How Good are You in the Wild? July 23, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentI love to find little quizzes and tests to take on the web.
This week, I came across this one and thought I would share it with the 135 readers of this blog.
Test Your Instincts is a free (brought to you by Samsung Instinct!) quiz that gauges a person’s wildlife savvy: what do you do when a jellyfish stings, when a shark comes angling for your surfboard, or when you’re stuck in quicksand (which happens to me all the time)?
The scenarios are wordy, but you’ll at least learn something and there’s no registration process.
I fared poorly, getting 6 out of 13 — it says I am ready for camping in my own backyard!
5 Ways to Watch the Tour de France July 7, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a comment(HT: Mashable)
If you’re looking for an official US-friendly capture, Mashable has put together a great list of sources.
Versus
is doing a decent job of presenting the first two stages live. The first stage is over with, so tomorrow’s racing will be the last available. Rise and shine bright and early, because the man-powered rubber meets many many miles of road starting at a sprightly 7:00AM ET and will run to about 8:30AM ET. Post Sunday’s leg of Le Tour, Versus will only be spreading full-on coverage to cable television subscribers.
If you want to take your Web video viewing past the weekend, there are a few sites that’ll help you get what you need, depending on your operating system and additional software installed, some of which in fact carry over from the top sources for Euro 2008 championship match coverage between Spain and Germany last weekend:
Cyclingfans.com - A compendium of options. Links abound, with video and audio choices available from multiple sources. Find one that suits.
MyP2P.eu - Simple construction, but who needs extras. Video is what you’re after, eh? If you’re watching on a Mac, download Flip4Mac for Windows Media conversion or get yourself Sopcast. Both are free.
Channelsurfing - Another basic choice that also plays with Windows and Mac-based machines alike.
Veetle - requires a player download. Do that, return to the site, click where you must, then sit back and watch wheels spin
ITV - Only UK-based fans will get this feed. Enjoy, mates!
Matt Heard Returned to Park - June 29th July 7, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentOn June 29, Matt Heard returned as our first guest speaker at our Crosby Campus. Many of you know that Matt was the founding pastor of Park Community Church back in 1987 when he took 50 people up to the Geneva Youth Camp to talk about launching a new work in the city of Chicago. He served as pastor until 1990 and presently serves as the lead pastor of Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs.
It was an emotional time for Matt, as he saw Park through its first three years, then left to get his seminary degree in Florida. “I want to congratulate and affirm you for continuing a vision and unpacking it in powerful ways in this city,” Matt said. He challenged us through a message on the ‘theology of plumbing’ of what our role here in the city is. Matt defined the theology of plumbing as the difference between a pipe and a bucket: what goes into a bucket stays in a bucket, but what goes into a pipe flows through that pipe somewhere else. In the context of our Christian life, we’re not called to be buckets. Buckets keep what God has done in our lives to ourselves, and what flows into a bucket stagnates. Rather, we’re called to be pipes, and let what God is doing in us flow out of us into the lives of those around us.
In closing, Matt encouraged us saying, “We don’t fully comprehend how significant these days are for Park Community Church. It’s a moment of celebration for what God has provided, but it’s also a moment of decision of how you will steward what God has provided in this new building. Realize this building is to be a tool in God’s hands in facilitating a community of ‘pipes’ who will be conduits of who God is and what He’s done in the city.”
We encourage you to take a moment and listen to the entire message and share your thoughts and reactions to the message in the comments section.
(HT: Park Facebook)
Multi-Site from the Horses Mouth July 1, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentOne of the things I am most excited about Park Community Church is our vision — to be a biblical community where the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms live, renews the city and impacts the world.
As we opened up our building last week, it was great to hear that the building is a tool, a gathering place, but we are the church and we need to take the Gospel to others in this city of 77 community areas. As we look to launch other campuses in the city, I came across this and thought many would find it interesting.
He spoke about In last week’s issue of Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox, the right column had a banner button that linked to an interview by Tony Steward with Scott Hitzel and Randy Craft, two guys that actually implement the hands-on efforts at Saddleback Church’s multi-site location in San Clemente.In this spontaneous 16-minute interview, you’ll hear the first-hand report of nuts & bolts involved at a remote campus. At around the 5:00 mark on the clip, Scott gives an overview of 4 models for how they have distributed content between the Lake Forest location and the San Clemente location.
I think this video clip can be particularly helpful as we think about launching a multi-site campus.
Ready to Live in an Artist Colony? June 27, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentRecently, Coastal Living Magazine ranked the Top 10 Artists Colonies in North America which made me begin to think — where would I like to live if I wanted to be around other artists in a closde-knit community?
I still think Chicago has one of the most vibrant art scenes — check out the 29th Annual Fountain Square Art Festival in Evanston this weekend —
Check out the Coastal Living list — – what do you think? If I have to leave Chicago, I am partial to the last on the list — Todos Santos in the Baja of Mexico — below the orphanage in Colonia Vincente Guererro where I met my wife on a church trip called “vacation with a Purpose”
Most Popular Facebook Apps June 24, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 4commentsSome of the best things (and worst things — why would anyone load up 50+ apps on their profile?) about Facebook are the Facebook applications. Facebook users have a wide variety of really cool Facebook applications to enhance their Facebook experience. There are nearly 5,000 Facebook applications, and the top applications have tens of millions of installs and millions of active users. The bad news, alas, is that 87% of the usage goes to only 84 applications! Only 45 applications have more than 100,000 active users. What do you like best?
Here are the top 10 most active Facebook applications:
1. Super Wall - The Super Wall application is an enhancement to Facebook’s original wall feature. Super Wall allows Facebook users to write messages, post photos and post videos on their wall.
2. Funwall - Funwall is very similar to Super Wall, but it allows for tagging photos and embedding YouTube videos.
3. Top Friends - The Top Friends application allows Facebook users to create a widget with up to 32 friends photos. By clicking on a friend’s photo you are taken directly to their profile page.
4. Video - Facebook Video allows you to publish videos to Facebook and send video messages to your friends.
5. SuperPoke - The SuperPoke Facebook application allow users to send enhanced pokes to their friends. Facebook pokes are a way of telling your friends that you are thinking of them.
6. Flixter Movies - Flixter Movies is a cool application that allows you to see what movies your friends’ like and how their taste compares to yours.
7. Are You Interested??? - This application allows you to ask people the question “Are you interested??? Why this is popular I am not sure.
8. iLike - The iLike Facebook application lets you add music and videos to your profile, dedicate songs to your friends, and see what concerts your friends are going to. This is a nice way of finding cool music.
9. X Me - This application allows your friends to do things to you. For example, you can add a button to your profile page to allow your friends to give you a hug.
10. Bumper Sticker - This is a really cool application. With the Bumper Sticker Facebook application you can create a bumper sticker and stick it to a friend’s profile page.
Laminin — The Glue of Life June 4, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentOne of my favorite speakers is Louie Giglio, of Passion Conferences and this is part of a great message entitled “How great is our God!”. This is pretty mind blowing…the first 3 minutes are standard sermon; but, then, it gets really interesting when he starts talking about the molecule Laminin, an amazing molecule in the human body. The pic on the left below is the scientific diagram and the one on the right is the actual molecule under an electron microscope. The stuff that holds our bodies together is in the shape of the cross! He quotes the verse Colossians 1:17 “He (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
What do you think? How does Colossians 1:15-17 read to you? let me know…
Give ASTANA a chance June 2, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentAfter lying on a beach, then getting a call that he would line up 7 days later, Alberto Contador did the nearly impossible by winning the Giro D’Italia by 1:57 over his next nearest competitor. He deserves the right to defend his crown at the Tour de France next month….but sadly, this is now a sport about power and the French do not having the American and American teams win their tour each year. Let’s hope there is someone who says “let the best rider win” not “let the best rider who is allowed into the race win”
Reader Recommended — Smoke is Excellent! May 18, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentI went last night with my wfie and parents to see Smoke on the Mountain, the latest offering from Provision Theater and it is a rip-roaring funny musical! Go check it out Thursday to Sun at the Viaduct Theater, 3111 N Western Ave.
Smoke on the Mountain is the story of the 1938 North Carolina Mount Pleasant Church’s first Saturday night ”sing.” Reverend Mervin Ogethorpe (Alex Goodrich, a traffic banjo player) has invited the “Singing Sanders’ family to lead the church’s first ‘sing.’ Burl Sanders (Richard Marlatt) and wife Vera Sanders (Susan Moniz) together with Burl’s brother Stanley (Jeff Harms) and their children June (Amber Burgess), Denise (Christine Barnes) and her twin Dennis (Shaun Whitley) form a gospel bluegrass band. The Sanders’ family play guitar, fiddle, bass, mandolin and piano and all have excellent voices. They mix their wide range of white gospel tunes with down-home personal antidotes and religious ‘testimonies.’ These sentimentally sweet stories are humorous adding a spiritual revival element to the show. The musicianship here is first class.
The cast have a blend of fine voices (Susan Moniz and Richard Marlatt are terrific), offering truthful performances, especially from Shaun Whitley and Christine Barnes as the teen twins smitten with the spirit of the Lord. There were rich harmonies and a nice mixture of bluegrass and gospel tunes. These rural folks’ lives are centered on their religion in small town North Carolina in 1938 and their faith explodes through their music and their general store and auto garage in rural North Carlonia.
RECOMMENDED BY THE CHICAGO READER
Here is what the Chicago Reader says “SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, Provision Theater’s gospel musical can be an awfully sweet treat–but every time my teeth started to itch, one of writer Connie Ray’s hairpin turns to comedy saved the day. Set in 1938, the show transforms the audience into the congregation of a Baptist church at its first-ever Saturday night sing, hosted by the annoyingly earnest Reverend Oglethorpe. His invited guests, the musical Sanders family, play and sing a range of traditional numbers, from the familiar (”Rock of Ages”) to the oddball (”The Filling Station”), the touching (”Blood Medley”) to the rousing (”Angel Band”). In between, family members relate their generally hilarious inspirational stories. Director Tim Gregory keeps things precise but light, and all the performers are chock-full of the musical and comic spirit. –Laura Molzahn Through 6/8: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western, 773-506-4429, $20-$25, industry shows Thu,
FOAM: This is cool! April 18, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentWhat 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)
Google Sky April 14, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 1 comment so farCheck out Google Sky
This is excellent and does not require additional software!
Explore the universe with Google Sky.
Myers-Briggs — What Type Are You? April 7, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , 1 comment so farWhether 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.
Off for a 4-day Guys Golf Weekend April 2, 2008
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentAs 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!
….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.
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.
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.
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.
