5.2

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: news, relevintage
• Date: Apr 18,2008

4:37 a.m.

The house rumbles for about 2 seconds.

My wife and I wake up and look at each other and say, “Did you feel that?”

I go downstairs to check the news. Nothing. Thoughts of the New Madrid faultline go through my head – most of my extended family lives in SE Missouri, North Arkansas, and West Tennessee. Wondering if we got a tremor of a much larger earthquake down there.

I wake up this morning to the news of an earthquake. Unbelievable.

Did you feel it?

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Earthquake measuring 5.2 rattles St. Louis region
04/18/2008

A predawn earthquake rattled Southen Illinois and eastern Missouri early today, waking up neighborhoods across the area and flooding police departments with calls.

The quake measured 5.2 on the Richter scale and occurred at 4:37 a.m. CDT. It was centered in southeastern Illinois, five miles from the town of Bellmont, according to Timothy M. Kusky, director of the Center for Environmental Sciences at St. Louis University.

People felt it anywhere from five to 20 seconds.

There were no immediate reports of damage but police departments across the St. Louis area reported hundreds of phone calls from residents.

“We’ve had a lot of calls from people whose windows rattled, stuff fell off of shelves, but no damage,” said Sgt. Michael Gordon of the Alton Police Department.

A dispatcher for the Edwards County Sheriff’s Department, which dispatches for the area in the epicenter, said he was flooded with phone calls from people who were rattled by the quake.

The quake was not a part of the New Madrid fault, well-known to St. Louis area residents. Instead, it was in what’s called the Illinois Basin-Ozark Dome region.

While no serious damage was reported, the Kingshighway overpass, between Vandeventer and Shaw, was closed as a precaution because it looked like some debris had fallen from the undercarriage, St. Louis police said.

By about 6:15 a.m., inspectors on the scene decided that four lanes could be reopened. Two outer lanes would remain closed.

Most people calling police reported windows rattling and beds shaking. Some said their windows or foundations had cracked. People as far north as Chicago and as far east as Cincinnati reported feeling the quake, which apparently caused some minor damage in the Louisville, Ky., area. Video of some buildings in Louisville showed fallen bricks. One report even said it was felt in as many as seven states, including Wisconsin and Ohio.
Check info from the U.S. Geological Survey
TALK: Did you feel the quake?
POLL: Did you feel the earthquake early Friday morning?
Read about the November 1968 quake

Kusky said aftershocks typically decrease in intensity and could come a day or two later.

He said a 5.2 in the Midwest is felt more than if the same quake were to happen in California because of rock and soil conditions here.

“In the midwest, the rocks tend to be harder so we can feel it more,” he said. “It shakes the ground longer. In California, the rocks are more soft and it dissipates more quickly.”

Across many otherwise dark neighborhoods, lights went on as people climbed out of bed to check for damage. Dozens of houses in a Freeburg neighborhood lit up before the shaking stopped, and emergency phone numbers began ringing almost immediately, police said.

“Everyone’s been calling,” said a woman answering phones for the Freeburg police.

J. W. True, a security garage at The Lofts at Lafayette Square in St. Louis, was patrolling near an abandoned factory next to the apartments when he heard a sound in the metal vents above him.

“It rattled them real good,” True said. “I was nine hours into my shift, and that really woke me up. I thought, ‘Did I really feel that?’”

He started walking back to the apartments and one of the tenants shouted down from a 4th floor window and yelled, “Is that what I thought it was?”

Kusky said the quake originally had been recorded at 5.4 on the Richter scale by the U.S. Geological Survey, but it was downgraded to 5.2 by about 6 a.m. The force produced by a 5.4 are less than 10 times greater than a 5.2

Kusky said it’s not unusual for the number to be revised.

“It’s a complicated calculation and we have to take measurements from different seismic stations all around,” he said. “It takes a little bit of time to average all the stations.”

inking reviews for kansas city metro voice

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: music, news, review
• Date: Mar 31,2008

Beginning this month, I will be a regular music reviewer for Metro Voice, Kansas City’s local newspaper serving the Christian community. Unfortunately, the reviews won’t be on the online edition, but most of them will be reprinted here on relevintage.

The editor has given me freedom to: 1) review artists that are left-of-center in the CCM industry or believers in the mainstream industry who write positive, “real-life” music and 2) be honest.

Though not as critically brash as the guys at Patrol Magazine – which, btw, are so refreshing – they will not tow the party line. More along the lines of what you see in Christianity Today music review section.

The April 2008 edition of the Metro Voice featured these reviews:

Switchfoot: Oh! Gravity.
Todd Agnew: Better Questions

the emerging church: a posmodern reformation 12

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: Christianity, Gospel, church, culture, emerging church, emerging culture, history, missiology, news, post-Christian, post-Evangelical, postmodern, theology
• Date: Mar 17,2008

The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 1
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 2
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 3
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 4
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 5
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 6
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 7
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 8
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 9
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 10
The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation 11

2007

Two particular taxonomies in 2007 have interestingly come from both the president and vice-president of the Acts 29 Network. Mark Driscoll, Acts 29 president and lead pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, speaking at the Convergent Conference on the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, stated that using Stetzer’s categorization, there are three streams of the emerging church: 1) The “relevance” stream, which holds to the basics of evangelicalism and are trying to bring it into touch with culture (e.g. Donald Miller; McManus), 2) the “neo-reformed” stream of the emerging church. Guys who are also speaking out against the status quo church, but they do so from the perspective of a deeply committed theology, particularly of the Reformed nature (e.g. Sovereign Grace ministries; Matt Chandler), and 3) those who have compromised some of the essential doctrines of the faith (e.g. McLaren; Bell; Jones; Pagitt).

In October of 2007, vice-president of Acts 29 and lead pastor of The Journey in St. Louis, Darrin Patrick, spoke on the emerging church at the Francis Schaeffer Institute Lecture Series on the campus of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. His three groupings for the emerging church are: 1) emerging conversational – characterized by theological revision (e.g. Doug Pagitt; Tim Keel; Kim Ward; Rob Bell; Brian McLaren); 2) emerging attractional – a. neo-reformed (e.g. Driscoll; Matt Chandler) and b. non-reformed (e.g. Erwin McManus; Andy Stanley; John Burke, Perry Noble; Greg Holder); and 3) emerging incarnational – characterized by structural church revision (e.g. Alan Hirsch; Neil Cole; Bob Hyatt). Patrick continued by describing the distinctives that weave through all taxonomies: missional; communal; rediscovery of mysticism, the arts, and “story”; and urban-centric. In many ways, Patrick’s amalgamation was to date one of the best attempts at finding a common thread between all of the streams of the emerging church.

2007 also saw the release of Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives, edited by Robert Webber and with contributions from Driscoll, Pagitt, Burke, Ward, and Kimball. The book was seen by many as a theological extension of The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives.

prayers for jackson and kirkwood (update)

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: news, prayer
• Date: Feb 7,2008

Our prayers continue to go out to all those affected by tornadoes at Union University – and all those in the region. Working at a Christian liberal arts college myself, my heart goes out to the students, the teachers, the administration, and the entire community. I attended a few summer camps at Union called Centrifuge and slept in those dorms that are gone now. Very surreal…

About two and half hours ago, a crazed gunman by the name of “Cookie” Thornton opened fire at a city council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis County and about 15 minutes south on Lindbergh from where I live. Seven are confirmed shot, five are confirmed dead. No names have been released of the deceased, but of the individuals who were shot, they include the mayor, city council members, and a police officer.

This is the most current info from St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Gunman opens fire in Kirkwood

An armed man walked into a Kirkwood city council meeting Thursday night and shot several people, including the at least one police officer, the city’s mayor and several council members.

At least one city council member is confirmed dead.

A correspondent for the Post-Dispatch who was attending said the 7 p.m. meeting had just started — the mayor was starting the meeting just after the Pledge of Allegiance — when the man rushed into the council chambers yelling and began opening fire with at least one weapon. She identified the man as Charles Lee “Cookie” Thornton, a man she knows from covering the council.

“He came from the back of the room,” said Janet McNichols, the correspondent. “He kept something about, ‘Shoot the mayor’ and he just walked around shooting anybody he could.”

McNichols said the shooter first fired at Tom Ballman, a police officer at the meeting. She said she looked up to see the officer shot in the head.

Thornton then targeted Public Works Director Kenneth Yost, who was sitting in front of McNichols. He was also hit in the head, she said.

“After that, I was on my stomach under the chairs,” she said. “I laid on my stomach waiting to get shot. Oh God, it was a horror.”

McNichols said Thornton continued to yell about the mayor, and from his voice and the gunshots, she could tell he had approached the dais at the front of the room where the council sits behind a semicircular desk.

At some point he fired at City Attorney John Hessel, who told McNichols he fended the attacker off by throwing chairs. She saw Hessel later, appearing uninjured except for a knot on his head.

Among those hit, in addition to Ballman and Yost, were Mayor Mike Swoboda, and council members Michael H.T. Lynch and Connie Karr, McNichols said. Conditions were not known for any of them.

Then police officers burst into the room and there was more yelling, McNichols said. First, Thornton saying he had a gun, she said. Then gunshots and the officers saying they’d got him.

McNichols said about 30 people were in the council chambers at the time of the shooting. Witnesses were herded into offices while police secured the scene. Later they were taken to the police station to be interviewed.

Thornton was not a stranger to the council, where he was often a contentious presence. In May 2006, he was handcuffed and pulled from a meeting. He was charged with disorderly conduct and released.

McNichols said he often aimed his ire at the mayor and at Yost.

Late last month, a federal judge in St. Louis dismissed a lawsuit in which Thornton, representing himself, claimed Kirkwood officials violated his free speech rights by prohibiting him from speaking out at meetings.

In a ruling Jan. 28, U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry took into account that Thornton had twice been convicted of disorderly conduct for disrupting meetings in 2006 with off-point complaints about persecution by officials.

“He came to many, many meetings and always said terrible things to the mayor,” McNichols remmebered. “He’d come to the meeting and he’d have a big easel and a picture. a donkey on there and call the council asses.”

Sportscaster Doug Vaughn of Channel 4 told that station that he went to Kirkwood High School with Thornton and saw him through the years. He said Thornton’s behavior changed after police cracked down on his parking of vehicles for his construction company outside his home in Meacham Park. He felt harassed, Vaughn said.

“He could not have been a nicer guy to those who knew them but I think this problem with the city drove him completely crazy,” Vaughn said in the TV interview.

City Hall is at 139 Kirkwood Road. Three blocks surrounding it were quickly cordoned off as dozens of police cars, firetrucks and ambulances from other districts, including Normandy, Eureka and Des Peres, poured in to help.

Even an hour after the shootings, ambulances and fire rescue vehicles were still arriving at the scene.

Media were kept about three blocks from the scene.

Dotti Durban and her husband, Mike, had planned to attend the City Council meeting to learn about an idea to rezone an area near Manchester and Lindbergh but she got held up at work.

She was met by dozens of police cars as she drove to city hall in hopes of catching part of the meeting.

“Lucky for us that we weren’t at that meeting,” Durban said.

Update 1

Via the NBC affiliate KSDK Channel 5, it is confirmed that Kirkwood Mayor Michael Swaboda is in surgery due to a gun shot to the head. Our prayers go out to the Swaboda family…

on the wings of a legacy

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: culture, news, reflections, television
• Date: Aug 8,2007

The year, 1986.

It was a cool brisk January morning and a stick straight brown-haired boy was looking for something by Dahl. I was in the 3rd grade.

My class was having library time when Mrs. Seudekem ran into the room, sobbing. She darted to the television and started fumbling with the controls for the television in the corner. My teacher rushed over to see what was wrong.

I’m not sure there was protocol for this. I’m not sure we were supposed to see what we saw without any explanation. But we saw it.

A space shuttle splintered, exploding into the atmosphere. All that could be heard was the tick tock of the clock above the librarian’s desk.

Even as a third grader, I knew why Mrs. Seudekem was distraught. I remembered that we had talked about how a teacher was going into space for the first time. That teacher was on that space shuttle. She was dead. Teachers and their students everywhere were mourning.

This was my first American tragedy. Since then there have been the Oklahoma City bombings, Columbine, 9-11, Katrina, Virginia Tech – but this was first. It really was the first tragedy that has become a part of the fabric of my generation.

I guess that is why I’m touched when the Space shuttle Endeavour roared into orbit today carrying teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan. Not only was Morgan the first teacher-astronaut to go to space since McAuliffe’s attempt, she was McAuliffe’s backup for Challenger’s launch in ‘86. Even after two space shuttle disasters, she never swayed in her dedication to NASA and the agency’s on-and-off quest to send a schoolteacher into space. Through Morgan, the memory of McAuliffe lives on.

There is something about the American spirit that reverberates in a time like this. And for a thirty-year old almost 20 years removed from the Challenger explosion, I welled up a bit.

It is a mysterious thing living in America. The spirit that rises in the midst of tragedy, is the same spirit that brings about redemption. And 21 years later after this horrendous event, redemption reared.

From Mission Control today:

“Go at throttle up. Morgan racing toward space on the wings of a legacy.”

Here’s to Christa and here’s to Barbara.

big news…

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: Gospel, abandoned, books, church, concert, culture, emerging church, leadership, missiology, music, news, planning, sacred space, theology, worship
• Date: Aug 5,2007

Many of you know that I accepted a new role as Worship Arts Coordinator last month at my alma mater, Missouri Baptist University, to help them build and oversee their brand new Worship Arts major. I am stoked about the opportunity to speak into young men and women who feel called into local church worship ministry. It is a daunting task, but a worthy one! I know God has brought me here in this season of my life and theirs for a great purpose.

Immediately upon taking this job, God gave me a vision for an event focused on the emerging worship conversation that would educate, encourage, and spur on MoBap Worship Arts students, as well as the local church worship community. I didn’t know how I was going to pull this off, but I knew God had called me to do it.

For the last two months, there have been many meetings, phone and email correspondence, and prayer related to this endeavor. And as it has come together, I have been busting at the seems to officially announce it on relevintage, but I had to wait until it actually was official. And what has come together has surpassed even my greatest dreams. I guess that is what happens when you obey God outside of your comfort zone. Our faith coupled with God’s power brings about great things.

So without any further ado, I am pleased to announce the first annual abandoned: worship as life seminar on the Missouri Baptist University campus on Saturday, September 29 from 9:00 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.

abandoned will be a practical seminar on how the why and what of worship impacts the how of worship.

The vision behind abandoned is two-fold:

1) Simply put, Romans 12:1. We are ‘abandoned to worship as life’ because we have been commanded to offer our bodies of living sacrifices. Living – as in all of the time. That means our spiritual act of worship, or our spiritual lifestyle, never ceases. It’s not a something we clock in to do when we go to church and then clock out. Because of the cross – as I mentioned in my recent entry – the ‘temple’ of worship is now our own hearts. We don’t go to church, we are the church. And that means worship can and should happen everywhere, including the church.

2) ‘Worship as life’ eludes to the idea that as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, it impacts the people around us. This is the missional aspect of worship. In other words, as we personally worship God, we have a conversation, a connection, an intimate exchange of love between Father and child. After we’ve experienced this love in a time of worship, how could we not share the love we have been so freely given with others? Why wouldn’t we want those around us to experience what we have? If not, our worship has terminated on ourselves. We have to remember our salvation doesn’t end at the point we receive God’s free gift of grace. We have been saved to continue to redeem the world. So our worship should propel us outside the four walls of the church.

Now, why the excitement? Well, it’s about the special guests who have agreed to come and speak at the first annual abandoned seminar.

First, I am pleased to announce our keynote speaker is none other than author/speaker/consultant, Sally Morgenthaler, will be with us in two sessions. She will be speaking on “Out of the Subculture: Worship When the Church Puts Mission First.”

Sally has no question has been one of the leading prophetic voices in the North American worship landscape in the last 20 years. Her book Worship Evangelism alerted us to the need to examine our methodology in light of a robust theology of worship. Even though the book is approaching its tenth anniversary, it is an absolute must read for every worship leader.

Her recent contributions to books like Exploring the Worship Spectrum and Alternative Worship have been equally informative.

And most recently, in the May/June 2007 edition of Rev! Magazine, Sally rethinks her entire paradigm of worship evangelism in light of the church’s missional mandate. You can hear her talk about some of her recent thoughts on worship and mission here with Dan Kimball from the recent Willow Creek Arts Conference.

It is truly an honor to have Sally with us for abandoned. I know you will want to hear from her.

As a side note, Sally is also consulting me as I build this Worship Arts program at MoBap. She has graciously agreed to let me post entries on relevintage of our conversation. Be looking this week for the first round of our conversations.

Second, I am so excited about our second guest speaker, Shaun Groves. Shaun is a friend from my days in Nashville and is a songwriter, performer, musician, worship leader, teacher, preacher, blogger with a unique and progressive view on how the church, culture, music, worship, etc. intersect.

In the realm of worship, Groves has written a slew of great worship tunes like “Your Renown” and “Here I Am,” writes for Worship Leader magazine, as well has been one of their ‘teachers’ for their innovative training webinars. Additionally, my wife and I sang many of his worship songs at our home church in Franklin, TN, The People’s Church.

Shaun is one of the most insightful, creative communicators I know. There is no doubt he will challenge and encourage you!

Third, my good friend, Joel Lindsey, worship pastor at The Journey, is speaking on “B-Sides & Bootlegs: The Call for Missional Worship Pastors.” Joel will talk about how we must rely on the Word, the Holy Spirit and we must become students of our own context and people in order to best capture the look, sound and feel of our setting at this unique time in history.

Also, he will talk about how increasingly, the “style of worship” you do at your church makes a lot of theological/eclessial statements to the broader culture and how we need missional worship pastors who are able to hold firm to the truth of the gospel in the face of cultural and theological trends.

As I mentioned recently on this blog, my family attends The Journey and is one of the most vibrant churches in the St. Louis metro, if not the Midwest. Lead Pastor Darrin Patrick started this church in late 2002 with 30 people. The Journey now ministers to 1,300+ in West County, Clayton, and Tower Grove.

Finally, I will be speaking on “Keeping the Sacred Space Sacred: Caring About the Right Things as Worship Leaders and Worshippers.” I will be talking about how in a performance-based, media-saturated world we can be Biblically faithful and culturally relevant without training ourselves to care about the wrong things and how what we care about in our corporate worship time is what our worship becomes.

The day will end with an unplugged concert from Shaun in the main auditorium of the Fine Arts Center, with all the proceeds going to Compassion International, whom Shaun is touring on behalf of, as a practical outflow of the day’s discussion on ‘worship as life.’

Thanks for wading through this long entry. Finally, I would like to say that I could not have done this on my own. I want to thank MoBap staffers Arlen Dykstra, Keith Ross, Andy Chambers, Rob Cornwell, Terry Dale Cruse, Lisa Hessel, Bryce Chapman, Brian Turnbull, and Lara Robey for the generous support of this event.

Tomorrow, I will post the current schedule of abandoned. Stay tuned…

holy water!: st. louis has best tasting tap water in america

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: community, environment, news, social issues
• Date: Jul 6,2007

My wife told me she had heard this on the news so I looked it up and it is true: St. Louis has been chosen as having the best tasting city water in America.

I don’t know why I’m including this other than the story got me thinking about something that has been bubbling up in me for some time now.

I am starting to question how much safer and/or healthier bottled water is after reading things from the NRDC about the gaps in bottled water regulation or from the National Geographic and the FDA. And even more important, there are so many environmental and economic issues related to the water bottle industry. How ironic that I live in the city with the best tasting city water. Hmmm…

Here is the press release in its entirety:

THE U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS ANNOUNCES
2007 CITY WATER TASTE TEST WINNERS

Five Finalist Cities Selected from a Group of 93 Submissions

Los Angeles. – The U.S. Conference of Mayors announced the winner of the 2007 City Water Taste Awards today during the 75th Annual Meeting. St, Louis (MO) was chosen as the Best Tasting City Water in America and it will receive a cash award of $15,000 and bragging rights.

Hundreds of mayors attending the 75th Annual Meeting were the judges of the “Best Tasting City Water in America” who conducted a blind test of tap water for taste, clarity and aroma. The five finalists (Anaheim, CA; Colorado Springs, CO; Long Beach, CA; St. Louis, MO and Toledo, OH) were part of a group of 93 cities, which were selected for their achievement in providing great tasting, quality water to America’s citizens.

The ten cities that received honorable mentions were as follows: Arvada, CO, Beverly Hills, CA, Dubuque, IA, Green Bay, WI; Lansing, MI; Northbrook, IL; Philadelphia, PA; San Jose, CA; Sugar Land, TX; and Tallahassee, FL.

Tom Cochran, Executive Director of the Conference of Mayors stated, “Our cities are world leaders in providing high quality water to protect public health, for public safety and fire protection.” Although cities have achieved much success in providing water infrastructure and services in America, we may soon be facing our biggest challenges as population growth, climate change and potential shortages in the near future pose an increasing cost burden.

“We in St. Louis always knew we had great tasting water. I am proud of the men and women of our water department for their work and dedication in making St. Louis water clean, safe and delicious … another great reason to come to St. Louis.” said winning Mayor Francis G. Slay

While USCM rewards the efforts by cities, this water taste event is also a call for the federal government to partner with us to help cities improve deteriorating infrastructures. Local government has always been the primary investor in public water infrastructure, but federal policies for the last two decades have shifted the cost of water services to local governments; and cities cannot be expected to do this alone.

The Conference of Mayors thanks Veolia Water North America, the sole corporate sponsor of the 2007 City Water Taste Test. “Everyday, the private sector supports cities and towns across the country in their efforts to provide citizens with the best water services,” said Jim Good, Vice President of Veolia Water North America. “We’re delighted to highlight the importance of good quality drinking water.”

All local government provides for the pipes, pumps, treatment works and services and has increased spending from $45.6 billion in FY1992 to $82 billion in FY2005.

word & way feature on mobap worship arts program

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: education, emerging church, news, worship
• Date: Jul 5,2007

In the recent edition of the Word and Way, a newspaper serving Missouri Baptists, they featured the new Worship Arts program at Missouri Baptist University that I am heading up. The writer, Jennifer Harris, did a great job. Kudos!

As a side note, the Worship Arts article is right under an article on the Gospel, Church, and Culture seminar that was held at the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association building on June 28. As I mentioned, I attended that seminar and intend to do a detailed breakdown and personal reflections. It is coming, I promise. Here’s a nutshell: It was great!

Back to the issue at hand, the article on MoBap’s Worship Arts program wasn’t put on the Word and Way’s online presence, so I’ve transcribed it for you here:

MBU will launch worship arts program
by Jennifer Harris
Word & Way news writer

Missouri Baptist University is kicking off a worship arts program this fall that is designed to prepare worship leaders for service in the emerging or contemporary church.

Brad Andrews, a graduate of MBU’s church music program, will service as the program’s coordinator.

“I have a passion to reach the emerging generation,” he said. “My head and heart is in the emerging culture. I care about what they do.”

The cutting-edge program takes elements of the traditional church music program and combines it with audio-visual, video, drama, and theology.

Special designed upper level course include worship history and leadership, which will follow worship history through present-day; a worship arts workshop, where students will pull together worship sets or planning of a worship service; emerging trends in worship, which will focus on what is happening currently and a weekly seminar, featuring guest speakers talking about various aspects of worship ministry.

Andrews has served as worship arts pastor at Grace Church in St. Louis. At Grace – one of the largest churches in St. Louis with more than 3500 people in attendance – Andrews acted as the primary worship leader, oversaw a staff of 12 ministry professionals and served as creative director.

Andrews wants to expose students to people in the field, not just theorists. “I want this program to be helpful to them.”

He said the program is trying to close the gap between college and the real world. Andrews referred to himself as a different type of college person. “I’ve been in the church exclusively the last six years,” he said. “I’m the local church guy whom God blessed and put in those areas.”

Andrews is working with Sally Morgenthaler and Dan Wilt, leaders in the emerging worship movement, to design curriculum.

For more information on Andrews or the emerging generation, visit his blog at relevintage.com

60 seconds of funny: dan rather from election ‘04

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: humor, news
• Date: May 13,2007

shaken from my cultural slumber

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: church, editorial, news, world issues
• Date: Mar 23,2007

You’ve heard the story. 107 Russian miners killed from an explosion. You’ve probably already forgotten it. I know I had. Until I was shaken from my slumber a few minutes ago. Via Anthony Bradley:

(1) We don’t really think about coal miners much do we? I’ve never heard of anyone every wanting to plant a church in a coal mining community anywhere in the world. Why is this? Does Jesus care about this? This Sunday, NO CHURCH any of you go to will likely pray about this. If you’re in a college ministry, fellas, your campus leader/pastor-dude probably never mentions stuff like this anyway (unless you’re in InterVarsity) ’cause it’s not about evangelism or doctrinal information(I forgot that redemption’s only about those things, excuse me). Fellas, 107 dead; 107 families. This effects thousands of people. You will, however, hear lots of prayers thanking God that “we” aren’t going to hell, and how we should stop sinning, God’s enabling us to not sin so we can be nice people and avoid bad people and TV. (Calm down, you’re not 8-years-old, I’m not saying that all of that’s bad).

(2) Yesterday on NPR, I heard a story of a 27-year-old guy who had recently told his Mom not to worry about the dangers because the mine was safe. He’s dead. I nearly cried at 6:30 am.

(3) America’s college students and college grads (the elites) complain about not having WiFi everywhere, their classes being boring, having to work at a cubicle instead of an office, actually having to read for class instead of treating class like they’re at a movie, only getting 3 weeks vacation, or, even worse, some college guys will actually choose a career only for the money which is sick and pathetic (Protestants do all these things). . .so I thought about all the guys my age who died (or the ones currently working) who never did, nor never will, get the chance to complain about things like that.