Soulja Boy Tellem - How to Crank That - INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO!

I just learned about this dance at YG. I am so old. However, this looks like a fun dance.

Web 2.0 - Now I get it!

Thanks Shawn for sharing this video.

Emerging Conference - $30.00

To all my emerging friends, you can attend Soulize 2007 via webcast for only $30.00. Check out the website and see the list of speakers. It looks like an awesome conference. If you can hop on a plane, the conference is being held in the Bahamas, but you would have to leave today.

Favorite Sports Column

My favorite sports column is Tuesday Morning Quarterback by Gregg Easterbrook. Here is a section from this weeks column:

The Pool of Vicious Sharks in Rupert Murdoch's Office Actually Does Make Sense: In the Harry Potter books, at the center of the Ministry of Magic stands a stone arch that envelops a shimmering barrier. The barrier is the veil between life and death -- if you pass through, you die. Needless to say, there's a fight scene in front of the arch and someone tumbles through. My question: Why would you have an archway that kills you if you go through? The arch in the Ministry of Magic does not appear to serve any function: People on the opposite side can't come back to life. It's just something characters fall through in fight scenes. In one of the James Bond movies, the supervillain has a pool of hungry sharks in his office, and inevitably there's a fight scene on the edge. In the third (that is, sixth) Star Wars movie, the emperor has a bottomless pit in his office leading to a fusion generator, and inevitably there's a fight scene at the edge. If you were a galactic emperor, would you want something in your office that would kill you if you stumbled in? My favorite scene of this nature is the opening sequence of "Goldfinger." Bond destroys a drug baron's headquarters by attaching a detonator to a giant vat of nitroglycerin, said vat helpfully labeled "NITRO GLYCERIN." Where is the giant vat? In the drug baron's bedroom. If you were a criminal mastermind, wouldn't you want a large supply of deadly explosives in your bedroom?

I also enjoy Bill Simmons' "the sports guy" and his take on life and sports.

True Confessions

I must confess, I am fascinated by toilets and the variety of types used around the world. Someday, I will have to post all of the pictures I have taken of my various toilets. I will start with this picture from the Baptist Temple in Philadelphia. It has not been used for many years, but imagine the famous people who may have used it, including Martin Luther King Jr., President Eisenhower or Russell Conwell. This is also the church I work for, we just moved out of the city in 1975 and then changed our name a few years ago.


Here is an article that highlights another creative toilet. Fascinating!

Eye Opening College Video

Great video to send to your college kids and remind them to Live Above the influence.

Book Review: The Search to Belong

The focus of this book is on our understanding of community, commitment and belonging. Myers makes a great case for questioning the present small group movement and its focus as the "best" way to make disciples. Drawing of the work of Edward T. Hall, Myers applies Hall's proxemics to community and a search for belonging. He is not against small groups, he wants to a more healthy view of community/belonging than just small groups.

This is a must read book for anyone in charge of small groups or wishing to have small groups. I loved it.

Conan - Fire Alarm

Conan is very funny. I wish I could stay awake long enough to see his show.

Star Wars is Coming

Here is a great little article about 2 future Star Wars Shows, one live action and the other CGI. Here is a highlight:

"Filmmaker George Lucas said Tuesday that he has "just begun work" on a live-action television series rooted in the "Star Wars" universe, which is huge news not just for fans of the science-fiction epic but also for networks looking for a piece of the Lucas magic that has grossed $4.3 billion in theaters worldwide."

I can't wait.

Visual History of Religion

Go to the website to see the full screen - Maps of War Also check out the Leadership and War map. These are very interesting

Book Review: Sacred Rhythms

I loved this book. This book focuses on spiritual transformation through spiritual practices. Barton discusses these 8 practices:
Solitude
Scripture
Prayer
Honoring the body
Self-examination
Discernment
Sabbath
A Rule of Life

Barton writes in an easy, non-threatening manner that allows God to speak through her words. This a must read for every Christian that feels like ministry is running on a hamster wheel. It will help you develop more intimacy with God.

Book Review: You don't need a title to be a leader

This is another book I finished this summer. It is a good primer on leadership written with a lot of antidotes to make the point. There is not a lot of research or theory to back up the advice.

This book would be good for a small group study (you would have to add your own scripture) or to give as a gift to leaders in your church. It is an easy read with lots of encouraging stories.

Book Review: The Wisdom of Harry Potter

This had been the summer of Harry Potter at my house. (I am having trouble accepting that fall is here-I feel like I lost 2 months.) Here is one of the Harry Potter books I read this summer.

First, this book is dated and only covers the first four books. What I enjoyed about this take on the HP series is the focus on Stoicism. I did not know a lot about Stoics but it is very fascinating. The author builds a convincing case that Rowling writes in a classical stoic manner.

It's true - I am addicted to books

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz