The ways of the world differ from the ways of the kingdom. In the economy of God’s kingdom, big does not beget big. It’s precisely the opposite. The overwhelming message of Jesus’ life and teaching is that small begets big.

– Skye Jethani The Divine Commodity

2.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3.

“I am growing increasingly convinced that if every one of these kids burning with passion to write a hit Christian song or make that hit Christian movie or start that hit Christian ministry to change the world would instead focus their passion on walking with God on a daily basis, the world would change… Because the world learns about God not by watching Christian movies, but by watching Christians.”

– Phil Vischer (creator of VeggieTales) as quoted in The Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani

4.

Click here to view the embedded video.

5.

Kim came to the “green” church as one who had trusted Christ in childhood, heard lots of sermons, and went to many Bible classes. She found herself at mid-life with so many responsibilities that church and vibrant Christian living had been crowded out by daily demands (or at least pushed to the edges of her life). Kim was genuinely a Christian, but had not connected with the nurturing or practical opportunities she needed to fully live-out her faith-life.

As soon as she started participating in the parking lot gathering, she started bringing food for the give-away box, and she brought good stuff. Almost as quickly, she began bringing her toddler grandchildren, who learned to go get food out of her kitchen and put it in a grocery bag whenever it was time to go to church. (Isn’t it interesting that this was their first perception of why people went to church!)

But mostly Kim began to grow in her personal prayer-life. She prayed not only about herself and her widely extended in-laws and “outlaws,” but she also prayed for co-workers and patients in her nursing career. She turned into the nurse everyone called on when they had a big problem or a dying patient, and she found great value in helping others.

More and more of her family noticed the “richness” in her life and began to turn to her in a new way. Many began coming with her to the “green church.”

Then she stuck her neck out. One Sunday the church gave everyone a sealed envelope and encouraged them to seek God’s guidance to someone they could help with the contents of that envelope. She did pray, and she noticed a maid at her hospital eating only crackers for lunch. Without opening the envelope or knowing what was inside, she told the maid that she had something to give her “as a reminder that God loved her,” and handed her the envelope! (Man, that took faith, because Kim didn’t know if money, or a scripture verse, or a paper cross was inside…only when she came back to church the next week did she learn that every envelope had $20 in it.)

Kim was hooked on noticing the people around her and how she might be “Jesus with skin on” in their lives.

Within two weeks, she found herself at a grocery store, on vacation, 300 miles from home. She had her “Christ-like” radar for helping others turned on, and she noticed a lady filling her cart with 3 gallons of milk and then frowning while she added up the cost. One mom knew another mom’s plight…buying food for kids without quite enough money to get all that was needed. So Kim, pulled out her own twenty dollar bill and said, “I don’t want to be intrusive, but I’m a mom too and just wanted to pass this on to help with your grocery shopping today…and to remind you that God cares about you.” Neither mom will ever forget that encounter, or God’s presence in that brief exchange!

– Green Church

6.

“‘What a strange way to start a revolution… and a strange way to finish a world tour.’ We worship the seed that died. The revolution will not be televised. It will not be brought to you by Fox News with commercial interruptions… It will not be sandwiched between ads to accelerate your life or be all you can be. There will be no reruns. The revolution will be live. The revolution will be in the streets. The revolution will be cleaning toilets and giving another blanket to Karen. The revolution will not be talking about poverty in hotel ballrooms. It will be eating beans and rice with Ms. Sunshine and watching Back to the Future with our neighbor Mary. Get ready friends… God is preparing us for something really, really — small.”

– Shane Claiborne as quoted in The New Conspirators by Tom Sine

How have you seen a mustard seed take root and change the world?

What mustard seed does God want you to plant today?

other posts you may enjoy ::

• 44/365 a revolution
• Bono and the Irresistible Revolution
• Give them away…
• What is emergent? A generous orthodoxy

Originally posted at StPetersBrewery.info

I’ve witnessed a couple great examples of people truly living out love and forgiveness recently in my life — especially through some people very close to me. Their stories inspire me to believe that while St. Peter’s Brewery may be a fictional story — the ideas contained within it can truly be lived out day by day. Here’s a couple excerpts from Chapter 8 of St. Peter’s Brewery that deal with these ideas:

Eddie ordered his food and then Jimmy simply pointed to the Buffalo Burger on the menu, only nodding yes or no to Pete’s questions. After they finished their orders, Pete headed back to the kitchen to turn their orders in with his evening cook. He returned a couple minutes later with their drinks.

“Not used to seeing you guys here for dinner,” Pete said. “Got plans later tonight?”

Jimmy remained silent.

“Nope, just a rough day today, thought we could use a change of pace,” Eddie said.

Pete could see that Jimmy was dealing with something heavy.

“Well if yall want to chat, I’m here all night,” Pete said as he took a few steps back from the table.

“Pete let me ask you something,” Jimmy spoke up.

“Sure.”

“The other night Kim talked about forgiving her dad,” Jimmy said.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“And she was talking about how it’s the right thing to do,” Jimmy added.

Pete nodded in agreement.

“But how the hell do you forgive someone who’s stabbed you in the back so many times?” Jimmy asked. Both Pete and Eddie could see his emotions rising. “How the hell can someone expect that out of you? Isn’t it my right to hold back my forgiveness as long as I can? Isn’t it my right to let them live and die with the knowledge that they hurt me bad enough that I can’t and won’t forgive them?”

Pete sat and waited. He knew his answer wouldn’t be the one Jimmy was looking for.

“Well?” Jimmy wanted a solid answer. And more importantly, he wanted Pete and Eddie to back his way of seeing things.

“Jimmy,” Pete started carefully. “I only know bits and pieces of your story but I do know that from my own personal experience, no pain is worth holding on to. Every bit of anger and bitterness I’ve held towards a person has only made my life hell. On top of that, half-the-time the oneswho had upset me, had no clue they’d even done anything to me.”

Jimmy sat. He thought on Pete’s words and wondered if he was right.

Pete waited for Jimmy to respond. He learned early in his marriage that winning an argument by simply firing back the best made arguments in a lightning round contest rarely changed anyone’s heart. It usually made the divide twice as wide. So instead, he waited for Jimmy to acknowledge that he was ready to continue.

“But Pete, what if the person knows they’ve done you wrong?” Jimmy asked.

Pete took his time to respond.

“Good question Jimmy,” he responded. “I know you’re not much of a religious fan, or even a fan of any particular faith, so I won’t bore you with the particulars. But nearly every major religion in the world, at its core value, is about loving others. And that takes forgiveness. And if you ask me — this is my personal opinion of course — if we really knew everyone’s story, there’s nothing we wouldn’t forgive.”

He stopped and moved over to the nearby wall. He pulled a picture off the wall that Jimmy quickly recognized as the Civil Rights March on Washington D.C. The picture showed the mass of people gathered in the Washington D.C. Mall with the Washington Monument hovering over them.

“So what?” Jimmy asked as Pete walked back to table.

“Let me read you this quote,” Pete said as he turned the picture frame over.

“We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you…throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children and as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country, and make it appear that we are not fit, culturally and otherwise, for integration, and we’ll still love you. But be assured that we’ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”

Pete stopped and sat the picture frame down on the table.

“That was the voice of a movement Jimmy,” Pete added. “That was the voice of a man who was tired of seeing his friends and family members beaten down in the streets simply because their skin tone was darker than another’s. It was the voice of a man who grew up in an era where you could be lynched and hung in the middle of a town square and no one would stop them. That was the voice of a man who saw the injustice and suffering and pain of a group of people — a group of people that he belonged to. It was the voice of a man who himself was beaten down on the street in broad daylight for encouraging people to rise up against their oppressors.”

Pete stopped again, letting the ideas sink in.

“Jimmy don’t you think he had every right to be angry?” Pete asked. “Don’t you think he had every right to join the hate groups and return violence with violence?”

Jimmy quickly responded with a “Well of course!”

Pete picked up the picture frame again and handed it to Jimmy. Jimmy turned the frame over and re-read the quote. Below the quote was an additional note, “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from ‘A Christmas Sermon on Peace’ – December 1967.”

“He had every right to complain Jimmy,” Pete said as he stood. “But…”

He then pointed to the other end of the old sanctuary where the last bit of daylight shone through the stained glass window. A large cross filled most of the window and right above the window, a neon sign flickered.

As Jimmy looked up at the window and sign, Pete read the words glowing in red.

“Love wins.” Pete said proudly. “Love wins. It always wins. It’s the only thing that will ever win. We may think we have the right to do whatever we please, but in the end love wins.”

…

After a few hours at the brewery, they both figured it was time to head home. They were finishing the last of their drinks as G.T. walked in.

“Hey fellows,” G.T.’s voice boomed. “Mind if I join ya?”

“Well we were about to head out, but I spose we can stay a bit longer,” Eddie said. He looked at Jimmy who nodded and gave a thumbs-up in agreement.

As they chatted, Jimmy decided to pose his dilemma to G.T. as well. He briefly explained the situation to G.T. and then asked for his advice.

“Well that’s gotta be the most generic explanation I’ve ever heard,” G.T. chuckled. “So basically you’re asking if we should forgive people — even those who know they’ve hurt us and haven’t already offered an apology?”
“Sure,” Jimmy said. “That’s a good summarization.”
“Ya know, I’ve always struggled with forgiveness, especially towards folks who claim to be a good friend and then turn around and make a mockery of our relationship,” G.T. said. “I guess the real question is do you want my opinion or the opinion of someone with a little more pull?”

Jimmy looked a bit confused.

“Yeah, not sure what you’re asking.”

“Well from my standpoint, I would always, personally, err on the side of revenge,” G.T. answered. “But that’s just me. That’s me being me. Quite honestly I’m a fighter and I tend to fight for whatever I think I deserve.” Jimmy liked where G.T. was going. “But because I know I’m a violent son of a gun by nature, I know I need to look to someone or something outside of myself…”

“Ah, great. I guess you’re talking about God now.” Jimmy grumbled.

“Yeah,” G.T. said. “If that’s alright.”

“Go ahead, we might as well get the extra opinion,” Jimmy responded, somewhat grudgingly.

“Well, I’m not an expert on God by any means,” G.T. admitted. “But I’m of the impression that if we want to know what God wants, we should look to God in the flesh — Jesus, the Christ.”

“When I read John’s letter about Jesus, I see that God became flesh, through Jesus, and moved into the neighborhood,” G.T. said. “And we see lots of instances where people tried to trick him and trap him because they were upset with his message — a message he was calling all people to live out. A message that they considered to be quite radical and different than anything the religious or governmental leaders were offering in those days.”

“Matthew, the tax collector, wrote in his story about Jesus, that one day Jesus was hanging out talking to his disciples and he begins to explain what to do if your brother sins against you, — or basically hurts you,” G.T. continued. “Jesus told his disciples that if a brother sins against you, then you should go to him and show him his fault. If he doesn’t listen, you should bring along a friend or two and the small group of friends should point out the fault. But then if that doesn’t work, you should bring your brother before your community and show him his fault. Jesus adds that if he changes his way, then you’ve won over a brother. If not then he says, ‘treat him like you would a heathen or a publican.’”

Jimmy smiled.

“I’m not sure what a publican is, but it sounds like they get three chances and then we can kick them to the curb?” Jimmy asked, certain that G.T. had just shown him a loophole in this whole forgiveness idea.

“Well not quite,” G.T. said, smiling as well. “I used to think that exact same thing — that Jesus gave us a way out. As long as we follow these three steps, we don’t have to take this forgiveness thing to the extreme. It always made sense with the Christianity I was familiar with. If someone doesn’t live up to my standards, God’s standards, or the communities standards — we just kick them out. Easy as pie.”

Both Eddie and Jimmy looked a bit confused now.

“So that’s what you used to think?” Eddie jumped in. “Didn’t you just tell us that Jesus said we can kick them to the curb?”

“Not exactly,” G.T. replied. “At least that’s not how I see it now. See I was looking at this passage and like you guys wondering, ‘What the heck is a heathen and a publican?’ I had my theories but I wanted to be sure. So I started looking around at different translations and such and realized that several other folks had translated these titles differently — they translated them to mean a Gentile, or pagan, or someone who doesn’t believe in God and then a tax collector. Tax collector seems to be the most widely accepted translation of publican. So I began to wonder if that had any significance. And then it struck me, Matthew the guy writing this story was a former tax collector!”

G.T. stopped and the biggest grin spread across his face. It was easy to tell he was excited about sharing this story.

“And then it really hit me,” G.T. said. “How did Jesus treat Matthew — the former tax collector? He loved him! He even invited him to be one of his closest friends! Wow! And all this before Matthew even knew he needed to repent and get his life in order!”

G.T. hit the table for emphasis.

“So here’s Matthew, this former tax collector standing there, hearing all of this,” G.T. continued with enthusiasm. “And he had to be thinking, ‘Oh my gosh! Does anyone else hear what he’s saying? I’m a former tax collector! And Jesus treated me with respect and love. We’re supposed to do that to everyone who sins against us?’ I bet Matthew started freaking out a little bit. It’s no wonder that he included this story in his letter. It’s like he was reminding us, ‘If someone sins against you, bring it before them. Offer forgiveness and if that doesn’t work — start all over again. And love them even more!’”

Jimmy was thoroughly bothered by this proposition.

“Now hold up, G.T.” Jimmy said. “We’re supposed to keep loving folks even if they refuse to listen and offer an apology?”

G.T. shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s how I read it,” he replied. “It’s not how I want to read it. But it’s how I understand it.”

Eddie needed some more explanation as well.

“So then how many times are we supposed to forgive a person?” he asked.

“Great question!” G.T. replied. “Let’s look it up.”

G.T. pulled a worn pocket sized Bible out of his coat pocket. The pages were thoroughly lined with markings and notes. It was clear that G.T. had spent a lot of time reading various passages throughout the leather bound book.

G.T. flipped through the pages till he found the spot he was looking for.

“Now this is a little different translation than I grew up reading,” G.T. said. “I really wish it had been around when I was new in the faith. But let’s back up a bit and read the last portion of the story I was just telling
you.”

G.T. ran his finger along the lines of text and came to a stopping point. He began to read out loud.

“If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love,” G.T. read. “That’s the part I was telling you about — treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.”

He paused to see if Eddie and Jimmy understood.

“So Jesus is telling this story, and like I mentioned, Matthew is probably pretty stoked at this new idea Jesus was preaching — after all, he had experienced it first-hand!” G.T. said. “But then after they hear this story, one of the Jesus’ other friends asks Jesus the same thing you just asked Eddie.”

Eddie felt a little relief that he wasn’t the only one needing clarification.

G.T. moved his finger down the page and picked up his reading again.

“At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, ‘Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?’ Jesus replied, ‘Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.’”

G.T. closed his Bible and sat it on the table. He leaned back in his chair as Eddie and Jimmy soaked in what they had just heard.

It was obvious that Jimmy didn’t like what he’d just heard.

“Well that sounds good and dandy,” Jimmy replied. “Forgive the tax collector. Big whoop. A tax collector’s one thing but Jesus never had to forgive someone who really hurt him or turned his back on him.”

G.T. leaned in towards Jimmy. He replied in a low calming voice.

“Jimmy,” he began. “One of the greatest examples we have of what true love and true forgiveness is really all about — is from Jesus. When he had been whipped and flogged and nailed to a cross, he didn’t curse them or wave a fist at them. But some of his final words before dying were, ‘Father forgive them. They know not what they do.’”

“He asked God to forgive the sins of these Roman soldiers who physically abused him, who had mocked him and hurled insults his way,” G.T. continued. “If that’s not an example of real forgiveness, I don’t know what is.”

G.T. made a fist with his right hand and with his thumb he pointed towards the back wall.

“Love wins Jimmy. Love wins.”

G.T. then leaned back in his chair again and waited. They sat for a while as Jimmy sat, staring at the floor.

You can purchase your copy of the full book at Amazon or find out more at StPetersBrewery.info

other posts you may enjoy ::

• The book is spreading
• One step closer
• 19/365 for MLK Jr
• St. Peter’s Brewery :: #Nanowrimo comes to an end

Would love to get your input on it in the comments below. I’ll share mine a little later in the day.

And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.
Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.
Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

In the comments below…

• write something theses verses tell us about Jesus/God
• write something these verses tell us about human nature
• write any new discovery you have made reading these verses
• write the most exciting verse in your opinion and why
• write anything you don’t understand or want to ask about
• write something these verses say we should do

other posts you may enjoy ::

• How I found heaven at What-a-Burger (hint – it’s in me)
• Wednesday study :: Ephesians 1:3-11
• slides from yesterday

Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie performing at the Street Scene music festival in San Diego. | Photo from Wikipedia

Death Cab for Cutie has been coming up more and more on my Muse station on Pandora.

Really starting to dig them more and more. Especially their track, Little Bribes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m wondering — what album(s) are essential for Death Cab for Cutie fans?

What tracks should a new fan look for?

other posts you may enjoy ::

• A New Kind of Christianity
• Reader feedback
• 44 things
• Lingering Questions

Click here to view the embedded video.

How different would our institutions be? How different would our communities of faith be? How different would our communities be? How different would our families be?

(video from Seth Godin)

other posts you may enjoy ::

• Skye Jethani :: Where does our legitimacy come from?
• Ustream videos not working? – Fixed!
• Lessons from the baker
• I am an atheist…

Huge props to Kevin for the great book. It was a fun and entertaining read for sure.

Find out more about Kevin in an interview with him on the podcast (from season 1!). He’s also taken part in Five Questions with… on We Live Simply this week, so be sure to be inspired.

And be sure and follow his blog at kevindhendricks.com or on Twitter @kevinhendricks

other posts you may enjoy ::

• St. Peter’s Brewery aka a #nanowrimo update
• Support indie artists
• The book is spreading
• St. Peter’s Brewery – order your copy today

The Ustream Black Box (no video loading)

While trying to watch a conference via Ustream, I found a horrible discovery — the site would no longer load video.

I tried Internet Explorer (IE8), Firefox and Chrome. Nothing.

After numerous Google searches, I was still out of luck.

No video on the site would load.

YouTube worked. Vimeo worked. Facebook video worked.

But no Ustream. Nothing but a black box appeared in place of the video.

To cut to the chase, I figured it had to be something with the Flash plugin. So I reinstalled it.

Still nothing!

Finally, I remembered a little known settings page for Flash:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/
documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04.html

There’s a setting on the 2nd tab that makes all the difference.

On the Global Storage Settings tab, be sure that “Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer.” is clicked.

Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer.

If it was unchecked, click it, then click to another tab to “save it” and then refresh your Ustream.tv page.

Viola! Hopefully that should be your fix.

If this doesn’t fix your problem, Ustream offers very limited help files but suggests you check your firewall settings if you’re still not getting video.

other posts you may enjoy ::

• Wetoku – video interviews on the cheap
• Facebook to users, ‘We own you!’
• An indispensable leader
• Lessons from the baker

Sister Simplify & The Love Machine | Photo from Geeze Magazine

Don’t tell Glenn Beck — but in the great area of Alberta, Canada, a new breed of superheroes are in town — the Social Justice Superheroes.

My dear friend Sister Simplify (aka Paula Spurr) got a nice write up for her league of superheroes in Geeze Magazine.

We are a team of social justice superheroes who masquerade as teenagers and boring adults most of the time.Our mandate is to fearlessly do good deeds, to educate our peers about social justice issues, and to encourage each other in our efforts to change the world. We meet bi-weekly at League Headquarters (my house), sharing a simple meal, praying for each other, and discussing our next plan of action.

Over our brief history, we have fasted on World Hunger Day, volunteered at the local food bank, gathered excess clothing and blankets to share with the homeless, washed windows for elderly neighbours, bought nothing on Buy Nothing Day, and helped to sort shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

Our members include The Mercy Monkey, Anti-Materialistic Man, and Love Machine. We all have amazing superhero costumes that we made ourselves out of things we already owned. We are hoping to expand our ranks, and are always looking for new ways to serve and educate the public around us.

Their mission :: To fight injustice, to right that which is wrong and to serve all mankind…

So AWESOME! Keep it up Social Justice Superheroes!

Wanna know more about Paula? Follow her on Twitter: @cowpunkmom or as her alter ego: @sistersimplify.

We’ve also shared her story on the podcast and interviewed her on We Live Simply.

Keep up the great work Paula — you continue to be an inspiration!

other posts you may enjoy ::

• #justicefriday – Who said it?
• Church 2.0 forum
• Something every non-Christian should know
• Huckabee on Glenn Beck

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while but haven’t taken the time to do it until now. I want to be sure and let you know about several great projects my friends have recently been a part of.

Least of These

Kevin’s recently published his NaNoWriMo work from 2008 (same month I wrote my novel), Least of These. I read it in a few hours one evening and thought it was great read. Lots of great ideas built around a captivating story.

Kara, Brick and James form a trio of survivors, the last of a now-dead community. They wander a post-apocalyptic world where humanity’s savagery has already ruined civilization and now threatens survival as well. James is always looking to the east and the hope of the promised land, Brick is quiet but strong and Kara yearns for simple hope. This young, world-weary trio encounters a man full of hope and promise—he’s either a wise guru to lead them forward or a foolish old man.

As mentioned on Facebook recently, I love how Kevin spent a lot of time referring back to Isaiah 2:4 and giving a vivid illustration of how this “prophecy” can really play out.

They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

I’ll be chatting with Kevin a little later on about the book — but don’t wait till then to get your own copy. You can download a free PDF from Kevin’s site or order your copy from Amazon.

Headphonaught’s photography

Thomas, my brother from another country and one of my co-hosts on the podcast, has really been stepping up his photography more and more recently.

His photography has been featured in a local journal as well as on the cover of Cousin Silas’ latest indie album, The Snow Imposed Silence.

Plus one of his photos was chosen for the February wallpaper on We Live Simply .

Be sure and check out Cousin Silas’ album (it’s good indie music as well) along with more of Thomas’ photography on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/headphonaught.

green church

My good friend Lindsay Cofield has written a new e-book, green church, telling the story of green/organic churches. It’s a brief book (roughly 25 pages in length) that shares some of the practical “how-to’s” of starting a green church, as well as some stories from those who are actively building communities of faith this way.

Christ-followers of ONE who acts in love & power!!!
+ The most life-changing ministry we can humanly provide a group of overlooked friends is a simple Body of Christ, a Church, planted among them, to be His Hands, His Heart, His Voice, His Compassion in their circle of relationships +

I’d love to tell you to buy 5 copies of the book and keep one and give 4 away, but Lindsay won’t let you. He’s giving the book away — for FREE. You can read the entire thing on his website, download the FREE PDF, or if you really want to pay something for it, you can purchase a copy for your Amazon Kindle.

(as a disclaimer, I built the website for Lindsay and helped format the Kindle version)

I’m sure I’m missing some other great projects my friends have been a part of but wanted to be sure and give props to these great projects.

Support what really matters to you.

As Everett Bogue writes:

I’d like to argue that there are artists all around us creating many fine things. An artist is someone who is creating something that they are passionate about.

You vote with every dollar you spend. Do you vote mega-corporation or independant artist?…

I realize this makes the decision to purchase anything infinitely harder, but that’s the decision we need to make if we’re going to support what really matters.

Artists give something that matters. That art might be a muffin that the lady at the coffee shop woke up early that morning to bake. That art might be the blog post that you read this morning that you know the writer put some thought into—so that he was creating art that made a difference.

I hope each of these artists continue on and keep up the great work and create wonderful, passionate art.

other posts you may enjoy ::

• Searching for paradise with Kevin Hendricks
• Posterous as a Twitter Client
• What is emergent? A generous orthodoxy
• #justicefriday :: clean water wells

Researchers are not able to differentiate the behaviours and values of self-identified Christians from non-Christians with on exception — what they buy. As total sales of religious products reaches $7 billion annually, it appears that God’s people are constructing and expressing their identity through the consumption of Christ-branded products. As Mark Riddle observes, “Conversion in the U.S. seems to mean we’ve exchanged some of our shopping at Wal-Mart, Blockbuster and Borders for the Christian Bookstore down the street. We’ve taken our lack of purchasing control to God’s store, where we buy or office supplies in Jesus’ name.”

- Skye Jethani The Divine Commodity

What do you think?

other posts you may enjoy ::

• Skye Jethani :: Where does our legitimacy come from?
• iPhones and dirty Coltan #justicefriday
• one.love
• Just a heads up…