Jesus Looks Like a Blue Tarp

Some folks from Catalyst were down in the Baton Rouge area shortly after Hurricane Gustav ripped right through. They stopped by Healing Place Church and had a conversation with Pastor Dino Rizzo. You can see a part of that conversation in the video below.


Hurricane Torn Baton Rouge Needs Our Help!!! from Catalyst on Vimeo.

So, when asked what they needed, his answer was tarps.

So, what does Jesus look like to the people in Louisiana that have holes in their roofs? He looks like a blue tarp.

To help, you can go HERE and order a tarp.

You can have it sent to:
ONE (1) BLUE TARP
Healing Place Church
19202 Highland Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
225.753.2273

When you have purchased the tarp, please come back here leave a comment (anonymously if you wish).

The tarps aren't cheap. So, if you want to chip in on some tarps, you can go to flowerdust.net and see Anne Jackson's post about this where she explains how you can go in with other readers of her blog via PayPal. She is collecting money and will buy as many tarps as possible on 9/11.

Thanks. Much Love.

HT: Anne Jackson

NOOMA She | 021 Rob Bell

The folks at NOOMA have put out another video, and they are again doing a free preview on Facebook. It should be available until 1PM on Wednesday, but I would go now and check it out. You can go here to see it.

I think I have seen all of the NOOMA videos and this one is near the top, if not the best one.

Here's what they have to say about it...

We didn’t have anything to do with our birth. We are all here because some woman somewhere gave us life. Her pain, her effort, for our life. And when a mother gives like that to a child, she is showing us what God is like. But sometimes this part of God’s nature is overlooked. A lot of us are comfortable with male imagery for God. But what about female imagery for God? Is God limited to a gender? Or does God transcend and yet include what we know as male and female? Maybe if we were more aware of the feminine imagery for God we would have a better understanding of who God is and what God is like.

Let it be known that my mother and the mother of my children are by far the best two women on the planet. They don't make words to describe how much I love them.

Singalong - Phil Wickham

Phil Wickham is giving away his latest CD, Singalong, for free on his web site. I'm admittedly not a huge fan of "contemporary christian" music, but this doesn't come close to the lame category I put most of the stuff you hear on K-Love.

Here's what he has to say about it...

This record has been something that I have wanted to do for a long time and finally on May 9th this year, I was able to do a show in Portland, Oregon with just me and a guitar and record it. The album artwork is simply the faces that were sent in to my blog from people that either attended the show or watched the show as it was broadcast on my blog.

I encourage you all to go download the album. It's free. What do you have to lose?

If you attend Visio Dei, I think you will really enjoy the album (assuming you enjoy the music there). The band there sings several of Senor Wickham's songs.

If you download the album, come back and let us know what you think.

Does God Really Make a Difference?

A friend of mine asked me to read Who Needs God. I started it a few months ago, but failed to make it past the first few chapters. I decided that I am going to try to read it this week. Since I started so long ago, I decided to start over from the beginning.

Chapter one is titled "Does God Really Make a Difference?". In the last few paragraphs, Kushner, a Rabbi, writes about a conversation he had with a young congregate, Paul. Paul tells Kushner that while he does not believe in religion, he does believe in God. Here Kushner recounts his response:

I asked him what he meant by that, and he told me that when he contemplates the beauty and intricacy of the world, he has to believe that God exists. That's very nice I told him, and I'm sure God appreciates your vote of confidence. But for the religious mind and soul, the issue has never been the existence of God but the importance of God, the difference that God makes in the way we live. ... A God who exists but does not matter, who does not make a difference in the way you live, might as well not exist.

I guess this is profound to me because it's something I had never thought of. What's the point of believing in God if God is just a "benevolent figurehead trotted out for ceremonial occasions and beloved by everyone because he never does anything"?

Have you ever had a conversation like this?

Rob Bell on Rob Bell

h.t. the longbrake

It's not your job to judge.

Jeff rocked it on Sunday. I liked the message he delivered then, and the more I hear it and think about it, the more I like it. I think it could change your life.

He's been working through a series on the Sermon on the Mount for a few months now. This past week he got to Matthew 7:1-5, which talks about judging. It's a well known passage, but he opened it up in a new way for me.1

There are so many things in there I thought were awesome that it's hard to put it all in here. The best thing would probably be for you to listen to it and then for us to go to lunch. That being said, I will try to give you some of the highlights.

Jesus says, "Do not judge". We (the church and those outside of the church) have some misconceptions about what this means, or how to handle it. Two of the big misconceptions are: 1) Those outside the church look at it and say, ‘Jesus didn’t judge the world, so obviously the world doesn’t need to be judged.’ In other words, ‘Leave me alone’ and 2) The church looks at it and says, ‘Jesus didn’t judge the world, so we better do it for Him, because this place is really screwed up.’ Jesus must’ve forgotten. He was a really busy guy.

Jeff breaks down those two misconceptions in some really good ways. That's the part that I think could change lives. I'd love for some of you to listen to it, for the first time, or again, and for us to talk about it.

1. back The funny thing is that I talked to Jeff about it and he says this is like the fourth time he has preached on that passage. I've been listening to him for at least four years now. So, there's a good chance I have heard one of those other ones, but for some reason this time it really hit me.

NOOMA Shells | 020 Rob Bell

Nooma has put out another video. They are giving a free preview on Facebook for today only. You can go see it here.

Here's the description of the video...

It's easy to get overwhelmed with appointments, gatherings, to-do lists. But what are we really doing with our time? Many of us are running from place to place and it seems like life is just passing us by. We're doing so many things, a little bit of everything, and yet it doesn't feel like much of a life. But most of us find it hard to say no. We feel obligated. There are so many good things to do. So many good causes to join. But while we're busy doing all these good things, are we missing out on something great? Maybe saying no would be easier if we knew what it meant to say yes.

The message in this video is one that I have been trying to put into place in my life for awhile now. The idea that we should say "No" to a lot of things so that we might be able to shout "Yes" to a few things.

Andy Stanley said once that he was the only person in the world that could play the role of husband to his wife and father to his kids. Those are two of the things he says Yes to. I'm trying to do the same.

What are you saying Yes to?

Loving Your Enemies

You may not know where it says it, but more than likely, you know that the bible says to love your enemies. My first thought when I think of that is, "I don't really have any enemies." Enemy sounds like such a harsh term. I don't think I view any one person as an enemy. That kind of makes loving my enemies easy.

I say that, but it's kind of a cop out. Sure, I don't have an arch-nemesis that I consider my enemy, but I don't think that is what the bible means when it says love your enemies.

It doesn't take much effort to find commentaries on loving your enemies. A quick Google search turns up a lot of them. My understanding of the passage in Luke 6, and the similar passage in Matthew 5, is that we are to not only love those that are easy to love, or the people that we get something out of loving, but we are to love everyone.

I don't think loving someone means accepting and/or condoning all their behaviors. This can be hard to reconcile. Love is not always easy. I think loving someone is caring enough about them as a person, as a someone made in God's own image, that you want what's best for them.

Now, what you think is best for someone and what they think is best for them is often going to differ. And, just because you love that person and you think you know what's best, does not give you the right to impose your will on them. No, I think a truer testament to love is standing by someone despite the fact that they are living outside of what you think is best for them.

This all comes from a blog I saw this morning. The guys over at The Plow created a poster. Then, they converted it into a t-shirt. Now, they are giving the t-shirt away to anyone that donates to Bite Back.

I'd like to know...
What do you think about when you hear "love your enemies"?

What do you think about the t-shirts?
Do you think you would wear one? Why, or why not?

Evangelical Politics: Three Generations

Yesterday, I found a podcast that I thought was very interesting. It is a facilitated discussion between Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Claiborne about the crossroads of politics and Christianity. Colson is the founder of Prison Fellowship and author of God & Government. Boyd is founder and senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church, a megachurch in Minnesota, and author of The Myth of a Christian Nation. Claiborne is founder of The Simple Way and co-author of Jesus for President and author of The Irresistible Revolution.

Here's a description of the podcast:

A passionate discussion is unfolding in public and in private among Evangelical leaders and communities. Should Christians be involved in politics and if so, how? What has gone wrong, and what has been learned from the Moral Majority up until now. In this live public conversation, Krista probes these ideas with three formative Evangelicals.

You can find more information about it here, including downloads of the podcast, the entire unedited interview, and a video of the interview.

NOOMA Open | 019 Rob Bell

The good folks at NOOMA are about to release another video. The official release date of their nineteenth video, Open, is February 22, but you can see it for free today. You just have to visit the NOOMA Facebook page to check it out.

I'll make it easy for you. Just click here.

ht: Chris Marlow

Are we reaching the lost?

Chris Marlow pointed to a great post on Gary Lamb's blog today. The post is Gary Lamb, pastor of Revolution Church in Canton, Georgia, ranting about church planters that claim they want to reach the unchurched, that really just want to "do church" differently. That hardly captures the essence of his post. So, you'd be better off reading it for yourself.

The post struck a chord with me because I can see myself as one of the people that he's talking about. My hope is that I am "reaching the unchurched", but do my actions back that up? My answer... No, at least not all the time. So, this post was challenging. You should read it. Maybe it will force you to look at and examine why and how you "do church".

On a side note, Revolution Church is a church community with multiple locations. This is interesting because this is the vision for Visio Dei.

Alaska Mission Trip

My good friend Meg is organizing a short term mission trip to Anchorage, Alaska for this summer. She has a few people interested, but she is still excepting applications.

The "Skinny": (Her words, not mine.)
When: June 28-July 6, 2008
Where: Anchorage, Alaska
Cost: $395 (plus flight costs, about $800 from Raleigh)
Purpose: To work with Habitat for Humanity, experience nature on a whole new level, and help a girls shelter.

Interested? Contact Meg Osterhoff at mosterho77 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Also, please forward this to anyone that you think might be interested.

Interesting Post on Christanity and Language

"Preach the gospel always. If necessary use words." ~ St. Francis of Assisi

I recently read an interesting post on Because It's Possible.1 The post was about how in our culture, especially the Christian subculture, we tend to focus on our language/our words/what we say. The author suggests that we focus too much on our words and that we should focus more on our actions.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

1. back A situation described in the post reminded me a lot of Traci's post from a few weeks ago.

Change the Constitution?

I don't think I know enough about all the candidates to weigh in with my pick for the presidency. I will say that I like the way Ron Paul talks, but I don't think he will ever get elected because he doesn't play by the political rules.

I just read an interesting post that I thought I would share. It comes from Greg Boyd's blog. Greg Boyd is the author of Myth of a Christian Nation. To give you an idea of what the book is about, the subtitle is "How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church". It's one of the books I've half read. It may be the next one I pick up after I finish Change the World.

Boyd weighs in on Huckabee's comments that we need to amend the constitution to bring it into conformity with "God's standards." It's a good read. Don't just read the first half, get pissed because he bashes the evangelical candidate, and quit reading. The end is probably the part most worth reading.

Thoughts?

Props to Dan. I saw this on his blog first.

Lunchtime Adventures

The other day, I went with Daniel to the bank during lunch. I didn't have any business at the bank, but my afternoons always feel shorter when I make it out of my office for a while at lunch.

After conducting his business at the bank, Daniel and I headed down Walnut Street towards downtown Cary. As we approached the end of Walnut, where it intersects Kildaire Farm Road, we passed by the Walnut Street Church of Christ, or more aptly, we passed by where the Walnut Street Church of Christ meets.

Why the clarification? Well, obviously, their entire church community wasn't standing on the side of the road, but more interestingly, it was written right on their sign. Check out the link. Their sign actually says "Church of Christ" on one line and directly below it it says, "MEETS HERE".

I thought that was incredible. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn't have my camera with me. Lucky for me though, they put a picture of it on their web site. Now, I can show you all. I also like the statement of who they are on the right side of the home page.

For lunch, Daniel and I decided to stop by the Ashworth Drug Store1. Ashworth is an old school drug store with a soda shoppe style counter in the back. You can get grill food, like hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches, as well as root beer floats, malts, milkshakes, and such.

It turns out that Daniel and I picked the right day to stop by. On Wednesdays and Saturdays you can get two hot dogs for $2.25. It's probably not as cheap as it was back in the day, but lunch for less than three bucks is hard to beat.

After lunch, we went back to work, which isn't nearly as exciting, but one can only have so much excitement in a single day.

1. back Wow, their site is cheesy.

Who's part of the Visio Dei (blogging) community?

Visio Dei is a church community of about two hundred people, plus or minus fifty. It's hard to put an exact number on it because that would mean that you would need some sort of metric to use to measure the number people in your community. You could use Sunday morning attendance, but if you are saying that it's not all about Sunday mornings, that seems a bit flawed. You could count the number of people that show up at the various home group "meetings" through out the week, but that doesn't seem to be perfect either. So, I can't tell you how many are a part of the Visio Dei church community, but one thing I can tell you is that the people that are a part of the Visio Dei community are not afraid to start a blog.

I sit in front of a computer all day long, as do many other people. So, I often read blogs. Over time it got too cumbersome to go to each and every blog I wanted to keep up with. So, I started using an feed aggregator. I started out with bloglines, but I've been using Google Reader for about a year now. Both are good.

Every time I would come across a new blog, I would "subscribe" to it. Subscribing to a blog in a feed reader, or aggregator, means that I can go to one page and see what all blogs have been updated. In most you can subscribe to both post feeds and comment feeds. So, in all actuality, you never have to go to the actual blog to keep up with it.

Over time, my visio-dei folder in Google Reader has grown to contain over thirty blogs. So, in the vein of creating more community, I'm sharing my list of Visio Dei bloggers. It's worth noting that only about a quarter of these blogs are updated regularly, but even if they're not being updated, you can see what the bloggers were thinking and feeling back when they did update their blogs. So, here's my list. Is there anyone you can add to it?

aaron chappell, alan wilser, amy hathaway, bernie newton, brad wynne, brandon guy, corey paxton, jason gore, jeff ramsey, jenny profet, jeramie mullis, joel scheilman, john enzor, john henderson, josh pease, kate sheppard, kathryn guy, kendal quinn, matt besser, meg boyle, megan remmers, rebecca neubert, ryan fox, sam edwards, shannon smith, the fishes, the mitchells, the paxtons, *the smiths, the wengers, traci rowe, vegged out, will gadd

Home Groups
edenton street, tryon

Those that have moved away
jonathan ellis, the meyers

If I "outted" you and you're pissed about it, I apologize. If you let me know, I'll remove you from my list. However, you should know that if you put it on them there internets, somebody's gonna find it eventually.

* - new addition

Are Sermons Effective?

Today there was a post on the Catlyst blog which pointed to the ThinkChristian blog which had a post that pointed to an article from the The Baptist Magazine of New Zealand that questioned the validity of Sunday Morning preaching.

The article is a little long, but worth at least skimming. I think he brings up some good points. Some of them were encouraging because they suggested some of the things we are trying to focus on at Visio Dei.

If you get a chance, check it out and let me know what you think.

Jesus Camp

I saw an add for a movie called Jesus Camp on A&E over the weekend. So, I recorded it, and I watched it today.

The film was a documentary about a pastor named Becky Fisher and her summer camp, Kids on Fire. You can use google to find plenty of articles on the movie and the camp, which has been shut down by Fisher after she experienced some backlash from the film.

Fisher seems to believe that it is not just okay for Evangelicals to indoctrinate their children into Christianity, but that it is necessary. She gives the argument more than once that "other world religions are indoctrinating their children." So, Christians should as well.

We have a seven month old son and will most likely have a few more kids, and this is something that I struggle with. I feel that my wife and I have a duty to consistently model our believes to our children and that we should "bring them up in a Christian home", but I don't want to force my religion down their throats.

Do I want my kids to come to know and follow Jesus? Yes. However, I don't want it to be the case that, "Dad says we should do this. So, we better do it."

I want them to come to know that there is a God that loves them and cares for them despite their faults. I want them to know that this God desires for them to love him in return. That he desires that love from them so much that he came to this earth in the form of a man named Jesus. I want them to know that this Jesus lived a life that we should use as an example. And, that eventually this Jesus gave up is life and sacrificed more than we can imagine to make it possible for us to connect with God, now and forever. I want them to recognize the importance of this sacrifice, and I want them to see this as the reason that they should follow the example of Jesus' life. I want them to know that it will not always be easy, but that they are not alone. That in some way that is not easy to understand or explain, that this God is right there with them giving them promptings on how they should live.

I'm not sure how I get my child to see and believe all of that without force feeding him. I guess the first step is making sure that I stay on track and follow those promptings. Check back with me in twenty-five years and I'll let you know how it went.

Presents

I just listened to a talk and the speaker said that he asked his kids this question...

If Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday, who should get the presents?

He said they looked at him like he was a moron and said if it's Jesus' birthday then he should the get presents.

If we were to believe that, what do you think Jesus wants for his birthday?

My Faith Story

My home group is doing the Just Walk Across the Room study put out by Willow Creek, and based on Bill Hybels' book with the same title. Section three suggests that each participant write out their faith story, kind of the before-and-after of becoming a Christian. The study gave several examples of "bad" stories, e.g. long-winded stories, stories filled with "religionese", etc., and it gave a few examples of "good" stories.

Well, here's my attempt at writing down my faith story...

I grew up in America, more specifically in the South, where everyone's a "christian". Growing up, my family went to church when we felt like it, and honestly, we didn't feel like it that often. In high school, there was a time when I decided that I was really going to be a "christian", but looking back, I treated it no differently than joining a club. There was no purpose in it.

It wasn't until several years later, when I was about twenty-four, that something clicked, and I started to see something that I had missed in the past. I started to recognize that being a Christian was about accepting the fact that there was a disconnect between me and God. It was about accepting that this disconnect could not be remedied except through God's grace, which had been demonstrated by His son, Jesus Christ.

I realized that being a Christian wasn't about going to church on Sundays. It wasn't about being in some club where you followed a list of rules. Being a Christian was about accepting this grace, that had been freely given by a God that loved me despite all the mistakes I had made in my life. It was about accepting that grace and letting it be the motivating force in my life.

So, now I don't just go to church because I'm supposed to and I'm not just part of some club. Now, I'm trying to live my life in response to the grace that I've been given, in hopes that I can show some of the love that has been shown to me.

So, there you have it. Please, let me know what you think. I'm not asking for a "good job" or a "its nice". I want someone to rip it to shreds.

Bullhorn Guy

It looks like the guys that were gently suggesting that people "turn or burn" after the Rob Bell talk have made their way onto youtube. Check out Justin's post where you can see the video.

Morals for Ministers

I am sort of a book collector. I don't go out and buy expensive books, but I tend to collect them when they are cheap or free. This leads us to having quite the assortment of books all over our house. Some are actually on bookshelves, but others are used more for decoration.

This evening Kim and I were decorating for Christmas. Honestly, Kim was doing most of the decorating. Well, I had to move a chair from the living-room to the dining room to make room for our tree. Upon moving the chair, I realized that I don't sit in it much. So, I decided to take a break and make use of the oft neglected seat.

So, here I am enjoying my break and I look over and see some of the books we are using for decoration. These are three books turned around backwards so that the antiquated pages are all the show and the titles are hidden. Since I have little idea what these books are about, I decide to pick one up and check it out.

I read the first chapter of a book called Morals for Ministers. The book is a collection of essays. The first essay is titled "The Truth" There were several things that stuck out to me from the pages I read. I started to comment on several of them, but decided to refrain, as I wanted to make sure that my main point in writing wasn't lost in the length.

The essay ended with a couple paragraphs that resonated with me. A previous owner of the book had underlined and scribed "amen" next to the first of the two. The language is a bit more lofty than my typical reading, but hopefully you can see beyond that to the point.

It is commonly true that when a speaker is most emphatic, when he shouts loudest and uses most adjectives, he is trying to put upon his audience by suggestion what he knows his proofs are too weak to carry.

And it is interesting and hopeful that as the last few decades have pursued the attempt to understand the history of the first and greatest Preacher of the Gospel of God (Jesus Christ), the congregations of the Church show less desire for impassioned declamation.

The most interesting part about this is that Morals for Ministers was written in 1928. So, if eighty years ago congregations desired less shouting and rhetoric, why is it that you still see so much in the Church?

What's your story?

Do yourself a favor and listen to the talk Donald Miller gave at Mars Hill this past Sunday. Go here to check it out. It rocked me.

NOOMA Name | 018 Rob Bell

There's a new NOOMA video. You can see it in its entirety for the next 48 hours at the NOOMA myspace page. Below is just a clip from the video.

My favorite line...

...you may not be proud of it, but you must embrace it because it is yours.

Questions About HIV/AIDS

WARNING: This post passes the Shannon threshold for post length by about double. I understand if you don't read it all. I probably wouldn't.

For the past few weeks, at our Sunday morning services, Jeff has been going through a series on justice1. He is wrapping the series up over the next two weeks and asked a few people that are currently involved in areas of injustice to answer a few questions about their specific area. So, since I took the time to type it all out to him, I figured I would post it here.

Give us a brief overview of the problem and what you are doing.

About 40 million, that's 40,000,000, people worldwide are currently living with HIV/AIDS, and about 6,000 more people are infected every day. Approximately 60% of that 40 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are about 12 million children in Africa that have been orphaned because their parents have died of HIV/AIDS. But HIV/AIDS is not just an Africa problem. It's a world problem. It's an African problem, but it's also a Raleigh problem. It's not their problem. It's my problem. It's our problem.

We are currently trying to inform and educate as many people as possible about this crisis. There are a lot of misconceptions people have about HIV/AIDS. On a local level we are partnering with an organization that provides support and assistance to those afflicted with HIV/AIDS and their families here in the Triangle. On a global level we are trying to raise awareness and organize our ideas into a plan of how we can best put our resources and talents into action.

How is your issue addressed in the bible?

In Matthew, Jesus instructs us to love our neighbor as ourself. Then, he is asked by a religious leader, "Who is my neighbor?" With the parable of the good Samaritan Jesus shows us that everyone is our neighbor. For too long, like the priest and the Levite of Jesus' parable, we have passed by the man on the side of the road, too busy or too "holy" to involve ourselves in lending a helping hand.

Jesus showed love and grace to the most overlooked and the lowest people in his society. He touched lepers and healed them when others barely saw them as human. On writer said that those afflicted with HIV/AIDS are the lepers of our time. The stigma of the disease has kept the Church away and has left those afflicted to fend for themselves.

What was it that led you to get involved in your issue?

About a year ago at this leadership conference2 held at Hope3, I saw an interview with Bono4. I had heard about Africa having problems and I had seen commercials on TV with images of children with flies on their face, but I had never seen it as my problem. In the few minutes while he talked about what was going on in Africa and the world, my eyes were opened and I began to see the things he was talking about as more than just issues in the world. I started to see the people that are suffering the injustices in the world. I started to see that I had a role to play in bringing justice to those situations, but I wasn't quite sure what that role was.

In January, I went to another conference, in Michigan. I sat in on a breakout session there that focused on HIV/AIDS. I was shocked by the enormity of the situation. We all know that HIV/AIDS is a huge problem in Africa, but the speaker went around the globe, region-by-region, and described the situation in each area. Experts say that at the current rate of infection, within five years India would surpass Africa in the number of HIV/AIDS infections and within five more years China would surpass India.

Upon leaving that conference I was even surer that something had to be done. I was given a book at the conference. It was the story of a man who has a faith that leads him to action. I was inspired in many ways by the book. It made me want to take more action. Soon after that, we showed the Bono interview from the conference at Visio Dei. Then, a few weeks later, Jeff talked about the parable of the Good Samaritan. He encouraged us to develop an aggressive love, not just a love that stands by as those around us suffer.

All these things, and more, have pushed me towards action in bringing justice to those, both locally and globally, that have been afflicted with HIV/AIDS.

How can people be involved?

The best thing people can do is to educate themselves. Most of us took some sort of "health" class in middle or high school and learned about HIV/AIDS, but there's a good chance that most of that knowledge was forgotten soon after we left the class. Having an understanding of what HIV/AIDS is, how it is transmitted, and how it affects those who have it is a great start. Then, when you hear about people who are afflicted, you will have a better idea of what that means.

As for action, there are a few things that we have already done or started doing. Back in May we had over 20 people participate in the Triangle AIDS Walk/Ride. We also raised over $3,000 for the Alliance of AIDS Services - Carolina. We will be putting together another team after the beginning of the year with the hopes of increasing those numbers.

A few home groups have started working with AAS-C to care for those afflicted by HIV/AIDS. Our hope is to get Visio Dei involved with them doing something, at least one thing, every month. Activities can range from organizing a food pantry, to moving furniture, to painting a house, to doing yard work, to providing transportation for someone.

As I mentioned before we are still working out our global plan. We would like to find those interested and being to pool our ideas. Some ideas already in the works deal with providing support for organizations who care for orphans who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS and partnering with organizations who are providing clean drinking water and sanitation for communities.

1. back You should listen to the podcasts. It's been a great series.


2. back It was the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. (That link is for 2007, but I was at 2006.)


3. back Hope Community Church, the church that our church plant came out of


4. back Honestly, at that point, I don't think I knew who Bono was. I may have known he was a part of U2, but I can't say for sure. If I had been put on the spot, I couldn't have told you more than two U2 songs.

Nooma 017 | Today

Nooma is releasing their seventeenth video, Today, today.

Here's the blurb about it from the Nooma site:

How much time and energy do we spend wishing things were how they used to be? We often think about times in our past when things were different and want our lives to be like that again. Some of us have even come to believe that our best days may actually be behind us. But if we’re in some way hung up on the past, what does that mean for our lives now? How are we and those around us affected if we’re not fully present? If we’re longing for the way things used to be, what does that really say about our understanding and appreciation of our lives today? Maybe we need to learn to embrace our past for what it is, in order to live our lives to the fullest, right here, right now.

But wait there's more... For two days only, you can view the film in its entirety at the Nooma mySpace page.

Exclusive Online Premiere
Join us for the first-ever NOOMA online premiere. We'll be streaming NOOMA 017 | Today from the NOOMA player on our MySpace page from Monday, July 23 at 12 noon EST to Wednesday, July 25 at 12 noon EST.

So, go check it out. Thanks, Jasen, for the heads up.

Remember my chains.

I was just spending some wake time with Palmer, and I was reading Colossians. It's a short book, so I just read the entire thing aloud. They say that he should hear my voice because somehow that helps him developmentally. I guess I can see how that could be true. And, I could definitely spend more time in the word. So, I figured it was a win, win, win.

As we were finishing up Colossians, Palmer was getting tired, and squirmy, which made it a little harder to concentrate. However, the final verse of the book struck a cord with me.

I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Colossians 4:18 (NIV)

"Remember my chains." That's simple, but powerful. Maybe it's just me, but I need a poster with those words on it sometimes.

Roll Call

Who bought tickets to see Rabbi Rob speak?

I got four on the third row.

Commercial Break #2

So, it turns out that my buddy, Rob, is coming to town in November. I got my four tickets. You can get your's here.

A brief intermission

I know you all are patiently waiting for the conclusion of my epic drama, but I thought this was worth posting about. You can consider it a "commercial break".

My buddy, Rob, gave me this book to read at a conference I went to earlier this year. The book, the Irresistible Revolution, turned out to be one of the best, most challenging books I have ever read. It chronicles the life of one of the founders of an organization call the Simple Way, Shane Claiborne.

Shane and other members of the Simple Way live in the Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia, where they live life with the people of what is considered one of the roughest neighborhoods in Philly. Well... I just saw this on their web site.

[Wednesday] morning, a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors’ homes.

They are ellicting donations to help their neighbors rebuild, and to help rebuild their community center. Please visit the Simple Way site for more info on how you can help, or you can donate here:


On a side note, you should read Shane's book, but be warned, it may rock you to your core. I have a copy if you want to borrow it. Well, that is if Jeff will give it back to me.

Banker to the Poor

I'm reading Banker to the Poor. If you have never heard of it, it is the story of Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank. Yunus and Grameen won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." The Grameen Bank is founded on the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. The bank provides minuscule loans to the poorest of the poor in order to help the loan holders break out of the cycle of poverty for good. The concept is simple: loan poor people money on terms suitable to them1, teach them a few sound financial principles, and they will help themselves.

Thus far, it has been a great read. I came across this paragraph the other day that I really liked. He noticed the land around the university where he taught was vastly under used, and the people living in the nearby village suffered because of this. Here's what he said...

I thought we should do something about the unused fields. It was a shame to let the land around the university campus remain barren. If a university is a repository for knowledge, then some of this knowledge should spill over to the neighboring community. A university must not be an island where academics reach out to higher and higher levels of knowledge without sharing any of their findings.
Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor, page 34

This is how I think about the Church. Here's my version...

I [think] we should do something about the [world]. It [is] a shame to let the [world] around the [Church] remain barren. If [the Church] is a repository for [God's blessing], then some of this [blessing] should spill over to the neighboring community. [The Church] must not be an island where [we] reach out to higher and higher levels of [blessing] without sharing any of [our blessings].

Thanks Dr. Yunus for showing that one bank, one person, or one idea can change the world.

Shalom.

1. back The loans are made for small amounts, i.e. less then 100 USD. Loans are made for one year. Payments are made weekly.

Animals and Angels

So, I am reading Rob Bell's latest book, Sex God. This morning I read chapter three, Animals and Angels. This chapter discusses how there is an animal impulse in us that wants us to to give in to all our cravings, and there is an angel impulse in us that wants us to deny ourselves of physical pleasure. Bell suggests that going to either extreme is equally destructive, and that we were made to live in the tension between the two extremes. It was an interesting chapter, and thus far, an interesting book.

I wanted to mention this chapter of the book because of something that came near the end. There are two paragraphs on page sixty-two that really stuck out to me.

You are not alone. What ever you struggle with, whatever you have questions about, you are not alone. It doesn't matter how dark it is or how much shame or weakness or regret it involves, you are not alone.
...
Some of the most comforting words in the universe are "me too." That moment when you find out that your struggle is also someone else's struggle, that you're not alone, and that others have been down that same road.

When I read that, I was like, "Wait a minute. I just said something about that yesterday."

I guess rabbi Rob and I are in same boat.

Shalom.