dream-awakener

Lonely

2006-02-26T08:06:00.000-08:00

La Sangre.
Originally uploaded by Simon Pais.

If you don't want to be lonely, because of lack of new posts, then you need to go to my new website.

A New Year - A New Blog

2006-01-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

2006 in Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

I have a new blog site now, which means that some of you need to change the address on your link. It also means if you want to see view the latest entry you need to make one more click.

On the Road Again

2006-01-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

highway "A 9 Pyhrnautobahn", long exposure
Originally uploaded by emphasis

Well, I just finished my talks and interaction here in Blacksburg with those participating in the e4 project.

I really enjoyed connecting with this group of people. They are thinking deeply about what it means to follow Jesus in our world today and that always excites my heart. My only wish is that I would have had more time to get to know each person and more about their personal life stories.

I'm getting ready to have one last meal with my brother and his family before getting on the road again for about 4 1/2 hours to drive to the D.C. area. I remember taking this drive so many times in the past. I have many fond memories of taking this trip from Blacksburg,VA to Woodbridge,VA enjoying the beauty up and down highway 81.

Tonight I will stay at my parents house and fly back to LA on Saturday morning. This year it is my plans to travel less and stay in LA more. I'm excited about coming home and connecting with friends and meeting some new ones as well.

One more reminder, but next week all new posts will be at my new blog site.

From Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA

2006-01-13T05:33:00.000-08:00

It always brings back a lot of memories for me coming back to Blacksburg,VA since this is the first place that I started a church - New Life Campus Fellowship. And while the first three years were like a living hell, in the following years was saw the grace of God in abundance, as our struggling group of 24 grew to over 1,000.

Last night and today, I have had the privelage of sharing at the e4 project here at Virginia Tech, which is an intense and intentional training within the church. They have asked me to share about my favorite topic - Jesus and the Kingdom of God. My talks will probably be available for download sometime later this week at download section of the e4 site.

I have also had the chance to stay with my younger brother Joe and his wife and family. It has been such a joy to spend time with them. I have been overwhelmed with their kindness. It was also great to connect with many of those who are on staff with NLCF.

Well, I have to prepare for a number of talks today, so I must go. Remember, this is the last week I will be writing at this blog address, all my blog entries will move to my new address, so make sure you change whatever settings you need to change.

Update on My Dad

2006-01-11T13:34:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, my Dad has been in and out of the hospital for close to a month now. I know many are praying for him, so I wanted to give you an update and a quick history of his condition.

Currently his spirits are great, as you can see from the picture. My nephew, his grandson had just called, and nurse Ada was doing some check ups. And though he is doing well emotionally and spiritually, his physical condition is not improving. The current diagnosis is that there are problems within the bladder, which are side effects from the radiation treatment my Dad had a few years ago when he discovered he had prostrate cancer.

Right now my Dad must continually be on a catheter in order to prevent major blood loss and monitor how things are going. In the last couple of days he has had to get a blood transfusion because he as lost too much blood. At times his blood clots as well. Yesterday they were able to move him to a new hospital for the next phase of treatment, that we hope will brig the needed healing to his bladder. (By the way, my Dad was in such good spirits that both his roommate and the nurses are sad to see him move to another hospital.)

His next treatment will be hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The hopes is that this therapy will bring him to health and help his bladder to heal. The way the therapy works is while the patient is inside the oxygen chamber they basically breathe pure oxygen, which increases the oxygen in the blood cells bringing a more speedy and natural enhancement to the body's ability to heal itself.

This treatment was used recently Randy McCloy, the only surviving coal minor from West Virginia. According to CNN he went through "three hyperbaric oxygen treatments during which he was immersed in pressurized oxygen in an effort to reverse the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning and oxygen deprivation."

We are hoping the treatment works. Thank for your prayers. By the way, I will be posting this next week both here and at my new blog, then after this week, I will only be posting at my new blog site.

ANNOUNCEMENT: You are invited to PREVIEW my new site

2006-01-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

Lake Louise Banff
Originally uploaded by Jeff Milner.

I started my blogging journey at an invitation from my friend Pavi in the Spring of 2003, when I didn't even know what a blog was at that time. In time, because of different difficulties, we closed the excelsis blogs. I hope someday to retrieve those past blog entries and put the information somewhere.

I then started this blog with blogger in December of 2004. This past year I have been getting much more regular with my entries, about 4-5 a week, and have grown in my love for blogging. There are many reasons why I love to blog. Here are some, in no particular order:

I enjoy turning people on to interesting news items
It's a cool way to encourage, comfort and exhort people to follow Jesus
It allows me to keep up with people I know all over the world
It has become a spiritual discipline for me, causing me to regularly examine my life, the world, God and people.
I love to share things that I am learning about the city I live in - LA, and to help those who live in LA or have an interest in Los Angeles learn about the city and make it a better place.
Photography has become a hobby of mine, so blogging gives me a chance to share cool pictures with others, some that I have taken, and others I have found from friends at flickr.
I love sharing some of my personal ventures as well as things that I'm thinking about, dreaming about and doing.
It helps me to think of new ways to take the LA times (news of the world) and the scripture (news of God) and live more faithfully in God's story and help others do the same.
It gives me the opportunity to share ideas that are important to me, like social justice, becoming more whole, walking with God, being the church today, understanding the scriptures, following Jesus and redeeming the world.
It is one way I hope to bring the goodness of God to others.

With all of that in mind, I wanted to let you know that I am moving my blog to a different site. It is easy to remember because it will be hosted at: www.jrwoodward.net - right now you need to put the www. before jrwoodward, or you won't get there. I'm working on changing that right now. I got this domain name, so that in the future even if I change hosts, my blog address will remain the same. I want to do this as a courtesy of those of you who link to this blog.

You can click here to get a preview of my new blog. I am still working on it, but it is my hopes that it will be even a greater resource for you if you are a regular reader, as well as new readers to this blog. I am encouraged to know that this past month I have on average had more than 1,000 visits a week to this blog from all around the globe.

I would love to know what you think of my new blog, so please take a minute and when you visit the new blog, leave a comment there to let me know what you think. Also, if you are currently linking to my blog, would you be so gracious as to update the address. And if you have a blog site or website and would like to link to this site please click here and add this blog to your site.

I hope this site serves you even better this next year. In a couple of weeks, I will be letting you know about a couple of new sites that will be of interest to you as well, some group blogs that I am involved in developing. They are close to completion.

Three Kinds of People

2006-01-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

Today we started a new series at Kairos entitled: Facing our Future with Faith. One thing that is true about people of faith is that they are risktakers. It is also true that fear is one of the biggest enemies of faith.

I've noticed that there tend to be three kinds of people in this world. You have the risktakers, the caretakers and the undertakers. So which one are you? Let's take a quick look at each of them.

First you have the risktakers. If you had to describe them in one word, it would have to be daring. Their life is full of adventure. There is always something happening in them, with them and around them. They are living life on the edge. They are believing God for big things. When I think about risk takers, I think about the friends of the paralytic, who when the crowds were to tight to find the normal way into the house, decided to hop from roof to roof and then saw the tiles of the roof off and disrupt Jesus in the middle of his teaching with sawdust flying in his eyes. They were people who didn't give up, because risktakers see opportunities in every obstacle, while caretakers, on the other hand, see obstacles in every opportunity. And undertakers, well, they don't see anything.

If daring is the word that best describes the risktakers, then duty would have to be the best word that describes the caretakers. These are people who just do things because things should be done. There is no thrill left, no excitement. They aren't believing God for anything new. They always expect the same things. One of their favorite phrases is, "This is the way we have always done it." No adventure anymore in their life, their walk with God or their ministry.

When it comes to ministry and life, the risktakers say, "What great things is God going to do today?" The caretakers say, "I hope nothing really happens today," while the undertakers say, "What is today?"

So you have the risktakers, the caretakers and then the undertakers. If the key word for risktakers is daring, and the key word for caretakers is duty, the key word for undertakers would have to be death.

Do you remember the letter to the church at Saridis? Jesus said, "I know all things you do, and that you have the reputatoin for being alive, but you are dead." These are people who aren't even walking with God anymore. They are going about their business, caring only for themselves, not about advancing the kingdom. There life is like the seed that fell on the thorny soil; people who hear the good news and accept it, but the message gets crowded out by the cares of this world, the lure of weath, and so the result is, no crop is produced. That's the undertaker.

So which of these three people are you? Which one of these people will characterize your life this coming year? Are you going to be a risktaker, a caretaker or an undertaker. Which do you want to be?

If you want to be a risktaker, then you need to tune into tomorrows blog. Until then, think about your life, or check out the latest podcast from Kairos Los Angeles Live.

Becoming a More Emotional Healthy Church

2006-01-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

man of Sorrow! (not me)
Originally uploaded by Pesi.

Our community is in the process of working toward our common goals for this coming year. I have surveyed and talked with many people in our congregation and tomorrow we will be in dialog about our goals for next year.

One goal that I have for our congregation this year is becoming a more emotionally healthy church. Peter Scazzero has written an excellent book on this topic which our staff has been reading and discussing.

Besides looking at our general spiritual formation, Peter helps us look at our emotional development as well. He helps those of us who are Type A's look at areas that we tend to overlook. Here is a list of some of the parts of our emotional life that Peter helps us explore:

Looking Beneath the Surface
Breaking the Power of the Past
Living in Brokeness and Vulnerability
Receiving the Gifts of Limits
Embracing Grieving and Loss
Loving Incarnationally

I would say that becoming an emotionally healthy church will be recieved by our congregation as a good goal. I will leave you with one good quote from Peter, as he is talking about how he and his wife were learning what it meant to die to self:

Jesus does call us to die to ourselves. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself daily and take up his cross and come follow me." (Mark 8:34) The problem was that we died to the wrong things. We mistakenly thought that dying to ourselves for the sake of the gospel meant dying to self-care, to feelings of sadness, to anger, to grief, to doubt, to struggles, to our healthy feelings of saddness, and to passions we had enjoyed before our marriage.

If you get a chance, I would encourage you to take the emotional health inventory to see how you are doing in your emotional development.

How Rich Are You?

2006-01-05T22:42:00.000-08:00

Have you ever thought you just didn't have any money?

It is easy to do because we tend to compare ourselves with those who have more than we do. We are always thinking about upward mobility. We hardly ever think about those who are much less fortunate than us.

When you get a minute take this quick test to see how rich you are when you compare yourself with the population of the world at large. And then think about giving to the Solis Foundation this next year, to help those less fortunate.

It was John Haughey the Jesuit theologian who said, "We read the gospel as if we had no money and we spend our money as if we know nothing of the gospel." Ouch!

NetNewsWire Service is Great

2006-01-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

So as I mentioned in the last blog, I was having some difficulty with my netnewswire, but the people at NetNewsWire responded very quickly to my needs, and after following their intructions, everything is back to normal and my NetNewsWire is working faster than ever.

If you have a mac, I would say I prefer the layout and accessability off-line that NetNewsWire gives, as opposed Bloglines.

Bloglines vs NetNewsWire

2006-01-05T11:35:00.000-08:00

I arrived safely in LA. I arrived just in time for my sabbath day, which is typically Thursday. It should help me adjust back to LA time.

I was looking forward to catching up on some blogs, but for the last five days I have had great difficulty using NetNewsWire, which is the feeder that I have been using for the last couple of months. I have really enjoyed the layout of it, but it has been acting strange lately, like closing without me being able to read anything. Even the weeks prior it was taking quite a long time to load up. So I decided to go with what is probably the most popular feeder of all, and from what I understand one of the oldest feeders Bloglines.

I would suggest that if you like to read a number of blogs on a regular basis, using Bloglines is a good way to do it. If you want to subscribe to my blog, simply put in Dream Awakener, and it should come up first.

For all you Techies out there, would you have any suggestions when it comes to the best feed sources as it relates to Mac and/or Windows?

LA Here I Come

2006-01-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

la mountians
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

Well I'm packing up and getting ready for my trip back to LA. I leave Amsterdam at 10:10 a.m. and then I will fly into Atlanta. From Atlanta I will fly to LA.

I'm looking forward to seeing my friends and enjoying the warmer weather. I love the seasons, but my favorite one is Spring, and LA is like a continuous Spring.

I feel that God has used my time in Amsterdam well. Today Joe and I met together with some leaders from Zolder 50 in Amsterdam and later with some leaders from The Almaz who have a cool church in Keiv, Ukraine.

Tonight I was able to connect with Todd again, as well as my friend Sander. We talked a bit about The Solis Foundation and how they might partner with us in helping the poor and oppressed. I will miss some of my old friends here and the new friends that I met.

I'm looking forward to my next entry when I return.

The Top 50 Cities

2006-01-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

As this last year has come to a close, it is always good to reflect a bit on the past as we look toward the future. One of the things I like to analyze are the different ways that I spend my time. I have to say that making entries to this blog is something that I have increasingly enjoyed this past year.

So as a person who likes to blog and enjoys keeping track of stats, I have a counter that helps me to know where the different readers of my blog come from. So today, I would like to let you know top 50 cities that read my blog. I will give them in order. In other words, the first city is the city that has the greatest amount of regular readers, and so forth. Drum roll please!

Los Angeles, CA (Surprise, surprise)
Columbia, MO (I reckon I know some people there moving to LA soon)
Chicago, IL (Not sure who is there reading regularly)
Lansing, MI (I have some friends there)
Orlando, FL (Travel here quite a bit and have a number of friends here)
Amsterdam, NL (This one has climbed rapidly this past month, maybe due to my visit)
West Palm Beach, FL (Not sure who is here)
Fayetteville, NC (I know about some people here)
Blacksburg, VA (My former place of residence)
Greensboro, NC (I'm amazed that two places from NC made the top ten)
St. Loius, MO (Have visited there this past year)
Kiev, Ukraine (I visited this past year and they have moved up in the standings recently)
South Jordan, Utah (Have some friends here)
Phoenix, AZ (Have some friends here)
Waterloo, IO (I know a number of people in Iowa)
Budapest, HU (I visited last year, my third foriegn country in my top 25)
Pickering, OH (I have many friends in Ohio, but not sure where this is)
Winter Park, FL (Basically Orlando area, where I have many friends)
Warrenton, MO (A state I visited three times this past year)
Columbus, OH (Definetly know people here)
San Francisco, CA (Another California city in the top 25)
Atlanta, GA (I have a number of friends here, last real visit was a couple of years ago)
Richmond, VA (I lived there once and have some friends who live there now)
Denton, TX (Definetly know some people here)
Mesa, AZ (Know some folks in Arizona) I won't be commenting on the last 25
Denver, CO
Westminster, MD
Troy, MI
Las Vegas, NM
Daytona Beach, FL
Corunna, MI
Ann Habor, MI
Roanoke, VA
Indianopolis, IN
Washington D.C.
Eagan, Minnesota
New York, New York
Tampa, FL
Arlington, VA
Dunkik, Maryland
Amstelveen, Netherlands
Vancouver, WA
Plano, TX
Bloomington, IN
Oak Park, IL
Sunnyvale, CA
Minneapolis, MN
Madison, WI
Durango, CO
Glen Burnie, MD

Other cool cities with some representation are:

Paris, FR
London, UK
Toronto, CA
Sao Paulo, BR
Osaka, JP
San Jose, CA
Copenhagen, DK
Sydney, AU
Carcus, VE
Malibu, CA
Honolulu, HI
Dortmund, G
Ho Chi Minh City, VN
Bangladore, IN
Cairo, Eygpt
Santiago, Chile
Lima, Peru
Karachi, Pakistan
Lisbon, Portugal
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel Aviv, Isreal
Munich, Germany
Helsinki, FN
Milano, IT
Brussels, Belgium
Barcelona, Spain
Tehran, Iran
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
La Paz, Bolivia
Casa Blanca, Morocco
Tokyo, Japan
Florence, Italy
Hong Kong
Singapore and others...

Goodbye 2005, Hello 2006

2006-01-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

2006 in Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

Well, 2005 is gone. You can't bring it back, the past is now past. It is now 2006, a New Year, with new possibilities.

What are you hoping that God will do in and through your life this year? One of my favorite verses in the scripture is: "Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe that He exists and will reward those who earnestly seek Him."

As I say goodbye to 2005, I am looking to 2006 with eyes of faith. I am dreaming about what God might do this year. I am thinking about what He desires to do in and through my life and the life of our community, Kairos Los Angeles. I am thinking about the many ways that God wants to bring more of heaven to earth, through people like you and me.

This is always a great time to reflect on the past and look toward the future, dreaming God's dream.

Helen Keller, the blind and deaf woman made history by learning to overcome her disabilities, was once asked if there was anything worse than being blind. She answered, "Oh yes! There is something worse than being blind. It is being able to see and not having any vision."

Happy New Year from Amsterdam

2006-01-01T23:20:00.000-08:00

happy new year
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

As soon as the clock turns Midnight, pandemonium breaks out in Amsterdam. People open up their bottles of champagne, and all of the sudden it is raining champagne everywhere. Of course it is so much fun the first time that you spray out the champagne,you have to do it again. So with fireworks going off randomly, a bit of dancing and singing in the streets, add a little champagne for some rain, and you get the idea of how Amsterdammer's bring in the New Year.

New Years Eve in Amsterdam

2006-01-01T23:04:00.000-08:00

amsterdam new years eve
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

At the turn of the New Millenium I happen to be in NYC as we celebrated the New Year 24 different times every hour around the world.

This past year, since I was sharing at a conference in Amsterdam, I was able to bring in the New Year with Amsterdammer's. There is only one word to describe the way people bring in the New Year here in Amsterdam. CHOAS.

Anybody and everybody can light fireworks of many kinds. That does mean that a number of people end up in the hospital or dead, but that doesn't seem to stop the city from continuing to celebrate in this way.

The evening was pretty fun, spending it with thousands of people that you see here, including Joe Dunn and his kids Trey and Amanda, Noel Heikkinen, Steve Summerlot, Billy Williams, and Sander. It was a cool time.

The Solis Foundation Mission

2005-12-30T14:53:00.000-08:00

The Solis Foundation is up and running now. Genesis started our blog and we are looking to have our official website up by the end of January, Lord willing. If you visit the blog you can discover more about some of our objectives, as well as some specific things we are hoping to do in this coming year.

But today, I simply wanted to share with you: The Solis Foundation Mission Story

As we look at the world in which we find ourselves living, our hearts break over the fact that so many live without the basic ingredients needed to survive. We find it unfathomable to think that in our day of technology and wealth that we can allow over 30,000 innocent young children to die of preventable diseases or hunger each day. Yet we realize that there are forces at work that are much larger than us.

Fundamentally, when we look at the world, we see great evidence of a fall and when we read the scriptures we are able to discern some of the causes of poverty, corruption and injustice as well as some of the cures. Being shaped by the story of God and looking at the story of the world, we recognize that human ingenuity is not enough. For there have been people far more clever with far more resources who have been unable to deal the fatal blow to poverty.

In fact, when we look at who we are and the complexities of the problem of poverty, it overwhelms us and sometimes causes us to be cynical. The only thing that gives us hope for the future is Jesus. For he seems to be the only One who was able to live a life fully faithful to God.

Jesus wasn’t like most people who when they get power and resources “the ring” tend to use them to protect themselves and what they have. He was willing to entrust Himself fully to God, becoming poor to make others rich. And though he had all of the power and resources of God, he didn’t wave a magic wand to make everything better.

Rather, like the prophets of Israel who had come before Him, he tried to help the people see the way things could be and should be. He was willing to confront the fraud and hypocrisy that he found in the lives of the political and religious rulers of his day for the sake of the oppressed. As a result, he faced the same punishment every other political dissident faced, death on a cross.

So, if the best man who ever lived died trying to make the world a better place, what hope is there for us? Why bother doing any good?

We can do good, because God justified Jesus’ life and mission by raising him from the dead. So now through His life, death and resurrection we can be reconciled to God and experience new life and partner with Him in his project to renovate the world. Our hope is to become a bridge from the non-poor to the poor and the poor to the non-poor with the recognition that each party has something to offer the other.

Those of us, who tend to be rich with resources, tend to experience poverty in many other ways. And those who are without many resources, tend to be rich in many other ways. The hope of Solis is to build partnerships between the poor and non poor in such a way that builds a community of mutual respect, one in which we hold the dignity of humankind in high regard knowing that all of us have been made in God’s very image.

We will most likely awkwardly move forward in our mission, for it is one fraught with both dangers and joys, the known and the unknown. We will need much guidance from those who have gone before us, and most of all, we realize that apart from Jesus and all the resources He brings us, there is no hope to accomplish the task that is set before us.

We live in a messed up world, and the likelihood is that it will not become fully fixed until the only One who has lived a fully faithful life comes back to fix it. But we also believe that he has empowered us to partner with Him to do all that we can possibly do to bring the reality of heaven to earth.

So because He calls us to go on this mission to renovate the world, we go gladly. We realize that suffering and hardship are part and parcel of this mission, but we also know that this mission will be an adventure filled with joy and deep satisfaction. We believe that the journey is as important as the destination, so the end never justifies the means. What we do, we do because we love God and all people, no matter what happens to be their background, gender, race or religion.

Joy

2005-12-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

one would.
Originally uploaded by antimethod.

I have to say that I am overjoyed by how the Spirit worked tonight, in and through the worship team, my teaching as well as discussions earlier. He did so in a meaningful way.

Having talked to some of the translators, they were really happy with my rythmn and pace tonight. So if you were praying for that,I want to let you know I deeply appreciate the fact you interceded on my behalf.

It's just after 3 a.m. Dutch time, so I think I'm going to collapse.

Awaken Europe 05

2005-12-29T01:08:00.000-08:00

flies on boy
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

Last night at the conference, I shared about what it means to be made in the image of God and how that shapes our calling.

This morning, Noel will be sharing about the life of Jacob and "How God can (and will) use anybody."

Tonight, I will be sharing about following Jesus. And how Jesus invites us to partner with God to redeem the world. And while partnering with God to help bring shalom includes many things, like bringing forgiveness and healing to the whold, building authentic communities of faith, welcoming the stranger and the outcast, helping people walk with God, redeeming vocations as well as the environment, helping people understand the scriptures and live faithfully in the story of God, my focus will be on two themes, due to time. I will be sharing about how following Jesus means we must engage in social justice and learn how to love our enemies. I will also be mentioned The Solis Foundation, which I plan to blog about later this week.

I would appreciate your prayers, as I have to learn to speak a little slower in order for all of the translators to do their job properly. If you know me and where here last night, you would be amazed how slow I spoke. It was good for the majority of translators, tonight I hope to make it good for all.

Christmas with Delirious in London

2005-12-28T04:05:00.000-08:00

christmas with delirious in london
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

I'm finally getting the opportunity to post some of my pictures from my time in London on Dec. 22nd. I met up with Tyler and Kendall for a great lunch at an Indian Restuarant. We walked around town a bit, visited our rooms and then went to the concert hall for a sound check.

After soundcheck we had dinner with Delirious and the crew at a cool little Italian Place close to the Shepherds Bush Empire, where both Kendall Payne and Delirious would be playing.

The Shepherds Bush Empire is one of the most esteemed concert halls in London. Walking around the halls, I saw photos of people who had played here. From The Rolling Stones to Radio Head, The Smashing Pumkins and Elton John. You can read all about the history of the venue on the website.

Check out the pictures that follow, of if you read this from a feeder, you probably have already seen them. You may also enjoy a review of the concert.

Check Out the Lights

2005-12-28T03:52:00.000-08:00

delirious christmas concert london
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

Delirious was not only moving and motivating through their music, but the light show was cool too. David Wood wrote a review of the show. You can also check out more pictures if you want.

Delirious from Backstage

2005-12-28T03:48:00.000-08:00

delirious backstage
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

So here is the band from a different point of view. It's cool to be able to roam around the concert hall and go anywhere you want. Backstage passes pretty much give you access to anywhere. I had fun meeting a lot of the security guards.

Kendall Payne in Concert - London, UK

2005-12-28T03:35:00.000-08:00

kendall in london
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

Here is a front shot of Kendall as she sang "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" right after Delirious was singing one of their Christmas tunes. It was a beautiful song. Kendall did a great job!

Kendall Backstage

2005-12-28T03:31:00.000-08:00

kendall backstage
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

This is a backstage view of my friend Kendall Payne opening up for Delirious at the esteemed Shepherds Bush Empire in London, UK. Tyler, her husband and I viewed most of her show from backstage.

Totally LA

2005-12-27T02:53:00.000-08:00

Artwork by Adam Pointer

LA Concert Calendar
If you are in LA this week, you might enjoy checking out who playing. My friend Joel and the band he plays with Modus Dei is playing at the House of Blues 1.7.06. I'm hoping to be able to see them, since I'll be back in LA.

LA Times Does Scientology Expose
If you didn't know, scientology is like headquarterd in Hollywood. It's good to learn and understand our neighbors. Peeps to Victor.

22 Neighborhood Councils throughout LA
The LA Times says, "Aspiring to be much more than pothole police, 22 nieghborhood councils thorughout Los Angeles have voted to create a congress of the panels that will give them more clout by allowing them to collectively weigh in on citywide issues." Thanks to Mayor Sam for the link. Maybe you can get involved in your neighborhood council to bring a little more shalom to where you live.

L.A.'s Newest Remodeled High-Styled High-Rise
The LA Times talks about the Sierra Towers, appearently the newest status symbol to young, design-savvy crowd and some actors and lawyers. You need some money to get into this place at the west end of sunset strip. I'm sure it's nice, but I like my old or should I say "New" Hollywood Apartments. The price suits me just fine and the people are probably friendlier. It would probably be a fun place to hang out though.

Surf's Up
I can't believe I'm missing the big waves while I'm in Europe. You have to check out this picture on laist site. I'm sure my friends James and Lance, if they are in town are surfing somewhere.

Merry Christmas from Amsterdam

2005-12-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

Passing by
Originally uploaded by Photochiel.

I think this is my first Christmas overseas, besides the three years I lived in Japan. With all my traveling, and needing to get to certain places on time, I have had a hard time getting to an internet connection. But I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. I hope that wherever you happen to find yourself geographically, that you would find yourself in Him, experiencing the joy and peace that comes through Jesus.

I flew in to Amsterdam from London on Christmas Eve. I enjoyed my short time in London and will have to blog about it in the future.

I had Christmas dinner with Eric, Marci, Elliot, Olivia as well as Linda, Naomi and Patricia. The Zolder 50 had a wonderful Christmas Service and Eric shared a cool message. It was great to see people from different places around the globe worshipping with us.

I caught some kind of bug in England and am trying to shake it off, so I made an early night of it. I'm looking forward to doing a little exploring of Amsterdam tomorrow, if my body is recovered, as well as a little reading and some preparation for Awaken. Appearantly the conference is sold out. I was talking with one of the planners and they said it will be difficult to fit all of those registered. They have already moved from their original room to a larger one. I'm looking forward to the time. People from nine different countries are expected to be here.

Enjoying Conversations and Headed to London

2005-12-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

london
Originally uploaded by 3boood_33.

So last night after hardly sleeping since Saturday night, I was like a bear in hybernation. Let's just say that I got a really good nights sleep at Eric and Marci's.

After waking up I had a chance to meet up with Eric and Todd and talk. Our topics went from Jesus to life in the city, to how to be the church in our day. After some conversation at the cafe, we went to Todd and Lindy place. They transformed a garage into a beautiful apartment. I need to take some pictures to show you sometime. I ate dinner with Todd and Lindy. We had a great time together.

I then came home to Eric and Marci's place in the middle of a homegroup meeting. It was great to be a part of a group that went from speaking Dutch to English. They were going through a study of Mark. They are in chapter two and some of three. The conversation was rich and the people very caring.

I'm now going to bed because I need to rise up early to go to London and meet up with Tyler and Kendall. I have also confirmed my appointment with Graham Tomlin for the following day. I'm looking forward to getting some pictures of London during Christmas time. I hear it is stunning.

From Amsterdam

2005-12-20T04:47:00.000-08:00

I arrived safely in Amsterdam. My plans today was to meet up with my friend Tijmen who I met in LA and then stay and Eric and Marci's. My friend Tijmen was supposed to meet me at the airport, but he was late, and when I say late, I mean really late. The problem was I didn't have his phone number. It's funny, all of the e-mails we have exchanged through the years, none of them had his phone number. So my only recourse was to try and connect with him through e-mail. But the problem is the airport only has access after you get in the boarding area. The only place outside of that is the Hilton where it is 8 euros for only 15 minutes.

So I decided to take the train to Amsterdam Central and find a cheaper e-mail place. I did. Only 2 euros for one hour, but when I got to the computer, I was able to use the remainder of someone else's hour. So it cost me nothing. Yeah! When I got to my e-mail, I was glad to find that Tijmen had e-mailed me, leaving his number, for then I was able to connect with him.

I then called Eric to get directions to his place, and took the 9 tram to his neighborhood and walked down to their place. It is a cute apartment. For the next couple of days I will stay here. Eric and Marci are really hospitable. I feel at home. Tijmen and I are meeting up for dinner. I look forward to connecting with him again to see what he has been up to.

My posts may look a bit different on my travels, because often I will be making entries on other people's computers. It may be harder to have pictures all the time, like I try to do when I'm at home or have my computer. The other way it will be different is that most likely it will resemble a journal a little more than my current style. Since I have had little sleep for a while, I'm going to take a nap before I meet Tijmen. Peace.

From LA to NYC to Amsterdam and London

2005-12-18T22:28:00.000-08:00

london
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

So tomorrow at 6 a.m. I will be leaving my apartment here in LA to fly into NYC then Amsterdam. My Dutch friend Tijmen will be picking me up from the airport and we will get the day to hang together. Then I will have the opportunity to stay with Eric and Marci Asp in the evening. Then on December 22nd I will fly to London and meet up with Kendall and Tyler. Kendall is currently on tour in Europe and is planning on opening up for Delirious. That should be a cool night.

Then the next day I am planning on connecting with Graham Tomlin in the afternoon. Graham is a professor at Oxford and currently works with a church in London. He has authored a number of books including The Provocative Church . If you haven't had a chance to read this little book you should. It is a jewel.

Then I will be back in Amsterdam for Christmas and the Awaken Conference starts after Christmas. I will be connecting with many old friends and meeting new ones as well. I will also have the chance to share about Imagio Deo "The Image of God" and Following Jesus and how these rich themes affect our calling in life. I'm excited about that.

After the conference I will be meeting with some different leaders from different countries in Europe. That should be a rich time as well.

I am planning on blogging once I get to Amsterdam, when I get the first chance. I may work on a post on my stop in NYC.

Until then, may your day be full of the peace that surpasses understanding, no matter what chaos you may be experiencing around you.

Our Mission - Part IV

2005-12-15T23:38:00.000-08:00

This is the last post in regard to our three part mission statement.

Moved by Ancient Wisdom

Engaging a New Renaissance

Working Toward a Coming Shalom

Today I want to talk about this last statement. Shalom is the way in which the prophets talked about a day when all things would be put right again. Those things that have become corrupt and polluted would be re-made in such a way that it would take our breath away. Through imagery and story, their words painted a picture of how things are supposed to be. People would no longer be looked at as tools and property in the hands of the powerful, but as people made in the very image of God. People would not try to build their own kingdoms in which they rule in their own way, but would glady be a part of the kingdom of God, letting God be God, so that peace would prevail in the world. They pictured a world in which the environment that was originally created good would become freed of the curse. They spoke of a place in which people would genuinely love each other.

So then Jesus in the line of the prophets comes and says something utterly amazing. When his followers asked him how to pray, one of the profound statements he made was that we should actually pray that these things would come about. He said to pray, "May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He was telling his followers to pray for the coming of shalom, to pray that the world might be made right again. That peace, beauty, justice and love would prevail over violence, hate and corruption.

In the same way, Jesus invites us all to become active partners with God in the redemption of the world, just like the prophets talked about. And though we won't see the fullness of that reality immediately, we can live with the hope that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, what was started will be finished. Until then, we are to pray and work so that what is true in heaven would be true on earth.

Ethical Maps

2005-12-15T00:31:00.000-08:00

If you have a concern for what is happening in the world and want an updated look at the global well being of different countries, then maplecroft is a great resource. Maplecoft is a UK organization specializing in the coverage of the non-financial performance of global corporations and governments. Their unique contribution is that do this in the form of many different maps.

Maplecroft has both on-line interactive maps as well hard copy maps available. One of there stated goals is: "Our goal is to build a map that both ourselves and our partners consider is accurate, always up to date and meaningful, thus ensuring those who use the Global maps have a greater understanding of each relevant issue - how it impacts business and society, the nature of risk and how that risk might be managed proficiently - with recent case studies to demonstrate how risk is transformed into opportunity."

The types of maps they provide are:

Global map of hunger 2005 (World Food Programme & TNT Moving the World) Support the World Food Programme
Global map of bribery and corruption
Global map of climate change
Global map of conflict risk
Global map of development finance
Global map of digital inclusion
Global map of displacement
Global map of environment
Global map of HIV/AIDS
Global map of human rights
Global map of malaria
Global map of microfinance
Global map of disasters and relief
Global map of political risk
Global map of poverty and wellbeing
Global map of regulation
Global map of tuberculosis
Global map of water

I am thankful to worldchanging blog for their entry about these helpful resources.

What I Want for Christmas

2005-12-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

Photo: Wolf Moon by notraces

Here is a list of what I would like for Christmas:

Pajamas for a little child, food to feed the poor.
Blankets for a shelter, and we ask but little more

Perform good deeds and let us know,
Or volunteer your time.
These last are worth a fortune,
And they needn't cost a dime.

We have too many things now, vases, candles, tapes and clocks.
We have our fill of garments, ties, underwear and socks.
Candy is to fattening, crossword books we've more than 20.
We don't need trays or plates or cups,
And kicknkacks we have plenty.

We've no walls to hang more pictures;
We have books we've not yet read;
So please take what you'd spend on us
And help the poor instead!

Just send a Christmas card to tell me what you've done;
I'll open them on Christmas Eve, and read them one by one.
It won't cost as much for postage as a package sent would do,
You'll need no wrapping paper, ribbons, ink or glue.
And we'll thank God you listened to what we had to say,
So we could be the instruments to help someone in this way.

(A response from Dear Abby about Christmas Gifts - One that would be true for me as well.)

Our Mission - Part III

2005-12-13T22:10:00.000-08:00

So the first statement of our mission is: Moved by Ancient Wisdom

The second statement of our mission is: Engaging a New Renaissance

The Renaissance movement birthed a whole new era of thinking, knowing and perceiving. In many ways a fresh wave of creativity and invention was birthed. From Artists like Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, who was also an inventor. To Scientist and other inventors like Galileo, Copernicus and Gutenburg.

In that same way, we have entered a new era in which our understanding is expanding in how we gain knowledge and see reality. We are called to understand our times and engage with the world in which we find ourselves in with great wisdom.

Jesus once said that you cannot pour new wine into old wineskins, because the new wine would not be able to be contained in the old wineskins. New times require new approaches. The good news is that the message of God is such that it can never be contained within a particular people or a specific time, but it is cosmic in nature, meant for all people in all times. We are to learn from the past, engage in the present, and prepare for the future. Our context, the Scripture, the Spirit and the community of God help us to determine the best way in which we live out the story of God faithfully and effectively.

Portal to Links

2005-12-13T00:30:00.000-08:00

Photo by kittycat

Post-Abortion Trauma Seen as Worse than Miscarriages
The lingering distress, sadness and guilt brought on by an induced abortion is worse than that of a miscarriage and decreases much more slowly as times goes on, according to a five-year study of Norwegian women published yesterday.

Narnia Tops US and UK Box Offices
It was number one in 11 more countries as well, grossing 109.1 million in first weekend.

Best Cities for Singles
Forbes has come out with its annual list of best cities for singles. Austin tops the list again, with LA coming in at #7 and NYC at #8. LA has the 3rd largest number of singles, but the cost of living hurt them in the rankings. It's the fourth most expensive city to live in the US.

Leaving Jesus Behind
Jordan Cooper links to Miroslav Volf's article in Christian Century where he points out that both the religous right and left abandon the gospel in advocacy of their politics.

China Becomes Worlds Largest IT Exporter
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reported on Monday that China has become the world's largest exporter of information and communication technology goods.

World Needs 34 Billion to Immunize Poor Children
The expenditure would considerably bring down the number of deaths among children for which vaccines are available.

TV Writers Must Sell, Sell, Sell
Hollywood is trying to get the ad-skipping TiVo viewers by making writers work product references into scripts. The scribes holler "script invasion" and want more pay if they have to do it. So what's new with prostitution these days?

Sudan: Darfur Children
UNICEF is supporting 46 'child-friendly spaces' in five refugee camps in eastern Chad, where familes have fled the fighting in the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan.

Wal-Mart - The High Cost of Low Price DVD nears 100,000 sales
Peaking at No. 5 on Nielsoen VideoScan's documentary sales chart, in its first months in release. I've been wanting to see this documentary.

Africa Needs Trade Not Aid
African Unchained writes Africa needs trade not aid... "The best thing that America and Europe can do for Africa is not to give it handouts but to reduce trade barriers and buy the products that Africa is capable of producing competitivly.

Awaken Conference in Amsterdam and Zolder 50

2005-12-12T00:07:00.000-08:00

I saw The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe last Friday and will I be blogging about it sometime this week, with some photos I took of some of the props and costumes used in the movie. I still have to download my photos.

But at this moment, I am finishing up my preparation for the Awaken Conference that is taking place in Amsterdam just after Christmas from 28.12.05 - 01.01.06. I'm really looking forward to see old friends, meeting new ones and sharing some of the things that God has been putting on my heart.

Because the conference has people coming from different parts of Europe, the messages will be translated into seven different languages. So I need to send my transripts in ASAP so that the translators have a little time to prepare. That is what I finishing up right now.

One of the communities of faith that are hosting the conference is Zolder 50. I have had the privilege of visiting this community on a few occasions and each visit has encouraged me greatly. Zolder 50, headed by Todd Watkins and Eric Asp, is an amazing story of God's grace and love. The love and sacrifice of the people at Zolder 50 continues to both challenge and inspire me to live more fully for Jesus.

If you are ever in Amsterdam, you should check them out. You will not be disappointed. I am aware of a number of people from Zolder 50 that blog in addition to Eric and Todd. There is Eva who is a great artist and singer. There is Michael who has a cool photo blog. There is Bret who is an all around good guy who has given me some tips in photography. Then there is Jonas who hasn't really blogged since getting engaged with Stephanie. Life kinda of changes after engagement huh? And I'm sure there are others that I don't know about. But if you get the chance, and you happen to be in Amsterdam, you will want to check out Zolder 50. You will be glad you did.

Emerging Churches

2005-12-10T01:44:00.000-08:00

I've been reading Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger's book "Emerging Churches." It's a great read. After 5 years of research primarily in the U.S. and U.K. they identified nine practices that are common with emerging churches, though not all nine are common to each emerging church. Each emerging church, however, does possess three core practices. The other six practices according to Gibbs and Bolger "are derivative of these three core practices."

The three core practices are:

1. Identifying with the life of Jesus - they say, "modern readings of Jeus are prone to dismiss his life and focus on his death and resurrection," while emerging churches focus on "the way of Jesus - his life and his engagement with culture, as embodied in community and given verbal expression in the Sermon on the Mount." They say that N.T. Wright, John Yoder, David Bosch, Dallas Willard and Lesslie Newbigin are some of the scholars that the movement relies on.

Right on, I love them all! They have all contributed greatly to my understanding and their works are something we should all be familar with.

2. Transforming secular space - emerging churches also "pursue the kingdom in all spheres of reality, overcoming the secular/sacred divisions."

I definitely jive with this, after all, God came to redeem not just human beings, (as great as that is,) but the entire world. For God created all things "good". The problem is not creation. The problem is sin. Therefore the solution is not "going into a bodilessness existence in heaven" but rather bringing heaven to earth. No wonder we are told in Revelation 20 that God will make "all things new", not make all new things. Paul says, "all of creation groans to be released from the curse." And sure enough, someday the redemption of the world will be realized, and all will be as it was supposed to be.

3. Living as community - emerging churches "do not function as affinity groups but more like extended families. In Christendom, the Sunday meeting was the center of corporate spiritual expression for the community. In post-Christendom context, a church-meeting focus ceases to be indigenious to the culture or necessary to be faithful to the gospel. Instead, the practice of community formation itself is more central than the church meeting."

So true.

Summing it up, they say, "An emerging church community seeks the kingdom in all realms as it serves as a way of life for its people."

The other six practices of the emerging church cited by Gibbs and Bolger that flow from these core three are:

4. Welcoming the Stranger
5. Serving with Generosity
6. Participating as Producers
7. Creating as Created Beings
8. Leading as Body
9. Merging Ancient and Contemporary Spiritualities

With the way that Gibbs and Bolger define the emerging church, I would glady identify with the emerging church, though I personally don't like labels, especially when they are as undefined, complex and new (when it comes to the history of the church) as "the emerging church." For at this time so many people are defining what is called the "emerging church". But when you put core concepts, core theologians and other practices that flow from them together like Gibbs and Bolger did, I think I identify more with that, and have more confidence to say that these things do in fact express the heart of kairos los angeles, and many of the things we are about here in Hollywood, Westwood and Downtown.

Totally LA

2005-12-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

Artwork by Adam Pointer

Top Ten New Restaurants in LA
City Search has compiled the top 10 new resaurants for 2005

"Narnia" set for lion's share of box office
Narnia is predicted to do well, the only clouds on the horizon are the snowstorms forecast throughout the Northeast, which could hurt ticket sells write the hollywood reporter

Nominees for the 48th Annual Grammy Awards
The LA Times Envelope chats about the Grammy Awards and gives a complete list of the nominees for the award ceremony that will be taking place downtown at the Staples Center on Wednesday, February 8th

Paper Bags Los Angeles
NY Mag sets up shop this week at Melrose and La Brea

The Housing Crunch
Average Home Price in LA County Sept. 2005 was $494,000

Cash, Kong and Capote May Join Oscar List
A little talk of what movies may get nominated

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Calls for Denser LA
A look at his first "State of the Valley" address by the Daily News

Phishing for Money

2005-12-08T02:20:00.000-08:00

When I was reading Reuters lastest article on Phishing scams, I took it to heart, because within the last two weeks I have been a target two times. According to the article, roughly one in four U.S. Internet users are targets of phishing attacks - phony e-mails seeking personal financial data - according to a study conducted by Time Warner Inc.'s Internet unit AOL and National Cyber Security Alliance.

This first time was just a couple of weeks ago. I got an e-mail that looked like it came from Amazon, where I happen to shop quite often. The e-mail that was supposedly representing Amazon (very well I might add) said that as they were doing their routine investigation they discovered something wrong with my credit card. So I logged on. They did well at mirroring Amazon's site, actually some buttons went directly there. I was putting in all the info until it came to the part when they asked me for my pin number.

So, I thought to myself, "I have never given my pin number on-line before, why would they be asking for that." It was then then I looked up at the site address and noticed it was from a university in Tiawan. I knew then that someone was phishing.

I've learned that if any e-mail asks for personal information regarding my credit cards, I will never answer the question through the e-mail. I will just go directly to the given website. This way I can easily avoid many of the people who are phishing for my cards.

"Narnia" Big Screen Debut Pleases Critics

2005-12-07T22:39:00.000-08:00

Reuters News Service (Los Angeles) writes: "It took C.S. Lewis five years to write 'Chronicles of Narnia,' one of the best-loved children's series of all time, and a half-century for his hiers to get it to the big screen but positively early reviews indicate the old fashion yarn made the journey safely."

Some of the early reviews that you can find on Rotten Tomatoes are:

"Magical and marvelous... cross between the story of Jesus and The Lord of the Rings." Steve Rhodes, Internet Reviews

"After his splash with the hit animation Shrek, Adamson makes an ambitious leap with his big-screen adaption of Lewis' beloved book, a special-effects fare that suceeds in keeping its intimate family tale." Emanuel Levy, Emanuellevy.com

"A visually impressive adaption of C.S. Lewis's classic tale, wich unfortunately slights the forgivness theme in favor of a big battle scene led by a not-very-Christlike Aslan the lion." Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Health

"The Movie remains faithful to the book in both tone and imagery." Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times

Well, it looks like someone purchased a ticket for me to watch it this coming Friday at 4:40 p.m. at the famous El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Blvd about a mile down the road from me. The El Capitan Theatre debuted on May 3, 1926, as "Hollywood's First Home of Spoken Drama." That evening, limousines pulled up before the theatre's elaborate cast-concrete Spanish Colonial exterior and deposited Hollywood royalty. It is a pretty impressive theater, right across from the Kodak Theater, where the Oscars are held now.

Our Mission - Part II

2005-12-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

So now I am going to get into the first line of our mission:

Moved by Ancient Wisdom
The point here being that we did not invent our mission, it is not a new one, rather we received it just like those who have gone before us. We have been moved by God through His word and motivated by His Spirit as we learn from the life stories of those who have taken the journey before us.

Some of the stories that have shaped us are the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Joshua, Debrorah and Gideon, Samuel and David, Isaiah and Esther, Peter and James, Priscilla and Aquilla, Paul and John, as well as those who have been shaped by their stories - people like St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, St. Francis, Theresa of Avila, John Hus, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Corie Tin Boom, Mother Theresa, N.T. Wright and many unsung heros.

Jesus of course is the climax of the story and the head of our mission today. The scriptures, the Holy Spirit and the Church to which Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom, all have a part in helping us to keep faithful to the mission.

Web Portal

2005-12-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

Photo by kittycat

A Doorway into the
World Wide Web:

The Jaded-Driven Church
Unfortunately it will probably be crowded with people. Move over seeker sensitive and purpose driven churches.

Love hurts? So does a wounded marriage
More evidence that an unhappy marriage is bad for your health.

Study: Coffee reduces liver risk
I'm always glad to hear of the health benefits of drinking coffee.

The Billionare Behind the Naria Film
The LA Times does an interesting article about multi-billionaire Philip Anschutz who financed half of the upcoming Narnia movie.

Moderate Drinkers show lower obesity risk
A little wine for your stomach Timothy?

Seven Types of Highly Effective Bloggers
The Seven-fold path to get to blogger heaven.

"Podcast" is named word of the year
says The New Oxford Dictionary.

Mayor to Put Finishing Touch on Hollywood Sign
Another quick Hollywood make-over.

The Networked Life of a 21-Year-Old
Super Plugged in Paula Lehman provides some lessons for an older colleague about navigating in the always-connected world.

Addicted to the Web? - Help is on the way!
Specialist estimate that 6 percent to 10 percent of the approximately 189 million Internet users in this country have Internet addictions.

Porn for Scriptures and the Great Commandment

2005-12-05T00:18:00.000-08:00

Boing Boing clued me into an article that talks about how an Atheist Group at University of Texas San Antonio staged a "Porn for Scriptures" event. They had a table for people to exchange their religious scripture for porn.

According to an article by the Athiest Agenda at UTSA, they are "a social gathering for like-minded students who feel very strong about religion and our society." They say, "Our campus is full of religious groups, but there weren't any free-thought or Atheist groups. We felt there should be a group to counter all religious groups. During our meetings we discuss relevant topics concerning the existence of god and teaching others about various religions and how to defend the idea of Atheism better."

The site goes on to say, "This project was partly to have fun on campus before finals, but also proclaim that we find religious text to be smut. To set pornography and religious texts as equal forms of smut."

So what would your response be if you were walking past this table? Would you walk by getting angry at the people behind the table? Would you tell them off? Would you simply call them fools?

News 4 in San Antonio reported that some religious leaders were "angry." Pastor Hawkins is reported to have stated in an interview, "In my opinion, there are no athiest. There are fools. So that would be foolish propaganda."

Ryan Walker, a student who is a apart of the Athiest Agenda group stated, "We consider the Bible to be a very negative force in the history of the world."

What would be the best way to respond to such an event?
Who knows, but for me when I just look at the faces behind the table my heart is sad, not mad. I'm sad that they have come to see the Bible as a negative force in the world. The first thing that I would want to do would be to listen to them. I would want to ask them, "In what ways do you think the Bible has been a negative force in the history of the world?" My first response would be to listen to them and to learn how they have come to such conclusions, and to find out how deep they really felt that was true. I would want to really get to know them as people. I would do my best to put myself in their shoes to find out what events or ideas have shaped their current perceptions.

My guess is that there would be a number of things that I may very well agree with them on. Because if we are honest with Christian history, it hasn't always been very pretty. As a friend of mine said the other day, the church is both messy and a mystery. My guess is that they would probably talk about the crusades, the lack of respect of creation, the hate toward gay people, etc...

So I would probably find out what I agreed with them about and share my same concern. Why would this be my first response? Because Paul calls us to "become all things to all people in order to win them to Christ." To the atheists we are called to be an athiest, so that they might better see Christ.

In my personal experience, most people I meet don't reject the Christ (or God) that is actually presented in the scripture, but rather a wrong charaterization of Christ, often propounded by Christians themselves. After taking a long time to listen and really understand, then depending on the sense of the Spirit and their desire to dialogue, I might talk about the difference between the true Christ and a wrong characterization of Christ, by talking about Athiest and the often wrong characterizations that people have of them.

I think that if Christ was willing to lay his life down for athiests then I could at least do my best to love them and help them felt heard. For in my experience people aren't moved to understanding by our anger or arguments but by our love and respect. Responding in love may provoke them to ask "Why aren't you angry like the other religious people?" And if they wanted to know, I would share with them why. I think our basic job description is to love people until they ask us why. Isn't that what the great commandment all about?

Our Mission - Part I

2005-12-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Often people ask me what our mission is at kairos los angeles. We developed three sentences to describe our mission. So over the next week I thought I would share those three statements with you and then describe one of them each entry.

But first, I will first share the three part mission statement, an overview of the three and then in later entries give the statement again and an explanation of each statement.

OUR MISSION

Moved by Ancient Wisdom

Engaging a New Renaissance

Working toward a Coming Shalom

Each one of these statements describe a different element of our mission. The first statement represents the past, our mission comes to us from the ancient wisdom of the scripture, from which we hear the voice of God. Our second statement moves into the present. We recognize that we are called to contextualize the good news. While the third statement looks to the future. The coming Shalom. Next week I plan to talk about each statement in a different blog entry. Until then thinks about how God is at work in and through your life.

A New Chapter

2005-12-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

Just like this picture displays simple beauty, I am hoping that this next year is a bit more simple for me. I have felt like I have had two full-time jobs this past year. One helping our national organzation through tough transitions and the other as a church planter in the city of LA. One of those roles would be enough for most people, let alone both.

This next year I am looking forward to having a greater focus in LA. Though I will be helping in a more limited capacity serve churches in various places around the world, I am expecting that by February of this next year that my travels will be much lighter.

So as I look at this next year my heart comes alive to the possibilities of what God has. I love living in LA, it's diveristy, complexity and the opportunities for the good news to spread. I love the church that I am pastoring and deeply appreciate the commitment that our congregation has to bless the neighborhoods in which we live, as well as their willingness to allow me to serve the greater whole for a season.

After a very emotional exhausting year, I look forward to a simple focus. No doubt their will be challenges this coming year, but they are the kind of challenges in which I love to give myself. I'm looking forward to this new chapter in my life!

Living in LA

2005-11-30T00:26:00.000-08:00

So what's new in the city of LA these days? Too much to recap. But I thought I would share just a couple of recent news items.

There will be new buses serving Hollywood clubs, restaurants as well as the Metro Red Line. According to NBC 4, Starting next month there will be new transportation options taking people from restaurants and nightclubs to the Metro Red Line stations at Hollywood and Highland as well as Hollywood and Vine. The bus service begins Dec. 22nd and will operate Thursdays through Saturdays from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Fare will be $1 per ride.

NBC announced Tuesday that it had picked up The Apprentice for a sixth season, but this next season will take place in Los Angeles, as opposed to Manhattan. It looks like Trump wants a change of scenery, some sun and palm trees, as well as the fact that he is doing some business out west.

According to KTLA an independent peer review panel said it would be safe to tunnel under Wilshire Blvd because of new technology. Apparently that was one of the big reasons why the Red Line was never finished. In the original plans the Red Line was to go all the way to the Santa Monica Pier, but currently it ends at Western. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants the Red Line to extend to the sea and this is currently in the MTA 10 year plans. According to KTLA it would happen in three stages. Stage 1: Western to Fairfax. Stage 2: Fairfax to Westwood. Stage 3: Westwood to Santa Monica Pier. I've read other places that this proposal has many challenges, like money for one. But I really hope it happens.

Walk the Line

2005-11-29T13:06:00.000-08:00

If you enjoyed the movie Ray, then you will probably like the bio about Johnny Cash - Walk the Line. I just saw it last week. The acting was great. It was your typical life of a musician. One of my favorite parts of the movie was when Johnny had come back to his childhood faith in Christ and was letting his record producers know, whether they like it or not, he was going to record his next albumn at Folsom Prison. But the record execs in their attempt to stop him said:

Record Exec: Johnny, your fans are Christians. They're good people. They don't want to hear you singing songs to murderers and rapists, trying to make them feel better.

Johnny Cash: Then they're not Christians.

Making Christmas Cards

2005-11-29T11:28:00.000-08:00

While some of you have already bought Christmas Cards, some of you probably haven't. Dave Walker at cartoon church gives you a million ideas when it comes to making Christmas Cards if you want to put a personal touch on things, which always makes your card stand out a bit. He gives 10 ideas for materials, 10 for tools to use, 10 for subjects, 10 for colors, 10 for sizes and shapes and 10 for messages. "Making a total of one million combinations in all." So check it out.

Which Theologian Are You?

2005-11-29T01:22:00.000-08:00

So i took this test a couple of times and Jurgen Moltmann always came out on top. So let me know which theologian you are most like.

You scored as Jurgen Moltmann. The problem of evil is central
to your thought, and only a crucified God can show that
God is not indifferent to human suffering. Christian
discipleship means identifying with suffering but also
anticipating the new creation of all things that God will bring about.

Jurgen Moltmann

80%

John Calvin

73%

Karl Barth

67%

Friedrich Schleiermacher

67%

Anselm

60%

Augustine

53%

Martin Luther

47%

Jonathan Edwards

47%

Charles Finney

40%

Paul Tillich

27%

Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Buy Nothing Christmas

2005-11-28T00:28:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you ever get tired of living in a consumer's culture. But if you are, then you would probably really appreciate this new site started by Aiden Enns entitled buy nothing christmas. I had heard of buy nothing day which encourages people not to shop on the day after thanksgiving. And while I admire anything these days that helps make a move against the consumeristic current that we live in, when I thought about the buy nothing day I would usually think, "What difference does it really make to delay my shopping for a day, except for the fact that I didn't shop on the busiest day of the year, which I have never have done anyway."

So it was pretty cool coming across this other site, that is simply trying to create a helpful alternative for people, especially those who go into 6-months debt to have a "happy" Christmas. What I liked about the site was that they were thinking about how to keep the Spirit of Christmas - giving, generosity and love, without caving into commercialism. For instance, you can download a free information kit, where you can find 59 alternative ways (and growing) to celebrate Christmas with little or no purchasing of new stuff. One idea was that students at Trinity Western University (Langley, BC, Canada) set up a free store, bringing things they didn't need and trading with each other.

An idea that I had in mind for this Christmas that was most likely mentioned somewhere on the site, was to give gifts in people's name to help relieve poverty. I'm really hoping that in the next week or two, barring any technical or other difficulties, Genesis, a guy in our congregation and I will have the website up for The Solis Foundation. It is a non-profit with 5013c status where we will be giving micro-loans for people in developing countries, helping orphanages, and in due time bringing medical supplies and a new kind of housing to developing countries. When we get the site up I will definitely let you know. This first year our focus will most likely be Kenya and the Philippines.

The article that the Vancover Sun did on this group was pretty enlightening and entertaining. Enlightening to learn that polls indicate that one in three North American's throw some Christmas gifts into the garbage, and that Ipsos-Reid reports that the average spending per Canadian adult for gifts is $724.00. Entertaining, because Aiden Enns and a group of "cheery carollers strolled through a suburban shopping mall this month belting out anti-consumer Christmas carols. To the tune of 'Rudoph the Red-Nose Reindeer," they sang:

Uh oh we're in the red, dear
On our credit card it shows
Christmas is almost over
But the debit line still grows
Shopping like Santa's zombies
Sent our budget down in flames
But all our Christmas spirit
Helped the giant retail chains

Apparently after a few carols, the malls security guards asked them to leave what was private property.

Lately I have been doing my best to live a life characterized by what I call simply beauty. Living more simply while still appreciating beauty and excellence of craft. I have felt God leading me in this idea, especially in light of my studies in the book of Mark and my growing awareness of the problem of extreme poverty in our world. I have to say that I struggle with this tooth and nail, because I have acquired a taste for fine things. But as another step in my fight of faith, I will be trying some alternative ways to celebrate Christmas this year. It will be cool get the creative juices flowing.

Links to Look At

2005-11-25T00:27:00.000-08:00

So I think about once a week, I will be posting something about links to look at, because there are many interesting links that I come across these days.

Entrepreneurship Education Helps Low-Income Kids A multi-year Harvard study indicates that learning entrepreneurial skills may keep low-income students in school and on track for college.

Amazon's Customer Collaboration Amazon has launched ProductWiki, a route for "customer editable product information" to appear alongside most if not all of the items they sell.

Free Trade or Fair Trade? Global Voices Online talks about trade issues.

Anti-Consumers Dig Through Trash for Food Calling themselves "freegans," a group of people who ideologically reject consumer waste eat only food that's been discarded. Check out this article on a group of friends in NY who live as "freegans."

POLL: 95% of readers "Google it" An article on how goggle clearly dominates the search engine market.

The Displaced: Which Way is home? Time journalist have tracked the highs and lows of five groups of survivors of Hurricane Katrina - some since the week after the storm. This is their report.

College basketball team loses 118-6 There is no missing zero, that was really the score.

Does Turkey Make You Sleepy or Thankful?

2005-11-24T00:02:00.000-08:00

I wonder how many of us take naps on Thanksgiving. Why do we take naps? Is it the food or is it just the fact that we keep a crazy schedule and during Thanksgiving we are expected to rest up a bit?

What are you going to be eating today? Do you prefer ham or turkey? I definitely prefer turkey. So, have you ever heard that turkey makes you sleepy, or better yet have you ever told people this? Well, according to a story by National Geographic they say, "Contrary to popular belief, turkey's tryptophan does doesn't cause drowsiness. In fact, the substance could possibly aid in the treatment of depression and multiple sclerosis." Check out the article and enjoy a good turkey today.

And when you eat, please remember to thank God. Make a list of 30 things that you are thankful for. One for each day of the month. After making your list, you might be surprised encouragement rises up within you. As Paul says in Col. 3:15 "And be Thankful."

"In a culture caught in an insatiable craving for more, a culture of perpetual dissatisfaction because there is never enough, the community renewed in the image of the Creator is characterized by 'radical gratitude.' 'We are held captive by dissatisfaction,' writes Mary Jo Leddy. As a consequence, 'ingratitude is ingrained within every social class within the culture of money. It is how sin takes shape within us, conditions us, and holds us captive.' Therefore 'the longer we live ungrratefully, the more we strenthen the claims of a culture that takes everything and everyone for granted.' Deep experiences and expressions of thanksgiving - for creation, for the gifts of our lives, for the redemption and peace of Christ - break through this culture of ingratitude and loosen its claim on our lives. It is no wonder that Paul makes the call to gratitude three times in three verses [in Colossians 3]." Colossians Remixed by Keesmaat and Walsh as quoted by tabletalk.

We can also be thankful that the bird flu has not gone from human to human yet. It is also good to keep up on the latest in regard to the bird flu, so check out the article in National Geographic entitled: Bird Flu Basics - What it is and How it Could Explode.

Interview with an Honest Boss

2005-11-23T00:26:00.000-08:00

My friend Dustin James sent me the address of this hilarious hallmark card entitled "Interview with an Honest Boss."

The boss tells us what he really thinks about four important topics. He let's us know what overtime really means, he talks about his open door policy, how if the door is open then... He discusses what he thinks about promotions and sick days. If you want a good laugh then, check it out.

most dangerous and safest cities - survey says...

2005-11-22T01:01:00.000-08:00

The Morgan Quitno Press, an independent private research and publishing company located in Lawrence, Kansas has come out with their 12th Annual America's Safest (and Most Dangerous) Cities. The methodology for determining the safest and most dangerous cities involves a multi-step process. While the process involves much more than this, to give you a simple but incomplete summary they take data from the latest FBI stats in six crime categories - murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft - then each city was plugged into a formula that measured how a particular city compared to the national average for each crime category per 100,000. There were a few more steps which finally lets us know the safest and most dangerous cities in the U.S. Drum roll for the top 15 in each category:

It seems like Richmond, VA always makes this list. It is more dangerous to live in Richmond, VA than Compton, CA - what is up with that? And St. Louis is more dangerous than any city in California, so if you are moving from St. Louis to LA you have some good news to share with concerned parents.

Interesting to note: In cities of populations 500,000 or more, the top ten most dangerous cities are in order:

Detroit, MI
Baltimore, MD
Washington, DC
Memphis, TN
Dallas, TX
Philadelphia, PA
Columbus, OH
Nashville, TN
Houston, TX
Charlotte, NC

What is up with Columbus coming in at #7 while New York, NY in the big city category ranks at the 4th safest city? San Jose, CA comes in as THE SAFEST CITY over 500,000 while San Diego, CA is the 6th safest in big city category. There is not one city over 500,000 in California that made the top ten dangerous city list.

Other notes of interest, in the categories of safestest cities from 100,000 to 499,999, five Southern California cities make the list included Thousand Oaks at #2, Irvine at #4, Sunnyvale at #5, Semi Valley at #6 and Glendale at #9!

When it comes to cities of 75,000 to 99,999 Compton, CA ranks the 3rd most dangerous, while Mission Viejo, CA ranks the 3rd safest. You'll have to check it all out yourself.

As far as metro areas, Los Angeles County came in as the 25th most dangerous metro area, behind many other cities that were more dangerous: Miami #5, Las Vegas #7, Myrtle Beach #10, Little Rock #14, Albuquerque #17, Charlotte #19, Houston #22, Phoenix #23 and Tallahassee #24. Now I know why there is so much traffic in LA and why houses cost so much.

Now while it is interesting to look at all of these rankings, there are of course many things that this study does not tell us. For example, in a city the size of Los Angeles there are neighborhoods where you are likely to find flying bullets and neighborhoods that are very safe. So the overall balance doesn't really tell us much about the neighborhood that we live in, but the study is interesting none-the-less.

Virtual Los Angeles

2005-11-21T00:12:00.000-08:00

I recently ran across a really cool site about Los Angeles. It is incredible. It has some really cool computer generated pictures and trips through LA that are a trip - literally! It's crazy what can be done in the age of computers. You can take a trip from Mariachi Plaza to Disney Concert Hall through the First Street Flyover (windows media), which by the way feels pretty much like the real thing, except on this trip you get all green lights and have no traffic. Check out the proposed parking garage (windows media) and redevelopment options for the area north of downtown. You can find all of this stuff on UCLA's Urban Simulation Team website. It is amazing!

You can also find some pictures of Santa Monica, Hollywood, UCLA,LAX,Downtown, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, Pasadena, LA Freeways, and much more.

According to the UCLA Urban Simulation website their focus is "a long-term effort to build real-time virtual reality model of the entire Los Angeles basin for use by Architects, Urban Planners, Emergency Response Teams, and government entities. The team has already finished major sections of the city... and negotiations are currently underway for other areas of the city."

According to the site, "When completed, the entire virtual Los Angeles model will cover an area well in excess of 10,000 square miles and will elegantly scale from satellite images to street level views accurate enought to allow the signs and windows of the shops and the graffiti on the walls to be legible... Where you can fly, drive and/or walk through the virtual LA model simultaneously... the possible uses of this model are endless. The team has been in discussions with the city of Los Angeles about the feasibility of using the model in conjuntion with Global Positional System transponders to accurately locate and remotely manage emergency response vehicles in real-time." All i can say is fascinating!

keeping an eye on interesting links

2005-11-18T13:43:00.000-08:00

here are a few interesting links to check out for this week.

the hollywood sign to get a makeover this year originally constructed in 1923, the hollywood sign as become an american icon and the most famous sign in the world. this year it's getting a makeover. listen to the npr story on this.

the 100 best products of 2005 pc world has come out with it's top 100 list, included in the top five are google, gmail and apple mac os x 10.4 tiger.

amazon offers refund for all sony rootkit cd's if you got the latest switchfoot or other cd that sony produces, check this out.

review of walk the line get a low down on the latest hollywood biographical film.

how much time do you really have? productive strategy talks about the futurist magazine lastest findings about how americans use their time.

mom-to-be calls unborn a passenger a prenant woman ticketed for driving in the carpool lane will have her day in court next month to agrue that her unborn child counts as a second person in the car.

harvard, for less: extension courses' new allure check out this interesting article from the new york times.

100 arrested at walmart construction site federal immigration agents detains more than 100 walmart workers, story by associatred press.

what if?

2005-11-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

i just got back from watching "jarhead" and was moved to deeply think about war again. over the last couple of years i have given some deeper thoughts to war, and have even made a list of books that have influence my thoughts on non-violence. after the movie i just had to think, it was hard to speak.

it is hard for me to conceive that we send people who are so young to such a tragic experience. i can't imagine the amount of pain that people on all sides of war must face, it is too overwhelming. its too sad. its too depressing.

why do we feel that violence can bring about peace, when the prince of peace overcame violence by laying his life down for all? why do we feel that violence can bring about peace, when many of jesus' first followers followed his path and died a martyr's death?

i was at a lecture the other day and a well known christian said, "what if."

what if after 9/11 we decided how we decided to return evil with good? what if as the most powerful nation on earth we decided that we wanted to be a blessing to the world instead of using violence to "supposedly" stop violence. what if bush called all of the religious leaders in the nation to gather, to sit at tables of ten and said, "i am a christian, and in light of being a follower of christ, let's think of a plan that is good for all people, whether they be christians, muslims, jews or atheists."

what if after all of the discussions we said, "though we could use our power to invade afghanistan and iraq, we decided we would like to overcome evil with good, so we are calculating what a war might cost us, doubling that figure and we are going to use this money to bless people all around the world."

what if we did that? what would the world be like today?

as i thought about that basic idea, i thought, we as the people of God really need to start thinking like that.

after watching jarhead and reflecting just a little on my thoughts on war and peace, i have been thinking: what if instead of being self-protective, we became self-giving?

i know this is easy to say at this time, especially when so many are questioning why we went to war in the first place.

but what if we become more prepared to handle the next crises right now, by thinking about potential crises' that we will most likely face as a people, and give some thoughtful consideration on how we could respond in such a way to bless others. what if we prepare ourselves theologically, emotionally, spiritually and economically to shoulder a cross instead of pull out a sword? yes, we might lose some lives, but we might change some lives as well. remember stephen? remember paul watching stephen die? how did stephen's non-violent ways effect paul and how did paul's life effect ours?

jesus gets me thinking about "what if." what if all of this is just naive thinking? what if it isn't?

red carpet seats and the march of the penguins

2005-11-17T00:16:00.000-08:00

Penguins3
Originally uploaded by BrynJ.

according to reuters, the academy's documentary branch screening committee chose 15 documentaries from 82 different docs to move forward for consideration for oscars. on that list includes the phenomenon at the box office "march of the penguins" which has grossed $77 million in just domestic sales.

the movie was amazing. i thought to myself after seeing it, "how many people who have lived on earth have had the opportunity to see how penguins survive such harsh conditions."

other documentaries that have made the first cut were "rize" a film about dance artists in south los angeles who danced youth out of gangs, and "mad hot ballroom" which is the story if nyc school kids on a journey into the world of ballroom dancing.

the list will be narrowed to five when oscar nominations are announced on january 31st. the 78th oscar award ceremony takes place on march 5th.

we will be having our annual oscar party at the fountain room as well as stating our series on "hollywood and the ancient text." it seems to be one of the favorites series that we do at kairos.

if you live in los angeles and want to watch the red carpet arrivals live at the kodak theater, book mark this page to get more information on applying for a lottery for 300 bench seats for 2007, for 2006 lottery is already over. then remember to check your book mark in september of 2006.

are you an inventor?

2005-11-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

so move over "american idol" and "so you think you can dance." abc is making room for inventors in a primetime show entitled "american inventor." simon cowell is among the new shows executive producers. auditions are being held around the country. sorry, but i was a little late in getting this out for those who live in la. i guess you will need to go to san fran or denver. click here to learn more. here is a list of the cities holding auditions.

los angeles, nov. 14th
san francisco, nov. 17th
denver, dec. 1st
chicago, dec. 4th
new york, dec. 7th
washington dc, dec. 11th
atlanta, dec. 14th

the winner gets: one million dollars.

buying cd's by sony lately?

2005-11-16T23:20:00.000-08:00

a friend bought me the latest switchfoot cd, but because of what sony had embedded in the cd, i was really glad that i had not yet put in on my computer, for if i did my computer would be much more vunerable to viruses. to get the latest news about sony cd's, check out boingboing.

peter drucker: november 19, 1909 - november 11, 2005

2005-11-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

nova spivack, the grandson of peter drucker posted this to his blog, Minding the Planet:

"He lived a legendary life... He was a guru. He was a great man, a Renaissance Man - the kind that comes along only once in a century. He will be missed."

if you want to learn more about peter drucker and what people are saying about his life, his leadership wisdom and his death, then check out managment speak with kris morrison.

what kind of candy are you?

2005-11-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

Snickers

Nutty and gooey - you always satisfy.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

people have been very kind to me today on my birthday. i'm not the greatest when it comes to remembering birthdays and i have been amazed how many people have remembered my birthday, sent me cards, gave me gifts, cooked me cakes or food, or tried to get a hold of me to share something nice.

at our staff meeting today, they threw me a little party and they each shared with me one word that described me. some of the words were: faithful, faith-filled, free, unbridled, crazy, wild, inspirational, a learner, energetic, a goober (didn't know how to take that one, but they defined it as: childlike, playful,rambunctious, excitable) and an activist. if you had to describe me in a word, what word would you choose?

i am so grateful for the friends that God has given me on this earth. i thought i would do this silly test to see what kind of candy i would be and this is what i found out. so if you were a piece of candy, what would you be?

how missional are you?

2005-11-15T01:01:00.000-08:00

i found this chart on brother maynard's blog - subversive influence. it is a helpful diagram by len illustrating brian mclaren's seven layers of emergent that was posted by out of ur, a blog hosted by the editors of leadership journal. you have to read the article to really get a sense of what the chart is talking about. i think the question that the brian is asking is: how engaged is your congregation or house church in transforming the world? or to what degree is your congregation bringing more of heaven to earth?

these missional questions are important. they remind me of a question that graham tomlin of oxford posed at a lecture. a question that has never really left my head or heart: if God's reign were fully realized in my neighborhood, what would be different? that question should guide the mission of the church. of course the church must do what she needs to do to stay healthy herself, but she moves toward health and wholeness for the sake of the world.

we are blessed so that we might be a blessing to the world. i'm pretty sure that is the promise that abraham was given, as well as all who are of his seed.

rain, word, travel = joy

2005-11-14T01:01:00.000-08:00

RAIN
isaiah 55 is an amazing chapter. near the end of this chapter isaiah says, "The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it."

WORD
as one privileged to be able to communicate the word of God to people, i am always amazed about the different ways that God's word works. today after sharing at kairos here in la, a man who is about 50, who is well to do, shared with me a story of how God spoke to him to help this homeless man on the corner, because he had been thinking about a message i shared previously about jesus' desire for social justice and his care for the down and out.

TRAVEL
later someone said, "jr, i have someone you need to meet. they are from germany. they heard one of your talks on a cassette and listened to it about 15 times and was eager to meet you." i discovered that a talk that i gave in amsterdam earlier this year on the kingdom of God, made its way to germany and then this person made their way to los angeles. they are looking for a job here with the possibility of staying.

=
so just like the rain hits the ground and causes changes in the scenery and produces life giving food, so the word of God as it is shared, is like a seed that sinks into a 50 year old man and produces the fruit of kind deeds to a homeless man on the street. and the word as it is preached in amsterdam is sent to germany and the young listener of the word is sent back to los angeles to share his encouragement with the preacher of the word, and fellowship between new friends occurs.

JOY
isaiah continues with, "You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up. This miracle will bring great honor to the LORD's name; it will be an everlasting sign of his power and love."

emerging leaders gathering

2005-11-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

orlando mornings
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

life has been absolutely crazy this week, which is why i have been unable to do any blogging what-so-ever. i am down in orlando at our annual emerging leaders gathering in orlando florida with gcm. since i am in orlando, i thought i would put up a picture i took one morning at a previous visit.

after taking the red eye sunday evening and not getting much sleep, i ended up having flu symptoms. because this week was so packed with meetings and preparation, i have continued to lack sleep this week. i was scheduled to talk on wednesday and before speaking because of my lack of sleep over numerous days, flu symptoms and feeling emotionally overloaded, i really didn't think i could share. somehow i felt the Spirit of God at the very last moment just helped me to push through and at least get to first base, which was my prayer.

last night while i was meeting with joe dunn and noel heikkinen as we met to talk about a conference that we will be sharing at in europe this december. zolder 50 in amsterdam will be hosting the event. and people from a number of countries from europe will be attending. the conference will be translated into six different languages, which is why my talks have to be finished by early december.

anyway, noel was telling me that he was blogging quick outline here at our emerging leaders gathering. john hevers talked on God in our story and i shared a talk on the equipping church. other talks have been more discussion oriented so far.

last night i finally was able to get some sleep, and i'm feeling a bit better this morning.

bird flu could kill 180,000 californians

2005-11-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

nbc4 tv starts off their story like this: "As many as 180,000 Californians could die -- and millions more hospitalized -- if bird flu becomes contagious among humans and reaches California, health officials warned Friday."

"'There's no reason to believe it's not going to reach North America,' said Dr. Scott Layne during a hearing on California's preparations for a possible pandemic."

it kind of crazy stuff huh? the article talks about how alaska will likely be the first place in north america hit by bird flu brought by migrating birds, and if that happens, it will only be a matter of weeks before the disease spreads to california. during a hearing at UCLA dr. lane stated "that the flu has a high probability in getting into the animals in the state of california," but it is unknown whether or not its going to turn into a "human pathogen."

the article also says many other interesting things. definetly something to keep an eye on.

keeping an eye on interesting links

2005-11-04T00:23:00.000-08:00

here are a few random links of interest for you to check out.

video ipod currently the only network that offers shows through itunes is abc, but cbs digital president larry kramer said this week that he has had talks with apple about selling cbs television shows on the itunes music store

wikipedia notes some interesting facts about wikipedia from a conversation with jimmy wales the main guy behind wikepedia

why paris is burning time magazine gives thoughts on the rage and riots in and around paris

usc prank usc coach peter carroll pulls a halloween prank that stunned many of his players during practice this past monday evening

la mayor praises rosa at detroit service villaraigosa eulogized civil rights icon rosa parks in detroit saying she helped pave his way to become the first hispanic mayor of los angeles

a new weapon for wal-mart: a war room the new york times shares how wal-mart mounts a counteroffensive against its opponents

dealing with spam americans spend 40 minutes a week deleting spam

the summit of the americas according to the chicago tribune, the americans have landed in argentina. they brought warships and radar planes, spies and snipers, and armored cars. they laid in food, water and supplies by the ton - anything that president bush and his team might need over the next few days at the summit.

friday quiz want to test your biblical knowledge? then check out this presbyterian ordination exam

consumer reports consumer reports comes out with the most reliable cars of 2006

google library open for business google has posted the first large batch of public domain books and documents to be indexed in its search engine. learn more about google plans, pending lawsuits

what christian's can learn from bono

2005-11-03T01:07:00.000-08:00

i love what jann wenner wrote in the rolling stone interview with bono, after spending ten hours with him.

"The story of Bono and his band is a story of commitment to one another -- after twenty-nine years, they remain a remarkably stable unit -- and to the greater causes of social justice on which Bono has staked his reputation. Bono gives us a vision of how tomorrow can be better than today. He appeals to something greater than ourselves. He tells the story of his life and struggles in terms everyone can understand. He speaks about faith in a way that even a nonbeliever can embrace. 'The New York Times Magazine' called him 'a one-man state who fills his treasury with the global currency of fame . . . the most politically effective figure in the recent history of popular culture...' Bono is the rare major artist who speaks of his life and work with candor and transparency."

the interview was broken up into three sections: growing up, a musical education, a spiritual life

what is it about bono that causes jann to say "He speaks about faith in a way that even a nonbeliever can embrace?" what can we learn from bono? probably a lot, but let me share just a couple of things.

1. one can exercise their prophetic calling as a musician in the mainstream
2. long term commitment to a team of people
3. honesty, candor and authenticity
4. that God is at the center, we are either running from him (the blues) or running toward him (gospel)
5. that social justice weighs heavier on God's heart than what tends to be important in the christian ghetto

u2 sermons is a cool look into the heart and soul of u2, get off your knees looks like a great read, i'll let you know. my friend rudy carrasco did an interesting interview with beth maynard one of the authors of the book in which eugene peterson wrote the forward.

drug-sniffing wasps may sting crooks

2005-11-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

"Sneaky drug smugglers and terrorists may soon meet their match: a handheld chemical detector powered by trained wasps." this is the headline of a recent article in national geographic. it is an interesting article about the "wasp hound" that lewis and rains, georgia based researchers how to bring to the market in five to ten years.

"The Wasp Hound is a tube made of PVC pipe. At one end is a clear lastic chamber, about two inches (five centimeters) in diameter and an inch (two and a half centimeters) deep, where the wwasps are housed. It's like a cap that you can take on and off... the chamber has vent holes, a fan, and a miniature camera connected to a computer. When the wasps aren't working, they just randomly walk around in their chamger, but when the wasps encounter a smell they have been trained to recognize, the hungry insects congregate near the odor, hoping for food. the mini-cam tracks their movement, sending pictures to the computer, which analyzes the images and triggers an alarm withoin 30 seconds."

they say that wasps can be trained in 30 minutes and bred by the thousands - but who has the heart to let nix the k9 know that he may be out of a job?

fast cities

2005-11-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

Nur raus!
Originally uploaded by Martin S..

fast company just came out with the top ten up-and-coming hubs for creative workers - places that draw people who are talented, tech savvy and tolerant.

in the article they talk about how talented and creative people whom richard florida has called the "creative class" the scientists, engineers, artists, managers and professionals, are moving to these creative hubs because of the benefits of connecting with other talented people.

they say, "The country's epicenters of such talent - San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles - are well known." so what they did research to discover which up-and-coming places that are becoming more like these epicenters of creativity and talent. so here's the top ten as listed in the article

sacramento, california
phoenix, arizona
salt lake city, utah
san antonio, texas
raliegh-durham, north carolina
san diego, california
portland, oregon
madison, wisconsin
tuscon, arizona
colorado springs, colorado

they do a great job a describing some of the cornerstones and caveats of each city. in their talk about global fast cities, they name the international up-and-coming cities competing with the u.s. for the global talent pool as:

dublin, ireland
helsinki, finland
montreal, quebec
sydney, australia
vancouver, bc

my fellow californian's

2005-11-01T01:59:00.000-08:00

good morning la
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

on november 8th we are voting on 8 important initiatives, from proposition 73 which requires, with certain exceptions, a doctor to notify the parent or legal guardian of a pregnant minor at least 48 hours before performing the abortion, to proposition 80 which deals with a number of aspects of the state’s electricity market. of course the airwaves have been focusing on props 74 – 77. if you want to take a look at a quick summary or look at the issues more in-depth, vote circle seems to do an straight forward assessment by giving us the exact text of the propositions.

one of the easiest ways to vote in la is the early voting option where you can vote touch screen. some of the places you can do this are: beverly hills city hall – room G30C, culver city - city hall – 1st floor overflow room, and pasadena jackie robinson center daily 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. early voting takes place between october 26th to november 4th, 2005.

“I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians” -Charles DeGaulle

alito fires up conservatives, takes heat off of bush

2005-11-01T00:20:00.000-08:00

photo by andy nelson christian science monitor

so the battle of the courts begins. i'm sure that samuel alito will be in the headlines for quite a while, taking negative attention off of bush. every major news agency from new york to la seem to be coming out with their early opinions of alito, most saying his has a conservative paper trail.

stop, look, listen

2005-10-31T01:23:00.000-08:00

train movement
Originally uploaded by loungerie.

a while back i was attending a spiritual formation conference. at the conference i learned a valuable exercise from john ackerman that i have taken into my life. it deals with the whole idea of paying attention to what God is doing in my life.

st. ignatius of loyola developed daily spiritual exercises to help people to be in touch with what God was doing in their inner and outer worlds. ackerman took some of the principles and broke it down into three simple things to do for a moment in the morning and evening.

in a real simple format it is about doing three things:

stop - quieting myself, asking for the spirit's guidance (being in a meditative environment could be helpful)

look - take a look at my life over the last day, to see what God is doing in and around me, to find the fingerprint of God

listen - listen to what the spirit is wanting me to hear, what movement or reponse comes to my heart?

write - sometimes it is good to make a short note of what i heard.

"Never to put your finger down to affirm God's presence in this place is to live forever outside his kingdom; to put it down and never move it is to mistake a souvenir for God." john ackerman

so, why don't you take five minutes to stop, look and listen. who knows, God may want to put something on your heart.

living a balanced life

2005-10-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Unleashed myself
Originally uploaded by PølløPätägónicø.

"Everyone wants it. Few achieve it. It's the Holy Grail in the new world of work. But is it even something that any of us can have? We asked 10 business leaders and thinkers to describe their journeys toward balance." fast company

for me my motto has been to divert daily, withdraw weekly, maintain monthly, abandon annuallly. some of my most favorite quotes on sabbath come from eugene peterson.

in working the angles he says, “Sabbath means quit. Stop. Take a break. Cool it. The word itself has nothing devout or holy in it. It is a word about time, denoting our nonuse of it, what we usually call WASTING time.”

he talks about the two biblical versions of the sabbath commandment, how the commands are identical, but the reasons to keep the sabbath differ. in exodus the reason to keep the sabbath is because God kept it. the deuteronomy reason for keeping the sabbath was just to take a day of. (duet. 5:15) while the israelites were in egypt, they went about 400 years without a day off. as a result they simply became hands, work units. not people made in the image of God, but equipment for making bricks and building pyramids. he goes on to say:

“The Biblical idea of the Sabbath is about praying and playing. It not like the Puritans Sabbath that eliminates playing altogether and it’s not like the secular Sabbath that eliminates prayer altogether. The true Sabbath combines prayer and play and makes the day more complete. I have found that it replenishes the soul. God wanted us to see the importance of rest and replenish so much, that He commanded it, though He has not commanded which day.”

one definition he gives for a sabbath is: “Uncluttered time and space to distance ourselves from the frenzy of our own activities so we can see what God has been and is doing. If we do not regularly quit work for one day a week, we take ourselves far too seriously. The moral sweat pouring off our brows blinds us to the primal action of God in and around us.”

emerging solutions and problems

2005-10-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

Worship - 12/09
Originally uploaded by Josa Jr.

eddie gibbs does a fine job in his article at christianity today in highlighting the strengths of d.a. carsons critique of emerging churches and the strengths that brian mcclaren has been bringing to the conversation. great and fair article.

why young pastors are leaving the ministry

2005-10-28T00:40:00.000-07:00

Stuck..
Originally uploaded by Peter de Krom.

young pastors (less than five years in the ministry) are leaving in droves. according to nakedreligion blog the lily foundation has poured millions of dollars into "sustaining pastoral ministry" initiatives and it's too soon to tell if whether or not their approach is working. other than the obvious reasons pastors leave, this article shares the top 10 reasons young pastors leave the ministry.

david going after goliath at church

2005-10-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

"at a gathering sponsored by the retailer, economist will present studies of the giant's economic impact - not all with flattering result." to check the article click here to get business week online.

not only that, but wal-mart's critics are borrowing from mel gibson's promotional playbook. producers of a new documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" will show it at about 1,000 churches, synagogues and religious sites nationwide on nov. 13th in a bid to force changes in wal-mart's employment and other practices. more movies are opening at churches these days.

blurry but visible

2005-10-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

i remember when i was a young kid playing on the merry-go-round and then getting off. i felt very dizzy and in a daze, but in time when my feet hit the ground, i felt stability and everything seemed to go back to what it was like before getting on the merry-go-round.

for the last two years i have felt that i have been on a merry-go-round in relation to some aspects of my life. i don't think that anyone was designed to stay on a merry-go-round for quite that long. for when that happens, it messes with one's equilibrium and slightly with one's vision. in some ways i feel like i just got off of one merry-go-round and my feet have landed on the ground. it feels good, but kind of funny because in some ways it has been so long. i'm looking around and everything is kind of blurry but visible, like looking in a mud puddle.

i think before long i will be able to lift my head, look forward and start to walk toward the future as God brings it to me. after all, i am still a little kid in a big world. sometimes that world can feel big and confusing, often times that world throws me for loops. all i feel that i can do is hold on to my Father's hand and let Him take me where He wants.

sometimes He leads me to great adventure. sometimes he leads me to quiet spaces. i'm happy to go where He leads. i feel like i have some space to focus, to reflect, to rest and to walk. the future is blurry but visible, yet that is enough if i am holding His hand.

rosa parks - a woman of courage

2005-10-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

rosa parks refused to yield a bus seat to a white man in 1955 was a first step in the march to end u.s. segregation. though i'm posting this a bit late, due to being overwhelmed with meetings over the last couple of days, rosa was such a signficant person in the moving forward of social justice, i just wanted to post an article about her life.

entrepreneurs

2005-10-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

photo courtesy of shkullaku

the entrepreneural mind just reported a new global study put out by the global entrepreneurship monitor project. what they found was that "just 9.8% of the world's entrepreneurs expect to create almost 75% of the jobs generated by new business ventures.

two of the key findings that they mentioned were:

1. among country groups studied, more high expectation entrepreneurial activity occurs in north america (usa and canada) and oceania (australia and new zealand) than in any other country group. for these groups, high expectation entrepreneurial activities ranges from 1% to 1.6% of the adult population.

2. among five countries studied individually, high expectation entrepreneurial activity is highest in usa (1.6% of adult population), roughly twice the rate in the uk and germany (.07%)

the nordic way - an economic social model

2005-10-26T05:27:00.000-07:00

picture courtesy of virtual finland

if you want to learn about an economic model where you can go to college and study for seven years without paying a cent for your education, if you want to have a baby without worrying about paying for health care, if you want to take about year off of work at ibm after having a baby and get paid 60% of your normal salary to look after your baby, if you want to get paid 70% of your salary for 18 months if you for some reason lose your job, then you probably want to move to finland.

whether you live in helsinki or espoo or tampere, life in finland is much better than it was 50 years ago, according to an article in the christian monitor. "Fifty years ago, Finland was known for little more than the wood pulp from its endless forests. A poverty-striken land of poorly educated loggers and farmers on the edge of the Arctic Circle, few paid attention to ti. Today, this small Nordic nation boasts a thriving hi-tech economy ranked the most competitive in the world, the best educated citizenry of all the industrialized countries, and a welfare state that has created one of the globe's most egalitarian societies."

while their situation as they themselves would say is not necessarily "exportable" if you read the article you will probably glean some cool insights and learn something. as you read about the nordic way, you will learn that taxes are at 45%, but you will also learn that the finish people take care of everyone in their society, including the weak, extremely well. and while they like many countries have experienced many ups and downs when it comes to the economy, they seemed to collectively be ready to face the challenges of globalism with what dr. himanen calls, "welfare state 2.0"

the christian science monitor is writing three fascinating articles about britian, finland and france it is series entitled - three different models for a globalized world. it is a great way to look at three different approaches to economic models for the future. the first article in the series was entitled - is free-market britain fair enough for all?

spinning around

2005-10-25T14:28:00.000-07:00

spinning at night
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

do you ever feel like you are putting effort and energy into something and it just keeps going around in circles?

well, i know what you feel like. it is during this time that we must have faith and trust God to guide and lead us.

directing is 90% casting

2005-10-21T02:55:00.000-07:00

according to an article at fast company, "The secret of being a great Director is fielding a team of talented people who don't really need much coaching to deliver a solid performance." in the article they say that hollywood film industry veterans will sometimes tell you that "directing is 90% casting."

the article talks about how great directors are basically mentors and coaches, it's not about being "the boss." they also say "great directors- in busines and film- are content to let others take center stage." i like that because in this way the directer is simply a servant with the goal of seeing a great film come to be. the only place you typically see the director is at oscar time, if they are good.

it's a good article and i think it has great parrellels when it comes to church leaders choosing their staff. paul talked about this long before directors were around or before fast company was a company writing articles. he basically laid out requirements before people could be deacons and elders. most the the qualifications dealt with character. you find them in Titus 1 and I Timothy 3 he also said, "You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others." (II Timothy 2:2)

the more i reflect on this wisdom, my experience and others i coach, the more i realize who valuable this truth is in ministry. helping to lead a church is 90% getting the right people on the bus. surely it is a bus that is welcoming to all, but when it comes to pastors, staff and leaders, the scripture says that there are things we should look for.

pros have gone digital

2005-10-21T02:35:00.000-07:00

according to photography blog "the switch to digital has already transpired, with nearly 80% of pros owning digital SLR and 52% planning to purchase a new one within a year.

though i am a beginner, a number of good friends of mine pitched in to help me get a nikon d70 last year for my birthday. i am blessed with many good friends.

quick ways to handle e-mails so they don't rule your life

2005-10-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

photo by derek winston

maggi dawn pointed me to some advice on how to deal with e-mails more efficiently. it's helpful when you get over a 100 a day.

purpose-driven starbucks

2005-10-20T02:09:00.000-07:00

photo from usa today

the usa today reports "Coffee drinkers could get a spiritual jolt with their java in the spring when Starbucks begins putting a God-filled quote from Rev. Rick Warren, author of the mega-selling The Purpose Driven Life, on its cups."

the article goes on to say, "It will be the first mention of God in the company's provocative quote campaign." so warren will join the list of muscians, athletes, politians, writers and scientists who have their quotes on a cup too.

i'm sure that rick will do a great job encouraging others through his quotes.

find a bench, grab a book

2005-10-20T01:13:00.000-07:00

Solitariness
Originally uploaded by imapix.

okay, fall is here. not here in la, but probably wherever you are. no we can actually tell when it is fall here, because it starts to rain. it never rains in the summer. also the nights becoming cooler here. the fall is just perfect.

so with fall here, go find a bench in the park and grab a good book. wondering what book to get. maybe you should check out one of the books on time magazines all-time 100 best english novels from 1923 to the present. i think that is when time magazine started up, that is why they went back to 1923. the lion, witch and wardrobe made the list, as well as the lord of the rings.

so find a bench, get some hot cocoa, grab a book and enjoy!

kairos as a guiding metaphor

2005-10-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

dance of colors
Originally uploaded by josef.stuefer.

in an article at the resource exchange entitled "Following Jesus During the 'Critical Years', d. melleby gives some cool thoughts on the greek word kairos.

i give a short definition of this multi-faceted word on the kairos los angeles site as well. what a rich multi-dimensional word. i knew there was some reason we went with this word for our churches in la.

will chavez make new tribes mission leave?

2005-10-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

hugo chavez from bbc

the bbc is reporting that president chavez is about to expel new tribes mission. new tribes is one of latin american's largest missionary organizations with 3,200 workers in 17 countries. according to the bbc article, "The New Tribes are leaving Venezuela, this is an irreversible decision that Ihave made. We don't want the New Tribes here. Enough colonialism!" and while he has yet to sign the expulsion order, he wants new tribes to be "gathering their stuff."

christianity today reports that "Though President Hugo Chavez last week ordered New Tribes Mission to leave Venezuela, the mission reports it hasn't received an official expulsion order and says it won't leave on media reports alone."

bill cosby coming back to town

2005-10-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

a couple of years ago someone invited me to the hollywood bowl with them to watch this day long jazz festival that bill cosby was hosting. it was cool to get the chance to meet him.

now bill cosby, who lives in new york is coming back to town. this time it is to hold one of his "call out" meetings in compton, part of his controversial effort to address tough topics in black communities, according to the la times. the article says, "Bill Cosby, who ignited a firestorm of debate among African Americans when he chastised poorer blacks on issues ranging from bad grammar to the squandering of opportunities provided by the civil rights movement, will take his crusade today to Compton, a city plagued by a skyrocketing murder rate, a dismal school system and other urban ills."

cosby has been making tours around america hosting these "call outs" in the country's lower-income communities, addressing what he feels is "apathy" in the area, "engaging residents in a dialogue revolving around parenting, education and social responsibility."

cosby will be in compton tonight. at 4:30 p.m. "he plans to moderate a session dedicated to foster parents and their children, and grandparents raising children" the times said. "I want to give them information on the wonderful opportunities in the junior colleges and community colleges," he said. "The beauty of these colleges is that you can walk in with a young adult, and they will help you find courses and education in areas you are interested in. If young people have made a mistake in life, they're not dead in the water. They can recover and become what they want to become."

his second session starts at 6:30 and will focus more closely on compton in particular "which has been struck by a sharp rise in homicides. At least 54 people have been killed so far this year, 11 more than last year. that is in a city about the size of roanoke virgina. the population of compton is 98,802.

the two sessions are free to the public, but require tickets, which are available throught the compton city clerk's office or at compton city hall. i wish i had some time to go tonight, but my schedule will not allow me to. it should be a fascinating time. let me know if you get the chance to go.

color your life

2005-10-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Primary Colours
Originally uploaded by nafe3.

so this morning for our staff meeting we had the chance to connect with christian swartz, as he was speaking in the area about his new book Color Your World with Natural Church Development.

christian is warm, funny, passionate, balanced and very helpful. i was inspired by his talk that think that this book will be a great read, based on the presentation we went to today.

one quote he shared with us that he picked up from an african man that i really like was "if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to run far, go with others."

christian is best know book is entitled natural church development and has had a significant effect on my ministry.

here is a review that i have done on the book. let me know if you thought the review was helpful on amazon. i just started writing review of different books and movies. time permitting i will review more books and put them on amazon.

optical jesus

2005-10-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

okay, check this out. i shared this with our congregation today. notice the four dots in the middle of the picture. stare at them intensly for 30 seconds to a minute. afterwards shut your eyes tightly and wait for a circle to appear and then for a figure to appear in the circle. pretty cool huh?

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." hebrews 12:2,3

and then check out the latest talk that i shared with our congregation entitled "eyes remade by story." you can pull down the mp3 or get itunes and get a free subscription to the kairos los angeles live podcasts. if you haven't got into podcasts yet, you should check it out. it's a effective way to keep up with things in which you have an interest.

the vocation of the church

2005-10-14T03:33:00.000-07:00

Chairs in the Church
Originally uploaded by RichardLowkes.

"the vocation of the church is to be the corporate structure of God’s eschatological rule embodied in and bodied forth by jesus as messiah…. the church exists for the sake of God’s kingdom and that its calling is the same as its servant-king: to open the world to its destiny in this kingdom” rowen williams

our faith calls us to engage the world in which we live. we must move beyond the idea of privelege and irrelevance to engagement.

how are you engaging your world?

new beginnings

2005-10-12T23:58:00.000-07:00

Garden Path
Originally uploaded by 18mm.

"though your sins are like sacrlet, they shall be white as snow."

yom kippur began at sunset on 10/12 for jewish people. yom kipper comes ten days after rosh hashanah, the new year, and is the culmination of the days of awe, the ten days of penitence. yom kippur is a chance for a new beginning. it is a day typically set aside for worship and fasting. it is the day of atonement.

velveteen rabbi shares three different messages of what yom kippur means for the jew today.

but what does it mean for those who follow messiah yeshua "jesus christ?" while harvey cox gives a fascinating, thorough and thought provoking account of what it means for the christian. my attempt here is just to give you one simple but amazing thought.

one of the amazing things that we learn as we read the book of hebrews is that jesus is our high priest, who went into God's tabernacle to become a sacrifice for our sins.

in hebrews 10 we are told, “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

“But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifices for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made PERFECT FOREVER those who are being made holy.”

we of all people in the world should take sin seriously, and forgiveness just as seriously. this is the day to contemplate and confess both your known and your unknown sins, for yourself and your community. because we are human beings, we are created with the freedom to examine our lives - and with the help of God and of fellow human beings, we can mend our ways and alter our courses.

this is also the day for you to remember your savior. this is a day to look at the cross, not yourself. receive the forgiveness that jesus christ offers you. don't carry your sins with you another day. confess them to christ. then confess them to a trusted fellow "priest", and according to james, God will bring healing to your life.

in turn, that healing will bring a greater sense of wholeness, and from a greater sense of wholeness, we can live our life differently this year, than the year before. we can be more caring, more loving, more forgiving. we can bear our cross and follow jesus. we can actually learn to return evil with good and make the world a better place. no more evil for evil, but blessings for curses. wait a minute - that could change the world!

meditate on how clean christ has made you, and as you think about how christ has forgiven you, go and forgive others in the same way. today is a new day, a day of new beginnings. enjoy it.

let's party and get philosophical

2005-10-11T00:50:00.000-07:00

so i was curious and took the test. i am either snoopy or woodstock. i couldn't decided on one question.

those of you who know me, which of these two descriptions do you think describes me best? looking for a little help.

then let me know which one of peanuts character you are!

the kairos los angeles podcast is up!

2005-10-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

one would.
Originally uploaded by antimethod.

guess who just subscribed to the new kairos los angeles podcast?

just to let you know, if you subscribe to podcasts, or even if you don't know what a podcast is, you can now easily download the latest teachings at kairos los angeles, with a simple and free subscription through itunes, ipodderx or ipodder.

since i use itunes, let me tell you how it works with that. if you don't have itunes, you can simply go to the kairos los angeles resource page, and look on the left hand corner under podcasts. then download itunes for free. after downloading, you open up the itunes program.

you will notice right below your itunes library is a section called podcasts. you click on there. then you look at the bottom and it says ipod directory. if you put "los angeles" in the itunes search engine you should find that kairos los angeles is somewhere near the top on podcasts in los angeles. from there you can simply subscribe and download the latest.

another very easy way to start is open up your itunes, click podcasts, then go to the teachings part of resource webpage at kairos. when you get there, simply drag the podcast icon into your itunes podcasts and it should subscribe you.

the only thing necessary after that is to go to the podcasts section of your itunes about once a week and simply click the update button on the upper right hand corner of the page.

if you want to learn a little more about podcasting, apple has a very short page on it. from there you can can surf around to other helpful sites.

wikipedia has a cool article on podcasting as well. at the bottom of the article you will find some great links to learn even more.

happy podcasting to you. get your kairos los angeles podcasts and then spread the news, then you might find yourself jumping too.

okay, i had to tie the picture back into this blog.

pakistan fears 18,000 dead - la times

2005-10-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

picture from la times

the la times reports that "more than 18,000 people were killed when a powerful earthquake struck northern pakistan." "in a disaster that entombed hundreds of children in their schools, flatten a high-rise apartment building in the pakistani capital and devasted untold number of villages."

my prayers are with the people, and my hope is that we might be as active in helping those living in pakistan as we would if we experience "the big one" here in california. i can't imagine what life must be like for all those who have survived.

it is overwhelming just trying to keep up with all the natural disasters. may God grant us wisdom, compassion and endurance.

world values survey

2005-10-07T23:52:00.000-07:00

i was talking with my friend fredrick hellstrom, from sweden, tonight who has a cool blog entitled the nordic influence. we talked about a lot of things, and he was sharing with me how things were in his country. it was a fascinating conversation. it reminded me of my visit to copenhagen and malmo about a year ago with my friend tijmen who lives in the netherlands.

anyway, when fredrick and i were together, we did a little surfing on the web. as we were surfing we came across a values map that he had previously blogged on in the past that one of his fellow bloggers was blogging on now. it is a world values map that shows where different countries line up on different axis.

the north/south axis is where countries line up as far as traditional/secular-rational, while the east/west axis reflects where a countries lines up in regard to survival/self-experession.

in regard to the tradition vs secular, this is primarily indicating the contrast between societies in which religion is very important (traditional) and those societies where it is not. (secular-rational) in regard to the survival - self expression axis, this deals with weather countries have a strong emphasis on economic and physical security (survival) or if they have an increasing emphasis on subjective well-being, self expression and quality of life. (self-expression)

this map entitled the inglehart values map was put together as one of many expressions of the data that was collected by social scientist from all over the world in the fourth wave of the world values survey. the findings from this extensive survey were presented by thorleif pettersson, ronald inglehart and juan diez-nicolar to a special session of the swedish parliment.

now while data as we know can be interpreted many ways, i think anybody interested in missions might find something to learn from this map and from these extensive surveys.

the ecology of stress in starting churches in the city

2005-10-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

picture from ny times article

URBANIZATION OF THE WORLD
according to the population reference bureau, throughout most of history, the human population has lived a rural lifestyle. in 1800 only 3 percent of the world's population lived in urban areas. by 1900 almost 14 percent were urbanites, and by 2000 about half the world was living in urban areas. those who chart these trends say that in 2030, 60% of the world will be living in urban areas.

so while the human population is quickly moving to urban areas, many churches have been moving out of the heart of the city, though i am glad to say that recently there have been some movements that are starting to reverse that trend. this is good. but living in the heart of a big city has its stresses, as you can see from my previous blog on la. besides the typical stresses that thomas holmes and richard rahe pointed out in their famous stress assessment they developed back in 1967, city living has it's own set of stresses. and on top of that there are the stresses of starting communities of faith.

STRESS IN THE CITY
while there are many benefits to living in the city, like the variety of people, cool events, food from every part of the world, opportunity, world connection, and so forth, city living has its stresses. besides traffic you have lack of space, parking difficulty, more car accidents, typically more crime, and then the daily emotional drain of strangers going off on you, needing something or just treating you wierd.

STRESS IN STARTING CHURCHES
starting a church has its own stresses, let alone starting a church in a different city in the heart of the city. we can experience stresses that relate to our role, the structure of the church, interpersonal conflict, intrapersonal conflict, ministry dissappointments, unrealistic expectations, constant change.... the list unfortunately goes on.

QUARTERLIFE CRISES
if that wasn't enough, those who study human behavior have termed a new phenomenon that people around the age of 25 experience. it is called a "quaterlife crises." alexandra robbins and abby wilner coined this term in a book entitled conquering your quaterlife crises, in which the authors compare a quaterlife crises to a midlife crises, except that it occors twenty years earlier. they assess that the quarterlife crises is a response to "overwhelming instability, constant change, too many choices and a panicked sense of helplessness."

here is how one person put it, "it's what happens when those of us who have experienced nearly two decades in a sheltered school setting are released into a world where there is no definitive or obvious way to get from point A, graduation, to point B, successfully living independently. the endless choices and possibilities invigorate some, but prove overwhelming to others. it's everything that surfaces when you begin asking the questions: 'what in the heck am i doing with my life?' and being quietly wondering: who am i? what is my purpose? and where is God in all of this."

in essence, the quaterlife crises happens to people in their twenties who find themselves flooded with pressures of living in a fasted paced world full of uncertainties and pressures to succeed. some people get off on this, while others experience extreme fears, fear of rejection, failure or fear of not fitting in.

when we are experiencing stress in a variety of ways, it is important to assess our stress levels, because even if you are a person who can handle a high level of stress, we all have our limits. "about" has some various stress assessements as well as ways to discover your stress type. stress assessments are important, for as any good doctor knows, "problem resolution always begins with correct problem identification."

and so if anyone wants to last in urban ministry, we need to understand how stressed out we are, and how to overcome stress and burn out.

STRESS VS BURNOUT
those who study stress and burnout make distinctions between these two. stress is often known as the "hurry sickness" while burnout is emotional exhaustion, or what dr. arch calls "compassion fatigue". so it doesn't matter if you are a type A or type B, all people who desire to help others are vunerable to burnout.

according to dr. arch hart burnout symptoms may include:

demoralization: belief you are no longer effective
depersonalization: treating yourself and others in an impersonal way
detachment: withdrawing from responsibilities
distancing: avoidance of social and interpersonal contacts
defeatism: a feeling of being 'beaten'

so have you felt stressed out or burn't out lately? do you even know the difference? if you are involved in starting churches, especially in the heart of the city, then you need to take some time to assess your stress level, discover if you are on the verge of burn out, and learn some healthy habits on how to last in urban ministry. this past saturday i did a talk on this for our leadership community. you can download this talk for free. it's called lasting in urban ministry and is found on the left side of the page.

soon and very soon you can simply sign up podcasts. that may be my next entry.

you know your from la when..

2005-10-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

good morning la
Originally uploaded by dream awakener.

You know you are from LA when….

You make over $250,000 a year and still can’t find a house.

Your child’s third grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Breeze.

Your car insurance is as much as your house payment.

It’s sprinkling out, and there’s a report on every news channel about “STROM WATCH!”

You begin to "lie" to your friends about where you are (i.e. "Yeah I'm like 20 minutes away") - when you know that it'll take you at least an hour to get there).

You eat a different ethnic food for every meal.

You know it's best not to be on the 405 at 4:05 pm.

You've bumped into a celebrity at El Pollo Loco.

You know what "PCH", and "the five" mean.

Your pizza delivery guy is also on contract with Warner Bros.

If your destination is more than 5 minutes away on foot, you're definitely driving.

You have a gym membership because it's mandatory.

Your TV show is interrupted by a police chase.
You can't fall asleep without the lull of a helicopter flying overhead.

You don't stop at a STOP sign, you do a California Roll.

You've lost your car in the Century City Shopping Center parking lot.

You think that Venice and Manhattan are beaches.

You drive next to a Rolls Royce and don't notice.

You have a favorite Thai restaurant.

When giving directions, you follow up with the phrase: "With/Without traffic."

Driving along, you see a high-speed police chase approaching in your rear view mirror. You don't panic or even flinch. Instead, you call your friends on your cell phone and tell them you're on TV.

You know that if you drive one mile in any direction you will find a McDonald's or a Starbucks.

You live 10 miles from work. It takes you 60 minutes to get home.

You are not happy, or even slightly exited that there may be a movie star there. You just say, "They better not be blocking my parking space."

You personally know at least 5 people with agents.

You know what In N Out is and feel bad for all the other states because they don't have any.

You've gotten parking tickets from parking in the red zone in front of your house.

The guy at 8:30 in the morning at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney IS George Clooney.

The workday starts at 10am...or whenever you get out of your therapy session.

Any invitation comes with, "Starts at 8pm or as soon as you can get through traffic."

You have never met a waiter that wasn't really an "Actor."

You call 911 and they put you on hold.

You have to leave the company meeting early because Billy Blanks himself is teaching the 4:30 tae-bo class.

The three-hour traffic jam you just sat through wasn't caused by a horrific 9-car pile-up, but by everyone slowing to rubberneck at a lost shoe lying on the shoulder.

All the "cool gyms" allow pedestrians on the street a full-view of those working out. Literally, you can’t drive by Wilshire without staring into L.A. Fitness. Perhaps a new form of window-shopping?

A really great parking space can move you to tears.

As one writer puts it: “LA is not just another city, it’s another planet.”

by faith...

2005-10-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

Against Gravity Rule
Originally uploaded by HaMeD!caL.

here is one small portion from our 2nd year anniversary at kairos. each year we write another chapter of faith in our church planting adventures here in los angeles. we just finished chapter two and by faith are starting to write chapter three. this is an excerpt from our time tonight:

If you are familiar with the scriptures, you have probably read the famous chapter on Faith, which you can find in Hebrews 11, how by faith Abraham and Sarah left their hometown to go where God directed, and by faith Moses and Gideon followed God. I would like to share with you a brief history of this past year at Kairos, reflecting on some of the things God has done in and through us as a community. You could say that this is chapter two in our story of faith. And then throughout the evening, we will hear some more stories of different ways that God has been working in and through our lives as different segments of our body share what God has been doing in their communities. We will be hearing from our canvas groups, hope international, as well as kairos kids. So with that in mind, let me read to you Kairos Los Angeles – In the Story of God: Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2
By faith, Kairos Los Angeles continued to follow God for another year, despite some set backs, difficulties, and some significant people having to move on.

By faith, Jon and Caroline Freeman joinrd the Kairos team in order to help kick off the e4 project. By faith Stephen Gordon became a student at USC in order to help Greg start a group on campus. By faith Michelle and Sarah the first undergrad students at ULCA joined up with Kairos and hosted a Bible study their dorm. By faith, “D” brought his band the Black Tongue Bells to the fountain room to perform, and the set he designed with the little shack was used to kick of the series on the seven deadly sins.

By faith, Tom Fowler moved from Columbus, OH to LA to join the staff team and give Joe much needed help in the area of finances, and brought his other gifts to serve the body. By faith, Theresa headed up the Kairos Kids ministry and Kip continued to help with the worship team. By faith Shalom started raising support so that in time she could be more freed up to help the mission of Kairos.

By faith, Jose, who lived most of his life in the ghettos of south central LA, decided to regularly attend Kairos Los Angeles, despite the fact that a bunch of gringo’s from Virginia helped to start the church. After coming to Christ he brought much encouragement and street smarts to the body.

By faith, Andy and Kim Bleyer, and a team of 18 from the rock in Columbia MO, headed by John Drage, decide that they will be moving to Santa Monica in Jan. of 2006 in order to join with Kairos Los Angeles and help them to start a neighborhood church in West LA. By faith Joe and JR have been working together with the team so that this dream will become a reality.

By faith Carla and others from Kairos and Hope helped to raise money and find toys so that hundreds of needy children in hollywood had a brighter christmas.

By faith, Pastor Kaleeng, at the request of James, comes all away from Lodwar, Kenya to share the need of his people with different Christian Leaders, riding an escalator for the first time in his life.

By faith, many in Kairos, including Rob Schickler and Annie Wylie helped to make the 2nd annual Oscar party a success and kick off the annual series on Hollywood and the Ancient Text.

By faith Nate Towery continued to help produce some of the Sunday Gatherings at Kairos as well as using his dynamic teaching gifts to build up the body.

By faith, Joe Ibatuan stepped in when there was a need and helped to lead worship at Kairos, adding diversity and energy to the worship team. By faith Hikari and Carla helped our Leadership Community learn how to tackle issues of reconciliation when it comes to both race and class.

By faith, Ava Chin, who is a seeker, wrote a very positive article about Kairos for the Los Angeles Times Magazine entitled "Plugged In" which came to the news stands on February 6th of 2005 and caused many people to come and check out Kairos. As a result a number of new Angelinos have become involved, and Larry has even began to help out with the worship team.

By faith, Kristin, Anna and others from Dustin’s canvas group, birthed another canvas group in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

By faith Jay and Amiee conceived their first child, and Aimee while very pregnant has continued to serve on the worship team, even though she works fulltime as is in her third trimester.

By faith, as members of Kairos started to understand Jesus’ deep concern for the poor and oppressed, many have become more engaged in world issues. By faith, Kairos with the help of students in Iowa and Illinois were able to raise 10,000 to bring to Kenya to help with famine relief. By faith, James, Jay, Lisa and JR went to Kenya to help buy food and encourage pastors and people through their encouragement and teaching.

By faith, Genesis’s was deeply moved by the generosity of people in kairos and begin to dream about a foundation that could help people in developing countries. By faith he went to JR and they began to dialogue about what to do, and through that dialogue and partnership the Solis Foundation was birthed.

By faith, Joel and Modus Dei played at Kairos, helping to secure a quarterly tradition of open mic during the Sunday Gatherings. By faith Annie, Christine, Bori, Nora and others formed the Atmosphere team in order to create an inviting environment for our Sunday gatherings.

By faith, Kevin Wylie embarked on more projects for the Kairos website, which continues to bless people all over the world and bring new people regularly.

By faith Jon and JR prepared for the e4 project, and Jon with the help of Hikari, Dustin, Christine and Mike kicked it off in the summer of 2005. As a result many involved in the project are experiencing personal transformation and bringing a more strength to Kairos as a whole. By faith Peggy opened up her really nice house in the hills of Pasadena, in order to host the e4 large group gatherings.

By faith Eric and Audrey decided to go on staff to help canvas groups as well as many things that support the Sunday Gathering, including worship and the kids program.

By faith, Carla, Jed, Stacy and others have continued to help strengthen families through the confident kids program along with people from Hope.

By faith, Greg Christman helped to take over a running program at Julie’s school when a coach died, and as a result was able to help 20 kids run in the marathon this past year. And by faith Greg and Julie tied the knot and found a place to live downtown, where others have joined them in starting a Canvas Group at USC.

By faith Stephen Gordon continues to reach out to his fellow USC classmates effectively, working with Greg and others to bring the good news to the campus of USC.

By faith, Craig, Andrea and Derek birthed a canvas group from the UCLA canvas group, in order that the UCLA group can have a laser beam focus on the campus this year.

By faith, Joe Racek and Ben Hayes lead us through what it means to be the New Temple in the city of Los Angeles. By faith, Joe and Lisa have their fourth baby and bought a house in Culver City.

By faith, Hikari and a team of people from Kairos and Hope took a missions trip to Chuahua Mexico to bless the people in that city, and by faith, they look to start annual mission trips to the area.

By faith Pastor Ed, Greg and Shalom birthed the courtyard ministry, with the goal to strengthen the partnership of Kairos and Hope International.

There is not enough time to share all of the things that have happen this past year by faith, and there are many whose name is only know to God who have by faith prayed intensely, served sacrificially, counseled competently, worked behind the scenes and given financially to enable Kairos to fulfill her mission in the city of Los Angeles.

By faith, Kairos Los Angeles continues to move forward in the story of God, bring a greater sense of hope, joy, love and justice to different neighborhood in LA. And by faith, everyone can hear the applause of God as he watches his children live by faith.