BillyCalderwood.com

Synopsis:
My name is Billy and this is my blog. Whatever it was that brought you here, welcome! The focus of the blog is “present and future church, contemporary culture, intercultural dynamics, and the implications of Jesus’ Gospel of the Kingdom in today’s context.”
About Me:
Since 2002 I have served as the lead pastor of a remarkable group of people known as Aqueous. I am currently a student at Fuller Theological Seminary in the School of Intercultural Studies. I enjoy living at the intersection between globalization, theology, culture, ideas, art, music and messy everyday life. I have amazing confidence that Jesus Christ was telling the truth about everything. His announcement “the Kingdom of the Heavens is at hand” (profoundly innaugerated by the reality of the ressurection) is the source and sustanence of my hope, my life, my joy and my focus. I have no greater joy than telling, retelling, experiencing and re-experiencing the story of the Bible culminating in the person of Jesus and promise of the Reign of God. To co-opt a really old phrase, all of my eggs are in the Jesus basket.
The Focus:
The massive scope of the Plan of God cannot be underestimated. Therefore, it is worthwhile to talk about what the implications are. This naturally leads me to think, talk, preach (and blog) about a number of things:
1. Individual Lives Including MineI blog about my personal journey, about spiritual formation and about what it means for one to brings one’s life into harmony with Jesus Christ and the Reign or Kingdom of God. (Jesus talked a lot about this too). It is amazing to consider that my personhood–who I am becoming–is covered in God’s vision for the world.
2. The Church.Contrary to popular belief, Jesus is not done with the community of the Kingdom that he refered to as the ekklesia (a word translated into the english “church”). The Reign of God must have a people that represent it before the world. Since this is what I do for a living (lead a church) I happen to be very opinionated about church in general and the Church’s relationship to the Plan of God and Reign of God. In my humble opinion, there is an enormous amount of confusion about the Church and God’s plan for it in our present time (both inside and outside of it).
3. the Human Sphere and the Created Order.Nothing in the world remains outside of the scope of God’s vision for the created order, this includes the human sphere: Relationships, Sex, Culture, the Environment, Art, Music, Life, Politics, Global and Social Problems and pretty much anything else you can think of have not been overlooked in God’s creative and redemptive vision for the world. This means a blog devoted the notion of the Reign of God will never run out of material.
4. Local Stuff.I do life mostly in the geographical spaces of Goleta, Santa Barbara and Isla Vista California. These spaces, and the happenings in them tend to show up in the blogging.
5. Inaugurated EschatologyThe Kingodom of God is both now and not yet. The culmination of God’s Reign, or “the end” (Greek Bible word: Eschaton) awaits its full consumation at some point in the future. However, Jesus is really clear that moment by moment this future is breaking into the present. “Inaugurated Eschatology” is a phrase that reflects both the “nowness” and the “not-yetness” of the Kingdom. My entire life has been and continues to be an experiment in Inaugurated Eschatology. How much of the future power, promise and fulfillment of the coming Reign can be experienced on this planet in the present? I’m fairly certain that Jesus Christ dares us to engage an adventure of discovering this. Followers of Christ are invited to be agents and ambassadors of the now breaking in Reign of God. This, in my opinion is the ultimate adventure.Finally, I’ll say a few word about my family, The Most Amazing People in the Whole World!I am a husband to Kristin, my partner, my truest love and fellow adventurer on this insane and joyous ride. I am also Dad to three remarkable, beautiful and energetic kids. My cup overflows…