I am just in the middle of watching one of Seth’s talk on Tribes from the latest TED conference. And it finally struck me (sometimes I’m slow) that the church has had it backwards. What Seth has discovered to be true in the business world has always been true of the Christian church (including the Old Testament church): tribes are the foundation of getting a message out.

As I’ve also said before, I love irony. So here’s the beautiful irony in this: the church is jumping all over this concept of Tribes, and saying “thank you, Seth”. The reason it’s startling to find this “new” way of “marketing” in the business world is because churches also chased the business world when it was heavily into mass-marketing. (And many still do, admittedly.) Really, Seth should be saying “thank you, Jesus” (in more ways than one ).

Really, when the REVEAL project revealed that churches would do best to focus on Jesus and the Bible instead of performances, comfort, and slick packaging, and when the business world realizes that small groups and relationship-building are the best way to get a message out, why should anyone in a Christian church be surprised at that? It’s what the church has been about since the beginning of time.

David Shepherd & Rev. Samuels listen to King Silas

The new NBC drama Kings premiered last night, and it’s an intriguing show to me. The basic storyline is taken from the Bible’s account of the rise of David and the kings of Israel. Though many details have (understandably) been updated and changed, there is still a remarkable amount of content and a number of overt and subtle allusions to the Biblical accounts.

It will be very interesting to see how the series develops. I’m hoping there’s enough mainstream appeal to keep it going; my gut tells me it could be a fight for this to survive, what with all the Biblical notions and all. There are enough changes and updates to the story (including a couple big twists near the end of the 2-hour premiere) that should give it enough appeal to keep it around for a while, but given the current reticence of mainstream media towards most things Christian, we’ll have to wait and see.

If nothing else, I hope this show encourages people to dig into the Bible, especially the books of Samuel and Kings, to learn more about Samuel, David, Saul, Gilboa, Shiloh, and more. It was fascinating to see some of the allusions to the Biblical record, especially some of the more subtle ones. (For example, as the king prepares for the dedication of the new capital city, he’s informed that Rev. Samuels is running late, and decides to go ahead without him – a small incident in the show, but a direct allusion to 1 Samuel 13:8-14.)

If you saw it, I’d be interested in your thoughts too. If you missed it, you can see it on Hulu. Chime in!

The Watchmen book cover: piquing my curiosity since March 4, 2009.

So when I read this fascinating article about Watchmen creator Alan Moore’s hatred of the movie industry, I knew I had to venture into new geek territory – the graphic novel. I’ve never been a huge comic guy, though I read my share of Archie and Jughead back in the day. But this tripped something in me, and I ventured into the graphic novel aisle at my local B&N tonight. After thumbing through Frank Miller’s 300 (a movie I loved, by the way, and now I’m going to have to read the reason for the movie), and coming up empty on Watchmen, I finally found it in a main display in the middle of the store. Apparently the movie’s generated all kinds of interest from people who wouldn’t normally be into this kind of thing.

/me raises his hand.

I’d never even heard of the Watchmen before seeing the movie trailers (-3 geek points). But know I know where Rorschach tests got their name, and I have “one of Time Magazine’s 100 best novels” sitting in front of me. (NB, that’s not “100 best graphic novels”. It’s one of the 100 best novels. Period. Interesting.)

I’m sure I’ll see the movie, because I love movies. In fact, I probably enjoyed other comic-book adaptation movies (Spider-man, X-men) far more than many because of how little knowledge I have of the actual cominc stories. But this Watchmen thing is intriguing me, especially Alan Moore’s ranting on the movie process, so I’m going to read it first.

+5 geek points.

ESV Study Bible

If you’re looking for a good study Bible, look no further than the recently released ESV (English Standard Version) Study Bible, published by Crossway. It’s a great Bible filled with notes, references, and all kinds of material that will help deepen your understanding of God’s Word.

The icing frosting on the cake is that when you buy the paper version of this study Bible, you get access to the online tool at esvstudybible.org, which has not only the same material as the paper version, plus more, it also has space on the site for you to make your own notes as you read and study.

A most excellent tool for studying Scripture.

The big catch, though, is that, while it can be very easy for users, you really need a very tech-savvy person or team to put it all together. The basics are easy to grasp, but because it’s so powerful and modular, the “under-the-hood” work can get complicated very quickly.

The second-biggest catch is that, because it’s open-source, it relies on a multitude of maintainers to keeping things working smoothly. It works on the concepts of modules, which are like puzzle pieces that contain features, and are arranged all together to complete the picture. There is a “core” set of modules, and all kinds of optional ones that enhance and deepen the framework.

And the biggest problem with the modules can be the documentation. Because this software is written “by developers for developers”, the module instructions often assume a prior level of knowledge, and even assume things within the documentation, which can lead to a lot of missed steps and frustration for site administrators. Not that prior knowledge isn’t good, but by assuming it, you can actually miss the point.

Church leaders, does this ring a bell at all?

The church can be very much like this. Like Drupal, there is no cost to the “end-user” (though it cost Jesus everything). It is the most powerful force in the world, moving forward by the work of Gospel proclamation and the Holy Spirit-directed response in people’s lives. It takes multiple people with multiple gifts to fulfill its mission.

But it also can be very confusing and frustrating for people when church leaders (read: people like me) make assumptions about what people should know and/or do. Because we so often treat church as “by church leaders for church leaders”, we can very quickly turn our communication of the Gospel into vague platitudes, or worse, miss the point altogether because of the assumptions we make.

There are multiple examples: preaching, music, how we approach discipleship, church government, and more. Now please hear me – this is not the same argument as being “seeker-friendly” or “dumbing things down”. It’s actually the opposite. As a church leader, I’m not at all in favor of being seeker-friendly, because I believe that the Gospel creates intrigue in the hearts of people, and leads people to want to know more (just like in Acts 17:16-34). Being “seeker-friendly” has as its goal wanting to make people comfortable and not offend them, which, IM(NSH)O, misses the whole point. (Ok, tangent over.)

Since that’s maybe a little abstract, let me use a concrete example from church leadership. Referring to the story of David and Goliath by saying “and we all know the story of David and Goliath” makes certain assumptions; namely, that people know the basic premises of the story, and what the point of the story is. But those are not assumptions we can make, especially in this era where Biblical illiteracy is growing quickly. Rather, by taking a minute to explain that we simply think (and sadly, our culture thinks simply) of this being the ultimate underdog story, where the little guy faced the big bad giant and prevailed. Well, that’s true in the Biblical account, but now every sports matchup or lawsuit where there’s a “little guy” and “big guy” is described as a David-vs-Goliath story. Which misses the whole point.

I understand why we tend towards speaking like this. We don’t want to exclude anyone. If someone didn’t know the story, it would allow them to smile and nod along with everyone else just like Joey does on Friends, even when most of the time he doesn’t get the jokes. But, like Seth Godin points out, exclusion isn’t a bad thing, it’s a reality. And the goal of the church is not to exclude, but to expand the tribe of people called Christians, so that fewer and fewer people are excluded (1 Timothy 2:1-4). But by trying to be inclusive, we miss an opportunity.

See, the whole point of David’s victory over Goliath is not that David got lucky, or that small=good and big=evil. It’s that God delivered His people from their enemies. There was no earthly way David beats Goliath; it was only by the hand of God. This is a story of grace and God’s power, not about human effort and taking down the “big bad” things of the world. It leads us to then speak of Jesus, whom David typifies in this story, who saved His people not from an earthly giant and enslavement to a nation, but from a spiritual enemy and enslavement to sin.

Because most people think of David-and-Goliath in our culture’s human terms, not assuming people know the story doesn’t insult anyone’s intelligence. It deepens their understanding. And the great irony of this is that, by not making the assumption, one can actually help both “seekers” and strong Christians deepen their understanding at the same time. Whereas, by making the assumption, not only do we not teach the “seeker” anything, we reinforce the “insider” mentality of the church.

So what church leaders (and Drupal module writers) need to realize is that, by not making these assumptions, it’s not dumbing things down. It’s the very opposite; it deepens and strengthens those we intend to reach by allowing them to discover the fullness of what the Gospel is (and what their module can do). By not assuming things, we actually reach both the seeker and the Christian. In the Drupal world, not assuming things actually helps deepen my understanding of what the module does and how it works together in the whole Drupal system. The same is true of the church, and can help us as church leaders as we seek to help people to grow and mature in Christ, together with the whole body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Luckily there was room for us in the lounge (now that’s a bit surreal, sitting in the bar at Denny’s at 6am on a Tuesday) so we didn’t have to wait as long as others who aren’t at least 21 yet…

Of course, part of the conversation surrounds the question, why? Why would Denny’s presumably lose a ton of money? The logical answer was just to get people in the door. And that was part of it. As we were almost finished, the penny dropped. Coupon books for everyone offering 25% off a few things for the next few visits. The tagline on the front of the book: “8 great reasons to keep coming back”.

Clever. It’ll be interesting to see if it ends up working or not. They sure got a lot of free press about it. (Barring the SuperBowl ad, of course. Which as a whole, incidentally, were rather uninspired this year (except for Doritos crystal ball and the Angry Eyes) – one can tell the big investments in TVland are really starting to dwindle.) I shall keep a (non-angry) eye out to see any followup over the next few weeks.

‘Twas a good time, gentlemen, even if it was all a marketing ploy (isn’t everything?). And even if it was at 6am. I’ll forgive you for that. This time.

But the best part of the book is not in his answers, excellent though those are. It is the way he frames the discussion in the opening sections, imploring non-believers to honestly consider the answers to their objections, but at the same time imploring Christians to honestly consider the objections and questions. It is this tone of respect that has been sorely lacking in the perceptions of many over the past many years.

Pastor Keller’s book is the embodiment of 1 Peter 3:15-17 – it helps Christians give answers for the hope they have (v. 15) but just as important it does it with gentleness and respect (v. 16-17). Verse 15 is not enough to show Christ’s love to the world. Christians will gain an audience with non-Christians only when it is evident that respect is present no matter what.

The book is set up in two major parts. The first deals with the 7 most popular objections to Christianity that he’s faced in his ministry, and seeks to both understand and answer not just the objections themselves, but the underlying beliefs as well. He does a very good job of answering them from a Christian perspective and calling out the fallacies on both sides when they show up. The second part is aimed at not just answering objections against Christianity, but making a strong case for it. As he states it,

“It is one thing to argue that there are no sufficient reasons for disbelieving Christianity. It is another to argue that there are sufficient reasons for believing it.”

I believe he achieves both his goals, and I would heartily recommend the book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Christian faith, whether you’re a Christian or not. It’s a great book, and one that can help a lot of Christians not only live out that directive from 1 Peter, but to maybe honestly wrestle with some of these issues for the first time.

Well worth not only a read, but worth spending some significant time with a pencil and highlighter in your hand while you read.

My first question is what does this say about our culture and its approach to art, that this kind of tool is available so quickly after the original? (That’s not a rhetorical question – I’d really like to hear opinions.) Sure, people have been “Warhol-ing” themselves for years. But that the technology and participatory nature of our culture is intersecting so quickly is fascinating to me. (I wonder how Shepard Fairey feels about it.)

Secondly, does this de-value art, or does it enhance it? What’s it like for an artist now knowing that no matter what work is produced, in a matter of weeks anyone from anywhere can make derivatives and copy the style for free with a couple minutes worth of work?

I’m interested to hear from you…

All video is essentially stop-motion animation. You take a series of still pictures and play them back in order. The faster you play them, the more lifelike they become, until at some point they become “moving pictures”. Play one picture every 5 seconds, you have a slide show. Play one picture every 1/2 second, it’s hard to concentrate on any of them. Play one picture every 1/10 of a second (or 10 images (aka “frames”) per second) and you get really jerky “video”. Play 22 or 23 frames per second, it’s approaching fast enough to look like video.

Get to 24 fps, and all of a sudden, you’re watching a movie. Very cool.

Go to 30 fps and you’ve got TV. (Ok geek nitpickers, I know that regular TV is 60 fields interlaced, not true progressive 30 fps. And that it’s really 59.94 and 29.97 for NTSC video. But now you’re just ruining the fun of the journey with technical details.)

So with all that in mind, I give you another YouTube video. This one is a fan-generated video for the band Modest Mouse. Someone took the provided footage, printed each frame out on paper, then took digital pictures of each frame and re-assembled them digitally, playing them back fast enough to re-create the original video. The rest of the footage looks like very fast stop-motion animation (which it is).

It’s an amazing video, with an amazing amount of work behind it. I’m still amazed it didn’t win the contest. It’s one of the coolest videos I’ve ever seen.

Here ’tis…

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I continue to!