Rip The Church Roof Off.....

Would we let them in? Would we rather not stop the damage to the "house". G Boyle tells about how the church was smelling like feet on Sunday because of the homeless people who were permitted to sleep in the church building each night. It was noticeable, and the church people said it was OK because it smelled of Jesus....and it smelled like commitment....  

"In Scripture, Jesus is in a house so packed that no one can come through the door anymore. So the people open the roof and lower this paralytic down through it, so Jesus can heal him. The focus of the story is, understandably, the healing of the paralytic. But there is something more significant than that happening here. They're RIPPING THE ROOF OFF the place, and those outside are BEING LET IN."
(Tatoos on the Heart. Greg Boyle. pg 75)

This "Used To Be", or "Finally Is", the Church? You Decide!

Working with gangs and housing people with no home in the church building etc. It drew a lot of attention and a lot of threats and criticism to this Priest in California. Can't help but remind me of how many people are in the building on Sunday for themselves,  and their own comfort.... no real heart to help with anything messy in the world.

"It was at about this time a man drove by the church and stopped to talk to me.  He was Latino, in a nice car, and he arrived at some comfortable life and living.  He knew I was the Pastor.  He waxed nostalgic about having grown up in the projects and pointed to the church and said he had been baptized and made his first communion there.

Then he takes in the scene all around him.  Gang members gathered by the bell tower, homeless men and women being fed in great numbers in the parking lot.  Folks arriving for the AA and NA meetings and the ESL classes.

It's a Who's Who of Everybody Who Was nobody.  Gang members, drug addict, homeless, undocumented. This man sees all this and shakes his head, determined and disgusted, as you to say  "tsk tsk".

"You know", he stays, "This used to be a church."

I mount my high horse and say, "You know, most people around here think it's finally a church."  Then I ride off into the sunset.

(Tattoos on the Heart. Gregory Boyle. pg 73)

New Meaning Of Compassion

The most piercing comment on compassion I have ever read.  Book is worth a read.

"Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgement of how they carry it." 

(Tattoos on the Heart. Gregory Boyle, pg 68

Calibration of Compassion

Spoke by a priest working with gangs in California, to make peace. 

"Dante speaks of having compassion for the dammed. We need not feel ourselves as soft on crime if we see this kind of compassion as its highest calibration." Tattoos on the Heart. Gregory Boyle. pg 67

Sometimes the Gulf is wide for Compassion

"Kids I love, killing kids I love......acknowledge how wide the gulf is that we all hope to bridge. But isn't the highest honing of compassion that which is hospitable to victim and victimizer both?" (Tattoos on the Heart. G. Boyle, pg 66,67)

The Answer To Every Question

"Just assume the answer to every question is compassion....Compassion is no fleeting occasional emotion rising to the surface like eros or anger.It's full-throttled." (Tattoos on the Heart, Gregory Boyle. pg 61)

Why Men SHOULD NOT BE ORDAINED

Why Men Should Not Be Ordained

January 6, 2012 9:15 pm

A friend (a woman, naturally) passed this on to me. I thought it was pretty funny. Also helpful in reminding ourselves that what passes for an argument often isn’t.

Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained For Ministry

10. A man’s place is in the army.

9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.

8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.

7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.

5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.

4. Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have been recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should take.

1. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.

By Paul Neeley

Article link http://timstafford.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/why-men-should-not-be-ordained/

Too Many Choices Turns people into "Browsers"

"Sometimes Googlers don't want more choices. Sheena Iyengar, in her book "The Art of Choosing", says she began by offering twenty-four different jams for people to taste free of charge. She then reduced the number to six. When she was offering twenty-four choices, 3 percent of the people bought a jar of jam. But when she reduced the selection to six flavors, 30 percent bought some. Too many choices turn people into browsers, not buyers. By the way, the magic number before a person succumbs to cognitive over load is seven." (Viral, pg 110)

I remember that during the GM, Chrysler, and Ford motor crisis, one of the main criticisms was that, particularity GM, had too many options in product. Toyota and Honda had basically 5 choices of cars that have been the same for decades, though upgraded slightly each year. But they concentrated on a small number done well. GM's choices confuse people it seemed.

Believing Too Little

"People make mistakes in life through believing too much, but they have a damned dull time if they believe too little."
(James Hilton. Lost Horizons)

Legendary Places

"Most races have their promised land, and such legendary places, must necessarily be somewhat inaccesible, hidden behind misty barriers where ordinary men do not go." (Frank ward. The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges)

Church Hit

The way churches operate, this is so true. You can try as hard as you can to leave a church (Except for moving) as silent or as quiet as you like, for big reasons or little reasons. Stated reasons or having never said a word to anyone about it.....but you will always get a slice from someone. It is always spun as you are being rebellious, or unloving, or just can't get along. 

"You can never leave a church without taking a hit." 

Brian Huffman

Uniquely The Same?

This just about sums up lie for most of us, most of the time... trying to be something or live somebody elses dream.

"If we are all unique, why do we spend so much time trying to look and be like everyone else?" 

Wayne Jacobsen

Church Show...!

Someone somewhere along the line got the idea of putting on a “play” for people and calling it church.   The spectators sit quietly waiting for the performance to begin. Each week they start with colorful music and someone leads them in four or five songs. Then the spectators sit down and wait for the announcements.  Once that’s finished, the spectators are encouraged to give money to the “playhouse”.   Then the spectators sit quietly and listen to a guy stand up and tell them what God is saying.
When he finishes, all the spectators file out the door, pick up their children and head for home.  On the way home they discuss the play.  How the worship team did, how the Pastor preached and so on.  Seven days later, they return and experience it all over again.

Darin Hufford

Internet Frees Faith From "Gatekeepers"

"The Democratization that is realized through the Googler culture is a reason for hope, action, and empowerment. Christians should embrace it as a further elaboration of the Reformation doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Just as the movable-type revolution democratized Scripture by taking it out of the hands of the church, so Google revolution is democratizing religion by taking it out of the hands of the gatekeepers and enabling more open-source, self-organized connections with God. This can be for good or ill."(Leonard Sweet. Vital, pg 111)

Pucker Up!

".....I remember asking God about some of the stupidest things. Conflicted about whether I should kiss a girl I met at a camp meeting, I ran across this poem that eternalized my love for poetry.

Father, Father up above,
should I Kiss
the Girl I love?
Sinner, Sinner, down below
Pucker up
And Let her Go!

(Len Sweet, Viral, pg129)

Assumptions People Make About Your Social Media

I have observed that when I quote anything....... people OFTEN make these assumptions on Social Media.;

1. People assume that if you quote it, post it, or share it, you agree with it.
2. People assume if you are reading it, you must accept all this author stands for.
3. People assume some deception, or a "I don't buy it,"  position, if/when you clarify that what you said/meant, is not what you understood. (That is a conversation ender, and a very telling relationship indicator.)
4. People assume YOU are taking the attitude, "I'm all right, and anything thing else is (Mainly you are) all wrong."

No Tinkering!

"The current predicament of churches in North America requires more than a mere tinkering with long-assumed notions about the identity and mission of the church...there is a need for reinventing or rediscovering the church in this new kind of world."

- Darrell E. Guder, editor, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America.

Port can make you Happy?

I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that.
If you want a religion to make you feel comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity.
- C.S. Lewis

Small Things that Occupy

I am beginning to think Winnie the Pooh understands how good things, fine things, things that are OK,  clutter our heart and prevent us from living for the most excellent things. Have we settled, settled for the brokenness of the world as it is, accepting it's fallen terms, and in the process lost our dreams for the greater visions for something that is good, safe, secure, and OK- at least OK in most people thinking, except your own?

 "Sometimes the littlest things take up the most room in your heart." Winnie the Pooh

It's Just You....Or Is It?

"Maybe it's a matter of peer pressure for most of us. Who wants to face the obvious comebacks we are sure to get if we ask why it's not working? You know what I'm talking about. The 'stock' Christian answers we get when people don't know what else to say. 'You need to be in the word,' or 'You must have secret sin in your life,' or 'You just need to spend more time in prayer,' or the ever popular, 'You just need to give it to God,' These comebacks all imply personal failure or a lack of comittment. They are designed to shut you up so you won't be tempted to ask controversial questions that the people who say them don't have the answers to," (The Misunderstood God. Darin Hufford, PG 8)

Loves Hardship Mends Broken Bones.

"As long as we are on earth, the love that unites us will bring us suffering by our very contact with one another, because this love is the resetting of a Body of broken bones." (Thomas Merton)

Heading of in Gods direction.

"And what else is revival if not the willingness to see what God wants to do and heading off in that direction." (Viral. L.Sweet, PG 182)

30% Wrong

"I'm going to up front with you. Thirty percent of what I'm going to tell you is absolutely false. The problem is, I don't know which thirty percent it is." 

N.T. Wright

Hungry Season is Planting Season

"It is one of Africa's cruelest ironies that as the planting season begins, as it is now across much of the continent, so does the hunger season. The food stocks from the previous harvest are running low and it will be several months before the next harvest comes in. Whatever food remains in the household is rationed: portions shrink, meals are skipped, malnutrition rises." 

African Farmers: Surviving or Thriving?
Posted: 10/04/2012 00:00
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/roger-thurow/african-farmers-surviving-or-thriving-one-campaign_b_1405948.html

Why Have a Device that Does Only One Thing?

God question is it not?

"On way you can tell Gutenbergers from Googlers? Check their wrists. Googlers rarely wear a watch.  `Why would you want a device that only does one thing?' one of them replied when I asked, `Where's your watch?'  They have Iphones, IPads, Androids, mobiles, and Blackberries that put the equivalent of a newsstand, a library, a shopping mall, a jukebox, a video camera, and a high-tech communications center at their finger tips. Soon a handheld device also will double as your wallet, credit card, keys, bank, remote control, airline ticket, video conferencing center, and  thousand other nonvoice uses. Gurenbergers use technology, often reluctantly. Googlers live technology." Viral pg 136

Tidal Wave

Worth some time. Get a coffee, and just listen, think, ask, and pray.

Tidal Wave from simplechurch.com on Vimeo.

Slippery!

"Every issue facing the church today has a slippery Caiaphas, a vacillating Pilate, a betraying Judas, and a centurion who will drive the nails because it's his job." Lloyd Ogilvie

" Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it." Attributed to Harry Truman

Simple Church Interview

The interviewer is annoying, but I get that he is followed by people who have never head of this stuff and it's way outside their box..... first time exposure.... so he is trying to walk them through it...
But worth listening to. 
  

Same Girl!

A young playwright went to see George Bernard Shaw for some coaching. "What's the secret of your success as a storyteller?" Shaw answered. "Well, it's really quite simple. Every play boils down to the same thing. My plots are all the same. Act 1, curtain rises, girl meets boy, curtain falls.  Act 2, curtain rises, girl falls in love with boy, curtain falls.  Act 3, curtain rises, girl marries boy, curtain falls.
The playwright snorted "But Mr Shaw, whats so exciting about that?"
Bernard Saw replied with a smile saying "Same girl, different boy."

Too Simple to Beleive

"You know what I'm beginning to think..... I'm beginning to think that the reason all of this seems so difficult is because it's far simpler than I dare to believe." 

21ys old med Student commenting on simple church. Podcast with Wayne Jacobson,

"Religion is a social experiment to see how many hoops someone will jump through before they go postal."

A 15 yr teens comment to his mother about religion. 

Link: http://thegodjourney.com/2012/04/06/the-simplicity-of-a-loving-life/

Evil is Now Abolished!

On his first day as president of Yale University, the late Bartlett Giamatti issued a memo stating.

"I wish to announce that henseforth, as a matter of University policy, evil is abolished and paradise is restored. I trust all of us will do whatever possible to achieve this policy objective."  1978

"Leader" is a "Madeup" Word with a "Madeup" meaning!

When we use non biblical words, we are guaranteed to diverse opinions and meanings of what leadership is to be... And frankly, how most church consultants are using the word Leadership the last 10 years is scaring the socks off me.  Oh, this kind of leadership works to build churches  (You don't have to deal with dissenting voices), but it does not build relationships.

"Our  fundamental category is `Follower'. Even when Jesus calls us to the front of the line, we still lead from behind. For the last fifty years the church has made a fetish of a word that is hard to find even once in the New Testament (Leader) and has ignored a word that is found hundreds of time (Mathetes or `follower,' `disciple'). Leadership is, at best, a function. Followership is an identity.Christianity is all about following, but that is hard for us to accept. We want to be the leader who takes people to success and greatness...... The first words Jesus's disciples heard? `Follow me'. Jesus's words were not interpreted in a directional sense (`let's go north'). They knew he was calling them to be caught up in what he was doing. Jesus never once used the word leader or anything like it to refer to his disciples." (Leonard Sweet. Viral. 2012, pg 63,64

We've Rediscovered Fire..... Happy Easter!

"Some day, after we have mastered the wind, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And then, for the second time in the history of the human race, we will have discovered fire."
(Teilhard de Chardin.)

How We see Ourslves- How Seen By others! Google Answers!.

"Christians are so......." How would you fill in that blank? Want to see the top ten Google searches? Type this phrase into Google "Why are Christians so.." 

You will learn something about the Google generations top ten things that most people seem to think  Christians are "So" characterized as being "So" much like... 

What, in this Easter season will make any difference in how we interact with others?

1. Not Alone: Why Are Christians So Hateful?
2. Why Conservative Christians So Often Fail the Common Good
3. Why are Christians so close minded? - Yahoo! Answers
4. Why are Christians so notorious in sinning throughout the world ..
5. Why are Christians So Judgmental?
6. If Christianity is all about love, why are Christians so so desperately obsessed with all the people they hate?
7. Why do Christians so adamantly support a false religion?‎ - 30 Mar 2012
8. Why are Christians so cruel to other religions?‎ - 27 Mar 2012
9. Why are Christians so gullible?‎

 

Sadness is Part of Life

The article says that we see happiness as control, and if we are sad it's because we are out of control.   To be balanced sadness and what we learn from the experience is healthy, and part of normal ife.

"Thinking positively is better than thinking negatively. But thinking realistically has even more to commend it."

(Hugh Mackay; In Praise of Sadness, Readers Digest, Nov 2011, pg32)

Shallow End Journey

"The church is like a swiming pool; the splashing goes on at the shallow end."
(Former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie)

Love Is Proven By A Walk!

"Give them time and see what their love amounts too. The kind of love we are talking about here is something that pervades ordinary life, lifts the burdens of trying to be righteous, and easily flows out to those around us in a degree that you don't see in people, even in people who talk a lot about love..... The teachings of Jesus are actually expressions of a person who has been transformed, there not telling you how to be transformed. When you put them into practice you immediately discover you gotta have help, and help comes, and that is how you know God is with you..."
 (Dallas Willard in an intervene with Drew Marshall on The Drew Marshall Show Toronto)

Times Change.

" When I was born teenagers went into a drug store, asked for some cigarettes, and then, in a whisper, asked for some condoms. Today teenagers go into the drug store, ask for some condoms, and then, in a whisper, ask for cigarettes." (Viral. pg 51, Sweet)

Adults As Immigrants To New Culture.

"When I was born, children accessed information through authority figures. We are now raising the first generation of children that do not need authority figures to access information. It is the total reversal of historical learning modes. Looked at objectively, children need adults to help them assess, understand, and process information. The reversal here is that, now, adults need their children to help them access information. In immigrant societies, the children teach their parents the new culture,  the language, and the ideas. Today, adults need to listen to their children, because they are the natives and adults are the cultural immigrants." (Viral, pg 52, Sweet)

Not One of "Your Own"

"Character is how you threat those who can do nothing for you."

YWAM Values Are Good Values!

I'm sitting here in Truro Nova Scotia getting ready to "lead" a YWAM DTS...... but after returing from Mali West Africa, my head is not on straight. I usually need 4 weeks to get back to my normal self.  Its been a week and a half, and I am here.

Honestly, I don' think I have never felt more unprepared for anything in my life. Oh I prepared, but still so un prepared as my head is so full I can't seem to organize anything to get it out. So I have to rely on him. But I determined I was not coming to "Do it for them- Do it To them". We will have a conversation about these things, and we will share.

With that vision in mind I came feeling woefully in adequate to speak.... and instead, God spoke..... to me.

It's a two way street here. I will share, and I will have things shared with me I need to hear. The first morning I am sitting here as the students worship, and yes, as I type this blog. I had too. The first thing I encountered today was YWAM's (Youth With a Mission's) core values. 
I like them, and I needed to be remined of them.

1. Know God
2. Make God Known
3. Hear God's voice
4. Practice worship and intercessory prayer.
5. Be Visionary
6. Champion Young People.
7. Be Broad-Structured and Decentralized.
8. Be International and interdenominational.
9. Have a Biblical Worldview.
10. Function in teams
11. Exhibit servant leadership.
12. Do First, Then Teach.
13. Be Relationship Oriented.
14. Value the Individual.
15. Valule Families.
16. Rely on relationship based support.
17. Practice Hospitality.
18. Communicate With Integrity.

And right now, I have nothing more to say about that.

Complex Structures Hide Our Flaws

"My family home is furnished with heavily carved, high-Victorian couches and chairs that showcase the woodcarver skill. I'll never forget the day I stood in an antique store, staring at a Shaker chair. I admired its simplicity and then looked at the price. I almost passed out. Six figures.When the store's owner came over, I asked why the chair was so expensive. It was so plain it almost made you want to apologize. The antique dealer said, 'In fancy, florid, Gothic furniture like yours, the flaws of the material and the flaws of the artist don't show. The defects and mistakes are covered up by the ornamentation. But when you look at the simple lines of this Shaker chair, you can see very quickly whether there are any mistakes or defects. There is no margin of error. Only a master artist can make a Shaker chair.' It's that simple. We need to strip away the fancies and embleshments. We need to call upon the skill it takes to carve the simple. Discipleship is the process through which we strip away all that impedes the love and mercy and grace of Christ through us to the world." (Leonard Sweet. Viral, pg38, 2012)

I don't Like to hear it.

How I have lived and served in the church for over 20 years, though ment to enage people, has really served to cut me off from life with people in the community. I had to spend so much time in an office studying, managing, running, organizing all the "Stuff" in the name of reaching people. That became a lonely life.
I have come to see that it was really a dysfunctional one too. A life that never enabled us to build the relationships we need to be healthy, nor to to accomplish what we said we wanted..... opportunities to introduce the the person of Jesus to others. We have this contrived "goldfish bowl" approach to our faith. Members, and ministers alike,  see their job as herding the fish into the goldfish bowl (Church building) and let the preacher do the fishing from a raised platform. The fact that the method does not work any more in the west, for the majority of churches, is rarely questioned....you are just accused of not working it well enough (You are always the problem - not hip enough). God bless that road too. However, there is a more enjoyable relational way these days. Public teaching has it's place, but it should never be seen at "The Thing" as it is often seen to be these days.
Here is a good quote from "Viral". This has been an insightful book that is challenging my view of culture and "the times". Frankly what most are writing about this culture, at this time, has proven, for me, to be a waste of time. Because we Gutenbergers are reading other Gutenbergers books -who often see a black hole on the horizon, or a new hip restructuring of what we have as the answer. I love the new connected and relational dynamic that is emerging in the western googler. It has great possibilities, and a more joy filled life of interaction, rather than isolation as one rally's the wagons in a circle. I'm tired of all that sentiment.....I'll stand for the same truth, but not this disjoined apporach to life, ministry and the world, that we are calling church today.

"I believe it is more natural incarnate the gospel in TGIF Culture (Texting, Googling, Iphone, FaceBook) than in the world of the Gutenbergers. In other words, Googlers (be they disciples or not) are better positioned to encounter and engage with the Jesus of scripture than the Gutenbergers have been, since Gutenburgers were inclined to refashion the Jesus of Palestine into a Western-size-fits-all Savior. The church may wake up to find that Jesus's time has come for the TGIF Culture becuse it is more organic than linear, more kinesis than stasis, more circle than square. For this reason, Googlers may be the best hope for the future of the church in the west.
Gutenbergers suited their times well. But in the Googler world - the age of experience, participation, image, and connection - Gutenbergers have proven to be unwilling to let go of their fixed position. Meanwhile Googlers, for a variety of reasons, are more adaptive to the future while being anchored in the past. To add to the sadness, many Gutenbergers are putting more and more distance between themselves and what God is doing in the world.
While the Googelers expend enormous amounts of energy seeking to satisfy their urge to connect, Gutenberger Christians continue to per sue their fascination with terminologies, definitions, formulas, and what Sigmund Freud called 'the narcissism of small differences'. While Googlers are getting by with acronyms and finding friends everywhere, Gutenbergers are delving into words about words that have been written about God's words. It's an overstatement, but in place of vulnerable, transparent, biblical relationships, Gutenburgers often choose a spiritual path that leads away from the practical outworking of life and faith and people."
(Leonard Sweet, Viral: Social Networking.....pg 18)

My Office Time Never Really Produced Much!

Have to say that after spending 18 yrs as a Gutenberger, all the office study time did me wonders in my mind, but made me and my church dysfunctional in being a relational people. We are at the place where we have to "encourage", "coax", and "intentionally plan" for people to be together in small groups in the church. While in our Google culture, this is not forced, or pushed...... It is happening naturally at every moment of the day for them. They are connected and with people in many more ways and times than any of us churchy Gurenbergers are.

We as a church are out to lunch these days. If we have to "encourage" people to join a small group, there is something contrived about the way we do small groups. Anyway, Leonard Sweets Book Viral is pushing us to realize we don't have to fabricate in the church, what this generation does naturally. All we have to do is get out of their way..... it's us older guys who have to "learn" how to connect to our community again.....Read the book VIRAL. This quote is a corker...

"If we had any doubts that God wants a relationship with us, Jesus's life on earth supplies the final proof. God didn't send us a treatise; God sent a Person. And in our culture, either Googler or Gutenberger, it's often hard to find Jesus amid the clutter of words. While it might seem that Googlers (the thumb-texting acronym crowd) treat words too lightly, they are driven to find and maintain connection with one another.
In their dogged tweeting, blogging, Facebooking, and IMing, Googlers have stumbled onto the heart of Christian faith and meaning. Oddly, they have arrived at a place that echos the earliest Christians and their faith communities. I'm not saying that TGIF Culture is more consciously in tne with God than are the Gutenbergers. But I am saying that Googlers (Of any age) recognize a need in their lives and they act on it. Repeatedly. Some would even say constantly...... Gutenbergers might be more apt at describing in words what a relationship is and why it is needed. But Googlers are light-years ahead when it comes to the practicum."
(Leonard Sweet: Viral: Social Networking.)

Time With Others......

"While Gutenberger Christians keep busy parsing a Greek root to uncover the exact meaning of `submit' in Ephesians 5, the Googlers of the world are friending another two hundred people, reading the twenty text messages that came in during the last ten minutes, and meeting someone for coffee. The Gurenberger church might think of Googlers as superficial and bent on wasting time, but what is superficial about devotion to relationships."
(Viral: How Social Networking is poised to Ignite Rivival, Leonard Sweet pg 15)

Fear is reactive!

"Fear does its dishonorable work, creating maladaptive responses instead of  metabolic ones. Never underestimate the power of fear geared up and egged on by ego to keep us from moving forward......Fear causes us to hide in the face of change, and it leads to living a reactive rather than constructive life.  The choice is to be an active part of positive change, which already is upon us, or to passively and grudgingly tolerate inevitable change."
(Leonard Sweet, Viral, 2012, pg 10)

Gutenburg Generation is Confused by The Google Generation!

"Gutenburgers criticize Googlers for being shallow, obsessed with games, narcissistic, and irresponsible. They like to characterize Digital Age natives as perpetual adolescents who confuse status updates with authentic, legitimate human relationships.

But is that an accurate assessment? As I look at the waning of Gutenberg Culture and the arrival of Goggle Culture, I have to wonder if Jesus wouldn't be more at home with the Googlers. In fact, as the Western church built by Gutenbergers continues to lose ground in a world of Googlers, I am convinced that Christians need to start taking cues from the Googlers. Even more, I sense a Googler inside many Gutenbergers, crying to get out and pursue relationship with others. But the inner Googler in too many cases is held back by fear and uncertainty."    (Viral: How Social Networking Is Poised to Ignite Revival. Leonard Sweet, Waterbrook Press, 2012, pg6,7)

Get Outside For Church Tomorrow

"Technology - the knack of so arranging the world that you don't have to experience it." (Swiss playwright and novelist Max French)

Friendship

"What is almost unbelievably remarkable is that God chooses friendship, available to everyone,  a the means of changing the world, it's people, and societies." (The Midwives Story, Michael E. Williams)

Be Kind!

"Be kind, because every one you meet is fighting a great battle."

Philo of Alexanderia


AJR lost in a West African Journey.