Hello Ooze Community,

Each year, Soularize introduces our community to a fresh voice that we believe will significantly add to the conversation. Soularize 2011 is excited to feature Rachel Held Evans as an emerging communicator with a growing influence as both a writer and speaker.

You do not want to miss her main session presentation!

Rachel is a skeptic, Christ-follower, and popular blogger from Dayton, Tennessee—home of the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. Her first book, “Evolving in Monkey Town” (Zondervan, 2010), explores the interplay of faith and doubt and recounts the challenges of asking tough questions about Christianity in the context of the Bible Belt. In September, Rachel will finish a yearlong experiment in “biblical womanhood” in which she attempted to follow all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible.

Join Rachel at Soularize 2011 - register today
Submit Your Workshop Idea - click here

LOTS OF ACTION ON TheOOZE THIS WEEK!
If you haven't been over on TheOOZE this week, you may want to check out a couple of hot articles. It's amazing what happens when writers who are relatively unknown are given a platform to share their thoughts!

Be sure to check out:
7 Things Your Pastor Wants to Tell You...
But Doesn't Have the Guts by Walter Thomason
and
An Open Letter to TOMS and BOBS Shoes by Tammy Fuller

If you're looking to expand your readership, consider submitting an article for possible publication on TheOOZE.

Hope to see you in San Diego!

Spencer

P.S. Register for Soularize 2011 here!

7 THINGS YOUR PASTOR WANTS TO TELL YOU...BUT DOESN'T HAVE THE GUTS
by Walter Thomason

Every preacher wants to preach with power and passion. Every preacher wants to change the world through the gospel. However, that isn’t an easy task from a church pulpit. There is a reason that some of the greatest and most challenging preachers in the English speaking world have not been on a church staff. They never had to rely on a church congregation to pay their salary. read more

AN OPEN LETTER TO TOMS AND BOBS SHOES
by Tammy Fuller

TOMS and BOBS: I wish to serve notice. I find your practices unethical… no, not the fact that you give a pair of shoes away to children in need, but the fact that you boast that it’s an act of generosity. You, in fact, assemble your shoes (which are no modern marvels of lasting quality or art) in nations which employ unfair labor practices and often child labor. Then, you charge exorbitant amounts for said shoes, which the materials and assembly are below par. Your profit margin skyrockets with your laughably lining your pockets at a criminal level. To top it all off, you “generously” and “charitably” “give” a pair of shoes to a child in need. What about those who you unfairly employ? Your greed only gets you so far with the public who no longer brainlessly buys into your charade of charitability. Your marketing campaign is no longer acceptable. read more

ARE WHITE AMERICAN MEN LEADING THE GLOBAL CHURCH?
by Kent Shaffer

The majority of ideas influencing the global church are from white American men. In fact, 80% of global influencers are Americans, but Americans account for only 10% of the world’s Christians. Christianity has shifted from white Western males to black African females, but not yet among global influencers. We need a global platform for all cultures that focuses on quality, not geography. download the infographic

CAN ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS SAVE THE CHURCH?
by Christian Piatt

I’ve heard several peopled involved in Twelve Step work say that the Twelve Steps are AA’s gift to the Church, and that the Twelve Traditions are the Church’s gift back to AA. To clarify, the Twelve Steps are tools an individual uses to help them find recovery in dealing with an addiction. The Twelve Traditions, on the other hand, have to do with how those groups of recovering addicts govern themselves. Why look to AA for how to run a church? Consider the fact that, while mainline churches have been in steady decline for decades, Twelve Step groups continue to flourish, largely without money, property or staff. read more

EVER SEE A KENYAN RUN?
by Casey Beckley

Ever watch a Kenyan run? Most of us have only had this pleasure if we’ve had the misfortune of being committed to watching a back of the pack marathon runner and we see the Kenyans with their East African brethren zip by while we wait and wait. I’ve been lucky enough to see a lot of Kenyans run. In my nine or ten visits to Kenya, I’ve rarely seen the average Kenyan run for recreation or health reasons. By contrast, many Americans run because we feel guilty about last night’s dessert or double-bacon cheeseburger. I’ve seen Kenyans run because they are VERY late for work, VERY late for school, or are playing soccer. read more

WORDS! WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?
by Tyler Lacoma

For all our “walk the walk” encouragement, we Christians depend deeply on words. Trans and con. Faith and works. Predestination and free will. It’s too bad. Out misunderstandings center around single words, Biblical phrases. Ask a writer—they know words are inherently weak, metaphors for the real stuff at best and easily confusing. Our litanies, vows, creeds—they’ve been responsible for most of our schisms and War: Religious Style in Christian history, more like cancer than communication. It raises the question: Do we need words? read more

'PLANET OF THE APES' AND THE REASON WHY MONKEY MOVIES FASCINATE
by Josh Larsen

I was incredulous when I first heard that the Planet of the Apes franchise was getting another installment this summer. Hadn’t we moved past this tired conceit? Didn’t Tim Burton prove that another movie was unnecessary way back in 2001? What was James Franco doing in the lead? But after seeing “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” an artful mix of sci-fi speculation and cinematic technology, it struck me that these sorts of monkey movies will always be with us. Few film genres so wildly reveal how mankind has gotten the dominion thing wrong. read more