Month: November 2006

GM to present hybrid car

GM has announced they will be presenting a newly retooled hybrid car at the Detroit Auto Show in 2007. The car will run 20-30 miles on a charge and then the gas powered engine will kick in and recharge the battery.
20-30 miles? I could get to and from work for two weeks on that. Awesome.
Read more.
Here’s to hoping they don’t scrap it like they did their first electric car.

Can we imagine church as…

Can we imagine church as…
* church beyond gathering?
* church beyond once a week?
* church as always on connectivity to christ and one another?
* church where community is the content?
* theology and resources of church being open source?
* church valuing the wisdom of the crowd rather than the knowledge of the expert?
* our church/spirituality being easily found by seekers because we tag it that way?
* an ethos of low control and collaboration?
* an economy of gift?
* church as spaces for creative production and self publishing?
* church as providers of resources for spiritual seekers and tourists?
– Jonny Baker

(via Thomas’ hardthought)

Authentic community

Thomas writes:

One of my fav teachers :: Erwin McManus :: is interviewed on relevantmagazine.com – check it out! Heres some quotes…

I have a huge sense of concern, because a lot of the postmodern conversation seems to be incredibly self-indulgent. It’s about: “how do I connect to God?”; “how do I create an authentic community for me and my Christian friends?” It seems that the questions are wrong. We keep asking, “How do we create postmodern churches?” rather than asking, “How do we serve and reach the postmodern world?”…//…I have so much confidence in the reality of Jesus that I feel no pressure to try to make people act or be a certain way. I’m banking everything on the fact that God actually changes people. For me, I don’t do what I do because I have to. As well, I don’t make my life choices because I worried about judgment or anything like that. For me, my whole motivation in life is love. And ironically, I know a lot of people think that to be irreligious means that they cuss a lot or drink a lot, and that’s where we are finding our freedom. But actually, what is happening is we’re finding safe ways to be risky. If you really want to be risky, do something that is genuinely valuable and risky at the same time. I don’t need to smoke a cigar to feel fully alive. I felt fully alive when I was in the middle of the Hezbollah.

Interesting thoughts. Comments? Questions? Problems with what McManus is saying? Do you feel the same about Christianity today?

Authentic community

Thomas writes:

One of my fav teachers :: Erwin McManus :: is interviewed on relevantmagazine.com – check it out! Heres some quotes…

I have a huge sense of concern, because a lot of the postmodern conversation seems to be incredibly self-indulgent. It’s about: “how do I connect to God?”; “how do I create an authentic community for me and my Christian friends?” It seems that the questions are wrong. We keep asking, “How do we create postmodern churches?” rather than asking, “How do we serve and reach the postmodern world?”…//…I have so much confidence in the reality of Jesus that I feel no pressure to try to make people act or be a certain way. I’m banking everything on the fact that God actually changes people. For me, I don’t do what I do because I have to. As well, I don’t make my life choices because I worried about judgment or anything like that. For me, my whole motivation in life is love. And ironically, I know a lot of people think that to be irreligious means that they cuss a lot or drink a lot, and that’s where we are finding our freedom. But actually, what is happening is we’re finding safe ways to be risky. If you really want to be risky, do something that is genuinely valuable and risky at the same time. I don’t need to smoke a cigar to feel fully alive. I felt fully alive when I was in the middle of the Hezbollah.

Interesting thoughts. Comments? Questions? Problems with what McManus is saying? Do you feel the same about Christianity today?