IT- review

My Boss sent a link to this article after I told him about my experience at my home church this past weekend. I don't necessarily agree with the article but found it interesting. I wish there was a church that could 100% perfectly represent Jesus how he was... I really wish I could be a person who did.

In 2000, I became a Christian at the age of 23. Two years later, I was working at one of the largest churches in the country. After two more years, I left that job to help start a brand new church. Four years later, I stopped attending church. So...no church, to attending church, to working in a church, to starting a church, to leaving the church - all in less than eight years. Now, I am visiting 52 churches in 52 weeks in order to redefine my faith. This is reflection 31 of 52.

Remember how kid's shows always had a word of the day? Like "ball," and then they would spend the whole episode discussing balls.

This week's word for stop 31 of the Church Experiment is "contradIcTion."

First, I'm going to contradict myself multiple times. Including a huge contradiction at the very end, so no matter how judgmental I may sound throughout this post, you have to keep reading until the very last sentence. Second, I'm going to discuss my visit to Southland in a way that highlights many of their contradictions (from an outsider's perspective). You'll see what I mean.

First, a little backstory: a young lady from Kentucky began following the Church Experiment months ago. As I recall, from the beginning, she wanted me to come visit her church in Lexington. The only thing I know about Lexington is that I loathe UK basketball, so a trip seemed unlikely. Then, a while back, she gave me an update about "IT." Southland began a summer-long marketing blitz for a series beginning August 1st, titled IT. No one knew what IT was, only that IT was going to be huge. My interest was piqued, so Saturday night, I made the 90-minute drive from Cincinnati to Lexington to experience IT firsthand.

When I first pulled into Southland's parking lot, I was overwhelmed (in a good way). I literally had to park so far away from the main building that I expected an airport shuttle to go racing by. Even though I arrived on Southland's campus five minutes early, I walked into the building a minute late. That's how far away I had to park.

READ the rest here.

Hotel Rwanda

I can't believe I've never seen this.
This movie is unbelievable how could we as people ever let this happen.

Blessed our those who are generous, because they feed the poor. Proverbs 22:9
Friends of ours live in Haiti as full time missionaries.
Read about this organization on their blog
Feed My Starving Children

Donald Miller's recap of the inauguration.

Donald Miller at the Inauguration

Donald Miller will be attending the Presidential Inauguration and you can follow his updates on twitter "follow donmilleris" to 40404.

Found first at here.

I am Second is a movement where significance in life is a shared value among people of all kinds. Actors. Musicians. Business leaders. Your next-door neighbor. People just like you. Their authentic stories here on iamsecond provide insight into dealing with typical struggles of everyday living. You’ll meet people who overcame destructive lifestyles. Plus you’ll discover those who’ve tried to go it alone and have failed, yet still found a life full of hope, peace, and fulfillment.

We believe there is a reason why you are here. We all have needs and could use some help. Here you’ll find issues relevant to you as well as answers to challenging life questions. I am Second is designed to help people discover their purpose in life. Have you discovered yours? Visit the full site.

PostSecret of the Week

My prayer for those that have been hit by the economy-
that is doesn't tear families apart.
PostSecret

Beautifully written blog post

Josh Bottomly's Reflection Blog

Election Overview...

This is a historic day!
'Change has come to America' if you don't believe its a good change
all you can do is pray.

Even though it ended up not mattering I was excited we went BLUE.
A little more on politics from Donald Miller.
My friend Steph's sister Lizz wrote a great blog about her voting experience.
I kept an eye on Dina Titus and Prop 8.

I don't want to get attached...but I can't help it.

Studio 60 ROCKS!
I am a HUGE fan of West Wing and...Bradley Whitford
aka Josh Limon and I hope to love him as Danny Tripp but I also like Danny from West Wing (who is also on Studio 60...)
If you don't know what I am talking about you need to get ALL the West Wing episodes
and then I believe Studio 60 but I have only seen a few episodes.

The Curse

A guy that has been helping us out A LOT at church has a passion for film and thinks there should be more Christina films. So he is making his own. Check out the website here, knowing him it will be a great film.

Democratic Convention- Donald Miller's Prayer

This is a prayer we should always be praying...“I make these requests in the name of Your son Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example…Amen”

Obama vs. McCain

Did anyone see this? I missed it but got see parts later.
What did you think? I loved Obama's answer about religion.
He quoted on of my favorite scriptures Micah 6:8

Kiva- I'm in love.

We Let You Loan to the Working Poor
Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.
The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.
Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

*Okay so I know that this is not new NEWS to many but it is to me. Clinton did a big push for it, I'm sure Oprah, and many churches. BUT I got to give $1000 of our missions budget to 40 different people today- by far the COOLEST thing I have gotten to do while working here a The Crossing. Nate and I are going to give tonight, you should too!

Heartsupport

For those of you who do not read my Vegas blog check out this cool website: heartsupport

Twitter

I am continually amazed by technology and what people come up with.

Wikipedia: Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets") to the Twitter web site. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application.

So basically its status updates (like Myspace or facebook) without the profile page. I am not sure about it seeing I don't use the status updates on my myspace or facebook but I opened an account today- if your on find me on twitter.com/eworshamjohnson.

Why I joined: The guys I work for (Creative Arts Staff at my church) think it would be cool to make an interactive worship experience using twitter. Check out this blog about a church in Chicago that did this.

The positive buzzwords for this were
“I felt like part of what was happening,”
“I felt part of the community,”
“I felt like a leader,”
“I felt like it was more than just about me.”

"I’m not gonna lie—I love technology. I love blogging. The computer. My iPhone. If you read this blog you’re saying, “duh.” But, though my love of technology and our penchant for taking risks as early adopters at Westwinds played a role in Twitter Sunday, there was a much deeper inertia."

Jesus for President

I have really been struggling with politics and religion this week.

After reading and commenting on a friends blog I found this book.

What I got out of skimming through it was that America is about

peace and freedom to all; its NOT my Jesus.

"A nation that continues to spend more money on military defense

than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." -MLK

Why is the Gospel of love dividing America?

It's a documentary that some guys at church watched today.
I have only watched the preview but it brings up interesting topics.

The Vegas

Nate and I are moving to Las Vegas!!
He is going to be the Creative Arts Minister for the Middle and High School at
The Crossing.
Keep up with us at The Vegas.

Isaiah 55:8-9

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
declares the LORD.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.