A tribute to facial hair

This is the video some guys from The Well made for the Academy Awards night that we had this summer. I figured I would continue my recent trend of flooding the world with bad videos (Healer being the first!).

Hilarious

A friend sent this video to me... hilarious!

Gospel of Mark

The Bible was originally transmitted orally. People would sit around and tell stories about Jesus. Chris, a man from my Seminary (Bethel), memorized the book of Mark and does a dramatic presentation of it. He is coming to EFCC on September 12th @ 6:30. It is going to be a great night.

Martin Luther King, Jr speech

As I was studying for this weekend, I ran across a great speech by MLK. He wrote this from jail:

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Par from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it vi lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

HOT or NOT

A while ago there was a popular website called, Hot or Not. It still exists, but I'm not sure of its popularity level anymore. Anyway, the whole premise of the site is that people upload pictures of themselves onto the site and other people vote on how hot they are. Pretty funny, huh? (if you wouldn't mind taking a few mins to rate me, I'd really appreciate it... just kidding)

This week i am teaching on Revelation 3:14-22 - the passage where Jesus tells the church that he would rather them be either cold or hot, but because they are lukewarm he is going to spit them out of his mouth. Harsh words. Words that demand that we ask the question... "Am I hot or not?" As I was studying this passage I started to develop a sense of gratitude that this is the kind of God we have. A jealous God. A God who gave all of himself and in return wants all of us. What would it say about him if he didn't? It would be like a husband saying to his wife, I really don't care if you cheat on me and have other lovers... We would have to question whether or not the husband really loved his wife. So, because we have a God who loves and gives passionately, we also HAVE to have a God who is jealous for our affection.

Unfortunately I think because of the comfortable nature of religion in the States, we have become a church where Jesus is more like a hobby than a way of life. This passage demands that Jesus be more than a hobby. More than a Sunday morning activity and a nice ideal. This passages begs that I ask the question, I am I HOT or NOT?