• Archive of "video" Category

    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

    Celebrating Marriage with Marriage

    July 13, 2010 // No Comments »

    July 5th was Amy and I’s first wedding anniversary.  We celebrated, in part, by attending (I officiated) the wedding of two friends in Ohio.

    Nick and Rachel were two of my students when I was a youth pastor at RiverTree Christian Church.  It’s nearly impossible to believe that I we have been in each others lives for the last 10 years!

    Here’s us on our way to the rehearsal.

    The ceremony and took place on the stunning grounds of Stan Hywet in Akron, OH.

    I honestly don’t think I could have invented a more meaningful way to celebrate our first anniversary than to participate in the wedding ceremony of these friends.  Not only were Nick and Rachel the first couple that Amy and I had the opportunity to help walk through some pre-marital counseling, but they are going to be living in the Chicagoland area and we are looking forward to many more years of sharing life with them.

    And this was just the beginning to our anniversary celebration.  After a couple days in Ohio, Amy and I got to head up to Pelee Island with our friends Matt and Sharon. More on that in the next post.

    Posted in friends, video, wedding

    A ViralHope Video

    July 12, 2010 // 1 Comment »

    A few months back I mentioned the release of the book ViralHope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs (and everything in-between). I am one of 50 different authors who offers a brief reflection on what the “good news” might mean for my city (which was Memphis when I originally wrote).  The book has been doing quite well from what I understand and it now boasts an excellent promotional video.

    You can still get single copies of the book through Amazon, or order multiple copies through Ecclesia Press.  I hope you’ll consider spreading this video around, maybe with a link to the book.

    The video was made by Aaron Nee of the Brother NEE.  Check out this trailer from their feature film, The Last Romantic.

    Posted in books, Ecclesia Network, gospel, suburban, urban, video

    The Role of the Bible in Society

    June 2, 2010 // No Comments »

    As Christendom continues to unravel and the Church loses its privileged role within culture at large, we live in an increasingly biblical illiterate society.

    – Quoting Scripture will mean less and less.

    – Bible stories will be increasingly misunderstood or forgotten altogehter

    – And the battles that Christians wage with one another over the objective nature of Scripture will continue to damage our reputation in a broken world.

    For these reasons and more, there is an incredibly important conversation to be had regarding the role of the Bible in society.

    In contributing to that conversation, here’s a 40 minute panel discussion from the recent Q conference here in Chicago between Tim Keller, Alastain McGrath, Dempsey Rosales-Acosta, and Brian McLaren (you can find brief bios on all these panelists here) on that topic.  I’m anxious to see what kinds of responses others might have to the questions and discussion here.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

    (For those reading in a feed reader, the video is flash and may not come through, so you might want to click through to the actual post to view or download.)

    Posted in bible, conference, culture, post-christendom, questions, video, western culture

    Where Do You Live?

    May 27, 2010 // No Comments »

    Just caught this short video from a favorite author of mine, Andy Couch.  A while back I took the time to review his latest book, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.  See what he has to say about the link between idolatry and the questions which define us.

    Posted in books, culture, questions, video

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