You can do it! Get creating!

First seen at Churchy Media

If you’ve ever seen Survivor Man or Man Vs. Wild on tv, then you will definitely be laughing for a long time at “Craig Vs. Wild”

If this inspires you theologically, I’d love to hear your attempts to relate this to the faith.  Feel free to have fun!

But maybe this week it’s about quality & not quantity.

I’ve seen a couple people on facebook do this, so I had to try it and it was way too much fun.  Check out yearbookyourself.com.  If you’ve got a picture of yourself on your computer – even if it has other people in it -  you’re good to go.

Read more to see my yearbook picture from 1984:

Oh my…1984 was not a good year for hairstyles…

Check out yearbookyourself.com.

I’d love to see your yearbook pictures – email them to me at john [at] faithemergence [dot] com and I’ll send you one of me in 1976…

I’ll miss him, will you, Dan?

Another fantastic post from ‘Stuff Christians Like’.  Do you treat God like the Dentist?

Can a Christian vote for Barack?  A thoughtful post by Matt.

Check out Nora’s blog.  She’s helping out in Haiti, where all of the recent hurricanes devastated an already poverty stricken land.  Here’s her latest post with a list of thing that are normal in Haiti that you would never see in the US.

Have a great weekend!!!

I don’t feel old yet, but I’ll bet in another 5 years, reading this list will make me want to go out & buy a cool sportscar (BMW convertible, probably): What kids entering college think – Beloit College Mindset List. via Jesus Creed

Good food for thought for your church or business?

I really enjoyed growing up next door to my grandparents on a couple of acres of land.  We were able to play & be quite carefree.  We had our boundaries, though:  The US Highway 30 to the north, Buelah’s house to the east, the tree line to the south, and the gravel road to the west.  What do kids have today? Read this insightful article from the LA Times  Remember ‘go outside and play?’ – Los Angeles Times.

I don’t know what Howard Industries does or who runs it, but I second Jenny:  Shame on you! No doubt illegal immigration is a multi-faceted topic, but when you really dig into the mucky lives of individuals who brave it, the issue becomes clearer:

I need safety (shelter, consistent food & water, clothing).
I can’t get it here.
I need to go elsewhere.
I will stay where I can find it.

Who else in America is desperate enough to do the things that they do?  I don’t see many takers…

Enjoy your Friday!

An Office Max ad by way of Leading Smart.  This joke never gets old…

A great example of why motor vehicles should be kept outside during worship.  I saw this one on Scott Hodge’s blog.

One of my favorite music artists (and I don’t use that term lightly) has had a video added to one of his most famous (& touching) songs.  Here’s ‘Family Man‘ by Andrew Peterson.  Video by Trevor Little.

I am not endorsing any kind of political claim with this next one – it’s just a good ad that illustrates the often ignored blue-collar reality of political claims and policies.

And just for our Packer-backers up North, a remarkably well edited Brett Favre retirement video done in the style of Deal or No Deal.

Brett Favre: RETIRE no RETIRE from NBXtv on Vimeo.

That’s all I’ve got today!  I hope you had a great few minutes laughing through the vids…

Enjoy your weekend (cause summer’s almost over!).

…ack…stop throwing pennies at me!

Contrary to popular belief, pastors do NOT only work 1 day a week.

In fact, pastors only get 1 day off each week – if they have the discipline to choose to take it off.

I’m kind of bummed – Friday normally is my 1 day off, but I’ve got to get a lot of stuff done today.  I feel bad for my family most of all, since they count on having this one day each week to be all together.  I’ve got to figure out how to make it up to them…

Anyway, there have been some thought-provoking posts this week in the blogs I frequent.  Here’s a great list:

• Please take 6 minutes to see what life is like for our soldiers over in Iraq.  From the New York Times, here is a stunning narrated photojournal of one unit’s search to find 3 missing American soldiers.

• The writer of Stuff Christians Like talks about his journey back to faith.  If you wonder how to reach out to people you love who have fallen away from Christianity, please read his post & the comments that follow.

• Speaking of speaking to those who have fallen away from Christianity, Seth Godin reminds us that our message might be life-changing (which the Gospel certainly is!), and it might be packaged really well (you know the right words to say, or worship is very professional, etc…), but it won’t matter unless people are ready to listen to it!

• An amazing project has been completed – one of the earliest texts of the New Testament is online and available for the world to view.  Scot has an informative post over at Jesus Creed.

• If you do any king of leading or public speaking, you need to be reminded of what Craig has to say over at swerve.

I hope you have a great Friday and that you get some time this weekend to spend with the people you love most!

Wordle is awesome.  It can take all the words on a blog or website and put them in a ‘word cloud’.  I think it’s artistic – but I also think that He-man, in its day (before She-Ra diluted the character base), was artistic.  Below is the wordle for Faith Emergence.  I think the message of this blog is loud & clear -  what do you think?

Here’s a video from Creative Worship Tour that features Scott Hodge and a bald mute.  No jokin’.  btw: that bald mute thing was meant in the best way possible…

Find more videos like this on Creative Worship Tour

Joel Osteen (and the legend that surrounds him) intrigues me.  Phil Cooke gives us a sneak peakat a new article about Joel and his message that “God wants you to be rich”.

Kind of silly:
Do you have thousands of emails in your inbox?  the Jesus Creeders do…

Pretty silly:
When you speculate about the identity of the Anti-Christ, do you oscillate between an ex and Blockbuster?  Well, here’s another reason from Stuff Christians Like to slide toward the Blockbuster side.

Definitely silly:
Did you ever go to a Christian Summer Camp?  Then you’ve got to read the comments on this Stuff Christians Like post.  Man, kids will do some crazy stuff at camp!

Super silly:
Oh…my… Six weeks, Six teachings, & Six gallons of spit!  Scot Hodge is super silly!

NBA Draft silliness:
This guy went to Stanford, will be a millionaire as soon as he signs his contract, and this is how he acts on tv?

I know it’s not much, but I’m out of silliness this week — like I said, John’s world has just been too serious lately.

Have an awesome weekend!!