New (To Me) Worship CDs

So I decided I needed some new (to me) worship music, so I went to iTunes and bought three CDs.


Starfield - I Will Go

- I have the other two CDs by Starfield. The first one I liked a lot, the second not as much. I've heard good things about this CD, however. It does have a remake of the Hillsong United song "Hosanna", which is good because I've wanted to do that song, but I can't sing in a girly voice very well, so hopefully this one is lower.



Desperation Band - Everyone Overcome

- I think this was recommended to me by Rochelle. I've heard they sound like Hillsong United. Interesting thing about this CD - it was written during the time of the whole Ted Haggard scandal (Desperation Band is from New Life Church, Ted Haggard's old church).


Generation Unleashed - Generation Unleashed

- I found out about this CD through Worship Leader Magazine. Then I listened to a couple of songs online, and I really liked their sound. I think everyone is trying to sound like Hillsong United these days. Which is okay with me.

Am I Two-Thirds Of A Man?

Because I can do/have done 50 of the 75 skills that a man needs to know in order to be a man, according to Esquire Magazine.

I don't like cards, and I don't like hard alcohol, so those were all shot out the window. I'm not very good at mechanical things, so those had to go as well.

The Lifestraw

Another example of technology done right.

A Danish company has developed the Lifestraw, which helps filter water in third world countries so that it's safe to drink. It's an amazing product.

You can find out more here.

You can also see a pdf file about it here.

Picture Worth A Thousand Statistics Video

A couple of months ago, I blogged about Chris Jordan, a photographer who has taken some spectacular photographs that show consumerism, consumption and environmental problems in American society. You can see the original post here.

Below is a video of Chris Jordan showing his photographs and talking about the sustainability movement in America.

New Weezer

I'm a pretty big Weezer fan. This fandom has kind of dropped off in the past couple of years, but I still regularly listen to their previous albums, and El Scorcho and Say It Ain't So will probably always be in my top ten favorite songs of all time.

At some point in the near feature, the third album by Weezer that is called "Weezer" will be released. (Of course, the other two are also called The Blue Album and The Green Album.) This one is called The Red Album as well. This week, the first single was release, called Pork and Beans. Sounds like a deep song. I like it, so far from what I've heard. If you want to hear it too, you can go to Weezer's site and listen for free.

I'll be reviewing the CD right here when it comes out.

Two Other Places For Daily Scheduled Prayer

If you don't want to buy the book I talked about a couple of posts below, but are interested in daily scheduled prayer, go to these two websites:

Sacredspace

This is a site run by Irish Jesuits, and you can pray daily using their website and following the links.

The Breviary

This is run by Missio Dei and has three daily prayer readings for you to use.

Enjoy!

Sad But True.

Thanks to the interesting blog here.

The Divine Hours

I've been really busy lately - worship ministry, student ministry and multimedia can do that to you in a hurry - but I wanted to share something I'm really excited about.

To be honest, I have never been a good pray-er. I've prayed almost my whole life, but I haven't spent a lot of time in prayer. The last several years, I discovered journaling, which has been a good way for me to pray and to put my thoughts down. Since I have a bad short-term memory, praying without journaling can be tough because my mind becomes very quickly unfocused and distracted, and I find myself thinking of everything but God during prayer.

My journaling has been pretty non-existent over the last few years, except for when I need to vent or rant about something. But in the last month or so, I have been spending a big chunk of time before I go to bed journaling and praying. I think partly because as a pastor in a new church plant, you HAVE to depend on God. I find myself praying a lot for His provision in our church.

I'm excited about a book that came in the mail today - called The Divine Hours - Prayers For Springtime. It's actually one of three books that go through seasons and prayer. I'm excited because just as journaling has helped me keep my thoughts during prayer together, so this book, which calls itself a "manual for prayer", will help keep me daily scheduled with times of prayer. I've never used The Common Book of Prayer, or really any liturgical forms of prayer, so this should be interesting.

Another book I recommend (and just finished) is The Sacred Way by Tony Jones. He goes through a bunch of ancient practices and shows how we can do them in our contemporary culture today. This book is what led me to The Divine Hours.

Youtube Video Of The Week - 04.11.08

Haven't done one of these in awhile.

Introducing The Praise Brothers, they're Kicking It For Jesus!

If You Like Bizarre Music and Even More Bizarrer People...

Then you might like the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. Yes, I know that "bizarrer" is not a word.

Here is one of the more normal videos that they have.

The first time I saw them was on Noggin (a children's channel), and I was wondering if the lemonade I was drinking had gone bad, because it was so strange.

As their website says, they take vintage slide collections they've found at estate sales, garage sales and thrift stores, and "turn the lives of anonymous strangers into pop rock musical exposes based on their slides."

Word.

Bait And Switch Evangelism

"In 1998, I thought it was the church's responsibility to make church services accessible for everyone. Do the seeker-sensitive thing. Make it completely inoffensive. Make sure everyone was comfortable. By 2001, I had done an about -face. I began to think, maybe, in order to be true to what God called us to be committed to, we need to make it as difficult as we possibly can to follow Jesus, and go from there. Instead of trying to remove the difficult aspects of Christianity, what we did was to put these challenging parts front and center.

When someone makes a decision, they know what they are getting into. The American church participates in bait and switch. They get new people to come in the door and make a commitment, and after they make it, they show them what it is really about. It is offensive. It is not honest! When businesses bait and switch, they get shut down. But the church accepts this kind of thing. Successful churches tell us that if we care about outreach, we must bait and switch all day long, offer a soft-core gospel on the front end, hook them, and then give them the hard-core stuff. I don't think this is faithful to how Jesus modeled discipleship. We really try not to bait and switch people. When people want to know about following Jesus, we put the cards on the table. 'This is what the commitment is. It is hard. It is a narrow path. It leads to death and even to hating brothers and sisters.'

We lead with that stuff. That way, in five weeks or so, when they hear more of the real stuff, we don't need to worry that they will leave. Yes, in the short run, it is more difficult. But I don't think we are going to know the results for years to come. In ten years, I would rather see a deep level of discipleship for a few believers than a surface level for a huge number."

- Mark Palmer, quoted in the book Emerging Churches

The Avalanche Clinched A Playoff Spot...

which means the tickets that I bought a couple of days ago for the first home playoff game will actually be used!

Here's where I'll be - once the playoffs are determined.

Animoto

Animoto is awesome. I see all kinds of potential in my student ministry with putting together picture slideshows and the like.

Animoto.com - you can only do a 30 second video for free, but it's pretty darn cool.

You've Got To Love Reporters...

who can still get the job done after getting creamed by a snow tube. I don't know if he was really a reporter or not, but way to go.

The tubing hill looks a lot like the one my student ministry went to three weeks ago.

Sacred vs. Secular

One of the "missions" that those who are part of the emerging/missional church are trying to do is to break down the wall between sacred and secular. There is definitely another much longer post that goes along with this mission, but for now, I want to quote Mike Pilavachi from his book When Necessary Use Words: Changing Lives Through Worship, Justice and Evangelism:

"We've often separated our spiritual activities from our secular ones: We go to a home group - that's spiritual; we buy a pair of running shoes - that's secular. Or is it? If we do our part to ensure that the person who is making our running shoes gets a fair wage and works in reasonable conditions, isn't that an act of loving our neighbor and, therefore, a spiritual activity? God is interested in the whole of our lives and He wants access to everything so that we can make choices that better reflect Him."

Sketchcast

I found an interesting website called Sketchcast. It's for your blog I guess, and it's a new way to creatively express yourself. I guess.

I have a hard time drawing using a mouse, and my Mickey Mouse doesn't look too much like Mickey Mouse, but I'm sure I'll improve.

Here's the website.

(I took my sketchcast off because it was messing up blogger for some reason.)

Friendship Overcomes

"Anyone who calls anyone judgmental, well, er, is inherently judgmental. That icky substance - judgmentalism - lives inside of all of us. As followers of Jesus we are called to be the least judgmental, but often we find ourselves the most judgmental. Why?

I can offer a laundry list of reasons, but one of the biggest is that we take God's laws, as well as the hedges we build around them, and then place them on people who don't even believe in God. Worse, we become more concerned with behavior modification than real transformation. The result is that judgmentalism springs up in our hearts, shading our every attitude and interaction. So if a sixteen-to-twenty-nine-year-old thinks were judgmental, I'd love to fire back, but sadly, I have to agree. I don't want to agree. I want Christians to be known as the most loving people - the kind of people who love you until it hurts. But so far it seems like we're bringing more hurt than healing to many.

You see, love is the opposite of judgmentalism; it tempers our views, attitudes and interactions. In our cultural climate, love is foundational. Now some say that love has no agenda, but I believe that love is the agenda (see John 13:35). Whether in our communities, workplaces, or government, we must be committed to love those we work with and serve.

One of our weaknesses is that we're far more concerned with being right than being righteous. We become like the Pharisees whenever we focus on issues rather than people. Judgmentalism creeps in whenever we deal with issues as if they were black and white, rather than flesh-and-blood humans in need of redemption. Do you want to remove the unhealthy judgmentalism you have in regard to the poor? Make sure you have poor people who you love and welcome in your life. Do you want to remove the unhealthy judgmentalism you have in regard to homosexuals? Make sure you have gays and lesbians whom you love and welcome in your life. Do you want to remove the unhealthy judgmentalism you have in regard to our government? Make sure you have people involved in politics (even if it's just on the local level) whom you love and welcome in your life.

Then, when we talk about issues, we won't just be talking about those things we care about but people we care about. And the judgmentalism, well, it will naturally begin to fade away like it did for the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, and so many others."

- Margaret Feinberg, author and speaker, as quoted in Unchristian

I don't know how I missed this one...

but Jason Elam, the kicker for the Broncos the last fifteen years, has signed with the Atlanta Falcons.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AspbQGgTpGzt8Tr8NyWECXH.uLYF?slug=txfalconselam&prov=st&type=lgns

I'm happy for him - it's a homecoming of sorts, since he played high school football in Georgia - but very sad he won't be a Bronco this season. The number one reason is because he used to go to my home church. In fact, he came up to me my last Sunday at my home church (he didn't know I was leaving) and asked if I could teach him how to play guitar. I just gritted my teeth and told him that although I would love to teach him, I was leaving for Dallas. Stupid timing. He ended up giving me a Broncos jersey signed by himself, Terrell Davis, Brian Griese, Ed McCaffrey and Brian Griese, and then also a football signed by the 2000 Denver Broncos football team.

He ended up leaving my home church shortly after I left - but I've kept tabs on him ever since then.

I hope he has a very successful season for the Falcons. I'm angry that the Broncos decided not to keep him. But life goes on.

George Washington vs. Simon Bolivar Leaders

I've been reading this interesting book, just the title makes it intriguing:

Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood by Nate Larkin.

My boss gave it to me as a possible resource for a men's small group I'm helping to start. A guy in our church approached me and wanted to know if I was interested in starting something for guys - I would do a morning group, and he would do an evening group, and we would go over the same material so if someone missed the morning group, they could go to the evening group and vice versa. Now, if you know me, you know that: 1) I'm already pretty busy, so starting a group doesn't usually fall on my radar, and 2) I'm a little leery of men's groups in the first place, because I'm not a big fan of Wild At Heart, what it means to be a "real man", "let's go out and hunt a fourteen point buck for Jesus" type of stuff. But I like this guy so I'm willing to do it, especially if it reaches men in this community.

Anyway, I'm not sure I'll be using this book, at least not yet, but it was interesting reading.

One of the illustrations he uses in this book is the difference between how George Washington led, and how Simon Bolivar, who started up several colonies/countries in South America led. It was especially interesting to me based on my experience with senior ministers during my time in Arizona and in Ohio. Here is what he writes:

"Washington, of course, is revered in the United States as the father of his country. Bolivar tried to duplicate Washington's success in South America, but failed.

On December 23, 1783, George Washington made the greatest single statement of his long political career by resigning his commission as commander in chief of the Continental army. This simple act of humility stunned the Western world. Washington, who had almost single-handedly held the fractious colonies together during the Revolutionary War, was easily the most trusted man in America. Grateful throngs called on Congress to proclaim him king. Other voices begged Washington to set up a military regime, believing that only a commander of his stature could create the stability necessary for a successful transition to democracy...

But that wasn't the end of Washington's career. Four years later he played a leading role in the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, and in 1789, the new Electoral College unanimously elected him president. Washington discharged his duties brilliantly, operating as the consummate player/coach. Well aware of his limitations and unthreatened by the genius of others, he surrounded himself with men whose intellectual talents were greater than his own, men such as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and John Adams. Compelled by the force of Washington's example, these men harnessed their competing egos and worked as a team...as it turned out, George Washington became "the father of his country" by refusing the role.

In 1783, the same year Washington resigned his commission at Annapolis, Simon Jose Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad Bolivar was born in the Spanish province of Venezuela. By age nine, he was an orphan. By 1799, the year Washington died, the passionate young man had become a firebrand for liberty, forcefully arguing that the South American colonies should declare their independence from Spain. When he marched into Caracas at the head of a liberating army in August of 1813, Bolivar accepted the title of "liberator" from a grateful populace and assumed political dictatorship. He went on to lead successful revolutions against Spanish rule in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. In fact, he served as president of two different countries during his lifetime, Colombia and Peru. When Upper Peru was liberated in 1825, the new nation named itself Bolivia in his honor. Bolivar personally drafted a constitution for his namesake, proposing a weak legislature and a strong president chosen for life.

By this time, Bolivar's power extended from the Caribbean to the border of Argentina, but his rule as not peaceful. The nations he had founded were wracked by a series of revolts and civil wars. On September 25, 1828, a group of young officers invaded the presidential palace and tried to assassinate him. The attempt failed, but more plots followed as competing generals jockeyed for power. He was denounced everywhere. Finally in May of 1830, Bolivar agreed to leave South America and retire to Europe. He never made the trip however. He died of tuberculosis six months later in Santa Marta, Colombia.

Despite his giftedness as a military commander, Simon Bolivar failed miserably as a political leader because he was never content to be a brother. He always needed to be the daddy. Although he employed the language of team play in his speeches, his actions showed that he never really trusted anyone but himself. In the end, it was all about Simon. It's no coincidence that that the nations he founded are plagued by political instability to this day."

----


Wow.

I could definitely see the similarities in leadership style between Simon Bolivar and some of the leaders I have worked for in the recent past. I have so much more I could say at this point - like pointing out how certain leaders I have worked for didn't put anyone into leadership around them until 7-10 years after they planted their church, and how I heard interesting things while I worked for them, like "it's my way or the highway", and "you go toe to toe with me, I'll win every time", but I'll refrain for now. I did think the last paragraph really summed up the problem with these type of leaders: (1) Always needed to be the daddy; (2) never trusts anyone but themselves; (3) it was all about them. If Simon Bolivar leadership doesn't work in leadership of countries, why do we seem to think that it will work in our churches? And better yet, why do the other supposed "leaders" of these churches let the head person become a Bolivar type leader?

World Water Day - This Saturday

Thanks to my friend Rochelle, I found out about World Water Day before it happened!

Over a billion people on our planet do not have access to safe drinking water. Obviously this creates huge problems in the form of disease and death.

Go to www.worldwaterday.net to find out more.

Here is a map where you can see exactly where the water crises are.

Guinness...cupcakes?

Hmmm, this seems like an interesting recipe. Cupcakes that actually have Guinness beer in them. I guess it doesn't make them bitter, according to the baker, it evens out the taste.

Next time I'm in the mood for a Guinness, maybe I'll have my wife make me some Guinness cupcakes as well.

By the way, if you don't know the story of how Guinness came about, it's very interesting. Perhaps I'll have to tell the story sometime.

The Buckeyes

Colorado is my home state, and now that I've returned, I'm enjoying all the sports teams again - being able to watch and hear them is great.

However, each state I've lived in, I try to take a sports team and root for them.

Since I lived in Dallas, I root for the Mavericks (although I'm not much of an NBA fan).

I've been a huge Arizona Wildcats college basketball fan since interning in Tucson (and living for 3 years in the Phoenix area as well.)

And from Ohio, I'm taking with me the Ohio State Buckeyes. Which is a pretty easy decision. College football in Colorado pretty much stinks. The Buffaloes are my favorite college team from Colorado, I guess - but they've been embroiled in scandals and mediocrity since Bill McCartney left. So I'm rooting for the Buckeyes.

And here's a reason to get excited about them:

Number One High School Football Player Chooses The Buckeyes.

Sweet!

Dexter

I'm not sure if I should admit this or not, but I love the Showtime T.V. show Dexter. I bought the first season on DVD and I'm eagerly awaiting the second season coming out on DVD soon. I hope.

I'm also thinking of getting the soundtrack, I like the music. Kind of a "serial killer salsa" kind of sound. :)

It's all a matter of what you're looking for...

Take the video test below. I thought it was kind of interesting. I'm just glad I got the number right, or else I would have felt really stupid about not seeing the m--nw---ing b---.

Seven More Years...

According to this article, I'm only seven years away from reaching the prime peak of my happiness. I guess at the age of 44, people begin feeling less happy, and then they become more happy in older age.

I thought it was interesting that the main premise of the article is that happiness is more associated with genes and age, rather than circumstances, experiences and the like. And yet I would say that our number one pursuit in life is to become "happier", whether it be through accumulating stuff, or having success, or whatever.

I guess I'll just decide to be happy. While I can.

Hulu

As someone who doesn't have a lot of time to watch TV shows - at least while it happens - I found something that is amazing.

It's called Hulu, and you can watch a bunch of T.V. shows and some movies, for free. There are some old school shows available (Buck Freaking Rogers!), and brand new ones as well (Friday Night Lights).

Have there been a few shows recently that you've just wanted to check out to see if they're good or not, but never had the time to do so? Check out Hulu. Tonight, I watched the pilot for The Bionic Woman (new one), and the pilot for Life. Have to say I liked them both, and yet I wouldn't have known I liked them without Hulu.

Check it out - you will not be disappointed. There are a few commercial interruptions - but they last fifteen seconds long. And the one I saw (HP) featured Gwen Stefani, so that wasn't tough to watch that commercial a few times.

Colorado Conversation #1

My daughter loves Barnes and Noble. She loves to go and read books, and of course buy books. How can you deny a book to a kid? "No, you can't read." So we go often.

One day we're in Barnes and Noble, in the kids' book section, and someone comes into the section with a little girl. This someone has dreadlocks, a lip piercing, and torn clothing. As they pass us, I look up at the face, and it looks really familiar. For the next several minutes I try to place the face. I realize that this girl looks like a girl I had in my student ministry in Colorado eight years ago.

In the past I would never approach a "stranger", and would never strike up a conversation with someone I don't know, but I'm different now. My office here in Colorado consists of one of two places: Paradise Bakery and Cafe, and Caribou Coffee. Both have good coffee and free internet. I've struck up many conversations with workers and regulars in both places. I've even developed a couple of friendships. So I decide to talk with this girl.

"Hey, I don't mean to bother you or anything, but did you happen to go to ___________ Christian Church several years ago?"

"Yeah, I did. You look familiar."

"I was your youth minister. You were in sixth grade, I think, and you hung out with Chris and Brittany."

"Yeah! My name is Sarah. You're...Adam, right?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, I can't believe you recognized me. That was a long time ago. You have a good memory. So...didn't you move to Texas or something?"

"Yeah. We lived in Dallas for a year and a half, then Arizona for three, then Ohio for three, and now we're back."

"Really? What are you doing?"

"I planted a church this year with Todd, the former associate pastor of the church. We actually meet here in Southlands, at the theater. It's pretty cool."

"Sounds cool. By the way, this isn't my daughter. She's my sister."

"Ah, I didn't think so, but I wasn't going to ask you. You would be pretty young to have a child. What are you, nineteen?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's good seeing you. Take care."

I wish I could have continued on. Noelle wanted to read more books though. I wonder if she still believes in God. I wonder what she's doing these days. I wonder.

Maybe I'll run into her again. At Barnes and Noble. Or Paradise. Or Caribou.

Sickening.

At least he's paying for his crimes, but the fallout from this priest's action during the Rwanda genocide has cost more to the Kingdom of God than you could ever believe. If you don't want to click on the link, here is the article.

----

ARUSHA, Tanzania - A U.N. tribunal has extended the sentence of a priest to life in prison after upholding his war crimes conviction for ordering militiamen to burn and bulldoze a church with 1,500 people inside during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda's ruling came after Rwandan Roman Catholic priest Athanase Serombawar appealed his 2006 conviction, a tribunal statement posted on its Web site late Wednesday said. He was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The tribunal is trying the alleged masterminds of the 100-day Rwandan genocide in which more than 500,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists.

The tribunal said it convicted Seromba for "his role in the destruction of the church in Nyange Parish, and the consequent death of approximately 1500 Tutsi refugees sheltering inside."

Seromba was convicted of leading a militia that attacked the people and poured fuel through the roof of the church, while police threw grenades inside. After failing to kill everybody inside the church, Seromba ordered it to be demolished, the tribunal found.

Thousands of Rwandans have turned away from Catholicism, angered and saddened by the complicity of church officials in the genocide.

Priests, nuns and followers were implicated in the killings and some churches were sites of notorious massacres.

The Rwanda war crimes tribunal has delivered 32 judgments, including five acquittals, since the U.N. Security Council established it in November 1994. There are 27 trials under way.

----

The book "Mere Discipleship" by Lee Camp does a good job at assessing the Rwandan genocide. I highly recommend it. I have some thoughts, but I don't know if I can really put them into words after reading this article.

News Of The Weird

Woman sits on boyfriend's toilet for 2 years
Girlfriend was physically stuck to the seat — her skin had grown around it

NESS CITY, Kan. - Deputies said a woman in western Kansas sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years, and they're investigating whether she was mistreated.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said a man called his office last month to report that something was wrong with his girlfriend.

Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman’s skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

“We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital,” Whipple said. “The hospital removed it.”

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.

“She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body,” Whipple said. “It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself.”

He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

“And her reply would be, ‘Maybe tomorrow,”’ Whipple said. “According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom.”

The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that “there was something wrong with his girlfriend,” Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was “somewhat disoriented,” and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.

“She said that she didn’t need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave,” he said.

She was taken to a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.

Police have declined to release the couple’s names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

The case has been the buzz in Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.


----

Tell me how ironic it is that the sheriff's name is Whipple.

Music To Watch Zombie Movies To

I'm not a big fan of zombie movies, although I thought 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, although not technically zombie movies, were really good.

But after purchasing the remake of the Cranberries' song "Zombie" by Miser, my Zombie soundtrack might be complete:

Zombie - The Cranberries

Zombie (remake) - Miser

They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors! They Have Come Back From The Dead! Ahhhh! - Sufjan Stevens

The Zombie Song - Cool Hand Luke


notably absent from this list are any songs by The Zombies and Rob Zombie. Not a big fan of either. Although I am tempted to pick up the 28 Weeks Later soundtrack. It sounded good as I was scared watching the movie.

EDIT: I succumbed to temptation and bought the 28 Weeks Later soundtrack. Awesome.

Updated Best Movies of 2007 List

After watching a couple more movies from last year, here is my updated list for Best Of 2007 (I added Bourne Ultimatum and The Lookout as well):

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Truly a great year for movies.

Once

I don't know how long these videos will last on youtube, but watch them now, if you haven't seen the movie. Then go and rent the movie!

I've Got My Book-Buying Socks On...

and if you haven't seen Flight of the Conchords, or heard their song "Business Time", you have no idea what that means. Go to youtube and search the fake band's name, and then find that song. Priceless.

Anyway, I went on a book buying splurge. Here are the books I bought:

- When The Game Is Over, It All Goes Back In The Box by John Ortberg.

I love Ortberg's writing. This should be a good one.

- Secrets In The Dark: A Life In Sermons by Frederick Buechner.

I've always wanted to read his works. I've read through a few of the sermons, and even though they were written several years ago, they are pretty relevant to today's time. It has a recommendation by Rob Bell on the back, good enough for me!

- Hidden In Plain Sight: The Secret Of More by Mark Buchanan.

His book Your God Is Too Safe is one of my favorites, I read it every few months or so. I'm excited to read this one.

- Would You Rather? by Doug Fields.

This is a book for my student ministry, it has a ton of funny and poignant questions to ask students. If you've seen the board game Zobmondo, then it's similar to that.

- Eat This Book: A Conversation In The Art Of Spiritual Reading by Eugene Peterson.

Peterson did The Message bible translation. I have his trilogy on being a pastor, which is an awesome series. I started reading a little bit of this book, and it already got me intrigued.

- Night Watch, Day Watch and Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko.

I've always liked vampire stories, I don't know why. I also like Matrix type movies. I guess the two movies made from the first two novels of this series were amazing. It's a Russian author and Russian movies. Should be interesting.

- In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars by Mark Batterson.

Mark is a church planter, I'm a church planter. Mark's church meets in theaters, the church I helped plant meets in a theater. Mark's blog is awesome, mine is...well, never mind. This is the book I stated reading first out of all of these, because (1) the title is awesome, (2) I'm hoping that it will help me in my journey of this church plant (and it is helping so far), and (3) did I mention the title is awesome?

Well, that's it. It's time to get busy reading.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Statistics...

And these pictures are amazing. If you go to this website, you can see some amazing pictures by an artist who is attempting to help us visualize certain statistics about America. Most of them are about environmental concerns, although some are of other things.

Chris Jordan writes this introduction to his work:

This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 410,000 paper cups used every fifteen minutes. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

My only caveat about this series is that the prints must be seen in person to be experienced the way they are intended. As with any large artwork, their scale carries a vital part of their substance which is lost in these little web images. Hopefully the JPEGs displayed here might be enough to arouse your curiosity to attend an exhibition, or to arrange one if you are in a position to do so. The series is a work in progress, and new images will be posted as they are completed, so please stay tuned.

~chris jordan, Seattle, 2007


Amazing.

That explains the glazed look in my eyes all the time...

You Are a Glazed Donut

Okay, you know that you're plain - and you're cool with that. You prefer not to let anything distract from your sweetness. Your appeal is understated yet universal. Everyone dig you. And in a pinch, you'll probably get eaten.

What Donut Are You?

Oscar: Who Should Win and Who Will Win

The Academy Awards are on Sunday.

I have to admit I haven't seen every movie nominated for an Oscar. But I've heard a ton about most of them, and since I do have the spiritual gift of remembering people and plot of movies even though I haven't seen the movie, I'm sure it's okay.

Here's my list of who should win and who will win. Fun.

I haven't included all categories, just ones I care about.

My "Who Will Win and Who Should Win" List:

1. Best Picture: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."

Who will win: No Country For Old Men
Who should win: No Country For Old Men

2. Actor: George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"; Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"; Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"; Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises."

Who will win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Who should win: Daniel Day-Lewis

3. Actress: Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"; Julie Christie, "Away From Her"; Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"; Laura Linney, "The Savages"; Ellen Page, "Juno."

Who will win: Julie Christie.
Who should win: probably Julie Christie. But Laura Linney is a fantastic actress in her own boat.

4. Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"; Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"; Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"; Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton."

Who will win: Hal Holbrook. Oscar loves never-nominated before old guys. But Bardem has a lot of momentum coming in.
Who should win: Javier Bardem.

5. Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"; Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"; Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"; Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"; Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton."

Who will win: Amy Ryan.
Who should win: There should be a tie between Amy Ryan, Cate Blanchett, and Tilda Swinton.

6. Director: Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Jason Reitman, "Juno"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood."

Who will win: No Country.
Who should win: No Country.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"; Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"; Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood."

Who will win: Coen brothers.
Who should win: Coen brothers.

9. Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, "Juno"; Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, "Ratatouille"; Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages."

Who will win: Juno.
Who should win: Juno.

10. Animated Feature Film: "Persepolis"; "Ratatouille"; "Surf's Up."

Who will win: Ratatouille.
Who should win: Persepolis (haven't seen it, but have heard amazing things about it)

16. Original Song: "Falling Slowly" from "Once," Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; "Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; "Raise It Up" from "August Rush," Nominees to be determined; "So Close" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; "That's How You Know" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.

Who will win: one of the Enchanted songs.
Who should win: Falling Slowly.

Riley's First Goal

Had to share this: my friend Jim from Ohio has a son-in-law who plays for the Philadelphia Flyers. He's known best for fighting (which has endeared himself to Flyers fans), but this past week, Riley Cote scored his first NHL goal against the Canadiens.

Way to go Riley!

Lent - Laying It Down

I thought this was a great article about Lent and Ash Wednesday. Courtesy of Next-Wave Online E-zine.

LENT - LAYING IT DOWN
by Bob Hyatt

For those of us who are trying to hear the voice of Christ, we need regular times of focusing on Christ's call to follow, to lay down our lives for one another. Lent is one of those times- a period of 40 days not including Sundays which are given to considering what we will lay down, what we will not. What our lives count for, or how they fail to count. We hear the call of Jesus and struggle all over again to die to ourselves and live for Christ and others. The journey of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Good Friday and Easter, showing us in sharp relief the exact cost of our sin, and the means by which God will restore all things.

Ash Wednesday begins Lent by reminding us that the journey towards the Cross is one every Christ follower must make- step by step, selfish impulse by selfish impulse. And Ash Wednesday also reminds us that the time is finite, limited... because it reminds us of our mortality.

So, this year, even if you missed Ash Wedneday, observe a Lent of self-examination and repentance; of prayer, and fasting, of saying "no" to self and "yes" to God and others; and of reading and meditating on God's Word, listening all over again for the call of Christ on your life.

In Gen 3:19 as God explains the consequences of their sin to Adam and Eve, He makes this statement: You are dust and to dust you shall return.

Has anyone ever told you that?
No?

Well, it's not something we often say to one another...

You are dust and to dust you shall return.

Why do you think God might have made that statement to Adam and Eve? What do you think He might have been trying to communicate?

Ash Wednesday is a day to remember that our days are numbered- that our lives, no matter how long we live, are short. That every day is a gift and with it we serve either God or ourselves. We spend it either binding ourselves tighter and tighter to the things of this world, or following more and more closely in the steps of Jesus. The problem is, we really can't do both. We're heading in either one direction or the other.
And even when we are heading in a generally God-ward direction, it's all too easy to pick up extraneous baggage- things which slow us down, things which hinder us in this race we are trying to run.
Hebrews says:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin."

"Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up" While it should be an all day, every day kind of thing, the reality is- we forget. We forget to "throw off" the things that slow us down. We pick up attachments, we pick up weights, we pick up sin. And Lent is that intentional time in the Christian Calendar when we begin to think about putting things down again.

One of the most beautiful parts of this time of Lent is that it shows us just how deep the connections we have made throughout the year with this world go- how deep our need for self-soothing through sweets, food, alcohol, TV, whatever has become. How little we have relied on Jesus and how much we have relied on everything else... on things that will themselves ultimately become nothing more than ashes and dust.

I love the narrative of the Gospel of Luke. It's structured as one long walk by Jesus from the northern part of Israel, all the way down to Jerusalem. It shows us that His ministry- teaching people, healing people, forgiving people, feeding people- all of it came in the context of a journey towards the Cross. All of it was important, all of it mattered... but all of it served the larger plot of Jesus laying down His life for you and me.

Jesus calls us on that journey with Him. Following in His steps, taking up a cross...
Let this Lent be a step in that journey for you.

Once

All, I can really say is...wow.

Go rent this movie now. I watched it and immediately bought the soundtrack.

I had three top movies of 2007: Sunshine, No Country For Old Men, and There Will Be Blood. Once has leapfrogged over all of them. It's that amazing.

Passion - God Of This City

If you haven't picked up this CD yet (it came out last Tuesday), I would encourage you to do so. Even though a few of the songs can be found on other CDs, these version of those songs make it definitely worth it. Or you can do the iTunes thing and just purchase the new songs.

So far, the standout cuts for me are "Let God Arise" by Chris Tomlin (from his See The Morning CD), "God Of This City", "Hosanna" (from Hillsong United, but sung by the incredible Christy Nockels), "Beautiful Jesus" by my favorite worship leader Kristian Stanfill, and "Shine" by Matt Redman.

By far my favorite though is "God Of This City". I thought it was an original song by Chris Tomlin, but it's actually a song by a British worship band called Bluetree. Both versions of the song are amazing, you can go to iTunes and get Bluetree's version - which is more "brooding" than the Chris Tomlin version. Hopefully that makes sense, it probably will if you listen to the other version.

Here are the lyrics to God Of This City:

You're the God of this city, You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation, You are
You're the Light in this darkness, You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless, You are

There is no one like our God, there is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city

Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done here

You’re the Lord of Creation , the Creator of all things
You’re the King above all Kings, You are
You’re the strength in our weakness, You’re the love to the broken
You’re the joy in the sadness , You are

Amazing lyrics and a great, great song.

When Clergy Lose Their Faith

There is a fascinating article in Psychology Today this month about the growing number of ministers and clergy who are losing their faith and are faced with a dilemma: continue preaching and living a lie of a life, or find a new career and be "true to themselves" (whatever that means).

I have to admit that there have been many times in my almost fifteen years of ministry when I've struggled with doubts, my calling, and my faith. However, there are some differences between my struggle and the struggles of some of these clergy who are leaving the pulpit.

One big difference is the reason behind my doubts and struggle. It seems like my struggles are more directly with the church itself rather than God. Even at times when I doubt who God is and if He exists, it has more to do with the lack of His activity (at least of what I can see) in the life of the church. I question sometimes why he would allow certain people - leaders, senior ministers, elders, etc. - to be in control of the church. In several churches I've been part of, those in leadership capacities are very controlling, domineering, and do not display at all the qualities of leadership that Jesus exhibited - serving others, putting others interests above their own, etc.

Sometimes I question the continued "success" of the juggernaut modern church. I don't understand why God would allow the "attractional, come to us" model of church philosophy to continue to work - where, in my opinion I guess, we find church after church that are a mile wide and an inch deep. Where success is judged based on church attendance and church giving (I call it the ABC's: attendance, buildings and cash).

I strongly believe in the missional model of the church, which is a reaction to three distinctions of the "Christendom church", as Alan HIrsch and Michael Frost call it. These three distinctions are: (1) an attractional mindset ("come to us"), (2) a dualistic nature of church (a division between the secular and the sacred), and (3) a hierarchical leadership structure (where senior ministers act more like CEOs of large corporations rather than act like Jesus). These distinctions deserve their own post, at some point, but if I really believe that the missional model of the church is the true biblical model, why does it seem that this philosophy isn't gaining ground faster?

Another reason why I doubt God sometimes is my perception of His activity in my own life. It seems that whether I'm growing in my relationship with Him, or if I'm stagnant in my relationship - His activity in my life remains about the same. Which then makes it easier for me to fake being super-spiritual, because I don't see anything different really happen.

I have many other reasons for my doubts - including the age-old struggle of many people as to why it seems that followers of God have more hardships than those who could care less about Him - but I won't go into them here. I just thought that it was interesting to read these stories of ministers who lose their faith.

Valentine's Day

I guess I can appreciate this holiday as much as the next person - but when I read this article about the fact that we will spend 17 billion dollars to remind our significant others that we love them (something we should do every day, why have a special day to do so), it makes me wonder if perhaps some of that money would be better suited to go somewhere else, like starving children or poverty in our cities. I have this little inkling of an idea popping up in my head for something to do next year when it comes to Valentine's Day. Hmmm.

And perhaps I'll think twice before buying jewelry for Valentine's Day or any other day - at least look into the source of where the jewelry comes from - due to this letter from Sojourners:

-----

Dear Adam,

With Valentine's Day approaching, we've all seen the barrage of television ads enticing and imploring us to buy diamond jewelry for our loved ones.

But did you know that the international diamond trade has supplied billions of dollars to rebel groups in Africa, fueling wars that have killed more than 4 million people?

This Valentine's Day, tell Wal-Mart to make sure jewelry purchases aren't destroying African lives.

The stories from these wars are harrowing.

Men, women, and children have been raped, tortured, maimed, and displaced by rebel groups who have been funded in part by the illegal sale of diamonds. Diamonds have also been used by al Qaeda and other terrorists to finance their activities and for money-laundering purposes, according to news reports.

As public outrage over conflict diamonds has grown, governments and industry leaders have taken some important steps to stem their trade. But the problem still isn't solved: For example, diamonds mined in rebel-held areas of the Ivory Coast are still being smuggled into the legitimate global market despite a U.N. embargo in place since 2005.

And while the World Diamond Council has spent millions on a global public-relations campaign, many companies have failed to match their rhetoric with action - including Wal-Mart, the nation's largest jewelry retailer, which has been particularly vague about its processes for ensuring that conflict diamonds are not sold in its stores.

If retailers and diamond companies are truly serious, they must implement comprehensive and independently verified processes to ensure that the diamonds they buy are conflict-free.

And as American consumers - who purchase half of all retail diamonds worldwide - we have an obligation to let the industry know we care about where they're getting their diamonds.

Click here to send a message to Wal-Mart and the World Diamond Council, calling for meaningful action to end the trade in conflict diamonds.

And as you consider how to celebrate Valentine's Day this year, remember these words from scripture:

"There is gold, and abundance of costly stones; but the lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel." - Proverbs 20:15

Blessings,

Veronica, Matt, Michael, and the rest of the team at Sojourners

P.S. Please spread the word to your friends, family, and congregation members before Valentine's Day - we want our message to be heard at this important time of year.

----

Done.

Joel Osteen: America's Pastor?

Thankfully God is the Judge, and I am not - but I thought this blog post had some interesting thoughts to it.

I especially agree that just because Joel Osteen doesn't feel that explaining scripture isn't his "calling", he is a preacher and part of his responsibility is not only to help his people feel good, but to help his people understand what God's Word says, even the parts of the Bible that talk about suffering for the gospel and about sin.

Interesting Article About Being Pro-Life and Pro-Obama

Thanks to Zach's blog, I read a very interesting article by Frank Schaeffer. Frank is the son of Francis Schaeffer, who in the 1970's was possibly the most influential and key evangelical leader and writer.

I don't like to get into politics that much - although strangely when I put in my political views and ideological beliefs on some website, I matched up with Obama more than Huckabee - but Schaeffer makes some interesting remarks about our "pro-life" president and how his ideologies don't always match up with the actions and decisions of his presidency. Same with some of the evangelical leaders like James Dobson.

You can read the article here.

I think this is kind of ridiculous...

and maybe I'm getting crotchety or cranky or something as I get older, but WorshipHouse Media (where I get most of my videos for Sunday morning) now has an Applause Meter application that you can use to "pump up" your worship crowd or some other church activity. Here is a quote from the information:

"Remember those old applause meters you would see on television that would gauge the sound level of the audience? "

Yeah, I do. But those were for television, for entertainment. To me, using this in a worship service (except for a zany youth activity or something?) would be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. I consider myself pretty progressive when it comes to church and the "sanctity of the worship service" (in other words, I don't subscribe to the notion that we can't wear a baseball cap or we have to dress up or we have to be really quiet during the worship service, because it's "God's place". There should be no distinction between the "sacred" and the "secular" because God is everywhere and shows up everywhere, not just at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.), but an applause meter is pretty silly.

Jon Foreman EP's...

Jon Foreman is the lead singer and guitarist of a band you may have heard of, called Switchfoot. One of my favorite albums is The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot, but after that I've kind of lost track of the band.

Jon is releasing over the next year four six-song EPs, each corresponding to a season. He's already released Fall and Winter. If you like acoustic music in the vein of Damien Rice, you would probably really like these EPs. (Although, I think he kind of sounds like Chris Martin on these CDs). You can find out more information about Jon and his EPs here.

N.T. Wright and Heaven

Time Magazine has a very interesting interview with N.T. Wright, bishop, pastor and author of several books that I have. In this interview, Wright explains the misconceptions most Christians have about heaven and what the Bible really says about heaven.

I liked this quote from the interview (Wright quotes someone else): "God will download our software onto his hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves."

Right Thinking Produces Right Behavior? Or The Other Way Around?

I'm becoming more and more convinced that the book The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch is the quintessential book that you must read when it comes to the missional church. There are other books I like as well, including one Hirsch co-authored with Michael Frost called The Shaping Of Things To Come, but for some reason as I've been reading The Forgotten Ways for the fourth time, it's just been so helpful in developing in my mind a strategy for missional living.

Right now I'm on the second important aspect of what Hirsch calls mDNA - what the church needs built into it, like body DNA (but in this case missional DNA), in order to be a missional church. The first one is what he calls "Jesus Is Lord" - in other words, everything should revolve around this idea that Jesus is Lord. I'll go into that one in another post, because I thought it was fascinating and really hit me like a ton of bricks - but the second one is "discipleship". Hirsch really makes the case that discipleship is the key purpose of the church, and I'm beginning to agree with him. In this chapter on discipleship, Hirsch makes the point that we are way off base in our discipleship methods. One way that we are off base is that we have somehow caught on to the belief that the Hellenistic approach to discipleship will make disciples - he defines this approach as "right thinking produces right behavior." This is very obvious in all of our adaptations of the Purpose-Driven Church model of getting people around the bases. If we can get Christians to go to four different classes that teach different aspects of the Christian life - membership, discipleship, ministry and mission - they will automatically become disciples of Jesus and grow in their faith. Or will they? I have to admit, I've seen this done in churches for many many years. I'm not sure that this type of approach really makes disciples.

Hirsch counters this approach with the Hebraic way of discipleship. He points to the way of Jesus, how he hung out with his disciples, and his disciples inherited Jesus' DNA of discipleship through spending time with him, and him putting them in situations where they had to act first. In this approach, right behavior produces right thinking which produces right disciples. This is what Hirsch has to say:

"How have we moved so far from the ethos of discipleship passed on to us by our Lord? And how do we recover it again?

The answer to the first question is that Western Christendom was so deeply influenced by Greek or Hellenistic ideas of knowledge. By the fourth century AD the Platonic worldview had almost completely triumphed over the Hebraic one in the church. Later on it was Aristotle who became the predominant philosopher for the church. He too operated under a Hellenistic framework. Essentially, a Hellenistic view of knowledge is concerned with concept, ideas, the nature of being, types and forms. The Hebraic view, on the the other hand, is primarily concerned with issues of concrete existence, obedience, life-oriented wisdom, and the interrelationship of all things under God. It is quite clear that, as Jews, Jesus and the early church operated primarily out of a Hebraic understanding...

If our starting point is old thinking and old behavior in a person or church, and we see it as our task to change that situation, taking the Hellenistic approach will mean that we provide information through books and classrooms, to try and get the person/church to a new way of thinking, and hopefully from there to a new way of acting. The problem is that by merely addressing intellectual aspects of the person, we fail to be able to change behavior. The assumption in Hellenistic thinking is that if people get the right ideas, they will simply change their behavior. The Hellenistic approach therefore can be characterized as an attempt to think our way into a new way of acting. Both experience and history show the fallacy of such thinking. And it certainly does not make disciples. All we do is change the way a person thinks; the problem is that his or her behaviors remain largely unaffected. This can be a very frustrating exercise, because once a person is in any new paradigm of thinking, it is very hard for that person to deal with the situation from which he or she came."

This makes sense to me in the many years of seeing the "information" approach tried. It fails for the most part. Even in my own life, the times when I've actually grown in my discipleship is when I was pushed to go and do something, to get out of my comfort zone. I have never grown as a disciple of Jesus by taking a three or four hour class that informed me of the next steps for me to take.

What would this look like in the church today? I don't know. Perhaps older, more mature Christians would take ten or so newer Christians under their wing and disciple them through mentoring, through pushing them into situations that would challenge and stretch them. I don't know, but it's a fascinating thing to think about (but I should act on it first, right?)

Sarah and Johnny Macintosh

Sometimes, God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he? I was browsing through churches in my area to see what other youth ministries are doing - I've jumped back into student ministry after a six year hiatus, and I couldn't remember what Colorado offered in the way of activities - when I stumbled upon the Calvary Chapel Aurora website which told me that Sarah Macintosh was going to do a worship concert. Sweet.

For those of you who don't know she is, perhaps this might help, perhaps not - her name before she was married was Sarah Meeker, and she was the lead singer for a band she was in with her brother and sister called Chasing Furies. They only put out one CD, but I still listen to it to this day, it's amazing. She married a man by the name of Johnny Macintosh, who was the guitarist in a band called Reality Check - and then when that band disbanded was in a band called Luna Halo. Again, two great bands.

Anyway, they've been worship leaders in San Diego for awhile now, and Sarah just put out a new CD, you can check her Myspace page for more information. I bought the CD, it's really good so far. At the concert, Sarah and her husband did a couple of worship songs that were very familiar (Blessed Be Your Name, How Great Is Our God), then they did a few hymns, and then a few off of Sarah's new CD. Her songs are very good - very worshipful and interesting lyrics-wise.

Anyway, it was good to see them in concert tonight. I needed to be able to just step back and worship God freely.

Youtube Video Of The Week - 02.05.08

I haven't done one of these in awhile - and the Omazing Grace video could be considered as the Video of the Week - but I had to include this one as well.

I think I found some new choreography moves for my worship team singers. And a new outfit for me as the worship pastor.

Omazing Grace

And the Amazing Grace remakes keep coming. First came Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) by Chris Tomlin, and now and up and coming church singer puts his own slant on this classic hymn - I give you "Omazing Grace".

Quantum of Solace

It was announced recently what the new James Bond movie is going to be called - Quantum of Solace. Kind of a weird title, although it's the title of a short story in the Ian Fleming James Bond short story collection called Live and Let Die (also the title of a Bond movie).

I'm a big fan of the James Bond movies, especially the last one. My brother thought it was good, but he felt that it didn't really feel like a James Bond movie. I agree, but I think they changed the feel in a good way. After the movie before, where you had James Bond driving an invisible car in Iceland, being chased by a laser beam from space - a little more reality is good.

Anyway, the movie doesn't come out until the end of the year, but I'm extremely excited. Mr. White from the last movie will be back, as well as Felix Leiter (the CIA agent in the poker game, played by Jeffrey Wright) and the French secret agent Mathis. Of course M will be played by Judi Dench. And I'm excited by who is directing it - Marc Forster, who also directed the movies Stranger Than Fiction, Stay and Finding Neverland. And oh yeah, the villain is played by Mathieu Amalric, who did a great job as the informant in the movie Munich.

Mormons Just Want To Have Fun

That's all I have. The clip speaks for itself.