From the site: “I am Second is a movement where signficance in life is shared.”
The website features a collection of videos featuring well-known people, like former US Presidential Candidate Muck Huckabee, Brian Welch from Korn and The Biggest Loser’s Michelle Aguilar, but also regular people from the cities and suburbs of the USA. These people have struggled with a variety of issues; abuse, affluence, addiction, trauma, racism, war and more.
In extremely well-produced video clips, (darkened room, sitting on a couch, a post-modern piece to camera) they share their struggles, their disappointments and ultimately, the hope found in Jesus as he met them in the various situations of their lives.
Well worth a visit, and also great to recommend to friends struggling with all kinds of issues.
My invitation to World Vision’s “An evening with Brian McLaren” arrived in the post today. The nicely recycled-looking brochure didn’t do anything to alleviate my surprise at the partnership between this organisation (of which I happen to be a former employee) and McLaren, the “speaker, thinker and activist.” I think I was at least expecting some acknowledgment of his position on the fringe of Christian orthodoxy, but none was made.
It is helpful to hear from people from outside our own “stable.” We appreciate it when people are well-read and able to see past our own cultural blind-spots. And as someone preparing to plant a church and seeking to engage the community around me with the gospel of Jesus, the opportunity to hear from one of the leaders of the Emerging/Emergent Movement definitely has some appeal. As a pastor though, I believe there are good reasons for me to politely decline the invitation. It’s my privilege to spend my time with people who wrestle daily with all sorts of issues, including many which are staple fare in McLaren’s writing and speaking.
I love Facebook.
I love Twitter.
I love Facebook and Twitter on my iPhone no matter where I am in the world (almost)!
But I’m a little worried. To tell you the truth, I’m a lot worried. I’m worried about what’s going to happen to a whole generation of young people when Facebook catches up with them. If you’re under 20, you’re a member of the iGeneration, who along with us GenXers, could also be called the Facebook Generation.
If you use Facebook, I wonder how much thought you’ve given to what impact the information you post on your profile and on other people’s walls will have on you later in life. Remember last week when Facebook asked you “What’s on your mind?” and you wrote that funny comment (or so it seemed at the time)? Just because that comment has slipped off the bottom of your wall, doesn’t mean that it’s gone forever. In fact, it almost certainly hasn’t. Think also of your comments on other people’s walls or photos; even if you close your Facebook account and formally request Facebook to delete your page, these comments will remain, since they are information that you have “shared with third parties.”
Once upon a time I subscribed to the New York Times. I don’t any more. I decided I couldn’t justify the getting the Paper of Record posted to me every day! I still use the website a lot and noticed that Ross Douthat has now joined the NY Times team as a contributor. Douthat is the film critic for the National Review and joined The Gray Lady only last month.
It will be interesting to see how his view on American Life is received by the Times’ readership. Douthat’s latest opinion piece Dan Brown’s America pokes some holes in the current fascination with Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons (along with the slew of copy cat pseudo-historical-religious-conspiracy-revisionist-thrillers those works have inspired).
His sharp assessment of Dan Brown’s approach to novel writing is clear:
“AUSTRALIA is marching towards recession while the growth rate is shrinking to a “remarkable” degree, a leading study has found.” [“Australia headed for ‘remarkable’ recession, index shows“, The Australian, April 15.]
What is a Christian response to such a comment? Trust in God not money? Do not be afraid, God is in control? Both of these sentiments are expressed by the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and so are true beyond doubt.
But, is there more that needs to be said? Have we ever stopped to consider the role that money and the stuff it buys for us plays in our lives? Perhaps for the Christian, the G.F.C. should serve as an check on the heart more than the wallet? Do we need to bring our hearts with our budgets before the Lord and ask whether we honestly seek his kingdom and his righteousness first? Have you ever considered that a Christian response to recession could be that you become more generous with the way we give? Something to ponder…
Preaching on Hope this weekend and in my research found a very blackly humourous website called despair.com – some of it is downright nasty but they had some great comments on blogging! I post this as an occassional blogger myself… [Clayton wanted to get this as a T-shirt!]
Anyway, this is not the point of this post. They have a great little short film on the site that is very thought provoking – I recommend it for a serious ponder. Have a look at it – I think it is worth 6 minutes of your life – http://despair.com/more.html
Worldliness; Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World, edited by C J Mahaney, has been sitting on my desk for a few weeks. I decided that since it’s a collection from a number of authors, I’d take it chapter by chapter, rather than review the whole thing. Chapter 1, Is This Verse In Your Bible, by C J Mahaney establishes the premise for the entire book.
“Today, the greatest challenge facing American (read “Western”) evangelicals is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world.”
Quoting a Charles Spurgeon sermon from 1860, Mahaney demonstrates that the greater the distinctiveness between the church and the world, the greater the church’s witness. When the church and the world are indistinguishable, the church tends to fail in its mission.
The recent two talks on evangelism are now available to download in PDF and MP3 format.
How do we see evangelism the way God sees it – as part of his mission in the world that he graciously draws us into? And how do we make the most of the opportunities we have to share the good news of Jesus?
This is not a book review, as much as a notice of intended reviewing!
Voddie Baucham’s new book What He Must Be: if he wants to marry my daughter doesn’t seem to be available in Australia yet since it was only published 3 weeks ago. With the poor state of the Australian dollar I’m reluctant to buy too many books online at the moment, so I’m keeping it to the bare necessities from Amazon, B & N, ChristianBook.com & Monergism Books!
Anyway, being that I’m a father of a daughter, the title of this book grabbed my attention instantly. (OK, so Heidi is only 3, but I like to be prepared!). I’ve listened to a talk by Vodide Baucham about this topic (in fact, with this same title) and his assessment of what’s wrong with much of how relationships are established today is very sharp. He doesn’t shy away from pointing out the dangers and pitfalls in common relationship patterns and behaviours, likening the exclusive intimate relationships between teenagers and young adults to going shopping without any money – “either you’re going to leave frustrated or take something that doesn’t belong to you!” I’m pretty sure I’m going to like the book!
No doubt you’ve seen the comments in the media about the advertising campaign supported by the British Humanist Association and others, announcing “There’s probably no God.”
I think one of the wisest reflections on these attempts to deceive the public comes from the British theology thinktank Theos. Their spokesman said, “Telling someone ‘there’s probably no God’ is a bit like telling them they’ve probably remembered to lock their door! It creates the doubt that they might not have. “
Anyway, if you want to have a go at making your own mock bus ads to combat the efforts of the Humanist Association, you can now do it on this site, just for fun!
This picture is really just a way of directing you to our friend Nathan Tasker’s blog. He posted this picture last month, but his blog is actually quite serious!
Nathan is a singer songwriter based in Nashville, but has lots of friends at Trinity Hills. He’s helped us celebrate lots of great occasions; Christmas services, special public events and the launch of a new gathering.
If we are actually speaking truth … why isn’t anyone listening?
I’ve been reading Branding Faith by Phil Cooke. To some in the church, the idea of branding is anathema, but I suspect this is mostly due to misunderstanding the concept. Branding is part of the reality within the church exists. Cooke quotes a study which found that one in four babies, speaks a brand name as their first word! This study, by British Market Research Bureau is also quoted in a slightly alarming 2003 article in the SMH.
At the heart of the challenge laid out in the book is Cooke’s distillation of the definition of marketing: The art of surrounding a product, organisation or person with a powerful and compelling story. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a powerful and compelling story, we don’t need to find it, or create it, just tell it! The task seems to me to be local churches finding answers to the question, “how do we tell the powerful and compelling story of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our communities?”
I thought that as Clayton’s name was all over this blog and it claimed to be from “two guys”, I, the silent partner, had better speak up.
I have been working on “lust” this week – to be precise, before I get buried under your pastoral concern, I have been working on what Jesus says about it [Matthew 5.27-30] and why it is NOT GOOD. Funny enough, the Basement group last night looked at the same passage last night.
What struck me this week was that sin can kill ‘Christians’.
Many of us love the great doctrines of grace, atonement, predestination – and we rest our assurance on the work of Christ for us alone. I stand ONLY on what Jesus did and NEVER on what I do. But Jesus tells us that unless we are radical [in the sense of getting to the root] in dealing with our sin our eternal fate may be a bit hotter than we anticipate. Does Jesus expect perfection – well [the good Anglican answer] yes and no. Yes – “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”. No – this is a goal we will not reach this side of judgement. BUT IT MUST BE OUR GOAL
It’s impossible to do justice to such a significant topic in a limited space, but we can think of God’s holiness as being both his unique ‘otherness’ in terms of power, authority and glory, and also his perfect purity. There is none like our God! Because of God’s holiness, the New Testament urges Christians also to be holy, (ie 1 Peter 1:15), that is to be ‘separate’ in the sense of distinctive, and pure.
In his letter to Titus, pastor of the church in Crete, The Apostle Paul identifies God’s desire for holiness among his people as the reason for Christ’s life, death and resurrection, “to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” Titus 2:14.
