ETF #1: Aslan's Forum

As I begin this project of Embracing the Funk (ETF), I'm going to start with Aslan's Forum--partly because it's on my mind today, and partly because its contribution to the funk is minimal.

Aslan's Forum is a readers' forum at Oak Hills Baptist Church. The forum, originally facilitated by Wendell Hoffman, was a big reason why my wife and I chose to attend Oak Hills. Moving from the Dallas metroplex to Sioux Falls, I had pretty much given up on the possibility of having a thoughtful, intellectual reading group, or something like Denton Bible Church's Lay Institute. But, when we visited Oak Hills, the sign for Aslan's Forum was stading smack-dab in the middle of the hallway. The group became a real blessing for me.

The forum continues to provide a number of blessings, as I get to enable and participate in an ongoing discussion of books that both interrogate and support the Christian faith. In some ways, Aslan's Forum is what I wish teaching could be--interested and engaged readers gathering to learn from one another. (On the best of days, that's what the classroom can be like.)

Aslan's rarely contributes to the funk. There are, of course, moments when one wishes turnout was greater, but I'm thankful for the core group of regular attenders who allow me to learn from them. There are, also, times when I think I ought to be reading other poets, criticism, etc., in order to reinvigorate my writing life. But the books and the discussions associated with Aslan's Forum provide the sort of nourishment that shapes my thinking about my faith and my world, thereby serving any writing I do, rather than detracting from it. And, the forum comprises my most consistent means of serving and ministering inside the church, which I think is vitally important.

For those who might be interested, the reading list for 2006-2007 is included below. Anyone interested in participating can obtain more details from the web site for Aslan's Forum.

• October 2006: Stephen Prothero's American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a Cultural Icon
  
• November 2006: Kathleen Norris's Dakota: A Spiritual Geography
  
• December 2006: Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz
  
• February 2007: Andrew Beaujon's Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock
  
• March 2007: Marilynne Robinson's Gilead
  
• April 2007: J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
  
• May 2007: C. S. Lewis's The Four Loves