Nicholas Bitterling > Recent Status Updates

This is hard to read. I want to mark-up every page. It feels like a discontent Protestant Christian who doesn’t understand systematic theology (particularly justification) found mysticism and Eastern Orthodoxy and thinks that he has discovered a lost gospel. The problem is, the lost gospel is all about what we do (apprenticeship) and not at all about what Christ has done and is doing. Self-righteousness repackaged.

I’m already very skeptical. He has a helpful perspective on the importance of actually following Jesus, not just checking a box and saying the sinners prayer. But in the introduction he claims, “There is no problem in human life that apprenticeship to Jesus cannot solve.” I plan to write an article on this, but apprenticeship is a human work and doesn’t solve our problems. Christ’s work does that.

Thrilling. Masterfully informational, engagingly narrative, and concisely nuanced.

Mac’s done a great job of showing me the need for and the benefits of a leadership development culture in the Church. I’m excited to see him lay out his Leadership Pipeline model.

Definitely frustrating to keep reading. It feels like straw men and classic cheap shots on anecdotes masquerading as academic intelligence. I have thus far not been impressed with the arguments and his damning questions have been answered countless times. It feels like a circular conversation with your Smart Alec neighbor who has lots of stories of his bad experiences with his church and seriously extrapolates them.