this interesting article made the front of cnn.com this week…. as in, the front story– bigger heading than the BP coverage. As you know, those of us who went to Powell recently read his newest book together, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (which many of us highly recommend!). Cool to see such a great guy getting positive coverage from such a big media group…
Archive for the 'In the News' Category
donald miller makes the front of cnn.com
Published 07/20/2010 In the News Leave a CommentTags: cnn, Donald Miller
sex or jesus: what’s more popular?
Published 05/10/2010 In the News , Thoughts to Ponder Leave a CommentTags: floating sheep, google, religion in america, surveys
This map below comes from the website Floating Sheep (www.floatingsheep.org). FS takes any number of topics to investigate, and then searches for Google Maps placemarks containing specific keywords and records the number of results generated for each keyword. The results provide one glimpse of what internet users (in the aggregate) think about particular places. And they’re super interesting. And no, they’re not all serious or religious. Check out this one which shows where in the U.S bars outnumber grocery stores & vice-versa. They call it a way to track America’s beer belly… what’s going on in Wisconsin & Illinois??? But the map below looks worldwide @ notions about different religious system vs. sex. Very interesting…
jennifer knapp comes out
Published 05/01/2010 In the News Leave a CommentTags: bob botsford, derek webb, homosexuality, jennifer knapp, tony jones
if you haven’t tracked with the recent news about former christian artist Jennifer Knapp coming out as a lesbian, its grabbed a lot of headlines. The first in-depth interview with her covering her exit from the music industry year ago and her recent return & “coming out” was in a recent issue of Christianity Today. Many Christians, like Pastor Bob Botsford, have spoken out extensively against Jennifer’s position. Others, like author Tony Jones, have expressed adamant support. Meanwhile, artist Derek Webb has announced a tour with Jennifer this spring. She also just appeared on Larry King Live in a very interesting interview. A piece of it is below. This remains quite an issue that the greater church in our time is contending with & that we must each work through individually and together.
Back in the Saddle
Published 02/23/2010 In the News , What we are doing Leave a CommentTags: acacia, ash wednesday, joe biden, lent, love & relationships, olympics, shauna gauthier
Hey Everyone– we’re through making the domain & site transition to theacaciacommunity.com! You can now re-enter the site as depicted by this creepy picture. It was a bit of a process & you’ll still notice some more design & general content changes in the coming weeks. The great news is we are able to host all of our old content from aforwarddesign.com here! Also, that old domain name will forward here….Best of all, we can get back to regular posts. Thanks to Chris for all his work on this!
A lot has been going on these last few weeks…. Lent has begun, marked by Ash Wednesday last week & a british newscaster who didn’t know why VP Joe Biden had a “Bruise” on his head. Awesome: The Olympics are winding down, and USA is still ahead in the medal counts! If you missed some of the crazy crashes, you may want to check out the highlights here. Nutty.
Back home, we’re praying for Kara Wester, who is arriving in Haiti today as part of a medical response team from Denver she partnered with. Also, Thursday’s have been warming our hearts as we go through a Love & Relationships Series. We’re talking it all from dating to gender roles to sex, and making the best connections we can to our faith. By listening to the voices from our community alongside the scriptures, we’re having some really meaningful conversations and maybe even some wisdom & clarity! This Thursday is no exception as we welcome our good friend Shauna Gauthier via Skype for some teaching & dialogue. More to come on that soon!
Two gripping photos captured for me the weight of the situation in Haiti. One, shows a woman mourning openly in the street with bodies layed out feet from her. The second, shows a different woman looking up at a destroyed church building… almost looking for any hope in the aftermath. These are pictures you can literally FEEL. Last, at the bottom, a quick video shows a mini-miracle in the rescue operations. A young boy and his sister were lifted out of the rubble yesterday after a FULL WEEK— alive & okay. The smile from the boy when he’s finally pulled out to ground level is amazing! Can you even imagine?
Different Responses to Haiti
Published 01/19/2010 In the News Leave a CommentTags: Devil, Donald Miller, haiti, Pat Robertson, shauna gauthier
A few interesting responses to the Haiti Earthquake…. If you didn’t hear about the unfortunate words of Pat Robertson (700 Club Host), he decided to speak out about how the earthquake in Haiti was likely a move by God due to the Haitian peoples pact with the devil. Yes, you read right. Citing an apocryphal story about the Haitian break from France, (in which the Haitian rebels made a pact with the spirit of the land and drank blood in exchange for freedom), the statement was poorly timed at best and a tragically gross representation of Christ-followers at worst. (more on the Robertson story here) Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz & A Million Miles A Thousand Years) gave a thoughtful response to the Robertson comments on his blog.
It becomes apparent that offering opinion or insight into something like Haiti is an incredibly hard task. This is no different for people of faith. Shauna Gauthier described trying to engage the topic with her young girls on her blog. The bottom line: no easy task. At times, people of faith settle for oversimplification, prejudice, or just easy answers in order to remain “people with all the 
answers”. But in some ways, this kills the act of faith. And it also overcomes humility. Trusting God in Haiti is certainly a mystery. And anyone who hasn’t said, “Why God, why?” this week is simply fooling themselves.
Haiti: Aid, Poverty & Reaching Out
Published 01/18/2010 In the News Leave a CommentTags: david brooks, dwight friesen, haiti, matt mccormick, Nate Jerome, New York Times, NGO, relief work
My mind has been consistently on the news headlines in Haiti this last week. Its been hard to avoid both praying and shaking my head at the situation. We live in a very visual culture… so if you’ve only read or heard a the news there, I’d encourage you to look at this photo journal from cnn.com to gain a little perspective on the scope of the devastation. One of the more interesting things I read on the Haiti earthquake was written by David Brooks in the NY Times. He starts his article with this crazy fact: On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died. Continue reading ‘Haiti: Aid, Poverty & Reaching Out’
Pray for Ciudad Juarez: The Desperate City so close to us…
Published 11/20/2009 In the News , Thoughts to Ponder Leave a CommentTags: Ciudad Juarez, Dave Dora Larsen, drug cartel, homicide, John Kerrie Trovinger, mexico, Randy De Young, suffering
If you haven’t been tracking the news in the last year or two, the situation in the Mexican border town of Juarez is quite disturbing. With homicides becoming a regular part of daily life for the citizens there, the local drug cartels are battling for turf control & the cost in lives has made Juarez one of the most dangerous places in the western hemisphere even the world. Last week, 15 people were killed in a single day, including a 7-year old boy, three women, and a university professor. Even journalists aren’t safe, losing their lives at nearly twice the rate than reporters covering Afghanistan. 2,000 people have been killed in the city this year. This narrated slideshow expresses the deep trouble Juarez is in…truly heartbreaking.
These remain our neighbors to the south, only a twelve-hour drive away. As Henri Nouwen contended, we are intimately linked to the fate and spiritual life of our greater American family; our latin brothers & sisters to the south. We @ WBCC have remained involved in projects in small ways in Juarez the last few years. I’m reminded of that as a team from out of our church body heads down there next week to do Kingdom work! (Pray for them: Dave and Dora Larsen +Matt, Jacob and Josh. Randy De Young + Rachelle and Riggs; John and Kerrie Trovingers + Luke, Jake and Zeb) Pray that our eyes, too, are open to the suffering so close to home & the ways we could respond. And pray for the peace of Christ to overcome Ciudad Juarez!
attention men, and those who try to understand them
Published 11/17/2009 In the News Leave a CommentTags: extended adolescence, kay himowitz, maturity, men
A few weeks ago, we were together in Siverthorne, and several of you took notice of an article that Ryan Long & I were reading. The article, titled “Child-Man in the Promised Land“, by Kay Himowitz deals with the dramatic shifts we have seen in the maturation process for men once they hit 18. ”Extended Adolescence” is a term many use to describe today’s young men, but this article goes much deeper into the world young men find themselves in today. This article was a tough one on many of you ladies who took the time to read it. I kept reminding the girls that these are simply trends we see… there are still good guys!
I have since realized that the article (which was part of an online class I recently finished on the emerging generation with Mark Scandrette) is an important one for many of you to read and consider. It comes almost entirely from a non-faith perspective, but the implications for us as young adults with faith should be clear. I’ve already had a lot of good dialogue about this, and look forward to more. Gentlemen, you should Continue reading ‘attention men, and those who try to understand them’
nightline commandments, driscoll night
Published 10/05/2009 In the News , Reviews Leave a CommentTags: 10 commandments, mark driscoll, mars hill, nightline
for you late night tv viewers, ABC’s Nightline is running a series on the 10 Commandments. Tonight, features that #2 command on idolatry, with thoughts from ever passionate preacher Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church Seattle). if you get a chance to tune in, watch from some reflections tomorrow from our friend benjamin watson. Get a preview of tonight’s show (10:45 PM ABC)here or on the video sidebar on the right. Or, if you really want to understand the 10 commandments, see below:
