Delayed Epiphany

Pastor Commercial

2008-07-03T08:12:00.000-04:00

I saw a Carpet One commercial staring a young lady named Amy Wynn Pastor. I missed the first few seconds of the commercial but I managed to catch a glimpse of the title bar with her name on it. Before I go any further I should note I don't have cable so I don't watch DIY, where Amy Wynn Pastor has a show. To continue the story, I caught a brief glimpse of the young ladies name which my mind read "Amy Wynn -- Pastor". I instinctively mumbled complaints under my breath since I saw this as a commercial staring a Minister named Amy Wynn.
I wasn't shocked that a minister would be starring in a TV commercial and endorsing a carpet company after all pastors plaster their faces all over books, boardgames, and other trinkets.
Why not take the next step and work in TV commercials? Or should I ask how long will it be until ministers take the next step and work in TV commercials doing product endorsements? There are pastors more who have bigger followings than many TV shows so why not earn a little extra.

Faith V. Politics

2008-06-25T10:54:00.004-04:00

I'll start of by saying what we already know; the republican party has a strong monopoly on the Evangelical vote. The reasons are deeper than abortion, taxes, social policies, guns, fiscal policies, just war theory and the other niche issues of the day. The issues stem from Evangelical approach to reading and textual criticism. Evangelicals approach the constitution, the Bill of Rights, and our country's other "sacred" texts in the same way the approach their faith's sacred texts.

Evangelicals have a crush on the politics of Antonin Scalia an originalist supreme Court Justice. We like Scalia because treats the Constitution the same way we treat the Bible. We chant the Bible Can't mean what it never meant while we argue the Constitution has a fixed and knowable meaning, which was established at the time of its drafting. When we cut to the chase the two theories are the same, what it was supposed to mean 2000 or 200 years ago it must mean today. On the flip side Liberal Christian treat the constitution the same way they treat the Bible.

To be clear I fall to the conservative side of the scale but I'm not comfortable approaching my countries constitution the same way I approach my faith's sacred text. For starters they inspiration of the documents is different. The constitution is a document for men by men while the Bible is God's Holy Word. Beyond that The drafters of the constitution are human thus the document is limited to human ability and faults. The elevation of the Constitution helps lead to some questionable theology. Since we see the Constitution as inspired the belief that America is the new Israel gains support it shouldn't have.
I can't assign the same place in my life to a document by a group of men with questionable faith as I do to the Bible. It's not likely I'm going to change how I approach the Bible so I'll have to change how I approach the Constitution.

Obama & Church

2008-06-07T08:45:00.001-04:00

I'm never sure what to think of the Obama and Reverend Wright situation. My first instinct is to write Obama off as either a fool, an idiot or a liar. He is a fool if he listened to Reverend Wright for 20 years and did choose to leave the church until to now. He is an idiot if he listened to Reverend Wright for 20 years and didn't hear what he was saying. And he is a liar if he heard Reverend Wright and is telling everyone he didn't hear him. The issue is Obama is a Harvard educated lawyer congressman, and now Presidential Nominee. I would say this means he isn't a fool or an idiot, and I don't think he is a fool enough to lie constantly about the situation.
I think Obama is the average church going Christian, who has little idea what the real content of sermons are or what his pastor truly believes.
I couldn't tell you what I heard in last week's sermon much less break down my pastor's theological belief. I'm willing to guess the average sermon has a sticking time of just under 10 hours and the average person has no clue what there pastor believes.
So is Obama a fool, an idiot or a liar? I would say no more than the average person.

Neapolitan Pretzel's

2008-05-25T20:55:00.002-04:00

This is a Neapolitan Pizza dough recipe I use to make pizza and Neapolitan Pretzel's. The Neapolitan dough brings a different taste to the pretzel while the Parmesan Cheese and pizza spice give it a Neapolitan twist. I shape the dough in balls because it is easier to roll them in the topping the trying to top knotted pretzel.

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water (105 degrees F)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cold water
1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 quarts water
1/2 cup baking soda

Parmesan Cheese
Pizza spice

In large mixer bowl stir together dry yeast and water. Let sit for 10 minutes until creamy. Mix olive oil and water. Add one cup of flour salt, mix using bread hook. Continue adding flour one cup at a time. Mix on slow for 8 minutes. Add extra flour and water as necessary.
Cover dough with a warm moist kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes. Separate dough into 24 pieces and form tight round balls. Cover the dough and let rest for one hour.

Combine water and baking soda in a medium pan and bring to a boil. Boil dough for 15 seconds then place on a cooling rack. Roll balls in Parmesan cheese and pizza spice to desired flavoring and bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Dip in pizza sauce.

Stimulus Checks

2008-05-01T08:19:00.005-04:00

Stimulus checks are coming out or have come out for some people. It's hard to say what to do with them. The wise financial moves would be to pay down debt and invest for retirement however those are the best long term choices and might not help you in the short term. In order here is what I would do with the money:

Tithe: Not only is tithing the right thing to do but when your money isn't going as far the church isn't getting as much and what they have isn't going as far.
Pay Off Debt: If you have a loan which is less than or equal to your stimulus check amount rid your self of that debt. It's always good to reduce the number of debts you have so if you can eliminate one do that then put the payment towards one of your other loans. A married couple who gets a $1200 dollar check could and has six months left on there car loan can break free of that debt.
Pay Down Debt: If you don't happen to have debt equal or less than your stimulus check pay down your highest interest debt. If you have a 5 year car loan and drop an extra $1200 on it you will save a few hundred dollars in interest and pay the debt off a few months early. Once you get it paid off early start paying down your other debt, saving it for a future purchase (a new car, house, college, retirement).
Buy Groceries: Kroger is giving a 10% bonus on stimulus checks. You could turn $300 into $330. That's a pretty good short term deal for any family. I like to see a savings above 25% on the receipt when I go grocery shopping, this 10% should easily bump me into the 35% category. I wouldn't get a gift card above the $300 threshold but it sounds like a good deal. Sears, Radio Shack and a few others have similar deals but groceries are a better bet.
Save: Stocks are down so now is a good time to invest. Put it into your retirement account (Roth IRA, IRA, etc) your kids college fund (529).
Build and Emergency Fund: Build up your rainy day fund so if you need a new car you don't have to go into debt to buy one.
Green up your house: Buy an energy efficient water heater, an energy efficient heater, CFLs, a new AC, more insulation, whatever it takes to green up your house and save you few dollars off your monthly bill.

The first 7 items saved you money in one way or another. Either by paying less interest, earning more interest, or paying less on bills. The next few items have no monetary return.

Stimulate the Economy: If have no debt and have your 401k set to max out your company match, you are going to max out your Roth IRA contributions and have an emergency fund why not have a little fun. If you are going to have fun remember to negotiate as i mentioned companies (including hotels) are giving away incentives for spending your check with them. If you want to go someplace that doesn't already have an incentive set up ask for one.
Give it all away: If you have done everything above or just don't need to spend money on yourself donate it to charity. I like local food banks and Lutheran World Relief (they have low overhead so 93% (corrected see comment) of your money goes to good causes not the office).

The Things We Do

2008-04-26T13:04:00.006-04:00

A key part of a successful men's ministry is fun and excitement. The Men at my church do three things that cause a few ripples. We run most of the events on our own as a group of men not a men's ministry from the church.

1) Halo 3 Game Night- Halo 3 is a first person shooter for the Xbox 360. The first time we held a game night we had a crowd of around 50 people. We played Halo, Euchre, Poker, Wii, and ate pizza. Most of the men that came weren't regularly involved in the men's ministry and we saw a great number of new faces all because we brought guys in to do what they enjoy doing only on bigger screens. This is the one event we announce on Sunday mornings.

2) Knob Creek day trip - We make a stop by the Patton Museum then head over to the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot. $30 gets you 3 rounds on a M203 grenade launcher. Any even that involves an RPD (pictured) is bound to bring up a great deal of questions. A day at the gun shoot is the equalizer among men, it brings them back to their Boy Scout days and shows them that Christian men still have fun.

3) It's Not About Brew - This is our Men's Bible Study, cook out, outreach and beer tasting. It all started with a He'brew and a Ale Mary and a Holy Grail Ale soon I discovered other beers and decided to hold a themed bible study. Over 80% of men drink, including most of the men at church. We combine scripture and beer into one fun evening that shows Christian men aren't stuffy and rigid.

Most likely we've offended some people, we've caused some angry letters to the pastor but we've drawn men into the church. We plan these activities to bring men in and grow men in faith. Going in we know there will be problems with what others think. We don't want to not care that we offend others but we also know guns, games and beer aren't banished when we become Christians.
The normal reason for offense is "because Christians shouldn't [play 1st person shooters, shoot guns, drink beer]." Their beliefs comes from what they believe Christians believe. In other words they think Christianity teaches people not to [play 1st person shooters, shoot guns, drink beer] so to be a good Christian they react. To be fair I need to say some people have legitimate reasons to avoid any of these activities, I wouldn't want a recovering alcoholic at it's not about brew, the tea version which works with Petra's Coloring Song or Salvation Bracelets.

If you are ever in town stop by for an Augustiner Bräu so we can have a reason to talk about Augustine.

Money Plan

2008-04-19T20:47:00.005-04:00

I don't like budgets; they don't work, or at least don't work right. Instead of budgets I prefer money plans or spending plans. A budget breaks expenditures down by category while a money plan tracks expenditures in order of necessity. For instance a budget will lump lawn care into the housing category and the money plan will put housing at the top of the chart and lawn care in the important but not necessary category or even the somewhat important category. This makes it easier to track and cut spending as your cost of living and life stage change. A Money plan tells you where your money is going not where it can go, this gives you a more realistic view of your financial health.
Take a Look at the sample money plan so it will be easier to understand my explanations and see how a money plan works. After the explanations I'll swing back through and explain some of the items.

First let's take a look at the columns:

Items - This Column tells you what money is being spent on. These items are the same that appear in a standard budget.
Obligated Consistent Bills - The first type of expenditure is the obligated consistent bill. These bills are the same dollar amount every month and are bond by a contract or obligation. For example you can't stop paying your mortgage without defaulting on your loan and you can't end your cellphone contract without paying an early termination fee.
Obligated Changing Bills - Like the first type of bills these carry an obligation but they don't have a consistent cost associated with them. The three big ones are Water (including sewer), electricity and gas. Unlike a cellphone these don't have contracts but you can't cancel the service or just stop paying for it when you don't want it.
Other Bills - These are voluntary bills that have no contract or obligation, they can be ended or emended easily. There aren't many other bills. Some internet service is obligation free, it can be canceled with a phone call. No contract cellphone plans fall into the other bill category.
Non-Bills - Everything that isn't a bill belongs in this column, these items generally don't have a consistent price and almost never have a contract or obligation.
Extra Expense - Many people have extra expenses when they have the money. These expenses can be frivolous (an extra book) or wise (extra mortgage payments). Frivolous and wise extra expenses can be illuminated just like non-bills but they are frequently attached to bills. Rarely will an item reside only in the extra expense category it is usually accompanied by a bill or a non-bill.
Explanation of Extra Expense - You have to track why you are tossing on extra $50.00 into the grocery category.

Some items can appear in different columns depending on how you handle the expense. If you have a standard 2 year cellphone plan it is an obligated consistent expense; at the end of two years when your contract expires your cellphone expense can move to the other bills category because you can cancel at anytime without paying a fee.
For those of you keeping score at home you realized I skipped the first column; categories. The Categories are the top down framework that holds the items and determines their value.

Necessary - These category is for items that are 100% necessary. If you were forced to give up these items your life would be negatively affected. This is a fairly static list; you need a place to live so you will have rent or a mortgage, like wise you need to have insurance, electricity and water; you can't escape those expenses. You need to eat so food goes up here so does health insurance and car expenses (most people need a car to make a living). The necessary category is the last category you would cut if you ran into financial trouble.
Very Important - These items aren't 100% necessary but it would be hard to maintain my lifestyle without them. Under extreme circumstances you could cut these expenses.
Important - Things that are good to have but aren't the important. I could go several years before a new shirt become necessary but it's nice to get a new shirt on occasion. A shirt is more than a luxury because you need to be dressed to go to work.
Luxury - Luxuries are items you don't need but you like to have. When hard times hit they are the first to get cut.
Targeted Savings - This category is a type of savings specifically targeted to replacing necessary items. This category is used to track money used to replace major purchases after their life cycle. A $500 dishwasher should last 10 years (120 months) when you buy your first dishwasher start putting an extra $4.17 into a savings account each month so when your dishwasher needs replaced in 10 years you already have the money set aside.
ING is a great place to go for a high yield, no fee savings account that allows set up sub accounts to easily track targeted savings.
Investments - It's always a good idea to save for retirement, have life insurance and disability insurance. This category is used to track any money that goes into investments.

Here is what is nice about the money plan. I can quickly look at it and tell you where you can trim expenses. I don't have to wade through and figure out what portion of my grocery bill I can cut. In this example we can easily and quickly eliminate $430 of monthly spending, that's over $5,000 for the year. The preplanned ability reduces the amount of turmoil when hard times do hit.
The money plan also shows you what your minimum income must be in order to make ends meet. It also encourages saving and wise money habits.

Changes

2008-04-14T14:38:00.001-04:00

I graduated college three years ago where it was my job to think, a job that I loved. I had the freedom to debate, read, and learn all day long, life in college was exactly what I made of it. A few months after college I was making decisions and completing tasks as part of a Fortune 500 company. Less than a year after that I was working on the financial side of the same company where every action I took had a direct impact on my companies (and other companies) financial records. It was a far cry from studying Christology under Dr. Bonds, Hebrews under Dr Schenck and Worship under Keith Drury.

This winter the project I was working on came to an end so I was laid off and was hired as an Administrator / Bookkeeper at MorningStar Restoration. (Shameless plug: If your roof has storm damage or if you need a new roof and are in the Indianapolis, Indiana, Atlanta, Georgia, or Springfield Missouri areas give us a call.)
I'm sharing all of this because as I've reread through my posts these past few weeks I've realized I still usually write for the ministerial audience. While I think my outsiders perspective gives me some unique and useful views, much of my writing is now outside my daily scoop of work and thought. I'm going to give in and write more about what I know, this doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing about the church it means I'm going to be writing more about the practical business and life of a Christian. This will involve writing about finance, Christian business, and I'll be sharing my thoughts about men's ministry as I work closely with that ministry at church.

I hope to write for the audience I encounter in during my day at work and time at church. I hope to write practically for the church going audience. I'll still write some to the pastoral audience but my main focus is going to be the people who make up the life of the church.

Prayer Request Policy

2008-04-02T16:31:00.001-04:00

To whom it may concern:

Effective 4/2/2008 I will no longer be accepting 3rd party prayer requests. In order for me to receive a prayer request the request must be presented by the effected party in person. This new rule is being put in place to reduce the spread of gossip through prayer requests I receive.

Thank you for you help in this matter,

-Kurt

Word Changers

2008-03-31T13:35:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again. The flowers start to bloom, schools close for a week, thunderstorms roll through and the church changes words.

Remember when we were Christians, then we became protestants, then we become evangelicals. We then fought the Catholics for sole control of the term Christian. We even used the phrase "personal relationship with Jesus Christ," to as a self affixed attribute. We were Christians but I had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A new movement is growing which is substituting Christian for Christ follower, to be honest they have replaced both Christian and personal relationship with the Christ follower. The movement is driven by some well made and often funny videos like the one here:

No matter how funny the videos are and how well the stereotype of the Christian fits I cringe every time I hear someone proudly exclaim they are a Christ follower. There are a few reasons this phrase and movement bother me.

1) According to Dinesh D'Souza (author of What's So Great About Christianity) non-Christians often point to the sins of Christianity (the crusades, the Inquisition, etc) as a way to discredit Christianity. In a very simple the change from Christian to Christ follower is ceding the point to non-Christians. Part of the name change is an attempt to disconnect from the past shortcomings associated with church history. By separating from the past the Christ followers give up the ability to connect with the hero's of the faith Like Bonhoeffer and St. Teresa. Many Christ followers attempt to stay connected to the positive aspects of history and dismiss the negative aspects, this simple doesn't work and creates imbalance and hypocrisy. More importantly a name change doesn't change anything about the past and creates a cover-up where forgiveness should be sought.

2) Christ followers are another attempt to capture social relevance and like most predecessors are doing so at the expense of It creates social relevance and the expense of Biblical significance. They are saying that they know better than 2000 years of thought and devotion and are attempting to persuade a society with relevance instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to work.

3) The insinuation in the video series is insulting and marginalizing to the stereotyped Christians. The video is easily taken as an insult to those who refer to themselves as Christians since it portrays those who refer to themselves as Christian as insincere, uncaring and hostile. The sum of the connotations calls makes you think that the Christ followers doubts the sincerity of the Christians salvation. That being said it is only a matter of time until the Christ followers begin to question the salvation of the Christians.

-----
I'm undecided but I think the moniker Christ follower does deeper damage to theology:

4) It is another step away from Trinitarian Theology. In it's essence the moniker is a creed stating a persons dedication to second person of the trinity, while the creed is simple it leaves out the other two persons of the trinity. I don't think this omission is intentional and I do think it is done for the sake of brevity, it is the symptom of a more widespread departure from Trinitarianism.

5) The moniker marginalizes the deity of Christ. I think this is a problem of language and interpretation but the phrase "I'm a Christ follower," brings images of a sports fan to my mind, "I'm an Ohio State Football Follower." When this image comes to mind it drags down the deity of Christ and brings him completely to the human realm. Like the departure from Trinitarian theology this is symptom of a growing belief.

Dinesh D'Souza

2008-03-25T10:50:00.001-04:00

I had the chance to see Dinesh D'Souza author of What's So Great about Christianity. He was an intelligent engaging speaker but his content missed his intended mark; to defend Christianity against neo-atheists. D'Souza proposed a few main arguments neo-atheists make to discredit Christianity; as science advances it discredits Christianity and History is full of Christian violence and that Christianity is an invention used for comfort. D'Souze's proposed arguments are well in line with the main arguments used by neo-atheists to discredit Christianity, however, D'Souze misses the ideas behind the arguments which create neo-atheist thought.

The background argument to neo-ahteist thought is not that Christians have been violent, or that as Christian morals are bankrupt, it is an objection of power. The objection of power gives birth to the the other objections. Whether they admit it or not, neo-atheists hold onto the idea that Christianity is ultimately corrupt because of its power, their goal being to remove the power from the Christians and hand it to a secular authority, namely themselves.

The main arguments proposed by D'Souza steam from the objection of power. When atheists point out the violent acts perpetrated in the name of Christianity, they are real attempting to point out the lengths Christians will go to stay in power. When the bring up evolution a story is created in which they Christians are battling for the power of education. To be fair Christians fuel this argument when they make statements attributing the basis of moral society to Christian morals and when they push for laws promoting intelligent design. The arguments the neo-atheists are using to discredit Christianity are the visible ways in which Christians are attempting to gain the upper hand. This struggle is the same struggle that was fought during the crusades, the reformation, the witch trials, and is being fought today between Israel and Palestine. Each side is seeking a point of safety which includes land, money and people, as with any power struggle supporters will go to great lengths to gain the upper hand.

The Church's need for power is perhaps best seen in the persecution of Galileo. The church wanted to place the earth at the center of the universe and the church at the center of the earth. Not only making the earth the focus of power but the church the very focus, this line runs all the way up to the Pope as the inevitable center of the universe. They imprisoned Galileo in order to keep the church as the center of power. This argument was all about the perception of power on the earth, if people believed the earth was the center and the church the center of it they would acknowledge the church's power.

Since the Christian struggle for power uses the same tools and tactics as a secular struggle for power atheists conclude that Christianity is morally bankrupt and false. This means that the church needs to focus it's apologetic power on the external and internal struggle for power. The church needs to reconsider how it wants to achieve that power.

---------

D'Souzza made note that Hitler's reign of terror was a atheist event, while this is true it is an event in which the atheist establishment used the name of Christianity to gain power. Hitler attempted to gain power by first gaining the church and Christians. This leads to the frequent argument that Hitler's murders were perpetrated in the name of Christianity. While he did use the name he took over the church in a hostile manner usurping the name, credibility and power for his own use.

3.14159265358979323846...

2008-03-17T08:52:00.001-04:00

For the first time in years I didn't celebrate PI Day (March 14; get
it 3.14). I didn't sing PI Day songs; I didn't make a pie much less a
square pie (A (area) = PI*R (the radius) ^2 (squared), PI r squared).
I did nothing. I remember when I used to sing songs play games and
celebrate the life of PI with food and costumes, now the pinnacle of
Math holidays means nothing to me. PI day has become as meaningless
as Mole Day, the annual Chemistry celebration of Avogadro's Number
(6.02*10^23).

I use more math now than I ever have in my past but I don't celebrate
the holiest of days. In my modern busy life I don't have the time to
stop and remember an infinite number. I feel bad, like I betrayed my
heritage, but no one around was celebrating so it would have been
uncomfortable going to work whistling my favorite PI day songs. I
guess deep down PI day must not be that important to me. There is
always next year's PI Day I can even make up for it by celebrating
Square root day on 3/3/2009 (since 3 is the square root of nine).

Maybe others will start seeing the meaning of these holidays and I'll
ahve someone to celebrate with.

P.S. I didn't celebrate Palm Sunday either.

Kurt's Favorite Things

2008-02-11T09:22:00.001-05:00

Oprah does a show every year when she gives out her favorite and often high priced things. I've decided to do my own list of favorite things which are low priced if not free.

Comic Strips:

Sheldon, a billionaire kid, his grandpa, his lizard and the genius duck. What more could you want out of a comic strip
Wally and Osborne, the south pole adventures of a penguin and a displaced polar bear.
Overdue Media, Dew and co. are employees of the local misfit of a library.
Russell's Teapot, while often hilarious it is not for the easily offended. The strip always makes fun of Christianity, it's value comes as an outside observer of the state of church.

Blogs

Financial - Blogs where you can learn to be thrifty, invest wisely, and get good financial advice

Religion

Tuesday Column By Keith Drury
Wright Off the Bat by Kevin Wright
Ben Witherington

Websites (non-blogs)

Library Thing - catalog, review, and track your books. Get suggestions of books you might like or get suggestions from you unsuggester of books you are least likely to own. You can talk about your books with fellow fans or just keep track of what you own.
Itunes U - Download audio and video lectures from a good deal of colleges and universities, including Yale, MIT, Notre Dame, and many more. The lectures are free and are from lecturers many can only dream of seeing.
AllRecipes.com - The best cook book on the planet, free, plenty of pictures, reviews, suggestions, and more recipes than you want.
Kiplinger Personal Finance - The gurus of personal finance.

Tools

Grand Central - The way I get $40 +tax worth of calling for $5 +tax a month. GC on line phone service that gives you smart calling. It assigns one number to ring at every phone you own. You can block callers, record calls, assign personalized outgoing voice mail messages.
The BEST part; GC let's make long distance calls for free. You select which phone you want to call from and who you want to talk to, it calls your phone, when you answer it calls who you want to talk to. Many people don't know that all incoming phone calls are free, when you use GC to call 'out' it actually calls in first then uses the magic of the Internet to call out. Meaning your phone receives an incoming call, which is free, then calls whoever where ever. I have a $5 + tax phone line, to make a regular outgoing call costs me $.80, using GC I never make the outgoing call but I get unlimited local and long distance a $40 value.
TurboTax - If it weren't for this software I wouldn't be doing my own taxes. I tried an on line solution one year but gave up and bought Turbo Tax, it is great, simple to use.

Kitchen Gadgets

Bread Maker - This is the greatest thing I own. It makes bread, jelly, pizza dough, pasta dough. It's easy dump a few ingredients in a pan set the machine come back to a fresh loaf of bread or a fresh lump of dough. Just shape the dough, let it rise bake it and eat. It's cheaper than a buying fancy bread, healthier, and much more fun.
Ice Cream Maker - it's fun to be able to make ice cream and the thing is flexible, it makes yogurt, ice cream and smoothies.

Magazines

Economist - Good economy stories that touch on every aspect of our lives.
Biblical Archeology Review - A whole magazine dedicated to the intersection of the Bible and Archeology.
Kraft Food and Family - a free recipe magazine, sure the recipes are on the boxes of Kraft food but the magazine has better pictures.
Kiplinger Magazine - What I don't catch on line I read in the magazine.

Financial Things (not listed above)

Free File - If your gross income in 2007 was less than $54,000 you can efile for free. The systems aren't as hefty as TurboTax but if your taxes aren't complicated you should use it.
401k - What gets better than getting money from you employer just for saving money.
Roth IRA - No 401k option at work check out Roth IRAs.
BankRate.com - The best place to find a high interest, no fee, no minimum savings and checking account. High interest means free money.
Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions aka from 8880 - Remember the above mentioned 401k and the Roth IRA if your income is within limits the Government will give you money because you saved money.

All those things and barely a penny spent (get your magazines at the library like the rest of us). Sure the bread make and ice cream maker cost money but after a year of homemade pizzas and loaves of homemade bread you will be saving money.

What are your favorites?

Things You Should Do

2008-02-05T07:20:00.001-05:00

This is simply a my suggestions of thins everyone should know how to do and should be doing. They won't guarantee success in anyway but are necessary for a well rounded life.

Learn to cook at least one meal of your own: It can be as easy as Lasagna or as complicated as Italian Wedding Soup. Either way everyone needs to know how to cook at least one company sized dish. People like coming over for a warm home cooked meal and they want something a bit different than what they cook at their own home. Maybe try my Seven Cheese and Chicken Stuffed Shells (they sound harder than they are), Mexican Pork Chops (it doesn't get much easier), or Chicken and Bean Burritos. If you don't like any of that sign up for the free Kraft Food and Family Magazine or head over to their archives and browse the old issues. Food and Family has easy seasonal food. Learn how to cook a meal or two and invite some friends over to dine with you.

Write Thank You Notes: I'm not excited about it but thank you notes are back in style. I've been getting more and more lately for a wider variety of reasons from gifts to help moving. A thank note is much more sincere and heartfelt than a verbal "thanks". I'm not good at writing thank you notes (my wife and friends will attest to that if necessary) they are usually scrawls inside a plain card. That being said I'm going to share how to write a thank you note.

The good news is a thank you note doesn't have to exceed 4 sentences (plus the greeting and your signature). The first sentence is the gratitude sentence, "Thank you for this great blog post". The last sentence is recaps the the first sentence and is often just "Thanks again!" Don't overdue the exclamation points this isn't Seinfeld. The hard part is the middle two sentences. The second sentence will mention the use or the event, "I cooked your Seven Cheese and Chicken Stuffed Shells for a dinner party everyone loved them." The third sentence mentions the past and the future, "I really enjoy reading your blog, I look forward to next weeks post." Its also nice to include a p.s. if you can, "p.s. I'm going to make the Pork Chops this weekend."
Keep in mind two main rules; the note is only about thanks and the event or gift and a thank you note is always sent using snail mail never email. If you are worried your card will look empty use a postcard, they look full with 4 sentences.

Read books / newspapers / magazines / journals: 52% of adults read a book voluntarily in 2002 and in 1999 "50% of the population aged 25 and over read a newspaper at least once a week, read one or more magazines regularly, and had read a book in the past 6 months" (NIFL.gov). People who read are well rounded and informed, questions about reading habits are even becoming popular interview questions. People who read always have something to talk whether it's current events are a book they have a place to start. If you aren't sure where to start head over to Librarything.com to get a few suggestions.

Buy a DVD player and video game system: This is more for soon to be college students than adults but can be easily applied to adults. Video games and DVDs are a large part of the social fabric that is college. I realize parents won't like that advice but it's solid tested advice. If you don't want to buy the new systems your old NES or the SNES will be an excellent lower cost substitute. When I was in college we spent weeks playing the old NES mostly Mario, Duck Hunt, and the Track and Field game on the Power Pad.

the theologian’s dilemma

2008-01-28T11:06:00.001-05:00

I've been mentally wrestling with a problem I refer to as the theologian's dilemma which asks at what point is it appropriate, useful, or necessary to correct someones theology and how should it be corrected? I'll share a few examples, I've witnessed in real life and would like some feed back on what the proper response should be.

The local newspaper in an article for St. Patrick's Day mentions the trinity and explains it is "the Son, the Holy Spirit, and God."
During the words of institution for communion the pastor says "Jesus took the cup and said 'this represents my blood.'"
On the Churches Blog the author writes "when Adam was created, he was created as Gen 1:27 states, with both male and female aspects (both physical and spiritual aspects)".
A member of your small group keeps putting forth Unitarian theology?

What would you say?

business ministry

2008-01-21T09:07:00.001-05:00

I don't think the church is doing the job it set out to do. Every few years the church as a whole reinvents itself centering on a new piece of scripture. This latest fling is centered on the 1 Corinthians 9:22 the idea of becoming all things to all people. It's a brilliant little concept on its simple surface yet the church doesn't do it; sure they do the standard preach and plug every chance they get but haven't actually broken out and become anything to anybody.

I take that back they've become a few things to a few people. Mainly they've become kids to kids, teens to teens, women to women, and rich people to poor people (if that one's even what Paul is talking about). The church has always been great about those groups but it's struggled with a few others.

The church traditionally has done a poor job reaching two key and overlapping demographics; men and workers. The later being perhaps the least satisfied group within the church, only 33% (average of various surveys) of people are satisfied with their jobs. More important is the inverse 77% of workers aren't satisfied with their jobs. This means that in the average church with 171 weekly attendees 132 adults (assuming all adults are working) aren't satisfied 40 hours a week. The neglect of these attendees is partially caused by a separation between ministers and professional workers. Many pastors haven't had a ministry job for years so they begin to forget the stresses and issues in the professional world.

The church is doing little to meet these members were they are. Sure there are lunch time Bible studies (mostly men's groups), there are even a few professional organizations out there (the majority being focused on business owners, CEOs, Presidents and not the average worker). The fact that these groups exist doesn't matter, I've never actually seen one. I know they are out there (Google told me) but their lack of visibility makes them less effective and borderline ineffective. In my search I found one group required referrals or invitations to join. Seriously you had to be a referred or invited CEO, President, or general manager. Other groups didn't appear to meet, ever, they had one event on a calendar and apparently called it a year. Between the church and the Para-church the young professional has few options to be met where he or she is (women having even few options since most groups are men's groups).

There is clearly a problem and there aren't clear solutions. Maybe churches could try

1. Move toward bi-vocational pastoral positions. This would constantly keep pastors in touch with the professional world, so they understand first hand the issues and emotions related to it.

2. Provide job search help to congregants. If 77% of attendees aren't satisfied in their jobs maybe the best thing a church can do is offer help finding a new job, a sort of job board / head hunting ministry.

3. Start a slew of mid day accountability groups to give professionals a midday boost.

What else could the church do?

Review: The Mystery of Mar Saba

2008-01-12T09:28:00.000-05:00

The Mystery of Mar Saba by James H. Hunter is a novel during the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany about a plot to destroy Britain by destroying Christianity. The book revolves around a secret cult, "the Hooded Ones," attempting to forge a document referred to as "the Shred of Nicodemus," which refutes the Resurrection. The hope is that the documents release will demoralize the British empire making it easier for Hitler to conquer Europe. Since I know of 27 copies (my copy and a scant 26 available online) I can spoil a bit of the mystery and say the forger works and the British Empire and the United States are thrown into disarray. Don't worry though this wouldn't be a mystery if we didn't have our Heroes Alderson (the Chief of police of the Palestine Police), Medhurst (Alderson's old army buddy), Dennis (Medhurts servant and army buddy) and a few others on the team. We also have our damsel Natalie Ypantis. There are also the evil villain's Professor Heimworth, Abid of the Scar (a classic villain's name if there ever was one) and their pose of "the Hooded Ones".

Let's get the formalities over with. This book is anti-German (Heimworth), anti-Muslim (the Scar and "the Hooded Ones", pro Israel, and the author believes the British empire (and the United States) are Christian nations which would fail if their faith failed. These ideas would be normal in 1940 when the novel was published (my review is only 68 years behind). Today the anti-Arab I would have to assume the action scenes in the book are on par with the 1940's style, people get shot and leave no blood behind. The book is overtly Christian, one of the hero's becomes a Christian, something the damsel and our other hero's already are. The amount of Christianity in the books is almost overwhelming, that is do from the modern style which prefers to have a Christian character in a book and The Mystery of Mar Saba which is a Christian book through and through. The book isn't well written, each character has several names, nicknames, secret identities which become a bit hard to follow. At times in the book the reader is forced to reread a passage because it doesn't make sense and it continues not to make sense when re-read. A few of these points are major holes in the plot of the book where characters and stories disappear.

If The Mystery of Mar Saba were written today it could be a good movie worthy book but as it stands not enough people have heard of the book. An updated version on the heals of the Da Vinci Code may have done well. When it was published the book was popular, it was reprinted 12 times over three decades.
However, Most Google references to The Mystery of Mar Saba discuss the parallels between the plot of the book and Morton Smith's discovery of the Secret Gospel of Mark at... Mar Saba (I bet you didn't see that coming). The story and controversy of Morton Smith's discovery is perhapes more exciting than The Mystery of Mar Saba and about the only thing spurring readers to pick up the book 68 years after it was published. Robert Price, a theologian, first proposed a link between the two plots hinting that Morton may have read The Mystery of Mar Saba and based his forgery of it's plot (his thoughts are recounted in a response to Canada National Post Article, the response is written by Ian Hunter, son of James H. Hunter. I picked up and read the The Mystery of Mar Saba after hearing about Morton's discovery after listening to a lecture by Bart Ehrman. Maybe you should pick up a copy.

The Condition of the Church in America

2008-01-07T14:56:00.001-05:00

Matt Friedeman posted the following list entitled " The Condition of the Church in America ". Andy McAdams from Church Dynamics International originally compiled the list.

Now that I have the formalities out of the way I'd like to comment on the list. It seems worse than I actually think it is and may be better than it seems. I will leave the list in bold with my comments after each point.

1. 1,400 pastors in America leave the ministry monthly. I'm not sure what to make of this, being a pastor is a long thankless and difficult job but there are many of those jobs out there. Maybe we should take this as inspiration to reconfigure what it means to be a pastor and start moving more towards a bi-vocational pastorate.

2. Less then 20% of churches recognize or appreciated their pastor in some way annually. Again being a pastor is a tough job and congregations don't thank them enough, nor do they earn enough. However, I don't get annually recognized at my job, there isn't a National Purchasing Agent Day and my employer doesn't throw me a party just so I know I'm appreciated. Many pastors don't even thank or let their volunteers know they are appreciated.

3. Only 15% of churches in the United States are growing and just 2.2% of those are growing by conversion growth. Church growth shouldn't be measured on a yearly basis, it should be measured over a 5 to 10 year period. I've been in several churches who were going through a re-foundation year; a year to build back the foundation of the church growing and strengthening volunteers. They had zero growth or negative growth over a few year period but once the foundation was poured they started growing. Further questions need answered, how many churches have zero growth and how many are shrinking?

4. 10,000 churches in America disappeared in a five-year period. I'm not sure this is a problem. Populations shift, styles change, churches focus and specialize and other events control this. Even if I lived in the area I went to college I wouldn't attend the same church, it was focused on college ministry and did little for post-college adults, if the college closed that church would either dwindle away or need to quickly change focus. The question is how many of the 10,000 churches closed because of things they controlled?

5. Only 45% of the U.S. population, attend church regularly. Many of my friends from high school attended large colleges (OSU, IU, Ohio U, Northwestern) they were strong Christians through college but rarely if ever went to church. They usually shared the same Complaints, the churches were to red-neck, to liberal, or just plain bad. Instead of church they attended para-church ministries. So maybe it's time for the church to be flexible and responsive in key areas.

6. The number of people in America that Do Not attend church has doubled in the past 15 years. This number needs adjusted for inflation. If non-church going parents have kids then chances are their kids aren't going to be going to church.

7. No more then 38% of the population attends church at all and that's in the Bible belt. The next highest is the Midwest at 25%, West 21% and the Northeast 17%. To much of church is Saturday evening and Sunday morning. I lived next to a man for a while who couldn't attend church; he worked nights and couldn't change jobs just to go to service. Maybe it's time for a church to open up the doors at 3:00 AM Wednesday

8. Though the Bible Belt still boasts the highest percentage of church attendees, yet many of those churches are filled with legalism or extreme liberalism. And my church is filled with sinners too. This is just some cheap swipe and churches the writer disagrees with theologically. They would probably use a similar tone to talk about your church.

9. The vast majority of churches have an attendance of less then 75. So do the vast majority of moving screenings? I'm not sure if this is a problem or a good thing. More pastor per person. I spent 4 days in a town of 600 people one spring. The town had 6 churches if everyone in town attended church that would be 100 people for church. Should these churches just combine into one large church? No.

10. In 70 % of the churches in America, the pastor is the only full-time staff person. Welcome to the world of small business.

11. There are almost 100 million unchurched Americans, 11-20% of them claim to be born-again. They have either left the church or never connected for some reason. Maybe they never connected because they didn't want to?

12. The median adult attendance per church service in 1999 was 90 people, which is slightly below the 1998 average of 95 adult attendees and in 1997 it was 102. There seems to be a slight gradual decline. Few churches, fewer people going to church, fewer adults attendaning per church service. Or more service styles to cram in so the per service attendance is down and the number of attenders is the same or greater.

13. Only 1/5 of the adult population attends Sunday school or some sort of Christian training. I remember the good old days when Sunday School teachers worked on their own lessons, I can read the same book they are using to teach out of and save a few hours of my life to watch football. We could of course solve this by doing some real teaching and training in the church, not just budge balancing and kid raising.

14. 23% of church attendees say they attend a small group for growth and accountability. What do the others say? I just attend for growth? I attend to learn? I attend to fellowship and worship? I attend for the food?

15. Only 65% of Americans donate to a place of worship. Evangelicals however 85% donate to their church yet only 9% tithe. I don't know many people who tithe, some give less, some give more but either way it's not tithing by strict definition. Just so you know if you asked me I wouldn't say I donated to my church.

16. 20-25% read their Bible consistently, 59% attend church weekly, 16% listen to Christian radio, 7% watch Christian TV, and 11% are held accountable to someone. The early Christians didn't read their Bibles consistently (they didn't have them) come to think of it neither did most anyone in the church until after the printing press and education become popular. FYI St. Augustine didn't watch Christian TV.

17. Only 60% of Christians say they are deeply committed to their faith, yet 85% of evangelicals make this claim. Evangelicals are better than other Christians (take that Lutherans). P.s. it's hard to be committed to something you don't understand or feel.

18. Among the 71% of those who have heard of spiritual gifts, 31% can name a spiritual gift they believe they possess. This just says the church isn't teaching the Bible and isn't interested in putting volunteers where they belong.

19. One in four have a place in the church where they serve. This is never going to be 100%, no church has that much need. Nor is there any church whose congregants have that much time. Service is a newer concept so maybe it needs reconsidered.

20. Less then 50% say that the Bible is totally accurate, yet 60% of those that clam to be born-again. Totally accurate in what? spelling? science? art? history? Quotations from the Old Testament?

21. Just 1/3 of church attendees believes that they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others. Hello and welcome to modern America, we don't have personal responsibility for anything. Maybe the church should realize that and move toward a corporate responsibility, that would be a real bit of life together now wouldn't it.

22. 56% of the population believe that salvation can be earned and shockingly, 26% are among evangelical churches. This is not a surprise. Churches have been quietly teaching this for years, it's in the logic behind the sermons, it's in the drive to get volunteers, it's in the music. You are what you teach.

23. Giving to charities increased in the past decade yet giving to local churches is declining. Charities are actually doing visible things with the money. Sure when I give to my church it helps pay for some missionary over in Africa and goes toward some salaries for Campus Crusade but I've never met those folks and don't see their results. If I give to Red Cross I can see the results on the news and feel good about myself.

24. Out of 100,000 churches in America less then 2% are considered mega-churches, (1,000 or more). GREAT!!!! Maybe these could be among the 10,000 that close in the next five years. Then we can get back to small churches where people can talk to their pastor and be involved more than just running valet parking for those to lazy to walk and checking IDs for those who want to use the gym.

25. In his book, "Who Shall Lead Them", Larry Withham said, "20% Of US Churches Have No Future". I would hope 100% of US churches have no future, that rapture they keep talking about should wipe them all out. Again populations shift, desires and programs save. I would guess many of these will be mega churches that start to shrink in 5 years leaving a congregation half the size with the same size loan on their grand buildings.

26. 1 out of 4 church attendees are considered church hoppers. I thought this train sailed once Carmen's song stopped playing on the radio. People are looking to get needs met and aren't getting them at any church so they move around. Not to mention that the population as a whole is moving and relocating more and so are churches. Of course there is also the issues that churches keep hopping from one style to another and changing their beliefs on a whim.

27. On average, just 7% of new church attendees are formally unchurched. What is unchurched? Does it mean they've never been to church or just went as a kid and don't remember it? That could make a big difference in what this means.

Christian Cooking

2007-12-31T11:54:00.000-05:00

I enjoy cooking, I'm not a great cook but I'm not a bad cook either. I usually cook basic American fair (six cheese and chicken stuffed shells, Chicken burritos, Chocolate Ice Cream, Mexican Pork Chops, grilled chicken, Butter Rolls, etc.,). Perhaps my favorite foods to cook are breads, I cheat and use a bread machine. This winter I've cooked a few loaves of Challah a braided egg bread used by Jews on the Sabbath. A few weeks after this I heard an report on NPR about a Jewish bread which is baked overnight for 12 hours, this sounded delicious; I haven't been able to find a recipe so I haven't tried to bake it.

After much searching I begin to think about the wonderful tradition of Jewish cooking. Eventually it occurred to me that most major religions have a strong food history whether it's dietary restrictions or historically significant foods, Christianity is an exception. There are plenty of "Christian" cooking items, Christian aprons, crafty foods (Jesus Walks on Water: Jello with sour patch kids walking on top), re-branded foods, and beer. The closest I've ever been to Christian cooking was making communion bread from scratch in 3rd grade as part of First Communion, an experience most of my peers don't share. I even ate a Seder Meal for First Communion, most people don't know what one is.

We have no rich history of food, no dietary restrictions, no history of using every scrap in something. We just eat, we have church cook books and church cook offs but no tradition. Here in America we use the cook books and cook offs to showcase our individual talent. Our food has no meaning, the two pieces with significance, the bread and the wine, are quickly loosing all significance as the communion celebration is minimized. We have nothing left but to run with the crowed to buy or Turkeys and Hams. Easter our one holiday is left alone as a standalone Christian holiday where the rare lamb is eaten.

In order to renew some sense of culinary history, I'd like to start eating lamb at easter, I've never done it. I'd like to cook a Seder Meal for passover, it would be good for my small group. Maybe we could bring back fasting, its Christian non-food.

I don't know; it's lunch time so I'm going to go eat some mac and cheese.

SUN: Service Canceled

2007-12-17T09:45:00.001-05:00

We got 8+ inches of snow with freezing rain and 30 mile and hour winds. It was the type of weekend you don't leave the house, not only because the weather was bad but because everything was closed. Including churches. The church I attend was closed, they couldn't get it on TV but they did call my wife to let her know.

My personal story aside I always have mixed feelings when churches cancel service. I'm never sure what the pastor's thoughts are:

· I don't think our congregants can drive well in the snow so we better cancel.

· I can't drive well in the snow so we better cancel.

· I have a good reason to take a Sunday off.

· There is no way anyone can drive in this stuff we better cancel church because our congregants aren't smart enough to stay home on there own.

· Won't I feel dumb if I don't cancel and no one shows up?

· What will I do if only 15 people show up? I haven't preached to a crowed that size since I took Homiletics in college.

· What would happen if I didn't cancel church and a congregant died in a car wreck on the way to church?

Beyond figuring out the real reason why pastors cancel churches is the ecclesiological dilemma. The felt need's church movement has teaches that Christians need a weekly dose of church to survive the work week. During testimonies and sermons frequent reference is made to the need to be reenergized at church so I can make it through the week. The church pushes a good deal to encourage this thinking.

So what happens to a felt needs church when Sunday service is canceled? According to the ideas preached week to week congregants would fall apart in an emotional and spiritual battle. That doesn't happen (at least with any frequency).

While putting forth these ideas do churches have an increased pressure to stay open every Sunday?

What about the sermon series? We've missed a week of the all important run up to Christmas, I can't help but think the series wasn't that important or we will not get the full effect of the Christmas sermon. Maybe the pastor should record his sermon and email it out to everyone or we could hold service Wednesday night so we don't fall behind.

I don't mind the environment

2007-12-10T15:02:00.001-05:00

This is in response / support of Athada's post Why Should I (WU) Care?
I'm not an environmentalist and I don't hate the earth; I'm in the common middle. I think the environment is a problem but the current solutions either amount to taxes or are a nuisance. For example I would buy a hybrid car but my lifetime fuel savings doesn't add up to my additional upfront cost. I would have recycled while living in an apartment but the closest place to recycle was a 30 minute drive from where I lived.

There are however solutions that neither cost tax payers money nor create an extra burden however they often involve difficult social boundaries. I'm going to discuss a few areas of possible environmental savings.

Housing - Our current home designs aren't energy or environmentally efficient. They are hard to light, they are expensive to heat and waste a good deal of material to build. There are Energy Star rated new construction homes, but that isn't a very high standard it deals with r-value and appliances. Beyond construction because a home is built Energy Star rated doesn't mean it's lived in by those standards, an Energy Star heater run at 76 degrees is still wasting energy.
A big problem in housing is waste, which can be corrected changing habits and making a few cheap upgrades. Purchasing efficient appliances, CFLs, LEDs, turning off lights, turning down the thermostat (or up in the summer), using ceiling fans, purchasing a programmable thermostat (if you have a gas furnace). If everyone cut a little waste the big picture impact would be enormous.
All of the houses in my subdivision have exterior carriage lights that automatically turn on at sun set. If my entire neighborhood (200 houses) switched to CFLs (400 bulbs) we would save $42,000 over the lifetime of the bulbs which is 368,480 kwh of electricity. To put it in perspective that would pay the average us electric bill ($88.60 / month, I'm rounding up to $100 to account for natural gas usage) for 35 years.
The biggest housing obstacle is social norms. Homeowners want houses with square corners and 7 inch wide walls. They want houses to look like house, the problem is it's very difficult and expensive to make an efficient house look like a normal house. Earthship encourages people to make houses "a utomobile tires rammed with packed earth", soda cans and other by products. The houses are efficient but don't look like traditional houses. They can be (depending on sweet equity) a bit more expensive but save a good deal of energy. Earth friendly / true green / environmental neutral houses are the future but it is going to take a while to get here. The government needs to adopt construction standards that reduce the amount of red type for true green construction. Owners need to move away from the standard housing look and decide a different looking house is a good investment.
Mortgage companies are starting to offer green mortgages. To qualify for a green mortgage an buyer must put certain energy and cost saving products in the house. For example if a buyer building a new house opts for a geothermal unit the monthly savings (when compared to a standard) heater is added to the mortgage to offset the initial additional cost of the unit. At the end of the month if the unit saves $50 a month the amount is added to the monthly mortgage payment so the owner ends up breaking even (in theory) on a greener house.

Cars - There are some great fuel efficient cars on the market, the Smart Car being my favorite. But like a house the Smart Car doesn't look like a normal car and it is small. The current obsession with wasteful cars is killing the planet. I admit I drive an empty Toyota Corolla back and forth to work each day. I have four empty seats. With the Smart Car, I would have less empty room. I rarely fill the car, usually for trips to the grocery, vacation, or out to see my parents. I drive only a few full car miles a year, compared to my empty car miles. I currently don't need a new car but when I do I know the smart car is within my range, I'd like to think I would buy one. When my wife and I go on a road trip we can take her car. Either way the point is the same, there are to many empty seats on the road.
The big obstacle for most people is the issue of road trips so maybe the forward thinking car company would sell me the Smart Car and give me two weeks free car rental each year I own the car. That solves my vacation problem. And the government needs to get serious about mileage, the need to draw a strict mileage line in the sand and tell the auto companies to make it happen. (I'm not in favor of big government but when big business inability to change is hurting everyone a solution must be had.)
Carpooling would be better (especially if combined) but I don't see this as a good solution for most people. I need the flexibility of my car at work. I would like to see employers provide showers so employees can ride their bikes.

Energy - I just touched on it a bit but the government needs to get involved. They need to mandate a strict gas mileage, and offer incentives. If the American auto makers worked together and shared knowledge they could make world changing new cars.

The key here is renewable energy, I'm not a scientist but I'm positive it can be done if the proper money is poured into it. For a while the issue is going to be a Beta Max vs VHS style dilemma (or HDDVD Vs. Blue Ray for the younger crowd) some companies and individuals may choose the wrong power source now but in the end I think we will see a leader in the renewable energy field.
Waste - There is to much waste should is a simple fact. I create a good deal of garbage each day. Some of it could go right into building an Earthship.
My parents have a consumption tax on garbage (currently $3.10 per trashcan) recycling is free. I pay a flat tax no matter how much garbage I produce, recycling has to be requested. I'm in favor of the consumption tax, it encourages reducing and recycling.
To show how well this works when I was growing up my dad resented what he called the Christmas tax (it took 1 extra trashcan to throughout the wrapping paper). After Christmas one year he and my mother went to the fabric store and bought a bunch of clearance Christmas fabric. Mom spent the winter sewing bags. Since then all of our Christmas presents come wrapped in fabric pull string bags, sure over my 15 years since the wrapping change hasn't saved that much money but it has helped reduce my parents trash creation.

What does this mean to IWU:
IWU has more of all the above than I do. They could lobby for wind farms like Roscoe, Texas did, and get big business money to build them. Sure they may have to sell off some land but imagine the impact of if IWU had it's own power source. IWU could buy Smart Cars and electric golf carts to shuttle things around campus.
For a more personal impact IWU could cut tuition $800 a year and let students pay the own power and water bills. They do it with cable why not with power. Since individual dorm rooms dont't have meters they could just split the cost evenly around the dorm and let peer pressure reduce costs.This would reward students who reduced their water and electricity usage.
IWU should keep their green space, they have a good deal and should keep it. They should build eco-friendly buildings, they fun kind with gardens on the roofs. They could have science majors tend the gardens and business majors could set up a farmers market to sell the produce.
IWU should use their size and community stature to introduce Earthship style buildings into Indiana, they could let their political science majors work through the legislation and red tape. They could appeal to the community with help of marketing majors.

Did you catch what I did?
I looked at environmental issues from a point of view that everyone at IWU can understand (business, finance, education). What political science student wouldn't like to help create legislation allowing and rewarding these solutions? Every business major could benefit from setting up and running a business. I ignored the core issue of the environment and crafted reasons why changes would be beneficial to everyone involved..

What about the spiritual side?
I'm not ready to go there. It's to hot button right now. The old guard won't give and will keep saying the environment isn't a spiritual issue. Wrong or right broaching this argument to soon and too often will cause division.

I Can't Sing It

2007-12-03T08:11:00.001-05:00

I tried. I sat in church and tried to sing a Christmas Carole, I couldn't do it. It's not Christmas; it's 55 degrees and raining but my inability has nothing to do with the weather. It is simply not Christmas yet, there are 22 and a half more days until Christmas. Today is the start of the Church season known as Advent.

Advent is a time of anticipation, expectation, preparation and waiting. It's certainly not the most fun or glamorous season but it is necessary for the proper understanding of Christmas. The little

Lord Jesus has not laid down his sweet head, I'm not wishing people a merry Christmas, morning stars, together aren't yet proclaiming the holy birth. Others may be but I'm in the middle of Advent.

For me (and for a good portion of the church) Christmas starts on Christmas Eve and ends at Epiphany (January 6,2008). I've tried a few times to 'get into the Christmas Spirit" without Advent but it doesn't work. It was easier as a kid, the anticipation, expectation and long wait for Christmas morning was overwhelming, now it's less so.

That time we call Christmas is actually Advent and the downtime between Christmas and the end of the College Football Bowl Season is Christmas. Basically Christmas starts where the church ends it.

I'm clearly not a fan of this arrangement and would like to see Advent brought back.

For a church that loves emotion advent brings a depth to the lineup that other Holidays and Holydays miss. It deepens the joy of Christmas by building up to it, it's the difference between easing into a pool and jumping in feet first.

Our current celebration situation is a good hat tip to the culture of Christmas. The Church tries to keep up with the stores who push out Christmas items out a few days earlier every year. We fall prey to this influence every time all the while preaching against the commercialization of Christmas. Maybe the church needs to hold off on Christmas to stand against the commercialization.

I'm going to celebrate Advent, I'll buy an Advent wreath, I may even get an advent calendar. And I may even wait to open my presents until January 5, the last official day of the Christmas season.

ITunesU...

2007-11-27T18:21:00.000-05:00

I'm over my morning rant about reading and have moved onto good news. I don't own an IPod so I've never used Itunes. I was looking for some OpenCourseWare (yes it is all one word) lectures to listen to, and noticed some mentions to ItunesU. First, OpenCourseWare is "An OpenCourseWare is a free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses", according to their own website. In my words it's a collection of free lectures and other course information from some of the World's great universities.
I found a few links to ItunesU (will open the ItunesU store in Itunes). I found what I was looking for an endless collection of free lectures from great minds at great universities. The list was impressive, Duke, Yale, MIT, Concordia, Reformed Theological Seminary, UC Berkeley, Abilene Christian University the list goes on.
Needless to say after some surfing the store I had a queue of some 100 lectures (audio and video). Included in this line were several whole courses on theology, the Historical Jesus from Stanford, and a series of small talks entitled Lutheran Confession an Overview from Concordia. All for Free.
It's a great resource for the continuing learning. Someday I may even branch out and learn some science or math.

Did I mention it's free?

On a side note... reading

2007-11-27T10:29:00.001-05:00

I'm sick, I'm not really sick as in ill but sick as in disgusted. I just got finished writing a post about a few characters in Pilgrim's Progress (Discretion, Piety, Prudence and Charity) may be a model for the church. I'm not going to post that this week; instead I'm going to rant. If you prefer a professional writer you can read the basis of my rant Government Study: Americans Reading Less by AP writer Hillel Italie.

That being said I'll move on with my rant. The article says 52% of adults read a book voluntarily and 31 percent of adults with a bachelor's degree were "proficient in reading prose". It goes further "'Literary readers' are more likely to exercise, visit art museums, keep up with current events, vote in presidential elections and perform volunteer work.

Here is the problem:
I would fire / vote out / not vote in any pastor, elder, or board member in a church who didn't read. I wouldn't hire them, just because they didn't read. That may be petty and I know it's not on any Biblical list of qualifications but I would feel justified. Reading is the cheapest (and greatest) form of education. I expect pastors to read the newspaper, subscribe to magazines, and read books.

In the movie Good Will Hunting Matt Damon's character makes the comment to a Harvard student, "You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library." That quote sums up the importance of reading, it enables everyone to gain a high level of education.

Now... go read a book.