Vote for Me! Never more needed!!!

The SBC Voices blog madness game is over on Monday night and I'm losing.  Yes, losing.  Tom Ascol's blog has pulled into a solid lead.  You may know Tom as the guy who leads Founders Ministries.  I know him as a friend, and I would gladly lose to his site without a fight...normally.  But Tom has called me out, made fun of me and my best friend (no one makes fun of Joe's sports ignorance but me!), and it's time to show Tom the door.  GO VOTE NOW!

Here are a few reasons to vote for Reformissionary and not Tom Ascol...

1. Tom Ascol has bad hair, less hair. The Reformissionary has good hair, more hair. The difference. 
2. The $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com won't help Tom much because I don't think they carry many "Large Print" books for "older" eyes.
3. Tom decided to "reject my shot" through the magic of photoshop.  That was smart since that's the only way he could reject my shot. 
4. This is an ACTUAL PHOTO of my last one-on-one game with Tom.  Consider Tom posterized...

Phriday is for Photos 4.4.08

Steve McCoy Photography

URGENT!!!

FINAL UPDATE: VOTE NOW!

UPDATE: You did it!  I made the final four of the contest I mentioned below.  The final four voting is already underway until Monday night.  This is the very last contest, and I need your vote!  The two contests can result in a total of $100 in books for seekers and skeptics.  Please go vote!!!

_____

Original Post from earlier tonight...

There is another blog contest (east division, vote Reformissionary).  This
one is much the same as the first and the round ends tonight!  I'm 20 votes down and need many very quick votes to possibly receive ANOTHER $50 gift certificate!!!  All this begging will be over soon, I promise.  But for now, GOOOOOO!!!  VOTE!!!

VOTE!

Please continue to VOTE for my blog.  I NEED your vote, if you haven't voted yet.  The Southern Seminary students seem to be rallying and trying to team up to beat this blog.  You, my wonderful readers, cannot let that happen.  You can, with two clicks, put this game away today. SO PLEASE GO VOTE!   

My campaign promises...

1. I promise that your vote for me will cause Joe Thorn to grow hair again.  A vote for me is a vote for a handsomer Thorn.  A very large promise indeed, but it's now the main thrust of my campaign.  (You can pretty much take this one as my "lie."  Every real campaign lies and this one is no different.  But it would be a beautiful thing, eh?)

2. As I said before, I promise to use the winnings, a $50 gift certificate, to buy Tim Keller books for skeptics and seekers in my neck of the woods.  This promise is slightly more realistic than the hair thing, and maybe even more significant.

3. I promise, if you vote for me, to put up a victory video that will shock the world.  Suggestions about what should be in the video can go in the comments of this post.  I will take them under advisement.  Email submissions are also acceptable, and will be sure to keep your great and funny ideas a secret. 

As one last incentive to get out the vote, please enjoy the official Reformissionary campaign song...

NPM '08: Remembering Mom

Anyone who has been reading my blog for the last year year may remember the poem I read at my Mom's funeral.  Mom died a year ago today, April 3rd, 2007.  Here is "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins...

"The Lanyard" by Billy Collins (NPR)

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.        

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

NPM '08: Fire and Ice

"Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

NPM '08: A Few Poetry Sites

To continue my National Poetry Month (NPM) kickoff, here are a few general poetry sites worth checking out. 

<> Poets.org: My favorite general poetry site, from the Academy of American Poets.  You want to read poetry on your mobile phone, you say?  Sure, poets.org has a mobile site. Also worth noting is their National Poetry Map.  Very helpful resource of finding poets and poetry near you.

<> National Poetry Month at Poets.org: a good primer page that answers questions like What is National Poetry Month?, info for Poem in your Pocket Day (more on that soon), and plenty of other stuff.

<> Poetry Magazine: A handful of good stuff from a key poetry magazine.  Try the very cool "Poetry Tool."

<> Poetry 180: A program geared to develop a love for poetry among high school students by having apoem a day read aloud for the whole school year, hence the 180.  Poetry 180 has been developed by the amazing Billy Collins.  Collins provides a helpful "How to Read a Poem Out Loud article and audio.

It's National Poetry Month!

Throw some confetti and blow a shofar...it's National Poetry Month!  Love this time of year, when all things are becoming new again, when the doldrums of winter are washed away by April showers, and when poetry is in the air.

Far too many of us weren't raised on a steady diet of poetry, except maybe in the form of popular music.  But that isn't usually very good poetry.  Some of us have been introduced to poetry by an artsy parent, a literature teacher in High School, or maybe we discovered it much on our own.  Regardless, poetry is a powerful and beautiful thing to discover and something we should continue to rediscover for the rest of our lives. 

Over the next month I'm going to post poems, info on poets, poetry websites, thoughts on writing poetry, and more. Whether you are a poetry lover or not, this month is for you.  Let's begin by watching a video from a prominent U.S. poet, Dana Gioia as he gives a commencement speech at Stanford last spring.  He speaks of the loss of recognition of art and artists in our culture...

The BIG Week: VOTE!

After a decisive vote last week, I NEED YOUR VOTE AGAIN!  I need more votes than before!  Go to the Said at Southern blog, scroll down a bit and vote for Reformissionary. 

Please, everyone vote!  It will result in a $50 gift certificate to Westminster Seminary Bookstore where I promise to use the money to buy copies of Keller's The Reason for God to give away to seekers and skeptics.  A vote for me will help someone who doesn't know Jesus to know Him for the first time.  Vote now!

Music Monday 3.31.08

Music News...

The Juno Soundtrack, that I raved about here and that hit #1 on the Billboard charts, has spawned a B-sides soundtrack with 15 more tracks.  Cool.

Alaska in Winter finally gets a U.S. release (thought it was already!).  Love their first album, and their U.S. release includes more than what's on the album I have, so I will be picking it up.

The Black Angels album, Passover, was really good.  It was my #9 album of 2006.  Their follow-up, Directions to See a Ghost, is coming in May.  "You on the Run" is their first available song, and it's good.  Check it out.

Music I'm Checking Out...

The Nadas were recently featured as bumper music on my favorite film podcast (also the only podcast where I NEVER miss an episode), Filmspotting.  For those of you who find my musical tastes not quite in line with yours, give The Nadas a try (MySpace).  I like 'em. 

The Nadas played the final show at a music venue in Iowa that was considered important, and some dudes made a tribute video to the bar featuring The Nadas' great song "Goodnight Girl."  Beware Southern Baptists, there are people consuming Jagermeister and other alcoholic beverages.  Hide your virgin eyes...

Engage Every Domain

This really is the mission of the church: to mobilize believers to engage every domain of society; to set in motion the radical transformation that the gospel brings to every person and sphere of life.

Bob Roberts in The Multiplying Church, p 123.

Phriday is for Photos 3.28.08

I'm trying to get back on track with photography.  I've just not done much lately.  More of my photos are going up at my local Starbucks in June.  Here's one from early this week with my dad at my mom's grave, and a building on the road home from dad's to Woodstock.  Check out all my photography.

Lots-o-Links 3.27.08

Saw Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! with the fam today.  Enjoyed it more than I thought I would.  Worth watching and discussing.  Jonathan Dodson weighs in.

Joe Thorn expands on "The Table, the Pulpit, and the Square."  Joe also summarizes Dever on evangelism.

Tom Schreiner, my NT prof from my SBTS days, has been interviewed.  Among other issues, he speaks about his new New Testament Theology.  It will have a prominent place on my shelf.

Monergism interviews Tim Keller.  Keller's next book is listed on Amazon: The Prodigal God.

Scott Hodge shares a bit he is learning from Made to Stick.

After reading an interview with Michael Perry in the April issue of The Writer, I'm intrigued. 

NT Wright says "Heaven is Not Our Home."

Exagorazo is talking about missional communities: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

VOTE NOW!!!

Ok, so I told you I don't care to be the winning blog over at the Said at Southern NCAA tournament-like thingy.  Now I want to win.  If my blog gets the most votes then I get a $50 gift certificate to Westminster Bookstore online.  That means I NEED YOUR VOTES!  I'm currently last in the Midwest division, and wasn't planning to even mention it again here.  But free books takes this to another level.  Please go vote for me so I can get some free books.  C'mon!  The Reformissionary needs you, it will only take a moment, and there's no registration or anything to vote.  Go HERE now and vote for Reformissionary in the Midwest division. 

Music Monday 3.24.08

I'm off for a few days, so this will be a less involved Music Monday post.  Let me start by saying that Joe Thorn has been complaining a lot about my Music Monday posts.  While I always appreciate his point of view, I just can't help but to think that his suggestion of "more Milli Vanilli, please!" is not the best route.  Anyway, you be the judge: Should I, as Joe suggests, post things like this?...

Stereogum provides a couple of nice Bon Iver live videos.  ABC News has a couple of nice videos: an interview with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver Part 1 and Part 2.  I'm still playing Bon Iver far more than anything else.  It's playing on my iPod, my home stereo, my iTunes.  Speaking of the iPod, don't miss Bon Iver in concert from All Songs Considered.

DeVotchKa's new one is getting great reviews, as is M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel's She and Him, Vol 1.

A year ago this week I was encouraging you to watch stuff like this.  Ahh, still good...

Announcement for SWBTS Students

Some of you remember when I posted about a part-time research position several weeks ago.  I received MANY responses, and passed them on to my buddy, Glenn Lucke, who is helping pastors get some research help.  Glenn emailed about more opportunities, and I told him I would put it out there for you.  Yeah, I'll feed you baby birds.  Glenn writes...

I will be at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on Thursday, March 27, from 10:30am-3pm.

Several Baptist pastors have recently signed on as clients and I’m looking for researchers who can assist them.

Broadly I’m looking for two different categories of researchers to fit these new clients.

Category 1: Acts 29 Network church
 The best candidates for these jobs are current SWBTS PhD and MDiv students who:

- love Jesus
- know the Bible
- consider yourself "missional"
- are Baptist & reformed in theology
- love the lost & enjoy thinking how culture intersects with Scripture
- excellent academic ability and transcript + professor references to prove it
- seminary education a must, first year must be already completed
- swims in popular culture, loves it, knows it, yet resists and critiques aspects of it

Category 2: Ed Young Jr. style church (Fellowship Church of Grapevine)
 The best candidates for these jobs are current SWBTS MDiv students who are gifted storytellers and illustrators, dialed-in to young pop culture, creative, gifted at relating Scriptural concepts to the lives of seekers and new Christians.

- responsible and hardworking, and you can furnish proof of this. No slackers.

Contact Glenn at glenn@docentgroup.com. Mention that you are contacting me because you saw this at Steve McCoy’s blog.

Lots-o-Links 3.21.08

I'm trying to make time to blog on the changes coming in my local church, and especially focus on some evangelism stuff I'm working to begin soon.  Sorry it's taking so long, but it's been a nutty last few weeks.  Maybe I'll blog on the nuttiness as well.  Might be therapeutic for me.

"Alcohol, Acts 29 and the Missouri Baptist Convention" is a bunch of information put out by some Missouri Baptists that has finally proven, without question, that some people will never get it because they spend all their time trying to get worked up over extra-biblical issues.  It's actually a very funny read for those of us who see how ridiculous it all is.

In Timothy Keller news, the Washington Post's Michael Gerson has a review of The Reason for God.  It's a good one.  USA Today quotes Keller, Driscoll and others on "Has the 'Notion of Sin' Been Lost?" (via Stet)

"Parks and squares aren't a luxury, but an essential feature of the urban infrastructure."

Bob Franquiz is looking to only work 4 hours a week.  I've perused the book, and it looks interesting enough.

Speaking of books, how about the 2008 Christianity Today Book Awards.  I picked up the "The Church/Pastoral Leadership" category winner The Call to Joy & Pain by Ajith Fernando at last year's Desiring God Conference.  I like Ajith's writings and the topic was intriguing.  It got buried in a stack of books, but is back on my "to read" shelf.

This looks VERY interesting to me: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas With Pictures.

The top 80 church websites (because 80 is a nice round number). :)

Oh that more of us would do what they are doing in Austin for city-wide church planting.

It won't be Longfellow until National Poetry Month.  It's my Gioia to blog on poetry every April.  Keats your eyes open for more very soon.

Gethsemane to Gates of Glory

Don Carson, commenting on Jesus praying in Gethsemane in Matthew 26:42-44...

In the first garden "Not your will but mine" changed Paradise to desert and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane.  Now "Not my will but yours" brings anguish to the man who prays it but transforms the desert into the kingdom and brings man from Gethsemane to the gates of glory.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Matthew, vol 2, p 545.

Ann Coulter Likes Tim Keller

I'm getting a bunch of hits from AnnCoulter.com.  She seems to be fond of Tim Keller's The Reason for God and my Tim Keller Resources page. 

For all you Ann Coulter haters out there, this should finally prove how amazingly brilliant she is.  Anyone who likes Keller is right all of the time.  And let's be honest, anyone who likes Tim Keller AND links to my site is a borderline superhero.

If you have come here from AnnCoulter.com, welcome.  And thanks to Ann (yes, we are on a first name basis now) for putting my link on the same page as the word "whoreable."  My Southern Baptist brethren love that kind of thing.

I have produced a screen capture so as to never forget... 

Strategy of the Neutral

As a couple trying to relate to neighbors and unchurched friends, we have found that even our home is not the first place to begin a relationship.  If we invite new people over, it is usually for a cookout in the back yard, not for a dinner inside our home.  The initial place is often a local restaurant that is neutral ground.  Our church is not neutral ground for the unchurched.  Planning evangelistic activities on campus creates and unnecessary barrier for many we are trying to reach.  Our strategy needs to include locations that are neutral, common, and natural to the unchurched.  We need to ask, "Where would the unchurched feel comfortable?"  Rather than our own comfort being primary, we need to apply the attitude of a servant and missionary and remove unnecessary barriers to sharing the message.

Ron Bennett, "Authentic Church-Based Evangelism in a Relational Age" in Telling the Truth, Ed. Don Carson.