The audacity of Canadian Baptists! This is just too much. Let's get rid of these jerks. If they don't want our name, we don't want them. The name "SOUTHERN Baptist" was good enough for Jesus and Paul, so why isn't it alright with Canadians? No wonder their magazines cost more.
Some links I wanted to get out there right away...
Guy Kawasaki interviews Fake Steve Jobs. Funny stuff. (FSJ blog)
Resurgence goes Greek: Re:Greek. Awesome resource.
I don't think I've linked before to Joe Thorn's excellent Six Rules of Cultural Engagement.
My kids can't stop watching this...
More here...
Tegan and Sara, "Into Your Head"...
Loney, Dear has reissued Sologne in the US, which was a 2006 self-released album. It's fantastic. Here's an MP3 of "The City, The Airport."
Linkin Park: Shadow of the Day...
Glen Hansard of The Frames and Marketa Irglova starred in the movie Once. Powerful songs like "Say It To Me Now" should be reason enough to watch it...
Hansard and Irglova covering Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" out on a sidewalk...
Sigur Ros' new Hvarf-Heim is a 2 CD set of mostly unreleased songs and a brief acoustic set. It's very good. Pitchfork likes it, as do others. It's a companion to a new, yet unreleased (Nov 20th) DVD Heima, which will be a music-filled documentary of sorts. Hvarf-Heim is a companion to the DVD, though it seems none of the music is in the film. Here's the captivating trailer for Heima (ps - I'm moving to Iceland)...
or see this one...
Reformissionary has been linked in the Slate article "Not All It's Cracked Up To Be: Why is the New York Times Magazine saying evangelical Christians are increasingly divided?" I'm the "drinking" link...
That shift might be related to their embrace of Reformed theology,a doctrine that encourages believers to acknowledge that they are all inherently sinful and have received undeserved grace (thus making them respond less judgmentally to others' sexual behavior). Reformed theology also rebuffs the idea that behavior makes one righteous, effectively discouraging the equation of patriotism and blind party activism with piety. A 2006 Pew survey shows that college-educated conservatives are more likely to be less conservative on issues like gay marriage, stem-cell research, and contraception than those who've completed only some college or high school. And according to a study by Barna group, a Christian research organization, young born-again Christians are 15 percent more likely than their elders to find homosexual behavior morally acceptable. Even many of my college-age evangelical friends at the conservative Christian school Patrick Henry College see popular films, attend rock concerts, and have no objection to drinking or dancing.
Alistair McGrath's Christianity's Dangerous Idea is getting some good reviews. The Internet Monk calls it "one of the best books of the year." Gary Shavey at Resurgence has a 15 minute interview with McGrath on the book.
Drew Goodmanson reflects on thoughts from Steve Timmis at the Total Church Conference. Drew deals in particular with the video venue vs new leaders and planters idea. Darrin Patrick has said concerning finding new church planters...
One reason it didn’t work was that we couldn’t find enough planters with a heart for our area who could plant a self-governing, self-supporting self-reproducing church….I believe that there are few guys with the calling and requisite skill set to plant a reproducing incarnational/attractional church. This is evidenced by the 70% failure rate in church plants. I saw this in our own context as we simply couldn’t find the guys with the calling and skill- set to give people to. Now, this has not stopped us from planting locally as we just sent out an elder and people to plant about 45 minutes out in the burbs. We have another intern who hopefully will plant in the next two years. My point is that if your church is experiencing growth like ours, you cannot plant fast enough, chiefly because of the lack of called, qualified, church planters.
Goodmanson writes...
Timmis, upon reflection asked is the problem we face the leaders or the types of churches we are planting? When he examined Paul's missionary journey, Paul traveled through cities where people converted. Paul returned in under two years and more likely after a couple months to appoint elders. Timmis surmised that the problem then cannot be our leaders but the types of churches we are planting and the leader requirement necessary to run them.
Goodmanson adds Timmis' two conclusions...
1. We need to re-think leadership in the local church. Much of our leadership shortage stems from wrong assumptions. Churches can appoint elders, who fulfill all that is required in Timothy & Titus. This means we select elders by the grace evidenced in their life, not by the attractional qualities they hold. How many of these guys are in your church right now?
2. Church Planters have a unique set of gifting that are best served planting churches. (Timmis called church planters 'apostles') Since there are fewer of these 'initiators/gatherers' they ought to do more missional church planting (often done in a team setting where people travel with them) to plant churches. The skills these 'apostolic leaders' possess include: Visionary, Creative, Adaptable, Productive, Impatient - always wanting to move things forward, self-starters and a bit of a maverick. These skills serve the planter well to create new works, but often these skills make them poor leaders of established churches.
Very good and important thoughts. You can also check out Mark Driscoll's "Videology: Why We Use Videos" for a pro-video point of view.
Ben Arment, pastor of Reston Community Church in Reston, VA, has made their Organization Chart and Job Descriptions available. Helpful.
Have you checked out BookSpot before? How about Readerville? Some cool stuff for readers/writers.
City Church in Chicago...
Darrin Patrick's message, "The History and Streams of the Emerging Church," is now online. It's from his lectures at Covenant Seminary on the Emerging Church.
Sufjan: "The Hula Hoop vs The BQE". Speaking of The BQE...
Tonight [11.1.07], at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Sufjan Stevens will debut The BQE, a 30-minute symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City’s infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. A controversial roadway since its inception in the 1930s, the BQE tears through 11.7 miles of Brooklyn and Queens, severing neighborhoods, pillaging industrial yards, and contouring waterways with the brute force of modern urban planning. (Read the rest)
A preview...
Stream the new Grizzly Bear EP: Friend, and download "Alligator" (with Feat, Dirty Projectors and Beirut!).
I'm really diggin' the new Foo Fighters (MySpace) album: Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Great 45 minute interview with Dave Grohl on Fresh Air. Grohl, if you don't know, was Nirvana's drummer.
I know, you need more Foo. Here's some old school Foo, "Learn to Fly"...
And the new single, "The Pretender," has a very cool video...
Check out some new chipper cheerleader dance music from The Go! Team: "Doing it Right."
If you haven't heard The Besnard Lakes (I've pimped them before), you need to. Check them out on this podcast from Sound Opinions. They are about 1/3 of the way through.
I discovered Dead Confederate through KEXP's Live Performances podcast. They rocked. Oh, do listen! Also on MySpace.
A final word. One of my favorite music magazines is Paste. Good articles, reviews (on more than just music), and a nice CD full of new music (full songs) with each issue. Paste is now letting you name your price for a subscription.
For a limited time, name your own price for a one-year subscription to Paste. Yes, it's up to you. What's it worth to have a great read and a great listen delivered to your door every month?
11 issues and 11 CDs (roughly 220 songs) covering the best in music, film and culture. On the newsstand, one year of Paste costs $65.45; one-year subscriptions are $19.95. In February, we will recognize those who pay the most (more than the subscription price) in the magazine—and we even made it easy for you to give gifts.
For more about Paste Magazine, including previous covers, CD samplers, awards and more, visit our overview.
I know I posted on this a long time ago, but when my wife and I were at the first Reform & Resurge Conference in Seattle (2006) we heard Darrin Patrick's talk on "The Life and Death of the Missional Leader." I listened to it again this morning and was struck by how helpful of a message it is right now in my life. I encourage you to listen to it.
The first is the last soccer Saturday for my boys this fall. They played as tough as they look. The second is Halloween. We told the kids that since we spent so much on Disney World that they had to make do on Halloween on what they already had. Danny already had a Power Rangers outfit with no mask. Elijah (Alfonso Soriano) always has sports clothes around. Sarah is playing a mom (she has puke made from cream of mushroom on her shoulder...yuck). And Jack isn't just any skateboarder, he is Rodney Mullen.
I've spent some time with the Literary Study Bible and am really enjoying it and highly recommend it.
I generally don't enjoy study Bibles. I think they can distract Christians from reading and discovering the meaning of Scripture for themselves by encouraging people to read Scripture in a choppy way: verse or two, check the study notes, verse, cross-references, study notes, another verse, etc. Study notes can be very helpful if used correctly, but I've never seen a Christian use them in a way that I've found very helpful.
The ESV-LSB removes those bold section headings and cross-references and instead gives a shaded box with brief guidance before each chapter or two, or section or pericope of Scripture. So you start with some guidance concerning the genre, literary structure, techniques, symbolism, whatever. Then you read the passage (single-column) without distraction. That means the emphasis isn't on finding your favorite verse or cheating to get the meaning through headers or notes. The emphasis is to read it yourself and focus on getting the gist of larger sections of Scripture.
The ESV-LSB provides notes before each book of Scripture, which is in pretty much every study Bible. These are really well done. What I liked the most was the section in each book introduction describing how the book fits into the larger "story of the Bible." Brilliant. So you aren't just getting the understanding of larger sections of Scripture, or even whole books. You are also gaining understanding of how the books work together in the storyline of Scripture.
This Bible also has wider margins for your own notes and their own Bible reading plan at the end. It's easily my favorite study Bible and I hope many of you pick it up. And by the way, one of the editors of the ESV-LSB is Dr. Leland Ryken who has produced many great books including two favorites of mine: The Christian Imagination and The Liberated Imagination. Even more reason to love this study Bible.
To see it for yourself, check it out for free online for 30 days. Very helpful.
Other stuff to check out...
Literary ESV is Unapologetically Complementarian
Interview with Dr. Leland Ryken
Internet Monk's Glowing Review
It wouldn't work for me, but Sprint's new HTC Touch might be a nice phone for those who can't afford an iPhone.
As the father of an autistic son, I take notice when pediatricians urge autism screening for all children. We know our son would have been diagnosed sooner (he was diagnosed at just about 3 years old) because the symptoms were there. The article says they urge screening because "early therapy can lessen its severity." We can testify that therapy greatly helped our son, and we urge parents of autistic children to find similar therapy all the time.
Check out SBTS lectures from philosopher Alvin Plantinga.
Gary Rohrmayer is talking "Evangelistic Entropy."
Dave Zimmerman at IVP has some advice for writing books.
Five Reasons Why Churches Cannot Ignore Branding
A 9 Marks Workshop is online for free
Seattle P-I: Mars Hill makes faith cool for 20-somethings
I'm going to see Gone Baby Gone this week. It's getting great reviews.
A year ago my Music Monday post was on Sleeping at Last (official SaL website). I listened to Keep No Score (my #5 album of 2006) again last week and it's still great stuff. Here's their song "Needle and Thread" which should convert all of you to their music. Wonderful...
Here's "Careful Hands," another amazing song...
Derek Webb interview on Fox 17 in Nashville...
One of my favorite all time songs that Derek sings is "Somewhere North" from Caedmon's 40 Acres album. Here's a very high quality video of Derek performing it live...
A very different sounding Beirut song is on Natalie Portman's "for charity" mix CD. Hear it here. The album is available on iTunes for $7.99 beginning tomorrow. Some good bands on this CD: Vetiver, Tokyo Police Club, The Shins, M. Ward, Rogue Wave, and others. More at Pitchfork.
It appears that Page France is history, at least for now. *Single tear.* I really love Hello, Dear Wind (my #3 album of 2006). Please go grab these four free Page France songs from Daytrotter. "Chariot" is amazing ("You're a wrecking ball with a heart of gold..."). "Dogs" is a favorite. Ugh, PLEASE download these songs! With Page France floating in the ether, frontman Michael Nau is now making music as The Cotton Jones Basket Ride. Listen to "To Death With You."
There's now a pretty cool way to test your knowledge of the Chicagoland area (six counties) called Metro Joe.
(HT: Gapers Block).
Holy Cow. I try to be biblically generous, but Doug Pagitt makes little sense in this short interview with Way of the Master's Todd Friel. It's just a small segment near the beginning of the show. Look, I'm
no Way of the Master fan or defender, and Friel really could have done much more with this conversation, but Pagitt shows both wacky theology and an inability to have a meaningful conversation based on...words...and ideas.
Best quote from Pagitt: "There?"
Baaahhhh! I've been tagged by Stephen Shields. I need to provide...
- three albums that I recommend you buy if you don’t already have them and
- three bloggers I’m tagging so that they’ll blog what three albums they recommend and the three bloggers they’ll tag and so forth:
It's hard to do this when I already recommend so much in my Music Monday posts. So what I'll do is recommend the top 3 albums I think people who generally only listen to Christian or radio music must buy in order to stretch their understanding and enjoyment of music. I think these will broaden your musical horizons. I also recommend a couple of songs from each album.
Three albums I recommend you buy are...
1. Beirut: Gulag Orkestar (Voice, horns, and transportation to another culture in another time. Brilliant. Songs: "Postcards from Italy," "Brandenburg")
2. Joanna Newsom: Ys (A woodland creature inviting us beyond the thicket and into the magic. Songs: "Monkey and Bear" - but really crucial to hear whole album in order.)
3. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois (Hyper-creative folksy melodic wonders. Songs: "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.," "Decatur")
Tagging...
1. Kevin Cawley (Because he has great musical taste. Expect Pinback.)
2. Joe Thorn (Because he hates these sorts of things and his response or lack of will show whether he truly loves me. Expect Opeth.)
3. Justin Taylor (Because I REALLY want to see what his musical tastes are. Expect...The Gaithers?)
Three pics of my boys today. The first two are Danny (4 1/2) and the last is Elijah (7). The first is Danny looking out an airplane window on the way to Disney World. The second is at the University of Chicago waiting for Molly's 3 month follow up visit with her surgeon. She is now free for all normal activity after a great report from the doctor. The third is Elijah waiting for the Disney flight.
Since "It's a Small World" and a handful of other songs are all I heard for the last week or so, I'll have to do this Music Monday with a distracted ear. Hope it still helps you keep a pulse on some good music out there.
Sufjan Stevens believes Rock and Roll is dead...
"Rock and roll is dead,” he says, voluble again. “Rock and roll is a museum piece. It has no viability anymore. There are great rock bands today—I love the White Stripes, I love the Raconteurs. But it’s a museum piece. You’re watching the History Channel when you go to these clubs. They’re just reenacting an old sentiment. They’re channeling the ghosts of that era—the Who, punk rock, the Sex Pistols, whatever. It’s been done. The rebellion’s over.
Smithsonian.com has an article on Sufjan.
Stream the new LCD Soundsystem EP for free.
MTv reports on Beirut, Zach Condon, and the Take Away Shows...
Some good new music videos and live performances are out, including Jose Gonzalez: "Teardrop"...
Band of Horses: "Is There a Ghost?"...
New Pornographers: "Challengers"...
Tegan and Sara: "Back in Your Head"...
Trying to catch up a little after a week with no cell phone or internet. I think I'll have a music post up later today.
Tim Keller Stuff:
The Evangelists Conference: Smashing False Idols
Gospel Realisation Tim Keller
Gospel Communication Tim Keller
Gospel Incarnation Tim Keller
Tim Keller on Tim Keller's new book: The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
Keller is interviewed by Preaching Today
Gary Shavey of Resurgence interviews Mark Dever (mp3).
Acts 29 has a Chicago Boot Camp coming in January
Joe Thorn gives us Mark Dever's advice for leaving a church. Every pastor wishes more Christians would do this.
Joe and Jen Thorn are pregnant! (yes, I said it that way on purpose)
"Six Rules to Work Less and Get More Accomplished" by Lifehack
Boundless on Becoming a Writer
Mark Driscoll recommends these books for missional church planters
Interview with Vanhoozer on reading culture (via JT)
North America People Groups Project
My kids are in soccer, and love this kind of thing...
Zippity Doo Da, it's time for the the Walt Disney World post-game report.
Traveling: Our flight to Disney went off without a hitch. It rained all morning last Tuesday until we got to O'Hare and then stopped so we could keep dry on our way from economy parking. Watching the kids on take-off was fun, all wide-eyed and happy. Our flight back last night was delayed an hour before take-off because of some difficult Chicago weather, but it wasn't a problem. After getting in the air Danny (our youngest, 4) said that we were flying through space. I think he took the pixie dust at Disney a little too seriously.
Flying was a good experience.
The Hotel: After arriving at the Orlando airport we went to the Disney welcome area where they registered our arrival. Our bags had already been tagged so they would pick them up and all we would have to do is worry about ourselves. We hopped on a Disney Magical Express bus We stayed at the All-Star Music hotel on the Disney property. It was one of the less costly hotels that had a suite for our family of six. We got to our room, rested for a bit, and then our luggage showed up at our door.
Our room was spacious enough for our needs (especially with two bathrooms!). We were on the first floor just down the hallway from the very large guitar shaped pool. Each night at the pool they would play music through the stereo, then play some songs the kids could dance to (you know, those line-ish dancing kinda songs) and had a couple of workers teach the kids the dances, and then at 8:30pm every night they played a Disney DVD on a big blow-up screen by the pool. Really cool party atmosphere. The kids went swimming every night after going to the parks.
The hotel had continuous bus service to all parks and Downtown Disney, which made getting around a snap. Disney really has their act together.
The Parks: We visited all four main parks: Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney-MGM, and Animal Kingdom. We loved them all. Molly and I couldn't ride anything jarring or fast, but all four kids rode everything they were tall enough to ride. And that was pretty much everything.
The kids had similar likes. They loved Expedition Everest and rode it three times. Danny (4 1/2) calls it "Yeti" because of the Yeti who attacks the ride. Space Mountain went over huge with the kids, as did Tower of Terror. Only Sarah (10 1/2) and Jack (9) could ride the Rock'n Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith, and both consider it a favorite. We all enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Safari, two stunt shows at MGM, and a bunch more. My favorite ride was Soarin', where they put you in seats that elevate in front of a huge curved screen and made you feel like you are flying over trees and mountains, smells added to the breeze. Brilliant.
We all VERY much enjoyed the 3D shows at each park: Mickey's PhilharMagic, It's Tough to be a Bug (Bug's Life), Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, and Muppet Vision 3D. The technology is very good and they add lots of fun stuff like smells and water and seat movements and the sensation of stuff on your head or feet. Along with these, Jack most of all wanted to ride Stitch's Great Escape. Previously known as Alien Encounter, this ride is where Stitch (of Lilo and Stitch) escapes in the room you are in and lots of stuff happens to you as they try to recapture him. At one point he eats a chili dog and burps and you smell it. Yuck.
We saw the fireworks shows at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, both were fantastic. We also visited Downtown Disney for a short while before heading to the airport yesterday. Neat place to shop and eat.
The Magic: I was really blown away by the "magic" of Disney. Lots of people can make amusement parks and big rides that go fast. But Disney can make the smallest and most insignificant of rides seem like a dream and the big rides like another world. They can get you singing songs NOT because they are annoying, but because they are catchy and wonderful.
Everyone was super-friendly. Despite the massive amounts of spoiled, crying and disobedient children we saw, I never once saw a worker seem upset or angry or tired or frustrated. I never once saw a worker do anything to children but talk to them, ask them questions, encourage them to enjoy themselves, and listen to their every word as if the most important they would hear that day.
When we checked in they gave everyone kazoos and people were playing them like they were artists. We immediately felt like the hotel manager was our best friend. When we got to our room there was a personalized message on our hotel room phone from the girl who checked us in and who talked to us just 3 minutes before.
Jack's birthday was last Wednesday. They gave him a special button to wear that day that said it was his birthday. Everyone, and I mean everyone, who worked at the park said "happy birthday" to him. That included bus drivers, the lady selling popcorn, and the security guards who checked our bags for explosives before entering the park. He thought he was the king of the day, and in many ways he was.
Verdict: We had a wonderful time at Disney World. It was everything we hoped for and more. It was everything I remember as a child and more. All of us were healthy the whole trip. I was in pain most days, but it was manageable. Every day as we would pray together we were just so thankful to God for how well everything was going. And we are very thankful to be home. Thanks to all who prayed for us.
See all my Disney World photos. Will there be a video? I dunno. Not immediately, at least.
