Desultory items of personal interest and occasional comment
So, where have all the "Random" posts gone? A few will show up here occasionally but it seems that the new Google+ is perhaps better suited for those posts. You can find a lot of the random material at gplus.to/boydston.
• IT WAS ANOTHER DAMP weekend in Phoenix -- thanks to El Niño. The ground is so saturated right now that the lakes in our backyard are not going to quickly pass into the sandy soil. However, it's all good. Other than a few extra muddy days this means that we're looking forward to a spectacular spring wild flower show throughout central Arizona. It should start to show up in a few weeks -- once we warm up just a few more degrees. It also means that no one is allowed to scream "Drought!" this summer.
• TIM KELLER identifies the "Big Issues facing the Western Church" ~ link
The opportunity for extensive culture-making in the US
Rise of Islam
The new non-western Global Christianity
The growing cultural remoteness of the gospel
The end of prosperity?
• HOW SHOULD churches and leaders be preparing to address these big issues facing the church? ~ link
• WHEATON IS A GOOD COLLEGE. But it is not, nor has it ever been, the flagship of anything -- especially American evangelicalism. By definition evangelicalism is a flotilla without a flagship. ~ link
• A MEMBER OF THE CHINESE military reviews Avatar -- He doesn't get it, either. He thinks he does, though. In his mind Avatar is a window into the American psyche and our unchecked willingness to embrace violence as a means toward global domination. (The propaganda machine lives!) The fact is that we're not that capable. We can't even beat Canada in hockey. ~ link
• FISH FALLING FROM THE SKY in Australia -- and they're not being dropped from airplanes. "The freak phenomena happened not once, but twice, on Thursday and Friday afternoon..." It's a mystery with some potential meteorological explanations. ~ link
• NICHOLAS KRISTOF'S Op-Ed piece in the NY Times:
...Over the last decade, however, that divide has dissolved, in ways that many Americans haven’t noticed or appreciated. Evangelicals have become the new internationalists, pushing successfully for new American programs against AIDS and malaria, and doing superb work on issues from human trafficking in India to mass rape in Congo. ~ read more
• N.T. WRIGHT video clip on Genesis creation account and how the text transcends literalness. ~ link
• SCOT McKNIGHT kindly, graciously, yet firmly skewers Brian McLaren's new book A New Kind of Christianity. ~ link
• GOD IS NOW following me on Twitter. It's not a verified account so who knows if it is real. But he only has 109 followers. I guess he changed his mind. I don't blame him. My followers seem to come and go pretty quickly. So much for my career as a social media expert.
• "WHERE'S THE BROWN M&M in your business?" ~ link
• TROUBLE IN THE WEST of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ~ Slideshow (no gore)
• MIKE ELGAN: "How I Learned to stop worrying and love Google Buzz" -- I'm one who just turned it off but he's tempting me to look at Buzz again as a way to reduce information clutter. Maybe, it will take some more convincing. ~ link
• QUOTABLE:
Why this obsession with massive Toyota recalls? For Toyota to admit that they are not perfect, but will redouble their efforts for customer safety and value, is like finding out that there is no Santa, but your mother will carry on in buying your presents. You may continue to practice Christmas, but something is lost that will never return. For some, to think that Toyota knew about sticking gas pedals is akin to finding out that the bishops knew the game all along in the recent Catholic scandals – and even that did not receive as much national coverage despite the fact that nearly one quarter of America is Catholic. This is a secular breach of trust at a deep level, and so a generational consciousness seems to seek healing by processing the trauma aloud in a kind of media therapy. ~ Frances Leap
• JAMES CHOUNG has pointed to Jonathan Liu's post on raising racists kids. The thing I would add to the discussion is that racial issues are more rooted in culture than appearance. The discussion needs to acknowledge but move past issues of skin color, facial features, and accents. Even kids can understand that people from different cultures have learned to value different things, think in different ways, do things differently, and aspire to different goals.
• FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY has restructured their masters degree programs. ~ link
• HISTORIAN DR BRUCE SHELLEY, a fellow Fuller alum, has died. His book, Church History in Plain Language, rescued me on numerous occasions in seminary. It wasn't on the reading list but I bought my first copy when it was released in 1982. I've worn one out, have a 2nd edition copy, and I've continued to recommend it. There is now a 3rd edition.
He was the first person I'm aware of to identify the "consumer church" as such. He wrote a book in the early 90's with his son Marshall, The Consumer Church: Can Evangelicals Win the World Without Losing Their Souls? He was (and is!) an engaging servant of Christ. ~ link
• IT APPEARS that there is also a great Atlantic garbage patch, too. What is the hang-up that is preventing us from switching-over to the less harmful rapidly decomposing fiber or sugar-based plastics, which have already been developed? ~ link
• JIN AIR, a low-cost Korean carrier, is going to start flying into Guam. ~ link
• "GIANT PREDATORY shark fossil unearthed in Kansas" ~ link
• MORE THAN HALF of Arizona mortgages are upside down. This is why we're struggling to get economic traction. ~ link
• WITTENBERG INSTITUTE -- Independent Lutheran graduate school offering 100% FREE tuition, room/board, books and a living stipend, "world-class visiting faculty," British style of education with MTh and MDiv degrees in Everett, Washington. Interesting new option in theological education. I'd like to see their business plan. ~ link
• MY MILLENNIAL SCORE IS 31. I would have scored higher but I'd hadn't texted anyone, played a video game, or drank from the fountain of youth within the last 24 hours. ~ Pew Research Center
• INVEST IN THE MOVIES -- Hollywood Stock Exchange plans to begin live trading at the end of April. ~ link
• ARIZONA LAWMAKERS are trying to make milk the "official state beverage." I guess I just assumed it was already Corona Extra. ~ link
• ALLES GUTE ZUM GEBURTSTAG! Georg Friedrich Händel -- 325 Jahre!
• HAS DEREGULATION helped or hindered the proliferation of broadband internet in the US? (Wireless is getting close to being able to leap-frog over this wire hang-up.) ~ link
• THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE -- Google's free in-home wireless broadband service called TiSP ~ link
• FRENCH AIR TRAFFIC controllers have gone on strike to protest the modernization of air traffic control. ~ link
• "WE ARE AGNOSTICS living deep in the heart of Texas and our family fakes Christianity for social reasons. It’s not so much for the sake of my husband or myself but for our young children..." ~ link
• BOING BOING takes MagicJack to the woodshed. ~ link
• SOUTH KOREA has opened a prison for foreign convicts. ~ link
• JASON COKER asks, "Does it matter if we know Jesus?" Maybe that's the wrong question. ~ link
• GUAM AND THE CNMI are brothers who are forever competing against each other. But neither territory has a chance of really thriving until they redirect their energy into looking out for each other -- ultimately, I suspect, through political union. I'm optimistic about the younger generation of leaders. ~ link
• SMALL DOGS may have evolved from the Middle Eastern gray wolf, according to results of new DNA research at UCLA. It's just such a stretch to think of the shaking chihuahua as a product of evolution -- or even intelligent design. ~ link
• IT'S GOOD TO SEE that the new Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts seems to be more interested in issues than strict party lines. Might his tribe increase. ~ link
• COVENANT WORLD RELIEF'S list of accomplishments in Haiti continues to grow. ~ link
• AMOS WINTER, PhD student at MIT, has designed an inexpensive wheelchair that is small enough to be used indoors and heavy duty enough to be used off-road. The target consumer is in the developing portion of the world. Impressive. ~ link (via)
• THE POPULATION OF NORTH KOREA has grown. Life expectancy has declined. The infant mortality rate is up. But the biggest story is that the government has made its census information public. ~ link
• HIGHLAND PARK BAPTIST CHURCH in Jackson, Tennessee has set a new world record -- and it's not for baptisms. ~ link
• STATE SENATOR Frank Antenori is introducing a bill which would allow the production and use of old style incandescent light bulbs in Arizona. It's an attempt to challenge a federal law that bans most incandescent bulbs in 2012. IOW, Antenori is trying to create a state's rights case. Regardless of whether he has a legitimate point or not, this kind of splash will further damage Arizona's reputation as a less-than-progressive state when it comes to green business development. I wonder if he'd be willing to call out Washington over a different issue. ~ link
• DAVID FITCH sees Brian McLaren’s New Kind of Christianity, with all of its weaknesses, as helpful in that it further defines the streams in the emerging church movement(s). That opens the door for future conversations. ~ link
• TOP 10 smallest accredited colleges in the US. If PIU were in the US proper it would fit into this group. ~ link
• LATIN AMERICAN and Caribbean leaders are siding with Argentina. ~ link
• FORMER-VP Dick Cheney was hospitalized with chest pains -- which got me thinking, Oh yeah, I guess he is a "former." We probably have some other vice president now. Let's see, what is that guy's name?
• IT SEEMS that every pastor now wants to have their very own NGO or NPO -- so much redundancy and wasted energy. There was a time, not too long ago, when groups of churches got together and collaborated to do things like that. Of course, that meant sharing control of the vision and operation. It also meant a lot more lay input -- or even initiative. Do we really need pastors at the helm of all these things? Is that even healthy?
So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, "We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word." ~ Acts 6:2-4 (NLT)
• 92-YEAR-OLD HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR dies in New York, leaving behind 2,000 descendants. Have fun with the math. ~ link
• "RETIRED POLICE OFFICER fools motorists into slowing down by building bird box that looks like speed camera" ~ link
• GREAT FACEBOOK QUOTE: "Just found a sippy cup in my car. Must have been milk in at some point because I am pretty confident that I didn't fill it with cottage cheese." ~ Lindsay Ahlem
• MIKE ELGAN suggests that participation in social networking could result in higher insurance premiums. (In case any bad guys are reading my posts -- don't even think about it. We have six very hungry German Shepherds, an alarm system that makes Fort Knox envious, and all our neighbors are average Arizonans -- armed with AK-47s and Uzis.) ~ link
• COVENANT WORLD RELIEF & partner, Medical Teams International, are recruiting physicians to go to Haiti. "The next team will depart March 3 and return March 24. Especially needed are emergency and general practice physicians, internists, OB/GYN specialists and pediatricians." ~ link
• NEW PLASTIC MADE FROM SUGAR can go into the compost pile for quick degrading -- less energy intensive production than petrol based plastics, too. Sweet! ~ link
• QUOTABLE:
The simplest way to test the "Protestant principle" is to look at the sentences concerning God in a book, sermon, essay, or address. Is God the acting subject? Or is the human being the subject and God the object? If the latter is the case, then the theology of the Reformation is not operative. ~ Fleming Rutledge
She goes on to school us in Apocalyptic theology, which Dr Rutledge describes as "The strongest and most immediately relevant theological work being done today in the tradition of the Reformation."
• THE FALKLANDS/MALVINAS are back in the news. No shots fired -- so far. ~ link
• ARE MEGACHURCHES the healthiest churches in America? ~ link
• LUTHERAN WATCH -- North American Lutheran Church is the name of the new denomination being formed in the wake of the split in the ELCA. The NALC will consist of those Lutheran congregations which prefer a more centralized structure than the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. The LCMC has added about 60 new congregations since the first of the year and consists of about 300 congregations in total. The NALC will start with about 220 congregations. The ELCA has about 10,000 congregations.
• ANGLICAN WATCH -- St Francis Anglican Church, a familiar parish from our 11 years in Turlock, California, and its entire diocese, left the Episcopal Church. Now the Episcopal Church is suing them, hoping to get the parish property. Considering what property values have done in Turlock, a lawsuit could easily end up costing more than what the property is worth. ~ link
• GUAM RESIDENTS are divided over the proposed name change. I suspect that if changing the name of the island was a step toward solvency or sound management of the government they would embrace it without a second thought. Guam loses a lot of energy squabbling over secondary issues -- not that history and culture are unimportant. It's just that historically institutional name changes on Guam seem to be red herring distractions that keep people from dealing with the critical survival issues at hand. ~ link
• PERSONALLY -- either Guam or Guåhån works fine. As a matter of fact, since the territory is officially bilingual (Chamorro & English) it seems that a name change is unnecessary. Either or both are already appropriate and legal -- and either can be used at the discretion of the speaker. And both support the popular island saying OOG.
• GUAM CURRENTLY has only five civilian ambulances in working condition. OOG. ~ link
• QUOTABLE: "Firing the customers you can't possibly please gives you the bandwidth and resources to coddle the ones that truly deserve your attention and repay you with referrals, applause and loyalty." ~ Seth Godin
• 10 MILLION WordPress blogs went offline during a two hour outage yesterday. Hey, down-time happens -- even with a good system. If it became a regular problem there would be a lot of movement toward blogger. ~ link
• FOR SOME REASON I CRINGE when I see the word "pen" used as a verb. Nobody talks that way anymore (if we ever did). Why do we pen things in writing -- especially when there wasn't any kind of pen involved in typing the document?
• YOU'VE GOT TO ADMIT that the perpetual redesigning of US money keeps things interesting -- even if you don't like it. And it keeps people employed. So it's good for the economy, too. ~ link
• KOREAN RESEARCHERS have developed an artificial skin for victims of severe burns or other injuries made from gyul, a small citrus common in Asia. "The gel made from the citrus can also be used as natural gauze in first aid or for cosmetic purposes in the form of mask packs and creams..." ~ link
• RESEARCHERS have accidentally created a strain-specific antibiotic ~ link
• BRIAN McLAREN'S new book A New Kind of Christianityis getting lots of reaction. That was certainly his goal. ~ link
• I WISH that Mark Noll's bookThe New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith would get as much attention. The whole postmodern cultural shift discussion that McLaren and the emerging folks want to lead is so insular and so Western -- while so much of what is shaping the church in 2010 is so global.
• CHURCHES SHOULD QUIT trying to be so friendly. ~ link
• ON HER BLOG, The Introvert's Corner: How to live a quiet life in a noisy world, Sophia Dembling has an interview with Adam McHugh, the author of Introverts in the Church. ~ link
• RICK STEVES -- travel-guru and Lutheran pot-head? ~ link
• OVER 30% of Americans never use the internet. A new study seeks to explain why. ~ link
• INTERNET USAGE IN ARIZONA is only slightly higher than the national average -- which is surprising given the strong tech sector and young population here. ~ link
• ARE TOP-TIER UNIVERSITIES and colleges redlining Asian-American applicants? The schools struggle because they want to maintain a diverse environment on campus. Asian-Americans struggle, too, because they don't want to go to a school where everyone looks and thinks like them -- but there are so many qualified applicants coming out of this group of immigrant families. ~ link
• DID JESUS WEAR DESIGNER ROBES? J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu says that the gospel preached in Africa's New Pentecostal Churches ends up leaving the poor more impoverished than ever. ~ link
• BENNY HINN'S WIFE has filed for divorce, after 30 years of marriage. ~ link
• IS THIS TRUE? CNN's coverage of the Austin suicide attack on the IRS was punctuated by a Tax Master's commercial. If so, they're supposed to pull related commercials out of the queue when something like that happens. Somebody may have been asleep at the switch. ~ link
• I WAS CHECKING OUT the African American Lectionary. It looks more like an African American Church calendar or theme collection. A lectionary is a collection of scripture readings that are assigned to particular days. There is scripture involved at the AAL but it's buried in there pretty deeply. Interesting concept, though. ~ link
OUR FRIEND MEI is modeling the first MasterPiece Church t-shirt on Guam. Mei is one of my students from PIU. (click on the photo for a better view) In the same neighborhood (broadly speaking) I suspect that you might be able to spot one the MasterPiece shirts in Hong Kong this month, too.
• SLUMBURBIA -- "Come see: this is what happens when money and market, alone, guide the way we live." Hmm? I'm not sure that this is the whole picture. But it's worth a read. ~ link
• "THE LEGENDARY EGYPTIAN 'boy king' Tutankhamun, commonly known as King Tut, died of conditions including malaria and complications from a leg fracture, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association." The genetic inbreeding in the royal family probably didn't help him out either.~ link
• WILD POLAR BEAR in Scotland & analyzing DNA from cattle extinct for 400 years. ~ link
• THE COASTAL REDWOODS of California are in danger because of the decrease in levels of summer coastal fog. ~ link
• WE CONTINUE TO HEAR of relief effort failures in Haiti with materials stacked at the airport and lack of distribution systems. Covenant World Relief, on the other hand, works through existing networks and has an incredible list of accomplishments to this point. I'm so proud of CWR and what they do, and how they do it without a lot of media hoopla, hype, or drama. They quietly go in, build relationships, and get the job done. ~ link
• FOR $100/EACH we could send hexayurt plywood structures as emergency housing. They're better than tents -- especially once hurricane season starts. There are lots of people with cool housing ideas but they need production and distribution partners. Perhaps some of the relief money could go to hiring locals to assemble structures. ~ link
• I PLANTED the jujube stick that Brad Chang (Kevin's father) gave me. There is not much root to it now but I'm trusting that it will become a tree. It's an experiment.
• THE STATS on statistical changes in the US religious bodies are out. This is the rundown on the 10 largest tribes. ~ link
1. Roman Catholic Church, 68,115,001 members, up 1.49%
2. Southern Baptist Convention, 16,228,438 members, down 0.24%
3. The United Methodist Church, 7,853,987 members, down 0.98%
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,974,041 members, up 1.71%
5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no membership updates reported.
6. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc, 5 million members, no membership updates reported.
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,633,887 members, down 1.62%
8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3.5 million members, no membership updates reported.
9. Assemblies of God, 2,899,702 members, up 1.27%
10. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 2,844,952 members, down 3.28%
The Church of God in Christ, the National Baptist Convention, USA, and the National Baptist Convention of America didn't report statistics again. I am guessing that they have each experienced significant decline.
Our church plant in Laveen (village of Phoenix, Arizona) is progressing well. And we're now getting to the point where we're starting to develop a more public presence. So, I'm sensing the need to bolster the ranks of our MasterPiece Church prayer partner team. We only ask one thing of the partners -- read the weekly email that we send out to our local constituency and at least once pray over what you read.
If you feel led to become a partner please send me an email.
This new church start is a little unconventional and not cook-booked. We are not on Covenant appropriations (in light of the slow economy and the rapid growth of other new churches needing funding) but we are developing this group with local funding and with help from a few outside sources. At this point it is okay and God continues to provide for all our needs.
There are about 20 people (including kids) who meet two Sunday nights a month. We have about 20 additional people who are interested but haven't made it through the door, yet. It is a wonderful mix of people from lots of different backgrounds.
We're not trying to be cutting edge or come up with some new creative model for doing church. We are not aiming to become large but we're not trying to remain tiny.
We're hoping to switch to weekly Sunday morning gatherings (that seems to be the most culturally appropriate format for this area) in the fall -- maybe on 10-10-10. But we're playing it all by ear and are not trying to set speed records.
This coming Sunday we're going to have a table at a local community festival -- the Laveen Pit BBQ. We'll be meeting people, handing out info about the church, and selling chocolate bars to raise money for Haitian relief.
The Laveen area (along with a community in the East Valley of Phoenix, and several similar communities within Las Vegas) constitutes ground-zero of the foreclosure crisis. So there is a lot of uncertainty -- people coming and going, new renters, people who want to go but can't, empty houses, empty strip centers -- emotional chaos. In other words, it's a good place for a new church and we're pleased that God has called us.
• BIG EXPENSIVE OOPS for BofA -- "Bank of America forecloses on house that couple had paid cash for" ~ link
• AARON MARKUSON, a pioneer in ministry, one of the driving forces behind the founding of CHIC, and a truly creative voice in the Covenant, has died at the age of 99. ~ link
• THE SKILL SET for cross cultural living and biblical interpretation are very very similar.
• "SPACE ROCK contains organic molecular feast" -- No indication as to whether it originated from a class M planet ~ link
• "MISSIONARIES IN HAITI skeptical of newcomers" and I don't think they're trying to protect their turf. They know how long it takes to build trust and to effect long-term change. But this is a crisis. ~ link
• IT SEEMS TO ME that a law against texting while driving is redundant. We already have laws which prohibit engaging in "distracting" behaviors and they're just waiting to be enforced. ~ link
• "MAN TRAINING to be 911 operator saves son's life" over the phone ~ link (YouTube)
• THE DECLINE in Mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in the US has nothing to do with the rise of atheism and everything to do with the growth of "everydayishness," according to Martin Marty. "It results from thousands of practical changes in habits, customs, practices, and ways of living, which distract those who were once attentive to religious versions of these and detract from reviving them..." ~ link
• THE GOVERNOR OF GUAM wants to change the island's name to Guåhån -- the Chamorro word from which Westerners got Guam. This isn't necessarily a bad idea but it sounds like a bit of a red herring at this point. He also pushed for unification of Guam and the CNMI in his last state of the island address. Unification is probably the necessary next step for developing both of those territories. Both would benefit. ~ link
• "HAITI: HELPING WITHOUT HURTING" -- free webinar series about responding to the Haiti earthquake disaster -- February 17th and 24th, March 3rd ~ link
• FREE pancakes, pretzels, bowling, Blizzards (I'm sure glad the EV Trib is still in business) ~ link
• AVATAR -- "With 'Avatar' now the highest-grossing movie of all time, some evangelical Christians are wondering how to respond to the cultural phenomenon." Is it necessary or even helpful to "respond" to every cultural phenomenon? If we spent more time watering and fertilizing our grass we wouldn't be so worried about the weeds that pop up. ~ link
IT'S ALREADY SUNDAY on the other side of the world and the lunar New Year celebration has begun in China and much of Asia. Happy New Year! Good fortune and prosperity (including many red envelopes and oranges) to you!
• BUSY HOLIDAY WEEKEND: Today is Lincoln's Birthday. Sunday is Arizona Statehood Day, Chinese New Year, Transfiguration Sunday, and something else. Oh yeah, Monday is President's Day.
• ON TOP OF THAT temps are supposed to climb for the holidays -- mid-70's. I wouldn't be surprised if we hit 80° in some places around Phoenix.
• WIFI TURNS SCHOOL BUS into study hall -- more or less. Prolonged computing on a bus would only make me nauseous. ~ link
•ARIZONA STATE Rep Frank Antenori "has proposed a bill that would make it illegal for the poor to purchase so-called luxuries, like beer and cigarettes and premium cable with their own money, when they're also getting welfare assistance and food stamps from the government." Of course, enforcement would require a whole new layer of bureaucracy. ~ link
• DONATIONS to the Covenant World Relief Haiti fund are now at the $600,000 mark. ~ link
•I LOOKED for the books I needed in two area bookstores on Wednesday. They were not in stock so I placed an Amazon order on Wednesday evening. The books shipped on Thursday afternoon (yesterday). They were in my PO box this morning -- even with the standard free shipping.
• VOLUNTEERISM IS a positive part of American culture. And it shines in a crisis. ~ link
• WALTER FREDRICK MORRISON, the inventor of the Frisbee, has died. ~ link
• "THE GENERAL MANAGER of the Chilean mint has been dismissed after thousands of coins were issued with the name of the country spelt wrongly." I feel his pain because I've had spelling issues with that country's name, too. My keyboard wants to turn the country into a restaurant. ~ link
• THE METHODIST CHURCH IN ENGLAND says that after 200 years it is ready to merge back into the Church of England. ~ link
• THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA is planning to put a satellite campus in a former Motorola plant in Chandler. ~ link
• APPARENTLY NOT EVERYONE thinks that the Church of England's thumbs up to the North American Anglican Church was all that strong. ~ link
• THERE ARE SEVERAL EVENTS at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary this month celebrating the release of the monumental Atlas of Global Christianity. I'd order a copy but it would break my Amazon budget for awhile. Anyone want to guess the price? ~ link to press release | link to atlas page
Well, Scot, if you think that's spiritual, only on Guam do you find Yahweh market! It is located in the quite pleasant village of Yona on the eastern side of the island.
If you click on the picture you should be able to read all the signs on the side of the store -- and you might surmise that Yahweh must be a heavy drinker and smoker.
For those lost in all of this, the word Yahweh is an attempt to render the very proper name of God into the English language. Elohim is the Hebrew less personal name for God.
There is something more powerful than simply beaming yourself into other locations, and that is raising up disciples. Over time that will go farther and faster, but right now it will be more work and slower. With technology today it's easy to spend all of your energies reproducing your own voice, but there is a longer view that says, what if instead of beaming video to those ten locations, we train ten people who can go there and lead? ~ Rob Bell, Leadership Journal interview, Winter 2010 (pp. 30-31)
THE GENERAL SYNOD OF THE CHURCH OR ENGLAND has given a thumbs up to the Anglican Church in North America, the new Anglican church body. ~ link
While the tendency is to see this as a conservatives (ACNA) vs. liberals (Episcopal Church US) drama, there are three back stories which may be even more important in the long-run.
The first is that this province is set-up more as a network of affiliate congregations -- networks in which geography plays less of a role. True, there is a hierarchy and bishops but it doesn't function in a strict hierarchical fashion. Control is more decentralized than in the Episcopal Church US. This will make the organization more flexible and responsive.
We can also expect this model to ultimately work its way back into the other more established Anglican bodies. It is a foot in the door for a new structure.
Secondly, the ACNA formally reconnects disenfranchised Anglican bodies. The most notable is the Reformed Episcopal Church, which left the Episcopal Church 137 years ago (!) in a dispute over the growing level of high church ritual. In addition to the REC, the new ACNA brings together some of the other "continuing Anglican" groups that left the Episcopal Church more recently.
Thirdly, there is an incredible new surge of church planting and evangelistic outreach among Anglicans in North America. Some of the growth in the new ACNA is the result of a reshuffling of the saints but this new configuration has re-energized Anglican outreach in the US and Canada. There is a new vision and a new enthusiasm. The Anglican log jam has broken free.
The ACNA isn't going to be the perfect church body and there are wounds that need to heal. This new group certainly isn't the silver bullet for reaching a post-Christian culture. And they haven't done anything about all the frilly clergy outfits. But from the perspective of an Anglican outsider looking in, I can see more hope than at any time in the last 25 years.
...Of course, there's a different strategy, a crazy alternative that seems to work: do the most you can do instead of the least.
Radically overdeliver.
Turns out that this is a cheap and effective marketing technique. ~ Seth Godin
• WHY PHOENIX is in so much money TROUBLE right now ~ link
• YOU CAN LOOK UP the Daily Texts for any day of the year using the calendar at the Moravian Church in the British Province website. Click on the "Watchwords" button on the bottom.
• YOU CAN prepare and print US Customs forms online at the USPS website. ~ link
• IT'S GOT TO BE FRUSTRATING to work in a police department where everything is so politicized and the posturing is so much a part of the system. ~ link
• I TRIED TAKING THE CEO color aptitude test but I think my preference for lime green broke the system and it refused to give me any results. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to continue being what I am. I am so undisappointed. ~ link
• OKAY, SO THERE ARE actually people using Google Wave. ~ link
• TAKING THE WHOLE CHURCH COFFEE thing to the next level -- "Covenant Roasters" ~ link
• ARIZONA has just published a new free visitor's guide. ~ link
• FUN VIDEO clip highlighting the similarities between Old English and Frisian. Friesland is a region in the Netherlands, a region where many old Anglo-Saxon tribes lived. Some of these people migrated to Britain about the 5th century and brought the beginnings of Old English with them. (I once watched a movie in Frisian and by the end of it I think I was understanding 60% of what they were saying.) ~ link
• MORE INDICATORS OF ECONOMIC TURNAROUND -- We have new shopping centers in Laveen which have been sitting empty -- many never occupied. Now we're starting to see some activity. Also, I noticed today that the former Mervyn's store (which could not have been open for more than a few months before the company went under) has new banners announcing the arrival of Goodwill and Mi Pueblo Supermercado -- both of which should do well in the area. My only hope is that it's a nice, not-so-dumpy Goodwill.
• IN SPITE OF THE RECESSION we're still way better off than previous generations. We need to keep things in perspective. ~ link
• 10 PRODUCTS THAT BOOMED during the recession -- some I get -- some make no sense whatsoever. ~ link
• DOLLAR GENERAL plans to add 600 stores, hire 5,000 in next year ~ link
• THE SNOWBIRDS are back in Arizona this year -- in greater numbers. ~ link
• "KENNETH COPELAND MINISTRIES partners with United Theological Seminary to offer advanced degree" -- as crazy as it sounds this appears to be real. Such strange bedfellows. I'm still trying to figure out what I think of this. I think it's a step in the right diretion -- sort'a. ~ link
• SOMEBODY HAD TO DO IT! US border entry-card piffle set to music ~ link
• "I THINK ONE OF the most spiritually dangerous practices today is encouraging people -- in small groups or in front of the church or even in print—to talk about how God has transformed them..." ~ more from Mark Galli, who is sooooo spot on
• "DID YOU KNOW: Using the highest grade Velcro a 160 lb person will stick to a wall with only a four inch square." Thank you, Randall, for sharing that. ~ link
• PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ON THE MOVE for a long time. Last week we read of the remains of an ancient Asian man found in Italy. Now DNA studies confirm that the 2,000-year-old remains discovered in eastern Mongolia are of a Western man. ~ link
• WHAT IS THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM? Mark Goodacre has a 40-minute-long lecture from his Intro to NT class at Duke U on his NT Pod blog. ~ link
• PROPOSED ARIZONA SOLARBULLET solar-powered train would connect Tucson and Phoenix with a 35 minute ride. ~ link (via)
• NORTH KOREA plans to free detained Tucson activist Robert Park. Smart move on so many levels. ~ link
• I'M NOT SEEING the Twitter Hovercards, yet. But I'm looking forward to them. ~ link
• AVERAGE TEMPERATURES continue to rise in Phoenix. Urbanization causes heat retention. ~ link
• THE FLOATING PLASTIC TRASH VORTEX in the northern Pacific Ocean used to be the size of Texas. Now it's covering an area twice the size of the continental US. ~ link
• 79% OF NIGERIAN COMPANIES are in a hiring mode. 71% of Chinese and Indian companies are hiring. 70% of Pakistani companies are recruiting. ~ link
• THE US ARMY is considering stationing 12 high speed vessels on Guam. I'm still trying to figure out why the Army is in the ship business. Wasn't the whole Marine Corp idea that they would be the sea-going troops? And while we're at it, why is the Navy is in the flying business. Why do all the service branches have so many duplicate units and missions? ~ link
• COGNITIVE FLUENCY isn't a totally new idea. Pastors have long complained that their congregants believe that the more simply something can be stated the more true it must be. That is, if something is complex or technical it must not be true -- or at the very least it is irrelevant. (This is why the believer's baptism approach generally wins out over the paedobaptism approach -- because the argument for baptizing infants is more complex. Likewise, the premillennial approach to eschatology is more easily reduced to a clean chart than any of the amillennial approaches.) Now psychologists are starting to take note of the phenomena. ~ link
• "TWITTER ACCESS IN MEXICOmay soon be restricted if plans by the Mexican Revolutionary Democratic Party become law. The plan, drafted by republican and PDR member Nazario Norberto hopes to restrict Twitter usage in an attempt to cut down on crime." ~ link (via)
• INEXPENSIVE PRINTING -- My brother Greg has compiled a really good collection of printing links. I've been using his site as a portal to printing deals. Somebody has always got a promo running. ~ Cheap Dog Printing
• AMERICAN TEENS are less into blogging these days -- and they never got into Twitter. Blog use among un-hip old people remains steady. ~ link
• PEPSI IS DROPPING OUT of the Superbowl this year. They'll put their ad dollars in social marketing -- community projects. This is a radical shift. ~ link
• THE ARIZONA GROUNDHOG was so busy sunning himself out by the pool that he forgot to check for his shadow -- not that he could actually see it through his Ray Bans.
• RAINBOW PANCAKES -- at least somebody gets it! ~ link (via)
• NEW TAX ON FOOD sales starting April 1st -- no foolin' ~ link
• "A CHURCH IS planning to open and run a ten-pin bowling alley to help bring jobs to its local community." ~ link
• THE REAL REASON GOD MADE TOBACCO -- "A new therapeutic made from tobacco plants has been shown to arrest West Nile virus infection, according to a new study by Arizona State University scientist Qiang Chen and his colleagues." ~ link
• THE SOCIETY FOR BIBLICAL LITERATURE publishes a monthly e-letter for those who teach Bible in high schools. ~ link
• THE NY TIMES dynamic chart of the 2011 Obama budget is incredible ~ link
• TIM STAFFORD'Sreporting from Haiti is insightful and sensitive (he's back in the US now). He has has the ability to quickly get to the heart of matters. ~ link
• "MASS GRAVES may have lasting spiritual impact in Haiti" -- the burden of Animism ~ link
• SOMEBODY ROBBED the bank down the street yesterday morning. ~ link
• IF I WERE starting a radio ministry aimed at Christians in North Korea I'd not try to keep it a secret -- but I wouldn't send out a press release, either. Low profile vehicles get less wind resistance and thus better mileage in face-sensitive cultures. ~ link
• JOB SEEKERS aren't as willing to relocate. Perhaps it has to do with the real estate market ("I'm so far under I can't afford to sell my house and go elsewhere."). Perhaps there is less sense of security in new jobs ("What if I move across the country and the new company does a round of layoffs? Then what?") ~ link
• "DNA TESTING on 2,000-year-old bones in Italy reveal East Asian ancestry" ~ link
• THE NEW MIDDLE-CLASS face of homelessness in America ~ link
• PHOENIX WILL LIKELY start taxing food sales (@ 2%). I don't mind paying taxes, and a food tax wouldn't hurt me, but I'd rather see something other than food taxed. When food gets taxed the poor are affected more than the rest of us. ~ link
• IF THE STATE continues to close down the DMVs does that mean they don't really expect people to have driver's licenses or to register their cars? At what point does the legislative mandate to do such things become unenforceable? Are cuts in highly visible state services such as parks and DMVs designed to strategically garner public support for legislative solutions to the budget problems? Just asking. I haven't figured this place out, yet. ~ link
• ANCIENT CITRUS TYPES still found in the Inland Empire of California -- Mediterranean Sweets, sour oranges, and Duncan grapefruit brought to California by the Mission fathers. ~ link
I shared Lloyd Ahlem's "A Christian Manifesto for People Who Aren’t Great Theologians" (which I have posted on my bradboydston.com server) with someone today. So I thought I'd share it again with a more general audience. In someways it reflects the cultural emphases of a few years ago when Lloyd wrote it but I always find it fresh and appreciate an unpretentious presentation by an intellectual.
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God is in charge of everything. He designed it all, made it all, and will end it all. How he goes about it is curiously captivating to consider. You can get some fancy college and seminary degrees trying to figure it all out.
God thinks he is self-evident. He is not too worried about your proving whether or not he exists. Simple people can find out a lot about him without much mental hassle. Brainy folks have to be more childlike.
God loves people. He turned himself into a man so he could be like you. He gurgled through babyhood, colic, and wet pants. He squirmed through adolescence, emerged into strong manhood, and into full divinity. He is the strangest combination of qualities you have ever heard of. He is called Jesus, and he will not fit any of your notions of what God ought to be like.
Through the years people who yearned for him and began to understand him wrote down what they learned about him. They used their own words and descriptions as best they could. They did very well for they still tell us about him today. Their thoughts are true and full of hope. Some people like to argue about the words, but their fussing is not important. The plain stuff will compel you more than you expect. If you don't think so start with the Gospel of John, then the Gospel of Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles. They are easy to find in the index of your Bible.
God knows you screw up your life and make a lot of booboos. Knowing you could hardly do otherwise, he decided to forgive you before you even started being so awfully normal. That way the heat is off you and on him. No use keeping score in a game where the results don't count. You can forget about feeling guilty for all your nonsense unless you decide to be your own god and fix everything yourself. Some people try to do this and they get very tired; tired of themselves and tired of never succeeding at setting things straight. There is always somebody to apologize to, some stupid act to rationalize, or some dumb mistake that cannot be corrected. In time you will not care or your conscience will be so beaten up you won't feel either pain or joy. Fortunately, Jesus paid all our moral and spiritual bills. You don't have to contribute a thing-just accept the gift. This is true even if you have done something hideous.
Since God has no memory of your klutzy deeds and lusty motives, he likes what he sees in you. He enjoys your company. He laughs and sings and dances when you come around. He is like a father who wants to do more for his kids than they can imagine. He tries not to be too indulgent because they might get spoiled. So you may not get everything your heart desires.
God is not half as hard on you as people are. He loves you so much he will forgive stuff most religious people would like to hold you accountable for. Do not worry about these people. They can't take away the gift. In fact, a lot them haven't accepted the gift themselves. That's why they are so pious and cranky. Try copying God when it comes to forgiving yourself. You are probably tougher on yourself than he is.
God will give your life direction and meaning. Just start doing the things that show love to people and let God put all you do into a personal mission. By loving and serving you will discover your abilities and God will expand your opportunities. A lot of books have been written about special secret and mysterious ways to dig out what God has in mind for people. Most of these can be ignored. Just read the New Testament. Then do the things that are obvious to do.
Sing a lot, love even more, worship joyfully, hope strenuously, and remember God must have a sense of humor to make the likes of you. He always has a surprise when he moves you along in your life. He is never completely predictable. He loves to put quirks in your plans just for the fun of it. Accept the fact with cheer for he has final plans you can scarcely imagine.
Someday those people who decided to be their own god will get to live with themselves forever; totally alone, unloved, bitter, hopeless, remembering what might have been. The place is called hell and the door will likely be locked from the inside, for this is what they are used to doing. You, on the other hand, are invited to live in his mansion. Living with God will be so fulfilling you will be tickled you dumped all the other options. No death, no tears, no grief, no suffering. Hooray!
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Lloyd Ahlem, EdD, is a retired psychologist, professor, college and seminary president, retirement community administrator, and businessman. He is a member of Cornerstone Covenant Church, Turlock, California. An earlier version of this article originally appeared in the Covenant Companion.
by Jaroslav Pelikan. ~ 
would get as much attention. The whole postmodern cultural shift discussion that McLaren and the emerging folks want to lead is so insular and so Western -- while so much of what is shaping the church in 2010 is so global.
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