So a while back I posted a message I got on my Mars Hill Refuge facebook page and I responded. I just saw that I got this response:
Shari Elmore

Why would I acknowledge your pain? I knew nothing of it- I was responding to the Cult post. Also, true theology IS love, make no mistake. Just because I didn’t validate you, that doesn’t mean I…[Read more]

So I just finished reading “How to be a Woman” by Caitlin Moran…and toward the end she says the following:

“Personally, I like the fact that we’re going to die. There’s nothing more exhilirating than waking up every morning and going, “WOW! THIS IS IT! THIS IS REALLY IT!” It focuses the mind wonderfully. It makes you love vividly, work…[Read more]

So I was hoping to pick apart this most recent admonishment from the peanut gallery. It really helps me to not internalize what they are saying and to see what is driving them and the statements they make. I know I do this alot. Thanks for playing

I have been attending Mars Hill for several years. For the record, I am a woman, married for 22…[Read more]

Today I texted with my former best church friend. Not about churchy stuff. A little background:

My youngest son has vision problems that require glasses and patching. My friend, Jessica’s daughter Lucy has a very very very severe eye turn. It started back in December or January. Being on medi-cal, she was unable to get an eye appointment with…[Read more]

So I said I was not going to write about this…but I decided I needed to process it…rant…whatever.  The friend that called me the day after I changed my religious status to Agnostic, we’ll call her Betty, is someone I have known since I was 13. We don’t talk except for facebook and that is rarely. Have not seen her in 2+ years. Anyway…I …[Read more]

Late last week, I changed my FB religion to Agnostic. Some of you know I got a phone call from an acquaintance/friend whom I have not spoken to in 2+ years.  I was going to rant about it but in the end decided that it was more about her than it is about me.  So, as if the Universe was hoping to redeem herself, this morning I woke up to this m…[Read more]

“I attended Calvary Albuquerque for years and was left confused and hurt when there was a leadership shakeup that made national news (Google it if you don’t know what I’m talking about). At the time, I turned to a blog like this, called Phoenix Preacher, to soothe my hurt and seek answers. Instead, I found more confusion, backstabbing, gossip,…[Read more]

Purely sèlfish post here

many of you know my son was recently diagnosed with eye issues. I entered him in the children’s eye foundàtion photo/calendar contest. Please vote for him!

http://www.childrenseyefoundation.org/photo-contest/vote-for-a-photo.php

his entry is entitled My Magic Windows. you can voté once per day!

thanks!

So this article was in my Facebook. Fascinating. Would love to discuss here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/opinion/is-that-god-talking.html

Today’s hangout was amazing and David & Ronna inspired me to get honest with myself and stop feeling like I need to build a framework to justify what needs to be said.  So, I present you with my first blog post in 3 months

http://sheshakesthedust.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-accidental-feminist.html

So this is happening:

http://www.facebook.com/stuffchristianculturelikes/posts/10151876463873782

seriously!

driscoll pays a team ôf people to monitor the pages of his detractors.

Whenever I need to remind myself that power is granted… I like to watch this clip from a movie I watched Akins a kid and imagine Driscoll as David Bowie . Lame I know but very amusing!

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=emebPH6ysRU&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DemebPH6ysRU

I don’t usually read Rachel Held Evans anymore, but I read this and really related. Wanted to share!

http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/holy-week-for-doubters

Came across this article on my FB feed… I thought I would share since we have been talking about PTSD and finding worth.

@saraj I thought of you when I read this. It is definitely appropriate for me.

http://www.alternet.org/belief/religious-trauma-syndrome-how-some-organized-religion-leads-mental-health-problems

So I came across this post in my facebook news feed and it has been f-ing with me since I read it:

“I think victims of abuse are drawn to churches not for the hope of being healed, but because it’s an abusive environment they’re used to. AND churches offer them spoon-fed answers that are presented as “rock-solid truths”. And that’s what a …[Read more]

Hey all…a friend just sent me this article…long but worth the read.  This is so mirrors my experience and I agree that these movements can be addictive!

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/04.02.98/calvary-9813.html

What do you think? Doesn’t it sound like the other movements? Vineyard? AOG? Off-brand?

my husband who blogs as UNREFORMED, wrote a post yesterday about the cônsolidation of power at Mars Hill.  It is a concerning to me that so many churches look to MH as an example of how to do church “right”. I fear that this trend is just going to make spiritual abuse more widespread. Thoughts?

Hi everyone…

I am doing this (again) this year: http://oneword365.com/on-choosing-your-one-word/

i thought it would be interesting here since we can be so honest here. Last year my word was SELF-CARE. Not sure I am ready to change it. Anyone want to do this with me? It really helped me make choices last year.

I think this is where David said to repost our stories…not sure…but since there are two new women with such similar stories I thought I would repost it!
I guess this is as good a place as any to start….I have been leaving church my whole life, but the easiest way to explain how I ended up here is this:
Early this year, in response to a co…[Read more]

In case you didn’t get to see this…Could be fun! And profitable!

How to Survive The Holidays With Evangelical Family Members: A SCCL Survival Guide

by Stuff Christian Culture Likes on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 7:49am ·

Last year my friend told me that she and her husband survive the holidays with Christian culture family members …[Read more]