Hi, I'm AJ Vanderhorst. Born in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the mighty Jayhawks, I currently live near downtown Kansas City. I'm married to the beautiful Lindsay, and have two rambunctious kids, Aidan and Asher. At the moment, my goal is to freelance write & get an urban church plant off the ground. It would also be cool to keep my hoops game alive and learn to write like C.S. Lewis.
This blog is where I think out loud about knowing Jesus, living out my theology, and making risky plans, so it has a personal, sometimes confessional flavor. We want to see a new, Jesus-exalting, culturally-focused work of God started in the urban arts district of KC. Feel free to contact me if something here sparks your interest.
I first encountered Andy Crouch via a blurb he wrote in David Kinnaman’s UnChristian (review). Even in a page and a half, Crouch established himself as a thinker with a unique perspective and strong voice, and grabbed my attention as a top contributing author. Now I’m holding his first full-length book in my hands: Culture Making.
Here’s what esteemed author/pastor/theologian Tim Keller has to say about this volume:
“Culture Making is on of the few books taking the discussion about Christianity and cultre to a new level. It is a rare mix of the theoretical and the practical, its definitions are nuanced but not abstract, and it strikes all kinds of fine balances. I highly recommend it.”
For those of us who have discovered that sharing random slices of life with the world is mildly addicting, Ed Stetzer has some excellent advice. That’s right, Twitterhas become widespread enough to have its own tutorials. But I’m not complaining. Here’s a good call from Stetzer:
1. “Tweet” the angles (Twitter is the service, “tweet” refers to the update/post).
It’s not worth tweeting that you had lunch. But the fact that your boss stole fries off your plate while he thought you weren’t looking is. Avoid the obvious and find the angle of an experience. People want you to share your life, so give them the good stuff.
Totally true. If I wanted to know unadorned facts like 1) you’re eating lunch now, 2) you’re leaving work now, 3) you’re going to bed now, etc., I’d also paint my bathroom a couple times a week and watch the paint dry, just for fun. But with a little forethought, Twitter can be an entertaining networking tool.
What did we discover? The liquor still flows, the music still plays and the cops are occasionally still necessary. And we figured out that this town seems capable of supporting two rocking entertainment districts at once.
There’s also a good article on Troy Campbell, who pastors New Life, a recent downtown church plant.
Good post from J. Dodson on what he calls “Urbanolatry“:
Much has been made of the “City” of late. On the global scale, over half of the world’s population inhabits cities and urban migration is on the rise. Stateside, burgeoning New Urbanism coupled with a minority of urban-focused evangelicals is generating a growing interest in urban life. The new urban mantra is: “live, work, and play in the city…”
Nevertheless, obsessing about the goodness of urban living can blind us to lessons we might learn from rural lifestyles.
I first encountered Andy Crouch via a blurb he wrote in David Kinnaman’s UnChristian (review). Even in a page and a half, Crouch established himself as a thinker with a unique perspective and strong voice, and grabbed my attention as a top contributing author. Now I’m holding his first full-length book in my hands: Culture Making.
