Ex-Adventist Incarnational Ministry
Shasta Burr (now Nelson), the Net 98 darling co-host, has popped up on the radar more than a few times the last few years. Her latest incarnation is the most interesting however. After leaving Anchor Point church (and the denomination) in Seattle with her pastor-husband Greg Nelson, she moved to San Francisco to start a new Christian community, Second Wind. Like make emerging, incarnational ministries, Second Wind emphasizes personal spirituality and community over doctrine and hierarchy. Shasta claims that such a ministry was needed because traditional churches are failing when it comes to representing Christianity. She says:
“I just read this author’s statement in how he says there’s over 998,000 different religions and he said it’s ironic that, almost without fail, almost every single one of them says that they have the truth and are right – so it’s not just that those other people are wrong, but that they’re evil in some way. And I thought about that and I said ‘that is so sad.’ That even with the best of intentions all of these religions are trying to help people ‘have this truth’ and I guess for us it was more about wanting to love people – the relationship was more important that being so arrogant to think that what I believe is what you need to believe.”
Greg Nelson agrees:
“Nobody has a corner on this thing called truth…and we wanted to not have in our vocabulary the idea of inside/outside…you can’t have real community to say ‘you have to be this way or believe this way.’”
It's very true that no one has a complete grasp of truth and that no one should pretend to either. But what is the big deal about 998,000 religions all claiming to be right? Do you honestly believe that it's possible that everyone can be right? And so what if some obscure tribe (or major religion) believes that everyone outside their community will someday burn alive for not accepting the truth...that's expected. In apposition to that idea, Shasta claims that "I guess for us it was just about wanting to love people." Yet Jesus, clearly a rather divisive figure, served as the greatest model of love. He clearly believed that He was right and that everyone else was not only wrong but would one day be punished for being wrong.
True community has boundaries. You belong to the NRA if you believe what the NRA believes. You belong to the condo association if you own one of the condos. Show me a community without boundaries! You're wrong, Greg, when you say "you can't have real community to say 'you have to be this way or believe this way.'" That's what community is! I don't think anyone has a functional family that operates like Shasta and Greg seek for their church. Families condemn wrong behavior and yet still serve to love unconditionally. That's the balance Jesus had and I think that it's the model for our community.
I totally applaud the work of these two pastors in breaking down prejudices and for rightly criticizing traditional Christianity on so many points. I think that this approach encourages authenticity and honesty and that it'll be a template for many of us for the rest of our ministry. I can't emphasize that enough! Traditional Christianity has failed in so many ways and I acknowledge that. It pains me deeply. But in our resourcefulness in finding a reply, let's make sure that what we do really is better than what we had - and not just a knee-jerk reaction that goes to the opposite.
It’s not Greg & Shasta’s longings to establish this non-traditional community of believers that makes them reject the traditional church establishments. It was their selfishness that caused the SDA church to appropriately remove them from their pastoral positions. They are not martyrs, they are not victims. They chose a path that would be considered unwise & censurable in any community. The SDA church is a forgiving group of believers. But that doesn’t mean allowing these two to continue as church leaders.
I’m not sure why Shasta is considered an “ex-Adventist” just because she isn’t an official pastor for the Adventist church anymore. This whole post is a jumble of sources and rather difficult to follow. I think you’re taking quotes from a video about Second Wind for a San Francisco TV channel piece on spiritual tolerance and making them sound like they came from the website–very sloppy journalism. If you (or anyone reading this) wants a better sense of Greg and Shasta in their own words, read this in-depth interview: http://reinventingsdawheel.blogspot.com/2007/05/rap-session-greg-and-shasta-nelson.html
What you are teaching are true
Iam longimng to be with you