Author: Jonathan Blundell

I'm a husband, father of three, blogger, podcaster, author and media geek who is hoping to live a simple life and follow The Way.

Heath Ledger dead

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Fox News and CNN are reporting the actor was found dead in his New York apartment this afternoon.

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence in what authorities say is a possible drug-related death, the NYPD said. He was 28.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told The Associated Press that Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment that is believed to be his home. The housekeeper who went to let Ledger know the masseuse was there, and found him dead at 3:26 p.m, Browne said.

From CNN:

The New York Fire Department received a call at 2:27 Tuesday responding to a “cardiac arrest call” in New York.

Thompson withdraws

In a three-sentence statement on his website, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson announced that he has resigned from the Republican presidential campaign.

“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.”

Wonder who he’ll endorse now?

Hanging out with Jesus

Kevin Hendricks (Church Marketing Sucks) shares some thoughts from his community group last week:

Throughout the New Testament he spends a lot of time just hanging out with people. He’s not doing anything productive, he’s just hanging out. That Jesus–what a bum.

But I think Jesus was intentionally modeling the value of relationships. In many ways I think our faith is worked out in our relationships with others. When I’m really close to people I don’t have to do anything with them. We can just hang out.

and love this…

Contrary to what we may think, Christianity cannot be lived in a vacuum. No Christian is an island. We need each other. There’s value in just being with other people.

Mixing stages within groups

Brandi has a good post on a recent struggle they’re dealing with at her church and within her community group.

The group was initially intended to be a mixture of college students, single adults, and young married couples (without kids). Most of those people were already in care groups, but they weren’t attending for one reason or another. (We were attending ours, but mostly because we felt like we were supposed to. We were one of two childless couples in a group where kids outnumbered adults by a ratio of about 12:1. It was not the most fun I’ve ever had.) We were looking to try and provide a smaller, more intimate group where people who were just a life stage or two away from each other could get together.

She says that after a Christmas kickoff party they realized there were differences within their group.

The feedback we got was very clear – the college students don’t want to go to a couple’s group. They don’t want to have a discussion group, they just want to hang out with each other and have a good time. The couples (and older singles), on the other hand, want more than just a social meeting time. They want to have discussions and do studies and really dig into some stuff.

I think that’s an issue a lot of folks run into. I know we want to reach out to singles/college age folks with each of our community groups, but so far we’ve had limited success. Many blame their schedules but I wonder if there’s something deeper going on. Maybe they’re just not interested in church based community groups. Maybe they feel they have that already built into class, extra-curricular activities and work. Maybe the ho-hum of life hasn’t caught up with them yet. Maybe they don’t see the need for the relationships built within community groups.

I have to say that Laurie and I have talked recently about how beneficial our community group has been to us. Granted I do lead, so I kinda have to be there but we always have a good time during our weekly meetings as well as those extra events we plan and do with folks from our group during the week. It’s amazing to think about how limited our social calendar would be if it wasn’t for the relationships we’ve made in our community group (both past and present).

I don’t begrudge the college students at all. I think sometimes we forget that we’re older than we think we are. At 27, I don’t feel old, but at 19 I felt like 27 was a million miles away. We’ll figure out a plan for them, whether Aaron and I are involved or not. But it was clear last night that there are a lot of people at our church who are in a similar life stage that we’re in, and those people are looking for community. We are those people. And if we can provide that for them and for ourselves, then that’s what we need to be putting our efforts towards.

What about your group? Have you or other groups you know of had any luck attracting singles or college age folks?