]
Point Loma has hopped on the contemplative/emergent bandwagon, and one student and his family are very concerned. Lighthouse Trails has been contacted by a parent who told us her son attends Point Loma Nazarene University in California. Fortunately, for this woman’s son, he recognizes the spiritual deception that is taking place at Point Loma, but … [Read more…]
The Church’s fixation on the death of Jesus as the universal saving act must end, and the place of the cross must be reimagined in Christian faith. Why? Because of the cult of suffering and the vindictive God behind it.–Alan Jones1 As we at Lighthouse Trails have joined with other believers in exposing the truth … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: The following out-of-house news story is a follow up of our June 18, 2007 article “Episcopal Priest: ‘I Am Both Muslim and Christian’ — OK With Emerging Church.” We have posted our 2007 article below this current one because of its relevancy. “US priest who became a ‘Christian Muslim’ is defrocked” By Ecumenical … [Read more…]
Lighthouse Trails would like to alert its readers that LifeWay Christian Stores has been informing interested customers that Lighthouse Trails books are “discontinued” or “out of print.” LifeWay Stores is the bookstore arm of the Southern Baptist Convention and has over 150 walk-in stores and a popular online store. Concerned customers have contacted Lighthouse Trails … [Read more…]
by Roger Oakland Spiritual Formation: A movement that has provided a platform and a channel through which contemplative prayer is entering the church. Find spiritual formation being used, and in nearly every case you will find contemplative spirituality. In fact, contemplative spirituality is the heartbeat of the spiritual formation movement. When I first began writing … [Read more…]
On March 20-22, what is being called “the first-ever Catholic-Emergent conference” will take place. The name of the conference is The Emerging Church: Conversations, Convergence and Action. Spencer Burke, of the Ooze, calls it “one of the magical moments in this movement of God.”1 The event is being erroneously advertised as a meeting of Catholic … [Read more…]
For seven years, Lighthouse Trails has been writing about and reporting on contemplative spirituality and how it has entered the Christian church. When we first began, with the publication of A Time of Departing, and then with ongoing research, we soon became aware that contemplative was much more widespread than what we had initially … [Read more…]
A SPECIAL LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS COMMENTARY A recent USA Today article, “Saddleback founder Warren driven to expand his reach,” begins by asking the question “Could California pastor Rick Warren possibly be everywhere at once?.” The article mentions Warren’s global travels, while promoting his Purpose Driven Peace Plan and the recently launched Peace Coalition. The question that … [Read more…]
This month, admirers of the late Catholic monk Thomas Merton are remembering him – it was 40 years ago December 10th in Bangkok that he was accidentally electrocuted, dying at the age of 53. According to an article on the Religion News Service, a new documentary film titled Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton … [Read more…]
In February of 2009, Zondervan publishers will present the annual National Pastors Convention in San Diego, California. This conference, which was founded by emerging church pioneer, Youth Specialties, is a conduit for contemplative mysticism and emerging spirituality. While most of the speakers at each year’s event fall within the alternative emerging church camp, the conference … [Read more…]
Brian McLaren’s newest book, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices, is the first in a series of eight books by Thomas Nelson publishers. The General Editor of the series, which is titled The Ancient Practices Series, is emerging church proponent Phyllis Tickle. Other authors in the series include Dan Allender, Scot … [Read more…]
A Critique of Dallas Willard and The Spirit of the Disciplines by Bob DeWaay Practices called “spiritual disciplines” that are deemed necessary for “spiritual formation” have entered evangelicalism. Recent encounters with this teaching narrated to me by friends caused me to investigate these practices. The first experience involved my friend and co-worker Ryan Habbena who … [Read more…]
Now that the election is over, Lighthouse Trails has a question, and that is, “What about the Department of Peace?” Most Christians have probably never heard of it. Those who have been tracking the news through Lighthouse Trails for some time most likely have. One thing that may happen with the new administration is that … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: We are posting the following notice by Zondervan publishing regarding Leighton Ford and his new book, The Attentive Life. The book offers a collection of quotes by and references to some of the most prolific eastern-style meditation teachers, including Thomas Keating, David Steindl-Rast, Gerald May, Kathleen Norris, and atonement rejector and Episcopal priest … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: The following is a letter we received about Ambrose University in Canada. More proof that contemplative spirituality is sweeping across North American’s Christian colleges, seminaries, and universities and overtaking the hearts, minds, and souls of countless young (and older) people. Because of this letter and our research on the school that followed, we … [Read more…]
As Lighthouse Trails reported last week in our article, “Some Say the Emerging Church is Dead – the Truth Behind the Story,” a new emerging network/alliance is forming among several disgruntled emerging church leaders such as Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus, and Scot McKnight.1 According to McKnight, the new network/alliance will be “committed to the Lausanne … [Read more…]
According to a September 19th Christianity Today blog article, the emerging church is dead. “An overused and corrupted term now sleeps with the fishes,” the article states. But is this even remotely true? Or rather could it be that the emerging church, or what we call the “merging” church, is morphing into its next “higher” … [Read more…]
The 4th Annual National Conference on Innovation, sponsored by the Ohio Conference of Seventh Day Adventists, will take place in October in Columbus, Ohio and will feature New Age sympathizer/emerging futurist Leonard Sweet. On the conference website, it states: Partners in Innovation is a convergence of people and organizations committed to providing the environment, encouragement, … [Read more…]
On Monday night, August 25th, emerging church author Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) gave the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. This comes on the heels of the news that Brian McLaren (prolific writer and emerging church leader) is now an advisor to Barack Obama. A concerted effort is taking place … [Read more…]
The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC), located in Albuquerque, New Mexico has announced the first emergent-Catholic conference to ever be held. The name of the conference is The Emerging Church: Conversations, Convergence and Action. On the Emergent Village website, where the event is being advertised, it states: “[T]his will be the first gathering to … [Read more…]
Emerging church leaders Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Mark Scandrette have gone on a summer road tour across the US as we reported on May 22nd in our article, Emergent Road Show Receives Sponsorship From Major Organizations. In a June 19th posting on the tour blog, Tony Jones asks the question, “What in the world … [Read more…]