Guiding words

I've been thinking deeply over the past few days about what words, verses, and thoughts should guide me through the next year, and indeed the next decade. I've decided to go with two words:

FOCUS

I struggle with focus. Often my mind and heart have divided ambitions and loyalties. These aren't all bad, by any means. In fact, many of the things that vie for my attention are good and godly. However, I have recently begun to recognize how paralyzing my lack of focus can be. Multitasking is great in theory, but I'm beginning to see how many of the greatest people I know are people of focus. They know how to give themselves wholeheartedly to a task and see it through to completion. More importantly, the most focused people I know and admire are people with an amazing God-ward attention. They know how to focus their energies toward God in all of life. I need focus.

RHYTHM

The Gospels present compelling pictures of Jesus, and I'm struck at their presentation of Jesus as a man of rhythm. He has a God-ordained rhythm to his words, his actions, his life. In addition, many men of God from whom I've drawn inspiration over the last decade are also men of rhythm. Their lives are guided by deep, godly principles. They truly are not conformed to this world, but have been transformed by the renewing of their minds. I want to find God's rhythm for my life. I need rhythm.

These aren't New Year's Resolutions. These are deliberate and prayerful ambitions for the rest of my life.

The difference between tradition and doctrine

Bishop Patterson makes it plain:

The routine that so many Christians are headed for

In the "Wish I Would Have Preached It First" category, Francis Chan contemplates life on the balance beam, and the scoring Christians might receive from the judge. An incredibly challenging message delivered at the 2006 Challenge Conference! Anyone know where I can get the entire message?

Pixar does it again - and does something else again, too

My friend and former colleague John Carney posted a short review of "Up" which he saw this week. I haven't seen it yet, but it reminded me that I hadn't posted the link to this insightful post - Pixar's Gender Problem - which calls Pixar out for failing in it's first 12 films to have a significant female lead character. The whole post is worth reading, as are many of the comments.

Demanding to be lied to

As a former journalist for the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, the decline of print journalism intrigues me, particularly the unwillingness of some of the executives at the biggest papers to adapt and accept changes brought on by the Internet. Clay Shirky posts some excellent insights along these lines, including one post called "Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable."

Shirky says:

When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to. There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie.

I'm struck by how the above quote could also apply, with just a few swapped words, to one of the debates going on within the American Church today.

On greatness

Two standout quotes from the recent rematch between Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell at espn.com:

~You can become great without the help of someone else, but you can't stay great without someone pushing you. (Bill Simmons)

~I wonder if the kind of passion necessary for greatness inevitably limits someone's time at the top. (Malcolm Gladwell)

Saved from Hannah Montana

Josh Jackson, editor of Paste, miraculously found the cure which saved his daughters from Disney. A modern day miracle, for sure!

Revealing episode

Nicholas White spent 41 hours trapped in an elevator. The New Yorker account of the episode, written by Nick Paumgarten, surely tells readers more than they've ever known about how elevators work. But the article's most intriguing element is the description of the downward spiral which White's life took, beginning with the first few hours trapped.

Truth: Your problem is not your problem. Your reaction to your problem is your problem.

UPDATE: The New Yorker also made available the security tape footage of White's experience.

Monopoly no more?

A Wired article a few months back profiled this German board game which has aspirations of overtaking Monopoly as the world's most popular. Sounds crazy, but then again, surely Monopoly can't last forever!

ESV opportunity

David Porter, at Boomer in the Pew, is celebrating his blog's first birthday in style - by giving away an ESV Study Bible, bound in calfskin leather. Congrats to David on his blog. He did not anticipate the number of fellow bloggers who would take him up on his offer.

Can't get no satisfaction

Results of a Pew Research Center survey released recently showed that nearly half of Americans are not satisfied with where they live. Among the findings:

"City residents disproportionately are more likely than people living in other types of communities to say they would prefer to live in a place other than a city," Morin says. "Fewer than half of all city residents say there is no better place to live than in a city."

Good grief! Many Americans are not satisfied with their possessions, and spend most of their energy trying to acquire more. And now, to think that many Americans want to live somewhere other than where they live. Something is wrong with this picture!

And down the hallways of time, I hear the Apostle Paul slowly proclaiming, "I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content."

Life, the commercial

Big thanks to Between Two Worlds for passing along the following commercial, which is airing in select markets of BET:



Regardless of your political views, the spot is at the very least provocative.

Short squeeze

How Porsche hacked the financial system and made a killing.

(ht: kottke)

Reading in the new year

My personal reading goal for 2009 is to read at least a book a week, as well as to read through Scripture twice (in different translations). Here are the first books I plan to tackle:

1. Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)
2. Called Out of Darkness (Anne Rice)
3. I Promise (Gary Smalley) - I'm reading through this one as marriage enrichment with Crystal
4. Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Rob Bell)
5. Inkheart (Cornelia Funke) - I haven't purchased this one yet, but would like to get it soon to read with Caedmon, before the movie is released
6. Point Man (Steve Farrar)
7. Culture Making (Andy Crouch) - I read the first two chapters of this last year, and recognize my need to read through it-and learn from it-completely this year
8. Everything Bad Is Good for You (Steven Johnson)
9. Tell It Slant (Eugene Peterson)
10. Intuitive Leadership (Tim Keel)
11. The Importance of Being Foolish (Brennan Manning)

In with the new

I really like this post at Overcoming Bias. I don't know if it's possible right now in my life, especially with two small children, but I'm keeping it in mind. Here's a sample:

Sometime in the next week - January 1st if you have that available, or maybe January 3rd or 4th if the weekend is more convenient - I suggest you hold a New Day, where you don't do anything old.

Don't read any book you've read before. Don't read any author you've read before. Don't visit any website you've visited before. Don't play any game you've played before. Don't listen to familiar music that you already know you'll like. If you go on a walk, walk along a new path even if you have to drive to a different part of the city for your walk. Don't go to any restaurant you've been to before, order a dish that you haven't had before. Talk to new people (even if you have to find them in an IRC channel) about something you don't spend much time discussing.

And most of all, if you become aware of yourself musing on any thought you've thunk before, then muse on something else.

Out with the old

1) What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Led a powerful and important small group.
Planted a big garden (big for us, anyway).
Ate alligator.

2) Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
If I made any for 2008, I forgot them. Better that way, I guess.

3) Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sister had a little boy (on her fourth try)!

4) Did anyone close to you die?
No, thankfully.

5) What countries did you visit?
Stayed in the good ol’ USA in 2008, but headed to Cozumel in three weeks!

6) What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Spiritual perception for the present and the future.

7) What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Of course, November 4th was an historic day for the nation. Also, December 25 was our first Christmas at our own house with our children.

8) What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I passed the certification exam for Loan Review, which was the culmination of more than 2 years of training. Also, I preached on several passages and subjects which I hadn’t previously.

9) Did you suffer illness or injury?
No, thankfully.

10) What was the best thing you bought?
Nikon D40 – I’ve never had an expensive camera before. Now if I could just come up with the extra cash for a 200mm lens.

11) Whose behavior merited celebration?
My son went without any discipline action during the whole first two quarters of kindergarten! My daughter learned to walk before she turned 1, and she thinks she’s ready for kindergarten! My wife stuck by me faithfully through the confusion and frustration of what to do next in our ministry.

12) Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I continue to disappoint myself in many ways.

13) Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, bills, and giving.

14) What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Revival back in March. I got excited about revival in October, too, but then had to cancel it. My wife and I got excited about our upcoming cruise (five days with no kids – wow!).

15) What song will always remind you of 2008?
Mark O. from YS mentioned Viva la Vida, which I would have to agree with. Also, one of the best songs on Christian radio was “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath; and “Stay” by Sugarland was an incredibly moving song, once I realized what it was really about. Is there a better, more passionate singer out there than Jennifer Nettles?

16) Compared to this time last year, are you:
Wiser? Here’s hoping so.
Healthier? Probably not, but that’s fixing to change.
Richer? Slightly. Still more debt than I desire, though.

17) What do you wish you’d done more of?
Praying.

18) What do you wish you’d done less of?
Moping.

19) How did you spend Christmas?
As I mentioned, with my wife and kids at our own house, for the first time ever!

20) Did you fall in love in 2008?
More in love with my wife and family.

21) What was your favorite blog post that you wrote?
I wasn’t big into writing long blog posts – mostly small comments with links. I greatly enjoyed seeing (and posting) for the first time the YouTube video with Roger Miller and Johnny Cash.

22) What were your favorite TV programs?
Lost was in great form after the strike. Also, House continued to amaze, although the supporting cast underperformed.

23) Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Down with hate!

24) What was the best book you read?
Hard to choose – it was a bad year for reading straight through books. I did a lot of jumping around. However, I read more fiction than ever, including The Road (actually audio) and The Millionaires, as well as The Shack and a little bit of Flannery O’Connor.

25) What was your greatest musical discovery?
Became a bigger fan of Marc Broussard. Shawn McDonald put out a great album. Best deals: A Mozart CD for a buck at a pawn shop, a Dierks Bentley greatest hits CD (what a voice!), and, on December 30, Amazon offered 99 Beethoven tunes for $1.99.

26) What did you want and get?
A garden, and a promotion.

27) What did you want and not get?
Prolonged revival.

28) What was your favorite film of this year?
Can’t put one ahead of others, but these were the best: The Visitor, The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Juno, and Definitely, Maybe.

29) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 33, and I worked on my birthday, and had dinner with my family. My wife surprised me with an iPod touch!

30) Which celebrity/public figure did you like the most?
Toss up between Sarah Palin and Tina Fey.

31) How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Jeans and a sport coat won out over dressy casual!

32) What kept you sane?
My family.

33) Who did you miss?
Roemer and Penrod.

34) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
Change happens, but I can also make change happen. And sometimes it won’t happen without me making it happen.

35) What did you gain this year?
An invaluable relationship with the O’Rileys.

36) What did you lose this year?
A little more idealism concerning ministry – if that was possible.

37) Who was the best new person you met?
Not sure about that one.

38) Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Well, I'm just a simple man with a simple plan, trying to find my way home
And this dusty, dirty way, with nothing left to say, I stagger and I roam
And I'm tired, and I'm worn and my clothes are kinda torn
From this long, hard road
My arms and legs are weak, I continue to seek, and leave behind this load

I need clarity and truth to be, and peace to make me whole
I want freedom to come, and hate to be done,
And love to guide my soul
I want love, yeah, I want love
~from Clarity by Shawn McDonald

You do things that you normally wouldn't

An amazing story, told by Chris Ware on This American Life, about play video cameras and the effects on kids:

Beethoven for the New Year

Amazon's offering an incredible deal today - The 99 Most Essential Beethoven Masterpieces for $1.99. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you have never had the opportunity to pick up this much music for so few pennies. Amazon continues to steal my heart from iTunes!

UPDATE: 1.49 GB, 15.8 hours of music, and (for me) more than 90 minutes to download!

Faith offers hope

Rick Reilly nails the story of the season (Christmas and football), and perhaps the story of the year.

(ht: Brian McLaren)

More Seth

In a Christmas Day post, Seth asks:

So, why exactly are you planning on the future being just like it is now, but with better uniforms?

Seth

My wife and I have been privileged to attend 4 of the past 5 Catalyst conferences in Duluth, GA. This past October, one of the main stage speakers was Seth Godin, who gave a fabulous presentation based on the concepts he explored in his latest book Tribes. (He then proceeded to give everyone in the audience a free copy of the book!)


Seth is always worth listening to. Here's a video provided by TED (by the way, one of the most helpful Internet destinations I've found).



(ht: BNET)

Brian Schulenburg at Pass the Salt posted way back in 2007 his Top 10 Issues the Church Will Face in the Next 10 Years. Click on the link to see his elaborations, but here's the list in a nutshell:

1. Soteriology
2. Open Theism
3. Homosexuality
4. Ecclesiology
5. Scripture
6. Social Issues
7. Red Letter Christians
8. Infighting
9. Consumerism
10. Culture

Obviously, #3 seems to be the biggest one, judging by media stories these days. However, I've been convinced for some time now that perhaps the greatest threat which the Church has been/is/will be battling is #9. And not just Jesus Junk, as Schulenburg writes, but the consumerist mindset which seems to rule the thinking of most USAmericans.

(ht: Todd Rhoades at MMI)

Storytelling

Worth a look: Aaron Shepard's Storytelling Page

Welcome to the freak show

Carl Trueman has a straightforward post concerning the (trumped up) controversy about Rick Warren being chosen to deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration, and I think he gets it right. Here's an excerpt:

You can have the hippest soul patch in town, and quote Coldplay lyrics till the cows come home; but oppose homosexuality and the only television program interested in having you appear will soon be The Jerry Springer Show when the audience has become bored of baiting the Klan crazies. Indeed, evangelicals will be the new freaks.

Statistics may lie...but these are amazing nonetheless

Found this recently (pardon me, but I don't remember on which RSS feed), and, after watching it, I couldn't not post it. Some of the numbers were well-known to me, but some of them were astonishing.

Missing out

In my denomination, there seems to be a prevailing mindset that in order to be extraordinary, you must aspire to be in professional ministry. A few strides have been made in recent years, but the majority opinion still seems to be that God's kingdom is built primarily by those in pulpit ministry. With that in mind, as I read this post by Seth Godin, I substituted "professional ministers" for "investment bankers and lawyers."

Seth says:

There must be hundreds of thousands of movers and shakers out there, people of all ages who are smart and get things done. And more and more, they're being motivated by the quest, or the outcome, or the people they work with, not just the cash payout. It's exciting beyond words.

Exciting indeed.

The odds are against US

Ran across this disturbing article in Asia Times Online. An excerpt:

Americans really, really don’t have a clue what is coming down the pike. The present shift in intellectual capital in favor of the East has no precedent in world history.

And this:

American musical education remains the best in the world, the legacy of the European refugees who staffed the great conservatories, and the best Asian musicians come to America to study. Thirty to 40% of students at the top schools are Asian, and another 20 to 30% are Eastern European (or Israeli). There are few Americans or Western Europeans among the best instrumentalists. According to the head of one conservatory, Americans simply don't have the discipline to practice eight hours a day.

One more:

Except in a vague way, one cannot explain the uniqueness of Western classical music to non-musicians, and America is governed not by musicians, but by sports fans.

Give people stories

Seth Godin, from his new book Tribes:

People don't believe what you tell them.
They rarely believe what you show them.
They often believe what their friends tell them.
They always believe what they tell themselves.
What leaders do: they give people stories they can tell themselves. Stories about the future and about change.

Hoops

Fall in Greene County, Tennessee. Simply stunning!

Best haiku ever?

If not, it has to be close. (Haiku by John Maeda.)

(ht: 20x200)

A lot can happen in 100 days

This chart, which has been making its rounds throughout the blogosphere, shows the most notable actions of presidents since FDR during their first 100 days.

A story from the back pages of history

Wil Haygood had a great piece in the Washington Post November 7th about Eugene Allen, a black butler who served in the White House during eight presidential administrations, and lived to cast his vote for a black man who would be elected President. The story is well worth the read, and it has a bittersweet ending.

3 best things about the 2008 election

3. Excitement like this:



2. Tina Fey

1. It's over!

November's faux hope

Christopher Cocca explains the reasoning behind his belief that he's better off for watching the MLB playoffs rather than the presidential debates. Maybe he's got a good point!

In case you missed it...

Blogging this month has been light for several reasons. But here are a few things from the back-up file:

~Why We Need Movie Reviewers
~The Scourge of Padded Non-fiction
~Ben Stiller: Director
~The Internet Is Ruining America's Movies and Music
~The World's Disappointing Stimulants
~10 Free Resources Every Youth Marketer Should Be Using
~Does Globalization Trump Culture? The Future of Music...
~And Now for Something Completely Different
~Worst Country Song Titles
~The Pirates Can't Be Stopped
~We Watch TBN So You Won't Have To
~The Girl in the Window

The fourth verse

A little over a month after the tragic death of his 5-year-old daughter Maria, Steven Curtis Chapman resumed his tour schedule. One of the ways in which he grieved was by writing a fourth verse for his song "Yours." The song just began getting airplay this week, and is scheduled for digital release next week. I came across this raw footage from a concert in Wheaton, IL, though, and thought it was worth posting. The power of the words is obvious.

How CCM is supposed to be

I'm not one to jump on the Contemporary Christian Music bandwagon anymore - many of the newer songs released seem like copies of one another. However, I did notice that today Bebo Norman released a song called "Britney." Here are the beginning lyrics.

Britney I'm sorry for the lies we told
We took you into our arms and then left you cold
Britney I'm sorry for this cruel cruel world
We sell the beauty but destroy the girl
Britney I'm sorry for your broken heart
We stood aside and watched you fall apart
I'm sorry we told you fame would fill you up
And money moves the man so drink the cup

The song is a moving Christian counter-response to the way in which culture has responded to the failures of a so-called pop princess. How refreshing to hear an artist presenting biblical truths and exposing the bankruptcy of Western culture! (Full lyrics here.)

Is it that good?

Craig Detweiler, author of Reel Christianity and producer of Purple State of Mind, has posed the possibility that The Dark Knight could be the movie of the decade.

Funniest Video of the Month award

This video wins the award for the funniest thing I've seen all month. Joe Cocker, with subtitles for the clear-headed:



(ht: Ben Witherington)

Ebert reflects

Roger Ebert reflected this week on his time with Gene Siskel doing installments of "At the Movies." Here's one of his stories:

The day we fully realized it in our guts, I think, was the first time we were invited to appear with Johnny Carson. We were scared out of our minds. We'd been briefed on likely questions by one of the show's writers, but moments before airtime he popped his head into the dressing room and said, "Johnny may ask you for some of your favorite movies this year."
Gene and I stared at each other in horror. "What was one of your favorite movies this year?" he asked me. "Gone With the Wind," I said. The Doc Severinsen orchestra had started playing the famous "Tonight Show" theme. Neither one of us could think of a single movie. Gene called our office in Chicago. "Tell me some movies we liked this year," he said. This is a true story.

It's doubtful that anyone will ever become the go to movie reviewer that Ebert has been for the past three decades.

Billy the kid, er, young man

It's not the best acting, necessarily, or the highest budgeted film, by any means, but the subject matter is enough to get my attention - Billy Graham, the evangelist of the 20th century. In theaters this October.

The Girl Effect

Dan Heath at Made to Stick deconstructs The Girl Effect, or more particularly, the video describing the concept:



(ht: JollyBlogger)

Earth, hands, mouth

The Marginal Revolution blog recently pointed readers to a story about the most important restaurant in America. Much of the charm of Blue Hill at Stone Barns:

Your expectations are further confounded by the menu. Don't look for conventional groupings of starters, main courses, and dessert. They're nowhere to be found on the Blue Hill at Stone Barns menu. Instead you are confronted by this:

List of ingredients on the menu.

On the left side is just a list of all the ingredients Barber and his cohorts have at their disposal in the kitchen that day. The right side has a list of prices that depend on how many courses you have. Your server will ask you if there are any ingredients you don't want the kitchen to use in your meal, and after that you are in the kitchen's hands. Eating this way adds elements of surprise and a even a little drama to your restaurant experience.

I was instantly envious of New Yorkers who have already gotten to take part, even though my deep southern cooking roots cause me to read the dish descriptions and scratch my head.

Also, I love the quote on the restaurant's website:

Find the shortest, simplest way between the earth, the hands and the mouth.

~Lanza Del Vasto~

Crashing into truth

Yesterday at God's Politics, Phyllis Tickle delivered "A Crash Course in Jesus Studies." Here's an excerpt:

[I]t should be no surprise that the Jesus who has emerged from all of this professional scholarship and lay furor is as multiform and various as the scholars and concerned laity who have engaged the quest. The end result, in fact, of our dozen or so decades of scratching through history is such a multiplicity of Jesuses that one has to say, "Whoa! Let's just hold up here a minute and think this thing through a bit more clearly."
Story, perhaps, is better than intellectual argument in this kind of process.

And she tells a story, not necessarily one that's new, but a story nevertheless about perspectives which begins like this:

Let us suppose then. Let us suppose that there is a huge, deadly wreck on busy Main Street, USA, in the midst of midday traffic. There are, technically speaking, several hundred witnesses, albeit from very different perspectives.

The story is good, and yet I believe it is misleading. The story is one of many postmodern styled stories which seems to exalt individual understanding and experience above all other things. For sure, something happened, but exactly what happened will forever be subject to interpretation. I think Tickle's story, and her ultimate point, leaves no room for the firm assertion of multiple passages of Scripture that God's Spirit is the means by which the truth about Jesus is finally arrived at.
Don't get me wrong, I like Tickle's story, and I especially like her conclusion:

[E]very single one of us, if we live another decade or so, is going to have to decide what he or she thinks not only about the crash, 2,000 years ago, of Messiah into space/time but also about how we understand and engage the records of that event that have come to us over the centuries. Pray God we do it well.

I for one believe, and am extremely grateful, that God didn't leave it entirely up to us to figure it out. The truth is out there, and God's Spirit is our chauffeur on the road to that truth.

Kings of the road

Talk about two guys having some fun together! From August 30, 1969, this is just great:



Roger Miller and Johnny Cash

Ideological warfare

James K. Glassman explains How To Win the War of Ideas.

Agree?

Trading noise - for free!

Musician Derek Webb, along with a few friends, has decided that there are benefits to giving music away. Check out his new site, NoiseTrade, and download some tunes. You can pay if you want, or you can submit friends' e-mail addresses so they, too, can share the wealth.

Great site with great music - well worth checking out.

(ht: Collide)

If you want to win their hearts...

Andrew Klavan writes in City Journal about visiting an inner city elementary classroom, and fascinating the kids, not just with his storytelling ability, but because of his unknowing example of being, as the teacher put it, "a man - obviously tough - who's not a gangster." Klavan writes:

The teacher told me that she once had to explain to the class why her last name was the same as her father’s. She dusted off the whole ancient ritual of legitimacy for them—marriages, maiden names, and so on. When she was done, there was a short silence. Then one child piped up softly: “Yeah . . . I’ve heard of that.”

I’ve heard of that. It would break a heart of stone.

After delving more deeply into the heartbreak of the kids' situations, Klavan, a conservative, challenges:

Conservatives respond to this mostly with finger-wagging. But creativity has to
be answered with creativity. We need stories, histories, movies of our own. That
requires a structure of support—publishing houses, movie studios, review space,
awards, almost all of which we’ve ceded to the Left.

And he ends his story with these great words:

If you want to win their hearts, you have to tell them stories. I have reason to believe they’ll listen.

Talking about church growth

Billy vs Martin

Jim Henderson has bought into Rob Bell's assertion that American Christianity is shifting away from Billy Graham toward Martin Luther King, Jr. Henderson states in this post that Billy Grahams 1953 book, Peace with God, "appealed to the masses of Americans worshiping at the altar of individualism."

Interesting that for Henderson, justification and peace with God are individualistic (read: selfish) desires. And do you really think MLK would have done what he did without a firm grounding in the knowledge that he had obtained peace with God? The apostle Paul implored people with these words: "Be reconciled to God!" Was Paul selfish and individualistic to preach such a gospel? C'mon.

Once again, I think, leaders like Jim Henderson are straying from foundational Christianity into territory which has much less biblical support.

WARNING!

Beware of Bible experts.

Stuff

You need to watch this movie. Several times. Now.

He is Lord?

Read this recently:

It is thought provoking to note that while we blithely sing “He is Lord”. The notion of Jesus as Lord (rather than Jesus is Messiah) was initially a controversial one, borrowed from Pagan religious language.

Who says contextualization is improper for Christians?

Pray that statistics do indeed lie

Can you believe this:

By 2050 there will be just 3,600 churchgoing Methodists left in Britain, Christian Research predicts. Anglicans will be down to 87,800, Catholics to 101,700, Presbyterians to 4,400, Baptists to 123,000 and independents to 168,000.

Actually, those statistics are for England. But can the U.S. be far behind?

Dream job?

There aren't too many jobs which grab my attention, but I have to admit a little envy for the guys who do this. (Scroll down the page for more pics.)

Meeting of the minds

Stephen Colbert interviewed N.T. Wright. I only wish the segment had been twice as long!

Insightful words

Lisa Samson has penned a penetrating and powerful poem called "When a Eucharist of Humility Is Rejected."

Next stop...that big ball of fire

When I first read this fascinating NASA piece, I thought it was wishful thinking. Then I decided that I'd rather not be counted with disbelievers, since many thought (think?) travelling to the moon was impossible.

(ht: drudge)

In Memory of Maria

I've said several prayers over the past week for the family of Steven Curtis Chapman. And I think Eugene Cho puts the sentiments of many into important words: In Memory of Maria - and Millions More

Coolest video ever?

A blogger at Collide says this is the coolest video he's ever seen. After viewing it, I can't think of one that even comes close. Absolutely amazing!


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Gotta love springtime

Stand up and cheer

Every once in a great while, a commercial comes along that makes you smile, stand up, and cheer. After a long void, here is that commercial:




(ht: Beside the Queue via Opus)

One sermon wonder

If you're interested in some breakdowns of top-selling books and authors in 2007, this post is a great read. I especially liked the comment on Joel Osteen's book:

Joel Osteen must live a charmed life. His Become a Better You sold 1,181,173 copies, which is amazing when you consider the guy only has one sermon.

Line of the day 04/19/08

"I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid." (G.K. Chesterton)

(ht: a blog I don't remember)

Athenians we shall be!

Were Neil Postman to be invited to speak at a graduation ceremony, he would briefly summarize the worldviews of the Athenians and the Visigoths, and he would challenge graduates to aspire to become Athenians. What a speech!

Birth - to be there or not to be there

Iwas present for the birth of both of my children. Each experience was unique and miraculous and overwhelming. However, reading "A top obstetrician on why men should NEVER be at the birth of their child" almost persuades me that Michel Odent's position is the correct one. And he has science and history on his side.

Imperfect heroes

Power Line has the transcript of a speech given at the White House by Wilfred McClay in honor of the 265th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth. The whole speech is worth reading, but these lines are extraordinary:

Our era is possessed by a small-minded rage against the very idea that imperfect men can still be heroes. But we badly need such heroes. In fact, we can’t live without them.

Perhaps, in the past, we have been too prone to place our forebears on a pedestal. But it is far worse, to feel compelled always to cut the storied past down to the size of the tabloid present. Perhaps the time has come for that to change. Perhaps we are wise enough now, to know that imperfect heroes are the only kind there ever are, or can be.

Line of the day 04/12/08

As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker. (Annie Dillard)

(ht: Jeffrey Overstreet)

Sanctified resignation

OUCH!

"A curious warning is given to us in Peter’s first epistle. There he tells us to be ready to give the reason for the hope that lies within us to everyone who asks (3:15). Now, what’s strange about that passage is this: no one ever asks. When was the last time someone stopped you to inquire about the reason for the hope that lies within you? You’re at the market, say, in the frozen food section. A friend you haven’t seen for some time comes up to you, grasps you by both shoulders and pleads, “Please, you’ve got to tell me. Be honest now. How can you live with such hope? Where does it come from? I must know the reason.” In talking with hundreds of Christians, I’ve met only one or two who have experienced something like this.

Yet God tells us to be ready, so what’s wrong? To be blunt, nothing about our lives is worth asking about. There’s nothing intriguing about our hopes, nothing to make anyone curious. Not that we don’t have hopes; we do. We hope we’ll have enough after taxes this year to take a summer vacation. We hope our kids don’t wreck the car. We hope our favorite team goes to the World Series. We hope our health doesn’t give out, and so on. Nothing wrong with any of those hopes; nothing unusual, either. Everyone has hopes like that, so why bother asking us? It’s life as usual. Sanctified resignation has become the new abiding place of contemporary Christians. No wonder nobody asks. Do you want the life of any Christian you know? (John Eldredge, The Journey of Desire, p. 64)

Laughing to the Prize

Is there a funnier, more biting political commentator out there than Michael Ramirez? The cartoon below was my favorite from the past year, but given that he just won a Pulitzer Prize, it's worth checking out the archives, starting with his winners here.

Plank in eye

This article starts out as a strong criticism against prosperity preachers, but ends up with the author gazing into the mirror. Well done, sarcastic lutheran.

A letter worth reading

I'm not crazy about politics, and this year's crop of presidential candidates leaves me thoroughly unexcited the longer the primary season drags on. However, I am taken by the reaction - media, supporters, dissenters - to every big or little scandal, accomplishment, speech and mis-speech.

Reaction to Obama's race speech was pretty much what I expected - those who support him gauged it to be one of the greatest speeches in their lifetime, and those who do not support him complained that he gave no answers and ultimately avoided the real questions which led to the speech. I don't think any ground was gained or lost.

I will say, however, that the best follow-up to Obama's speech I've come across is this open letter by Lionel Chetwynd. Agree or not with his concluding challenge to Obama, it's hard to deny the raw emotion of the letter.

(ht: Power Line)

3000 years in the making

Having just gotten to see the movie Atonement, and having read the book three months ago, I found this article by Alan Roxburgh quite engrossing. Roxburgh contends that there's no hope of properly interpreting the movie's narrative without engaging 3000 years of Western history, including Thomas Hardy, Hieronymus Bosch, and Nietzsche.

Book, movie, and analysis are all great.

Line of the day

"Some people are always going to be offended when you actually teach them what's in the Bible as opposed to what they assume is in the Bible."(N.T. Wright)

Here's to creativity

Enough whining about declining album sales. Just get fans to fund your project, and you won't have to worry about sales at all.

(HT: Collide)

A little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll

Good harmony on a great song:

Same old, same old

For all the talk of the speech’s having enabled a new and more meaningful conversation, it in fact stressed the familiar and comforting liberal tropes of white oppression and black victimhood.

Your brain on music

Most of us have our unscientific opinions about how music affects us, but this article is fascinating as it describes the discoveries scientists are making in studying the issue.

Also, here's a book which delves into the issue: This Is Your Brain on Music.

Line of the day

"He had that ferocious, orgasmic gleam in his eye of somebody who was living in the climax of his own movie." (Paul Constant)

We could call it church

This passage from Ed Gungor's Religiously Transmitted Diseases is right on:

I have a dream of being part of a Christian community where you can be honest about your doubts and fears without being met with worn out clichés or empty platitudes; a place that recognizes faith as a time-laded growth process, not the product of an “instant pudding” altar prayer; a place where you can get help today but be challenged to grow so you’re better prepared to face tomorrow; a place of intimacy, where you can know and be known; a place where it is hard not to find God; a place where finding God is as corporate as it is personal; a place where you belong whether you’re single, married, divorced, widowed, young, old, rich, poor, smart, dull, thin, fat, beautiful, or ugly; a place where you can find meaningful service, where you commit to something bigger than yourself; a place that needs you; a place of safety; a place off-limits to witches, demons, and the walking dead – the safest place in the world.

We could call it church. (Nashville: Nelson Books, pp. 50-51)

The reading does not the classic make

Perhaps you've seen this, but I'm just getting around to posting it. A graph showing the correlation between favorite books of college students (by college), and average entrance exam scores. The title of the post: Books That Make You Dumb.

What do you think? I'm struggling with Lolita as the book preference of the smartest kids.

However, I'm more inclined to believe the results of Music That Makes You Dumb, since Beethoven is by far the choice of the smartest. Also, it's amazing that the graph reveals how much mediocrity there is in college.

To speak, or not...

Some of the best speaking advice ever.

Hunting Osama

Came across this a while back: If Osama's Only 6 Degrees Away, Why Can't We Find Him? The famous 5 degrees of separation theory fades under scrutiny.

Best Writing preview

One day, hopefully soon, I'll be getting a blog going which highlights the best writing I've found on the Web. In the meantime, if you haven't already found the website for City Journal, it's a great site with some very good writing.

Here's an article to start with: The Rainbow Coalition Evaporates.

Church as restaurant

Here's a comment I came across while reading some threads at opensourcetheology.net:

To use a metaphor, if church is like a resturant, then what we are giving people now is pre-cooked, pre-digested food rather than giving people quality ingredients and asking them to take the ingredients home, invite their neighbors over, cook the food and share a meal.

Interesting thought. I certainly agree that more folks should engage in the process, and see the importance of responding to the Word of God, perhaps by cooking the food and sharing a meal.

Jesus and Paul forgot to lobby Rome

Julie has some interesting views in this post about Colorado's attempt to legalize small amounts of marijuana, which was rejected by voters Tuesday. I imagine her views will challenge many Christians, but she makes some good points when it comes to learning actual lessons from Jesus and his followers - as described in the New Testament.

Contemplating Christian

"We're not Christians, we're church people." So says Armando Heredia, a good friend who's contemplating what it means to be a Christian in our world, in our culture. Are we "church people" even close to being what Christ meant for us to be?

Irresistible

You really ought to buy this book and read it soon. The author, Shane Claiborne, is one of the founders of The Simple Way in inner city Philadelphia, and his passion for the kingdom of God is evident in every story he relates throughout the book.

There's a growing discontent in evangelical circles, a feeling from youth that we've not been handed the same thing Jesus had in mind as he lived and taught and bled and died. The Irresistible Revolution is an account showing that there are people who are following Jesus in new and amazing ways - and catching glimpses of God's glory along the way.

Missing the point again

Madonna opened her new tour this week in Los Angeles and, as usual, used multiple methods of shock and awe to wow the audience, who she knew consisted of more than just the thousands inside the arena.

Apparently, at some point in time, she was raised up on a mirrored cross, reportedly wearing a crown of thorns, as she sang her old ballad "Live To Tell." This stunt, as you might guess, infuriated certain Christian organizations, most notably the Church of England which issued a statement that included these lines:

Why would someone with so much talent seem to feel
the need to promote herself by offending so many people?

The same article quotes David Muir of the Evangelical Alliance:

Madonna's use of Christian imagery is an abuse and it is dangerous...She should drop it from the tour and people need to find their own means of expressing their disapproval.

At the risk of appearing to defend Madonna, which I'm not, I'd like to take exception at the way in which these (and other) organizations responded. It appears they didn't take the time to investigate, much less understand, the context of the cross scene.

Thanks to a wily concert-goer, you can view footage of the criticized performance, and see that it actually served a higher purpose, a purpose which Madonna can't even live up to. As she sings the ballad, three huge video screens show faces of African children, and tout statistics concerning the plight of children orphaned by parents infected with AIDS. Halfway through, Madonna comes down from the cross, and the screens show flames igniting, interspersed with the faces of children. Words from Matthew 25 appear on the screen, ending with, "What you did for one of my brothers, you did to me."

Taken by itself, the episode is powerful, and it's almost as if by coming down from the cross, Madonna is challenging Christian believers to get off their religious kick long enough to actually do something about the plight of children in Africa.

But the Church doesn't like to hear that, especially from an outsider who's such an easy target. I'm amazed at the failure of many organizations and denominations to perceive that the world is screaming for the Church to be authentic, and to truly start caring for people the way Jesus cared for people. Instead, we sit in our ivory tower of salvation singing "This world is not my home" all the while forgetting that "God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son."

Of course, Madonna can't live up to her own presentation. According to www.RaisingMalawi.com, Madonna donated $100,000 to the relief program. While that may seem praiseworthy, keep in mind that her current tour is expected to gross more than $200 million, or 2000 times the amount of her donation.

Still, sometimes the world makes better points than the Church. And sometimes, just sometimes, the Church becomes wise enough to stop being defensive about its sacred symbols and realize that we still have much praying, learning and giving to do.

Pic Share

April 29, 2006 -- Gatlinburg, TN

Which came first?

Still more about marketing the church. Brian Orme mentions a book called Get Back in the Box. In his post, he says:

In a church, the people should create the experience, or the buzz; the experience doesn't create the people.

Agree or disagree?

More on marketing the church. Out of Ur asks:

Unlike the explosive church growth being experienced in Asia, Africa, and South America in recent years, the U.S. church seems to display little spiritual vigor or power. Has our reliance on the wisdom of marketers and business principles displaced dependence upon God’s Spirit?

Check out the entire post.

While Mike Yaconelli was alive, he proudly claimed the humble title of "pastor of the slowest growing church in America." Sometimes I think I may have been the heir of that title. I've been a pastor for two and a half years now, and often wonder just what kind of trick God has played on me.

One of the things I constantly battle is just how far to go in marketing our congregation. We changed our collective name to CrossRoads, and I've been tempted more than a few times to spend hundreds of dollars pasting that name on flyers, cards, magnets, and signs and distribute them all over town. But then I think of the name which Scripture calls us to publish, and it's not CrossRoads.

The Parish has a great post which analyzes an advertisement by a church in Oklahoma.The author finds several subtexts in the advertisement, and I have to agree with him. I think it's a shame that so goes much of Christian advertising these days.

Reminds me of John Fischer's declaration in Fearless Faith:

Sometimes I wish we had a new word for "Christian."
I bet there are a lot of people who would be Christians if they didn't have to become a Christian to be one.

The truth hurts -- assuming it's really the truth

"Don't we have it exactly backward? Shouldn't one's overall happiness -- physical, marital or otherwise -- be directly equated with exceptional amounts of sexual training and education and awareness?"

So says Mark Morford, SF Gate columnist in "Christian Virgins Are Overrated / Think sex and drugs destroy America? Try naive chastity. Oh, and "Purity Balls". Exactly where he claims to have tried and proven his own theories is beyond me, but the article is intentionally provocative, and one you should read twice.

Morford cites recent research which claims that within one year of taking an abstinence pledge, half of all teens who did so had sex anyway. Furthermore, 88 percent break the vow at some point before marriage. Numbers like that lead Morford to this conclusion:

Let's just say it: There is no sacredness in the virgin. There is only the fear, were she to be educated and empowered and really let loose, of what she could become.

Say what you want about Morford's mockery of religious tradition and sacred beliefs. But if those numbers are correct, shouldn't we Christians be asking ourselves what the missing element is?

Waiting to read

Seven books on my shelf which I've not yet managed to read:

1. Addiction and Grace by Gerald May
2. The Whole Person in a Broken World by Paul Tournier
3. The Challenge of the Disciplined Life by Richard Foster
4. Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner
5. The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder
6. Where Resident Aliens Live by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon
7. Finally Comes the Poet by Walter Brueggemann

John tagged me

1. Who is your favorite Biblical personage, other than Jesus?
It's a toss-up between Simeon (the NT prophet) and Philip the Evangelist. Simeon wins by a small margin -- I am absolutely amazed by his dedication to God and the way in which he holds on to life just because God promised him he would see the Messiah. Some historians think Simeon was actually a Pharisee, which means that he overcame the legalism and judgmentalism of his "denomination" and was one of only two people in the Temple that day who recognized that Jesus was more than another 8-day-old baby.

2. What is your favorite book of the Old Testament?
Genesis. It truly was the best of times and the worst of times. Where else in Scripture do we get a clearer perspective on the highs and lows of human nature?

3. What is your least favorite book of the Old Testament?
Of course, Job comes to mind first. Then Jonah also is hard -- half the book is about him rebelling against the call of God, a fourth is about him finally obeying it (but seemingly only to save his hide), and the other fourth is him regretting that he obeyed. However, I realize that the reason these two books bother me is because I look at them based on the man they are named after, not based on the God who's actually writing the stories.

4. What is your favorite non- gospel book of the New Testament?
Is there one? I guess technically we're omitting MML&J, which leaves a lot of Paul, with a little James, Peter and John. Paul wins with his masterpiece to the Ephesians.

5. What is your life verse?
Did someone say Ephesians? Chapter 1, verse 3: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

I'm not much on tagging, but I will tag my father, mainly because I don't think I know what his answers are to these questions, but also because he just doesn't post often enough to his blog.

The second time around

Donald Miller wonders what would happen if the second coming of Christ was different than most people imagine:

But what if the guys playing the horns turned out to be a few men playing on a street corner in a small town in Arkansas, and what if the horse Jesus rode in on wasn’t a Kentucky thoroughbred, but a belligerent donkey? And what if Jesus, after He got here, frequented homeless shelters and bars and ate and drank with the kinds of cultures evangelicals have declared war against? And what if, when He came like a thief in the night, He came very quietly so that nobody noticed, and what if, crime of all crimes, He was ugly and when He went on CNN producers were uncomfortable with His appearance and only shot Him from the waist up, in a certain light? And what if, when He answered questions, He talked with a hick accent, and only spoke in parables that nobody could understand, and what if He didn’t align Himself with a political party, and what if He didn’t kiss anybody’s butt?

If you ask me, He’d have to do a lot of miracles to overcome all that stuff. And even then, most of the people who would follow Him would be people who were oppressed, marginalized, and desperate. (Searching for God Knows What)

I heard a preacher comment one time on the question Jesus asked Philip in John 14: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" He said the phrasing could also suggest that Jesus was saying, "Have I been so long time with you, that thou hast not known me, Philip?" Thus perhaps Jesus was implying that sometimes familiarity truly breeds contempt.

Could it be that the 21st century world in which the Church seems so firmly entrenched has caused many believers to fail to recognize the true Christ -- the true heart and motivation of Jesus Himself? Miller's right: He'd have to do a lot of miracles to overcome all that stuff.

Maybe this is closer to the original plan

If only there was a way to transfer the following prophetic words of Erwin McManus with the passion with which they were delivered at Catalyst Conference 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia:

This is supposed to be a movement of dreamers and visionaries where every single person who steps into the community of Christ, who steps into authentic spiritual community, discovers their uniqueness in Jesus Christ and has their God-given capacity unleashed. They begin to have dreams and visions and can no longer live in the status quo. They can't stomach mediocrity. They say no to compromise. They refuse to live a life that is apathetic, and they begin to live with a God-intense passion, with urgency for the world.
That's what people without Christ are looking for.

Amen, and amen!

Please, don't call yourself Christian

Touting the differences between "The Christian Reich" and "The Christian Left," one commenter at Thom Hartman's discussion page says the former category is identified by the slogan "Jesus is Lord," while the other is identified by "God is Love." We'll leave alone the fact that this person is theologically uninformed in a horrible way. Rather, read the next suggestions for those who share such liberal persuasions:

These are some words to avoid, and my ranking of the worst:
1. Jesus
2. religious, religion etc.
3. Church
4. Christ
They all go with the "Jesus is Lord" brand.

Although I know many, such as John Shelby Spong, would likely applaud such suggestions, I'll go out on a limb with a question: How exactly can you be a Christian (Christ-like, of course), and refuse to use the words "Jesus" and "Christ"?

Thank God that Paul knew what he was talking about when he urged Christians to "do all things in the name of Jesus."