A thought on missions

"There is no participation in Christ without participation in his mission to the world."

- Willingen Conference of the International Missionary Council

Missions have been enterprises that belonged to the exterior of church life. They were carried on somewhere else - in Asia, Africa, or the South Pacific, in the slums of the city, or among the gypsies, the vagrants, the marginal people... The church has approved of "missions" but has not been the mission.

- "The Open Secret", Lesslie Newbigin

What do you think? If we are not participating in mission to the world, does that have an effect on our belonging to Christ? And have we allowed for our churches here in America to push missions away? We feel good about throwing money at missions, but we would never do anything on our own to participate in missions.

Your thoughts?

Worship and Theology

Some people say you don't need theology in order to worship. Some say you can't worship without knowing theology. How do you react to these points?

• It is Jesus' life, death, and resurrection that makes possible the sending of the Spirit who, in uniting us to the Son, draws us into God's triune life and enables us to worship in spirit and in truth.
• We worship what we know. If our knowledge is not deep, our worship won't be either.
• Worship has a cognitive dimension: what we are to know, and thus to worship, is who God is and what God has done.
• What we have come to understand in life we should come to celebrate corporately. The meaning of Christian life comes to focus in worship as nowhere else.
• Theology is not only the study of God, but a means for improving our worship. Conversely, worship is not only the praise of god, but a means for improving our theology.
• Our worship is the index to how well we have understood our faith.
• The worth-ship of our worship is a function of how deeply we perceive God's worth. In true worship the Spirit relates us to the Son, the truth of God, enabling our worship to correspond to who God is.

- Kevin Vanhoozer
Professor of Theology
Wheaton College Grad School

If I told you I knew of a popular Christian rock band that gets drunk every now and then, how would you react? What would you think about that band?

MLS Top 10 Goals Of The Year - ESPN Video

Mayne Event: Peyton's Language - ESPN Video

Where The Wild Things Are

Hey yall. Let's go see "Where the Wild Things Are" this Saturday. Let's meet at the theater at 11:15am. Showtime is 11:45am.

Click here for a review.

I'M PUMPED!!

Piano Stairs

10 riskiest foods to eat

Came across this list of the 10 riskiest foods to eat. Just thought it was interesting and worth sharing. And (as you will see), since my eldest son does not like to eat lettuce (or any vegetables for that matter), I'm not as concerned anymore.

It's 6am...

Tucker decided to wake up REALLY early, so I figured what better time than now to write a movie review!

So, I went and saw Tyler Perry's "I Can Do Bad All By Myself". Actually, I didn't go see it on my own accord. I was coerced into seeing a movie, and only after I found myself in the car with these friends did I learn of which movie we were going to watch.

If you don't know who Tyler Perry is, allow me to give the very little info I know of him to set the stage for my opinion of his latest movie. He's made some movies. He has a TV show. And he owns his own studio set in Atlanta. Don't you feel like you know him so well now?

The other major piece of information about Tyler Perry is that he has made his fortune by portraying middle class black America in humorous ways. For me, I have never watched his TV show (I think it's on TBS). And this is the first Tyler Perry movie I have ever seen. So this review is coming from a well-informed person.

So I'm working on vulnerability in my life. Hopefully I can achieve some level of that here. If this movie is a good representation of how all of Perry's stuff is, I will not be seeking them out. For me, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" was way too predictable, poorly written, disjointed, too musical, and just all together bad. As the Boston Globe said, "Tyler Perry can do bad all by himself, too."

There were definite laughing spots in the movie. The characters of Madea and her husband (both played by Perry) are hilarious. But it seemed to me that the reason why they were in this movie was to guarantee that fans of Madea (who has appeared in most of Perry's other movies) would come and see this one. Madea and her husband had roles in this movie that, quite honestly, didn't need to be there. It almost made it seem like Perry was writing two separate movies, couldn't figure out an ending to one or a beginning to the other, and then slapped them together.

Another major negative I had with the movie is how much performed music was in it. I felt like I was watching a musical. I have nothing against musicals. I love "The Sound of Music", "The Music Man", and "Guys and Dolls", but I didn't pay to see a musical. Again, it seemed like all of the music was thrown in there to fill time and space.

Yes, there were great themes of love, second chances, and forgiveness, but they were completely clouded over by the poor writing and plot design.

So I guess if you like all the stuff I didn't, then go see it and enjoy!

"America" by McDonalds

This picture shows the contiguous 48 states as represented by the distance from one McDonalds to the next. See if you can figure out what major cities are located where. Have fun!