Why I like Brian McLaren

Over the past couple of months, there have been several prominent pastors that have attacked Brian McLaren. He was in Austin today, and I got the chance to go meet him and listen to him speak. His topic mostly surrounded his new book, Everything Must Change, which I picked up today. Honestly, I am a little biased. I have always appreciated Brian's work. I love a couple of his books "A search for what is real: Finding Faith" and "A new kind of Christian." They are both great books that I enjoyed - and honestly, everything I have read from him has been good.

Today though, I got to see the real Brian. I got to evaluate him up close and personal... Here are some thoughts:

• He is about as real and humble as any guy I've met. He may be somewhat famous, but he certainly doesn't flaunt that fact. He looks you in the eye when you speak with him and he listens. I've met "important" people before who didn't do that...
• Brian is a controversial figure - not because of the way he says things or even necessarily what he says, but because he is willing to ask "any" question. In many circles, certain topics and questions are out of bounds. With Brian, there are no lines at all - and that can scare people. Personally, I like that... I think that there are many things that we as followers of Christ need to examine and re-think. Christ stirred things up too for the exact same reasons. He said, "You've been looking at things this way, but what about this?" ...and that really disturbed the establishment.
• Brian is also looking at the big issues. He's not trying to grow his church or pad his bank account - he's saying - these are the big issues the world is facing - where are we as believers and churches and leaders addressing these issues? Good questions indeed...

So - that's why I like him...

Comments

[Jonathan Dodson]

I just posted on why I am concerned about McLaren...

http://creationproject.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/brian-mclarens-disturbing-hermeneutic/

[Kevin Connell]

Charles - in the last bullet point about McLaren...what kind of issues are the church, believers, and leaders not addressing? - Kevin

[charles Whitmire]

Kevin - Great Question... There are many, but one example is the issue of poverty. I recently heard Rick Warren speak about how we as Christians and Pastors seem to ignore the verses relating to the poor. I think we all are pretty guilty of selective reading! Brian is looking at some pretty "big" issues that most churches have yet to get. He's looking at the issue from a global viewpoint and asking, how can we really address this situation wisely. Fortunately, he's not alone - just rare - and I do see the church moving in a good direction...

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