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What Does God Think of the Super Bowl?

January 30, 2014 by 4 Comments

Super Bowl Week – which is really two weeks of hype, created controversy, Richard Sherman bashing, Richard Sherman supporting, “What-if?” questions, projected legacies, weather analysis and a time intended to create as much buy-in for people to want to watch the big game. As football fans, we find so much of this unnecessary as we are already invested into the season and want to see who wins. Non-football fans, I just feel pity for them.

But with every big event, we often like to wonder where God’s interests are. One reason is because we presume that God only watches the station “America” on His heavenly flat screen. I’ll move past our “American God complex” and [Read more…]

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5 Favorite Things About the Christianity 21 Conference #c21Denver

January 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago I attended  Christianity21 – still loving on it. I’ll admit, some of it is the “high” gleaned from a great experience. Another part of it though is I keep thinking about the stuff I heard and the people I met. Those things  outlast any high and  in looking back here were my 5 Favorite things.

<strong>1. The vibe of the gathering.</strong>My first impression was how relaxed it felt. Not relaxed in the disorganized sense, relaxed in the friendly sense.  Second “the room” felt very friendly and gracious. As the time went on, I sense it was  an “us” place as opposed to “we are the experts, you are mere peons” sort of thing. I didn’t sense any pretension and if there was, umm, sorry about that, didn’t mean to be that guy.

Seriously, it was one of the least pretentious rooms of informed, “coolish” people I’ve been in. There’s a lot of [Read more…]

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Why the Christianity21 Conversation Was So Important to Me #C21Denver

January 19, 2014 by 2 Comments

Earlier this week, I returned from “Christianity21″ which took place in Denver. After that I got to spend a  few days in Phoenix visiting my sister and her family so I am still catching up at home, in my ministry and processing a few of my notes.  I have a few drafts on actual content (so much goodness articulated there) and I am excited to post them soon.

If you have heard me tell my story, you know I say that among the things God used to help me find my love for the Church again was the emerging church conversation.

I remember reading Tony Jones’ Postmodern Youth Ministry and thinking, “Hey, I’m not crazy.” I remember reading A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren and thinking, “Thank you, I’m not crazy.” And I remember reading Doug Pagitt’s Church Re-Imagined and thinking “Thank God, I’m not that crazy.”

Many great minds and many books later and add all the blog reading, the goodness of social media, countless [Read more…]

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A Brief Post on What I Hope to Gain From #C21Denver

January 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment

I was sitting on the plane thinking about what I hope to gain from the Christianity 21 conference. I jotted a few things down in my notebook, some of it typical and possibly cliched but another part fairly personal.

If you know me, you know I like to get to a few conferences a year. If you read this blog, you know that I acknowledge this quite regularly. What can I say, [Read more…]

Filed Under: Reflective

What I’m Up to: OPEN Boston for Youthworkers, The Justice Conference for Everyone But First Christianity21 (#C21Denver)

January 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment

It’s going to be a fun couple of months as I get to be a part of some amazing events and I wanted to share with you a little about them.

I swear this post is not out of pride but in hopes that some of you will either be able to attend or share with others who can take part in some way. I offer that disclaimer because I’m somewhat involved in each of these and ever since I saw the #humblebrag hashtag, I have no idea what’s permissible to share anymore. It’s almost as if everything is a #humblebrag.

Anyway, if you are a youthworker come to OPEN Boston (Gordon College campus)  organized by the Youth Cartel. Seriously, sign up right now – it’s a well-spent $25.

Here’s what it is from their manifesto:
“There aren’t many places in the church where all ideas have the same opportunity to be presented. Everything is editorialized, shaped, and packaged. Every idea is filtered through a lens.
We think something is wrong with that. Deep in our souls we know the solutions to the problems we face [Read more…]

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My New Year’s Social Media Resolutions

January 4, 2014 by 2 Comments

As this year begins, I find myself thinking about my use of social media. In general, I’m a fan – I enjoy Facebook in theory, Twitter and blogging (my blog has been down for 2 weeks – thanks for fixing it Todd Hiestand!). But there’s a dark side to social media of course and I have a few social media resolutions I am trying to pursue this year.

Resolution 1 – Remember the Purpose of Social Media
I had a friend share with me once how wonderful my life looked on Facebook. I told him that was funny because his page looked so much cooler than mine and we exchanged our memories of mutual envy over beers and laughs. He’s single, always on the move and cool but doesn’t act too cool and makes fun of hipsters which is what hipsters do of course.

He assured me that I was still cool. I not only own a minivan but one of my favorite moments is looking in the rearview and seeing three cute kids in their carseats. Even if I’m listening to the Arcade Fire at the same time, I’m pretty sure that’s not cool. He tells me, “It’s cool that you’ve accepted fatherhood instead of trying to be cool.” I tell him, I’m sorry I wasn’t listening, my wife just texted asking me if I know where the Buzz Lightyear and Woody toys are. “What were [Read more…]

Filed Under: Reflective