What About Bob

McCain Announces on Letterman

Sen. John McCain (R., AZ) announced that he will be a candidate for President of the United States in 2008 during tonight’s taping of the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN.  Letterman later asked Sen. McCain if he would consider “the possibility President/Vice President, that kind of a thing, you divide that sort of deal up. You’re not interested in splitting that?” Sen. McCain said Well, you may remember that in the last election there was some conversation about me being Vice President of the Untied States, it wasn’t clear which party,” which garnered laughter from Letterman and the audience. “And I was on one of the shows and the guy said, ‘Well, what’s this about you being Vice President of the United States?’ I said, ‘You know, I spent all those years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, kept in the dark, fed scraps – why the heck would I want to do that all over again?”

Training Wheels

Our son is learning to ride a bike.  Mom and Dad and the "training wheels" are all in place to provide extra security for now.  Eventually he will remove those wheels and have the faith to ride on two wheels.  This analogy is used often but I can't help but to think about how this applies to us "adult" Christians.  How many of us are still using "training wheels" in our Christian walk?  Is our faith wrapped up in buildings and preachers and people?

JC out to Terminate the Resurrection

  James Cameron, widely known film director of the Terminator movies and The Titanic, is now trying to terminate and sink the basic beliefs of Christianity.  In his upcoming movie, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, Cameron will claim that the burial site of Jesus has been found and suggests he had a wife and son.  Yet another attempt of our pop culture to take a controversial topic (which is fundamental to the Christian faith) and exploit it for profit.  This so-called "scientific evidence" is actually 11 years old and proven to be absolutely wrong.  On March 4th, they are building up the synergy on this tale with a Discovery Channel special by the same name. 
I guess if The Da Vinci Code was round one, this movie is round 2 and our next sermon series.  Better get busy building my tomb set...

Read my friend Rich Kirkpatrick's take on this very topic HERE.  Read the news release HERE.

Worldly Influences

In "9 Things You Simply Must Do," Henry Cloud writes about Digging up the dreams that may be buried in your heart.  He also talks about "guarding your heart" and "weeding it out."  I find that just living in this world with all it's influences promotes "weeds of the heart" that we often must remove.  As Christians,  Apart from Satan's attacks, I believe that two of the most challenging things we face are (1) Discerning God's will, and (2) Walking the line between being separated from the world and being connected to the culture in order to reach the world.  It affects what we watch, buy, wear, and do - everthing.  The debate continues and we all must decide how many weeds we allow to grow in the garden of our heart. 

Lukewarm?

   We possess 5 senses; smell, touch, taste, hearing and sight.  But we typically limit ourselves to two senses when we come to worship.  God created us as multisensory beings and chose to reveal Himself to us through all of our senses.  The Bible included these sensory elements: incense, frankenscense, fragrant offerings, laying of hands, clapping of hands, disciples leaning on one another, casting crowns, bowing to the ground, felt water, touch of the bread, communion, taste of honey, marriage supper of the Lamb, trumpet blast, singing, visual beauty in the tabernacle, bread and cup, color, texture, design and more.  Shouldn't we be willing to worship God using all of our senses?  It may require you to step out of your box to experience more of the mystery of God.  Being "comfortable with how I worship" may be fine for you but lukewarm for God.

So much has been written on this topic.  Check out these great articles on Multisensory Worship.
Faithworks   Randy Elrod   Worship Connection   Christian Standard

A Mere Christian in Hollywood

As an "entreprenuer in education," Micheal Flaherty helped transform Boston's public schools. Now he's working that same magic as the producer of family-friendly films.  Since Flaherty co-founded Walden five years ago, the media company has been busy making movies about family and faith. Its credits include Holes (2003), Around the World in 80 Days (2004), Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), and the recent mega-hit The Chronicles of Narnia (2005). Walden's latest releases include the hit adaptations of the children's classics Charlotte's Web and The Bridge to Terabithia, and Amazing Grace, about the life of famed British abolitionist William Wilberforce.  Read more HERE.

Early Reviews are Good . . .

Check out the movie web site HERE.

You Too Can Own a Bald Britney

People are actually bidding on this . . . Currently 31 bids and the top bid stands at $46.01.

What's your favorite Seuss?

I work with a worship Dream Team to craft our worship gatherings.  I love the creative process of worship design.  The makeup of our team is diverse.  We are all different and bring different views to the table. No idea is wrong and I've leveled the playing field.  We also don't dissect our brainstorming sessions away from the group. 

We are currently working on some worship ideas based on the writings of Dr. Suess.  There is alot of thought-provoking theology in the stories of Seuss. One we may use is based on The Steeches.  The message - Diversity...How boring this world would be if we were all the same.

What's your favorite Seuss?    Click HERE for a list of Seuss books.

Napkin Notes

One day I'm going to write a book entitled Napkin Notes.  Periodically, I find these loose notes either on a napkin or the back of magazines or papers.  Here is a napkin note neatly tucked in a book.  Another worship conference, I'm not sure which.

"On-Star" for the Soul - The 5 G's of Growth

Grace
Salvation is only the first step. 
Growth
Must Know the scriptures .. a Moral Compass. Too many Christians never grow.
Group
We don't talk to each other any more.  We've all become "Solo Sapiens"  Substituting  the virtual contact for human contact.  Small groups worth the risk.  Christ-like intimacy.
Gifts
128 hours in a week and we are asking someone to commit 18% a week.  There is this horse ranch.  For those who want to go fast, there are fast horses.  For those who want to go slow, there are slow horses.  There are big and small horses for those who've never ridden a horse.  And there are horses that have never been ridden.
Good Stewards
Who is happier; the man with 12 million dollars or the man with 12 children?  The correct answer is the man with 12 children because he doesn't want anymore.  Honor God with His Tithe.  Learn God's principles of money management.  To whom much is given, much is required.  Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.