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Lori Chaffer in The Pitch

Lori Chaffer's Music is Mannah From Heaven (Crystal Wiebe)

The article contains an embedded mp3 from Lori's 2003 record 1Beginning and discusses her return to song writing.

"The Christian music industry caused me to shut down," she says. "It's a little too much propaganda and not enough art."

She mentions the time that a Christian radio station insisted on removing the word bimbo from a Waterdeep song. (The band obliged, grudgingly.) Also frustrating: her sense that she was stuck in a genre that left no room for complexity, including the things that most inspired her — "hard stuff, sadness, confusion." (read more)

RELATED
Waterdeep Home Page
Lori Chaffer 1Beginning

Technorati Tags: LoriChaffer, KANSASCITY, Waterdeep

Ephesians Resources

I have started a page of Ephesians Resources that I think will benefit people in our study of Paul's letter at Redeemer.

This is very basic and I welcome any suggestions of resources you have found helpful in your own study of Ephesians. 

This page will grow throughout the summer and fall, and will be linked at the Redeemer Fellowship Homepage as long as we're in the series.

Memorizing Ephesians

Last Sunday we started Paul's letter to the Ephesians at Redeemer. In my sermon, I encouraged people to read one chapter of the letter each day of the week, and then read the entire letter on Sunday. I also encouraged people to consider memorizing the entire letter with friends.

I've had several people contact me about the resources I mentioned for memorizing extended portions of Scripture. The things I had in mind were:

- Why Memorize Scripture? (John Piper)
- An Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture (Andrew Davis)
- How Do You Memorize Scripture (John Piper)

The gist of what you're going to get in both of these is the simple strategy of Repetition & Review. Piper summarizes his method essentially as "Ten Times Read. Ten Times Said." Read the portion you're trying to memorize out loud ten times in the morning, and then repeat the passage ten times throughout the day-- even if you need help. I write my verses on a 3x5 card and carry it with me throughout the day.

Those that use the Andrew Davis book will notice that he uses Ephesians to create his "Sample Schedule."

I also wanted to draw attention to Timmy Brister's modified Ephesians schedule. The greatest part of his schedule is that he includes moleskine sized pages containing each weekly section to memorize. Moleskine users can simply paste these into their journals, or they can try Timmy's Moleskine cahier hack

The Correlation Between Ninjas & Homelessness

HOMELESS EPIDEMIC PRODUCT OF NINJA VIOLENCE

(photo by Mr. Flibble)

After GAFCON

Post GAFCON Interview with J.I. Packer

Post GAFCON Interview with Peter Jensen

GAFCON: A Longer Look

N.T. Wright reflects on GAFCON

Read the GAFCON Statement

Technorati Tags: GAFCON, JIPacker, NTWRIGHT

You Don't Create a Culture

Over the past year, I've become a pretty devoted user of BACKPACK, not only as a part of my implementation of GTD (see my GTD stuff here and here), but as a way to collect and organize information for our team environment at Redeemer Fellowship.

In addition to the multiple productivity benefits BACKPACK has given me, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the 37signals blog, Signal vs. Noise. They have consistently great stuff on a wide range of topics that interest me. What is most beneficial about the blog is the perspective that their team brings to whatever issue is at hand.

Take for example Jason Fried's thoughts on how leaders create culture within their organizations:

From time to time during conference Q&A sessions I’m asked “How did you create the culture at 37signals?” or “What do you recommend we do to set up an open, sharing company culture like yours?”

My answer: You don’t create a culture. Culture happens. It’s the by-product of consistent behavior. If you encourage people to share, and you give them the freedom to share, then sharing will be built into your culture. If you reward trust then trust will be built into your culture.

Artificial
Artificial cultures are instant. They’re big bangs made of mission statements, declarations, and rules. They are obvious, ugly, and plastic. Artificial culture is paint.

Real
Real cultures are built over time. They’re the result of action, reaction, and truth. They are nuanced, beautiful, and authentic. Real culture is patina.

Don’t think about how to create a culture, just do the right things for you, your customers, and your team and it’ll happen. (source)

Read the full post and comments for some great discussion, as well as George Ambler's reflections on the post.

Peter Chattaway on EXPELLED

Nathan Frankowski's film Expelled opened last Friday in Canada and Peter Chattaway had two pieces in the Canadian press about the film and its genesis:

Expelled Brings Intelligent Design Controversy Back Home to Canada (Canadian Christianity)

Storm Gathers Around Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Georgia Straight)

“Sir, you’re awesome. Here’s a plaque!” ... "Need more proof? Here’s a certificate "

Steve Carell Signs For Three More Years of The Office

Technorati Tags: TheOffice

Books That I Have Pre-Ordered Since March

three have come, and three more to look forward to!

FRIDAY PHOTO

attempting to get back in some old rhythms...hope everyone has a great weekend

ALL MY PHOTOS | FRIDAY PHOTO GROUP

Community Meal Tonight!!

Tonight marks our first Redeemer Fellowship community meal. 6:00 PM at Mark & Jami's. Get directions, info, and maps here. Those that can't make it tonight, we're having another one 6:00 PM Saturday at Virginia's house. Again, all the info you need is here

my del.icio.us world

- You Need to Know Matt Chandler (I agree, and I'm also glad that Mike Anderson is working his mojo @ Resurgence)
- You remember Willow Creek Repenting? Well, now it seems that Out of Ur is Repenting
- The Top Ten Talks @ TED (maybe I start working on my own top 10 TEDTalks)
- Wounds of a Friend (Sarah Sumner writes about gender, exegesis, and political ideologies)
- Ten Photos of Kansas City You Have Not Seen That Belong on Your Wall
- Diigo (will this soon become my Diigo world?)
- Homeless in Chicago (great work Grapengater!)
- Pitchfork Reviews the new My Brightest Diamond record
- Fatherhood and the Future of Civilization
- How to Mark a Book (Mortimer Adler...better learn How to Read a Book too)
- It's nuggets like this that keep me twittering (I don't care what you drank at *$)

my del.icio.us world

Kansas City Church Plant Update

“Wait! I thought you were living in Canada”

“No, I finished my coursework at Regent and we are in the process of planting a church in Kansas City.”

“Oh...Wow! I had no idea. So, how do you like living in KC?”

“Well, we’ve actually been living in Little Rock since last summer...it’s kind of a long story”

This pretty much summarizes the opening segment of every conversation I’ve had for the past eighteen months. The good news is, we are finally in Kansas City!

(our  house in KC)

And, by God’s stunning grace, our plans to plant a new church in the urban core of KC are moving forward at a blinding pace and in ways much different and more beautiful than we ever could have conceived.

What follows is my attempt to provide a brief sketch of some of what has transpired in the past year and to update those who are interested on what we are currently doing in Kansas City.

Kansas City Urban Renaissance

A friend from Chicago just sent me the March / April 2008 issue of Constructor Magazine. The cover story, "Kansas City Beefs Up Its Urban Profile" features two stories: Urban Renaissance as well as a piece about the Sprint Center. Both pieces are obviously written for a particular audience, but give an interesting and helpful perspective on the growth and development within our city.

The city known best for its blues and barbecue is now also benefiting from billions of dollars of new business.

The current issue of Urban Times also features a piece on Kansas City's present development strategy for the neighborhoods of the greater downtown area (as well as an unrelated piece on great dining opportunities on Southwest Boulevard).

N.T. Wright on Colbert Report

For those that didn't DVR it or haven't seen it linked elsewhere, I thought I would link Wright's appearance on the Colbert Report. Wright's new book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (which is on my shelf but I haven't read) is essentially a condensed version of his massive work, The Resurrection of the Son of God.

Watch the whole episode here

Technorati Tags: ColbertReport, NTWRIGHT

Wordle

Wordle could possibly be the most fun (and dare I say potentially useful) internet tool I have found in recent days. It "turns any block of text into a word cloud -- like a tag cloud but prettier" (via TED). I thought the best way to test things out would be to take some random Dwight facts from Dunderpedia and let the wordle machine do its mojo...below is the fruit of my experiment.

See it here at the wordle gallery and then go play for yourself

Technorati Tags: wordle

Jesus Rode Dinosaurs?

(yet one more reason to trash all children's Bibles and buy The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name)

Stream the New Sigur Ros Album

(in the strange case you're already tired of the Spoon treats from this morning)

Sigur Ros Website

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Spoon: Peace Like a River (Paul Simon)

Spoon: Daytrotter Session

Pitchfork:

...the Austin indie rockers cover "Peace Like a River", from Simon's self-titled 1972 solo debut, in their live session for Daytrotter, and they successfully come up with a few new ways to leave your lover.

They've actually been playing the song in live shows for a little while now, transforming Simon's laid-back acoustic plucks and hand percussion into the familiar framework of melodic yet sharp-edged recent Spoon albums like last year's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Simon's vision of the forces of history carrying people through periods of misinformation and thuggery remains resonant, and it's a nice change to hear Britt Daniel's gruff voice reaching up for those high notes. Spoon's Daytrotter session also includes a previously unreleased original-- the jerky and string-accented "Back to the Life"-- along with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga's "The Ghost of You Lingers" and the Soft Effects EP's "I Can See the Dude".

Spoon: Daytrotter Session

Technorati Tags: Spoon

ESV STUDY BIBLE PRE-ORDER DISCOUNT + A29 RECEIVES 5%

Pre-Order ESV Study Bible at 35% Off and Crossway Donates 5% to Acts 29 Church Planting Network

DETAILS

Technorati Tags: A29, puppy