Bill: We're largely free of that temptation... although in the first year, it was stronger than it is now. That said, we've had situations where someone on staff pushed hard enough that it was probably overboard. That situation was addressed similarly to our other conflicts: By providing some structure/safety in the moment, and by addressing it afterward with those involved.
I think it'd be difficult to run a Theo Pub with a pastor/leader whose goal was to distribute right thinking. It's been pretty fruitful to run it with a goal of learning from one another and listening well.
When Caleb, during the presentation, asked what our greatest triumph and grandest catastrophe have been, my answer to the latter addresses some of your final question. As background, we read Haidt's "The Righteous Mind" at one point, and he defines liberals/conservatives along five moral dimensions. Liberals care significantly about care/harm and fairness/inequality. Conservatives care equally about those two equally with loyalty, authority, and purity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Foundations_Theory works as a primer if this is interesting to you).
Our greatest failure? No one temperamentally conservative has stayed in Theo Pub. Members who are uncomfortable with impure ideas, or ideas critical to our movement or faith or church, feel threatened, and none who fit that description have stayed for longer than eight months. We have a variety of political views represented (liberal, conservative, libertarian, non-voting, etc.), but temperamentally, those of us who regularly attend are all unthreatened by differing views/conclusions.
I imagine it's possible to run a Theo Pub with an emphasis on right views, but that'd produce (very) different results than the group we've become.
Geoff: I would be glad to be of service to you & your pastor, if that's possible. Thanks for the encouragement!
