StretchyChurch

Actually, I’ve discovered that there are only two degrees of separation between me and Stryper! Isn’t that exciting!

So, this is just for fun… A few weeks ago I discovered that Jim Hagelganz, a retired pastor in San Diego who preached at my church last summer before I arrived, and will again be preaching in a couple of weeks at Northminster, is the father of a guy named Tim Hagelganz. Tim Hagelganz’s stage name is Tim Gaines. And Tim Gaines was a member of that good ol’ Christian 80’s heavy metal band, Stryper! (Jim Hagelganz is also the former pastor of Arcadia Presbyterian Church, where my dad was also pastor in the 90’s. Who knew that Stryper was Presbyterian?!)

Then, tonight, my brother sent me a video in which I’ve discovered another connection between me and Stryper. Check out the video below. It’s 9 and a half minutes long, but if you skip to the 8 minute mark, you’ll see the director (Jim Yukich) and the producer (Paul Flattery). In the summer of 1994, I did an internship in L.A. for a production company called… FYI (Flattery Yukich, Inc.)! These are the guys I worked with that whole summer!

Anyway, just kinda crazy stuff. Thanks for indulging me… heh heh…

You know you haven’t spent enough time on your own blog when you go to moderate any comments that need to be approved…  and you find 467 comments awaiting moderation!!  And only 2 of them are real comments from real people!

No promises yet, but I’ll try to get back into blogging.  At least more than I have been the last couple months…

Whoa!! It’s been over a month since my last post!!

Anyway, I’m still alive. Leading a church, raising two kids, and working on a Doctor of Ministry isn’t leaving me much time for blogging. But I’ll do my best to keep up.

Yesterday was my first Easter at Northminsters–and it was great!! But here’s the funny part. On Thursday night, Macy started throwing up. On Saturday night, Micah started throwing up. In the middle of the night on Saturday night, Robin started throwing up. Thankfully, I was still ok when I woke up for Easter Sunday, but as soon as I got home from our services–well, I didn’t throw up, but I got nauseous and a fever!

I’m feeling better now, but I’m so thankful that I didn’t get sick until after our Easter services! I don’t know what I would have done if I’d felt in the morning the way I felt in the afternoon.

I’ve finally started making new videos! And I’m having so much fun doing it!

I uploaded my two newest videos to YouTube and have embedded them here. The first one is the song, I’ve Always Loved You, by Third Day. We used this video to open our Ash Wednesday Service, and it set the tone beautifully for that service.

The second one is the song, Breathe Deep (the Breath of God), by Lost Dogs. We’ll be opening the service this Sunday with this video. I’ve posted some thoughts on this song in an earlier post called “Breathe Deep the Breath of God.” (Apparently the video I’d embedded in that post has disappeared. No matter. You can enjoy the video in this post; it’s much better anyway! Heh heh…)

Anyway, here are the videos….

So, after posting Cletus Take the Reel, I started watching more videos on YouTube by Tim Hawkins, who seems to be Christian comedian. Here are a couple bits that he does that I thought were pretty hilarious!

Here’s a hilarious spoof of the Carrie Underwood’s Jesus, Take the Wheel. It’s called Cletus, Take the Reel!

Iranian film director, Nader Talebzadeh, just released a movie called Jesus, the Spirit of God, a movie presenting the Muslim understanding of Jesus. A Middle East Times article about the movie states that this “is the first film giving an Islamic view of Jesus Christ, in a bid to show the ‘common ground’ between Muslims and Christians.”

According to the article, Jesus is not the one who is crucified, but Judas–which is what the Koran teaches. Jesus is rescued by God and taken up into heaven before he is crucified.

I’d be interested in seeing this movie if it’s ever available in the U.S. Should be interesting to see if it makes news in the wider media.

A friend of mine–Kevin Womack at Fletcher Hills Presbyterian Church–just sent me this link about National Community Church in Washington, D.C. Mark Batterson is the pastor there and does some pretty creative stuff.

Since he was going to be gone one weekend, Mark did his sermon on video for that weekend. But instead of just standing in front of the camera talking, Mark did his sermon from all over the city. What a dynamic way of communicating a message, especially considering our culture and today’s younger generations!

Click here to see the video. On this page, click on “Watch Now” under the sermon “How To Manage Finances.”

This is hilarious! I just discovered this website with inflatable churches! These people have taken the concept of a “stretchychurch” to a whole new level!!

Check out the site here. And here are a couple of pictures:

I just found two great posts at the PGF Outbox.

The first one deals with the advantages a small congregation has in making a missional transition; click here for that article.

The second one tells the story of how Solana Beach Presbyterian Church (a large church here in San Diego) is using their small group ministry to begin making the missional transition; click here for that article.

Good stuff.