Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

hitting the hills

the fam, dogs and all will be heading into the hills & woods with the youth. it's a good sized group, around 28 youth plus adults. much of the group is younger, which is cool too. don't expect too much blogging, but you can probably expect some   pictures come the beginning of the week.

also, sunday marks the return of my inner farmer, come and see me & my friends sitting on the front lawn of our church.

youth worker movement podcast : reunion tour

i am now the guy in charge of uploading and getting the youth worker movement podcast episodes online and out there... i have uploaded episode two, which can be downloaded directly from the youth worker movement site (which you need to be a member of, free), or (hopefully) will show up through itunes subscription.

this episode, since there was so much time between our last episode, we are calling our reunion tour. we will be cutting a new episode tomorrow and should be online after the weekend.

update: the podcast feed is working, so you can subscribe through itunes. go do it now!

my tvland

erin said that for our anniversary she was going to give me some new seasons of shows. this excites me, i was getting tired of not finding something to brainlessly be entertained by (i think she wanted some for herself though). some of the shows i plan on watching this coming fall.

• heroes
• bionic woman
• law & order svu
• law & order
• ncis
• kid nation
• criminal minds

most of my shows all come on at the same time or night.. to this i say, thank goodness for dvr

dog wink for mark

  Even Dogs Wink @ Mark Nashville Tennessee
 

yes, since everyone else is doing it, i will too. just call me a follower. or someone who is in for good fun. a little wink (from my dog) for mark driscoll.

if you ever wondered why your church didn't work

this article is starting to make it's way around the blogosphere. as a fan of morganthaler's work, this has to be one of the more comprehensive article critiques i have read of the church, worship wars, and reaching the "unchurched." it covers quite a bit of ground. i've bookmarked it for future reading to digest further.

By 2002 a few pastors of praise and worship churches began admitting to me that they weren't making much of a dent in the surrounding non-Christian population, even though their services were packed and they were known for the best worship production in town. Several asked me to help them crack the unchurched code. One wanted to invest in an expensive VJ machine and target twentysomethings. The others thought a multisensory, ancient-future, or emergent twist might help. However, when I visited their congregations, it wasn't hard to see that the biggest barrier to reaching the unchurched had little to do with worship technique or style. It had to do with isolation and the faux-worship that isolation inevitably creates.
...
As influential as they are, megachurches aren't the whole story of American religion. To get a complete picture of church growth in the 1990s and new millennium, we need to look at overall church attendance patterns. Traditional pollsters conduct telephone interviews and expect people to be honest about their religious practices. According to the numbers gathered this way, we're still at a 40 percent attendance rate. But pollsters who actually do seat counts and take exit polls tell a different story. The average weekly church attendance when measured by actual "bodies present" was at 17.4 percent in 2006, down from 20.4 percent in 1990.6 David Olson of TheAmericanChurch.org remarks, "You'd have to find 80 million more people that churches forgot to count to get to 40 percent."
...
The upshot? For all the money, time, and effort we've spent on cultural relevance—and that includes culturally relevant worship—it seems we came through the last 15 years with a significant net loss in churchgoers, proliferation of megachurches and all.
...
Truth may hurt, but if there's something leaders do, they tell it. In 2000 I didn't have all of the numbers I have now, but I had seen enough to know what was happening. The contemporary church—including the praise-and-worship church, the worship evangelism church—was in a holy huddle, and I began to talk about it. It was excruciating. It was career suicide. But from pastors conferences to worship seminars to seminaries, I began challenging leaders to give up their mythologies about how they were reaching the unchurched on Sunday morning. Yes, worship openly and unapologetically. Yes, worship well and deeply. (Which means singing songs that may include anger, sadness, and despair. Have we forgotten that David did this? Have we discarded the psalms?) But let our deepened, honest worship be the overflow of what God does through us beyond our walls.

in other fun emergent buzz, this is funny to me. even more, with more fun.

great day for a great cause

  Erin Address - Miriam's Promise Golf Tournament 
  Originally uploaded by gavoweb.

erin & i are home, very tired and quite a bit more tanned than we started the day.

we participated for the first time with the miriam's promise golf tournament. we had a great time. we shot 10 under par for our little scramble team. erin had a very successful 2nd time on the golf course, the first time doing a full 18 holes. some good laughs, big cheers, and some confusion over doing hi-fives or pound-its. most of all, the group raised over $120,000 dollars for the non-profit adoption agency.

obviously i uploaded some pics, unfortunately i got some fuzz on my lens cause you can see some blur spots. maybe something for photoshop to work out later.

merton on suffering

Indeed, the truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, teh one who suffers most: and his suffering comes to him from things so little and so trivial that one can say that it is no longer objective at all. It is his own existence, his own being, that is at once the subject and the source of his pain, and his very existence and consciousness is his greatest torture. This is another of the great perversions by which the devil uses our philosophies to turn our whole nature inside out, and eviscerate all our capacities for good, turning them against ourselves.

thomas merton, the seven storey mountain

happy anniversary to us!

hey, today is erin & mine's first anniversary (funny no blog posts from this day last year... hmmm).

we tried our wedding cake earlier today, it was excellent. though i hear we are an exception to that rule. here is the instructions for keeping an excellent wedding cake.

1. place unwrapped cake in box and freezer until frozen solid (overnight 24 hours, but no longer than 2 days)
2. take frozen cake out of box and quickly wrap very closely with aluminum foil
3. place wrapped cake in freezer bag, again wrapping cake closely and removing as much of the air in the bag as possible
4. place wrapped and bagged cake inside another freezer bag, place wrapped cake inside box and return to freezer. (you can see that you need some prep of materials to make this happen quickly)
5. on the day before anniversary, take cake out of box and remove all wrappings. return unwrapped cake to box and place in refrigerator to thaw

as our cake was very good it has been a very good year

call it my stupid question

i was just wondering.. why do all dvd's that are released these days seem to be promoted as "uncensored?" who exactly censored them? were they or us not pleased with the "censored" version that they had to release the "uncensored" version? so how many movies are censored these days that we need them to be uncensored on dvd? does "uncensored" mean that i am actually going to like your movie?

women's initiatives for a green planet

i found this argument for combating global warming pretty convincing, but it sounds quite feminine to me.. i think i could get behind a skittles argument.

this book had us written all over it

i have a book problem. i am a sucker for buying books. i don't know why. maybe they speak to me.. so it was to no surprise that i couldn't resist putting down this book. had to have it. it totally speaks to erin & mines green thumb.

i have been wanting to do some things with our gardens around the house. we have the big bushes (some that i thought were trees, but apparently they were just bushes) cleared away from the house we like.. but what now? this book obviously knew our predicament and said "take me!"

techno youth pastor & the church : the website

in this little column series, look for five things to think about when approaching said topics. feel free to add to this list or help flesh out my thoughts.

1. most often a church has a website by now. ask what the purpose of that website is for. many times churches have started sites because they thought they needed one for credibility, maybe a member did a website for themselves and wanted to make one for the church (guilty of that one), all the other church's have one, "it is to attract new people," for spiritual formation, etc. whatever it is, you want to know the purpose of the church site, because that will depict whether or not it is going to be helpful for you and your youth ministry. plus, asking the questions will give the church peeps a moment of clarity to ask of themselves, "why?" if it is an active site that people visit & people are using it, or they are actually making efforts to get people engaged into to the website then go ahead and use that system. why create a new entity when it something is working or has promise.
2. if you go your own way, which is a trend for many youth ministries. know who you are putting together the site for. a site for parents would look and function completely different than for the youth. our youth ministry site (for me) has this invisible line with our menu bar that has stuff for the parents and the other side being for the youth. i see combining the two targets audiences this way as having one sole purpose, my parents think it's cool to see the stuff we are doing for the youth.. the youth, they could care less about a bio of me (and the rest of that stuff). your target audience will depict the amount of work involved in your site, if it is for the parents you can be super simple, they want to know a calendar, the who and whats of the youth ministry, how much, etc. they don't care to use the internet for formation, blogging, or social networking. though, i do believe you can cultivate that at some point after a few years of building that culture. if the youth are your audience with the site, then they will want to know sometimes the who & whats (chances are they will actually text you before checking the net) but mostly they will want to see what it is they something of themselves. pictures are the most popular part of our site, our podcast would be second, the videos since they have gone up might be next in line. updated content is important, making a daily addition of some level important. it is more labor intensive if you are going to put together a youth site. if it is static, expect them to check it once and then go back to myspace.
3. you need to keep updated and on-going content. for this i would suggest using some blogging software, ala wordpress. you can put together a free site (free is good) that is more easily updated for the lay website developer. the crazier you are, give over some of the admin to the youth to add on content. i wouldn't give over the whole site as some day that youth will graduate, plus they might not know what is appropriate at all times. you or i might not know that either, but it is easier to apologize for something you did than to apologize for some of your youth, but you might be used to that as well. with our site, i use a content management system. why? because mentioned in #2 that it has two audiences and the cms can facilitate and organize pretty easily content. it is not the best, as easy, for a fluid on going content.
4. go ahead use where they are. if youth are on facebook / myspace or some other social networking site, look for avatar networking sites to be the next big thing. act stupid and have one of the youth put together a site/group & events for you. then they would be more apt to circulate and talk it up with their peer groups. why? because they did it. plus, this keeps you from having to learn another platform. however, i would, and do, suggest getting involved in this social networking sites as they are just as real to the teens as talking on the phone. the only real knock to this, not all youth are allowed or care to be on some of these sites, so a solo facebook approach is lacking.
5. chances are your youth website is not going to bring in millions of visitors. so securing your own webserver is not needed. what does that mean? it means that you can find some web hosting for very cheap that will allow you to do most of your needs. we are trying to use the net for spiritual formation, so we are using a more expensive option in vine hosting and the web empowered church cms system. if you do not have the resources for that, maybe paying out of pocket (something i've done a number of times) you can find many inexpensive sites with a ton of perks for next to nothing (7 dollars a month is a good average). this could include your domain name and a host of stuff you might want to take advantage of and don't need at all. if you have a "cpanel" for a hosting service then you probably have the option of turn-key applications. this means you make a couple of clicks and you can start your site as a blog or a cms without any real knowledge of web design or set up. cheapest quickest way these days that i would suggest would to use things like wordpress, flickr / picasa, and google plug-ins to put into your site.

the jena 6 more about power than race?

i have not been the closest watcher of the "jena 6" and all that has transpired. though this week i thought enough of it to include it as our youth ministry podcast. with that the collection of materials i used for the podcast one was the united methodist's social principle on "rights of racial and ethnic persons."

Racism is the combination of the power to dominate by one race over other races and a value system that assumes that the dominant race is innately superior to the others. Racism includes both personal and institutional racism. Personal racism is manifested through the individual expressions, attitudes, and/or behaviors that accept the assumptions of a racist value system and that maintain the benefits of this system. Institutional racism is the established social pattern that supports implicitly or explicitly the racist value system...

i like this framework (though i don't think it is completely comprehensive enough) to say that racism is about power. even the assuming a superiority of race is a level of power. for many in what i am hearing the call for "racism" sounds more like a hate of the other. possible, but more probable would be that there is an infringement on the assumed power within that community and those with actual power or assumed power are lashing back at that perceived infringement.

we could go all kinds of ways from this. power is about control, keeping people where you want them to be and doing what you want them to do. power is about status, in our culture, people of high status, whether deserving or not, we give them power.

this is for you dixon

(for u dixon) since you seemed so bummed not to get the tour, i did a quite in and out of one of my fav spots. some pictures to take with you.

(for u bloggers) i had a great lunch time hang out and conversation with dixon today. talked about a number of things; personal family, friends, youth ministry, church stuff. it was great fun. we had also planned for a little tour of the "happenings" going on around hendersonville. alas, a meeting got moved and he had to bail early, so i share with you what dixon missed.

hopefully my last thought on britney, the soul of the celeb

two britney posts in a weeks time? unprecedented i know. she has come back thought after reading a post from the umportal blog. they ask they question, shouldn't we treat britney as a child of God? i'd say yes, and from my prior post i thought i expressed that. the thing that got me thinking was one of the blog postings that they quoted and linked to.

Britney Spears has done some incredibly stupid things, made some terrible choices and quite frankly she seems to have fallen so low that she can barely stand. But she’s a mother, a daughter and, lest we forget, she has a soul. Yes, we pity her, but can’t we pity her enough to shut up for a second about the mess she seems to have made of her life?

this had me thinking. yes, she has a soul, and it shouldn't be beaten up. but what responsibility is the culture at large in treating someone as a human soul when they have largely known this person, or persona, as an object (sex object in this sense) over a human?

britney was never seen as philanthropic or caring in any fashion. this could have been the media, it could have been the handlers or management company of the star. other stars are the same way, very few get show for good things that are uplifting and real life. they get portrayed as objects for entertainment purposes, even when they are off doing their night-on-the-town escapes, those are entertainment, just look at the shows that now cater to that as 'news.'

i am praying for miss britney, she needs some caring people around her that love and want the best for her. is it unrealistic to think, or know, that the general culture is responding towards her the way they are? no. they have never known britney as a person, only an object. what is interesting though, she is becoming more and more human to us all as right in front of us during this time. we will probably cheer even louder and celebrate more her future success, whatever form it takes.

emerging umc, who is in?

it is a few weeks away, this emergingumc gathering. any friends coming that are not listed on the speakers/contributors list? i am looking forward to the conversations & getting some meals in one of my favorite areas of town. plus, if you are coming early and need a lift to the nashville cohort, let me know.

stats don't lie, i should go baptist

found this preview of research interesting. i guess i need to consider my denomination allegiance.

1. If you want to earn more, change denominations.
Briefly, if you want to earn more as a senior pastor, become a Presbyterian. If you want to earn more as a youth pastor, become a Baptist.

Presbyterian senior pastors earned the most in our survey—their average salary plus housing/parsonage was $78,000, while Baptist senior pastors earned next to last--$67,000. But virtually the opposite was true for youth pastors. Baptist youth pastors earned near the top--$44,000 in salary plus housing, while Presbyterian youth pastors earned near the bottom--$36,000. Why?

The answer comes from two factors: church income and denominational values.

Our research consistently shows that the biggest single factor in determining any pastor’s pay is the church’s income. And among churches with senior pastors, Presbyterian churches have the highest-reported church income, so some of that gets passed along to their senior pastors.

But among churches with youth pastors, Baptist churches and Presbyterian churches have virtually identical church income. So they could pay their youth pastors equally, if they wished. Apparently, though, Baptist churches value youth ministry more, because they pay their youth pastors 20 percent more.

so true

this is so true (a good 2nd). as with many of the others. latest tip to revcamp

adopt a cause!

erin & i have put together a golf team to help raise money for Miriam's Promise, an adoption agency here in the nashville / middle tennessee area, next monday. they provide a full service of counseling for pregnant mothers, of all ages, to help them prepare for motherhood. if adoption becomes a choice then they will work with the families on both sides. two families at my church have children they adopted through miriam's promise & the stories i have heard from debbie (the director) are just so compelling you know that they are doing great work.

if you, my blogging community, would feel so compelled to support miriam's promise by supporting our little golf group we would be ever so thankful. i don't know how, but maybe i will live blog a golf event... er, i'll post a bunch of pictures in a recap. note: that might be worth checking out as erin has yet to play on the golf course, she has taken lessons though, and has a decent swing.

below is a letter our friend brian, erin & myself put together for some friends and family. email me to let me know if you would like to donate and i will get you "official" paper pieces.

download miriams promise letter

what to do when you are bored in hendersonville?

what does a teenager do when they are bored in hendersonville? if you are one of my youth, you apparently make a video documentary of a day in the life of one your best friends of-course. it's random, but kinda funny, jeremy, who they chronicle is always making strange faces. which makes it kinda hard to get a good picture of him. not sure about the rest of the elements..?

at least they are being creative with their energies.. &:~D

roll tide roll!

yet another weekend that for one reason or another i had to miss a saturday of college football. it is okay though, with digital recorder technology i can catch up on some of what i missed. (it is pretty funny to rewatch gameday and other predictions after the fact)

i was way happy with my alma mater's performance this saturday as the tide took out the razorbacks in the final seconds (to note: corso actually pick a bama win in close score, kirk picked a bama defense win, not so much). it is a big win, not just against a ranked opponent. it is a big win because we came back from a deficit. something we were never able to complete last year. if we went into halftime behind, you could turn the tv off, it was over. plus, this week we are back in the rankings, which i enjoy.

this coming weekend is a big football weekend in the family. penn state takes on michigan, i will be happy to see michigan go further into turmoil. south carolina takes on lsu, i hope the usc defense that beat georgia is able to show up, then we have a chance. speaking of georgia, the tide welcome uga into town which should be exciting.

back from

erin & i are back from our annual church retreat. this was particularly enjoyable as it was our first retreat where we both were not in some level of responsibility in... well, it was the first time ever. we were able to relax more and interact with some folks in the church community that we do not normally hang out with.

we have had some excellent conversations that have stemmed from it. saturday evening i was in charge of a taize' style service with prayer stations, but the cool part was i gave up the make up of the worship early in the afternoon and let the youth set it all up. it was pretty darn cool and they really enjoyed doing it. if i can find some of the cables and card readers i will post some of the pictures that we took. i am sure you are just dying to see. &:~)

bad christian yoga

doug pagitt goes toe to toe with john macarthur over yoga as a practice, or exercise, used by Christians. we already know that macarthur is super fond of the emergent church, so you can expect he is a fan of yoga.

skype me!

hey friends, are you on skype? i'm now able to rock the internet system. basically set up an account to be able to do some podcast conversations with people. though i might actually try it out as a phone system. the idea of an international call is pretty cool to me. so skype me if you can!

podcasting with stphransus

jonathon & i finished cutting our anniversary track for our initial pilot episode for the youth worker movement podcast. it's been fun, look for the reunion tour episode (as we are calling it) online sometime soon. you can subscribe via itunes by looking for "youthworker" in the music store search.

update: if you want to get in on the podcast action, ask a question, share a story, berate us, or tell us how good looking we are. call 615-357-3275

my boy is on tv!

hunter, one of my partners in crime the last two summers at hfumc (summer intern) was featured on espn2's first take (their attempt at a morning today type sports news show). he's the sports editor for the ut paper so he went toe to toe with the opposing uf editor. if i had to rank the trash talk, hunter prob lost, but not for originality, mike used some stereotype tennessee jokes. when it comes to florida, what jokes are there? they really are forgettable. especially gainesville.. it's a dingy swamp area that one feels like they have a film on them when they get out of the car when arriving. i don't have a dog in the fight as i have my school.

quoting myself

i don't give myself credit for being too smart or prophetic in voice. but i uttered this remark that i said.. "gee, i bet someone else said that and i am just copying. oh well.. i still said it."

at its best the church is a family, at its worst the church is a family. -me

whatcha think?

it made me think of immigration

no real commentary, but some of my scripture readings today brought out some images of our immigration conflicts.

14 Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. 15 Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. -Deuteronomy 24: 14-15

33 " 'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. -Leviticus 19: 33-34

hmmm..

 

it is not about the numbers, but

i like to think that the youth ministry i am a part of is not about the numbers, but i have to admit, if i were looking at this then i would feel a little inclined for some change. thanks cartoonchurch

what's in a blog?

in the spirit of making up sites written by people, rick warren has a secret blog now. for those that have one or two issue with rick, you can find something to laugh about within his secret diary.

tip: marko

what i remember

today marks the 6th year anniversary of the september 11th attacks. people continue to mention the date as a single moment that changed out world. i am not so reflective to understand all that has changed, but with our world going to war afterwards that one aspect of change is pretty evident to me. after that day we saw the beginning of a state of fear that has not be around since the end of the cold war i guess is a shift change. but what happened in my life? let me try and remember

in 2001 i was the youth pastor at hillcrest umc. being a youth pastor gives me some freedom in starting my day, which i kinda like. i had this trend of waking up and watching the news for the day while i made some coffee. this day was like none other. i woke, turned on the television, but i don't ever remember getting to the coffee. at that point there was some video footage of one of the world trade towers on fire. it had not been called a terrorist attack at that point. it was being reported as just a fire in the building. then there was the 2nd plane. this one came out of no-where, but you saw it and knew something was not right.

reporters, by that point, where on the empire state building reporting the happenings. i do not remember who i watched more of. i probably switched channels a time or two. i remember calling my mom. she was not in any danger, but us growing up in nj i thought she'd want to know. she hadn't been watching, it wasn't tv time in the day care that she provided. we talked for a bit then hung up so she could call some friends she was concerned about.

side story: my mom runs a kennel (a little more full-time now than she used too). turns out that she sold a dog to a lady. in the contract my mom says that within 72 hours the dog needs to get a physical from their vet. this lady happened to take her dog to the vet on sept 11th. wanna guess where she worked? the dog is now called "lucky."

i watched the happenings in nyc like so many others. what became very evident as the buildings burned was that they would fall. my experience as firefighter so many years ago gave me some ideas as to all that was happening on the ground and in the buildings. it was just a matter of time. i also knew of what the firefighters were doing, packed with all their gear running up flight after flight of stairs. they had to know. it was about this point i started to cry.

reports started coming in from the pentagon & a plane crash in pennsylvania. the scope of the attack started to take shape with me.

the buildings fell and i continued to weep for the people, there were many innocent people involved with this tragedy, but my thoughts kept going to the firefighters. why? probably because i had some understanding of what they were doing and what they were thinking.

the day went on, i don't think i ever made it to the office that day. we did have a prayer service that evening. i watched the television pretty much all day taking in as much information to try and make sense.

as seems to be my nature, i would ask myself, why were people so angry with us that they would do this? who have we forgotten that they would do such a thing? is there something we could have done to better tend to the angst that brought on this attack? what is my response?

the following days are the following days. people say it changed, i suppose it did.. did it change for the better? what did our response flow from? compassion? pride? understanding? anger? fear? love? the best i could suggest is to say it was a mixed bag... that's what i remember

pachelbel funny rant

just a funny little rant over pachelbel canon. not sure i will hear the song ever the same. if you want some more entertainment, and have not been one of the 26 million to view this amped up version.

marry our 14 year old daughter!

somewhat disturbed, okay, quite disturbed, by this site "marry our daughter."  at first i think i was thrown by the ages.. then the prices. so what is the motivation for such a site?

Marry Our Daughter is an introduction service assisting those following the Biblical tradition of arranging marriages for their daughters.

i might be off with this, but my understanding of marriages being arranged in the bible are much more about the chronicling of a series of relationships joined by a cultural practice. not a biblical practice. however, someone might throw at me a "fathers, arrange for your daughters to have a husband at a young age and get a decent penny in return for it." it might then go on to say, then send them to college so that they can be a good wife. i'm feeling sick now...

tip: brittney

update: just an fyi, snopes has a breakdown why this site might be fake, but it doesn't say either way

prayer station index

i have been getting more and more hits for "prayer stations." unfortunately this site is riddle with various ideas and efforts that are not always directed to a specific setting. this is my effort to put all my braintrust into one collection. fyi: these prayer station links are not in any particular order.

• finding God in the ordinary, some prayer stations i put together for connection 2005
• my contemplative worship photo album, random collection of prayer station photos
• review of my worship feast prayer station cdrom project
• epiphany contemplative worship with prayer stations, worship we did on epiphany sunday
• youth minister prayer stations, some prayer stations we put together for a youth minister retreat
• a contemplative pentecost, yup, put together some prayer stations for a pentecost worship
• reflections on a prayer room. my recap of the youth 2007 worship feast prayer room and the prayer stations that we used within that
• youth 2007 photo album with prayer station write ups
• introducing contemplative worship practices to your congregation
• a retreat experiment, not quite prayer stations, but a youth ministry retreat experiment bore out of my various use of sacred space worship
• ash wednesday service prayer station, not for the faint hearted church facilities person
• advent prayer station worship, some of these stations are profiled in the cdrom
• choir of angels prayer station, something we used for an advent service
• at the feet of God prayer station & face 2 face with each other, used when i was a youth groups retreat leader a few years back
• lent prayer station worship, a worship service for lent we had as a youth community
• a prayer station gone bad, my failed attempt at an exodus inspired prayer station

i think that is about it. there are some random pictures within other posts, but this seems to be comprehensive enough. besides prayer stations are more about the context of your community and bore out of that community. so recreating what i have done because it is easy isn't suggested, it may not have the same meaning that it does for us here in tennessee. i hope that it can help to stir some inspiration for you

my pop culture critic

after youth tonight, i come home to crash on the couch. turn on the tv with erin. she is not the big nfl fan (except for the titans), so i consider her with choosing something to watch. for some reason i'm like "hey, the video music awards, let's see.." what i saw was this.

it was so strange. i watched.. was this for real? am i expected to think that this was actual singing? how long am i to endure this?

honestly folks, is there someone that can help britney? the poor girl needs some love. the crowds couldn't give it to her, adoration of many men, baby daddy didn't work, children probably won't work. she needs some people who will love her and not lust after what she could provide for them. for if they love her they will seek the best for her and say, "it has been a good run, but it is time to leave well enough alone. go on becoming a good mom and leave the scantily clad performances for someone else." poor girl though is most likely surrounded by people with lust for what she can provide for them, so they will never give her truth that benefits her.

moving church

i have talked about moving around churches before. this wasn't exactly what i had in mind, but it could work.

i can be christian too

video snippet on characteristics of the missional church. figured relevant since we were talking emergissional church

will it be "safe" to blog?

i spent today down in murfreesboro with some of the clergy folk of my conference (and some disciples of christ folk) at a sexual ethic training thing. we basically watch a video series and then did some role play and small group stuff. i'm okay with that, but show a little energy and provide an environment that promotes some creativity when you are wanting creative participation. not the white walled gym with linear rowed seating. at least they were cushioned seats. tomorrow is much of the same, but i was told it was going to be even more boring. honest, here's the conversation.

me: what is going on today?
friend: today is pretty cool, tomorrow is the boring day
me: really, how do you know?
friend: today is some moving around and activities, tomorrow is safe sanctuaries and i am doing it. it's going to bore you for sure.
me: thanks for that

luckily i met up with some of the church staff later in the afternoon and i got the password for their office wireless. so i'm hoping to fill time watching or listening to football games. safe sanctuaries is great, but being trained on this for the third time is just a bit tough.

looking for a friday night friend

bunco tomorrow night at my house, i am not invited. anyone want to go out with me?

the new innovative church isn't that new or innovative

so i've been promoting things like this for years, but stupid me never put it into a list. so internetmonk did. the church of the future looks a lot like the church of the past.

4. Celebrate the Lord’s Supper more frequently.

5. Have a Scripture reading in the service.

7. Read, study, and teach theology.

13. Use the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds in worship.

15. Less music. Fewer instruments.