We were talking to our kids about the Gospels at dinner tonight. You know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Really great conversation.
Danny, our 5 year old, asked, "Daddy, is 'Luke' the same as 'Luke' in Star Wars?" Awesome!
Hated not making it to Whiteboard, but whaddaya gonna do? I know what you are going to do. You are going to the Conference Channel to experience some video, Twitter, chat with folks, view some pics and more. Should also mention Tony Morgan is blogging through the conference. Hurry up! It's already going!
I'm highly anticipating Andy Crouch's new book, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. You can read the introduction and first two chapters online. I heard about this book months ago and I'm eager to get my hands on it.
Go ahead, pre-order it on Amazon right now. Due out in July.
Starting a series of posts called The Big 5. They will be seeking your input on the books you would recommend on various topics, or for various reasons. For the first post: What 5 books would you recommend for a church's book table?
Your 5 should be somewhat diverse. In other words, don't give me 5 books on theology only. Mix it up. And I know you want to list more than 5, but no cheating! Don't necessarily suggest your best 5. Get creative. Mention some others won't mention.
Here are my 5, foundational-ish ones...
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
Desiring God by John Piper
Putting Amazing Back Into Grace by Michael Horton
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
Your turn. No need to add links unless you want to.
Chicago has once again been praised for being awesome, this time by Fast Company magazine. When we thought things couldn't get any better, the Chicago Bulls gets the top NBA pick. There was only a 1.7% chance of that. And to top it off, and this is an unbelievable achievement, Chicago also has the best gas prices (highest is best, right?).
Michael Foster: What do WE Mean by Missional Communities.
Jonathan Dodson: Living in the Tension of Mission & Community.
David Fitch: 10 Ways to Engage Mission in the Suburbs. Some great thoughts.
If you are like me and can't be at Whiteboard, there are options.
Alvin Reid has a love-hate relationship with the American Evangelical Church.
It's an all video Music Monday. I think you will enjoy these.
First, Coldplay's new Sigur Ros-ish video to "Violet Hill"...
Justice's Cross album is often fun and full of cool vibe. The song "Stress" is full of stress (go figure). This video illustrates the intent of the song in stunning fashion. WARNING: Not for young, impressionable future ruffians or people who don't appreciate an occasional middle finger.
Portishead's "The Rip" is a great song, and this is thoroughly interesting video. Take Dramamine first.
...and "Machine Gun"...
American Music Club's "All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco"...
UPDATE: Congratulations to the Thorns on the birth of Madeline Ember Thorn, a 5.4 lb hottie born this afternoon. My wife is known for her huge babies, nearly doubling the size of Madeline with all of them. We always wanted to hold one of our own this small. Wonderful. Congrats Jen and Joe. More at Joe's blog, Twitter, and Flickr.
Originial post...
Jen Thorn is in labor! Joe Thorn is at her side. It's a beautiful thing. As she has contractions Joe is reading books about running marathons, sending me text messages, Twittering, and taking photos. I hope as Jen is doing the hard work of bringing a new life into the world you will pray for them with me.
Good to hang for a couple of hours with Darryl Dash of DashHouse last night. He is in a city just north of me for a conference and decided to look me up, so we found some time for coffee. Great guy.
Care to buy Scott Lamb's 6,000 book library?
Jonathan Dodson isn't starting new ministries.
Learn how worship teams practice at Sojourn Church in Louisville, KY. They use The Planning Center.
Scott Hodge describes The Orchard's critiquing culture.
Joe Thorn pointed me to this video: "From Russia With Hate." Wow. Awful.
JD Greear is describing the missions strategy of Summit Church: Part 1, Part 2.
Resurgence interviews Matt Chandler.
Important values for Christian artists as summarized by Justin Taylor. The whole PDF.
Jeremy Pryor continues his explanation of The Story-Formed Life discipleship class...
Molly and I saw The Avett Brothers on Saturday night. What an amazing show! High energy. We were bouncing and dancing and screaming and singing. I was fortunate to have a voice on Sunday morning. And though we were in Milwaukee for the concert we were still in bed by 12:30am, which is a typical time for me to get to sleep before preaching.
If you don't know The Avett Brothers, shame on you. Seriously. I've worked hard to introduce them to you on this blog. For all you who are slow to catch on, here...
By the way, the opening act was Jessica Lea Mayfield (MySpace). Outstanding. Blew us away. (That was her in an above Avett video.) Her only recording is her White Lies EP that seems impossible to find apart from going to the concert or ordering from her website. It's not on iTunes. I picked it up at the concert. Her stuff is alt/country, her recordings are very acoustic, her concert added a deep level of power and mystery. Holy cow. Also check out David Mayfield's stuff, Jessica's brother, who was her bassist and a fun stage presence.
This is the best video I could find of Jessica. It's cluttered at the beginning with crap, but get through it and you will be rewarded. By the way, this is the song from the second Avett video above. They covered her song.
WARNING: Some unbaptistlike content to come. Some of you won't like this.
Jessica sings a song called "Bible Days" which was outstanding in concert. Here is a stripped down version and a pretty good recording. I love when the world helps me know how they think. Listening is such a great tool.
My wife is a more than just a totally hot babe, she is also an amazing Mother. We spent time driving in the van today and I had the kids take turns saying why they think their Mom is so great. Their answers were great, but they barely scratched the surface explaining the many ways my wife is a Mother worthy of admiration and honor. I love you Molly.
Our kids were really wanting a donut, so we obliged. I really don't like sweets very much, but that Chocolate Kreme really hit the spot. The second photo is of Elijah at his Little League "Pitch, Hit, and Run" competition. Yeah, that's the "Run" part. See all my photography.
I'm really sick at the moment (102 temp) and I thought a lots-o-links post would be therapeutic. And away we go.
A Cubs website: Just One Bad Century.
Really appreciate Jeremy Pryor making some videos about a discipleship strategy called The Story-Formed Life. First video. Second video. More to come.
JD Greear: Multi-Site = Multi-Opportunity.
From The Economist: Nomads at Last: Wireless communication is changing the way people work, live, love and relate to places—and each other.
The Empire Strikes Barack...
Gavin DeGraw's new album comes out tomorrow, I think. I thought Chariot was really fun pop music with a fairly unique sound. Watch the first video from In Love With a Girl.
Portishead's "Machine Gun" = very wow. I know some of you won't like it, but that's your problem. I'm looking forward to picking up their first new album since 1997, Third. You can hear more at Last.fm.
There are several clips of Portishead's new stuff, but none are great quality video. So to introduce you to Portishead's trip-hoppy goodness, here's "Roads" from a live 2006 show...
"Go Cubs Go!" is the song played at Wrigley Field after a win. My kids and I sing along. Here's a fan video...
You heard me. McDonalds is Chick-fil-A for notherners who can't get Chick-fil-A's delectable chicken sandwich up here. You should try the new Southern Style Chicken Sandwich at Micky D's, or the chicken biscuit in the morning. It's not Chick-fil-A, but it's the closest thing we've got. And it's pretty doggone good.
As I do a lot of thinking on evangelism this year, Jonathan Dodson has put up a post on gas buy-downs (etc) that I find very thought-provoking and helpful. Go read it.
Can't neglect introducing (or reintroducing) you to Taylor Mali this National Poetry Month.
I enjoy the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz (Wikipedia, Poets.org), winner of the Nobel Prize in 1980. I think you will too. Milosz died in 2004.
Forget
Forget the suffering
You caused others.
Forget the suffering
Others caused you.
The waters run and run,
Springs sparkle and are done,
You walk the earth you are forgetting.Sometimes you hear a distant refrain.
What does it mean, you ask, who is singing?
A childlike sun grows warm.
A grandson and a great-grandson are born.
You are led by the hand once again.The names of the rivers remain with you.
How endless those rivers seem!
Your fields lie fallow,
The city towers are not as they were.
You stand at the threshold mute.Encounter
We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.And suddenly a hare ran across the road.
One of us pointed to it with his hand.That was long ago.Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.O my love, where are they, where are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.
I'm on Twitter now. Put it off for many months but am enjoying it so far. Some "essential tools," "twitter links," and "benefits." Twitter in plain English.
I've opened an Amazon bookstore for my blog. I'm building up all my recommended books there. When you buy through it I get something back.
Bob Franquiz: 10 things churches could learn from Disney.
Tim Chester: When Gideon gave a seminar on church planting.
Audio/Video of the Multi-Site Exposed conference in Seattle.
