Yes, I have another blog!

Just wanted to let those that come here know that I have a new blog. It's called, NoJo Town. It will be a blog dedicated to the model train project Noah and I are starting out in the garage. Come join us as we excperience the joys and frustrations of model training.

"The Ringer" not bad, don't get your panties in a bunge!

Some of you might have seen previews of the upcoming Johnny Knoxville movie entitled The Ringer. Some might be a little taken a back by what they have seen in trailers and previews. The storyline is about a guy who tries to rig the Special Olympics. The movie is co-produced by the Farrely brothers who brought you such classics as Something About Marry, Stuck On You, Dumb and Dumber and King Pin. With "gross-out" hits like these in the brothers past and the often-dimwitted star of Jackass as the lead character, many might assume that the concept for "The Ringer" is mean and disrespectful of those that maybe intellectually challenged. Well after spending some time with a friend of mine at Special Olympics Indiana this past week I can tell you that this is not the case. Special Olympics are fully behind this movie. In fact the outgoing CEO of Special Olympics (whose family started the organization many years ago) holds co-producing title with the some times rude humored brothers. This movie is intended to help those who don't work with or personally know any intellectually challenge folks to gain a better understanding of these wonderful people. Let everyone you know that might make a snap judgment about this movie being "in bad taste" that is not the case and that if they go see any movie over the Christmas weekend it should be this one.

I have become a snob. A Mac snob!

I had a bad experience at the Apple store this past weekend. I had to wait in line for 25 minutes to purchase our homes fifth Mac as a Christmas present for one of our kids. I was not happy. Now don't get me wrong, I love Apple. I have been a loyal Apple customer for over ten years. So I'll do what ever it takes to get the product I love. It just pissed me off that I had to wait in line with a bunch of "Johnny come-iPod lately's". It even pissed me off more that the store, knowing how well the iPod would sell over Christmas, had set up an isle for those JUST purchasing iPod's that the newbies weren't even using. It was frustrating waiting in line behind grandmas and watching them fumbling through their limited understanding of technology, trying purchase something so that seven year old Suzie could listen to her downloaded Jesse McCartney mp3 on Christmas morning.

I'm happy for Apple's success. I love their product. They should just create a seperate check out line for five year and older customers. See, it will always be your down fall in life if you forget those who got you to where you are.

And just for the record I did read "Outland" in this Sunday's funny paper section and I thought it was very humorous. I am a snob, but I can also laugh at myself at the same time. Go Steve Jobs!

Got Buddha?

I do! It's not done yet. I'm going back to my tattoist, Kym, on the 21st so that she can fill in the color. GOLD! Nice huh?

What is your excuse?

Former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, told John Stewart of the Daily Show that he in fact has TiVo and uses it to watch the show. That guys like really old and even he has TiVo. What is your excuse?

Oh no Kirk, oh no you didn't!!!!!!!

Gospel Tracts are effective? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING?

Kirk and his friend Ray were back againt his week. This episode they spent the whole half an hour on the "effective" use of gospel tracts. Holy crap, these guys can't be serious. Has a tract ever been effective in helping anyone in becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ?

During the episode, they constantly tried to hit home the fact that gospel tracts are a great way to, "break the ice." Am I just dumb? If you have to use a tract to break the ice with someone, let's just be blunt, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SHARE ANYTHING ABOUT JESUS WITH ANYONE!

If you aren't strong enough in your faith (what ever that faith may be), to be willing to put your personal relationships on the line, you should be worrying about your own faith, not that of others.

There is nothing effective about tracts. They are not a magic bullet that releases you of the responsibility in sharing your own story. I would wager that no one that comes to this site and hears this challenge could come up with proof that tracts are effective. I'll give $100 to the first person that can comment to this posting with evidence that a tract has ever effectively helped someone in becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus. Serously, $100! Let the games begin.

P.S. When asked by someone whom Ray was "sharing the Gospel", if he (Ray) was perfect, Ray replied, "Yes, I'm perfect. Perfect in Jesus Christ." UUUUHHHHHG!

525,600 minutes in a year.

So have you seen it? Have you gone to the theatre and seen the movie? No, not Harry Squatter. I'm talking about RENT! I went to see it two nights ago and was blown away. RENT is by far the best recent-musical-turned-into-a-movie in the past five years. I doubt it will recieve the recogonition of Chicago or Moulin Rouge. But in my book it was a ton better. Sure I maybe bais from the stand point that I was a teenager during the initial AIDS crisis in this country, so the time in which the story takes place intrests me. Sure I may be bias because for some of the same reasons for the previous sentance I enjoyed the music from Rent a great deal. But, I'm most likely biased because this film, as in the theatre production and as in the book, the story is all about community. Now if you are homophobic, this movie may not be the best place for you to learn some of the leasons in life about the need for having authentic commmunity. You may want to watch the Godfather (not kidding, there are great leasons in the Godfather about the value of community and respect). I also strongly suggest that high school and college students that believe they have a "strong" group of friends, go see this movie all together. Afterwords, sit around and discuss the following question: Compared to the group of friends in the movie, how authentic is our community? Do we love each other unconditionally? Or are there strings attached to our friendships? Go see this movie!

Dang it's cold! Makes me want to go to Thailand!

Being out in the cold weather made me surf the Internet last night. I spent lots of time dreaming about Thailand. The wonderful people I met there. The beautiful water. The amazing scenery. I miss it. I can't wait to go back.

While surfing through Hi Phi Phi's site I found these Ten Commandments for visiting Thailand:

1. Relax A LOT!!! The Thai people are very relaxed; you can’t expect to change that.
2. Turn down your need to express Be quite and subtle in your expressions
3. Observe the Thais Take time to observe how the Thai people interact with each other. Watch how Thai people act in everyday situations. Spend time to build relationships with the Thai people. You may feel like you want to rush in and do as much as you can to help, but taking a little time to observe the Thais and getting to know them is going to make you a lot more productive in the long run.
4. Smile a lot and mean it Even when you say sorry, even when you’re annoyed, laugh at your own problems. This must be a genuine smile: Thai people smile all the time so are very sensitive to false smiles, and it is impolite to give a false smile.
5. Wai Learn how to wai respectfully, and never wai with things in your hands. Use your intuition to know the right situations to wai and how to wai. The more that you bow and the higher your hands when you wai, the more respect that you are giving to the other person. Again don’t give false wais.
6. Be gentle Remember how you act when you are out and about. Thai people will love you when you are gentle in your actions, manner and the way you speak.
7. Accept everything that people offer with generosity Or decline very carefully; white lies are sometimes better than the truth.
8. Be aware of feet and heads Never touch a Thai person on the head, or shoulders. Never use your feet to point or move things around. Take your shoes off before entering a house, anytime that you see a heap of shoes by a door just take your shoes off. Never stand above an elder, if they sit you sit. If you have to sit on the floor sit with your feet to one side
9. No hugging, keep touching to a minimum Sometimes men will hold hands with other men or women will hold hands with other women, but only when they are good friends. You can touch on the elbow if you want to comfort someone who you have spent time to build a relationship with. If you are from a culture that kisses on the cheek, be aware that this will probably offend Thais if you do it to them. Also be aware of the clothes that you wear and how that is seen by the Thai. Women should dress modestly.
10. Be humble and be here to learn

I think these things are important in dealing with people in any situation.

Kirk Cameron is a massive tool!

I have a new hobby. I’ve started to listen and watch those in the media that I can’t stand. My wife and kids get kind of annoyed with me from time to time when I do this. If I’m in the car it’s not uncommon for me to listen to Sean Hannity or Rush “I’m a big fat liar” Limbaugh. Or if I’m flipping through channels I’ll stop on TBN to see what the heck the guy with both big hair and a reseeding hairline is jumping up and down screaming about. I do this so that I know what these people are saying. So many times no matter which side of an argument you find yourself on, you tend to rapidly discard and not listen to those screaming the loudest on the other side. If I think Bill O’Reily is a raving lunatic and I want to argue that point with my mom, I better know what the idiot is saying, so I can debunk it.

Tonight was one such occasion. Most “Christian” programs fly way under my radar these days. But I had heard that Kirk Cameron was touting some 22 disc DVD evangelism training series. So when I was surfing through channels and came across Kirk and his British friend Ray, I thought I would stop for a minute to hear what they had to say. I was so outraged at what I was hearing I began to take notes. You know it's gotta be bad if I take notes.

The most ironic thing about the program I watched tonight was in its name, “The Way of the Master.” As I break down the show I hope you see how far away from “the Way” Kirk and his friend really are.

Episode – “Witnessing to Loved Ones”

Six keys

1) Pray – Kirk and Ray went out of their way to make sure that the viewer knew that if you have a real passion to see your loved one in heaven that you need to pray for them and for God to intervene. Besides flying in the face of our God given free will, I do not prescribe to the notion that my requests alter God’s plan. I doubt there has been a single instance that after I was done praying God said, “Hey Roger, that’s a great idea! I never thought about doing that.” If God is mutable it is through the obedient act of praying and not the prayers themselves.
2) Be blameless – At this point Kirk went into a whole spiel about not being a hypocrite. His short diatribe about how we need to be careful about the language we use, the jokes we tell and the movies we watch was laughable. His philosophy was based on making the appearance of your life seem blameless. I guess what he forgot was we “all fall short of the glory of God” and therefore are full of blame. So trying to hide that fact with the appearance of righteousness is in and of it’s self is being hypocritical. People will be more attracted to what you have to offer when you, get this, be yourself. Being real is just that. When you try to be something your not people can see through that and will not trust you. Jesus went about his day, doing ordinary things (sure there were a couple of miracles), with ordinary people.
3) Confront – Now this one really confused me. On the one hand they want me to give my testimony (evidence that a witness gives to a court of law) and on the other they want me to confront. In a trial the witness doesn’t do the confronting, they do the testifying. And when you are a witness on the witness stand you aren’t allowed to give any testimony until you are asked a question. Yet Kirk and his friend want me to confront (to come face to face with somebody, especially in a challenge, and usually with hostility, criticism, or defiance) my family and loved ones. That doesn’t sound too much like “the Way” I know. If Jesus was ever confrontational it was with the religious leaders of his time, not with loved ones or people he met on the street.
4) Share Witnessing – This one just blows me away. Their strategy centers on sharing the “witnessing” opportunity with a loved one with a friend. So instead of me sharing my personal faith in Jesus with those in my life that really matter to me, Kirk suggest that I go do it with his dad and then he would come do that same thing for me with my brother. I’m not going to go into great detail on this one. Let’s just say there is no biblical precedence for this at all.
5) Good Works – These guys wanted to make sure that as a strategy you remember to do nice things for people, because once again that will make a good impression on others. WHAT! Your motivation for doing good works should be the pure fact that this is who Jesus calls you to be. If your motivation is to impress or influence others, it will never work. Jesus' own words, "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1 NIV)
6) Be Faithful – This is the Christian equivalent of Nike’s “Just Do It”. If you are “faithful” enough and “witness” to those God puts in your path, God will reward you. How wrong is that, let me count the ways. Oh wait, I think I already have in this post. Not everyone is a reaper, some were made to sow and some to plant. And all of these are equally important parts of the process of others seeing God in you.

Kirk and his friend Ray are the summation of everything wrong in the evangelical world today. If you want to “reach” people for Jesus you need to gain their trust by listening to their story, so that they will ask you to tell them your story, so that you can figure out together where God’s story overlaps with the other two. And in that tiny space you will have the chance to share your witness.

I’m sure that most of the people that read this blog entry won’t know the name Eddie Guerrero. Eddie was one of the most talented pro-wrestlers in recent history. Sunday morning Eddie was found dead in his hotel room in Wisconsin. Mondays wrestling show, Raw, was completely dedicated to the memory of Eddie. Besides clips from some of Eddie’s most memorable matches and special one time only live matches, wrestlers and crewmembers dropped their characters for the night to give “testimony” about their friend. We heard stories of how humble Eddie was, how he loved to make people laugh, how he would lite up when he talked about his family and how he took younger wrestlers under his wing to mentor them with their careers. At the end of the show I found myself envious of these witnesses relationship with Eddie. All I have ever known of him was his in-ring persona. I found myself wishing that I could have known Eddie like they did. That is what a great witness of Jesus should look like. After your testimony people should be jealous about the fact they don't have the kind of relationship with Jesus you do. Not feeling like they have been talked down to, because you have something they don't. In my fifteen years of youth ministry the one of things that would grate on me was when students would say, “My witness is boring, and I don’t have a good story.” Your story is effected by others and by God’s. If you look at others as projects, like Kirk and Ray do, when sharing your faith, I ascertain you neither know “the way” or “the Master.”

What is "Bad Ass"?

Besides Momma Flynn's Creole Kitchen?

Is there anything more bad ass then; driving down the road in a Jeep, wearing a cheap pair of aviator sunglasses, Foghat blaring from the stereo with an eighty pound German Shepard sticking his face out the back window?

I don't think so!

I love these "internet personality tests"!

They are so easy to manipulate! If you answer the questions honestly you get dumb results. BUT, if you know what you want the outcome to be, answering them is as easy as slipping across a chum covered poopdeck!

You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

My New Favorite TV Show.

I typically don't watch the TLC network. It goes back to a mini-ban of the channel I self-imposed on myself. You see, I really like reality TV, but felt that the show Trading Spaces was just crap. I really got sick of all the hype over this show and of all its spin offs. That, along with the gluttony of “A _______ Story” shows they put on, I just wanted to put the parental lock on the channel and forget that it ever existed.

Then, all of a sudden, they put on what could be one of the greatest reality shows I have ever seen. Miami Ink, for me, will go down as one of the best “story” based reality shows of all time. The show centers itself around a tattoo artist named Ami (that's pronounced ahh-me) and the opening of his brand new shop near Miami Beach. The cast is great! From world renowned tattoo artist Chris Garver to shop whipping boy/apprentice Yoji Harada, these folks not only know how to lay down some wicked ink, but understand that every tattoo has a story.

And that is what I like best about the show. Ami, his crew and the shop are truly just a backdrop to the customers and the stories behind each tattoo. I love hearing the why someone would put themselves through so pain. I have seen a woman that wanted to cover the “cutting” scars of her teenage years with a flower blossom. I saw a father let his son write his name on his dad's chest that got turned into a tattoo. I have seen countless people that have lost loved ones come into Ami's shop to get remembrance tattoos. I even saw a couple come in for a consultation about getting matching tattoos to solidify their relationship, only to break up before appointment (the guy went ahead with getting the tattoo).

Story is powerful. It is the most powerful element of communication in existence. But if this is so, why do so many hide from telling their story? Or even worse, why do so many refuse to stay still long enough to listen to someone else's?

If you haven't done it lately, go out of your way to hear someone else's story. Do it in person and do it with out an agenda. You'll be surprised how it will change your story.

What a great week of TV! (or) Moving on. . .

Three great quotes this week from the world of television:

"It's the church, so you know they will be judging you." Edie Brit, Desperate Housewifes neighborhood slut, made this comment to her archrival Susan's (Teri Hatchers character) daughter, who was trying to decide which woman she would let accomapny her vocal performance at their churches "family" talent show.

"It's Jesus on the phone and he wants to know what color of car you want." This quote from Lost, comes from a flashback scene of Hugo's mom berating him about his pathetic life, while at the same time telling him how Jesus will help him lose weight, find a girl friend and get a better job.

"I'm not a religous person at all. But I'm not going to object to it, that would be stupid. You'ld be stupid to say, like, "You know what guys, I don't want to thank Jesus for this meal, thanks." Because then they would vote me right out." Brian from the Yaxha tribe on Survivor , talking about his experience with his tribemates wanting to pray before every meal and every challenge. Jesus must not have liked his tribe that day. They prayed, but still lost the immunity challenge.

You know it's a good week to be watching TV when the funniest lines about the church just don't come from the Daily Show.

Where is the "church"? (Have I blogged this before?)

Well it has taken me three weeks to figure out how to write this. With my emotions all over the place it has been hard to discern how to convey where I am right now. But maybe this cathartic exercise of blogging will help straighten these emotions out.

For many years now God and I have been wrestling over the question, "What is the church?" In the Christian sub-culture we tend to reference the "church" by whatever building we happen to wind up in on Sunday morning. I call this iChurch or the Institutionalized Church. It is where the "body of Christ" comes together for corporate worship (singing), hand shaking (fellowship) and trivial information sharing (or gossip). In the Christian sub-culture the more people you can get to come and do these things at "your" building, the greater the success you can boast about. Sure, some bitterness maybe setting in over my current situation (which I will get to latter), but all in all, I doubt very seriously that the time and effort placed towards producing (and I do mean that in the Hollywood form) our Sunday morning experience, is what God had intended for God's church. No, I know it isn’t. Reading the first four chapters of Acts gives a very clear look at some of the things that iChurch is not doing. The first century church was first and foremost not institutionalized. It was however: hospitable, loving, generous, kind and thoughtful.

So where have I seen this church? Amazingly enough it's been in places where most devout Christians would never look. I have found the church on TV. At place called 'Extreme Home Makeover', ironically enough which airs on Sunday nights. During this hour-long program hundreds of people gather together to lovingly and generously take a week of their time to help a family better it's standing in life. This is done by the complete remodeling of their home. It's incredible to see how people without any tie to the family can put so much thought and energy into making someone else’s life a little better. I was honored last spring to see the church at work in Thailand when I went to help with Tsunami relief on a little Island. It wasn't the church because some Christian missionary relief organization had set up shop to help with the efforts. It was the church because hundreds of young and old people from all across our planet came together for one common cause to help others with no benefit to themselves. Neither of these sightings of the church where labeled "Christian", but both fully represent what the church should be.

Maybe that is why I don't see the church in iChurch. Very little of what is done in the name of Jesus on Sunday mornings is done selflessly and, as the book of Acts puts it, "of one accord".

Tuesday morning I awoke to an astonishing email from a youth pastor friend of mine who I will call "Nel". In his short message he communicated that the day before he had been, "let go" by his current iChurch. Nel's background in ministry is very impressive. He graduated from a prestigious southern seminary. He has written numerous articles in "trade" magazines for youth ministry . He is a well-known speaker at local and national youth ministry confrences. And he even has a nationally published book on the market. Nel and I met over the Internet two years ago, when both of us where headed for transition in our then current ministry positions. We laughed, cried and supported each other during these transitions. Nel's took longer then mine. I moved from one position to another, while it took Nel almost eight months to find an iChurch that he felt called too. Nel moved his family literally half way across the country to, at the start, a part-time youth ministry job he wasn't even getting paid for (or at least very little). After three or four months the iChurch started paying him and then four months later told him his services where no longer needed. Nel was told the iChurch needed to "go in a different direction" (this will become eerily familiar soon). When you peel away the excuses, the bottom line reason for Nel's departure was that in less then seven months he had not built a youth ministry of 50+ kids. Instead he had spent that time build relationships, which given the proper time, would have developed into a solid foundation for numerical growth. But in this era of big business iChurches, healthy relationships are sacrificed for numbers, which gives the inaccurate appearance of a healthy growing ministry.

Nel's story is, unfortunately, not uncommon amongst the ranks of youth workers all across this land. At Dead Youth Pastor and other blogs you can hear this same story repeated over and over again. My friend the "Dead Youth Pastor" recently wrote:

"why do you bother to email me at all? I'm as lost as you are, and honestly it would do my head a lot more good if you'd all calm down with the oracle-styled questions about "what do you think of..." and "how do you respond to..." ...

because honestly i'm so under-qualified as far as youth ministry, being the former youthworker of 4 churches in 8 years; that I'd feel better about the climate of professional youthworkers if they didn't trust me as far as they could throw me. Which is not very far, apparently."

iChurch produces this pain, not the true church.

As you can guess where this is going, three weeks ago I was forced to resign from my position at the iChurch I was working at, with the reason being their need to, "go in a different direction". There were a couple of excuses to why I was asked to leave, but nothing so serious that through the grace of God, things couldn't have been worked out. I had suspected that it was coming so in response I wrote my own letter of resignation. It asked for my continued employment for two months, so that there could be a healthy transition for the congregation, students and their parents. The response back form the committee in charge of hiring and firing was, "drop off your keys by noon and have your office cleared out by 4:00pm."

Nel's email made me feel better. It just wasn't me. The iChurch spreads its pain around pretty evenly when it comes to abusing youth pastors. I've known this for a long time, but kept feeling that there had to be an iChurch out there for me. But there isn't.

I'm not bitter. At the base of some of this iChurches excuses and reasons, I was not a good fit there. I recognize this, so I'm moving on. No, I'm moving where I should have three or four years ago. As of September 15th, I will be a full time Executive Team Member of Emergent Leadership Institute. This is a secular nonprofit a long time fellow youth pastor, Neal Gore (not Nel, yet!), Renee and myself are starting from scratch. I've learned a lot about IRS forms over the past three weeks and am looking forward to getting to the meat of what we are doing. But just becuase God "works all things to the good, for those that believe", does not release those that made ungodly and non-Jesus like descisions from the responsibility of their actions.

All that said we are going to be the church, not the iChurch. We are going to care for peoples needs and love them unconditionally, all the while being of one accord. That is where the church is, inside of you and me, and the relationships we have with one another.

The freaks come out at night (refrence to an old 80's jam)

This is a NASA image of planet earth, taken at the same time of night. It's very interesting to look at. Here are some of my personal observations: When you think of India you don't really think of it being so industrialized, but you can make out the countries shape very well in the picture. Looking at this picture we can now once again call Africa the "Dark Continent" and still be politically correct. The Nile river is lite up like a single strand of those icicle lights hanging off of your house at Christmas time. I thought South America was more developled than it is. If you look just east of India about an inch you can see Bangkok, it looks like the North Star in an empty sky. How do those people in Japan sleep at night with their whole country lite up like that? Can you find the Trans-syberian railway?

I would guess the deeper the concentration of the lights, the more wealth you can find in that country. This map is a great indication of the world's "haves" and "have nots".

Known the world over. . .not so much.

This is not a map of where I have been, but a map of where I am going.


create your own visited country map

I'm going to all the white sposts! There are a ton of places in the caribbean I have been too, they are just real small red dots.

Song REDO #1

Blame Megachurch

(To the tune "Blame Canada!" from South Park)

Church has changed,
Our kids are getting worse
They won't obey their parents,
Or learn their Bible verse!

Should we blame DaVinci, or J.K. Rowlings?

Or should we blame the lack of homeschooling? No!

Blame Megachurch! Blame Megachurch!
With their multi-purpose building
And their WWJD bling,
Blame Megachurch!
Blame Megachurch!
We’ve no use for light and salt,

It's Megachurch’s fault!

No more blame for my own sin,

Conviction is out, seeker friendly is in!

I told the pastor we could feed the poor one day,

But he just smiled and gave me decaf latte.

Well, Blame Megachurch! Blame Megachurch!
It seems the sermons are so stale
Since they’re coming from email
Blame Megachurch!
Blame Megachurch!

They're not even a real denomination anyway.

My son quit school and got his GED,

Now he’s on their staff as head of theology!

Should we blame Joel Osteen? Or blame the Veggie Tales?

Or Sandi Patty’s growing record sales? Heck no!

Blame Megachurch! Blame Megachurch!
Blame Megachurch! Blame Megachurch!

With all that Saddleback Hullabaloo

And that bum Bill Hybels too

Blame Megachurch! Shame on Megachurch!

The vision is wide
But it’s not deep
The wolves will come
And eat their sheep
They put their Bibles on the shelves
There’s no excuse, they’ll have to blame themselves!

I want to go on record by saying I did not recreate this one. You can find it and some other funny stuff at www.sundayschooldropouts.com.

Be the change.

Well known author Tony Campolo once said, "As an American society, including those of us in the church, we raise our children so that; they get good grades, get into a good university, so they can get a good job, make a good wage and buy good stuff."

Very little in our culture is done to encourage our children, especially those in high school, to be world changers.

Several times this week I was reminded that out of the hundreds of students I have met over the past fifteen years while in ministry there have been a handful that I have motivated to, as Gandhi put it, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." I don't say that with pride, but with pure humility. There are many moments in my career that it has been very difficult to see any change in the hearts of my students. For some reason however, God choose this week to hit me over the head with a hammer several times in an attempt to remind me that I have caused many a ripple of change through my life's work.

It's nearly impossible to escape from who God has created you to be. Life works best when you stop fighting that fact.

Do life different!

What a long week!

That is how life goes. You do something’s for others or things that may not necessarily get you ultimately fired up for life. But then you get to do something for yourself, something you love, and something that brings you a bit of happiness before you head back to doing the stuff of life.

My week is like this. I'm helping the team with VBS all week. It is in my job description and I'm somewhat excited about the curriculum that we picked. However, of a list of things that bring me a ton of joy, VBS would not be on it. So to add a lump of sugar onto my hectic week, I am going to go visit half a million friends of mine in Philly.

One half hour after VBS comes to a close Friday night, Jamie, Michael and myself with start a long over night adventure to Philadelphia, PA. While there, we will be joining over a half a million people in what is sure to go down as the largest show of support to end world poverty in the history of man.

For those of you who have no clue what I am referring to, visit www.live8live.com or watch MTV or VH1 anytime on Saturday. There are real solutions for poverty through out the world that can come about this year, the year 2005.

My Grandparents can tell the story about where they were and what they were doing when WWII ended, my parents can tell me stories of what was happening when they heard about President Kennedy getting shot. And I can tell stories about being in the locker room when I heard about the space shuttle challenger blowing up or where I was when the Berlin Wall fell. All of these are infamous moments in world history, keystones to the building my world view. But as great moments in history, all of them combined could never over shadow the eradication of world poverty.

So what will your story be? When generations look back to the culminating factors that led to the end of hunger and pain in the world, where will you be in that story? Will you be standing by the side with your finger up your nose not even realizing the immensity of the moment? (Which isn't much of a story to tell anyone). Or will you be able to share examples of the things you did to act as a catalyst for changing the world?

Do life different!

If you ever wanted to know my theology. . .

Here is the results from a "theology" quiz I took online:

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 82% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 57% Modern Liberal 50% Roman Catholic 50% Classical Liberal 39% Neo orthodox 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 21% Reformed Evangelical 18% Fundamentalist 0% created with QuizFarm.com

I was disappointed I scored so high on the emergent side, but happy that I got 0% in the Fundamentalist catagory!

Fast in, fast out!

I'm on the road right now with teenagers on our annual Road Rulz trip. I'm not interested in talking about that right now, but there was a billboard I saw last night at 10:12 after 1200 miles on the road.

It was a McDonalds billboard that had a picture of a value meal and the words "I love you" on it. What? Has the world gone so mad that we equate the greatest emotional force in the galaxy with burnt cow, soggy fires and bucket of carmel water?

Someone stop this planet, I want to get off!

New List

I have updated my Amazon must read list under "Read Different". Interesting how we change over the years isn't it?

I never do this, but . . .

Had to prove it to a friend who thought he was cooler than me.

Take that grasshopper!

Culture Shock! But on the way back into my own country?

Hey gang! Our group got back two days ago from working on Phi Phi Island in Thailand. Things went great! An amazing story going o there.

I have added a Tsunami Relief Different section to the right on my blog. The first sight is my travelblog from the trip. The others are organizations that you can continue to support with your prayers, money or maybe even your hands!

Thanks for all the prayers while I was gone. My life will not be the same. I want to go back with my family tomorrow!

Sa Wat Dee Krup!

VOICES, CHAPTER 1: Columbus vs. de Las Casas

When discussing American history it's hard not to start from the very beginning, when Columbus first crossed the Atlantic to discover the New World. Our history books tend to depict Columbus as a heroic figure, the grand adventurer who crossed the seas not knowing what he would find on the other side. It is to Columbus the credit is given for finding "America" and letting loose an endless string of Columbus-wannabe's, who in the name of European Imperialism followed Columbus's wake to the new world. To most Americans Columbus can be seen as the Grand Entrepreneur. For some he embodies the "American Dream" of taking risk, expanding your territory and accomplishing your unthinkable goal. Few look at Columbus's life and question what cost was paid by the native Islanders and the natural resources of the islands, by his entrepreneurial spirit.

Columbus knew that his dairy would be of government record, used to justify the expenses of his voyage to the King and Queen of Spain. Knowing this he appears to have chosen his words wisely, like a student requested to keep a diary for their parents when left alone at home while the parents are away in Hawaii. The student may talk about the two friends they had over to hang out, but just happens to leave out the names of the other twenty-six students that also hung out, broke the stair railing and threw up all over the house due to binge drinking. Columbus openly describes the natives as docile and believes them easy to convert to Christianity (which would be important to the royals back home and their theocracy.) Yet Columbus' main goal was to find gold. And as it turns out would do anything to anyone to find it.

Here is the account by Las Casas of the Spaniards actions towards the Indians:
"And never have the Indians in all the Indies committed any act against the Spanish Christians, until those Christians have first and many times committed countless cruel aggressions against them or against neighboring nations. For in the beginning the Indians regarded the Spaniards as Angles from Heaven. Only after the Spaniards had used violence against them, killing, robbing, torturing, did the Indians ever rise up against them. On the Island of Hispaniola was where the Spaniards first landed, as I have said. Here those Christians perpetrated their first ravages and oppressions against the native people. This was the first land in the New World to be destroyed and depopulated by the Christians, and here they began their subjection of the women and children, taking them away from the Indians to use them and ill use them, eating the food they provided with their sweat and toil. The Spaniards did not content themselves with what the Indians gave them of their own free will, according to their ability, which was always too little to satisfy enormous appetites, for a Christian eats and consumes in one day an amount of food that would suffice to feed three houses inhabited by ten Indians for one month. And they committed other acts of force and violence and oppression that made the Indians realize that these men had not come from Heaven. And some of the Indians concealed their foods while others concealed their wives and children and still others fled to the mountains to avoid the terrible transactions of the Christians.
And the Christians attacked them with buffets and beatings, until finally they laid hands on the nobles of the villages. Then they behaved with such temerity and shamelessness that the most powerful ruler of the islands had to see his own wife raped by a Christian Officer."

What a grave misrepresentation of the Gospel. What de Las Casas describes as the actions of "Christians" has nothing to do with loving message of Jesus. Here is another account by Las Casas that should, if you are a follower of Jesus, leave a painful feeling in your gut:

"When tied to the stake, the cacique Hatuey was told by a Franciscan friar who was present, an artless rascal, something about the God of the Christians and of the articles of Faith. And he was told what he could do in the brief time that remained to him, in order to be saved and go to heaven. The cacique, who had never heard any of this before, and was told he would go to Inferno where, if he did not adopt the Christian Faith, he would suffer eternal torment, asked the Franciscan friar if Christians all went to Heaven. When told that they did he said he would prefer to go to Hell. Such is the fame and honor that God and our Faith have earned through the Christians who have gone out of the Indies."

Las Casas claims that millions of Indians were brutally murdered during this time of "discovery". It doesn't matter to me that his numerical claims cannot be substantiated. The fact that any brutality and oppression is done under the name of Jesus is sickening. That Christians committed these acts is not a generality. In 1560 (only eight years after Columbus first set sail) Las Casas was summoned before the Royal Council of Spain to debate the treatment of the Indians with a priest by the name of Gines de Sepulveda. During this debate Sepulveda, a man of the clothe, a representative of the "Church", declared that the Indians were in fact "sub-human" and in being so did not deserve any rights keeping them from such mistreatment.

This country was not found on the principals of democracy and freedom. As we will see over the course of the Voices of a People's History of the Untied States, much of this nations history was built on the oppression of one people group or another. Understanding what a painful realization this may be to some, I believe it cannot compare to the pain suffered when the realization of this truth is compounded with the fact that the church at best stood by doing nothing about these transgresions and at worst supported them.

The only true way to sum up my feelings after reading this chapter is to quote a great Jewish-American comedian named Woody Allen, when he said, "If Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he wouldn't be able to stop throwing up."

Voices of a People's history

Over the past four decades Howard Zinn has been an author, an activist and a scholar. The body of his work has won him numerous praise and awards. His book, A People’s History of the United States, has sold more than one million copies to date. His most recent work is unselfishly devoted to the voices of people seldom heard when the record of this nations history was written. Voices of a People’s History of the United States, is a collection of letters, speeches, poems and songs of the people mostly forgotten by mainstream historians and media outlets. In the introduction Zinn explains the premise of this book by saying, “What is common to all these voices is that they have mostly been shut out of the orthodox histories, the major media, the standard text books, the controlled culture. The result of having our history dominated by presidents and generals and other “important” people is to create a passive citizenry, not knowing it’s own powers, always waiting for some savior on high-God or the next president-to bring peace and justice. History, looked at under the surface, in the streets and on the farms, in GI barracks and trailer camps, in factories and offices, tells a different story. Whenever injustices have been remedied, wars halted, women and blacks and Native Americans given their due, it has been because “unimportant” people spoke up, organized, protested, and brought democracy alive.” This book is a study of such people, people not unlike you and I.

For fifteen years I have been working with teenagers in these United States of America, from the heartland to LA LA land, and one thing I have noticed is the lack of historical knowledge our young people receive from our public educational system. Reading, of course, is fundamental and vital to any decent education. Writing is a vital part of being able to communicate ones self to the rest of the world. Math, well don’t get me started on math. Besides being able to calculate a waitress’ tip or what the cost of a new DVD is minus the percentage off during a sale, math holds minimal value in my day-to-day life. But history and social studies affects us everyday. The structure of any belief system is built on what we know or perceive to know about history, albeit it our belief in governmental systems or our belief in a supreme being. Only history can answer the questions about social structures, where our traditions come from and what are the meanings behind the creeds we follow (religious or secular). With out history we would not know from where we came and in turn where we are going. With out studying the mistakes of the past we are doomed to repeat them. Over and over again.

Over the next couple of weeks as I read through Howard Zinn’s new collection I will attempt to give a book report on each chapter that I read. The book starts off with a selection from Christopher Columbus 1492 diary and ends with an article by Kurt Vonnegut written in May of 2004 in protest to the war in Iraq. I would encourage all that read this (the few of you still out there) to use the comments section to engage in dialog about what I write. More importantly, this is a must have on your bookshelf. I encourage everyone to read this book and share it with someone else.

The book is 624 pages long, so get ready for one huge book report.

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