Edge : What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?

Check out this fascinating article with 120 contributors.

Church Websites

As the American public becomes more and more reliant on technology in everyday life, they will logically expect churches to have things such as website, streaming audio or video on the site, or study materials on video or computer software

Even these little churches out in the sticks? I sure hope so! One of the biggest problems I have out here is communication. Many have email but very few check it regularly. I am convinced that very few people here out in the sticks actually use email for business.

MSNBC - Countless Souls Cry Out to God

Great article looking at how the different religions in the area hit by the tsunami seek to make sense of this tragedy through their faith.

Though I am sure this article grossly oversimplifies all of the faith responses, a tragedy of this magnitude makes open theism more and more appealing to me.

If you are interested in studying open theism read God at War or God of the Possible. I know not everyone will agree with open theism and many may even see it as a heresy. Yet in the face of such tragedy Calvinism is downright cruel. As one of my professors put it (whose a Calvinist) Calvinism works in the classroom but not as a pastor.

I say if it doesn't work pastorally it doesn't work at all!

NT Wright on the tsunami

People today assume that a 'religious' view of life must address 'the problem of evil', the toughest part of which is so-called 'natural evil'. Evil isn't as bad as it seems, say some; or it's all someone's fault (or, with natural evil, Satan's fault); or it offers a chance for greater moral virtue (courage, and so on). One major tsunami does to theories like that what it does to buildings and people: it crushes them to matchwood.

This reminds me of Greg Boyd's discussion of the problem of evil in God at War. Our theories and explanations work well as long as evil is abstract. As soon as we wrestle with concrete evil it's a whole new ball game.

The Student Tablet PC: Mind Mapping Overview

Here's a great article on mind mapping and links to the software I use for this activity. As I have mentioned elsewhere in my blog, I use mind maps for my preaching. I haven't posted one in a long time but mind mapping is now my sermon preparation method of choice. It is a great tool and Mind Manager is a great program!

Infinite Church: Live Virtual Worship and Christian Chat

New virtual church. Not enough time for me to check out today. Thought I'd pass the link along.

Monday Morning Insight Weblog: Starting 2005 with a Healthy Attitude

Very cool article on a small church giving to a megachurch! Now if I can convince my elders to give away one of our Sunday morning collects! :)

I'm back!!!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks as my computer has been down for the better part of two weeks! Technology...a blessing and a curse.

I'm up and running now and I hope to be better about writing.

We will miss you Ken...

We will miss you Ken. A good friend of mine entered heaven a few days before Christmas. Ken was a wonderful man who loved God and people. I had the priviledge of working with Ken for a year at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora, Colorado.

It is still hard to believe he is gone. Ken fought cancer for 6 years. It is times like these that I am so thankful for the hope of the resurrection through Jesus Christ! My heavenly deposits keep growing. 

Moore not the same after Bertuzzi hit

This attack had nothing to do with hockey,'' Danson said. ``The puck was nowhere near Mr. Bertuzzi or Mr. Moore. And so what happened in this case is what they promised, to do serious injury to Mr. Moore -- and they did. And the result is a $500 fine and community service.

"Wal-Mart" churches spring up in rural areas

Oh the joys of rural ministry!

Top 5 in 2004

Here's a list of the top blogposts in 2004. Have fun surfing and reading.

Bose Personalized Amplification System - Amplifiers and Sound Systems for Musicians

So why haven't I been writing lately? One of my church's recently bought this great system! It is awesome! The sound is unbelievable and so simple to achieve!

This is the perfect system for small to average size churches looking to get great sound and simple operation at a great price!

Out in the sticks is one year old!

My blog is now one year old! It is amazing to think about how life has changed in that time. A new laptop computer, wifi hotspot in Wray, wifi at work...and even with all the new accessibility I haven't posted in 8 days or so!

In the coming year I hope to write more. We'll see if I am able to do that.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

I'm loaded

How rich are you? >> I'm loaded. It's official. I'm the 433,272,059 richest person on earth!

And that doesn't even include my non-monetary riches!

Nomo Pomo

I'm fully prepared to admit that when we boomers were young, we faddishly embraced church-growth ratios and sociological analysis; we praised these modern tools as the salvation of the church. So it's poetic justice for us now to sit in the back of the room, the balding and befuddled, as the next generation praises the postmodern matrix as the salvation of the church.

But we're both wrong. We've already got a salvation for the church, and he will not share his glory with any current cultural form, no matter how valuable or necessary it may be. If the church uncritically embraced modern culture, the solution is not to uncritically embrace postmodern culture.

Good advice to keep in mind on any new thinking or technique in the church!

next-wave > church & culture: American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon...A Review by Tim Berroth

What follows in Prothero's book is a systematic analysis of how Jesus has become a modern day version of the Greek god Proteus, conveniently morphing and changing into whatever image is created for him.

This sounds like a very interesting book. I hope to pick it up soon. Here's another quote which reminds me of the 'Dirty Harry' piece I linked to a while back:

The natural response to this softer effeminate Jesus was a push for a more masculine Jesus. Christianity was viewed, for the most part, as a religion for women. In the late 19th-century, church membership was only 28 percent male. By 1910, U.S. churches were only one-third male. In The Virility of Christ , published in 1915, author Warren Conant protested against artists who "subjoin a silky, curly beard to a woman's face and hair and label it 'The Christ'" Instead he offered a vision of a "Fighting Christ" with "big lung capacity" and the "free swinging stride of the mountaineer." Men of the industrial age would "demand a strenuous Christ." Prothero's examination of this battle for the male/female Christ is fascinating in light of the church's continuing struggle and failure to proclaim the distinctly masculine God revealed in the scriptures. In the wake of the radical feminism of the 1960's and 70's the church is still scrambling to figure out how to define roles of the sexes and how to faithfully proclaim God as a male.

Wireless hotspot in Wray

Here I am sitting in the greatest coffee shop in Yuma County Colorado and now it's even better because it is now equipped with a wi-fi hotspot!

And wouldn't you know it, it is the same week I get my own wifi at the church! Wow, no more wires and much faster internet experience!

By the way, this is the same coffee shop which we have had our alt worship service Echo at, Canyon Cafe and Coffee. If you're ever in Wray, Colorado look me up and I'll treat you to coffee and wifi!

ChristianToday > New Handbook to Promote and Sustain Christian Presence in Rural Areas

I'd love to read this handbook. Hope the Methodist church will make it available online.

The Death Clock - When Am I Going To Die?

When will you die? Check out the internet's friendly reminder that time is slipping away!

For me, January 7, 2041.