Month: July 2008

six degrees of Christianity

This is cool.

Co-Occurrences of Names in the New Testament (more complete data)

It’s like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon or Friend Wheel, but for the names and people of Scripture. Basically its a visual representation of people who are connected in Scripture by being mentioned together 3 ore more times.

Very cool way to visualize how Scripture seems very big on relationships with one another.

Related ::
Wikipedia :: six degrees of Kevin Bacon
Doug Pagitt talks about hope and being relational
SSL :: Facebook Friends Wheel

Say you want a revolution?

Might be a bit of a stretch for me as far as the simple life goes. But as Michael said – love seeing hungry people get fed… especially off the back of “corporate america.” 😉

Related ::
HT :: Michael>
Simply Living Simply pt 1
Simply Living Simply pt 2
re: Simply Living Simply

Change for the better

Shared this with our community 2.0 leaders today….

Hello community 2.0 peeps…

Last night at our community group the three of us (yeah it was a slow week :-)) sat and talked about a number of things from prayer, to leadership, to future community groups etc. etc. We each talked about how refreshing Sunday at encounter was this past week. How it was a change from the ordinary and really seemed to spark something new.

It made me think about how often we get set in a routine even in our weekly community groups.

This morning, Small Group Dynamics touched on that as well. If things are starting to get “stale” or “traditional” in your group maybe it’s time to change things up a bit. Here are some of the things they suggested…

  • Change the expectations. If people expect to gather around a Bible study or a DVD curriculum or even around social interaction, the presence of the Spirit will be minimal. If people expect to meet with God and trust Jesus’ words: “Where two or three gather in my name, there I am also,” then people will seek something different in the group’s life even if they do not know how.
  • Shorten the Bible study to make room to wait on God together.
  • Take the risk of allowing silence during the meeting.
  • Vary the agenda from week to week.
  • Eat together. You might be surprised by this one, but I have found food as essential to connecting with one another and in inviting God’s presence into our midst.

    • I know some of the groups have had “coffee house night” and met at a local coffee house. Its not only given a change of pace for the group members, but also opened opportunities for discussions with others.

    What other ideas have you and/or your group done to change things up and keep it fresh?

    Look for me during the Olympics

    Just got an update on when some of the new DCCCD commercials will run…

    Television Schedule — This year’s campaign kicks off with new English and Spanish television commercials starting July 14 and running through August 17 on channels 4, 5, 8, 11, 21, 27, 33 and Time Warner Cable. Our target market for television is the 18-to-49 age group, so our commercials will run during a broad range of programming, from early morning and 10 p.m. news and sports (targeted to older adults) to the Comedy Channel and sitcoms targeted to 18-to-34 year olds. Our Spanish language commercials will appear in news, entertainment and sports programming on channels 23, 26, 29 and 39.

    New this year — We have purchased a 2008 Olympics package on local NBC affiliate KXAS-TV, Channel 5. We will have a commercial running during the opening ceremonies on Friday night, August 8, and then six spots on the two weekends of the games — three per weekend.

    I’m in one of the spots twice – see if you can find me.

    NPR cancels Bryant Park Project

    NPR just announced they’ll be canceling the Bryan Park Project. The last airing of the program will be July 25th.
    I haven’t listened to the show much other than clips here and there online – our local NPR station doesn’t air it – it’s only on 28 stations around the country.
    But it’s always sounded like a fun program – and gives NPR a “youthy edge.”
    Anyone else going to miss the show?
    There’s a Facebook group out there for those of you who want to show your support.

    Listen to the announcement from the show.

    It’s an expensive failure — the first-year budget was more than $2 million — and comes at a time when NPR is facing the same financial constraints as other news media thanks to higher costs and a downturn in underwriting.

    Related ::
    NPR.org
    Share your thoughts with NPR

    Texting in church

    Mars Hill Church in Seattle has begun welcoming Txt messaging during their Sunday morning services as part of a Q&A with pastor Mark Driscoll. This is also something they’ve been doing at several conferences the church has been a part of or hosted.

    We’ve discussed txt messaging at encounter but haven’t quite put into effect yet. I love the idea of interaction between the congregation/lay people and the pastor during the service and the interaction between each person in the congregation.

    We had a unique experience yesterday at encounter (no video/audio/picture archives were made) where we sat up 3 unique rooms with chairs all facing inward so we were “forced” to look at one another rather than simply stare at a stage or screen where someone talks and sings “to us.”

    I loved it. Felt very community like. Fit right in with the taking of the Eucharist or communion (coming together in union). We moved from room to room as Brian spoke about the blood and body of Christ and in the final room we sat gathered around a cross where Brian spoke of Christ freeing us from our bondage. He offered an opportunity for folks to share what this freedom in Christ meant to them.

    Usually when we have times for response we get limited numbers of response but something about yesterday really encouraged the interaction. We had people from all sides of the room speaking out and sharing their thoughts. Several even played off one another.

    I think this type of interaction is vital to our churches. I hope we can see more of it.

    Related ::
    HT: Monday Morning Insight
    Mars Hill
    Mars Hill :: Text Life
    Mars Hill :: Live Texting
    Twitter at church
    SSL :: Social Networking and the church