Rant of the Exiles

Jackie Chan fans in Cidade de Deus My lead pastor and friend, Justin , and I took a ministry trip to Rio de Janeiro last month to visit our church's missionary partner. On the Friday evening of our arrival, we had dinner with our host pastor, his wife, and two other Brazilian couples who were church leaders. The couples were young, well-dressed, and educated. One man’s first observation upon meeting me was that I looked like a movie star.  I paused, speechless.  That’s not a comment I’m used to receiving.  With a look that told me it was obvious, he said:  You look like Jackie Chan.  I was flabbergasted. Let’s slow time down and examine the various stages of emotion and thought. My initial response was surprise. It’s a peculiar comment to make to a new acquaintance. My next emotional response was indignation. My thinking went something like this: Do you think all Asians ...

[3,100 words, 11 minute read] The sex talk is one of the most dreaded conversations parents anticipate having with their children. To make things easier, an entire industry exists to help parents with sex education. Dozens of books have been written to help parents navigate this treacherous topic with their progeny. One of the best known among evangelicals is called the Passport 2 Purity Getaway package . It is produced by FamilyLife, a division of Cru (former Campus Crusade for Christ) and consists of a five lecture CD package including a journal and exercises designed as a weekend retreat for a pre-pubescent child and his/her parent(s). Passport 2 Purity was not my initiative. Our trip came about because Judy had heard from several home-schooling mom friends how they had taken their daughters on a road trip to go through the CDs. She even heard how a mom took a trip with husband and two sons to through the curriculum. So a couple months ago, Judy suggested we take our two older boy...