The Emerging Church

What on earth is the “Emerging Church”? Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe you haven’t.

Brandon Barker says we are all nerds, just in different ways. Some people are music nerds. Some are baseball nerds. Some are skateboarding nerds, math nerds, cooking nerds, etc. I happen to be a Christianity nerd. Not just about my personal relationship with God, but about Christianity in general. One of the hot new topics in Christianity is the Emerging Church. The past couple of days I have been educating myself more on the topic and becoming more and more intrigued, and I am also finding that it is something I may have been looking for all along.

Rather than writing a huge post that tries to describe Emerging Churches, I will provide links for those who are interested.

Emerging Church mp3s: Full mp3s from a day of talks held at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary about the Emerging Church. I listened to the first talk, “The Emerging Church: Past, Present, and Future” by Brian McLaren. It was awesome.

Brian McLaren (one of the “leaders” of the movement) is giving a series of sermons at his home church called “What is the Emerging Church?” They are all available for download at his home church’s blog. McLaren is a great speaker and author. I highly recommend listening to these.

You might be Emergent…: A quiz on the Generous Orthodoxy Conference website which might let you know if you have an “emergent” mindset. The conference is so named because of Brian McLaren’s book entitled A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian (which I haven’t read, but would love to).

An image [below] Kyle Potter found on a church’s website. Read his commentary here.



About the graphic, Andrew Jones says:

What i want to know is this:
- What is in that third cup under Emerging? I bet it is Chai. Fair-trade chai made from cruelty-free tea leaves and NOT purchased from Starbucks. Can I get a witness???
- How can they expect emerging people to get up so early on a Sunday morning?
- What happens when the emerging people want hymns around the organ?
- What happens when the traditional people want to take their shoes off, paint Bible verses on the wall and drink some chai?

More Resources:

Kyle Potter – What is the Emerging Church?

Emerging Church @ Wikipedia

TallSkinnyKiwi: The Blog of Andrew Jones another leader in the movement

EmergentVillage.com

Review: A Collision, David Crowder Band

There’s a good review of A Collision, the new album from the David Crowder Band over at [retro]evangelical. Read the review here.

He points out one of my favorite things about Crowder that I’ve always loved:

Most Christian praise song writers seem to compose songs by writing their favorite 52 Christian words down on cards (bless, name, fame, praise, heart, lamb) and shuffling the cards, then dealing out a new song. Crowder will have none of that. God’s love is “indelible.” He calls the Lord an “Antonym”.

You gotta pick up this album.

Friday Linkfest

A couple of people told me they liked last week’s linkfest, so here are this week’s links:

Office Slang: A website that has a ton of “new office slang.” I imagine this will end up in a dreaded forwarded e-mail soon (i.e. Fwd:[FWD: HILARIOUS! office slang!!! READ!]). For now, however, it’s hilarious. My personal favorite is Chips and Salsa: chips = hardware, salsa = software. “First we gotta figure out if the problem’s in your chips or your salsa.”

Amazing ping pong video: I’ve been playing a lot of ping pong lately, and the other day I decided to type “ping pong” into the Google video search. The video is aptly titled “Play ping pong like a god,” because if God played ping pong, He’d probably do similarly ridiculous moves.

The Millau Viaduct: “The Millau Viaduct (French: le Viaduc de Millau) is a cable-stayed road bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by British master-architect Lord Foster in collaboration with French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one pier’s summit at 341 metres (1,118 ft)—slightly higher than the Eiffel Tower and only 40 m (132 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. It was formally opened on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic on 16 December 2004.” – Wikipedia. Check out these pictures of the bridge, courtesy of Flickr.¹

Why we Have to get the Troops Out of Iraq: A great commentary from Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, on why the U.S. should pull troops from Iraq.

Keith Oberman on the U.S. Government’s poor response to Katrina: Video clip of an awesome commentary on the poor job of the government in responding to hurricane Katrina.

The new $10 bill: Look, ma! Color-shifting ink!

1. Megan, if you could please go here in honor of me and take a brazilian pictures… that would be great. ↩

Writing a Song w/John Mayer, Part 2

Early in the month of August, I posted about a contest that Esquire magazine is having. If you’re too lazy to read the old post, John Mayer offered up some of his unused lyrics and asked singer/songwriters to write a song using his lyrics. The winner of the contest (chosen by John) wins himself/herself a $1400 John Mayer Stratocaster.

Anyway, the point is that I finally wrote the tune and sent it in. It’s a pretty bad quality recording, but I kind of like the fact that it’s just a guy (me) in his dorm room recording the song on a $5 microphone. No fancy equipment; just myself, my guitar, and John’s lyrics. I am not getting my hopes up because I probably won’t win, but I think it’s a pretty good interpretation of the lyrics.

Here is the mp3 of the [untitled] song. Let me know what you think.

Edit: Here are the lyrics so you can listen and read if you want:

I keep a note that I wrote on a taxi receipt
It says, “Don’t listen to anybody other than me”
I hit the big time for a nominal fee
You lose a friend in the end for every dream that you see come true

I got scars upon scrapes, I’ve got bruises on breaks
Masochistically committed to see how much of this I’ll take
Three years under water, and I ain’t even got the shakes
I’m going deeper and deeper and deeper

I’ve got dreams to remember, I’ve got days to forget
I’ve got some phone calls in to God but he ain’t called me back just yet

And now I can say that I wrote a song with John Mayer.

In Search of Vocation: Course Description

Tom here. In a fit of a caffeine high and total inspiration from Sigur Rós, the journey’s course description came to be. This is what we will present to the advisors. They will love it. They will get out of their seats and cheer, screaming with joy at the two incredible specimens seated before them. So here it is, our life-changing experience:

In Search of Vocation: An American Journey of Self-Discovery

Our vocational experience for J-Term will be both an informative endeavor of interacting with others about discerning vocation and a journey of self-discovery to find our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical strengths. From Decorah to the open road of America we will set out to make this realization a true physical journey. Interactions and self-discovery experiences will be intermeshed throughout the term to keep the two aspects of vocation together in a synthesized manner. Our experience will be accompanied by a number of readings to provide concrete philosophical and spiritual guidance that lay the path for our search and that hopefully illuminate what we should be looking for in coming closer to this incredible realization. The course will culminate in formal journal of the experience as well as a template for future students to engage in vocational discovery. Following the term, we will present our experience and hopefully inspire others to begin thinking critically about their call in life.

Below are the 3 criteria laid out in an organized manner:

Self-Discovery Experiences:

Spiritual: We will visit institutions or conferences to decide how faith functions in our lives and to what extent we can apply that to our future call. (Ex: Passion Conference, Quaker Retreat Center, Sweat Lodge, Zen Monastery, and Worship Leadership)

Mental: We will inventory our mental abilities and intellectual interests and decide what of these can apply to our future calls. (Experiences can include visiting museums, cultural centers, attending community or area college lectures.)

Emotional: We will create experiences that may be both emotionally enriching and emotionally taxing. This can help us decide what kind of emotional beings we are. (Experiences could include working at a soup kitchen, volunteering at a care facility, volunteering at the Walter Reed Military Hospital, even speaking with a psychologist to figure out our E.Q. or Emotional Quotient.)

Physical: Calls will not always be easy and may be physically taxing. We will experience intense physical strain to discover our limits as well as how to overcome some limits we thought were permanent blocks. (Example, 3-day hike in the snowy Appalachians, Fasting, Getting a body piercing or tattoo)

Artistic: Create a work of art, be it music or a physical object. (Performing music or creating sculpture, snow sculpture, painting, drawing, collage, etc.)

Interactions for Vocational Discernment:

This will most likely be part of interacting with the individuals we come in contact with while living out the self-discovery experiences. When those experiences won’t suffice, we will seek out counsel from professionals in the respective fields of service or ministry in which we are looking.

Reading List (tentative):

Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer

Soul of a Citizen by Paul Loeb

The Call of Service by Robert Coles

Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life by Douglas J. Schuurman

*A note on the necessity of travel: Where the actual trip and act of moving across the country creates a subliminal metaphor of discovery and journey, a metaphor isn’t the only way this physical trip will be beneficial. It is impossible to discuss vocation without including location. This country offers a wide variety of cultures and landscapes. The location aspect of the call embodies the physical need to be somewhere and do something. This experience cannot be realized by sitting stationary in a classroom.

You know, Jake… I think this might just happen.

The Day Forever Died

“The Day Forever Died” by Matt Wertz, from the album Twentythree Places:

Can’t believe that you’re gone without a trace
I can’t believe you got no tears upon your face
While mine is soaking wet
Making up for your lack, I guess
That’s how it is in love, or out of love as I sit now
Without you next to me
Wishing things that just can’t be

It’s all that I can do
Just sit back and watch it all fall through, yeah

It should’ve been so good, it could’ve been so right
That was before the day forever died
I’m wishing on “what if’s” and taking my chances
That was before the day forever died

Theres nothing left to be said
It’s all been spoken
In spite of words you couldn’t find for me
I guess you came out ahead
Now I’m broken into a man ashamed to show his face
Walkin’ away seemed so easy for you
So why’s it gotta be so hard for me?
To see that its over when for so long love was just you and me

It should’ve been so good, it could’ve been so right
That was before the day forever died
I’m wishing on “what if’s” and taking my chances
That was before the day forever died

Yeah, that pretty much does it.

Friday Linkfest

Here are a few links to celebrate the end of the week.

World on Fire: In the words of Tom, “Watch this and be inspired. Don’t do anything else. Just watch it.”

The Million Dollar Homepage: This dude is selling advertising on his website for $1 per pixel. His goal is to sell all 1,000,000 pixels and he’s already made more than $100,000. Why didn’t I think of this?

Hurricane Rita: Official NWA (National Weather Service) website for information regarding Rita. Also see the official Houston Chronicle coverage and CNN.com’s coverage.

Don’t TP your teacher’s house: if you know he owns a sword. The saddest thing might be that this happened in Boone, Iowa.

David Crowder Band: The official website. The new CD, A Collision, comes out next Tuesday. You can hear three of the new tracks on their Myspace, and apparently you can download the Collision EP on iTunes. It features three new tracks for $0.99 each: “Foreverandever Etc.,” “Do Not Move,” and “A Beautiful Collision.” Guaranteed that this will be on October’s Music of the Month post.

Music of the Month

At the end of the summer, I posted an annotated list of the music that I had listened to all summer. I thought it might be a cool idea to do the same thing near the end of every month. If nothing else, it will be fun to go back and see which albums I listened to in certain months. Here are September’s lucky winners.

The Fray, How to Save A Life: This album is amazing. It’s one of those rare “perfect” albums where there is not a single song that isn’t good. I’ve listened to it straight through probably twenty times by now and it continues to blow my mind. The music is beautiful piano-based melodic rock. If I mentioned earlier that they are going to be huge, this album only makes me believe that even more. Do yourself a favor and buy this CD. Favorite tracks: Over My Head (Cable Car), How to Save A Life, Hundred, Vienna

Josh Rouse, Nashville: There are certain albums that will always be associated with a season for me. John Mayer’s Room for Squares will always remind me of autumn, and I believe Nashville will, too. Rouse has a very chill songwriting style reminiscent of Ryan Adams. My brother likes him, too. Favorite tracks: It’s the Nighttime, Carolina, Saturday

David Gray, Slow Motion: I think I’ve always been a David Gray fan at heart, but I never really knew it until this summer, when my friend Megan bought me White Ladder. Gray is best known in the states for his song “Babylon”. He is huge in the UK, and this album debuted at #1 on the UK charts. For good reason, too. I love White Ladder, so when I heard that this new album was coming out, I had to hear it. The music is gorgeous, ethereal, and heartbreaking at times. Favorite tracks: Alibi, Slow Motion, Ain’t No Love

Death Cab for Cutie, Plans: I hadn’t heard much DCFC before this last month, except for some brief clips while I was hanging around B. Mick’s cubicle. He told me I should check them out. So… I did. I listened to Transatlanticism and thought it was pretty good and so I picked up a copy of Plans. I like Plans way better than Transatlanticism. It took me a while to get used to the lead singer’s voice, which I originally didn’t like, but it has grown on me. It’s a total rainy day album, which probably has something to do with the fact that my brother and I listened to it twice through on the way to Minneapolis in the middle of the night during a huge thunderstorm. Favorite tracks: Summer Skin, Soul Meets Body, Brothers on a Hotel Bed

Sigur Rós, Takk…: Sigur Rós is so good. If you don’t know them, it’s probably because they have never had any top 40 radio airplay, nor will they ever. They are from Iceland, and they make music by using a synthesizer, a bass, an electric guitar played with a cello bow, and a dude who sings like a soprano in either Icelandic or a language he just made up.¹ The music is very emotion-evoking. At times the music makes me feel like I could fly and at other times like I should apologize to someone for something. I can’t even explain their music. It’s good. This album is way “happier” than their past albums have been, and I really like it. I like the old stuff a lot, too. Favorite tracks: Glósóli, Sæglópur

Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound: I’ve been a Switchfoot fan since I bought the A Walk to Remember soundtrack. Yes, I bought the A Walk to Remember soundtrack.² Shortly after that, Switchfoot hit it big, crossover-style, with the album Beautiful Letdown, which is easily my favorite album of theirs. I heard a bunch of the new stuff this summer when they played at the Iowa State Fair and I was super excited for the new CD to come out. I remember when they played “Happy is a Yuppie Word” and I loved it. This album equals, if not betters, Beatiful Letdown. Although they have made it big in the mainstream, Switchfoot hasn’t lost the spirit that has made their music so powerful. Favorite tracks: Lonely Nation, Happy Is A Yuppie Word, Golden

The Click Five, Greetings from Imrie House: I’ll admit, I’m a little embarassed to have this album on the list. I like to think that I have a very sophisticated music taste, but The Click Five’s self-described “new school power pop” is just so, well, catchy. One can’t help but bob their head to the first single, “Just the Girl.” I guess I am a sucker. While I am admitting things, I should probably say that “Just the Girl” is also the ringtone on my cell phone. Yeah, I know… lame. Favorite tracks: Good Day, Just the Girl, Say Goodnight

1. Seriously. ↩
2. Let’s be honest. I also own the movie and the book. See footnote #1. ↩

Number Solitaire

A couple of weeks ago, Laina showed me a solitaire game that she had been playing a lot lately. You begin by drawing a six-by-six square of boxes on a sheet of paper. Lined paper works well because it gives you guidelines. You then put the number one in any square and then continue numerically until you run out of boxes. The catch is that you have to follow a pattern for entering the numbers:

If you’re moving up, down, left, or right, you must skip two boxes to enter the next number. If you’re moving diagonally, you must skip one box. You can see in the picture that I skipped two boxes to enter “2″, then one box diagonally to enter “3″, and so on. The goal of the game is to get as high a number as possible. The highest number you could get would be 36, because there are thirty six boxes. My highest ever was 35, and I thought that 36 was impossible. Until today.

In what might be the most boring class ever, I hit the holy grail of 6×6 number solitaire¹. I made it all the way to 36. I thought at first that I would post the solution, but then I decided that I should have other people try. If you get 36, let me know. It took me a couple of weeks. It’s a great way to zone out in boring classes.

A friend of mine wrote down every move I made, whether it was a 4 block move (up, down, left, right) or a 3 block move (diagonal) and there was no real pattern, except that 4, 4, 3 happened a bunch of times. Perhaps there is a pattern, but I think if I figured it out the game would lose it’s time-wasting appeal.

Maybe I’ll try a 7×7 square from now on. Would more squares make it more difficult?

1. I’m not sure if this game has an official name. I did some searching on Google for the name but I kept finding mathematical stuff. ↩

Thanks for helping w/the kids

About a week and a half ago, I receieved what I thought was a letter in the mail. It was addressed to my school address, and there was no return address on the envelope. Upon opening the envelope, I discovered that there were three $20 bills inside. For a second, I thought that’s all that was in there until I did what most people would do in this situation. I flexed the envelope [so it looked like this: () ], and I disovered a sticky note on the inside. On the sticky note was a scribbled message:

“Thanks for helping w/the kids.”¹

That’s it. Along with no return address, there was no name on the sticky note. It was written fairly poorly – that is, it surely wasn’t a third grade teacher’s handwriting. Also, whose kids are we talking about here? True, I did work in student ministry all summer, but who would feel the urge to send sixty anonymous dollars my way? The whole thing is kind of weird, and I have nowhere to send a thank you note. The note is now hanging on my desk… it fascinates me. And it kind of makes me chuckle.

To whomever sent me sixty dollars the other week: Thank you. I was more than happy to help with the kids. I used the money to pay for a tank of gas.

1. The person didn’t even take the time to write out the word “with”. Seems ironic, considering he or she took the time to address the envelope (not to mention finding my address), and put sixty dollars inside. ↩

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