Bits and Tags for July 11 2025
It's the Friday morning Open Mic (a night at a comedy club that allows anyone to get up and perform)
It’s been a while. Here’s the setlist for today’s Open Mic.
A Giggle
Let’s start with a Friday morning chuckle. This is from Mike Vecchione’s new special on Nate Bargatze’s YouTube channel.
An Article
Where art thou, Rob Bell? The writer traces three encounters with Rob Bell—from an electrifying 2018 podcast in Los Angeles to a packed “Holy Shift” show, and finally a half-empty theatre in Fresno—to chart both Bell’s drift from Scripture-soaked teaching to feel-good spirituality and the author’s own return from deconstruction to traditional faith. Each meeting peels back another layer: Bell, once the guide who made Leviticus feel alive, gradually swaps Hebrew context for hobby-talk about surfing and Trader Joe’s, while the author realizes he doesn’t need clever angles on Jesus but a Cross and a church community. Gratitude lingers for Bell’s early spark, yet the story lands in quiet sorrow that a voice once so rooted traded depth for buzz—and a renewed conviction that genuine joy is found back home in historic Christianity1.
“I wanted to experience God, so I sought to leave the very people who had led me to Him. Bell wanted influence, so he traded his true impact for a thinner version of it in the mainstream.”
A Quote
“I think a mature Christian is someone who is very difficult to offend.” Dallas Willard
A Podcast
I haven’t listened to this yet, but I am very much looking forward to Gavin Ortlund from Truth Unites speaking on “How did infant baptism begin? A story of five centuries of church history.”
A Song I Like
Stephen Wilson Jr’s hauntingly beautiful rendition of “Stand By Me.”
This is an AI-generated summary via ChatGPT of this article.