purpose driven chameleon

Click the picture to see the actual site.
Thanks to Jamie for pointing this out.

I’ve heard of being all things to all people… but this is ridiculous!!!

I don’t have a problem with a church having a service that has a specific style of music if that style of music helps them express their love of Christ in an authentic way. I don’t even have a problem with churches that have a certain theme. You know, different strokes for different folks… Whatever blows your skirt up.

The thing that bums me out about this is that it seems like Saddleback Church is trying to take over the entire church “market” in their hometown. Pastor Rick… why do you need a service with gospel music, and a big choir? There’s already a church in town that’s doing that. Why do you need a worship service with “Island” music and a “Luau”? There’s a Samoan church a few miles away that already does this. Why do you need a “Traditions” service? There are tons of churches in town that offer hymn singing and solid biblical teaching. Why do you need a “Country” service? Actually, why does anybody need a country service!?!?!?

Pastor Rick, your church is big enough.

good quote from a good book

“The art of evangelism is not one to be mastered; it’s more lifestyle than duty and more natural process than calculated function of necessity. It’s God’s resounding request for His followers to participate in His story. Your spiritual, mental, and emotional involvement is key to being an engaged follower of Jesus who naturally and effortlessly shares your faith story. God has called you to participate. Will you?”

Matthew Paul Turner, The Coffeehouse Gospel

CLICK HERE to buy the book (under $10)

Hurrican Rita Update

NOT AGAIN...Just when the Gulf Coast thought it was safe to come out and play... Here comes Rita.
Hurricane Rita is Category 4 right now, which is a pretty major Hurricane.
It looks like it's headed for Houston. Our fourth team from Santa Rosa looks like it may be stranded in New Orleans because pretty much every flight from down south goes through Houston.

There are also tons of people getting stuck in Houston. Lizanne is a blogger that frequents this site and she wrote asking for prayer. Lizanne and her husband are church planters in the Houston area. Because of gridlock, and outrageous gas prices her family, and thousands of other families are being forced to hunker down and ride out the storm. Pray with me for those that are forced to stay in those areas...


UPDATE 9-27-05

Lizanne's electricity and internet are back up so she was able to let us know that her family is safe. They got lot's of wind but no damage to their home. She says that the kids are enjoying time away from school!!! Thanks for your prayers.

Poor Malachi!!!

CLICK HERE for the full story…

www.relief-report.blogspot.com

I've finally put together the pictures and a little bit of the video that we got during the trip to Louisiana and Mississippi. It was way too much for culture driven life so I put together a site for the pictures and the stories that came out of my recent relief mission to the gulf coast. Please take a minute to check it out.

CLICK HERE to go to the Relief Report

words cannot describe...

Words cannot describe the destruction I've seen in the past few days. I'm heading home, in the Houston airport waiting for a connecting flight. I'm tired. I'm looking forward to being home. I can't wait to kiss my wife, and my boys. Hopefully I'll get to sleep in a little bit. After I've had a day or two to decompress I'll post a day by day description of my trip to Louisiana and Mississippi. I've got tons of pictures and a bit of video too.

Stay tuned...

I’M GOING!!!

Tuesday afternoon September 6^th, I will be joining a team that will be heading to Louisiana to help with the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. We will be taking a 32 foot motorhome that will be packed with food, water, diapers, clothing, and other supplies. This motorhome has been donated to help set up a base for relief operations.

Once we have set up a base for hurricane relief operations other teams will follow in the months ahead to help with the ongoing effort. I have to go. I’ve gotta pack. I’m sure I’ll have stories and pictures to share when I get back.

Please pray for us.

If you would like to help:

CLICK HERE to support our team, look for the “Donate” button (must have Paypal account), or mail your donation to:

Hope Chapel Santa Rosa
4983 Sonoma Highway STE. D
Santa Rosa, CA 95409 USA
(write: “UGO4GOD-Hurricane Relief” in the memo area of the check)

While we're gone...
CLICK HERE to check the “UGO4GOD blog” for updates from our team.

grace and peace, jimmy

tragedy

Photo courtesy of NOAA

This last week has really been a blur. I’ve felt kind of numb. All the news stories about the hurricane, all the images on the TV and the web. It’s hard to watch. It’s all too much.

Sitting on my couch 2,327 miles away it all seemed so surreal. I felt helpless. I didn’t fell like there was anything I could do.

When the news first started coming in detailing the immensity of the disaster I can remember thinking, “I need to pray, I need to pray.” Which is true, but I need to do more than that. WE need to do more than that. Too often prayer becomes a cop out for Christians. It’s easy to pray without actually DOING anything to help. I realize that I can’t go over there by myself, but I can support those who can. I can’t send water, but I can support the relief agencies that are providing fresh water. I can’t provide medical help, but I can support those who can. I can help. I can do something.

DO SOMETHING

CLICK HERE to Donate to the Salvation Army

Check out a firsthand account of the devastation at DANCING WITH KATRINA

::invitation::

You are invited.
Come for a time of:

Talking to, remembering, worshiping, and meditating on Jesus.
Come check it out, everyone is welcome.
Pass on the invitation.

Friday August 26th.
Drop in anytime between 7.30pm & 9.30pm.

If you are in Northern California come by and be a part of this worship/prayer/meditation experience.

CLICK HERE to email me for directions.

CLICK HERE to see pictures from last time.

This is why I’m a PC guy

From the ASSOCIATED PRESS

RICHMOND, Va. - People trampled, beaten with a folding chair. A woman urinating on herself. The police called, then themselves calling for backup. All to get a bargain.

The stampede erupted Tuesday when a crowd estimated at 5,500 showed up at the Richmond International Raceway to purchase 1,000 used Apple iBook laptop computers. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the 4-year-old computers to county residents for $50. New iBooks cost between $999 and $1,299.

"I could not move, I could not breathe," said Latoya Jones, 19, who lost one of her flip-flops in the ordeal and later limped around on the sizzling blacktop with one foot bare. "This is total, total chaos."

Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting since 1:30 a.m. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene. People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.

Blandine Alexander, 33, said one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she wet herself.

Seventeen people suffered minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment, Henrico County Battalion Chief Steve Wood said. There were no arrests, and the iBooks sold out by 1 p.m.

This “Cult of MAC” thing is getting out of hand!!! All you MAC people are crazy! MadCow even had a contest to name her new laptop recently!!! I get it, you like your computer, but this is getting a little creepy!

In other Apple news… It appears that Apple will have to pay Microsoft a licensing fee for each ipod that they manufacture! When Apple was developing the ipod someone leaked information to Microsoft and that sneaky little bastard Bill Gates beat ‘em to the patent office by two months. The patent office has ruled that Microsoft has the right to charge a licensing fee for each ipod made. Apple is appealing the decision. The licensing fee would be around $10 per ipod. Apple sold 18 million ipods in the last year. OUCH!!!

Apple is totally trying to take over the world with this ipod thing. I’ll give them this though, they’ve come a long way since the very first version of the ipod…

But now they’ve got an “Apple” version of everything. For example, they’ve got the ipod image, so you can view pictures. Then they recently came out with these nifty goggles that will let you view your image in stereo!!

They have the Apple “i Vacuum”. I had no idea that they were interested in getting into the home appliance market!

And last but certainly not least……

THE IPOD BRA!!!

AWESOME!!!

hunter or angler?

I read this article and wanted to share it with you. It’s got some great points about the technique that Jesus told his followers to use when sharing the gospel.

Hunter or Angler?

When Jesus called a crusty fisherman by the name of Peter to become a disciple, he promised that he would become a "fisher of men.” Throughout my Christian life, I have heard that same analogy used to describe the process of leading people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Sometime ago, however, I realized that when presenting the Gospel to many people, I approached it more like I was hunting than fishing. This, in spite of the fact that nowhere does the Bible say to be "hunters of men.”

You see, my approach was to "load my gospel gun” lay in wait or sneak up on someone and then blast away in a rather rapid-fire way, expecting them to understand their need, comprehend what God had done for them, trust me enough to believe that I wasn't crazy, respond to the Holy Spirit's invitation and believe on Christ as Lord and Savior in a matter of minutes. Indeed much of my emphasis was on locating my "prey” delivering my "message" and bagging my conquest. It really was quite foolish, if not unbiblical.

Growing up in the Midwest as I did, hunting and fishing were common pastimes. I've always been more of a fisherman than a hunter – though I’ve done both. Hunting is really quite a violent pursuit that involves ambush and power. The object is to locate your target and blast away.

Fishing however, requires much more finesse. One scouts the prime locations, hopes for good weather conditions, checks the wind, selects bait and equipment thoughtfully, prepares the hook carefully and then often waits patiently. There’s a lot of strategy and care in the process. Some days you'll go all day without a nibble. Other days you bring home a full stringer. Some fish bite and leave. Some chomp and stay. It's really quite different than hunting.

Now I realize that soul-winning and hunting and fishing analogies have their limitations, and I don't want to stretch a comparison to a ridiculous extent. At the same time, I became convicted upon thinking of my own approach to telling others about Christ that I should be more of a fisherman and less of a hunter.

I wonder how many times I frightened people away from the Gospel message because I was too brash, too impatient, too self-absorbed and in the end, I missed my chance to be God's agent in drawing a person to Himself.

I'm thinking of several times when had I been gentler, kinder, prepared the “bait” more carefully that I'm sure I could have been a more effective ambassador for the Gospel.

By Dan Burrell
In the Trinity Tribune

Brother Roger

Brother Roger, the founder of the Ecumenical Taize Community was killed during an evening prayer service Tuesday evening August 16, 2005.



Brother Roger, 90, was leading the evening prayer service when a deranged woman stood up, pulled out a knife and attacked Brother Roger, stabbing him several times.
He died almost instantly. Parishioners held the woman until the authorities arrived. Over 2,500 worshipers witnessed the attack.

Brother Roger founded the Taize community in 1940 and made it his life's mission to spread peace and reconciliation among Christians.

I am so saddened by this senseless attack.

CLICK HERE for coverage at the San Francisco Chronicle
CLICK HERE for coverage at the INTL. HERALD TRIBUNE
CLICK HERE for coverage at BBC
CLICK HERE for the Taize Community site

Brother Roger with Mother Theresa

were we like that?

I recently went to a wedding at a church I used to go to. Katie and I kept remarking that it was like a class reunion, so-and-so got fatter, what’s-his-face went bald and so on, and so forth. It’s been several years since we’ve been back and it was really weird to see all the faces from the past.

What struck me about the conversations that I had were how overly aggressive the people were. They asked questions in rapid fire mode. "What have you done for the Lord lately?" "What church are you going to?" "Does your ministry move in the prophetic?" "We’re selling everything and moving several states away to follow the prophetic leading of the Lord… Do you still have the same old job here in town? Oh, hmmm, that's nice I guess."

They shook their head slowly with a sad little frown when they found out that we were no longer with the same denomination. They freaked out when someone would point out that I had a tattoo. Someone made a joke about a local bar, and there were looks of shock and horror when I said that I had been there and it wasn’t really that bad.

I’m sure they’re having prayer meetings about it right now.

cool t-shirt

I saw this T-Shirt on the internet the other day. Funny stuff.


BTW, on Sunday, 8-14-05 at 2:01pm Culture Driven Life had it's 10,000th visitor.

GOOD TIMES

congratulations!!!

Congratulations to Thomas & Mellissa on the arrival of Ruby Rae!

CLICK HERE for more pics

meshugina

I was hanging out at a music store the other day. Business was slow, and there were just a few customers milling about, playing guitars, or banging on drums. Music stores are generally a pretty casual work environment and the employees were walking around with coffee and chatting with each other. It was a nice mellow start to the day.
Then I overheard one of the employees spewing hatred. I could not believe the evil, hateful things this man was saying.

He was talking to one of his coworkers, and his back was to me so he didn’t see me walk up right behind him. He was saying, “You know who I hate? I hate those f*cking Jews. You can’t f*cking trust them, you can’t do business with them. Those g*d damned Jews are just pieces of sh*t as far as I’m concerned. I f*cking hate them.”

At this point he realizes that I am standing a few feet away hearing his little tirade and turns around kind of sheepishly.

I smiled real big, stuck out my right hand to shake his and proclaimed loudly, “SHALOM!!!”. He looked like he had seen a ghost. I said, “Hi, my name is Asa Goldstein.” Now he looked like he needed to change his shorts. He couldn’t say anything, he just stood there. I let him hang in suspense for a moment before I let him know I was just messing with him. He looked a little relieved, but definitely still shaken.

Hopefully next time he’ll keep his prejudice to himself.

Jesus loves porn stars

If you're not reading Natala's blog; "and that has made all the difference" on a daily basis, you really should.

THIS STORY is a must read!!!

It takes about 20 minutes or so to read through the series of posts in this story but I guarantee that it will be time well spent.

CLICK HERE to read Natala's memories of her friend the Porn Star.

carnies and rockstars

About a week ago Katie and I were at the grocery store with the boys. At the end of the checkout counter they had one of those carnival style Crane/Claw games where you try to scoop up the candy, or toy, or stuffed animal or whatever. Obadiah wanted to try to play it so badly. He asked us every single time we went to the store. Katie and I had decided that we would go ahead and let him try. He would play it once, lose his 50 cents, suffer pain, humiliation, and heartbreak, and never ask us to play again. That was the plan. So, he begs us to play, I grab two quarters and tell him, “knock yourself out man!”

Wouldn’t you know it, first shot, nails it, and wins the ugliest fluorescent pink/fluorescent green stuffed crocodile!!!

Katie and I stare at each other, shocked and dismayed, feigning excitement for our son’s good fortune. At this point the entire checkout area has stopped all activity to look at the young man clinging to the fluorescent crocodile and cheering quite loudly “I WON!!! I WON!!!”

I turn to Katie and the cashier and wonder aloud, “Has anyone ever won anything from that game on the first shot?” As the cashier is shaking her head Katie bursts out with some comic brilliance, “Maybe a 40 year old CARNIE!!! HA HA HA!!!” I laugh along as I nervously scan the checkout line for twitching, overly tan, 40 year olds with armloads of Sudafed.

As we walked away from the cashier Katie was laughing aloud both at her joke and at my nervous reaction to her joke. When we got home I saw from a flyer we got in the mail that the county fair had indeed started. So, may I point out that it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility that a 40 year old carnie could be in the checkout line at Safeway!

Anyway, a few days later we went to the fair and had a great time! It was wristband night so Obadiah got to ride all the rides he could stomach for one low fee.

The cows were a little stinky but other than that we had a great time. The boys loved the rides. We spun until we came within inches of tossing our cookies.
We even saw real, live, overly tan, twitching, carnies talking to themselves, and lighting one cigarette from the stub of the previous one… ad nauseam.

We also saw a rockstar!!!
I’ve seen this guy around town quite a bit, so apparently he lives in Santa Rosa. I’d seen him several times and each time told Katie, “I’m pretty sure that guy’s a famous rockstar, or actor or something.”

Turns out he’s both.

Katie told me I was full of crap when I thought I recognized him. But I was positive I had seen him on TV or movies and I was pretty sure his name was Tom Waits. I told her I would google him when we got home and take a look at the pictures to determine if it was him. As soon as the google image page finished loading there was no denying it, it was definitely him!

Tom Waits is a Grammy award winning composer/performer, and is an Academy Award nominated Actor. I’ve never been exposed to his music but I know that his influence is huge and his reputation as a songwriter is legendary. You often hear his name mentioned alongside names like Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison. I remember him as an actor from parts in movies like “Short Cuts”, “Bram Stokers Dracula”, “The Fisher King”, “At Play In The Fields Of The Lord”, and “The Two Jakes”.

And there he was, just chillin’ at the fair. He was running around with his wife, kids, and a few friends. It’s just weird to see someone famous behaving like normal human being. Just like the rest of us.

I guess there’s not really a point to this story. Just that you never know who you’re going to run into. Could be a carnie, could be a rockstar.

shoelaces

My younger brother Ben has returned from his blogging hiatus.

CLICK HERE to check it out!

emerging church

PBS recently did a special on the emerging church and alternative worship gatherings. It was a two part series for their Religion & Ethics Newsweekly show. It was pretty interesting. I’ll post the links to the interview transcripts and the videos that were shown on PBS.
Several prominent emergent leaders were interviewed, including two whose blogs I frequent; Doug Pagitt, and Tony Jones.

CLICK HERE for part one
Click on, "Video: Watch this story" at the top of the page to view the video.
CLICK HERE for part two
Click on, "Video: Watch this story" at the top of the page to view the video.

Look for the BONUS video which was taped at the 2005 emergent convention. Click on , "Video: What is the emerging church?" about half way down the page in part two.

CLICK HERE for the extended interview with Brian McLaren

CLICK HERE for the extended interview with Doug Pagitt