Last.fm

I have been using Audioscrobbler (now last.fm) to log the music played on my computer for quite a while now. Check it out as there has been a lot of nice developments.

Petty squabbles cause empty pews

IT ISN’T the big questions that stop people going to church — it is the little irritations, research has suggested.

Most churchgoers who abandon their weekly worship do so because they have had a dispute with a fellow member of the congregation.

A disagreement on a range of issues, from the way the organ is played to the content of the sermon, was the reason that nearly three quarters of respondents to a survey gave for why they felt people had left the Church.

This has been my experience in my churches. I have had numerous people tell me that they enjoy my preaching and enjoy the church but are currently in a conflict with someone at church and can't attend until things are worked out. Here's a question: how should pastors respond to such statements?

PreachingToday.com: Preaching Resources Workshops Library Topical Sermons Tools Outlines Lexicons

Here are some great thoughts on the use of imagination and preaching from Haddon Robinson:

The best sermons don't describe emotions; they create them. That requires your imagination.

Jesus told stories—secular, worldly stories—that changed his listeners' angle of vision. They were not 'Bible stories' as we think of them. He didn't read them out of a book. He made them up on the spot. He created them out of life. He used his imagination. Some hearers followed him; others wanted to murder him. But they got his point. If the sermon is for our hearers, then we must serve the hearers as our Teacher did. We must use our imaginations and help them use theirs.

So fire up that imagination for this Sunday!

The New Monasticism - Christianity Today Magazine

'How can you worship a homeless Man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?'

A powerful and challenging quote from a powerful and challenging article!

Hurricane Katrina [Emergency Exit]

Hurricane Katrina [Emergency Exit]
Originally uploaded by slight clutter.

What a powerful image. Lord, have mercy!

LarkNews.com

The latest issue of LarkNews is up. Check out "a good source for Christian news." Also be sure to check out their new t-shirts!

'Chinese Christians used to sacrifice everything for Christ. Now they only want God to bless them,' says one Chinese elder who has served five prison terms for planting churches."

Searching for the Living, but Mostly Finding the Dead - New York Times

'I made her leave for Ivan,' Ms. Burnett said of the storm last year that, it turned out, did not cause much damage here. 'She never forgave me.'

'She said, 'I'm not leaving, even if it's Category 10'; well, she's so damn stubborn,' Ms. Burnett said, beginning to cry.

Then Ms. Burnett saw a dog. 'Buddy, that's her dog,' she said. 'My mom's with the dog.'

The workers untangled a gently barking Buddy from some branches and then, when one spotted a body farther on, turned and signaled to another worker, who led Ms. Burnett off the roof and back to the rescue truck.

'Buddy, you're a miracle,' Ms. Burnett said to the dog, then turned to the worker, Debbie Crisher.

'She's in there, isn't she?'

'They're still looking,' Ms. Crisher said.

The search team turned over the body. It was that of Ms. Burnett's mother. They trudged back through power lines, trees and mud as heavy as wet concrete.

'Did you find her?' Ms. Burnett asked.

The squad leader, Jon Rigolo, took her aside and gave her the news. Ms. Burnett nodded and began crying again...

"The hardest part is, it didn't have to be this way," said David Cash, one of two doctors with the Virginia Beach team. "If people had evacuated - of course, where are they going to evacuate to? But other people did evacuate. Everybody that died here was needless. It's just the senselessness of it all."

Why are we so stubborn? Why are we so self-assured that we will survive, that these things will not happen to us? Lord, have mercy!

Superdome: Haven Quickly Becomes an Ordeal - New York Times

Once inside the dome, refugees were told that for their own safety they could not leave - the flood waters climbed four feet up the walls outside - and many likened the shelter to a prison.

Michael Childs, 45 and a housepainter, went a step further.

"It's worse than a prison," said Mr. Childs, who knew something about the subject, having spent three months in the Orleans Parish Prison on a drunken-driving charge. "In prison you have a place to urinate, a place for other bathroom needs. Here you get no water, no toilets, no lights. You get all that in prison."

Lord have mercy!

High-Tech Circuit Riders

Seacoast is one of almost 1,000 U.S. churches to embrace a multisite approach, according to the Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org). Sometimes called a 'satellite' or 'franchise' model, going multisite is seen by advocates as one of the leading innovations of the 21st century and by critics as a sign that the church has sold out to consumerism—becoming just another big-box retailer, selling salvation with convenient hours and a discount price. The answer, as usual, lies somewhere in between.

Currently in the PCUSA there are about 17 models of how to do ministry without a full time seminary trained pastor. There are so many models because there are so many small rural PCUSA churches that can't afford a full-time minister. This is true for many small, rural churches. Could the multisite approach work in the rural church context?

Pros:
1. If the rural churches used a DVD the cost of the technology is relatively inexpensive (especially compared to hiring a full time seminary trained minister!).

2. Most people in a rural church have a lot of ownership in the church and would be able to facilitate the business of the church on a daily basis.

3. The church could hire a part-time pastor who is gifted in visitation and building relationships to meet the daily needs of the congregation.

4. The church would receive better teaching and worship than is common in your typical small rural church.

5. Partnering small rural churches with large mega-churches would open them up to the resources and opportunities that mega-churches provide.

6. Something similar worked once before in a rural setting: Methodist circuit riders

Roger Finke, a Penn State sociologist and coauthor of The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy, sees a parallel between the multisite or franchise approach and the Methodist circuit riders of the 19th century.

"The Methodist circuit rider was basically the pastor for multiple satellite churches," Finke told CT. "They tried to start up satellite congregations as quickly and as cheaply as possible. When the circuit rider was not there during the week, the satellite had a class leader or layperson who kept things going. Then the circuit rider would come in every once in a while and fire people up."

Cons:
1. Would mainline churches (which dominate in the rural context) buy into this model of ministry and be willing to partner with evangelical churches currently using this model?

2. Would small town folks accept the video teaching as a replacement for a pastor?

3. Would the video teaching connect with rural people and their lives and issues? (Many illustrations that work in the city don't connect in the rural context because they describe events or places that don't exist in the rural context.)

4. Would it all feel too fake and phoney to rural people?

5. Would it all feel too distant, too coerographed, too professional for rural people?

6 Would it draw the unchurched in rural areas?

7. Is something lost in worship with videotaped preaching?

At the very least I'm tempted to give this a try next time I'm out of town. Maybe I could videotape a sermon and they could watch it when I'm gone. Then I could get feedback and see what people think.

Those are my thoughts. What do you think?

Luther: The daily gift of new life - Christian History

'In the morning, as soon as you get out of bed, you are to make the sign of the holy cross and say: 'God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit watch over me. Amen.' Further directions follow: say the Apostles Creed, pray the Lord's Prayer. … Then 'you are to go to your work joyfully.'

Good simple advice on a daily spiritual discipline from Luther.

What I did on my summer vacation...

Sorry for the long delay inbetween posts. We have been on vacation and also to my wife's grandfather's funeral. Lots of miles on the van. But we are finally home.

TIME Magazine -- Reworking Work -- Jul. 25, 2005

The transition required a lot of deprogramming of old attitudes, and it produced a lot of pain. Some employees break down and cry in ROWE training sessions. 'People in the baby-boom generation realize what they gave up to get ahead in the workplace, and a lot of times it's their families. They realize that it doesn't have to be that way,' says Ressler, her eyes tearing up. In particular, men thank her and Thompson, who run the sessions, for giving them permission to spend more time with their families. 'They know now they can do it and not be judged,' says Thompson.

This article reminds me of a great talk I heard Andy Stanley give at a Youth Specialties National Youthworker Conference several years ago. Andy Stanley said something along these lines: "Tell me, who was the youth pastor at your church before you? Will there be a youth pastor at your church after you leave? Now tell me, who was your spouse's spouse before you? Who was your children's parent before you? Who will be their spouse or parent after you are gone? In ministry we ask God to take care of our families when we know we are robbing them of time, of us so we can accomplish the work of ministry, the work of God. Maybe we have this backwards. Shouldn't we be present and available to our families and trust God to get the work of His ministry done?"

Sounds like Best Buy is leading the way in helping people get their priorities straight! How can the church assist? How can the church meaningfully challenge the priorities of our culture?

Book Review: Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller

Let's get right to the point: I love this book! It is funny, insightful, powerful. Miller's honesty and authenticity are so refreshing. Run out and start reading it today if you haven't already!

Some of the highlights include Miller's thoughts on attending Reed College, attending a Unitarian church in Colorado Springs, living as a fundamentalist Christian for a summer, and wrestling with how to love others.

I feel that it is probably the best book for handing seeks who want to learn more about Christian spirituality but aren't interested in the church. There are so many folks in my life that I want to give this book to!

Here's a great quote for the church to keep in mind:

"A friend of mine, a young pastor who recently started a church, talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America--about the postmodern church. He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool Web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing." (p. 111)

I think this quote resonates so much with me because it's true. I know it to be true through my experience. Churches out in the sticks struggle with being relevant. Actually most of the time we don't even struggle! We just aren't relevant. We don't play all the latest greatest music. We sing hymns with an organ. Sometimes we sing some "newer" praise songs like "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" and "Shine, Jesus, Shine" but we sing them with organ accompaniment! We don't have a website. We don't market ourselves. We are far from relevant to the culture.

Yet people come. Young and old. And they are growing. Many tell me they are growing more than ever before in their lives! Why? Because I believe in Jesus and the power of His gospel. What could be more relevant than that?

spamgourmet - free disposable email addresses, spam blocker

This looks like a great tool. I have been using Mailblocks for several years but have wanted a spamblocker for my gmail account. Enter spamgourmet! Depending on how well it works, I may not have to renew my Mailblocks subscription this year.

Downloads | Konfabulator

Windos users! Do you have widget envy? Then get Konfabulator!

PDF Online : Create PDF for free, PDF software programming, PDF toolkit, convert to PDF and HTML, PDF converter, PDF api, PDF SDK / COM and PDF server

Free PDF Conversion Services. Very helpful!

Flickr related tag browser

Type in a word and it will search flickr tags for you.

Very cool.

Google Maps - 115 Federal Street Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Where are the Colorado Rockies playing tonight? PNC Park. I love baseball and Google maps with the satellite feature makes it really fun to explore all the great ball parks!

Speaking of Faith | The Religious Roots of American Democracy | Krista's Reflection

If you get a chance to hear this program, it sounds like it will be excellent and timely. From this brief quote, it is interesting how the founding father's defined terms like happiness and how most Americans today define it.

A few years ago I came across this fascinating observation by the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville from his famous report of 1831, Democracy in America:

"Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must be regarded as the first of their political institutions. I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith and religion, for who can search the human heart? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or to a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society."

These days, there is a new discussion building in our culture — in both public and private spaces — about the role of religion in American life. As we began to prepare this program on the religious roots in American democracy, I wanted to probe something de Tocqueville saw that I find underrepresented in our contemporary dynamics: a religious sensibility in the origins of our national ideals that goes deeper than our modern debates, and transcends them.

I found a modern de Tocqueville in philosopher Jacob Needleman, and our conversation felt like an adventure. Needleman spent several years tracing the spiritual and intellectual content of the American founders' thought. Spirit and intellect, he says, always worked in concert in the formulation of American democracy and the writing of the documents that define American identity even today. Rights implied duties. Happiness was an inalienable right, but it was not synonymous with pleasure, with having or acquiring what one wants. It meant "well-being." It was linked with conscience. In the "idea of America," Needleman asserts provocatively, democracy is not just a set of laws and societal structures. It is also inner work.

Needleman enlarges the notion of America's founders to include important thinkers who helped form the virtues of our republic beyond revolution and constitution. So in this week's program, alongside Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, we have wonderful readings from Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman. In the context of conversation with Needleman, I heard what each of them had to say with new interest and insight. I came away feeling that we can invoke the religious sensibility of the founders precisely as an antidote to the confusion and excesses of religion in American life today.

This serves to illustrate the need for careful hermenuetics. Whenever we are dealing with an historical text, we must seek to understand what the authors original intent was. We must define the words the way the authors did.

Perhaps we rely too much on reader response today.

The Matching Game update

Several days ago I posted the Matching Game quiz challenging players to match the church with the statement of faith. Here are the results. The correct answer was Willow Creek.

The Matching Game : Match the church with the statement of faith!
This statement of faith belongs to:
	Willow Creek Community Church - Bill Hybels	3
	Cedar Ridge Community Church - Brian McLaren	1
	Saddleback Church - Rick Warren	2
	Lakewood Church - Joel Olsteen	2
	Thomas Road Baptist Church - Jerry Falwell	3
	New Life Church - Ted Haggard	0
	The Potter's House - T.D. Jakes	2
	This Poll by hawkenstein
Click here to view current results