As a church planter techie I'm always on the prowl for fun / cool / helpful stuff. It's funny how many people aim marketing at pastors these days, it's pastorbait. This website is a fine place for pastor-bait.

ht: Melissa Boose for the link.

...ok the Logos for Mac Beta is finally here. Here's the skinny

They are getting close to a full product for Mac. That's good news because then Mac users can get away from the abominable mixing of the Mac / Pc genomes - it's unnatural and perverted. Mac - Fusion - Windows - Logos... it is a infernal pairing, from the Pit and as slow as Satan's apology.

Dear Jesus,

Please do not return before the full product of McLogos is complete, just give me one day with it free from Fusion and Xp on my Mac!

Sincerely,
Chuckk

Friendly Music has music of all styles and the tracks can be purchased for $1.99. The cool thing is that the music can be legally used on your websites and videos, etc because they are royalty free after you purchase them. Check out Friendly Music.

ht: Kevin P

My old friend and great worship leader Josh Fox just released a new album. It's #8 on the iTunes Christian charts. If you buy a copy (now on sale for 5.99) it'll move up the charts. Go check it out on iTunes, it's great stuff.

What exactly does the Bible consider cussing? How do you know when you've cussed from a scriptural perspective? There are so many personal opinions on this and so little teaching on the subject. What are the rules governing clean Christ-honoring speech? The answers may surprise you. All I know is this - I want the words of my mouth to honor Jesus!

I'm working overtime this week searching the Scriptures for the answers for this Sunday's message at E - can't wait to share it. There's so much here that this will be a 2 week long study / sermon so we'll be exploring this issue this Sunday June 6th and next Sunday June 13th.

I'm pretty stoked, we're having baptisms for the first time as a new church this Sunday . 6 people are TTP (taking the plunge) and 2 more are waiting in the wings to see if they can get off work to be baptized also. The stories will bless your inner Christian don't miss it! Baptisms are such a great time to see and hear the invisible working of God's Spirit in the inner lives of people you sit next to in a church gathering!

The new series is coming, starting the following Sunday. Tongue, Piercing. It's an exploration of MRRC (mouth related relational chaos) and managing the flamethrower called our tongue. Your relationships and personal peace could be enhanced as a result.

The Mexico Mission team is getting ready for their trip to the Grace Children's Home in Rosarito Mexico, I'm super stoked to see a bunch of our folks heading down to serve others out of the ZOC (zone of comfort).

The brand spanking new ESLG (Elevation Student Life Group) is already thriving, there are 13-14 students and 6 staff showing up every week. Some of the kids are not yet followers of Jesus, so yeah Jesus!. My buddy and apprentice Brian Guzman is doing a great job leading them and challenging them. This Saturday we're all going to San Francisco on a photo safari scavenger hunt to build community and memories.

...Loving what God is doing at E these days.

The rain is gone, I have fresh tires on my Harley and the wind is calling me. If you have a shiny motorcycle (of any brand - we're non-denominational) join me and a few friends from Elevation for a little motorcycle ride. You deserve a Cycle Sabbath!

This is a great op to invite a friend who is unconvinced about Jesus but is convinced about the goodness of motorcycling.

Details Details:

Saturday May 15th. We're meeting at the Christian Life Center parking lot 1009 Mission Street in Santa Cruz. Come with your gas tank full, a jacket & some money for lunch along the road.

AS said in then the ancient Pslam of Randy Stonehill, "stop the world I wanna get off..." Huge news...

We found the answer for our indoor baptismal issue.

Portable church means portable baptismal. Church planters note : inexpensive, effective, portable, storable available online at Wallmart. We decided to go with the one without the drink holders :)

Need to be baptized? The plunge is coming @ Elevation on Sunday May 23.

Contact Melissa@elevationSC.org to get signed up.

Tonight at Elevation we'll be talking about the often neglected ritual of Sabbath. Here are a few ideas for what to do when you choose to cease for a day. If accompanied by a thankful heart and a focus on the Creator any of these ideas can bring rest to your soul.

Eat and taste the food - give thanks to God
Sleep in (a sign of trust that things will get done)
Got a hot tub or spa? use it
A long bath
Go surfing
Meditate on a passage in Scripture
Bicycles Ride
Do a Puzzle
Play a musical instrument
Rent a Kayak
Drive the coast or mountains
Ride a motorcycle, Jesus would
Take a nap - Napping is awesome
Listen to music, not as background music - listen
Sports you wish you had time to do
Life giving recreation vs draining activity
Read Scripture
Lay out in the sun, lose that Nor Cal Non-Tan
Walk the Dog
Board games
Pray
Go out for Ice Cream
Make love
Take a walk
Get some exercise
Invite other people to your Sabbath

...Anything that charges your batteries, brings joy and can be given thanks for. Slow Down, stop moving so fast, relax your shoulders and look around you the world God created is Beautiful.

Remember to truly sabbath instead of just chill out you must remember God and interact with him in the midst of these or other activities.

Ok, so you've never REALLY studied Revelation until you check out this website that has the Book of R all translated in the language of Lego... In fact, the site has the Bible done in Lego but Revelation is well a... Revelation. Enjoy, smile and consider just how dispensational you are or not.

In all seriousness the other Bible stories in Lego may be awesome for children's ministry!

ht: The Amazing Melissa Boose Queen of all E - Media

Ever wonder how church might look and feel to a visiting atheist? Here is an interesting blog by an atheist who visted our good friends at Vintage Faith Church one Sunday night.

Dan Kimball who is one of the pastors at Vintage blogged about this guy's article and I saw it on Dan's site.

How do people who are fully unconvinced about Jesus experience a church gathering - look and see.

In just a few days the 12 volume Expositor's Bible Commentary set will be available on Logos Bible Software (the most amazing study tool in the cosmos!). It is on pre pub pricing right now and will save you tons of dollars over the post publication price you'd pay in a few days.

If you like this commentary series and have Logos and some spare cash you may want to get over there wiki wiki and order the pre-pub. Here's where to find it at Logos.

Our new series CSI: Jerusalem starts this Sunday at E! It's a journey through the scriptures in the direction of the Cross - Easter is coming.

We'll explore the various evidences related to the homicide of Jesus of Nazareth and his amazing example of living well in intense, unfair suffering and personal persecution. Jesus gives us the divine pattern for victory, even in the most painful and dangerous seasons in our lives.

In week #1 will look at the premeditation via the prophecies of Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. Week #2 will explore the unfair corrupt trials of Jesus. In week #3 we will look at the murder of the Messiah and in the final week (Easter Sunday) we'll celebrate the surprise return of the Victor and walk the Emmaus Road.

Series Study Challenge: Join me this month in reflecting deeply and studying well by reading through the accounts of the trials, death and resurrection of Jesus in all 4 gospels once a week each week this month.

Last night we wrapped up the Hello My Name is Jesus series. If you're paying lots of attention you may have noticed we didn't have a message on Jesus' statement "I am the Vine". I intentionally left that one out of this series because we worked through that passage in our reConnect series a while back. If you want to listen to that last "I am" you can find it on our website's media vault - HERE.

This Sunday should be a great one we have a Worship and Communion night followed by our first all church meeting now that we're all of 8 weeks old. Next series on deck... CSI: Jerusalem.

Last Sunday we explored Jesus: The Good Shepherd. My Dog, "Chilly Cheese Dog" made a special guest appearance as a sheep of sorts. Catch it online at our media vault or at iTunes - the message will be up by Tuesday this week.

Thot: Jesus doesn't love you because it's His job as God. God's love doesn't come as a duty because he is God...

Jesus loves you and I because he chose to go down to the pound and pick up mutts to show his love to - because he wanted to. If you are His sheep U R Chosen and loved by the Shepherd of Souls. Love others likewise; be a good shepherd who lays down your life for others - don't be like a hired hand who bails on others when things get dicey.

Yep, it's TRUE we're planting Elevation as a new church in the new year!

Hey Chuck and Omar, Thanks so much for serving at the Outdoor Church Today. Today was a home run…We had quite a few new people and about 1/3rd of the people were not Christians and I’m pretty sure don’t attend church. Most people took the New Testatments we handed out with the words for the Praise Songs. Quite a diverse group. Some yuppies, a Buddist, a Jewish Gentleman and other wonderful folks. GOD was at work today.Blessings and thanks for the honor of serving with you. Hope you enjoy the pictures. With great respect. David De La Rosa

On the iPod: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Baby 81 - check this Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Video out-and this video too. To listen correctly this music needs to be played hellishly loud. Note: not all songs may suitable for all listeners so some track deletions may be necessary for some listeners...then set your car stereo volume to stun and break the speed limit while screaming the lyrics outloud.

The Official Elevation Launch last Sunday was a blessing and a blast. Omar and the band rocked so hard it knocked the porcelain off the potties in the adjacent bathrooms! Worship happened, people were engaged in the teaching time and there were lots of good vibes, smiles and nods. 167 people turned out for the evening. 26 people came out afterwards for AfterHours to spend some post service time together.

Andrea and her environment team made the tattoo parlor inspired big red environment wonderful. They even went so far as to spray green-soap in the air to give the room the smell of a tattoo parlor as people arrived.

You can hear the message Tattoo: Marked for Life - Marked By Jesus at the Elevation website (we'll have every week's teaching online there and at iTunes). You can get to our site at www.elevationSC.org - look under Media. Also check out the skimboard photo art of Kerry Carpenter in our Media tab.

BUMMER, this week some alien robots from Pluto ( which is evidently not a planet anymore) introduced distortion into our sacred recording devices, it's still listenable but parts are distorted a bit. We will kill all alien robots this Sunday.

This week's message: Jesus, Marked by us...

On the iPod:

"Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" (Foo Fighters)

hehehe. Trunk Monkey makes me laugh out loud.

Oh yeah...Please pray for Elevation as we prepare to officially launch into weekly services in 11 days! - Sunday Jan. 27th.

On the iPod: "Transatlanticism" (Death Cab for Cutie)

Originally uploaded by harleystrat

This Christmas I got to be Santa, S Cruz style. We had Christmas caroling on the cliffs overlooking the bay at the lighthouse at Steamers Lane. We invited our town to come sing, have hot chocolate and candy canes and take pictures with Santa.

The waves were crashing, people were singing and little kids were excited to see Santa. I want to do this every year now! Merry Christmas

-Santa Chuckk

Those of you who attended TestDrive #1 (and who know me) know I really care about visuals, so here's an article that I resonated with and want to pass on for your reading pleasure. See, I'm not the only one who is projection obsessed :).

Better yet check this guy's design gallery out!

BTW: Testdrive #2 = next Sunday 6:30-8pm!

ht: Cynthia Ware

on the iPod: "Charles Mingus Finest Hour" (Charles Mingus)

Higher quality YouTube is on the way, be thinking how you / we might utilize this new higher quality distribution system for ministry / art. What could we do with greater video quality that would have been useless and artless on OldLow FiYouTube?

On The iPod:

"Sawdust" (The Killers)

COUNTDOWN!!! - 10 days till our first elevation TestDrive worship service
Sunday Nov. 11th 6:30pm -8:00pm @ SCBC.
If you're local bring everyone you know.

Dave Mats and his band Kokua will lead worship, all the new video screens will be installed for a fresh new shock n awe retina massage, the too loud iTunes pre-party playlist includes: Mute Math, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Matchbox 20. I'll be sharing the how and why to get a deep earful from God's Word when you open the Bible on your own.

Plan to stay for elevation AfterHours - - - 7 screen U2 concert video, homemade cookie-tasting, caffeine pollution and board-games tables are in effect after the service for community building and calorie collection.

U R loved. -chuckk

If you are planning to upgrade to Mac osX Leopard HERE is a great article you might want to read to git er done correktlee with little drama.

Keep your eyes open for a major announcement from Steve Jobs and Apple Inc.: looks like another new operating system Mac osXX Meerkat will be coming soon...

Dan Kimball's father passed away last week, keep Dan and his family in your prayers! Josh and Dan asked me to fill in preaching at Vintage Faith Church yesterday as Dan tended to his father's funeral. It was a blessing and a privilege.

God is doing great things at VFC. My buddy the anointed and wildly good looking Josh Fox led worship - it was really passionate and exciting. The room was packed to overflowing with people in their 20's and early 30's and God's presence and pleasure was obvious. It is always encouraging to preach into the lives of really receptive young people. I can't wait to get going with Elevation gatherings, it really energized me to to be at VFC.

Keep November 11th open for our Elevation TestDrive 6:30-8pm in the Santa Cruz Bible Church Student Center -we're getting a bunch of the long overdue very very cool lighting fixes done, we're putting in 3 more video projectors and FINALLY turning the Student Center into a non distracting and well designed space for people to meet with God. Charge!

On the iPod: "Pink Floyd - Pulse" (David Mallet)

Official Disclaimer: I'm not a big Willow Creek "seeker sensitive" program guy (but God has certainly used them in great ways).

Check these videos out though, Willow is evaluating their effectiveness, look what they have found. Maybe we can all benefit from evaluating the program-centric mindset.

On the iPod: "Mute Math" (Mute Math)

Mix a little religious legalism and a little 21st century technology and you will find new problems... Legalism is not a problem facing only Christians, our human nature is to make rules and laws that encumber the pure knowledge of God with the philosophies and traditions of this world. With legalism comes bondage and complexity whether you are a follower of Jesus, Muhammad or the Easter Bunny.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. - Colossians 2:8 - (from New International Version)

A meditation: What are the freedom robbing, life complicating extraBiblical rules, traditions and encumbrances that I bow to?

Further Directions:
1. Place extraBiblical legalistic laws in escape hatch
2. Push button marked " Jettison"

My current fav Mac Dashboard Widget is the YouTube Widget.

If you download the ut widget you just hit f-12 and your Dashboard appears and whoooosh you can view the latest YouTube vids without even loading your web browser. YouTube is a culture barometer and world class info source, it's worth keeping track of ...and it's filled with fun stupidity too.

Another nice widget with more eternal value is the Logos Bible Widget.

Today is my last day as a"professional" youth pastor. The last 24 years have been consumed with high school students and their world, it's been really fun!

This weekend I officiated at a wedding for one of my old students from 15 years ago. Much of that core group of old "kids" were there ( they are now all around their 30's), we reminisced for hours about the wonderful life and ministry we shared together years ago. Many of them are key volunteer ministers and a few are vocational ministers now, what a blessing. God provides just the right conclusions to life chapters. Thank you Jesus - life if GOOD!

Tomorrow starts a new chapter, Elevation. I'm on stoked.

Christianity as a religion continues to become less and less respected by the average person on the street. This article at the Barna Research Site confirms what many of us experience in our interactions with not yet Christians. Worth a read.

NOTE: the previously linked article was incorrect. My thanks to the amazingly vigilant Dan Kimball for catching the error! The article link is now correct. TKX Dan.

ht: Thud

Video-games are impacting our culture in huge ways... but are often outside the knowledge of many ministry leaders. Many church leaders go out of their way to keep up with current books and films but often are vaporous in the v-game knowledge department. The narratives of games like Halo and World of Warcraft are the frame of reference for many humans (and orcs and elves) in the emerging generation. Guess what, these players aren't just teenagers anymore.

In the midst of many of these games are stories of good vs evil, redemption, sacrifice and greed... sermon-food. For example...

More reason to buy a faster computer or console system as ministry research tools!

How do you "like to think of Jesus"?  It's vital that we see Him as He is and not as we wish He is- here's a great video clip for a sermon and some personal reflection.

I'm off to Lake Tahoe for our annual SCBC staff retreat tomorrow - fellowship Jetskis and fun.  It will be fun to get away with Andrea for a few days; we'll ride the Harley up and back which will make for a nice long ride together.  I love my wife and going riding together is a special time

I was in a couple of airports last week.  Airports are strange; if you travel alone, even though you are surrounded  by throngs of people there is a  certain loneliness.

Loneliness in a crowd is a sad thing. 

For many folks coming to church services or visiting a church is a "lonely in a crowd" experience, they come in sit alone, are un-recognized, un-embraced, alone  -in a crowd.  There is usually a cold empty seat or two between them and the other people in the room - the 14" gap of sadness.  

A friend of mine mentioned that she recently visited a new church and felt "like she had been invited to someone's home for a meal and was then completely ignored". 

Promotion minus hospitality = loneliness in the pews.

How could this be different?   ...begins with One

I got back from Alabama in one piece, nice place, nice people and great chicken wings! 

Tomorrow will be fun.  After church I will be jumping on my Harley and heading for San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for the 40th anniversary celebration of the Summer of Love . 

A special treat will be that my friend Omar Spence will be lead singing for the resurrection / reunion of the SF band Moby Grape.  Omar's dad (who is deceased) was the legendary and tragic Skip Spence of Moby Grape.  Skip Spence was the American incarnation of Syd Barrett. Omar will be taking his dad's place in the band, it will be really special. 

There will be a great line up of old hippie bands, now balding and grey making the groovy scene in the old cosmic park.  I imagine I'll witness at least one old codger taking off his oxygen mask to hit a joint as his bald spot burns under the hot afternoon sun.  Find out about the concert here. 

Peace baby.

Jesus loves the poor.  In fact, Jesus was poor.

Ever hear a message that just sucked you in and made you ask yourself "how do I need to change - right NOW?" 

Tim Keller's stellar sermon "Doing Justice" is one of those messages you HAVE to hear, it's simply that good and that important.  Compassion and action are words that are vital to Elevation thinking.  It's vital that we continue to learn from the Word of God and evaluate our actions and thoughts from the Eternal Standard.

Listen to this message, it can be downloaded to your mp3 player or listened to directly on your computer.

Caution: if you listen to this before bed as I did your mind may be very awake for a while! 

Peter tells us in his first epistle " always be ready to give reason for the hope that is within you". 

Question , how many people have asked you about this lately? 

Maybe we need to develop deeper relationships so that people can see the hope and joy inside our lives and want to know where the well of such things is located... 

Ed Stetzer has some ideas on how to get started in these postmodern times.  Great thoughts on starting "spiritual discussions" - worth a read : HERE. 

Elevators, read this one.

Missional churches are very different than Seeker churches, the wonderful Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church explains the difference.  Breath mission my friends.

Find Out About The Elevation Dream: keep THIS Tuesday evening August 7th free for Ele-Vision, a vision-cast, Q&A and prayer evening for Elevation. -6:30pm @ the Santa Cruz Bible Coffeehouse.  God is brewing something tasty for Santa Cruz and beyond, come find out if He is calling you to cook along with Him at Elevation.

LOGO UPDATE: A huge thanks to everyone who has been submitting Elevation logos, we have a bunch of nice candidates already!  If you'd like to join the fun and submit a logo for Elevation there's still time - we'll be taking submissions through the end of July!  Logo submissions details are found at THIS entry.  We'll pick one official logo and use the other entries over time for special events and the like.

On The iPod: Joe Walsh - So What  This album along with his amazing "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get"  are among the most soulful classic rock albums of all time.  They remind me of driving across snow covered West Virginia in my cousin's red Firebird when I was a young kid.  My cousin had both albums on 8 track and they were the soundtrack for the long snowy drive to my grandfather's funeral.

On July 12th I blogged about Scot McKnight and his series of articles on Missional Jesus.  Small world... this morning I found out that Scot is here in Denmark at this very conference, I just spoke with him a moment ago after he finished his session challenging the Danes to missional living.  It was strange to have met him here after just writing about him.  Also, the first night we were here the Glen Kaiser Band played, remember the Res Band? - great blues and boogie!  Also I didn't know I'd run into some of those Bog Bodies I had read about - but Tuesday we were out in town and saw some dead guys at a museum...spooky crusty old dudes...  The picture below is of a bog man, Glen Kaiser is aged but is better preserved.

On The iPod - Stone Temple Pilots - Purple

Yesterday I spend a couple of hot hours digging in the dirt.  The whole camp of over 2000 adults left the conference grounds, dispersed into the surrounding area and served the town of Odder at 600 different ministry sites.  It was great seeing cars filled with people leaving the conference to serve the local people with the love of Jesus.  It was fun jumping into cars with strangers to go to Danish people's homes not knowing if the driver or the people you were headed out to meet would speak English. My job was to go with a group of people to a woman's home to clear brush, dig out her garden from a mass of overgrowth, trim trees and get her yard in back in order.  She is an older single lady who really needed the help and appreciated it very much, she said it was all to much for her to upkeep - we preached the gospel of sweat, kindness and love with our hands.

While we were working I met a great young man named Martin, he is studying theology in Copenhagen.  As we worked we talked a bit about the need for churches globally to engage the culture of this new time.  Young leaders everywhere are feeling the need for the church to understand the cultures they live in and make the beautiful unchanging Gospel understandable to the people of this generation.

I mentioned some good books to Martin, so Martin, here are the names of those books.

The Shaping of things To Come - Frost and Hirsch

The Emerging Church - Dan Kimball

The second phase of our trip is beginning, we have finally completed the festival set up.  This event is amazing there are huge meeting tents everywhere, and now bands, vendors and campers are arriving.   We will set up our small camping tents today and get ready or th onslaught of 3000 festival-goers.  This is exciting.  As you know there are very few Christ followers in Denmark and we are in the midst of the largest gathering of those people in this country.  Is it wonderful to see the small community of Christ-lovers God is calling together to pursue a fresh reformation here in Denmark --there is a prayer request in this.   It has become clear that our mission here is to encourage and serve the local leaders that God has raised up in this country - this is worth doing, something is afoot in this country!  The local church leaders know little about the Emerging Church but are doing emergent things by nature, they desire to reach this generation with fresh methods and Biblical faithfulness- I wish I could take some of these young leaders with me to start Elevation. 

Tomorrow the festival officially starts, half out team will be running a wild middle-schooler program the other half will be coming with me to lead a prayer ministry for the 15-25 year olds in another area of the festival grounds.  We will be laying hands on and praying for people that respond after the meetings.  They provided a nice how to pray "over people" training time for our sub team, the kids are feeling excited and challenged to be providing shepherding care and prayer for people face to face! 

So into the human fray we go for a week, then next week after the festival is over we will tear down the whole camp...that will probably be the most physically challenging event in the life of almost everyone here - weeeeee!!!

 --Scot McKnight, the author of The Jesus Creed  is a very intelligent man and has written an excellent series of blogs on the missionality of Jesus.  There are 15 "Missional Jesus" posts (so far) in the series. I recommend reading them all in 1 - 15 order.  Here is the page where the most recent post is found and you can navigate backwards to post number one from there. 

If you may be an Elevat-or or Eleva-trix in the future, read through these posts I think they will bless you.  As you read ask you: what was truly important to Jesus?  What was and is the Missio Dei?  How could Elevation  be formed as a mob obsessed with the Mission of Jesus?

Yesterday was fun!  It rained on an off as we set up more circus tents for 11-12 hours - kids and staff saw exhaustion close up and personal.  There were about 8 tents put up, some were huge and some were just big.  It was a GREAT day serving and laughing and knowing that things were different at day's end then they were at day's start.  The group is doing great, everyone is pretty healthy, sleeping well , working very hard and enjoying themselves. 

...Heard around the breakfast table moments ago...

Michael Kaufman just said: "I've never been so sore in my life" -- Ben Fisher said: "The Danish food gives me gas"... Dani Z said: "Can I have my voice back?"...Daniel Halverson: "The Danes eat well, if you like Danish food", Chuckk said, " Wow am I dizzy, and I like it!",  Michael and Dani said " Eric just had a child and we named him Sebastian".

Everyone agrees the Danish custom of having bread with choclate on it for breakfast is from God.

We arrived safe and sound here is Odder Denmark after 36 hours of car, plane, train and foot travel.  The country is very beautiful and the people are a joy to serve with, these people have a great sense of humor and love life.  Today we spent 12 hours laying sections of flooring in an enormous muddy circus tent that will hold 2500 people in a few days, it was hard work and everyone is a bit sore and tired. 

One of the young Danes thanked us and said that when this tent is full of people praising God and learning about Him you will know that God used you.  Last year they had no American team to help with this event, it took the locals 3 full days to place the main tent flooring down - this year it was done in 12 (grueling) hours. We put up more tents and lay more flooring all day today and again tomorrow and begin to prepare for our direct ministry to junior and senior high age kids next week when the party starts.  This will be a BIG party -they expect over 3000 people.  Denmark is a country that is truly post Christian 98% are " members"  of the state church by birth and baptism but only 2% attend church, most of those who attend are elderly people, not young people...but there is a small exciting movement among some of the churches and some of the youth here.  Pray with me a new wave of Danish Christian youth, pray that our efforts here will serve the local church is starting a fresh uprising!  Last night I sat up till 1am with a couple of the young Danish leaders discussing the need for a new culturally relevant churches and sharing ideas abouts  incarnational ministry as a principal means of reaching not yet Christians.

More to come, off to pull up circus tents and lay wood flooring.  Pray for dry weather!

#'z?

Here's an article of merit that addresses the ugly question --- how do you measure ministry success.  Is it bricks, bucks,  bodies in attendance or another "b" word like bullshitake? - (to quote the excellent Guy Kawasaki).

Pray for David Thew and Sojourn Church, the brewery they meet in burned down! <--Read about it.  and...Fresh updates at Jesus Punx

Sunday morning (July 8th) my oldest daughter Carly and I head for Odder, Denmark on a new mission,  Andrea and Jessi will be staying home as we fly off to the Chaos.

Denmark, along with much of the world is a truly post-Christian zone.  Most Danish people and especially younger people will never enter a church or engage Jesus.  Example: We had a Danish girl over last month who shared she wasn't sure why a young person would ever go into a church other than for a wedding.  We will serve the local church and Youth for Christ in helping to raise up a new generation of young Jesus- followers.

I will be traveling with 17 of my students and the amazing Chris Gudnason to help Youth For Christ Denmark put on a big sheeebang called Danish Oasis.  We will spend the first week setting up circus tents, building bridges, walkways and basically assist in building the encampment for the 2500-3000 Danish people that will attend the event.  The second week our team will lead ministry  for 250+ middle schoolers in one of the huge tents, the one parked waaaay out by the city sewer system - pandemonium will ensue.  I love pandemonium!

Youth for Christ has set up a website that will have pictures and updates throughout the trip - tune in and check up on the fun.  I will have internet access and will be updating this blog on Sacred Digital with my pictures, stories and impressions from Denmark as well.  Keep us in your prayers!

On the iPod:  Velvet Revolver - Libertad

About a month ago I was on a plane flying south and I fell into an interesting conversation...  The man sitting next to me was in his mid-thirties, he was causally dressed and seemed relaxed.  As the plane screamed across the California skyline he kept peering at my laptop screen to see what I was working on.  Finally he asks "what are you flying south for " and I tell him I am a pastor and I was headed to a church in Southern California to share ideas with them on how to start new expressions of the church that will better engage people in a postmodern world.  He began to tell me that he recently started attending a church and was interested in God.  I asked him about the church he attends, what drew him, what it's like, if it fits him well and the like.  He made this statement when we spoke of the worship music at the church he has been attending:

"of course ...you have to get past the music..." 

The worship was so out of his culture-mix that it was a barrier for him to overcome if he wanted to find out about God. He was willing to endure the music because he was searching for God. 

Now here's the question, shouldn't we embrace music that is culturally contextual and even winsome for those who are of this newer mindset and the emerging generation?  Most "contemporary" services use music that was contemporary 25 years ago, -for some people the sound and style is nails on chalk board, even for many Christians.

The plot thickens... as we continued our discussion the stewardess brings the man a beer he had previously ordered and I saw him tense up as she asked "did he want a Bud, Bud Light or Bud Select".  He spoke quickly and nervously, it was obvious he was very uncomfortable having a beer in front of a pastor. 

So let's see: His understanding of God-stuff is that the music is something to be endured and you should feel awkward drinking even one beer in the presence of a Christian...  Hmmm.  Time to think about how effective we are in bringing the barrier free Gospel to those who are not yet familiar with the Goodness of Jesus.  How often does our subculture or personal preference issues stumble not-yet-believers? 

For the record, I put my new travel friend back at ease by mentioning "I have never tried Bud Select, Budweiser has a kind of bitter flavor to me - what is Select like?"  - he told me about it, relaxed and we talked about God for the rest of the plane ride.  Food for thought.

On the iPod: The Creatures -Anima Animus

This is a GREAT audio podcast regarding Understanding Culture as Christians and leaders.   It's from The 2006 Resurgence Conference, the speaker = Ed Stetzer.  If you are planning on being part of the Elevation launch listen to this podcast, it will give you a feel for my heart and equip you with some great vision and a mindset for reaching those outside the walls of church subculture!

You can listen to it online or download it to your iPod etc  from THIS site.  It is also available free at iTunes store in the podcast section.

On The iPod; Ryuchi Sakamoto - Insen - ambient, floating, brilliant...  This is the soundtrack I would choose for reading the book of Genesis

For many Christians the idea of the Church desiring to be relevant to the culture it finds itself in is tantamount to selling out, watering down and losing first love.  We all live, minister and worship in a culture that is extra-biblical even if it is a Christian subculture.  Jesus Himself ministered powerfully in the culture of His day and did so with deep relevance and  complete holiness.  Ed Stetzer wrote this wonderful article about this controversy, it's worth a read.

If you haven't read Ed Stetzer & David Putman's excellent book Breaking the Missional Code it is truly in my highest possible recommend category

  -- The new iPhone is almost here and will be cooler than a penguin's pahtoot. Here is the official "check it all out" iPhone movie.  I will wait for a year or two till it comes out with a bigger hard drive and the bugs get worked out. 

In the meantime I just picked up the Treo 700p.  It does about everything the iPhone does like accesses the web, runs googlemaps, address book, calendar, YouTube, txt, phone, email etc etc.  In a cool turn of events I had enough phone upgrade mojo to get it free and even score a $50 store credit which was a double happiness.

This is a cool thing: if you have a bible program loaded onto your smart phone you can cut and paste verses from the Scriptures into a text message right on your phone and send them to folks you may be counseling, encouraging or interacting with in some way.  I just tried this last night, it was sweet!  It's a new way to quickly and directly input the life changing Word of God into a conversation with someone in real time.

On the iPod: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here :: WYWH was this year's album for our 4th annual "Pink Floyd Listening Party  Under The Stars" during our high school group's Wakefest Wakeboard Trip.  We are the only youth group I know with an annual Pink Floyd listening party - I love my kids, they too are cooler than a penguin's pahtoot.

For the record I'm breathing : highly missional in philosophy, more evangelical in theology (but not culturally) - and not fully reformed so maybe there's a fifth team MD.  Or a 5.1?

Elevation is the name of the new ministry and community that I will be leading and pastoring.  The name has a special soulful tingle for me personally.  Elevation was the name of the ministry my heart-brother Dan Snow was engineering at the time of his tragic and early death. 

So Dan, Elevation lives in your honor.

 In this aeon time and space matter less, yet our churches seem mired in time and space... Ten Challenges Facing the Church in Cyberspace is a great post that you should read.  How could you or your ministry better seize the ether?  Dream with me how we can touch people: locally, nationally and globally through technology and through the internet in particular.  Elevation will be seeking to leverage technology to love and serve the world in unique ways from it's inception, dream with me.

On The iPod: David Sylvian - Dead Bees on a Cake

The BIG news is this; after a couple of years of prayer and study and a year of serious God-wrestling I will be changing lanes from youth ministry to lead-pastoring a next generation church expression.  Andrea and I have been praying about planting a new church or starting an alternative ministry within a church and we have heard God's clear call to start a new expression of the church at Santa Cruz Bible.  It will be called Elevation and will feature a high energy Sunday night service and mission focused community.  Elevation will be for people of any age but will be focused towards people 18-35.  We're certain of God's powerful and clear leading and we are on fire with joy and fresh vision.  Keep an eye on this blog for regular updates and a journal of our journey in launching and leading a new expression of the church within an existing church.

As for youth ministry, after 23 years of ministry to high schoolers I'll still be helping out at high school group as a volunteer - probably for life : once a youth pastor always  a youth pastor.  In fact if I didn't have this clear leading form God I would do high school min for the rest of my life with great enthusiasm.   Our Senior Pastor and Executive Pastor are excited and very supportive and our Elder Board unanimously voted for us to begin this new expression.  The fuse has been lit, here we go!  Below is an excerpt from the proposal I presented our Elder Board: it will give you a bit of an overview of my thinking and heart.

I.        The Need

A.       Churches across America are seeing significant decline in 18-35 age range.  Surveys also show less young singles and families are returning to churches after “sowing their wild oats in college”.

B.       SCBC has seen a radical decline in the 18-35 age range.

C.       The American culture has changed and a smaller number people will likely seek out current church forms.

D.       Our community has only 3-4 churches primarily focused on the emerging generations.  The community has tens of thousands of people unreached in this age range.  We need more churches intentioned for unreached and postmodern people.

E.       Our church and the greater community would be well served by additional church expressions that are purposely shaped for emerging generations.

1.        1 Corinthians 9:22b I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

II.      I propose we start a “New Arm” of ministry at Santa Cruz Bible Church to address these needs

1.        Note: Definition of a “New Arm” follows.

B.       The Starfish Analogy

1.        A Starfish has a central “body” called the disk.  A starfish has multiple arms extending from the disk.  Each arm is connected to and is a vital part of the starfish’s body but articulates and expresses itself individually and differently.

a)       Some “arms” of our current ministry at SCBC include:

(1)       The Main Services

(2)       Celebrate Recovery

(3)       The Hispanic Ministry

(4)       Youth Ministries

C.       Definition: “New Arm of Ministry” = A new worship service and mission-focused community purposed to reach and grow the people who will be attracted and engaged by a different expression of the historic and biblical Christian faith.

D.       Points of connection to the “disk” of the SCBC starfish.

1.        A common doctrinal statement and mission statement

2.        A common Elder Board with representatives of the New Arm included in the future

3.        Common financial, people and property resources

4.        Common discipleship groups, children’s and youth ministries and other all church ministries.

III.    My Calling

A.       After much prayer, counsel, study and consideration I feel a clear Call to lead a fresh expression of Christ’s Church either as a New Arm within an existing church like SCBC or as a new autonomous plant.

IV.    Values

A.       Worship Gatherings

1.        Scripture-centric life-change focused teaching

2.        A ministry primarily shaped for 20-40 age group, but welcoming and embracing all generations

3.        Use of technology to communicate and spread the impact of the church

4.        Use of Multisensory / Multimedia teaching, learning and expression

5.        Variety: in music, environments, teaching / learning experiences, interaction and service order

6.        Use of interaction in services both verbal and technological

7.        Excellence in all things

8.        The utilization of more current forms of music for worship and audio environments

9.        Utilization of the arts

10.      Culturally current expressions that provide a strong attractional element to the gatherings

11.      A firm grasp on orthodox historic Christian theology

12.      A high value in joy, humor and encouragement

13.      Authentic, transparent teaching / learning

B.       Lifestyle of the Community

1.        I/A Approach:  Incarnational / Attractional

2.        Emphasis on Incarnation as the primary means of reaching people which are not yet Christian, as in Christ’s ministry.

a)       John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

3.        A missional focus on less reached people groups and cultures in Santa Cruz .

4.        Hospitality in homes as a central practice

5.        Living a life others would desire to emulate

6.        Less is more: limiting programs, meetings, and subcultural events that separate the believer from the lost community too often.

7.        Studying, discipling, meeting and worshipping off-campus and out in the greater community whenever possible.

8.        A church characterized by loving the lost and living life regularly in their midst while still living holy lives.

a)       1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

b)       Luke 7:34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."

9.        A community of both saved and unsaved people with a believing church at its core.

a)       Belong, Believe, Behave.

b)       Allow and invite not- yet-believers to take part in the life and works of the community.

10.      Mission as a lifestyle

a)       Challenging believers to engaging in deep ongoing friendships with not yet believers from the highest levels of leadership across the board.

b)       Regular, ongoing service to the poor and needy locally and globally.

(1)       Missions as more than mere trips and service as more than mere projects

C.       Technology Redeemed

1.        Design a Virtual Online Campus for those who are not able to or ready to visit.

2.        Intentionally use the Internet as the front door of the church.

3.        Use the Internet as a greater communication and equipping tool locally, regionally and globally

D.       Multiplication

1.        Explore Multisite church through future extension. Campuses.   

2.        Form intentional apprenticeships towards future plants

V.      What this New Arm is not:

A.       Not: Chuckk “moving up” to College Career Ministry

B.       Not: A generational ministry

C.       Not: a “Youth Service”

D.       Not: A start up church that would leave the main church but would remain part of the main church and plant other new churches

E.       Not: A deconstructionist reaction to 20^th century church models

VI.    Key Staff Positions

A.       Lead Pastor =Chuckk

B.       We will hire a full time Pastor of Worship

C.       We will hire a full time Administrative Assistant

VII.  Suggested Primary Service Setting

A.       Sunday evenings initially in the Student Center and moving to the Main Auditorium if / when it grows larger

B.       Begin team building and vision dreaming this fall

C.       Begin weekly full services in January, God willing.

VIII.            Leadership Culture of this New Arm of Santa Cruz Bible Church

A.       Behavior and lifestyle would be limited by all Scriptural mandates.

B.       Behavior and lifestyle would be not be limited by 20^th century Christian subcultural traditions.

C.       Christian freedoms must be practiced in wisdom and moderation.  Purity in lifestyle and witness is vital and must be guided by the Scriptures.

If you are a member of SCBC this stirs up lots of questions like what will the ministry look like , what will happen to our youth ministry etc - You can find some of the answers here at  the ELEVATION FAQ v1.0.  If you are a student or a parent of a student  the "Official Letter" is found here.  God is up to great things, pray.

Cheers, this will be epic.

Last month I was pondering the importance of authenticity in leadership.  I recently remembered an authentic pulpit event that deeply impacted me. 

I became a Christian when I was 21, I found Jesus at a large seeker sensitive church inSouthern California .  After I had been attending this great church for about a month when the Sainted Senior Pastor, Larry DeWitt (whom I thought was the most perfect man I had ever come across) began to preach about his wretched deep seated sinfulness.  He was teaching through Romans 7:21-25 and admitted that he still struggled with sin.  He told us how in his mind he was at times a fornicator and liar, covetous and jealous.

I was new at this church stuff but I knew in an instant someone better turn this guy over and baste him, he was done  - I was certain he had just lost his job in front of my very eyes.  What I didn’t know was this, I was totally mistaken.  He had simply spoken the authentic and total truth, we are imperfect people in need of a savior, in need of forgiveness and in need of grace.  His honesty descended on me like a stone from space - I was leveled. 

I had an epiphany… If God could use him in such great ways even though he was an imperfect creature I too could live the Christian life and maybe even be of use to God.  It was a true turning point for me, I knew that I too could make it as a Christian - it wasn't for perfect people only. 

Larry Dewitt was also the first person to tell me that God was going to call me to ministry, God bless you Larry.

As a pastor, father, husband and friend I want to be even more real, authentic and unguarded.  The key is in being willing for people to think less of me as a person and leader and in doing so be even more truthful with them and for them.  We Christians like to play at plastic holiness to keep people from seeing our reality, in doing this we lose honest authentic leadership.  We wonder if people would love, respect and follow us if they found out we have feet of clay extending all the way to our necks on a bad day.

Here are 3 Ideas:

- Don’t only tell stories that end with you as a hero, tell the stories where you end up as a chump.

- Real authenticity speaks the stories of our CURRENT failings, not just stumbles from the distant past.

- Read the Bible - it’s the only religious text on the planet that seems to major in disclosing the authentic, raw and real failures of its greatest leaders.  You'll feel better about yourself after you read how some of those cats blew it.

Disclaimer: The writer of this blog is still in the development phase of the fullness of his own transparency and claims no invulnerability in his vulnerability.

And no, I am not writing this because I fell into some kind of terrible sin.

In the late 70's I saw Jeff Beck live on his Blow By Blow tour.  His playing was so beautiful at one point during the song 'Cause We've Ended as Lovers  I began to cry because I was so moved.  True Story.  Embarrassing, but true.

Beck is an amazing guitar player, a master of taste.  If you are one of the guitar guys in our Worship Community listen, watch and learn.  Here's recent footage of Beck playing Cause We've Ended As Lovers . Notice things like volume swells, unusual bends, use of right hand - Jb doesn't use a pick and it effects his tone.

My latest obsession is studying the Greek language.  I'm capable with Greek study tools thanks to Logos Bible Software but have never forced myself to learn Greek vocabulary and grammar in a formal way.  So my new spare time sickness is keeping my head in Basics of Biblical Greek by Mounce and my fingers on an old out of print Learn Greek computer program. 

Today I spent some study time out on our deck in the warm sun with Mounce's text open and Alice Cooper: Killer blaring on the speakers - the only good way to study dead languages is with Alice Cooper...

 --- Every now and again you read a book that is like a tall cool drink for the parched inner you.  Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller is refreshing like that.  It makes you really love being a Christian and a friend of God.  Like every non-Biblical book I've read I don't agree with everything I read in this book but it is a cool drink for certain. 

Miller writes in an authentic, gentle and humorous way; Donald Miller makes you like him.  He also makes you like God.  If you read and enjoyed Blue like Jazz you'll like this book a lot too.  If you are suffering from a malady like spiritualfatigue or churchfatigue this book is a helpful perscription. 

Read an excerpt from Searching for God Knows What  HERE

On The iPod: Deathcab For Cutie - Plans

Last night on Lost I heard a redemption song (to use Bob Marley's words). 

Desmond is talking to Charlie on a lonely beach.  If you follow the show you'll know that Desmond gets glimpses of the future and usually they involve Charlie's death, Desmond uses these visions to save Charlie's life over and over again - a handy friend to have around ,no? 

In this case Desmond tells Charlie, "I see Claire, the woman you love boarding a helicopter and escaping this island that we are stranded on".  Charlie is relieved to know that the vision isn't another premonition of his horrendous death.  Desmond tells Charlie that for Claire and her baby to escape the island that Charlie must die in an underwater hatch to fulfill the vision. 

Desmond tells Charlie "unless you die Charlie, there can be no rescue". 

Redemption song.  The cost of Claire's rescue is the cost of Charlie's life and Charlie willingly chooses to give his life for Claire's rescue from the Island; to purchase her freedom.  The redemption song of Jesus is that Jesus gives his life to accomplish our rescue from the island called Earth, we are separated from eternal life by an ocean of sinful actions, thoughts and inclinations; He willingly buys our freedom at the cost of His life because of His great passion for us plane-crashed survivors of the Fall.

This might preach... if so go to download the clip from iTunes  you could show it as an illustration, it can be shown in the iTunes player on a video projector or on an iPod for a small group in a coffee shop or???.  You can also view last night's episode for free  HERE.

Culturally contextual redemption songs are playing all around us, exposing ourselves to them, recognizing them and utilizing them to tell the Old Old Story is missional.

OTHER: Today I'm on a plane to my old stompin' grounds: Southern California to do some ministry consulting.  Luckily LOST didn't show that gnarly plane crash scene last night, yikes!  I don't mind dying but the whole piss your pants screaming as the plane comes screaming out of the sky seems rather unpleasant.

On The iPod: Wilco -Sky Blue Sky - this is a great great album!

This Sunday we start a short 2 part series, Rise: The Resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  As a part of this Sunday's message I will be directing folks to this blog for links to some personal study on the veracity of the supposed "lost family tomb of Jesus'.  So here are the links for the lost tomb of some guy named Hey-soose.

A good simple synopsis is HERE

Some more good stuff is  OVER HERE

One written specifically for teenagers can be viewed  IN THIS PLACE (nice find Tiffynoodle!)

Smartguy stuff from Dallas Theological Seminary  can be viewed  YONDER

An interesting blog  from an atheist's perspective is  IN THIS NECK OF THE INTERNET WOODS

A friend of mine, Frank Johnson  of Strategic Digital Outreach just went public with a GREAT new missions website that he and some of his friends authored.  It's called MissionEquip.com.  Missionequip is like a one stop super shop of mission related resources. 

I've longed for a site like this for years; a single place where you can find downloadable music for the trip, packing lists, insurance info, worldwide internet access, global weather reports, currency converters, blogs of missionaries worldwide, discussion forums, excellent planning resources and MORE!   This site is a must see!   Check Out MissionEquip.

On The iPod - Various Mark Driscoll Podcasts :: Great Bible teaching with a tang of chili-sauce

Last week I was hanging out with a friend of mine on the porch of a tattoo studio in San Jose, we were talking about church and some of the reasons he finds it "not too engaging".  My friend is a Christian, he grew up in a great youth group, he loves Jesus but doesn't really love church gatherings and finds it a burden to attend them.  As we talked he shared that he and so many of the people he knows feel like when they do attend church the leaders aren't real.  My friend shared that so many times the pastors he hears don't share their own struggles and failures as they remind us weekly of all the things we need to do to be better Christians.  The term  authentic is the word that was spoken several times on that porch that afternoon.  In other conversations that very day two other Christians I know mentioned their desire for Christian  leaders to be more authentic and vulnerable, more real when they preach.

Today I was in a sushi bar on a date with my super-hot girlfriend (and wife) Andrea.  It was one of those sushi bars with a revolving sushi exhibition; you know, those little boats that go round and round filled with edible art tempting you to eat more and more...  NOTE:  overeating sushi is ill advised, flee the Tempter.  As the little boats sailed past I spied one of my least favorite items floating by; artificial crab meat rolled up in rice and nori. 

I have a particular disdain for fake crab meat; artificial, unappetizing, un-authentic. it's not something I desire to let into my person.  It pretends to be luscious rich crab but turns out to be falsely colored folded, spindled and mutilated fish by-products.  It 's the fish-equivalent of BsPastoralLeadership.

Authentic pastoral leadership is vital these days.  The importance of being leaders who share the reality of their struggles, weaknesses and slip ups is immeasurable in these postmodern times.  Pretending to be better than we are, covering our faults and sharing only our victories leaves a greasy artificial-crab flavor in the mouths of many churched, un-churched and de-churched people these days.  BTW: It goes beyond preaching and pastors to the whole Body of Jesus, we all  need to be real people if we hope to see others know Jesus and grow healthy. 

More to come on this subject in The Importance Of Authenticity Part 2

Disclaimer: The writer of this blog is still in the development phase of the fullness of his own transparency and claims no invulnerability in his vulnerability.

On The iPod: Deerhunter- Cryptograms <-----see a Deerhunter video at this link - fresh neo psych...

If you are taking a short term mission trip this summer you might be interested in this site; it's called TravelPod.  TravelPod will host a mission trip blog where you can upload pictures and text about what's happening on your trip as it unfolds.  Guess what, it's free too. 

We did a mission trip blog last year from the Czech Republic and had GREAT response from parents, supporters and others who said it helped them to pray more effectively and helped them feel like they were really part of the mission effort.   If you are going somewhere that has 'net access this is worth doing. 

ht: Thud Gudnason

If you download my Sunday Morning Messages from my iTunes area you've probably noticed that there's been no new messages uploaded in a while.  We're having some probs uploading but we should have it all fixed very soon.  When we get it back up and running we have a two part series ready and waiting called One Life Revolution : a Christian response to poverty and the African aids crisis" and a three part series called "El Moola"  :a guilt -free look at managing the money our good God places in our wallets.  Sorry for the slowdown.

On The iPod: Porcupine Tree - Staircase Infinities

The Catholic Church has finally jettisoned the concept of Limbo.  In the past, Catholic Doctrine has stated that there was a place that unbaptized babies go if they die, this place was called Limbo.  This extra-biblical concept was held by the Catholic Church from medieval times to today. 

I imagine a steamy tropical locale with rockin Island music, swaggering babies holding shapely cocktail glasses with fruit on the rim and maybe even infant coconut bowling; perhaps Limbo wouldn't be so bad a place...

Limbo is now theological history  read about the new decision.  It is encouraging when theologians do good work to separate church traditions from true Biblical Theology.  What might be some of our  extra-biblical traditions?

On The iPod: Minus The Bear - Menos El Oso

=== Our server just got a holy blessing; Barracuda's spam filter.  It is an app from Heaven.  I was getting 150+ spams a day advertising such treasures as Viagra, fake Rolexes, Britney pix, and sketchy stock deals.  Barracuda has gotten me down to about 2 slices of spam a day.  If you are experiencing a daily spam-a-thon check Barracuda's service out!

On The iPod: NOT Sanjaya

God is doing great things at Grace Children's Home in Baja.  Big news: God is still in the miracle  Agua biz.

If you don't read the Palau's blog check it out!

On The iPod: The Cure - Greatest Hits

I mentioned LifeChurch in a recent post, they are doing some cool stuff with multi-site spread.  I found a book that gives even more sauce to the concept. 

I'm currently reading an interesting book called Multi-Site Church - by Surratt, Ligon and Bird.  It's a book examining how some pioneers are multiplying church gatherings by utilizing more than one location for worship.  These folk are taking the steeple to the town instead of just inviting the town to the steeple.  Worth a look if you are a technician of GospelSpread.  Think outside the bricks.

On the iPod: Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops

I met an interesting church planter when I was up in Seattle last week.  His name is David Thew.  David pastors Sojourn, a unique missional church in Huntsville Alabama.  After talking a few minutes I found out that David is a friend of a good friend of mine, small world.

I love the fact that David and his team have incarnated into the midst of their city where a bunch of not yet Christians hang out - the Olde Town Beer Brewery.  Why in a brewery?

Prior to the American Prohibition, use of alcohol in moderation was common in Christian circles but its become controversial these days.  What David is doing may make you say cheers or may make you feel uncomfortable so check out their site Church In A Brewery and also check out David's blog, ThewBlog to see what's up and why.

On The iPod: Arcade Fire- Neon Bible

Thanks to my good friends Smittie and Machiko Smith at Tako Productions, I now have a permanent internet home for all my various projects.  - The New Sacred Digital Site has links to my Sunday morning messages at Santa Cruz Bible Church, my video podcast series, my beloved tattoo project: Sacred Ink, my bio, my email, a space for some upcoming music projects I'm recording and this blog.   --- Stop by and check it out sacreddigital.com  

I am in Seattle at this moment.  The skies are slate gray, the wind carries a bitter chill, the chili carries a bite...the city is wonderful.  I just ate dinner at Mike's Chili Parlor, right down the street from Mark Driscoll's Mars Hill Church.  I am here for some conferences and some time away with Andrea and our friends the Brandes' - dreaming and scheming, listening and learning.  

At this very moment Dr. Bruce Ware is just beginning his series of lectures on Arminianism, Reformed, Process and Open Theologies and their connection to the Providence of God.  Dr. Ware is smarter than I am but I could whip him in the Ultimate Fighting Octagon, even with a tummy stuffed with Mike's Chili of doom.

LifeChurch is doing some wonderful things with multi-site church.  I have mentioned their work briefly before but wanted to bring them back to encourage you to think in terms of multiplying churches instead of just attending a church or even planting a church. LifeChurch is one church on ten campuses PLUS an internet campus. 

LifeChurch gives away an amazing amount of relevant and well made material such as videos, sermons, and graphics so that others can use they resources the produce ...free of charge. They are doing some great innovative things, I hope you'll take time to drop by their site and spend some time browsing!   

Here's a fun example of the some of a sermon illustration video they produce, use and give away...  What if Satan was teaching the sex-ed class for the kids at your local high school?  Go to the following link and click the PREVIEW button next to the video called Illustration Video #1 

Warning: the video is edgy and includes a satirical discussion of  things like  or*l  s*x   if you are easily offended , this video isn't  something you'd enjoy.

LifeChurch is doing some wonderful things with multi-site church.  I have mentioned their work briefly before but wanted to bring them back to encourage you to think in terms of multiplying churches instead of just attending a church or even planting a church. LifeChurch is one church on ten campuses PLUS an internet campus. 

LifeChurch gives away an amazing amount of relevant and well made material such as videos, sermons, and graphics so that others can use they resources the produce ...free of charge. They are doing some great innovative things, I hope you'll take time to drop by their site and spend some time browsing!   

Here's a fun example of the some of a sermon illustration video they produce, use and give away...  What if Satan was teaching the sex-ed class for the kids at your local high school?  Go to the following link and click the PREVIEW button next to the video called Illustration Video #1 

Warning: the video is edgy and includes a satirical discussion of  things like  or*l  s*x   if you are easily offended , this video isn't  something you'd enjoy.

....

St. Paul speaks of a principal that permeates the Scriptures … it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:2 - NIV. With these words in mind how are the charitable donations you and I give being managed?

Ever wonder how well the money you give to a major charity is being spent? Ever wonder how much of the money you give goes to "overhead". How many of the dollars we give actually go to help the people or projects we are supporting?

Charity Navigator is a great website that answers these questions and rates both sacred and secular charities on a 1-4 star scale. Check out Charity Navigator, Here.

On The iPod: Pink Floyd - Ummagumma

If you know Dan check this blog at Marko's site.

On The iPod David Bowie- Hunky Dory

....

This is a really interesting article titled The Atheist Who Went To Church, it is a fascinating read.

Ht: Thunderstruck

On The iPod: David Bowie- Lodger

The Lost Tomb of "Jesus". Is a farce de financial but after the show airs more folks will get swept into all the hype and disinformation. Since I last posted about this there is a GREAT array of articles linked at the very end of this article. Check some of the links out to better dicipher the lost tomb of Jesus documentary hype.

---

One of my favorite books about how things could be is The Celtic Way of Evangelism by Dr. George G. Hunter III. It is a brilliant work that leans back deep into history to learn from the amazing St. Patrick.

It's a book about hospitality, incarnation and missional lovelife. If you haven't read this book, it's a big recommend. If you’d like to get a taste of it here is an excellent interview about the Celtic Way with Dr. Hunter

On The iPod: The Allman Brothers - A Mixed Playlist

Some times I only hit on three cylinders -I just figured out that I could put one our Sacred Digital Videos on my own site very easily... Duh

So here's one that we filmed that even has a segment from the Sacred Ink Project slipped into it's guts. This video gave me the opportunity to do lots of things I love: the art direction on the Sacred Ink images and flash timings, recording, writing and playing all the music for the segment, shooting and editing the video with Smittie and teaching the Bible - all in one project. Man, if we could have included riding my Harley in this shoot I would have died and gone to Heaven.

To quote The Right Reverend Steven Tyler, "just push play".

Note: This is the lo-fi YouTube version, you have to go to The Vault to see them in hi-res. - - - P.S. The next episode is in the works.

On the iPod: Siouxsie & The Banshees - A Kiss In The Dreamhouse

HT for finding these gems - Rachel Tanner

I spent part of last Friday night with some friends in a Ventura bar / lounge called HUSH. Hush is owned by a friend of mine, Jared Williams. I met Jared when we were shooting photos for the Sacred Ink website :: Jared is one of the tattooed Christ-Followers featured in Sacred Ink.

Jared and his wife Regina own and operate the Hush Lounge and the adjacent restaurant. Hush is a very classy high end velvet rope variety lounge in Ventura California. Friday night I stopped in at Hush to visit with Jared and ask him about what God was doing in his life and ministry (there’s not a real division between the two for Jared).

Jared is a missional follower of Jesus and his establishment is a great place for him to incarnate into the clove-smoke scented world of well dressed lounge lizards and lizardesses, many of whom don’t yet know Jesus. Hush is also opened monthly as a meeting place for the unique church Jared is a leader in.

Incarnational ministry is not a new idea…

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. - John 1:14

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- Philippians 2:5-8

Incarnational ministry places the place in its place: it makes the location of reaching people secondary to act of loving the people in the location. It’s a joy to see a God-filled young guy like Jared loving and engaging martini-holding Ventura-ites. Most people having martinis don't have the good fortune of being loved in Jesus’ name during the cocktail hour.

Interestingly, Jesus did some cocktail-hour incarnation: check it out in John chapter 2

If the concept of Incarnational / Missional ministry is newer to you, check out this great book:

The Shaping of Things to Come - Michael Frost and Alan Hirsh

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Here is an idea that deserves replication for certain. StreetChurch; outdoor services for the homeless - a beautiful incarnational expression! I smell Jesus all over this.

On The iPod: Djam Karet - Suspension and Displacement

>--U2's music continues to be adapted to spiritual settings. An Anglican church in Great Britain will be celebrating a U2-charist communion service this weekend.

On the iPod: Jet - Get Born

I was just reading my friend Dan Kimball's excellent blog - Dan mentioned a new article by Scot McKnight.

Scot McKnight's recent article in Christianity Today is an excellent look at the 5 Streams of the Emerging Church. If you're trying to find out which way is up in this controversy take a look at McKnight's article.

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As many of you know, my friend Smittie of Tako Productions and I have been shooting some less conventional videos exploring faith and life. We call them Sacred Digital Videos.

We have an Online Vault where all 6 episodes we have shot so far reside in one place - They're also on YouTube, Google Videos, Yahoo Videos and iTunes (in lower resolution than the Vault versions). It's been a fun project allowing me to share from God's Word, compose, record and play some music and explore video.

Here's the location of the Sacred Digital Videos Vault . Remember, these videos are pretty big files shot and presented in high quality and they take a few minutes to download.

We'll be shooting onsite in an a funky moldering cemetery next month focusing on post death life - What happens after the big dirt nap?.

In the iPod - The Who: Live at Leeds...
...pure visceral rock and roll thrust from the past :: prepunk punk from Valhalla on high!

If you know me you know I love environments that illustrate a message or series that I might be teaching. Check out this cool set for a series on heroes at Grace Point Church in Las Vegas.

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There are more sets from Grace Point Here

The Lead Pastor at Grace Point has a wonderful church planter blog worth reading. Looks like God is doing cool stuff in Vegas through Grace Point. Hopefully what happens in Vegas won't stay in Vegas.

Question for church leaders: How could you utilize metaphoric environments to bring visual learning and memory retention better into play in your messages and series.

On The iPod:Tom Waits

This is a great news story. Communicators, is there an illustration here?

Marko pointed out a great study on the incoming generation in his blog recently. Want to get a glimpse of how the next set of humans see the world? If you are in ministry I believe you should.

Read the Pew Study

On The iPod: Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways

It's important to listen to non-believers to understand how they understand God. Many people see God as a disinterested and detached being who doesn't understand our pain.

This video from an old Joan Osbourne song has a soul-sadness to it but describes the sense of many folks who are not Christ-Followers. It asks the question "what if God was one of us?"

Actually he was...

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form - Colossians 2:9

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. -1 Timothy 1:15

(Speaking of Jesus) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. - Hebrews 4:15

Does your spirit ever feel dry like a mouth full of sand? If you currently taste the grit of trying to be good enough for God, I have a thought...

I just read an encouraging book called Furious Pursuit By Tim King and Frank Martin. One of the authors contacted me and asked me if I would read it and review it here on S Digital.

If you enjoy Brennan Manning's grace saturated writings and need to be reminded that God himself is in love with you, then you should pick this book up. Furious Pursuit reminds us that God knew our every stumble and weakness before He saved and accepted us and that we need to learn to quit white-knuckling it through our lives wondering if we're worthy.

Furious Pursuit is a quick read that is filled with stories about God's wonderful patience and grace with us silly mortals on this side of the portal. I enjoyed the book very much. Well done guys!

Furious Pursuit By Tim King and Frank Martin and the matching workbook are available at Waterbook Press

Planting-Missional-Churches by Ed Stetzer is a must read tome. Every now and again you read a book that costs you the ink of one full pen because you make so many marks, underlines, margin notes and asterisks; this is one of those books.

This book has value for current church leaders who are exploring how their church might better engage the cultures of un-churched un-convinced people; it’s not just for those looking to plan new churches. It's a great read if you are wondering how the mission of the church could be reevaluated, revisited and enhanced or directionally changed.

Also on the book pile beside my big overstuffed chair - Eragon by Christopher Paolini and Hurt : Inside the World of Today's Teenagers by Chap Clark

On the iPod: John Mayer – Continuum

What a cool idea, Granger Community Church in Granger Indiana is doing a U2 Christmas program. When Love Comes to Town indeed! Granger is an interesting evolution in the attraction based church model.

I'm concerned that most people who are unconvinced about Jesus and unconvinced about His Church have a new definition of the word Evangelical. The word is a cuss word and a word of worry to many people in the world. The word can mean fundamentalist in the same way people understand the words "Islamic Fundamentalist"...boom. Scot McKnight wrote a great post that you might enjoy regarding this new understanding of the term Evangelical.

On The iPod: Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic

One Punk Under God is a new reality show about Jay Bakker, tattooed-pastor, searcher and son of Jim and Tammy Bakker. One Punk Under God’s first episode is viewable commercial-free online. It’s a fascinating look at the messy nature of Christianity / humanity / family.

See One Punk Under God here.

What if the church was liquid? What if the church was less granite and more fluid to the shape of the communities it found itself poured into? What if Living Water chose to not lose its theological viscosity but flowed freer culturally?

My friend, emerging church demigod and all around nice guy Dan Kimball just blogged about an interesting new book.

On the iPod: Djam Karet - Suspension and Displacement

When Christians talk to "not Christians" about Jesus it's often understood about this clearly...

Sometimes we don't understand what "not Christians" are saying to us Jesus-folk. Worse yet is the fact that the language of the Christian subculture is often indecipherable by those outside the subculture. Listen to this week's sermon at your local church and pretend you've never read the Bible or been in church before …notice all the words and phrases that we use that have no meaning to "not Christians" …“we're washed in the blood of the Lamb”.

Listen to the songs; what concepts are embedded in them that are unknowable to the uninitiated…”there is a fountain filled with blood” or “longing just to bring something that's of worth that will bless your heart” or my fav – “here I raise my Ebenezer”.

How do these terms and concepts become part of our DAILY secret language as we leave the church parking lot and talk to “not Christians” at school, work and the gym? How can we better use words to communicate meaning to those who aren’t part of our club?

In the news Church site or porn site?

as seen on church marketing sucks

On the iPod: Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now

Ever need free LEGAL music for a youth group video you’re editing? Ever want to find new bands and fresh musicians to listen to? Check out Jamendo. Jamendo allows you to find new bands, listen to their music, exchange and burn their tunes and USE their music in your projects free of charge. And it’s legal.

The latest Sacred Digital Video has just been released. This month’s installment was filmed in a dusty windblown junk yard in Tijuana, Mexico. We shot it guerilla style and got caught just after we got 1 full take in the can and were asked to leave. It is a wrecking-yard contemplation about how do to deal with the memories of your past wrongs towards others and the wrongs done you. See “Wreckage” exclusively at my iTunes video cathedral.

We also just released a past video called the Life of Brian (featuring sultry love god Brian Martin) on Google Videos, Yahoo Videos, YouTube this week. Google looks grainy - Yahoo and ITunes are the best looking. Roll Film.

On The iPod: Sarah McLachlin – Fumbling Toward Ecstasy

Here's a repost from an earlier time, since the movie just hit home DVD players - I thought I'd get it back in circulation!

This video looks into the accuracy of many of Dan Brown's claims recorded in the Da Vinci Code such as:

-Did Christianity borrow from pagan religions?
-Is there a real Priory of Scion, was Leonardo in it?
-How does the Bible you read compare with the original documents and all historic ancient texts?
-How did the books we read in the New and Old Testaments make it into your Bible?
-Did Jesus marry Mary Magdalene?
-Did the Bible you have get pieced together in 325ad at the Council Of Nicea at Constantine's request?

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Sacred Ink our Internet-faith-art-story web site has just had it's 50,000th visit today. Sacred Ink has been visited from over 97 countries so far. It's been fun to watch the site minister to people all over the globe in unique ways.

The idea behind Sacred Ink is to allow people of a specific tribe (tattooed folk) tell the Jesus story through their tribal customs. There are many other tribes who could use the customs of their tribe to speak forth the Jesus story on the 'net : golfers, sailors, soccer moms, 12 steppers, 2 steppers, people who play World of Warcraft... How might you utilize YOUR tribal affiliations to speak Jesus globally thru the 'net?

COMING SOON : We're working on a new featured "blood spot" for Sacred Ink right now.

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There is an interesting article about Ted Haggard's sad fall written by a man who has been there; Gordon MacDonald. It's worth reading if you are a Christian leader.

When these things occur many people chant the simple mantra "more accountability". Is the modern accountability movement a deterrent to serious sexual sin?

...here's quote from the article:

No amount of accountability seems to be adequate to contain a person living with such inner conflict. Neither can it contain a person who needs continuous adrenalin highs to trump the highs of yesterday.

"DANGER WILL ROBINSON...
__________

Send up a fresh prayer for the Haggard family and for the protection of your your local pastor too.

A new church plant is rumbling just beneath the surface of the Tijuana dirt. Read all about it at the Palau's blog :: Church Plant Tijuana Mexico

God is A L L O V E R T H E S E P E O P L E ! --- get involved: take a team to help? give financially? tell your Mission Board to support the work?

LISTENING to the Bible can allow you to get larger context and new insights into old news. I'm a believer in adding Bible listening to a rotation of personal Bible study, Bible memorization / meditation, Bible reading and Bible learning through gifted teachers. Redeem some of your iPod time, your car stereo, your commute or workout time with fresh wind.

In an earlier post I pointed you towards the Man in Black's reading of the Bible. In this post let me signpost you towards a fully dramatized audio extravaganza of the Word of Life. You gotta love any recording of the Bible that casts Samuel L. Jackson as the voice of God, Cuba Gooding Jr. as Judas and Denzel as Solomon - all voices in The Bible Experience are African American. BTW: Samuel L. Jackson does have experience with quoting God's Word from the film Pulp Fiction if I remember correctly...

Check out The Bible Experience

On The iPod: Arc Angels:Arc Angels This album is the Schnitzel, Texas Blues that sound like Jesus is in the band.

...a street sign I spied in Ostrava, Czech Republic last July...

George Barna says:

The Baby Boomer generation placed its unique stamp on the nation, including its application of morality. But how is the subsequent adult generation – the Baby Busters – reshaping the nation’s norms regarding morality and sexuality? How does their lifestyle compare to biblical standards? The latest Barna Update examines the lifestyles and perspectives of adults who are in their twenties and thirties and provides challenging insights about the imprint Busters are putting on morality.

Read the Barna Report

Here's a little known fact : The song Ring of Fire is actually about an unfortunate incident after a dinner at a Tijuana Mexico taco stand - I can relate Johnny, sing about life baby

World Race is one of the most exciting mission challenges ever. Check out the update HERE

On The iPod: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ecstacy

Guy Kawasaki just blogged about this brand new web 2.0 app called Razz. Being the cat who has to try everything I immediately tested it out. Razz lets you place voice audio files with drag and drop music and sound effects into a player that can be uploaded to MySpace or your blog.

Youth workers here's an application idea: you could make an AUDIO MySpace bulletin announcement for your crew. You could remind students of upcoming event registration deadlines, leave prayer reminders or personal intestinal distress updates. Here's an example of the way I used it on a MySpace bulletin to alert my students to this week's end of the series message. This audio test message only took about 5 minutes to complete -wiki wiki, yeah!

Make your own Razz!

IF Jesus was dead He'd roll over in His grave when He heard about THIS. A new "bible" for rich people with all the social justice and care for the poor passages removed.

Luckily He's NOT dead, and I think He's probably pissed about this one...

from Greenflame

Join the discussion at The Digital Sanctuary

Louie Giglio has good things to say and he is a consummate speaker. Check out the bullet points of a message he gave at the Catalyst Conference recently. Here's couple of quotes from the message he gave.

God is sending us out to announce that the Kingdom of God is near, not that we have a cool church.

Let's change the conversation from the church let me down to Here's the way that God has empowered and inspired me to pick up the work of the church and carry it forward.

To see the rest of the bullet points click the word LouieGiglioHasANiceHamilton-esqueTanFerSure

HOT TIP: Check out Louie, Rob Bell, Donald Miller, Erwin McManus and other leaders on the Catalyst Podcast at iTunes. Catalyst features cutting edge leaders speaking their hearts and minds for a new generation.

On the iPod: The Mahavishnu Orchestra -The Inner Mounting Flame

Read this blog entry from George and Stacey Palau in Tijuana Mexico. They have some simple needs for the orphanage+ that they shepherd. This is a an example of how helping missionaries get a blog can help cause global warming.

What a fun way to use iPods for communal gathering; flash mobbing. I'd never heard of this before. My pal Smittie filled me in.

Hmmmm, how might this be used in a worship or prayer context? Ideas?

Thanks Smittie

I think blogging can be a tool of Heaven.

AN IDEA FOR GLOBAL WARMING: Start a blog for a missionary or two from your local church (ask first). When the blog is ready contact them tell them how to access the blog and encourage them to start blogging once a week about their life, their needs and their joys. Encourage the front line missionaries that if they contact their supporters and let them know where the blog is located they can have a weekly (or more frequent) touch with those who support the work. Obviously missionaries without internet access can�t blog but internet free zones are shrinking daily.

Blogs could save missionaries thousands of dollars in postage

Blogs save many hours in preparing mailers that often tossed in the trash along with credit card offer letters

Blogs can be built and maintained free, free is good like sushi-good

Blogs allow for color pictures - a picture speaks a 1000 blogs

Blogs can be a place to link to You Tube and other sites where missionaries can post video of their ministry. A video speaks a thousand pictures.

Blogs can have their own video and audio embedded directly with a little magic

Blogs don't have to take the place of mailings but can be an additional communication tool

Blogs allow people who do not know the missionary to find out about their work through the wonder of viral internet info spread

Blogs allow supporters to find out about needs for emergency prayer and materials immediately

Blogs (unlike emails) don�t get tossed out when people get stressed about the number of unread emails filling their box

Blogs allow missionaries to find each other and share story, resources and prayer worldwide

Many missionaries do not have the time or skills to create a blog space / you or someone in your church can do it in the time it takes to drink a Vente Cappuccino

Cynthia Ware has some other additional reasons to blog. She gives her 40 reasons to blog.

Start a blog for free HERE.

Yoke is only available at my iTunes site - view it HERE. Still free and worth at least 3x as much as free.

We also uploaded a second Sacred Digital Video called the Amazing Blondin to YouTube, Google Videos and Yahoo Videos.

Thanks again to my friends at Tako Productions for working so hard to make the videos and web sites happen.

Modern church events and services tend to be very LINEAR, highly programmed and carefully scheduled. Church related activities tend to have a fixed schedule of what will happen when, how and how long. The average worship service or church event allows for almost no choice on the part of the worshipper / attender; enter now, sing now, listen to talking guy now, drop money in the pan now, announcements of upcoming events now. It can be highly regimented; this is linear instead of loopy.

The incoming generation is less linear and more LOOPY; I believe ministry gatherings should take this into consideration and allow for more choice and more creativity on the part of the attender. People often get much more out of a service or event when they choose to pray, think, read and express their faith than when they are being �program-ed� from point A to point B in a linear minute by minute fashion.

One of the things I am doing to respond to the changing culture is providing people an increasing variety of options during events and worship gatherings � i.e. the attender chooses to do the things they desire to in the order they want. Not every worship service or event we do is nonlinear, but many are. Here are 2 examples of how it plays out for us.

Example#1 - Worship and Communion Mornings: Once a month we suspend our regular Sunday meeting pattern and have a less linear gathering. We provide time during these services for our people get up out of their seats and move about the room. There are usually 5-7 different worship stations that allow them to choose to worship in different ways; reading scripture out loud, praying with staff, writing words of affection for God on various things, drawing, painting, sculpture, journaling, blogging and the like. Students generally take part in several different worship stations in the order they choose and they don�t take part expressions that they don�t want to. The idea is that well cultivated variety allows people choice in the way they express themselves - they choose the when, the what and the how. This is not unique to our church, many churches are experimenting this way, but probably too few ministries are. I always feel uplifted when we have these special mornings; it�s wonderful to see people expressing heartfelt love for God in ways that leadership has not scripted.

Example #2 - Events: Historically most youth group events and many adult activities follow a strict schedule, sometimes this schedule is even charted on paper by what happens by the minute. This is linear like a Texas highway. For Generation Loopy this highly scheduled and ordered approach is often less engaging or attracting than it was when I started out working with youth 23 years ago (a more linear time). I now try to have multiple options and a high level of variety and choice involved in youth events whenever possible.

An example is our annual L.A. Road Trip. We take the students from the Cosmic Mother Ship here in Santa Cruz to Los Angeles and back for a weekend of chaotic fun and relational development. Instead of giving all the students a single linear experience that we carefully map out for them we let them design their own personal experiences. Even though we would normally move the large group in a bus or buses, we intentionally take rented vans. Each van�s leader is given a booklet of maps and directions and ideas for �fun stuff� to do in and around Los Angeles, each vanload of students chooses what they do, what they don�t do, and their trajectory. They come up with metric tons of new ideas on the fly as they travel - it is loopy.

At night all the groups come together to share their road stories and go to sleep (as if) in a common location. This event allows kids to get to know a staffer and each other in deeper ways because they have a smaller group that they journey with. The staff member is the voice of reason and safety on in the van. This means giving the staff good direction and being aware that they may make a decision that is less than perfect (taking kids to photograph themselves in front of Hugh Hefner�s Playboy Mansion wasn�t a great idea� but the staffer and kids survived it). Note; visiting the Playboy Mansion, touching the Hollywood Sign and playing with rotting manta rays named Mr. Zesty are now flagged as off limits on our Road Trips (don�t ask).

These thoughts apply to more than youth ministry. A meditation: If you are in ministry leadership are there events and gatherings that you can allow more choice and variety in? Are there ways that the activities of the church can be less programmed and more optioned and loopy?

I�m off this weekend to our 4th annual L.A. Road Trip, I�ll likely have stories for you on this blog early next week after some sleep deprivation, teenager overdose (I love teenager overdose) and creative chaos.

On The iPod: Van Morrison � Astral Weeks

Mark Batterson, gets it. Mark is utilizing both the internet and a brick and mortar church to reach people in relevant powerful ways. He is doing cool stuff at God iPod. Mark is also the Lead Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. In his spare time he's written a book that looks really wonderful. It's called In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. I had the privilege of being sent the prerelease of the first chapter of the book to read and review here on Sacred Digital, it is excellent. Unlike so many Christian leaders, Batterson's cultural frame of reference is this time, right now - like I said Mark Batterson gets it. Mark writes in an unpretentious winsome way, you feel like you know him - like you're hearing from a friend. Best of all Mark has something important to say, don't miss it.

Here's the book description:

Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn't chase. You will regret the risks not taken, the opportunities not seized, and the dreams not pursued. Stopping running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is inspired by one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in Scripture (II Samuel 23:20-21):

Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it.

Unleash the lion chaser within!

The book is a call to chase down the powerful and often fearful opportunities that God provides for us to do something extraordinary. It's a war cry for boldness, courage, risk and impact. I resonate with his spirit and his words. I hope you'll buy the book you can find it on Amazon, Here Cheers Mark!

On The Ipod:Chet Baker - My Funny Valentine

The new G 5.5 iPod is a treasure - I finally retired my old Creative Labs Zen and picked up the excellent new 80 gig iPod. The latest version of iTunes is a killer app to boot, and is a free download. The latest version of iTunes allows you to browse your collection by album art, play games like Zuma, download TV shows (like LOST, arghhh!), watch full length feature films, allows gapless playback and as always makes it easy to subscribe to and auto-download great Bible teaching from podcasts.

Currently on my iPod Podcasts

Mark Driscoll @ Mars Hill in Seattle

Ravi Zacharias

Chip Ingram

Erwin MC Manus @ Mosaic in L.A.

Tony Campolo

It's nearly impossible to receive too much inspiration and encouragement in this universe. Podcasts allow you to hear (and sometimes see) the most gifted SacredCommunicators on the Rock; regardless of your personal longitude and latitude - for free. So Jesus likes the new iPod because it's a cool good news delivery system. If you are looking for a sanctified excuse to buy an iPod...

If you work with youth you know that trends dictate much of their mindset. What they listen to, what, wear, say, think and access on the 'net is often deeply informed by trends in global youth culture. Marketing people know that teenagers are a cash cow for their milking, skinning and dining enjoyment - hey, this steak tastes like teen spirit...

I'm not advocating a marketing approach to youth ministry but I am advocating using the marketing folk's research to see even deeper into youth culture. If you are a youth worker or you lead young adults, climb aboard the trend express at Label Networks.com. I subscribe to their email update and as if by sorcery knowledge about youth culture materializes in my email inbox every now and again.

tnkx to Guy Kawasaki

On The iPod: Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies

I hate labels. Labels tend to reduce a concept, a movement or a philosophy or a human to the lowest common denominator; in the process labels tend to lose accuracy of description / definition. Am I an evangelical? an emergent? a protestant? a ______ fill in the blank?.

I've been asked, �what do you think about the emergent church� �are you emergent� etc. Since that label can be used for anything from BibleFreeTheoExplorers to FundyBaptistsWithCandles, I don't stick the "E" brand label on myself. The "E" has already lost clear definition.

Maybe some clarification of categories is in order. Ed Setzer wrote a great article about the three primary species of emergent church leaders. Read all about it.. If I have to put on a name tag, I'll say I'm defined as between his types called "Relevantist" and "Reconstructionist". I am not a theological Revisionist. I hope you'll read Mr. Setzer's article!

Mostly, when asked what I am I respond� Space Pope

On the iPod: Black Eyed Peas - Elephunk

I just read a pre-release copy of Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor�s upcoming book; A Heretic�s Guide to Eternity. Spencer is the great mind behind the ooze, a website where many folks exploring faith discussion congregate online. I�ve been really blessed by Spencer�s site and the community there. I was contacted about reviewing the book here on S Digital a few months ago and so here it is.

Join me in the Video Podcast Internet Transmission Mission
We just started uploading the Sacred Digital Videos to some more services online. You can now view them on Google Video and You Tube. They will still be on iTunes as the primary place to see the LATEST releases first. The quality on iTunes is way superior to Google and You Tube but we are starting to put the back episodes on these other services for people who don't like iTunes or want faster download times. This move will also spread the Jesus news to even more people globally through the internet.

The Clayman Video can be found at Google - Here and at You Tube HERE

You can now find Sacred Digital Videos on You Tube or Google Videos or iTunes by searching for "chuckk" (with 2 k's = spelled God's way)

Be part of the internet mission with us:

1. If you go to Google and You Tube and watch the video the rating will increase and more people will then tune in, that's the idea - reaching unchurched folks in a new way.

2. You can post this video to your My Space or your blog if you want: (You Tube makes it easy)- then people coming to your My Space or blog get exposed to the projects.

So if you want to help get the stuff out onto the highway for others to see - jump in and be part by posting , watching and telling folks.

We'll still upload a fresh episode the first week of each month to iTunes and then add an archived episode to Google and You Tube around the same time monthly. - Cheers.

Some church gathering places feel like concert stadiums, some like grand cathedrals, or industrial warehouses, strip mall slots, friendly pubs or my least favorite vibe: Our Lady of the Musty Convalescent Home. Environment should be thought through and created / recreated to enhance and even communicate the message itself. I practice changing ambience regularly to keep things fresh and to communicate in multisensory ways.

Environment is beyond mere �look�: Here are 7 questions that could be asked about a space.

1. How does the meeting place smell? Are there smells that can be imported to communicate the message?

2. What do you see around the space, how can these visual elements and cues be modified for variety and communication of the current message(s)?

3. Will the people be stationary or are there places to go and activities to do in the space � what do you touch and feel in the space?

4. What happens audibly in the space beyond mere voice and music � how can sound be used to enhance the message?

5. How can light or lack of light be harnessed?

6. Does the environment you meet in pose a challenge to worship, relationships and learning / growth or is it an ally?

7. How does the environment feel to someone who is visiting your gathering for the first time?

Mark Batterson just wrote a great blog this morning speaking to the idea of ambience, I hope you�ll run over and read what he has to say.

The Book of Revelation Series Begins THIS Sunday - I can't wait!

Revelation 6:12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place

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"Here Comes The End Of The World : The Book Of Revelation For Dummies" - This sunday begins Episode #1 of 6 messages. Audios will be available weekly (usually up by Thursdays) at my iTunes page.

YEAH! The Palau's (our friends who run a great orphanage+ in Tijuana Mexico) BLOG is working now and has updates - go find out how you can pray about robbers and water logged hands! Leave George and Stacey an encouragement in their comments!

Take me to Mexico to see what's up Mr. Wizard!

On the iPod: Shawn Colvin - These Four Walls (her latest album of prairie melancholy)

Some words just sound cool when you say them �they have vibe. The word relic is like that for me, I�ve always been enamored with the word. There was a Pink Floyd album named Relic (a moment of reverent silence please), but it�s the word relic itself that I love. The idea of an ancient artifact encrusted with dirt uncovered in some moldering tomb, giving testimony to the past � it�s a magical thought for me. I love the fantasy of uncovering a relic of a lost civilization; Mayan, or of Avalon or Atlantis. Some men never fully forsake the childhood that resides in their hearts.

A relic in the religious sense of the word speaks a different testimony to me. The very concept of a "religious relic" vacuums the magic right out of the term. Relics in the ancient church were (often but not always) actual body parts of dead saints kept in churches for the perceived benefit of worshippers. The idea was that the bodies of these dead Saints still held some power; common thought was that you could be blessed by viewing these sacred remains. Some wealthy people actually bought and collected relics at various times in history.

In Hungary this summer I viewed an ancient church relic; the severed hand of Saint Stephen, the first Christian king of Hungary. Steve�s funky old hand is seen here resting encased in its small golden shrine.

The tiny shrine of the hand is kept behind glass in a small room of Budapest�s St. Stephen�s Basilica. It is a truly strange item to behold. It�s inane to believe that the remains of people could hold miraculous power to heal, raise the dead, or impart blessing - but it was common thought in ages past and is still believed by some.

Why did people flock to view these relics? Maybe it was the longing for ocular evidence of the invisible God�s power. Possibly we humans long to see something of God to comfort us on the long walk. I want to see God and I am seeing God as He has revealed Himself in his Son. The Bible tells us that when you see Jesus clearly you have seen the invisible One.

Colossians 1:15 He (speaking of Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. NIV

Hebrews 1:3 The Son (Jesus) is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. NIV

John 14:9-10 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? NIV

The Book tells us if we want to know what God the Father is like, look at Jesus. I�m seeing Him as I read His story in the Gospels. Have you seen God lately? I hope you�ll look for Him in the excellent life of Jesus. The more I study His words and actions, the clearer the Father comes into focus.

The power of God won�t be found in the crusty palm of St. Stephen or any other relic, it will be found in the living body of Jesus.

More details about church relics can be found here.

Here's a thought: join a subscription music service like Rhapsody or Yahoo Music Unlimited. These services allow you to listen to everything in the known universe for a small monthly fee. There are even lists of what's hot on the charts so you can pick up on trends there or just ask your students, "what's on your iPod lately". You can also go to your kids' MYSpace and look for fav bands and give their tunes a listen. Listening to current music will provide you with metric tons of culture info and some good illustrations too. If you are totally broke (ask for a raise) but in the meantime you can pick out and watch videos for free on LaunchCast

On the iPod: Firewater: The Ponzi Scheme but NOT Panic at the Disco.

George Barna has an excellent (and accurate) new article on his site it's called- "Most Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the Shelf Following Spiritually Active Teen Years" It is worth reading and considering. I believe church institutions must morph methodologies, reexamine standards of evaluation and reconsider spiritual formation or see mass fallout in the years to come.

Tnkx: Brandon Johnson

Great questions are being asked by my friend Dan Kimball re: social justice. Worth a read - check it out HERE

We just released yet another of our Sacred Digital Videocasts on iTunes yesterday. It�s fun doing these short films but if you�ve ever had to watch yourself on a home video imagine having to watch yourself on an internet video, Chuckk Tv� it�s weird times 10.

This episode called �Walking In The Dark� deals with an age old situation - �what do you do when you don�t know what to do next�. The Story of God contains hidden wisdom on how to proceed when life becomes unkind, unclear and unbearable. Walking in the Dark takes on this mystery with ancient wisdom from the prophet Isaiah.

As always, you need iTunes to view the video, iTunes is a free download. If you already have iTunes installed to view this month�s episode click HERE.

I believe in short term missions and I love to blog. We did something new this summer during our annual high school short term mission trip, we team-blogged real time. Using a blog mid-mission to inform the supporters at home is a powerful way to expand the impact of your trip. The idea is this you announce that the team members will be blogging the mission in real time at your blog location. The blog address should be included in all the support raising letters, the church website, bulletins and the blog should note that a team mission blog will be coming. During the trip each night and/or morning you set out a laptop and ask team members to blog their experiences while they are still smoking fresh. Upload them to the blog right away, or if net connection is not available daily save a few up then upload them as often as possible.

Examples of what this year�s team wrote during the trip can be found HERE and in other posts on this blog with the title �News from the Crew�. You upload a couple of pictures from the ministry site(s) and presto, multimedia mission magic. Next year I hope to upload video too. We got great feedback from parents and other supporters who said they really felt connected to the mission and that they knew how to pray all the time. This also allows for the powerful witness of people speaking their hearts to all who read the blog, this could be a nuclear event for a non-yet-believing supporter.

Obviously his idea won�t work if you are in a far flung pre-Internet sector of the globe like the Amazon jungle, the Kalahari Desert or Bakersfield California (we were in the Czech Republic). This idea will work with a laptop computer, a blog and in places where internet is available. If you lead youth ministry mission trips or adult short term missions I really encourage you to give this a shot. If this is a good idea use it, if not the waste basket is in the upper left hand section of your desktop screen.

I removed a post from SD yesterday because a friend noticed that the cute little sitehas a link to a porn site on it, ...didn't know it was there. I hate pornography, it makes God's creation meat . If pornography is a powerful magnet in your life, get de-magnetized, get help.

Check out what these guys are up to. Interesting stuff. LIfe Church Could be a helpful resource for some ministries looking for free video teaching (see the Life Church Tv open link on their site).

Tnkx Mark Batterson

My unedited raw Sunday morning messages are available on iTunes, but in the last month we had some snafu's (snafu, that's such a cool looking word when you type it). Anyway, a new episode is now up - it's called Real Religion. To get to my itunes audio page click THIS LINK

We'll have a fresh one up almost every week. You can listen on your computer or iPod. Remember, on iTunes to hear a full length message you must click the "get episode " button on the right hand side of the screen or it plays only a short clip. If you need the iTunes player here it is for free.

Stop sugar coating it Eugene... Whew.

Wayne Cordeiro is INTO passing on ministry, soul and life skills. His blog, called Mentoring at a Distance is worth frequenting. If you are a ministry leader how could you use your blog to mentor at a distance? If you are a young human how could you use your My Space to mentor, challenge or encourage your friends? There's also this new-fangled thing called email... hmmm...

Application Dare - Use technology to encourage or pass on a ministry / life skill to one or more person before you touch head to pillow tonight.

On The iPod: Silence

I love Louie Giglio from Passion Ministries, he is a wonderful and anointed speaker. I mentioned his DVD series called Indescribable here on SD a few months ago. To my surprise he mentioned the work we're doing at Sacred Ink in a recent message. A friend emailed me today and said, "hey Chuckk I heard your name and Sacred Ink mentioned in a Giglio sermon online today". I love the web, it allows a unique word of mouth spread of ministry projects like S. Ink.

1. Go to his Passion Site

2. Then look under " DELVE"

3. Then Look under "Watch Louie's Talks"

4. Then watch the message titled: Tattoo - Message #1 "Marked By The Cross" - Sacred Ink gets mentioned about 42 minutes into the mssg if you care about such stuff