On message with the Kingdom revolution
Friday, March 23, 2007
I don’t spend time reading political blogs or news sites, but I recently caught this link from another blogger. The article by Zack Exley published Alternet.org is a fascinating look at the kingdom revolution underway through the eyes of progressive liberals. Overall, I think the piece is a pretty good outside interpretation of what is going on. Quotes and references include Rob Bell, Greg Boyd, Jim Wallace, and others. 
...the Revolution is not primarily a reaction to Republican attempts to politicize the church. What sets it apart from mainstream evangelicalism is not a liberal rejection of Republican politics, but rather a more radical rejection of conservatism and liberalism, and anything else that is not the "kingdom of God." To the Revolutionaries, what seems righteous or commonsensical to humans does not matter; all that matters is what God wants. Boyd writes in Myth of a Christian Nation: "To the extent that an individual or group looks like Jesus -- dying for those who crucified him and praying for their forgiveness in the process -- to that degree they can be said to manifest the kingdom of God. To the degree that they do not look like this, they do not manifest God's kingdom."
And if you can stomach some rants, the comments also worth a read (in some cases) to get an insight on how people outside the church perceive this movement (for lack of a better term). The article also describes this ‘whole deal’ as a sort of convergence of the emerging church, evangelical progressives and kingdom revolutionaries. Sign me up!
|
The future of 80s music is here
Friday, March 23, 2007
I had a brief email conversation recently with an old friend about some 80s and 90s music—“Break it Down Again” by Tears for Fears, to be exact (from the Elemental album circa 1993). It seems like the 80s and 90s New Wave synth-pop sound that was creeping into today’s new music is gaining more momentum. Case in point, The Brothers Martin, a new collaboration of brothers Jason of Starflyer 59 and Ronnie of Joy Electric. Hooray! I’m busting out my pastel plaid pants, cardigan sweaters, Ray-bans and hair gel. A shout out to my nephew, Brandon for turning me on to the Brothers. Funny, Brandon wasn't even alive when the New Wave was really new.It's all been done
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Thoughts on thesis, part 2Posts in a series of commentaries on my thesis project for the Master of Arts in Communication.
Even when you think you are approaching a topic or research question with relatively little written about it, some earnest research for your literature review turns up enough published sources to prove you wrong—at least partly.
And so it is with my project this week. I made a trip to the library to retrieve my first batch of books for review and possible inclusion in my prospectus. Here’s a list of nine titles I need to get through in short order:
Budde, Michael L. - Christianity IncorporatedShelley, Bruce L. - The Consumer Church
Miller, Vincent J. - Consuming religion
Wells, David F. - God in the Wasteland
Fitch, David E. - The Great Giveaway
Kenneson, Philip D. - Selling Out the Church
Lyon, David - Jesus in Disneyland
Roof, Wade C.- Spiritual Marketplace
Twitchell, James B. - Branded nation
Amassing a wealth of published literature on my topic is very important—and the big jackpot with some of the books are the bibliographies. They can be the jumping off point for many other sources that my feeble research at the University library didn’t yield.
Back to my earlier point, there is more out there to draw upon than I originally thought. Yet, I don’t feel it has all been said before. I think my hypothesis and approach is unique enough to add value to the conversation. What’s painfully clear in my research so far is that, while a large segment of the church has bought into consumer marketing, very little if any research (as far as I have found) has been done on how Christian messages and concepts translate into consumer advertising and marketing.
Time to starting filling the vacuum.
The modern versus postmodern consumer
In other words, who’s the shallowest, most self-centered, consumption -oriented, jerk out there?
Everything starts where I say it does
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Just landed my copy of Lovedrug's latest, Everything Starts Where It Ends. I must give it my full recommendation right here and now. Music heavy posting this month. Deal with it. Enjoy the fresh vid.
All that, and a bag of chips on my shoulder
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Thoughts on thesis, part 1All that, and a bag of chips on my shoulder
Posts in a series of commentaries on my thesis project for the Master of Arts in Communication.
I’ve had recent misgivings about what is emerging as my MA Comm thesis topic, mainly because there is en element of negativity that I can seem to shake. Part of this comes from a place of disillusionment with modern Evangelicalism in America. My experience both in attempting a church plant (as a team member) and serving in a mega-church wannabe congregation have contributed to an enormous drive to open the books on consumer marketing trends prevalent in the church that I hypothesize to be counterproductive to the mission of the kingdom.
But all this amounts to a pretty whiny-sounding thesis. I want to acknowledge up front that I recognize that. I guess what the project must endeavor to accomplish is a logical critical analysis of these trends and the potential unwanted effects on targeted consumers with regard to their beliefs and opinions about Christianity and the Christian church.As a card-carrying member of Generation X, it’s my contention that the majority of the consumer marketing tactics being employed by today’s evangelical churches serve to reinforce and strengthen the established modernist worldviews of existing Evangelical elites, while disillusioning those outside of the church that hold a more postmodern worldview. In short, advertising and marketing tactics attract a specific “customer” type, while “dis-attracting” a growing segment of society. Since I believe consumerism is the antithesis of kingdom life, I have an obvious concern that such marketing practices are practically and spiritually counterproductive in expanding the kingdom. (Pretty obvious if you go back through and read the Church category on this blog.)
I hope to do this by taking a theoretical communication approach to the preponderance of consumer messages that are used in church marketing materials. I’m not wanting to quantitatively prove that X percent of churches are using consumer marketing. But rather, making the assumption (based on observation) that some churches are using consumerist messages, I want to critically analyze how these messages are likely understood or interpreted by audiences using a primarily postmodern mode of critical analysis.
I’m in way over my head.
Reach out and touch your data
Sunday, March 04, 2007
last summer some buzz was being generated on the blogosphere about a paradigm shifting design for the iMac by fan and designer Adam Benton. In case you didn't see them, I include a couple shots here.
What makes this particular design idea interesting is the forthcoming Apple iPhone's multitouch interface and the rumor from this past week that Apple is prepping new Mac displays that include multitouch capabilities.
While the iMac design shown here may not be exactly what future Macs look like, it makes it easier to imagine a touchscreen and clear/glass-like interface--something a little like the translucent, touch-your-data computer interface showcased in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report in 2002.
With Apple's multitouch patents and innovative computer design chops, I fully expect more human interfacing in the future, birthed on the Mac platform.
Qwest finally gives it away
Thursday, March 01, 2007
After suffering with cheap and slow 256 Kps DSL service from Qwest, I received the offer I had been waiting for (seemingly forever) just a couple of weeks ago. For the same monthly price I was paying, I could enjoy a five-fold speed bump (to 1.5 Mbps DSL) if I agreed to a 2 year commitment. How could I resist? I’m now exploring the strange flavors of YouTube without waiting for the darn download to catch up to the streaming. Thanks, Qwest. My loyalty is growing. Sorry about all the YouTube linked posts. Little time to write lately.Ich bin Anberlin(er)
Thursday, March 01, 2007
While I was in the newborn fog (and still am), Anberlin released "Cities." To celebrate, enjoy this vid trailer about the record. Definitely their best yet, from what I hear. Downloading it right now. Producer Aaron Sprinkle does it again. Seems like all my favorite music has something to do with him lately.
Hallelujah
Thursday, March 01, 2007
As I sit here keying this in, I'm reflecting on the 15 inches of snow I've shoveled--three times in the past 12 hours. And I guess I'm in for the night, waiting to see what cruel joke the plow leaves for us in the morning. Blizzard 2007. This is it, folks. It's been a while since I've seen this much so fast. October 31, 1990 maybe. To brighten mood, and help look upon this snow with the wonder my 8-year-old does, here's a little gem of a vid I found on YouTube: Over The Rhine covering Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.