Who are these people?

First off, a correction: I'm not going to St. Bernard's monastery next week, as I indicated. We're actually going to the Sacred Heart Monastery, also in Cullman, Alabama (how did Cullman become some hotbed for Benedictine Brothers and Sisters?). Really looking forward to it.

I heard something on NPR yesterday that I'll probably blog about next week: whether the Gospel is one of acceptance or one of transformation. I'll give you a hint on my direction for it... I think it's both. But what I decided I'd do today is talk about my friends, specifically my friends whose blogs I link to on the left. It may give you some context about why I've linked specifically to them.

• Mere Discipleship Discussion - This is a discussion blog of Lee Camp's book. The book is one of the best works of practical theology that I've read and it asks some hard questions and really points to Jesus and the Kingdom of God for some answers. The discussion is really good as well with many people asking how to live as a disciple today.
• Adam Ellis - Adam is one of the stranger additions to my list. He and I met online at the Grace Centered message boards. Both of us had mentioned Brian McLaren in posts and we sent private messages, emails, then instant messages. I consider him a close friend, even though we've only met in person once. His blog reflects his marriage of practical faith and deep thinking in his life and youth ministry.
• Brandon Scott Thomas - What to say about BST? He's a great insane guy who also works as the worship leader at Otter Creek, my home church. He and Mike Cope are a couple of pioneers in Church of Christ ministry blogging and his reflects a transparency about his life as a father, husband, and minister. He and I have grown close over the last 3 years, due to a combination of me being AV guy at church and the fact that our spiritual journeys have been mirroring each other too.
• Judy Thomas - Brandon's mom and my adopted blogmom. A beautiful woman who walks a simple, deep faith and is an example of a life lived in the service of Jesus and others, not always great in the world's terms, but of present and eternal significance.
• Preston Shipp - Another great friend. The thing I admire about Preston is his commitment to walking in the steps of Jesus with regard to a life of serving others but also asking really hard questions and coming up with answers that I may not always like or agree with, but always make me think. It took him a while to blog, but he's making up for lost time.
• Clarissa Cox - I've known Clarissa since the 8th grade at Caldwell Middle Magnet. She is another great example of someone struggling to live out the ways of Jesus in really hard ways. She's also really funny and really, really honest.
• Rob Cox - Rob is Clarissa's husband and has just started in the blogworld. He's getting gastric banding surgery in a bit and has been blogging about that experience.
• Tony Arnold - Tony's another fellow pilgrim and one of the originators of the Mere Discipleship blog. His recent posts have been about his faith walk and the places that God has brought him in the last year or so.
• David Carden - Another good friend and fellow struggler with faith. Another one who's asking hard questions and coming up with hard answers.
• Fajita - Chris Gonzales is BST's brother in law. You may be sensing a theme in the links here, but he's also someone else who really makes me think when I read his blog. He has a talent for narrative and punching you in the gut with a thought.
• Tiffany Fox - Tiff is one of the organizers of the trip to Loughborough, England. She's also an incredibly funny woman.. girl... lady...um, whatever the respectful term is. Today's post in particular is pretty dadgum funny.
• Jana Young - Jana is another person I go to church with. She has blogged about her political views, religious ideas, and being a young mother struggling with Post-Partum Depression. It's been eye opening to me to see that side of things and I can always count on great thinking.

So that's it, that's the list. I could probably push you to several others that I read when I'm trying to avoid work, like Joe Hays' or Clark Christian's or the Nashville Cohort or Sacred Nashville, but this post would be even longer than normal. So have fun and be safe out there. It's a big world with a lot of dangerous people, but I think I've warned you about who most of them are with this post.