Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

failing is great : giving it a go

craig groeschel has some good thoughts on failure.. or failing, but not FAIL!

• failing forward
• failing selectively

they are quick reads, bullet lists, my favorites & well worth the time to ponder

don't confuse who you are actually reaching : why i say your church tech stuff is lame

in my recent presentation at podcamp nashville on spirituality and social media i was talking specifically about podcasting when i made statement along the lines of 'sermon podcasts are lame.' i believe that statement.. really i do. i have posted sermons online, in video and audio format. i have downloaded sermon podcast in video and audio format from many churches and the thing i've found.. i generally don't care about them. i'll end up deleting the subscription after a few months of only watching one or two.

why is this? is it the preaching? generally no.. most of the time the preaching is quite good. its the relationship. i have no clue who this person is really. i don't know their family, i don't know if they like football. we've never shook hands.. i just have a hard time investing in the words of someone i have no connection to. i can listen to you. take your wisdom, but in the long run, the lack of connection wins out and i fade away.

but i have heard stories where people say "but this person checked out our podcast and came to church" sure.. there are those folks. they are not me & i'm pretty average so i default that most folks are like me.



but i hear that churches like mars hill bible church is at the top of itunes subscription list. how is that possible? well, for one, it doesn't stay up there. but two, why does anyone care about a church up in grand rapids michigan and what they have to say on sunday morning? truth is, they don't. what they do care is what rob bell has to say. people who have heard him speak at a conference, watched a series of nooma videos or read one of his books are invested in this guy. he's opened up to them in various ways. they know him & they want to know what more he has to say. the podcast, is just the conduit to continue to keep that relationship going. even if it is one sided.

so with this train of thought in mind. let's be honest about what our tech is used for. 1. your church facebook page/church twitter account/etc is not going to be populated by people who are unchurched and looking for a church. yes, a few may lurk as they church shop, if they are that point (which would technically not be unchurched). the grand population of all that technology is speaking to your own people. that's not a bad thing, just be honest about it and direct your energies with them as your focus.

i will give blogs (not housed on your church website) and youtube accounts a pass on this because they are more readily showing up in keyword searches (if you have indexed & keyworded them well) on google or youtube platform.

truth is, if you are wanting to reach out, what you are generally only doing is 'speaking out' and with todays cultural and generation values, that just doesn't cut it anymore. no one cares to get involved in a one sided conversation.

so when you are talking up or talking about how to use technology to reach out of your church. remember these thoughts. just taking what ever is created within your church walls and then broadcasted out for people to hear is just lame. figure out a way, commit to doing, some things that truely engage people in a converation.

some quick thoughts.

• start a podcast that uses call in or email questions, much like father roderick or mitch joel.
• have other people in your church be given a recording device to take home or on a trip to record some real life conversations and put that out there.
• go interview some people just walking the street (use video or audio) and ask them what questions they'd like someone to give an answer for or expand upon. then sneak them a business card with the feed url.
• take the effort to transcript a video or audio podcast so that is searchable if someone was looking for Christ the King sunday thoughts (no affense to CtheK sunday, you're one of my favs).
• set up personal accounts for facebook and twitter and make friends with people who are not in your congregation (this might mean putting an email note in the facebook friend request so you don't weird someone out). don't immediately invite them the the umw meeting (no affense to the united methodist women here either, i love you gals).
• visit some secular events, take photos (good ones) then put them in facebook and then ask to be someones friend so that you may be able to tag them. then you can have an opportunity to share in one more vehicle.
• if you put up a sermon, why not do a 'directors cut' with some commentary that makes it accessible, or trim down to just the most key points (trust me, not all of a 20 minute sermon is a critical key point).

spirituality & social media : my podcamp nashville video

john w ellis, who has become one of our buddies in the nashville tech circle video taped my talk from podcamp nashville on saturday.

PodCamp Nashville: Spirituality & Social Media by Gavin Richardson from John Ellis on Vimeo

some links to referenced sites

• real live preacher
• emerging church wikipedia page : emergent village
• father roderick
• south park episode on the loss of the internet
• asbo jesus
• blasphemy challenge : youtube video
• tweet jeebus
• filioque
• second life
• old jews telling jokes

satan uses money : where are our priorities

i'm a real fan of lifechurch.tv's series of sketches where they chat with satan. simple, generally good theology in the idea of screwtape letters, witty, and the videos are put together well. i submit this one on how satan uses money in the economy.

where is our hope : dealing with the downturn

this comes from a pastor friend ryan bennett, who posted this on his facebook. thought it was worthwhile sharing today.

Well, the news is out today. The economy is bad - real bad. Recession is giving way to talk of Depression. The stock market is at its lowest point in over a decade, taking with it the retirement accounts of many of our elderly. Things are bad.

So, with things this bad, where are people turning? In Tennessee, the answer was obvious this morning with the news that February was the biggest month EVER for the Tennessee lottery. $208 MILLION dollars were spent on lottery tickets in the month of February alone.

This is a damning statement about the hopelessness and irrationality that is so pervasive in our culture now. It is also a damning statement about where people are not turning - the church. Why would people seeking hope not turn to the church? I guess the answer is that hope is not what we are offering.

The daily news is offering gloom and doom. Shouldn't the church be more bold in its offering of Good News? Not good news on the economy but true Good News from the Hope of the World, Jesus Christ!

I think that the world has largely written off the church. "They don't care about my needs. They are too concerned with fighting and bickering amongst themselves about polity and doctrine."

If we can't offer Good News then who can? I believe this is an opportunity for the church, but we must first relearn the unique message God has given us then we must engage the world in which we live in a real way. It will get messy, no doubt. But I don't think there is anything else we can do and be faithful.

Lord, let the church offer more hope to a hurting people than the lottery.

Ryan

i don't know what more commentary i can put on this, but say "yup." we should be doing better. where do we start?

the future of church : a green life returns to what we knew

 

a few weeks back i was in a conversation where we were talking about the future of the church. i made some statement, not slamming the megachurch, but being less than kind to the megachurch as the future of church. which, i am prone to do.

one of the people just happened to be a part of the staff at one of the biggest megachurches, that i will leave unnamed (haha!). and he offered his view. he shared that he felt that the future church will look like megachurches and house churches.. hmmm..

now i pondered that. it most certainly could be the case. people seem to embrace the large corporation securities/offerings or they go against the grain in some anti-establishment stance, which could bring about that dynamic. but i don't know if corporation is the future (and lets be honest, the megachurch is a corporation) of the life of the person.

what i got to thinking about was the inclination people are having to live the 'green' lifestyle. it is just now becoming a norm and part of peoples daily practices. so as families develop with young adults that have grown up being 'green' what are some of their behaviors that might shape they way they participate in church life?

we are already seeing that people are not too worried about their church denomination loyalites. the economics are poor in large global corporate climate, which was otherwise safe & secure 5 years ago.

so these three things, 1. green living 2. falling denomination loyalty 3. an unsecure corporate economic will lead to resurgence of parish life.

people, conscious of their impact will doing old school transportation, walking to & from the markets/cafe/stores. because people cannot blindly count on corporations for their economic securities there will be a move back to small business (which i hope government taxes make easier, or less taxking, to do) bringing up local entrepreneurship, and finanicial control back to the individual, that we have not seen in 50+ years. people will move back into those houses of worship that were abandoned by a church denomination, or are a dieing congregation, in their neighborhoods and reshape them to what is core to their local needs.

when will this happen? maybe 20-30 years or so from now. there will be that generation shift where the older folks who have grown up with behaviors of driving all over God's green earth to get what they need are not the norm. they will be replaced by children of my family who have grown up living simply, using canvas bags for daily grocery pick up, walking to schools, riding a bike to the post office, knowing who all is in your neighborhood (instead of driving in and driving out).

will this replace what we currently know? not completely. just as the corporation will never leave us the megachurch will never leave either. but it will become less a significant voice in our day to day lives. there will be nothing to be enamored about as people lives will have become reoriented towards a parish life. house churches i don't see as being a norm, but being the new 'satalite' campuses of the parish church, which isn't such a new idea at all.

in the future, we will see parish life return.. will we, our denominations, be ready or will we have moved out our stakes?

chime in? agree/disagree? thoughts? am i crazy?

look back into the past : the things that were about this time years ago

in my on going toss out of lifting up some of the archives of this blog from similar time period over the years.

• i jumped in on some oovoo conversations with marketing & tech type people (pretty sure i was the only youth minister participating in the event). that was fun, but oovoo hasn't taken off. tokbox seems to be the next multi person video conference center.
• some ponderings from the desert fathers & mothers on parenting & youth ministry
• everyone can use some new 'faith filled' pick up lines
• an early morning reflection on the homeless in my city
• remember when the nfl was going to sue churches if you had a super bowl party.. seems they have learned from that pr nightmare
• i was again likened to a celebrity.. well, he wasn't so much celebrity then, he's more now
• church shopping & the devices of the entertaining church
• i took the strengths profile test that our church is big proponent of. can you guess what i came out as?
• my abbey journal kept while on retreat at gethsemani. good times, need to get back soon.
• in what is the only time you see capital letters use consistently, my pastor michael williams guest blogged on the theological conversation with miroslav volf
• this is what happens when you are friends with jonathon norman
• thoughts on how justice issues can become an idol unto themselves
• some ponderings on contemporary worship in my church context & how our greater church sold their soul to contemporary worship
• starbucks goes down!

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.

 

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Ed Young

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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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

desiring the undesirable : homeless and hungry in our world

i ran into rudy rasmus this summer at soulfeast at lake junaluska. i wasn't a participant of soulfeast, but i got to meet him cause my people knew his people and i am just so important.. not really. he was standing in the doorway going to some workshop when people i did know intro'd me. from what i gathered he was quite the spiritual leader for the group at soul feast. buddy jay voorhees really liked him and contemplated growing the braided beard look.

the folks at the circuit rider have in circulation an article he's written on ministry with the homeless and hungry in our society titled desiring the undesirable that is a definite read.

what Christmas is all about : merry Christmas all!

this is just one of my favorites of all time, the whole special is great, but this is just a classic moment in tvland.

monday music : Jesus is our jubilee

not being a nashville native i have adopted some of the norms of the nashville culture. one of the norms of being in nashville is that you don't "out" the celebrities. they are regular people and you let them be regular. since nashville is a country music home this is rather easy for me. being from the philadelphia area there was maybe one country station and going to alabama i tried to give country a go, but it didn't take. some of the icons i can point out, the dolly or... well, the dolly.

this not 'outting' the celeb became a big thing when i was working for awhile at rei in brentwood (a camping co-op store for those that don't know & a tn town where a lot of celebs reside). people would come in and i'd ask them if they were a member (a common question when you visit a co-op) and i'd get their name, jackson, brooks, etc. i knew of people, so i would realize that they were somebody.

i lost my cool though, once.

i had this very ordinary guy stop in buying some stuff. i rang him up, his co-op membership was under his wife's name, not a problem. he gave me his credit card and i looked at it for signature and matching name. when i saw his name it said 'michael card'.. my eyes widened and i looked up at him and sneaked the question "are you, the michael card, the musician?" he answered back "yes" and didn't look to pleased about it. so i needed a recovery.. i responded back with what was amazing brilliance "i know one of your old piano teachers." note: this was not a lie, rolland puckett who went to church with me. rolland is an older gentleman who was a concert pianist and would play his steinway in the church sanctuary at night. i'd sneak in and listen to him, it was a real joy and we had a good friendship. anyway, back to michael. he replied back "really?" i said, "yes, rolland puckett is a very good friend." michael's shoulder's let down, we talked about rolland a bit and the gear that he was purchasing for a 2 week romanian mission he was undertaking at that time. i was on cloud nine. went home and told my brother who i ran into and he was stoked too. i told other folks about my run in with michael card, but they were like "who?" yes, he's more the artist for the church geek.

michael was never the most well known artist. he didn't fit the trendy mold of contemporary christian music. his stuff was challenging too. none of his stuff is fluffy & couldn't really get adapted to the growing worship music scene. he talked with a lot of the words and metaphors you see in the emergent community now, only this was steeped in more liturgy and lived out in the early & mid '90's, long before that stuff start.

so, in this time of advent i share with you michael card's song jubilee. i would also suggest his song with phil keaggy 'poem of your life'

things on tab : stories sex religion church teens and technology

as part of my new integration of lifestream stuff into my blogs newer look. i've been plugging a lot of stuff into my gavin del.icio.us account. so you can track back to these and other links of interest long after this posting (and others) have cycled out of view. i'm working on figuring out how i like stumbleupon or digg.

• simply my favorite story of a teenager & faith that i've read in a long time. here is his official website & a powerful youtube video testimony
• in similar news, jolly blogger announces he has cancer
• a big deal with the episcopalian church break up is, what to do with the property? the umc has the same set up, so this is interesting news for me.
• the wifey wanted me to read this.. its true, i have bad sleeping habits. sage advice?
• i'd say this is pretty darn cool for perkins school of theology
• poor pastor, at least he's got his congregation
• muslim teenagers growing up in america. not so easy to keep to traditional rules
• 10 questions that separate girls from women.. how do you answer?
• some united methodist churches talk merger
• inside of the bernard madoff's 'scam of the century' (though, this century is kinda young)
• phyllis tickle and peter rollins talk emergence shop
• a lot of folks upset or happy about rick warren doing the invocation. this one caught my eye though. ben witherington always has a thorough thought on the subject
• if you missed my sex week challenge article
• reverend mommy's prayer musings and her last supper lunch box
• locking down your own data
• turbulent cleric on reimagining the world a sermon of sorts
• asbo jesus at it again
• sky lowe mccracken highlights the troubles of a methodist university
• chris brogan on the distinctions of a blog post versus twitter post & how to see that in the whole social media spectrum
• is a green shift in home ownership going to save economic times?
• jason's many hats
• newspapers are still figuring out the whole conversation thing, by techcrunch
• top 10 photography tips and tricks plus why you should shoot in raw format
• josh's guide to God blessed college football bowl games

christmas day experience : not so peaceful after all

the other night we had our live nativity at church. it was great fun, partly cause i was not in charge, seeing people get dressed and all ages of the church getting together. then seeing people slow down or honk as they drove by to take a look or pull into the parking lot to pet obama and mccain llama's. it was crazy. it reminded me of years ago when i attended the children's service back at my home church where it was what i felt was a bethlehem experience. so i naturally loved this recent asbo jesus, not so peaceful night.

sex week challenge revist : commentary for umportal

a few weeks back i made a simple commentary about ed young's sex week challenge to his congregation. amy forbus asked if i would expand on my feelings for a commentary for the umportal. i'm never short on something to say so i gave it a go. it will go into print for the reporter next month, but is online now as 'sex challenge misses the mark.'

....

Having followed Mr. Young closely and watched his sermons online, I know he has some good reasons why sex is an important part of a marriage relationship. But his pandering with the news media outlets and their need for one-line quotations only simplified an otherwise complicated issue.

Let me suggest we should not be talking about sex as a “foundation” for our marriages. Before we should be having sex, we should figure out how we are friends with our spouses and others. If we are to “reclaim sex” as God’s great gift from the seduction of culture we have to start at the deep core, not the symptom. The deep core we need to address is how we are friends in love, not lovers in bed.

---

go read more of why sex challenge misses the mark

sunday signs : don't be sad

its been awhile since i picked up a fun church sign that would be worthy of crummy church signs. where do we go with this one? the fact that you've taken a rather complex theological concept, not to mention strong faith statement, into a cheesy one liner? is it the plea?.. no, its the the total cheese factor. God doesn't need our cheese.

tis the season : tale of the christmas pickle

i've often wondered about the christmas pickle when it appears every year in our ornament assortment. 'what is that story again?" thanks to my friend newscoma for rooting up this tale of the christmas pickle.. well, sorta. &:~)

in other holiday traditions, we all should recycle the 12 days of christmas, asia style like amy has.

anticipating the vision : meditation with nouwen

The marvelous vision of the peaceable Kingdom, in which all violence has been overcome and all men, women, and children live in loving unity with nature, calls for its realization in our day-to-day lives. Instead of being an escapist dream, it challenges us to anticipate what it promises. Every time we forgive our neighbor, every time we make a child smile, every time we show compassion to a suffering person, every time we arrange a bouquet of flowers, offer care to tame or wild animals, prevent pollution, create beauty in our homes and gardens, and work for peace and justice among peoples and nations we are making the vision come true.

We must remind one another constantly of the vision. Whenever it comes alive in us we will find new energy to live it out, right where we are. Instead of making us escape real life, this beautiful vision gets us involved.

you can get get meditations sent to you from the henri nouwen society

life of the blog : this week in retrospect

as i am doing every now and then, during this 4th year anniversary of ye' ole' blog i'm pulling out some posts that are significant to me for some reason.

• part of me is that i am an ambitious slacker..
• had an advent district worship service where we did prayer stations, choir of angels was my fav
• i began pondering the brilliance of henri nouwen's "clowning in rome"
• still one of my favorite morning prayers
• i wasn't then & i am still not, a fan of the war metaphor in youth ministry

i am second : next generation testimony

jared turned my attention to the site "i am second" which is a series of testimony videos where the gist is, 'i was first, but came to know Christ and know now, that i am second.' the videos are not terribly flashy, with effects and all, but powerful with just lighting and the stories.. oh the stories.. this one jared shared and is, so far, the one i've connected with. not because i've been a drug user or even a huge korn fan,.. maybe it was the connection with the child (which i'm not a dad yet either, but i get the kid connection). if you haven't seen it yet (its starting to make rampant across the blogosphere) check out "i am second"

things on tab : oh what i'm pondering

its about time to offload some the many things of interest i've got on tab

• leaving lustvegas, oh that sermon series i am such a fan of
  
• the social media cloud
• you need year round thanksgiving
• engaging youth in worship
• 8 social media monitoring tools
• why are young adults leaving the church?
• mistakes of social media marketing
• why some methodist's don't 'claim the name'
• wired's composition of snack culture (oldie, but goodie)
• high school ethics
• new barriers to college entry
• advent experiential worship courtesy of jonny baker
• photoshop ho-hum color into a wow!

tuesday randomness : the link love

i've got a bunch of things on tab to look through.

• develop some creative messaging for your outreach
• how did obama tap into social networks power?
• my virtual barbie is better than yours!
• hip-hop poetry books for children
• txt messaging may be able to curb obesity.. i told them to check out tweet what you eat
• homeless youth television
• ypulse mashup millennials myths panel
• consider alternative gifts, donate to save darfur
• video discussion by phyllis tickle on 'the great emergence'
• highs and lows of teenage faith development
• are youth starting to use twitter? not that i've seen..
• still staring at multiply to decide if i want to sign up..
• my friend jacob's church plant made our methodist news
• adding basecamp to gmail.. cool!
• using exposure bias to improve photo detail
• the election has spurred all kinds of racism.. sad, predictable, but sad
• obama & the facebook generation

senior choir hip hop : speechless, and not in a good way

matthew paul turner @ Jesus needs new pr tipped me to this one. i can appreciate a choir taking chances. i can appreciate a senior choir that takes chances.. but i'm not sure i can say this was cute, not sure i can call this good.. i really am speechless, maybe you can help give me the words.

true : what people see

i always enjoy when asbo Jesus is at the top of his game.

God hates shrimp : the catholic vote

friends have sent me these two things that i find, funny & interesting. worth a look.

if you are a westboro baptist basher, like i generally am, then you will want to bash the folks at God hates shrimp.

next thing is from the folks at catholic vote. agree with or disagree with. it's a pretty darn good video.

providing for the needs : staying at home

mark is at it again, and that is cool, it's his message he shares about men being men, and he's consistent with that message.. apparently he's curbed his message a little from john hagee (tip to phil for that one). i can agree that men need to responsible, that's cool with me, but being responsible is very different from an implied breadwinner role with wife at home. i'd say there are other ways of raising men and the machismo attitude can be left at the door. as for stay at home dad, i can recognize that every child needs a mother, i've run into this all too often with a kids at camp whom don't care for my comfort. but being in a household where we both make about equal and erin's role with her family business it may be more a reality that i become more the stay at home dad. just for the record too, i'd be pretty darn good at it. i already have the 4 legged kids helping out around the house.

worship evaluation : if only we had nba coverage

there's been a lot circulating around about mystery worshippers. i recently talked about someone leaving a less than favorable review of our church on google. what happens when you bring in nba/nfl type coverage of your church? something like this?

tip jesus needs new pr

billy graham : technology and suffering

i really do love that ted is putting their talks online. this one from 1998 billy graham speaking on technology and suffering, the evils of the world and how Christ is the only answer. he also throws in some fun old testament bible study. very billy.

a definite thumbs up : churched by matthew paul turner

i recently finished reading "churched, one kid's journey toward God despite a holy mess" by matthew paul turner. matthew i know through our cohort and was able to catch a glimpse of the essence of churched a few weeks back. so i was actually looking forward to reading a preview copy.

i wasn't disappointed. i call this a definite thumbs up read.

basically 'churched' is a early childhood memoir of growing up in the world of the fundamentalist church. a world that i am quite foreign to. so for me it was an eye opening and question raising memoir. "really?" "what's that all about?" for those that are part of the world they may not be a happy reader, matthew is not mean about his experiences, but in the light of a mirror i cannot imagine these reflections being taken in without some apprehension. for those who grew up in this world and have found themselves out of it, i can only imagine you will see yourself in these pages as well.

'churched' is not a huge theological book, certainly not an academic book.. which i gladly welcomed into my world. i enjoyed some stimulating thoughts mixed in with engaging stories. the book moves well and is not super long (only 200 some pages) so it isn't overloaded with too many stories.

mostly, my fav part, is the writing matthew has in this book. i totally moved into the witty one liners and sarcastic humor mixed in with his story telling. from being told that he is his own worst enemy & going immediately into counseling to being the best christian in a graduating class, not to mention the descriptions of the various teachers in his life.. its very close to how i operate and would write a memoir, if i was really capable of writing a memoir.

if i had to critique any part of the book, it is possibly that there is not much explanation of why each story was significant and how it plays into future life, as a separate entity.. but i was not one who cared for that, so it is not a critique of mine. that short capsuling just is not there. what is there is that all the stories comprise into a whole narrative of who the person is now and how they are reconciling their way into a life of faith, and more importantly, a community of faith.

if you are in nashville, go check out matthew at davis kidd tonight at 7pm.

things on tab : random linkage

its been awhile since i've done a set of links. haven't done a whole lot of blogging lately either. oh well, here is stuff to keep you occupied till i figure out the latter of the issues.

• the martin luther rap, get your reformation gangster on
• modern versus post-modern politics
• most companies struggling to figure out how to serve millennial generations
• how to recruit on campus..
• the under 30 don't care about your nutrition labels
• olive on a wesley wedding
• millennials want more feedback from their managers?.. really..
• is it the parents or the technology that has reshaped dating?
• a new kind of giver

jesus for president : shane claiborne

 

yesterday i went with my church clergy to hear shane claiborne as part of belmont university's sermon series. here were some of the fun quotes from that morning out of the office.

• My pastor. It gives me hope to here this message and see all these young people.
• SC. We vote everyday with our lives. Advise everyone. Endorse no one.
• SC. The bible doesn't say God so loved America but God so loved the world.
• SC. We are supposed to live in ways that don't compute.
• SC. Im not so sure how we as Christians became so normal.
• SC Song. Come patriots bring your flags. We're doin a foot washin and will need some rags.
• OpeningPrayer. How could we worship a homeless man on Sunday and step over one on Monday.

i've heard shane a few times in the last two years. this presentation was a little different. partly, i believe, he was speaking more to the empire and work for the poor. most of the other times it was more about reframing church. i like his message. it is terrible for me though as someone who is trying to go back and write down notes.

in other fun. we discussed politics & faith, using jesus for president as part of our framework. i'm still chuckling at thomas for saying 'shane is a better christian than Jesus'.. he had a good point, regardless of the point, the statement just has be cracked up.

latest christian rip off : cough.. spin off

i am not the biggest critic of christian culture spinning off of secular culture stuff, but it does annoy me. Jesus doesn't say conform the worlds things to be more like me as far as i know, but that's what we do. not to mention, this kind of thing only feeds into consumerism which is very culture oriented. anyways, i got this from the journal of student ministries as one of their newer sponsors. i'm glad they are sponsoring the magazine, because that is quality. but the idea of dance dance dance praise revolution has me gagging.

thoughts.. how does one interpret if the holy spirit is moving while playing? or is there holy spirit expert level?