I'm sure by now you've all seen Chris Pratt's acceptance speech at the 2018 MTV TV & Movie Awards. It was everywhere for at least two weeks, but in case you haven't, here it is: ... Read More
Chris Pratt: World’s Greatest Youth Pastor [Memes]
Church Without Problems: Digital Discontent 10
["Church Without…" is a series of think-pieces designed to slowly deconstruct what we think is essential to having church and to call attention to the hidden barriers we've erected between ourselves and the Great Commission.] I've written about limitations and obstacles, so what more could I say using the word "problems"? That's a good question. Let me answer by offering up something you probably didn't expect. One of the biggest problems that plague churches and church leadership teams is the ... Read More
Church Without Budgets: Kickstarting the Kingdom 9
["Church Without…" is a series of think-pieces designed to slowly deconstruct what we think is essential to having church and to call attention to the hidden barriers we've erected between ourselves and the Great Commission.] "If God wants it done, He'll fund it." I think I heard a variation of that line from Shane Claiborne, but I can't remember. The maxim still rings true, especially when we consider so much abuse that takes place in the church in the name of fundraising. ... Read More
Church Without Pastors: E-quipped Disciples 8
["Church Without…" is a series of think-pieces designed to slowly deconstruct what we think is essential to having church and to call attention to the hidden barriers we've erected between ourselves and the Great Commission.] As a pastor, one of the great stumbling blocks to doing my job is people not understanding what my job is. Ephesians 4 says this: "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers…" And so many Christians stop there. ... Read More
Church Without Divisions: Hyper-Threaded Wikis 7
["Church Without…" is a series of think-pieces designed to slowly deconstruct what we think is essential to having church and to call attention to the hidden barriers we've erected between ourselves and the Great Commission.] I'm not much of an ecumenical in practice. I am certified as a minister of the Gospel by the Assemblies of God of the USA, and I preach in a church that has belonged to the Assemblies since its inception. However, I have been blessed by the words of many writers, ... Read More
A Word of Advice: SLEEP!
One of the most consistent pieces of advice that I get and ignore is that I need more sleep. Right now, my eyes are heavy and my back hurts. I should be stretched out in bed, reading, if not just laying there quietly, waiting to drift away to sleep. But I'm not. My wife is doing some planning for the mothers' group she helps lead, and we're both watching re-runs of Frasier. The key element here is that we're not sleeping, and we should be. We have a six-month-old baby who wakes us up at least ... Read More
‘Superheroes Can’t Save You’ by Todd Miles [Saturday Morning Review]
I just got back from my youth group's Bible study. We were looking at Mark 4, and I asked them why they thought Jesus used agricultural metaphors in so many of His parables. "It's what His audience dealt with in their daily lives." We went on to talk about Jesus' audience wasn't likely schooled in deep theology, but they sure did know their seeds. ... Read More
Church Without Buildings: Internet Churches 6
["Church Without…" is a series of think-pieces designed to slowly deconstruct what we think is essential to having church and to call attention to the hidden barriers we've erected between ourselves and the Great Commission.] Do you see what I did there with the title? Last time, we talked about how buildings can limit individual church bodies, so this week, let's talk about how equating churches with buildings further limits the cause. ... Read More
MIT’s Newest AI Sees Death Everywhere It Looks
We present you Norman, world's first psychopath AI. Norman is born from the fact that the data that is used to teach a machine learning algorithm can significantly influence its behavior. So when people talk about AI algorithms being biased and unfair, the culprit is often not the algorithm itself, but the biased data that was fed to it. The same method can see very different things in an image, even sick things, if trained on the wrong (or, the right!) data set. Norman suffered from extended ... Read More
Church Without A Building: Decentralization 5
["Church Without…" is a series of think-pieces designed to slowly deconstruct what we think is essential to having church and to call attention to the hidden barriers we've erected between ourselves and the Great Commission.] I hate to repeat myself, so perhaps you will consider this post to rhyme with the previous one, but what if one of the biggest problems that the Church has is churches? ... Read More
