Sunday Revival

Muy bueno!

The emerging/missional posters are now in Spanish Portuguese thanks to Luis Batista at Renevatio Cafe.

Follow this link to see all of them in Spanish Portuguese or here for the English version.

Interesting posts by Rose and Makeesha (also her follow-up post) about power and empowerment.

Great quote by Eugene Cho:

“Let’s be honest…most full-time ministry workers are so consumed by ministry and the culture of ministry, they rarely engage and interface with the larger world. It’s a double edge sword because while ministry workers are regularly calling the church to love their neighbors and such, they’re rarely doing [or able] to do the very thing they are preaching. And consequently, many ministry leaders grow to be monolingual. They can only speak one language – the language of the church. And in the long run, it’ll become a detriment to the missional purpose of the body of Christ.”

This is a danger for any of us if our lives and friendships are limited to the church sphere.

Peter Rollins posted a quote from his new book, The Fidelity of Betrayal. Here is a bit of what he shared:

“Yet perhaps it is precisely this that we are being called to: engaging in that most difficult task of putting our religion to death so that a religion without religion can spring forth.”

USA Today featured an article about The Shack phenomenon as the book climbed to #8 on their list.

A great review by Ron of The Shack with a balanced perspective on the theological issues.

Peggy wrote the creative post The Parable of the Jesus Creeder for Scot McKnight’s blog.

Knowing my fondness for capital campaigns, Mary pointed out this item on her list of bulletin bloopers…

27. The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new campaign slogan last Sunday : “I Upped My Pledge – Up Yours”.

Here’s a related quote from Consuming Jesus, which I hope to review next week:

“Churches must not look the other way while holding out the offering plate, taking the money people have made, to finance their latest church building projects at the expense of the poor.”

Ouch!

Interesting post by Randy about paying up for years of consumerism and overindulgence.

And this post by Mike Todd, A Spending Culture.

John LaGrou shared this quote from End of Suburbia, James Kunstler:

You can state categorically that any enterprise now supersized is likely to fail — everything from the federal government to big corporations to huge institutions. If you can find a way to do something practical and useful on a smaller scale than it is currently being done, you are likely to have food in your cupboard and people who esteem you.

An entire social infrastructure of voluntary associations, co-opted by the narcotic of television, needs to be reconstructed. Local institutions for care of the helpless will have to be organized. Local politics will be much more meaningful as state governments and federal agencies slide into complete impotence. Lots of jobs here for local heroes.

Quit wishing and start doing. The best way to feel hopeful about the future is to get off your ass and demonstrate to yourself that you are a capable, competent individual resolutely able to face new circumstances.

This relates directly to the ongoing discussion about the church and sustainability.

I thought this picture was amusing. It reminded me of the video clip that went around about “real men who pisseth against the wall.” (ht Marc VanderWoude)