Steve Lavey | 20 Million Minutes

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:

It legitimizes the call to lay mission

It reaches more widely and follows the urban twenty-four-hour clock

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>

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!”

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

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

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?

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?

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

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.

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 far

It’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!

The First Mobile Hotel Room March 28, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Technology, Photos, Culture and Faith, Entrepreneuring, Sustainability , add a comment

Fan 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.

Travel Pod

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.”

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 comment

As 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.

Chicago Voted Best Destination for Food and Dining March 16, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Chicago Fact, The Cultural Conversation, Culture and Faith , add a comment

Travel + Leisure, Headline News and CNN.com are launching their annual search for the best cities in America. Since Chicago was voted the best destination for food and dining in 2007, let’s make it happen again in 2008!

Here’s how to vote on the Travel & Leisure website below.

Let the debates begin

When Travel + Leisure announced the results of last year’s America’s Favorite Cities Survey, debates raged on television, in print and on the Internet: Was Chicago really the best destination for food and dining (as well as pizza)? As a foodie, I knew that, and all of you knew that, but finally the rest of the country knew that.

But did you think that Philadelphians deserve last place in the attractive citizens category? Are Seattle residents really the most intelligent in the country? How could sunny Los Angeles edge out surly New York as the least friendly city?

Cast your vote now

Here’s your chance to tell us what YOU think. Visit TravelandLeisure.com/afc/survey from March 7 to June 15, take the 2008 America’s Favorite Cities Survey and enter to win a dream trip for two. We want to know: Which of these 25 urban contenders has the best shoe shopping or ethnic eats? Where would you go for a romantic escape? Which cities have the best (and worst) museums, theater and live music? If you want a wild weekend or a relaxing retreat, which urban destination would you visit? You know best, so tell us!

(HT: Bestofthebestdiningchicago.com)

In Memory of Abby-Jill — We Will Miss You March 13, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Chicago, Family, Inside Park, Urban Church, Missional, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith , 3comments

This week, Park Community Church suffered a great loss, when one of its former staff, Abby-Jill Brauhn , lost her fight with cancer and went to be with the Lord on Tuesday morning, surrounded by her family in Wisconsin. Abby-Jill was a Godly woman who loved the Lord and loved people. She made a huge impact for the Kingdom and will be greatly missed, although I know she is feeling no pain and dancing in heaven as we speak. I will miss her greatly — I loved her passion to see people come to know Jesus in a personal relationship and I appreciated her tremendous gift of leadership on the trips I went on to the orphanage in Mexico. Here is a summary (with some adds by me about my friend) of the obituary sent to the Tribune:

Abby-Jill Marie Brauhn

September 16, 1964 – March 11, 2008

Abby-Jill Brauhn, 43, died Tuesday, March 11, 2008, at the home of her sister, Deborah Geary. She was the daughter of Maggie French and the late Stephen Brauhn. Abby was blessed with an extraordinary life. She graduated from Buffalo General School of Nursing, where she began her career as a registered nurse. She later joined Parke Davis Pharmaceuticals as a sales representative. Abby’s ambition and initiative brought her to Chicago, where enjoyed a successful career as new-products sales rep and then regional manager.

In 1995, Abby went on a short term mission trip to the FFHM orphanage that Park supports in the Baja of Mexico, and there her life chcanged and it would never be the same. She experienced a great renewal of her faith, and when she heard a higher calling in 1998, Abby went to work for Park Community Church in Chicago as the Director of Extension Ministries. Here she founded and grew Park’s annual Park Service Day ( now called For One Chicago), which engaged more than 900 Park Church members to serve the Chicago community for a day. She was a pivotal member of Park’s short term mission trips called Vacation with a Purpose, which led mission trips to orphanages in Mexico operated by Foundation for His Ministry and other places around the world. She always had a vision that she would create an orphanage, so when the opportunity came, Abby’s faith took her to California. In October 2004, she left Park to become a senior leader at Charla Pereault’s right hand side at FFHM in Oxnard California.

Abby lived a life that was full of joy, love, and devotion to her family, friends, and God. An avid reader and traveler, she embarked on many voyages around the world. She had a wonderful ability to touch all that she came in contact with. A diagnosis of terminal cancer brought her back to the Midwest, where she lived with her sister, Debbie, and her family. With faith and courage, Abby endured cancer treatment for two and a half years.

Abby-Jill is survived by her mother, Maggie, her sister Debbie, brother-in-law Brian Geary, brother Robert Brauhn, brother Adam Brauhn, sister-in-law Tasha, nieces Molly, Maggie, Katherine, and Grace, and nephews Christopher and Nicholas. Abby was preceded in death by her father, Stephen.

================================================

A funeral service will be held at St. Anthony on the Lake, N2101 Hwy. SS Pewaukee Wis., on Friday, March 11, at 4:00 p.m.

“A Chicago memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 15th, at 1:00 p.m. at the GERMANIA PLACE BALLROOM (please note location has been changed).

In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure, 877.465.6636, or Heartland Hospice, 13255 W. Bluemound Road Suite 100, Brookfield, Wis. 53005.

Cesarz Charapata & Zinnecker is serving the family. For more information, please call the funeral home at 262.542.6609.

Of Church and Steak: Farming for the Soul March 8, 2008

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

Many of you know that I am a serial entrepreneur and I am in the process of getting my fifth company, Fanfuego.com, a multi-sport network for sports fans, off the ground. Prior to joining Park Community Church 2 years ago as the Executive Pastor, I invested in and helped co-found Dakota Beef LLC with Scott Lively (who met his wife while attending Park).

Dakota Beef is now the country’s largest organic beef company and you can buy our products at Costco’s all over the country (I am excited about that as I am still an investor!).

Or you can ORDER ONLINE HERE and have it delivered right to your door

Dakota Beef was recently featured in an article in the New York Times about the symbiotic relationship between Scott Lively, an evangelical, and two Hasidic Jews, who are customers of Dakota Beef. It also features a reference to Hope Egan of Park, who published an excellent book called “Holy Cow! Does God Care About What We Eat?”.

For those who do not have access to the NYT story, here is the reprint:

=======================================

NEAR a prairie dotted with cattle and green with soy beans, barley, corn and oats, two bearded Hasidic men dressed in black pray outside a slaughterhouse here that is managed by an evangelical Christian. What brought these men together could easily have kept them apart: religion.

The two Hasidim oversee shehitah, the Jewish ritual slaughtering of meat according to the Book of Leviticus. The meat is then shipped to Wise Organic Pastures, a kosher food company in Brooklyn owned by Issac Wiesenfeld and his family. When Mr. Wiesenfeld sought an organic processor that used humane methods five years ago, he found Scott Lively, who was just beginning Dakota Beef, now one of the largest organic meat processors in the country.

Mr. Lively adheres to a diet he believes Jesus followed. Like Mr. Wiesenfeld, he says the Bible prescribes that he use organic methods to respect the earth, treat his workers decently and treat the cattle that enter his slaughterhouse as humanely as possible. “We learn everything from the Old Testament,” Mr. Lively said, “from keeping kosher to responsible capitalism.” (more…)

Christians in the Culture March 6, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Weblog, The City, Church, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Provision Theater, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith , add a comment

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in how the culture ebbs and flows and who drives the culture. I’ve also seen a more determined generation who wants to drive faith and values into the culture. hidden chicago A good friend of mine, Dave Carlson of Bucktown Pictures, has continually told me that the movie theaters are the churches of the next century and movie directors are the priests so we better wade into the culture and not shrink from it as Christians.

Recently, I have been introduced to the Wedgewood Circle folks, sort of a national angel investment network of successful entrepreneurs, investment institutions and high net worth investors who provide investment capital, strategic guidance and relationships to contribute to the renewal of the culture by investing in cultural “artifact” creation in the key influential sectors of film, music television, publishing, theatre/performing, fashion, fine arts and computer/console gaming. I like what they are doing.

I also like what Gabe Lyons and the Fermi Project is doing. Fermi Project is a broad collective of innovators, artists, social entrepreneurs, church and societal leaders experimenting with ways to advance the common good in culture.

Well over the last ten years, many have begun to make an impact in Hollywood and recently, Beliefnet has chronicled their top dozen most influential and powerful Christians in Hollywood? Well, Beliefnet has come up with their list, and it includes names like Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, Patricia Heaton, Angela Bassett, and Martin Sheen. Sounds like a pretty diverse list with a pretty broad theological definition, but none the less, interesting. You can read more here…

Get Rid of Those Catalogs — Easily March 5, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Breaking News, Adaptive Reuse, Internet Resources, Culture and Faith , 2comments

My wife and I are studying “Restoring Margin in our Overloaded Lives” in our small group study and what a time a personal reflection — we are looking at all the things that barrage and steal away our time and our attention.

Sue got wind of this site that let’s you opt out of catalogs you receive in your mail almost every day. CatalogChoice.org is a free service that allows you to decide what gets in your mailbox so use it to reduce your mailbox clutter, while helping save natural resources.

Who They Are

Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. It is endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and funded by the Overbrook Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, and the Kendeda Fund.

Their mission

The mission of Catalog Choice is to reduce the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices. We aim to accomplish this by freely providing the Catalog Choice services to both consumers and businesses. Consumers can indicate which catalogs they no longer wish to receive, and businesses can receive a list of consumers no longer wanting to receive their catalogs. If you can believe it, the Catalog Choice community has already opted out of 8,072,914 catalogs, improving their lives, and conserving our planet’s natural resources!

Background on Catalog Shippers

While catalog shopping may provide some environmental benefits, the millions of unwanted catalogs Americans receive in their mailbox represent a significant environmental burden, devouring natural resources, generating pollutants, and clogging municipal waste systems—for something that quickly ends up in the trash or recycling bin. While catalog companies make it easy to receive a catalog, consumers frequently find it frustrating and time consuming to get their names off these mailing lists, especially when they receive catalogs from multiple direct mailers. The industry mails more than 19 billion catalogs a year to Americans—approximately 170 catalogs for every U.S. household !

Do it NOW - Clean out your mailbox! Click HERE

Park Community Church on Comcast March 4, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Breaking News, Inside Park, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City, Culture and Faith , add a comment