Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

reclaiming wesley : a little creativity from the methochurch

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

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


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

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

monday music : zehnder music review

a first for the monday music is to review some new music. this stuff came to me via the ooze. i've often wondered what would emergent music sound like? after brian mclaren wrote his manifesto to worship songwriters some years back i have been looking out for those who might fit into taking that seriously.

the zehnder guys give their angle on it. here is a video of them doing the song of peace hymn.

So Who's Zehnder? (found at their website)

Twins Tom and Tim Gibbs Zehnder compose, arrange, perform and record as an indie worship band based in Los Angeles. Tim plays bass and doumbek, Tom plays guitar and djembe, and the two raise their voices together in elaborate duets. They serve a local church with their music, L.A.'s Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

A few accolades: "Zehnder communes with those who hear their music." -Ched Meyers | Author/Speaker/Theologian | Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries "Take a unique harmonized vocal sound and a punchy groove and combine that with provocative lyrics and you start to get a sense of Zehnder." -Rev. Dan Hoffman | Co-Executive Director | Hollywood Urban Project

For more about Zehnder

i am not the aficionado of music, but what i liked about these guys is that they take some chance with their lyric. its not repetitive chorus which gets taken into a quick circulation of the worship spectrum, but there is rounded thought mixed in with their lyric. i would liken their songwriting to more a folk songwriter. the sound of the group i might describe as an experimental acoustic. even their rap song "justice jam" (which is probably my favorite) is bass lined with a chello (or what sounds like chello).

basin & towel : more monday music

i have been wandering through the michael card collections since monday's music post. this one called basin & towel i remember from some worship services we did at mountain top some time back. modern telling of a parable?

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

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.

family heirloom : prayer station video

this is a prayer station idea that didn't make the cut onto my worship feast prayer stations cdrom. this features my bud jonathon with a few kids talking about 'family heirlooms.' i think it didn't make the cut cause jonathon's voice got lost in the space, so volume might have to be turned up. you can still hear clearly enough, promise.

Family Heirlooms : Prayer Station from Gavin Richardson.

you can purchase the worship feast prayer stations cdrom amazon : cokesbury

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.

wrapping up a week : a whole lot of inspiration

this little gem is making its way around the internet. a brilliant little piece that i would classify as 'someone who has too much time on their hands' put together some of the most inspirational movie speeches into one of the more, yet rambling, inspirational youtube speeches. i will be laughing hysterically when i see this at the end of someones workshop/talk presentation

monday music : its special

i pondering some music to get into and possibly share. i don't know why this came to mind, might be because of all the college bowl talk, but i started thinking of a weekend at penn state with my sister and bunch of her's and my friends. one of things we went to was some lake party. it looked like it was going to be something really cool, but i rained so much it put a damper on the party. one thing that did happen was 38 special. they were the band for the concert/party/festival. i always liked them, but never had seen them in concert before or since.

james surowieki : wisdom of crowds and rise of social media

this is james surowieki the author of 'wisdom of crowds' who argues that the crowd is much smarter than it might normally think. its a good book that everyone should read. this is a ted talk on when social media became news

monday music : a civil war

i found this video interesting, a largely anti-war song with graphic images of two of our countries more positively viewed wars.

social media to real life : puppet pals musical

i'm a fan of the harry potter puppet pals. i find the composition of the 'shows' to be very entertaining. as with anything social media i am interested to see how it transfers into a mainstream model of entertainment/promotion. to show that people love these simple puppets even more in real life, just check out this fan video of the puppet pals tour.

music monday : sorta music

todays music isn't quite music. i'm spreading the word on budding artist, matt weddle / obadiah parker, trying to get a record cut here in nashville. here is is popular video on youtube a cover of "hey ya." tip to eric

red & blue : may we find the land of hesed

this is may be the most brilliant thing jay has done this year. &:~)

he's alive : a literal video

this is just too good. tip to mitch

spread the word : stop the disease

via the ted folks, visit xdrtb.org for more info.

music monday : hasidic reggae

i've talked about matisyahu before. hasidic reggae? i love it and share it with you on this.. belated music monday. view more of matisyahu

short distance dedication : sweet song

john reminded me of a instance where i was watching some hip mtv show and started singing a background song. wife asked what the song was, i told her it was matthew sweet. she didn't know who i spoke of.. we're in counseling now (haha) & i share this video as a short distance dedication to my lovely wife. &:~D

music monday : my teen years

yes its tuesday, who really cares though?

in my teen years it was a summer tradition to pack the buddies into a car and head out to the mann music center to catch the steve miller band. i cannot even recount all the stories.. some i probably shouldn't. we all knew, and still know, every word to every song. call that cool or sad it is what it is.

i had always heard this rumor that steve would ride his bike around the grounds of a concert venue before a show. he wasn't a daily mtv face & his image wasn't on albums or t-shirts so it was feasible to think that he could do that without being noticed.. i never noticed him, but it was neat to think he rode by at some point. anyways this is one of his most popular or mainstream songs.

the ordinary radicals : proud owner

i ordered my own copy of 'the ordinary radicals' today. for some reason i noticed today, and not others, that the nashville showing is just for belmont univ students. lllaamme! so i bought my own copy. it's only 20 bucks and i suppose it could be a quick back up for youth if needed.

The Ordinary Radicals - Trailer from Jamie Moffett on Vimeo.

taize : compilation

caught this little taize video via bosco's liturgy site. notice the diversity, imagine the languages,.. wonder how youth react to a worship in the spirit of taize? here is some of our experiences from last summer.

music monday : wish you were here

it tuesday, but i was busy & without opportunity to post yesterdays music. so i am putting up what a small tribute to richard wright of pink floyd who passed away yesterday at 65. interesting to see all the video tributes showing up.
 

heard it all : saint augustine confession

i can imagine a lot of things. but a rap on saint augustine's confessions. thanks to john & ironic catholic

religious history : professor eddie izzard

music monday : bringing back the rock

i remember when these guys came onto the scene and change rock and roll as i knew it.

its no joke : thief in the night

i don't know about you, but i've never seen all of 'thief in the night'.. it was brought up at our cohort on thursday as part of the discussion. so for some reason i was thinking.. and what'd you know. there's a full length version on google video. get your popcorn & enjoy!

music monday : feeling a bit emo

so i'm feeling a bit emo today. i guess.. here's some famous emo

mash up : burt & ernie kick it

i don't know how people have time for creating mash ups.. but then again, people don't know how i have time to blog. but i do. regardless, i love the mash up. this was was especially fun. tip mitch

wednesday randomness : link love

oh some stuff for your procrastination

• happy meal virtual world
• sad beating of a gay teen
• i agree, but that is the case for all teenage television shows
• skateboarding franciscan
• are we obsessed with youth culture that we get rid of our older folks? what's old? i might be out of a job
• teens dressing modestly? i'm not shocked
• virtual world to real world.. difference?
• what, like you didn't hang out looking for that older person, but we had to pay for it
• sex sells, so they say, so this isn't terribly creative but predictable
• i'm impressed they wrote a thank you note
• stats show this doesn't work,.. i could go on for half a day on this
• this could actually be a real reality show.. documentary
• what is before the next generation
• if youth ministry were a website.. interesting question
• when halo isn't enough, give this non-recruitment tool a shot
• creating business from a blog
• how dare you push around cartoonchurch!
• "Jesus needs a drink" i can't resist, title is too good
• wisdom of friends, get a mentor.. after watching the hall of fame inductions last week. they all had mentors. not gangs, posse, crews, entourage.. but mentors
• why we prefer a segregated sunday
• can i feel this way too?
• guilty as charged
• neat charging station idea
• there is nothing wrong with you.. serious

reimagine : mark scandrette

mark scandrette doing his slam poetry from 'the church basement roadshow' tip from bob, my pics from the roadshow

music monday : saved by a woman

you may or may not have heard of ray lamontagne but you need to. so here is a start

the hand that steadies : where are you

music monday : bela fleck and friends

driving down and back from vacation i got into my habit of listening to random radio stuff. bad christian preaching radio, old country, classical, you get the picture. not so random in the listening line up is npr. they had a great profile of victor wooten. it got me wondering what the fleck crew has been up too. i haven't seen bela fleck for a few years, since he came on stage with bobby mcferrin to do a set of dueling banjos, only mcferrin used his voice. that was awesome. so why not, get the fleck on.

hendersonville first : health ministry highlight

two of our youth put together this video. one actually started it and due to summer vacation had to pass the final cut onto another. the latest in our ministry highlight series. i think it's a bit long, but i can live with that as i think it is mostly excellent. yours truly gets to make a special appearance.

more on the links : and it's not golf

time just seems to be going everywhere but into blog posting. no biggie, just means i'm working with the youth who i am sorta paid to minister with. so for the time you can see some of the fruits of work & readings. this is my latest collection of stuff.

• television and our children's children
• imvu another up and coming virtual reality world
• theology of mission
• lyfe : connecting God to us
• phyllis tickle on the new emergence
• android (which i was reading about in wired) hits snag
• reduce camera shake
• pete rollins interview on church beyond belief
• teen pregnancy pact info.. penelope's celeb parent porn
• celebs reason for teen pregnancy pact
• the pregnancy pact is called into question
• fewer peeps going towards tech degrees
• teens feeling the recession pinch?
• parents leading teenagers back to the newspaper
• pagans and patriarchs
• wordle.. just try it
• incarnation in virtual world
• interval training is the way to go.. if only i exercised
• what communication lessons i learned in marriage counseling
• a church dominated by the young and unexperienced
• build your own photo wire wall
• words for non-believers
• church practice gutenberg mindset in google world
• map-it your brainstorm session
• waking up to pluralism
• the creative worship tour
• are you young umc clergy? this is for you then
• the new classics.. and what kat thinks of some of them
• i am thinking of a bamm experience for myself
• what books have changed your life?
• pastors need to theologian in weekly columns.. they still do this?
• diary of an outreach flop
• i don't get radiohead, but this is a cool stage set!
• thomas's welcome message
• mitch on facebook past, myspace present, linked-in future.. hmm
• scot on the whole dobson obama junk
• white people like to compare folks to hitler.. and acting poor
• does the church have a responsibility to encourage carpooling?
• for teens email just doesn't cut it.. duh! i've know that for years
• ypulse on some hypothetical questions of youth, social media culture
• teens crashing pools using google earth.. hmm.. smart.. maybe use street view too
• bullying becoming a younger thing
• my faith isn't the only way.. neither is yours
• cutting understanding the self-mutilating teenager

super cool : a dance around the world

a bunch of friends have already highlighted this video. it's pretty darn cool to imagine it all as you see it

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

music monday : one of the gavin's

while playing a golf tournament on saturday one of my buddies called me gavin degraw.. i told him he can't call me that cause i wasn't sure if that was a bust or a compliment.. no idea who that is. but there is another gavin that i do know. he's still not the number one gavin richardson in google though! boo-yah! a blast from the past, bush - machinehead

youth ministry video : glimpse of our church

myself and a group of our youth are putting together these highlight videos for all the overarching ministries of our church. one video highlight gets show each sunday through the summer. this past sunday was our youth min sunday. it's kinda hard to capture everything that we are in a 3 min video, but i'm kinda happy with this one, plus its different than the other videos we've been doing so far.