Convertibles

I went to the Ritz Lecture at Winebrenner Theological Seminary (or is it Wineberry) last week to hear Scott McNight's lectures on conversion. It was worth the trip but I have to say some of the usual conference irritations cropped up.

The number one annoyance was the Q & A session. The questioner would start to ask a question and then stop and continue on for 5 minutes about what they thought. With all due respect, I really don't care what they think in that situation. I just wish they would ask a question and let the man answer. It was way too big of a group for the kind of dialogue they were looking for. Go home and blog about it if you have more to say.

As far as conversion, I came away with a couple of thoughts. At one point he talked about why some people move to apostasy. If my summary is correct, one of the reasons for this is that the Christians such a person is in fellowship with are too dogmatic. He also talked about the move from protestant evangelicalism to catholicism. Ironically, it seems that one of the reasons for this move is that the former isn't dogmatic enough.

I also came away thinking that a lot of leaders and fellow pastors I know are bothered by a topic like conversion if it suggests anything other than what they believe. A couple of churches I know present themselves as "safe places to explore Christianity." I think a lot of pastors would like a safe place to do the same.