Phriday is for Photos 8.25.06

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Four on the Floor

aPeeling

We took a train trip to downtown Chicago this week.  These photos were taken at the famous Cloud Gate (the bean) which is a giant bean-shaped mirror.  It looks like this (not my pic).  It's an amazing sight that you need to find if you come to Chicago.  It's often photographed and starts looking ordinary after too many views.  But my daughter thought up this angle and I love it.  We also had our picture taken at Buckingham Fountain and got to watch the sunset in the city.

My Photography  ||  Joe's Friday Photo  ||  Flickr Friday Photo

Wild Wednesday

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I found (via FastCompany) a video on Web 2.0 that is super-helpful.  It's a 24 minute video from TechCrunch. I love the end where all these guys are asked what browser they use.  Care to guess?

In the video Arrington conducts conversations with 13 Web 2.0 CEOs about what Web 2.0 is, whether we're in a bubble, what business models work, what is the role of publishers, and how important and how large is the early adopter crowd, along with other issues related to user adoption trends and technology. For certain, Web 2.0 is about technologies such as Ajax, Mash-Ups, Flash, Tagging, and open source applications. But mostly Web 2.0's central focus is user participation.

Participants included Joe Kraus (Jotspot), Scott Milener (Browster), David Sifry (Technorati), Auren Hoffman (Rapleaf), Chris Alden (Rojo), Jonathan Abrams (Socializr), Aaron Cohen (Bolt), Jeremy Verba (Piczo), Steven Marder (Eurekster), Matt Sanchez (Video Egg), Godhwani (Simply Hired), Keith Teare (edgeio), and Michael Tanne (Wink).

Speaking of Web 2.0, last week Joe Carter (Evangelical Outpost) and I met with Justin Taylor (I hear J.I. Packer calls him Justin the Squire!) and a couple of other Crossway Publisher folks about blogging & reviewing books.  Very good conversation, and some great people.

I am trying out Browster because of the 2.0 video.  Wow, it's very interesting.  Anyone else trying it?  You need to check it out.

I'm pumped about GTDGmail.  If you haven't read Getting Things Done by David Allen, and/or if you aren't implimenting GTD in your life, please give it a look.  And then you can get GTDGmail and really geek out.

Watch the "Lecture Musical" from Prangstgrup.  Hilarious.

Michael Foster leads us to David Slagle's 100 Things I've Learned the Hard Way as a Senior Pastor.

Some Music You Should Check Out:

Husky Rescue (myspace)
Serena- Maneesh (myspace)
Black Angels (myspace)
TV on the Radio (myspace)

**If you are a Southern Baptist, please skip this next part.**  Imbibe?  Review and share your thoughts on your latest bottle of vino at Cork'd.  Gotta light?  CigarCyclopedia.

Speaking of "the good life," if you are a Southern Baptist you need to read this critical article from former SBC President Bobby Welch.  We need more wisdom like this!

I understand one pastor's blog site indicates he believes his drinking assists him in soul-winning!...

We have many outstanding young pastors and others on their way to leading this Convention to...do it as "sipping saints,"...as...soul winners! God help us to...elect a user or promoter of the use of alcoholic beverages to...leadership...!

Please don't sent hate mail.  It's a joke.  ;)  Bobbay is SOOOO funny.

City-Bound

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Dsc_0065Our family is taking the train into Chicago on Monday.  It's supposed to be a gorgeous day, clear and 83 degrees.  We plan on going to the Field Museum first and then spend some time in Millennium Park, which is a favorite hangout for our family when in the city.  The only pictures I have of Millennium Park were taken before I got my Nikon d50, so it should be a good photography trip too. 

Very excited because I love to spend long days off with the family.  Not too long ago we spent a day in Lincoln Park.  You can see those pictures here.

Next Generation Leader

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Andy_nextLast night I finished reading Andy Stanley's The Next Generation Leader.  I've been reading it on and off for about 8 weeks.  I thought it was good, filled with helpful advice.  I really liked the stuff on coaching.

I've read a lot of books on leadership and most of them have been at least a little helpful in their own way.  This one was helpful in several ways.  If you have read the book, what did you think? 

Driscoll on Church Innovations

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For Mark Driscoll, being innovative as a church means getting young men into the church.  Quotes...

The problem in the church today is just a bunch of nice, soft, tender, chickafied church boys. 60% of Christians are chicks and the 40% that are dudes are still sort of...chicks. It's just sad.

We're looking around going, How come we're not innovative?  Cause all the innovative dudes are home watching football or they're out making money or climbing a mountain or shooting a gun or working on their truck.  They look at the church like that's a nice thing for women and children.  So the question is if you want to be innovative: How do you get young men?  All this nonsense on how to grow the church.  One issue: young men.  That's it.  That's the whole thing.  They're going to get married, make money, make babies, build companies, buy real estate.  They're going to make the culture of the future.  If you get the young men you win the war, you get everything.  You get the families, the women, the children, the money, the business, you get everything.  If you don't get the young men you get nothing.

Following Jesus Into Exile

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Exiles_1A couple of quotes from Michael Frost's Exiles...

We cannot demonstrate Christlikeness at a distance from those whom we feel called to serve.  We need to get close enough to people that our lives rub up against their lives, and that they see the incarnated Christ in our values, beliefs, and practices as expressed in cultural formes that make sense and convey impact. (p 55)

I would argue that in today's society, any attempt to model your life on the life of Christ must include a genuine attempt to hang out regularly in third places.  Genuine incarnational living demands it.  Missional proximity can best be developed in bars, pubs, gyms, grocery stores, beauty parlors, community groups, and coffee shops. (p 59)

Phriday is for Photos 8.11.06

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The Walk

This is my middle son, Elijah, getting ready to jump off the high dive at our local pool.  He's only 5, but he is the child voted most likely to get injured in a base jumping accident.  Not that we are taking him base jumping or anything.

Here's a photo of our 7 year old, Jack, through the steps of the high dive (then he jumps).  He is the child voted most likely to eat spinach and beat up Bluto.

Wink

My Photography  ||  Joe Thorn's Friday Photo ||  Friday Photo Flicker Group

The BIG One

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Yes, I've returned from my day fishing. Pike_steveCould anyone have guessed that I would land a record breaking Northern Pike from Lake Geneva in Wisconsin?  What an incredible experience! 

I fought the great beast for 2 1/2 hours and finally landed him by jumping in the depths and wrestling him to the point of exhaustion.  I then threw him into the boat and up to the dock where Jim Guinness (yes, the CEO of the world record organization) was on the shore waiting for me after a bizarre set of dreams and visions in the weeks prior to me landing the great fish. 

Fortunately for me Jim gave me 30 minutes to recoup from the epic battle.  That was a good thing because at that point hundreds of people had gathered around the shoreline to see the mammoth fish and hear me retell how I defeated him with unflinching courage and determination.

After my quick breather, I approached the large stage that had quickly been constructed for my moment of glory.  I was still too exhausted to even walk, yet I still found the energy to sign autographs which included photographs of Jimmy Houston. 

Several minutes later, with hands numbed from the fight and tingling with anticipation, I took the microphone and began my story.  Through each gripping detail, more of the crowd broke into tears.  Some tears of agony as they identified with my struggle.  Others tears of joy at the possibility of such a feat!  As even the most salty-mouthed fishermen began to speak my praises, I found myself unable to finish.  It was all too much for me.  Choked from my own emotions, I decided to lead the now massive crowd in a moment of silence for the soul of the world's largest Northern Pike.  And then we fired up the fish fry.

Okay, so I'm lying.  I caught nothing.  But my buddy caught three, including this one.

Gone Fishing

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A buddy at our church is taking me out fishing on a boat today in Wisconsin.  I have a pretty good record of catching better fish than my expert fisherman friends, but I think this time I'm in trouble.  I expect my best catch with be a photo or two.  Who knows?  Pray for me to be a successful fisher of fish.  I believe Northern Pike will be the target.

Maybe this could be me later...
Pike

Links Matter

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A few links...

John Piper has written a manuscript responding to N.T. Wright's view of justification.  Who knows if/when we will see it since he is seeking the thoughts of others on it, but the conversation at Justin Taylor's blog about it is already interesting.  Piper wrote this on his summer sabbatical at Cambridge.

Brian Spears writes on the 10 things you'll learn by visiting other churches.  Always helpful for those of us who too rarely get to visit other churches.

The Church Planting Resources site is looking good, and is now considered to be 83% sexier (according to Drew Goodmanson).  It's a site for "free exchange of information to help build the Kingdom and ultimately spread the gospel." 

Comback Churches has some good stuff from Ed Stetzer, including his "Stirring the Waters" articles.

And have I mentioned before the PeopleGroups website?  Some good, basic demographic stuff for you.

Books and Books

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I've been tagged by Garrett...

1. One book that changed your life: The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink

2. One book that you've read more than once: Love Walked Among Us by Paul Miller

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: The Worse-Case Scenerio Little Book for Survival

4. One book that made you laugh: Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll

5. One book that made you cry: A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

6. One book you wish had been written: The Impossible Dream: How the Cubs Won the World Series by anyone, for crying out loud

7. One book you wish had never been written: A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations by Kate Turabian

8. One book you're currently reading: Pocket Guide to the Bible by Jason Boyett

9. One book you've been meaning to read: Historical Theology by Alister McGrath

10. Tag 5 others: Babyhead, Cawley,  McKnight, JT, and Goodmanson

Core Values

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I'm preaching through a series on Core Values for my church.  We have five: Truth, Beauty, Redemption, Community, & Mission.  This Sunday the Core Value is community. 

The series has been phenomenal, for me as the pastor-teacher and for the congregation.  It's been a great discipline to derive some values for our church in our context, prepare the messages, and watch our people respond.  The response has been exciting.

This has been a more difficult series in some ways for me.  I typically preach through books of the Bible, so this is harder work.  I also realize that once I define the values they are considered defined.  I feel obligated to be comprehensive yet simple.

One thing I have done is to not only apply the values so we know how we live them out, but also to have one significant and challenging application each week.  I want our people to respond concretely to each value. 

So, for example, the first Core Value was truth.  For our concrete application we took an offering for Bibles that we could buy in bulk and have for giving to friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors.  If we value truth, let's get the Word out!  The offering allowed us to buy 120 ESV Bibles (Outreach Edition, both OT and NT).  It's fun to watch our church respond and see something tangible happen because of it.  The Bibles arrived early this week.

This week as I prepare to talk about community, I've realized how helpful it is for our community of believers to think through what we value together.  God is doing some great things.

Going Big

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Go_bigI'm reading a book by Bill Easum and Bil Cornelius called Go Big: Lead Your Church to Explosive Growth and finding it a very helpful, practical pastoral resource.  Easum is the VP of Easum, Bandy and Associates and Cornelius is the pastor of Bay Area Fellowship.

A few quotes...

Lead pastor, if your church is not growing, you are the stopping point.  If your church is growing, you are the catalyst.  It's that simple. (p. 9)

When God wanted to change your part of the world, he placed you there for such a time as this.  We hate to tell you this, but you're it.  Start taking responsibility for what God wants you to do with your life. (p. 10)

Knowing everybody is not the definition of a healthy church.  In fact, it may be the definition of an unhealthy church. (p. 68)

Visitor Giveaways

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AndyI've been wondering if it would be good to have a giveaway book for visitors on Sunday.  I really like the idea.  One of the few books that seemed to fit the category of a short, inexpensive, good book for visitors is Andy Stanley's How Good is Good Enough?.  I hadn't read Stanley's little (94 pages) book yet, so I picked it up last night and read it.  I was pleased.

I think it's a good book especially for churches in areas where nearly everyone is a "Christian" but few really know Christ.  It has just enough logic and reason arguments to fulfill that need in logical thinkers.  It has enough story and illustration to keep it moving and engaging.  It has a nice flow and argument and closes with Christ.

Have you read Stanley's book and what do you think about it?  Know of other books that would be good as giveaways to church visitors?

ReThinking the Blog

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Img_0583With the timely death of my other blog (Missional Baptist Blog), I have been rethinking how to use Reformissionary.  I have some new ideas and I'm excited about the road forward from here.  You may not notice much change, but my planning and posting here will be more strategic and intentional (even if I'm the only one who notices). 

Maybe this is a good time to thank all the readers of Reformissionary.  The first few years have been a ton of fun, and I've probably learned more than any of my readers.  But I still think the best is to come.  Stick around.