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Tim Suttle
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Tim Suttle is a pastor, writer, and musician. He is the author of two books: Public Jesus (The House Studio, 2012), and An Evangelical Social Gospel? (Cascade Books, 2011). Tim's work has been featured at The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Sojourners, The Wall Street Journal, and other magazines and journals. Tim is also the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. He has planted three successful churches over the past 12 years and is the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, Kan. Tim's blog, Paperback Theology, is hosted at Patheos.

Click to purchase the DVD Small Groups Edition of Public Jesus.

Blog Entries by Tim Suttle

Will Evangelicalism Last?

(801) Comments | Posted February 25, 2013 | 11:25 AM

Rob Bell has another book coming out, the first since his bestseller "Love Wins" caused an evangelical uproar. Folks who haven't even read the book yet are already critiquing it based on the marketing material alone. Denny Burk recently called Bell a "heterodox theological...

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Election Disaster for Religious Conservatives? I Couldn't Disagree More

(126) Comments | Posted November 12, 2012 | 6:09 PM

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and one of the most powerful leaders within evangelical circles called the results of the presidential election an "evangelical disaster." I could disagree more. This election was a gift.

From NPR:

"Mohler says white evangelicals...

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Meeting the Demands of a New Generation of Christian Leaders

(1) Comments | Posted October 10, 2012 | 1:41 PM

The Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) has been a powerful force for Christian social action over the past decade. CCDA's leadership development, resources and vision have been powerfully focused on helping pastors and community leaders to facilitate the restoration of communities all over the country and around the...

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If You Want To Know God - You Better Find Somebody To Love

(9) Comments | Posted September 24, 2012 | 1:50 PM

As an evangelical Christian, I believe in the Trinity. I believe God exists as a community of ecstatic love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God names not merely a thing but a relation. God is a relational God bound together by love. Before God is anything else, God is love....

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Public Jesus: Missional Politics for the Local Church

(9) Comments | Posted July 7, 2012 | 10:17 AM

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas is fond of saying that he represents the "Tonto Principle" in Christian ethics. He's referring to the early television program in which the Lone Ranger and his sidekick Tonto travelled around the Old West fighting for truth and justice. Hauerwas will typically tell about the time the...

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What Is the Chief Political Concern of the Bible?

(764) Comments | Posted May 23, 2012 | 9:16 AM

Both religion and politics are concerned with how we should organize societies. Yet the tendency for Christians has often been to begin with the politics and work backwards to find religious rationale for our political beliefs. As a result, most people read the Bible not to challenge our deeply held...

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The Truth About the Democratic Party

(59) Comments | Posted March 24, 2012 | 9:33 AM

Author's note: This is the third entry in a three part series on the major party players in the 2012 presidential election. For the whole series, you can also read The Irony of the Tea Party here, and Is the GOP Losing Faith? Now for one...

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Christians For Colbert: Why We Should Unite for This Election

(17) Comments | Posted February 10, 2012 | 3:10 PM

This election year is going to be the most miserable in American history. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision has cleared the way for the invention of the super-PAC and unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns, which means unlimited corporate financing of negative campaign ads. Hold onto your...

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Is the GOP Losing Faith?

(14) Comments | Posted December 26, 2011 | 6:10 PM

*Author's Note: This is the second in a three part series comprising one evangelical Christian's take on the three major players in the upcoming presidential campaign: The Tea Party, Republican Party and Democrat Party. You can read the first installment at: The Irony of the Tea Party. Now...

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How to Shrink Your Church

(124) Comments | Posted November 21, 2011 | 9:00 AM

Pastors and churches spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year attending conferences, buying books, hiring consultants, advertisers and marketers, all to try and accomplish one thing: to increase attendance -- to be a bigger church.

I'm absolutely convinced this is the wrong tack.

Success is a slippery subject when...

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The Irony of the Tea Party

(137) Comments | Posted September 30, 2011 | 4:05 PM

As the country gears up for the 2012 presidential election season it seems obvious it's going to be ugly. When it's all said and done billions will be spent trying to differentiate (i.e. mudsling, smear and annihilate), opposing candidates in order to win the support of the precious few who...

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The Failure of the Megachurch

(37) Comments | Posted September 13, 2011 | 3:19 PM

The mega-church model which was the flavor of the week in church leadership circles for decades is now beginning to crumble. Financial troubles forced Rick Warren to send a desperate plea for money to his Saddleback congregation two years ago. A Kansas City mega-church just lost their 20...

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Andy Osenga's Indie Christian Music

(24) Comments | Posted August 8, 2011 | 5:00 PM

The entire music business is in flux, and contemporary Christian music has not escaped the changes. Digital recording platforms have revolutionized the way music is made -- and who can make it. Digital distribution has change the way music reaches the consumer -- and who will profit from it. Grassroots...

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Cornel West and the Future of Art

(0) Comments | Posted July 7, 2011 | 7:36 PM

Cornel West fired off an interesting tweet this week: "The challenge artists face today is whether to be an underground, unheard genius, or to dilute their art for the marketplace." In less than 140 characters West placed his finger on one of the more important questions of our time: Can...

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Why Are Evangelicals Losing Influence?

(694) Comments | Posted June 29, 2011 | 8:58 PM

The Pew Research Center recently conducted a survey of global evangelical leaders which yielded some interesting results.

For one thing, 92 percent of those surveyed believe taking a yoga class is incompatible with being a good evangelical. Seriously? We're against yoga? Only 3 percent of participating evangelical...

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Carrying Christianity Beyond Left and Right

(114) Comments | Posted June 18, 2011 | 7:56 AM

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's Mormon faith has become an awkward issue for some evangelicals who are uncomfortable with the thought of a Mormon candidate. In response to questions Romney recently stated, "I'm not a spokesman for my church." No doubt the Democrats are hoping to watch...

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An Evangelical Social Gospel?

(58) Comments | Posted May 28, 2011 | 9:29 AM

Evangelical Christians are committed to something called the gospel. It's central to everything we do. The word gospel itself means "good news," and this good news is all about how Jesus came into this dark and broken world to make a way back to God. Over the past few centuries...

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Groundhog Day and Easter

(4) Comments | Posted April 21, 2011 | 11:06 AM

Guys quote movies -- we know this. In my opinion, one of the most quotable is the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray's venerable comedic talents have never been on more conspicuous display. There are so many great lines: "This is one time where television really fails to capture the...

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Why Evangelicals Need Lent

(78) Comments | Posted March 12, 2011 | 3:42 AM

Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell used to tell a story about a mission he flew in his F2H Banshee off the coast of Japan in 1950. He had missed the rendezvous point when his instruments mistakenly picked up a signal leading him away from his aircraft carrier. Lovell felt hopelessly...

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Bonhoeffer as our Christian Guide in the Middle East

(4) Comments | Posted February 22, 2011 | 12:03 PM

If you are like me, you probably spent a fair amount of time over the past three weeks watching the revolution in Egypt unfold on CNN. As I was watching I was also reading the Eric Metaxas biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It was a strange combination, I admit, but it...

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