• Archive of "video" Category

    Grilled Cheesus

    October 13, 2010 // No Comments »

    OK, so there was definitely some buzz about this episode of Glee in the twitterverse, well, at least in my little corner of it anyway.

    I didn’t get the chance to watch it until just last night and I gotta say, if you think about the average way in which Christians/Christianity was portrayed on television, say, 10 years ago, and contrast that with this episode, there’s some serious conversation to be had about how things have changed.

    Rather than pick apart the episode from the outset, I wonder how those of you who watched (or will watch) this episode think about what’s going on here.

    Posted in atheism, culture, God, homosexuality, video, young adults

    God is Not a White Man

    October 12, 2010 // 3 Comments »

    Caught this video the other day and the more I check out the music this group, Gungor, is making, the more I like it.  Give it a listen.  I just about guarantee you’ll have the tune in your head the rest of the day.


    (ht: Jamie)

    Posted in God, video

    DMin in Missional Leadership at Northern Seminary

    October 1, 2010 // 1 Comment »

    I’ve mentioned before the DMin in Missional Leadership cohort that is being convened at Northern Seminary here in Chicago.  I could list out a whole slew of reasons that I think this is going to be an unbelievable opportunity, but might as well let Dave Fitch, Craig Van Gelder, and Al Roxburgh just tell you themselves.  Check out the 4 brief videos below.

    The first one is an introduction and speaks to leadership issues.

    This second one has to do with issues of theology and cultural context.

    The third video pertains to congregational change and formation.

    This final clip speaks to the unique features of this program as one offered through Northern.

    I have the good fortune to work for Northern, but this is far from a paid advertisement.  This is just me wanting to spread the word about the sort of opportunity that I think is well suited to equip men and women for service in and to the Church in an increasingly post-Christian context.

    Posted in church, culture, interview, leadership, missional, Northern Seminary, theological education, theology, video

    The Arrogance of Christendom Theology

    September 29, 2010 // 8 Comments »

    Though I love the words of my friend Jason Coker in his parable, “The Death Rattle of Christendom,” Dave Fitch is right in saying that, “Christendom Ain’t Done Yet.”  But man oh man, I for one wish it would hurry up and die already so that we can stop having these painfully ridiculous arguments!

    Do you catch the underlying assumptions in this conversation?

    – Where there is talk of missiology, it’s church growth, and not God’s Kingdom mission that takes center stage.

    – Where there is talk of ecclesiology, it’s the (male) preacher/act of teaching, and not the call on a community to make disciples that takes center stage.

    These are both hallmarks of a Christian system which thrives on the power and privilege afforded it by Christendom.  But I say, “woe to us” when we think that leveraging the kind of “influence” that is talked about here has anything to do with what God would have us be about.

    Mega and Multi-Site (thinking here of the video venue sort) churches, “work,” on account of our infatuation with celebrity and our predisposition to the passive consumption of information.

    We must, must, must ruthlessly rip out of our heads the notion that our supposed giftedness gives us license to build our own personal church-kingdoms around it/us.

    Christendom is not a neutral cultural condition, it perverts and distorts and the theology which under-girds this conversation is evidence of it. With no regard for the way in which the message we mean to impart is always embodied in the medium through which it is communicated, we are destined to continually miss the whole point of Jesus’ call to make disciples whose lives are consumed by a desire to fully participate in God’s mission in the world.

    And let’s lay aside the distorted paradigm in which this conversation is even taking place for a minute.  Is anyone else concerned about the stark distinction between the ways in which Driscoll and MacDonald come across and carry themselves when compared to Dever.  I don’t know a ton about Dever, but his humility in contrast to the arrogance of Driscoll and MacDonald is evidence enough that what he has to say is bound to be more meaningful.

    I watch stuff like this and I wonder to myself, “What will become of us when our power and privilege is stripped away?  What happens when there aren’t enough church-goers to shuffle around and we lose the illusion of all the influence we once believe we had?”

    Posted in christendom, consumerism, corporate worship, culture, discipleship, post-christendom, preaching/teaching, spiritual formation, theology, video

    Evangelism as the Sharing of Ache and Hope

    August 14, 2010 // No Comments »

    I love it when objects of two different worlds come colliding together.  Think “Say Anything,” “Bringing Down the House,” or “The Toy.”

    In each instance people who have virtually nothing in common are thrust into one another’s lives creating the opportunity for, to borrow a phrase from my friend Geoff, “generative tension.”

    This happened in my life recently.

    To the list of ‘socially awkward misfit meets valedictorian,’ ‘lawyer meets convict,’ and ‘poor black adult meets rich white kid,’ I can now add, Dan Allender meets Eminem.

    A few days ago I began listening to a series of talks offered by Dan Allender, a Christian counselor, author, speaker, and the President of Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, WA.

    In one of his talks, he offered this little nugget,

    Evangelism is essentially sharing our stories long enough to discover a common ache and a common hope.

    Now, as my friend Annie pointed out in a conversation about this sentiment, it doesn’t capture the full scope of what might qualify as evangelism (and I don’t think that was Dan’s intention anyway).  However, I do think it pushes us to a place of realization that, inasmuch as Jesus was God’s way of entering into the story of humanity’s deep aches and fulfilling its greatest hopes, we are called to do the same for others.

    Somewhere in the course of listening to these talks, I came across a new music video by Eminem featuring Rihanna entitled, “Love the Way You Lie.” (ht: Jonathan Brink)

    I’ll embed it below, but let me offer 2 things first, a disclaimer and a reflection.

    Disclaimer: The video contains language and imagery that some might find objectionable.  If you can’t get past that, please do us both a favor and skip it.  I’ll say this though, the language and imagery is far from gratuitous.  I think it is used appropriately and poignantly to convey the weight of the issue.

    Reflection:  The song and video tell the story of a couple who quite transparently have deep aches and deep hopes.  The tragic irony of the situation is that they are trying to come to terms with both through a violent and endless cycle of love and hate, truth and lies.

    I think the reason that I like this quote from Allender so much is that it asks us to be come alongside people as guides as opposed to stand at a distance and offer directions.  There is this great tendency we have to get so focused on telling people that they need to arrive at a particular destination that we completely neglect the more important matter of identifying the “You are here” spot at which they stand.  Directions, after all, are of little use unless you know where you’re starting from.

    The last observation I’ll make as a result of the generative tension between Allender’s quote and Eminem’s video is that without the right direction, we create our own personal hells – something that is visually captured at the end of this clip.  As people of ache and hope, when we try to alleviate our aches and fulfill our hopes in ways that God never intended, we suffer.  All the more reason for those of us who have been met by God at the point of our ache and who place our hope in God’s salvific work in the world through Christ to listen to the stories of others as we share ours and allow God to do that same work all over again.

    Posted in evangelism, God, hell, Jesus, salvation, stories, truth, video

    1st Anniversary Trip to Pelee Island

    July 27, 2010 // No Comments »

    Whoa, 2 full weeks since I posted about the beginning of our 1st anniversary trip to Ohio for a wedding.  Time flies…

    On July 4, like good American patriots, we left Ohio for the promised land of Pelee Island on the Canadian side of Lake Erie.  I get excited for weeks beforehand when I know that I am gonna be able to get up to Pelee.  I love it there.  No hustle, no bustle, no cell phone reception or email.  Just the beach, the water, books, and people I love.

    This time around, our friends Matt and Sharon and their son Deacon were among the number of loved ones that we got to share some time with.

    The weather was hot, but gave us plenty of reason to lay on the beach and play in the water.  We did some boating, some tubing, made smores, shared stories, watched movies, and soaked in the enjoyment of fun and relaxation throughout the week.

    On top of all this, Amy and I continued to celebrate our anniversary.  Here’s our attempt to capture the specialness of the occasion.  Between the hitting, crying, bugs, and neighborly interruptions, I’d say we pretty much nailed it ;)

    We also managed to successfully tote the top of our wedding cake (which had already made its way from Davenport to Elgin), to our hotel in Ohio, in the car to Sandusky, and then on the boat to the island.  It was a well traveled cake, but tasted amazing. Every layer of our wedding cake was different and the top was no exception – tie-dye!

    So here’s to an unbelievable and unforgettable 1st year of marriage that was capped off by helping one couple celebrate the very beginning of theirs and spending time with another couple on the doorstep of a decade.  Cheers!

    Some additional pictures from the trip here.

    Posted in Amy, love, marriage, travles, video

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