{"id":739,"date":"2009-04-20T04:01:06","date_gmt":"2009-04-20T04:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html"},"modified":"2009-04-20T04:01:06","modified_gmt":"2009-04-20T04:01:06","slug":"814","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html","title":{"rendered":"Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I’m participating in the “blog tour” for Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different<\/em><\/a>, by Tullian Tchividjian. First, I’d like to introduce the author.
\nI had not heard of Tullian Tchividjian until March 19, 2009.\u00a0 On that day I noticed a USA Today<\/em> story with an intriguing headline: “Billy Graham’s Grandson to Lead Famed Megachurch<\/a>.” The article introduced the Rev. Tullian Tchividjian, whose mother, Gigi, is a daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham. Tchividijian, the story explained, was recently elected as the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida. This church had been led for five decades by Dr. D. James Kennedy, who was a notable televangelist who had made quite an impact as a member of the Religious Right. As I read the USA Today<\/em> story, I thought to myself, “Man, I need to pray for Tullian. He has a double legacy: grandson of Billy Graham and successor to James Kennedy. Yikes!” And so I did offer a prayer for Tullian, even as I resolved to pray for him regularly.
\nLittle did I realize that one day later I would meet Tullian Tchividjian at the Christian Book Expo in Dallas, and even serve on a panel with him. You might think I would have known in advance who would be my discussion partners for the “What is the Gospel?” panel.\u00a0 But, for some reason, I didn’t gather that information. Anyway, I had the privilege of meeting Tullian on Friday morning, March 20. In this meeting I learned that he pronounces his name TOO-lee-un cha-VIJ-in<\/em>, though his full name is William Graham Tullian Tchividjian. He impressed me as friendly and humble. (I didn’t see any sign of a “Billy Graham’s Grandson” tattoo.) His contribution to the panel was solid and helpful. Tullian is a bright, articulate, theologically-nuanced, enthusiastic communicator. I doubt I would have associated him with Billy Graham if I hadn’t known about their relationship in advance. But, with such knowledge in mind, I could see evidence of Tullian’s genetic connection to the most famous preacher of the last century, and the one who led me to Christ in 1963. (Photos: Tullian Tchividjian and Billy Graham.)
\nA few days after the CBE panel, I received a request from the folks who were organizing a blog tour for Tullian’s newest book, asking me to participate. Having met him and heard him speak, I felt confident that his book would be well worth reading and reviewing, so I signed on for the tour.
\n<\/a>With that background, let me turn to the business at hand. Unfashionable<\/em><\/a>, published by Multnomah, is 171 pages long, plus another 12 pages of a study guide for individual or group use. The addition of this guide makes Unfashionable<\/em> very useful, especially for small groups or adult classes.
\nPerhaps one of the best ways for me to introduce you to this book is by quoting from the preface. Here’s Tullian’s list of the top-ten signs that you may be too fashionable<\/em>:<\/p>\n

10. You can look around at church and notice that everybody is basically the same age as you are and they look and dress pretty much like you do.
\n9. You can\u2019t stand singing a worship song that was \u201cin\u201d five years ago\u2014much less singing a hymn from another century.
\n8. It\u2019s been a long time since you disagreed with anything said by Oprah. [MDR: Ah, nuts!]
\n7. You\u2019ve attended a \u201cleadership\u201d conference where you learned more about organization and props (structural renovation) than proclamation and prayer (spiritual reformation).
\n6. Your goal in spending time with non-Christians is to demonstrate that you\u2019re really no different than they are, and to prove this you curse like a sailor, drink like a fish, and smoke like a chimney.
\n5. You\u2019ve concluded that everything new is better than anything old OR that everything old is better than anything new.
\n4. You think that the way Jesus lived is more important than what Jesus said\u2014that his deeds are more important than his doctrine.
\n3. You believe that the best way to change our culture is to elect a certain kind of politician.
\n2. The church you\u2019ve chosen is defined more by its reaction to \u201cboring, traditional\u201d churches than by its response to a needy world.
\n1. The one verse you most wish wasn\u2019t in the Bible is John 14:6, where Jesus says, \u201cI am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.\u201d That\u2019s way too close-minded!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, how did you rank?
\nIt is telling that the form of this top-ten list is something made “fashionable” by David Letterman. Tullian is not arguing that Christians must become separate from the world and its modes of communication. In fact, he believes that “contextualization” is a necessary component of Christian mission. We need to communicate in culturally-relevant modes if we’re going to be used by God to transform lives and, indeed, cultures. So Unfashionable<\/em> does not make an idol of being out-of-step with everything in our culture. Rather, it challenges us to consider carefully how we adapt to culture and when we break with it.
\nSince this post is getting rather long, I’ll stop my review here, and continue tomorrow where I’ve left off. But, in the meanwhile, let me encourage you to buy Unfashionable<\/em><\/a>. It’s a fine read and well worth your time and money.<\/p>\n

\n

Note: As always when I do a review, if you click on the link you’ll be able to purchase the book from Amazon. Since I get a few cents from Amazon for every book sold, I am donating everything I make from this review to charity. This should obviate concern that my positive review is financially self-serving.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I’m participating in the “blog tour” for Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different, by Tullian Tchividjian. First, I’d like to introduce the author. I had not heard of Tullian Tchividjian until March 19, 2009.\u00a0 On that day I noticed a USA Today story with an intriguing headline: “Billy Graham’s Grandson…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-week-easter"],"yoast_head":"\nUnfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian - Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today I’m participating in the “blog tour” for Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different, by Tullian Tchividjian. First, I’d like to introduce the author. I had not heard of Tullian Tchividjian until March 19, 2009.\u00a0 On that day I noticed a USA Today story with an intriguing headline: “Billy Graham’s Grandson…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-20T04:01:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Tchividjian-Graham-3.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian - Mark D. Roberts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian - Mark D. Roberts","og_description":"Today I’m participating in the “blog tour” for Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different, by Tullian Tchividjian. First, I’d like to introduce the author. I had not heard of Tullian Tchividjian until March 19, 2009.\u00a0 On that day I noticed a USA Today story with an intriguing headline: “Billy Graham’s Grandson…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2009-04-20T04:01:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Tchividjian-Graham-3.jpg"}],"author":"Mark D. Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html","name":"Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian - Mark D. Roberts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Tchividjian-Graham-3.jpg","datePublished":"2009-04-20T04:01:06+00:00","dateModified":"2009-04-20T04:01:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Tchividjian-Graham-3.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Tchividjian-Graham-3.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2009\/04\/814.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}