This sounds awesome...

Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard has announced plans for a solo tour. David Bazan will open on the 16-stop ride that kicks off May 3 ...

This makes me think of Jamie

Beautiful consistency...

I love this! I got this post from ysmarko's blog. This is amazing. I have been doing youth ministry for 12+ years now and I still long to see a group of students have this kind of impact. This is awesome...

Read on...

"beautiful example of consistency"

i am simply blown away by the quiet, simple, consistent ministry of dave merk and a bunch of high school and college students from the church i attend in san diego. no one’s heard of dave outside of our church; and, frankly, the guy’s so humble that if the teaching pastor hadn’t had him on stage for an interview a couple weeks ago, most people in our church wouldn’t know who he is either. but what dave has done is nothing short of remarkable.

tonite is the 200th consecutive friday night (that means in a row, without missing any) that dave and these students have taken peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to homeless people in downtown san diego. that’s almost four years. they gather on friday evening, make 250 sandwiches, drive down to san diego (we’re about 20 minutes from downtown), hand them out on the same corners, and talk to people. they call their ministry “hope for the homeless.” the power of this ministry, in my opinion, is in a few non-flashy, stunningly simple distinctives:

1. they’re dependable. homeless people in san diego know that every friday night, their high school and college-age friends will be in the same place, waiting for them.

2. they’re not a feeding ministry, really; they’re a ministry of restoring or offering dignity. here’s one of the things dave said in that little interview a couple weeks ago that brought a lump to my throat:

“part of our problem is that we tend to see peoples’ lives as static — that the way they are now must be how they’ve been their whole life. our ministry isn’t PB&J sandwiches — it’s a ministry of restoring dignity. i tell the students every week: the homeless spend their entire day having people look down or look away to avoid eye contact. whatever we do, we need to look them in the eyes. we need to listen to their stories. we are going to say, ‘you deserve our consistency, you deserve to be treated with dignity.”

3. they minister in humility. there’s no media, no cameras, no press releases. they don’t have a website. they’re not pushing a program or a national agenda or even begging people do join them. they’re just making 250 pb&j sandwiches, every single week no matter what the weather, looking homeless people in the eye, and listening to their stories.

i want to be dave merk when i grow up. can there be any better youth ministry discipleship ministry that what dave has provided for the students who go with him?

Pretty cool...

I can't even imagine how much time it took to film this, but it is awesome! Especially if you appreciate a talented skateboarder!

Click here to see for yourself: Human.Skateboard

Sex God Tour...

Rob Bell's new book comes out soon. It is called Sex God you can read a chapter of it and find out about the tour that he is doing with it. He is coming to the U of W campus next week for a free session in Kane Hall.

For more information click here SEX.GOD.TOUR

Good read...

If you want to learn more about the tradition/meaning behind Lent than follow this link LENT.INFO

Note...

Those of you who went to download the "LENT GUIDE" from the link below in the previous post and found that it was a publisher file can now print it as a pdf. I made the changes to help you all out. Make sure you read the notes on how to print it out to read it properly. I hope you all are having a wonderful Ash Wednesday as you enter into Lent!

peace in Jesus,

Rich

Ash Wednesday, Lent, & Fasting...

Depending on which set of statistics you believe, American consumers use somewhere between 15 and 40 percent of the world's resources, despite having about 5 percent of the world's population. Lent is a good time to reflect on this fact and ask how we might change this.

One of the most dominant gospel stories is the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Although I am unable to explain the story logically, it seems that somehow Christ was able to take a small offering and turn it into enough for all. And perhaps, for those who are considering what it means to be a follower of God in the Way of Jesus, this might be a guiding narrative for us. Perhaps, instead of living with the fear of never having enough, we could find a way to rest in God's goodness and learn to be content.

At CC and TG we have been studying the parables and of late we have been looking at the great banquet and the cost of discipleship in Luke 14. It has been amazing to see that not only is there this free invitation for all to the Kingdom of God, but there is a level of commitment as well. We are not simply to respond to an RSVP and say we will be there, we have to show up and participate.

In the section about the cost of discipleship it is clear that we are to count the cost - to think about it - knowing that sacrifice will be necessary. But what is it that we sacrifice in our current culture? The parable brings up the issue of allegence and who or what should be our priority. The picture is that Christ should be above all - even family - which particularly back then in Jewish culture was an enormous sacrifice. But what about today?

I think one of the biggest things we as a culture have to be willing to consider is the use of our time. Our culture is not content, we do not rest, and we are always wanting more. This lack of contentment pushes us towards business and this business distracts us to the point that our relationship with God becomes a limited prayer for meals and if we're really commited we'll even show up to church.

What about one on one time with God? What about silence and solitude? As my blog quotes Ferris Beuller "life moves pretty fast, if we don't stop and look around once and a while we could miss it" our lives have gotten so busy from a lack of contentment that we have no time for God and we're missing our life as it flies by. The other thing that I have found is that not only are we busy in action, but in thought. As a result, it is very difficult to find times of complete silence. Cause even in our physical silence are minds are silently thinking about all that we have to do [or should be doing].

So this year I am going to try to fast from business and noise. I am going to try to allow for more space in my schedule for God both in physical time [less work appts after hours]and in solitude [silence - less music, tv, etc]. The other thing I feel God is calling me to do with my space for God is to be more focused on relationships with those in my community. So pray for me as we see how to do so with our neighbors!

Just some things I've been pondering. If you would like a free downloadable guide/journal for lent I have one for you. It was made by Rob Bell who does the nooma videos and is the lead pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in MI. There is another free downloadable resource that goes along with the nooma video entitled noise which is a great way to enter lent. Just follow the link below. I hope all is well and that God will bless you with rest, space, and his peace!

Lent.Resources
note: you will have to scroll down on the page a bit to find it

The Police 2007 Reunion

They did not let me down! And man if I could be in as good of shape as sting - and my boy is almost twice my age! Crazy!

Get Ready...

Ok, so I know I have not posted pictures of my little Glady girl in quite a while so get ready for some! I hope you enjoy. The other lovely lady is my beautiful wife Jen. I am so blessed to have these two women in my life. I am constantly blown away that God would surround me with such beauty every day!

Be warned...

The cuteness factor is going to be extremely high!

 

My Ladies...

 

 

 

 

 

My Girls!

 

Make Trade Fair campaign

coldplay's chris martin: two fingers of poverty trip diary

Johnny Cash God's Gonna Cut You Down

What do you love about this?