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Which Choice Do You Make? Food or Fuel? April 25, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Breaking News, Methods & Strategies, The Cultural Conversation, Entrepreneuring, Sustainability , 1 comment so far

Look at this article and then reflect on which choice you would make — it is obvious what choice Al Gore would make but what would you do if you were the country’s policymaker?

NEW YORK SUN – The campaign against climate change could be set back by the global food crisis, as foreign populations turn against measures to use foodstuffs as substitutes for fossil fuels. With prices for rice, wheat, and corn soaring, food-related unrest has broken out in places such as Haiti, Indonesia, and Afghanistan. Several countries have blocked the export of grain. There is even talk that governments could fall if they cannot bring food costs down.

One factor being blamed for the price hikes is the use of government subsidies to promote the use of corn for ethanol production. An estimated 30% of America’s corn crop now goes to fuel, not food. “I don’t think anybody knows precisely how much ethanol contributes to the run-up in food prices, but the contribution is clearly substantial,” a professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota, C. Ford Runge, said. A study by a Washington think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, indicated that between a quarter and a third of the recent hike in commodities prices is attributable to biofuels. Last year, Mr. Runge and a colleague, Benjamin Senauer, wrote an article in Foreign Affairs, “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor.” “We were criticized for being alarmist at the time,” Mr. Runge said. “I think our views, looking back a year, were probably too conservative.” Ethanol was initially promoted as a vehicle for America to cut back on foreign oil. In recent years, biofuels have also been touted as a way to fight climate change, but the food crisis does not augur well for ethanol’s prospects.

“It takes around 400 pounds of corn to make 25 gallons of ethanol,” Mr. Senauer, also an applied economics professor at Minnesota, said. “It’s not going to be a very good diet but that’s roughly enough to keep an adult person alive for a year.” Mr. Senauer said climate change advocates, such as Vice President Gore, need to distance themselves from ethanol to avoid tarnishing the effort against global warming. “Crop-based biofuels are not part of the solution. They, in fact, add to the problem. Whether Al Gore has caught up with that, somebody ought to ask him,” the professor said. “There are lots of solutions, real solutions to climate change. We need to get to those.” Mr. Gore was not available for an interview yesterday on the food crisis, according to his spokeswoman. A spokesman for Mr. Gore’s public campaign to address climate change, the Alliance for Climate Protection, declined to comment for this article. (more…)

Breaking News, Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies, Sustainability, The Cultural ConversationBreaking News, Entrepreneuring, Methods & Strategies, Sustainability, The Cultural Conversation

Are you part of an Expeditionary Force? April 20, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Breaking News, Church, Urban Church, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith, Faith at Work , add a comment

The Missional Challenge has an excellent article about the local church becoming a Expeditionary Force in the city — take a read…..

Dr. Ray Bakke describes the church as an expeditionary force in The Urban Christian (1987). He views Christians as ministers to their worlds of relationships. For example, a banker who is a Christian doesn’t simply serve at his church by teaching Sunday School or being on the Finance Committee. Instead, he would “identify a mission within the bank, perhaps running a Bible Study with his colleagues or even planning resources to help build up neglected neighborhoods.” (p 132)

Bakke sees several advantages to an urban church which sees itself as an Expeditionary Force, emphasizing its role to “go” on mission into the city:

1. It legitimizes the call to lay mission
2. It reaches more widely and follows the urban twenty-four-hour clock
3. It fulfills the need of specialized urban people to affirm their personal vocations as their ministry

“In this model the pastoral task is to help these members identify, plan for and equip themselves for their diverse ministry opportunities.” (p 132)

Where are you in your vocation as a missionary force?

Can you imagine the missionary force that could be released in every town and neighborhood in America if local churches would begin to see themselves as an expeditionary force? <MORE>

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FOAM: This is cool! April 18, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a comment

What a great street performance-sort of thing — could we pull this off in Chicago as a happening?

(Please wait for it to load in its entirety) — (HT: Scott Hodge)

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Willow To Eliminate Mid-Week Service April 17, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Chicago, Breaking News, Sunday Services, Church, Urban Church, Methods & Strategies, The Cultural Conversation, Culture and Faith , add a comment

(Christianity Today.com) For three decades Willow has been focused on making the church appealing to seekers. But its detailed and thorough research (summarized in their new book REVEAL) shows that it’s the mature believers that drive everything in the church—including evangelism. Greg Hawkins, the Executive Pastor says, “We used to think you can’t upset a seeker. But while focusing on that we’ve really upset the Christ-centered people.” He spoke about the high levels of dissatisfaction mature believer have with churches. Drawing from the 200 churches and the 57,000 people that have taken the survey, he said that most people are leaving the church because they’re not being challenged enough. Because it’s the mature Christians who drive evangelism in the church Hawkins says, “Our strategy to reach seekers is now about focusing on the mature believers. This is a huge shift for Willow.”

One major implementation of this shift will occur in June when Willow ends their mid-week worship services that had been geared toward believers. Instead the church will morph these mid-week events into classes for people at different stages of growth. There will be theological and bible classes full of “hard-hitting stuff.” Hawkins said most people are very enthusiastic about the change.

On the seeker end of the spectrum, Willow is also changing how they produce their weekend services. For years the value people appreciated most about the seeker-oriented weekend services was anonymity. This is what all their research showed. People didn’t want to be identified, approached, confronted, or asked to do anything. But those days are over. “Anonymity is not the driving value for seeker services anymore,” says Hawkins. “We’ve taken anonymity and shot it in the head. It’s dead. Gone.” In the past Willow believed that seekers didn’t want large doses of the Bible or deep worship music. They didn’t want to be challenged. Now their seeker-sensitive services are loaded with worship music, prayer, Scripture readings, and more challenging teaching from the Bible.

Willow has been wrestling with the research from REVEAL since 2004. Hawkins said, “We’ve tried incremental changes for four years, but now we know we have to overhaul our whole strategy.” Small steps are no longer the method; Willow is revamping everything. “It would be malpractice for us to not do something with what we’re learning.”

In the larger REVEAL survey taken by 200 churches, people were asked what they want most from their church. Three of the top four responses were:

1. Help me understand the Bible in greater depth
2. Help me develop a closer personal relationship with Christ
3. Challenge me to grow and take the next step in my faith

Hawkins said that sometimes Willow gets accused of managing the church based on market research; of simply giving people what they want. “Look at what they want!” he said while pointing to the screen. “They want the Bible, they want to be close to Christ, they want to be challenged. Yes, we will give them what they want!”

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Provision Theater Presents: SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN April 17, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Provision Theater, Culture and Faith , add a comment

It is that time again!

Provision Theater, who is dedicated to performing works of hope, reconciliation and redemption and has received accolades for its last six shows, is getting set to mount its last production of the year, SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, a foot-stompin’ musical, featuring Susan Moniz, !

In this musical, Provision’s artistic director, Tim Gregory, takes you back to a simpler time, where you become the congregation of Mount Pleasant Church. You have been invited to their “first ever Saturday Night Sing”. Pastor Oglethorpe is determined to move his flock into the “modern world”, by inviting the Singing Sanders Family to join him. They will delight you with some of the best old gospel tunes ever written, like “Church in the Wildwood”, “Wonderful Time Up There”, and “I’ll Fly Away”. A mixture of song, stories, hilarity and honest emotion, this audience favorite will have you tapping your toes and lifting your spirit.

WHAT: SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN

WHERE: VIADUCT THEATER 3111 N Western Avenues (MAP)

WHEN: May 8 - June 8 — Thur, Fri and Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 3pm

To purchase tickets: Call 773.506.4429

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Chicago 33rd Most Affordable Metro Area April 17, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Urban Church, Methods & Strategies, Chicago Fact, The Arts in the City, Sustainability , add a comment

A new study by Bizjournals.com, a group of business publications, ranked housing affordability in the nation’s metropolitan areas, with terse advice for those seeking a financially manageable place to live: ABC —-That is, Anywhere But California.

Bizjournals compared median home payments and household income levels in the nation’s 50 largest metros. The study was based on statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey, the most up-to-date source of federal data on housing costs. The study, to no one’s particular surprise, concluded that six of the seven most expensive places for housing are in the Golden State. Others on the list of America’s 10 most expensive home markets are New York City, Sacramento, Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Boston.

The study compared median home payments, property taxes and household income in 50 metros. Los Angeles was most expensive: The magazines estimated the monthly housing tab in L.A. amounts to about 75.5 percent of the median household income, with a median monthly mortgage-and-tax payment of $3,491.

Compare that to the most affordable metro, Oklahoma City. There, housing eats up just 19 percent of the median household income, the magazines said. The median monthly bill for mortgage and taxes is $667.

Chicago ranks as the 33rd most affordable metro, ahead of such cities as Portland OR (37th),Seattle, (40th), Boston (42nd), NYC (46th) and San Francisco (49th). In Chicago, where the aforementioned housing charges consume about 35 percent of our income, the study said. It pegged the median mortgage payment here at $1,358; add to that a median monthly property tax of $309, and your basic home-owning Chicagoan gets a monthly mortgage payment of $1,667.

The complete rankings are at www.bizjournals.com; go to “Online Edition” and click “Special Reports.”

chicago, Chicago Fact, Methods & Strategies, Sustainability, The Arts in the City, The City, Urban Churchchicago, Chicago Fact, Methods & Strategies, Sustainability, The Arts in the City, The City, Urban Church

15,000+ visitors April 16, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Breaking News, Methods & Strategies, The Cultural Conversation, Culture and Faith , add a comment

Today , I surpassed 15,000 visitors to my blog (since I installed my NEO counter more than a year ago). What are all these people doing coming to my blog? What do they find interesting? The most amazing thing to me is that those visitors come from more than 129 countries. The largest visitor groups hail from:

USA 11,648

Canada 514

United Kingdom 502

Germany 234

France 220

Australia 185

Brazile 102

Cote D’Ivoire 66

The most interesting visitors hail from:

Burkina Faso 20

Kenya 16

Iran 13

Iraq 6

Guinea 4

Rwanda 4

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Bike Share in Chicago? April 15, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Technology, Cycling, Sustainability , add a comment

City commuters weary of stuffy journeys aboard buses and subways now have a better way to get to work, buy groceries and meet for a Saturday matinee. The bike-sharing programs that have transformed Europeans into two-wheeled travelers are now en route to the U.S.

Clear Channel Outdoor, an outdoor advertising company, will launch the country’s first bike-share service in Washington, D.C., in mid-May in partnership with the district’s Department of Transportation.

SmartBike DC will initially offer annual subscribers access to 100 bikes at 10 stations in the city’s central business district. Located at key locations in the central business district, the bicycles provide a new way of discovering and moving around the city. The bike stations are modular and the bicycles are ergonomic and light-weight in a distinct design.

Bicycles are parked at docking points which use a proprietary locking system to ensure that each bicycle is securely stored. The service is accessible via online subscription. Subscribers will receive a personalized SmartBike DC user card that provides access to any station of the program at any time. The turnkey program includes fulltime operational service. Clear Channel’s operational team manages the rotation of bicycles for each station to assure a proper ratio between available bicycles as well as drop-off locations.

Other cities, including San Francisco and Chicago, are eager to follow suit. Learn More

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Only in America - The Mobile Phone Scourge April 14, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Technology, The Cultural Conversation, Photos, Culture and Faith , 1 comment so far

I saw this photo online and couldn’t believe it.  What sort of person would order their wedding topped with a bride and groom that are talking to OTHER  people on their mobile phones?  Say it ain’t so.  What are your thoughts?

Culture and Faith, photos, technology, The Cultural ConversationCulture and Faith, photos, technology, The Cultural Conversation

Google Sky April 14, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 1 comment so far

Check out Google Sky

This is excellent and does not require additional software!

Explore the universe with Google Sky.

astronomy, google maps, google sky, plants, solar systems, space shuttle, spacelab, stars, wikipedia, WIKISKY, yahoo mapsastronomy, google maps, google sky, plants, solar systems, space shuttle, spacelab, stars, wikipedia, WIKISKY, yahoo maps

Worship Top 25 April 14, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Inside Park, Urban Church, Powerful Passages, Methods & Strategies, The Cultural Conversation, Music That Moves, Culture and Faith , add a comment

As we sit each week at Park, and have worship times with Joseph Tenney and his team, I began to wonder what are the main worship songs that are played? So I did some research on the CCLI site and thought I would list out the top 25 played worship songs in churches around the U.S.

This list came from the latest results from CCLI which is the main Christian music copyright/licensing company for non-profit organizations around the world. They conduct two surveys per year, one in February and one in August. (Please note that this compilation does not contain many of the excellent old hymns which are sung a lot but are actaully public domain and not subject to royalties). However, it does contain “Shout to the Lord” which was recently sung on American Idol. This list is the latest data and is ranked from the most played to the least:

1	How Great Is Our God	Tomlin, Chris \ Reeves, Jesse \ Cash, Ed	4348399
2	Blessed Be Your Name	Redman, Beth \ Redman, Matt	3798438
3	Here I Am To Worship	Hughes, Tim	3266032
4	Open The Eyes Of My Heart	Baloche, Paul	2298355
5	Shout To The Lord	Zschech, Darlene	1406918
6	Holy Is The Lord	Tomlin, Chris \ Giglio, Louie	4158039
7	You Are My King	Foote, Billy	2456623
8	Forever	Tomlin, Chris	3148428
9	Lord I Lift Your Name On High	Founds, Rick	117947
10	Come Now Is The Time To Worship	Doerksen, Brian	2430948
11	God Of Wonders	Byrd, Marc \ Hindalong, Steve	3118757
12	Everlasting God	Brown, Brenton \ Riley, Ken	4556538
13	You Are My All In All	Jernigan, Dennis	825356
14	We Fall Down	Tomlin, Chris	2437367
15	The Heart Of Worship	Redman, Matt	2296522
16	You’re Worthy Of My Praise	Ruis, David	487976
17	Breathe	Barnett, Marie	1874117
18	Trading My Sorrows	Evans, Darrell	2574653
19	Beautiful One	Hughes, Tim	3915912
20	In Christ Alone	Townend, Stuart \ Getty, Keith	3350395
21	I Give You My Heart	Morgan, Reuben	1866132
22	Days Of Elijah	Mark, Robin	1537904
23	Friend Of God	Gungor, Michael \ Houghton, Israel	3991651
24	Better Is One Day	Redman, Matt	1097451
25	Above All	LeBlanc, Lenny \ Baloche, Paul	2672885

So what do you think of the list?

Culture and Faith, Inside Park, Methods & Strategies, Music That Moves, Powerful Passages, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Urban ChurchCulture and Faith, Inside Park, Methods & Strategies, Music That Moves, Powerful Passages, The City, The Cultural Conversation, Urban Church

Q Conference April 12, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Culture and Faith , 1 comment so far

I just returned from the Q conference that I went to with venture capitalist Mike Collett in NYC this week, April 9-11 and what a hurricane of ideas, thoughts and ponderings.

Q is a forum run by Gabe Lyons and the Fermi Project for creatives, social entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers to get together and discuss how each can use their sphere of influence to shape the culture for good. One blogger said “Q is being organized by some of the brains behind the Catalyst conference. It’s a space where leaders can create, dialogue, collaborate, innovate, serve and ideate around the important topics shaping the church’s future role in culture.”

This was my first time attending since it debuted last year, and I was excited to meet with some of the most creative folks in the nation to look at key questions facing Christians as we try to engage our culture in all of its facets. I am becoming more passionate about the interaction of faith and culture and this event served to only pour gas on the fire in my heart. I am deeply involved in Chicago theater through Provision Theater and I am tangentially involved in film through some really cool producer/director friends. This is where my heart is and I am beginning to figure out what that means as I start my own sports social networking company, Fan Fuego, that gives me some means and a platform to be more involved in this area.

More to come

Culture and FaithCulture and Faith

Idol: Shout to the Lord? Wow! April 12, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Breaking News, Powerful Passages, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Music That Moves, Culture and Faith , 3comments

For the millions that watched this week, the American Idol Gives Back show ended surprisingly with the globally popular worship song “Shout to the Lord” by Darlene Zschech.

I’m sure you’ve seen all the blog uproar over this issue. Evangelicals on a blog raised the roof with the producer’s decision to downplay its “Jesus” message by replacing the word “Jesus” with the word “Shepherd” in the first line, contending that the deletion of Jesus eliminated it from being a Christian song in its entirety. (The next night, they sang the song again — this time with the original wording.)I didn’t think too much of it when I first heard it, assuming that, as usual, the entertainment powers had cut it out — I was more surprised that Hillsong would allow it (they didn’t).

But I came across this excellent post by Josh Harris, that has several comments from entertainment insiders who are Christians and the impact this small song has on all the Hollywood types — -check it out. It changed my perspective on the matter, prompted me to pray for all those hard-working brothers and sisters in Hollywood and really challenged me about integrating my faith into the culture I am in.

Hey all you “culture and faith” folks out there, what do you think? Is this a step for Hollywood or a debacle for Christian songs? Please comment and let’s engage on this topic.

Breaking News, Culture and Faith, Music That Moves, Powerful Passages, The Arts in the City, The Cultural ConversationBreaking News, Culture and Faith, Music That Moves, Powerful Passages, The Arts in the City, The Cultural Conversation

Chicago Named a Top City for Hispanics April 9, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Chicago, Chicago Fact, DifferenceMakers , add a comment

Hispanic Magazine, came out last year out with their annual Top 10 Cities for Hispanics, and Chicago ranked in the top 10 among all US cities. The magazine looked at several factors in coming up with their top 10, such as cost of living, average home cost, Hispanic population, violent crime, pollution, health insurance costs, unemployment rates, and measures of school success. Chicago was given poor marks for cost of living, but high marks for wages and for a large and active Hispanic population. The Windy City also received high marks for “diverse culture” and “wealth of arts”.

The Top 10 Cities for Hispanics: (in alphabetical order)
01. Albuquerque
02. Austin
03. Chicago
04. Dallas
05. Denver
06. Houston
07. Miami
08. Phoenix
09. San Antonio
10. Tucson

The article goes on to say that Hispanics comprise 29% percent of the overall city’s population. The City of Chicago also has an active Puerto Rican community complete with its own street (Paseo Boricua), about 3 or 4 Puerto Rican specific restaurants, and an annual parade attended by many.

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Google Maps and CTA = Excellent Public Transportation Directions April 8, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Technology, Chicago Fact, Tech Tips , 1 comment so far

Alright Chicago — way to link up with Google!

Chicago Transit Authority riders can now plan their trips using the Google Transit Web site, Mayor Richard M. Daley and CTA officials announced Tuesday. Through a new partnership with Google, mapping and directions for CTA bus and rail services are available in 11 languages on the Google Transit Web site, according to a release from the CTA.

Google’s new Transit Chicago map gives detailed public transportation routes, like O’Hare to Wrigley Field. This initiative expands on Google’s popular mapping features and driving instructions to provide information for transit riders. Chicago is now the largest U.S. city to offer this service to transit riders, joining Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon, among others.To access travel information, customers enter an originating address and a destination address. Tabs will allow customers to obtain public transit directions and provide the ability to customize the date and time of the transit trip.

When accessing the public transit data, step-by-step written directions will appear with fare information included. A map of the route represented by icons appears and clicking the icon will display an estimated schedule for the departure of the next train or bus. A link on the Google Transit page will take visitors to CTA’s web site at www.transitchicago.com to easily access additional CTA information.

You can reach the site here.

chicago, Chicago Fact, Tech Tips, technology, The Citychicago, Chicago Fact, Tech Tips, technology, The City

Myers-Briggs — What Type Are You? April 7, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 1 comment so far

Whether you are starting a new company (like me at FanFuego.com, a social network for sports fans) or growing a ministry, knowing what kind of person you are and what kind of people those around you are can bring some great insights. According to the Jung - Myers-Briggs typology all people can be classified using four criteria:

Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).

Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).

Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).

Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options? This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

Your Personality Type: When you decide on your preference in each category, you have your own personality type, which can be expressed as a code with four letters. For example: ISTJ is an Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging. Upon completing Jung Typology Test you will obtain your type formula, strengths of the preferences and type description. It may help you to identify your life style in general and with respect to specific fields of activity. You will also obtain a list of the most suitable career choices based on your personality, along with some educational institutions where you can receive a relevant degree or training.

Read a Full description

Take the test

Chicago Ranks 9th as Green City April 7, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Chicago Fact, Sustainability , 1 comment so far

Popular Science recently reported its top 50 greenest cities, where Chicago ranked a strong ninth in the country. In their ranking, the key variables analyzed were:

• Electricity (E; 10 points): Cities score points for drawing their energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power, as well as for offering incentives for residents to invest in their own power sources, like roof-mounted solar panels.
• Transportation (T; 10 points): High scores go to cities whose commuters take public transportation or carpool. Air quality also plays a role.
• Green living (G; 5 points): Cities earn points for the number of buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, as well as for devoting area to green space, such as public parks and nature preserves.
• Recycling and green perspective (R; 5 points): This measures how comprehensive a city’s recycling program is (if the city collects old electronics, for example) and how important its citizens consider environmental issues.

Here are the leaders:

1. Portland, Ore. 23.1

• Electricity: 7.1 Transportation: 6.4 Green Living: 4.8 Recycling/Perspective: 4.8

America’s top green city has it all: Half its power comes from renewable sources, a quarter of the workforce commutes by bike, carpool or public (more…)

chicago, Chicago Fact, Sustainability, The Citychicago, Chicago Fact, Sustainability, The City

Off for a 4-day Guys Golf Weekend April 2, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a comment

As winter turns to spring, and the golf world warms up in anticipation of the Masters tournament in Augusta, GA next week, the annual guy’s golf trip in upon us.  So tomorrow morning, sixteen of us head off for four days of golf, golf, and more golf in the southeastern US.  It will be great to hang out, tell “the hole-in-one that got away” stories, and just relax with a great group of friends.

Can anyone say FORE!

alabama, Florida, golf, masters tournament, vacationalabama, Florida, golf, masters tournament, vacation

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