Fall Curriculum. AHHHHH!

Image via WikipediaI have been knee-deep in curriculum over the past day.  I've had so many ideas and plans running through my mind for our fall programming and I'm still not sure how it will all pan out.You know...There are a whole lot of resources out there.Cokesbury.Zondervan.Group Publishing.ChristianBook.com.All the reviews you can read on Amazon. We have struggled with Christian Education...

If We Could All Love Jesus This Much

This is from Jesus Needs New PR.  Funny picture.  Funny si...

Transformation

I have struggled with transformation, both leading it as a Pastor and experiencing it as a Christian.  Even today's sermon dealt with my desire to have a total "ABOUT FACE" in my faith so that, instead of moments of holiness in a life filled with distractions I might have moments of distractions in a life filled with holiness.  It's rough.  And, I'm not sure I'm doing such a good job...

Another Reason to Get an iPad -- So I Can Become a Doctor

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"The Atheist's Hymnal" -- Steve Martin

This is not about deism or theism.  It's about humor.  Enjoy.   (This is a performance from Merlefest 201...

Christian Satire -- (Fake) Pastor Brad Towers

Image by Fishbowl Collective via FlickrI have enjoyed reading about the Experimental Church for the last month or so.  This is a fake site.  It's a fake pastor.  And it's hilarious.  This site pokes fun at clergy and our need to impress.  It pokes fun at sermon preparation and worship style.  I LOVED...really LOVED the whole series on Vacation Bible School where, in a...

Scott Harrison of CHARITY: WATER

During today's sermon, when talking about the total "About Face" of Paul in the Bible (from persecuting Christians to preaching Christ), I shared the "about face" of Scott Harrison of Charity: Water.  He went from someone in the entertainment industry in New York City to leading a charity with the following mission:charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water...

Scripture for Sunday -- Philippians 3:4b-16 (NIV)

Image via WikipediaIf anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.  7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ....

Scripture for Sunday -- Galatians 1:11-24 (NIV)

Image via Wikipedia11I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.  13For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14I was advancing in Judaism beyond many...

"I Have a Dream" -- Anniversary of the Speech

You may have heard that there's another speech going on at the Lincoln Memorial today. Perhaps it's a good day to remember this o...

Wood Bison At Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

They're doing a good thing at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  You can read about their Wood Bison Reintroduction Program as well.This is a picture from Thursday, August ...

"Abraham" -- By Sufjan Stevens

The story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac in the land of Moriah.  Love the story.  Love the song.  Named one of my daughters after the story.Abraham Tested  1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"       "Here I am," he replied.  2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region...

Prepping for Sunday AM

My Sunday mornings are a bit different than the one for the pastor in the video below.  In particular, my soundtrack is differe...

Marriage and Family...They're tough.

Marriage and family...they're tough.  They're not easy at times.  Here I sit typing this after having a difficult bedtime with twin three-year olds.  (Actually couldn't finish that last sentence without having to run upstairs for another bedtime "crisis" -- a word of which young children have a different understanding than us adults).  I had a long day of being the stay-at-home...

AHHHHHH! FIRE TORNADO!!!! AHHHHH!

Got this via a Facebook Friend and will refrain from any biblical references.    But AHHHHHH!It is pretty awesome...and horrib...

I Sometimes Feel Like the Angel of Death

Image via WikipediaHad another death in the community recently.  I'm going to be purposefully vague about it to keep the details private.  Like many deaths, it's not anyone who actually lives here but someone who was in the Girdwood area enjoying something the area has to offer -- fishing, hiking, skiing, etc.  On any given day, a lot of the people around here aren't actually from around...

What I'm Sure My Congregation Sometimes Thinks

Taken from AbsoJe...

Why Preach?

Image via WikipediaNo sermon this past week as we entered into service projects for the day.  But I love this quote from Paul Mallard:“Do not preach because you love preaching.  Preach because you love Jesu...

Why Blog?

Image by churl via FlickrI'm amazed at the amount of things I've written about and the number of items (some of them more random than others) that I've posted over the last several months.  I'm enjoying this process and am trying to figure out what it is that I'm doing here.  With so many things on my to-do lists, what is the purpose of trying to take some time each day to make sure something...

Another Reason to Get an iPad --- WEDDINGS

The article is h...

Matt Maher -- "Hold Us Together"

So...are we "our brother's keepe...

Snail Mail

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The Church Has Left the Building

When we come together for worship, we are "the church gathered."  When we leave from that place, going out into the world, to enter into discussion and activity and service and work with others in the world, we are "the church scattered."We never stop being the church.  We are always the church.   Church is not the place we gather or what takes place on Sunday mornings within a...

Embracing Poverty -- Henri Nouwen

Image by mikmikko via FlickrHow can we embrace poverty as way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! Blessing is hidden...

Bad Religion -- "American Jesus"

Keeping up with my commentary on economi...

A Wallet: Recycled, Animal Friendly, Fair Trade, Kiva-supporting AND...

...made from recycled plastic bags and newspapers collected from the streets of Delhi.This is from HOLSTEE.According to their site, this is how and why they made it:When it came time to buy a new wallet, we couldn't find what we were looking for so we designed our own... The slim wallet design holds the essentials - cash, credit cards and even has a sliding window for your ID and Metro card. Working...

"Compassion" -- Frederick Buechner

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"[CHURCH] is a VERB Sunday" This Week

We'll be doing service projects instead of having a worship service.  This will be, I think, the fourth time we've done this in the last couple of years.From Church is a V...

This is Where I Got to Go on a Bike Ride Today

It's Girdwood's "Bird to Gird" trail that connects Bird Point and the Girdwood Bike Path.   Beautiful day.  Sunshine.   Good conversation.  Good pics.  This place never fails to amaze me.GOD IS GOOD!From "Bird to Gird" on an Awesome DayFrom "Bird to Gird" on an Awesome DayFrom "Bird to Gird" on an Awesome ...

Colonialism

Found this picture over at Believing In the City.  It's a blog by Chris Shannahan, who, interestingly was a Methodist pastor for 15 years but is now, get this, Research Fellow in Urban Theology at the University of Birmingham.  I think that's cool.  He says he's exploring what it means to believe in a liberative God in the city in the 21st Century.This poster, a protest concerning Shell...

What We Can Learn About Money from the Third World?

Image by Stathis Stavrianos (Stathis_1980) via FlickrCraig Ford wrote an article for Wise Bread, a blog subtitled "Living Large on a Small Budget."  Craig writes about personal finance for Money Help for Christians and Help Me Travel Cheap.  The article that caught my attention is "5 Money Lessons From the Third World" which was gleaned from the time since his family has moved to Papua New...

Consumerism and the Cross

What does this tell us?  Is it offensive?  Is it true?  Why is the cross absent here?  Note some of the items in the shopping bags...Christmas items, presents, Disney, wi...

Attendees or Disciples

Image by Martin LaBar via FlickrThere's a nice post on church planting by Brad Ruggles, a church planter who is starting a new plant in Indiana.  He talks about how he's interested in having a church full of disciples and not a church full of attendees and will be working hard to keep it that way.I found the following comment by Brian Detzel, another church planter now in Cincinnati, to summarize...

Some Facts About Microsoft (an infographic)

Via: Online MBA Progr...

"[CHURCH] is a VERB" -- Sermon for August 15, 2010

Text:  Matthew 28:16-20 & Luke 10:1-12Title:  “[CHURCH] Is a VERB”My first church out of seminary was in __________, Indiana.  There were some good people in that church…really good people.  Some of you know that I've talked openly about how that was a hard place to start out in ministry for a couple different reasons.  And, so, when I say "there were some really good...

Spiritual Tourism

Image by Lawrence OP via FlickrYou know that nice little gift shop they have near the entrance to the fancy cathedral you went to in Europe...the one where you picked up the postcard to send back home to friends or to put in your scrapbook.  Perhaps you picked up some handmade craft items, knitted by the locals.  I, myself, recall the lengthy time I spent in the gift shop at Servants In...

A Wordle for a Book I hope to Read Soon

It's a book on the sermon on the mou...

Christianity (Puritans) and Capitalism

There is a whole lot of connection between mainline Christianity and mainline Capitalism.  The interplay is scary at times.  But, was it always that way?  Apparently not. See this from over at the New York Times' "Idea of the Day" blog -- although it's from a week ago now.  It's called, "How Puritans Turned Capitalist."The Idea is: When Boston’s dour Puritan preachers...

Show Me the Money!

Image by BenSpark via FlickrI have a lot of economic/consumerism/money ideas, bits of blogs, and quotes that have been floating around in my blog drafts...assuming that I was going to get to them someday.  Well, this week I hope to post some of them.  These are issues I struggle with.  These are issues on my mind.  Why?I want things.I'm a consumer.I'm a slave to advertising...

Obama and the Bible

Image via WikipediaInteresting analysis of how President Obama uses the Bible in his public addresses.  It's by Professor Jeffrey S. Silker of Loyola Marymount in an academic paper for the Catholic Biblical Association of America.  Read the whole thing HERE.  Below are some of the things I found most interesting.Obama quotes Bible passages that appeal to the broadest base, Silker said...Siker...

iPad + "Eye of the Tiger"

Another reason for me to get an iPad -- so I can make cool music.ipad + "Eye of the Tiger" from Jordan Hollender on Vim...

My Hat

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A Twiter Version of the Bible

Image by The Next Web via FlickrYes, it's Christians across the pond.  First there was communion via Twitter.  Now the whole Bible.  The hope, apparently, is that persons will receive the tweets and want to read the whole Bible.Reports The Guardian:A Christian evangelist has launched an almighty work of precis, to reduce the 800,000-odd words in the Bible to 1,190 tweets. Chris Juby,...