BLACKSBURG -- "They must not make preachers the way they used to," a fellow airline passenger told Shane Claiborne recently.

It's a sentiment the 33-year-old Christian activist and author must be used to.

After all, few ministers wear dreadlocks, do-rags and goatees and liken the coming of the Kingdom of God to a truck full of flaming hay bales his grandfather once drove past his neighbor's fields, setting some of them on fire.

And even fewer would explain the concept of discipleship as akin to "being the ass that rode Jesus into Jerusalem."

But that's Claiborne, a native of east Tennessee farm country and radical evangelical author of "The Irresistible Revolution."

And he's on a mission to transform Christianity.

He brought that message Monday night to hundreds of Quakers assembled at Virginia Tech for the annual weeklong Friends General Conference. This is the third time in the past decade that Virginia Tech has hosted the conference, said Steve Hulburt, clerk of the Blacksburg Friends meeting.

The conference runs through July 4, with more speakers including Nikki Giovanni scheduled. Evening sessions and other parts of the conference are open to the public. Organizers estimate that about 1,300 members of the Religious Society of Friends will attend the gathering, which includes workshops on spirituality and activism.

One of the three great Christian "peace churches," the Friends were founded in 17th-century England by religious reformer George Fox. Friends are characterized by silent worship in simple surroundings, with no churches or priests necessary.

Today, Quakers encompass a variety of religious beliefs and practices, both Christian-centered and not.

Several small groups, called "meetings," exist across Virginia, including in Blacksburg, Floyd County, Roanoke, Lexington, Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, Hulburt said.

The Blacksburg meeting recently broke ground on its first meeting house. When completed, the $600,000 facility will bring to three the number of Friends meeting houses in Southwest Virginia.

While not a Quaker himself, Claiborne told the group that he draws much inspiration from their faith practices and traditions.

Lest anyone write the unorthodox minister off as a flake, Claiborne's resume might change that perception.

He graduated from Eastern University and attended Princeton Theological Seminary, but took a leave of absence to help start the Alternative Seminary in Philadelphia. Claiborne worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, and in 2003, he traveled with the Iraq Peace Team, according to the Friends General Conference Web site.

Claiborne told the group he is disturbed that a recent survey of perceptions of Christians by non-Christians found the faith most characterized as anti-gay, judgmental and hypocritical.

"We've got a little bit of an identity crisis," he told the group. "We have so much to say with our mouths and so little to do with our lives."

Christians "need a rummage sale," Claiborne said. "We don't need to throw away the family photo album. But we need to get rid of some of the infomercial stuff."

Claiborne advocates working directly with the poor and needy and following Jesus' actions. Too often, he said, Christians focus on belief instead of love in action. He said he hopes to see in the next generation a Christian faith transformed.

And, Claiborne said, he hopes non-Christians will then see a faith characterized by "Grace, love, justice and peace. May it be so."