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The Offbeat Evangelist
Blue Like Jazz author Donald Miller doesn't pass out tracts. Instead, he finds common ground with nonbelievers — and helps other Christians do the same.
By Douglas LeBlanc
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Miller says his Christian and non-Christian readers often have lingering stereotypes about one another. He enjoys defanging those stereotypes, like a stand-up comic, by joking openly about them. For instance, he says, Christians may see their non-Christian neighbors as anti-authority, anti-morality, and thriving on chaos, while non-Christians see Christians as simple-minded, consumerist, and reliably pro-military. Let's just lay down those stereotypes out there in the open, he says, so we can move beyond them.
Miller's time of auditing classes at Reed College helped him better connect with the common concerns of his fellow students. "It was very eye-opening to me to learn that they love many of the same things I love—justice, love, beauty."
Today Miller enjoys helping his audiences find a similar moment of discovery. "It's almost like introducing people to each other when you know they're going to get along," he says. "What I love is not the tension, but how easy it is to defuse the tension."
Miller, 36, has found a considerable following among post-Baby Boomer readers, and attends an emergent-style church, Imago Dei in Portland. But he's amused by any suggestion of being a leader in emergent-church circles, with their postmodern bent.
"I'm often considered a leader [in the emergent church], which is comical, because I'm not even sure what it is," he says. "I don't think even people who are in the movement understand what it is. This is just a new reaction to the evangelical community, and it's reacting in 12 different directions."
Growing up without Dad
One thing Miller is much clearer on, and far more passionate about, is making a difference in the lives of boys who grow up, as he did, without a father in their lives. His book To Own a Dragon represents Miller's effort to better understand how his fatherless childhood shaped him into who he is today. Miller writes sweetly about how John MacMurray became a surrogate father to him, teaching some of the basic lessons that ideally occur early in a boy's life. Observing MacMurray's relationship with his children and re-reading the Lord's Prayer, Miller was able to catch a fresh glimpse of God's love. He writes:
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