emergingmethodists.org

So one of the advantages I have discovered so far with leading our Emerging Methodists cohort is that I am starting to get contacted by companies, publishers, and other “emerging church” content providers to check out there stuff. I actually have some books heading my way, and I was also recently contacted about wiredparish.com. This is a new podcast service that gathers content from tons of podcasters and consolidates it for you. (At least that’s how I understand the service so far) Anyways, so far, I’ve really enjoyed what I have heard. I am happy to pass along a recommendation to the rest of the blogging world.

Click here to visit the site.

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“Terrell has 25 million reasons why he should be alive.”

– Kim Etheredge, Owens’ publicist

I sure hope he has more than that.

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I received a great gift from one of my youth parent’s last week. During a recent sermon I talked about one of my favorite things to do in my job was to get a chance to visit with one of our students over a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I was talking about how important it is to listen to teenagers who actually have a lot to say to an adult who takes the time to listen to them. So anyways, a few weeks later, I received a Starbucks card from one of our families with a note inside that said that they had heard me say that in my sermon a few weeks ago, and that they wanted to just give me something as a sign of appreciation and to encourage me to keep doing things like listening to Students. What a wonderful word of encouragement. It has made my week!

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My wife and I are already hooked on a show we have spent many months looking forward to. As huge West Wing fans, we were really pumped about Aaron Sorkin’s new project and so far we haven’t been disappointed. Event the cast members who we were kind of worried about (Amanda Peet) have been really great.

For those of you who fill pulpits (either physically or metaphorically) each week, you should definitely check out the second show. Matt Albie (Matthew Perry’s character) is the writer for the fictional TV show which is called Studio 60 and has seven days to crank out a great script. In his office, he has a huge clock that counts down until the next show. I thought it would be a great addition to my office to get me motivated for sermon prep. I wonder if I could get one of those on ebay.

Anyways, check out the show. It’s worth your time. In the meantime, check out the trailer below from the greatness of YouTube.

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Church Marketing Sucks reports some surprising statistics related to the demographics of Myspace users. Click here for more.

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Everyone should read Seth Godin’s [latest post] about the battle between those who advocate for change and those who advocate for the status quo. Here’s a quickhit.

Inside most fields, we see pitched battles between a few people who want serious change to reinvigorate the genre they love–and the masses, who won’t tolerate change of any kind. Hey, there are still people arguing vehemently about whether Mass should be in Latin or not.

History has shown us that the answer is crystal clear: if you want change, you’ve got to leave. Change comes, almost always, from the outside. The people who reinvented music, food, technology and politics have always gone outside the existing dominant channels to create something new and vital and important.

Today was a strange day for me. My wife and daughter left town for “craft” weekend with her family, and I got to spend most of the day with one of our new staff members which was a ton of fun. I made the comment to him when we left the office today that I felt really energized today. He laughed because of how “run down” he was feeling and then asked me what had me so excited. We then began to talk about the satisfaction and energy we get when we complete some major projects or see through some things that we have hoped to see for a long period of time. Today I got to see the first fruits of several completed projects.

The second projector for our worship space is finally installed. The addition of this second screen in our area greatly enhances our space, allows us to utilitize the entire area, and will make it more easier for our gatherings to continue to grow. (We have an annoying pole in the middle of our room that reduces the view of a large portion of our room)

We hired a new Junior High Director who started this week, and everyone is really enjoying getting to know her. I am so pleased with the quality of the questions that she is asking and the way in which she has dove right in! I think she is going to be a great fit on our staff and a tremendous blessing to our students.

Our gathering space in our student ministry area has been enhanced by the artwork and pictures that our Student Ministry coordinator has been hanging. It really warms up this large space and the pictures really highlight what we are all about… Students growing in their faith!

One of my favorite people (the one I spent a ton of time with today) has also joined our staff. He has an incredible mind which I trust and really challenges me. I am thrilled that we have this opportunity to work together.

Things are starting to happen. So much of what I have hoped and prayed for and dreamed of happening are on the verge of becoming more and more a reality. It’s exciting to see not only projects, but the people who I share life withng ministry with them so rewarding.

Lastly, I rearranged my office today. That always makes me happy!

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Tomorrow night I am doing a message on Sabbath. I really enjoyed Heschel’s book on the Sabbath. It’s only 100 pages, but a really great read for someone looking for the Jewish perspective on the Sabbath. Here are some notable quotes. To get your own copy, [click here].

Creating holiness in time requires a different sensibility than building a cathedral in space: “We must conquer space in order to sanctify time.”

There is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord. Life goes wrong when the control of space, the acquisition of things of space, becomes our sole concern.” 3

In our daily lives we attend primarily to that which the senses are spelling out for us: to what the eyes perceive, to what the fingers touch. Reality to us is thinghood, consisting of substances that occupy space; even God is conceived by most of us as a thing. The result of our thinginess is our blindness to all reality that fails to identify itself as a thing, as a matter of fact. 5

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Recently [I blogged] about how much of my money, Starbucks is getting each month. Apparently, they want more. Effective Oct. 3rd, Starbucks is raising the prices for their coffee across the board. When asked about the increase, this was the company’s comment from spokesperson, Valerie O-Neil.

O’Neil said the company decided to charge more because costs, including fuel and energy, are going up.

“It’s not one specific thing. It’s part of our ongoing evaluation of business costs,” O’Neil said.

Wow, does anyone in the world actually believe this?

I want to hate this company. Unfortunately, they sell a legally addictive substance. Will this increase cause you to think twice about your coffee intake? When is enough, enough?

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Tonight, while picking out some “Notable Posts” for the sidebar, I basically scanned all 350+ blog entries over the past year and a half. Haven’t supplied as much profound content as I thought!

Oh well, I guess that can either depress me or encourage me to do better. Guess I will go the “glass is half full” way.

I did pull out some posts that I thought were worth lifting up. They are collected in the new sidebar list on your right.