RUNwithGOD

Christ Fellowship Downtown?

"How can we reach Miami if we're not in Miami?"

Eric announced last week that we would be launching our third campus in February, 2008. Christ Fellowship West Kendall. (I blogged it several weeks ago). In addition, Eric dropped a little teaser last week that we should be praying about other opportunities, and that a church had approached CF about helping them in their ministry. Well the bomb finally dropped this week.

"How can we reach Miami if we're not in Miami?"

Miami's first Southern Baptist Church, Central Baptist Church, is prayerfully considering asking us to partner with them in ministry.

No, it's okay. Go ahead and gasp. Everyone else at CF is right now.

Let me put it into context. Here's the map of Central Baptist and surrounding:

Bayside Marketplace. American Airlines Arena. Bayfront Park. A lot of what makes Miami great. Aside from that, though, there is a lot of need in Downtown Miami... and a lot of potential Kingdom Impact!

"How can we reach Miami if we're not in Miami?"

The leadership of Christ Fellowship has been meeting with the leadership of Central for several months, and we have finally gotten to the point where Central Baptist leadership is taking the CF proposal to Central Church members for vote. We will find out, within a month, if CF Downtown is becoming a reality. Stay tuned, and pray!

God, align our will to Yours. Curb any selfish ambition we may have and hear our requests as a humble desire to see You glorified in Miami. If it's in Your will, allow us the opportunity to use Central Baptist as a device to impact Miami for Your name.

10 Reasons to be @ CF this wknd

Haven't done a 10 Reasons in a while... and I'm excited about the weekend...

Ten Reasons to be @ CF this wknd

10. AskGod.cc: AskGod.cc starts. This promises to be an awesome sermon series. We're planning some really cool media elements for these services. Stay tuned!
9. Hymn: Slammin heavy songs like My Future's Decided, closing up with Just as I Am! I love Hymns!
8. Movie Matinee: CF Homestead is doing a movie matinee... Facing the Giants! On another screen in the youth wing they'll be showing Remember the Titans. On another screen they will be playing Nintendo Wii!
7. Worship: The worship experience @ CF has been phenominal lately. Thank you, God, for giving us something worthy to worship!
6. Jeff's smile: I promise you... nobody gets yelled at this wknd. Jeff is nothing but smiles.
5. Opera: We'll leave it at that.
4. 12:30 Launch: Listen, I'll be honest here. This service is designed for people like me. Sleep in Sunday, show up @ 12:30. How great is that?
3. Bruce Orr: Yes, I've conned Bruce out of retirement, and he'll be working Camera in Homestead this weekend. Look for Bruce's return to Palmetto Bay in '08. You can thank me later.
2. Dolphins: 1-2 Raiders @ 0-3 Dolphins. That's not even going to be enjoyable.
1. Cliffhanger: This cliffhanger is worth the hype...

YouVersion Public Beta

Several months ago I blogged about the potential of YouVersion and the open-sourcing of scripture. I've enjoyed keeping up with recent developments, and am thrilled with their Beta release.

They've gone public with their Beta release. Sign up for the Beta at YouVersion.com. If you'd like to keep up their development record, check out the YouVersion Blog.

links for 2007-09-26

• The votes are in: Bonds' 756 ball to get asterisk - MLB
  Barry Bonds record breaking home run baseball is going to the Hall of Fame... with a huge black asterisk inked on the surface. HA HA HA!
  (tags: Sports Baseball ESPN BarryBonds)

Thank You, WMCU

This news will hit the Chrisitan Community in Miami Wednesday, but it's public knowledge in the webosphere...

WMCU (aka SpiritFM) has been sold. SpiritFM has served as a Pop/Contemporary music station in the Miami area for longer than I can remember. And now a staple, a voice that aimed to strengthen it's listeners for the Cause of Christ... is being silenced.

According to reports, WMCU was purchased for $20 million... sold to American Public Media Group. Instead of Christian Radio, APMG will be broadcasting classical music.

Wow. Classical. Really?

As a supporter of WMCU Radio, I will miss the Christian influence that it brought to South Florida. Thank you for investing into the community. Those of you that worked at the station, may God open doors for you and continue to guide your paths.

For more information, check out APMG's Press Release online.

For those of you that were supporters of Christian Radio in Miami, may I recommend 91.9 CallFM? While CallFM may be "slightly more edgy" than WMCU, I think you'll find the staff hugely evangelic, driven to reach the younger generations with the message of Christ! So, while you're going through SpiritFM withdrawls in the coming weeks, turn the dial to 91.9fm and give it a try.

Thank You, WMCU, for your efforts in South Florida. You will be sorely missed.

Steadfast in Christ,

Jeff Reed
The Living Word Christian Bookstore

[NO] Faith in Technology

Why do I continue to put my faith into technology? I'm very tempted to list the chronology of crashed hard drives, smoking motherboards, and spyware issues I've had in recent years. Let's simplify instead and say it's somewhere around a dozen.

Tech has been working for me good lately. No major problems. Until Sunday night, when I tried to remote into my bookstore's server to do some late-night ordering... only to find that I could not remote in. Huh, that's weird, I wonder if the Internet is down... Seconds later, I tried to remote into the C28 server, which is located on the same network. I successfully connected. Oh crap, I bet the bookstore's server crashed again.

Yep. I am sick and tired of Windows. Honestly, I do not understand how IT guys put up with these issues all day long. You by far have more patience than I do.

While I have no faith in technology, I do have faith in people.

I called up CF's IT Guy, Hector, and asked him to take a look at my crashed hard drive. He did, and even ran some diagnostics for me. Hector's an incredibly busy guy, and that he took the time to run the scans for me means alot. Thanks Hector! I'll have my data recovery guy Wes work his magic tomorrow and we should be in great shape! Sadly, Wes has done this for me far too many times.

I've learned over the years that dependence upon technology will only disappoint. I've said it before. I have no faith in technology.

Hard Drives will die.
Motherboards will smoke.
Networks will go down.
Software will freeze.
Servers will crash.
Applications will fail.

Tech is "means". Not the "end". Honestly, I've tried to spend more time focusing on the "end" than I have the "means".

While tech will let me down
on a regular basis
people rarely do
and God never does.

God, thank you for the lesson learned.

PS - Uh, God, if you could figure out a way to remind me of this lesson without crashing my server, I would greatly appreciate it.

PPS - Or, God, if you could give me an advance warning so I can make sure the backup would work, I would even be okay with that.

links for 2007-09-24

• THE SECRET DIARY OF RICK WARREN: Arch-aelogical Find.
  Being a big fan of "Fake Steve Jobs", I'm starting to enjoy "Fake Rick Warren." Check out the link on PDL's archaeological find.
  (tags: satire fake christianity RickWarren PurposeDrivenLife)
• Ross King : Perhaps I've Said Too Much CD
  Ross has always been a favorite of mine. Looking forward to hearing the new stuff.
  (tags: RossKing IndependentMusic Music)
• Navizon now available for the iPhone
  someone needs to try this for their iPhone. Navizon was able to "hack" a way to create a GPS on an iPhone by reading area wifi signals... if you're brave enough to try it, let me know.
  (tags: iPhone GPS hacks)
• Radio Apple: Macworld: Editors' Notes
  Interesting insight into the future of Radio...
  (tags: MacCentral Radio Music ITunes news)
• Rude People, Not Tech, Cause Bad Manners
  Interesting article (from a psychological standpoint) discussing people's abilities to connect via technology versus connecting in real life...
  (tags: Internetchurch Technology Communication Community Wired Psychology)
• Death by Meeting
  Evaluate your meetings...
  (tags: BuddyCremeans Meetings Communication)

"INTERNET" circa 1993

1993. I connected to INTERNET via dialup modem. 300 baud. I was on AOL dialup (AOL was just available on Macs, Compuserve was on PCs. Gee, who won that battle?). AOL was the equivalent of a morality cesspool, but it was a start...

Here's a 1993 newscast talking about the birth of INTERNET... and the press' shortsighted view on INTERNET's capabilities.

Check out the YouTube video below.

How old were you when you first connected?
How fast were you connected?
What was your favorite thing to do?
And just for kicks... "What does the Internet mean to you?"

Thanks to Tim Stevens for the find.

links for 2007-09-20

• The Results: Social Networks at LifeChurch.tv
  Who is using what social network?
  (tags: LifeChurch.tv SocialNetworking web2.0 poll)
• Church Video Ideas: Fall Ideas for Media Ministry

Being Still

I had a hellacious Tuesday and an even worse Wednesday... meeting after meeting after meeting... I was so busy over the past couple days I didn't even prepare for small group (which met several hours ago). Small group started at 6:45. I sat down at 6:00 this evening to look over the material, hoping to cram in a couple minutes of prep.

To my (unfortunate) surprise, the topic this week was "Being Still".

God, really... don't try to be subtle or anything. Don't hold back. If you want to say something, just come out and say it.

It's a needed lesson for me, and was extremely refreshing to hear from the rest of the group that, yeah, life is chaotic. Oh, and evidently the iPhone is the tool of the devil. Who knew. Although secretly I had suspicions that Steve Jobs was, in fact, the Antichrist.

The whole lesson reminded me of an Eagle's song. Yes, those Eagles. No, I wasn't alive when they were together the first time... On their reunion CD Hell Freezes Over they recorded a new track called "Learn To Be Still"... (YouTube video below).

Full lyrics at this link, but I've put a sample of the lyrics below.

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We dont know how to be alone
So we wander round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home

There are so many contridictions
In all these messages we send
(we keep asking)
How do I get out of here
Where do I fit in?
Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin
Its waiting for you to awaken
And someday you will-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

I find it interesting how even the Eagles see that idols and temptations will drive us away and keep us busy, but "[our heart] is waiting for you to awaken."

Biblically, we know that the Holy Spirit is here to be that resource for us, but sometimes we need to stop to hear where the Spirit is leading.

Take it from an expert. I hate stopping. I have to much to do and for me to stop means that 30 things will not get done, I will miss deadlines, and I'll probably get yelled at (and since I'm my own boss most of the time, the fact that I would yell at myself is even more ironic).

In 21Century America I think that being busy is an unfortunate fact of life. However, it's also shows a lack of faith. Being Still allows us to put our faith in God, that He will provide. By stopping, we are making God a bigger priority than our actions, and our lack of actions is showing God our faith in his abilities to provide for our needs.

So, instead of RUNwithGOD.com, maybe I should be STOPwithGOD or WAITwithGOD or WAITforGOD.com...

Eh, maybe not.

God, continually help me to put my faith in you. Teach me to be still.

links for 2007-09-19

• Punch the clock or change the world. You decide.
  Jon Sampson puts me and, all other workaholics, to shame.
  (tags: JonathanSampson SethGodin workaholic)
• attempts at simple - tip 2 - confess & unsubscribe
  an attempt to simplify a life
  (tags: workaholic simplify)
• Is Community Broken? 4 (of 4)
  Definitions/Historical look at Community
  (tags: community internetchurch LifeChurch.tv)
• Did You Know? 2.0
  Decent video presentation discussing the fast-paced growth of technology, and it's exponential impact...
  (tags: Blog community culture Technology web2.0 education future research SocialNetworking InternetChurch)
• Emergent|Evangelical|Fundamentalist
  Scott Hodge references a cartoon... Emergent, Evagelical, Fundamentalists...
  (tags: Evangelical Emerging Fundamentalism Cartoon)
• 5 More Reasons I Love Doing Businesss, No, Ministry, Online
  Another source singing the praises of ministering via the Internet...
  (tags: blogs internetchurch culture SocialNetworking ChurchCommunicationsPro)
• Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site
  The New York Times FINALLY STOPS charging to view their stories online. About time!
  (tags: economy Web2.0 News, NYTimes)

The most important thing... FAITH?

I met someone today who says to me, "I read your blog...". My response to readers in real life is always awkward... Honestly, if you read my stuff, don't tell me. I'm better off not knowing. I mumbled something stupid in response... Anyway, he went on to say "I try to keep up on all the Christ Fellowship Blogs." My response once again, awkward, "oh, I'm not a Christ Fellowship Blog."

CF plays a very important - and increasing - role in my life. But please, understand that while I may spout crazy nonsense about how Apple will take over the world, or how "infrastructure" is the new buzz word... I never claim to have the answers about God. I try (and occasionally succeed) in helping to create an avenue to "Connect people to God." That doesn't mean that I'm an expert in GOD. I ask a lot of questions. My prayer life has become a Q&A session with God.

This post is about a question I do not know the answer to.

Republican President John McCain was recently quoted talking about his faith. Honestly, I have no idea as to the ethics or morals of McCain. It's not important to this blog. I do, however, want to look at two of his statements...

1) "The most important thing is that I am a Christian."

2) "It [My faith] plays a role in my life. By the way, I'm not Episcopalian. I'm Baptist. Do I advertise my faith? Do I talk about it all the time? No."

Let me walk you through my train of thought.

- McCain doesn't buy into the denominationalism that is literally tearing the body of Christ apart! Awesome. Really, I believe this is a good thing. Good for you, McCain. Way to make your faith real.

- McCain says being a Christian is the most important thing in his life, but he doesn't advertise it. Wait, I'm not sure I'm okay with that. The most important thing in your life, but you don't tell people? I'll be honest. In the grand scheme of things, Apple is like #7 in my priority list. But if you know me, you know I bleed AppleJuice. (Sorry for the pun). How can one be a Christian and not have the grace of God radiating through their skin to the point where they ache to tell others about the change that Christ has brought into their lives. McCain is talking political crap here. Move on.

- Wait. So McCain is not an evangelical beast... so he's not witnessing to people like crazy and hasn't started a church yet... He's in politics, and therefore in the business of not offending people. And we know that our faith is offensive to people... maybe he's missional in sharing his faith. Should it be a requisite that all Presidents need to recite the Romans Road by memory? I don't think so...

- Honestly, I struggle with this. As a Christian, do I want to vote for a President that is a Christian just because he's a Christian. My gut says yes, but then I read Romans 13, where Paul implies that God has established all governing authorities. Wow, even the democrats and liberals? Sure. Maybe He can use the left-wing to some extent... Wait, all governing bodies? Even Hussein? Stalin? Hitler?

All of a sudden I don't like where my questions take me. All this because McCain doesn't advertise his faith. Stupid McCain...

What do you think. My readers are predominately Chrisitans, although I've heard from some spiritual skeptics along the way... How important is Faith in context of leadership, especially in Government?

iPhone, Fourth Generation?

During the night, Apple had a press conference in England, where they announced they are releasing the iPhone in the UK. Here's the story from MacWorld. At the end of the news story, Steve shares some insight into the future of iPhone...

Jobs said the company is really focused on the iPhone and developing the device.

“We’re already working on the next iPhone, and the one after that,” Jobs said, adding, “and we’re already thinking about the one after that.”

I love the fact that Apple is physically "working" on iPhone v2, and iPhone v3. AND THEN they are dreaming of iPhone v4. While some are worried about the iPhone's impact, Steve's able to look ahead and see that the success will come, and is investing resources into making the future "v"s great...

Wow, wish I had that kind of faith...

Incriminating Evidence

You know, I tried for a long time to convince myself not to write about this. My thoughts on this were many...

Some things are just better if you let it go... It's really embarassing... I feel bad for these people... Do I share this with the world? Do I blackmail the parties on the film? What, oh what, is a blogger to do?

Well, I take it back. It didn't take that long...

Like the photo? Enjoy the YouTube video clip below.

Thanks to Jorge Molina, Campus Pastor @ CF Homestead, as well as Hal Slayden, Small Groups director @ CF Homestead and the rest of the crowd for the laugh.

Next time you share a video clip with me, be sure to delete the clip off my hard drive before I do something stupid with it.

Marlins play in front of Little League Crowd

I mentioned the other day that I went to a Marlins Game... there were about 3,000 in attendance Tuesday night. For Wednesday's day game, however, attendance dropped to 400 people.

I'll let Mike Phillips with the Miami Herald share the story...

The estimates of people in the stands ranged in the 400 neighborhood, and about half that were on hand to see Todd Linden's game-winning hit in the 12th inning, a grounder that snaked its way through the middle of the infield to bring home pinch-runner Reggie Abercrombie to result in a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals... The announced paid crowd was 10,121, but most of them stayed home. When the game ended, there were nine people in the outfield bleachers and about 200 around the stadium. ''It's a little sad that you can play where you can count the people in the stands,'' Marlins first baseman Mike Jacobs said. "But that's the way it is down here, and it's not going to change until we get a new stadium..."

Quite literally, more people attend one of CF's Weekend Worship Services than saw the Marlins play. How sad is that. I've played Little League Baseball Games in a larger crowd than what the Marlins saw Wednesday during the day.

What's the point? When you have Quality Issues (the Marlins stink) Environment Issues (ever sat in the SoFL sun, no shade, for 4 hours?) and Economic Issues (how much are you charging to park here?) evidently people won't show up.

Huh. Whowoudathunkit?

Invite myself to dinner...

Okay, so these guys are way out of my league, but how cool would it be to be part of this conversation... for those of you completely unaware, on the left is George Lucas (Star Wars, duh!) On the right, J.J. Abrams (LOST, Alias, M:I 3, Star Trek IX).

The photo was taken by Joi, and is available on his flicker account. This photo was taken last month, but I'm sure that this film, JJ's upcoming release, was discussed.

Thanks to the person who illegally videotaped the trailer (nice person walking by at the beginning) so we can see this UNRELEASED TRAILER!

The Yet-To-Be-Named film will be releasing January 18, 2008. And believe me, we'll be talking about this film again.

Thanks to the Star Wars Blog for the find.

Lessons from a minor leaguer...

I went to a Marlins game Tuesday night. It was my dad's birthday... he unfortunately has to share his birthday with 9/11... It was good to take a night off and have fun at the ballpark. Unfortunately, the Marlins were playing...

Anyway, it was an interesting experience. Sitting in a 70,000 person stadium that had maybe 3,000 people in attendance. Sound system broke (bad amp, bad cable?) in about the 4th inning, so there was no music, no PA system for the rest of the game. It was really surreal.

Let me tell you what I took away from the game. Paul Hoover. Paul is a backup catcher for the Marlins. He's 31 years old, bounced around in minor leagues all his life, and has played a whopping 13 games (31 at bats) in the majors his entire life. In the past five years he has played a total five games.

In short, never heard of the guy.

Which is what attracted me to him. First at bat (2nd inning), he lines a single into left field. Second at bat (third inning), double into center. Who is this guy again? Two for two in his first major leage game in a year? Unfortunately, no one was on when he got these hits, but he did score a run! He was contributing to the process.

So in the fifth inning Hoover gets up with bases loaded. I pull out my trusty iPhone and reference marlins.com for stats... he's never hit a major league home run. Never. Well, dangit, Paul's about to hit a Grand Slam...

This is it, Paul. Come on baby. Prove you can do this. Hit it for us other "loser" 30 year former baseball players that never made it to the majors. Nail it. Grand slam. Wait, Paul, why are you swinging at that crap. If you had a tennis raquet you couldn't hit that. And what were you thinking when you swung at that second pitch? A sand wedge would have been more useful... Oh Paul... Paul, why did you hit an infield fly (pictured right) to end the inning.

All kidding aside, the guy went two for five. Awesome game for a newbie. But what I learned from the situation was that when he succeeded, it didn't matter. There was nothing at stake. When an opportunity arose for him to make a name for himself, he couldn't. Every boy dreams of hitting the grand slam in the majors. For Paul, he couldn't capitalize on making that dream a reality. Now he has to hope that opportunity will open up again at a later point.

In our Small Group tonight we talked about following the Spirit, filtering out the world's "noise" and taking advantage of opportunities the Holy Spirit opens up for us. My hope and prayer is that we would follow His guidance, and try to reach out to those around us with the love of Christ. God, continue to open opportunities to us. Allow us to see our home, our work, our school, our city, our life through a Spiritual Lense and truly see how much our city needs You. Then give us the ability, strength, and persistence to tell them about You!

Joy of Apparel

Ryan shares a story about being at C28 that I thought warranted sharing... below is a dialogue with him and a customer @ C28. note: PBA=Palm Beach Atlantic University

PBA Student: This isn't Eve on this shirt is it?
Ryan: Why, do you want it to be Eve?
PBA Student: No, I like the shirt but I really don't want Eve on a shirt.
Ryan: It's no one in particular just a graphic.
PBA Student: I wish it was someone so it had an explanation.
Ryan: You should make up an explanation, pretend it's Queen Esther.
PBA Student: I love Esther, we just talked about her in one of my Bible classes.
Ryan: Well, you see Biblical historians have long tried to speculate what Esther looked like, and this is what they agreed on.
PBA Student: I love this Esther shirt, I'm definatly going to get it.

links for 2007-09-11

• The new Caedmon’s CD
  I for one am thankful that Derek Webb is back with Caedmon's Call... evidently Eric is too...
  (tags: Music Entertainment Cademon'sCall DerekWebb EricGeiger)
• Analysis: Lessons learned from the iPhone price cuts
  Why Apple slashed the price of the iPhone, and what we should think about it...
  (tags: Business Marketing Economy Apple iPhone)
• Apple sells one millionth iPhone
  Well ahead of schedule... (and with a $200 reduction)...
  (tags: Apple Retail Business iPhone)

What's in your Wallet?

Saturday night I was having a conversation with JR Lovins (whose Generations Worship CD was officially released this weekend with an incredible worship service)...

Anyway, the gist of the conversation was how noone under the age of thirty carries cash anymore.

To my/our generation, money is strickly numbers in accounts, which is basically another set of numbers. I'm always broke. Virtually, however, I'm doing okay. ATMs, Online Banking, Direct Deposit. If I didn't own businesses, I don't think I would know where my bank is. Honestly, I'm okay with that. You're talking to a guy that still has an uncashed check that was given to me as a gift for my birthday... over a year ago!

Then I see a commercial for the next version of Monopoly... The Electronic Banking Version. Evidently, Monopoly now comes with a computerized banking system, and all players are given ATM cards. To charge rent, the leasee debits his account, and the leasor gets the money put on his virtual ATM account.

Crazy.
I'm really not okay with this.
Not because I'm a Monopoly purist.
Not because it takes learning away from a board game.
Not because we're preparing our children for the Mark of the Beast.
I'm upset because it's preventing me from cheating in Monopoly.

I'll go ahead and say it. I'm the world's best cheat in Monopoly. My wife is my witness here. I stash about $3,000 worth of $500 bills on me, and when necessary I can produce the cash I need w/o anyone seeing. But how am I supposed to stack my piggy bank if "we're doing it electronically"...

So, for my 12 game Monopoly win streak, I am officially boycotting the Monopoly: Electronic Banking version. I perfer my pretend world to have physical cash... and my physical world to have virtual cash. Weird, huh?

Honestly, if you're thirty or under, how much cash do you have on you at any one time?

links for 2007-09-09

• Starbucks opens first coffee shop in Russia
  Moscow's Red Square will start to look a little white and green...
  (tags: Starbucks Russia News Economy)
• Report: Apple pushing for 99-cent TV downloads
  (tags: Apple Entertainment Business iTunes)

Sound for Skillet (not a frying pan)

Got a call from a friend of mine, Casey Watkins. Casey is the tech guy for Life-Pointe in Homestead. He's also an area concert promoter, so we get together and swap stories and talk about concerts we've done...

Well, Casey called me Friday. He was at Rock the Universe. I was working when he called, so it went to voicemail. His voicemail message is below:

Hey Jeff it's Casey. I'm just calling to harass you. Skillet's playing tonight down in Miami. Their Front of House Sound Guy had to fly back to Tennessee for a family emergency. I of all people got called to see if I could find a Front of House Sound Guy for them. I'm currently out of town in Orlando for Rock the Universe, or I'd be doing it. If you could do it, or you know someone who can, give me a call. I'll get you in touch with the guy at the Skillet Camp that you'll need to talk to. That would be awesome.

Yeah, I could have run sound for Skillet this evening. WooHoo! But, I was working at CF preparing for the weekend services, and wanted to spend the night with Amy (she's going out of town for the weekend.)

So, I did the responsible thing. I handed it off to Landon (CF's Audio guy)...Not sure if he got the gig...

Notes on Toast

I don't even like Toast, but I want one of these... don't know how it works, but you can write notes on the toaster, and it get burned into the bread. Awesome!

Thanks to Gizmodo for the find.

links for 2007-09-07

• Baptists sell last of FamilyNet broadcast unit
  FamilyNet, the Southern Baptist Cable Channel and Satellite Radio Distributor, ends it's financial woes by selling to Charles Stanley's In Touch Ministries. I interned at FamilyNet, and am close with several current/former employees there. I know it is bi
  (tags: FamilyNet, News, Technology, Evangelism, Baptist)
• Bynum Says She Forgives Husband Accused of Beating Her
  After being abused by her husband in a hotel parking lot (allegedly, evidently), Juanita Bynum is ready to forgive him...
  (tags: news ChristianRetailing)

Dave Matthews "Eh Hee"

Since we just explored Arcade Fire's Intervention (once, twice) I thought I'd start looking at non-Christian (some would call Secular) artists and their view of God...

First up, Dave Matthews Band. I am a huge fan of DMBand from my high school days (before Dave was a household name). I've seen two of his shows live. First one, back in 1998, left me with the following impression: "wow, I don't think I've seen this much pot in one place in my entire life." I saw the second Dave Matthews concert last year (for my birthday) which left me with the following impression: "wow, I haven't seen this much pot since the last Dave Matthews concert..."

Sorry, getting back. Making his directorial debut with the help of co-director Fenton Williams, below is Dave's new music video, Eh Hee.

Full lyrics can be found here. Let me give you the highlights..

-----
Praise God who has many names
The devil have many more
With the love that my mother gave me
I’m gonna drop the devil to the floor

I’m gonna drop the devil to his knees
I’m gonna drop the devil to his knees

Strange evolution how people have come to believe
That we are it’s greatest achievement
We’re barely, we’re just a collection of cells
Overrating themselves
Hello God I’m avoiding the truth
-----

Dave has never been afraid to sing about God, however, I would say his theology leans more towards the agnostic that feels abandoned by God. (Examples, see You Never Know (Video, Lyrics) and Raven (Video, Lyrics), both found on the Busted Stuff Album).

Is this a fundamental shift for DMBand? Where's he going with this? Are we as Christians comfortable with artists like Dave Matthews grappling with spiritual issues in such a public way? What's your take?

Thanks to Terry Storch for starting the conversation.

iPhone Refund?

Apple came out with a complete refresh of every one of their iPod devices yesterday. New shuffle colors, new Nanos (called "the fatboy") that play video, new "iPod Classic" upto 160 gigs, and a iPhone minus the Phone device that Apple calls the "iPod Touch".

I love the lineup. If I didn't have the iPhone, I'd go for a "fatboy". Wait, that didn't sound right... The iPod Classic 160 gig for $349. Everything you own in the palm of your hand... very nice...

An asterisk to Job's Press Conference, oh, yeah, Apple's reducing the price of their prized iPhones $200. Instead of being $599, they're now $399. Thanks for coming everybody. Have a nice day!

Wwwaaaaaaaaaa?!?!?

I've gotten a dozen e-mails on this. What do you think, Jeff? How could Jobs do this to the faithful? The phone just came out two months ago, and already it's being reduced 33%? This is outrageous. I'll never trust Apple again!

Personally, I love the fact that Apple's working the biz model. New technology requires new ideas. Yeah, sure the iPhone was the #1 selling Smartphone in the month of July. But it wasn't going to change the world. Not at $599 anyway. So drop the price!

Do I feel bad that Apple "conned me", a faithful Apple Evangelist, out of $200? Nah. That's life. Early DVD players cost $600. Today, $29.95. Plasmas were $10,000 initially. Today they're almost a tenth of that price. Welcome to business people. You never want to buy technology until you absolutely have to, because as soon as you do, something better will be released! Or what you have will become cheaper.

Props to Steve Jobs. In an open letter to the iPhone faithful, he announced that every current iPhone owner will get $100 in store credit as a way of apologizing. Keeping in mind that $100 in store credit is really like $30 in cost of goods sold to him, and really, what can you buy for under $100 at the Apple Store... it's a nice thought. Thanks Steve. Don't think it's necessary, but when hearing the hundreds of thousands of iPhone users crying in one accord... I guess even the King of Technology Jobs has to throw some chicken feed to silence the cries... Thanks Steve. Really.

BTW, several credit card companies (American Express included) have technology waivers on their credit card purchases allowing rebates on "overpriced technology". Check with your credit card company and see if you can get the money rebated to you.

Not everybody agrees with me. See Wired's "Four Mistakes Apple Made with the iPhone Price Drop."

Or enjoy "Joy of Tech's" four reasons... they're a little more humorous.

links for 2007-09-06

• New in the Watchdog Crosshairs: VeggieTales
  Somebody is upset at VeggieTales for being amoral, unbiblical...
  (tags: VeggieTales Watchdog Church)

Persistent Prayer

Great lesson tonight in Small Group. I enjoyed sitting back and listening to everyone else share. We had some great dialogues.

The main passage we discussed is Luke 11:1-10 which contains Jesus going over the Lord's prayer again (gasp, he used different words...). Then Jesus shares a parable that had me rolling. Check out the passage (11:5-10) and read the story of the annoying neighbor...

When you're done reading it, try to figure out who you are in the parable... you may not like the answer. I know I wasn't expecting it.

Even though God knows what our heart's desire is, and He doesn't NEED TO HEAR IT from us, He still wants to. And by being persistent, by praying often, God can gauge our passion for the request... and maybe use that prayer to ALIGN our will to His.

Great stuff. Cool to think that God uses prayer to change us, mold us, break us. While we're busy trying to convince Him, He's working on changing us!

Animator vs. Animation

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

Ironic little animation. Interesting if you view this through a Spiritual lense. God creats man. Man rebels. God deletes man... It's a postmodern story of Noah...

Of course, to quote Freud, "Sometimes a [funny little animation] is just a [funny little animation]."

Thanks to Steve Doolittle for the find.

links for 2007-09-05

• Snausages Snawsomes
  Really have no idea why Wired.com did a biopic on Snawsages, but they are Beowulf's favorite snack, so I HAVE TO link to it.
  (tags: Fun Food Beowulf Wired)
• Dry Erase Paint
  Turn any wall into a dry erase board... ubercool.
  (tags: Office)

Generations Worship CD Release

News Flash: there are some really cool things happening at CF. Okay, maybe that's the understatement of the year. But this really excites me.

One of CF's Praise and Worship Groups, CF Generations, is releasing a new Worship Album called Generations Worship. Its all original work by CF Musicians. Good stuff. Great stuff. The album is available for $9.97 at The Living Word and C28. For those of you not in Miami, go ahead, stab me in the back, and buy the Album on iTunes or from IndependentBands.com for $9.99... The CD will be available at the Media Resource Centers at both Palmetto Bay and Homestead campus this weekend.

Look for more from Generations coming soon... concert events, live recordings... it's exciting around here... stay tuned!

links for 2007-09-04

• Poll: Faith, Family Make Youth Happy
  MTV & the Associated Press get together and realize that religion is important to youth (13-24)... wow. is that before or after they get innundated by MTV?
  (tags: MTV Religion AP Poll News Teens Christianity)
• Blast from the Past: Original Macintosh manual
  Mac Classic Manual...
  (tags: Apple Manual)
• Churches sprout with a little help - Nashville, Tennessee - Sunday, 09/02/07 - Tennessean.com
  Article on "church franchising..."
  (tags: multi-site church)

Working for your church may, in fact, kill your family (revisited)

Several weeks ago I referenced an Arcade Fire song, Intervention, which contains the lyrics:

Working for the church
While your family dies
You take what they give you
And you keep it inside
Every spark of friendship and love
Will die without a home
Hear the solider groan, "We'll cry alone"

It's a very moving, powerful, haunting song. High church organ playing in the background, yet the lyrics hold much hatred for the entity of the church body. In the blog, I asked what you thought. Several readers have commented or e-mailed responses: Anti-war, Anti-Bush, Anti-Communism... reading the comments I felt like I was back in college working on my Literature Minor. Props to those who did research.

My wife, however, gets the prize. Rather than exploring the one song, I need to dive into the entire album (Neon Bible) and explore that. Stupid iTunes... $0.99 tracks are the death of Album enjoyment... Sorry, I'm back now.

Reading the album lyrics, and listening to the music, I discovered that much of the album is written in a first person narrative describing a person who's father was working for the church, and while doing that evidently didn't do a good job doing the family thing. I'm the first to say there's two sides to the story, and while I'm sure daddy did everything possible, evidently it was so scarring that Arcade Fire felt like they had to devote a good part of an album ripping their family life.

Hatred. We never seem to escape it.

RUNwithGOD has been experimenting experiencing huge traffic numbers, almost 10 times usual numbers. Why? People Googling, searching for answers to the Juanita Bynum issue, or the Paula White situation. Rarely will the world praise us for our successes, but they're always on hand to spectate our failures.

I can see it in my own life. Serving God requires you to have a different set of priorities. In our Media Small Group this past week we talked about aligning our will to God's instead of standing on our own. Well, what if that alignment doesn't match up with your family's desires? The best we can do is pray for the family to stay focused on it, but realistically it doesn't always happen that way...

So, here I am. Striving to work towards a goal of serving God through employment at a church, realizing that if I am not careful, if my family does not learn to align as well, my family can suffer. Not much comfort there. Ask Haggard. Ask Bynum. Ask White. Things can get out of control. I can see it. I believe it. Working for the church may, in fact, kill your family. But, it doesn't have to. And so I do what I can... I pray.

God, help me to radiate the goodness of who you are.

links for 2007-09-03

• iToner - Custom Ringtones for your iPhone
  Hack-free way to put custom ringtones on an iPhone
  (tags: apple iphone music ringtones software)