Freebie Friday: Music video remix of Umbrella

This video is pretty cool, it is from Godtube.com. This guy is full of energy and he is funny. But he is good and a great singer. This song is a "christian" version of 'Umbrella.' Enjoy.

random thursday : Music video I play guitar in

Dare2Share

Steir On The Street!!

10 Distinctive of Postmodern Churches

10 Distinctive of Postmodern Churches
from evangelismcoach.org

My own comments added

1. Be unashamedly spiritual. People are tired of the modern belief that everything can be answered by science and reason. They are open to something mystical and spiritual. Thus the rejection of modernism and entering of post-modernism.

2. Promote incarnational ministry. Authenticity is essential. Postmoderns are looking for persons who are genuine and transparent. It is not the job of the unchurched postmodern to enter our culture. It is our job to invade theirs (become incarnate) with the unchanging truth of the gospel. I like the fact that this author is promoting unchanging truth! And the fact that he is not so caught up in the post-modern movement that he doesn't accept evangelism. The fact that he wants to "invade their culture" tells me that he is strong in His foundation of the truth and still understands the Great commission.
   

3. Worship experientially. Postmoderns want to experience God, not just see a show about him. A dynamic worshiping community becomes a powerful apologetic to a generation open to the spiritual but not knowing how to connect with the Spirit.

4. Preach narrative expository messages. Jesus frequently used narratives or stories in his preaching, and often the story was the point. Preaching biblical stories connects to a culture that sees stories as a source of truth. This is true.
   

5. Appreciate and participate in ancient patterns. Postmodern leaders are spellbound by the ancient- future faith of the past. There is a new interest in ancient things: Gregorian chants, Celtic Christianity, ancient art, etc. The church can embrace those that promote biblical truth.

6. Experience visual worship. Paintings, banners, candles and other imagery can help share the gospel message. In the postmodern age, truth can be expressed in images illuminating biblical truth. this is a neat part of the post-modern era that is fun because Christians are using their God-given talents, abilities, and passions to further the Gospel in fun way
   

7. Engage in service. Offer an outlet for their passion to serve. Genuine faith always expresses itself in ministry. As postmoderns see that faith produces service, the validity of the faith is proved. A wonderful outlet for this is to engage postmoderns in mission work.

8. Connect with technology. Churches trying to reach postmoderns not only will use technology in worship, but they also will promote community through that technology. I love this too. As you might expect, a blogger/web designer for the Lord!
   

9. Live community. Community is a central value in most effective churches reaching postmoderns. With a culture eager for genuine community, the Church can offer community with people and with God.

10. Promote team-based leadership. Leadership in the postmodern context tends to be dramatically different than it was in other models. In the modern context, the leader was penalized for transparency. Leaders who shared their struggles frequently regretted it later as it became an example in future arguments. In the postmodern era, struggle and consequently transparency is more valued.

10 Post Modern Religions

10 Post Modern Religions ( I got this article from:
http://listverse.com/religion/10-post-modern-religions/

clipped from: listverse.com and http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/5FCFDACD-CAAF-4DB9-AA3F-721A6588EBC7/

And I added some of my own commentary

10

Discordianism

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is a modern religion centered on the idea that chaos is as important as order. It was founded circa 1958–1959 by Malaclypse the Younger.

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Definition/main doctrine: “The Discordian Society has no definition.”

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Symbol: The Sacred Chao, symbol of the hodge and podge

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9

Kibology

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they are so post-modern that their only tenet is "You are allowed."

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Wikipedia lists Kibology as a religion satirizing Scientology

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they satirize all religions

8

Church of Google

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Also known as: Googlism

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Founded by: Matt MacPherson

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Info: Google.com, the world renowned search engine, has a following. These people believe that Google, being omniscient and omnipresent, is the closest Mankind will come to knowing and facing a god. Google can solve all their problems through knowledge, and knowledge is power. They even have nine proofs of Google’s godliness.

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7

Last Thursdayism

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All I can say is Wow...this is worse than Scientology! Read this article and this definition.

6

Church of the Subgenius

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From the religion's website... "Pity the poor human Earth Pink who comes looking for a SIMPLE, SHORT EXPLANATION of The Church of the SubGenius™, one that he or she can UNDERSTAND QUICKLY. If the Church could provide THAT, it would be bigger than Islam or Christianity by now -- and probably much, much worse."
"REPENT! QUIT YOUR JOB! SLACK OFF!"

5

Campus Crusade for Cthulhu

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Definition/main doctrine: Why settle for a lesser evil?

CCC-Is a Religious parodies and satires of Campus Crusade for Christ. They believe in mythical things based off the work of H.P. Lovecraft.

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4

Church of Emacs (and the Church of Vi)

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The Church of Emacs, formed by Richard Stallman, is a joke, and while it refers to vi as the "editor of the beast" (vi-vi-vi being 6-6-6 in Roman numerals) , it does not oppose the use of vi; rather, it calls proprietary software an anathema. ("Using a free-software version of vi is not a sin; it is a penance."^[2]) It has its own newsgroup, alt.religion.emacs, that has posts purporting to support this parody religion.

3

Iglesia Maradoniana

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was created by fans of the retired Argentine football player Diego Maradona, who they believe to be the best player of all time.

2

Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth

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This is worse than post-modern - simply witchcraft: Three Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) exists to promote a system ov functional, demystified magick, utilising both pagan and modern techniques.

1

Pastafarianism

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Also known as: The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

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Founded by/in: Bobby Henderson in 2005

That is just finny!

"It's Complicated" Crys from the Youth

This is a series of amazing photography by Robin Bowan. Behind each picture , there is a story. The stories give a taste of what the youth culture of today. These are cries out from young adults and adolescents in America. We need to hear their cries and see their world - not just to feel bad, but to understand and help. Not just to help but to love with empathy.






















http://viewer.zoho.com/store/g/gJObu/gJObu.htm

Freebie Friday: Expelled Movie trailor

Wow. I am very interested and excited to see this movie. It comes out tonight!

Greg Stier wrote a review about it in his blog. he's already seen it! (no fair!)

Other sites to check out relating Expelled:

http://www.expelledthemovie.com/

http://www.getexpelled.com/

Random: About Me, my acting

Here are some amazingly goofy movies, some friends of mine and I made for fun.
Originally we had our website and wanted to tour doing some comedy gigs but that never happened. Enjoy and get a laugh or 2:

Social Networks

Wow, social networking online is extremely popular right now. I think that over the past few years, the internet has really changed in content towards more rich social media and more forms of social networking. Gen X and Y love rich forms of media like videos, pictures, and HTML gadgets and tools that use Flash and Java and other IT devices and codes. Anyways the internet is changing so much an articles I recently read claims of a better way, and it is coming soon.

Today I want to share some neat Christian social networking sites. But first I want to expose to you an extensive list of social networking sites from Wikipedia. It is amazing how many there are out there. Yes, Facebook and Myspace are still number one and two here in the USA, but there some interesting genre-specific communities, as well as neat networks based in other countries - all online.

The most interesting fact is that this list, is not exhaustive. It does not even touch some of the really neat Christian social networks! Which is why I am posting today. I am going to provide to you some of the neat Christian networks, and my list is not exhaustive at all, these are a few of my favorites:

http://www.ShoutLife.com - This is similar to Myspace.

http://www.GodTube.com - Similar to Youtube.

http://www.Iyouthminstry.com - Really cool if you are a youth minister.

http://www.xianz.com/- Like Myspace, but better!

http://www.mychurch.org/- facebook for churches.

http://www.faithbase.com/- I have not explored it yet.

I hope you find these helpful. I have been studying a lot about social networks, so do not be surprised if you see more posts about them.
I want to leave you with a funny video about Facebook.

Faith and Reason: Love and Evangelism

You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
—Matthew 5:43-47

That last part of the verse really gets at me: "Do not even the pagans do that?"

This is a great question, and I have heard skeptics and lost friends ask the same question..."they say they are a Christian...but I have seen the way (so and so) live....do not even the pagans do that?"
[Okay, so they probably say some thing like, "doesn't that evil, sinning, non-religious, liar -who lives down the street, the one that claims to be an angry militant atheist- (nothing against 'angry militant atheists', I was just making an illustration...) - live a better life than those 'Christians?' ]

My point is that fellowship alone is not enough to share the Gospel. It is not enough to hang out with and love your best Christian friends and to put little to no effort in loving your non-believing neighbors. The Scripture is pointing us towards loving our neighbors and enemies more than ourselves. It is pointing us towards sharing the Gospel and true love to everyone and not just our best friends.

This really stuck out to me and I really needed to share that. Because do not even the pagans have great fellowship within their own circle of friends?