Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

virtual community is not possible : shane hipps day

this is the video by shane hipps in a little snippet interview by the out or ur folks at the national pastors convention. scot mcknight took some of this to task as well & kept going with it as shane chipped back in. tony jones also threw in his thoughts on virtual community into the conversation.

know how your technology is shaping you : shane hipps day

this is a good little video interview between rob bell & shane hipps (tip terrace) where shane flips on you what might be your preconceived notions on how technology is shaping you & culture.

Rob Bell Interviews Shane Hipps About Technology.

earth hour to earth day : tending to mother

my buddy sam davidson @ cool people care has layed down the challenge of taking on green habit from earth hour to the end of earth day. you can sign up for a special email to keep you going for the 21 days.

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

podcamp nashville : the internet is our parish

hey nashville friends, podcamp is just around the corner (ie. saturday). i'm doing my first ever speaking gig at this podcamp. erin & i have been faithful attenders and participants of the barcamps & geekbreakfasts here in nashville. love the tech community here.

my session is on spirituality in the social media spectrum. what will bascially be bringing up is some significant pieces of how faith is acted out with some reflections as to why i feel they are remarkable.

i'll be putting in some church suggestions in there as well, but that stuff isn't as much fun as telling stories.

i showed erin my presentation and walked her through my unwritten script. she really liked it. since she's my barometer i'm feeling pretty good.

not in nashville & want to get plugged in? if i can get some reasonable way to put together a ustream, you can find me at my ustream channel (which i rarely use). you can follow along all the podcamp nashville fun on twitter by following #pcn09.

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?

monday music : its a landslide

a little tip to jen lemen for weekend reminder of this haunting gem that i just love. at one point i was close to being able to play this song on guitar..

credit crisis in nutshell : modern economics that i can understand

one of the simpler explanations to the economic crisis that knucklehead like myself can understand. tip lifehacker


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

enough review : the advice you probably already knew but forgot

a few weeks back i was sent a few copies of 'enough, discovering joy through simplicity and generosity' which is the latest book by adam hamilton. as with many of my reviews, its more about my emotions reading through the book than the content. sorry, i try to balance it out, but sometimes to no avail. if you want something a bit more lengthy & thorough then catch up with my friend shane raynor's review.

it is a little bit more than 100 pages and a small size paperback retailing for 8 dollars. which is pretty attractive to me in that the topic is not one i'd normally invest in, but i would consider this one. it was a pretty easy read. i started it, put it down after the intro and then finished the rest in one sitting. if you have ever heard adam preach you can really hear him preaching withing the pages (at least i was).

it is obviously a writing that reflects on our current economic crisis. much of the advice rendered through the pages, that is actual financial navigation void of spiritual framework, is stuff you would hear from a credit-less advocate (ala, dave ramsey who is actually mentioned once or twice). adam brings up some old school ideals of 'layaway' which i remember all to well. he breaks out the classic thought of "wants" vs "needs. in the beginning adam brings up our reshaping of "the american dream" from living well and improved from your parents conditions to this idea of having more stuff. my default to talking about consumption is 'the story of stuff' which has similar parallels. still, i was rather intrigued with naming how that ideal has changed.

hamilton moves from the need to manage money and then into giving with the tithe as an example. its in the ending chapters that adam really hits his stride, or it just took me two or three chapters to get into his rhythem. i was thinking at the end of the reading if this was the next consecration/pledge campaign for a church.. i sure hope not, but it is possibly. this doesn't feel good as a curriculum/training book. its a good conviction book, but it is still much of the same advice i've heard for years. people know these practices, complain about the various problems, get this kind of advice from various outlets, we just continue to forget about it. sage advice, but we will probably still learn the hard way.. or maybe we are already learning it.

practical wisdom : getting away from the external drivers

this is a great talk given at ted just a few weeks back. so much i can resonate with. it is worth every minute of your 20 minutes.

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.

 

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

Ed Young

Colbert Report Full Episodes
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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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

unfettered hope : technology and commodification of parents

...the development of the technological milieu has caused parents to lose the natural authority they held when their children needed them to learn skills to survive. The device paradigm of our culture has also eroded parent-child relationships, for young people can easily envision their parents only as the device from which they can derive commodities of toys, money, clothes, or technological gadgets.

from unfettered hope, by marva dawn

jesus drafted my fantasay football team : complete silliness

i used to do the year round fantasy stuff, nfl & baseball being my primary leagues. i even did some hockey and golf. i gave all that up and now focus on one nfl fantasy team with my sunday school class fellas. not sure what to name myself i called myself 'shalom prophet'.. not quite sure why, but it's been a lot of fun claiming that God tells me who to draft or start. this wasn't my best year statistically (though i did have michael turner on my team, Jesus told me he'd be good) but i still managed to get to the championship game again. again though, i lost. my counterpart jim, who was my whipping boy sent me this video as the secret to his success.

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'

unicef : photo of the year

i think many of us know of unicef for the little boxes they make for kids to go around and collect change. i am thinking about that change as i see this photo gallery submitted for their photo of the year. the winning one is called 'walking barefoot through misery' taken by a 21 year old girl.

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

youth marketing trends : ministry still applies

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: teens kids)

the part that caught my eye first was #4, marketing is no longer something that you do 'to' youth but 'with' youth. sounds like relationships, which should be at the heart of ministry.

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.

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go read more of why sex challenge misses the mark

ordinary radicals review : my life as i knew it

some time back i ordered my own copy of 'the ordinary radicals' a documentary by jamie moffett and focusing on the people and experiences that circled around the jesus for president book tour.

i was super stoked about the documentary. had these ideas of all the different people it would profile and story.

when i got the documentary i watched it at the first opportunity. my emotional reactions were somewhat uneasy, there was some stuff in there that made me uncomfortable, which i felt strange about because all the concepts and ideas were things i have been familiar with through readings of shane's books or others. many of the people in the video i had heard of and got what i would expect. but some of the lesser known, or unknown folks, stories were way powerful.

the documentary got really long for me. almost 2 hours in length it felt long. i might have done a shorter movie length with continued stories on a website. that might allow for more adaptability and continued conversations.. might even have a place where people upload their own videos of stuff they are doing.

at the end of it all the documentary ended up in moorestown, nj which was funny to me. i went to church at first umc in moorestown, growing up next door in cinnaminson. i spent many years with the people of moorestown. they were doing a contrast of moorestown and camden, which only are about five miles apart (with cinnaminson in part of the middle of that 5 miles). camden is notoriously one of the most violent and poverty stricken places.

what is funny to me is that i hung out in camden too. it was for various reasons, but i remember doing a driving lesson through parts of camden to pick up the next student. there was shopping spots and even a night club as i remember visiting. in my early days of hs we played various schools from in and around camden in sports (that changed when our schools restructured the whole league system). the waterfront was built up with the aquarium and concert amphitheater to check out. then there were my emt days where we went to cooper hospital over and over again. though i knew camden to be a dangerous place by reputation it was never some huge stark contrast.. but then again, back in those days moorestown isn't what it is today either. the divide of haves and have nots may have just gotten so much bigger.

back to ordinary radicals. its a good movie, great for stirring conversation. wish it was shorter to get allow people to get to that conversation without feeling they are leaving something out. as for teaching spots it has some great testimonies to pull from to share specific thoughts on empire, money, mission, homelessness, government, and more.

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.

anthropology & youtube : user generated video and web 2.0

this is a presentation by mike wesh who brought us digital ethnography & some of the great videos on web 2.0 and a vision for students. its a fifty min presentation so you might want to watch when you have some time. there are some real jems in here so give it a go.


in the early i like this quote. "that the web is not about information, its about linking people.. linking in ways that can't even predict." i love the tensions highlighted between our values of individualism & community.

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!

bcs is my friend : whats wrong with college football rankings

my buddy thomas is a texas fan is rather upset by the latest fun from the bowl championship series rankings that put his longhorns out of the big 12 championship game and likely out of the national championship. i have my own strong opinions which i got into rant mode. figured i'd share them here. if you can't read between my sarcasm and serious thoughts just ask or take me to task.

i'm with you thomas as a bama grad. texas should be in the game. its painfully obvious how swaying the polls are to the whims of what happened last weekend.

if texas was on the primetime tv last saturday and showed no defense and scored 60 points against another team who had no defense then they would have held onto their 1st place standing in the b12 south by keeping ahead in the bcs.

as history goes, the media loves oklahoma and what have they done in championship games? generally they tank with only one national championship win (seven years ago). they are even the great team that lost to a non-bcs conference.

texas when they got a shot only beat the, at the time before kick-off, the 'team of the century' as the pundits were calling usc. let it be known that the big 12 is 6-8 in bcs bowl games, four of those losses come via oklahoma, i anticipate another one coming. texas is 2-0 in their shot at bcs bowl games.

i don't know why they don't consider tradition, it doesn't leave from weekend to weekend. the team you thought was so great one weekend shouldn't just fall away the next, just as one you didn't think was as good as another doesn't just leap ahead of the other this late in the season.

plus an offense cannot win a championship. the colts never did till they sured up their offense. the '92 miami hurricanes got throttled when they met the alabama defense. no one gave the ravens much of a chance with dilfer, but how'd that turn out? i have no confidence in a team that cannot stop another team from scoring.

okay, that feels like sufficient rant. texas got hosed because our pundits are more into fads than they are into sustainability and sound teams. they love the quarterback, or the single person talent on a team, over the offensive and defensive lines.

note: i am glad they still hold fast to the undefeated being number one, bama gets no respect for being undefeated except that as tradition goes an undefeated team gets default number 1 status. it pissed me off when ohio state got there with slow teams in the past, but it's proving helpful for my team this year.

all that said. bama beats florida in a close one that almost gives me a heart attack. then rolls on to beat oklahoma by hitting sam bradford into the chin and pushing their o-line back and stumping their wide-outs with an awesome secondary. or florida wins and beats oklahoma and scores more points than bo jackson in techmo