Rob Bell

Datei:Vvaduva robbell1.jpg

Rob Bell, Everything is Spiritual Tour, Cleveland, Ohio; Photograph: Virgil Vaduva

Robert "Rob" Bell (born August 23 1970) is a best-selling author, Christian speaker, and the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church located in Grandville, Michigan. He is also the featured speaker in the first series of spiritual short films called NOOMA, and has been tagged by some in the press as "the next Billy Graham." Bell and his wife, Kristen, have two boys and live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a city which he affectionately calls "G-Rap".

Biography

Education and calling

Bell is the son of Judge Robert Holmes Bell, who was nominated by Ronald Reagan to the federal judiciary and publicly confirmed by the United States Senate. Bell grew up in a traditional Christian environment.

Rob later decided to attend Wheaton College without knowing what he wanted to study. While at Wheaton, he roomed with Ian Eskelin of All Star United and along with friends Dave Houk, Brian Erickson, Steve Huber, and Chris Fall formed the indie rock band, _ton bundle, which was reminiscent of bands like R.E.M. and Talking Heads. This is when _ton bundle wrote the song "Velvet Elvis," based upon the same Velvet Elvis painting that he used in his first book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Wheaton College was also where Bell met his wife, Kristen, whom he married a few years later. The band _ton bundle started to gain some local fame and was even asked to perform at some large events, however when Rob was struck with a head injury, these plans fell through. He tells this story in an interview with a member of the band Jimmy Eat World's blog.

Later he formed the band Big Fil and put out two CDs from 1995 to 1997; the first was a self-titled disk and the second was titled Via De La Shekel. When asked what style of music they played, Rob would respond with "Northern Gospel!" which later became a name of a song on the second album. Even after Big Fil stopped performing, Rob continued with 2 more projects by the name of Uno Dos Tres Communications volume 1 and 2 which both had a similar sound as Big Fil musically.

Bell received his bachelor's degree in 1992 from Wheaton and worked a job teaching water skiing in the summers at Wheaton College's Honey Rock Camp making only thirty dollars a week. During this time, Bell offered to teach a message to the camp counselors after no preacher could be found. Rob says the Spirit impelled him to accept the responsibility and taught a message about "rest." He believes that God led him to teaching at this moment. Bell was later approached by several people each of them telling him that he needed to pursue teaching as a career.

Bell moved to Pasadena, California to pursue this calling for teaching and received an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary. Bell claims that he never really got good grades in preaching class because he always tried new and innovative ways to communicate his ideas. During his time at Fuller he was a youth intern at Lake Avenue Church where he attended. He did, however, occasionally attend Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock, California which led to he and his wife asking questions in the direction of what a new kind of church could look like.

In the January 2007 issue of the magazine TheChurchReport.com, Bell was named #10 in their list of "The 50 Most Influential Christians in America" as chosen by their readers and online visitors.

Mars Hill Bible Church

Bell and his wife moved from California to Grand Rapids to be close to family and also based on an invitation to study under acclaimed pastor Ed Dobson. He handled many of the preaching duties for the Saturday Night service at Calvary Church. Bell announced to Calvary that he would be branching out on his own to start a new kind of community and he would call it "Mars Hill" after the Greek site where the apostle Paul told a group "For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."

In February 1999, Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church, with the church originally meeting in a school gym in Wyoming, Michigan. Within a year the church was given a shopping mall in Grandville, Michigan and purchased the surrounding land. In July 2000 the 3,500 "grey chair" facility opened its doors. As of 2005, over 10,000 people attend the three "gatherings" on Sundays, and some estimates now clock the traffic at over 11,000 per week. His teachings at Mars Hill inspired the popular "Love Wins" bumper sticker, Mars Hill Bible Church even gives these stickers away after services.

In order to maintain balance in his life, Bell maintains his Fridays as a "sabbath", where he cannot be reached by electronic means, and has all pastoral duties transferred to other Mars Hill pastors.

Other projects

Rob Bell is the featured speaker in the first series of NOOMAs – a series of 21 short films that explore questions that might arise as a person explores the Christian faith. The title of the videos, "NOOMA", is an English variation of the Greek word "pneuma" which means wind or spirit. All the videos feature music written and sung by local independent artists with the exception of The Album Leaf's music being licensed for the Nooma DVD called Lump.

In August 2005, Zondervan Publishing published Bell's first book, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Velvet Elvis is for people who are, in Bell's words, "fascinated with Jesus, but can't do the standard Christian package". His second book, titled Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality, was released in March 2007.

In February and March of 2007 Bell hosted a SEX GOD tour on six university campuses (University of Michigan, UK, UW, CAL, UCLA, Northern) to promote his book. The tour functioned more as a time for engaging questions and conversation. Questions ranged from Old Testament codes to homosexuality to what should we do with the word "evangelical". Each night ended with the showing of NOOMA number 15 entitled "YOU".

His Everything is Spiritual national speaking tour launched on June 30 2006 in Chicago drawing sold-out crowds in cities across North America. The proceeds from ticket sales were used to support WaterAid, an international non-profit organization dedicated to helping people escape the poverty and disease caused by living without safe water and sanitation. A tour of the United Kingdom is planned for the summer of 2007. Everything is Spiritual is available on DVD from, which includes a preview clip.

Bell launched another speaking tour on November 5 2007 in Chicago, the gods aren't angry drawing sold-out crowds in cities across North America. The subject matter of this presentation was a narrative defense of justification through faith and not works (sacrifice). Proceeds from this tour were used to support the Turame Microfinance program supporting the poor in Burundi, a mission supported by Bell's church.

Criticism

In his writings, Bell affirms truth regardless of the source, saying "I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God." However, he acknowledges Scripture as the authoritative source of truth in the Mars Hill Bible Church statement of narrative theology.

Bell says, "This is not just the same old message with new methods. We're rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life. Legal metaphors for faith don't deliver a way of life. We grew up in churches where people knew the nine verses why we don't speak in tongues, but had never experienced the overwhelming presence of God." Bell's comments about Christianity as an "Eastern" religion come from his association with Ray Vander Laan, who compares and contrasts Greek ("Western") thinking with Hebrew ("Eastern") thinking.

According to criticsVorlage:Who, in Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, Rob Bell questioned the virgin birth on one page, while confirming it on the next, and seemed to question the doctrine of sola scriptura on one page, while affirming it on the next. Commenting on the outrage on stage at Mars Hill Bible Church a very candid Bell informed the congregation on how "reporters can use little sections of anything to twist what I say" and how those who haven't read the book have no basis of argument.

Response

In a Chicago Sun Times article entitled The Next Billy Graham?, Bell says of his critics:

"When people say that the authority of Scripture or the centrality of Jesus is in question, actually it's their social, economic and political system that has been built in the name of Jesus that's being threatened," Bell says. "Generally lurking below some of the more venomous, vitriolic criticism is somebody who's created a facade that's not working...But I love everybody and you're next!" he says, giggling. "That's how I respond to criticism."

Bibliography

• Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Zondervan, 2005) ISBN 0-310-26345-X
• Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality (Zondervan, 2007) ISBN 0-310-26346-8
• The Gods Aren't Angry (DVD) (Flannel, 2008 (June)) ISBN 0-310-29074-0
• Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile (Zondervan, 2008 (October)) ISBN 0-310-27502-4
• NOOMA Videos
• Everything is Spiritual (DVD) (Zondervan, 2007) ISBN 0310285569

Articles and Resources

• Premier.tv UK Interview with Rob Bell
• Mars Hill Bible Church
• NOOMA
• beliefnet.com interview with Rob Bell
• Everything is Spiritual
• gods aren't angry tour
• Sex God Tour
• Time Magazine: "The Hipper-Than-Thou Pastor"
• Rob Bell reflects on the Seeds of Compassion Conference- The Off The Map Podcast Episode 8