AC Busted

Air conditioner not working in room still. Am slowly melting...

Anyone see Ron McLean's shot about Gary Bettman last night on Mike Bullard? Made me proud to be a Canadian.

Evangelism and Discipleship Notes

I messed up the Freedomize URL. It should be correct now. I said earlier today that Freedomize�s worship band was amazing. I understated what I said. They are even better than that. I hope they put out a worship CD. I would love to hear it. I wonder if much of their stuff was written by them. Speaking of worship CD�s, I need to ask Jared for Next Church�s worship CD. I would enjoy hearing it.

Brian is now talking about evangelism� He is sharing a story from his book, �More Ready Than You Realize� about the harpist. He just about put about 100 words on a PowerPoint slide.

- Behind harsh words are some real interesting questions
- People don�t respond to Christianese. We can�t talk like that. Part of the struggle is that people don�t follow our church language
- �Conservative� could become more offensive to people as liberals are to some other.
- Christianity is a failed religion. Apologetics need to more about apology. Enormous power in apologizing. See the example of Pope John Paul II
- Postmodernity is afraid of global destruction
- Problems of language � gay rights, we don�t talk about the same thing. Civil rights
- Problems with Christianity are also with our Christian subculture. Accepting Jesus means to accept modernity and become a worse person.
- Belong before they believe - George Hunter, Celtic Way of Evangelism
- Anam � Celtic for soul

Panel on evangelism was excellent

- What would happen if we spent 5 hour a week on our neighborhood? Transforming housing developments into communities.

Brian is talking on Discipleship

What if we traded in our idea of being Christians for the idea of apprentices of Jesus?

Thought bomb: To learn from example is to submit to authority. We learn what we can not even articulate.

Assimulation of knowledge can only be picked up by doing together.

What if the art of being a Christian has been lost and we only have the rule books to lecture on.

Dominant approach to apprenticship is �sin management� where we develop Christian vampires where we want Jesus for his blood and nothing else.

Matthew 28 � some doubted � our confidence goes up and down.
You study under a master so you can play like the master and eventually take on apprentices yourself.

Master and apprentices are the language of our story

Lord � not just about his deity but as the Master where he had apprentices and now they have apprentices.

Teaching the art of life.

�Of all peoples� � ethnos and ethos. Judaism was for Jews but Christ expanded it.

Notes from Brian McLaren

I will add to these notes over the next couple of days. The notes are shoddy but I will be working on them.

Freedomize worship band lead worship. One of the best worship bands I have ever heard. I wish Lakeview�s worship leaders would explore some new worship forms musically. There are some incredible ones out there, I wish they would think outside that box.

Brian sarted to speak and I will find the notes online and add them to my notes today.

1 Peter 3:15

-Negativity is a sign of decay
-Value of religion is assessed by value to non-adherants � thought bomb by Dallas Willard. (I am thinking that Dallas Willard need blogs. I would love to read their daily thoughts)
-Practical leads us to forgot thought changes
-We have the stories to address the changes we are facing

The Great Chain of Being

World was hierarchical as science was perceived to be. Life was comfortable in a hierarchical. Huge influence on Roman Catholic church

What if we treated First Nations cultures as if we treated Greek culture. Instead we ignore it or are biased against it.

Copernicus starts the renaissance where the sun moved to the center and it shattered the world views and even assaulted the church

Ecclesiastes 1:4:6

Luther called Galileo a fool.

Panel mentioned Leslie Newbiggin�s �Foolish to the Greek�, I need to buy this book. Another Panel member mentioned the domesticated God as being a blind spot of the church. Also mentioned command and control organizations as a problem. Jared Seibert (who has done an excellent job on the panel)mis talking about being a defender of the truth rather than seekers of the truth. Good thought. We need to keep up rather than defend. He also feels we have fostered a culture of avoidance where we think we can glorify God by avoiding things which was what Jesus modeled. Sunlight laundry detergent. �Go ahead: Get Dirty� I love it. Leaving the Christian ghetto behind.

Brian mentioned the short attention spans. They are going down a six lane highway and we are offering a narrow road. We aren�t stimulating them enough.

In a small group with Ron Bonar in talking about the transition from medieval to reformation. If Ron had been alive then, I don�t think the Reformation would have gathered much steam. He made the reformation popes look kind. It was a group learning exercise and was fun

Will blog more after our afternoon session. Also will post some pics

Some Wednesday thoughts

Had to be at the Saskatoon airport at 5 a.m. Didn�t manage to sleep on the flight and had a horrible inflight meal and we got into Toronto early. We are staying at the Regal Constellation and have a horrible hotel room. Dirty, hot, and worn. I talked to Elizabeth and Neil Nickel and they were less then complimentry. The only thing good about our room is that Dean�s is worse. This place is run down and dirty. Not nice. I don�t mind older hotels but dirty hotels frustrate me. This place is not recommended. I found out the Liberals are holding a convention here this week too. It seems fitting. (okay, that was a political shot but it doesn't happen often so give me a little grace)

I joined Dean, and Kelly and we spent Wednesday in downtown Toronto. We walked for miles and miles and ended up at Wayne Gretzky�s restaurant just down from the Skydome. After supper we watched the Blue Jays lose to the Red Sox. A rather boring game but we had some amazing seats. The three of us just kind of vegged at the SkyDome. It was a great time.

A couple of thoughts from the game�
- The ushers were amazing boosters of the Jays and the Skydome. They sold the game and we really evangelists for baseball. Compare that to many ushers I have seen.
- Ricky Henderson (who was playing left field) came over and chatted in front of us with some fans who had a banner for him. He signed some autographs, posed for some pictures and was a really nice guy to the fans from what we saw. It was really cools
- I really liked the live fan segments. It would be cool to do that at Lakeview with some shots of PowerHour for use in the services. I need to talk to Jeb about it.

We also were confronted by a guy from Edmonton who felt that all people down east needed to be "beaten and put into a dumpster"

Kelly�s and mine hotel room is 90 degrees. Not a nice feeling to sleep in.

Brian McLaren is speaking at the Evanglical Fellowship of Canada event. Now evangelicals in Canada are much different than those in the States but it is a odd feeling conference. A lot of people recognized me from my website which is cool.

David Barbour is here. Dave is Lee Barbour�s brother and a really nice guy but I hate being at conferences with him. Dave runs triathalons for a hobby. There is always a time at a conference where I am talking to him and he mentions that he is going or coming back from a long workout. He ends up running 10 k or something. Meanwhile I end up feeling guilty for enjoying my bagel and coffee. Everytime I see him I realize I need to start working out again.

Elizabeth and Neil Nickel are here. Neil has many talents but he is the best driver I have ever seen. If Neil was driving those Suburbans in �Clear and Present Danger� when they were attacked by rockets in Columbia, he would have been able to escape without anyone spilling their coffee and probably not a scratch on the vans. He is that good.

My friend Randy McDonald is here. I played hockey with Randy at Aldersgate College. Within seconds of talking to Randy we generally start threatening each other physically. My favorite memory of Randy was the practice that the entire team went out and bought aluminum Easton sticks. I was the goalie and NO ONE could even hit the net. Kevin Bishop and I skated to center ice and Randy came over to yell at us to go back to the net. We started to bug him and he got mad which after that the pucks didn�t even stay in the rink then. Easiest practice I have ever had. We played soccer together too. One time Lorne Cornish and I were mixing it up with some people from the other team and I looked up and here came Randy sprinting down the field. Fastest I have ever seen him move. A brawl waiting to happen. All I know that if a brawl breaks out at this conference, Randy will be in the middle of it. Actually I would love to see that, a brawl at an EFC conference.

AOL on a 14.4 modem

Okay, my PC Card modem was acting flakey on me so I got out my not so trusty 14.4 Sportster modem. I am online via AOL and it is slower than you can imagine but I can e-mail and blog. My flight leaves Saskatoon at 6:00 a.m., so when all of you are sleeping at 4:30, I will be trying to figure out how my car works so I can drive to the airport. I'll keep you posted.

Pet Hippo Seized From Man's Yard
Officials were investigating Stehly for allegedly not having a permit to own a hippo. It said officials seized the animal in late January after a tip from a real estate agent showing a nearby home.
Just curious but can someone tell me with a straight face if there is a hippo permit?

Paul was the original Mafiaboy?
This came from Kent over at Fishrush. A little out of context but is the intro to the book ""LINKED: The New Science of Networks - How Everything is Connected to Everything Else and What it Means for Science, Business and Everyday Life" Let's hope the book is better than the theology he spouts in the intro..

Running out of time

I am off to Toronto tomorrow to take in Brian McLaren's New Kind of Christian conference. Will blog about what I learned every evening. I am then there for the Free Methodist Church in Canada's General Conference. Not looking forward to that nearly as much. General Conference is where denominations assure themselves that everything is alright and that moving some deck chairs around can and will save the Titanic. It will be good to see some friends though. I am giving a workshop on media in the church. The presentation is good and I hope it makes a small difference in people's minds. Will let you know how it went.

I am sicker today than I have been for months. I can't talk and just ache all over. It takes the joy out of travelling.

Wendy blogged a little bit about the film installation on our street on her blog.

The Church-Internet (dis)connection

Andrew Careaga pens these thought in Next-Wave. Alan Creech fires off some thought from Search Party in Next-Wave too. Makes me wish I had been there.

Toronto at Carolina Game Recap Facing elimination, they played with more emotion and got a stellar effort from Joseph, who tied Clint Benedict for second place on the all-time playoff shutout list.

Clint Benedict is second all time playoff shutout list? Clint Benedict never won anything! Update: I was thinking of Clint Malarchuk. Clint Benedict was an all-time great goaltender. I stand corrected. He was actually the first goaltender to flop to his knees and battle like Dominic Hasek does.

I am sick

Sore throat and ear ache. I feel like I am seven again. I hope I am feeling better for tomorrow morning. Preaching with a sore throat is hard. I can swallow but I have to think about it. I am afraid I am going to drool while on stage.

I am also hoping I am feeling better for tomorrow evening. There is a film festival in Saskatoon that is using the street in front of my house to show the film on. I bought some low light film and will post some pics if they turn out. We are having a little party while it is going on.

An interview with Eugene Peterson in the Christian Century.

Past condems future

Horton said the idea of combining the two churches was discussed, but he doesn't think it will happen. "They're just two different congregations that are proud of each of their churches and their history," he said.

This is kind of a disapointing article. Two United Methodist churches would rather let their history divide them than come together and do something for the Lord. The whole article is about saving the churches, not making a difference. Sadly this story is repeated across thousands of cities and towns across North America. Erwin McManus has a great line in his book where he says something like, "we are going to impact this city for Jesus or close", sadly, these two churches are proposing the opposite.

Enviromental Responsibility

Last year I decided to be a better steward of the enviroment. I think it is something that Christians don't take seriously enough. I tried out some new organic solutions, started to compost, left some lawn clippings down to save moisture loss (which is important since it is a drought here) and a lot of that stuff. I still use some chemicals but not nearly as much and we aren't throughing out nearly as much stuff. It has been kind of cool.

My lawn looks HORRIBLE this spring. We had a really weird winter here and the winterkill on my grass has been enourmous. Not a lot I can do about it now. It is too cold to replant some seed although it is coming along slowly. I really enjoy landscaping so everytime I walk out front, a part of me wants to cry. For all of the right stuff we did last year, it still looks bad.

The cool thing is that the hedge that we planted last year is looking great. I hate straight hedges. We needed a divider to break up the patio from the rest of the yard so I planted an S shaped hedge in the backyard. It has grown amazingly well. We planted a circlular hedge with the last 16 tonyastors we could find last summer (I won't pay $12 a shrub) but it needed thickening out so we added another 17 to it this year. In a month of so the "postmodern hedge" (as our friends have called it - it is non-linear) should be looking better. Our home is 50 years old and nothing was really done to the lawn for all of these years. It is coming along now. I am just thankful no one ever decided to plant a careganas The following was posted about a research station in Saskatoon getting rid of the shrub. Getting the building site organized was one thing; the caraganas were another. Thick caragana windbreak hedges had been planted in the early days of the Forest Nursery Station. About 45m apart, they ran north and south, the length of the plot area. There were some Siberian elms, lilacs and maples also. The PFRA estimated that it would cost $3.25 a metre to remove them... ...Attempts were made to burn them in the fall but they seemed to thrive on that. They were eventually beaten by the front-end loader. After being tipped over, root and all, they were piled, allowed to dry, and then burned; the leftover roots were taken to the dump. Our neighbor down the street has been doing battle for two years with his. Not a lot of fun.

AKMA on real time blogging
I have to agree with AKMA's assesment of real time blogging. I really enjoyed Doc Searls real time blogging and I wished that there had been some real time blogging from Search Party (I don't think they had WiFi there).

Some Roman Catholic Church news.

Bill O'Reilly commentary on the Roman Catholic problems in the Vatican.

SFGate.com has more on how the Catholic laity are rising up.

The Cardingal of Chicago has a cool idea. Cardinal Francis E. George wants to sell his mansion. He says it is too much house for a humble servant of God. And, the cardinal said, the estimated $15 million price could keep the deficit-laden archdiocese from closing more schools, or help pay sexual abuse settlements. While historic, I think he is right that it needs to go. I don't know much more about him but I was impressed with his comments.

Some Search Party 2002 Comments

Andrew Jones posts about Search Party here. Alan Creech talks about it here, Palmer gets it here, and Andrew Careaga chats about it here.

I can't wait until WiFi spreads and we will see some real time blogging at more conferences. Several that have it are blogging, getting e-mail, and asking questions based on e-mail from their real time blogging. Too cool.

I just found John Janzen's blog and MP3.com site. Take a listen to his new album Think Again. It is very good.

Upgraded to Blogger Pro

I just made the switch to Blogger Pro. At first glance you don't get the impression that this is a "must have" but once you start to mess around with it, it kind of grows on you. Spell and grammar checking, title formatting, posting at a prearranged time, e-mail posting are all some of the cool features. Perhaps the best feature is the "Upload file" feature where I can post a picture without having to ftp it online first. I like it and think it is worth the $35 a year. Plus you get to ensure the survival of Blogger which is too cool.

In Conversation with Andrew Careaga

With a skill similar to Mike Wallace, I interviewed Andrew Careaga via e-mail. Andrew has written two books called e-vangelismand e-Ministry, numerous articles has a great blog called, Bloggedy Blog and was cool enough to continue the "In Conversation" series.

1. If I was a church leader right now and wanted my church to impact the world for Christ via the internet, what are the most effective ways to do that?

My advice would be to get away from the notion that the Internet is all about creating a church website. It isn't. But that's what so many church leaders think. They seem more interested in developing a "cool" website for their churches than in getting down and dirty in the places and spaces of the Net where the people are.

There's nothing wrong with having a church website. But to reach people on the Internet, you have to go where they are. That means getting involved in the conversations occurring in online communities.

Church leaders would be better off investing their time in developing a weblog that reflects their personalities and gives voice to their beliefs, their worldviews, their philosophies, their interests, than in merely slapping the typical church website up on the Net. The Internet "space" where people meet and carry on conversations -- chat rooms, message boards, instant messaging, weblogs and the like -- seems to me to be the place where Christians ought to be.

2. What are some of most effective churches you know of doing right now to minister online?

Unfortunately, not many churches are doing much to minister online in any concerted effort. Most church leaders see the Internet as a tool, not as a space or place, so they use the Net in a utilitarian fashion. They use it for e-mail and research. I preach that we should go out into all the world of cyberspace and minister in the online marketplaces -- the chat rooms, message boards, etc. These are the spaces where interaction happens. The most innovative churches are using the Net for developing community, but these are mostly closed communities made up of Christians talking to each other. As I've said, there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't do anything to engage the non-Christian cyberculture.

3. So many churches are reluctant to invest any money or serious efforts into their online efforts. What are the major stumbling blocks for more churches to embrace e-Ministry.?

You don't have to spend a lot of money to evangelize on the Net. All you need is a connection. All of the tools you need are already there.

But if a church is wanting to use the Internet to minister to its congregants, in the form of streaming video or audio, etc., then there are some technological and financial obstacles to overcome. I still think a lot can be done to develop community, both within and outside of the church, on the cheap.

4. Some would say that the only thing more irrelevant then denominations in the postmodern age is their websites. What would a really connected denomination look like to you?

To be honest, I don't know exactly what a really connected denomination would look like. I'm a non-denominational/multidenominational kind of person and try not to think about things that distinguish our various tribes. I prefer to try to look at the commonalities.

5. What are your favorite sources of information and ideas on the internet?

For searches, I use Google or a new favorite, Teoma.
For general news, I frequent several sites, including CNN and MSNBC, and occasionally Ananova. For religious news, I glean a couple of good Christian newsblogs: ChristianityToday.com's weblog, by Ted Olsen, and Joyce Garcia's Holy Weblog! For news with a twist, I like Dave Pell's Next Draft. And for fun, I check Gael Cooper's Pop Culture Junk Mail weblog and Alt-log, which is a summary of journalism from alternative weeklies.

6. What are your favorite blogs on the net right now?

Jordoncooper.com is right up there, of course! The blogs I mention above -- CT's, Holy Weblog, etc. -- are all great. I also like MetaFilter and wish I had gotten on the blog bandwagon early enough to be a part of its community. The sticky idiocy of Friday Five is simply irresistible, and I hit Eatonweb a few times a week, just to see what new blogs are out there. Finally, the youth pastor in me enjoys reading DeadYetLiving.

7. Of all the books you have read (outside the Bible) in the last twelve months, which has made the most impact on your life?

May I mention two? Alistair McGrath's "In the Beginning," which is about the history of the King James Version of the Bible, was fascinating. I never knew all of the intricacies behind the development of the KJV. I also learned a lot about earlier translations -- from Luther's through Wycliffe's. The other influential book was by another historian, Thomas Cahill. In January I read "Desire of the Everlasting Hills," which presented a nice survey of the life and times of Jesus, Paul and the gospel writers.

Can McD's CEO stand the heat?
Annual sales at the typical McDonald's are about $1.6 million -- tops in the industry, says Allan Hickok, analyst at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. And no restaurant is more alluring to children. yet the owners are quite unhappy.

Heal Your Church Web Site - web design tips for church, charity and para-church organizations. Thanks to Josh Sargent for the link.

Some more e-mail has come in about what I mean by the phrase of Christian Ghetto. It isn't mine and I linked to it earlier but I will do it again here. Jan Johnson describes it as, "many of us have been guilty of being "rabbit hole" Christians. We pop out of our safe Christian homes in the morning, hold our breath at work (thankful for the Christian at the next desk), scurry home to our Christian families and then run off to our Bible studies. We end the day by praying for the unbelievers we avoided all day. We fear what Peter said to flaunt with gentleness and respect: our Christlike behaviour (I Peter 3:14,15). We're to show non-Christians how believers live and be prepared to tell them why."

Evangelicals tend to live this way far more than we realize and some (not all) of the people who have e-mailed me are very critical that mine and other blogs aren't like the paragraph described above. In speaking about that, I am afraid that I cut a much wider swath than I should have and some bloggers and people I respect felt kind of attacked which was the last thing I wanted to do. If you are on my blogroll your writing and ideas are respected by me. If you aren't on my blogroll, you probably are respected too but I haven't found your site yet or I haven't gotten around to adding it. I appreciate the feedback! (I really do).

I got some more e-mail about blogging today. Some people have asked my opinion on what a good Christian blog should look like. I don't know. Look at this mess. My own blog is a mess of links, rambles, and poorly thought through posts. All I can think of is one of my favorite posts from the Cluetrain Manifesto.

"What if the real attraction of the Internet is not its cutting-edge bells and whistles, its jazzy interface or any of the advanced technology that underlies it pipes and wires? What if, instead, the attraction is an atavistic throwback to the prehistoric human fascination with telling takes? Five thousand years ago, the marketplace was the hub of civilization, a place to which traders returned from remote lands with exotic spices, silks, monkeys, parrots, jewels-and fabulous stories."

Maybe it is just great stories? Several people have wondered aloud if I was attacking the idea of the personal weblog. Not at all. Some of my favorite blogs are personal weblogs. The reason why is that they have great stories and thoughts. I like the metaphor of the town market for the web. A place where we can bring monkeys and fabulous stories. The weblog is a great vessel for carrying those stories, even as they are happening.

What does that look like in practical terms? Check out mine or yours or Evan Williams (or whoever's) blogroll and the blogs you read, check out their blogroll. I don't have the answer or a formula. My own personal preference are for those blogs who tell compelling stories or for those that lead me to those that do. Thousands of blogs do that well. My own blogroll is a very small collection of sites who I think do that and I almost feel bad about how few sites I have included because for everyone I include, there are several of excellent quality I am leaving out. I think the coolest part of reading so many of them is watching them grow and change as people find their voice online.

Alan Creech questions my comments about the lack of blogging during Search Party. I should have clarified. I meant blogging while Search Party was happening. I was trying to make the observation that several technology conferences were blogged in real time or nightly while Search Party was silent till most people got home. In hindsight, it was much clearer in my mind rather than what was published. He was right about Palmer's blog. Thanks for pointing it out. Will be adding it to my blogroll

While I was Alan's site I found a plethora of new blogs that I need to spend some time reading. Looks like I will be adding to the blogroll tonight.

Mike Bishop from What is Church? wrote this earlier this week in reponse to some comments I and Andrew Careaga wrote about the online Christian ghetto.

Originally, my goal was simply to report on the journey God was leading us through here in West Palm Beach, FL as a new church plant. That is a valid reason to blog and needs to remain an available outlet for churches (please don't become blog-snobs). However, I agree that the most interesting content on the web concerns someone's real life. Not what they had for breakfast or their favorite color, but what is driving them - forming them - on a day to day basis. In blogging, we have a unique opportunity to reveal how Jesus is forming our lives to people that are being formed by the world.

I think Mike and the rest of that community are right. I like their blog for the reasons that they wrote. It reminds me of one of my favorite novels, Microserfs. The book is written in the form of an online jounal and chronicled some friends as they left Microsoft to start their own company. If it was written today, it would probably have been a blog. What is Church? is a group of friends starting up a church plant and offers a great look into what God is doing in their own lives. My own personal hope for them and their blog is that it is there and online a couple of years from now. I think it would (and is) a fascinating read.

The Christian ghetto I am talking about is more about those that want to create an alternative community for those online. Christian blogs, Christian message boards, Christian television. It is a Christianity of retreat. We will retreat to our own blogs, communities, and retreat centres because we fear the blogs around us. I was amazed at the amount of directories that have sprung up of Christian blogs lately. Instead of retreating, I would love to see more sites just talk. Use the technology to do what it does best, to allow for dialogue between websites and the people (wherever they are on their journey) who created them.

Spreading the gospel of hysteria
"Like summer thunderstorms, there will be more shark incidents this summer," predicted Robert E. Hueter of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. Most people who have swum in the ocean have been within 15 feet of a shark without knowing it, Burgess said.

Being a Megachurch Is No Longer Enough
New York Times article about how megachurches are moving into self-contained miniture cities with amusement parts, McDonalds, stores, gyms, sports leagues. A one stop religious service provider.

Top Ten New Copyright Crimes
My favorite new copyright law and the world according to the networks.
Watching MTV if you are older than 35 or Matlock reruns if you are younger than 40. Advertisers buy ads to reach a particular demographic. If you aren't part of that demographic you are, effectively, a thief.
I thought this was funny until I realized that some network execs think this way.

kalilily time Elaine offers up a thoughtful post about how much and what kind of personal information to post online. Kind of relates to my Christian ghetto post.

They'll know we're Christians by our exotic dancing
Commentary on Salon.com about Christian Silvas case. Mitch Albom offers his opinion too.

Status.Blogger.Com A note from Blogger. If you are hosting on blogspot and your blog isn't there, check out this notice frrom Blogger - We had a glitch on the Blog*Spot server this morning. We're repairing it now, but, in the meanwhile, if any of your pages are not there, just republish.

Escaping the Christian Ghetto
Excellent article. I have been harshly criticized for being too worldly and not Christian enough on this site because of the sports, technology, and political links. I have no regrets. It is probably because I enjoy politics, technology, and sports that I write about them (warning, that was a blinding flash of the obvious!)

I got the site from Andrew Careaga's weblog. He talked about bloggers who focus only on this little Christian blogging community. I think he is right. I see many blogs that link only to Andrew Jones, A Kingdom Space, and to mine. I think this happens for a couple of reasons.

1) We forget that blogging is a conversation between websites and people. Many blogs are an extension of a bully pulpit. It is a place for people to be heard, not a place where people can talk. Many Christian blogs are "Moses Blogs". The author is returning from the mountain top and wants to share his or her wisdom with the masses. So many of these blogs try to be profound or provocative but really are quite boring. Since there is no commenting system, it is impossible to offer up another opinion but many times I don't care enough to go back. The web is about two way communication and conversation. Bully pulpits don't fit into the character of the net. There are some great names for bloggers who don't link to other blogs. Clogger, cloghole, and hermitlogger. Those links are more than just navigation, they are the vessel for conversation with other people.

2) For those who do engage in conversation, too often it is between other Christians ans they avoid the wider discussions going online. Those conversations are gritty and real and uncomfortable and they use language and issues that many people with evangelical roots feel uncomfortable with so they pull away from it. Many are quite political. Glenn Reynolds' site Instapundit posts a lot of opinions that I am uncomfortable with. Doc Searls has a great blog that I love to read but I always get e-mail from people that say, "do you know what kind of language he uses?". Is linking to Doc Searls (there I did it again) or Rageboy saying that I agree with everything they say? I think the answer is obvious but no it doesn't. I don't always agree with Doc Searls, Rageboy, Marek, or whoever I link to. To be honest I struggle with some of what Mike Sanders is posting about the war in Israel and I struggle with what Jeneane Sessum says about Mike Sanders and his posting about the war in Israel. I continue to read and dialogue and respond when I feel it is appropriate. The language, topics, and ideas provoke a wide variety of emotions and opinions from me. Not all of them positive. Being part of a conversation that is larger than I am is both positive and negative and does hold some risk but what is the point in going online if you only want to hang out where it is safe? That doesn't seem very real or authentic at all.

3) Many Christian blogs are very narrow. So many of the blogs by pastors I read once in a while seem to have such a narrow focus. I am not saying blogs or websites should be a eclectic and odd as mine (I think my ADD has something to do with it) but talking only of your church, your family, and Len Sweet's newest book seems really boring too. I am not saying that blogs that deal only with your own life are boring. Actually some of my favorite blogs are about their own life. I find myself really enjoying some of the better written ones and I learn something along the way. So many Christian blogs seem so incredibly fake. There appears to be no voice behind them. No emotion. No life. I don't know if the problem is that many Christians are socially challenged and have no life or if we don't think we can talk about them. Either way, something is wrong.

I don't know what everyone wants to do with their blog but I suggest that everyone readThe Cluetrain Manifesto. The book does an amazing job of describing what has changed because of the net and how interaction between people is changing online. The authors talk of "human voice" and many of the other things that make the net so cool.

Not everyone is profound but then again not everyone on the web has to be. Some of the cooler blogs I read are not brilliant diatribes but rather a chronicle of a journey of life, faith, and adventure. The one thing that is true of all the great blogs I have read is that they are real and authentic. As odd as it seems, fake seems easier to detect online than off.

You can leave any comments below.

Time to blog on
Dan Gillmor of the San Jose Mercury News puts it in a nutshell: "This is my guiding principle in journalism. My readers know more than I do, and that's great!"

"This is liberating," says Gillmor, speaking at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference, which last week saw hundreds of the world's top technologists, hackers and alpha-geeks converge on Silicon Valley to discuss the future of internet based technologies. A strange place to discuss journalism, perhaps, but for Gillmor - long Silicon Valley's most respected columnist - a perfect venue to introduce what he calls "Journalism 3.0".

The lack of blogging from Search Party 2002
I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with the blogging or should I say lack thereof from Search Party. All of these bloggers in my blogroll and not a single mention of the conference. I am sure there are a lot of reasons for this and the main one is that a lot of people don't have notebooks but I am a little disappointed that SP wasn't better blogged.

I have been reading EVHEAD and Doc Searls' updates from O'Reilly's conference and was blown away. Doc was real time blogging while in the workshops Others were blogged once a day. Hopefully I can manage to do the same from Soularize and the NKOC conference in a couple of weeks.

Happy Pentecost Sunday!
Pentecost Sunday is lost in many traditions. Easter is this huge day but celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit doesn't seem that important the modern church for the simple reason that we probably feel more comfortable in running the church than we do in being lead by the Holy Spirit.

My son Mark turns two today. I got him a Fisher Price tool set and Wendy got him a tape player and a Toy Story read-a-long book. Too cool.

On a happy note, Wendy and I rethought some financing and managed to figure out how she can come to Soularize this year. Can't wait to go.

BW Online | May 16, 2002 | A Bad, Sad Hollywood Ending?
THE VCR SCARE. In 1982, Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, famously proclaimed that the videocassette recorder was as threatening to the movies as the Boston Strangler was to a woman walking alone. Twenty years later, video rentals account for 46% of studio revenues, vs. the 24% collected at the box office.

Open-source advocates say that's proof enough the market, not the entertainment industry, should decide which technologies prevail. But Hollywood's voice -- and dollars -- carry more weight on Capitol Hill than ideological arguments about the best way to develop good, cheap software. So, for now, open-source advocates face a tough battle just to make themselves heard.

Star Wars: Episode II | An Introduction to Episode II
Wendy and I just came back from watching Star Wars: Episode II. One of the best movies I have ever seen. The battle scenes were amazing. Mace Windu's battle scenes looked incredible although nothing compared to Yoda when he was using the lightsabre or even controlling the clone armies.

The dialogue was horrible and I can't decide what was worse, Anakin's character or Christenson's acting but other than that, the movie was simply amazing.

Wendy and I are off to see Attack of the Clones today. The last movie that the two of us saw in a theatre together was U-571 so it has been almost two years. We get out but generally not to a theatre. I still want to see Blackhawk Down with her.

This Sunday is our son Mark's second birthday. We haven't gotten his birthday present yet for the simple reason that we have about a thousand great ideas. We are deciding today. Sunday will be a lot of fun. Pentecost Sunday, Mark's birthday and a lot of other stuff going on at the Cooper household in Saskatoon this weekend. We are spending tonight and Monday painting fence and deck. I usually wait till later in the year but why suffer a deck that needs painting when you don't have to. In the summer it is a focal point for our friends and we entertain almost every night on it. It is a great community space.

The Sacrament of Friendship
Many years ago the famous French philosopher, Albert Camus, said there is no life worth while unless it is lived in relationship to another. With that line as a background, I would like to share a few thoughts with you on one subject that has to be meaningful to your life if your life is to have any contentment, serenity and happiness. It is the subject of friendship.

I have talked of the idea of the sacrament of community before. Something that we need to understand more of.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band Note to self: Pick up this CD (thanks to Doc)

Unlearning Church
This week's review on TheOOZE.

DH2 - Costumes and Prop Building Tutorials
Just in case you feel the need to go to Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in full costume.

THE SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF TERRORISM
Report created before the September 11th attacks that conceived that an airplane could be crashed into government targets. Here is the background article - 1999 Report for CIA Foresaw Al Qaeda Plane Attack

Was asked to do a small workshop on media in ministry at the Free Methodist Church in Canada's General Conference. I am going to dust off the presentation that Jeb and I did last year for a workshop for Youth for Christ and add in some new things I am learning along the way. Will probably post the stuff on my site when I get back. Depends on how the workshop goes.

It was only 25 years ago that the Free Methodist Church in Canada became its own entidy and was released from the Free Methodist Church of North America (someone should tell them that we have left). Now it feels so odd being part of a national church in a time of globalization and the internet. My site has a global reach and audience while I read perspectives a long way away from me. They talk of the Canadian context but to be honest, as a country we are coming to grips with the fact that Canadian's aren't a distinctive people with distinctive values. We are a community of communities. I should hope that the idea of a Canadian Free Methodist is one that won't be around a quarter century from now and we see ourselves as global (or glocal) Christians and not a national church. I can get excited about a global methodist movement.

Religion Finds Technology
Yet another article on technology and the church. What the article doesn't say is that most of the money spent on technology in the church is wasted because people who use and have control of it are computer technicians while the artists all leave the church. As Seth Godin says, most PowerPoint presentations are horrible and I have to agree. Lyle Schaller points out that most churches are still in the radio age. They have missed the television age and as we move into the Internet age, we are experimenting with media, having lost an entire generation of people because the church is so slow. If you want to read an excellent book on the net, check out the Cluetrain Manifesto or Chris Locke's Gonzo Marketing.

The worst thing about this and some articles that I have seen like it is that they talk of PowerPoint and more PowerPoint. Putting words on screen is not media, it is an overhead. Actually I find bad overheads less offensive then bad media.

The interview originally appeared on Beyond Magazine's Forum site. With renovations going on over at www.beyondmag.com, Karen Neudorf was cool enough to offer up some content. The interview is between Doug Cummings of Chiaroscuro and Karen Neudorf of Beyond Magazine.

Introducing: Doug Cummings of Chiaroscuro - Spirituality in Cinema

Doug will be hosting a film festival at this year's Forum. Make sure you visit his website and check out his recommendations on films with themes from church history.

Why film? Where did this all start?

I've been utterly fascinated with film production ever since I was a kid. I saw "Star Wars" at age 7 and read everything I could lay my hand on regarding the process of putting that world on the screen. I already drew a lot by that age so I was thrilled with the movie's many published production designs and storyboards that I would copy or incorporate into my own sketches. I think it was part of "joining" the creative process and "making" my own films at an early age. You own something after you draw it. It was a great way for a quiet, imaginative kid, to share my inner world with others.

After a while it really intrigued me that so many people watched so many movies and yet no one knew anything about their construction. I realized filmmakers had an enormous "unseen" control over the entertainment we take for granted. Sharing in this "secret" knowledge gave me a sense of authority, which is really important for a kid. And we lived in a Midwestern rural setting at least 25 miles from the nearest movie theater. Going to the movies was a very special event.

Over the years, my cinematic interests branched out, and by the time I was a teenager, we bought a VCR and I was reading film books and magazines and renting the foreign films and classics they often cited. I realized there was an ongoing story of the history of filmmaking that closely interacted with the world's social history, with its ebbs and flows, that had a direct impact on the movies playing at the local theater. That hidden plot was very intriguing.

What do you mean by the hidden plot?

History is a story with its own protagonists, conflicts, resolutions, etc. If all we do is memorize a list of facts, learning history won't do us a lot of good. But if we can see how everything is interconnected and related through cause and effect, then history becomes a meaningful narrative. The drama behind the screen and the politics and personalities working to craft these artifacts of mass media form a story that is hidden to many audiences, but shapes everything we watch. And what we watch influences our worldviews and cultural assumptions and behaviors, whether it's a cartoon, and advertisement, a sitcom, or an art film. Understanding why movies are the way they are and how they can be different has been one of my life projects.

Often, when talking about the Christian voice in the arts, we talk about what we can bring to the table. I think part of the "Culture" discussion at the forum is to see what the culture is saying back to us. How has studying filmmaking changed you?

It has shown me that there isn't a conspiracy to eradicate truth, beauty, and spiritual issues from our culture regardless of what many churches say. People may not encounter God in the same way I have, but they're still processing human existence and asking many of the same questions I do in my day-to-day journey. That's important, to feel that affinity with other human beings. And even if I assume they're not spiritually enlightened individuals, it amazes me how eloquent is their search. They've offered me narratives and visual metaphors and knowledge of other cultures and have allowed me to stand in someone else's shoes for a while and take a look at life from their perspective. I'm irretrievably called to join them in that journey, to offer my own observations and draw from my own experiences.

So I take it you're not one of those "consumer" movie guys then. A lot of times we come to a movie and say, "I feel like something funny", "I feel like something with a lot of explosions." And then, our reaction as church folk is to make all these movie lists - you know, one star for no swears - five stars for lots of swears. Because the movie is supposed to be FOR us.

Well, one of the first steps is accepting that some movies are made by non-Christians depicting the fallen world we all live in, so it's an unreasonable criterion to expect every character in a movie to "act Christian." The next step is to realize that "acting Christian" really entails a lot more cultural baggage rather than strict biblical theology.

The process of evaluating movies on puritanical grounds is simply inane. Great art has moral implications to be sure, but like the violent and shocking content in parts of the Bible, those morals are not always described in sterile, sanctified terms. Counting the number of swear words isn't going to promote a cultural dialogue or teach us any more about a movie than if we dismissed it because its actors are in human form.

I also think movies can be great entertainment, literally meaning "to hold within" rather than "escape." I don't think every movie needs to be a challenge to our minds, but I do think even the most fun art should be creative and not insult our intelligence. And like it or not, our minds pick up a lot of cultural values, images, and myths even within the most innocuous material. In fact, in my experience, the more palatable art tends to obfuscate truth to an even greater degree than art that reflects some of humanity's fallen state. I mean, life is not a box of chocolates, no matter how you cut it. The Bible doesn't avoid it, why should we?

So what are your thoughts on "christian filmmaking" then?

I associate that phrase with several things. First off, I think of famous filmmakers who have claimed some affinity with the Christian faith since the early cinema from say, Carl Dreyer to John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Andrei Tarkovsky, Robert Bresson, Luis Bunuel, Ingmar Bergman, Martin Scorsese, Paul Shrader, Kevin Smith... the list is long and varied. Film history brims with religious themes and Christian iconography. So knowing which filmmakers have a personal faith in Christ is a difficult prospect at best, and can only be approximated through my exposure to public statements they happen to make. There are no doubt plenty of Christian filmmakers who feel their faith should not be made available for public comment.

I also think of filmmakers who even unintentionally incorporate Christian imagery and metaphors into their movies, creating memorable allegories with popular movies like "E.T.," "Blade Runner," "Superman," or "Iron Giant." From the perspective of a viewer, it's the content of the movies that signify their Christian importance, not whether or not the filmmakers have made any public statements or not.

Lastly, I think of filmmakers within the Christian subculture who publicly label their work as "Christian" and whose primary audience is church consumers. Personally, I don't place a lot of stock in such economic qualifiers-- a movie needs to be valued for its artistry and its meaning regardless of whether it's being promoted by Christian bookstores.

So what are you hoping comes out of a discussion on film like the one we will be having at the forum?

I hope to encourage people to look at movies more closely-- to begin to recognize the grammar of the film language and how movies convey meaning. I'd also like to highlight the importance of Christian themes throughout the history of film by focusing on some specific filmmakers, especially those many people might not have encountered before. The movie industry began in 1895, and the cinema is often called the art form of the 20th century. There's such a rich tapestry of images and narratives out there just waiting to be rediscovered and folded back into the gospel and culture dialogue. Mostly, I just want people to have fun and realize how easy it is to step beyond the latest releases at the video store and into a global cinematic conversation.

RECOMMENDED FILMS ABOUT CHURCH HISTORY AND THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS, FICTIONAL OR OTHERWISE:
By Doug Cummings

There have been many films made about Joan of Arc, but none of them match the sublimity of Carl Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1927), one of the high points of the silent cinema. Filmed almost entirely in close-ups juxtaposing the terrified face of Joan with her gargoyle-like inquisitors, the movie is one of the strongest poems of personal faith, the brutality of misogyny, and the dangers of a misdirected church. Recently restored with Richard Einhorn's "Voices of Light," a new choral work composed for the film sung by Anonymous 4 that incorporates the writings of such figures a