Recently

Since I lost our Kodak digital camera, a long story, we got a new camera and have been to some fun places... I thought that I might throw some pics on the blog for viewing pleasure!


Pasadena Sandwich Company (The food is HUGE!!!)

















The Farmer's Market (Our favorite place to get veggies... Thanks Rene for joining!!!)

















Dancing Salsa Outside at Paseo

















The Craziness and Beauty of Santa Monica (We have recently enjoyed Sunday trips to the beach!)

More Than a Local Move

I have been helping Dr. Spittler, the former provost at Fuller Seminary, move his library out of his office. Dr. Spittler hasn't worked at Fuller since 2002, but the seminary has graciously given him a space on campus for the past 5 years. Recently Dr. Spittler was asked to move out of his office due to space restrictions on campus. He has a remarkable amount of books, what he called "40 years worth", surrounding the walls of his office. On my part, moving the books has taken some sweat, and on his part has taken tears. I stood and talked with Dr. Spittler today after we ran out of boxes to continue with the project. Tears filled his eyes as he was reflecting upon his life and work that was represented within the metaphor of his personal library. It was an intense moment as we spoke of the changing world that we dwell within. As Dr. Spittler was tearing over the lament of the boxing of his books, I have been reflecting that those moments of boxing his library probably also stood for a bigger shift with implications not only for the individual of Dr. Spittler, but also for the world.

A student in class was reflecting upon the modern architecture of Fuller's new library that has begun being constructed. He was disappointed that the ethos of the building did not contain more of a postmodern texture. I liked the thought, but the thought was trumped as the professor responded with another. He said, "We can question the architecture of the new building, but the real question is... Why are we even building a library?" I have proposed this thought to a mixed bag of people and the trend seems to be consistent. This question makes more and more sense to younger people. The older the individual, the less sense this question makes.

While Dr. Spittler shed tears this morning over the packing of his library, I think that he was authentic in lamenting over the ending moments of his professional work, but I also feel that there may have been more behind those tears. Maybe those tears also represented a shift that scares many and is being ushered in by a new generation of those who are now caring for one of humanities most precious of resources, information.

Congrats to the Bride and Groom!

Bryan and Katie got married two weekends ago in Michigan... I got to attend their beautiful wedding in Detroit. Be sure to give them a congrats on Facebook!

Moving Toward a Revolution

A fellow staff member of mine at GPC quoted Moltmann in an e-mail to me this afternoon...

"The symbol of the cross in the church points to the God who was crucified not between two candles on an altar, but between two thieves in the place of the skull, where the outcasts belong, outside the gates of the city. It does not invite thought but a change of mind. It is a symbol which therefore leads out of the church and out of religious longing into the fellowship of the oppressed and abandoned. On the other hand, it is a symbol which calls the oppressed and godless into the church and through the church into the fellowship of the crucified God.Where this contradiction in the cross, and its revolution in religious values, is forgotten, the cross ceases to be a symbol and becomes an idol, and no longer invites a revolution in thought, but the end of thought in self-affirmation"

Celeb Sighting

Whitney and I were walking through Paseo Colorado, a local outdoor mall in Pasedena, and I saw him from afar!!! His eyes twinkled, but he seemed more clean cut and skinny to really be him. As he approached I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at him and smiled. He stopped as well, looking at me as if to say, "What the hell are you looking at?". Whitney saved the moment, ran up to him and brilliantly asked him, "Are you Al?" He politely smiled and said yes. Then we awkwardly walked away.

After a Conversation with Mark Frens

My former college roommate and I were reflecting on MXC memories. MXC was one of our favorite late nights shows in college. We would stay up into the early morning crying in laughter. Our favorite parts were the sound effects that the show would add to the contestants as they were about to participate in the contest. Have a looksie...

For All Yankee Fans

It seems that NY has the upper edge going into this weekend's series with the Tigers. As of August 11, the Tigers were 11-18 since the All Star break. The Yankees, however, have gone 24-8 in their last 32, surging ahead of the wild card race. It is relieving to have the Yankees back into the race so I don't have to hear their fans complain and moan around Fuller's campus any more... There are many Yankee fans around here and they really don't know what to do without having anything to groan about. But don't worry Yankee fans, we'll move into fall, A Rod will start to suck, the Yankees will choke once again prior to the World Series, and you'll have another off season to make expensive acquisitions of free agents that will lead you deeper into both dept and death as a team. Maybe this weekend will be the start of this process, as the Tigers will unexpectedly take 3 of 4 from the Bronx Bombers, setting them into the tail spin of their repeated cycle of death.

Houseboats 07

From August 4th to August 8th I spent some time with my favorite high school students from Los Angeles. We ventured up north to Don Pedro Lake to hang out on houseboats. We spent a ton of time in the water... Wakeboarding, tubing, skiing, and just lounging in conversation. Everyday we also had club, cabin time, quiet time, and we ate TONS of good food. Here are some pics from the week.

Final Project

I have had a blast creating my final project for Theology and Pop Culture. Rather than doing a big/nasty paper, I was allowed to create an interactive blog that looks at some of the current shifts in advertising. I used a ton of videos and pics and thought that it may be fun to meander around for readers... If you get a chance, check it out at

www.shiftingadvertising.blogspot.com

I am off to be on a houseboat with kids from GPC for the next 5 days and then straight to MI for Veenstra's wedding... I proly won't have time to write until then.

Watching Hansard and Job Hug

Job 42

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver [a] and a gold ring.

12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters.

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch.

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years.

You have suffered enough
And what with yourself
Its time that you won

Luke 14

Here is the latest short film that was produced by Kinetic. You can see the rest of our films at www.kineticfilms.blogspot.com. Can anyone guess the primary influence on this movie?

Heaven on the Slopes

I have been processing the times that I have recently had with family over the past week and I think that the whole of my contemplation hinges on a conversation that I had with Lindsay late into the morning. While much of my studies has been bent towards the idea of being agents of the pursuit of heaven here and now, I have often been left, especially on Monday's (Ecclesiastes Monday), asking the question, "Where is heaven?". So as I have reflected upon the intangibility of heaven, especially in light of difficult circumstances within life, it has been a healthy exercise for me to remember that everything isn't as it should be... Or else, it would be, well... heaven. So as Lindsay and I talk, we are contemplating the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven here and now, and recognize that heaven (or the reign of God) is certainly near in the moments. Lindsay then began to talk about "limited time", and we remembered that in 24 hours we would once again be in much different places. We knew that we would be sad, and we recognized that there is something inherently wrong with being far away from family. The natural next question then filled the air... Would heaven still be near in those moments of distance?

Through all of the Christian jargon of calling (which is important when unabused), in the end, I want to be near to the people whom I love the most. Whether family in Texas, family and friends in Michigan, or family in the Dominican Republic, I want to be near to family. What I have been learning is that this longing is not one of selfishness, as I have thought previously. Rather this longing is one that represents how "it is supposed to be"... or... heaven. When the "supposed to be" is taken away, my feeling is that of sickness. I feel as if one has repeatedly punched me in the throat and placed a giant worm in my esophagus. I am learning that this sickness is not a bad thing, representative of unreality, or "unheaven", but rather representing that of one of the largest realities and a very near and tangible heaven. So approaching this question of heaven still being near in moments of distance, I am growing in hope. While heaven was certainly near on the porch at 2:00 AM with Lindsay, heaven is still near (both literally and metaphorically) when Lindsay went back to Michigan. It is almost as if God mysteriously speaks through the giant worm in reminding me that there is still work to be done. Not everything is as it should be. Through the reminder that heaven is not yet complete, God is then speaking through the present Kingdom of Heaven. "Now and not yet" both make sense to me this morning. And I am thankful that heaven is evident both in the nearness and in the sickness.

The Highest Recommendation

Whitney and I went to see Once last night in Pasadena and cannot commend it enough to all. It first exploded at Sundance and may be the next film of a generation. The film includes music as a character and also includes a new type of love story. Please don't miss this film. I posted the trailer below.

Going Going... Back Back...

Whitney and I left at 4:30 in the AM (Thanks to Stephanie!) to get to LAX where our flight was delayed 4 hours. We were so excited to surprise our family in MI and it was hard to wait. We arrived into Grand Rapids at 9:30 and hopped in the Nederveld car (Thanks Nedervelds!) that they had dropped off at the airport for us to borrow. We drove right up to Baldwin to surprise our family. The surprise went over well and we played cards into the late hours of the morning. After hanging out at teh beach on Sunday, Whitney and I drove down to Hudsonville to stay at the Beck house so that we could hang out with old friends from Hudsonville during the day on Monday. We saw some students and then had a lovely afternoon with the Nedervelds. Justin drove us back up to the cottage on Monday night and we began our relaxation. Floating on the lake, eating, drinking, cards, conversations, fishing, canoeing on the river, reading, praying, fireworks, and golfing filled our days all the way through Sunday. We came home Sunday evening, stopping by grandpa's to see grandpa and the Gardener family. We stayed our last nights in Ada (parents are selling the house), reflecting over numerosu memories and headed back to Pasadena on Tuesday morning. We have Lindsay with us here in LA, which makes the transition easier, but is still difficult to be leave family after such a nice week. We are back in the grind. Studying, working, running around... I am learning that the craziness that fills our lives really veils our hearts to beauty. I saw unusual beauty last week. I am thankful for veils being lifted.

Back in Shack

Whitney and I returned to Pasadena yesterday evening (hence the long delay in posts) and have many stories to tell. (Including another straggling Warnes that we have with us here in SoCal.) I will post over the next couple of days about our experiences, but in the mean time I'm just going to throw up a picture that sums up the week.

Glen Hansard

Don't be decieved by the intro. For those of you Barth followers, may this song bend you towards Brunner and deepen your understanding of Natural theology and common grace.

2000 Miles East

My conversations have recently been filled with reflections surrounding our 2000 mile trip back to Michigan. During the first few minutes of Monday morning, Whitney and I will be hopping on a red eye to head to the state in which we used to dwell. We plan on heading right up to the cottage to spend quality time with family adn then to finish our trip back in the G Rap. I know that blogs wear out these lists, but I am feeling a list. Yep, 10 points. 10 points of anticipation in heading back to the mitten.

10. 20 hours of fishing. 3 Bass.










9. 2 AM on the porch.
8. 6 AM on the porch.
7. 1 inch from the Meat Shack.
6. Fire flys.





5. 300 dollars worth of illegal fireworks.
4. Watching everyone else get to 21 points with plenty of ringers.
3. Floating with hot dogs.
2. Jones' Ice Cream. (I would put a picture here but after searching for 10 minutes, I don't think that there is a picture of it on the web. Something to put on the to do list while in MI!)
1. Creating eternal memories with the people I love. Duh.

A Poppy God?

For the past 8 days I have been in an intensive class with Dr. Craig Detweiler and his reflections over the relationships between pop culture and theology. We ahve covered celebrity, advertising, music, film, and tv, fashion, and sports are still to come. With the outstanding amount of time that we, as Americans, spend swimming in popular culture, this subject is growing in importance. I have added some of the highlights of the class.



-Nieburs categories of how the church hsa dealt with culture
-Avoidance
-Christ vs. Culture
-Caution
-Christ and culture in paradox
-Dialogue
-Christ transforms culture
-Appropriation
-Christ of Culture
-Divine Encounter
-Christ above Culture



-Leonard Sweet and the four options of changing church in a post-modern culture.
-Preserving the church. (Orthodox)
-Same message, new methods. (Mosaic)
-Changing the message and preserving the methods. (Episcopal)
-Change method and message. (McLaren)



Sufjan Stevens (Music)


Donnie Darcko (Film)


Apple (Advertising)


Rosie vs. Elizabeth


Christianity Today's Movie of the Year


Dancer in the Dark (Bjork)

Upside Down Church

Maybe this piece of art captures the future work of the church.

Sidewalk Art

Last night Whitney and I ventured down to Paseo Colorado to view the sidewalk art that hundreds of artists had been working on all weekend. We did not know what to expect, but loved the experience. As George Steiner says, "When it comes to music, words are lame." Also, might I add, when it comes to art, words are lame, so I will just throw a bunch of pictures on here of the art... Enjoy! (Be sure to click on the pictures to make them bigger...) (I put our favorite one on the top left... This piece won second place.)

Dodgers and Michael B.

We were given some remarkable Dodger tickets for last nights game. We were about 30 rows up from field level, right behind home plate... I don't know if I have ever been that close to the action for a game and I appreciated the view. We could hear the players, and I could see more of the minute details of the game. The Dodgers won, and we had a lovely time with some new friends Paul and Kelly. I also hung out with Michael Bredeweg this afternoon, an old friend from Hudsonville, who is in town for the Student Leadership Project (SLP). SLP is put on through Fuller Seminary and Young Life and is a marvelous program that helps students to dream big regarding their leadership within the Kingdom. Michael is a great guy and I especially enjoyed catching up with him.

VerNoNo

How about Verlander last night... What a joy!

Top Ten of Spring 2007

With another quarter in hindsight, I thought that a top ten list may be appropriate for our first spring in Pasadena.

10.) The bloom of the Jacaranda trees that line the streets of Pasadena.

9.) Seeing friends graduate and move all over the world.
8.) Whitney's big promotion at Fuller.
7.) J.J.'s steakhouse happy hour. (One dollar filet mignon quesadillas!)
6.) Learning (Working through abusive systems, the history of art and the church, writing provacative papers for systematics 1, and finishing greek!)
5.) Joining 24 Hour Fitness (I am still fat.)

4.) Further developing relationships at GPC.
3.) Beginning to dream about the possibilities of life after Fuller.
2.) More quality time with Whitney. (This picture was taken at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A. where we heard the Los Angeles Philharmonic.)

1.) Better learning with Whitney about the importance of rejoicing always, and the depth of what rejoicing really means.

The Final Cut

Here is the final cut of the film that Beau and I made. Beau's music has been properly mixed and I made some adjustments on the editing. Posted below is a reflection on this piece of art.


Beau and I began to dream about what an art piece might look like if we were to combine some of our gifts and talents that we had previously been given the opportunity to cultivate. I knew that Beau was a gifted musician and I informed Beau that I liked to dabble in post-production editing and film. We dialogued about what a short film might look like specifically for this class. We reflected upon ecclesiology, modern art, postmodern art, Jesus, and eventually landed upon a shared passion that both of us possess. Worship. We wanted to create a modern day icon not only about worship, but also for worship. We envisioned a creation of a window to heaven for this class and also for our own local church bodies. As we continued to dialogue we soon realized that the problem would not be coming up with material to put in the short film, but rather to narrow our ideas into a film that would be less than five minutes long. We narrowed by recognizing a shared passion for embracing the beauty of worship within different traditions. The idea was made complete when we decided to attempt to articulate the richness of worship within different traditions as all five human senses are engaged.
The Protestant American Church does not do well in engaging all five human senses. There is very little space within protestant worship for the visual. Through the interpretation of John Calvin, and his focus on the hearing of the Word of God over and against visual mediums within worship, protestant churches are filled with barren walls. This has also been the experience of Beau and I within our own respective churches. Services are filled with words, but often lack the language of visual imagery. Especially the language of art. Beau and I both agree that art has a place within the liturgy of our Sunday morning worship and we felt that a film, with the primary medium of the visual, could be a beneficial step in moving in more of a positive direction with using art in worship.
In order for this piece of art to be efficient in moving our own local church bodies in a positive direction, we knew that the piece would have to be aesthetically pleasing. George Steiner defines aesthetic. “Embody concentrated, selective interactions between the constraints of the observed and the boundless possibilities of the imagined.” Thus we wanted this film to capture the imagination of the viewers. As I edited the various photos together, I could feel the limits of each individual picture. Yet from talking to others who have already seen the film, and as I observe the film, I can literally feel how the intertwining of all of the different aesthetics of the piece, the movement, the words, the music, the texture, the effects, and the individual pictures call viewers into a state of imagination. While the individual pictures were very limited in their ability to aesthetically capture the viewer, the while of the project captures a piece of the cosmic story and calls viewers into a deeper state of imagination. This is beauty to Beau and I. Beauty calls people into a state of imagination.
We feel that the idea of beauty calls us to a series of difficult questions. What is beautiful? Is beauty truly in the eye of the beholder? Or does beauty have a consistency within its ethos? In his book Visual Faith, William A. Dyrness writes…

“An examination of some of the biblical language fro beauty reveals that beauty is connected both to God’s presence and activity and to the order that God has given to creation.“

It our belief that this piece, Sensing Worship, was and continues to be connected to God’s presence and activity and thus contains beauty. We also believe that this piece is beautiful because of the order that it contains. The consistent rhythm of the song, the movement of images, the steady communication of the lyrics, and the focused message of the art all contribute to its beauty. While God’s activity and order do not encompass the totality of its beauty, the art is connected to God and possesses order and thus has components of beauty within it. This beauty then leads not only to imagination, but also to action.
Our desire in creating this film was to open a window to heaven. The transcendent space that is offered through art exists for more than just the space of transcendence. This space is sacred as it calls us into action. It is the hope of Beau and I that Sensing Worship will call people to a new depth of understanding and practice in worship. We hope that this film inspires both worshippers and those who plan worship to take more into account each of our God given senses. Engaging these senses will better allow God to connect with worshippers and will give the Holy Spirit space to call people deeper into love for God and love for neighbor. Ultimately we hope that this window to heaven acts as a catalyst in creating space to allow people to worship deeper into spirit and truth, which will then lead to the expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven in all of the communities that surround each of the respective viewers.
In a world where we are increasingly surrounded by films created for the sole purpose of entertainment and for creating a financial profit, we deeply desire for this film to do more than simply entertain. I don’t think that I could say it better than Rookmaaker in his book Modern Art and the Death of a Culture.

“They depict as true a world which is limited and superficial, one without God, without the deeper questions in man’s heart, without real matters of life and death, for life and death are reduced to sentiment, or adventures, or crime and violence or cruelty, without any sort of judgment passed.”

We especially love Rookmaaker’s thought that many films do not capture the deeper questions within the heart of humanity. For it is in the questions that we journey deeper into Truth. What Beau and I find most interesting is that answers aren’t necessarily the end point of the journey of questions. We think that the deepest levels of Truth and reality are often found in the process of living out the deepest questions of humanities heart. Thus our hope is that this piece of art calls people not to concrete answers, but to conversations and to spaces where questions about worship, reality and God can be lived out.
So as we continue to have consistent conversations with people in our respective congregations about worship, we hope that this film may enable people to live deeper into their questions not only about worship, but ultimately about reality, which we believe is best encountered in God. As worship leaders, Beau and I have learned that people are consistently frustrated with Sunday morning congregational worship. While there are many factors to this frustration for the average worshipper in America, we feel that a significant portion of this frustration comes because of our handicapped senses in the average protestant worship space. Protestants have not been freed to release all senses in worship and have been trained to highly prioritize only listening to the written Word of God. We have also been trained to numb all other senses in order that we might best be able to hear the Word. George Steiner brilliantly wrote in Real Presences “that when it speaks of music, language is lame.” Might we add that when it speaks of worship, engaging only one sense is lame. Ultimately when only a one sense is engaged to encounter the ultimate reality of God, the encountering is lame. And if our articulation of God and reality is lame, then the natural outflow of worship will also be lame.
Thus, as we attempted to do in Sensing Worship, we must consistently engage all senses in worship in order to better engage reality. This articulation will better lead to order and to beauty and to imagination and then to action. If we do not engage all five senses in worship we will be left with lame worship. And lame worship will then lead to a lame sense of beauty, which will then lead to a lame sense of imagination, which will then lead to lame action, which will naturally communicate with the world that we worship a lame God who has a lame love for humanity. Deep within, the average worshipper in America knows that God’s love for the world is not lame. May Sensing Worship be a window into heaven that calls people to better encounter God and to better distribute the depth of God’s love for the world.

L.A. Times

Be sure to check out Column One of the L.A. Times as printed yesterday!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scholer5jun05,0,1943101.story?coll=la-home-center

The L.A. Times did a lovely article on Dr. David Schoeler, a professor here at Fuller. David and his wife Jeanette have been extremely encouraging to Whitney and I in our time here at Fuller. We have learned so much from them and look forward to continuing to learn from them in the future. (Be sure to look closely at the pictures that were in the paper as well! You might recognize a couple of people...)

Final Project

For the final project in my Art and Theology class with Dr. Bill Dyrness, a new friend (Beaux Wammack) and I decided that we might make a musical film representing the beauty of the engaging of all senses in worship. I hope that you enjoy...

GPC Blogs are Neat

Be sure to check out Jeff Bonhiver's blog that he just started. He is interning with me at GPC and he will be sure to keep us up to date on the latest and greatest from the world of worship and theology... I added him to my list of links under GPC/Fuller peeps. (I stole this picture off his Facebook!)

CELEBRITY SIGHTING!

So Whitney and I were enjoying Chipotle earlier this week. As we were sitting outside on the porch we were disturbed by a national icon. The one and only "Booger" as seen in Revenge of the Nerds came strolling by. I was stopped dead in my tracks as I remembered his extraordinary burping scene in the master narrative of the opus of Revenge of the Nerds. Whitney desperately wanted to get a picture and his autograph, but I contained her excitment as both of us choked on our burrito! May we always remember his brilliance.

Who's yo Daddy?

There was one more quiz to take!

You’re Origen! You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

A Conversation Piece

While meandering around the blog of Dr. Chris Spinks, I came across two quizzes that help people to understand the way that they think... The first results tables that I am printing are Whitney's results and the second two results pages are my results. (I had a horrible time with the html, so I apologize that everything isn't well fitting, but I think that you will get the idea.)

Whitney

You scored as John Calvin, Much of what is now called Calvinism had more to do with his followers than Calvin himself, and so you may or may not be committed to TULIP, though God's sovereignty is all important. John Calvin 73% Anselm 67% Jürgen Moltmann 67% Paul Tillich 53% Martin Luther 47% Augustine 33% Karl Barth 33% Friedrich Schleiermacher 27% Charles Finney 27% Jonathan Edwards 20% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern, You are Emergent- Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 75% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 64% Roman Catholic 61% Neo orthodox 54% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Classical Liberal 39% Modern Liberal 36% Reformed Evangelical 25% Fundamentalist 25% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Nick

You scored as Anselm, Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?' Anselm 73% Jürgen Moltmann 67% Augustine 47% Karl Barth 40% John Calvin 33% Charles Finney 27% Martin Luther 27% Jonathan Edwards 20% Paul Tillich 20% Friedrich Schleiermacher 13% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern, You are Emergent- Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 75% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 64% Roman Catholic 61% Neo orthodox 54% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Classical Liberal 39% Modern Liberal 36% Reformed Evangelical 25% Fundamentalist 25% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

While some of the results were laughable, the quizzes were still enlightening to take! Just click on the links under the results and you will be taken to the website.

Humble Missional Movements

John Stackhouse Jr. (Author of Humble Apologetics) wrote an article in the May/June edition of Books and Culture entitled a Bigger-and Smaller-View of Mission. While the entire article was engaging, This section on inclusivism especially stood out to me...

"This position (Inclusivism) affirms that without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and the he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6). This assertion comes in the great chapter listing examples of faith from the whole sweep of the Bible. Thus it includes lots of people who apparently had never heard of Jesus Christ, but had encountered the true God, believing that he did exist and that he is trustworthy, that he "rewards those who seek him" with what they cannot do for themselves. This is a fundamental posture of faith, and from this passage, as from many others in the Bible, it is obvious that one does not have to know about Jesus to adopt this posture that results in salvation. Does this mean that other religions are salvific? Certainly not. NO religion is salvific: not Hinduism or Shinto or Islam, but also not Christianity. God is salvific... To confine the scope of salvation to those who have heard certain facts about Jesus and who come to accept him on this basis, therefore, is not necessitated by the Bible, and in fact is not even the best way to understand the Bible."

Luke 15

This is why we are in need of a shepard as found in Luke 15. Watch it four times... I promise it gets funnier every time!

Another Blog

Be sure to check out the newest blog creation...

http://www.kineticfilms.blogspot.com

This blog will monthly display the work of the students that are a part of Kinetic (GPC High School Student Ministry). Earlier I posted our first film that we made. The second film is also posted on that site. The second film is also posted below. This short is an interpretation of the story of the rich man and Lazarus as written in Luke 16.

Nightline Debate

I had a hard time watching Nightline this evening. Beginning a new series, Nightline decided to premier "Face Off" with a debate on the existance of God between Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort versus members of the Rational Response Squad named Brian Sapient and a woman whom calls herself Kelly. As both side spouted cliche after cliche towards one another, Whitney and I shivered with pain. Quotes such as Cameron saying that "proving the existance of God is easier than you think", and that "we (Kirk and Ray) can absolutely prove the existance of God, 100 persent, without the use of faith" filled the airwaves. On the other side Kelly enlightened America that there is no historical evidance that "Jesus was even a man". And believe me... This is only the beginning. The most striking portion of the piece is the pain that is happening after the debate. As of right now 3,768 people have responded to the debate and most comments are full of toxic content... Following in the pattern set by the debaters. I would love to process this debate with people over the nexts days as I am struggling to articulate the ugliness behind the debate. I do recognize a couple of things about the debate. I do not fit on either side of this conversation and most people on both sides of the question that I have had intelligible conversations about this subject handled the material in exponentially more responsible ways also do not fit on either side of this debate. I have posted pieces of the debate below.

A Short

Within Kinetic (at GPC) we will be making short films once a month... This is the very first short that we will be premiering thing Sunday... I hope that you get a laugh out of it!

A Quietdrive Tribute

Jeff, a student at Fuller and my fellow intern at GPC, has a unique connection to a band that seems to be making quite a name for themselves across America. The band is Quietdrive and Jeff has a special connection with the band because his brother is the guitarist for the band. This is there first video that they have made from their single Rise From the Ashes... I have really enjoyed the song and thought that I would throw it out there on my blog...


This video is Quietdrive in concert singing what many like as their favorite Quietdrive song... The song is a cover that most will be familiar with... Time After Time

Family Camp

Whitney and I had a lovely time up at GPC's Family Camp last weekend. We drove 2 hours into the mountains to reflect on community with the people of GPC. Goran Dragolavic, the speaker, a self prclaimed reformed existentialist, gave us a marvelous space to converse about the implications of friendship and assembly. He powerfully noted a recent study that 55 percent of Americans do not have a close friendship with anybody and the 73 percent of evangelicals do not have a close friendship with anybody. Goran attributed this to friendships rooting in need and the truth that many evangelicals wear a mask that makes them look like they don't need anybody. Thus the 73 percent. This is a wide brush stroke of the dialogue of the weekend, but it really was fantastic. Whitney and I spent time with the people of GPC and we really enjoyed their companionship. The weekend gave us a certain energy that we were looking for and we now feel rested in many ways. Oh yeah... And Whitney played paintball. So awesome! A quote from her regrading paintball, "Paintball was my favorite part of the weekend."

Pounding

"Just because one carries a hammer, doesn't mean that everything is a nail." Dr. Dale Ryan

Diplaced People and Boxes

A group of people from Glendale ventured over to the Pomona Fairgrounds this past weekend to support ending the war in Northern Uganda through Invisable Children and the Displace Me Campaign. 5000 people from the area gathered and built cardboard houses, wrote letters to politicians, listened to speakers, prayed, and watched new film reporting on the conditions of Northern Uganda. For a more detailed report be sure to see Rene's site as he did a wonderful job with a lot of teh details of the context of the turmoil in Uganda. (Click on Rene out of the GPC/Fuller peeps)


As Whitney was coming home from work yesterday, police were beginning to put up yellow tape around campus. She had heard that there was a bomb threat, but we didn't put much more thought into it after she made it home. As I then left for class an hour later, I couldn't get into campus as everything had been taped off. I asked a policewoman what was happening and she told me to look at the box that was sitting right on the corner of Walnut and Oakland... I looked and she told me that people thought that the box contained a bomb... I eventually made it to class after walking 8 blocks around all of the commotion. While sitting in class we were startled by an explosion. Our professor sent somebody to go check what it was and it turns out that the bomb squad blew up the box. In doing so they discovered that the box was simply filled with alarm clocks for the office in which it was sent. In light of the Virginia Tech Disaster, this was a pretty scary deal for the Fuller Community. If you close up on the picture, you can actually see the box sitting on the corner.