Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

superglue : its what holds a marriage together

i suppose i shouldn't be surprised. after all my ranting before about friendship first and the sex week challenge.

but again, i was really turned off by ed young's simplistic, and in my opinion, misdirected bond to marriage. now i get being on a talk show you get 5 minutes & colbert or stewart are the funny guys and you are to be the straight guy. within that 5 minutes they do allow you to get your point out there, but only briefly and it is your one liner. so to hear, "sex is the superglue to marriage." honestly, is that the best you have? even nt wright was better at explaining "life after life after death" in the resurrection than you were about a solid why for having sex 7 days in a row to save marriage.

 

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Ed Young

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Colbert Report Tickets

Paul McCartney Appearance
More Funny Videos

war & christianity : the many voices

i found this little video looking for a psalters song. it has some interesting thoughts on war from people whom i listen too, contemporary and old school.

online disciple : experiment in being a facilitator

many of you, my faithful readers know that community can happen over the bits & bytes of the internet. the folks behind the disciple study series are seeking to cultivate some disciple communities that will study and grow together. they are currently looking to fill out their facilitator list if you are interested visit the site and drop your name into the hat. tell them i sent ya & they might still let you in. haha! shalom, -gav

DISCIPLE Bible Study -- Online

Do you have persons in your congregation who are missing out on the transforming power of DISCIPLE because of their schedules? Do you have some whose travel keeps them from committing to a weekly class meeting? Do you have some who might like to take DISCIPLE with others who have a similar life experience?

The Richard and Julia Wilke Institute for Discipleship is excited to offer Disciple Bible Study -- now online at BeADisciple.com.

Here is how it works. Persons simply go to www.BeADisciple.com and enroll in the Disciple Online class they wish to join. A $30 fee is required to underwrite the costs of nine months of technical support. Next, participants will need a manual which they can purchase online from the Cokesbury site or through their local church. High speed internet connection is recommended.

Disciple Online may be offered to groups of 12 within a congregation. A few members of a congregation in one state may join together to study Disciple with a few from another state or even another country. Or individuals may enroll in Disciple Online with other individuals from anywhere.

Disciple Online will be presented in a standardized format. Each group will need a facilitator to watch over the sessions and to encourage participation. The facilitator will remain “a learner among learners." In addition to Disciple facilitator training, online facilitators will need to complete the online workshop “How to Become a Disciple Online Facilitator ” prior to leading a group. This workshop will be offered periodically at BeADisciple.com for $50.

Participants will do their daily reading and reflection with their manual on their own. Participants may enter their daily scripture notes in the online workshop environment if they choose, and assignments will be available with instructions for weekly group work. This will include discussion questions to be completed in a group-interactive discussion board by the participant at his/her own convenience. Prayer requests and written prayer petitions will be included. This online work covers what is normally accomplished in the first half of a normal face-to-face DISCIPLE class.

 Each week, a short review of the week's scriptures by Bishop Wilke, the author of DISCIPLE, will be presented online for participants to watch. These will lead into key questions for weekly discussion.

 The class schedule will be determined by the group facilitator. Every seven days the facilitator will conduct a live session online (approximately one hour) which walks the group through more discussion, exercises, and time for prayer together. This section will be conducted similarly to the second half of a face-to-face class and will transition the group into the next week. Each session will be recorded so that participants who have to miss a live session may view the live session later.

 Disciple Online will use the DISCIPLE (Becoming Disciples Through Bible Study) participant manual and facilitators guide but not the UM Publishing House DVDS/videos which normally accompany the study. Participants are encouraged to gain access to these materials through their local church or through Cokesbury.

If you have any questions, or would like to provide some input into the development of Disciple Online, please email Lisa at [email protected].

 Bishop Wilke -- A message regarding Disciple Online

 Information for potential Disciple Online facilitators

lost generation : coolest thing on

this might be one of the coolest, and most truth telling things i've seen on youtbue in a long time. its not long & you must watch the whole thing to get the impact. no, some lame scary person isn't going to jump up at the end (i didn't tell you to turn up your speakers did i?). tip comes from family friend meredith who sent to wifey erin (not sure what it takes to get on meredith's email list but)

trending : what will be the in thing in 2009

an interesting look at what might be the cultural trends for 2009. which are you going to participate in?

caption contest & freebie : winners & close to winners

i got a little distracted, sorry, i know you all were waiting on the edge of your seats for this announcement. but i am naming my inauguration day caption contest freebie give away winners.

i loved all the captions for various reasons. so i'm giving away some choice stuff to my top three.

reverend mommy: "And how long will those indulgences last?" now i'd say that prez bush shouldn't believe in indulgences since he is methodist, but let's be honest, he isn't much for listening to his church, so this works for me

kevin alton: "...so he says (heh heh), 'Does the Pope wear a funny hat?' (heh) Get it? (heh heh) Get it? A funny hat!"  (heh) Pause. "What?" Pause. "Lemme start over..." i had john stewart's bush imitation in my head with this one, so i laughed pretty good with that. a bit long for a caption, but hey, this is my completely subjective contest.

aaron alexander: Now that I'm done with this President thing, you down for some Xbox this weekend? Call of Duty is right my alley! just the idea of the president playing video games, and its complete possibility was a great image to me.. and its within plausibility that he'd say something like this too.

to you three fine captioners. look in your mail for some treats courtesy of me.

thoughts on a experiement : social media & the methodist

updated: blake huggins has some thoughts to add & i, as seems customary, have comment

kevin watson, proposed a little experiment to the metho-blogosphere after i made posting on how our general agencies just don't get how to use social media. he has posted his observed results and some opinions about the experiment.

I was surprised that more than 25 bloggers linked to the video in some way on their blog. And I do think it is significant that simply passing on a video was able to revive a video that was basically dead on YouTube. A change from 44 views in 6 months to 715 views in 2 weeks is a significant change. I think that this experiment does show that there exists a significant group of Methodists who are willing to work together in some capacity to raise awareness and get the word out. The big question is: Get the word out about what?

i had some thoughts on the results, not to mention my idea of how general agencies need to target their mild marketing efforts.

like i mentioned to you earlier kevin. the next step would be to spread it around through people’s email lists. email is going to tap more of the mainstream folks versus the early adopts of the blog world.

some numbers can be low because we share information amongst ourselves. i had already seen the video so i wasn’t going to watch 25 times because 25 of my friends posted it. i also am not sure if the embed watching shows up in the views on youtube or that is just a ‘hit’ to that page. that would also keep numbers rather low as most folks embedded the video. i know i did that.

certainly the video didn’t go viral, but i don’t know if it has elements to that seem to be ingrained in a viral video. something that is familiar, humorous or heart tugging. the old gene cotton claymation clay ride history of methodism got a lot of traffic, until umcom told me to take it down, as people had some kindred tie to it. it was a good video, but for many it was more nostalgic to the soul. who knows how well that video would be doing now. i have some news story on the patriot guard, and westboro baptist, that seems to get a comment or two and a hundred or so views a day.

though the experiment didn’t go viral that isn’t the measure. the measure is that it is talked about and people are more aware of ‘reclaiming wesleyan tradition’ now. which, they might not have been before.

some thoughts

as for kevin's observation that views dropped after the 2nd week.. well, it wasn't the kind of video that so many people kept going back too to show off or laugh at again. months later i still go back and laugh at the nashville gas crisis (though it isn't as funny as it was that week).

what are your thoughts?

marketing shift : why old ways don't work

i was saying to erin last night, "i just get frustrated in how & why to i can't seem to communicate with these kids & parents." i was speaking of an information/logistic type communications. not a spiritual sense. with the all the different messages they get mine seem to get diluted. i know that our churches as a whole experience this problem & i'm pondering how i can find my way through and help communicate to my churches how they can do the same (a monumental task i believe). so with all that in mind, this little video, which i ran across in my reader (but i lost who actually posted it to 'tip' them), highlights the large shift of brand communication.



Scholz & Friends: "Dramatic shift in marketing reality from Michael Reissinger

remembering martin luther king jr. : not a tamed guy

one of the things i often wonder about martin luther king jr is how just about everyone has this warm feeling about him. his often highlighted 'i have a dream' speech is wonderful and captivating of ones imagination. but, that isn't his only speech and many are not so easy to stomach as being part of america. as a modern prophet he is dangerous to people, he speaks a truth that is hard to come to be honest with. he just isn't that tamed person that i often think people see of him. this is one such episode

caption contest & freebie : in recognition of inauguration day

inauguration day is always an great day. i know people have their reasons for this year being more special than others, but to know that we have a complete change of government leadership without violence or war is something to behold. so, in recognition of inauguration i've got this caption contest. cool thing, my completely subjectively chosen winner (and you can vote for who you think is best) will be sent a copy of my worship feast prayer stations cdrom project & maybe some more stuff, but i promise that one.

let the captioning begin!

a band by any other name : wind farming

the good bishop schnay-z whom i got to hang with the other night had some really nice thoughts on connection from our evening conversations. much more well spoken than my bullet list. one thing that i found interesting, and i quite like it, is he called jay & myself 'wind farmers' for some of our work with the methoblog. jay thinks itd be a great band name.. i'm just glad the bishop isn't from tennessee as we don't have much wind farming in tennessee.. itd be more like coal ash mush shovelers.

dear gavin : what to do with sunday school

one of the latest emails

Hey if you dont mind me asking, what do you use for Senior High Sunday School? Trying to find a good resource/curriculum to use.

we started doing a coffee house worship for the traditional sunday school hour. so its a bit different. before that i developed a master plan curriculum for our sunday school classes.

the ileadyouth website has (or had, they did a redesign recently) a 'master plan' of curriculum which covers a wide range of topics & the bible thoroughly. they had 2 and 4 year curriculum to work with that would be classified as 'bible' or 'life'. we put together a 2 year master plan (before we did the coffee house thing) which we had set up as 7 week segments that the 7-8th graders choose between two classes, the 9-11th had two choices, and the 12th graders had their own dedicated class.

i find it a good idea to get into developing a long term plan so that you can say that your youth are getting a full picture of life & theology. have this in place will help keep your teachers from winging it on a consistent week to week basis. in recruiting teachers it is good points to show them some of the things you would be asking them to teach. teachers can preview items that they are going to be teaching & thus be more well equipped. its gives parent cred to show you have a plan for their child's theological upbringing.

don't know where to start or have the time? that's cool. here is the one that we developed. you can use it as is (even fill in your own teacher names) or use it as a starting point. note: since we put this together a few years back some of the curriculum pieces are on closeout prices, which is cool, you can get for like 2 dollars.

• Download Sunday_School_2_Year_Master_Plan (pdf)
• Download Sunday_School_2_Year_Master_Plan (rtf)

so you want to volunteer : how to recruit your youth workers

okay so it's not the sustainable way to get your peeps together, but it is pretty accurate how it gets done & probably a more realistic look. comes courtesy of dave walker & cartoon church developed for national charter for youthworkers. if this doesn't work try herding cats.

congress on evangelism : mike slaughter on worship

i was not there for all the mike slaughter speak at last week's congress on evangelism. but i made his session on 'passionate worship' and took a few notes.

creating a passionate worship environment comes from asking

• what is the theme
• what is the felt need
• desired outcome

5 dimensions of worship in creative process

1. the message: preaching, teaching, & healing
2. the medium: environments are an important 'theology of space'
3. the mystery: how do we experience the presence of God
4. the music: (nuff said, i didn't take any added note)
5. the mission: clarify what matters for God

i don't usually comment on my notes. usually there are completely exhaustive. these are not for some reason. i liked mike's presentation, but i found little transferable to my own context that i don't already have my own framework for implementing. that's not a bash of ginghamsburg or mike, i really like what they do, but nothing resonated.. except maybe that they use a lot of video to connect their community to ministry narratives.

monday music : for everyday

in honor of show tickets going on sale this week, i give you a little dave matthews band. he will be coming to town in april, but tickets will be on sale on thursday i believe. this particular song, 'everyday' comes off the album title titled after the song. what i find interesting is the video (not embeddable, fail!) which involves a guy randomly giving hugs looks a whole like the free hugs campaign.. hmm..

my interesting connection with dmb comes as i used to see them a lot. they came through tuscaloosa (the home of university of alabama) on the bar circuit all the time. they charged a huge cover, like 10 bucks (which is an investment for college student), but that is where the girls went so we all went. i remember sometime standing around in my fraternities television room waiting for dinner when all of a sudden a dmb video came on mtv... we all stared and then acknowledged that we'd never see them back at the local bars ever again.. and i'm not sure i've ever seen them live since.

sustainable youth ministry : the book i've been needing

i consider myself to be a pretty capable youth pastor. i've got some skillz! but i also lack some skills. one seems to be that i get lost in my own creative self. i can imagine up new youth ministry ideas and models, but when it comes to implementation i miss stuff, and i know it too. problem is that i can't, or take forever to, sort through making a better way.

this is why i'm super stoked to be reading sustainable youth ministry. not only does the title speak to me as i've been doing this in some form or fashion for over 14 years but i find myself in a larger church context that takes more skills than i even possessed. i am a super fan of contemplative youth ministry practice and even believe in what youth ministry 3.0 is presenting, but when it comes to implementing to a point where you & your youth community you've been blessed with are healthy then this is a book for you & your staff.

i haven't finished it, but i am already feeling energized by it. it's what i've been needing for probably the last two years.

stupid part of it, mark devries is a friend of mine and i'm gonna have to pick on him next time i see him for holding out on me for so long.

congress on evangelism : tyrone gordon on Acts 4

one of those new voices to my life came in quickly at the congress on evangelism last week. rev. tyrone gordon of saint luke's community united methodist church gave the opening worship sermon. some little quot-ables that i jotted down. he was preaching a sermon called "who said you could do that?" based on acts 4.

• most of our christianity is nothing but talk
• as long as we preach a comfy Jesus we will get along just fine
• it got them IN trouble, before it got them out of trouble
• (holding up the bible) this tells me i don't need permission, i already have the authority

vision for the umc : virtual church plant experiences

i have pondered this, but i actually said it yesterday to blake huggins while we were watching clif guy talk about the church of the resurrection new internet campus. i have not participated in the cor's internet campus but essentially it is a live streaming of the church's services. this isn't new, but it is a significant cost to enable the bandwidth, not to mention all the hardware (if you didn't already have that). for cor, they already had the cameras and projection stuff, they just needed to project out to the net.

another internet campus that i know if is lifechurch.tv internet campus. again, i've just visited, but not during worship times. so i can't say what all happens there, but it too is essentially a live stream as well. they do compliment it with a internet campus blog. one internet experience i have participated with lifechurch folks is their second life campus. i got to make one of their services which again, was a piped in live stream. the difference with that environment was that i could chit chat with people and see others worshipping. (that is kinda funny to think of but, suspend your disbelief, and go with me)

the thing with these two campuses is that they emminate from the same place. not a bad thing at all, its who they are.. but it had me thinking

what if the united methodist church, in order to build more actual connections across the global church, by setting up some internet campuses around the world? there would be something beautiful for me to tune into a church in kenya, russia, latin america, etc..

easter services could all be celebrated with a church in australia or korea as they are the first to welcome the sun of easter day.. and you & i could be there. how cool is that!

we would see & participate in some of the familiars that come with a traditional liturgical background and a common hymnal. but to familiarize and come to know the differences of our family church would just be incredible.. this could be even be enhance by offering in virtual environments where i can meet up with others, much like we did for general conference this past year.

consider this a charge united methodist church entities, help coordinate a global campus to bring together a fully connectional church.

gavoweb poll : closing out a college season

as with everyone i know, i have an opinion on the rankings of college football. the things i get burned up about is the 80s/90s loyalty the experts have for undefeated teams, but then will swing around and say someone else is the best, but not put it into the polls. if you think someone is the best, show it by where you would put your money on betting for them. now, i'm not saying gamble, well maybe.. but put your commitment (and being honest, money is most peoples primary symbol of commitment) on the team you think is best and stick with them. so here is my rankings & i welcome your critique.

1. Florida : i just can't bet against them. they beat my tide too
2. Southern California : they are good, always have been they just get lost in who they are and slip up, but i'll bet on them anytime in a big game, except against florida
3. Texas : they seem to be balanced & play tough, beat OU soundly and only hit a perfect storm of TT to stumble. i like Colt McCoy
4. Utah : i wouldn't have bet on them till after sugar both, but i will now. their coaching can win them a big game.
5. Alabama : bama it tough and has a power game & defense that i will still back up
6. Oklahoma : they proved there isn't much defense in the Big 12, but they are still a threat. if they can get a jump on you, you are done. which could put them past the tide, but i'm betting on the tide.
7. after that i am betting on a sec team.. maybe even vanderbilt after this year.

update: ap & coaches polls are now out. ap gives props to utah, coaches poll surprisingly, is almost identical to mine.

it needs to stop now! : how do we let this happen?

i was really troubled by the news, but then to see this photo today of the deaths from a school in the gaza strip.

congress on evangelism : blogger bishop meet up

tuesday was my second day at the congress on evangelism. i took in two workshop sessions, one with mike slaughter of ginghamsburg notoriety, and bishop robert schnase of 5 fruitful practices notoriety. the cool part, and the anticipated moment for the day was a sit down conversation with bishop robert schnase about church & technology with some of our "methotweet" & "methoblogger" community.

folks in attendance, were my wifey erin richardson, theresa coleman aka reverend mommy, jay voorhees, amy shanholtzer & stephen drachler, wayne cook aka tnrambler, kathi ambler, bishop schnase, midlife rookie, & amy forbus of dog & God.

some of the things we discussed as i can best frame

• the essence of blogging community & how they are bona-fide relationships for us
• the sharing of information & creative media, creative commons ethos
• communication across the lines of the church, cultivating a relationship connection
• finding the bright voices to lead the church, who are they?
• some of the role of technology in church
• we solved global warming, but jay doesn't think it'll work
• the bishop as a blogger and engaging in social media
• how we have huge divides in the church over a theology of bbq
• plus more

we had some really great conversation for about 3 to 4 hours. a bunch of laughs, stories, and a few deep thoughts. strange though, we didn't talk about twilight or potter puppet pals. i would loved to have discussed that.

i've posted some of the photos from my days hanging out at the congress.

congress on evangelism : making friends

congress on evangelism '09
Originally uploaded by gavoweb.

last night kicked off the 2009 congress on evangelism. it is here in nashville after being here about four years ago. i like the congress, not for the content, though some of it is very good, but the networking here is a lot of fun. i get out and meet a lot of people who are not in my regular circles.

last night i spent the evening in conversation with some of the boy from church of resurrection & the foundation talking techie geek stuff, but it was fun to finally, finally meet my long time blogger buddy wayne cook of tnrambler fame. i would visit his blog as i bet he will be doing some good recaps of the event. got to say hey to amy forbus who is all over the place cause she is so popular.

jay has some spurred thoughts on connectionalism from our evening together.

today i will be cleaning our house a bit then heading over to the conference again. come say hi to me

participatory media : literacy teaching

i loved this quote from michael wesch on why he is moving away from literacy teaching as primary to integration of participatory media literacy.

We use social media in the classroom not because our students use it, but because we are afraid that social media might be using them - that they are using social media blindly, without recognition of the new challenges and opportunities they might create.

to back him up, i've got a little marshall mcluhan again. that's 2x in a day. gotta be a record.

as someone who is doing some of this with my youth ministry i am grateful for some of the words & perspective to communicate this idea. i also like the rheingold quote.

If print culture shaped the environment in which the Enlightenment blossomed and set the scene for the Industrial Revolution, participatory media might similarly shape the cognitive and social environments in which twenty first century life will take place (a shift in the way our culture operates). For this reason, participatory media literacy is not another subject to be shoehorned into the curriculum as job training for knowledge workers.

madv & marshall mcluhan : the crazy early adopters

i stumbled onto this when i was talking driver49 into plugging in friendfeed lifestream into his site (something at the moment of writing this we cannot claim complete success). he unearthed an article from clive thompson at wired, about some of the youtube culture.

i mentioned in the comment that the youtube illustration was highlighted in dr. michael wesch's presentation to the library of congress (a great synopsis/history of digital video culture as acted out in youtube). if i were listening, which i am, michael wesch's stuff is where i'd be listening too. they are creative and intelligently observing the anthropology of technological culture. but i do like this snippet from clive's article.

Marshall McLuhan pointed out that whenever we get our hands on a new medium we tend to use it like older ones. Early TV broadcasts consisted of guys sitting around reading radio scripts because nobody had realized yet that TV could tell stories differently. It's the same with much of today's webcam video; most people still try to emulate TV and film. Only weirdos like MadV are really exploring its potential.

i like the little snarky comment of only the weirdos, the fringe people, or the earliest adopters are really exploring the potential of some of the mediums we find in social technologies.

Marshall McLuhan from Gavin Richardson.

the purple church : reaching the early adopters

i was pondering my earlier post about how my church misses the mark in some of these marketing attempts things and getting their message (which i believe to be good) to the mass. i felt sorta bad because i made a critique without any real suggestion, something i am prone to do (and be done too). so what is a piece of advice or starting point in suggesting to my tribe church & its general agencies which are charged with supporting it?

i came back to thinking of seth godin & his purple cow. as he mentions the purple cow in this ted talk, stop trying to focus your energies on these broad based middle audiences. look for the early adopters to get your message to & inspire them to tell others. i liked the videos created, so i share it, and the viewership spreads from there.

not that i am the earliest adopter, but i do consider myself an early adopter. i am interested and listening to what my church has to say and putting out. i have google news feeds on my church (as i am sure others do as well) to tell me happenings in the world. i pay attention to technology & art and how it is being used in our church. i've used resources in my ministry work that has taken root in the mainstream of my church and conference. five years ago when jonathon and i started doing prayer station worship it was new, fresh, 'remarkable' for our context. today our youth & youth leaders are well versed it and have contributed to published books and articles.

one thing with the early adopters, it is a small demographic and those folks don't take as much money to communicate with as a mass audience. as the open hearts open minds igniting ministry campaign put out with how many millions of dollars? yet our church has continued to decline. imagine instead of getting people who watch 24 hour news (the only time i saw the commercials was on cnn) you reached out to a core enthusiastic audience who cares about the church and what new can happen. as godin mention's the steve jobs keynote, a general board can do an open meeting free to anyone who has a internet connection and microphone (and video camera too to see folks) via www.tokbox.com. content could be the newest ideas, what is happening in the local areas & around the world, who knows. it costs you nothing but your time to do it. millions can then be invested in to user generated ministries & missions that people can talk up with passion instead of a tired tv campaign.

those are some first thoughts. i hope this helps you be remarkable.

monday music : love is here

i am not a big christian music aficionado, at least not anymore. its not that i don't like christian music, but it just hasn't filled my soul need. one group tho that i got turned onto this summer (when way of pilgrimage was using their stuff for discussion videos) i do find myself listening to more and more. they are called tenth avenue north. they could be super huge now, i wouldn't know, but they are reasonably new to me. i like their sound & they don't sound awkward moving tempo in their songs. i haven't done the dissecting of the theology of songs, so far i am just enjoying.

blogger meet up : the bishop robert schnase

if you are in the nashville area, a blogger, and got some free evening time on wednesday evening. come over to the congress on evangelism for a blogger meet up with bishop robert schnase. amy posted info at the methoblog.

Several of us attending the upcoming Congress on Evangelism in Nashville are pulling together a blogger meetup at the supper break time on Wednesday, January 7. We haven't yet set the location; one factor in that decision is how many people we expect to have. So, please email me at aforbus(at)umr.org by Friday, Jan. 2 if you plan to attend the meetup. Bishop Robert Schnase will be part of the gathering.

UPDATE: We've decided to meet later, to get around the time crunch of the supper break. We are going to meet up after worship and go somewhere that'll let us sit around and talk past 9:00.

bishop schnase is the toast of methodism with his fruitful congregations book & resource. i first ran into him at the umerging event back in 2006 when he sat in as a q&a with bishop scott jones. that was a heated little conversation, but in the following years i believe we all understand each other more. i liked bishop schnazz then & i expect to like him more after hanging out.

reclaiming wesley : a little creativity from the methochurch

saw this today over on kevin watson's deeply committed blog. its a promo for reclaiming the wesleyan tradtion from out of discipleship resources (a division of the general board of discipleship). i recognize one of the voices as my friend bill lizor who is part of the division on ministries with young people.

i like the over feel of the video and i like how it plugs reclaiming wesleyan tradition. it mixes the success of the guiness commercial ads without the moving mouths and a succinct history & message. well done. my big issue (as i always seem to have an issue) is that the video has been on youtube since the summer and only has 67 views (at the time that i viewed it). we need some help getting our agencies ingrained in the social media spectrum.


in other oddities, i noticed, what seems to be the 'pee standing up pastor' (viewed over 200k times) talking about john wesley (viewed 1500x more than the reclaiming wesley video has).

what has me pee'vd : back to the war metaphor

i could not help it. i got burned up inside by some prooftexting comment on adam walker cleaveland's posting about inappropriate youth ministry curriculum. i've gotten on my war metaphor bandwagon before and it's not that i'm some pacifist (i admit to struggle with pacifism). but as i see it, youth need new metaphors and new words to bring inspiration of the gospel message. otherwise we just get a lot of the same. here was a bit of my comment.

thanks for the prooftexting, i think we know there is a bunch of war in the bible. but if you can honestly say war is what God wants then get away from my youth. my youth want nothing to do with war, it stresses them and contributes little, except loss and heartbreak to their lives. we have adopted what Jesus told Peter, to “put down the sword” & “get behind me devil” for picking up the sword and weapons and power tool of the empire which creates widows & orphans. may we all turn our gun & war metaphors into “plowshares” so that we cultivate things that grow, not destroy..

update: adam's posting was picked up by the youth specialties blog, asking if military imagery is needed in youth ministry?

religulous : bill mahar on radical faith & people who don't think

i've spent bits and pieces of my morning watching religulous, the documentary by bill mahar on faith & reason. my quick thoughts

• he takes on more than just the christian faith, which i know is in the target hairs of skeptics/critics etc. since he goes to all faith expressions i'll say, he's balanced in his critique.
• i agree with him on a few of the 'questions & doubt' he brings up. case, he was standing in front of the vatican and said 'where does Jesus talk about this?' (or a similar caveat). which i agree, our systems and buildings, which are or can be testaments to God inspiration within persons, can also wreak of our own needs. but with this case example, people are moved spiritually by such structures & people are have probably been sacrificed (financially & socially) in making such structures exist. we live in both worlds as a faith, we cannot seperate the them.
• i have a hard time calling it documentary, more like docudrama, in that the film is littered with snippets of video from various culture angles (from gay porn, war footage, to children's bible cartoons) that give little to the overall conversation than to elicit an edgy response. there is also times, especially in the conversations with various leaders of islam where they subtitle what is being said. now, it could be what is actually said (i do not speak arabic) but in a case where a cleric takes what looks like a phone call/txt message, they put in subtitle what he txt message. those instances just fuel stereotypes which is not helpful for his overall message.
• his overall message is that religion needs to go away (and for those religious/christ follower folks, you might think the same), but his crass nature in sharing his message will probably only put off people to what is probably a greater message, that we need to question & answer our faith. that type of questioning is not a bad thing to be avoided, but should be embraced as part of our spiritual pilgrimage.

i might suggest a more graceful response in putting out a similar message to the christian church is to check out 'Lord save me from your followers' by dan merchant

stirring the pot : back to sex week challenge

my article for the united methodist reporter got picked up by the dallas morning news religion blog. as i'd expect there are folks who disagree with me. that's perfectly okay. not a problem with that. i disagreed with pastor ed, so its only fair conversation.