Brent Odell

Christian, Husband, Father of 7, Classical Christian Educator, former Software Engineer. I have a passion for family discipleship, and building a home economy.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

@dhh I look forward to checking it out. Do you have a preferred model that you use with Rails?

[Girl patriot 🙏 🇺🇸 🦅 @Girlpatriot1974]

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia explains the U.S. Constitution.
🇺🇸 🦅 ⚖️

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

I disowned attractional Christianity and winsomeness years ago, but by that I mean trying to make a worship service something that appeals to the world (smoke, lights, concert feel), or being afraid to speak truth that offends secular sensibilities.

At the same time, we are still called to speak the truth in love. A lot of what I see does not appear to have even a modicum of love in it.

Also, John 13:35 & Romans 12:9-21.

These are the reasons I am hesitant to share content from each of you. It’s not that I want to black list any of you because of something in your past. It is the current vitriol that I see, and not having to time of day to track down details to make a judgement on who’s right and who’s wrong. As if I even had the power to do that.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

Over the years I have been immensely blessed by both Moscow and Ogden. I’ve listened mostly to Canon+ content from Moscow and older podcasts from Ogden (finding gold in the early seasons of Bright Hearth, and still trying to catch up to today) and my family and I have been greatly blessed by @Brian_Sauve’s music.

While I have nothing against @douglaswils, I’ve always felt that I’ve benefitted more from the ministry he’s built and the men he’s surrounded himself with than from his work directly, but I do greatly appreciate the foundation he has built for the work Ogden (there’s no denying that they were greatly inspired by him), and for Classical Christian Education.

For @Brian_Sauve I’ve found the opposite to be true. I’ve been greatly blessed by Bright Hearth and Brian’s music, and believe God can use it to bring about reformation through the building of a strong Christian paideia in the home, the local church, and Christian schools, and then reproducing that model ad infinitum through personal relationships, conferences, etc…or even through positively showing the glory of it on social media.

At the same time, I’ve long questioned the men that Brian has surrounded himself with. I’ve never met any of these men in person, but their public personas give me pause.

I’m rarely on social media, and coming across this vitriolic quibble makes me regret it yet again, but I recall having issue several years ago with the way @Eric_Conn’s posts always seemed click-baity in nature and appeared to often be an attempt to incite a riot (he has denied this when being called out by @HwsEleutheroi on it). I believe I noticed this before he was an elder at Refuge Church.

I’ve also heard Brian say somewhere that he hoped to convince AD Robles to move to Ogden to become involved at Refuge. I don’t know much of AD, but I had listened to a few episodes of his podcast around the time I heard this, and remember not thinking this was a good idea.

I don’t recall where I came across @rightresponsem, but I did listen to some podcast episodes a few years ago, and found them to be helpful (one about age-integrated churches comes to mind). I was never quite sure what I thought of Joel. He felt a little slick for me, but I agreed with a lot of what he had to say in those episodes. I haven’t followed him recently and still haven’t made a decision on what to think of him, but this year long dust up (that I’ve seen repeatedly in passing and have not cared enough about to spend time to get fully up to speed on) saddens me.

I have mixed feelings on @HwsEleutheroi. I have enjoyed watching a few of his respectful debates with Muslims and with @douglaswils, as well as the Sweater Vest Dialogues, but I cannot stand listening to his podcast where he yells & rants into a microphone for an hour (which is what lead me back to this @JoelWebbon / Ogden dust up).

I think social media is doing us all a disservice, and doing more harm for the Kingdom than good. You all each have (or at least have had) wonderful ministries. After the events of this past year, I struggle with whether to share any of your content with others, because 1) if those I share it with come across this it could lower their trust in my discernment and 2) I currently cannot trust you all not to do or say something even more outlandish in the future.

If the claims against Joel or Ogden are true (I believe they’re something about neo-natzism, or similar) then that’s a problem, but also yelling into a microphone for an hour to say what could be said firmly but calmly in 5 minutes is also a problem; it shows a lack of self-control.

I’m fairly certain that I’ve heard @Bryan_Sauve support localism. Ogden’s love for the inflammatory use of social media seems to completely contradict that.

I have hoped to someday make it to Grace Agenda, NCP Conference, and ReformCon to meet you all face to face. For now, I pray Philippians 1:2-11 and that you all can focus more on your families & local ministries.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

@Brian_Sauve My youngest daughter’s middle name is Goldberry, so make it a good one!

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

Nice! Waiting for my Framework 13 to be shipped.

Question: Do Omakub settings live under dot files, ~/config, or some place that can be source controlled?

I’m curious how hard it would be to keep two machines in sync (e.g. if I change the theme on one, it changes on the other, etc). I’d be fine with a git push/pull.

[Dr. Julie Gurner @drgurner]

Controversial take: Americans should be allowed to fully own their own property.

Once Paid off, it cannot be taken from you.

It should be yours fully, and you no longer owe/pay property taxes.

You are already taxed many other ways (income, etc)
No push for this?

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

@RealDavidReece It’s a (reformed) #SBC church at that.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

@RealDavidReece We’ve sang 2-3 this year, which I’d say is 2-3 more than had been sung there since its founding. It’s a step in the right direction.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

@GabrielHudelson Galatians 3:28

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

I haven't used social media regularly for years, so I'm in the dark about a lot of this.

My family & I have been greatly blessed by content (podcasts, music, video) coming out of both Ogden & Moscow, and I was sad to see in-fighting flare up a few months ago (again, I don't know the details, but it was something about neo-nazism).

I don't follow their social accounts regularly, but I have had concerns in the past about some posts by @Eric_Conn. I can't recall them all, but at least one had to do with adoption. Though he says it wasn't his intent, it felt very click-baity, and purposefully meant to spawn outrage rather than conversation. From an outside perspective, it has felt like some travelling in or following the Ogden/Moscow circle are exerting machismo, when what they ought to be growing in is gravitas. They are not the same.

As others have said below, I don't see any receipts for known Ogden accounts. I agree that anon accounts are a problem, but I would be careful attributing anything they say to these folks. I had an anon account with a Muslim tagline like one of my posts yesterday. I assure you I am not Muslim, and see no reason to ask why he liked my post.

Is it possible that the anon accounts are lauding praise at these men, and then attacking others in order to discredit their ministry?

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

@GabrielHudelson Men, I believe you are doing (or at least have done) real good through the podcast episodes & music I've listened to.

We need couragous and faithful men in the church, but we also need them to speak truth, not sow division.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

While I haven't listened to @rightresponsem in some time, I did enjoy his episode family-integrated churches, and maybe a few others.

I've also trusted his ministry because I've benefitted so much from @brighthearthpod, @The_Kings_Hall, and @Brian_Sauve's music, and I know they are friends and defenders of his.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

@VeganSundayWed You'll find the elves in That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, and @HauntedCosmos_.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

Yes please!

[Bobbie @bo66ie29]

Make our streets look like Saratoga Springs in 1915.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

@SirEvanAmato

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

I came across the idea recently, and have repeated it often, that the transcendentals map to the following disciplines:
* Good - Christian Ethics
* True - Apologetics
* Beautiful - Aesthetics

And that to have a full-orbed picture of God (as much as humanly possible), we must incorporate all 3.

I don't know if this is new insight, but it was new to me.

I also can't recall where I got it from, but I've been assuming it was a book or the Pugcast.

Thanks for your work!

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

1. Jesus died for my sins
2. I have a beautiful wife & helpmeet
3-8. 4 daughters, 2 sons
9-10. Close friends from college who are now our pastor and his wife.
11. Hearth Songs
12. Voyage of St. Brendan
13. Sing Psalms, Let Joy Resound
14. Even Dragons Shall Him Praise
15. Songs Worth Singing
16. Narnia
17. Though we have our problems, I get to live in the best country in the world.
18. Recent layoff is giving me an opportunity to try to come up with a family based business.
19. It's a beautiful day outside.
20. Mountains, when I get to see them
21. Rivers too
22. Coffee Shops
23. Chicken Tikka Masala
24. Chicken Fried Steak
25. Book of Ruth (We started studying it a couple of weeks ago, and just yesterday the beauty of it struck me in a way I've never seen before).

[Abraham Hamilton, III @HamiltonCorner]

Correct.

[Brent Odell @BrentOdell]

A friend and I were just discussing this style of building last night. Everything from the style of your clothes, a house, or large buildings like this communicates something. https://t.co/Unn92F0td1

Let's bring beauty back into architecture.

[Justin Shubow @JustinShubow]

The New York Times gave me some good quotes in an article on the politics of Brutalism under Trump:

The [Brutalist] buildings’ very association with government is sinister to people in Mr. Trump’s orbit, like Justin Shubow, who served on the Commission of Fine Arts during Mr. Trump’s first term. “Brutalism represents faceless bureaucracy,” he said. “It represents a kind of federal power in the worst possible way.”

Mr. Shubow, who helped draft the 2020 executive order targeting Brutalism, told The New York Times that classical architecture “is the architecture of American democracy. It’s what the founders consciously chose for the core buildings of government in the new nation.”

The F.B.I. building — which Mr. Shubow calls “the ministry of fear” — “needs to be torn down and replaced,” he said. “I think there is an incredible opportunity to build a new classical F.B.I. building at that site.” . . .

Mr. Shubow cast [the otherness of Brutalism] in a negative light, saying that the buildings “look extremely foreign” and “like something from the Soviet Union.” . . .

Brutalism’s detractors have presented the style’s unattractiveness as a fact. In 2018, Mr. Trump reportedly said of the F.B.I. building: “It’s one of the Brutalist-type buildings, you know, Brutalist architecture. Honestly, I think it’s one of the ugliest buildings in the city.” Mr. Shubow called Brutalism “aesthetic pollution,” a style celebrated by “architectural elites” but abhorred by “ordinary people.”