Ben Arment announces the White Board Sessions. Love the idea.
Vote your top albums of the year at NPR's All Song Considered. My top 30 (or so) are on the way soon.
With The Golden Compass releasing soon, the Christian demon-recognition email-forwarding machine is fully active. Everyone seems freaked at the murder of God in the Philip Pullman's books. My question is, Is Philip Pullman killing the Christian God, or is Philip Pullman killing a false view of God? I think it's the latter, and is probably a god we would want to kill too. Jeffrey Overstreet at CT writes head along those lines with "Fear Not the Compass." Oh, and check out Carl Trueman's post on the matter.
Ain't No Party Like a Holy Ghost Party - Shavey and Resurgence interviews Sam Storms.
What Leaders Can Learn from Rob Bell: I'm convinced that Bell is one of the most engaging and important communicators of our time. Regardless of what you think about his message or his theology, I think he knows how to engage with listeners better than most. You can still pull 5 clips from his Everything is Spiritual tour on iTunes, or on the Everything is Spiritual site, or...
New Mission to Suburbia Links
-Cutting Edge Summer 2007 on Suburbia - Vinyard Church Planting (HT: Kevin Cawley in all his awesomeness)
-Suburban Spirituality by David Goetz
-Patio Man and the Sprawl People by David Brooks
-Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks
-God of the Latte: Faith in the Suburbs by Lauren Winner (on Hsu's The Suburban Christian and Goetz's Death by Suburb)
-Seeking God in the Suburbs (printable) - interview of Hsu and Goetz
-Religion in the 'Burbs by Agnieszka Tennant
afds
looking forward to your list. i've got mine coming out tues.
also, theres a good article on the golden compass in this month's wired. the director says he didn't even take the god angle in the movie. but rather turned "god" into a political, objective truth abuser/bearer that are out to kill. should be interesting.
graphically, it looks amazing.
Posted by: josh | 12/02/2007 at 07:02 PM
Regarding your post on the golden compass, I had been thinking along the same lines just recently. I grow tired of the boycotting believers - who have not even taken the time to see what "it" is about. I haven't read the books, but know enough about what the author's intentions are from the author himself (posted publicly).
I know I need to recognize that I have to humbly watch my attitude. Sometimes I go overboard in showing off my freedom/views. I tend to shove it in other believer faces about how "concerned" I am for the upcoming culture and how to reach them and how we as a church are not reaching them, that I lose my effectiveness in helping them to be partners in the change. I just become a proponent of change -- all by my lonesome.
Dig your site, thanks for keeping it up to date.
Posted by: Randy | 12/02/2007 at 10:21 PM
Steve,
Great post. Here is my take on The Golden Compass hub bub.
http://takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com/2007/11/quick-hide-women-and-children-golden.html
He is out to get your kids! Quick, lock them up! We need to boycott this movie with huge signs and raging, fist pounding chants! If we are not careful, pretty soon they'll be voting for Hillary Clinton (not that I am going to) and reading Harry Potter books!!
Blah, Blah, Blah...
Everyone just needs to calm down and unbunch the undies. I know we can be a bit defensive about someone attacking our beloved C.S. and his timeless work for children, but to quote Job Bluth, "Come ON!!!!!"
I get the impression that Satan's strategy is rarely a full-frontal attack such as this. He is a twister ("Did God really say?") not a debater. He lives in the shadows and I believe subtlety is usually his method.
Am I worried about this new book infiltrating the brains of my three little ones?
Not really.
Here is what I am more concerned with:
1. I am more concerned with the subtle, soul crushing attacks of materialism in our culture that leads my kids at the ages of 5 and 3 to already tell me almost daily what possessions they want to acquire.
2. I am more concerned with the ease and comfort that we live in that may anesthetize them to a need for the gospel.
3. I am more concerned with the reality that they are daily exposed to a Dad that loves them desperately yet regularly falls short of perfection. I pray they will learn to look to Jesus when I fail them.
They might see this movie once and forget it but these are the things my kids are exposed to daily! This movie will come and go just like The DaVinci Code and The Last Temptation of Christ did but the cultural air they breathe is not going away anytime soon. I would be more concerned about this than The Golden Compass. Don't get too worked up about this one people. We have bigger fish to fry spiritually speaking.
Posted by: Zach Nielsen | 12/03/2007 at 03:43 PM
Preach it Zach!
Posted by: Randy | 12/03/2007 at 08:58 PM
Dr. Mohler just added his thoughts about the Golden Compass here. He's already read the books, of course!
Posted by: Nick | 12/04/2007 at 08:53 AM
Yeah, I heard his radio show on the matter, Nick. Thanks for the link. I don't like his general approach to culture and the "agendas" of others, but it's well worth seeing all sides.
Posted by: Steve McCoy | 12/04/2007 at 10:01 AM