Filed under: Popular Culture | Tags: a jasey project, christian rock, dane, grace wilke, jacksonville fl, kirk harrison, murray hill theatre, music scene, ryan patterson, sean, taylor welsh
I heard them play Element last week, and if my brother wasn’t flyin in from Iraq tonight, I’d be at their show rockin out! Check out A Jasey Project (here’s their myspace page) in concert today!
Filed under: Popular Culture, Prison Ministry, Uncategorized | Tags: #1, critics, madea goes to jail, relevant, tyler perry
Morris O’Kelly said “The #1 movie in America, Madea Goes to Jail grossed 41 million in this its first weekend, with 1000 fewer screens than any other #1 of any week of any year.” and I couldn’t find even ONE Christian media outlet who reported or blogged on it.
Self-important movie types have rarely warmed up to Tyler Perry’s “Madea” films, and in many ways, that’s to be expected. They just don’t ‘get’ Perry’s movies….and even Perry has come to peace with that for the most part. I have been much more bothered that ‘Christian media’…aka magazines, blogs, etc… that aspire to be taken ’seriously’ chose in February to write lengthy and ‘important’ pieces on Sean Penn, Slumdog Millionaire, or the upcoming U2 album rather than even mention Tyler Perry’s Madea.
In our quest to be relevant, Christians sometimes ignore the success of those around them who’ve achieve relevance and mainstream appeal. I once heard that Relic and Relevant are on the same page in the dictionary. We have to check ourselves. In our quest to be cool, we can end up chasing the wrong influencers. This is the #1 link on my blog in 2009…so I’d like to ask you a question or 2.
1) What Christian media outlet… magazine, website, blog do you pay attention to? Why?
2) Have they taken space to report on this movie or other Tyler Perry movies? When? Where?
Filed under: Popular Culture | Tags: macgruber, pepsuber, snl, superbowl commercials, viral marketing, will forte
The ‘G’ campaign by Gatorade really got on my nerves. In what they claimed to be a viral campaign…all it did was remind me of the old “What’s an M-Life?” campaign by At&t Mobile that so miserably failed a few years back. I didn’t see the pre-game commercials, but by Quarter 3, I was so over most of the commercials that I said this on my twitter feed…
“disppointed with food/beverage commercials so far. pepsi would have been better off using the Magruber spots from last night’s SNL
At 9:34 pm, it happened…Pepsi showed 1 of the MacGruber spots (I didn’t know they were going to..) Some of my Cardinal fan twitter friends then held out hope that my 30-27 prediction for the Birds victory would also come to fruition..oh well, you can’t win em all….(but if the fumble would have been reversed, then the 15 yard penalty enforced on the Steeler’s celebration- we were just one 35 yard TD pass away from making it happen!)
Funny…Pepsi was also working the viral side of things. Their new twitter feed for http://www.twitter.com/Pepsuber tracked tweets during and after the Superbowl and made it a point to comment every person that mentioned the spot and ‘follow them’.
We talk often about making an ‘impact’ with our non-profits…marketing events, campaigns, and pushes within and outside of our audiences. There’s a few tips to be learned from Pepsuber… maybe we can make some ‘lifesaving devices out of household materials” What’s in your ‘house’ (at your disposal) that could save some lives?
Filed under: Popular Culture, Religion | Tags: chocolate giant, christianity, faith, faith miracles mysticism, italy, miracle at st. anna, spike lee, war movie, ww2
War. Heroes. Race. the Miraculous
In this human struggle we each grind out day by day, once in a while something comes along that reminds us that people are in this thing together…..that while not that many ‘things’ are tangibly worth fightin-hardly dying-for, we will do things we never imagined to protect people. Hurricanes, tragedies, illnesses throw out the caution flag in life, reminding us to slow down and be there for one another. It’s not just the ugly and painful….but sometimes the beautiful that reminds us how badly our hands, hearts, arms and shoulders are needed.
I found something beautiful in the new Spike Lee movie, “Miracle at St. Anna”. A story of 4 men who, rather than fighting for a tangible ‘principle’, found themselves fighting for the life of one boy, and in doing, that, fought for hundreds of people, a town, a country, and principles. The character, “Train”, from the Buffalo soldiers (all-black 92nd Infantry Division fighting in Italy) protects the life of one boy, involves his 3 comrades…. he is affectinately called, “my Chocolate Giant” by the little boy, ‘Angelo’. By fighting to save his life, the men find their own lives and hope…..even extending to 40 years later.
There are several veins and plotlines, and conversation amongst the soldiers about miracles and faith, in the midst of hopelessness and suffering.
I highly recommend the movie, with WW2 violence much like Private Ryan, it is a little tough, and there are a couple of ‘adult situations’. Way to go Spike.
Filed under: Popular Culture, Religion | Tags: donald miller, charles lee, dnc prayer, faith and politics, barack obama, christianity
The following is a timely and provoking guest blog from my good friend Charles Lee, pastor of New Hope South Bay and Professor at Life Pacific University. You can read here. I first met him at the Fermi Project’s Q Conference in April 2008, and was blown away by the projects of JustOne, particularly ‘Laundry Love’ and ‘The Freeze Project’. Enjoy!his blog
Donald Miller, author of books including Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God, gave the closing prayer (benediction) tonight at the Democratic National Convention. I thought it was significant and refreshing to see Miller, as self-proclaimed follower of Christ, communicate a prayer over the United States.
As many would attest, for the past few decades, evangelical Christians have not been readily identified with the Democratic Party. Quite contrarily, for many, Christianity was and still continues to be synonymous with the Republican Party. Some in the media have unfairly portrayed Christians to be narrow-minded, bigoted, repressed in their sexuality, inconsiderate for the working class, and of course, proponents of the Republican agenda.
This is not to say that Christians ought to be Democrats. The point here is not whether Christians ought to be Republican or Democrat. (In fact, I am registered Non-Partisan.)
I think those of us who follow the teachings of Christ should recognize the imperfection of any political party. More importantly, we must acknowledge our own frailty and inadequacies. Our main focus should not be voting for the right party, politician or issue, but rather, voting our values by the way we live our lives. We can argue until we are blue in the face (no pun intended), but true change will occur once we take it upon ourselves and our faith communities to live out our values in our day to day activities.
For example, we can be passionate about legislation that assists the poor (and we should), but what good is it if we ourselves don’t holistically participate? I pray for a compassion that is not distant nor covered in our verbiage or political affiliation. I want to vote with my life before any ballot.
Please take a moment to listen and read the following prayer. It is not perfect and will push many theological envelopes, but nevertheless, I think we can learn from the heart that seeks to embrace the other.
that’s the name of the tour that anomia&beautiful gorgeous took down the east coast that landed them at our house for 2 nights. note, at the end, i didn’t say ‘hey ho’, i said ‘heyo’ as made famous by brett michaels of ‘Rock of Love’ fame.
Filed under: Popular Culture, Youth Ministry | Tags: college life, mad max beyond thunderdome, wasteland
I spent week 3 of our “One Prayer” series speaking to a couple hundred students at our Midtown Campus, “Lord make us multiplyers”
Hanging with our middle school students at our Fuel service was a fun experience. My bud, FuelPastor Josh Turner has done an unbelievable job of ministering to and with these students. They hung on almost every word, and almost half responded to say they were feeling moved by God to be part of the 2000 x 2020 vision of our church and its sister churches.
College Life was a blast as well. Our college ministry has gone through many morphs over the years….most recently as the group moved from the LateNite Saturday service to Wednesday night, 9 pm. It was great to see so many young 20 somethings worshipping God with passion and desire…. and I enjoyed speaking with them about our lives not becoming a “Wasteland”. I included a reading from a cheezy letter I once sent to NBC called “Dearest Quarterlife”, which is included in links on the side of this page.
Somehow, execs in the 90’s thought to pitch a show to 20 somethings, and called it ‘ Wasteland ‘. I guess they needed a brand name that depicted the 20’s as a barren place of nothingness akin to Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome….. a time meant to speed through until we get that job we REALLY want, that house we really want, and that spouse we really want. I spoke on how our 20’s are anything but that time. Mark 4 says we have a choice as to how fruitful our lives can be….it all depends on the soil of our hearts. Wayside, rocky, thorn choked….. or embracing the Word God gives us and finding a life that fulfills our wildest dreams.
A for real night full of promise and potential. About half the college students in the room raised their hands to be a part of 2000 x 2020. I believe, in the deepest parts of my heart, that in the year 2020 at the ARC conference, many of these students from Celebration church will be those church and campus planters.
Filed under: Popular Culture | Tags: anger body and soul, bill bixby, comic book movies, dark knight, edward norton, fight club, incredible hulk, lou ferrigno, movie review, planet of the apes, rob roy, sci fi channel
[no spoilers here!] At the 2008 midnight premiere of the Incredible Hulk, I went back in time.
Fortunately for us ‘Hulk’ diehards, I went further back than 2003. Ang Lee’s Hulk, while at times visionary and fresh, wasn’t really for my audience. Look, I can remember asking my mom in 1980 to make me some cutoff jeans so I could be the Hulk. Our family would watch with laughter as this overweight hulk of a kindergardener would run -shirt off and cutoffs on- in the front yard. I’d roar at the top of my lungs as I jogged in signature Hulkish slow motion. So 2003’s Hulk just didn’t appeal to guys like me….. guys who would say the most famous guy they ever met was Lou Ferrigno. That’s right. At age 5, it was my lifelong dream, and when it happened at some comic expo, I’m pretty sure I almost lost control of my erratic bladder.
Tonight, I was sure to visit the restroom before the movie- which was a good idea- since this version of the Stan Lee comic was action packed. For those who bemoaned the 45 minute backstory in the last movie, fuhgeddaboudit. 2008’s version did that in about 45 seconds. And the action began quickly.
Filed under: Celebration Church, Popular Culture, Youth Ministry | Tags: b boys, blameless, Celebration Church, end of school, hip hop, Youth Ministry
today was the last day of school. at our church we celebrated the week with different concerts at different campuses. at our mobile campus, (we meet at a local elementary school cafetorium on Wednesdays) we scheduled Blameless, an up and coming hip hop group that mixes in worship, rock, rap, and b boy dancing. you can check out their music here
the event went great. these guys have such open hearts and music that speaks straight to the hearts of todays hip hop generations. when praying for them today, i thought about how God uses people who’ve been tried, troubled, and tested. – and these guys really epitomized that. – the lyrics and overall tone of the night spoke straight to several students…..and led 9 of them to respond by coming forward for prayer to receive Christ. btw, i think these guys would rock it in Europe especially. Can’t wait for the day that these guys are touring full time. What I saw in their hearts today makes me believe that time isn’t too far away.
Filed under: Popular Culture | Tags: cancer, carnegie melon university, dealing with pain, life lessons, randy pausch, suffering, the last lecture
A National Bestseller- the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch is an incredible read. I grabbed it at Sam’s Club for $11.88 last week, and finished it in 2 days. Randy has 10 tumors in his liver, and the doctors have given him months to live. In his last lecture as a professor at Carnegie Melon University, he talks to a packed hosue about ‘Achieving your childhood dreams’.
A friend who still teaches at the high school where I worked before my current position said this lecture has revolutionized some of her hard to reach students. For me, in recent conversations with friends, I’ve found myself over and over referring to quotes and stories he tells. in particular-
“the park is open until 8pm” – Disney World workers planned answer to anyone who asks, “What time does the park close?” For Randy, a mantra to enjoy his life while he has it.
“Hard work is like compounded interest in the bank. The rewards build faster.”
“Because handwritten notes have gotten so rare, they (future bosses and people of influence) will remember you.”
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”
“If you wait long enough, people will surprise and impress you.”
and his tips for working in groups.
- Meet people properly (eye contact, pronounce names properly)
- Find things you have in common. so that- ”It’s much easier to addresss issues where you have differences.”
- Try for optimal meeting conditions. “Make sure no one is hungry, cold, or tired. Food softens a meeting.”
- Let everyone talk. “Don’t finish someone’s sentences.”
- Check egos at the door. “The label should be descriptive of the idea, not the originator: ‘the bridge story,’ not ‘Jane’s story’ .”
- Praise each other.
- Phrase alternatives as questions. Instead of “I think we should do A, not B, try ‘What if we did A, instead of B?’.”
and I love this quote, “Complaining does not work as a strategy.”
You can watch Randy’s lecture here on this link on youtube. I highly recommend the book. What did you think of it?
Filed under: Popular Culture | Tags: all well is broken, christian hardcore metal, fuel coffeehouse, hardcore band, jacksonville florida bands, kyle wagoner, lance zacher, landon hooks, life journal, ryan patterson
Twice a month I get to sit down for a Bible study with the up and coming Christian Hardcore band ‘ All Well is Broken ‘. Landon Hooks , Kyle Wagoner , Lance Zacher , and Ryan Patterson are some guys I’ve known for some time. I taught Kyle and Lance in Math their freshman and sophomore years. Landon’s in our youth ministry. Ryan has the best raptor impression I’ve ever seen.
They play several shows a month, usually one or 2 at Fuel Coffeehouse in J’ville and other venues. I’ve been to a couple shows—it’s pretty vital to see these guys living their lives, forming friendships, and expressing their art, creativity, and ultimately, their worship in an eclectic place like 5 Points.
AWIB has a good following. A ragtag and real clan of kids sort sick of the suburban dream that has become the landscape of burgeoning NE FL. They love life, simplicity, their friends, music, and God. These guys have a real desire to bring faith hope and love to some of the dryer places in our culture. Bible study with them is getting better everytime.
Filed under: Popular Culture | Tags: memorial day, prince caspian, tighe scott
Went to see Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian with Rachel and the official little brother of big john – Captain Tighe Scott of the U.S. Army.
Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian was excellent. The final sword dual fight scene was reminscent of Rob Roy, and the movie had a the smell of LOTR. Don’t get me wrong…nothing will probably ever get even close to Lord of the Rings, but it was solid. I see the movies by Walden Media getting progressively better, and knowing C.S. Lewis like I do, this book series is perfectly setup not only to do several movies, but to cycle through successfully with different young actors. Not quite the kids movie the first was…much more violence… but it was a good peak into pain, striving, and learning to follow God.
My brother Tighe- He’s headed to Iraq in September after being stationed the last 3 years in South Korea. I love the kid. We’re 6 years apart…but for 23 years, he was the closest soul to me since we were raised by a single mom. best man at my wedding. we became christians the same day in 1987. were baptized the same day 2 weeks later. learned the books of the bible at the same time. he was the waterboy on our state championship football team ( Forest High School 1992 ). if you’re a friend, pray he has a good time with us and this time makes a good impression on him. the military has been hard on his soul—-those of you who have served understand the snares and pitfalls of base living.
have a great holiday everyone! we’re having a cookout with 15+ people at our pad…it may be a little crowded. i’ll take good pictures.
Filed under: Popular Culture, Youth Ministry | Tags: bartram trail high school, it's all in your mind, jesus, lies, Mel Gibson, shyamalan, st. augustine church, youth ministry uses for aluminum foil
Just got back from our Friday St. Augustine jail ministry. Awesome times! Wednesday, we were in part 3 of the “It’s all in your mind” series (produced by our ARC partners at Lifechurch.tv ), and I just happened to see M. Night Shyamalan’s movie ‘ Signs ‘ on TV on TNT last weekend. It all started to click.
We showed the short clip of the kids telling their dad why they put aluminum foil on their heads… to protect their brains so the aliens couldn’t read their minds. As we studied about ‘Truth or Snare’, it just flowed. Its’ so important not to let lies seep into our brains and affect our lives! I wore the helmet at various times in the night (our students did too…check the bottom of this blog to see the activity we did with them) and at different points in the night, I’d randomly yell ‘Lies! All Lies!’ .
Filed under: Popular Culture | Tags: coffee, gift card, perks, purpose driven summit, starbucks
When I first heard about the ‘Starbucks card’ and the perks, bonuses, extras related to it, I assumed it was a new Credit Card…. which is the last thing I need at the moment.
But then I took time to ask a barista or 2 about it at the new St. Augustine Road branch. It’s not necessarily a credit card….it’s getting a gift card, registering it, reloading it, and using it in stead. it has the potential for the scott household to be an awesome starbucks budgeting tool. these are some of the perks.
Now, these perks are just the beginnning. our blogging fiend friend from Leadership Network, DJ Chuang, blogged about the changes this card has brought to his life. I suggest you peak at it and also at his updates from the Purpose Drive Network Summit today.
this is a good start. Many of you have heard and noticed the changes at Starbucks with the new CEO and their ongoing battle against McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts. I felt they were on coast for a while. Now they’re up in 5th gear. i’ll let you know what I think of this card.
‘My first time’ Update: Rachel and I walked a half mile to our local Starbucks (the only 24 hour Starbucks in FL from what I’ve heard). I presented my registered Starbucks Card, ordered a Tall Pike Place w/ hazelnut (the hazel was free w/ the card), got my own cream and sugar there, it was awesome….then when I left, I used the perk of getting a free refill…. So I got 2 tall cups for a total of $1.97. Plus, the girl at the register told me those who’ve registered their gift cards get 2 free hours of wireless access at Starbucks each day.
Filed under: Celebration Church, Popular Culture, Youth Ministry | Tags: awakening, celebration church music, christian music, itunes, matt adcox, praise and worship
As mentioned in a previous post, our church released its long awaited praise and worship collaboration last month, “Awakening” by Celebration Church Music.
Yesterday, it posted to Itunes at this link. I suggest buying the whole album for 9.99. Give each track a listen. I think you’ll find a nice unique blend of rock/rap with a praise component with marked Hillsong / Desperation Band influences. If you do stop in and check out a tune, please leave a comment and tell them Big John sent you (if it’s positive!) That would be awesome!
