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Monthly Archives: June 2007
Great Father's Day Ad
June 19, 2007 – 10:37 am
From Durex. You have to know what Durex makes in order to get it, but it’s a clean, creative, and funny ad. Seldom do I laugh out loud at ads.
*Nod to Ken Wilson at avclub.us.
Renewed and Refreshed
June 18, 2007 – 11:01 pm
Thankfully, according to my wife and my waist, I’ve taken up (resumed? after a few years hiatus…) biking. Not road cycling or mountain biking, but just biking. Georgetown is blessed with an incredible trail system around our glorious San Ganbriel. So glorious that we even saw a few locals (had to be) in inner tubes floating down the river, attempting to make it a poor, poor man’s New Braunfels. I rode last week before my trip to Chicago and did O.K., but the ride today, which was shorter, but roughly the same route, kicked my butt. We had to stop at least three times. But we made it, then the Woman made delicious Indian tacos. This exercise stuff is truly refreshing after staring at a screen all day long. (Maybe I need more Dell Memory).
Also refreshing – the Willow Creek Arts Conference. I’m sure my notes don’t make too much sense to those that weren’t there, but there are some nuggets to be found. I was anxious to go in order to learn – what I didn’t expect was how much it would energize me for my job, even my life. Or, better put, how timely God was in using it to renew my spirit. I love my job, really, but sometimes it can get monotonous, just like any job. What’s funny is that my job is "church." So, in some ways, I’m also saying that "church" is monotonous. And, while this is my opinion and mine alone, church lately has been somewhat monotonous, despite our various speakers every Sunday. Then again, we’re minus a Senior Pastor (still on the hunt). I also know that I have a skewed view of the life of FBCgT – I’m too much in the background to feel more a part of the family. Part of that is voluntarily chosen, part vocationally necessary. I’m looking for ways to change that, but, in somewhat the same vein, looking for ways to get outside my Christian bubble.
Have you ever had a day or week where God seems to be repeating himself ever more loudly with the same imperative statement specifically pointed to you? There’s no hiding, crawling, crying, whining, or running that can get away from it. Last week was that way for me. It can be summed up in two words: Be Courageous. In can be explained in many more words. Be Courageous in your work, in your personality, in your opinions, in your creativity, in your uniqueness, in your words, and in your relationships. Every speaker (really, did they all talk to each other before?) said the same thing…at least it seemed that way to me. So I’ve been challenged, and I’m interested to see what will happen.
Finally, my reading has refreshed me. I fall more in love with my library every day. Not just because it’s new, but because they let me have books for free. It’s madness I tell you. I just finished The Man Who Fell to Earth, and I’m not quite sure what I feel about it. It’s a sci-fi passion play. I read half and skimmed half of a short autobiography/keepsake book about Jack Nicklaus (the golfer, not the actor, as the Woman always thinks). It was funny to me that he was as keen on breaking Bobby Jones’ records as Tiger Woods is bent on breaking Jack’s. Lastly, I just started a biography on Pistol Pete called The Pistol. I’ve never seen the movie (which is surprising given my high school enamorment with basketball), so the bio is new to me. This sentence hooked me:
Maravich wasn’t an archetype; he was several: child prodigy, prodigal son, his father’s ransom in a Faustian bargain. He was a creature of contradictions, ever alone: the white hope of a black sport, a virtuoso stuck in an ensemble, an exuberant showman who couldn’t look you in the eye, a vegetarian boozer, the athlete who lived like a rock star, a profilgate, suicidal genius saved by Jesus Christ. – Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich by Mark Kriegel, pgs. 1-2
If that doesn’t draw you in, well, you need help.
Also, it did not hurt that Kriegel opens the book with a quote from Bob Dylan. And, with that, I leave you with this: my friend Daniel’s band, Rhodes, covering Bob Dylan’s Highway 61. Their take is renewing and their music is refreshing.
WC Arts Conference Day, Session 3, Dan Kimball et al.
June 13, 2007 – 9:32 pm
The last session of the day started with Dan Kimball and ended with a round table discussion. Below are my notes. If something doesn’t make sense, leave a comment. There’s more info at www.willowcreek.com/arts.
Dan Kimball
They Like Jesus, But Not the Church
Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, CA
Jesus is what’s right with the world.
Jesus is currently popular in pop culture. Jesus is hip.
Jesus is waxing; the church is waning.
[video]
What do you think of Jesus?
What do you think of Christians?
“Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” – Gandhi
Breaking through the Christian bubble
Misconceptions of Christians
1. The church is ‘organized religion’ and all into right-wing politics.
2. The church is judgmental and negative.
3. The church is a male-dominated group that oppresses females.
4. The church is homophobic.
5. The church arrogantly believes that they are right and all other religions are wrong.
6. The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally.
Suggestions for Churches
Not sermon/lecture, but discussion.
Respect my intelligence.
Don’t worry about the building.
Allow time to think and pray.
A loving place
Care for poor and environment
Teach more about Jesus.
The Panel Discussion
Dan Kimball, Brian McLaren, Sally Morganthaler, Efrem Smith, David Lovelace, Shawna Neiquist
DL: Where am I creating barriers from the church to the world?
BM: The context has changed – people no longer feel the necessity of church. And the bubble reinforces the bubble.
SN: It’s not superficial changes that are necessary. It’s heart and truth issues. Remember the perspective of someone who hasn’t been in a church for years.
ES: Expand the discussion to urbanites, multiple cultures and ethnicities.
SM: Deconstruct to reconstruct. Create a worship service with integrity.
Can you create a single worship experience applicable to multiple generations?
Dialogue vs. Monologue
Better to create a culture where questions are allowed (DK)
ChurchClick polling hardware/software (DL)
Multiculturalism in the Church
Our definitions are defined by our race. “Worship” is “White, European, Protestant Worship.” Whites are “not normal.” (BM)
Tolerance vs. Inclusion compared to Bachelorhood vs. Marriage (DL)
No all whites, all blacks. Learn your heritage, your background (ES)
The Church of Me
Prevalence of personal narrative in praise and worship music. Authentic relationships within the church are necessary to deconstruct the walls of narcissism in worship (SM). If I hate the music but love my brother that loves the music, I can get over it.
Church as the conversation, not the destination (SM)
The church likes Jesus, but not them (the world) (BM)
Engaging non-Christians to be part of the worship service.
Action during or right after worship, i.e. identifying a need and not leaving until the need is met (ES).
Attractional or Missional? Yes. Go out or bring in? Yes. (DL)
- had people show up in their work clothes/uniforms, ordained all as ministers/workers
WC Arts Conference Day 1, Session 2, Nancy Beach
June 13, 2007 – 1:21 pm
D1/S2: Notes in glimpses:
Nancy Beach, The Audacity of Hope
Artists and teachers see the dark more than the light – it’s ‘inspiration’
Perspective is everything. How do you see the world?
Are you a person of hope?
Trust and joy over cynicism and despair.
There is much wrong with the world. Just watch the news.
Telling the Truth: The Gospel as tragedy, comedy, and fairytale.
“called to be himself…”
Christians often offer cheap, quick, overly simple solutions
Christians live in denial.
See the darkness before pointing to the light.
Bono:
All music is worship. It’s worshiping something, whether or not it’s God. Step through a doorway of truth to get to a sense of wonder. The best place to live is in the middle of a contradiction. Duality = tension = art = truth.
Cynicism lacks courage.
[My mind had been swimming around these thoughts ("Cynicism lacks courage") for the last few weeks, hardly knowing that God would make my vague thoughts utterly clear this week - and it's only the first day.]
Hope must penetrate to those who need it. Does our hope make a difference? Hidden hope is selfish.
Jesus was called a friend of sinners. Who are you hanging out with?
Christians are better at condemning than loving. Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save.
One person not in church, not a Christian?
Nickelback video – Save Me
Live your life with urgency, intentionality, bold love.
The local church is the hope of the world.
“All beauty is subversive.” – Ian Morgan Cron, Chasing Francis
Create places filled with hope.
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