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Covered in the Dust of the Empire

Mike Slaughter October 5, 2022

Matt Miofsky and Rachel Billups discussing “kingdom politics”

Was America great to begin with? -Mike Slaughter

It’s hard for folks to engage in conversation about what is or isn’t true when it comes to the founding fathers or American history. – Rachel Billups

One of my favorite images is that of people who follow the Rabbi so closely that they are covered by the Rabbi’s dust. Now I see people in our cultural milieu who are covered in the dust of the empire. – Lisa Yebuah

We have become people who receive information and data but no longer seem to think for ourselves. We have lost our ability to reason. -Jacob Armstrong

The smartest thing Rome ever did was to make Christianity the religion of the empire. The church stopped pushing back and became the empire’s tool. – Matt Miofsky

Listen in to this 10-minute conversation with some of the finest young leaders I know on the topic of Kingdom politics, part four of a six-part video podcast series from the book Revolutionary Kingdom: Following the Rebel Jesus. This week’s podcast features:

-Jacob Armstrong, the founding pastor of Providence Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.

-Rachel Billups, lead pastor of New Albany UMC near Columbus, Ohio and former senior pastor of Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City.

-Matt Miofsky, lead pastor of The Gathering United Methodist Church in Saint Louis, Missouri.

-Lisa Yebuah, campus pastor of Southeast Raleigh Table, a multi-site campus of Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Mike Slaughter, pastor emeritus and global church ambassador for Ginghamsburg Church, served for nearly four decades as the lead pastor and chief dreamer of Ginghamsburg and the spiritual entrepreneur of ministry marketplace innovations. Mike is also the founder and chief strategist of Passionate Churches, LLC, which specializes in developing pastors, church staff and church lay leaders through coaching, training, consulting and facilitation services. Mike’s call to “afflict the comfortable” challenges Christians to wrestle with God and their God-destinies. Mike’s latest book, from which this post is partially excerpted, is Revolutionary Kingdom: following the Rebel Jesus, available on Amazon and Cokesbury.

Uncategorized Christianity, Ginghamsburg Church, Jacob ARmstrong, kingdom politics, Matt Miofsky, Mike Slaughter, Rachel Billups, Renegade Gospel

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Jesus was not what most folks expected. When you think about God, adjectives like powerful, majestic, and almighty tend to come to mind. But Jesus did not come to the earth with any air of worldly wealth or majestic power. On the contrary, everything about Jesus’ life stood in stark contrast to worldly priorities and values. He arrived on the scene not in strength but in weakness. He was born a Palestinian Jew, into a community of marginalized, oppressed people, spending his early years as a refuge in Africa, eluding political genocide. His formative years were spent in a nondescript village, as a member of an ordinary working-class family.

As a man, he lived in tension with the organized religious system. He resisted the world’s obsessions with wealth, pleasure, power, and recognition. He identified with the weak and powerless, the widow, and the orphan. He did not condemn but defended the sinner. So what does God look like? Like Jesus! Jesus was the embodiment of God’s values and priorities. He is Immanuel, “God with us.” In Jesus we see not only the face of God but also the fullness of his humanity, who you and I are created to be. I can believe in a God who looks like Jesus!

Mike Slaughter, pastor emeritus and global church ambassador for Ginghamsburg Church, served for nearly four decades as the lead pastor and chief dreamer of Ginghamsburg and the spiritual entrepreneur of ministry marketplace innovations. Mike is also the founder and chief strategist of Passionate Churches, LLC, which specializes in developing pastors, church staff and church lay leaders through coaching, training, consulting, and facilitation services. Mike’s call to “afflict the comfortable” challenges Christians to wrestle with God and their God-destinies. Mike’s latest book is Revolutionary Kingdom: following the Rebel Jesus, available on Amazon and Cokesbury.

ALL God’s People

Mike Slaughter October 28, 2022

Rachel Billups, lead pastor of New Albany UMC near Columbus, Ohio
and former senior pastor of Ginghamsburg Church

The church should be safe space from the “-isms” of racism, sexism, ageism, and classism that foster everything from fear to hate crimes. But too often we faithful church attenders can be as divisive in our actions and attitudes as an unchurched neighbor with a Confederate flag decal on his car window. We allow fear to trump faith. We fear those who don’t look, speak, act, vote, love, or believe the same as we do.

Living Generously

Mike Slaughter October 12, 2022

LIVING GENEROUSLY

Following Jesus means being God’s hands, feet, voice, and bank account for the oppressed and undeserved. How do we start to live out of the abundance of God’s kingdom versus adopting the fearful and selfish scarcity mentality of the unjust economies surrounding us – economies where the rich do get richer as the poor grow poorer?

Covered in the Dust of the Empire

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