The seven27 Christmas Special

Jordan makes another hit, promoting our last BIG NITE gathering of '06!

For the Bible tells me so...

How much of what we do in the church is biblical and how much is cultural? I am personally convinced that much of what we do in church is cultural. Not that it is bad. It is just cultural. It is our expression of what we think would be most honoring to God (at least when its not "the way we've always done it"). Other cultures long ago or far away don't do life the way we do, so in some way they won't do church the way we do.

You come to conclusions about these things by asking a series of why questions? Why do we sing the way we do? Why dress this way? Why have this person speak this time and that person speak that time? You get the gist.

I used to quip (defensively)... for the Bible tells me so. But then I looked into the Bible and I didn't find much about how to do church, just a few descriptions (not prescriptions) of a few early churches....who even differed a bit on how they did things.

If this talk scares you, my next advice won't...look in the Bible for yourself. See how little the Bible prescribes for the church. The Bible tells us many important things about man and God and Jesus...life and death things, but it tells us little about how to do church. To further push on the issue of our cultural expressions of the church I sugges Dan Kimball's recent blog post Pews, Pulpits, Pastors, Preaching and other things that can get in the way of the church "being" the church.

I'm flattered

Kevin Carroll is my hero.

This has absolutely nothing to do with fact that he highlighted my blog on his blog, today. See the evidence here.

I am flattered, excited and giddy that Kevin saw my post on him and found it worth sharing with others.

I am planning on getting his book, Rules of the Red Rubber Ball, and reading it myself this Christmas (seriously). I'd suggest you do the same and get one for someone else you know, whom you want to encourage to live playfully.

Vintage21 Jesus Video #3

Is Jesus for girls?That is what a majority of people think. He was a whiny, meek, compassionate man who was...well weak. And people get this notion from Church. I came across this hilarious video designed to get us to think about the Jesus we portray.

In the Spring of 2003, Vintage21 had a four week series on Jesus Christ, taking a deep look at what He said and did. It was difficult at times to get past our preconceived notions that had been developed by staunch, starched Sunday School classes of old. This is a satirical look at what some people think Jesus is like. Thank goodness He's not.

See video

Web Worship

As I lay on my couch last night watching Sunday night football , I also tuned into the Passion Live Link over at 268generation.com , curious about what would ensue. I've been involved in a bunch of conference calls over the years but never a Live Web Worship event. And what unfolded was refreshingly simple. It was an hour of singing led by Steve Fee broken up by times of prayer... that simple.

Apparently Louie Giglio gathered his staff and friends at the Passion House in Atlanta to broadcast the event. He regularly updated listeners as to who was listening and listeners "showed their support" by commenting on the blog. I noted that at 10:14 there were 133 comments and at 10:45 there were 200 comments. I even commented to let the staff know that a Buckeye was listening in. It appears that families were huddled around the family computer and college groups were broadcasting the link to entire rooms full of people.

The event was simply an hour of praise and prayer. We prayed for the upcoming Passion 07 Event, for college campuses and for the nations. I personally felt the tension in my life. The big screen in my living room was broadcasting another Sunday Night NFL game. Fans were cheering, commentators were analyzing and players were hustling. But the small screen in front of me was broadcasting this live worship event. My attention bounced between two realities, each voice vying for my attention. I sort of liked it. The tension that is...of allowing the Christ I worship to invade my personal space and play space, but not necessarily being the center of my attention. The tension of the here-and-now fighting with the still-coming. The tension of the already and the not-yet. Prayer and football were my comfort. I appreciate Louie Giglio's creativity, leadership and God-centeredness. It was a memorable Sunday night for me.

Passion Live Webcast

I just got an e-mail from Louie Giglio. Well...that is stretching the truth abit...it was more like the generic Passion '07 e-blast. So now we are both on the same page. It announced a LIVE WEBCAST, this Sunday at 10pm. I went to Passion '06 in Nashville (and blogged it here) and quite enjoyed the teaching (John Piper, Beth Moore, Louie) and the worship (Crowder, Redman, Tomlin, Hall, etc.). If you are interested in taking a peek at where college ministry is these days, then show up to the WEBCAST. Here was the e-mail......

Live Link Unites Students for Worship/PrayerPassion
Hosts Live Web Event Sunday Night, December 3

Though college students are notorious for making plans at the last minute, we hope you know where you're going to be Sunday night, December 3. Where, you ask? Huddled close to your computer with a few friends at 10:00 PM EST as we worship and pray together leading up to Passion07.

The Live Link is going to be an audio-only stream giving students across the nation (and around the globe) the chance to link together--some connecting from Kansas, others from a dorm in Boston and somebody in Australia where it's already Monday! The Live Link will be interactive, so you won't just be listening, you'll be singing at the top of your lungs (OK, maybe not so loud for some of you!) and praying with us. We'll be streaming the audio live right from our website at 268Generation.com. All you have to do is turn your computer on, get to 268Generation.com and click on the Live Link Banner.

It would be amazing if everyone on the journey to Passion07 gets connected on December 3, so tell everyone you know who's coming, and even those who aren't, and join with us Sunday night for the Live Link.

The Passion07 Live Link
Sunday, December 3
10:00 PM EST

Visit http://www.268generation.com/ for more info
Click on "Live Link" to test your connection