Crosby Update and Work Days March 31, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Breaking News, Inside Park, Adaptive Reuse, Church Construction, Missional, The Cultural Conversation , add a commentFinally — after many delays, we are GOING TO PULL AUDIO-VIDEO wire this Saturday (woo Hoo!) as we gear up each weekend in April to get all of our audio/video stuf installed. It is starting to get real exciting!
Crosby Work Days
Crosby Work Days are back in full swing as we are counting down the days to opening our new ministry center at 1001 N. Crosby. Volunteers have already done a great job helping us paint the garage, and this Saturday, April 5, we need 20-25 volunteers to help with wire pulling throughout the day from 8 AM-6 PM. Come on out all you home renovators and construction-types and be part of this historic time! Please register to volunteer so we can plan accordingly.
Additional work days will be held on April 12 & 13, April 19 & 20 and April 26 & 27. Work times will be from 8 AM-6 PM on Saturdays and 1-5 PM on Sundays.
Check out the photos below:
Third Floor Worship Center Lobby With
HUGE windows looking on onto Crosby
Stage and Catwalk are coming along nicely
Can You see the boxes for the sub-woofer on the open stage area?
The Chicago brick is being put up and the greystone tile is coming next — It
is so cool to live in Chicago!
All the platforms are almost done for the permanent 517 seats on the tiers.
Easter Creativity - God is at Work! March 31, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Sunday Services, Church, Powerful Passages, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith, Entrepreneuring , 1 comment so farIt’s now a week after Easter and I am checking out the blogs and news to see how God used people this Easter weekend and what drew people in to hear the Word of God on Easter. Wow! There is lots of creativity out there and that affirms that God is working His plan with the churches here in the United States and new creative thinkers are bringing the Gospel to the folks. I love God’s verse on creativity in the church — in Luke 14:23 (NASB) it says:
23“And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
“COMPEL THEM TO COME IN” –
Here are my “Sweet Sixteen” creative teams who I found that did a lot of brainstorming, planning, hard work and execution with excellent creative ideas to COMPEL PEOPLE TO COME IN this Easter — To God be the Glory!:
1. The Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina that is just over two years old celebrated as 4,800 people showed up for services for an excellent start to a series called “Breakout” and over 500 people gave their lives to Christ! Check it out here.
2. Oak Leaf Church, less than 19 months old, did a message on TATTOO and left their mark by giving tattoos live on stage for all three services. The point of the message was that external marks are meant to point to internal life change. The point isn’t the mark, it’s the story and the meaning. In the same way, external behavior modification is never enough…what makes us Christians are our changed hearts. They were praying for 1,000 people but had 1,350 with 60 people accepting Christ (read about it here)
3. Craig Groeschel and the folks at multi-site Lifechurch.tv Started a new series on Easter and handed out fortune cookies with a note inside of them inviting people to the series entitled “The Warrior.” They placed huge barrels of fortune cookies outside and asked people to give them to their friends. More than a grand total of 31,000 people attended all 13 LifeChurch.tv campuses this Easter weekend with 479 hands raised during altar calls.
4. Scott Hodge and his team from Orchard Church in Aurora, Illinois dropped Easter eggs from a helicopter. 20,000 eggs and thousands of people (see pictures here)
5. National Community Church in DC also celebrated with 20,000 eggs and a baptism service on Saturday (read about it here)
6. Gary Lamb and the folks at Revolution Church in Canton Georgia also dropped Easter eggs from a helicopter. I love this idea from all three of these churches! Check out the story and pictures.
7. Eric Bramlett and his team in Naperville IL at Community Christian in Naperville have a really funny video as they debuted their series called “Losing My Religion” which started Easter Weekend. Check it out HERE.
8. High Desert Church in CA continued their series called “The Most Spectacular Show on Earth” and had more than 6,000 attend and over 100 people come to Christ after battling spiritual warfare with everything going wrong on their sound systems at their various locations.
9. Travis Johnson and the crew at Life Point Church in Homestead FL held a Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt (7-9pm) and had 7,000+ people show up. How creative is that idea? A moonlight Easter Egg Hunt!? They had a great turnout on Sunday with many coming from the community who attended that Easter Egg hunt.
10. Cross Point Church in Nashville had an amazing Easter at their two campuses locally (read a great letter from someone who was greatly impacted here) and at their new church start-up in the Dominican Republic. A team of 20 from Cross Point spent their week working on the church building and while the building was far from being completed, the pastor led their first service in the new church on Easter Sunday. How cool is that?
11. Check out the things Granger Community Church had people hold in their hands during the service. HERE are the pics. Read about it here and here.
12. NewSpring Church saw 12,000 people attend their services and over 120 people receive Christ (read here) and held a great service in their Man Series called “Ultimate Fighter”
13. The team at Seacoast Church launched a new campus on Easter in one of the most crime-ridden areas of the country. HERE is the story.
14. Connexus had more than 1,300 at their two compuses with some moving stories.
15. Jordan Creek Church played the Upside Down Video.
16. A worship leader in Atlanta experienced what true worship is really all about (read this moving story here)
PS…BONUS COVERAGE I just found out that Saddleback Church opened two new sites on Easter and their San Clemente site celebrated its one year anniversary! The first service of Saddleback Corona gathered 490 attenders and 43 accepted Christ. That’s almost 10 % of those who attended! The first service at Saddleback Irvine gathered 1,826 attenders and 34 accepted Christ! The service at Saddleback San Clemente (open one year) gathered 1,550 attenders and 39 accepted Christ!
….Lesson of the Day? March 31, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 1 comment so farHappy April Fools Day!
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Dakota Beef Featured on CNBC March 28, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentWith all the concern in the country over the beef recall of the last few months, sales at Dakota Beef LLC, the country’s largest organic beef company, are exploding as we see in this report on CNBC. If you would like to buy direct and have the organic beef delivered right to your door, please click here. Dakota Beef can also be found at Costco stores all over the country.
To watch the video, please click here.
Organic Foods Are Booming
The Organic Trade Association’s latest survey cites beef as the organic industry’s fastest growing segment. The U.S. organic food industry grew 21% to reach $16.7 billion in consumer sales in 2006. Organic foods are one of the fast growing market segments within the food industry, with sales growing at an annual rate of 20.9% in 2006. Looking forward, the survey anticipates growth of approximately 18 percent overall each year on average for 2007 through 2010 for organic food products.
About Dakota Beef
Dakota Beef LLC is the leading certified organic beef company in the United States, operating its own USDA inspected, certified organic processing plant in Howard, South Dakota. Founded in 2003, the company only sells certified organic beef products guaranteed to be free of antibiotics, growth-promoting hormones and pesticides. Dakota Beef cattle are humanely raised on pasture and fed a proprietary diet of organic grains, resulting in consistently flavorful and tender beef. Dakota Beef has recently announced a partnership with one of largest organic Angus ranches in the country.
The First Mobile Hotel Room March 28, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Technology, Photos, Culture and Faith, Entrepreneuring, Sustainability , add a commentFan attending any of the big festivals this summer might wish they have access to one of these - the “world’s first mobile hotel room”. The Travelodge hotel chain recently announced that its Travelpod would soon be available at events such as music festivals and sporting competitions. Designed to be set up anywhere you might put up a tent, it’s cheering news for anyone who books into B&Bs at music festivals or panics about camping holidays.
The pod is sealed in a polycarbonate glass box, but includes features offered in conventional hotel rooms such as TV and air conditioning. Leigh McCarron, Travelodge’s director of sleep, called it “a ground-breaker in outdoor accommodation”. The Travelpod, which measures 6 metres by 2.4, includes a double bed, bedside lights, carpeted floors, and dressing table - plus blinds. A spokeswoman for Travelodge said: “The Travelpod is a ground-breaker in outdoor accommodation.” She added, “With the popularity of outdoor sleeping we saw a definite niche in the market for something a bit more up-market”. When asked who will be hiring this glamorous answer to a tent, she replied “One woman wanted 20 of them for the guests at her garden wedding to sleep in.”
Another tribute to Abby Jill Brauhn March 27, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 2commentsJim Poole, an excellent actor (at Steep Theater) and someone who worked at Park Community Church here in the city as Artistic Director for nearly 18 years (as well as doing a number of voices in the Veggie Tales video series), provides a guest commentary each Tuesday morning at 5:4o am and 8:4o am on Moody Radio. This week, he used his commentary to talk about those people in our lives who model what it is to give of themselves to help others without thinking twice and to tell us what can we learn from people like this. He used Abby-Jill Brauhn from Park as an example and here is what he said:
I walked up the steps to a place that was once a home to attend a memorial service. I counted this my fifth such service, as five unique women, all from our same church community, had died battling cancer. All were in their prime. And yet all seemed to live extraordinary lives – and I don’t say that lightly. Four of these services occurred in the past three years, this most recent one on the Saturday before Holy Week. The extraordinary life of Abby-Jill Brauhn was celebrated in grand fashion.
Over 300 people came – not that I counted, and not that a large number mattered unless she actually and significantly touched the lives of these people… which she did, in meaningful and practical ways. Abby-Jill served as the director of missions at Park Community Church, but she operated much more like a special concierge: connecting people, helping them network and land jobs, find apartments, get a deal on renting a truck, …helping you move in and stocking your pantry with groceries. If you were sick, her skill set from her nursing days kicked in, and she got you set up with the best medicine. It seemed like she had an inside track on everything from travel plans to fashion tips and she was generous with it all – she gave me my favorite fleece sweatshirt for no other reason than that’s how she rolled.
I suppose one of the most significant ways she made an impact on people was through the short-term mission trips she led, most often to an orphanage in Mexico. One friend who spoke at the memorial service described his experience this way: “Immediately, I was in the company of someone who could juggle and multi-task with excellence. But it was not only what she did, but how she treated other people. I was in a van riding for six hours and the word “non-judgmental” comes to mind. For her to break her way through my crusty exterior, she had to be that way. I mark our conversation in that van as very significant in opening me up for the rest of the trip and for the church community as a whole.”
Another woman who spoke said that “it was like one week I did not know the powerful force that was Abby-Jill, and then the next week I was calling her on the phone for a late night personal conversation as if we were friends, just like that – that’s just how she was.”
Afterwards, many remarked at how inspiring the memorial service was, and yet it seemed also to create a sense of longing, or yearning, for a life well lived, for a community of friendship like many of us had once called home, but has since scattered. C. S. Lewis has said that longing is a part of the human experience. It’s developed and comes from times when we hold a baby, or experience true fellowship during a dinner party conversation, and times when we glimpse peace. And I would add, times like the memorial service for Abby-Jill.
It’s these feelings of longing deep within us that point to things beyond our world. They point to what the resurrection of Jesus reveals: that His Kingdom is here now, but not yet fully realized. And so, it is a holy longing. And the timing of Abby-Jill’s service just before Holy Week couldn’t have been more fitting.
The Sustainable House March 25, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Breaking News, Adaptive Reuse, Energy Efficiency, Sustainability , add a commentI am a big fan of using the sun and wind as energy sources rather than paying the local utility, and working to create a sustainable house. I love to imagine what one of these “energy-free” houses would be like and I think I found one in Enertia. I saw them tonight on the Science Channel.
In the Enertia Building System, solid Energy-Engineered wood walls replace siding, framing, insulation, and paneling. An air flow and access channel, or Envelope, runs around the building, just inside the walls - creating a miniature biosphere. Here solar heated air circulates, pumping and boosting geothermal energy from beneath the house, storing it in the massive wood walls. Thermal inertia causes the house to “float” between the cycles of night and day, and even between the seasons.
Many aspects of the Enertia® House are unusual and innovative - but backed up by science, common-sense, and prototype homes across America. In fact, each aspect listed below increases the energy efficiency of the building. The effect is Synergistic - equal to more than the sum of the parts. The Enertia® House can make more energy than it uses!
What do you think? I love this idea. Could you do one of these in Chicago?
Recycling the US Postal Way March 24, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 1 comment so farDon’t know what to do with all your old cell phones, IPods, and printer cartridges?
U.S. Postal Service has just announced a vital new service that lets you recycle cell phones, iPods and other electronics — as well as printer inkjet cartridges — via mail.
For free!
To use the “Mail Back” program, find one of the 1,500 post offices that offers special free envelopes. Drop in your recyclable electronics item, and mail it without postage. It goes to Clover Technologies Group, which recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. Best of all, for those of us who live on the road, you can take as many “Mail Back” envelopes as you please, and use them to mail your electronics from anywhere. It’s a great idea to tuck one into your carry-on laptop bag. When something dies on the road, you can drop it in the envelope and give it to your hotel’s front desk to mail — no need to carry the extra weight home.
Currently the program is a trial, and is focused on ten cities, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego. If successful, it will go nationwide in the fall, according to the Postal Service.
5 Rules with a Mentor March 24, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Methods & Strategies, Leader Zone, DifferenceMakers, Entrepreneuring, Faith at Work , 1 comment so farAs a serial entrepreneur, I love to spend time with folks who are getting their own company going. I remember the days when I was getting started and I was searching for people who knew more than me that would take time to meet with me and impart some wisdom into my situation. I tell everyone who asks — get a mentor…get someone who will help you as you grow as an entrepreneur.
I recently came across a great post by Perry Noble about the “5 Rules with a Mentor”. Here is what he said:
I have had the privilege of being mentored by some incredible leaders, some you would know, others you might not–but nonetheless, God has used them to teach me SO MUCH about life and ministry. Over the years I have developed five rules for meeting with a mentor that I would love to share here today…you may agree or disagree, all I know is that they have worked for me.
#1 - I Always Adjust To Their Schedule–ALWAYS!
When I am attempting to set up an appointment with someone I want to meet with–I always ask them (or their assistant) to throw two or three dates at me that is most convenient for them…and then I adjust my schedule to make the meeting happen. I NEVER send them the times I want and then ask them to adjust their schedules. I am the one who wants the meeting…and if they are available to me I will bend over backwards to hang out with them.
#2 - I Am Always Early For The Appointment
If I am driving from out of town I always make sure I arrive around (more…)
Most Innovative Companies in the World March 23, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Methods & Strategies, Entrepreneuring , add a commentThe March 2008 issue of Fast Company magazine profiles their view of most innovative companies in the world. It’s an eye-opening and interesting read, in particular that the companies named hail from all industries: automobile, high technology, airlines, retail, attire. I have listed the top 10 below, and I like the selection of Google and Nike, but don’t get P&G and WalMart and especially CurrentTV, which doesn’t really have a business plan or an audience. What do you think of this list?
#1 GOOGLE
Google is different, even on a list of distinctive companies. Here, more than a dozen describe what life is like at a place where no goal is too audacious, agility means more than power, and even cafeteria food represents an opportunity to change the world.
#2 APPLE
Careful readers of this magazine may be scratching their heads right now, in light of our recent cover story laying out the many challenges facing Apple. But the company has had, indisputably, one hell of a run. In the past year alone, three major new products — iPhone, iPod Touch, and Leopard OS — fueled triple-digit revenue growth. So while analysts forecast a more earthbound Apple in 2008, it deserves praise. And extra points for style.
#3 FACEBOOK
In 2007, the social-networking juggernaut had variously impressed with its ability to reinvent the wheel (opening its platform to outside developers) and drawn cyberpickets with its boneheaded missteps (trying to sell advertising by telegraphing its users’ every move). But after a year lived dangerously, Facebook is officially A-list, with a $15 billion valuation to boot, thanks to Microsoft’s $240 million investment. That’s nothing to throw (more…)
3 Things on Resurrection Sunday March 23, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 1 comment so farToday we as Christians celebrate Resurrection Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead and conquered death and began God’s work of redemption in all of us. Look at how Philippians 2 describes Jesus:
5…………..Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In the first book of Corinthians, Paul describes the essential nature of what we celebrate on Resurrection Sunday with the following two verses:
…if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is vain.”
…and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17).”
There are a number of people who would argue that Jesus did not have to have a bodily resurrection or some even argue that Jesus’ death alone was enough, but we agree with Paul when he tells us that anything short of a bodily resurrection ignores the victory of God. God does not want to just rescue people from this material world — God wants to restore all things. God CHOSE to send His son to die on the cross for OUR sins.
Jesus’ resurrection reminds us of three things..
God has defeated death.
God has defeated evil.
God has begun the redemptive work.
For those of us believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate that good news this Resurrection Sunday.
If you have some questions or want more information, check out these in-depth questions and answers about Jesus here.
Jesus Time on Earth: 0-33 A.D. March 21, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Sunday Services, Church, DifferenceMakers , add a commentWith Abby Jill Brauhn’s passing last week, I was reminded by someone about the story of the dash that separates your birth date and the date of your death on your gravestone and it really stuck with me as I reflected on Jesus’ time on earth –
so short but so impactful and world-changing.
The story was about a man who had a revelation while sitting in a cemetery where a loved one was buried.
He looked around at all the tomb stones and he noticed how each one was very similar. Each marker told a story. It told the person’s name, their date of birth and their date of death. Some even had a brief sentence such as “A loving husband and father” which inadequately tried to describe the life of that person. The man began to think of all the untold stories contained in each tomb stone. They each told of the beginning (date of birth) followed by a dash and then the end for that person on earth; However, what happened in between? The man thought, what was in that “dash” for each of these people? Then it hit him. We all are living in our “dash” right now! That little line, that seemingly insignificant hyphen is our very significant life. Jesus came to earth for 33 years to sacrifice His life for all of our sins, yet that amount of time is so inconsequential… just 33 years.
Yet the amount of teaching, mentoring, living and loving that Jesus did during His “dash” and His dying on the cross and His Sunday resurrection changed the world forever. He lived His “dash” , His time on earth, to the fullest. Here is what Philippians 2 says Jesus did with His dash:
6Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
So, how is your dash looking? Are you truly living a life worth living in that little line between your birth date and your date of death? Remember – it is your choice! Check out this link to a moving visual poem about the ‘dash”. Click here.
If you are in Chicago, join us tonight at 7pm for our Good Friday service at Torrey-Grey Ausitorium at 840 N LaSalle Street on the Moody Bible Institute campus.
It’s Good Friday, But Sunday’s Comin! March 21, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Church, Powerful Passages, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith , add a commentAs we sit and reflect on this Good Friday, the story of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion is one of betrayal, brutality, despair, and pain. Yet we know even before His death that redemption was promised to be coming soon. We know that the story does not end at the cross. We know what many did not realize – although it is Friday and despair ran rampant among his followers — that Sunday’s comin’ — Jesus rose from the dead, conquered death, and provided a pathway for us to have a relationship with God. This is my FAVORITE video on Good Friday (the preacher is S.M Lockridge, who also did “That’s My King“).
In two days, we will celebrate Easter, rejoicing in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and recognizing what enormous sacrifice Jesus made for each one of us so that we could spend enternity in relationship with the living God. Be reminded of this truth during Easter: God has worked, is working, and will work through all things, even now as we find ourselves awaiting his return. This is important — please comment if you have any questions I could help you with.
Faith at Work March 21, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Internet Resources, DifferenceMakers, Entrepreneuring, Fanfuego.com, Faith at Work , add a commentAs I get ready to transition out of Park with the soon-to-open new ministry center, I am reflecting a lot on my new role as the CEO of a new company FanFuego.com, the leading multi-sport social network for sports fans, and my leadership style and faith at work. I came across a great article in the New York Times from a while back that looks at the issue of faith in the marketplace, including an interesting inside look at Christians working at Intel.
The article talks about many examples of faith in the marketplace and has a seciton on the reporter’s visit where sixteen engineers and programmers sat around a table during lunch hour, eating pizza and sandwiches from the company cafeteria and discussing the Book of Ruth. William McSpadden, a 43-year-old design engineer, father of five and hardcore weekend soccer coach, led the Bible study. He describes the 200 or so local participants in the Intel Bible-Based Christian Network as ”about half conservative Christians, even fundamentalists, with the rest being Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics and the like.”
Intel has been in the forefront of public corporations that brought religion into the mix of their employee groups, thanks in part to the fact that one of its corporate heads, Patrick Gelsinger, its chief technology officer, is an evangelical Christian who has written a book on faith and work. The Bible network became an authorized company affinity group in 1997. There are four Bible-study sessions per week at the Intel - Jones Farm campus, where 4,700 of the company’s 15,000 employees work, plus special events and a monthly faith-at-work community-outreach gathering at a local Borders. ”When I started at Intel in 1983, we had an informal Bible-study group,” McSpadden says after the Bible-study meeting as he erases the whiteboard and his colleagues head back to work. ”The company probably didn’t even know it was going on. Its being formalized basically makes life easier. It means I can book a conference room without feeling I’m going against company wishes.”
Take a read here.
God’s Amazing Orchestra March 17, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentI sat here tonight, thinking about how God works…He has given me excellent marketplace skills that have allowed me to start and grow four successful companies (as I yet embark on my fifth start-up –fanfuego.com), just as He gave Abby-Jill Brauhn a tremendous love for people and their well being and development, and a heart for the orphan children in Mexico. God has created each of us with unique skills and talents to help grow the Kingdom. Some things I can do and some things I can’t, but each of us has a role to play in God’s orchestra.
God gave a close friend, Mat Barber Kennedy, a tremendous gift of painting — I look
at some of his pieces that hang in my house, and I marvel at God’s continuing orchestration of life. I don’t have the painting skills that Mat does — yet God has given me other skills and experiences — all which He asks me to use to bring glory to Himself. While I may be frustrated that I cannot paint, God can be glorified through my marketplace efforts in other ways. By the way, Mat’s painting of the new building and its place in the skyline gets me more excited to be living in this world-class city!
—————
Abby-Jill’s death has been hard on me.
It has caused me to slow down and reflect on what is happening in my life and more importantly, what is important. God wants us to love him and love our neighbor — seems pretty simple.
But sometimes I find myself doing too much other stuff to slow down and enjoy the relationships that God has brought to me. I am operating in a whirlwind, a seasonoflife where everything is moving too fast. Abby was always good at making the emergency slow down to stay connected with other people and their lives. Putting her agenda and tasks on the back burner so that she could invest time into someone else’s life, like Janelle Keller or others. This is a HUGE lesson I am trying to learn each and every day now. Stop….smell the roses….enjoy each day as if it were your last, they say…I am trying….
Earth Hour - March 28 — Turn it ALL off March 17, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentEarth Hour 2008 is happening on Saturday, March 29 from 8pm to 9pm. It is an event to raise awareness about conserving electricity. To participate, individuals, business and cities all around the world are invited to switch off non-essential lighting and electronic equipment for an hour at this specific time and date.
The idea was first adopted in Sydney last year and resulted in a pretty spectacular event with the lights shutting out on several landmarks including the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as Sydney Opera House. On March 31st of last year, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour — they called it “Earth Hour.” It is a simple concept, with could have some far-reaching, movement -sortof implications. They wanted to see what would happen if everyone, in the entire world, turned off their lights for one hour at the same time?
The world has taken notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions during last years event in Sydney, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.
Five Things You Can Do:
- Join the effort! Turn out your lights for one hour on 3/29/08 from 8-9pm.
- Spread the word. Tell your friends, family, community members, & businesses.
- Host a Earth Hour party by candle light. Invite others over for Earth Hour. You can have food, drinks, board games, a barbecue, all by candlelight!
- Use the time to discuss other ways to reduce your carbon and electricity footprint. Whether it be replacing your light bulbs or car pooling - there’s a lot you can do.
- Use the time to replace your standard light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.
Fermi Blog asks some great questions for us to ponder –
How much do we rely on electricity in our daily lives?
How does electricity impact our ability to live in community?
If we did not have electricity, how would our daily lives be different?
How would communication with our family increase or decrease without electricity?
How thankful are we that we have electricity?
How does electricity define us on a daily basis?
Would our prayer life be better if we did not have electricity?
How do we view our home when it is candle lit?
What is life like in remote places where people do not have electricity?
How long could I live without electricity?
Let’s all do this and see what impact our little effort can have. Join me in this hour of quiet reflection with your lights off and ponder some of these questions with me.
The Joy of Abby-Jill March 16, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Family, Church, Inside Park, Leader Zone , 3commentsThis weekend I sat with hundreds of others (really an old-timers Park alumni meeting, it seemed like) and celebrated the life of Abby-Jill Marie Brauhn, a friend and former staff-member at Park Community Church, who lost her battle with cancer this week. Rich Case did an excellent job in his message and Rich Johnson was superb leading the worship…..there were so many Park alums who joined together to do the set-up food and singing….. it was Park at its finest. The stories that people told were so funny and so typical Abby-Jill.
My most stiking memory was how Abby loved everyone. Yes, she was very skilled at business, yes she was a terrific organizer, yes, she was a top-notch leader….but she loved people. From the rich to the poor, from the “got-it-together” to the down-trodden and broken-spirited. I learned a lot about people caring from Abby — she wanted each person to know the security she had through her faith in Jesus Christ. She has such joy in her relationship with Jesus. That’s what I will remember most…..
I know there were lots of people whose life she touched in dramatic ways over the years through coffee conversations, to late night dinners, to pajama parties for her girlfriends to travelling with others. More than 300 people took Park trips to the FFHM orphanage under her watch and had their lives completely changed. I am profoundly sad and greatly grieving her loss.
I also realized, like my friend Jill’s post, that in that celebration service with so many 1990’s Park alumni there, I yearned for a moment in time that I can never go back to (and so that is probably part of my grief too). We got to sing all my favorite praise songs (which were also Abby-Jill’s favorites) with so many people that I love to hang out with, yet many have disbursed all over the country with scores of kids and new responsibilities.
As Jill said so well “This week Abby-Jill got to fully realize what I got a glimpse of this weekend. We aren’t meant for this world and I find myself strangely longing for that place when I am once again singing in a room full of “family” without a care in the world. Thank you AJB for reminding me and for touching my life once again.”
God gave us Abby-Jill for a moment and she is home now with the Father.
Man, heaven is going to be a good place, dontcha think?……..
Check out another Park alum’s thoughts here.
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Wow! Stock down 99% in 16 days– How Was Your Week? March 16, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Breaking News , add a commentJust four days after Bear Stearns Chief Executive Alan Schwartz assured Wall Street that his company was not in trouble, he was forced on Sunday to sell the investment bank to competitor JPMorgan Chase for a bargain-basement price of $2 a share, or $236.2 million. The stunning last-minute buyout was aimed at averting a Bear Stearns bankruptcy and a spreading crisis of confidence in the global financial system sparked by the collapse in the subprime mortgage market. Bear Stearns was the most exposed to risky bets on the loans; it is now the first major bank to be undone by that market’s collapse.
JPMorgan’s just announced acquisition of Bear Stearns for a bargain- basement price of $2 a share, or $236.2 million. represents roughly 1 percent of what the investment bank was worth just 16 days ago. It marked a 93.3 percent discount to Bear Stearns’ market capitalization as of Friday, and roughly a 98.8 percent discount to its book value as of Feb. 29. In January 2007, Bear Stearns traded at $171/share, with a nearly $23 billion market capitalization. SO HOW WAS YOUR WEEK? Wow, I am shocked — Alan Schwartz presided over the loss of 99% of value in a month…..
“The past week has been an incredibly difficult time for Bear Stearns,” Schwartz said in a statement. “This represents the best outcome for all of our constituencies based upon the current circumstances.”
