great fundraising strategy

more reason to like justin timberlake. lol.

the iverson watch is over

i have for the last 11 days continually checked espn throughout the day to find out if iverson had been traded. my waiting and seeing is over he is a nugget. what do you do when you loose the nba scoring leader for 15 days? you trade for the second leading scorer! is this a good trade? i will give my opinion later!

Christmas Program 2006

Kade 2006 Christmas Program

click on the picture to see the rest of the pics

what is a christian?

a video that was posted on god's politics blog!

Present Future Quotes

i have been a little tied up but hope to finish the book this weekend but just thought i would throw a couple of snap shots from the book that hit me... for your reading pleasure.

"As He hung on the cross Jesus probably never thought the impact of his sacrifice would be reduced to an invitation for people to join and support an institution."

"Still another form of denial shows up in the church's obsession with internal theological-methodological debates designed to determine who the true believers are while the world is headed to hell in a handbasket."

"Religious people don't see people; they see causes, behaviors, stereotypes, people 'other' than them... Religious people have always been a problem for God."

'We need to go where people are already hanging out and be prepared to have conversations with them about the great love of our lives. This will require our shifting our efforts from growing churches into transforming communities."

the last quote gotting me truly thinking about a new project that i have blogged about over the last year and it is about BELIEVE, a community ministry that will strive create a place of refuge for alhambra high schoolers and create partnership not only with churches in the community, but with the police officers, social workers, library, business men and women, and the school district. as i form a stronger partnership with kingdom causes in regards to this project, my hope and prayer is that churches would have their eyes open to move time, energy, people and maybe money to value something that if it works out could truly transform a community.

when i think about community transformation and the work of building god's kingdom in alhambra. i get very excited. i spent a lot of time with alhambra high school students who are very interested in spiritual things, but have so many barriers to joining what they think is christianity , becuase it equals "church" and not the biblical sense of the word church, but the sense of the word that is implied in many of the quotes above. the sense of the word that loves to thrown stones at their behavior and decision making, but truly care very little about the life they deal with at home.

the present future for me looks great. i have much hope that in 2007 BELIEVE will begin to make a lot of noise for the kingdom of god. it will make a lot of noise to help those that want to walk with jesus and maybe not walk through the doors of a building between 9am - 12 pm on sunday morning.

this post is getting long, so if you already stopped reading cool for those that work for the govt please keep reading. haha. i was asked a great question yesterday morning and i will end with it. if you are a part of a small group of people, maybe 10 - 20, and you meet regularly to study scripture , worship, pray and love each other and encourage each other to grow the kingdom...

is that enough? do you need to go to church on sunday morning? or is it enough?

Message from Chaplain in Iraq

The Call

a video production of urban youth workers institute about two amazing urban youth workers.

The Present Future

i walked into my office today and remembered i had pulled a book off the shelf last week that i had gotten probably like six months ago. it intrigued me at the time, but i was in my non-reading stage. since i am trying to move back into j-lou the reader, i was thinking that i should put it on the list to read. i am reading two other books right now (ones from the old post). so i read this portion of the introduction...

"i also don't get kicks out of deconstructing a world (american church world) i was once very fond of. it is is a world that nurtured me when i was young and imparted faith to me and has continued to confirm and legitimize my life calling. i grew up in the home of a bivocational pastor, whose dad before him as a mill village pastor... i began ministry in the church thirty years ago as a college freshman. ministry and the church have been my world. but it is a world that i find increasingly find difficult to feel at home in because it lacks spiritual purpose and missional vitality.

i'm talking about the church world in north america. a world that has largely forsaken its missional covenant with god to be a part of kingdom expansion. it has, instead, substituted its own charter of church as a clubhouse where religious people hang out with other people who think, dress, behave, vote and believe like them." (p. xii-xiv)

i was very lucky and i say extremely lucky to serve along side a pastor for almost nine years that was not trying to build and grow a church the traditional way. he was genuinely concerned about people learning to follow christ even if it meant them going somewhere else or not coming to all of the programs that were established by our faith community. the trouble and frustration comes when people come from other congregations and attempt to place certain status quo situation on our faith community. as i read this introduction, especially the parts i bolded, my heart inside connected so deeply to those words. ministry and church has been my world for so long, since 1993. i would say about two years, i began being discontent with what i was seeing in the church as being a part of uywi for the 11 years i am in relationship with many churches. i saw young people thirsty for spirituality but now wanting to sit in a service on sunday mornings and say that i went to church. i would also say in the last two years i have been on a journey to better understand the kingdom of god and how that affects ministry and church. so i am excited about this books second chapter, 'the shift from church growth to kingdom growth'.

i remember sitting on a plane reading generous orthodoxy by brain mclaren. i was coming back from some reload (i think i was flying somewhere every other week, so who knows where i was), but i remember reading his words and having tears come into my eyes. brian stirred something in me that has not settled and at the time i thought i would figure it out over the next few months, but little did i know my definition of family would be rocked as i was trying to redefine my faith and issues with the traditional church and a growing deeper desire to be anything but republican. lol. not sure why... but it seemed like the issues that broke my heart were different that those of people who had mentored and raised me.

i am so rambling... but deal with it. haha. i have no idea if i figured out much over the last two years in regards to my issues with theology, traditional church, ministry and people who love the status quo, but i know that this book will be read in the next week because it touched a core of my heart so quickly, so my ethic books will take a pause and reggie mcneal will get my time and energy this week and i will pass any and all memorable quotes from the book that i think you should read. peace.

N.T. Wright's New Book: "Evil and the Justice of God"

i have been intrigued by n.t. wright a conservative theologian that has influenced the thinking of many people who i have been reading i guess has written a new book. here is a link to a blog that share an excerpt from an interview with him. i am looking forward to reading this book.

"Wright says both theologies (the gnostic gospels and the left behind novels) cultivate a "private spirituality" where Christians are encouraged to forget Jesus' prayer that his followers work toward bringing the "kingdom come on earth." Why address global warming if the world is going to be wasted anyway?

"In both cases, you have this underlying motivation of leaving the world behind," he says of Gnosticism and the Left Behind novels."

my foursome for golf

i love this question. if you can play 18 holes of golf with three other people. who would that be for you? so my foursome would include michael jordan (if you know me that is a no brainer), jim carey (my favorite actor) and the last is very hard to choose. the choice has to be who would i want to have a 3 hour conversation with or someone who i would love to watch interact with mj and jim. here is my list of potential candidates to fill the foursome for j-lou.

1. Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer. I think i would choose to caddy and decline even swinging a club anywhere near him. lol
   
2. David Chapelle, to see him and jim carey play golf together would be hilarious.
3. Bono, thanks to mary glenn input, he has to be a strong candidate. great musician, but also great conversation about faith, justice and politics.
4. Pete Carroll, if i become long term friends it could lead to usc tickets and sideline passes. this one is all about leverage and long term impact. lol.
   

ok. j-lou readers sound off with your four and feel free to vote on my final addition, because i need to send an evite out to them soon to get the foursome a tee time. peace.

Iraq Study Group Suggests Exit Strategy

here is a section of a report by a bipartisan group that has done a study on the state of iraq. they are suggesting an exodus out of iraq.

"All U.S. combat brigades not necessary for force protection should be out of Iraq by the first quarter of 2008, the Iraq Study Group suggested Wednesday in its widely anticipated report recommending a path for the United States' exit strategy from Iraq."...

"The report offered 79 recommendations, including three critical suggestions — changing the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq, prompt action by the Iraqi government to hit milestones on reconciliation and new and enhanced political and diplomatic efforts in Iraq and the region.

It specifically states making sure the United States not commit U.S. forces for an open-ended commitment. It calls for a push for a U.S.-Arab peace, including direct talks between Syria and Israel. It calls for engaging Iran and Syria "constructively" to resolve the Iraq crisis." Fox News

read the rest of the article and the pdf of the actual report. the report is only 160 pages, so i am sure you all well read it indepthly.

one of my heroes

i am so excited to hear about a new ministry that was launched out of Clemson university with the support of a guy who was not too messed up while in my youth ministry at gateway. the ministry is called Tigers GO! they are trying to create long term solutions in new orleans and other third world countries. please take a look at their site. his name is jarrod carr and just wanted to give him some props and look forward to providing any help that i can and maybe rolling out on one of these trips in the next year. thank you jarrod for carrying on the life and vision of oikos in south carolina. love god, love people... nothing else matters.

fox news interview with jim wallis

my consenting blog

ok. i have been in a number of staff meetings and a great xmas dinner at flemmings, so i have not been able to post over the last two days. but for all of the trojan haters and care bear fans. i give the care bears credit they played a great game and beat us. i even called my good friend chris, who is a big ucla fan and gave him props and tipped my hat to him.

so this is to get jeremy off my back, so he does not keep telling me that i am quiet now. becuz i do not know how to be quiet. so again i would like congratulate the care bears on their invitation to the emerald bowl bid and hope they will be victorious against the power house program of florida st. and we do hold our heads in shame as we will walk humbly into the rose bowl versus the lowly michigan wolverines. so that is all i have to say about this. lol.

recreational activity is coming to an end

well the sharks are coming to a closure this weekend with our last game. we have had a great time on the soccer field. the kids have made some real progress and had a lot of fun. we were not suppose to keep score, but i think we lost like 2 games. they would have not lost those games, but becuz the kids became such good friends they had the tendency to talk and mess around on the field instead of stay focused on the game. we follow the game with a party at my house for the team, as i prepare to watch the care bears fall to the trojans and determine how to get my but to glendale az and than get the book on how to sneak into sporting events, so i can see them play the ohio st buckeyes.

the end of soccer means one other thing... the preparation for year 2 of t-ball. i am already registered to be the manager again and told kade we will begin practice on our own immediately. lol.