ministry via mistakes

the blog

2007-12-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

i only update www.stevenspointtapestry.org/blog/

blog combination

2007-04-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

i've finally decided that it doesn't make any sense for me to keep two blogs: 1) ministry related and the other 2) random stuff related. therefore, i have moved all of the posts from this blog over to my other blog (www.parkviewyouth.org/blog/) and i will only be updating it from now on. if you want to continue to read any of this stuff you'll need to go over there.

of course, i'll be moving it all over to my own personal website in about 4 months.

sunrise service

2007-04-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

i know it's just a part of church culture and i am trying more and more to differentiate between what is church culture and what is biblical CHRISTianity, but i love easter sunrise services. tomorrow i'm preaching at one in a local cemetery and i still need to work on the message a little but i felt like wasting enough time to say that i really do enjoy sunrise services.

the above photo is from good friday's outdoor stations of the cross.

campolo on the hour

2007-04-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

risk

2007-04-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

One never dives into the water to save a drowning man more eagerly than when there are others present who dare not take the risk.

friedrich nietzsche

ships & port

2007-04-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

a ship is safe in port,
but that's not what ships are built for."

grace murray hopper

just a reminder

2007-04-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

They said, "Rabbi" (which means "Teacher"), "where are you staying?"
He replied, "Come along and see for yourself."
They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.
John 1:28b-29

i'm just saving this as a reminder to "chew on" this passage and especially these two verses.

truth in advertising

2007-03-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

i saw the above cartoon on bob carlton's blog. it's originally from cartoonchurch.com

once i was proud

2007-01-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

i learned this from grant. apparently my alma mater decided that a woman could not teach hebrew to men. at one time i was proud to have gone to southwestern (yes it was a long time ago when i was actually proud but still i actually proud at one time). now i'm usually embarrassed to admit that i graduated from a school that now has paige patterson as it's president. i can't honestly recommend for others to go there.

speaching

2007-01-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

i'm presently reading doug pagitt's "preaching re-imagined and i'm really enjoying it thus far. because of it i decided to focus on a more interactive approach to the preaching i was scheduled to do at zoar baptist church's college retreat. i use such an approach all the time with my students but i've never tried it with strangers. i think it went okay but i really won't know until i think about it for a few days and maybe hear from a few people i know who were at the retreat.

the thing that i have enjoyed the most from pagitt's book has been his focus on an interactive approach to preparing the message. i've tried this a few times and i always enjoy it. the biggest problem for me has been trying to find the time since our church has been without a senior pastor.

finished reading

2007-01-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

this week i finished two great books:

fast food nation by eroc schlosser - it was a great book that is already affecting my view on fast food, agribusiness, and consumerism in general and i am sure it will continue to do so.
crucifixion by martin hengel - this is a scholarly discussion of the greco-roman view of crucifixion. it is not so much a discussion of the method of crucifixion as it is a discourse of how crucifixion was viewed in the ancient near east. it gives new insight into paul's meaning in 1 corinthians 1:18.

both of these books were top notch reads.

growing & going

2006-12-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

within the households of our friends and our own it has become a tradition during the CHRISTmas season to write a "year in review" newsletter. pam and i always look forward to reading these. this year we've noticed a trend - some of our friends write nothing about themselves within their newsletters. they describe the changes that their kids have gone through but nothing of themselves. pam and i started talking about this and we are convinced that part of the reason for this may be that they have not changed any during the past year. their kids have grown and developed and thus need to be re-described to everyone. whenever someone grows they need to be "re-described" because they have changed. you can see this in the newsletters we enjoy the most. in these newsletters our friends describe themselves again because they have grown during the year. they have learned new things, developed within things that they were already a part of - they've grown.

of course, this probably isn't true. these friends probably have grown and developed and they were just so excited about their kids that they forgot to mention it. i'm thankful for their newsletters because they remind me that i want to continue growing and developing throughout my life.

i want this ringtone

2006-12-18T16:37:00.000-08:00

last night during our interim pastor's speech during our church's choir musical someone's phone rang. that's not too big of a surprise because random ringtones are a common occurrence within modern gatherings. this ringtone was great because it was the cricket sound you always hear on t.v. when something boring is happening. it went off twice during his talk. i nearly busted out loud laughing.

random quote - crucifixion

2006-12-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

a crucified messiah, son of GOD or GOD must have seemed a contradiction in terms to anyone, jew, greek, roman, or barbarian, asked to believe such a claim, and it will certainly have been thought offensive and foolish.

--martin hengel, crucifixion, p. 10.

i particularly like it when hengel demonstrates that "madness" or "amentia" may be a better modern translation of "?????" (folly) than the kjv translation "folly."

[Listening to: 'Til I Met You - The Swift - The Swift (3:52)]

terminator to save the day

2006-12-06T19:31:00.000-08:00

we used this tonight.

2006-11-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

fall retreat challenge video #2

here's the second of three challenge videos describing various challenges that will happen at the beginning of each worship gathering during our fall retreat.

the retreat videoes

2006-11-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

as i have posted over the past couple of entries i have mentioned some of the animations i've made for our fall retreat that is coming up next weekend. to goof off a little before each gathering we're going to starteach one with a random "up front" game. to add a little most ziest to these games i've set up sound effects for each one and i am working on videoes to introduce each one. i finished the rough draft on the first one today. this is just the rough cut of the video. i'll be making more changes tomorrow.

swish #2 & other programs

2006-11-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

yesterday i posted two of the three intros i had created for our fall retreat using swish. i just finished the third intro a few seconds ago and therefore thought i would post it here also.

here's the intro:

reFUEL

as i have said earlier - i love swish. it is more than powerful enough for the things i need to do and yet simple enough that it doesn't take me forever to create something.

since i'm talking about programs that i enjoy using i figure i'll post a few of my favorite programs that are probably running on my desktop or laptop at this very moment:

swish - shockwave flash animation
adobe photoshop elements - photoshop lite - does most everything i need from layers to nef conversion for a 1/4 of the price of the real thing.
keynote - mac powerpoint - i use it on my laptop.
a href="http://wbloggar.com/">w.bloggar - blogging client - it's free and it's great. i just wish it was available for my mac.
mozilla firefox - the greatest browser around on windows or mac (though i do like safari on the mac also).
audacity - free mutlitrack digital recorder.
itunes - i was originally all about realplayer but buying an ipod swapped me over

[Listening to: Down Under - Men at Work - Contraband: The Best of Men at Work (3:41)]

swish

2006-11-06T19:53:00.000-08:00

i love swish. i like to use it for making intros for messages and variou other things within a worship service or experience. today i worked on a couple of intros for the three worship services that are a part of our fall retreat in a couple of weeks.

here they are:

in your browser they will loop but in mediashout they work just fine.

haggard

2006-11-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

i've been avoiding the whoole haggard thing but i do want to say that i like the letter that haggard wrote taking all the blame for the situation & i like mark driscoll's post on the whole situation.

salesmen are supposed to sell

2006-10-31T13:25:00.000-08:00

until recently with his retirement my dad was a salesman. ironically the "hobby" that he has developed over the past few years to keep him busy during his retirement is selling used cars. like i said he is a salesman. though i never heard my dad say the title of the post i still learned it from him through being aroudn his business. by watching him i learned that the purpose of a sales person is to sale a product. you do it ethically. you do it because you believe in the product. you do it because you believe that your product really is better for your customer than someone else's product. still though your purpose is to sale the product. if you can't sale the product because you're too worried about your image or too worried about what you might have to do to sale the product (i.e. go out and do a demonstration of the product at 10 p.m. or show the maintence personnel how to use the product, etc.) then you are not going to be a very good sales person.

the reason i say this is because i was dissappointed today. every 4 weeks or so i do the chapel for our preschool. today was one of those days. today i was supposed to talk about how GOD knows and loves us for who we really are. the problem as that i was speaking to 150 4-5 year olds. 4 & 5 year olds are not kown for their ability to understand and remember tough messages. still i figure the purpose of a preacher is to CONVEY truth, not just say true things. i'm supposed to help other people understand the good news of JESUS. if i simply speak the gospel and the people i am speaking with don't understand what i am saying then i have failed. so if i don't convey the truth in a manner that those listening can understand then then i have not preformed a very good job. so i decided to use the fact that most of these kids will be wearing costumes tonight to help them to understand that GOD knows who they really are on the inside. so i purchased an elvis halloween costume and did my message in it while slowing removing parts of it to show who i really am. the kids loved it. the teachers loved it. some of the leadership said it was the best chapel they had ever had.

now i will be the first to admit that having the costume was fun. it was fun to see people thrown off and confused when i walked down the hall. it was fun to see my fellow ministers laugh. when i was talking with one of my fellow ministers about the costume they said "i could never do that, i'm afraid no one would ever take me seriously anymore." of course, this is also why the 4 & 5 year olds squirm and never remember anything when he does their chapel.

the purpose of a preacher is to convey the truth of the good news of JESUS CHRIST. nothing else matters compared to that.

[Listening to: Ants Marching - Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Live at Luther College (disc 2) (5:26)]

some like it hot

2006-10-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

last night at the view, our youth worship service, i was speaking about goodness as a fruit of the spirit. as a part of the message i decided to steal a play from rob bell's gamebook and make salsa during my message. i didn't steal bell's message (that would be wrong and bad .. badong) but i definitely took the salsa idea. i figured it was okay because pam and i have been perfecting the world's most perfect salsa recipe over the past two months. i did the message, i made the salsa and then i simply hoped that the illustration helped the kids understand. by the end of the evening i knew that the kids like the salsa. that was pretty easy to find out since many of the told me that it was the greatest salsa they had ever eaten (and it wasn't even my best batch). still i wasn't really making the salsa for the kids to like it ... it was a sermon illustration.

this afternoon i got the feedback i was hoping for. a couple of my teens dropped by and told me how great the salsa was. when i asked if they remembered what the message was about they told me what the main idea of the message was and what the points were. then we were able to discuss what they thought about the ideas. BINGO!

just a test

2006-10-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

i'm just testing to see if my w.bloggar setup is correct. please continue with your lives as they were before.

[Listening to: Come Fall On Us (Psalm 50) - Psalm 18 (2) - 100 Portraits and Waterdeep - Enter the Worship Circle (13:41)]

lying in the name of GOD?

2006-10-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

pam, my lovely, intelligent, can caring wife, brought this article to my attention. it hit an interesting never considering our interim pastor announced yesterday that he would be leaving in december i thought it was appropriate.

are CHRISTians also human beings? are we permitted to talk about our lives the way other humans do? can we admit mistakes, confess uncertainty, and be honest about conflicts? is it okay not to have an airtight spiritual explanation for everything that happens?

one of the greatest causes of cynicism among CHRISTians is the way we lather GOD-talk over our lives in order to obscure realities we consider too painful to discuss directly.

JESUS greeting?

2006-10-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

if you get the wittenberg door's update email you have probably already seen this but i figured i would throw it out there just in case. it would appear that JESUS is now making a little money on the side by doing intros for websites. at leat that's what i'm guessing since this youth group's website has a greeting from JESUS. i feel a little unworthy as a youth minister since i can't seem to get HIM to do one of these for me.

two side points: 1)apparently all those older paintings of JESUS with blue eyes were right (very odd for an ancient near eastern hebrew, but who can deny video?), 2)watch HIS eyes as you move the cursor around. remember HE is watching.

human sandpaper

2006-09-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

if i ever plant a church i think i'll fit in one mindset right behind "loving GOD" and "loving others". it will be "no church people." that might go against the "loving others" mindset but i think JESUS will understand.

fighting fair

2006-09-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

i saw this on problogger via lifehacker and i wanted to keep it around somewhere. this seemed like as good of a spot as any to archive this thing.

here are 15 rules for fighting fair:

church advertising network

2006-09-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

i'm not much for "marketing the church." i don't really like the idea of trying to sell the church. that doesn't mean that i don't appreciate good marketing or graphic design when it comes to the church. it's more than i don't want it as a primary focus of the church or a pillar of bringing people into the church. i basically believe that church marketing probably just brings in "church people" and i'm not very interested in getting "church people" to move from one church to another. i'd rather see the unchurched enter our doors. i believe that purpose, meaning, and love are what will bring the unchurched to be involved with us (please notice i did not say "bring the unchurched to our doors').

with all the above said i do like the site church marketing sucks and i enjoyed their link to the british church advertising network. their past campaigns are incredible.

forms

2006-09-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

i'm not the world's greatest on html and web design. i know enough to be dangerous but not enough to do what i actually want to do. this year for our fall retreat i wanted to have sometime of online registration (i'm not comfortable with allowing credit card payment yet because i can't do that through the church and i don't want the money coming through my hands). i tried a few different ways of creating forms (manners that work for the stupid people like me). none of them really worked for me until i accidentally ran into formsite. it's pretty much dummy proof. if anyone knows of a better form building site i'm still open to changing things. i appreciate the collective wisdom of the two people who read this blog.

worshipping the CREATOR

2006-09-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

i've done the path of prayer labyrinth with amazing results within our youth ministry. awhile back grace (a worship community in england and the creators of the "path of prayer laburinth") developed a new prayer experience on the CREATOR. i wrote jonny baker and asked him about the resources and he said they would be coming out soon. well they came out awhile back and we're going to use it for our fall retreat. i haven't used "worshipping the CREATOR" yet but i have a great deal of faith in what comes out of grace.

do any of y'all have any experience with "worshipping the CREATOR?"

reading

2006-09-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

i finished organic church by neil cole yesterday and i found it very challenging. i have to admit that the thought of a house church is very compelling. I don't have any experience with churches that only operate out of homes. i do however have some experience with churches that operate often out of homes. they regularly incorporate homes into their times together. i would be interested to find out how well house churches age. it seems to me that they would work very well with younger ages but i don't have any idea how they would do with older individuals. this is my lack of experience speaking here.

i'm now reading shane claiborne's irresistible revolution. last year i went and spent a week with shane and his friends at the simple way. many of the stories within the book i heard then. i'll write more concerning the book when i finish it. it's enough to say at this point that it is very powerful ... just like shane.

sermon cloud

2006-09-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

i've decided to test out sermon cloud as a means of syndicating the messages from the view, our weekly youth oriented worship service. i'll write back later and discuss my feelings on sermon cloud after i use it for awhile.

Content Management System by Ekklesia360

micro$oft training video

2006-08-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

this is a micro$oft UK training video involving the actors from the bristish version of the office. it's great. i think my favorite part is when ricky gervais says that his hero is nelson mandella because he was in captivity for 30 years and he has since been out for 13 years and has not "reoffended". "shows that prison works." i don't care who you are that's funny.

today's schedule

2006-08-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

it was a tiring day. here was the schedule:

pbc

ring community church

pam

i'm not complaining about the day. in fact, if it wasn't for the fact that i ran my second 5k race yesterday i probably wouldn't even be tired today, but i am and i figured i would write it down. :)

random quote - where would JESUS be?

2006-08-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

if JESUS CHRIST were on earth you'd find HIM in a gay bar in san francisco. HE'd be working with people suffering from aids. these people are the new lepers. just like the turn of bc / ad. don't touch them, walk away from them. if you want to find out where JESUS would be hanging out, it'll always be with the lepers.

bono

how to handle westboro

2006-08-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

westboro baptist church is looney and this is possibly the best way of handling them that i've ever heard of.

david & colbert

2006-08-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

one of my students sent his picture in to be stephen colbert his photo for colbert's search for a new black friend. david, the student, made it onto the show. he's the first one of the video below.

hospital visits

2006-08-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

part of ministry that i really love is making visits ... especially hospital visits. it always seems to happen that i get the chance to be involved within significant moments during my weekly (and sometime more often) visits to each of our baton rouge hospitals. i may not like the traffic getting to the hospitals but 95% of the time i love the visits.

todays visits were not hugely amazing but one was quite funny. i went to visits an elderly woman who could barely hear anything. of course, since her lacking of hearing is more age related than anything she has never consider the possibility of aquiring hearing aides. this means that my short visit with her consisted of my shouting, her responding that she couldn't hear me, and then me shouting louder. the conversation went allot longer than the content conveyed within it would normally taken. i think all that the lady actually was able to make out from all that i said was "hi!." of course, everyone else in the wing knew exactly what church i am a minister of and why this lady was on our prayer list.

you may not know this but they don't really like you shouting in hospitals. thus when i left the lady's room i was given tons of nasty looks and a couple of "shhhh's". i guess they hadn't been any of the nurses taking care of the lady i visited.

random quote - love

2006-08-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

No motive, even that of affection for anyone, can justify the doing of evil. But to help someone in need, a good work may sometimes be left, or a better undertaken in its place. For in so doing, the good work is not lost, but changed for what is better. Without love, the outward work is of no value; but whatever is done out of love, be it never so little, is wholly fruitful. For God regards the greatness of the love that prompts a man, rather than the greatness of his achievement.
Whoever loves much, does much. Whoever does a thing well, does much. And he does well, who serves the community before his own interests.

thomas a kempis, the imitation of CHRIST, chapter 15.

just reminding myself

2006-08-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

exegesis - "to draw the meaning out of"

eisegesis - is the process of interpretation of
an existing text in such a way as to introduce one's own ideas.

random quote - the ressurrection

2006-07-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

there's a story about the writer g.k. chesteron, whose conversion to CHRISTian faith caused a stir in great britain at a time when smart people (and chesterton was brilliant) weren't supposed to believe. so he's standing on a street corner in london when he's approached by a newspaper reporter. "sir, i understand that you recently became a CHRISTian," the reporter says. "may i as you one question?"

"certainly," says chesterton.

"if the risen CHRIST suddenly appeared at this very moment and stood behind you," the reporter inquires, "what would you do?"

and chesterton looks the reporter square in the eyes and replies, "HE is."

brennan manning, posers, fakers, & wannabes, p. 115.

[Listening to: Come Fall On Us (Psalm 50) - Psalm 18 (2) - 100 Portraits and Waterdeep - Enter the Worship Circle (13:41)]

random quote - narrow versus broad

2006-07-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

it doesn't take a genius to see that religious people to be more narrow than broad.

brennan manning, poser, fakers, & wannabes, p. 90

[Listening to: 08 You Knew - Waterdeep - Live 3.26.03 - Muncie, Indiana (5:25)]

random quote - the goal of work

2006-07-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

the goal of work is not to gain wealth and possessions, but to serve the common good and bring glory to GOD.

richard foster, the freedom of simplicity, p. 149.

[Listening to: Homeward Bound - TreeFinger - (3:38)]

freedom of simplicity

2006-07-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

i am about to finish richard foster's book "freedom of simplicity" and i need to say that with only two chapters left it is an amazingly butt kicking book. any book by foster is inherently prophetic but always within a real world context. foster offers workable solutions to changing from a complex to a simple life. it is going to take me months and months of conversation with my wife to figure out what this means for us.

[Listening to: I am - anyma - Volume 1 (4:28)]

Statue of Liberation

2006-07-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Statue of Liberation
Originally uploaded by rcooper.

god bless america ... and noone else!"

the statue is in memphis at the world overcomers outreach ministries church and cost $250,000 to erect. now that's tithe money that i think some one will have to answer for one day.

just a test

2006-07-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

i'm just testing right now to see if my "post by email" option works.

i've stopped posting as much over the past two months because i've
been focused on other things. some of these are:

1)i've been focusing on my photography -
which is just too much fun.
2)i've decided that i want to run a 5k (and then maybe move up to a
10k, etc.) and i started coolrunning.com's couch to
5k training program. this week i am running 2.5 miles sunday,
tuesday, and thursday (i'm on week 7).
3)it's the summer and therefore the youth ministry has me jumping
all over the place.

still i enjoy typing into this blog and my other blog and so i'm
starting to do it again.

first impressionism

2006-07-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

First Impressionism
Originally uploaded by OldOnliner.

i haven't blogged in forever (which is about two to three months for me. this is just a quick entry to say that i will begin blogging again and to point you to this very cool photo. a community decided it wanted to re-enact seurat's “saturday in the park with friends". way cool idea.

i'm tired

2006-06-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

i haven't posted in forever but i'm winding down right now and thought i would try to jump start my posting. it's been a busy week and i'm pooped. the walters (friends and youth volunteers) have agreed to host a bible study and pre-goof off time at their house. we had ten there tonight and that was 5 more than i was worried we would have.

numbers aren't everything (in fact, many times they aren't anything) but you got to have a little something to get started. numbers become all the more noticeable when you go from a large group to a small group because of church issues. nobody seems to remember that we had 20 youth on wednesdays nights when i first got to baton rouge 6 years ago because all of those kids have graduated now. now we have 40 coming on a wednesday night but it seems really small because everyone has gotten used to 110-120 coming on a wednesday.

so now we're a smaller youth ministry and it's taking awhile for everyone (myself included) to get used to it. to try and help everyone get excited about things again i've been doing allot of fellowship activities over the past week. this means i have spent a ton of time with various teens. i'm not complaining because i love doing that. it just soaks up allot of time and allot of nights.

tonight i didn't get home till 9:40 p.m. not a terriblly late night but i was waiting till i got home to call my mom and wish her a happy birthday. i had texted her earlier in the day because my phone was having really weird signal issues as i went from place to place to get stuff for the bible study tonight but i couldn't call her because i couldn't get reception. i don't even really know if my mom knows how to check text messages or not (this one may have been the first text message she has ever recieved). when i got home i needed to spend time with my youngest son who was struggling with a major headache. my the time we got him to bed it was past my parents' normal bed time. happy birthday mom, sorry, it's been a long day.

tired of the same old da vinci code hating

2006-05-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

i really wasn't going to post anything else concerning the da vinci code because i'm a little tired of i. yet i now feel like i have to because every where i turned i hear believers shaking in their shoessaying that the book and movie are an "amazing attack from satan" (their words - not mine). if our faith is really so weak that a poor work of fiction can destroy it then maybe it should be destroyed.

in the midst of this doom and gloom over how fictional writing is going to destroy our non-fiction faith it has been refreshing to hear some voices saying something a little more insightful and asking what the popularity of this book may have to say to us believers about how we have operated. what if CHRISTian's have operated out of stances of power and have manipulated people? What if that's what we are doing now when we try to seize political power? Is that why the da vinci code is so popular - because it talks of a church that is guarding it's power and willing to do anything to maintain it? Is the book popular because that's is how believers are viewed? those are the questions that concern me most.

here's the brian mclaren interview that was in sojomail that you have probably read - if you haven't you should.

An interview by Lisa Ann Cockrel

With The Da Vinci Code poised to go from bestseller list to the big screen on May 19, pastor and writer (and Sojourners board member) Brian McLaren talks about why he thinks there's truth in the controversial book's fiction.

What do you think the popularity of The Da Vinci Code reveals about pop culture attitudes toward Christianity and the church?

Brian McLaren: I think a lot of people have read the book, not just as a popular page-turner but also as an experience in shared frustration with status-quo, male-dominated, power-oriented, cover-up-prone organized Christian religion. We need to ask ourselves why the vision of Jesus hinted at in Dan Brown's book is more interesting, attractive, and intriguing to these people than the standard vision of Jesus they hear about in church. Why would so many people be disappointed to find that Brown's version of Jesus has been largely discredited as fanciful and inaccurate, leaving only the church's conventional version? Is it possible that, even though Brown's fictional version misleads in many ways, it at least serves to open up the possibility that the church's conventional version of Jesus may not do him justice?

So you think The Da Vinci Code taps into dissatisfaction with Jesus as we know him?

McLaren: For all the flaws of Brown's book, I think what he's doing is suggesting that the dominant religious institutions have created their own caricature of Jesus. And I think people have a sense that that's true. It's my honest feeling that anyone trying to share their faith in America today has to realize that the Religious Right has polluted the air. The name "Jesus" and the word "Christianity" are associated with something judgmental, hostile, hypocritical, angry, negative, defensive, anti-homosexual, etc. Many of our churches, even though they feel they represent the truth, actually are upholding something that's distorted and false.

I also think that the whole issue of male domination is huge and that Brown's suggestion that the real Jesus was not as misogynist or anti-woman as the Christian religion often has been is very attractive. Brown's book is about exposing hypocrisy and cover-up in organized religion, and it is exposing organized religion's grasping for power. Again, there's something in that that people resonate with in the age of pedophilia scandals, televangelists, and religious political alliances. As a follower of Jesus I resonate with their concerns as well.

Do you think the book contains any significantly detrimental distortions of the Christian faith?

McLaren: The book is fiction and it's filled with a lot of fiction about a lot of things that a lot of people have already debunked. But frankly, I don't think it has more harmful ideas in it than the Left Behind novels. And in a certain way, what the Left Behind novels do, the way they twist scripture toward a certain theological and political end, I think Brown is twisting scripture, just to other political ends. But at the end of the day, the difference is I don't think Brown really cares that much about theology. He just wanted to write a page-turner and he was very successful at that.

Many Christians are also reading this book and it's rocking their preconceived notions - or lack of preconceived notions - about Christ's life and the early years of the church. So many people don't know how we got the canon, for example. Should this book be a clarion call to the church to say, "Hey, we need to have a body of believers who are much more literate in church history." Is that something the church needs to be thinking about more strategically?

McLaren: Yes! You're exactly right. One of the problems is that the average Christian in the average church who listens to the average Christian broadcasting has such an oversimplified understanding of both the Bible and of church history - it would be deeply disturbing for them to really learn about church history. I think the disturbing would do them good. But a lot of times education is disturbing for people. And so if The Da Vinci Code causes people to ask questions and Christians have to dig deeper, that's a great thing, a great opportunity for growth. And it does show a weakness in the church giving either no understanding of church history or a very stilted, one-sided, sugarcoated version.

On the other hand, it's important for me to say I don't think anyone can learn good church history from Brown. There's been a lot of debunking of what he calls facts. But again, the guy's writing fiction so nobody should be surprised about that. The sad thing is there's an awful lot of us who claim to be telling objective truth and we actually have our own propaganda and our own versions of history as well.

Let me mention one other thing about Brown's book that I think is appealing to people. The church goes through a pendulum swing at times from overemphasizing the deity of Christ to overemphasizing the humanity of Christ. So a book like Brown's that overemphasizes the humanity of Christ can be a mirror to us saying that we might be underemphasizing the humanity of Christ.

In light of The Da Vinci Code movie that is soon to be released, how do you hope churches will engage this story?

McLaren: I would like to see churches teach their people how to have intelligent dialogue that doesn't degenerate into argument. We have to teach people that the Holy Spirit works in the middle of conversation. We see it time and time again - Jesus enters into dialogue with people; Paul and Peter and the apostles enter into dialogue with people. We tend to think that the Holy Spirit can only work in the middle of a monologue where we are doing the speaking.

So if our churches can encourage people to, if you see someone reading the book or you know someone who's gone to the movie, say, "What do you think about Jesus and what do you think about this or that," and to ask questions instead of getting into arguments, that would be wonderful. The more we can keep conversations open and going the more chances we give the Holy Spirit to work. But too often people want to get into an argument right away. And, you know, Jesus has handled 2,000 years of questions, skepticism, and attacks, and he's gonna come through just fine. So we don't have to be worried.

Ultimately, The Da Vinci Code is telling us important things about the image of Jesus that is being portrayed by the dominant Christian voices. [Readers] don't find that satisfactory, genuine, or authentic, so they're looking for something that seems more real and authentic.

Lisa Ann Cockrel is associate editor at Today's Christian Woman. link

[Listening to: making space - TreeFinger - (9:18)]

please read more fiction

2006-04-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

i was in a conversation a few days ago in which the upcoming da vinci code movie was mentioned. i'm looking forward to the movie because i figure some good discussion will come of it. i personally find it hilarious that dan brown has somehow been turned into some type of gnostic prophet. just look at his past books. he has written thriller after thriller. that's what he does ... he writes quick read thrillers like tom clancy or john grisham. it's just so happens that his schtick is the whole knights of the templar thing. jon stewart pointed out on crossfire that we should never confuse his daily show with hard hitting news because it's supposed to be a comedy (if you haven't seen the video here it is). i think the same thing should be remembered about dan brown. HE'S A THRILLER AUTHOR!

anyway back to my conversation with these pastors. when the discussion swapped to the da vinci code movie one of the pastors said "that book is a strong attack from satan on the chruch." it was at this point that i blurted out "then our enemy is an idiot because it's not a very good book." i read the da vinci code and personally found it pretty predictable. one of the other pastors then said "you and i may not agree with the book but it is an excellent work of fiction and a powerful story that will be flowed. i should know because i love good fiction every now and then."

this statement was what blew me away. not the part about the da vinci code being powerful. it's not. everybody talked about it when it first came out and then it died away (just like all quick reads do) and the same will happen with the movie. in my opinion it won't have many lasting thoughts. afterall we don't base our legal system on john grisham or our defense strategy off tom clancy why would we base our faith off dan brown? the statement that blew me away was that this pastor consider the da vinci code an "excellent work of fiction." he then went on to mention other works of fiction that he enjoyed reading and they were all from the same genre. most of the pastors i know don't read near enough fiction and they definitely don't read anything worth while. there is fiction and then there is good fiction (also known as literature). some books change the way you think and challenge society. books like "to kill a mockingbird," "catcher in the rye," "a lesson before dying," "crime and punishment." and other books are quick reads that are full of cliche's and simple plots like "the da vinci code." some works of fiction should be read because they are full of more truth than some of the non-fiction books that pastors read. works such as "the lord of the flies," "the grapes of wrath," "the scarlet letter." other books don't teach people anything ... books like "the da vinci code."

i'm not sure why it somehow became noble for pastor's to say "i don't read fiction." yet, i'm convinced if more pastors read good fiction then we would see "the da vinci dode" movie for what it is ... a summer blockbuster that will be forgotten within 5 years rather than being convinced that it is the greatest attack on faith in CHRIST ever.

as always i have the greatest job ever

2006-04-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

i haven't blogged on this blog in quite sometime. it's partially because i've been more excited about photography (i finally was able to get a nikon d50) and partially because i simply haven't felt like blogging about ministry.

anyway that has been changing over the past few weeks and i finally decided it was time to post something. over the next three weeks i will be speaking at our mid-week worship service about living a life of simplicity. i meet each week with a group whose desire is to make each week's worship service something experiential and special. while we were talking about the message series which i was calling "the simple way" (in an ode to some friends in philadelphia) one of the people within the group said "is that supposed to be making fun of the paris hilton/nicole richie show 'the simple life'?" once we heard it everything was settled. we had to make a mock "the simple life" trailer. we decided to do one for each week that was focused on the point of each week's message.

so here's this weeks video dealing with the need within a simple lifestyle to be able to say "no" to things, even some things that are good.

GOD is with you?

2006-03-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

yesterday we had a guest preacher at our church who made the following state:

a while back i was walking through a park and a saw a young couple being overly affectionate. i stopped and asked them, "would you be doing the things you are doing with each other if your mom was in the backseat of your car watching?"

the young man responded "no way!"

i then told him that GOD was always watching over him. that's one of the lessons that our young people most deserparetly need to hear - GOD is always with them.

now before i say anything else i need to add that i love the guy who said this. he is one of those guys that you can listen to for ten seconds and simply know that he would be a terrific grandfather. though i love him i couldn't disagree with him more on what he said. his point was basically that we should teach our teens that GOD is always with them so that they will feel guilted into not doing certain things. i don't think that "immanuel" (GOD with us) is about making sure that we have a "big brother is watching" mentality with GOD. i deal with enough teens (and truthfully their parents) who walk around all day long thinking that they are scum and worthless. most people know exactly how evil they are. i believe that what most people need is someone to point them to the ONE who proclaims them to be valuable and precious.

while i disagree with the preacher's motive i would atleast partially agree with our speaker on his main point - that kids need to know that GOD is with them - but i would do it for an entirely different reason.

the day i turned 16 i took the test to receive my alabama driver's license. it was important that i passed the test because we had a
twirp" dance that night and having an early birthday i was the only one of my friend's old enough to be the driver ("twrip" stands for "the woman is required to pay"). i had to passed this test or our parents would be driving us to the dance. being the ace student i am i easily passed the test and then decided to drive around to my friends' houses to show them my new license. i drove from friend to friend showing them my license and making them jealous. i know my dad reads this blog so he can back me up on the next part. when i got home my dad sat me down and began to detail out everywhere i had been and when i had been there. i sat there in fear of my future - my dad had eyes and ears everywhere. i would never be able to get away with anything. what my dad said next still rocks my thoughts. my dad said:

robert, i know people all around this town and i want you to know that if you ever get into trouble or have something bad happen i'll hear about it quickly and i'll be there to help you.

my dad's presence (or perceived presence) around the town was a great source of comfort for me. i had someone who was watching my back. that's what i think GOD's presence with us is like. it means we are not alone in this hostile world. there are times when we should feel guilty but that's not why i want teens to know that GOD is with them everywhere they go. i want teens to know that they never have to worry about leaving GOD behind because HE will go everywhere with them and thus already be with them when they need HIM most.

[Listening to: Blessed are the Peacemakers - TreeFinger - (4:38)]

a million ways to be cruel

2006-03-26T15:35:00.000-08:00

this is worth watching.

xbox live

2006-03-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

i installed the cat5 cable necessary for us to hook our xbox up to the internet and thereby have xbox live. if any of you have xbox live send me your username and i'll list you as a "friend." then we can shoot each other to our hearts' delight.

some days are really good

2006-02-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

some days just make me feel really good about being involved within ministry. yesterday was such a day. here the stuff that happened during the day:

early morning (roughly 8 to 9 a.m.) - study the old testament concept of "herem" and how it relates to our lives.
morning (roughly 9 to 10 a.m.) - discussion with a student for a paper on paul tillich - how does a struggle with "being" and "nothingness" relate to every day life? how do you disagree with someone and yet still recognize the truth that is found within what they are saying?
late morning (roughly 11-12 a.m.) - discussion with an adult volunteer concerning GOD's sovereignty and the current very painful situation that she is going through.
ealry afternoon (roughly 1 to 2 p.m.) - one of my former youth comes over for a visit after getting back from his army tour of duty in iraq. we debrief for awhile and i am humbled as he talks about his difficulties being in church now after a year of being told to never make himself vulnerable by placing himself in a situation that involves a mass of people who he doesn't know (he had to get up and leave his first sunday in church with his girlfriend in another city because he kept having the idea of being an easy target flash through his head).
afternoon - finished my preparation for our wednesday worship. because of the nature of "herem" i get to smash things with a mallet and this requires preparation.
evening - youth worship with me smashing a cantaloupe with a huge mallet during the service. it was a blast.
evening (after the service) - spend time talking with a teen who is going through some faith struggles right now. i spent most of my time listening to him as he talked through his struggles and tried to find answers.
late evening (roughly 8 to 10 p.m.) - i sat in a discussion group that one of the adult volunteers who works within the youth ministry has started. it was the first time that i had been his student. it was a cool experience.

it was a good day.

of course, there are other days when the closest thing to significance i did was put together some graphic slides of quotes to show during our announcement slide loop (i.e. the images attached to this post).

mt. terrell?

2006-02-15T05:58:00.000-08:00

when is it that you no longer have zits? i would have thought it was around 38 but apparently that's not true because i am now the proud owner of a monster. this little puppy has been developing over the past couple of days and this morning it blossomed from a "little puppy" to a HUGE DAWG! it's so large that when my oldest son saw it he shouted "wow! dad, when did that mole grow on your face?" thanks son. as you can tell he is a real barnabas.

it's a baby ... church

2006-02-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

don't you hate it when people much younger than yourself show you how to do things? this past sunday our college ministry (people who i am honored to know) birthed a church. many of them have been dreaming about this for the past eight years. they have been working hard and heavy on this thing for the past year solid. they have done things right. so right in fact that our state denominational convention has decided to support them as a church plant. the cool thing is that these guys & girls were starting the church long before they even found out that there would be support from the state denominational or associational denominational offices. they aren't dependent upon outside money to help them. i've learned allot watching them. i hate it when i get taught such amazing lessons but running nose little kids. :)

i am very proud to know these men & women.

the image of GOD?

2006-02-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

i'm doing research on a sermon for tomorrow on the imagio dei and i just found the above cartoon. it made me laugh because that's pretty much the mindset that i'm trying to preach against (the idea of someone created in the image of GOD being used as an object).

our own self-interest?

2006-02-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

the onion had an interesting article from the right reverend michael barrodale. rev. barrodale "honestly" declares "i am but a vessel through which GOD drones on indefinitely" and that none of what he says or does comes from his own needs or interests. of course, rev. barrodale is unlike most of the minsters i know, including myself, who have to constantly be on the watch for where their own needs and desires sneak into the ministry. i have to admit that i enjoy people wanting my opinion on things. i enjoy people considering what i say as important. if i'm not careful this enjoyment can begin to direct my actions within the ministry in which i am involved. i can start forcing my opinion and voice into conversations.

it happens in ministries all around us. if you are in the ministry you've probably seen ministers whose own interest, desires, and psychological needs have begun to direct their actions within their ministry. sometimes they speak longer and louder because they need to, rather than because GOD truly wants them to. if you've been to seminary you've probably seen people that if you had to guess you would probably guess were studying to be a minister merely because of their own needs and desires - they need to be someone important, to have some clout. the real problem for me here is that it's just to easy for me to do this too and thus it's not a problem that just "they" have.

i have to watch out for this all the time. i want to be someone who follows GOD's desires rather than merely placing HIS name on my own agendas.

observation

2006-02-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

pam, my cute, intelligent wife, pointed me to the following video from some university prof's studies on human observation. first time through watch the video to see how many times the white team passes the basketball to each other. the second time you watch the video just watch the video and see if you notice anything. this stat will probably mess up the experiment but i'll try it anyway - 58% of the people who view the video don't see anything odd the first time.

cool huh?

this thing has "ILLUSTRATION" written all over it. if you go to parkview, plan on going to parkview, or ever plan on having me speak at this church DON'T USE THIS VIDEO. if you do i will hunt you down and shoot you like a dog. you have been warned. :)

cornel west & the light at the end of the tunnel?

2006-02-05T10:51:00.000-08:00

for anyone interested dr. cornel west will be in baton rouge thursday, february 9th @ 6:00 p.m. speaking at the baton rouge community college. i don't agree with much of what he sayd but it's still interesting enough to me that i'm going to go.

now for the good church news - today i saw the light at the end of the tunnel. as i have posted before my church has gone through some rough times recently. it has not been fun. today we had dr. stan norman preach to possibly be our interim pastor. for those who do not understand the baptist manner of finding a pastor i'll explain. baptist to not have a higher organization to assign or help find a pastor. every baptist church is completely autonomous. so when a baptist church needs to find a pastor it has to do it on its own. this usually takes awhile and therefore most baptist churches find an interim pastor to fill the pulpit until they can find their real pastor. the interim helps give a consistent voice to the pulpit. consistency is key. "preaching by committee" never seems to work - no matter how good your "committee" is. so getting an interim pastor is a big step to our church recovering it's zest. dr. norman is a systematic theology prof at new oreleans baptist theological seminary. he knows his stuff. i thought he did a very good job today. his preaching style is definitely more modern in its nature and while i would prefer a more post-modern style you still aren't going to hear me complain. it was the best sermon we've had from the pulpit in awhile. the church still has a long way to go but at least a faint light has begun to appear.

[Listening to: Know Your Rights - The Clash - Combat Rock (3:41)]

splinter cell - pandora tomorrow

2006-02-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

i found "splinter cell - pandora tomorrow" today for $14 and decided to buy it for me and the kids. thus far it involves a ton of sneaking around. i personally tend to go for a game with lots of gun play. i fear that i may be disappointed here. sneaking around is just not my thing. i hope not.

playdough worship

2006-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

the photo above is composed of a few of my favorite playdough sculptures from our worship service last night. i asked the kids and adults to stay seated and work on sculptures while we all sang together. the tables were full of playdough and i wanted them to make a sculpture of how they felt when they knew beyond a shadow of doubt that they had sinned. the sculpture didn't have to be anything that anyone else would understand. it merely needed to have meaning for them. we used these sculptures later in the evening as a means of representing the forgiveness that we receive from CHRIST through the love HE showed on the cross. the kids left these sculptures behind them at the end of the evening. though we never discussed specific meanings of each one (after all they were supposed to leave it behind them) some of them spoke volumes to me.

[Listening to: Daylight - Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head (5:29)]

mp3 worship

2006-02-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

awhile back i read where improv everywhere did an improv completely from mp3's that interested people downloaded. the people who downloaded the improv mp3 came to a local venue and then were taken through the improv experience via the mp3 they had dowloaded. here's their description of it. i thought it sounded great and then began to think that it might be an interesting worship experience. it be a cool way of discovering being individually and coporately involved within faith at the same time (i.e. you are individually listening to the mp3 but listening to it at the same time as others and thus doing the same things). i don't work well on vague timelines so i finally decided that i would just go ahead and schedule it. so it's setup for the wednesday, march 1st. this means i have to write everything out and get the whole thing mapped out word for word and then recorded. i just wish i knew someone with a cool british accent to record it.

do any ideas of what i can do within the mp3 to convey individuals working within community?

[Listening to: Square One - Coldplay - X&Y (4:47)]

hello there idiot

2006-02-01T06:37:00.000-08:00

pam and i are part of the less than one percent of the world that owns two vehicles. pam's '98 mazada 626 (with 140,000 miles) resides at night inside our garage while my '98 ford explorer (with 118,000 miles) sits in our driveway most nights. i say "most nights" because when either of my boys want to play basketball i have to move the truck to the side of the street. yesterday was such a day.

i pulled the truck in front of my house and let the boys play a little bball. i left "fred", my truck, on the side of the street over night. when i woke up this morning and went out to the truck i discovered that i had apprently left the doors unlocked during the evening. the way i know this is because someone had gone through my glovebox and console storage and thrown everything out. i'm assuming this was in an attempt to find some money or something of value. of course, the theif that broke into my car was an idiot and therefore nothing was missing. i can safely safe that he/she was an idiot because i had left my $1,000 guitar in the back of the truck and it was still there this morning. he/she didn't even steal noah's fossil watch in the change consol which would have at least netted the perp a few bucks. all the idiot was able to do was throw a few papers around the truck. this is one of the reasons why they say "crime doesn't pay" because most of the people breaking into vehicles and homes are too stupid to make anything from it.

[Listening to: 11 - Redemption Song - Bob Marley - Legend (3:49)]

dream church

2006-01-31T20:38:00.000-08:00

tonight as i was listening to a podcast and i heard tony jones say the phrase "my dream church."it got me to thinking about what my dream church would look like. since judge marilyn says i rule i figured i should write down a few things on what my dream church would look like so that you, my loyal subjects, would know these things. so here goes:

my dream church would be concerned about the kingdom of GOD - i would want the overriding focus of the church to be on living out and expanding the kingdom of GOD (e.g. living life the way it is supposed to be) - not just missions, evangelism, social justice, discipleship, worship, community or any other single element. we would need to be a group of people that were not only spreading the good news of JESUS CHRIST but also fighting to see that kingdom lived out in this world - fighting with and for the marginalized of the world. basically i would like to see the best of liberal protestantism and conservative evangelicalism brought together.
a group of people passionately in love with each other - for me this means lots of pot lucks and constant eating together.
a diverse group of messed up people - i want a church that is full of people that admit how much they don't get and how much they don't live out concerning the gospel. a group that is trying to walk closer and closer in the way of CHRIST but in the end realize that we are all screwed up and entirely dependent upon GOD's grace. i would want a place where the perfect middle class family and the drug addict are both in the same room, in love with each other, and realize they both stand before GOD in need of HIS grace.
a great mix of people - i dream of a church that is made up of different ethnic groups, socioeconomic groups, sub-cultures, etc. e pluribus unum, baby. the rich and the poor, the black and the white, the packers and the bears fans all living life together.
a church that has chili dogs once a week - okay it's a selfish thing but i really love chili dogs. this is not a make or break point but i am talking about my dream church so i figured i should dream a little.
a church that seeks to live as simply as possible - i'm not doing a very good job of this personally but i'm trying and i would love to be a part of a group of people who are always struggling to do this.
a hospitable church - i want to be a part of a group of people who are always "inviting the stranger into their midst."
a body of believers that are growing in CHRIST's love together - i want a church where GOD is sought after, HIS word is delved into, prayer is practiced in a variety of manners, and devotion is encouraged as ways of experiencing GOD's love to greater extents. part of this means a church that is not afraid to mess up. part of growing is sometimes getting it wrong. i want to be a part of a body of believers that is struggling with GOD and HIS word. it wouldn't be a place where someone had all the answers, rather it would be a group of people who are constantly struggling with figuring out what the questions are and trying to accept the love of the ONE WHO is the ANSWER.
a group of people who are committed to being between 200 and 300 in size - this doesn't mean a lack of growth or excluding new people. instead it means that church plants would have to happen all the time.
i want a church that is constantly experimenting - i want to be a part of a body that is trying new things all the time. new forms of ministry, new room set ups, new teaching methods, new issues jumped into, new chili dogs ... you name it. i want to be with a group of people who are not afraid to fail and therefore will try anything.
i want to be with a church body that is embracing its heritage - i want to be a part of a group of people who truly know what is important to them. not the programs, rooms, etc. rather then ideals that all those things came from. i want to be with a group of people who have those ideals in their minds and honor them even while they are trying new things.

that's what comes to mind off the top of my head. i'll probably read it tomorrow and decided to change some of it - i'm tired and i never really trust what i write when i am tired.

Currently playing in iTunes: City Of Blinding Lights by U2

discipleNOW '06

2006-01-31T12:48:00.000-08:00

for the past 9 years i have been writing my own small group material for the discipleNOW of the youth ministries i have been involved with. for those who don't know what a discipleNOW is i will briefly explain - it's a weekend retreat where you group kids and adults in small groups of 8 to 12 for in home bible studies - we use 4 small group bible studies and three large group worship times. anyway i started writing my own material because i didn't really like any of the other material i could get at the time (except for student discipleship's back to the basics curriculum which i do really enjoy). i had looked at several other youth minister's self-published material and pam, my cute and intelligent wife, said "you can do that." so i decided to try and suddenly found out that i enjoyed doing it. so i started writing my own material.

of course, this means that i have to finish it in time for my leqaders to have a few weeks with it. this means that i have about 4 weeks to finish it. right now i would say that i am about a third of the way through. that's not as far as i would like. so i need to really start churning the stuff out.

here's the shockwave flash file we are using as an announcement during our announcement slide loop.

[Listening to: Show Me Heaven - Delirious? - Touch (3:24)]

listen and obey

2006-01-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

judge marilyn says i rule
Originally uploaded by ratterrell.

awhile back i saw something talking about getting free autographed photos from the people's court. it sounded like something fun to do so i did it. the other day my autographed judge marilyn photo arrived and she said i rule. read it and weep. i rule! since i rule it is safe to say that i must therefore be king. as you king i command each of you to send me $100. do it now. remember according to judge marilyn ... I RULE

a few movies & books

2006-01-27T19:56:00.000-08:00

my cute, beautiful, intelligent wife is away for the week working on an operation smile project in managua, nicaragua (i am very proud of her). she's been gone since wednesday and will be gone until next saturday. because of this i am watching allot of movies and reading a good bit - not much conversation around the house when my boys go to sleep. here are a few of my thoughts on what i have been reading and watching.

memento - movie - the language in this movie is rougher than i usually like in a movie. i am sensitive to coarse language in a movie and therefore usually avoid anything with much cursing in it. i watched this because of one of the books i am currently reading. the book referenced the movie as an amazing non-linear story. boy was it right. the movie is exceptionally well crafted. i have heard this for years but avoided the movie because of the language. i still wish it didn't have such harsh language within it but this movie is one of a kind.
reel theology - book - some amazing thoughts on why film is so important to our post-modern culture. i love the thought of claiming truth where ever it is found.
antwone fisher - movie - what an amazing movie! i haven't gone through physical or sexual abuse but i believe we all understand the desire to walk to the big table and hear someone say "welcome."
dirk gently's holistic detective agency - book - i love douglas adams' writing. it's incredibly funny in an odd english humor sort of way.
catwoman - movie - BORING. this movie was a complete waste of time, money, and film.
the scarlet letter - book - i can't believe that i didn't like this book when i was in high school. it always takes me a few chapters to get back into the language of the book but it is an amazing book. i sometimes think that the books kids or forced to read in high school should be forced to read them later when they can actually enjoy them.

i've got allot more to read and watch.

Currently playing in iTunes: City Of Blinding Lights by U2

multimedia prayer

2006-01-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

here's the multimedia prayer i developed within swish for "the view" tomorrow night. it's my own paraphrase of the prayer suffrage b from the daily evening prayer: rite one out of the book of common prayer. the ambient music in the background came from the "podsafe" mp3s of garageband.com. it's from a band called "anyma." pretty cool stuff in my opinion.

within firefox it loops for some reason that i don't understand. it might do the same thing within other browsers but i don't use any other browsers at my church computer so i can't really judge that. the flash file itself doesn't loop.

sabbath 2006

2006-01-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

this past weekend was the second time i have done a sabbath retreat with our youth. i posted about last year's sabbath here. here, and here. the "sabbath" is a weekend that focuses on spiritual disciplines, solitude, quietness, community, and rest.

last year i wasn't sure how the whole thing would work. it went much better than i could ever have expected. so we did it again this past weekend and it i was once again thankful for it. of course, i will change a few things next year. the first of which is to go back to three days and two nights. this year we did only friday and saturday rather than friday, saturday, and sunday. the extra day makes a huge difference. to paraphrase the end of "animal farm" - "two days good, three days bettter."

in a world full of electronic noise the sabbath weekend has one electronic moment. we view a film together and then discuss the spiritual implications and themes of the movie. last year we watched "a knight's tale" - a film that was full of discussion. deciding to stick with movies that had adam tudyk within them i showed serenity for us this year. i had not heard much about this movie before. we loved it. it was great. not only was it an entertaining movie but it also led to some great discussion.

the circumcision sermon

2006-01-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

for those of you interested here's the mp3 of the circumcision sermon i did for our church new year's day.

i posted about this message back on january 3rd. the church did eventually receive one complaint - saying that they weren't to happy about the topic. our church administrator told the complainant to come talk to me. i personally haven't heard from anyone yet.

southern gospel

2006-01-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

i'm not a huge fan of southern gospel music. it just doesn't "float my boat." so i wasn't real thrilled when i found out that we had a southern gospel group singing for the largest part of our worship service today. in a perfect world i would at this point tell you that the group was so good that they changed my mind about southern gospel. they weren't that good and it didn't change my mind. still i enjoyed being able to tell that other people were connecting to GOD through the music that was a part of our worship. that was enough for me. i was able to worship GOD through the fact that they were able to connect with GOD through the southern gospel in our service. i love the fact that we have a diverse GOD.

of course, it would be perfectly okay with me if we never had another southern gospel group lead any of our services. ;)

stephen harper is a very bad man

2006-01-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

jordan cooper posted this on his blog and it's so funny i have to pass it on. they're mock ads from the canadian political ads. they're so funny that i would vote for someone if they actually ran them.

here's the add about stephen harper's dog.

steven harper has a dog.
hitler had a dog.
does stephen harper goose-step while he is walking his dog?
does stephen harper want to kills millions and be the emperor of poland?
we just don't know.
we're not kidding.
we just don't know.
choose your candidate.

it seems like the stuff in these parody ads is about as real as some of our real attack advertisements during our elections.

podcasts i like right now

2006-01-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

here are the podcast that are getting the most playtime on my ipod right now:

2 minute photoshop tricks - photoshop - the name says it all.
cinecast - great movie reviews - i don't always agree with them but i love listening to them being wrong about a movie.
grace church - sermons - this is grant's church and the sermons that come out of it.
mars hill / rob bell - rob bell sermons - okay this isn't actually a podcast but i wish it was. i go and download the messages all the time. i wish they would put it in an rss/atom format so i could simply subscribe to it and have it downloaded automatically.
martin bailey photography - photography - the guy takes great photos and then describes how he took them.
media moment - ministry - discussion on using media within ministry.
onion radio news - satire - america's greatest news source.
relevant podcast - relevant magazine - it's relevant magazine in a podcast with a great caramel filling.
the view - youth ministry sermons - okay this is self promotion for what we do within the youth ministry but it is my list after all.
the word nerds - etymology - i love learning about words. these guys usually do a good job of discussing ideas concerning why words mean certain things.
youth specialties - youth ministry - the podcast from the greatest publisher of youth ministry stuff.

i have other podcasts on the ipod but they are listened to as faithfully. i'll update this as it changes.

the bell

2006-01-19T06:45:00.000-08:00

i may be the only youth minister in the world who doesn't survive off of taco bell. i hate the place. it's cheap, nasty food (and i am being generous by calling it food). awhile back i encouraged the teens within the youth ministry to boycott the bell because of unfair employment practices with the coalition of immokalee workers. this was an easy boycott for me because i can't stand taco bell. the only thing that changed for me because of the boycott was that i simply stopped using taco bell for the teens during youth ministry trips and such. that hit them but truthfully didn't change much for me. the boycott has ended because taco bell has begun to treat the immokalee fairly. my eatting habits concerning the bell still did not change. until last night.

last night i needed to met with a teen who is going through his boy scout "god and me" badge. he asked if we could meet at taco bell and i reluctantly agreed. i decided i would try a taco and a burrito. this was, of course, a huge mistake. for the rest of the evening my stomach rebelled. it growled, it lurched, it protested to the point that i understood it's message ... "don't put this junk in me!" i have now promised to my stomach that i will not try this mess again.

citizens of two kingdoms?

2006-01-19T05:37:00.000-08:00

i first heard the term "patriot pastors" on npr. it concerned me enough that i decided to do a little research on the web to find out what was going on. that's when i found in the cincinnati enquirer. it appears that the rev. russell johnson has set about finding a couple of hundred "patriot pastors" who according to him:

who oppose abortion, want to protect traditional marriage and oppose higher taxes

wow! this sends up major red flags for me. first off, even though i don't like paying taxes i would not say that paying or not paying higher taxes is a CHRISTian issue. seems to me that JESUS said something about "rendering to ceasear what is ceasar's." yet the big red flag for me is the thought of the word "patriot" being connected to the word "pastor." i love america. i am very thankful to live in america. i would even consider myself patriotic (and i think many other people would consider me patriotic as well). yet i would never connect the word "patriot" with my title of "pastor". my highest loyalty is not with the u.s. of a. it's with my GOD. realisticly my list of priorities go GOD, family, then country (with a slight possibility that a really good chili dog might still beat out "country" and push it to fourth). because of this i don't see "saving" america as anywhere near my top priority. growing and glorifying the kingdom of GOD is definitely top and i don't think politics is a very good way to bring glory to GOD's kingdom.

i am so tired of CHRISTians thinking that politics can achieve the goals of GOD. politics can't. it's not meant to be the way that the kingdom of GOD is brought about on earth. in fact, JESUS describes politics as one of the "powers" of ephesians 6:12. truthfully, i probably agree with much of what these "patriot pastors" hold to be their goals. i am pro-life and therefore i am opposed to almost all forms of abortion. i do desire that marriages are strong. if i met with these "patriot pastors" there is much that we would probably agree on. even if i agreed with all their goals i would still not agree with the idea of being so closely connected with politics. i believe that whatever power you gain through this means merely subtracts from our trust in the real power that we are supposed to be energized by ... the HOLY SPIRIT.

rfid

2006-01-16T18:43:00.000-08:00

rfid

for your photo entertainment

2006-01-16T18:01:00.000-08:00

the journey

2006-01-16T12:34:00.000-08:00

as a youth minister i fill out lots of recommendations for teens and college students. they come from employment applications, scholarships, student government organizations, CHRiSTian camps, and various other things. it's just a normal part of life as a youth minister. the photo above comes from a recommendation for a CHRISTian camp that i filled out this week. i found it disturbing because i believe it points out that too many believers in CHRIST treat their faith as though it is a destination rather than a journey.

there are two questions that say this to me (or more appropriately their answers point it out to me).

"overall reputation on campus"
aaplicant's relationship with CHRIST appears to be..."

the questions disturb me because of their answers. the first question's answers in highest and second highest order are: 1)"CHRIST-centered" and 2)"striving." the second question's answer in highest and second highest order are: 1)"intimate" and 2)"growing." both of these sets of answers make it sound like "striving" and "growing" are somehow less than "CHRIST-centered" and "intimate." it's as though you'll reach a point as a follower of JESUS CHRIST where you will not be "growing" and "striving" because you are finally "there." to me, "growing" and "striving" speak of faith as a journey and to reduce such terms to a second class station is to convey what i consider a dangerous message concerning CHRISTian faith.

when we view CHRISTianity as a destination rather than a journey it becomes very easy for us to judge others "who haven't made it yet." it's constant movement and adaptation when we view faith as a journey. that's not true when faith is a destination it's stagnate. when we view faith as a journey our understanding of GOD may change, though HE never does. when we view faith as a destination we begin to believe that we know everything there is to know about GOD and there is nothing new we can learn.

i much prefer faith as a journey.

testing marsedit

2006-01-15T15:29:00.000-08:00

i'm testing to see if marsedit will post to this blog

faith and theology: essential paintings for theologians

2006-01-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

faith and theology: essential paintings for theologians
dave walker found this list of essential paintings for theologians. what a great list.

goodbye old friend?

2006-01-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

marko describes in his blog the separation of youthworker journal and youth specialties. it's a sad day. i have always loved youthworker journal. it has been a constant source of encouragement and challenging thought. my wife, a speech pathologist, loved it so much that she would complain if i didn't bring my new issues home with me from church.

youthworker journal may be just as good in the future even without youth specialties involvement but i have serious doubts about it. i hope it continues to be an amazing periodical. i'm not sure that a company whose major business is "CHRISTian radio" (if there is any such thing) will have the right focus to be able to challenge the status quo and comfort at the same time. i sure hope they can ... or i hope someone else, like youth specialties, starts another periodical.

sports gone wild

2006-01-09T21:41:00.000-08:00

i stole this from jordon cooper. it's a little strange seeing a gigantic michael jordan hanging from the front of a church.

nice meeting

2006-01-09T19:17:00.000-08:00

today i got to meet grant. we ate lunch and talked about what the church can be for around four hours. besides continually running into freaky similarities between out lives (church feelings are very similar, favorite professors at seminary, grant briefly dated a girl that was in the first youth ministry i ministered within, etc.) it was a great day. pam, my great, smart, and incredible wife, has been encouraging me to travel around the country and meet some of these ministers that i have been stealing ideas from and reading their blogs. i may have to take her up on this idea. today was a good start. thanks grant it was fun.

one for five

2006-01-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

back in august i posted concerning the five bloggers i would most like to meet. tomorrow i get to meet one of those five ... grant english. we've corresponded some concerning what the church universal is supposed to look like. it went from email to thinking it would be nice to meet face to face. i have tons of vacation time and therefore my great and loving wife said "why not go up and see him?" and that's what i'm going to do. tomorrow we are going to get some coffee and talk about what CHRIST's church is supposed to really be like. i wish that was a more common thing to do.

the book of daniel

2006-01-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

i haven't seen this show but after seeing the commercials and reading this article on beliefnet i have to admit that i am interested in seeing it. i like it when i get a chance to see what other people think about CHRIST. has anyone seen it? what were your thoughts?

should i stay or should i go

2006-01-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

i have a dilemma.

i received an email today from scott (last name removed by me) (a guy who has previously commented on this blog) asking me to remove the post and comments under "slammed by swaggart" and all comments posted about him. personally, at this time i have no interest in removing my post (this is after all my blog, where i place my thoughts, and if someone doesn't like it they can easily skip over it). i would also say that if i saw someone was obviously attacking scott's character within a comment i would delete the comment and warn the commenter. i see no need to delete a comment where someone is expressing their opinion on scott's ideas being wrong. those comments would be their opinion. i view that as a part of a conversation. i can't abide attacking who else someone is but i am perfectly fine with someone accusing someone's ideas of being wrong. afterall, this whole thing began by scott commenting to accuse my ideas of being wrong and i left his comments up.

my problem here arises concerning scott's comments. after saying that he feared i would probably delete his comments he is now asking me in a email to erase them for him. i'm not sure what the ethical thing to do is in this situation. though i have never been asked before to delete a comment, under most circumstances, if asked by the author, i probably would. these comments are different though. some of them are accusatory against me, others are making accusations against other individuals. these comments became a part of the discussion that was taking place within the comments of the blog. i don't believe the flow of comments will make any sense if i remove the remarks that scott made that caused everyone else to respond. i'm not sure that i have a responsibility to delete such comments.

i value you opinion and therefore i am asking for it. i am going to spend the next several days praying and thinking over this and then make a decision. during that time i would also appreciate your input. what are your views on this? thanks.

thorton, colorado

2006-01-03T23:34:00.000-08:00

my brother lives in thornton, colorado and he is looking for a church. i know a few people up there and i plan on making some calls tomorrow to talk with them but i also trust you guys & girls who read this thing. do any of you know of any strong church in the thornton/denver area? i need to find a very accepting relational church that has a good understanding of divorce recovery. any suggestions?

circumcision

2006-01-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

sunday was my turn to preach at church (we've been preaching via committee while looking for our new senior pastor). for the past three weeks i have been struggling with luke 2's description of CHRIST being circumcised. i was drawn to the text because january 1st was the eighth day after the celebrated birth of CHRIST and JESUS being a good jewish boy would have been circumcised on the eighth day. i kept on asking myself why this was so important. for three weeks i study the brit milah. i ended up knowing a great deal of facts concerning jewish circumcision. it was a fascinating study. unfortunately for me i was having a very hard time figuring out how this connected to our church members' lives. ultimately GOd directed me once again to the incarnation and how HE works incarnationally.

the fun part of the message was that it forced me to say words that you don't usually hear in a sermon. for example,

circumcision
male sexual organ
foreskin
poop
butt
menstration

it was allot of fun to watch people squirm a little every time i said one of them.

tags: preaching, sermon, circumcision

hurray - i've been attacked

2006-01-01T10:53:00.000-08:00

awhile back i posted about frances & donny swaggart condemning the emergent movement and youth specialties. a guy named scott baker commented on my entry saying ...

You ought to be ashamed! You talk about love? Being a Christian? I don't get it?
Are you even saved? If you are not you will get angry with me.
Did you know gossiping is a sin? The Bible says it is the same as witch craft.
In defense of Brother and Sister Swaggart and God, everything they are teaching comes from the Bible. Have you ever read it?
You make fun of these good people. And that's not right!
Would love an opportunity to talk with you. My name is Rev. Scott Baker and I am the pastor of Heavens Harmony Family Worship Center in Gastonia, NC.
Please call me xxx-xxx-xxxx(i've x'd out the number to protect him from crank calls). Call me please!

so i called him. we discussed the whole thing and i thought we left understanding each other though not agreeing with each other. apparently i was wrong. scott has commented back on my blog twice tearing into me and today i found out through technorati that he has posted on his blog about me without even letting me know. here's part of his post.

I Copied this from a ministers (sic) Blog. I was shocked to say the least. This minister has been in contact with me by phone, not to clear things up, but because he "thought it would be interesting". This man wrote the following below and there are comments from other people. This should make every born again Christian angry, with a rightious (sic) anger. This is a direct attack on the body of Christ
Please take notice again this is a preacher! He says "I laugh my rear end off" he, makes a mocery (sic) of other people, he tares (sic) down Brother and Sister Swaggart for supposadly (sic) doing the same thing. It's ok for him to do it but not the Swaggarts!
There is a link to his blog. check it out, research it well. You will find this man is into astology (sic), and other things of the devil. My purpose for reporting this to you as well as the Swaggarts reporting to you on things of this nature is to sound an alarm! To warn you of the dangers of people who try to decieve (sic) you on purpose. I have listed several comments on his blog and he only responded to one. I asked him if he was saved and HE NEVER ANSWERED THAT QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i didn't even know that i was into astology. in fact, i'm not even sure i know what astology is - but i'm sure my wife wouldn't want me being involved within it. i tried to comment back on scott's blog but he hasn't approved it yet.

thankfully scott says he wants to help me so hopefully soon i will be on the straight and narrow again. i'm sure after he instructs me i will no longer agree within anything that the emergent movement, youth specialties, ric warren, bill hybels, billy graham, or anyone else whose last name isn't connected with the swaggart ministries. oh happy day.

btw, if you would like scott will sell you an expositor's bible for $125 (with jimmy swaggart's words in red - something seems wrong with that. i just can't seem to put my finger on it ... jimmy's words in red? hmmmm)

the best CHRISTmas ever

2005-12-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

pam and my house today was full of baptists, catholics, hindus, no-churchers, grandparents, middle agers, college students, and kids for CHRISTmas lunch. basically it was families and friends eating lunch with us. i loved it.

the root of jesse

2005-12-22T12:21:00.000-08:00

the root of jesse
Originally uploaded by ratterrell.

last night at the view we held a jesse tree ceremony as a means of dealing with the CHRISTmas story. the "jesse tree" is similar to a chrismon tree except using old testament stories instead of early church CHRISTian symbols. it's fun to watch a bunch of baptist-influenced kids connect with tradition.

it's funny to me that it quite often seems that those raised in a faith practice that is high in symbos often forget it's meaning and therefore long for a connection with CHRIST that is free from symbols while those who have been raised in a "free" tradition often find that they long for symbols and find immense meaning and connection with CHRIST through those symbols when they find them.

it's funny how that works.

thank you donny

2005-12-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

i never would have thought that i would have been thankful for something i heard form donny swaggart on sonlife radio (i've confessed before that listening to the swaggart's is a shameful pleasure for me). today donny swaggart was tearing into eugene peterson and he said that peterson's writing should be dismissed because of the following quote:

Well, why do people spend so much time studying the Bible? How much do you need to know? We invest all this time in understanding the text which has a separate life of it's own and we think we're being more pious and spiritual when we're doing it. But it's all to be lived. It was given to us so we could live it. But most Christians know far more of the Bible than they're living. They should be studying it less, not more. You just need enough to pay attention to God.

the quote sounded interesting to me so i tracked down the interview that it came from. in that interview eugene peterson makes the point that in the name of being more pious some CHRISTians spend three nights a week in bible study (in addition to church) - actually being taken away from making the strong relationships with their families and friends that bible says is a true sign that the love of CHRIST is within your life. another quote form the interview goes like this:

I think I would want to say it a different way. We treat the text as if it is in a separate world of its own, apart from our lives. This text reveals God lovingly at work in the world. And the intent of the text is to draw us into that world of God's action. Study is normally an over intellectualized process. It takes us out of relationships. And so I guess I'm just not at all pleased with all the emphasis on Bible study as if it's some kind of special thing that Christians do, and the more they do the better. It needs to be integrated into something more whole.

how many people do you know that have the guts to tell their congregations to go study the bible less and spend more time living it out?

i love eugene peterson. thanks donny swaggart for reminding me of that.

i'm federal agent jack bauer, and today is the longest day of my life.

2005-12-20T19:12:00.000-08:00

Jack Bauer

Which 24 Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

spying on the catholic workers

2005-12-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

i voted for bush. i have typically supported bush (though allot of that has been waning over the best year). yet spying on the catholic workers movement seems a little out there. i don't believe any group is out of bounds of investigation for cause but spying on a group simply because they help the needed and protests against the war sounds McCarthyistic. if the movement had done something wrong and was connected with groups who poised real terrorist threats then i could support it. i can't however support spying on a group just because they protest against administration's political positions.

alt.worship & film questions

2005-12-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

i've had a passion for alt.worship for a couple of years now. awhile back i started meeting with a friend of mine (j.t.) in hopes of setting up something in baton rouge on a monthly basis. j.t. was the perfect person for this because he knows tons of people. unfortunately for me j.t. moved to houston. i still have the desire to begin an alt.worship experience but i no longer have the person who has all the contacts. so i have to start from ground zero. i'm not real good at starting from ground zero. i'm still going to work on this thing but right now i have to do research just to figure out what my first few steps should be. if anyone has any experience with this type of stuff i would be very thankful for your help.

do any of you have any experience with film discussion groups? i would love to find a group in my area that deals with faith and film. the questions that films are bringing up amazing. i would love to find a group of people interested in where faith and film connect.

the results are in

2005-12-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

okay i just finished watching "the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe" and i feel i am ready to make a few statements regarding it. first, i don't feel like i have to go and kill anybody for doing a terrible job with one of my favorite books of all times (except for maybe liam neeson and whoever wrote the ASLAN parts). second;y, i need to admit that i had incredibly high expectations. i love this book. i first read it when i was a freshman in college and trying to keep from studying for my first series of finals. i read it as a 19 year old and i balled like a baby. i have read the book probably close to fifteen times since then and i still ball like a baby when i read it. so i'm probably not the best critic of the movie. if i had my way they would never change a thing about it. still i'll try to express some of my feelings in regards to the movie.

i thought the movie did an excellent job of convey the character of the kids. they were great. lucy was awesome and the change in edmund was great. i felt like you really had a good idea who each of them were. i also believe that the movie did a very good job of conveying the circumstances of narnia. you could tell the changes that were happening. i loved the scene where they killed ASLAN. i'll take that scene over all of mel gibson's "passion of the CHRIST." it was tremendous in conveying the sacrifice, the violence, the controlled strength, the sadness, and the pain. it was great.

i was very let down by the overall character of ASLAN. in the books you know why the kids love, and yet still fear, ASLAN. as you read you begin to understand the mixed emotions of desperately desiring to touch ASLAN's mane but never ever actually being willing to do it without permission. HE is the lion that all the righteous love and yet stand in awe of. HE is simply not a safe lion. so much of what i understand CHRIST to be like has come from understanding a little concerning ASLAN. i don't feel like the movie conveyed that sense. ASLAN was almost chummy. it was very disappointing to me.

still i was very pleased by the movie. i am even more pleased that my kids are playing a video game right now and randomly shouting out "for narnia" and my family is interested in reading the book again. if those two things are the only good to come out of the movie then it was worth it.

walmart boycott

2005-12-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

to my knowledge there are presently two different faith groups that are boycotting wal-mart during CHRISTmas. one group, jerry falwell's church, is boycotting walmart because they said "happy holidays instead of "merry CHRISTmas" in their advertising. the other group, wakeupwalmart.com, is boycotting walmart during the holidays because of unfair employment practices (you can view the group's walmart ad here). i haven't personally researched all of wakeupwalmart.com's claims so i can't personally speak on whether i want to support it yet or not but i do believe their call for a boycott has more reason than fallwell's call for a boycott because of advertising that says "happy holidays."

which do you think JESUS would be more concerned with? personally i am not against boycotting businesses based on faith based concerns. i think there are definite times for doing. it's just that allot of believers pick really stupid things to boycott over. we believers look stupid when some of our fellow CHRISTians boycott over semantics rather than standing up for justice. i believe JESUS would stand up for justice and not worry too much about non-believing corporations with obvious loyalty to mammon saying "happy holidays."