the church geek

1.) Jenell Paris, a blogger I ran across a while ago and whose voice I’ve come to appreciate, offers a post on faith and grief.

2.) Christine Sine offers a few reflections on a book she is reading about the crucifixion - the question the book raises is “if early Christian art does not focus on the crucifixion, why are we so preoccupied with the cross today?” I’ll reserve comment on the hypothesis until I read the book, but I do like the conclusion that Sine offers.

3.) Rob, a friend from seminary days, is offering the chance for you to work on the world’s first open source sermon. Interesting idea. It will be great to see how it comes together.

4.) Want a simple way to explain the faith? This is a pretty good start. It sure beats the bridge diagram.

5.) Love this picture. For some reason it looks sort of old-timey, like something my grandmother might have had on her wall.

ShareThis

1.) I enjoyed Scot McKnight’s review of a book called “Sin Boldly” and have added it to my read list.

2.) I’m still trying to figure out how to organize my electronic life, especially stuff I uncover on the Web. Jake Bouma explains how he uses Evernote to organize his ministry. I’m hoping to implement a few of his ideas…if I ever have time…

3.) If you’re Presbyterian you can play along with this meme. I’m planning on doing it soon, so look for some answers here.

4.) Speaking of Presbyterians, the Presbyterian Bloggers website is trying to reinvent itself. Check it out and see how you can contribute.

5.) Here is the photo of the week.

ShareThis

Here is this week’s Wednesday Roundup - The Vacation Edition (lighter fare than usual…)

1.) Rockstar wanna-bes singing about the dangers of belief in the Trinity. Beware!

2.) I loved these reflections by a retired ‘mainline’ minister finding new life in an emergent congregation.

3.) They often say that ministers never really retired; Looks like the same is true with quarterbacks. I feel for the man, but as a Packer fan I’m in the camp that it really is/was time for the team to move on.

4.) And now for something completely silly and ridiculous!

5.) UPDATE: OOPS! I forgot to point you toward a photo or two…I love this evening photo by fellow local blogger, A Bite of Sanity. I’m not sure what kind of flower it is, but this is a great macro photo.

ShareThis

Just a few items for you this week, while I have a few minutes off from Synod School:

1.) A pretty good start to a list of what a perfect church might look like. What would you add?

2.) Funny little video on how not to be a small group leader.

3.) This picture captures a sense of motion so wonderfully! Almost makes me motion sick just looking at it.

ShareThis

1.) I love some of the stuff that new faith communities are doing…they are bold challenges and proclamations to existing congregations. Internet Monk singles out one new congregation that is committed to giving 60% of their budget to mission!!…If they can do it, why can’t we?

2.) As always Jan raises good observations and questions about the nature of staffing in the established church today. I’d love for her to be a colleague in this presbytery, as we need to hear more of her voice…

3.) Tony Campolo presents what seems like a reasonable, faithful response to the problem of abortion in our country.

4.) How many of the 100 NEA Recommended books of fiction have you read? I’ve read book #6, but I’m not really sure why it’s considered a “work of fiction.”

5.) Today I’ve decided to point to a few of my recent favorite photos from my flickr contacts. I particularly love the lighting in this one and the depth of field in this one.

ShareThis

Some weeks are good weeks where I find all sorts of great stuff to share and link for you, others not so much. This is a not so much week, but here are a few items I did discover and enjoy:

1.) I enjoyed this little analysis of the difference between a non-denominational worship service and a mainline worship service, which speaks well for what’s going on in some mainline churches.

2.) Seems that people are trying to sell all sorts of things these days. Tim Merrill writes about one fella decided to sell his entire life.

3.) For your photo of the week: Who says graffiti can’t be beautiful?

ShareThis

No more talk about GA here, I promise:

1.) Feedly is a new tool you can use in Firefox 3. It integrates with Google Reader and provides you with a whole new way to view and work through your RSS feeds. I like it so far, though I occasionally find some of the navigation a bit awkward.

2.) Please! Don’t let this be you.

3.) Thought provoking post: Don’t Come To My Church.

4.) A while ago, I was looking for some open source presentation software to replace PowerPoint, but I couldn’t seem to find anything. I’ve not tried this yet, but it looks like openlp is just what I was looking for.

5.) This is sort of a different photo than what I normally point you to.

ShareThis

As promised, here is the Wednesday Roundup. As they say, better late than never.

1.) JK Rowling offers some thoughts on living the good life. Dr Geoff Pound has put together a nice collection of Stories for Speakers and Writers.

2.) Having grown up, I’m no longer a big fan of Garfield, though I sure did love it as a kid. Garfield minus Garfield, however, makes it all the more interesting.

3.) My candidate of choice takes a bit hit on the blog Faith and Theology. I’m not really sure I get the point of the argument, so maybe some astute reader of this blog can go over there then come back and elucidate it for me?

4.) Some thoughts on ministry and people, from the blog with the best name ever “Letters from Kamp Krusty”

5.) Here is your recommended photo of the week.

ShareThis

1.) The PC(USA)’s General Assembly is just over a week away. There are many things I’m looking forward to and one of them is the Church Basement Roadshow which happens to be passing through town on the first Friday of GA. Check out a preview of CBR here.

2.) While I wait patiently for my economic stimulus check to arrive in the mail, this post on God’s Politics makes me wonder if there aren’t better things that both the government and I could do with the money.

3.) Jan, as always, has another good post. She looks at the difference between two coffee houses in the exact same location, one successful and the other one not, and asks what the church can learn from this.

4.) A while ago, I asked some questions about doing youth ministry. The internet monk has some great suggestions that I think are spot on.

5.) Today’s photo creatively and humorously depicts the current reality of major river flooding in northern and eastern iowa.

ShareThis

Life’s been really busy this week, so things are behind schedule a bit and I didn’t have time or energy for a ‘meaty monday.’ But, here are a few links for you today:

1.) I’ve not looked at this thoroughly, but I really like the idea. It comes from the episcopal church and it is called “Put Your Faith to Work.” I discovered this by way of the Church Marketing Sucks website.

2.) My wife sent this link to me a long time ago, but I finally got around to checking it out. It’s a sort of a cyber-devotional site called d365. Looks like a good way to chill out and get re-centered on God.

3.) I’m always interested in making better use of electronic tools to help manage my work and productivity. Well, the smart pastor has done it again by telling us how he uses “Sandy,” his personal assistant, to keep track of what he’s doing. I’ve been meaning to explore ways to use Jott too, so hopefully when I get a free moment I’ll be thinking about ways to take the Smart Pastor’s advice.

4.) It’s not a wednesday roundup without a picture to point you towards.

ShareThis

1.) Evernote looks like a pretty useful tool. Not quite sure what is the best way to use it, but at a minimum it can probably replace ‘Google Notebook’ whose idea I love but whose functionality has not been that great.

2.) Enjoyed this little vignette about Sunday Breakfast. Gives you a taste for why people are frustrated with church.

3.) The Internet Monk has spun off a new blog: Jesus Shaped Spirituality.

4.) One of my favorite photobloggers has stunned me again with this photo.

5.) In case you get these posts by RSS feed, my blog has undergone a bit of a makeover. It’s not quite perfect yet, but it’s coming together as I have time.

ShareThis

Just two items for today:

1.) One of the primary reasons I’m in the ministry today is because of my friend Bill Crawford, so I’m both saddened and pleased at the news announced on his website earlier this week about his church’s departure to the EPC. It’s been a hard long journey for Bill and his family, but I’m sure that they are in the place where God has called them and that they need to be. I wish God’s blessings and peace upon them in this new phase of their life and ministry.

2.) Here is a stunning photograph for your pleasure.

ShareThis

I’ve not run across a whole lot of things to point to this week, but here are a few items:

1.) While I personally object to calling those who serve the church volunteers (Did Jesus call the 12 volunteers? I don’t think so…), I do think there are some helpful thoughts in this post “The Top 5 Volunteer No-No’s.”

2.) Christine Sine shares the source of those amazing icons she’s been using to illustrate her posts.

3.) One of my favorite biblical scholars, NT Wright, engages in a debate about God and our pain on beliefnet with Bart Ehrman.

4.) Here is this week’s photo of beauty.

ShareThis

1.) Do you want to simplify your life? Here is a ’simple’ list of 72 ideas. I’m pleased to note that I already do many of them, but I sure have a lot more I could implement.

2.) Bill Tammeus must be a voracious reader. Lately I’ve been looking to him for reading suggestions. He has recently put out another list of faith based books.

3.) The Internet Monk, as thoughtful as always, has thankfully and helpfully debunked the myth of the “Fixer God.”

4.) My friend Mark points to an interesting post on the reality of hell. It seems that the more I read of Orthodox thought, the more impressed I am.

5.) Here is my photo recommendation of the week.

ShareThis

1.) Adam Walker Cleveland provides a list of resource books on youth ministry. Other suggestions follow in the comments.

2.) Emergent Village points to an interesting new idea: Lectio Divina for the iPod generation. I’ll be interested to see how this takes off.

3.) Christine Sine offers some thoughts on preparing for pentecost. More than anything though I love the cool icons she uses to illustrate her posts.

4.) What is the gospel? The Reformed Angler points to the answers provided by four candidates for moderator of the PC(USA) General Assembly.

5.) I don’t have a favorite photograph of the week to point to, but Bill Tammeus points to a gallery of inspiring nature photos submitted by users of beliefnet.

ShareThis