2 most important links of the day

based on the recent conversations i’ve been having with people regarding what it is that a Christian life looks like, ideally more than absence of sin, these are the most important things you can click today.

Churchmarketingsucks brought this to our attention. as usual, the comments beg good questions.

Eugene Cho, whoever he is, almost but stops short of saying “Fuck human trafficking.” with all due respect, i said it. and here’s a “why” and a “what” that we can discuss soon, also.

Swine Flu tips

my sister is very knowledgeable about epidemiology and the like (3 years as a bio/chem major before switching back to piano performance). she did her internship with the northern CA CDC and worked part time at Livermore Labs to pay her way through school. the thing that news outlets aren’t telling you is that beyond the medicines that treat symptoms, inoculation and resistance are being proven more effective than any vaccine. this is her suggestion on how to get started:

Euckon the First

 

 

a couple of thoughts from the widely talked-about church identity melting night, Euckon (a …

-it was kind of weird to see people segregated. the Eikoners were mostly sitting on the right side, the Euc-ers on the left. this is normal–to sit with people you know when given the option. and it also has to do with the fact that we’ve been there before and that we like to be closer to the screen, which isn’t big enough for our purposes by a long shot (but does fine in the pinch that we’ll be camping in for a while). but i was a bit disappointed.

-i got a chance to meet 4-5 people i’d never spoken to before. Craig Clarke, who was the guest speaker’s husband, a fellow wearing a Moody basketball hoodie (do they even know how to play at Moody?), and then Felicia and Mike. Felicia had a unique smiley face shirt on. Mike looked a bit older and more hardened, complete with stubbly face and black leather motorcycle jacket. they have a cute 3 or 4 year old named Kaylee, i believe. Felicia is a Fort Worth city employee (i believe) who has started or will be involved with a task force on human trafficking. fascinating stuff! i had to poke around a bit to find out how she came to even find out that we were doing this, but finally the truth slipped out. Phil had contacted her, but they’d never even met before and she was going to go introduce herself as we ended our quick conversation. i was as warm and welcoming as i could be to everyone new i met. and it felt good to be an initiator for the first time in forever (when’s the last time new folks have been at our services?)

-everyone was segregated again at Central. but apparently, there was now a good reason. someone was being combative about the speaker.

-Noel Clarke was great, i thought. after the fact, it seemed that she wasn’t normally a public speaker. she got quite a bit of criticism from more than several people, which i didn’t think was deserved on her part. her vocabulary betrayed a bit of charismatic roots, which seemed to irk some people. she mentioned wanting to raise an army of prayer warriors, which is a great word picture, but again, the violence conveyed by that term is perhaps unneeded. the video that she showed was from a group called Exodus Cry, a clear reference to the then-enslaved nation of Israel. the spokesperson was very passionate and even started yelling (speaking loudly and strongly) a bit towards the end. i appreciated that sort of passion, but again, it’s always weird to be around someone who’s screaming. especially when the person isn’t actually there. and they’re not yelling at you. feeling defensive is a knee jerk reaction to a screaming person, but when a person is keenly aware of the fact that said screamer screameth not at you, feelings of awkward tension follow. and as you might guess, this impassioned “cry” irked some people.

-perhaps everyone else has moved on, but i feel the need to defend Noel and x-odus Cryer from the undue critiques… first off, if Noel isn’t a trained or paid public speaker, then it’s hardly fair to expect her to be impressive, organized, crystal clear, and eloquent. she is a caring, open lady who came to share her story. so if people resent Christianese or churchy language, if they’ve had bad experiences with Christians or church leaders or denominations in the past, that’s fine (it’s too bad, but it’s fine), but expecting her to instantaneously chameleon into her post modern, post Christian, post denom surroundings without even having really hung out with Eikon or the Euc before seems unrealistic. some people are great at blending in and dropping colloquialisms like hot irons. others…. not so much. so be graceful, and unless you voice specific expectations ahead of time, don’t expect them to be met. secondly, if you are looking at action oriented organizations to serve with and invest in, wouldn’t you want your leaders to be passionate? perhaps yelling at a video camera isn’t the best PR in the textbook, but how many people are going to forget that? it made an impression and clearly communicated his point, which, in my book, is essentially a home run. the video was well made and compelling. i can demand nothing more.

-Ryan’s music was truly Texas appropriate. and i couldn’t pull it off like he did if i tried. i think i’ll stick to rock and roll.

-as for the actual subject of the night, i’m glad to have been a part of something that hopefully opens people’s eyes. ignorance is bliss in this case, and we just rocked a lot of boats. the human trafficking industries are truly the dirty secret of globalization. and just like illegal drug trade, Americans out -scum the rest of the world by far. we are the root of this evil, demanding the drugs which led to 6,000 people being slaughtered last year alone in Mexico as drug lords struggle against a recently wakened government. and the 20,000 people a year that are stolen from humanity are far too many, and Americans are the chiefs of thiefs. i’m not proud to be an American, because i see how we directly cause people to no longer be free…

-finally, i have to echo what several folks are saying… that it’s super that 2 church communities, regardless of size, just did this. yes, we’re small and young, but it was so neat to not worry about any spirits of competitiveness (we could never hang) or ego-centrism or arrogance. it seemed pure (even though Phil said “shitty” during the middle of the service. out loud.)

i eagerly await the next Euckon event.

killing the world

a photojournalist traveled to Nigeria to give the world a glimpse into the lives of those who may not actually benefit from the planet’s delirious cutting and snorting of oil. this slideshow is the evidence. excerpts of the photographer’s interview are spliced in with the pictures. i suggest turning on the photo captions to get the full effect.