Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

review: the next stupid movie you are going to love

for some reason, when erin and i started dating, we stopped going to movies at the theater. honestly, in 4plus years we've probably seen like 5 movies. we don't even do to well watching movies at home (the number is higher than 5 though). so it was something different when, as erin is away, thunder asks if i want to check out the next awesomely stupid move. blades of glory!

i labeled this movie few months back, when i heard of it, as the next stupid movie you will love. after catching it tonight, i couldn't have been more right. it's super crazy with characters and encounters that are such fantasy you can only accept it as fun and laugh your way to the end. honestly, i wasn't in the best of moods, kinda tired, somewhat bored when i got there, and it entertained me. it apparently entertained the rest of the theater as they cheered and clapped at the end.. (i thought that was a bit much, but i was smiling and laughing)

it's a will ferrell movie, so you get that humor. the premise though is hilarious to just imagine and the play between heater and ferrell is hilarious. it might not be the next youth group movie, but i will most likely buy the dvd.

great day for a baptism

spent this morning on the harpeth river sharing in daniel's baptism and chrismation into the orthodox church. Father Parthinios led the service with others helping with the liturgy and other elements. my first introduction to this church came some time ago, and i'll take some credit for today as i remember taking daniel to alektor when we first met up. i never would have thought it would come to today, but there we found ourselves.

the weather was beautiful. one couldn't ask for better weather (though i gather warmer water would have been nice). the service started at 8am beginning the liturgy and blessing of the water. then we moved into the baptism and then chrismation. daniel's new Christian name is maximus, or max. the friends collected got to chuckle at which name he'd be going by. what i really liked about the service was much of the intentionality, it was long, but only because there were so many people and there was a huge covering of the participants in prayers, liturgy, and community. view more photos in my flickr set

afterwards i let the dogs go play in the blessed water. hoping it might rub off on them. haha! made a stop by the dog park as well. then headed all the way home.

flip flops and socks oh my!

 

when i went to pied piper creamery with jonathon & the norman children i never would have imagined i would see such a sight. is this bad fashion or genius? i am just not sure

did i mention? this is taken from the old camera phone. so you might not be able to see too well, but he's cut off the toes of his socks. that's why i think it might be genius

the embarassing odd phone conversation of the day

cell phone rings

me: heeelllo
phone: gavin, it's terry
me: hey man what's up?
phone: i'm sitting here in the bishops office
me: yeah
phone: he's showing me some youtube videos (laugh ensues)
me: greeeaaat (chuckle)
phone: i actually need a mac favor
me: i can try to help
phone: he's trying to sync his trio with his macbook, but doesn't want to mess up his trio with his secretary's outlook
me: okay, i can come in on thursday to work that up
phone: (talking to bishop) is thursday alright? (bishop talks back, laughs) thursday is fine as long as you are clothed properly
me: (smiling) i suppose i can do that, see you thursday

problem here. i have never synced someone's trio to a macbook (most folks i know have one or the other, not both) anyone out there have some tips? maybe you techno pastor?

update: so you can know, the bish uses a palm treo 700p, he was using a treo 650. you will be happy to know that tech support in india (their distinction not mine) sorted the whole thing out yesterday. so bish is happy and i get my afternoon. and i don't have to worry about my particular clothing. &:~)

brain mclaren psuedo quote

"what you focus on determines what you miss." -brian mclaren paraphrasing a friend

friend jenny on emergent village podcast

since the product has been out for a few months now, editor jenny became friend jenny again. coolness to say that mark alerted me to this (unfair advantage being her husband and all), but jenny has an upcoming album out and one of the songs was featured on the latest emergent village podcast.

i'd skip past doug pagitt's interview to jenny's intro (11:34 min) for a really great song. i must say, wasn't sure what to expect, but this blew me away.

a day to remember the university

i think i've mentioned here before that my alma mater is the university of alabama. having what i called my "impressionable" years in the south (hoover, al. long before it became hoover). then moving to new jersey for my "productive" years has given me a little perspective & a healthy disconnect from certain things. so, though i might have a dog named crimson.. you won't find me naming my children after alabama namesakes.. namely the recent coaching installation. shameless to say, this probably won't be the first baby to be named after the coach (especially if he is successful, note, he hasn't played ever a spring game yet).

if you say that you are naming your children after something associated with Crimson Tide football, then you're at the level the couple says separates "regular fans" from "die-hard fans."

they are looney!

further to bring me back to my college days, my brother sent me this.. for those who have graced a student section at an SEC (not assuming all conferences in the south are like this, but they might) then you know how valuable this can be.

window spring view

i don't know the name of this tree outside our window (but we have our suspicions). but it is wonderful to sit and look at in our side yard. it is also on the street & apparently the neighbors like to look at it in bloom as well.

did you know? photoblog

 

did you know that dogs can't stand the camera flash either? this is my proof

did you see that?

got home just in time to watch the final minutes of the georgetown vs vanderbilt game. did anyone see that walk georgetown had on the final second winning basket? i did.. i know the referee's didn't... not sure how, i saw it and i don't even like basketball.. or vandy.. maybe it's cause i have high definition tv now

the friday five

it's been forever since i participated in a revgalblogpal friday five. so let me see if i can remember.

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19, NRSV

For this Friday Five, name five practices, activities, people or _____ (feel free to fill in something I may be forgetting) that for you are rivers in the desert.

1. first thing that comes to mind, is family & friends (my community). there is nothing like coming home being whined at by my dogs, kissing wife, talking up whatever conversation from there. i find great inspiration in the conversations with friends over whatever topics. that is probably why i do so many things outside the church, it gives me great excuse to be around people and be inspired. included in here is you the blogosphere, it may be cyber, but you are part of my community.
2. silence. it is kinda a double edge sword, but usually when i can commit myself to silence come away with a sense of peace and understanding that i didn't have before. not to say that the peace and understanding doesn't come with a little pain of being completely honest with myself or realizing something i'd rather not. i move on very well after times of silence.
3. doing. if only i could "do" more. it is when i find my place in doing things God has before me that i come away with a smile on the face and the warm feeling in the heart. these are big and small things, but they generally have little to do with the day to day administrations of my vocation. watching. so i don't completely bash the admin part of my work. when i get that stuff done i get to watch. i get to watch others commit themselves to ministry and lead the life that God created them for. now that is very cool and refreshing.
4. prayers. when life gets tough, i find myself in song, playing songs or singing. something simple, maybe a taize song, possibly a classic hymn. i break off for times of the daily office, usually just to stand in posture and practice prayers or times of silence to keep open. when all is really bad i will sit myself down, or walk aimlessly, and do the Jesus Prayer with one of my prayer ropes.
5. road trip (pilgrimage). i love to get out and discover something, spend time over the road, stop at odd spots. people watch in various parts of the country. whether it be to the great outdoors, a conference, family event... there is always some story to re-live after road trip.

dr. suess & the methodists

andy has just a brilliant rendition of a suess poem seen through the eyes & practice of methodists (or other denominations).

tip: methoblog

an odd search

others have noted the crazy search engine strings that people have found their site. i have done it in the past. this one caught my attention and apparently i'm number one in google.. how cool!

do td jakes have any book or sermon relating to the hurting pastor or something like that

if i had to explain it, i know i had td mentioned in a post about the top 25 evangelicals that time did a few years back.. the rest... that could be just about anything on anyone

spring cleaning rookie

erin i will have our first weekend of "spring cleaning." we have both owned houses before, but we can agree we never planned a thorough cleaning. it was always good enough to be sorta clean. i'll be hitting up the lowes and home depot and probably a nursery. any sound advice out there for some spring cleaning rookies? i am open to house cleaning or lawn & garden care.

ps: this is our house last spring when we bought it. some of the trees & bushes are starting to bloom, but it doesn't look this finely manicured i can assure you.

be cool for one second

my buddy sam over at cool people care is putting together a book based off of their efforts at cool people care. he's asking for some input on a book cover. click the link and give your input. coolness need not be a pre-requisite for voting.

be cool for one second

still quite jersey

it's been awhile since i did a quiz. apparently i still got some jersey in me.

You Are 73% New Jersey!

 

You are definitely Jersey.  Well done, my friend.  You are most likely from this great state, and you fit right in.  Odds are, you love being Jersey!

How New Jersey Are You?
Make Your Own Quiz

the highest form of flattery

my sister sent me & the family this story today. i consider this possibly one of mine and my brothers greatest life achievements to date. these little nephews of mine make me so proud. luckily for the rest of the family the niece has not succumbed to the ways of the uncles.

This morning Keegan and I were in the bathroom.  I was waiting to help him get his teeth brushed but he had to pee. While standing there taking a wee, he tooted. He then proceeded to say  "thank you, thank you, thank you very much".  I guess the gas doesn't fall far from the uncles.

the vilest thing on earth

this clip comes from the documentary "jesus camp." richard is about getting the gwb life size cut-out, which i think could be a lot of fun too. wood agrees it's the vilest thing he's seen, quoting from a rapper.

i am not the biggest voice against the merging of the conservative Christian right and politics. i don't care for it, but i don't get bent out of shape on the stuff. this though has me worried. in watching this i'm not sure what part is scary more. the idolizing of the president... the merging of government into church... maybe it's the "warfare" prayers... maybe it's the lady's lack of enthusiasm...

a dangerous book

i've heard the bible being called a dangerous book, but who knew that book of discipline could be considered a dangerous book. any book that could create this kind of conviction has to be approached with a word of caution.

A Sunday School class study on social principals of the Methodist Church has taken a group of Eagle Mountain Methodist out of the classroom and into the streets to practice what they preach in a grassroots movement for ending the war on terror.

having been a part of many a sunday school class where we just graze over parts of the bible or discipline that convict the group. the general response becomes "but what can we do?" i'm glad to see that some people have gotten past that response.

government helping with quiet time

Britain's Home Office decided recently, in the course of remodeling at the Brixton prison in London, that, because of Muslim inmates, all the toilets should be re-positioned so that users would be respectfully facing perpendicular to Mecca as they answered nature's calls. [The Sun (London), 1-30-07]

it is nice to know that the government is helping out those of us who spend more time on the john than normal. i'd had to be caught breaking my religious code for bodily function reasons. i suppose this could help, but what do we do for portables? from news of the weird

vote for me

as i mentioned before, i've considered throwing in my name as a delegate for general conference. well, today i sent in my stuff. as erin and i talked about it, the concensus was that this is our job as laity to be willing to support our church. so friends of tennessee conference (and those that have friends in tennessee conference) get your church delegates to vote for me for general conference in '08. for the blogging faithful, i promise to blog as i am allowed.

Gavin Edward Richardson, First United Methodist Church of Hendersonville

Activities within the Local / Conference / Jurisdictional / General Church

One might say I have been overly involved in the local, conference, and jurisdictional church since moving to Nashville in 2000. Having grown up in the Methodist Church in New Jersey I began involvement with the local church as youth pastor for Hillcrest UMC under Rev. Joe Shelton. During those years I became involved in conference level youth ministries. Often I was found leading youth & leadership retreats as an adult chairperson or worship leader.

I spent some time away from full-time church work at Tennessee State University as an early childhood educator where I worked with various Methodist and other denominations pre-school and early child programs. I presented "conscious discipline" at the Tennessee Conference’s early childcare conference. At this time I was asked to act as Tennessee Conference Youth Coordinator, a position I have held since then (working on 4 years now). As Conference Youth Coordinator I have attended conference meetings, participated in the restructuring and hiring of the two camp director positions, and have promoted the connection of the youth ministers within the conference. I worked as a part time youth pastor for Hermitage UMC, under Rev. Vin Walkup. During this time I developed a focus on worship, both contemplative and contemporary which I share with the full church. I have been heading up the "Worship Center" of Youth 2007 as a leader in the Tennessee Conference. In 2005 I began my current ministry as Director of Youth Ministry for FUMC of Hendersonville, under Rev. Michael Williams. In 2006 I was elected to communications committee chair for the SEJ Young Adult Convocation and was conferred into membership of the Order of Saint Luke.

I began "blogging" as a spiritual practice in 2004. This has allowed me to share my thoughts on the church, culture, youth ministry, worship and personal reflections. This spiritual practice has since opened opportunities to write curriculum, articles, and be interviewed for the Upper Room, UMPH, Circuit Rider, and the Review. With some fellow connection friends and the Foundation for Evangelism, I have been able to organize and pull off a technology and church event called "The Internet is our Parish" in 2007 and hoping to replicate this again in 2008. I have been requested for speaking engagements in the Aurora District, Cumberland District, Youth Ministry Events, and UpperRoom Retreats.

Principle Needs of the Church

A principle need of the church, as I see it, is to name and pull away from the practices that make the church "of the world." I share with our church that we are unique people joined together by Christ, and being unique we are not bound by labels and stigmas of liberal or conservative as the culture knows and reacts towards them. If we are able to break from this practice of placing each other then we are able to start to become the church and then start to examine and discuss the business and practices of the church.

If given the opportunity to be a part of General Conference my hope would be to be a person who does not sit a side as the world knows, but to listen and make decisions with a Christ centered heart.

Other Information

I am married to a wonderful woman, Erin, who works for the family small business All American Pest Control, in Donelson. We met through conference work years ago. We now live in Historic Old Hickory Village with our two dogs.

my web book review

this is the edited, by ken, review i submitted to the circuit rider on "web empower your church" by mark stephenson. it proves that i can, with an editing process, use capital letters.

Web Empower Your Church

by Mark Stephenson

Abingdon

 

by Gavin Richardson

I have been developing websites for over ten years now. I started out by creating websites writing my own HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) and other script codings.  It was a long process, but I enjoyed it. As the internet grew, and everyone wanted a website, I found myself creating sites for many different agencies and friends. It was not until I moved into the creating of church websites that the process of creating websites (and maintaining them) became overwhelming.

I began my first church website in 2000, at that time CMS (Content Management Systems) were expensive and very new. CMS was very new to the scene as well and not compatible with all browsers, so one still resorted to the old ways of writing individual pages. The problem with doing a church website is that this is a taxing way to keep up with the needs of a church and their web presence. I quickly pulled myself out of the church website business.

In early 2005 I decided to recreate a new youth website for a new church I was attending.  Although CMS had many Open Source options to use,  they still needed tweaking for purposes of the church. It was not until I met Mark Stephenson in 2005 and heard of the Web Empowered Church (WEC) that I became excited about the potential power of internet ministry available to myself and the general church.

I immediately plugged in the pre-release of WEC with our youth website. It took some learning, putting time in front of the computer watching videos, reading the component manuals, and playing with the software. In the end, we had, and still have, a functioning website in no time that I am able to maintain with reasonable maintenance.

After a few months of using WEC I knew that I wanted to get further with the software in developing the sight. Instead of myself being the caretaker of the site,  it was important to start to put others and their gifts in responsibility for the site. I looked around for some resources beyond the WEC site, from books to blogs, to aid me. Nothing seemed to fit all my needs as I saw them.

The problem with computer books, website books especially, is that they are either philosophical or completely technical. In addition,  there are few books that give good information on developing a team of web caretakers with the sensibilities of a church. This is why I was so excited to pick up and start reading Web Empower Your Church by Mark Stephenson.

I found the book to be a refreshing blend of technical lexicon interpreted for the lay user, highlighting honest successes and failures related to web ministry within the context of the church. I consider myself to be a semi-savy person when it comes to web development, and yet I was impressed at how much I learned from Mark's very open and straight forward language of the complex issues associated with a website. From domain names and shared hosting, to streaming video and disability friendly website design, he covers a wealth of knowledge that anyone can digest. Being part of Ginghamsburg UMC's web ministry has obviously allowed Mark  to see the good and the bad ideas encountered over the years of being progressive in using the web as a ministry tool. He shares many of those experiences with us all.   This helps to give language to those who wish to have internet ministries within their church life, but are unable to tell stories or explain important visions for the growing needs of this ministry.

 

If you are looking for a programming book, this is not the one for you;  if you are a experienced designer, then you will benefit from the broad introductions and explainations, but to write code or plug in things into your website (especially outside the WEC software) you will need to purchase another book for those needs (or download the WEC user manual if you use that software).

Those who read this book will capture two things that will aid them in using the web effectively with the ministry of the church. First, you will have some clear ideas on how to start to incorporate a team of web ministers for the church.  And second, you will have a general understanding of the technology used to help the group talk openly about needs of the church web ministry and the tools needed.

Web Empower Your Church is around $20 at your local bookstore. If it were just the book I would pay that for Mark's insights. Added into the book is a CD with the Open Source software of Web Empowered Church and additional videos and documentation to help you along the way. Though this content can be found for free at the WEC website, in a packaged format I would pay $20 for that as well. 

(Gavin Richardson is Director of Youth Ministries, First United Methodist Church, Hendersonville, Tennessee).

book of samuel rhapsody

ever imagined the david and goliath story according to queen's bohemian rhapsody? i never did, but these guys did. good stuff. tip to jamey

confirmation weekend

spent the weekend with our confirmands. it was a good time. i especially liked not being ultimately in charge. it allowed me more time to be present with the youngsters. i'll remember lot's of loud times, great times learning and many memory makers.

you tube my town

so in an act of semi-vanity. i was curious to see what hendersonville things were on youtube. come to find out, there is quite a bit on our little town. from extreme trampoline tennis, some lifechurch.tv stuff, the star wars empire (i think you can hear someone calling them losers), some extreme home makeover clips, a bunch of skateboard videos.. mostly though.. i think this depicts us best

nun-bun kidnapping update

i had given the storied nun-bun (a cinnamon bun that looks like mother theresa) up for dead eaten. turns out though that the kidnappers have begun taunting the people of nashville.

A young bearded man resembling Jesus lies prostrate on a sunny and non-descript stretch of sand in the photograph. The bun, famous for its resemblance to Mother Teresa, rests in the man’s sticky fingers.

This is the first taunting letter from the pranksters in nine months.

Bernstein [manager], begrudgingly good-humored about the cinnamony caper in previous interviews, said today that the pranksters’ antics aren’t funny anymore.

“It’s not like they took a piece of lawn art. This is breaking and entry, this is whatever you want to call it,” Bernstein said. “It’s ceased to be amusing.”

He’s not sure how much dough the iconic pastry is worth. It could be $2, the sale price of less-notable sweets, or $20,000 like the grilled cheese sandwich bearing an image of the Virgin Mary that a Las Vegas casino bought.

The sweet roll had been displayed for a decade before its disappearance.

tip nashville is talking

 

enemy number one of the church

semi-rant coming

today in an abridged staff meeting we found ourselves in a conversation about our frustrations with enemy number one of the church. we all know who they are.. it is those groups or teams that people put priority over their faith life and the church.

for us in hendersonville, this enemy is manifested most in soccer (not limited too). as the youth minister i have my share of soccer "stars" who have to compete year round every day of the week (look at my myspace to see some of my soccer peeps talking about not being able to come to church). i am a fan of soccer, but i did okay by participating in pal league ball and getting to play on my high school teams (which had a state title & various regional & league titles).

the conversation started today because we have confirmation retreat this weekend. of the 40 some confirmands, 10 or so are not able to make it (even with 6 months due notice and a signed covenant) because of sports, a family vacation (that apparently couldn't leave a few hours later), and a justin timberlake concert.

the questions come easy... where is the priority? is your child's participation in 6th grade sports really more important than their spiritual life? do we feel this way because we feel pressure for numbers or to "fix" kids? yet, are undermined by the people we try to serve.

do we need to get into the numbers.. the numbers that your child will most likely not be playing under scholarship no matter what they do in these travel teams. even more slim are the chances that your child will be in professional sports. yet, the priority is placed to be successful in sports by participating at the cost of everything else. this cost could be, a physical body (most trainers will tell you that you need a day off), a spiritual body (everyone needs a community to connect with, if it is a church body then that becomes a good balance), needs personality (people who only know one thing are pretty boring outside their one thing, not to mention could be socially mal-adjusted).

i don't have any answers... partly because the answers don't lie within me. the sad truth is that our culture is post-christian, even now in the bible belt. families show daily what is important to them, through check books, time and energy... many times the important things have little to do with a spiritual life. i don't fault all coaches, i've seen some great ones over the years of watching various games at various skill levels. they have expectations too, but i do think that those expectations have lost perspective. sports at early child & youth levels is not about winning, but the pure learnings of sportsmanship and teamwork. not beating another to be "number one" or looking into your future "potential."

so this is my rant... frustration from a drawback of grace that i try to offer as freely as i know. i think of Christ encountering the rich young man. "i observe all the laws" "fine, then give all your money to the poor".. to this the young man walks away and both fee saddened.

serious things in jest

mad tv with a funny political commentary. thanks to john

youth art impressions

from my little pilgrimage to the frist yesterday. the one collection that really captured me was one done by students at antioch high school. it might be that i'm partial to youth who put themselves out there through art, beyond that though there was similar messages inherit within the pieces. youth hurt and care for 1. the war & violence in the world 2. the care and future of the earth in the midst of climate change. the third thing that came across is how many of the youth had hope that their Christian faith expression would make a difference. it got me to thinking of the response of the general church in many of these instances... how do we support peace processes? do many of us even care about climate change? do we recycle? i know my church doesn't (though i'm trying to change that). do the people that fill the pews have any sense of change within them at all?

one piece that was separate from the other (theme wise) that i took special interest in was one of a homeless person saturated in their ills while people walked by. especially clever was how the artist illustrated that people will not look towards the homeless person. something i am guilty of many times over. something that is very un-Christ-like. i can't say to much but be convicted by something i've seen often and done, what i feel, little about..

staff pilgrimage

yesterday we spent the day in a retreat/pilgrimage as a staff. we had a moment of worship in the morning breaking communion as the child care classrooms started to gather around for their chapel. we headed off for downtown to the frist center (our visual arts museum for nashville). i was pretty excited about the whole deal, i have never gone through the frist, just have graced the doors or eaten at the cafe. our theme and exploration for the day was to find the art within our ministry... i'm not sure how successful i was at that, i only completed one task of the three that we were asked to do. our leader (darla, who happens to be one of my youth min consultants, and thus knows me quite well) was not the least bit surprised. i think her words to me were "so did you get any of it done?" which i could answer yes to that question. one of the tasks we were supposed to do was to sketch and ponder on a piece of artwork that we really liked. i didn't find one that i really felt connected to till the end of my time, so that was part of the problem. i found strange connection to a monet piece of the charing cross & thames bridge in london and a cezanne piece.

we later stopped by the methodist publishing house to use a conference room to talk over our day, what incite or feelings we had. afterwards i stopped by to see old friend cole, whom i hadn't seen in months. tried to see josh and jenny, but they were in a meeting.. gosh..

tuesday randomness

i am spending today in a day long staff retreat. it should be fun (i know that can sound like an oxymoron) as we meet for a bit, then do some field trips to some of the downtown sites. the theme of our retreat is ministry through art, or something similar to that. so i'm kinda excited for it all. while i'm doing that, i am also just stumped at some of the reading i am catching up with..

• that creepy burger king guy is getting his own movie.. what is up with that?
• the geico caveman is still jealous and wants his own tv show...
• generation next (gen nexter) is conservative on abortion and liberal on gay marriage.. duh
• myspace is helping to catch predators... move over dateline
• confessions of a facebook stalkers... sam is really bad at this
• "blogebrity" the new word... and am i one? i'm not listed on www.blogebrity.com
• i just love the space monster that destroys nashville... mayor purcell must have been pissed

tournament pics

i am in three pools at the moments. here is my breakdown for three brackets. champion is in italic.

bracket 1
final four
wisconsin - midwest
kansas - west
texas - east
ohio state - east

final
ohio state
kansas

bracket 2
final four
oregon - midwest
kansas - west
texas - east
ohio state - south

final
ohio state
kansas

bracket 3
final four
florida - midwest
ucla - west
texas - east
ohio state - south

final
ucla
texas

to be of the internet or in the internet

i cannot remember if i have talked about mychurch.org or other separate "clone" sites that try and give a "church friendly" replication of what is popular in culture. my personal perspective is to say, those are well and good, but, Christ didn't do all his preaching/teaching/discipling within the confines of the walls of the temple. God in the old testament wasn't exactly pleased when people made the temple his "home." they moved outside to where the people were. so i'm somewhat discouraged again to see the incarnation of another clone. "God Tube"

yes, we now have a "you tube" for Christians. i looked at the site, it is pretty basic and seems to have a decent amount of videos (many seem to be bono related). i couldn't find what sets this apart from you tube (except obvious advertisements). i can only imagine that there is some censorship beneath the site that says stuff has to be promoting of the Christian God. if there isn't, then any atheist/agnostic/hindu/muslim/jewish/satanist or otherwise pissed off person at the Christian faith can put stuff up just like on you tube. to me, that seems counter to a gospel message that i know of where we accept into our fold gentiles samaritans and others that are generally pushed to the outside because of descriptors.

jonathon in our workshops we have done with youth & adults, have brought to light things like the "blasphemy challenge" and other videos and blogs that do not promote the Kingdom of God. we've challenged those folks to treat their time on the internet as part of their spiritual practices and create content that offers alternatives of love and grace where the people are watching and listening. these separate sites, they provide alternatives, but in the world we live in, it is only doing the harm of separating people. if i remember correctly, we harvest the wheat with the weeds, or we loose the wheat...

check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. are we called to be "of the internet" or "in the internet?"

ps: i think this could be some of that "snack sized" gospel...

technology snacks & ministry

i have been enjoying reading wired latest cover story on "snack culture." the premise is that we have become less and less needy on the full products, from smaller cookies, sliced songs, shorter movies, smaller screens,.. etc. we have moved into a snack culture. (check out the format of the article if nothing else)

this has me thinking.. what is this type of culture shifts impact on the church? will ministries have to snack size to appeal to newer audiences? do we keep to or intentionally shift to a "full meal" of the good news?

if we do snack size items associated with our ministry what will they be? scripture teachings? preaching? worship? discipleship?

could it be a good thing to snack the good news? as essentially what is happening is that we are trimming down to the absolutely needed amounts... hmmm

mixing mexican and american cultures

one of the best parts of going on vacation and into a new country is the culture exchange. i have come to see that the american culture is so overwhelming that it permeates into other cultures. this pic, for me, highlights some of the best blendings of mexican and american culture.

we are back!

erin and i are back from our little family vacation. cruising life is an interesting life. it took some getting used too. more on all these reflections later. check out some of the pics. shalom, -g

prevention of the development of true culture

Noise displacing beauty, dazzle supplanting wonder, bluff and illusion superseding reality, speed shifting engagement, information replacing communication - all these might be summed up as the strangling of culture in North America.

from "unfettered hope"

the sociability test

The Sociability Test helps you to measure your dog's interest in his fellow dogs. Healthy, well-adjusted dogs will greet one another, exchange routine information, and then be on their way to strike up a new and perhaps more promising acquaintance.

Summary

1. DO psychoanalyze your dog. It will help him to face himself and, more important, face you.
2. DON'T waste your money on professional fees for your dog's analysis. You will need that money to pay for your own treatments.
3. DO hide your notes from your dog.
4. DON'T hurry with the analysis. Remember: your dog likes to lie on the couch.
5. DO keep your dog, even though results of analysis tell you otherwise.

from "how to live with a neurotic dog"

song for a bomb

I split and scatter him who splits and scatters,
And in my falling there is Adam's Fall.
Where in this vacuum will you find purpose,
Where in this pattern where a purpose dwells?

It only takes the naked brain to think me,
It only takes a human hand to shape,
And youthful nimbleness to bring to action,
What are you waiting for? Create.

My master quietly pursues his business,
Patient untying of the knotted heart.
Till, fearfully and wonderfully crafted,
Last of his servants forth I come to wait.

My master is the worm that gnaws the root,
My master is the canker in the tree,
But I shall tidy him way for ever
On to the bonfire of death's ecstasy.

   From the Welsh of Waldo of Williams

from "the poems of rowan williams"

mclaren on eternal life & kingdom of God

[going through John 3]...John almost never uses the term "kingdom of God" (which is at the heart of Jesus' message for Matthew, Mark, and Luke). There are two exceptions, both of which occur in this unique conversation. Instead, John normally translates "kingdom of God" into another phrase that is notoriously hard to render in English. Most commonly, John's translation of Jesus' original phrase is rendered "eternal life" in English. Unfortunately, the phrase eternal life is often misinterpreted to mean "life in heaven after you die" - as are kingdom of God and its synonym, kingdom of heaven - so I think we need to find a better rendering.

If "eternal life" doesn't mean "life after death," what does it mean? Later in John's Gospel, Jesus reduces the phrase simply to "life," or "life to the full." Near the end of John's account, Jesus makes a particular fascinating statement in a prayer, and it is as close as we get to a definition: "This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [God has] sent" (John 17: 3). So here, "eternal life" means knowing, and knowing means an interactive relationship. In other words, "This is eternal life, to have an interactive relationship with the only true God and with Jesus Christ, his messenger." Interestingly, that's what a kingdom is too: an interactive relationship one has with a king, the king's other subjects, and so on.

from "the secret message of Jesus"