Category: community

Missional living

I’m trying to tie my hands back some to keep from giving away too much from books I’m reading – especially those I’m still chewing on.
My latest read, A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren is giving me some great insight as of the last few days. First off, I love the sub-title:

Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, catholic, green, incarnational, depressed- yet hopeful, emergent, unfinished Christian.
Continue reading Missional living

Faith ideas :: Become a home for the homeless

We talked last night at our community group of some ways we can/should put the words of Jesus into real application and practice. CMS shared this idea today and thought it was a definite great idea for local churches.

It reminds me of a great point Shane Claiborne made in “Jesus for President.” He said that while many Christians will get up in arms against things like abortion, they’re rarely willing to actually put real action into their fight. He said that Mother Theresa (whom Claiborne spent several months with) was strongly against abortion, but rather than condemn a mother for considering it, or even possibly for the actions that conceived the child, she welcomed the mother and child into her home and cared for them specifically. She didn’t just tell an un-wed mother – abortion is sin – now go solve your problem. She said, “abortion is wrong but so is me putting you out on the street expecting you to deal with this issue alone. Let me help you in the midst of your crises.”
Continue reading Faith ideas :: Become a home for the homeless

Engaging your audience

As part of our community 2.0 ministry at encounter, we recently purchased copies of Andy Stanley’s book, “Communicating for a Change.” Loved the book. It really challenged me and the ways I’ve always been taught to communicate with folks (hense my Mass Communications major).

Rather then outlining a message or lesson with 3 points, each having 3 or 4 sub-points, Stanley suggests outlining your message with only one central point. And building the message around Me-We-God-You-We. I’ll let you start reading it to find out more ;-). Like I said – it’s challenged me for sure.

I’ve tried to share some of the e-mails I send to our leaders from time to time (where appropriate) and thought this was one of those times…
Continue reading Engaging your audience

A different sort of evening

Had a fun evening with my life and friend Eric Lidji tonight.
Laurie picked me up from work today and we started the evening off with an enjoyable time shopping at Gap Body. It definitely wasn’t because of what they sell at Gap Body – but because of who I was with.
After we left, we browsed several other shops in the Mockingbird Station area before heading to Light Fantastic.
I remember going to Light Fantastic several times with my dad when I was growing up and he owned his own electrical business. He would go there from time to time to pick up lights and chandeliers for his customers. This time it was window shopping for us – or at least what we might like in the somewhere distant future.
After light shopping we made a visit to World Market where Laurie grabbed a couple different bottles of wine (both apple flavored) and I grabbed a “Make Your Own Six Pack” of various beers. A bottle of Shiner Black Lager, a couple different bottles of St. Arnolds and two brands I was unfamiliar with.
After our shopping trip we headed over to Cafe Brazil (an old favorite of mine – and one of the places Laurie and I went to on our first date) and we met up with Eric who was in town from Alaska for his sister’s Bat Mitzvah.
Eric and I worked together for more than a year at the Waxahachie paper.
Always enjoy conversations with Eric, either in person or now usually via the Interweb. He has great insight on things and great perspectives.
We talked national and local (Ellis County) politics, the newspaper business, the oil business (which he now covers in Alaska) faith and general catching up.
It was a great time only made better by the Chicken Chipotle Enchiladas I had for dinner.
And as the conversation wound down, Laurie and I headed back to Red Oak for a quiet wrap up to the evening.
Tomorrow – we meet with the Home Owners Association to figure out what they’re doing with all the money they get in our neighborhood. Should make for another interesting evening.

Google and Virgin join in plans to colonize Mars

Imagine if you will – the universe’s first (known) Open Source Planet. Google and Virgin Group have teamed together and with plans to colonize Mars. Very cool!

(it\'s an April Fool\'s Joke)

From Google:

For thousands of years, the human race has spread out across the Earth, scaling mountains and plying the oceans, planting crops and building highways, raising skyscrapers and atmospheric CO2 levels, and observing, with tremendous and unflagging enthusiasm, the Biblical injunction to be fruitful and multiply across our world’s every last nook, cranny and subdivision.

An invitation.
Earth has issues, and it’s time humanity got started on a Plan B. So, starting in 2014, Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be leading hundreds of users on one of the grandest adventures in human history: Project Virgle, the first permanent human colony on Mars…

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Virgin Group today announced the launch of Virgle Inc., a jointly owned and operated venture dedicated to the establishment of a human settlement on Mars.

“Some people are calling Virgle an ‘interplanetary Noah’s Ark,'” said Virgin Group President and Founder Sir Richard Branson, who conceived the new venture. “I’m one of them. It’s a potentially remarkable business, but more than that, it’s a glorious adventure. For me, Virgle evokes the spirit of explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo, who set sail looking for the New World. I do hope we’ll be a bit more efficient about actually finding it, though.”

The Virgle 100 Year Plan’s milestones will include Virgle Pioneer selection (2008-2010), the first manned journey to Mars (2016), a Virgle Inc. initial public offering to capitalize on the first manned journey to Mars (2016), the founding of the first permanent Martian municipality, Virgle City (2050), and the achievement of a truly self-sustaining Martian civilization with a population exceeding 100,000 (2108).

“Virgle is the ultimate application of a principle we’ve always believed at Google: that you can do well by doing good,” said Google co-founder Larry Page, who plans to share leadership of the new Martian civilization with Branson and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

“We feel that ensuring the survival of the human race by helping it colonize a new planet is both a moral good in and of itself and also the most likely method of ensuring the survival of our best – okay, fine, only — base of web search volume and advertising inventory,” Page added. “So, you know, it’s, like, win-win.”

The original contingent of Virgle Pioneers will be selected by numerous criteria, including an online questionnaire, video submission, personal accomplishments, expertise in scientific, artistic, sociological and/or political fields of endeavor, and inadequate Google and Virgin personal performance reviews.

You can apply to help plan this “open source community” online at: www.google.com/virgle or find out just how real Virgle is.

Forging another way

Not sure who said this, but I thought it was a great point brought up in the 1st episode of The Homebrewed Christianity Podcast (around 36 min in):

“The church has been deeply resistant to accept it’s own failures…”

“The people who have had privilege, in this culture particularly, are whining miserably because they’re losing. And part of what you’re teaching is that the old system is that if you disagree with me over these major doctrines than it’s not just that we disagree, there’s a flaw in your character and I can’t talk to you because you will corrupt me if I spend anytime with you. The ability to say there’s another way of talking about this. We must forge another way…”

From the show description:

This is the first of two episodes taken from a conversation between Bill Leonard, Doug Pagitt, Tim Conder, Zach Roberts, and myself. I mostly just listened in to Bill Leonard, the Dean of Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity and professor of church history, have a fascinating conversation with Doug Pagitt and Tim Conder about the Emergent movement and American religion.

UPDATE: And for those of you who aren’t iTunes fan – you can listen to the file here.