These are some great video’s from Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL.
It Helps to explain why I hate being put in the position of defending ‘Christianity’.
Tag Archive - video
Boring Ministerspeak
I recently saw a post on one of my favorite link blogs, BagofNothing.com.
BON linked to an article on TheChurchReport.com that was originally published in Facts & Trends (published bimonthly by LifeWay Christian Resources.) The article is a summation of the data from a recent survey taken by ministers and laity within the ‘church.’ ARTICLE
New research shows that Protestant ministers tend to be less informed about popular culture (magazine, TV, video games, music, etc.) than are the people to whom they are ministering.
This survey exposes the fine line between being immersed in a popular culture that runs contrary to biblical truths; with avoiding this popular culture at all costs. There are definitely two extremes on this topic. Many without ties to a ‘church’ must be confused as to why this even matters, so let me explain the problem. If I try and encourage my congregation every week to live a demonstrative life of God’s goodness while trying to abstain from the things of this world (greed, selfishness, sexual lusts) at what point do I need to engage my world so that I can better reach the people to whom I’m trying to influence? Does that make sense? You have to know what’s going on in the world to better reach the world with your message, but at the same time you must keep a healthy distance to avoid your message being watered down.
I know of ministers who think nothing of devouring all the world has to offer, in television, movies, books, and Internet. They think God will shield their eyes and it’s their duty to absorb as much as possible to be as relevant as possible to their congregations. Other people I know are the polar opposite. They don’t have televisions or computers, and try to avoid the culture of our world at every turn. Most of these families are ignorant on all the major issues facing the world.
I personally fall somewhere in between these two extremes. I fulfill the need to keep aware by reading Time and The Week magazines every week. I also am an avid news reader, and keep up on current political and world events. There are also a few ‘Christian’ resources made available to ministers that help keep us on top of the current popular issues in society.
So in response to BON’s questions about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing… I say it’s both.
Home on the Range
Saw this video on CNN.com. Where the Buffalo Roam
It’s a fascinating story about Custer State Park in South Dakota doing some buffalo roundup to vaccinate and brand these wooly animals. I had a funny thought while watching it. You see there are these crowds numbering 9,000 people that show up to watch pickup trucks and work vans herd these buffalo. Now I’m not saying that wouldn’t be cool to watch hundred of buffalo stomp across the prairie, because that would be super cool! What cracks me up is thinking how far we’ve come in the USA in only 150 years.
Think Meriwether Lewis and William Clark would have ever imagined that years later, there would be 1 hour traffic jams and over 9,000 people sitting on a hill watching pickup trucks herd Buffalo?
(I’ve read the Lewis and Clark journals, and I remember them writing of how they had buffalo herds so large it took days for the herds to clear their camp grounds.)
Run LittlePastor Run!
I’m doing something I haven’t done in years. I’m running. And I’m not even running from someone, or something; just running for no real reason at all. As I head into my 30′s I’ve noticed my stamina not being what it should be, and I had a thought the other day that kind of scared me. Do I want to look back in 20 years when my body is much older and wish I had done more to take care of myself? Now my running is purely for fitness reasons, I have no weight to lose.
I’ll keep a running update on my running in the weeks to come. (Pun intended.) I’m using the Couch-to-5K Running program from coolrunnings.com. This running program seems perfect for the beginner, not to hard at first, but gradually getting more and more difficult over the 9 week program. And I’m using these super great FREE podcasts from Robert Ullrey that I found online. There is a different podcast for each week’s running program. The podcast are great because they have this cheesy running music that makes you feel like you are in a music video, and verbal queues ato tell you to run or walk at the appropriate times.
Anyways…. Here’s hoping all my running gets me somewhere.(Pun intended, again.)
