Tonight Pam and I watched "The Gospel." Wow, what a strong Christian message! It's basically a modern-day retelling of the Prodigal Son story. The DVD's "Making of" featurette showed that the people who made this film are serious about their faith.

I was deeply moved by "The Gospel." I grew up hearing that the story of the Prodigal Son is really about the "good" son who stayed home and was loyal to his father. Likewise with this movie. You had the prodigal and the good son, and they were at odds with each other. Each needed a different kind of redemption.

Rent the flick.

Posted at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I stumbled across (via a Google search) some kind words about my commercial site which sells Powerpoint background slides for church. A really large site called eBibleTecher.com does a lot with Powerpoint and electronic projection in general. The fellow who runs it took a look at his favorites in various categories--favorite children's teacher site, favorite free Powerpoint backgrounds, favorite Bible study site, favorite Holy Land photos. And:

"OUR FAVORITE COMMERCIAL POWERPOINT BACKGROUNDS - This is a hard pick. There are LOTS of great sites selling PowerPoint backgrounds. Our favorite is the "VideoScriptures" set available from Churchmedia.net. Our second favorite is Steve Dennie's material at: www.RandomPokes.com."

Well, that kinda made my day! You can read his words here.

Posted at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We watched several movies during the past few weeks, all rented through Netflix, in which we've been members for three years. Just think--for three years, we haven't made a single trip to a video store. Zero time spent perusing the racks of recent and old releases, trying to decide what to rent. Zero time spent standing in long lines. Netflix is a pure time-saver...and money saver, all things considered.

Last Saturday we watched "Redeye," and the previous week we watched "Transporter 2." Both were carriers of fairly mindless mayhem and mischief. Nothing particularly redeeming, just fun rides. We've never watched "Transporter 1." We'll need to do tht, because we kinda liked the sequel. An interesting kind of action hero.

I had heard about "The Battle of Algiers," a French movie with subtitles made somewhere around 1960. It's black and white, and involves how the French got booted out of Algeria (after having already been unceremoniously ejected from Vietnam). It was very, very good. At least, as a historical piece, I found it quite interesting. I had heard that it was filmed with a documentary feel, and that's certainly the case. This one did, indeed, have some redeeming value.

Posted at 07:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past Sunday, part of my pastor's message dealt with prayer. He mentioned (not as a central point) that when people pray at mealtimes, they always pray the same prayer. Isn't that true! I'm certainly that way. I have a basic Meal Prayer Template, and I don't stray far from it. Mix up a few words here and there, but basically say the same thing.

What are the ramifications of that? Does it mean we're praying on automatic pilot? Is a rote, meaningless prayer worse than no prayer at all? Or is prayer never meaningless? I don't know. Don't want to make a whole lot out of it. But I did laugh out loud when Tim said we all pray the same prayer over and over.

But I must confess--when I go out for lunch by myself (as I will within the hour), I rarely say a prayer over my meal as I'm sitting there at Wendy's or Long John's or Bob Evans. I used to, but somewhere along the line (some years ago), I stopped. I don't remember why. Maybe it got to be just too automatic, ritualistic, dutiful, or whatever. When Pam and I eat out, we always hold a hand across the table and pray. But I don't when it's just me. Does that make me unspiritual? Less committed? Well, whatever the case, I'm not inclined to start again. I feel like I'm "removing the ancient landmarks" that scripture warns against.

Posted at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Does anyone disagree that it's Bucky's turn to hit the streets next on American Idol? It doesn't matter how well he performs tonight. He's on deck to exit. I guess we'll find out for sure Wednesday night. I'm just putting in my bets now. And next week it'll be Lisa. Then Elliott. Then it starts getting really really hard, so I'm not going to predict any further.

Posted at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the Wednesday before the NCAA tournament started, I dutifully filled out my bracket. But, unlike in previous years, I lacked enthusiasm about it, and didn't really care to spend the time needed to keep it updated during the two weeks of the tourney. I noted that I didn't fairly well on the opening Thursday and Friday, but then I threw away the bracket. I love watching the games, but felt too busy to spend energy on the bracket.

Just as well. Everybody's bracket has been busted to smithereens this year. I can't believe UCLA, my favorite team (since my high school days in California, at the tail end of the Wooden/Walton era) is in the Final Four. According to ESPN radio this morning, the TV ratings are down, because everybody's bracket is busted. Well, that's just too bad.

Posted at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was Jordi's 7th birthday. We got him about six weeks after he was born, and the picture shows what he looked like then. Just a tiny, cute little thing. Now he's about 16 pounds, and a bit bigger than in picture in the blog header (where he's obsuring most of my face, which is for the better).

Jordi got to spend a lot of time outside yesterday--clear outside, in the grass, where all of his senses come alive (and hapless mice meet the afterlife). He ate some of the special treats he considers so delicious. He took a ride when we went to get our Sunday night pizza (he loves jumping into the back window on the way to the pizza place, and then nestling into Pam's arms in the front seat on the way home). He got plenty of attention, and didn't have a clue why.

Jordi is named after Geordi, on Star Trek. Jordi Picard Dennie--that's his full name. We got him from a family in Kendalville who had a litter of kittens to give away. They told us Jordi was a long-haired female, which is what we said we wanted. Turns out he's a short-haired male. But we never considered returning him.

Pam and I are severely afflicted with the Couples with Cats And No Kids Dimentia.

Posted at 09:51 PM | Permalink

As usual, I stopped at Starbucks this morning. The lady in front of me ordered a grande hot tea, and then said, "I'd like to put the tea bags in myself." So basically, she got a cup of hot water, with a side of teabags.

This got me thinking. You can buy from Starbucks a box of their teabags. And this being the 21st Century, most homes are equipped with the technology to boil water. This woman could then boil water at home, add two teabags, and be able to skip a trip to Starbucks. The only advantage I can see is if the water Starbucks uses is somehow "special," like Evian water or something.

But I'm missing the point. The point is, this woman probably wants to be able to say, "Yeah, I stopped at Starbucks on my way to work." There is a degree of hipness in that. For that matter, I could just as easily brew some Starbucks coffee (with Ice Mountain water, on special occasions) while I'm taking a shower, and then save 5-10 minutes (depending on the store's busyness) on my way to work. But I'd rather tell people that I stop at Starbucks every morning. It shows that I'm "with it," I'm a "happenin' dude," I'm 49 but still "cool." Or am I just really, really psychologically screwed up?

Posted at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday I ranted about Continuous Partial Attention, otherwise known as the Laptops in Meetings Disease. CPA has been around for a while, and it's not limited to using computers during meetings. I find myself unable, or unwilling, to focus on something in a variety of settings. And I'm not alone. We quip, "I'm just multi-tasking," which carries the pretense of being efficient, doing two or more things at once. But the reality is, you're not giving any one thing your full attention. Like:

• Talking on the cell phone while driving.
• Jotting down ideas for my Sunday night small group meeting during the sermon. Guilty.
• Reading Newsweek while watching TV (though TV rarely deserves your full attention, unless it's "24" or Taylor Hicks is performing on American Idol).
• Doing a project at work while chatting with someone via iChat (like, um, my wife; we're linked that way all day long).
• Reading a magazine while eating, which I always do. No, that doesn't count, any more than eating popcorn while watching a movie does.

Posted at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I discovered a great new term yesterday: CPA, which stands for Continuous Partial Attention. It was apparently coined by an executive with Apple who was speaking at a convention of, basically, geeks. While she spoke, those geeks would have been consulting their Blackberrys, surfing on their G4 laptops, doing stuff on iPods, and playing with their Treos. In other words, giving her, as she spoke, only partial attention. And she nailed them about it.

Our society is seriously afflicted with this Continous Partial Attention disorder. This includes the church. When we have denominational meetings, guys sit there listening to the bishop or keynote speakers with their laptops open, typing away as if taking notes, but everyone knows their actually responding to emails, writing sermons, or doing other things under the guise of "multi-tasking." But to me--a former transgressor, I freely admit--it's become simply rude.

When we held transition meetings with representatives from the Missionary Church, back in the merger-talks days, none of the MC guys brought laptops. But on the United Brethren side, you would see four or five laptops open. And when a laptop is open, with a clean wireless connection to the internet, it's impossible to just ignore it. The keyboard cries out, "Use me! Use me!" And so, we UBs were giving partial attention as others spoke about hugely important issues.

The same thing happened last summer at our US National Conference. Curses on the presence of wireless! And I saw it again a few weeks ago when our cluster leaders met for a two-day meeting in Hillsdale, Mich., to discuss how we were totally re-engineering the denomination. Very important stuff. But as Bishop Ramsey or Pat Jones or Tom Blaylock spoke, or as others entered into discussion, we'd have a number of guys poking away at their laptops.

This is not peculiar to UBs. It's just an example of the prevalence of CPA.

For denominational meetings, we--meaning, sacrificial tithes-payers in the pews--will spend hundreds of dollars to fly a guy or gal to Huntington. Why? Because we desire their input and wisdom and experience. But when they pay only partial attention to what's going on, I think we've wasted our money. Yeah, this partial attention malady irks me. Continuously.

Posted at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Anchor church board meets every two months on a Monday night, and last night was one of them. We have a small board--the pastor, three elders, treasurer, several others. It's pretty much a business and policy group, as opposed to a visioning type of group. I think a lot of church boards are that way.

At the beginning of the meeting, Pastor Tim led us in a brief leadership study using some writings of Henry and Richard Blackaby. It was good stuff. We're trying to "re-engineer" Anchor into a church focused much more strongly on outreach. The last seven years, since we started, have been a flurry of activity. New programs and activities have arisen, but not usually around any central plan. But now we're standing back, taking a deep breath, and saying, "What should we do during the next seven years?"

Let me comment on some sentences from the Blackabys.

• "Because an opportunity presents itself, the leader assumes it must be God's will to move forward. But mistaking an open door for an invitation is an undiscerning approach to leadership." We've been guilty of some of this, I suppose. Doors open, and we plunge through. But there will always be doors. You have to be intentional about which ones you decide to walk through (while leaving room for God to open a door that you never in your wildest dreams imagined in your strategic plan).
• "The easiest course of action is often the one taken previously, especially if it was successful....Yesterday's successes always linger on long beyond their productive life." Our annual carnival and Halloween maze have been successful events. Does that mean we must continue doing them every year? No. But once something becomes "institutionalized," it's real hard saying no to it.
• "Churches are remiss to assume that because God once worked mightily in a particular way, he will contiue to work in exactly that way." We recently discontinued our separately-incorporated youth ministry. There were financial reasons, but also practical ones. We'll still do youth ministry, obviously. We just won't do it like we did in the past, despite its successes. I'm glad we were able to make that decision, painful though it was (especially since it goes against the "original vision," which can get unduly idolized).

Posted at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm rooting for the Cuban baseball team to win the World Baseball Classic. Not the country of Cuba. Certainly not Father Fidel. It's the players on Cuba's baseball team that excite me. They are tremendous players, and may be the Cuban version of "professional athletes," but they lack all of the benefits (and huge salaries) of pro players in the USA. In quality, they measure up to our pros. In attitude, they are more like college players--exuberant, smiling, thrilled to be there. Watching them is like watching any of the NCAA college teams in March Madness.

Okay, I guess this qualifies me as a communist sympathizer. Go dig up Joe McCarthy and smear me.

I enjoy watching the worship teams from small churches. A local Alliance church played at our church a few years ago, and it was clear that those guys were a close team who loved playing music together. Likewise for a UB church I visited in Kokomo, Ind. I saw them play, watched them interact with each other, and they reminded me of the Anchor team. A bunch of guys engaged in a common mission around something they love doing, and are gifted to do. There is a group from Huntertown which plays at the Seekers coffeehouse frequently, and I sensed the same thing with them.

I don't see that when I watch polished teams from big churches led by professionals. I don't sense the team-ness, the cohesion, that I see in little-church teams. The commaraderie we have as a team at Anchor goes lightyears beyond what I experienced for years at a much larger church. It was still fun there. But it was nothing like what we share on the Anchor team.

Go Cuba. Go Anchor. Go little guys.

Posted at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, grown adults across America are examining each other's clothing for traces of green, and pointing out people who aren't wearing green. The same scene is occurring in every grade school classroom in the country. Ministers in pastoral meetings are doing it. We did it this morning in our office. Amazing.

I'm wearing bluejeans, and a maroon sweater with a maroon shirt underneath. I am green-less, and unapologetically so. What a spoilsport.

Posted at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've long been a fan of Robert Parker's "Spencer" novels, having discovered him back in the early 1980s when he was on his 5th or 6th in the series. Now there are over 30, I'm sure, and he's added two more detective series, starring Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall. Not as interesting as Spencer, but still good.

Parker has been called the successor to Raymond Chandler, a 1940s-era fellow known for writing "The Big Sleep." I started reading "The Big Sleep" some years ago, but for whatever reason, I lost interest early on and never finished the book. But a couple years ago, I read one of Chandler's short stories and was absolutely enthralled. What a masterful writer! I've since read several of his books, including "The Big Sleep," and several more sit on my bookshelf.

But Chandler also aroused my interest in other old-time detective writers, like Dashell Hammet and Jim Thompson and Patricia Highsmith. I've fallen in love with the whole noir genre, books starring hard-boiled detectives and set earlier in the century, and written in the first-person with sarcasm and wit deluxe. Part of my attraction to these books is that writers in those days couldn't freely use obscenity or write sex scenes. Thankfully, plenty of people still get killed. But there's an innocence to the mayhem.

Most recently, I discovered Philip Kerr's "Berlin Noir" series, three books set in Berlin circa WW2. He's a more contemporary writer, so there was some language and other stuff. But it's still a period book in the same genre. Last night I finished the first book in the series, "March Violets," which occurs in 1936 at the time of the Berlin Olympics. The plot is a nothing-special murder mystery, but it's set in the context of Hitler's consolidation of power. You see people disappear, you see concentration camps arise, you see Jews and others persecuted, and you catch the mood of a city and of a country which is still unsure of what exactly is happening. So while this murder investigation unfolds, a huge drama is occurring all around you. Fascinating stuff. I'm looking forward to the next two books.

Posted at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A retired minister was in my office this morning, and during the conversation, he injected some subtle hints about what he thinks should happen in the church. This same fellow (a minister I respect, by the way) was highly involved in fighting the initiative to combine our denomination into the Missionary Church. He is of my parents' generation. And he, like many of them (and probably like I will be) has difficulty entrusting his church's future to the next generation. These good folks (some of them) still use their connections and knowledge of "how things work" to influence the church's direction, even though they no longer hold leadership positions or are necessarily active in ministry. They are unable to "let things go."

The cold fact is, today our denomination is firmly in the control of baby boomers. I understand that this is the case with nearly all denominations. Just as the Lord of the Rings ended with the dawn of the "Age of Men," and the departure of the elves, we are now in the Age of the Baby Boomers. The boomers have been influential for some time now. But today, they pull the strings. They call the shots. They are in charge.

But a question we're asking is, "Who will be the next generation of leaders?" As we look across the denomination, there are some bright young leaders...but not many. Certainly not as many as there were among the baby boomers at that age. We can look at the young crop of ministers and wonder, "Who will be the bishop in 20 years?" And it's difficult to guess.

Regardless, we need to be grooming some of these young ministers for eventual (or current) leadership. Because they are our future. So we baby boomers are being pulled from two directions. On the one hand, we have the older generation which doesn't fully approve of the direction the boomers are taking and still wants to try to control things. Then we have the younger generations who are most certainly out of tune with the older generation--the baby busters and GenXers--but whom we boomers realize need to be developed for--and even pushed into--leadership roles. It's an interesting dilemma.

Posted at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some kind of flu thing hit me during the night. Not a fun night. I ended up skipping church, which I hated to do, because the worship team was doing some good songs. But I didn't think it would enhance the atmosphere of the service if I collapsed at the keyboard. Might have alarmed the kiddies.

Anyway, I've been on a Saltines and 7-Up diet all day. This is one of the things--one of the MANY things, I should say--that I've learned from my wife. When you're sick, nothing tastes better than Saltines and 7-Up. I went through 35 years of life without knowing that. As proof of my morning delirium, after finally waking up, I watched an hour of James Carville and Paul Begala speaking at a Harvard forum about their new book. I've actually come to appreciate James Carville, in the same way that I've come to appreciate, say...well, absolutely nothing is coming to mind. So I guess that puts Carville in the class of "gulity pleasure." But Paul Begala--sorry, but in all Christian love, I must say that I can't stand the viper.

My wife takes good care of me when I'm sick. That is not an incentive for getting sick. But it does make the ordeal more endurable.

Posted at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interesting article in BusinessWeek about how the growth of the internet has slowed to a crawl. In the US, 64% of households are connected to the internet. And that percentage is expected to increase to only 65% in the coming year. The explosive growth of the 1990s and early 2000s seems to have hit a wall.

Why? The article sites several factors.

• Setting up a computer and getting connected is just too complicated; many people don't want the hassle.
• Some people (but not a whole lot) still live in areas where internet access isn't possible or is difficult.
• People are afraid of it. They hear the stories about identity theft and rampant viruses, and don't feel capable to figure out how to protect themselves. I resonate with that.
• They see the internet as unncessary. About 6 million peoplehave a computer, but not internet access, and say they won't subscribe at any price.
• About 31% of non-users say they have internet access at work, and that's sufficient for their needs.
• Then there's the senior citizen segment. I know plenty of seniors who use the internet. But according to the article, 60% of people age 65 or older don't use the internet at all. That surprised me.

The article says computer and internet companies have failed to make things simpler. Instead, they keep adding new features which will appeal to the early adopters, and that just further intimidates nonusers. The "simpler" argument doesn't work for me, since I set up a dozen Macs in the past six months. Take it out of the box, turn it on, the machine walks you through a few routine steps--and you're ready to go.

At the same time, I've got a Dell laptop at work, which I use only so I can check to see how my websites look on a PC. That laptop drives me nuts with all the things that keep popping up. It's hugely intrusive. For my PC readers: I know, there's undoubtedly some setting I can turn off. But I'd rather just be able to gripe about PCs, if you don't mind.

In my work, we are doing more and more on the internet, at the expense of print media. This is valid. We're in survival mode, and we're looking to the future of the church. But it's good to know that 35% of our people probably aren't connected, and it'll be a number of years before that number drops even to 30%. Our demographics would skew more toward the "middle class" end of things, where you could expect to have more people connected. But we're also a somewhat rural group, so we'd have plenty of people who only get dial-up, if anything (though in actuality, we're more of a smalltown denomination, and small towns are connected for the most part).

Anyway, it gives me, as Communications Director, some things to consider.

Posted at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The only nominated movie I saw was “Crash.” However, I went to bed before the Best Picture Oscar was granted, because I was sure it would go to “Brokeback Mountain,” and something in me just didn’t want to be paying attention. So I enjoyed hearing the next morning that “Crash” won.

I loved “Crash.” The language was a bit strong, and with most movies, Pam and I would have turned it off. But I was absolutely fascinated by the multi-faceted takes on racism and prejudice that the movie explored. The film attacked all kinds of stereotypes. I just loved the movie. I had no idea it was Oscar caliber.

I didn’t see “Capote,” but I did read “In Cold Blood,” the book on which the movie is based. That was a ground-breaking book in its time, and is credited with creating a new form of journalism called literary journalism, or progressive non-fiction. Capote delved into the minds of his subjects, something which journalists aren’t supposed to do because it’s subjective. But the book was superb.

Now, many people write in that style. Paul Thoreaux's travel writing, in which he injects himself as the writer, is a form of progressive non-fiction. John McPhee, writing in the New Yorker, became the Gold Standard for this type of writing. But Capote was the pioneer (though if you read A. J. Liebling’s World War II writing, especially his wonderful article about an American soldier called “Mollie,” you have to wonder whether Capote was a pioneer, or just got credit).

Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Oscar for portraying Capote. I approve, because I loved Hoffman’s character in “Twister.” A loud, scruffy, fearless tornado chaser.

Posted at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm supposed to cut back on caffeine and salt. Both can aggravate this condition I have that causes vertigo. I used to drench french fries in salt, and dump salt on spaghetti and everything else in sight. But during the past two years, I've learned to eat french fries and other foods without adding salt. It's been difficult. Not exactly equal in difficulty to, say, overcoming the loss of a limb or dealing with epileptic seizures, but for a wimpy guy like me, it's significant that I conquered my magnetic attraction to salt.

Salt was do-able. Even in the past few months, when I had to take my salt-avoidance to a new level. I'm learning that joy can exist even in the absence of excessive amounts of salt.

But caffeine...how could I possibly live the abundant life God desires for me without consuming vast quantities of caffeine-saturated liquids? Well, I've made progress. My morning ritual has been to stop at Starbucks on my way to work. That's the only coffee I would drink all day, with rare exceptions. I learned to stop drinking coffee throughout the day. I guess Starbucks is strong enough that the buzz would sustain me without periodic injections of additional caffeine.

But with this latest bout of vertigo, I realized the need for more drastic measures. Even that one cup, on a regular basis, was too much. But this cross seemed too much to bear. Help me, Jesus. For I am weak and helpless and in need of feeling the jitters.

Well, turns out it's not so difficult after all. I tried Starbucks decaf--and liked it. I really didn't notice the difference in taste, though I certainly did notice the buzz-lessness. However, it's been a pleasant surprise that I can continue my daily pilgrimage to the Starbucks Temple. I even discovered that you can get all the other drinks--lattes, machiattos, etc.--in decaf. I tried a couple lattes that way--and liked them, too.

So, God has provided. Life will continue to be worth living.

Posted at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)