“Crossover”

This short film can be appreciated on many levels: the computer-generated animation work is ridiculously good, the direction of the storytelling is perfectly nuanced, and the subject matter, in and of itself, gives the viewer plenty to contemplate. I hope you are as captivated as I was when I watched it for the first time… [HT: The Fox is Black]  Read More

David Bazan House Show Reflections

Photo by Tara | Third Book Photography Things are really crankin’ right now as we approach the move-date, yet in the midst of the craziness we were able to host a really special event in our home three nights ago: A living room concert by Seattle-based musician, David Bazan! [Long story, short - Bazan periodically selects a city to drop in and perform a couple shows in folks' living rooms.  He announced they were looking for hosts in Phoenix... Read More

Wheaton College Hastert Center?

I’m not a frequent letter-to-the-editor author (in fact, I think this is the first one I’ve ever written). Yet in the recently published alumni quarterly from my alma mater, something caught my eye. And it stuck with me for a few weeks. Eventually, during one the many extended drives to my job site, a response began to formulate in my mind. For whatever reason, as I was laying in bed the morning after my bout with Shea’s bug,... Read More

I’m Back!

Welp… sorry for the hiatus here folks. After a session of fun-with-the-stomach-flu with Shea a couple weekends ago and general life craziness lately, blogging’s been put on the back-burner. But here’s a quick update to prove that I’m still alive:- I’ve still got that silly “population” post coming… I’ll get right to it! (later) :-) - I’m excited to tell y’all more about Studio L when... Read More

Emerging Desert has launched…

Per my buddy, Jacob’s, initiation, we’ve been tossing around the idea of launching a Phoenix Emergent Village cohort for a few months. Well, it’s now official, and we want any of you that happen to be in the Phoenix area to feel welcome to check it out and join the conversation (and those of you not in AZ, join us online): http://EmergingDesert.blogspot.com  Read More

Back and Forth!?!? Father, Save Us!!

Oh man, ahahaha, I’m still chuckling about THIS VOICEMAIL that I learned about on Jonny Baker’s site. Oh please go listen to it… all the way through (the “remix” at the end is priceless). Now that’s funny stuff… and fairly depressing, as well. God save the Church from ourselves…  Read More

Serve God, Save the Planet (Part II)

My lovely wife recently finished this book and wrote out her resulting thoughts, and this reminded me that I never wrote the Part II of my review that would logically follow my Part I (uh, duh). So, in contrast to Part I which was mostly transcribed statistics, I’m going to throw out some more intangible thoughts that I’ve been rolling around as a result of this book lately. Just to clarify, I never want to come across as claiming to be an expert... Read More

Pray for Peace.

My heart and mind are heavy for the Middle East right now. If you’re the praying type, please talk to God about the Middle East Peace Conference being held in Maryland this week. More than a dozen Arab countries will have delegates present for the dialogue aimed at ending the seven year impasse between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. Some are skeptical about any progress that can come from this kick-off meeting, but I’m floundering... Read More

Degrees of Separation (Thorns). [Part 2]

Okay, just to recap the main points from last time:-)- The advanced world around us (particularly in the U.S.) confronts us with a deluge of distractions from God… oftentimes in unassuming areas of our lifestyle.- A key temptation is to separate our faith from our lifestyle… to justify certain aspects of how we live (or to glaze over particular social issues) as unrelated to what we believe about who Jesus was and the movement he came... Read More

Degrees of Separation (Thorns). [Part 1]

And we’re baaaaack. (sorry folks, I’ll try to be a bit more regular at the blogging here… maybe somebody makes metamucil wafers for blogging, hmm:) True to form, I’ve got more swirling around in my hat-rack than I know how to articulate, so I’m going to try my best to flesh out a concept that I’ve been grappling with over the past weeks (and, as it turns out, my entire life! duh duh duuuuh): degrees of separation. >>Somewhat... Read More