WWBD: As In What Would Branson Do?

It appears that Richard Branson is a better role model than Jesus according to a new Britain survey. Just another mark of our times, the rich, powerful owner of Virgin beats out the poor, meek Son of a Virgin. Granted that that poor, meek man is just the Son of God, the creator of the Universe and now holds everything together by His Word, that does not seem to impress Britain.

Here is a quote:

He's a multi-millionaire maverick entrepreneur, part-time daredevil and now Britain's Richard Branson has beaten Jesus Christ in a survey to find the top role model for children.

The Virgin Group boss has been placed second in a poll of Britons asked who their children should look up to. Jesus came in third and a family member topped the list.

Read the article here from Reuters

Emerging? Emergent? Who Cares!

Says Mark Driscoll:

“I’ll tell you what. Maybe this is what you can learn from the emerging church – what false doctrine is,” the pastor simply stated.

“Who cares what the emerging church is doing,” he stressed. “It’s a junk drawer category for all kinds of different people. It’s highly confusing. I’m not even sure that the description is any more of benefit or use.”

Rather than labeling Mars Hill as an emerging church, he calls it a Christian church and points to only two things he and the church really care about – Jesus and the Bible.

“Here’s what we’re all about – Jesus,” Driscoll highlighted. “The emerging church will come and go. The traditional church will come and go. The church of Jesus Christ will continue.”

So whether it’s utilizing the Internet, putting up giant screens in the church, or holding an 8:30 p.m. service on Sunday to reach the late sleepers, when it comes down to it, Mars Hill works to “make much of Jesus’ name in a place that desperately needs to know how wonderful he is.”

Read the rest of the story here from Christian Executive Magazine

Watch the Sermon from Mars Hill Here

Lobos and Uganda: The Day After

I have had some interesting responses to my post Tuesday regarding why I was choosing to be part of the Invisible Children night and not go to the UNM Men's Basketball game. Some thought it was pointing at them, and some have found comfort in what I said. For the first group, relax I was seriously only looking at my heart and how wicked it is, and for the second, I am glad this rambler can help in anyway.

Today we find ourselves a couple days removed from these 2 events. So do I regret not going to the game, nope I do not. Like I said Tuesday this game was a big one, but really in sports and specifically in college basketball aren't they all this time of year? The Lobos ended up losing by 1 point in overtime, in what appeared from all indicators (newspaper and post game radio show) that this was a great game and a fun atmosphere.

As for the Invisible Children, I think after Tuesday night I am becoming more resolved than ever to within the next few years go out to Uganda and spend time with Lutalo the child we sponsor through Compassion, as well as go to the displacement camps and see first hand what is going on. We had around 90 young adults show up at the Lobo Theater last night, probably 30-40 came from The Well, so that was great! Through the video we met a boy named Sunday who is 15 and living in a displacement camp, which really is just a bunch of straw huts set up side by side. Basically it is like having 30,000 people living on a small patch of land, side by side and really on top of each other. Sunday is a smart kid who wants to be a doctor not because that is where the money is, but because he is surrounded by disease and suffering and wants to be part of the solution, how totally Un-American Dream is that? Both of Sunday's parents are dead, and he was unable to pay for schooling, until he received help from the Invisible Children campaign.
During the filming, Sunday was getting sick, and unlike here in America where we go to the doctor or to the drug store for some meds, he did not have any of that, so he just went and rested. He seemed to recover by the end of the time the Invisible Children people were visiting.

After the showing we got to take out the roadie crew that is touring the country showing these films and spreading the word about the hardships going on in Uganda. It was cool getting to meet these people and talking to them about life on the road, and why they are doing what they are doing. I did get to watch the final few minutes of the game in the restaurant we went to, in fact one of the roadies watched it with me.

So how has life changed 2 days since that movie? I think something I have learned to avoid is romanticizing the situation, in other words, I do not look at my house, clothes, or whatever else and hate it. I do not wish for poverty or to be in Sunday's position, what I see in all the blessings I have is resources to use them for God's glory. Instead of hating my new MacBook I try to use it, to email Lutalo, or to spread the word about these children in Uganda, as well and primarily to share the gospel through this blog. Instead of despising my income I work, and it takes work, to be sacrificial in my giving.

The game is a distant memory, and I doubt lives were changed from it, but I think some of us in the Theater may have been.

Lobos and Uganda...

Tonight the UNM Men's Basketball team will be playing the BYU Cougars in the "biggest" game in over a decade some are saying. I put the word biggest in quotations because I have been going to games for 20 years and also worked for and with the team as a manager, video coordinator and now as team chaplin for 10 years now and every season there is a "biggest" game of the decade that is built up to crazy heights. The reality is, is that if the Lobos win tonight then next week's game will be even bigger! Now I am not dismissing or belittling the excitement of this year's team or what Coach Steve Alford has done, but what I am saying is that we sometimes take sports too seriously and put too much hope into a game. I was at one of these games that has been remembered as a great one, 10 years ago I was at a UNM vs Utah game where Royce Olney hit a game winning shot over the then 3rd ranked Utes. I can tell you that that game is a fond memory but it did not change my life, I am not better off for having gone and compared with my wedding day or Jordyn's birth, yeah not so "big".

Will I be at the game? Nope. Not because I do not want to go, I do, but because I feel I am privileged to be part of something better, something yes "bigger". Tonight The Well College Gathering is partnering with the Invisible Children to show a video about a kid that has been displaced from his home, and who for much of his life has been afraid of being drafted into the rebel army. To see the story of the Invisible Children click here. These kids are displaced and often dealing with disease and hunger. Even more crucial is that many of these kids have not heard the Gospel. These kids who are sinners and rebels to God have not been told of the message that brings eternal hope and everlasting Joy, the message of God redeeming mankind and saving man from well....God and His Righteous Judgement! The message of God putting on flesh and coming down as the man Jesus, a poor, displaced carpenter whose family was forced to move to Egypt for fear of death from a king who did not want any competition from the so called King of the Jews. A man that understands the story of the displaced, and is not just a man, but is God at the same time! The message that tells of this man's sacrifice of his own life so that Ugandan kids and Lobo Basketball fans can be reconciled through faith in the the work of this displaced carpenter. This message has to get out, this message comes in words and deeds, it comes in the telling of the story, but also in the building of schools and hospitals, the Kingdom of God is to be shown to these kids!

Tonight the Lobos may win, the game may be exciting and loud, it may not. Tomorrow the game may be talked about as "legendary", it may not. I am not sure what will be the talk about Lobo Basketball tomorrow, but I can tell you that outside our little city and state and in Africa there are millions who could care less. Tomorrow there will be thousands of children in Africa that are still without clean water, clean clothes, fighting disease, hoping to eat once this WEEK, and scared that they will never see their homes again and have no hope in the assurance of God's love found in the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I really believe that what could happen tonight at The Lobo Theater when a bunch of college students come in to see a video will have a longer lasting impact, possible eternal impact on not just Albuquerque, but the world than the outcome of a basketball game.

This post is not to toot my horn and say look I am more holy than the 18000 that will be at the game, I am not, not at all. I just think I have been more and more convicted of what I still often put my time and energy in, on things that I put value on that have no value at all. I do want to go to the game, I am Tivo-ing it and will watch the minute I get home, I do want my cake and to eat it too! But then I look at a picture of my Compassion kid Lutalo and am convicted of my own selfish desires and realize that I need that message of the displaced carpenter named Jesus just as much!!!

Study Shows America a Not-So Christian Nation

A new study that has come out has shown that the United States is "less Christian" than it once was, and that adults are now more likely to switch their affiliation to religious groups.

"The presumption of a Protestant framework for understanding the American character is now a thing of the past," said Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.

"We are an increasingly pluralistic society, and we Protestants now have to think much about how we can contribute to the common good as simply just one more voice in the American choir," he said in an e-mail.

As as Latino/Hispanic/Brown man I also found this quote interesting:

Immigrants to the United States are twice as likely as native-born Americans to identify with the Catholic church. One in three adult Catholics is Latino.

I grew up Catholic and have 2 very Catholic grandmother's, one being a former nun. It was not shocking to hear that Hispanics are more prone to hang with the Pope than with Luther, I often in fact call New Mexico the Catholic belt loop of America. I think one of the reasons for Hispanics and their leaning towards Catholicism is the importance of the Virgin Mary. In Hispanic families the grandmother of the family is often the center of the family. My father's mother is the center of our family, really almost everything we do revolves around her, kinda mafia like. I think that the strong emphasis the Catholic church has on the mother of Jesus provides some familiarity and relatability with the Hispanic. That is just my opinion.

Click Here for the LA Times Article

The Huck Overstaying His Welcome??

Ok, so with there being no mathmatical way that Mike Huckabee can win the Rep. Nomination why is he still in the race. Well for us Huck supporters it comes down to 2 issues many do not count on, 1. Super Delegates and 2. Miracles. Watch Huck explain this:

The Kid Wants To Say Hi!