Archive for fun
Celebrating One Year!
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(HT)
I cannot believe that it has already been a year of blogging here. The Almost an M blog has been a healthy exercise for me and, I hope and trust, a worthwhile contribution to the church conversation happening in the west.
In celebration and review, I am listing the 10 days with the most traffic over the past 12 months and the posts that were the primary cause. Based on clicking, here are the top-rated posts:
1. JADED is coming to you and JADED Reviewed – The introduction, launch, and review of “the conference event of the year!?!” (For any who are a touch on the gullible side, I will point out that these posts were done on April 1.)
2. Quick Star Approach – A video clip where a non-believer shares, “I’d like to say something about Christians trying to convert non-Christians.”
3. God’s Stories – Spreading the word about a new video tool that communicates His stories from a middle-Eastern perspective. If you have not seen this before, you need to check it out!
4. London / Paris JetSet Tour Continues – This video clip is from the latest Upstream Collective JetSet tour which I participated in.
5. Farewell Starbucks – A recent post about some life changes and the corresponding missiology that impacts that.
6. Am I crazy? – This has a compelling story and original video piece with Michael Frost about what to I do if a person is frustrated with church as he or she has been experiencing it.
7. Where are you going? – A missiological approach to entering a new place.
8. Six Keys to Save the Church in the West – A review of the key points from Alan Hirsch’s video during The Nines video conference event.
9. The Fight – Here is a touch of story about a fight and a lot of story about our family’s Christmas plans and the discipleship process.
10. Really? – Some quotes from U.S. church. That may not be a good thing.
I’m not saying, I’m just saying…
Posted by: | CommentsThanks to North Point Media for this piece.
JADED Reviewed
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The first annual JADED conference was insightful and innovative from beginning to end. With so many new voices to the scene, it is hard to identify which speakers and take-away points were most beneficial and worthy of further consideration.
One breakout session facilitated by Bob Dylan and David Crowder was quite profound. During the session, the younger musician shared, “I have always been inspired by Dylan’s hair.” Dylan quickly responded that while he is not challenged in the mustache area, that he does have a “deep respect for that chin thing you wear so well.”
Here is a video that the artists shared to encapsulate their thoughts on the “Death of Performance in Worship.”
While logistically things went rather smooth for such a large production in its first year, there was some tension at moments. Former VP Al Gore and writer and speaker Neil Cole became a little vexed with each other as they were vying for the terms organic and greenhouse. Votes are still being counted to see who won the contest.
JADED is coming to you
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JADED–”the conference event of the year!?!”–is launching this year. 2Good2BeTru Productions is glad to announce the theme for this annual event launching this year is “yada yada yada.” This one-day conference will provide an innovative, unique take on church. Some of the key speakers and their talks include:
- Jon Stewart will be covering “Today’s Church in the News.”
- Al Gore and Joel Osteen will share the stage and PowerPoint as they teach on “Eschatology: Is it past, present, or the future?”
- Sharon Osborne will speak on “Keeping It Real.”
- Simon Cowell will be communicating the keys to “Selecting Talent to Worship.”
- John Thain will offer from his experience how to “Decorate a Facility on a Tight Budget.”
- John Maxwell will articulate “365 Key Thoughts on Leadership” in 30 minutes.
- Darius Rucker and Rob Thomas will facilitate a discussion on the “Church as a Streetcorner Symphony.”
- David Crowder and Bob Dylan will share thoughts on “The Death of Performance in Worship.”
In addition to this stellar list of speakers, there will be other surprise guests making this the conference event of the year!?!
Further details on this conference and an opportunity to register will be coming soon. To learn more now about the JADED conference check out these stories:
- Joel Osteen leading a breakout on developing a systematic theology
- Jaded: I know you are and so am I
- Conference of the day
- Crowder and Dylan: Performance and Worship
The Big Red Tractor
Posted by: | CommentsI’m not sure if this guy Francis Chan will ever be much of a speaker or author of books, but he does write a good little parable here. (smile) If you haven’t already seen this video, check out what he says about the church here.
Art and CPing in KC
Posted by: | CommentsThis week at Union Station in Kansas City I saw the following…. Can you guess what it is?
Here’s a little more scope. Figured it out yet?
Zoomed out here…
In Andy Warhol style, there were several different color images of Marilyn Monroe each constructed from cans of food such as tuna and beans. This was one of several constructions designed for a food drive endeavor.
Surely there are many lessons to come from this, but I’ll leave these for the reader.
While in KC, I also had the privilege of meeting with a group of church planters. They were making plans to start 30 churches in the next 10 years. It was a blessing to hear their hearts and to be a small part of the opening questions we should be asking session. I have already and will continue to pray for you guys. Press on!
Learning from Eli
Posted by: | CommentsLast night I had a date night with my wonderful, beautiful wife. We had a great time with a little Mexican food, great conversation, and a movie. For the first time in I don’t know how many years we were able to see a recent release–The Book of Eli. It was surprising, graphic, thought-provoking, and inspirational.
There were several scenes and themes that were compelling for me. Carnegie’s devious plan to be the one who can read the words from the Book so that people would come to him and do as he says was insightful and disturbing. Solara’s desire to take the Word to her home town was inspiring. Seeing both the purity and change in Washington’s character were encouraging. However, the scene that stood out most for me was a partial, unfinished prayer.
Being with Eli as he prayed, Solara experienced her first prayer. Though uncertain how to behave during and after the prayer or what it was all about, she was obviously touched. This experience with a man that she had seen kill many justly who now treated her with a kindness she had not seen before sparked a change in her. The next morning, she sought to share some goodness with her mom as she led her in prayer. Though never told she must pray nor taught how to pray, she sought to emulate the one that had spent time with her. She was learning about the Father through Eli. Discipleship was well under way.
Great to Good
Posted by: | CommentsIn the midst of a windstorm this week in the beautiful state of Alaska, I had a brainstorm. For now, my plan is not to write this book…
While I do have a cover worked out just in case, I thought maybe I would make a few consecutive posts on this blog site with others spread over time that would be excerpts from this book I am not planning to write.
Disclaimer: Please note that there may be some similarities between the cover of this book and another book. If you stumble upon the other book, please note that I am a fan of said book by a Mr. Jim Collins. Any similarities or differences with said book cover are for the purpose of fun and communication. All original ideas in his book continue to be his while all ideas in the book I am not going to write are mine or somebody else’s and probably of very little interest to him.
One last laugh
Posted by: | CommentsSome end of the year fun here. I am happy to note that I first saw this video on C. Holland’s site Missionary Confidential. I found the comment stream there interesting. Would be happy for you to leave thoughts on this video here or on Holland’s site.
Also, I recently posted an entry on The Upstream Collective blog. Throwing this out there just in case you are interested.
