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Blue Collar Theology Programming Note, and a Higher Bottom Shelf

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Written By Tim Brister

Tim has a missionary heart for his hometown to love those close to him yet far from God. He is husband to Dusti and father to Nolan, Aiden, and Adelyn - fellow pilgrims to our celestial city.

I felt that this was a good time to make a programming note about my series, Blue Collar Theology.  As I continue to develop the ins and outs of BCT, I am going to start adding more features, including:

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* Resources for churches, pastors, and lay people
* Practical suggestions for implementing Blue Collar Theology in your church and life
* Bibliographies on important subject matters for your research purposes
* Excerpts from articles and books related to Blue Collar Theology
* Case studies and church profiles of those pioneering Blue Collar Theological Education
* Highlighting theological programs available for everyday Christians
* Interviews with pastor-theologians
* Topical book lists to assist you in your personal theological development

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Of course, I cannot roll these out all at one, but over an extended period of time I hope to develop these features to provide a warehouse of resources, suggestions, articles, and examples so that we bring theology back to the local church.

Oh, and before I forget, I think I have come up with a caption/slogan for the BCT series.  I have heard this (and probably you have too) a million times (okay not really) when a preacher says, “I like to put the cookies on the bottom shelf.”  Typically, he is saying that he is not like those preachers who are deep, rich, theological, and precise.  While I understand the sentiments to make the truth understandable and applicable to every person in the pew, such sayings have major anti-intellectual overtones which have often become the bragging point of folks in the church (the proof text, of course, is Acts 4:13 – “they were uneducated, common men” who had simply been with Jesus).   I am all about putting the cookies on the bottom shelf.  The $64,000 question is, however, how low is the bottom shelf?”

Therefore, I find it fitting that a Blue Collar Theology should serve the purpose of “raising the bottom shelf.”  It is not to put the cookies on a higher shelf (elitism) but rather to raise the shelf altogether to a more biblically faithful understanding of what it means to love God with all your mind and cultivate a passion for the truth, for as we have discussed earlier, the church indeed is the “pillar and buttress of truth.”   Let us contend against a gospel reduced and truth marginalized.  Less us press on to know the Lord!

Will you help me raise the bottom self in our churches?  Will you help cultivate a Blue Collar Theology in your life, family, and local church?

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