Questions to ponder

I found the following thoughts at THIS POST from realministries.org and found it provoking. WHat answers/ thoughts come to your mind as you go think on them?


1) The future leaders of the Christ following movement are still lost. What are we doing to find them?
2) The generations 22 and younger are profoundly shaped by the technological revolution of recent decades: the Internet, Cell phones, iPods, Social Networking sites. Many are capable of building personal web pages much more edgier than any ministry website. Children play on WebKinz, TyGirlz—toys that exists simultaneously in both the cyber world and physical world. How is the Gospel best inculturated in such contexts?
3) 97% of churches in North America are stagnant or declining (75%) or growing only via transfer growth (22%). How should the Christ following movement respond? Is it worth the pain and effort to transition these communities into missional centers that reach lost people or is it better to focus on on creating new faith communities that are seeped in a missional ethos from the beginning?
I would opt for the latter in most cases. Staff the 97% with “chaplain” pastors and deploy the most gifted and entrepreneurial leaders to focus on launching new communities (perhaps recruiting core mission groups) from existing bodies.
4) Given the decay of many church properties and the expense of buying new ones (particularly in urban areas), what role will the church building play in the future?
5) How will theological education be delivered in the 21st century?

Link Dump - RIP Sir Edmund Hillary Edition

Hillary, first to conquer Mount Everest, dies at 88
How to Study the Bible - nice resource
The Minimalist’s Guide to Fighting (and Beating) Clutter Entropy
teens and social media
A two-sided battle
Sinners in the Hands of the Emergent Church
Soulforce Takes Its Campaign to the Church - this could be a huge story in the coming year.
You Know You’re Not Leading When…
Why You Should Run an Open Wireless Access Point [Ask The Readers]
Edit PDFs Online with PDFHammer [PDFs]
Watch Full-Length TV Online with Fancast [Television]
Customize Your Notes with the Circa Modular Notebook [Office Supplies Fetish]
Google 411 - A Tool You NEED to know!
New Research on the Unchurched (see Update 1 and 2 below)
Training Thursday: Is your Ministry Ready for New People?
What does a weeks worth of food look like around the world?
FuBar Demolition Tool
Shark Lovers, Unite!
Theology Matters . . . It Always Matters

ALL TIME CHICAGO CUBS UNIFORM NUMBER LIST

With just over a month until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training I thought I would share this website I bumped into. Find out which players have worn what numbers, since they started wearing numbers in '32. It is updated through last season. A fun time waster.

Link Dump - It's 60 degrees in Indiana (in January) Edition

Where Are They Now? The Original Six American Gladiators
Plunger Throwing - why do I find this funny??? but I do.
Stephen Colbert on Protestantism
Willow Creek study flawed says prof
Springflex: Build Muscles While Using the Computer
Eat This Not That: Choosing the Right Foods
High school winning streak snapped after 34 years Amazing record.
NBC Partnering With Microsoft & MSN to Stream the 2008 Beijing Olympics Live
Why the world is not reached for Christ yet
Walk-Off Wild Pitch on an Intentional Walk - looks like Rick Ankiel at work
FRUCALL - A Tool You NEED to know!
Stay Healthy Year Round [Health]
LSU Using Video Games To Prepare For Ohio State -- looks like it worked!
What Barack Obama owes Jeri Ryan
The Ten Best and Worst Communicators in 2007
Practical Steps for Personal Evangelism
Kids, Consumerism & Ethical Youth Marketing
teens and social media

'08 Book #1 - Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell

The major portion of this book deals with the qualification and training that the author and his team mates endured just to become SEALs. It serves the purpose of providing some history and background on the SEALs and what they do. But the greatest contribution of this section of the book is the understanding that is gained of just how highly trained and prepared these dedicated warriors are to carryout the missions they are given.

The main portion of the book details the events of Operation Redwing in 2005. The battles that took place on that mountain led to the most disastrous losses in the history of the US Navy SEALs. This is the story of Marcus and his unbending will to survive and also of the courage and dedication of his team and the men who embarked on the rescue mission.

From a philosophical standpoint I engaged in the decision that the team had to make about taking innocent lives in order to protect their mission. The choice to not do so likely led to the attack that took the lives of most of Marcus' team. War is messy and decisions made are never easy, this book makes that clear.

If you enjoy military history or biography in any way I would suggest you give this easy to read selection a try.

2007 Reading/ 2008 Goals

I set out with the goal of reading (ie. fully completing) 30 books in 2007.

I fell just a bit short, completing 26; several more were started when the calendar flipped (which should give me a jump on '08.)

The Breakdown of "genre" was as follows:

• 13 - Christian Living/ Ministry
• 6 - Fiction
• 3 - Biographies
• 2 - Business/ Leadership
• 2 - Other

It was a pretty good effort. The balance was about what I expected/ planned for. I just did not accomplish my goal. I recognized two times during the year that reading time became minimal at best and will try to plan accordingly in the coming year. I was tempted to keep my goal the same but in an effort to acknowledge the fact that I have some books in progress and in an effort to stretch myself I am going to set the bar at 35 BOOKS in 2008. I strive to do this not just to read for reading sake but to accomplish a few goals as well. Those are:

1. Meet the challenge of being a better Christ Follower by applying the knowledge that I gain.
2. Improve my writing skills through the creation of reviews for each book read.
3. Become better read and rounded by adding more of the "classics" from fiction and the church into the rotation.
4. Enjoy the reading process.
5. Build a base of known material that can be correctly and intelligently recommend to others.

In January of 2009 we will revisit these goals and see how they went. On with the reading...

Link Dump -- Are your resolutions still intact? Edition

top 10 blogging tips from the original blogger
7 Blogging Lessons Learned From a Best-Selling Author
10 Reasons Why Pastors Avoid the Culture War
Top 10 Fitness Trends for 2008
Rob Bell: An Ex-MHBC’er Speaks
the television schedule for every college basketball game this season
How Not To Invite People To Group
AN AMERICAN'S PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR
Plunger Throwing
Death in Jerusalem - a funny

Book #26 - Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

I have always been a fan of Grisham's books. I was in fact surprised when I realized that there were several that I have yet to read. One of my mini goals of '08 is to throw these into my mix of fiction reading.
While looking for something completely different than this book I came across it at the library. After noting that it was a book I had not read, a Grisham book, and short by novel standards I decided to give it a read. I am glad that I did.
The holiday movie, "Christmas with the Kranks" (which I have not personally seen) is based on this book.
The gist of the book is what many of us have thought of during our lifetimes; the idea of chucking it and blowing off Christmas. The Kranks then discover that even though there are many hassles involved with the holidays and dealing with people, relationships are far more important that personal desires.
The book is as easy as any Grisham text to read and I found it quite enjoyable; definitely recommended.

Book #25 - Going All the Way by Craig Groeschel

In the Fall, Pastor Craig Groeschel offered a free copy of his book to anyone who would blog about it. I was fortunate enough to be one of the ones to receive a a copy. This is both my official post (albeit delayed) about the book and my personal blog on it.

This book proved to me again that it is best to not make prejudgment about a text before reading it. I began with several assumptions about what the focuses of the book would be, only to find that there is much more to it. One specific example is that I began with an assumption that the book would be for singles and maybe those recently engaged. What I found were a wealth of topics dealing with sex and relationships that are universal. Anyone from early/ pre-teen to those who have been married for years can draw from these bits of wisdom.

In the past few weeks since I have read this book I have recommended it to people as well as made use/ reference to the material within. This to me is the sign of a good book. It has helped me personally be able to put a framework around some of things that I have believed about relationships and dating, especially as I begin to walk my children through their teen years.

I can clearly see this book being used as a teaching tool for individual/ couples study as well as small groups of teens, premarital counseling or married couples. Someone with maturity and experience in the area of relationship would need to lead due to the inevitable scabs that can/ would be picked at. This is not a bad thing. One of the things that the church is often afraid of is dealing with hard things. However, I think that God is honored when we are willing to address that tough things in our lives and work through the Holy Spirit for change. This book leads the reader to these gates. It is our responsibility to respond to what God is calling us to do.

I am a strong believer that if more couple is the church would build their relationships based on having already finding "the one", Jesus, and then seeking out a mate of His choosing divorce would become largely a non-factor. I am glad that Pastor Craig has made this resource available, and think that many will relate to his personal accounts. I hope that it is used a a resource to build health relationships for years to come.

New Year, Same Insanity...

I can't believe it's already the 3rd. I have had several posts in draft for a while and fully intended on a New Year's Eve/ Day rush of posts to clear the slate. However, life has been hard at work. Beginning around 7PM Monday evening the snow arrived. As of this morning by best guesstimate is approx. 22 inches in my yard. There has been a lot of shoveling going on. The snow blower is out of commission currently. The shoveling is going a LOT slower due to the fact that I pulled a muscle(s) in my back moving the fist 6-7" of wet snow at about 2 AM Tuesday. I am glad that my wife and boys (sometimes) are glad to pitch in.
I then spent a few hours in the ER Tues night with my mom. She fell and thankfully nothing is broken but she is sore and moving VERY slow. Add to the fact that with n laptop we have one computer that 5 people want to use on a dial up connection (If anyone at Verizon happens to see this, please get the phone lines upgraded in my area so I can get hi-speed!!!!!!!) and I spent basically no time online during my two days off. Plus sitting in one place for very long is uncomfortable with my back at this point. If all goes well I have the following posts that should launch in the next 36 hours...

1. the final couple book reviews from '07
2. a review of my reads from '07 along with my '08 goals
3. a new link dump
4. possibility of a few movie reviews
5. NFL playoff predictions

TTFN