history unfolding right now

this image brought me to tears.



Look here for more pics

twitter is reporting live on the ground accounts from people and the world cheering them on. here

I have no words..

a moment of sanity from Fox news

America less Christian..

I saw this article this evening. It states that America is less Christian than 20 years ago. I'm not sure this is news. It was interesting that the article pointed to a rise in individualism as part of the cause. Again, not really news.

Here's my take.

The article is extremely generous. It's worse than this.

Why?
Because in growing segments of the evangelical church there is fundamentally no difference between the individualism of those who deny being Christian, and the individualism that many evangelical churches preach. This will not last because it is empty. An individualism, me first mentality, wrapped in the language and ideas of Jesus, isn't the way of Christ, because it makes Jesus an accessory and the programs of the church a way to keep my kids out of trouble and help me become a better educated individual. So Bible Studies and programs fill our calendars, and we sit in pews of large churches, and maybe watch our pastor on a screen, while we learn more about Jesus, then we walk out as isolated and alone as we were before.

There has never been a time in history where church has been done better for the individual. Ever. Attending a church with more choices for me and my family. A cafeteria from which I can consume.

It's not done getting better for these churches either. They are still on the upswing and will be for the next 3-5 or so years. But after that they will collapse under their own empty weight.

don't hear me wishing the death of churches. I'm not. I'm simply stating what I see.
Church leaders are free to make their own choices about what kind of churches they are leading and building. They will also have to live with the consequences of life after the bubble bursts. And it will.

All this to say, the article is understating the issue.
the problem for the evangelical church is that it will read the article and think it demands more of the same from them.

But there's more to the story...and there are good things happening in the church as well. I believe the best days are ahead of us and the more I work with church leaders around the country the more encouraged I am by their resolve to think outside of this individualistic, american faith. The risk of breaking off of this american gospel doesn't seem to be one denomination or movement. Southern Baptists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Churches of Christ all have leaders workout out what leadership looks like. It seems to me additionally that all of our hands are dirty in this too. We are all effected/affected by this. This should bring humility to lives, not judgement.

I have a lot more to say about this and there are certainly some flaws in my thinking, but this is what I thought of when I saw the article.

What do you think? To you see hope? How do you read the article?

Entrepreneurs and Juvenile Delinquents

Loved this CNN article about entrepreneurs. Ask my wife if I'm stubborn, delusionally optimistic, creative, fearless and focused... and ignorant. some of you already know the answer to that.

When to quit -- said Kamen, also the inventor of health care technologies and the Slingshot water purifier -- is "the toughest question there is" for any entrepreneur who survives on creativity and instinct.

"It's not nearly as glamorous as people think to keep working on something and to keep hitting roadblocks and to keep going," he said.

Stubborn, delusionally optimistic, creative, fearless, flexible and focused are some of the ways psychologists and business people describe the personality of an entrepreneur. Surprisingly, another word is ignorant.

"You need to be in denial or in ignorance about the huge challenges you face," laughs Guy Kawasaki, a former Apple executive and entrepreneur who's starting the self-described "magazine rack" alltop.com. "You have to believe that it wouldn't be hard for you to succeed."

Research by Harvard Business School psychology professor emeritus Abraham Zaleznik has unveiled a darker side to the entrepreneur's psyche.

"Entrepreneurs tend to have a singular weakness that allows them to do things without checking their conscience," Zaleznik said. "Juvenile delinquents act and then try to sort things out afterward. I think entrepreneurs have this tendency."

Another academic researcher on the topic, professor Kelly Shaver of the College of William & Mary, told Forbes magazine in 2002 that successful entrepreneurs "really don't care as much" about what other people think. "They're just happy to go ahead and do what they're doing."

Link

Genetically test children for sports aptitudes

Unbelievable.

When Donna Campiglia learned recently that a genetic test might be able to determine which sports suit the talents of her 2 ½-year-old son, Noah, she instantly said, Where can I get it and how much does it cost?

"I could see how some people might think the test would pigeonhole your child into doing fewer sports or being exposed to fewer things, but I still think it's good to match them with the right activity," Campiglia, 36, said as she watched a toddler class at Boulder Indoor Soccer in which Noah struggled to take direction from the coach between juice and potty breaks.

"I think it would prevent a lot of parental frustration," she said.

In health-conscious, sports-oriented Boulder, Atlas Sports Genetics is playing into the obsessions of parents by offering a $149 test that aims to predict a child's natural athletic strengths. The process is simple. Swab inside the child's cheek and along the gums to collect DNA and return it to a lab for analysis of ACTN3, one gene among more than 20,000 in the human genome.

Link here

(Thanks to Bevan)

The Man who Called it

Peter Schiff called it back in early 07. His outlook for us is not good. I makes me think of Greenspan's interview from earlier in the year where he said, we need to let the bottom fall out (which to him was tied directly to the housing market) and it the video from Barnett I recently posted (which was shot 5 years ago) in which he has America as a second tier citizen of the world compared to China.

This video is worth your time. But it's not pretty, and it's not what you want to hear.

Parents don;t take your teens to Nebraska

This is really happening. It's unbelievable and heartbreaking. Parent's are using the vague language of a bill enabling parents to abandon their infants, to abandon their teens.

Link

Love is against the Grain

Do you remember the Dime Store Prophets from the 90's? Their lead singer Justin Stevens (aka Justin Dillon) is front and center in the "call + response" to the issue of sex trafficing.

Sex /slave trade film from Justin Dillon. Here's the link to the video on CNN .

Well worth investing a few minutes into if you ask me.
Here's the trailer for the movie on Apple.com

Brandon Grissom's Brighter

People are starting to notice. Brandon Grissom is the real deal.

Link

I liked this part in particular:

There a some seriously horrible worship albums out there. I want let you in on a secret. A diamond in the rough. His name is Brandon Grissom … and he’s the the real deal.

Living in the Chicago area, I get to meet some very creative and talented people. Living in the back yard of Willow Creek Community Church–I am friends with many young, shiny faces that come to Willow from around the world because of their gifting. Often these folks, while talented, seem to be on the fast track to become minor “Christian celebrities” and, to be brutally honest, lack a collaborative heart. The bright lights of the mega church (and the notoriety and salary that come with it) have drawn them like moths to a flame … and some hearts just get burnt up.

Grissom seems to have escaped all this nonsense. Why is all this important for a music review? It’s really simple, if you are going to make real worship music what’s in your heart is 99% of the battle.

Out of a man’s heart flows his music. Out of a man’s heart flows his lyrics. You should investigate Brandon Grissom’s heart.

Great job B!

From the Eyes of a Youth Pastor

Watching Rick Warren last week lead the forum with the two presidential candidates I had an ugh moment.
Warren and Obama were talking about "What is rich?"
and Obama stated that $150,000 a year or less would be considered middle class.
To which Warren said, "In this region you're poor." Followed by loud applause.

He may be right with housing prices etc. But it made me think, (and this is part of my psychosis i think). I wonder what his youth pastors make? (and the rest of his staff)

I wonder if by saying such a thing on his church's stage he hurt someone on his staff. Because if he's paying them less than $150,000 a year, he is knowingly paying them less that it takes to live in their context.

(I don't know what Saddleback pays their youth staff.) But it's one of those moments that might leave a staff person feeling a bit distant from their churches leader.

Can you relate?

Zach Lind on Prayer at the DNC

Zach Lind may know a thing to two about living in a world in which you don't connect or believe all the same things as those around you. He's the drummer for a rock band and all. With this in mind, he take on the rational for Cameron Strang not praying at the DNC was interesting to me.


Link

Teen Gun give-a-way at Church Cancelled

Here's the text:

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma church canceled a controversial gun giveaway for teenagers at a weekend youth conference.

Windsor Hills Baptist had planned to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle until one of the event's organizers was unable to attend.

The church’s youth pastor, Bob Ross, said it’s a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event. The church expected hundreds of teenagers from as far away as Canada.

“We have 21 hours of preaching and teaching throughout the week,” Ross said.

A video on the church Web site shows the shooting competition from last year’s conference. A gun giveaway was part of the event last year. This year, organizers included it in their marketing.

“I don’t want people thinking ‘My goodness, we’re putting a weapon in the hand of somebody that doesn’t respect it who are then going to go out and kill,'” said Ross. “That’s not at all what we’re trying to do.”

Ross said the conference isn’t all about guns, but rather about teens finding faith.

“You make a lot of new friends down here,” said Vikki Goncharenko, who attended the conference. “You get to meet new people. There's a bunch of things that are going on. It's just, you have a wonderful time.”

Friday evening, Ross said the gun giveaway had been canceled. Pastor emeritus Jim Vineyard, who ran the event, injured his foot and wouldn’t be able to attend. The gun giveaway was also removed from the church Web site.

Ross said the church would give the gun away next year instead. He said the church spent $800 buying the gun for the promotion.

Cancelled? Come on! How could someone get upset with this? I mean don't semi-automatic assault rifles and Jesus go hand in hand?

Link

Still more thoughts on T Boone's idea

I'm a bit intrigued by something over the past few days.

Very few people are talking about it. T. Boone is talking about it. a lot. the guy is everywhere. on all the stations. but i haven't heard any commentary, real commentary on it. obama, mccain, and all the other politicians are all silent.

crickets.

even the radio folks seem to be silent.
it may be that i just haven't been listening well.

but the most interesting thing about this, aside from a business man fronting the money, time, resources into almost single handedly turning the us toward a new energy in a significant way, is that it is as if no one knows what to do about it.

no one really knows if T Boone is right. or wrong. or how right and how wrong.

am i missing something?

Isn't this the kind of thing environmentalists have been talking about?
Isn't this an answer to both the right and the left?

I'm guessing the "wind lobby" isn't too strong, (again i could be wrong) so the presidential candidates may be left wondering if they should support it or not.

i'm certain that people will find holes in it soon. probably in the next couple days.
we'll see the people really interested in getting us off foreign oil, and those intrested in oil. there will be naysayers etc.

but right now, it's as if the world doesn't know what it should believe about this idea....

to me... that's fascinating.

Dobson and Obama

You knew this was coming right? Dobson blasting Obama. The problem for Dobson is that America has changed and he hasn't. I'll go further. The church has changed and he hasn't. Before Dubbya's 8 years in office, Dobson, Falwell and Pat Robertson all decided they would speak for everyone in America who follows Jesus. It worked. Just ask John McCain. It was his justified words against these guys that cost him the bid that election year. (Dobson has said he won't vote for McCain either... even thought the straight talk express snuggled up to Falwell 8-10 months ago for this new election.)

Dobson and the like, have lost their grip on the power they once held. I think this is a good thing. Dobson doesn't speak for me. I don't know what Obama said, or the context of what he said, and chances are I won't fully agree with him, but I do know that I don't agree with Dobson and his blast against Obama is nothing more than fear mongering, something most of my friends are ready to leave behind. This is the same kind of rhetoric that talks about Obama being a closet muslim and such. It's actually hate, smearing and ugliness. But this is par for many of Dobson's ilk isn't it. Fear mongering, slandering others, saying they don't believe the bible, calling them liberal, saying that they are relativist or pluralist or some other thing. Again, I don't know what Obama believes about anything, but I know smoke when i see it blowing.

So while we knew it was coming, and has now come, it's still not much fun. Watch over the next few days and see what happens.

Update: McKnight says it better than I do.

Oklahoma and the price of oil

Oklahoma's not ready for the oil prices according to Money Magazine.

Not too important..

I think this speaks for itself.

Bill Mallonee in Tulsa

one of my favorite songwriters will be performing in tulsa on June 29th. Eikon meets this night. I don't know how this will work out.
I wonder what eikon folks would think of Bill....

Link

Homeless Running club

For some reason this story came to my mind driving home from my workout today so I thought I'd post a link and part of the piece here. Maybe one day when I'm in better shape , and can actually run more than around the block something like this will materialize.

Anne Mahlum is a 27-year-old marathoner. And on her predawn runs in Philadelphia, she kept passing a group of homeless men.

An ex-football player is walking cross-country to raise money for 9/11 heroes.

"They would say, 'Hi' or they would say 'Hi Anne' or 'There's the crazy runner.' 'How many miles are you doing?'" Mahlum recalled. "And they would smile and sort of applaud and cheer for me, while I would start my day."

But one day in May, Mahlum said, "I looked back, and I was like, 'I am cheating these guys. Why am I just running past them and leaving them there?'"

"Running is so simple you know. You really only need a pair of shoes. You don't need a lot of equipment. You need heart and dedication," Mahlum said.

Anne thought to herself, "Maybe running could make these guys feel as good as it makes me feel."

So she decided to start a running club for the homeless and started asking businesses for help.

"I sent out an e-mail to a bunch of people, and I just said, 'I'm starting Philadelphia's first homeless running club. I need your shoes. I need your clothes,'" Mahlum said. "And the support that I received back is so astonishing."

Nine homeless men signed up right away.

"The guys had so many questions. They were so curious," Mahlum said.

The men didn't know what to expect, and they asked questions about how to stretch and what to do. But they were willing to give it a shot.

Mahlum was not intimidated by the men.

"I wasn't scared. People are people. And I feel like if you treat them the way you want to be treated, that's the best you can do."

"If anything would happen," she joked, "I figure, you know, they can't catch me anyway."

Mahlum's group, called Back on My Feet, has grown since then. They were out on the Philadelphia streets this morning at 5 a.m.

"People started showing up in the morning," Mahlum said. "This circle that we had just kept growing and growing, and the smiles got bigger, the hugs got tighter, and we started to develop this team, this family."

This story makes sense to me on so many levels. My hope for Tulsa is that people will take their passions and make a difference in peoples lives like this. It doesn't need to be a running club. But religion that is institutional and controling in nature must be abandoned for more life giving experiences like this.

Beauty in Action...

Jolting the Brain: Sorta cool... sorta creepy

This is amazing stuff. It blurs the between humanity and machine in interesting ways. We really are redefining what it means to be human on some level. It's the word "normal" that gives me the creeps a bit. This feels a bit different than a pace maker to me... but I'm not sure why.

Imagine what a pacemaker does to your heart -- its electrical impulses regulate a heartbeat that's out of whack.

In deep brain stimulation for depression, tiny electrodes are implanted into a specific node of the cerebral cortex.

Now picture a pacemaker-type device that jolts the brain and regulates mood circuits -- potentially easing deep depression no other treatments can touch.

In what some are hailing as a brave new use of existing technology, researchers presented evidence this week at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons' annual scientific meeting that deep brain stimulation (DBS) does just that -- improving both severe depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, a frequent companion disorder.

"Depression is a physiological disorder, and basically we are regulating the abnormal signals to brain causing the depression," says Dr. Ali Rezai, director of the Center for Neurological Restoration at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Rezai conducted the research along with scientists from Butler Hospital/Brown Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Researchers used deep brain stimulation on 17 severely depressed patients. Those treated with DBS had a 50 percent decrease in depressive symptoms after 12 months. Patients also reported a better ability to function, improved short-term memory and improved quality of life.

Link

A Story of sportsmanship

Saw this story today. It's worth reading. Here's the beginning.

"With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.

But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.

She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.

Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count — an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs."

Link

Biblical Seminary Youth Ministry Certificate

I'm really excited about the opportunity to lead these courses. I've been impressed with Biblical Seminary for several years. John Franke is a brilliant and influential thinker on the faculty and Alan Roxburgh Has consulted them on what it looks like to become a missional seminary willing to engage a postmodern world. Word is that Tim Keel pastor here, has done a lot of work with them as well. I'm grateful to Todd Littleton for inviting me to join Biblical and Shapevine to facilitate these 5 courses. Here's the description from Biblical.

A master’s level certificate program offered by Biblical Seminary in partnership with Shapevine for the development of missional leaders around the world.

Developed by Mark Riddle
http://www.theriddlegroup.com

This fully online program lets you earn a certificate in youth ministry without leaving your current ministry context. The five-course certificate can be completed in less than two years.

Youth Certification Link

Idiocy: See Jonesville Church of God's Sign

It reads,

OBAMA OSAMA
HUMM
ARE THEY BROTHERS

Link

er...

From a pro-tibet rally in San Fran.

Either California needs to improve their history curricula or someone skipped that day.
Either way, I wish this pic showed the persons face who made it.

(ht to Andrew Sullivan)

Kansas versus Memphis

Memphis will win.
It won't really be close.
But I'm pulling for KU.

Also.
How great is it to be Bill Self today?

Quote for the Day

A NY Times article on the assassination of a priest in Baghdad and the safety of Christians there leaves me wondering few things.

Here's the quote:

The invasion had caused only harm for Iraq’s Christians, he said.

“I heartily believe that we were living better under the old regime. No one could threaten the Christians then.”

Link

A lot of Limbs

Tonight on the news they were talking about the amount of limbs removed from the little park down the street. Keep in mind, the ice storm happened in December and the limbs from my neighborhood were finally removed by the city last week. About a mile from my house is a park that was used to be open for folks who removed their own limbs to dump them. It's one of many. It's a small dumpsite that fills up quickly.

It's hard to give perspective to others who didn't experience it.
The numbers may help are impressive. According to the news, the city has removed enough limbs from the little park down the street to cover 380 football fields with mulch 3 feet deep. That' my friends is a lot of limbs.

How well does your Pastor define you?

Barack Obama's former pastor in Chicago is in the news and folks on the right side of the political spectrum are using it against Barack. The pastor has said some pretty bold, and an occassionally unbelievable things. But then what pastor hasn't said something crazy really?

It makes me wonder a few things:
first- video outside the context of the church is not as helpful as we hope it is. The video circulating youtube and the like means something really different to the people in the church in that local community than it does to you and me. We hear it differently. (Don't read this as a defense of what he said, I haven't heard it all. But this is true.)

second - As much as the average Senior Pastor hopes, wishes or believes that his/her congregation believes the same thing they do, it's simply not true. Often, the Senior Pastor is tolerated, while the real richness of the community is what engages people. this certainly isn't news to the people in the pews. But it might be to you if you are a Sr Pastor.

Can a person go to a church and regularly disagree with the preacher? abosolutely. it happens every week in your church.

1 in 4 Teen Girls has an STD

"CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group.

A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19, while the highest overall prevalence is among black girls -- nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD. That rate compared with 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

About half of the girls acknowledged having sex; among them, the rate was 40 percent. While some teens define sex as only intercourse, other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some infections.

For many, the numbers most likely seem "overwhelming because you're talking about nearly half of the sexually experienced teens at any one time having evidence of an STD," said Dr. Margaret Blythe, an adolescent medicine specialist at Indiana University School of Medicine and head of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on adolescence."

Link

My Mom - Front Page News

"Teachers are making sure kids do their own homework by knowing CliffsNotes, SparkNotes and other resources as well as their students do.


Teachers either love them or hate them, but free, online study guides such as SparkNotes are rapidly becoming a primary student resource for everything from "The Scarlet Letter" to Shakespeare.

With the click of a mouse, students have access to a plot overview, chapter summaries, character analyses, and explanations of important quotations, themes, motifs, and symbols for hundreds of titles.

Memorial High School's Garnell Riddle and Owasso High School's Beverly Arnold represent opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to English teachers' views about SparkNotes.

Riddle, chairwoman of the English Department at Memorial, encourages her students to use them as a supplement, but not a substitute, for their class reading assignments, while Arnold categorically forbids the use of study guides. "

Way to go mom! Way to evolve your teaching to meet kids where they are!

Link

Reguarding my previous post on Cell phones

So a couple weeks ago I did a post on Cell phone porn. Pretty much just a link, with a small quote.

This week I've received 26 hits of people looking for cell phone porn.

I'm not sure what to think about that.

The State of the Union

Last night I had a moment while watching the State of the Union when it showed Dick Cheney sitting behind the president and I actually thought, "Dang, is he still around..."

I'm a registered Republican and I voted for Bush/Cheney. But I can't wait to see them both gone at this point. and I surprised myself with my disappointment that Cheney was still in office. My disappointment was not some kind of demonized portrayal of him, I think he's a really smart guy, but I'm ready for him to be gone.

I guess I need to live with the consequences of my decision a little longer.

Cell Phone Porn

Think kind of thing is more common than we think. It's not always photo's of people in the same school, but churches and parents who write this off as something that can't happen to their kids are making a mistake.

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania - Police tried to stop the spread of pornographic video and photos of two U.S. high school girls, images that were transmitted by cell phone to dozens of the girls' classmates and then to the wider world.

At least 40 Parkland High School students believed to have received the images must show their phones to police by Tuesday to ensure the images have been erased, or they could be prosecuted in juvenile court for possession of child pornography, District Attorney James B. Martin said Thursday.

But students at the Pennsylvania school said the distribution was far more widespread.

Link

A lecture I'd love to hear

Pete Rollins will be delivering a lecture in Belfast Feb. 13th.
I wish I could hear it. Maybe he'll record it.

The title: On the Supreme Difficulty of Atheism and why only the Religious can attain it.

In Case you missed it

Barack Obama's sermon/speech at Dr. King's church Sunday.

Random Links

-Brant "Quit Going to Church" a year ago.

-Tony thinks this is how church should start. Evidently I'm out of the loop on such things. This seems to have been passed around a bit. I think this is how you start a show. The lights are pretty, and artistically it's fun and creative. I hope we can find places in our communities for folks like those performing and who design such things. But it's a show. Just watch the crowd, especially the last half of the song. It reminded me of this. and this. No judgment for me. Just not my cup of tea. I really like the creativity. I wonder if there is a better use for it, than a church service. It seems such a waste to me.

Scot has started a series of the Kingdom of God.

Todd is a remarkable thinker. Who is one of those emerging Southern Baptist you keep hearing about.

Moron drives his truck into a house.
(ht dave barry)

A matter of perspective I suppose. Link

Young Life is learning something about leading change. Marko has come good links on this. Read the articles and blog posts. Then tell me we don't live in a chronically anxious culture.

Don't taze me bro!

don't taze me bro! is the years top quote.

I personally like this quote myself.

For the best

I think this is probably for the best.

Thomas Nelson probably should wait to publish a book by Britney Spears mom on parenting.

Incredible Amount of Ice

We are under attack from ice.
I'm posting from my in-laws who are the only people I know in the Tulsa area who have power.
I'm going to spend the night at my house tonight, the fam will stay here.

To say this was an ice storm is an understatement.
Every house on my street and in my neighborhood has trees that are damaged.
A few houses. Lots of fences.

Zach and walked down to the park (3 houses down) this morning and watch the trees snap.
This is no exaggeration. Every 5-6 steps a tree was breaking. Awesome to hear and see.

People use the term war-zone on the radio multiple times today.
That might be pushing it. Though I've never been in a war-zone.

I will say that it's amazing to see the power of nature.
To see a 12 or 20 inch (diameter) tree snap is an awesome sound and sight.

I'll be dark for a few days. literally.

Creative Parenting

I'm not a a fan of this, but a dad is auctioning his son's Xmas present ( Guitar Hero 3) off on ebay after discovering his son smoking pot in the backyard. When you read the story, I'm guessing that dad needs to be a bit more involved in the kiddo's life and might use his creativity in other ways. It certainly is creative. But humiliating your son is rarely a good idea. The guy wins points for creativity, but to me comes across like an a-hole. At least that's what it looks like from the outside. Dad is teaching his son a lesson, just not the one he's intending to. Note to Parents: If you have distance between your son and yourself, don't humiliate them in front of their friends, take away xmas presents, and cause a greater division... but then i could be wrong.

Here's the link.

Middle School handing out Birth Control

Wow.

"PORTLAND, Maine - Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening.

The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services."

Link

Do you know this is happening?

Amazing. We should be paying more attention to this my friends.

(photo by a civilian journalist/Mizzima)

(photo by Myo Khin/ Mizzima)

Link

Chipotle

Tulsa is getting a Chipotle. 71st street next to the Cinemark.

Life is good.

chipotle is good too.

A close call.

Go check this out. The truck accident was almost really really bad.

Ouch! Don't mess with OU fans!

I can't resist posting about this.
OU fan (and church deacon) makes a comment about Texas fan in a pub in OKC.
Texas fan takes exception to the comment.
OU fan apologizes.
Texas fan is still upset.
OU fan defends himself by grabbing...

well read the article.

NOTE: Any article that contains the phrase, " a torn scrotal sack with partially exposed testicles." must be read carefully.

anyone offend by that phrase should go immediately to 1 Samuel 18:27... I know it's not exactly the same, but we're talking about a OU fan who is a deacon in his church. I'm guessing he's just trying to be Biblical.

Link

Facebook to share Personal info

Ok. This really really really bugs me.

NBA ref under investigation

Ok, so the NBA has taken a lot of heat over the past 3 years about it's refereeing. Lots of talk about conspiracy and refs taking money.

Turns out it might be true. At least a little.

Link

50 most Influential Churches

These are not the 50 most influential churches in America. Link

I'm trying to to be too critical, but this is rubs me the wrong way. I'm not sure why, but I'm hoping that posting this will bring clarity to myself.

- this bugs me because it makes me want to ask "Influential to who?" I suppose these are the most influential churches to people who care about big churches with leader they would depict as cool or influential. But these are not 50 most influential churches in America. In fact, it a close tie between all the churches in North america for number 1.

Every church that makes an impact in the lives of someone or some community is most influential and there are a lot of them.

- This bugs because I'm not sure influence was a way Jesus measured success. Influence as it's used today is not a biblical value. Today's influence is to directly related to power and a odd form of leadership we value today.

- This kind of things only promotes church leaders to go to the "experts" of growing a church to help them minister in their context. Over all his model has not worked for the past 15 years with Willow and Saddleback replicating themselves around the world. It's not going to work with Mars hill, LifeChurch.tv, or Granger.

This kind of thing only further alienates the pastors who seek "the experts help" from the very people they are trying to reach. Certainly there are aspects of their ministry that might see increased attendance but I'm wondering how many people these churches are really reaching that we we would hold them up above all the others.

So church resource people, if you must right about influential churches, which I'd personally prefer you not, then I'd suggest finding churches who are making a difference that none of us have heard of, churches none of us will ever meet, church leaders who are not dynamic, cool, eloquent, popular or "leaders". I have a feeling that's what Jesus would do. I know that doesn't sell magazines, or attract blog hits, but that's not what the kingdom is about anyway I suppose.

Tomorrow I review Joe Myers new Book

I"m almost done with it...

Reminds me of My Grandfather

My grandfather Winston is an ex-WWII-Marine. He's in his 80's now. Years ago Winston was leaving a Christmas party with my grandmother and a man pulled out a gun and held them up.

The thug demanded a ring off his finger and then his watch. All the while waving a gun in his face. Then the thug demanded his wallet. Winston doesn't carry a wallet, he carries a money clip, so he responded, "I don't have wallet."
The robber didn't care much for this, and demanded it again.
Winston said, "I think you have enough."
"Give me your money!" the thug said.

Winston threw his money clip on the ground.

the robber didn't care much for this.

Winston had had enough.

He punched the man in the face.

Then the robber pistol whipped Winston across the face.

A couple days later, Christmas morning, Winston shows up with a black eye. We asked him why he would punch a robber who had a gun. His response. It was only a .22.

Marines. Here's the news video that reminded me of Winston.

Link

A message for the United Methodist Church Planting Movement

Here's a article that might help illustrate some things.

First I'm all for the UMC planting more churches. I think church planting may be the single greatest leverage the UM might have at "turning the tide" of decline.
If you are United Methodist, it's worth a read. There are a few Walls this movement to plant hundreds of churches in the US each year will engage


- WALL #1: The Rule that UM churches must be geographically spaced apart with significant distance between each of them. They each get their own territory.
---- the problem with this wall is that MOST UM churches aren't growing, reaching people or reaching new people at all. So by geographically separating themselves from each other, they are simply insuring that they are not reaching people within existing church territories.

- WALL #2: The Rule that UM churches must get land is born from the territorial issue above. If you have a territory, then you'd better get some land in that territory before it all disappears.
---- the problem with this wall is obvious. The unchurched people you are hoping to reach are generally not big givers and it's an assumption to believe that they even want a building at all.

- WALL #3: The Leadership Wall: The UM will likely plant churches with existing pastors within the UMC. If I could be so bold as to suggest that this will be a significant problem. There are some great leaders within the UMC who will make great church planters. But I'm not sure there are hundreds per year. At least not initially. Most of the church planter type folks left the UMC long ago because of the denominations assumptions about leadership and church planting from the past. Turning the Tide will mean the UMC needs to actively pursue church leaders at every level who are gifted at starting new churches. I've simply been to too many UM church plants that are as irrelevant as the um church down the street... Its just that they have a newer building.

The News Today

Pretty much sums up the day's news.

(thanks to Hugh at GapingVoid)

What does the iPhone really cost?

Apple Matter says that the total cost of owning an iPhone will be about $3,000 over the next two years.

I can't get over a couple things when it comes to the iPhone.
1. The price is crazy high
2. The network is crazy slow compared to Sprint.
3. The fact that they don't subsidize the phone, but still will charge $150 or $200 to cancel your two year contract.

Link

Elwood the 2007 World's Ugliest Dog

Today's Links while I'm at Scout Camp today

If you've never heard of the Simple Way, you need to visit their site. It's community of people who live simply among the poor to minister to them in philly. Yesterday there was a 7 alarm fire that destroyed most of their spaces for ministry and homes. visit their Website for Details


Do you know someone who is Always Late?

A great site for technology for educators and the rest of us.

ClickComments

I've added a new feature to the blog and it comes with a story.

I know you are reader are busy and don't feel like giving a full blown comment, so with ClickComments you don't need to comment, but you can still give input by simply clicking on the icon that you think fits.

First Bobby started using this a few days ago and I thought it had potential so I thought I'd try it out.

Second, There's a story for it. I started to add this feature earlier in the week, but blogger made it hard on me, so after I registered with ClickComments and started the process I couldn't finish because of a blogger issue.

At that point I gave up.

Then yesterday I got an email from Postreach (the ClickComments people) telling me that they had noticed that I had tried to install ClickComments on my blog, but never activated it. Then they asked if I was having trouble, was unhappy or having second thoughts.

WOW! So I responded, why it didn't work.

Then I got another email with a piece of html written especially for my blog. Telling me exactly where to put it.

Very nice. It a world where you don't get surprised much anymore by people exceeding your expectations, Postreach exceeded mine.

Sopranos

I would watch the Sopranos if I had HBO, or if in the past 10 years I had HBO. I've seen a few episodes.

Today the talk is about how the series will end and while I don't really know much about the series, I'm going to make prediction about how it will go down.

Tony will not die.
However, they will show that he will not live happily ever after.

Death by Suburbs

My friend Charlie is on the youth leadership team for St. Matthew's just outside Washington DC. I spent a weekend with St. Matthew's parents not long ago, urging them to slow down the pace of their lives. Today Charlie mentioned to me an article in the Washington Post named "Breaking Free of Suburbia's Stranglehold: Families Simplify Lifestyles in Quest for Meaning That Constant Hustle Obscured " You need to create an FREE account with the Post to read it in it's entirety. Washington Post Article

A few glimpses
"McNelley, a single mother of a 6-year-old, was feeling "overwhelmed and hopeless" when a flier appeared in her mailbox announcing a sermon series at her church called "Death by Suburb." The congregation would spend five weeks talking about the suburban lifestyle -- the consumerism and the overcaffeinated schedules, and how it all can choke the life out of you if you're not careful.

"That's how I feel . . . like we're squeezing in everything," said McNelley, 33. "My daughter has cried about it. She feels like we're always rushing. She asked me the other day, 'Mom, how come you never laugh anymore?' All I can think about is what needs to get done, laundry and everything else. It's affecting us hugely."


"Julie gave up her granite countertops. Steve gave up his library. Son Ryan, 14, gave up proximity to his best friends across the street, who shared his passion for music. Daughter Taryn, 15, endured quizzing from classmates about the sudden move.

" 'My parents wanted to downsize,' " she would tell them. "They didn't really understand. They'd just ask me again the next day and want a different answer. I was annoyed."

Lifechurch.tv on Second Life

Man is this a cool idea. I'm not sure what the implications are for this, but what an amazing effort from the lifechurch.tv folks.


Link

Pace of the American Family

If you really want to hurt your kids over the long haul avoid the issue of pace and your family. Seriously. Better yet, deny that this is a reality.

I spent this past weekend with the great folks at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church just outside Washington D.C. I lead a parent's seminar on Saturday night and they invited me to their service in the park Sunday morning. The Seminar I led talked about a lot of things but plunged headlong into the pace of the American Life and the implecations on children and adolescents. Rob Merola the vicar sent me a link to this story Monday morning.

If you've read Chap Clark's "HURT" (which by the way is on the top of the must read books for parents with teens or elementary school kiddos) this news will not be especially new to you. However it is very interesting that people outside the church are seeing this phenomenon as well.

Here are a few highlights from the article.

"“We’ve scheduled and outsourced a lot of our relationships,” says the study’s director, Elinor Ochs, a linguistic anthropologist. “There isn’t much room for the flow of life, those little moments when things happen spontaneously."

"Darrah says the UCLA study reinforces larger questions about why American life has become so hectic.

“It’s not just a middle-class phenomenon,” he said. “Things that happen in society get played out in the family.”

The UCLA study isn’t ranking families from best to worst. Instead, scientists are asking how families are coping.

In a word, barely.

For Ochs, the most worrisome trend is how indifferently people treat each other, especially when they reunite at the day’s end.

With a mouse click, she summons footage from the project’s vast archive. Some of it is hard to watch.

* A man walks into the bedroom after work as his wife folds laundry. There is no kiss, or even a hello. Instead, they resume their breakfast argument virtually in mid-sentence about who left food on the counter to spoil. (He did.)
* An executive mother wears a silk suit and a pained smile as her daughter refuses to meet her gaze. Finally, the embarrassed nanny prompts the girl to speak while buttoning the girl’s pajamas.
* A big bear of a man squeezes into his cramped home office where his son is playing a deafening computer game with two pals. He rubs his son’s head, but the boy doesn’t blink. As the father shuffles out, the son gestures toward the computer and mutters, “I thought you were going to fix this.”

"With all the scheduling and management, family life begins to resemble running a small business. That means requisitioning materials and supplies, which invariably leads to a third hallmark of the study: clutter.

Archaeologist Jeanne E. Arnold planned to treat each house in the study like a dig site, cataloging and mapping family belongings as artifacts. But there was too much stuff. Instead, her staff took photographs. Thousands of them.

For Arnold, who is accustomed to examining bits of bone and pottery, modern households are overwhelming. How much stuff do people own? So much that only two families have room to park their cars in the garage."

Jerry Falwell Died Today

Link

Jr high Youth Ministry Summit

Ok. So I wish I could go to this. But alas, I am not a Jr high pastor anymore.

Jr high Ministry Summit Link on Marko's Site

Contextless Links

Do you hear that crackling noise??

Ty made a mistake

Pray for Kansas

May 3rd Tornado

8 years ago a series of tornados ripped thru Oklahoma. I remember watching on TV when the tornado was 15 miles outside Oklahoma City moving NE. (Later the damage to OKC alone was 1 billion dollars) The view I had was from the air as a local news chopper was flying around the tornado that was about 1 mile wide. The news weather men were credited with saving countless lives (even though 45 died). The tornado that hit okc was an F5 with winds reaching 300+ miles an hour.

It pulled the grass from the earth in it's path.

My friend Paul was with his family (Paul is the pastor of WCC in the previous post) and the were in the closet as their house was shaking as the tornado was very close.
Incredible footage
Video link

My friend Jeff was on staff at a church that was destroyed later that day in Tulsa (110 miles away from okc) and his church discovered what church meant. As a result, Jeff's life was changed and he planted Agora.

Teen Abstinence

This article is interesting.

"Students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex a few years later as those who did not, according to a long-awaited study mandated by Congress.

Also, those who attended one of the four abstinence classes reviewed reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes, and they first had sex at about the same age as their control group counterparts — 14.9 years, according to Mathematica Policy Research Inc."

Then later.

"“I really do think it’s a two-part story. First, there is no evidence that the programs increased the rate of sexual abstinence,” said Chris Trenholm, a senior researcher at Mathematica who oversaw the study. “However, the second part of the story that I think is equally important is that we find no evidence that the programs increased the rate of unprotected sex.”

Trenholm said his second point of emphasis was important because some critics of abstinence programs have contended that they lead to less frequent use of condoms."

Irony

A state lawmaker who authored a drunk driving law was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of DUI.

Link

A New Yorker Article

"On a spring afternoon several years ago, Evan McKinley was hiking in the woods near Halifax, Nova Scotia, when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. McKinley (a pseudonym) was a forest ranger in his early forties, trim and extremely fit. He had felt discomfort in his chest for several days, but this was more severe: it hurt each time he took a breath. McKinley slowly made his way through the woods to a shed that housed his of-fice, where he sat and waited for the pain to pass. He frequently carried heavy packs on his back and was used to muscle aches, but this pain felt different. He decided to see a doctor.

Pat Croskerry was the physician in charge in the emergency room at Dartmouth General Hospital, near Halifax, that day. He listened intently as McKinley described his symptoms. He noted that McKinley was a muscular man; that his face was ruddy, as would be expected of someone who spent most of his day outdoors; and that he was not sweating. (Perspiration can be a sign of cardiac distress.) McKinley told him that the pain was in the center of his chest, and that it had not spread into his arms, neck, or back. He told Croskerry that he had never smoked or been overweight; had no family history of heart attack, stroke, or diabetes; and was under no particular stress. His family life was fine, McKinley said, and he loved his job.

Croskerry checked McKinley’s blood pressure, which was normal, and his pulse, which was sixty and regular—typical for an athletic man. Croskerry listened to McKinley’s lungs and heart, but detected no abnormalities. When he pressed on the spot between McKinley’s ribs and breastbone, McKinley felt no pain. There was no swelling or tenderness in his calves or thighs. Finally, the doctor ordered an electrocardiogram, a chest X-ray, and blood tests to measure McKinley’s cardiac enzymes. (Abnormal levels of cardiac enzymes indicate damage to the heart.) As Croskerry expected, the results of all the tests were normal. “I’m not at all worried about your chest pain,” Croskerry told McKinley, before sending him home. “You probably overexerted yourself in the field and strained a muscle. My suspicion that this is coming from your heart is about zero.”

Early the next evening, when Croskerry arrived at the emergency room to begin his shift, a colleague greeted him. “Very interesting case, that man you saw yesterday,” the doctor said. “He came in this morning with an acute myocardial infarction.” Croskerry was shocked. The colleague tried to console him. “If I had seen this guy, I wouldn’t have gone as far as you did in ordering all those tests,” he said. But Croskerry knew that he had made an error that could have cost the ranger his life. (McKinley survived.) “Clearly, I missed it,” Croskerry told me, referring to McKinley’s heart attack. “And why did I miss it? I didn’t miss it because of any egregious behavior, or negligence. I missed it because my thinking was overly influenced by how healthy this man looked, and the absence of risk factors.”"

This is a fascinating read, not only for the medical perspective, but because we do this occassionally in the church.

This is also definately true for those of us who work with churches. We look for certain signs and make assumptions about the reasons under the surface. We also have certain solutions we fall back on. Generally it's a program.

20 best youth pastors

So I was surfing the world wide web this morning and discovered a list... er... a "special report" from the "Church Report: Real News. Real issues. Real Solutions."
Evidently someone has voted, or developed some kind of objective scale to be able to determine who is actually a better youth pastor than the rest of you folks. As I look at the list, I am friends with a few of the folks on the list and I'm wondering if they even know this exists on the web. Good people on a bad list. I'm anxiously waiting for the 20 worst youth pastors in america. Will that be next month? I'm guessing I'll know a few folks on that list as well. It looks like this list is compiled from folks who are in big popular churches. Enjoy!

20 best youth pastors link

Bono at the NAACP awards

His message to the church at the end is worth your time.

link

Update: I've transcribed some of his passionate speech for you.

“and to those in the church who still sit in judgment on the AIDS emergency let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment. Because whatever thoughts we have about God who he is or even if God exists most will agree, that most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble and the cries we hear during wartime. God my friends is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them. This is not a burden. This is an adventure. And don’t let anyone tell you it can not be done. We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty. Thank you.” - bono

What Mega Churches can learn from Starbucks

Below is an intentionally leaked Starbucks email from the CEO of Starbucks. He morns the loss of intimacy and experience of a small company. A series of decisions that lead to an undesired reality is common for large churches I work with. Read below and draw your own conclusions.

From: Howard Schultz
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 10:39 AM Pacific Standard Time
To: Jim Donald
Cc: Anne Saunders; Dave Pace; Dorothy Kim; Gerry Lopez; Jim Alling; Ken Lombard; Martin Coles; Michael Casey; Michelle Gass; Paula Boggs; Sandra Taylor

Subject: The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience

As you prepare for the FY 08 strategic planning process, I want to share some of my thoughts with you.

Over the past ten years, in order to achieve the growth, development, and scale necessary to go from less than 1,000 stores to 13,000 stores and beyond, we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand.

Many of these decisions were probably right at the time, and on their own merit would not have created the dilution of the experience; but in this case, the sum is much greater and, unfortunately, much more damaging than the individual pieces. For example, when we went to automatic espresso machines, we solved a major problem in terms of speed of service and efficiency. At the same time, we overlooked the fact that we would remove much of the romance and theatre that was in play with the use of the La Marzocca machines. This specific decision became even more damaging when the height of the machines, which are now in thousands of stores, blocked the visual sight line the customer previously had to watch the drink being made, and for the intimate experience with the barista. This, coupled with the need for fresh roasted coffee in every North America city and every international market, moved us toward the decision and the need for flavor locked packaging. Again, the right decision at the right time, and once again I believe we overlooked the cause and the affect of flavor lock in our stores. We achieved fresh roasted bagged coffee, but at what cost? The loss of aroma -- perhaps the most powerful non-verbal signal we had in our stores; the loss of our people scooping fresh coffee from the bins and grinding it fresh in front of the customer, and once again stripping the store of tradition and our heritage? Then we moved to store design. Clearly we have had to streamline store design to gain efficiencies of scale and to make sure we had the ROI on sales to investment ratios that would satisfy the financial side of our business. However, one of the results has been stores that no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store. Some people even call our stores sterile, cookie cutter, no longer reflecting the passion our partners feel about our coffee. In fact, I am not sure people today even know we are roasting coffee. You certainly can't get the message from being in our stores. The merchandise, more art than science, is far removed from being the merchant that I believe we can be and certainly at a minimum should support the foundation of our coffee heritage. Some stores don't have coffee grinders, French presses from Bodum, or even coffee filters.

Now that I have provided you with a list of some of the underlying issues that I believe we need to solve, let me say at the outset that we have all been part of these decisions. I take full responsibility myself, but we desperately need to look into the mirror and realize it's time to get back to the core and make the changes necessary to evoke the heritage, the tradition, and the passion that we all have for the true Starbucks experience. While the current state of affairs for the most part is self induced, that has lead to competitors of all kinds, small and large coffee companies, fast food operators, and mom and pops, to position themselves in a way that creates awareness, trial and loyalty of people who previously have been Starbucks customers. This must be eradicated.

I have said for 20 years that our success is not an entitlement and now it's proving to be a reality. Let's be smarter about how we are spending our time, money and resources. Let's get back to the core. Push for innovation and do the things necessary to once again differentiate Starbucks from all others. We source and buy the highest quality coffee. We have built the most trusted brand in coffee in the world, and we have an enormous responsibility to both the people who have come before us and the 150,000 partners and their families who are relying on our stewardship.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge all that you do for Starbucks. Without your passion and commitment, we would not be where we are today.

Onward…

Craig Ferguson

Go here. Click on Feb 19th and listen. This is great stuff. It's like (and I'm not saying he is) he's using his platform (where the monologue and the half funny jokes go) to talk to Britney Spears, but without talking to her... He is definitely looking toward the restoration of people. I appreciate that. You will be better for watching this.
(ht to Kyle )

Wow of Vista

Seth Godin sees the irony of this photo. Not one person on stage looks happy to be there. Seth's take, "Just because a marketer says something is amazing, exciting or just plain wow doesn't mean it is."

Prodigy

Check out this video. A self taught artist who are very spiritual who is 12 years old. She grew up in an atheist home and says she had visions from God about who he is. link Simply incredible.

24

If you've DVR'ed 24 and have yet to watch it, SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
Stop READING now!!!! You've been warned.

------------


So their going to sacrifice Jack Bauer.
Cloe is upset about it.

Jack is wearing an oxford. I'm guessing he'll be in the normal "Urban Outfitters" garb before the end of the night.

Jack seems willing to do it.

Lame drama quote so far, "Jack Bauer has to be sacrificed in order for this country to survive."

Jack wants to die for something important of his choosing.

They're hand cuffing Jack to the grate in the colvert and leaving him there.

Back from commercial.
Who is this family?

Cloe just messed up big time.

They might not call.
Jack might have given himself up for the cause. But if they aren't going to call. Jack will fight back.

ouch. they are letting Jack have it.

CTU is looking to kill the wrong man! CTU is going to kill the guy who is going to stop it.

oh! This kid is with the bad guys.

Holy crap! Jack just bit a guy to death!

He's hiding in the drain!

7:00am to 8am

The terrorist are hunting for Jack.
They almost had him.

Jack found a cell phone.
He wants to talk to the president!

Do they believe Jack?

He's going to stop save the targets!

He made it!
3 minutes and 50 seconds to warn them.

Jack just hit a guy with a log then took his gun.

They blew up the house. Jack got the Assad out and a traitor to Assad.

Sondra Palmer is calling. She's won't the the FBI take personell records.

oh wow. So the kid next door is a suicide bomber.

Jack is busted! Cloe knows Jack rescued so does Jack.

Jack just stabbed a guy with a ball point pen.
Jack is having a moment of empathy for the guy. Jack Bauer empathizing???
Assad just stabbed a guy in the knew and got the info and then killed him.

Could a guy actually talk after getting stabbed in the knee?

Jack changes clothes like I said he would.

Assad want's Jack's help finding the real bad guy.

"I don't know how to do this anymore" says Jack.
[Is this the beginning to a whole new Jack Bauer??]

They just arrested the president's sister.

Maybe the kid next door isn't a suicide bomber.

The kid just killed a neighbor who was beating him up after profiling him.

The Amed just pulled a gun on his friend.

Jack is following the Bomber.
Jack kicks the bomber off the train as he blows up.

"this is going to get much worse" - President Palmer

Middle School in the NY Times

Excerpt "But some research suggests that may not be the solution, either. So the age-old issues persist, with some variation from decade to decade: surging hormones make students irritable and sleepy. They struggle to relate to their peers and gain independence from their parents. To hear some parents tell it, one day their babies are innocent elementary schoolers in overalls, the next they’re dressing like Paris Hilton and simulating sex on the middle-school dance floor. How do you solve a problem like adolescence? Is there anything schools can do?"

Link

(ht marko)

Meet the Press

Flipping thru the channels this morning I found Rick Warren on Meet the Press. I thought it was a good interview overall. Recently Rick had a bunch of folks over to Saddleback for an AIDS conference. Singer Bono and Senator's Barak Obama Sam Browneback and others were there.

Here's part of the transcript from Meet the press. The part that stands out to me is the interaction at the end between conservative Browneback (and I'm guessing religious right member) and Barak Obama at the beginning of their talks.

"MR. RUSSERT: Embracing those with AIDS, even though she has strong feelings about homosexuality, you created quite a controversy last month when you invited not only Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas to your church, but Barack Obama, the senator from Illinois who’s thinking of running for president, as a Democrat. This is the Christian News Wire, when Phyllis Schlafly and some other Christian leaders wrote to you, saying this: “We oppose Rick Warren’s decision to ignore Senator Obama’s clear, pro-death stance and invite him to Saddleback Church. If Senator Obama cannot defend the most helpless citizens in our country,” speaking about abortion, “he has nothing to say to the AIDS crisis. You cannot fight one evil while justifying another. The evangelical church can provide no genuine help for those who suffer from AIDS if those involved do not first have their ethic of life firmly rooted in the Word of God.”

I want to bring you to what happened at your church. Sam Brownback first said something—Barack Obama was there—you did not rescind his invitation—and responded. Let’s watch.

(Videotape, World AIDS Day):

SEN. SAM BROWNBACK: Welcome to my house. [at the beginning of his speech, to Obama]

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: This is my house, too. This is God’s house. So I just, I just wanted to, I just wanted to be clear. I hope, I hope you don’t mind that modest correction. [at the beginning of his speech to Brownback]

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: A liberal and a conservative, both saying God’s house is my house."

Christmas Post #1

I have no words, but i found it interesting.

"Flora, a pregnant Komodo dragon living in a British zoo, is expecting eight babies. All of the eggs she is hatching were fertilised without the help of a male partner because Flora has never mated, or even mixed, with a male dragon."

Link