The Welcome Matt

Top 5 Tuesdays: Animated Movies

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:44:00 +0000

Admit it: even as an adult, you still love animated movies. Oh sure, you went through that stage where it wasn't "cool" to like them, and you pretended they didn't exist, but now you're not ashamed to admit you watch them.

Am I projecting here? Heh.

Anyway, if you match that description and, like me, you like animated movies (having kids has given me an excuse to watch them again!), this Top 5 Tuesday is for you! So dust off those Broadway-lite songs, the caricatured bad guys, and the sidekicks thrown in for comic relief and tell me your Top Five Animated Movies!

Here's mine:

5) Anastasia - Anastasia has some of the best music for an animated film around. Plus, this is a true story. Well, okay, it's based on a true story. Kind of. All right, a dude named Rasputin lived once. That counts, right?

4) The Hunchback of Notre Dame - One of Disney's best, in my opinion. The music is top notch, the character development is great, the comic relief sidekicks are multiplied times three, and the main character doesn't get the girl at the end. It's not a faithful adaptation of the original story, but this one is good enough to stand on it's own as a powerful narrative of religious corruption and beauty in unexpected places.

3) Toy Story - This is one of the Disney/Pixar team's best. It is the original completely CGI animated movie, and it's great. Memorable characters? Check. Smart dialog? Check. Innovative storyline? Check. Good balance of jokes to keep kids and parents interested? Check. It's not appropriate for Eli yet, but I'm looking forward to watching it with him when he's older!

2) Cars - Okay, I admit it. I tear up every time I watch the ending of this movie. It is such a beautiful depiction of the sacrificial love of the gospel it just makes me cry. The rest of the movie is great, too... a yearning for slower, simpler times. And the attention to detail means you catch things on the 27th viewing you missed the 26 times before. :) Love it.

1) The Emperor's New Groove - I think this remains the funniest animated movie I've seen. I don't remember laughing so hard or so often as I did while watching this under-appreciated flick! David Spade is great as Kuzco, and Patrick Warburton (think Putty from Seinfeld) kills it as Krunk. Fantastic movie!

Honorable Mention: Transformers: The Movie (the original - and dark - 1986 one, not the summer blockbuster crap out these days); Up (so sweet and powerful!); The Incredibles (just a lot of fun!); and Beauty and the Beast (one of the seminal American animated movies).

What's your top five?

The Blogs, They Are A-Changin'

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:55:00 +0000

Good morning!

Over the weekend, The Welcome Matt changed its name, its look, and its address.

Come join the conversation over at my new blog, Reflected Riddles!

http://reflectedriddles.blogspot.com

If you are reading the RSS feed of this blog, point your reader to http://feeds.feedburner.com/ReflectedRiddles instead to make sure you don't miss anything!

I've been blogging at The Welcome Matt for over two years now, and it's been awesome. But let's face it - the name is cheesy and the address is too hard to remember. The new blog title, Reflected Riddles, is a better fit for what I'm trying to accomplish all the way around.

So head on over and check it out. See you there!

Starbucks Now Accepts Payment Via Cell Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:02:00 +0000

This is pretty cool. Download an app onto your smartphone and load some money on to it. Then, when you're at Starbucks, the app creates a barcode on your cell phone screen that you hold up to a Starbucks scanner. The scanner deducts the money from the phone app, and you get your coffee.

The future is here. :)

Seriously, this is some cool stuff and I could see many companies making use of this technology in the very near future. It's a quick, painless way to pay for stuff - easier than a check (which hardly any stores take any more anyways), better than carrying around cash with you, and quicker and easier than a credit card.

It's another step forward into the convergent era of technology where devices are no longer fragmented -- the fewer devices you need, the better. I can't wait to try this out. The app is currently available for Apple and Blackberry and is coming soon for Android.

Horrendously Awful Football Picks, Round Three

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:55:00 +0000

I'm bringing my dead sexy 2-6 record for picks this year into the Conference championships with no hope of getting above .500 this year. So if you're the betting type, take note: bet against every team I pick. You've been warned.

Sunday, 1:00 pm ET, FOX
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears -- Okay, so I severely underestimated the Green Bay Packers. I'll give Aaron Rodgers some more credit. Maybe he is the "elite" quarterback everyone seems to think he is. If that's true, he should have no problem dispatching the weakest playoff team left: the Chicago Bears, with Crybaby Cutler at QB. Again, Chicago had the weakest strength of schedule and strength of victory this year, and they got ridiculously lucky getting to play Seattle last weekend. This weekend, Green Bay will show them what a true playoff team looks like.

Sunday, 4:30 pm ET, CBS
New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers -- This one is pretty much a tossup (Pittsburgh is less than a three point favorite), but I'm picking Pittsburgh based solely on the fact that I just cannot bring myself to believe a team filled with such hubris and dysfunction as the Jets can possibly make it to the Superbowl. I would like nothing more than to watch Rex Ryan walk off the field in defeat before the Superbowl, and Pittsburgh is the last remaining team possible to make that happen.

So I guess that means I'm picking a Steelers/Packers Superbowl. In other words, Bears and Jets fans, start booking your tickets to Dallas now.

Tough Conversations About Race

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

You guys are some of the most mature readers in the blogosphere, I think. So I think we can handle touching on the sensitive subject of race. I pray this doesn't offend, but if it does, it does so for all the right reasons.

I was born in a city where the population was greater than 97% white people. I went to junior high and high school in a city that was more than 90% white. I currently live in the most racially diverse town in Wyoming, and it is still 90% white.

I grew up in an upper middle class white family. I am white. I've been surrounded by white people my entire life. I am probably not the best person to talk about issues of race. But maybe if we get a small conversation going here, other people might realize it's okay to talk about race. In real ways, not in self-censored, half-frightened, hushed tones.

When it comes to talking about race, I'm really torn. Part of me agrees with one of my favorite actors, Morgan Freeman, who five years ago famously said, "How are we going to get rid of racism? Stop talking about it." But there's another part of me who loves things like the movie Crash and the feelings and emotions they stir up simply because they bring things like race to the surface and force people to deal with the awkward discomfort it carries with it.

It seems that race conversations in America are generally driven by one of two things: white guilt and political correctness. (And one is probably related to the other.) These two things make it nearly impossible to have a real conversation about race.

Stop Talking About It
Let's say we follow Morgan Freeman's advice. I think it's pretty wise in a lot of ways, and here's an example why: my three year old son.

One of Eli's best friends was adopted from Africa and happens to be black. (Quite literally, an African-American.) We have never told Eli his friend is black or talked to Eli about him being a different skin color.

And you know what? Eli's never noticed and never asked.

To Eli, he is just another three year old boy who is his friend. And that, to me, is beautiful. Why in the world would I want to ruin that innocence by pointing out his skin color?

But some kids in that same age group have noticed. Some kids have said mean things about his skin color. And it makes me wonder: who pointed it out to them? Did somebody tell them a "black boy" was going to be in their class? Did a well-meaning parent tell them to be nice to the new "black kid"?

Who opened their eyes to the fact that he was somehow "different" than they were?

This is what I love about Morgan Freeman's stance: people are just people. If you want to live in a colorblind world, it seems to me we should start treating people like their color honestly doesn't matter.

Instead of having a classroom where we see black children and white children and brown children, let's just see children. Instead of labeling someone as a "black CEO" or a "Hispanic coach", let's let them be a CEO or a coach.

If we'd stop pointing out our differences in the name of equality, we might find we focus less on those differences and more on the equality.

That's why I tend to believe things like "Black History Month" in schools or the "Rooney Rule" in the NFL are silly inventions by people who are riddled with their own guilt and want to transfer that weight to someone else. Again, I agree with Morgan Freeman and a slew of other activists on this point: important historical figures who happened to be black should be covered every month in history class. Limiting it to students writing essays about peanut butter every February diminishes, rather than exalts, the important role black people played in American history.

The Rooney Rule seems even sillier to me. The NFL instituted a rule seven years ago that teams must interview at least one black candidate for head coaching opportunities. This has led to a slew of token sham interviews with minority candidates who were never actually considered for the job, just to fulfill the requirements. Time, money, and resources are wasted, and once again the focus is on race.

Didn't Martin Luther King, Jr advocate for judging someone by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin? Who cares what color an NFL coach is? When the Colts played the Bears in the Superbowl a few years back, all the pundits were so excited because the game was guaranteed to give us the first black coach with a Superbowl ring. But honestly, why should we care about that? If Morgan Freeman is right, shouldn't we just celebrate the fact that these two men were great football coaches, instead of great black football coaches?

Should we celebrate when a Hispanic justice gets nominated to the Supreme Court? Shouldn't we follow Martin Luther King Jr's example and judge them by the content of their character instead?

Talking about color all the time in the name of equality makes it more and more difficult to become a truly equal and colorblind society. I am not a German-American or a Norwegian-American or any other kind of hyphenated American. I am simply an American. On some level, I don't understand the need for people to describe themselves in hyphenated ways. Just be an American. My race does not define who I am, and I think that is why I want to like Morgan Freeman's advice.

No, Let's Talk About It
On the other hand, my race does define who I am in subtle but very real ways. Because I am white, as much as I hate it and do not want it to be true, I do have opportunities other people do not have. And so your race, if you are black or Hispanic or Asian or whatever, defines who you are at some level, too. It might simply be impossible to ignore that.

There is a history of racism in this country, and so we do celebrate when Barack Obama gets elected President. Not because he's a good President (more than half the country has woken up to the fact that he's not), but because of what it means symbolically to this country.

Does celebrating this give a nod of ascent to white guilt? Probably. I'd like to think systemic racism does not exist in America any longer. I think that's fairly accurate. But then again, I'm living my white life in my 90% white world. What do I know about systemic racism?

Do cops really stop black or brown people more than white people? I don't know. Statistics can be made to say all sorts of things, and everyone's got personal anecdotes that don't mean anything in the context of larger trends. There are more black and brown people in jail than white people, but is that because of racism, or just the bum luck that the folks in jail are the ones who committed crimes? I find it difficult to believe there's a systemic, racist policy in place where cops or courts consistently let someone go because they're white.

50 years ago? Sure. Today? Not so much.

But maybe the economic systems we have in place lead to those trends. Maybe the lack of opportunities in inner cities lead to those trends. Maybe there is something unintentionally systemic that creates a non-level playing field.

There was a reason Black History Month was started: the history of blacks in America had been ignored. There was a reason the Rooney Rule was instituted in the NFL: minority candidates were being passed over for top positions.

As much as I hate to admit it, maybe there is a place in our society for things like those.

But maybe only as a starting point... because schools having Black History Month is like Christians having a "quiet time." You start to feel like the only place you can meet God is during a structured, 10 minute time in the mornings. You lose sight of the fact you can meet and talk to God anywhere, anytime. A quiet time is a fragmented, rather than a holistic, approach to spiritual life. But if you aren't hanging out with God at all, you need someplace to start and maybe a "quiet time" can give you a kick start in that direction.

So having a quiet time should never be an end goal; rather, it should be the means to an end.

Likewise, we shouldn't applaud ourselves for having Black History Month. Hopefully we can (and maybe we have?) move past the need for it as we integrate a more holistic teaching of history.

So maybe Morgan Freeman is wrong. Maybe we do need to talk about it. At least for a little while longer.

One of the reasons I love the movie Crash so much is because it forces us to look at racism in shades of gray, rather than black-and-white (pun intended). The question, "Are you a racist?" is the wrong question to ask. One of the purposes of the movie is to show that everyone, at some level, has to deal with some ugly racial tensions within themselves.

Living here in Wyoming, I don't have to deal with that too often. Part of me is really sad about that. I wonder how I would react in a city like Los Angeles.

But maybe Crash displays exactly why we do need to talk about race. We've got a lot of history together as black people and white people and brown people. Maybe eventually, sometime in the future when the world is redeemed a little more, we will be at a place where we can stop talking about it. Until then, maybe we've got a lot of conversations to have so we can understand one another better.

Let's trade stories, rather than cheap political insults, to get there. Let's share our heritages and histories instead of hurling barbs at each other. And maybe, just maybe, there will come a time when we can just be the people God created us to be.

Top 5 Tuesdays: Movies You Watch More Than Once

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Maybe it's because I'm cheap, but I have a hard time shelling out $9 to see a movie in the theater. Very few movies are worth that kind of dough to me, and fewer still are worth seeing more than once, whether that be in the theater, as a rental, or purchasing it to watch over and over again at home.

But there are those select few movies that are amazing enough to watch more than once. And not in the, "I'm laying on the couch sick and need a movie to occupy my time" sense. In the "that movie was freaking awesome and I need to watch it again" sense.

So here's this week's Top 5 Tuesday category: Movies You'll Watch More Than Once.
Here's mine:

1. 300 -- This movie is the epitome of what man movies were made to be, and it has some of the coolest graphic effects to go along with it, too. I could watch this movie a hundred times and never be bored.

2. The Lord of the Rings -- I'm bending the rules and throwing the whole trilogy on here. It's not any great twist in the plot that makes these movies so re-watchable, it's the overall superior quality to any other film in its genre that keeps me coming back to these classics-to-be.

3. Crash -- After seeing how intricately all the story lines weave together the first time you see this film, you'll want to go back and watch it again to fully appreciate the script and all of the themes and undertones. This one was brilliantly done, and deserved all the awards it won and more.

4. Arlington Road -- I know I will get made fun of by at least one person for putting this on the list, but it is here anyway because it is an awesome movie. Any aspiring movie-maker needs to watch this movie for its lessons in cinematic foreshadowing. And once you catch the unsettling ending, you'll have to go back and watch it again to absorb how it is all put together.

5. The Sixth Sense -- Of course this has to be on the list. I don't care what you say or who you are, you did not guess the ending the first time you saw this movie. :) Everyone watched this at least twice to get the full effect.

Honorable mention: The Prestige.

There's mine. What are the best movies you watched (or will watch) more than once?

Sneak Peek: Chapter Titles

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

My book is coming along really nicely, and I hope to have it finished up here in the next month or two. As a special sneak peek, I thought I'd show you, my faithful readers, what I've tentatively outlined for the chapters in the book.

Conversation one is the interweaving of two stories: (1) our history as humanity through the five major culture shifts we've experienced (or are experiencing), and (2) my own personal history and background (chapters 3, 5, 7, and 9). This section comes to a climax as we shift into postmodernity -- something that is currently underway. The chapters in conversation one are shorter than those in conversation two.

Conversation two uses the backdrop of that culture shift as an opportunity to reimagine our faith and rediscover the message and heart of God in order to reach the people around us. I've thrown in some section headings to kind of flesh out what these chapters will look like a little more.

Introduction

Conversation ONE: Where We've Been
Chapter 1: A Look Back
Chapter 2: This is Sparta (Ancient Culture to Hellenism)
Chapter 3: Religion By Process of Elimination
Chapter 4: Unification of Church and State (Hellenism to Medievalism)
Chapter 5: I'm On Fire
Chapter 6: Respect the Classics, Man (Medievalism to the Renaissance)
Chapter 7: Being a Jackass for Jesus
Chapter 8: Pride Before the Fall (The Renaissance to Modernity)
Chapter 9: It is for Freedom
Chapter 10: Philosophical Mumbo Jumbo (Modernity to Postmodernity)

Conversation TWO: Where We Can Go
Chapter 11: God
     *God is Love
     *Black and White and Shades of Grey
     *Useless and Obsolete Rules

Chapter 12: Scripture
     *God's Breath
     *Literally
     *Rediscovering Narrative

Chapter 13: Heaven and Hell
     *Our Heaven Fetish
     *The Fear-Driven Life
     *The End

Chapter 14: The Gospel
     *Anchovy Prices
     *The Kingdom
     *Evangelii

Chapter 15: Discipleship
     *Fishermen and Tax Collectors
     *Lovin' Us Some Hierarchy
     *Of Life and Love

Chapter 16: The Church
     *Candles
     *Doubt
     *God is Love

None of these chapter titles are set in stone, obviously, and some are more likely to change than others (chapter seven, for instance). But this should give you guys a pretty good idea of what the book is about and what I've been working on writing over the past year!

Firefox Grabs #1 Spot in Europe, Chrome Gaining on IE

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Statcounter released a December market share analysis of web browsers across the world, and some of the results were quite surprising -- including the big headline that Internet Explorer is no longer the #1 web browser in Europe. The European numbers:

1. Mozilla Firefox - 38.11% (40.8%)
2. Microsoft Internet Explorer - 37.52% (44.84%)
3. Google Chrome - 14.58% (5.06%)
4. Apple Safari - 4.62% (3.4%)

As always, the more interesting thing than the topline numbers are the trends. The numbers in parentheses above are the market share percentages for each browser in December 2009 - one year ago. As you can see, Google is the only browser to experience significant growth in Europe over the past year.

And the North American numbers:

1. Internet Explorer - 48.92% (53.84%)
2. Firefox - 26.7% (30.68%)
3. Google Chrome - 12.82% (5.31%)
4. Apple Safari - 10.16% (7.94%)

The trends are generally the same across the world - IE slowly dripping support, Firefox flat to slightly down, and Chrome and Safari steadily gaining. Will the next generation of web users use Chrome and Safari as their preferred browsers, leaving Microsoft and Mozilla in the dust?

Redemption of Laughter

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

In Genesis 18, we see an interesting scenario unfolding. Three "men" - messengers from heaven, sent by God - visit Abraham and Sarah to deliver some news:

Sarah is going to have a baby.

Upon hearing this news, Sarah laughs. She has been getting the senior citizen's discount at Denny's for a couple decades now. There's no way she's having a baby.

The angels hear this and set off a humorous exchange by asking her, "Why did you laugh?"

Sarah responds by lying: "I did not laugh."

To which the angel says, "Yes, you did laugh."

Oh, those Hebrews and their knack for conversational drama. Heh.

But the point of the exchange was to draw attention to what was underlying Sarah's laughter: doubt. Her eyes were on human circumstances instead of heavenly miracles. Like mine tend to be too often.

And that's how that section of the story is left -- until four chapters later where one of the most beautiful things in the world happens: redemption.

Sarah ends up getting pregnant and giving birth to a baby, which they name Isaac.

There is a lot of meaning behind that name. In Hebrew, it means "laughter" or "he or she laughs."

Obviously a reference to Sarah's doubting laughter upon hearing the angel's news, right? Not so fast. Look what Sarah says about her new son's name:

“God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Did you catch it? More laughter. But not doubtful laughter exposed in shame. Joyful, gleeful, unbelievably amazed laughter. The beautiful kind that sends happy tears rolling down your face.

Isaac is named "Laughter" to showcase God's redemption - his main purpose and the main thread throughout the narrative of Scripture. The story began with Sarah laughing at God and his promises, and ends with Sarah laughing with God and his blessing.

I have to imagine Sarah felt some pretty heavy guilt when the messengers left that day. And some more guilt once she actually got pregnant. And even more guilt when she carried the baby to full term. But God wasn't in the business of using that against her. He was in the business of redemption.

In a way, the redemption of Sarah, Abraham, and the beginning of the Jewish nation is represented in this story by the redemption of laughter.

Today, I pray you remember that God is not in the business of guilt. He is in the business of redemption.

More Playoff Predictions - Why? I Honestly Don't Know.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:55:00 +0000

Okay. So apparently I suck at making these predictions. But I have a lot of fun doing it, so I will continue on in my futile efforts, much to your amusement I'm sure. Heh.

Saturday, 4:30 ET, CBS
Ravens at Steelers -- This is the one I feel the least confident about this weekend. I think the Ravens have amazing momentum after their last two games, and I discounted that momentum last year when they came in and defeated a better New England team. I think they barely squeak by a very good Pittsburgh team who is rested and healthy.

Saturday, 8:00 ET, FOX
Packers at Falcons -- The Packers are playing really good football, and they may have actually discovered a running game last weekend against the Eagles. But the Falcons are quite simply the best team in the NFC. The Packers will put up a strong fight and make a game of it, but the Falcons will advance to the NFC championship game.

Sunday, 4:30 ET, CBS
Jets at Patriots -- As I said last week, even if the Jets managed to beat Peyton Manning, there is no way they beat Bill Belichick. I look forward to watching the Pats stomp on Ryan and his dysfunctional team of loudmouths. If I could watch only one game this weekend, it would be this one in order to restore the sense of justice in this world. Heh.

Sunday, 8:00 ET, FOX
Seahawks at Bears -- As much as it pains me to say it, I think the Bears will actually be playing in the NFC championship game. They really lucked out getting to play the Seahawks on Sunday. Chicago had one of the easiest strength of schedules of any playoff team this year, and their strength of victory measure is pitiful. I wouldn't be entirely shocked to see the Seahawks pull another huge upset, but I'll stick with conventional wisdom and say the stronger of these two weak teams will prevail.

For the past two years, I was hovering around .500 with my picks. This year I'll need a miracle to pull back to .500 after my 1-3 start last week!

Thoughts on Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Writing is more difficult than I thought it would be. If you're one of my close personal friends, you've heard me say that before. And it's true.

As I sat one day and processed why that was the case, I realized it was because writing is an extension of who I am. What I put out there, you, the reader, take in and becomes a large part of how you see me. How you understand me. Who I am.

And so when I write, I have a tendency to want to be careful. To overexplain myself. To write longer posts or chapters than necessary. Because I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying. But more importantly than that, I don't want you to misunderstand who I am.

Like what happened on Monday here at TWM. I posted a blog entitled, "Why Church is Irrelevant" as a response to a blogger challenge from GaryMo. My thought process in framing the blog went something like this:

The church is in decline in America. The numbers and data are there to support that statement across every ideology, tradition, and metric. And it's even worse broken down by generation. The younger people are, the less and less they find church relevant.

Here in my own home town, a recent survey showed 88-90% of people had no meaningful connection with a local church. And in that survey, "meaningful connection" was just defined as attending a church service once a month!

My heart ultimately is to reach that 90 plus percent of folks who find church irrelevant. That's what I want to communicate to you. And as the church, we're not going to do that unless we're really honest with ourselves.

So I started thinking about all the reasons and excuses people use to justify why church is irrelevant to them, and I thought, "You know what would make a cool rhetorical impact? Combining all those excuses into one short narrative." Then we, the church, might see more clearly where folks outside the church are coming from. I even began the paragraph with the phrase, "Stereotypically..." to denote that these are things that are overgeneralized from the non-church population.

It wasn't how I felt about church. Most of them, anyhow. :) It was supposed to be how outsiders view the church. My purpose in writing "Why the Church is Irrelevant" was to get us to take a look at ourselves and ask if we could do something better. And then I ended the post with a positive example of what we could do to become relevant again: recapture the power of story.

Unfortunately, from feedback I received from a few people, the positive side was lost amidst what I didn't intend to be negative. I wrote the post more hastily than I should have while I was writing several other posts that were scheduled for later in the week. And I just didn't communicate effectively what was in my heart.

As someone who wants to be a writer, that's tough to admit.

So I deleted the post. And I learned a lesson or two in the process. My heart is not to rag on the church. My heart is to make the church better. More effective. And I can be more effective in how I communicate those things to you, my readers. Thanks for helping me grow and learn. I pray that in some little way, I have and can do the same for you as well.

Lot's Bum Rap and Abraham's Plea

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

I think Lot gets a bum rap.

You know, Lot - the nephew of Abraham in the book of Genesis. The guy who ends up living in Sodom and the angels have to drag him out in order to save him before God destroys the city.

Yeah, him. I think we give him a raw deal when we read his story.

I think every sermon I've heard about the story of Lot includes the phrase "slippery slope". See, when Lot and Abraham parted ways, Abraham gave Lot his choice of where he wanted to go and Lot chose the land heading toward Sodom. A little later in the story, we see Lot has moved closer and pitched his tents near Sodom. And then a little later we see that Lot had moved into Sodom and was living in the city.

And so every sermon I've heard on the story of Lot has this as its conclusion: don't get too close to evil. Before you know it, you'll be sucked in (and, implicitly, require angels to drag you out of it when you don't want to leave).

But is that what happened to Lot?

I really don't think so.

Peter, the disciple of Jesus, didn't think so either. In fact, in his second letter in the New Testament, he wrote that Lot was "a righteous man" who "was distressed" over what he saw in Sodom.

He goes on to say that Lot lived among the people of Sodom day after day, tortured by how the people were living around him.

So my question is this: if he was so distressed and tortured, why live there, among them, day after day?

And the best answer I can come up with is: love.

Lot loved these people. His heart ached and was tormented for them. He chose to live in Sodom because he loved them and wanted to make a difference in their lives.

The angels didn't have to drag Lot out of Sodom because he was caught up in sin there. They had to drag him out because he loved the people of the city and did not want to see them destroyed by God's judgment.

Lot was a pretty cool guy.

All of this leads me to another question related to this story. I wonder how we would respond today if God were to come down and announce the imminent destruction of a city that was viewed as "wicked."

Hollywood, perhaps? San Fransisco? New Orleans? (Hey, you should have seen some responses from Christians after Hurricane Katrina hit.)

What if God told us he was about to destroy a major metropolitan area that was filled with wickedness?

I have a feeling many of us would couch our self-righteous approval in religious terms. "Well, God, you are God and your ways are perfect. So if that's what's got to happen, go for it."

Inside, we would cheer God's justice and judgment.

Contrast that with Abraham. God told Abraham he was about to destroy Sodom and Abraham begged and pleaded with him not to. He had no concern with God's ways being perfect or his thoughts being higher than our thoughts. All he knew was that he didn't want people to die.

Lot refused to leave until angels physically drug him out. Abraham and Lot were cut from the same cloth: they loved people.

Remember: Abraham's plea was not that God would remove the righteous from Sodom if he found them. His plea was that God would spare the entire city on behalf of the righteous.

And I have to wonder: would I beg and plead for the lives of "sinners" I have never met to be spared? Do I love people with a heart of Lot and Abraham?

How about you?

Top 5 Tuesdays: Sit Down Restaurants [UPDATED]

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Last week we talked about our top five books we read last year. This year, let's help folks break their New Year's resolutions and talk food! Specifically:

Top Five Sit-Down Restaurants

These can be local or chains, can encompass anything from casual to fancy, and you can stretch the definition of "sit-down" if you want. The only rule is no fast food crap is allowed! Here's mine:

1. Cinzetti's -- Wow, I can't believe I left this one off the original list. I pretty much imagine the cafeteria in Heaven looking something akin to a Cinzetti's dining room. This restaurant is amazing, and if you've never been to one you have to go. Preferably sometime when you've skipped lunch and are really hungry for dinner. :)

2. Olive Garden -- Just imagining a bowl of their chicken fettucine alfredo makes my mouth water incessantly. Their alfredo sauce is the best I've tasted. And who doesn't love free breadsticks, especially when they're brushed with olive oil and that oh-so-good mixture of spices?

3. McAlister's -- Where the tasty deli goodness of tender roast beef and horseradish sauce on a grilled panini meets massively huge spuds loaded with melted cheese and a hefty portion of crumbled bacon. What could be better? Oh yeah, I know: their prices are low and kids eat free on Tuesdays!

4. Vietnamese Cafe -- If you're ever in Denver, Colorado, you have to try this local place that will never win the prize for most original name. Order the rice wraps for an appetizer and be prepared for one of the most memorable food experiences you'll have. Then I'd recommend the sesame chicken for your entree. Delicious!

5. PF Chang's -- The only things that keep me from wanting to eat here all the time are the distance from our house (an hour and a half for the closest one) and the price. But the food is hands down the best Chinese out there!

That's my top five. What's yours?

UPDATED: Added Cinzetti's as the #1 and bumped everything down a slot. Mmmmmmm...

Android Set to Become #1 Mobile OS

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

According to a new market share survey from Nielson, here are the latest numbers in the mobile device operating system wars:

Mobile OS Market Share, November 2010
1. Apple iOS - 28.6%
2. RIM (Blackberry) - 26.1%
3. Android - 25.8%

These numbers don't tell the whole story -- this graph does, though. Android has been steadily increasing ever since its release, Apple is flat, and Blackberry has been declining for some time now:

The news is ever better for Google when you look at those people who have purchased a new phone in the past six months. Of those users, a whopping 40.8% chose Android while just 26% chose Apple and 19% chose Blackberry.

It could be as early as next month's report that Google overtakes both RIM and Apple to claim the crown as the #1 mobile operating system. I've got to say, I am one of those recent purchasers who chose Android, and I've been completely satisfied thus far!

Why Church is Relevant to Me

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:05:00 +0000

Over at his blog, GaryMo published a list of 20 things he wishes bloggers would write about. So I'm taking the cue and picking a handful to blog on over the next couple of weeks. Today, I chose "Why the Church is relevant to me." I'll follow it up next week with "Why the Church is irrelevant to me" -- two sides of a coin that I wish were discussed and dialogged more often.

It's easy to get down on the Church. We do a lot of stupid stuff and pull shit that not only turns people away from Jesus, it's downright hurtful. There's a lot of things we can do better. Sometimes it takes a little more effort to see the positive impact the Church has on us -- but it is there and worth the effort to find.

"Relevant" has become quite the buzzword over the past decade or so. Many churches strive to be or become relevant, not realizing that relevancy - much like authenticity or humility - is something that can never be achieved when you state in front of people that it's what you're aiming for.

The Church is called to be counter-cultural, isn't it? To create and be proactive, not simply react to the culture around us, right? So why all the emphasis on relevancy?

It is, I think, at least partly due to the shift we see taking place in culture around us. And then we look at our churches and we see the numbers of attendees and members and baptisms and the amount of giving sliding downhill faster than any time in the past several centuries (perhaps longer). We hear stories of how we are now a post-Christian culture (or at least a post-evangelical one). And we think -- specifically, I think -- "there's got to be a better way to do this."

Relevancy, in it's purest most innocent form, is a desire to reach lost people with the good news about Jesus and his Kingdom. Relevancy, in it's distorted form, is about getting more butts in the seats, getting more money in the offering, and/or being the hippest, coolest church on the block.

Jesus made his message relevant by speaking in parables common to Jewish rabbis of his time, by using agrarian word pictures to explain his Kingdom to agricultural folks, and by appealing to the narrative history of the Jewish nation. We ought to follow his lead and make Church relevant to the culture we find ourselves in - while being aware of the siren call of the negative side of that mission.

So why is Church relevant to me? Well, it's definitely not because of what the Church pours a vast majority of its time and resources into - that is not what connects with me. That's not what I find relevant. (More on that on Monday.)

The Church is relevant to me because of the people who are a part of it, and because those people, at their best, are encouraging and strengthening one another to be on mission together. Church is relevant to me because it offers a community of people who know and love me for all my good, bad, and ugly parts and who challenge me to live in more freedom and abundant life by embracing Kingdom values.

I realize that this kind of community does not happen at every local church (though I pray that it would)... but at the same time, it is a kind of community that cannot be found outside the Church. We are empowered by God, who exists in community, to live in community ourselves. And it is beautiful. It influences and impacts me on a day-to-day level and makes me so thankful for the Church.

And these people band together to do some of the most beautiful things on the face of the planet. The Church has taken the lead in solving some of the world's most horrendous problems -- malaria and clean drinking water in Africa, for example. Funding microloans for businesses in third world countries to lift people out of poverty. The Church is never more relevant to me or to our world when we work together to restore shalom to Jesus' creation.

And finally, the Church is relevant to me because she is -- we are -- the wife of Jesus. I can no more disown the Church than I can disown a crazy uncle who gets drunk and embarrasses himself at family gatherings. Yes, we do stupid stuff. Yes, we have issues and problems. But through some miraculous and holy bond, we are the bride of Christ.

When we humble ourselves and, in the beautiful poetic words of Jennifer Knapp, admit to him: "We are weak, we are poor, we are broken, but Lord we are yours." Then we not only become relevant to one another and to the culture around us, we become relevant to (and usable by) Him.

NFL Playoff Time, Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

It's time for the NFL playoffs, and that means it's time to put my ridiculously average predicting skills to use. For the past two years, I've managed to be just above or just below .500 when making these playoff predictions. This year will be my breakout year, though - I can feel it! Heh.

Welcome to my Wildcard Weekend 2011 picks, in order of when they'll be played:

Saturday, 4:30 Eastern, NBC
(5)New Orleans Saints at (4)Seattle Seahawks -- Aw, isn't that cute. The Seahawks made the playoffs by winning the weakest division literally in the history of NFL football. All the pundits are talking about a dome team having to go play in the cold weather, making a trip across all the time zones, and on and on... in the end, none of it will save the Seahawks. The Saints, although not nearly as good as they were last season, will dismantle this wannabe playoff team.

Saturday, 8:00 Eastern, NBC
(6)New York Jets at (3)Indianapolis Colts -- I'm scared for my Indianapolis Colts in this one. The Jets are a much better team than last season when the Colts eliminated them from the playoffs. However, the Colts have one thing going for them: their coach is not Rex Ryan. Ryan is already running all over the media talking about how the Jets are going to win the Superbowl. You know what happens to teams that look past the game in front of them? They end up watching the Superbowl with their butts parked on the couch at home. Ryan has doomed his team with his rhetoric, and even if they manage to beat the Colts there is no way they beat the Patriots next Sunday. Mature, professional teams like the Colts and the Pats know to take it one game at a time, and that will be the difference in this one.

Sunday, 1:00 Eastern, CBS
(5)Baltimore Ravens at (4)Kansas City Chiefs -- Let's be honest... the Chiefs are to the AFC what the Seahawks are to the NFC. That's sweet that they pulled together enough victories to squeeze a title from the weakest division in the AFC, but they are not a playoff caliber team. Their wins this season came against powerhouses like Cleveland, San Fransisco, Buffalo, Tennessee, St. Louis, and Denver... the record of all the teams they beat this year was a combined 61-99. Awful. The Ravens will destroy the Chiefs. Easily.

Sunday, 4:30 Eastern, FOX
(6)Green Bay Packers at (3)Philadelphia Eagles -- When Philly looks good, they look amazing - and when they look bad, they look absolutely awful. So the question usually is: which Eagles team is going to show up to play? But against the Packers, it might not matter much. With no ground game to speak of whatsoever, the Eagles shouldn't have much of a problem scoring more points than the overrated Aaron Rodgers and his offense.

So there you have it. Here's hoping this year's picks are better than a coin flip. Whatever you do, don't take the predictions to Vegas (or don't blame me if you do). :)

Waiting for the Flowers to Die

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago my wife, who has incredible fashion sense and interior decorating skill, made a cool winter centerpiece for our dining room table. Out of a glass jar, some ribbon, flowers and a mini candy cane she created a centerpiece that had an elegant flair but was casual enough for a table which hosted a 3- and 1-year-old.

I loved it.

Being a three-year-old boy who is just discovering the joys of processed sugar, Eli's attention was immediately drawn to the one piece of the work which was edible: the candy cane.

His eyes sparkled with anticipation as he gazed longingly at the hook of mint and sugar and asked the only question his mind could come up with when presented with the sight of this centerpiece:

"Mommy, can I eat that?"

Shelly's answer to him was simple - he could have the candy cane when we were done with the centerpiece. Which led to the next obvious question:

"When will we be done with it?"

Shelly explained that when the flowers had died, we would throw them away, clean the centerpiece, and then he could have the candy cane.

And so for the next several days, every time Eli sat at the table he would ask me the same question: "Are the flowers dead yet?"

It may seem sad, but in three-year-old land, it made perfectly innocent sense. Sure, Eli was missing out on the beauty of the flowers. He was missing out on the artistry of the centerpiece. He couldn't allow himself to be swept away in the fascination of the present because he was focused on the fulfillment of the future.

But he so desperately wanted that couple inches of peppermint and sugar.

As I answered Eli's queries as to the death of the flowers over and over though, I began to realize something: maybe it's not only in three-year-old land that this story makes sense.

Maybe we all can relate to Eli sitting around, waiting for the flowers to die.

We rush around from appointment to appointment, always late or almost late, with no time to really see the world around us.

We say, "I'm going on vacation at the end of the week!" or "I'm graduating this semester!" and it's all we can think about - and so we miss what God is doing in the meantime.

We tell ourselves we can't really invest in relationships with people because they will be moving soon or we will be moving soon and so we miss out on deep friendships.

We become so focused on something that we want in the future that we miss out on the beauty all around us today. Right now.

So my prayer for myself and for all of us this year is that we wouldn't just sit around waiting for the flowers to die... that we wouldn't miss the flowers for the candy cane.

Enjoy the candy cane when you get it (as Eli did when we relented a few days later), but enjoy the centerpiece first. God has placed a lot of beauty in our world if we will change our perspective and take note of it!

Top 5 Tuesdays: Books You've Read Recently

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Shelly and I like to play a game sometimes (okay, I like to play it and she graciously humors me) where we'll be driving along and I'll turn to her and say something like, "top five actors" or "top five candybars." Then we'll go back and forth for the next while sharing our ideas of the best of whatever category it is. (Try it! It's more fun that you think, and a great conversation starter.)

So this year, I'm going to start a regular feature on TWM called Top 5 Tuesdays. Each Tuesday, I'll post a category and what my top five would be, and I invite and encourage you to share your list in the comments! Hopefully, this will be a fun, lighter way to get the conversation going here and help us to get to know one another.

So here's the first one of the year:

Top Five Books You've Read Recently
Here's mine:

1. Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg

2. The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson

3. The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley

4. Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

5. Marley & Me by Josh Grogan

If you're looking for some suggestions to jumpstart or add to your reading habit, there's five good ones for you. What about you? What must-reads have you devoured recently?

Out With the Old, In With the New

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

It's a new year, and that means it must be time for New Year's resolutions.

You may remember that I made true New Year's resolutions for the first time last year. Here's what they were, and how I did:

1. Read more. I began 2010 with a list of 14 books - my goal was to read them "and a bunch more." Well, I read ended up reading 30 books last year, which I'd call pretty decent and enough to hang up a "mission accomplished" banner, if you will.

2. Finish writing a book. As it turns out, writing a book is a lot more difficult than I anticipated. I'd estimate I'm about 70% or so finished with my first attempt at published authorship so far, and I am absolutely loving it. Every time I get a chance to sit down and write for an extended period of time with no interruptions, it feels so incredibly fulfilling.

3. Stop biting my nails. Um, we'll just go ahead and skip this one. Heh.

4. Run a 5k. Not only did I run several 5k races in 2010, thanks to my wife's loving encouragement I ran a 10k as well! Accomplishing something I never, ever thought I could do was an amazing experience.

5. Blog more. In 2009, there were 69 posts on The Welcome Matt. in 2010, that roughly doubled to 134. And, I hope you'll agree, I think the quality of the posts increased as well. Page loads and unique visitors to the blog were up for the third straight year -- thanks for coming along for the ride!

So for 2011, here's what I'm resolving to accomplish:

1. Read. I'd like to match last year's goal and read at least another 30 books this year. I'm starting with a list of 12 this time, and I'm sure I won't have much trouble finding a ton more along the way. I not only love reading and learning new ideas or escaping into a fictional world, I believe it's really important as a leader to read as much as I can. Karen Zacharias expresses some thoughts on this subject in a great post here.

2. Finish writing my book. Can't wait to finish this up this year and share it with you all!

3. Finish the BolderBoulder in under 66 minutes. This is the 10k Shelly and I ran last year, and we are going to kickstart the training regimen and run it again this year. Last year I finished in 1:13:00. This year, I'd like to knock seven minutes off that time and finish in less than 1:06:00. My super-ultra-amazing goal would be to get my time under an hour. We shall see.

4. Blog regularly. I'd like to give this blog some sort of framework and regularity so I'm not just posting at random times whenever thoughts occur to me. Be on the lookout for some regularly scheduled posts and features in 2011!

Here's to a great 2011. It should be an exciting one for our family -- Simeon is going to start walking this year, Eli will start his first organized sport this year as he plays "Little Kickers" soccer, Shelly and I will celebrate our tenth anniversary this summer, and we have talked about maybe trying to get pregnant again this year.

What are your New Year's resolutions? What are you looking forward to in 2011?

Twenty Things That Became Obsolete in the Last Decade

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 20:41:00 +0000

Technology has advanced at an amazing pace over the last ten years. Through Kruse Kronicle (a great blog!) I found this interesting list of twenty things that have become obsolete in the last decade... think about it: we were using these things in 2001, and now, for the most part, they've been relegated to the dusty halls of history. Here are some of the highlights:

1) VCRs and VHS tapes
2) Travel Agents
5) Bookstores
8) Paper maps
10) Classifieds in newspapers
11) Dial-up internet -- fewer than 10% of Americans still use dialup according to Pew Research.
13) Landline phones -- a recent AP survey showed that more than half of Americans ages 20-25 have cell phones but no landline, so they're not quite obsolete yet, but heading that way very quickly.
15) Film (and film cameras)

Check out the whole list here. Any you would add to the list? What do you think the list will hold when we turn the page in 2021?

Christmas Traditions

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 03:50:00 +0000

Well, our family made it through the week of Christmas craziness... over the last week we have logged over 1,300 miles on our minivan while taking our three-year-old and one-year-old to Albuquerque and back and then to Cheyenne and back. They made it through disrupted schedules, skipped nap times, later meals than usual, and much later bedtimes than normal. And we survived.

Actually, we move than survived. Along with Shelly, I have absolutely loved the Christmas season this year. A lot of that probably has to do with Eli being old enough to really understand what's going on this year (and him being young enough to be so incredibly and innocently adorable). And a lot of that I think has to do with our Christmas traditions we are building as a family. Here are some of my favorite ones that we have either done for several years now, or done for the first time this year and decided to make a tradition of them:

The Tree
Five or six years ago, we began the tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree from the mountains that are just over 30 minutes west of our small town here. It makes for a fun morning, even when our kids don't think so (like this year), and gives us a beautifully natural looking (read: Charlie Brown) tree. We love it.

The Books
Each year, we buy our boys one new Christmas book each. The day that we put the tree up, we wrap the books and let the boys open them. It's a great way to kick off the Christmas season and a great way for us to continue encouraging our boys to read. The books from years previous all go in a basket in the living room, and we get some good snuggle time with them as we read the books to them as well - bonus for us. :)

The Gingerbread House(s)
Eli's made a gingerbread house for the past two years now, and Simeon will probably begin making them next Christmas. It's so fun to watch them piece their houses together and get hopped up on sugar in the process.

The Place
Last year we made the executive decision that we were staying home with our kids on Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning, and it was one of the best decisions we've made. It takes 99% of the stress out of Christmas Day and allows us to spend some quality time with our kids before jetting off to make the tour de families (which is a ton of fun in and of itself, but this way we get the best of both worlds).

The Day Before
After the boys wake up from their afternoon nap on Christmas Eve, we let them open one present before we eat dinner and head off to a Christmas Eve service. This year, they opened the game "Cootie" (a blast from my childhood!) and Eli had a ton of fun building funny looking bugs. Simeon, our little linebacker, tried to eat all the pieces.

Christmas Morning
The Stockings
First thing Christmas morning we let the boys empty their stockings. Eli's contained his most prized possession of Christmas thus far: his Sheriff Woody doll. Aside from that, Simeon got some new small wooden toy trucks, and they both got a new coloring book, some train whistles, and a mini candy cane. They were excited!

The Birthday Cake
This year we began the tradition of serving a birthday cake for Jesus for breakfast on Christmas morning. Honestly, I'd always kind of thought birthday cakes for Jesus at Christmas were kind of hokey, but now that I have kids I love the idea and what it communicates to them. It speaks at their level - plus, we get cake for breakfast! How awesome is that?

The World Vision Envelopes
Because we sponsor a child through World Vision, they sent us their Christmas catalog in the mail this year - and it is amazing. It's a chance to purchase things for impoverished families in third world countries -- things like chickens, goats, sheep, malaria medication, mosquito nets, water purification tanks, and other things of that nature. Shelly and I were deeply moved looking through the catalog (as was Eli - he is so sweet!) and we decided to begin a new tradition. Each year, we will let the boys pick something out of the catalog to buy for someone else across the world, and we will include that in our Christmas day celebration.

This year, Eli picked a sheep and we picked the malaria medication for Sim. World Vision sends a thank you card for each item, and we placed the cards on our Christmas tree. After breakfast, before the boys opened their presents, we took the cards down and read them out loud as a reminder of what they had picked out -- and a reminder of the most important things of Christmas and life.

The Presents
Each year, Shelly and I get our boys one present to open on Christmas morning. Other parents we talk to cannot believe that's all we do, but we really want to impress on them the importance of giving and helping others and not make getting presents the primary focus. (And besides, with all the sets of grandparents, they get tons of stuff anyway - so it's not like they're missing out on anything. :) We recognize we'll probably have to rethink this tradition when the boys get older, but for now this is a beautiful tradition that I absolutely love.

This year, Simeon got a Strider bike like his big brother's (the bike without pedals - they are AWESOME!) and even though he's too little to really use it yet he has gotten so happy and excited as we push him around the house on it. By this summer, he's going to be pro on it like Eli and we are going to have our hands full keeping up with them! Eli got an art easel setup with a chalkboard, whiteboard, and roll of paper to paint on and he's had a lot of fun drawing and practicing writing on it.

The Verdict
As my wife mentioned on her blog, this may have been the best Christmas so far for me and for us. Watching Eli begin to grasp the wonder and the meaning of the season for the first time was incredibly beautiful, and seeing his thankfulness as he opened his presents was awesome. Despite all the traveling, it has been pretty low-stress and I've just been in the Christmas spirit -- really beginning with the Christmas Eve service we went to with all the Christmas carols we sung.

So here's a big thank-you to the God of the universe who orchestrates and is the reason for it all. It has been a fantastic way to end 2010 and look forward to 2011!

What are your Christmas traditions? Have you had a good Christmas season?

Review: Crazy Love

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 21:08:00 +0000

My small group is going to be reading Crazy Love together starting sometime around late January, so I decided to get a head start on the book so I could effectively lead the discussions about the chapters.

Two sittings later, I was done with this quick, easy-to-read plea from Francis Chan's heart.

He is essentially calling the Church to follow Jesus radically and do crazy things for God. He tells stories of people starting orphanages with no money, selling their house to move into a smaller one and giving all the extra money away, living in the cab of their pickup and giving away their food to the homeless, and other "crazy" acts designed to impact the world for the Kingdom of God.

In fact, the chapters that were built around those stories (chapters 7, 8, and 9) were by far my favorite in the book. They challenged me and made me think about what I am or could be doing to step out on faith and trust God more in order to impact people with his love.

The first six chapters of the book, to steal a saying from Randy Jackson, were just all right for me. I could take them or leave them. I was really confused for a while about why, in a book entitled "crazy love" that was supposedly about the passionate love God has for us, the first several chapters instead focused on how God was holy and pure and we were nothing compared to him. God was so immense that we should have a healthy fear of him and if we didn't like how he did things, well, too bad because he is God. Suck it up and deal with it, puny humans!

It was bizarre and not at all what I expected. In fact, even the latter chapters didn't really contain that many references (or focus at all) on the passionate love God has for us. The prime motivator Chan uses to propel people to live these radically crazy lifestyles really seems to be that fact that God is so much bigger and holier than we are, and when he tells us to do something we absolutely have to take his instructions literally and obey him.

A better title for this book might have been "Crazy Faith," because that's really what Chan is calling us to. And it is definitely a needed and worthwhile call to issue to the church: forget about your comforts for a while and go attempt something crazy and truly worthwhile for God. Chapters 7-9 in Crazy Love will give me a lot to process and pray about as we begin to envision what 2011 is going to look like for us!

Review: Marley & Me

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:52:00 +0000

This was one of the books on my original List of 14, and I finally got around to reading it at the end of the year here. It is definitely going on my top 5 books of 2010.

I laughed and I cried while reading this book. It's been a really, really long time since a book has evoked such powerful emotions in me like Marley & Me did, and that was a refreshing experience.

John Grogan is one of the best pure writers I've ever read. He has such a way with words and an ability to express things that just make a story come alive and completely draw you in. It is fantastic.

I decided to read this book after I did the good husbandly duty of taking my wife to see the movie. The movie was good, but as is nearly always the case, the book is infinitely better.

If you're looking for a good read to kick off 2011 and you haven't read Marley & Me yet, do yourself a favor and get this one. It's great!

Social Media "Friends" and Other Faceless Connections

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Yesterday morning, as I was checking into my workplace on Foursquare, I had a revelation.

I looked down at the Foursquare app on my phone and as I reached for the "Check In" button, I suddenly thought, "Why am I doing this? This is so stupid!"

In fact, that thought soon spread to all the social media things to which I am subscribed. And so when I had a few extra minutes at my desk, I went on a social media deleting frenzy.

I deleted my Foursquare account. I deleted my Linkedin account. I deleted my Evernote account. I deleted my Wix account. I deleted my Delicious account. And then I went to Facebook and deleted every person I was "friends" with that I've never actually met or spoken to.

I kept only three things: my Twitter, my Facebook (slimmed down) and my Google account (which includes my blog and my Reader) -- because those three things actually do help connect me with people and build genuine friendships (shoutout to Scott Barkley and Danny Mendez, as two great examples!).

For some reason, I was on a personal connection kick today. I realize I hardly spend time with the people I know and am friends with in real life. My best friends live right next door to us and I hardly see them. That needs to change. My wife and I need to have more people over and have face time with them. I need to invest in people at my work more.

And as much as I absolutely love social media, most of it was becoming just unnecessary noise.

So here's hoping this impulsive decision yesterday morning leads to some deeper relationships with the people who I do "real" life with.

How many social media accounts do you have? What kind of relationships are they helping you build?

On Church Budgets

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Coulter) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:15:00 +0000

It's the end of the calendar year. Which means it's not only the holiday season, but for many churches it is also budget season.

We were attending our usual church last Sunday and received a copy of the proposed 2011 budget. Despite being a staff member of this church for five years and seeing more or less the same budget numbers all that time, something immediately stood out to me this year.

The budget was broken into two main categories: operating expenses and ministry. Operating expenses included all the organizational, institutional kind of stuff: staff salary and stipends, facility rental, phone lines, advertisements, etc. And ministry budgets included everything that went toward doing ministry: food, supplies, books, meetings with people, volunteer support budgets, trainings, and that kind of stuff.

What stood out to me was the percentage breakdown of those two categories: around 85% for operating expenses and around 15% for ministry expenses (I don't have the paper in front of me, so I'm working off my best memory -- those are close ballpark figures).

Maybe it was the labels of the two categories. Maybe it was seeing it in print after not taking part in the budget process. I don't know what it was. But I just kept thinking over and over again, "There's got to be a better way to do this!"

And please, please understand this is not a knock against this church whatsoever. Pretty much every church budget looks like this. In fact, in a recent LifeWay survey, they revealed that on average, 87% of church budgets went to things that would fall under "operating expenses". That only leaves an average of 13% for "ministry".

So I'm not saying this church budget was bad. Not by any means. In fact, it's perfectly normal.

But that is what's got me thinking: what if normal isn't the best way to do things anymore?

Shouldn't there be a way for more than 13% of our church budget to be designated as "ministry"?

And yes, those labels are somewhat of a misnomer. Ministry takes place in the facility on Sunday mornings, which is provided by the operating expenses portion of the budget, for example. But not all of those line items can be explained like that.

There's simply got to be a better way to do and to fund church, doesn't there? Shouldn't there be a way to free up much of that money to go directly to Kingdom efforts instead of operating expenses? To tell people to spend their money on the poor, the sick, the diseased...? To give people the freedom to buy mosquito nets or malaria medicine or clean water or fund a local crisis pregnancy center or adopt a child... rather than propping up an institution? Or am I just completely off base here?

Not that institutions are inherently bad. They're not. I'm not saying the current way is bad and we need to make it good. I'm just wondering if there's a way to make the current way better. And that means upsetting the traditional way of church budgeting. So I'm just throwing stuff out there to get the conversation started.

To change the status quo, though, is going to require some really tough and big decisions by church leaders.

For example... wouldn't it be a lot better if, instead of having 25 evangelical churches in a single small town, we had, say, five? Or less? Wouldn't it be better if existing churches could join together like that, pool resources, and share the costs of facilities and utilities and phone lines and all that kind of stuff?

Because to be quite honest, I can't really tell one evangelical church apart from another in the town I'm in anyway. What if they joined forces and shared these facilities costs (which account for an average of almost 25% of the total church budget)? Pool resources. Divide costs. It just makes sense to me. Wouldn't that be a smart move for the Kingdom of God?

What if pastors worked part-time instead of full-time? Many of the blogs I follow have hit on this subject in the past several months, pointing to surveys, studies, and anecdotes that show that the old way of having a full-time pastor just isn't working anymore. Bivocational ministry seems to be more and more popular. What if we had pastors who were bivocational with a missional Kingdom purpose, knowing that a bonus secondary benefit of that decision would be to free up budget money for ministry? The last couple years I was on staff at a church I was bivocational and it was the best move I ever made in ministry. I absolutely loved it.

Operating budgets of churches continue to explode all over this country, skyrocketing to record levels. And all the while, the average church attendance across America is declining in every major tradition (evangelical, Catholic, and mainstream).

Maybe one of the reasons is what we're spending our money on.

What do you think? Is the status quo okay? Do we need to fundamentally change church budget strategies? How would you set up a church budget?