Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church (Santa Cruz, CA) and author of such popular books as Emerging Worship, They Like Jesus But Not The Church, and Sacred Space was recently interviewed on Chris Rosebrough's radio program regarding his past association with what has come to be known as the Emerging Church Movement (ECM).
In Kimball's defense, in the early, formative years of this movement, the apostate agenda of emergent was kept somewhat hidden to a certain extent from some of the key leaders in this movement.
What this meant is that, over time, the ECM began more and more to reveal their true beliefs and underlying theology (a form of Universalism, or "All paths lead to God.") This caused a schism to develop within the movement, and thus some of the early leaders - rightfully so - separated themselves from those with whom they were formerly aligned.
However, there has remained tremendous confusion about who and what is orthodox/not orthodox. Dan Kimball has made efforts to some extent to not be aligned with the outright heretics of the Emergent Church Movement (Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Samir Selmanovic, Tony Jones, etc.), while still retaining some of the outward trappings of the Movement (uber cool atmosphere in the church he pastors, a hip hairstyle, etc.).
Now, it has never been the hipster Christianity trappings of the ECM that bother me. (After all, who doesn't like Starbucks coffee and a good band?) No, the most troubling characteristic of the ECM is their rejection of Reformation Theology and their wholehearted embracing of Roman Catholic monastic mysticism.
But as far as I can tell, Dan Kimball is not a mystic. And to say that he is takes the spotlight off the real issue, which is that for several years he was in lock-step with those who are mystics, and he himself also recommends these mystics in his own books.
More to come on this topic, but until then, the entire interview can be listened to here.
Additional Resources
Dan Kimball and Lectio Divina
Christian Maturity and How It Relates To Discernment
What Is Biblical Discernment?
