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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Wedding Videos

If I could make wedding videos like this, I would make wedding videos.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes on Monday. It was pretty fantastic.

I thought it was going to be dumb from the trailers. But it turns out you can make a "Apes take over the world" movie and do it well. You loved and cared for the apes. You didn't generally like the humans. In fact the human you like the most in the film causes the destruction of human civilisation. That's a bit of a downer for him.

It's odd to watch a film made by humans that's so anti-human. I haven't seen any films made by dogs that are anti-dog. Or by apes that are anti-ape. I guess species shame is a uniquely human trait. Although, perhaps dogs are so ashamed to be dogs that they can't even be face making films about how ashamed they are because it'll draw attention to them as dogs and they hate being dogs. Someone should look into that.

All that said, it was a good film. Good effects. As plausible a plot as you can get with intelligent apes taking over the world, and it had a nice inevitability about the end of human civilisation. I think it was the kind of film Rise of the Machines should have been. Although that female terminator was a lot hotter than any of the apes. At least, hotter to me. Were I an ape I think I would have hoped she had more hair and more opposable toes.

So the conclusion is, despite it's anti-human agenda (probably driven by our primate overlords) and the distinct lack of hot apes, Rise is a damn good film.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Talking Right

I've been enjoying reading Don Miller's blog lately.

I just read this post where he stuck up a video of Bill Hybels announcing that Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, had pulled out of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. Schultz pulled out of the event because of an online protest threatening to boycott Starbucks because Willow Creek is perceived to be anti-gay.

I really appreciated the way Hybels was so gracious to Mr Schultz and even to the people who had started the petition. I also appreciated that he stated Willow Creek's view on homosexuality positively and without judgement.



In contrast to Hybels' comments I saw this on ABC news today. And while obviously biased and heavily edited, I wish Christians didn't say dumb stuff like this in public. (Also see if you can notice Richard Dreyfus sitting next to Bob Katter.)



I hope when people let me down and misrepresent me I can be as gracious as Hybels.

Monday, August 15, 2011

The Centrality of the Cross: Part Two - Practice

Here is Part Two of my series on the centrality of the cross. Part One is here

Ok. So the cross is central, someone might say, but if you keep mentioning the Cross all the time, what’s to stop it becoming formulaic and just the magic words to keep a service orthodox? Isn't mentioning the cross just religion?

The truth is that anything you want to keep as a defining principle or event, can be mentioned only out of compulsion, or habit but it is not inevitable. I think the trick is to keep asking throughout the life of the church “How does the cross impact on this?” In major times of teaching we must be clearly showing how the cross makes a difference. Let me show you how this works for three different topics, dealing with evil, relating to people of other faiths and responding to the poor.

The Cross and Responding to Evil

In this world we are constantly faced with the reality of evil. We are confronted with war and terrorism on a global scale, violence, rape and neglect in our communities and anger, hurt and abuse in our own lives. The church, if it is truly going to engage with world needs to know how to respond to evil.

Biblically the church will be calling its people to a ministry of reconciliation, of love for enemies and forgiveness. It will also hold firmly to the principle of justice and the fight against evil.

When the church teaches these things without the cross then it either becomes too hard, too soft or the preacher of two irreconcilable ideals.

If the church preaches forgiveness and love without the cross then evil becomes tolerated and the victim’s suffering gets dismissed. Forgiveness comes free and costs nothing. The suffering victim is told to love their enemy and forgive because that’s what Christ taught we should do. The evil doer escapes punishment and the victim must carry the burden of someone else’s sin.

Any justice achieved now will be unsatisfactory. How do you make a people group adequately pay for the acts of genocide they committed against their neighbours? How do you make the rapist adequately pay for violence they committed against someone created in God’s image? How do you make the mother who neglects and verbally abuses her children adequately pay for all the pain they inflict and the future damage they cause? You don’t because you can’t. We are a church that worships a holy God who hates sin. This means that no punishment and vengeance dolled out by earthly authorities will ever make up for the sins committed.

The end point in the fight against evil must be the destruction of the source of evil. If a church preaches justice and the fight against evil without the cross it must fight a battle that it cannot win with a God who is uninvolved. The reality is that all of us are participants in evil, and if we pursue evil to its end, we will pursue it not to the ends of the earth, but to the centre of our hearts. If we are to destroy evil, we must destroy others and we must destroy ourselves. If we were ever to whole-heartedly fight evil outside of the cross we too would just join in the cycle of violence.

In the history of the Church whenever it has been in charge of the state it has almost without fail ended up punishing sin with an iron fist.* Death for the adulterer, the homosexual, the witch and the disobedient child. And in the churches’ pursuit of justice it becomes the committer of evil.

Yet when we face evil in the light of the cross we see a God who hates sin, who punishes sin, who never trivialises suffering, who puts the wicked to death and gives life to the righteous.

At the cross Jesus takes all the wrath of his father heaped upon him. He, the sinless one, has the sins of humanity placed upon him. There on the cross, beaten and naked, he goes through hell and we see just how much God hates sin, that he would kill even his own Son.

He does this so that through him God would be able to forgive the wicked. Here at the cross we see God’s justice as he punishes evil, rebellion and sin. And we see God’s mercy upon the sinner as he offers his grace and forgiveness.

So when the church preaches forgiveness and reconciliation to the victim in light of the cross it does so knowing that God has already forgiven us. We are all perpetrators of evil and the one who we have done evil to, first and foremost, is God. Yet God forgives us and takes all the wrath we deserve upon himself.

When we call on each other to forgive those who sin against us, we do so in the knowledge that God has already forgiven us. But not only that, one way or another, the sin that has been committed against the victim will be dealt with. Either God has punished it at the cross or he will punish it at the end of time. No evil escapes the hand of God. Justice will be done.

At the cross we see how seriously God takes evil. He doesn’t trivialise suffering but shows that it is so serious that only the life of his beloved Son will pay for it. Jesus takes the wicked, gives them a new heart and a righteousness that is his own. The destruction of wickedness need not mean the destruction of the wicked if it is Christ who makes them righteous. Or to put it another way the wicked person is put to death, as they die to sin, and are born again, a new creation in Christ.

The cross shows us our King who is not dead but will one day come to right the world. What he began on the cross he will finish on that last day. The wicked will be judged and the righteous will be vindicated. Judgement will come and it will be great and terrible just as it was at the cross, yet no more will the innocent suffer for sins they did not commit. We will celebrate because we know that the right response to evil is the wrath of a righteous God.

The church can rest assured. The churches’ fight against evil and for justice can march on knowing that the true judge of the world has come and is coming again. The church fights knowing that we do not, and the systems of this world do not, need to be the final reckoning for sin. When we strive for justice we know that because Jesus is taking care of punishment we must strive for fairness and equality; More than that, we strive for love. As the cross shows us love, love becomes our modus operandi. Because of the example and power of the cross we see that our greatest weapon against injustice is love, and we work so that all people might be changed by love, ultimately to have their evil nature put to death, and to be given new life in Christ. Only that power comes through the cross.

When the church centres it’s response to evil in the cross it finds a response that is more compassionate to the sinner and to those who have been sinned against than could be imagined and harder on evil than is thought possible.


The Cross and Interacting with Other Religions

In Australia we are blessed to live in a multicultural society. This means that one of the great challenges to the church in our country will be how we interact with other faiths.

This is even more important given that we, the people of earth, have a history of fighting over religion more than anything else.

For the church to engage in fruitful dialogue with people of other faiths it must hold the cross at the centre of its thinking and its speaking because the cross gives Christianity it’s greatest distinctive, it clearly sets us apart from every other faith.

Often interfaith dialogue seeks to show the similarities between multiple faiths and find areas of commonality so as to build mutual respect because “we are just like you.” This can end up with people praying to the same God, in the same religious services, under the ridiculous notion that all roads lead to the same God. We flush out all the distinctives in an effort to forge better relations with other faiths.

Unfortunately this insults all involved. Dialogue is vitally important, but dialogue never has to mean acquiescing vital tenets of faith in the name of tolerance.

When the church talks to and about other faiths, it must keep the cross front and centre, otherwise how will we know who we are, and how will they know who we are?

No other religion has a God who is so foolish as to let himself be killed by those who he created. No other faith solves the problem of the human heart purely through divine initiative. No other God has saved its people purely out of his own goodness and through no merit of the people.

This being the case the cross gives the Christian, no right to boast. Knowing that salvation comes only through the death and resurrection of a loving God rather than our own goodness, means that we cannot in any way look down upon people of other faiths. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is not that the Christian is smarter, better, more special or more moral. The difference is only Jesus, and the faith that he gives.

So as we relate to those of other faiths, the cross will lead us to love them because, just like us, they too need Jesus. As Luther (or someone) said “We are all mere beggars trying to show other beggars where to find bread.” The cross will lead us not to acquiesce the uniqueness of our faith in the spirit of unity and tolerance but to humbly share with people of other faiths a vision of a God of ultimate love and ultimate mercy. Then they will see Christianity clearly, and true inter-faith dialogue can happen. But until we embrace the cross we insult our God who died for us because we hide away his greatest act of love, because of it’s offensive nature, and we insult those we speak to about our faith, because we think they cannot handle the most distinctive part of our faith.


The Cross and the Poor

People will often feel the church should be focusing on sharing Jesus’ love through deeds of justice and mercy. The church has a responsibility to be loving the poor and marginalised. If the church is to stay true to its mission we will be loving the poor.

This emphasis can be seen as being in tension with preaching the cross. We can spend our time in church talking about Jesus or we can spend our time in the community loving like Jesus. It’s a choice between words and actions. If you follow this thinking to its most extreme the only time we should be talking about Jesus we should be talking about him in relation to how we care for the poor.

But the truth is that the best and true motivation for our love for the poor has to come out of the cross. A proper understanding of the cross has to lead to a changed response to the poor.

Without the cross our care for the poor and marginalised becomes about obeying the rules set forth by our teacher, it becomes an exercise in changing our hearts through our actions. The more we love the poor, the more we will be conformed to the likeness of Jesus, and our hearts will be changed and the more we will love the poor. The more we achieve this, the more we will be living in the will of Christ and worthy of his love and honour. It’s a religion of work with ourselves at the centre. We are at the centre because we try and please God with our own goodness and adherence to his values. We are at the centre because we are doing the work that changes our hearts, and hoping this will please God.

But the cross turns that on its head. The cross says that for our sake Christ became poor (2 Cor 8:9). He came, the most rich becoming the most poor. And he poured himself out for a wretched and sinful people, saving them from their own self-imposed, spiritual poverty, making them children of God and giving them, in himself, every spiritual blessing.

The cross shows us a God who has saved us in the greatest act of generosity ever to brighten the universe. Our life comes from a God who has saved us out of his heart, a heart inclined towards the undeserving poor.

Christ has risen to new life giving us a new heart and his power through the Holy Spirit.

We now have a responsibility to be loving the poor and marginalised because we know that we are the recipients of Christ’s love when we were poor. We know that we are only who we are because God had mercy on us when we had nothing.

As a result we live out the teachings of Christ not to change our hearts, or to please our Lord, but because he has given us a new heart and through the power of his Spirit he changes us to be like him and live out his love. We love because we have been loved and received his love. We love the poor out of grace. We love the poor who are undeserving because we are undeserving. We reach out to the lowest, seek out the most lost and go into the places that are darkest because he came searching for us when we were lower, more lost and in greater darkness, and now he empowers us to search and love like him.

Any church that spends all its time talking about the cross but does not see justice and mercy as an outworking of the cross hasn’t really understood the cross. And any church that forgets the cross when talking about the need for loving the poor and marginalised has forgotten where the true locus of power lies in Christianity.



So there are three ways where the cross is played out in giving meaning to the everyday issues Christians face. Jesus Christ, known and preached as our Lord who came, lived, died and rose again for us, must be at the centre of all we do. Without him and his saving work done at the cross through his death and resurrection, we are to be pitied more than all people. I’ll let John Stott bring it home: “To encounter Christ is to touch reality and experience transcendence. He gives us a sense of self-worth or personal significance, because He assures us of God's love for us. He sets us free from guilt because He died for us and from paralysing fear because He reigns. He gives meaning to marriage and home, work and leisure, personhood and citizenship.”


* I haven’t actually done my research and looked up every time the there has been a Christian theocracy in the past two millennia and examined their penal system. But I can think of plenty of examples of the Church gone feral when given the reigns to power.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Singleness

I preached on singleness in church the other night. I'll upload the sermon soon. Maybe nowish. But here is the video I showed at the beginning of the sermon. I realised I left off my phone number. Oops.

Enjoy.



Update: The sermon is now available here on my preaching blog.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The White Party Labor Day Weekend

When it comes to the “All White” parties you already know Hybrid Promotions locks it down every year during Labor Day weekend. This year “All White” will be going down at Miami’s premier entertainment destination Mia at Biscayne in Downtown Miami Sunday September 4th, 2011. Since its Labor Day and there is no school or work the next day; you know its only right they keep this party going to 8am. From 11pm to 8am you will be musically entertained by Renaissance, Richie D, Eccentrix, IIconz and Nocturnal. Last year despite the rain it was packed early so I highly recommend you get your pre-sold tickets early.


Ladies Pre-sold are only $10 and men $20.

WHEN: Sunday September 4th, 2011
WHERE: Mia at Biscayne
MUSIC BY: Renaissance, Richie D, Eccentrix, IIconz and Nocturnal

Brought to you by: Hybrid Promotions

Beenie Man celebates his "All White" Birthday Celebration at "Madhouse" | Friday August 19th

Rockers Island does it again by being the first to bring back the King of Dancehall Beenie Man to South Florida. Friday August 19, 2011 The King of Dancehall Beenie Man does it big and pure for his big All White "Birthday" celebration at Madhouse Opium Hardrock Café in Hollywood FL.

Beenie Man is a man who created a mold in the dancehall business and has done his best to put and keep dancehall reggae on the map. Yes he is known to be the King of Dancehall, but his crazy outfits and dancing skills keeps everyone especially the ladies wanting more. Due to Beenie Man not having a working Visa, seeing his performance skills will not take place. However this will not stop Beenie Man from partying with his friends, family and fans. Before you know it, he will be out on the dance floor showing off his dancing skills; which makes seeing him up, close and personal an unforgettable night. This is Beenie’s first official appearance in South Florida pop up visits from celebrity friends are well expected through out the night.

Since the announcement of Beenie returning to the U.S., it only brought excitement to the dancehall scene. This is the time for those die hard fans that has truly missed Beenie Man's to come out a welcome him back to South Florida. What better way to bring back one of Dancehall top Reggae artist then by doing a pure white birthday celebration.

Ladies in white you are free before 11pm
Pre-Sold tickets for $25 and $45 for VIP will be sold at all Aunt I's
Doors open at 10pm to 6am
For info contact 305.438.9488

Don’t hesitate because this is another not sure what to expect event.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Authenticity

Today I told a chapel of about 200 year 5-8 students about the Bieber experience. It was difficult.

I originally had an illustration about unrequited love (surprise, surprise) but realised that probably the year 5 kids wouldn't really connect with it (it's difficult to like a girl for 4 years when you would have had to start your crush when you were 6). So I decided to tell them all about watching Bieber and crying. It was a risky move. I thought I might win friends with my self-depreciating humour. I think however, I may have just made myself look dumb. Except for the girls who loved Bieber. Maybe today they really heard the gospel for the first time because cried in his movie. Maybe now there's one less lonely girl, cause she found her saviour.

Or maybe I just looked strange.

I was shooting for authentic.

Oh well.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Women in Church Leadership

So over the next few weeks, among other things, I've decided to spend time thinking about women in ministry and what roles are open to women in the church. I've heard a lot of the arguments that are against female eldership in the church. I'm really keen to hear arguments for female eldership.

I know there are a bunch of you readers and friends who think women should be allowed to do everything. I really want to agree with you. I'm finding it difficult to justify biblically.

So convince me. If you use biblical arguments you'll be more convincing.

Right now, if I had to plant a church, I wouldn't have the highest levels of leadership open to women. Should I really rule out half the population?

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Machette

I watched Machette. It was awesome.

That's all I need to say.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Father God

I was leaving for work this morning. And as I was walking out of the door I said to my father "Bye God." I can't remember what I was thinking about before that but I'm pretty sure it must have been God. Dad felt that I may have overestimated his role in my life.

Frued would have been pleased.

"The mechanic says, 'If you’re male and you’re Christian and living in America, your father is your model for God. And if you never know your father, if your father bails out or dies or is never at home, what do you believe about God?'" - Chuck Palahniuk, "Fight Club"

I'm happy I both my dads are good. However one is better than the other and would certainly win in a fight.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Wayne Wonder Performs Live at "Madhouse" | Friday July 29th 2011


Friday July 29th 2011 Hard Rock comes alive with that sweet reggae musical vibes at the Beres Hammond & Wayne Wonder Concert. So instead of going home, come out and continue to Rock-away at the official after party for the Beres Hammond & Wayne Wonder Concert all going down at Madhouse Opium with a live performance by Wayne Wonder himself.

The vibes continues in the Hip-Hop room with Power 96’s own DJ Springer along with DJ Bullet Proof. To represent Power 96 in the reggae room you have DJ Fergie alone with House Arrest playing the best in that sweet Soca and special invited guest to satisfy the ladies musical vibes Supa Sounds own Supa Twitch. Ladies you get a complimentary drink before 12:30am so get there early to start a good vibes. The night will have a numerous special invited guest so you don’t want to miss this official special edition of Madhouse.

When: Friday July 29th 2011

Hosted By: Wayne Wonder

Where: Opium Seminole Hardrock 5729 Seminole way Ft. Lauderdale FL. 33314

Music by: DJ Springer and DJ Bullet Proof in the Hip-Hop Room | DJ Fergie, House Arrest, Supa Twitch in the Reggae Room

John Stott - 1921-2011

Light Cross

“The modern world detests authority but worships relevance. Our Christian conviction is that the Bible has both authority and relevance, and that the secret of both is Jesus Christ.” - John Stott


I heard today that John Stott died. It's sad news. John Stott was one of my heros. Over the last ten years I've loved reading his books and listening to his preaching. He has been probably my favourite writer, preacher and theologian since I was introduced to his work in early 2002.

It was reading Evangelical Truth before starting bible college that I realised there were other people who believed in Jesus the same way I did. What Stott described in the book described how I felt about faith. He spoke about a faith that loved Jesus and held firmly to the Bible. A faith that was real and vibrant and tied to God's personal revelation to us through his Son and his word. I read the book and felt like I had found home.

While I never met him, John Stott always struck me as a man who I would like to be like. By all accounts he was humble, gentle and caring. I heard a story once from someone who met him at a conference that at meal times he would only take small amounts. He did this because he knew there were people in the world who didn't have enough to eat, so he would not take more than he needed in solidarity with them.

He had a great heart for the poor and was so influential in the evangelical world in showing that biblical faith is faith that loves the poor and works for justice. He showed that you did not have to sacrifice orthodoxy for justice and mercy.

Most of all he loved Jesus, and that shone through in everything he he wrote and said. He loved to show us Jesus as he showed us his word.

He also loved birds.

I am very thankful for the life and ministry of John Stott. I'm sad that he's no longer here. I very happy for him that there is no where now he'd rather be.


Quote and photo from this blog.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Centrality of the Cross: Part One - Church

Light Cross

I started writing this in February last year. It wasn't meant to be huge. Then it evolved into a monster and I didn't touch it for over a year. Still I didn't want all that typing to go to waste, and I still agree with myself. So I've touched it up a bit and here is part one of my two part series on the centrality of the cross.


When I made my Hillsong post a while ago I mentioned that I thought that it was important that the Cross is mentioned in every church service. In the comments, not one person agreed with me. While this sent me into an apoplectic rage in which I blocked the IP addresses of everyone who disagreed with me and then sent letter bombs to their houses, it also got me thinking about whether or not I was just being a superstitious legalist, as if saying a particular formula of words will make a church service orthodox and pleasing to God. I went to church the next Sunday watching to see if we mentioned the cross. Happily we sung about it, and the Pastor talked about it in his sermon.

But what if it hadn't been mentioned? Would I need to start wondering if my church was a church of heresy? Would I need to sit down with my Pastor and ask him to make sure the church was preaching Jesus?

After thinking about it for a while, I'm still of the view that the cross needs to be talked about and that it should be talked about every week.

I think perhaps what I said about needing to mention the cross in every service in the Hillsong post, needs elaboration. I reckon I need to elaborate for myself, if nothing else.

For starters I want to make clear that when I say the Cross, I mean the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's short hand for the historical event where Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is God incarnate, was put to death through crucifixion on a Roman cross, only to be physically resurrected on the third day after his death.

This event was a universe shifting occurrence. It's through of this momentous act of God that he makes peace between humanity and himself, by taking the punishment for sin upon himself. And it is out of this act that God draws his children to himself, Christ wins a bride for himself, and the Church is born.

The question is, why do I feel like this needs to be mentioned in church every time we meet together? Is this a requirement of a good church, or just an ideal to be aimed for?

To put it as simply as possible, I think it is out of the Cross that the church finds its identity, and so it needs to be regularly talked about.

But, you might say, I find my identity in where I was born, who my family is, what has happened to me, who my friends are, what job I do, what hobbies I have, what pain I have had to endure, and more. It’s not like I have to mention this every day to remain being who I am. Why should the church have to talk about its defining event every time it meets to retain its identity? Whether you mention defining events or not, they are part of you, nothing will change that.

I guess the difference is between mere history and fact and what you actually value. For instance, the fact that I was once robbed in the street when I was younger, for years had an affect on how I felt in public, and it probably still, to some degree, has an affect on how I respond in situations where I feel threatened. It is an event that is part of who I am. But that said, it’s not an event that I feel particularly attached to, and it not one that I hold on to so it can keep forming who I am.

On the other hand, when I was 18 God called me into full time ministry to young people. This too is a defining event, it has changed the course of my life. Unlike being robbed however, I want this to keep defining who I am. As soon as I forget that call, I forget why I do what I do. When I doubt why I am where I am, and if I really should be living the life I am, I go back to that event and am reminded that “Yes” this is what God called me to. It’s an event I need to keep central because it is important to my identity.

Similarly the cross is a defining event for the church. We need to keep going back to it because it informs who we are and where we’ve come from. For individuals it is important to remain vigilant in telling ourselves the stories that we want to form and inform our identity. For the church it must be doing the same thing. But more so, because a person is only one person only they, the individual, has to decide what events to draw life from, the church is made up of many individuals and all of them have the chance to speak into what should define the church. Deliberately talking about the cross regularly will help everyone in the church remember what is central to who we are. It is our story of value and identity.

Some people will ask, however, why always talk about the cross? There is more to Jesus than the cross. Similarly there is more to the church than the cross. The church needs to be focusing on Jesus rather than just the cross.

My response would be, as I think I responded in the comments, while there is certainly more to Jesus than the cross, there is never less to Jesus than the cross.

Jesus’ teaching is vital for the Christian to know how to live. His miracles point us to the marvellous kingdom that is breaking into this world. His practical love for all people gives us the example we need to go and practically love just like him.

However, it is the death and resurrection of Jesus that sets him apart from all other holy men and wise teachers who have walked the earth. It is the death and resurrection of Christ that sets God apart from the pantheon of gods who are worshiped every day all over the world.

If Jesus did not die and rise again, then his claims of divinity were misguided, and foolish. If he didn’t die and rise again, his assertion that he is the judge of the whole earth is positively foolish. If Jesus didn’t die and rise again, then the life that he calls us to becomes an impossible burden. It is only through the power of the cross that we can live as followers of Christ.

If Jesus didn’t die and rise again, then God has not come to be with us in human form, he has not fully suffered as one of us, and he has not beaten death on our behalf. If Jesus didn’t die and rise again, then God has not graciously taken our sins upon himself, and he is still holding our sins against us, storing up his wrath. He is not a loving and gracious God but an angry or unconcerned God.

There is more to Jesus than the cross, but there is never less to Jesus than the cross. Take out the cross and you have no Christ.

It’s the reason the writers of the New Testament keep coming back to the cross. It’s why Paul says: “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” – 1 Corinthians 2:2

It’s why Peter says: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” – 1 Peter 1:18-21

It’s why the writer to the Hebrews says: “Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant… he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” – Hebrews 9:15, 26-28

The cross is central, it defines our faith, it defines us. It puts us in our rightful place and God in his. It shows us the depths our sin and the greatness of his love. The writers of the New Testament kept coming back to the cross because they understood that there is nothing greater and nothing that helps us see who God is more clearly.

With this in mind we see that the cross is the central point in the defining narrative of the church. Out of the cross the church gains it's existence and identity. Just as any intentional community needs to remember it's defining stories, and reasons for existence, whenever it meets the church needs to be pointing itself back to its point of definition – the cross of Christ.

If we want to teach Jesus clearly, if we want to preach him faithfully, if we want churches that are centred on Jesus, then we need to always centre ourselves on the event that the Bible is centred on and on which Jesus centred himself on; his world changing, life bringing, glory radiating, sacrificial death and resurrection.


In part two I’ll look at how you keep the cross central to your teaching, using the examples of teaching on evil, dealing with other faiths, and care for the poor.

Photo by djking

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Winning Strategies

I'm having a debate with another single guy at church at the moment about who has the better strategy for getting into a relationship.

His strategy is to wait until a woman comes to him and let's him know how much she loves him, and then they'll go out, get married and live together happily forever.

My strategy has been a little more proactive. Asking girls on dates, getting set up, going on dates, stuff like that.

The two strategies basically boil down to do nothing vs do something.

I took a poll of some single and married people last night and they all said that my strategy is better than his.

His comeback was "But look you're single and I'm single, so obviously your strategy is as effective as mine."

He has a point there.

So judging by our scientific observation of our lives, those options don't work, the answer has to lie outside of our two approaches. I wonder if there's a third strategy something that is neither doing something nor doing nothing. Therein, lies the secret to true love, I'm sure of it.

Database

We'll y'all seem pretty excited by the idea of me going to a database meeting. But sadly, I didn't go. I was home sick today with a case of the poos.

The silver lining to the brown cloud was that I could lie around at home and watch DVDs and stuff. And that I did. I watched Layer Cake, Hollywoodland, Q&A and two and half episodes of Friday Night Lights. I also couldn't resist spending a few hours doing work too, so I sent a whole bunch of emails. Oh and I slept on the couch and ate mashed potato. So apart from being sick, it was a pretty good day.

I went to the chemist and bought medication for my ailment, in case I was need to perform on stage at short notice this evening (turns out I didn't, funnily enough), and I decided not to become friends with the pharmacy sales assistant because poo pills are a bad foundation for friendship.

And that's the story of my day.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Social Media Lovin

We had a talk today at work about how we should use social media to promote work. So I decided today to have another week of blogging. This actually has nothing to do with work and doesn't promote it at all. But I was reminded that I have some social media to attend to. I'm terribly bad these days. I think it's partly because I've been spending a lot of time working in the office which doesn't give much food for blogging. I do still watch a lot of YouTube and my new friends, Vimeo. But I don't want to just post videos all the time. Anyway, I promise to blog every day this week.

I won't give you anything if I don't. You can give me grief.

Tomorrow I have nothing on my work agenda except a meeting about a database. I pretty sure it'll be awesome and I'll want to blog about it. I may even promote my workplace. "Let us minister to you, we're getting a database that's so awesome we'll know more about you than Facebook, Google and spam mailers put together!"

But just before I go, while I am blogging about blogging and videos and stuff, this video is pretty rockin'. Violent, but rockin'.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Not that I know of

I meet a lot of new people. Often in the context of somes sort of Christian ministry. And they often ask me, "Are you married, do you have any kids?"

I almost always say, "No wife and no kids... at least, not that I know of." I always think it's funny, then I realise it's more awkward than funny for the other person and then I get awkward.

But then I forget and I say it again next time I meet someone.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

How to Meet the Queen

I've been doing more video making. This time with Bevis. We filmed last Wednesday. I finished editing today. It was all for work.

So here you go my lovely blog readers, How to Meet the Queen parts one and two. (Yeah, cop that Harry Potter, I bring out both parts on the same day!)

Part One:



Part Two:



I hope you've found it helpful.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Trolling Saruman

Just one more reason to love the internets:

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter

***Spoilers contained within***

I went and saw the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 tonight.

It was a fittingly awesome. Very dark. Very serious. It looked spectacular. Ron, Hermione and Harry are competent actors now. And the story is great.

I think one of the things I enjoyed most about this film was the pace. Generally the Harry Potter films have been about cramming as much of the story in as possible. This film they really took their time. Yates allowed for there to be plenty of silence between lines. People didn't spend heaps of time explaining things. We could take time just to watch magical visual effects and the battle of Hogwarts. It made the whole thing feel grander.

One of the things that Harry Knowles pointed out about Transformers 3 is that it takes people 3 seconds to process a shot. Which means that Michael Bay had to slow down his editing in the action sequences so that we didn't get lost. That totally changed up how Bay did action, and it made Transformers' action sequences a whole lot more fluid and comprehendible. I think it made them the best action sequences in the francise.

For Potter, I think it may have had a similar effect. The whole film felt like you could just take your time to absorb everything. It was quite special. I good way to say goodbye.

I must say, I think I may have mentioned it before, but Harry Potter is quite the Christ figure. I came out thinking "Goodness me, JK Rowling has to be a Christian."

And it turns out, she is. She said this after the last book came out "To me, the religious parallels have always been obvious, but I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going." I guess I missed that piece of news.

About her faith she said "It's something I wrestle with a lot. It preoccupies me a lot, and I think that's very obvious within the books." (From here).

It is tempting, as a Christian who works with young people to exploit Harry Potter's obvious Christ connection. And perhaps I will. But that always seems a bit lazy to me. I'd rather be inspired to create art that points people to Jesus and appreciate art that is inspired by Jesus than just use other people's art where Jesus makes a cameo appearance.

I guess, thinking back to where Harry started to where he's come to, it's nice. I remember someone telling me back in 2003 that when Harry Potter ends, he's going to encourage everyone worship Satan. Instead Harry Potter ends by defeating evil through sacrificial love, and not by killing his enemy through being more powerful, but by dying himself. Love wins. And as Lesley pointed out, when Harry dies, where does he end up? Kings Cross. That's pretty spectacular for a book encouraging kids to worship Satan.

Someone must have written an interesting academic thesis on it. I'd like to read it.

Anyway, it's a pretty awesome movie. It ended well. Go see it.

Monday, July 11, 2011

It's the right thing to do

I like the carbon tax.

I'm happy to pay more for my pollution, though I might end up ahead because of this scheme.

I'm excited about the innovation into clean energy that this should promote.

I wish we weren't so selfish and the questions weren't "How much will this cost me?" but "How can we do the right thing?"

I think Julia did well on Qanda tonight. Especially the last 10 minutes, though I think perhaps that may have been set up the the producers. Letting the last question come from that kid who is "the future", pure political gold. But she still did well, and I enjoy a big finish anyway.

I think I might eat less meat.

I'm also planning on catching the train to work tomorrow. But that might be because I enjoy the sleep in the train gives me.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

NOT GUILTY!

                                                       Why is this man smiling?

OK, we were not going to go near the Casey Anthony case for a number of reasons.

But since the major networks and even a prestigious law blog jumped on the Trials & Tribulations, golly Jose Baez is the most incompetent lawyer E-V-E-R bandwagon, and in view of the stunning NOT GUILTY verdict, we could not resist a brief post.

Having second chaired a death case early in our legal career and dutifully attended the 3-day death-penalty-boot-camp sponsored by the California Appellate Project, we are aware that the realities of death litigation are so grim that counsel are urged to set aside all lofty notions of an outright win in favor of a strategy of saving your client’s life.

Second, jurors that are “death qualified”, that is swear under oath that they could and would impose a death sentence if the facts warrant it, are more prone to convict during the guilt phase than a panel that includes jurors philosophically opposed to the death penalty--which question cannot even be asked of potential jurors unless death is on the table.

Third, death penalty appellate specialists stress that—other than avoiding the death of your client as your overarching objective—your goal is object, object, object—even if the law appears settled against you on a particular point. You just don’t want to be that lawyer whose client gets the needle after the United States Supreme Court decides that the death penalty is unconstitutional because you did not make that motion at trial, thereby waiving it for later review. Likewise with any number of lesser "waivable" but potential appellate issues. Therefore, all of those “dumb” objections that Baez was ridiculed for making were actually precisely what any competent lawyer SHOULD DO in a death penalty case.

But the bottom line is this: Under a media spotlight, with a very unsympathetic client and in opposition to some very compelling and prejudicial prosecution evidence,  Baez did the near impossible: Not only did he save his client’s life, she was acquitted not only of murder but of the other serious charges as well, suffering a conviction only for lying to police—and local police at that (not the FBI). The trial lawyer’s equivalent of walking on water. In the context of a capital murder case, the defendant might as well have been convicted of disturbing the peace, so stunning and complete was Baez's victory for his client.

So, to all of you in the media, the blogosphere, and the general public who bought into the party line that Jose Baez is an incompetent idiot, to quote Toby Keith “How do you like me now?”

Ha! We love it! Jose Baez was giving the prosecution the old rope-a-dope, and just about everyone fell for it! "Incompetent" defense counsel wins the "social media case of the century"! Every criminal defendant facing the death penalty should have a lawyer this "incompetent" :).


Read more: Anthony not guilty of killing daughter

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Too Late Hours

I must secure more time for private devotions. I have been living far too public for me. The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint. I have been keeping too late hours. - William Wilberforce

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Fancy Schmancy

So I bought myself a Canon 7D last Saturday. I have been thinking about buying one for about a year now. Finally I actually got around to getting it.

It's a very nice camera. Too nice for someone as unskilled as me. I got it for it's video capabilities, which are pretty sweet for a camera of it's price range. It's a DSLR camera so it's not primarily designed for video stuff. But it does do very good stuff.

When I was in the shop the woman showed me everything I needed to buy. Thousands of dollars worth of camera, lens, bags and filters. She said "Is there anything else you need?"

"I just need to know whether to buy it today or not." I said.

"Tell you what, if you buy it today I'll throw in a free dvd."

So I bought it. Who can resist a free dvd?

I went and played with it on Sunday. Me and one of the kids in the youth group made a video. I pretty much shot the video with the settings on straight out of the box. It's not a very good video but I learned a few things. Firstly I need to work on my focusing skills. Secondly, colour correction, better dynamic range and getting a good ISO is also important. But I'm looking forward to improving, which I'm sure I will.

Anyway, this is what we made.



This morning I was waiting to get picked up by Dan and April and spied some good mist, so I went and photographed it. This was one of the better ones I think. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm pretty happy with the camera.

Morning Mist

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Singing Cat

I know the last few posts have been about church planting. Just so you feel like this blog is still part of the internet, and not Jesus-church-brain land, here's a video of a singing cat:

Why plant a Church? Don't we have enough?

This is part two of a series I started back in September. Go here to see part one.

The most common objection that I get to church planting goes something like this “We have plenty of empty and struggling churches, why not help them grow, rather than use all these resources to start a new one?” or more succinctly “We have plenty of churches, why do we need new ones?”

This is a perfectly reasonable assumption to make. If it ain’t broke why fix it? Or perhaps, if it’s repairable why replace it? Making new churches seems to be an indictment of current churches and just abandoning them to their fate.

All that in mind, I obviously feel like there are good answers to these objections. So I’ll go through a few reasons why I think it’s a good idea to plant new churches even though there are plenty of churches around already.

Evangelism

The first and most important reason, in my mind, is evangelism. New churches are one of the best ways of doing evangelism around. In fact if you do any reading about church planting you’ll soon come across this quote by missiologist C Peter Wagner: “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven” (Keller quotes him here). Now I don’t really know who C Peter Wager is but everyone quotes him, so I figure he probably knows what he's talking about.

It is my firm belief that one of the central roles of the church is to be bringing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus so they might become his committed disciples (e.g. Matt 28:18-19) . Anything that helps the church do that, is good. Church planting is effective in this mission.

The NCLS (including everyone’s favourite NCLSer Keith Castle) did a study on church planting in Australia in 2003. They found that church plants had an average of 16% of their congregation who were newcomers as opposed to normal churches which had an average of 10% newcomers.

To quote Castle and his friend Bellamy, “Church plants tend to have above average levels of vitality, including higher percentages of attenders valuing the outreach emphasis of the church, higher percentages of attenders inviting others to church, and higher levels of belonging and commitment to the vision and directions of the church.” (You can read the whole thing here.)

Church plants are better for evangelism. I think this is because a church plant has to do evangelism to survive. I also think it’s because church plants, when formed for the right reasons, exist to evangelise, they are started so that people meet Jesus, and they haven’t had a chance to go off mission yet.

Established churches, from what I can see, often suffer from the need to tend to their current attendees rather than those outside the church. Churches, if they aren’t careful, default to work to serve the needs and desires of those who attend rather than those who are beyond it's walls.

A church plant is able to avoid this, at least in it’s early days, because it has no congregation, no tradition, no established way of doing things, and no institutions to uphold. A church plant, if it wants to, can focus its energies on the great commission of Jesus.

Now that’s not to say that an existing church can’t do the same. And there are plenty of churches that are doing that, though most of them aren’t the empty, struggling churches. And if you want to get a struggling church to reorient its energies towards evangelism, it’s going to take a whole lot more work than starting a new church. It’s harder to turn a stationary ship, than launch a stationary row boat.

Church plants evangelise, so I’m keen to plant a church.

Population Growth

“We have enough churches already.” It seems like a far enough statement, so why start a new church?

However if we have enough churches this year, if we don’t start new churches, then we won’t have enough churches next year.

Australia’s population is currently growing at about 2% per year. In the 2001 NCLS they surveyed 7000 churches. Now I’m assuming there are more churches than that in Australia because they didn’t all participate. But lets just say that there are 7000 churches in Australia right now. If the church keeps up with population growth of Australia, then next year we should have 7140 churches. And the year after 7,282 churches. In ten years we should have 8,532 churches. Now no one is expecting that to happen. There aren’t going to be 1,500 churches planted in Australia in the next 10 years. There’s a chance the rate that we are planting churches won’t even keep up with the rate that we are closing churches. Which means that not only are we not keeping up with population growth, we may not even be maintaining our current size.

If we didn’t plant new churches, ideally churches in Australia would grow by 2% a year, but church attendance isn’t growing in Australia, it’s shrinking. So current churches aren’t keeping up. If church plants are better at evangelism and are more likely to be growing than established churches, then why not plant new churches?

Ideally we wouldn’t be content to just keep up with population growth. If we really do believe that Jesus is the hope of the world, and that he is calling all people to himself, then we’ll not only be planting churches for 2% growth rate we’ll be planting churches and seeking to reach unreached people until all of Australia has put their trust in Jesus. And that eventuality is probably a long way off.

Bad Use of Resources

“There are so many empty seats in current churches, why not try and fill them?”

The thinking behind this statement seems to be saying, there are so many resources in the established church not being used, we should be using them, not just making more seats to fill.

The problem I see with this thinking, is that it seems to assume that it’s more important to put people in empty churches than to be finding the best way to bring people to Jesus. If the best way to bring people to Jesus is to fill empty churches, then we should do it. But chances are, it’s not. The great tragedy of the empty church is not the unused resources, but the unreached people.

Now I would love to see empty churches full. I would love to see them full of people who love Jesus, who love the people around them and love the world they live in. And while I go to a church with empty seats in it (and there are plenty of empty seats in my church) I’ll do my best to fill them with people meeting Jesus, and people loving Jesus. But wherever I am, I’m going work to help people meet Jesus rather than get people to fill seats.

I’d rather waste a million dollars to save one person, than save a million dollars and lose one person.

Perhaps people aren’t concerned about the churches resources, but that’s what I hear when people start talking about empty seats and empty buildings.

New Churches Means New Ways of Doing Church

Starting a new church means they can do whatever they want to reach people with the gospel. There are lots of people who will not interact with established churches, they won’t step into a church building, and they see the church as completely irrelevant to them.

However, there may be a church planter out there who is planning exactly the kind of church that will speak to their needs and present the gospel in a way that is meaningful to them.

During the summit I heard about and met people who were doing church in all sorts of ways. Church in the pub, cafes that are churches, church that happens over a meal, church that happens with 6 people and church that happens with 600, church for artists, church for families, church for professionals, church for shift workers, church for retirees. People were thinking about all sorts of different ways to bring the gospel to people who haven’t yet heard it or responded to it. How many people will these churches reach who would never have been reached by churches that currently exist? It’s worth doing our best to reach whoever we can, whatever way we can.

New Churches Invigorate Old Churches

When new churches start, it’s good for the established churches. When a church gets to send people out to start a new church they get to participate in the mission of bringing people to Jesus. I may have said that it’s hard for established churches to be doing evangelism, but if churches plant churches, they’re doing evangelism. What better way for a church to reach more people than to send out people to reach more people? When a church plants churches, if done right, it can fill the church with energy and purpose. When a church exists to make more churches people can clearly see how they are growing and changing lives. They get to do evangelism in their church and support evangelism in the churches they’ve planted. It’s a double blessing! When people leave a church to start a new one, it allows the planting church to fill their place with more people who can be supporting the church plant and with more people who can one day go out and plant their own church. Church plants shouldn’t threaten established churches, but excite them as a chance to support new gospel work.

I'm thankful that my current churches leadership feels just this way about planting churches. They're keen and I'm keen.

Church planting is good for the gospel and good for the established church.


So there are my reasons for planting churches even though we currently have lots of churches.

Having said all that, I want to stress, I don’t think established churches are a lost cause. They’re not by any means. I love the established church. I’ve spent all my life in established churches. I don’t think established churches are ineffective. I’ve seen people saved, lives changed, and much love given and received in established churches. The vast majority of the ministry I’ve done in my life is in the context of established churches.

In the end for me, the reason for starting a new church isn’t really about any of the above arguments (though they all help), but it’s about obedience. Like I said before, I’ve been called to plant a new church, and so I will. Were I called to go to a big, vibrant, growing church, I would. Were I called to go to a small, struggling church, I would. God can work, will work, and is working in all kinds of churches, young, old, big, small, growing, shrinking, conservative, liberal and everything in between. So I’m trusting God to work in this church I’m planting, and I’m trusting him to work in yours. He’s a good God and he’ll reach all kinds of people in all kinds of ways. And that’s pretty good.

Finally I think it’s worth saying that all churches were once church plants. If you go to church, there was a point in time where someone said about your church “I’m going to plant a church.” And chances are there was someone who said to that person “What do we need a new church for, we already have enough churches.” But they did it anyway. And now your life has been changed because they saw the need for more churches. The churches that are planted today will be the established churches tomorrow and people will leave them to plant new ones. It’s my hope that the church that I have the privilege of planting with a whole bunch wonderful people, will be sending people out to keep planting churches and keep finding new ways to bring the love of Jesus to bear in this world that desperately needs him.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Under-Qualified: Part 2

Well I’m back from the Summit (thanks Liz).

It was good to get away for a few days and think about church planting constantly.

It felt like a really productive time. Like we’ve moved forward a few conversations, which is really what the majority of the early stages of planting seem to be about, conversations.

We (another of the people who are keen to plant this church and I) met with the dude who’s planting in the area we have been thinking about going to. He’s doing pretty much what we would have done, and he seems to be reaching pretty much the exact same people we would have sought to reach. And he’s probably doing a better job than we would do.

When we talked about us going to the same area as him, he said “the more churches the better”, which was generous of him. I loved that he just wanted people to be doing kingdom work, rather than wanted to protect his empire. He didn’t seem threatened by us at all. Maybe we’re just not that threatening.

That said, it seems a bit silly to us to go to the suburb he’s in to do what he’s doing. So unless we feel called to do something really different to him, we’ll probably go somewhere else.

It’s kinda disappointing because it was feeling exciting for a while there to have a place we could start thinking and dreaming about. Somewhere to invite people to. Now we have to go back to the drawing board. We haven’t totally ruled the old place out, but it’s looking a whole lot less likely.

So while I’m here, let me ask you dear readers, if there is anywhere in Sydney, and any group of people in Sydney, that needs a church, where do you think it is and why? (That is if you think anywhere needs a church.)

Aside from all that, how am I feeling?

Inadequate. Spending a few days thinking about planting and hanging out with planters has just made me realise what a huge task it is and how ill equipped I am for it. There were so many people at this summit who are much better people to be planting churches, more faithful and faith-filled, better leaders, and better do-ers, better with plans and better with people. It makes me think I should just go work in a church somewhere.

I guess it’s an appropriate way to feel, but it’s not how I want to feel. Confident and excited would be much better in my opinion.

But maybe I’m just tired. Perhaps I’ll feel better in the morning.

All that said, I still think it’s important. I’ll go plant because I’m called. And I’ll go because I love Jesus and I would love other people to meet him too. And if I fail, a least I’ve failed at something important.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Kelly Rowland’s Album Cover is Cute, Sexy and Simple

You gots to love Kelly! She came out with a vengeance and ready to take a seat in a place she has always belonged. This album cover is Cute, Sexy and Simple. Not to mention it focuses on just her; letting the world know "Here I am" look at me now. I said it before and I say it again, the UK has brought something different out of her. But yet she manages to still seem humble and sweet. Her performance at the BET Awards showed and proved a lot. So my question is, are you ready for July 26? I am and I will be copping this album to add in my collection of music to support. I think you should do the same.

Lil Kim Spotted at New York City’s Gay Pride parade….


Lil’ Kim at New York City’s Gay Pride parade….I am stunned to see how different she looks. It's sad if you ask me, but this does not stop me from loving her music at all! As always gay pride weekend be having some pretty ass women. If they are men...Damn they got me?!!!

Laz Alonso Host “Majestic Saturdays”


Movie Star, Laz Alonso (star of Jumping The Broom, Avatar & Breakout Kings) is set to Host “Majestic Saturdays” at Aizia.

WHEN: Saturday, July 9, 2011
WHAT: Majestic Saturdays
WHERE: Aizia at The Westin Diplomat Resort, 3660 S Ocean Drive, Hollywood, FL

Come out to one of South Florida's sexiest Saturday nights brought to you by The Majestic Group

Under-Qualified

I’m currently at a church planting conference.

Actually I’m not sure this is a conference I am at. It could just be a church planters gathering, I’m not sure. Either way I feel a little under qualified to be here. I’m not really a church planter, a church planting aspirational hobbyist, perhaps.

I always feel a little bit under-qualified to be at these things. I’m here with all these people who are in the midst of planting churches and have planted churches. I’m just a bloke with some ideas and a few people who are hanging out with me and having ideas with me. But I guess I’m a whole lot further down the path than I was this time last year.

I met a pastor of a church plant today who has planted in the place we’ve been thinking about planting in. He’s really encouraging, genuine and friendly. I reckon he leads a good, Jesus-loving church too. I was hoping when I met him he’d be kinda evil and obviously a terrible leader. It’d make planting decisions easier. On the other hand, if I care about people meeting Jesus more than I care about where I plant a church, which I think I do, then I’m really happy this guy is in the area.

He’s gonna sit down and have a chat with us tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.

I just remembered that I never made post about why plant a church. Maybe I’ll do that while I’m here. I might get inspired.

We’ll see. I don’t wanna make promises I can’t keep.

Anyway, I’ll let you know how this conference/gathering goes. I’ll see if I can have my hobbies affirmed.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Somalian Pilots

I was doing a talk at youth group tonight and I said something about Somalian pirates. Although I got my words wrong and said "Somalian pilots". Which made me say something like "No, pirates. They're very good at being pirates. No so good at being pilots." To which there was a lot of calls from the audience that I was a racist. Which was probably correct.

I said it because I had images in my head of crashed African airplanes. But I don't know where they came from, probably that Ethiopian Airlines crash a few years ago. But Ethiopians are not Somalians. And one Ethiopian pilot crashing is not the same as all Ethiopians or Somalians being bad pilots. In fact, I think the Ethiopian crash was hijacked so you probably can't blame the pilots at all. Perhaps it was the Somalian hijackers.

Anyway I tried to dig out of my blatantly racist flippant comment by saying "I'm not racist. Some of my best friends are Somalian." Which was a joke. But I knew a few people wouldn't get it. So I said "That's not true. I don't know any Somalians." Which just made me sound like even more of a racist.

So for the record, I have no idea how good or bad Somalians are at flying planes. They could be exceptional, probably are. I do however know that they seem to be quite proficient at pirating, which is considered to be quite an asset in some cultures (pirate culture being the most notable).

On another note for tonight's talk I amended the Bible a little. I think perhaps they should consider using it in the next edition of The Message:

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter heaven with an eye patch and hook like a pirate than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Matthew 5:29-30(ish)

And on one last note, I'm blogging on my new MacBook Pro. It's shiny and nice. Thank you Jesus.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

"Feel Inside" Mary Hot, Track Hot but Nicki Minaj she is not...

Mary J. Blige does it again with another classic called "Feel Inside" Feat. Nicki Minaj. Vibing on the Wu-Tang "Triumph" track Mary dug a little deeper on this one. Her first track "Someone to Love me" feat. Lil Wayne and Puffy grew on me and I love it now. I am loving it to be truthful. Since Mary is creating the "My Life" feel Part 2 error this just automatically reminds me of Mary and Lil Kim's "I can love you." Yes I know it was not on the My Life album, but it was in the error of Mary J's life.

The track is hot, Mary is Hot but Nicki Minaj she is not. She no where near murdered this track like she was suppose too. Some of her lyrics sound like lyrics from other songs. I don't know I just think she put Nicki because of the Nicki hype. I mean Mary come on you really don't need a hype. What happen to all the other female rappers that would have done justice to the track? Da Brat, Eve, shit Lil Kim??? It shows a lot and truthfully since Mary is recreating she should have got Kim. Kim would have put all to create that feel again. I don't know if they talk or not, but for this Kim was needed. I love Nicki, but this track was not for her at all

Mary J. Blige Ft. Nicki Minaj - Feel Inside

Monday, June 20, 2011

Fantasy Ave Gemini Edition feat. Esco aka Dr. Evil

Fantasy Ave at Avenue 29 is the new upscale Caribbean style spot in North Miami Beach/Aventura area. Miami has been missing a nice upscale weekly spot where people can come out in their best, but are able to still have a good time.

Celebrating my birthday month I decided to finish the Gemini extravaganza at Fantasy Ave (Avenue 9) for the Gemini Edition. I arrived around 12:53am and for a spot that goes to 5a.m. they had a good amount of people; I mean what you would expect; everyone was free before 1am. Now the vibe walking in automatically was stush (stuck up, high maintenance). Everyone too me was still trying to catch a vibe and feel out the spot, since it’s been a while reggae has happened there.

Crown Prince was playing by this time and I don’t know if it was them or the crowd, but I could not catch a vibe. I know of them from Orlando and they play good, but the goodness was not working for them that night. Now the vibe kicked off when Prodigy touched the Laptop (haha). I don’t know what it is, but you can never go wrong with Shadow fire on the mic and Killa Mike spinning the tunes. They had the crowd bubbling right down to Esco’s aka Dr. Evil’s performance, which was great. I never new how much songs the man had til they zipped right threw them one after another. I loved the fact that he new it was a club and didn’t pull up, re-play or tell a story; he sang his songs and moved the hell on. No long movie stage show performance, it was nice and short. Special K of Black Chiney did his thing….he looked nervous, but he pulled throw and kept the vibes going. Shadow hopped back on to help him out as he spinned the tunes. Slim got up on the Mic early with Killa Mike; I though he would bring slackness, but he was on good behavior. He said a few words, but did not get into 100% slim mode. Barrie Hype of Black Shadow Sound is the man when it comes to Soca no matter where he is. They play the right stuff to keep the vibes going; it never fails when it comes to his segment. Supa Sound was a no show, which was bad, because with the amount of women that was there a good girl tune segment was needed. Their LITERALLY was 5 girls to every man that night. I know if Supa Sound was there they would have gave it their best with the girl tunes.

The party was great and so packed they had to open each section to make space. This party was supposed to go on til 5am, but of course you have fools who do not know how to act and a fight nearly broke out. Too many females can be a bad thing sometimes, because it was a group of hot ass chicks dancing up on everyone who may have ended up dancing with the wrong person. They tried to wrap it up quick, but unfortunately after like 15 more minutes, Barrie Hype was saying goodnight. Despite the fact that girl tunes where limited, the night was real good.

Fantasy Ave has to keep it up from this point on, because after the Gemini Edition people are going to expect even better vibes. If they keep it up (despite the uncontrollable drama that can happen) Fantasy Ave will be a successful Friday night Party. View Photos

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Word King

I ordered myself a giantly, nice computer on Friday. It's a MacBook Pro. 15" HD antiglare screen. 8GB of RAM. And wait, wait for it, Microsoft Office! That's right, I'm gonna do word art like a boss.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Exile

Since I moved out of the flat in Artarmon a month ago to move in with Chez and Johnny, we haven't been able to find anywhere to live. We've applied for plenty and keep getting rejected.

I've been reading Numbers (the book of the Bible, I'm not much into maths) this month, all about the Israelites wandering around the desert, complaining, and slowing dying off. It's been feeling relevant. I feel like I'm living what I'm reading. While I'm not wandering anywhere and I haven't been dramatically rescued from slavery (my old housemates were quite nice really), I am hanging out for the promised land (house). I'm trying not to complain about my circumstances in case God says that I have to live with my parents till I die, and only my grown up kids will be allowed to move out. I have complained a little, mainly just about the stupid real estate agent's forms you have to fill out for every house. It's probably ok to complain about them though, because the Israelites didn't have to apply to move into the promised land. They just had to kill it's current inhabitants which, sometimes, seems like it could be a simpiler solution.

We do have a hopeful viewing on Thursday. So we could have somewhere to live after Thursday. Or it could just be one more bit of wandering.

I'm looking forward to food falling from the sky.

Friday, June 10, 2011

The Floacist and Raheem DeVaughn "Keep It Goin"

I think that Natalie 'The Floacist' Stewart's Floetic Soul album was slept on by a lot of people. This album had so much passion and a sensual vibe that we barely hear in Neo-soul today. Well main stream anyway. Well go figure this type of music is always slept on and barely gets respect. I LOVE "Floetic Soul!" The album was a real good album and it brought me back to Floetry days for sure. I still miss the duo, maybe one day a re-union would be put together. That would be a smash sold out show for sure.

This new video featuring Raheem DeVaughn surfaced yesterday on a special day, my birthday. Glad to see another DMV res doing his thing. They fit together on this track called "Keep it Going." Her passion is the best, but it would have been nice to see them together in the video. She's looking good as well I must say, she does not look as skinny as she did before.

Check out The Floacist feat. Raheem DeVaughn "Keep It Goin" video.....

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Watch Video and see if Patti Labelle deserves this lawsuit or not?

Patti Labelle has been slapped with a lawsuit by a West Point (NY) cadet, who claimed he was beaten up by her security guards in an incident partially captured on videotape at the Houston International Airport.

According to his attorney, Richard King, 23, was allegedly on the phone with his brother waiting to be picked at Bush International Airport in the March 11 incident when he was viciously attacked by LaBelle’s bodyguards, while he unknowingly stood next to the star’s luggage and limo.

LaBelle’s bodyguards reportedly told police the “intoxicated” cadet attempted to get into the star’s limo, and that he incited the attack by throwing the first punch. King denies he even knew who LaBelle was prior to the incident.

Raley said he wants criminal charges brought against the attackers, and his civil lawsuit is attempting to hold the singer responsible as well.

“LaBelle is responsible not only for the actions of herself, but the actions of her security forces under the doctrine of respondent superior,” the suit alleges.

The suit, filed in Houston civil court, also states the R&B diva “lowered the window of her limousine and gave a command to her bodyguards,” prompting them to spring into action.

If a judge finds the claim to be accurate, LaBelle could face serious trouble.

Yes the man was madd close to her stuff, but you can not really see if he was going into her things. The camera also does not show that he was trying to get into limo or nor did he throw the first punch. The camera slearly shows that the bodyguard pushed him, then he threw a punch. I mean after watching this video you can make your own judgment, but the way they handled this man was so unnecessary. This guy was so fragile and small they did not need to beat him up. Make it worse the cops come on the scene and before they get what they need to get done. These mofo's taking pictures and shit. LOL at this one right here. Now Patti caught up in a Lawsuit. SMDH!!!

Watch Video:


Source: NY TIMES

Drake expresses how he really feels for her in "Marvins Room"

Drakes latest leak "Marvins Room," is FIRE. I just Love when he sings, it just does something to me. Letting the chick know that he wants her and F**k that nigga she love so bad, because she can do better. Man this is a typical song of a dude who had a chick that moved on with a new man, that he wishes he can have right now. This that dude a chick misses and wishes she can be with, but because of love she tries her best to be faithful. ESPECIALLY when it comes to this one special person. Basically this a chick he still secretly have feelings for but fucked up and misses her. I LOVEEEE IT, because EVERYONE has been in this situation as least once. Drake kudos to you!!

The track will be featured on his forthcoming album 'Take Care,' schedule for this fall.

Drake - Marvins Room Listen here

Ginuwine goes Reality! Watch Trailer

First off I must say hands down to my D.C. vet Ginuwine for being an awesome artist/dance, a "faithful" husband and a great daddy. It's rare you see couples stay together for so long, especially in this business. But when you do you just have to give your up most respect to those who stay together so long. Sole is a great women for putting her career on hold mode, just to raise their kids and stand by her man Ginuwine. Now we get to see exactly how and what this family does to stay strong in this crazy ass entertainment world. "Ginuwine reality show called "A New Beginning," will document his everyday life as an entertainer, his marriage with former rapper Sole, and parenting his four daughters. Oh he also mentions the death of both parents, his 4 outside children and no changing for this game. From what I remember at age 14 when I got to meet Ginuwine and Big Tigger, it bring tears of Joy to see a DMV vet do it so long and continue to stay real.

Check out the trailer for "A New Beginning"

Mary J. Blige - Miss Me With That

It's been a while since I wrote a post for my world, so its only right to start off with my girl Mary J. Blige. The queen of hip-hop soul gives us a new track called "Miss Me With That." Just like her last single "Someone to Love me" this one definitely has to grow on me. Don't get me wrong I like the track, but to me there is something missing. Maybe if I was going through something with my man I would feel different. We all know she sings from personal experiences and with her down fall marriage this song fits her situation best. I don't know about ya'll but I new that man was full of shit. They did not match and it seemed like Mary was turned from being a cool as chick to a cold ass chick being with him. So now that it is over, I hope she comes back down to earth. Other then that I have high hopes with this album! Sad to say it, but when she goes threw things she puts her extra soul into her music. My Life II drops this fall and I pray she digs deep and looks past the hurt of a bad man and give us something new. She's a little old now wanting a man to love her. After tracks like "The One" and "I am" she has grown to show her independence and that she don't need no man. So let's pray the rest of her album goes that direction! Make you judgement yourself.

Mary J. Blige - "Miss Me With That"