Archives for category: church

Dallas Willard in San Diego!

September 16, 2008 //

I just found out Dallas Willard will be in SD from October 9-11, 2008 delivering a series of lectures and Bible studies on spiritual formation. [h/t: the Ecclesia Collective]

Dr. Willard’s work has been profoundly influential for me. I’m really hoping we can bring members from our church community to hear him speak during this Spiritual Renewal Conference. So much of what he writes about in The Great Omission, Renovation of the Heart and The Divine Conspiracy describe the kind of heart we want to build in our community. Plus, it’s free!

Categories church, communication, community, ministry

What Will Christians Think of Next?

September 3, 2008 //

You know how some people carry around those little tip charts in their pockets? I’m thinking I could hit it big if I could make a pocket-sized “Christian equivalency” chart for people to carry around so they can steer clear of secular territory. For example, this safety chart might have things like:

Mountain Dew t-shirt = “Jesus Meant to Die” t-shirt
Altoids = Testamints
Scattergories = Bible Scattergories
Dance Dance Revolution = Dance Praise Dance Game
Hootie and the Blowfish = Third Day, Casting Crows, MercyMe, et al.

…all of this was spurred on by the recent announcement that, for those of us who could not bear the thought of allowing face-melting heathen music like DragonForce or Iron Maiden into our homes but are still itching to play Guitar Hero, relief has finally arrived!

Say hello to Guitar Praise!

Unfortunately, although they do have a Petra song in the track list, I do not see any Stryper. For real, no To Hell with the Devil or Honestly? That’s a dealbreaker right there.

Categories church, games, music, sigh

A Blessing or a Curse?

August 28, 2008 //

In Long Island (“Lon Gisland,” for you East Coasters) a church member placed a winning lottery ticket worth $3 million into the offering plate. And, yes, it was on purpose (video at Yahoo). The only restriction? That the donor remains anonymous. One article calls this an “answered prayer” in the headline (although it does not appear that this church hosted prayer meetings specifically asking that a member would win the lottery).

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Categories church, community, faith, ministry

I’m Not Perfect, Just Forgiven (and other bumper sticker platitudes)

August 26, 2008 //

A slightly tangential thread came up from a post Eugene Cho wrote recently about the Spanish basketball team and their slanty-eyed “affectionate” tribute (thank you, Pat Forde at ESPN for calling them out as buffoons not only for doing this in the first place but also for their response in your post-Olympics wrap-up; see #26) about the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.

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Categories church, community, faith, missional

Love, Light + Life

August 15, 2008 //

With a nod to the good people of Love Light & Melody, our church community will begin a new worship series this week journeying through the book of First John together, titled Love, Light + Life.

Below you can find the graphic I designed for this series:

May the light of Christ break through the fog that so easily settles over our hearts and usher us into the fullness of God’s Shalom.

Categories church, community, design, faith