Oprah

For the first, and hopefully last, time, I'm going to take some advice I heard on Oprah. I need to lose some weight and get into some sort of shape, other than round (Knyuck, Knyuck). So, Oprah says you should blog it off!

As of right now, March 5th, I weigh 233 lbs. I want to weigh 215 by my birthday. I will keep updating Bustle with my progress...

Keep reading....Brad's Top 5's are below..

BB

My Lists

You all are in for a treat this week. We talk a lot about what I don't like on the Bustle, but today I've decided to give you a glimpse into my favorite things. Here's a list of my top five things in my favorite category-Music.
Now, music lists are always hard because of a tricky thing called genre. When comparing musicians its hard to rate them trans-genre. These lists are genre-free. These are the best of the best, in my humble opinion, regardless of what genre they play in.

Top 5 guitarists:
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Stevie Ray Vaughen
3. Jimmy Paige-Led Zeppelin
4. Eric Clapton
5. John Petrucci-Dream Theater: an odd choice maybe. Most of you have never heard of this
guy. But, there is no one, NO ONE, faster.

Top 5 drummers:
1. Buddy Rich-leagues above anyone else
2. John Henry Bonham-Led Zeppelin
3. Neil Peart-Rush
4. Virgil Donati-independent: check him out at http://www.virgildonati.com
5. David Garibaldi-Tower of Power: funkiest drummer ever!!

Top 5 frontmen (we can discuss the difference b/t frontmen and singers, if anyone wants)
1. Robert Plant-Led Zeppelin
2. Jim Morrison-The Doors
3. David Lee Roth-Van Halen
4. Bono-U2
5. Freddie Mercury-Queen

Top 5 BEST bands
1. The Beatles
2. Zepp
3. U2
4. The Stones
5. Pink Floyd

Top 5 FAVORITE bands (BB's personal best)
1. Zepp
2. Pantera
3. Pearl Jam
4. Clutch
5.Metallica

Best Guitar Tone
Brian May of Queen and David Gilmore of Pink Floyd

Best Album Ever
Led Zeppelin IV

Best Song Intro's
Since I've Been Loving You-Led Zepp
Dead and Bloated-Stone Temple Pilots
Voodoo Chile-Stevie Ray Vaughen

Best Guitar Solos
Voodoo Chile-Stevie Ray Vaughen
Comfortably Numb-Pink Floyd
Paradise City-Guns and Roses(the end of this song is reDUNKulous)

Best Single Note (that's right, the best one notes of rock history)
Voodoo Chile intro-third time through the lick-Stevie Ray Vaughen
I Feel Good-bridge-James Brown sings "When I hold you, in my AAAAAAARMS!"

And finally, Best Drum Grooves
When the Levee Breaks-John Bonham-Led Zepp
Hot for Teacher-Alex Van Halen-Van Halen
Lateralus-Danny Carey-Tool
Knock Yourself Out-David Garibaldi-Tower of Power
Roxanne-Stewart Copeland-The Police


Rolling Stone, eat your heart out!! Feel free to make additions, corrections and other comments. Except, Andy, why I didn't include "Best Keyboardists"!!

Later peeps, B

Class pt. 2

Thanks for the answers, Andy and Mark.

Class is a socioeconomic distinction between people. Literally, it's a classification. Now, I always thought that I was middle class and then upper middle class because of how much money my parents made. But, I've recently read something that opened my eyes a little wider. I, and most of my friends, are in the upper class. I am upper class because, first of all, I'm white. I am educated-college degree and graduate school. All these things, not just money, go into my class. The next time you're worrying about your own money troubles, DON'T? You are rich, you are wealthy, you are upper class...You have access to the internet don't you? Well, guess what, your technological awareness and access helps define your class.

In an ideal world, Andy, pastors are in the servant class or classless, somehow exsisting outside of class distinctions. But in the real world, that isn't quite so. Pastors are upper class. We are in positions of power, we are trained to speak well and act appropriately in social situations, we are highly educated compared to most. But, why does it matter that pastors are in the upper class? We have to take this knowledge into every pastoral care situation with which we are faced. We have to know that our position carries with it explicit and implicit power, BILATERAL, one-sided power. One person in the room is a pastor, the other is not. We have to fight against that power and create an atmosphere of mutuality and empowerment. But, recognize and accept our place among the upper class of our world.

Just something that came up in (school) class that actually made me think.

Peace in the Middle East, BB

Class

How do you define class? And what class do you put pastors in?

My answers after your comments! B

Movie Reviews

This weekend, Lynz had a big party for a friend, so I was all alone in St. Joe. I rented some movie to pass the time in the evenings and here are some recommendations:

A History of Violence, for adults only, but worth it. A great story and Viggo is great.

I don't see what the big deal was about MI:3. It's good, real good. A great action movie.

Idiocracy, the story of an average man, the MOST average man, accidentally frozen for 500 years and awakens as the smartest man in the world. It's a renter and a one timer. Mike Judge creates a future that is filled with stupid people. The smart people find it illogical to procreate while the less-than-average, due to unprotected sex and adultery, reproduce like rabbits. Everything is sponsored, including the presidency. CostCo is the size of NYC. And the most-watched show on the Violence Channel is "Ouch, My Balls." It's good.

My top three picks are true GUY movies. First, Crank. The story, the actor, the camera work, the soundtrack, the actress. Everything about this movie screams Testosterone. Chev Chelios, yes really, is injected with a poison that will kill him if he doesn't keep his adrenaline high. And then, it's an hour and a half of him keeping his, and our, adrenaline as high as it goes. If your in the mood, a great action flick.

The Proposition is an Aussie western with Guy Pierce and it's classic. Probably one of the top three Western's I've seen. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Tombstone...this holds its own with both.

And, if anybody hasn't checked out Tony Jaa yet, go rent The Protector and Ong-Bak, The Thai Warrior. NO ropes, NO computers, NO stunt men. Unbelievable matial arts. Check it out.

My little contribution to the movie world...more important posts on the way.

B

You've Got to be Kidding!

Hey everybody,
It's been a good few days for cynical bloggers like myself. My rather bleek view of American culture has come to fruition.

Thursday, Anna Nicole Smith passed away. I'm not taking anything away from the tragedy of a human life coming to an end. But, here's how I found out about it. I turned to CNN to catch the daily reports from Iraq and Congress, etc. However, instead of keeping up with the daily events in this complicated time we live in, I was watching all-day coverage of Anna Nicole's death. Now, Anna Nicole Smith lived a hard life and I'm sure she wasn't a bad person. But, CNN? You've got to be kidding!! This person is only famous for being in Playboy, marrying a dying billionaire, getting fat, starring in her own drug-induced reality show, getting hot again and dying. Meanwhile, thousands of children are dying everyday because they don't have enough food. As I watched CNN newsreporters talk about who out of four men is the father of Anna Nicole's baby, American and Iraqi casualties for the week went scrolling across the bottom of the screen so fast I blinked and missed them. Seeing Wolf Blizter talking about Anna Nicole led to my sermon for this week..."Don't You Have More Important Things to Do?" Matt. 25, the parable of the sheep and goats...the answer is yes, there are many, many more important things to do.

The biggest night in music was last night. While I missed the reunion of the Police going to dinner with my family (a much more important and rewarding thing to do, by the way), Lynz, my sister and I saw most of the end of the show. The Dixie Chicks??? You've got to be kidding? First of all, who the hell knows the difference between Album and Record of the year. Second of all, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Mayer, John Legend, Gnarls Barkley and countless others made exponentially better albums this year than those twangy sisters and that loud-mouth psycho lead singer. Now, I haven't given much regard to the Grammy's since Jethro Tull beat Metallica's Black Album for the first best metal album. But, come on. It's supposed to be based on music, not on taking a stand against a president and standing up for yourself. Neil Young, Pearl Jam, the Boss, Green Day, etc. all have SONGS dissing the president, not just a few words said on stage during some European concert. Awful, just awful. That's bushleague, Grammy acadamy, that's bush.

That's all folks,
B

Super Bowl Reflections

One more biggest game of the year is behind us and here's some reflections:

Rex Grossman wasn't ready. Peyton Manning was. It was a good game, but the Colts cleaned house. Clearly the better team. But here's what I really want to talk about.

I counted four times when Marvin Harrison ran out of bounds instead of lowering his head and plowing forward for another three yards. It's been slowly happening and I noticed it a lot last season. TO, Harrison, Kennison. They all would rather run out of bounds and not get a first down than take a hit. When receivers are sliding to avoid hits like QBs do, it's not the NFL anymore. So, in the grand tradition of guys who couldn't do what pro athletes do on XBOX let alone in real life, I want all the pro athletes out there reading Bustle to listen up...........MAN UP!!! We pay you millions of dollars to get hit, to get that first down no matter what it takes, no matter if you leg breaks and three guys have your facemask, get the first down!! For the love of Ditka...lower you sholder, bite your lip, and power through.

And how superbad was Prince? Awesome, totally awesome. That little transexual can play a guitar. Prince covering the Foo Fighters...Awesome.

Next year, if I hear Super Monday, once...I might punch someone. And, ESPN? It's time to stop talking about it. It happened. The Colts were on fire. Move on.

Just some random rantings on the biggest week in football. Gotta go do homework.

Peace, B

Brotherly Love

I've been trying for over a month to somehow put the experience of the birth of Braeden James Bryan into words. And, I've decided that I can't.

The uncle/nephew relationship has been a big deal in my family my whole life. My uncles have uncle names! Sam, Bob, Phil, Jerry, Jack. They have uncle jobs...a salesman, a moneyman, a trainman, a musicman, and a mathman. And they are a big part of why I am the man I am.

So, when my sister asked is I would help her with pregnancy and birth, I said yes, without really considering what I was getting myself into. I went to birthing class (as it turned out, my best friend Bates was in the same class), I watched THE VIDEO, I practiced the positions and the massages-nothing below the waist! It was 4:30 Sunday Christmas Eve morning when my sister called me. I answered the second time she called and she said the magical words, "I think we should go to the hospital." So, at 5:30 we got to the hospital and I thought we would be headed home within hours. I just knew that this was a false alarm. But, then the doctor came in and said, Let's have a baby.....

Holy Crap! It's actually happening. We're gonna have a baby. I'll spare you the details of what happens next. I didn't see anything. I whispered in her ear, held her hand, carried her puke bucket. And, about 40 minutes after she went in, I was the first non-medical person to hold Braeden James Bryan on this earth.

I've never felt closer to my sister, closer to myself, closer to God, than the moment they handed me this screaming, writhing, breathing, living, perfect little boy.

Brotherly Love, Unclely Love, It's a Beautiful Thing.

I love you, sister, little nephew. I'll do anything for you for as long as I can.

Peace, B

The Bustle is Back

Wow, over a month since my last post. And a crazy one it has been. I helped my sister give birth to a beautiful baby boy, Braeden James, and I moved to St. Joseph, MO. I'm working on getting online at home, so I don't have to wait until a particularly boring class period to blog. You've been very patient with me and trust me, there's much more rantings and ravings in me and I'll be back more often.

Peace, B

Da Vinci Code and Christians on Television

I reenter the blogring after a brief hiatus with this:

Why didn't anybody tell me the Da Vinci Code sucked? I mean, in all the talk and controversy surrounding this movie, seriously i don't know a magazine or news program that DIDN'T talk about it, no critic ever mentioned that it was a bad movie. The dialogue is awful, the plot is too convaluted to provide any good dialogue. The actors have to spend to much time explaining what's going on. "It's the codex, oh and by the way, this is what exactly a codex is....." Ugh. The plot also means that none of the characters ever develop. I didn't care about any one person in this movie. Not one, except maybe the best character Silas, who they kill off before the end of course. And the one way to save the film, Silas following Tom and Sophie to the Abbey and having a final confrontation of good and evil, was blown when Silas, a professional assassin and fixer for Opus Dei who whips himself with a cat-o-nine and wraps some spike thing around his thigh to feel Christ's suffering, gets killed by some beat cops. WHATEVER!! Killing off the only interesting character in the film led to the disappointing, anticlimatic ending that everyone with half a brain had figured out the whole time. After Silas died....nothing happened. the whole rest of the movie, nothing happened. I know that I'm not a critic. I liked T3: Rise of the Machines. But i know a failed movie when I see one. Dry dialogue, no character development, and no climax qualify as BAD MOVIE.

There was something else too. Everybody check out Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on NBC. One of the leads, the female whose name excapes me now of course, is a devout, sort of conservative Christian. But get this, she's not crazy. There's a Christian on television who's not depicted as a raving lunatic or pious fathead. She's struggling with how to be faithful living in a secular and even skeptic world of Hollywood comedy. She curses, she has premarital sex, she has a since of humor. In other words, she's a REAL PERSON. When most Christians on TV are blowhards like Pat Robertson or bleeding heart softees like the dad on Seventh Heaven, this girl, whatever her name is, is the closest thing to a real christian I've seen. Just a regular person, trying to be faithful but also trying NOT to be a dork, or a Jesus freak, or a NeoCon Crusader, just trying to be real. Plus, it's a great show.

Alright, peace. BB


ps: not that i want to throw my hat into the ring in the whole marriage talk but here's my point: the STATE should not use the BIBLE as its reasoning for a ban on gay marriage. Our government should be run by rationality, by people of faith or not, and any rational person can see there's NO REASON THAT HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD TELL OTHER HUMAN BEINGS THEY CAN'T GET MARRIED.

Kindness Addendum

Well, after posting about the Kindness Campaign last night...I hear that Vee gets pulled over at 8:30 in 15 degree weather for going thirty miles an hour in a school zone. Cops who pull people over for ten miles an hour or less, especially if the total out-of-control speed is THIRTY!!, are just doing it to be jerks. They're mad because they're up early, or their boss is a jerk, or they just get off on the power of it. I see people pulled over a lot around town, and it seems to me that there's more important things for the cops of Kansas City, one of the highest per capita murder rates in the country thank you very much, to do than to bother people who are going 55 instead of 45 down 71. It's a freakin' Highway, it says so on the sign. Everybody speeds. Especially cops. I'm glad you met your quota this month guys, oh wait, did you hear about the double homicide last night on Troost? No, you were stopping the menace to society speeders? I see.

Ok, minor set back. When you go out of your way to be kind, you're not always going to feel the love thrown back at you. We have to get over that. Lower our sholders and power through. Bite our lips, grab onto something and give it hell. Whatever.

I'm still calling on the regulars and cursory readers of Bustle to begin the Kindness Revolution. Be neighborly. Be helpful. Be curteous.

You stay classy, Blogosphere.
B

Kindness

I have to say right off the bat that this post was inspired by a South Park episode.

What ever happened to people being nice to each other? I owe someone a thank you. The second to last time I was in Columbia, I was having trouble with my wiper motor. The kind of trouble that required me to tie a string to a cluster of wires, run that string out of the top of my hood, through my open window (it was the first ice of the year!), and into the cab of the car so that I could pull the wires tight when the wipers went out. Anyway, as I had pulled over to readjust my ingenious solution, a girl of about my age pulled over and asked me if I needed any help. A girl, alone, stopped to ask me, a guy alone, with a dark Blazer in the dark night in an ice storm, if I needed any help. Well, whoever you are, thank you.

I didn't know how much this act of kindness touched me until tonight. If I didn't choose South Park over SportsCenter tonight, I never would've known. But, it did touch me. Because, it was so unfamiliar. I really didn't even know what to say or do other than mumble "No" and "Thanks" because I am so unaccustomed to kindness.

We live in a world in which you can't help anyone change a tire because THEY might abduct YOU, or they might think YOU are going to abduct THEM. I see a young woman, or old woman, struggling with groceries I don't even consider asking to help, because I'm afraid of what she'll think of me.

Some people say we should practice random acts of kindness. Not so my friends; I propose the start of a strict, rehearsed, and habitual campaign of kind acts done for people who you may or may not know. Who's with me? Do something nice for someone today. Completely uncalled for kindness.

You can change the world with your own two hands...
BB

Agency-Mt. Moriah

After two months of waiting and a postponment by the bishop, I've finally found out that I'm going to the same churches that we thought I was going to from the very beginning. Agency and Mt. Moriah are two small churches just a little south of St. Joseph, MO. From all I've heard, they are made up of many young professionals who don't want to live in St. Jo or KC, they want a young pastor and the facilities and resources of both churches are solid and well taken care of.

I'm still waiting on a lot of details, and getting frustrated a little bit, but I'm pretty excited about news from friends like Steve Campbell and Phil Nemier and folks from school who know the area who all think I'll be a good fit and happy with my ministry at these two churches. I'll be moving to the south St. Jo area, living in small house there, and making a little more money than I'm making now. Of course, I will keep my little corner of the blogosphere informed as I get more info. And, for those of you in Missouri, look forward to a moving date!

Thanks for thoughts and prayers for me and Lindsey through this time of anticipation and now transition.

Peace, B

Incubus

This is a post for the Adam's: What happened to Incubus?? Now, you and I have disagreed on this for three albums now, but come on guys. I'm all for artistic development and following your heart in creating your music, hell I even liked the new, short-haired, martini-drinkin' Metallica. But, Incubus has consistantly put out three ablums with two or three good songs on them and the rest are cleverly disguised Clay Aiken songs. This new one has three good songs, Light Grenades, Diamonds and Coal and something else I can't remember right now. The rest of the songs are boy band songs. Boy band lyrics, boy band melodies, boy band harmonies. Four songs use the One-two-three-one-two-three-one-two-one-two pattern.

Come on guys, it's time to fess up. Mustoe, I know you have a not-so-secret boy crush on Brandon Boyd. Caldwell, we've been with these guys since the beginning. But, come clean, they just don't rock anymore. In the words of the Bob Rock produced, slowed-down, best selling heavy metal album of all time, Black album.....It's Sad But True.

Peace, B

Reading Material

For you and for me.

Reading for me: I realized last night, sitting in Worship class listening to a lecture on "Choosing Music for Worship", that my wonderful school will continue to ignore anything remotely related to the postmodern movement. I need to catch up on my reading, so blogosphere-Andy, Parents, Adam's, Howie and everyone else-I request some titles with which to start getting caught up on postmordern worship, postmodern theology, postmodern ecclesiology, etc. And, in the interest of my days in the Socialist Republic of Fayette, if anyone HAS these title and wouldn't mind sending them my way, that would be great....I am a poor man with no idea where my checks will come from after Jan 1st. Anyway, I look forward to your suggestions and getting caught up so hopefully i can join in on some of these wonderful conversations.

Reading for you: There's a couple things I'd like to comment on this morning. I haven't been to blog world since Kramer went Krazy. First, let me say that Richards was inarguably wrong. However, was the tape(or phone, actually) just not rolling during the actual heckling. I echo Adam Leathers point of imagining being in YOUR office, or perhaps behind the pulpit, and two drunk morons stroll in and start harrassing you. The issue is not the racial slurs. Family Guy could've said the same words and everybody would've thought it was hilarious. The point is..."50 years ago they would've had you upside down with a f***ing fork up you ass". That's what Kramer said and that's why he owes the world an apology. He should not be blacklisted, pun intended, his career should not be ended over this. He lost his temper, we all do. After offering an explanation other than "I don't know what came over me" and giving a sincere apology, he should go back to busting through doors and busting our sides. I'm just glad we've got something to get TomKat and K-Fed off our minds for awhile, until the next celebrity scandel comes along of course. Oh, by the way, we're still in an unwinable war. American soldiers and Iraqi teenager freedom fighters die everyday in a war we should've never started. And where the hell is Osama Bin Laden? Oh, and that whole congressional child abuse thing, where'd that thing go? OH OH Oh and how 'bout the millions of people dying of Aids in africa, who's going to "liberate" them? Kramer made Newsweek people. Aren't there more important things? (ps. I'm so glad Brittney has found a suitable replacement for K-Fed to help her seem not as trashy....Paris Hilton...my point being, why do I care and why do I even know about this!!)


I guess that's all I got for right now. Take it easy, sleazies. Look forward to your suggested readings.

Peace, B

This is Re-dad-gum-diculous!

Talk about incommunicado, huh? I went out of town, got sick, or just didn't have much to write about. Until now.

My friends, I am more stressed out than I've ever been in my life. Some of you know how big this is, because I'm not a guy who gets stressed easily. But, here's what's going on.

I have no idea where I'll be working and/or living as of January 1st. The bishop wanted to wait until Cabinet meeting (when all the DS's got together) to decide anything about my fate. This is good and bad. Bad-I won't know until sometime next week if I have to move sometime next month. Good-The bishop, the Schnase himself, wants to be a part of the conversation. I have daydreams about them creating a position for me on the District or Conference. I could be Director of Keeping Old White Preachers As Hip As They Can Be Or At Least Informed. Or something.

Here's the other thing. My sister's having a freakin' baby. Mom, in her wisdom, said women have babies all the time. Yes, but not my sister and not with ME IN THE WOMB...er...ROOM! I'm excited but terrified. I just know she'll go into labor on Christmas Eve, or New Years Eve when I'm preaching, or on moving day. And, this would be about half as frustrating if we didn't have to deal with, oh I'll call him, "The SOB", in the WEEKS...yes, weeks...after the birth of my new nephew.

So, yeah, I'm freaking out a bit. I can't sleep, not that that's different from usual. I've been working out again to try and help with the nerves. But, I'm pretty much wound tight 100% of the time. Put a lump of coal [in my hand], in two weeks you'll have a diamond.-Ferris Bueller, edited edition.

Oh yeah, AND, Mustoe-Harley's getting ready to get a new girlfriend and have little angel puppies. Shaq, our yellow lab of 13 years has a tumor on her liver and has stopped eating. The chart at the vet that measures dog years by weight and other things says she's over 110 years old. The chart stops at 11 with dogs over 55 pounds. Shaq weighs 65 pounds and is 13 and a half. She's a wonderful, quiet, loving, loyal dog and we'll miss her. And she's a looker Harl. Watch yourself.

Peace everybody. Peace of mind and Peace on earth.

Gobble, Gobble. B

We did it!

Well, more accurately, THEY did it. Well, the nation, excluding myself and Mr. Mustoe, has spoken. They're tired of Republican Good Ol' Boys Club politics and the Democrats have resumed power. Now, maybe some more things can...not get done in Washington. Seriously, when do these people stop campaigning and starting doing some actual work. Congress works a little more than half the year. When they actually come to session, they work three day weeks. I'm happy at how the polls worked out, but let's see what happens next. I'm willing to bet that nothing really changes all that much. I put money on politicians remaining power-lusting, bribe-taking, ethic-lacking, talking heads.

Of course, you can see where I'm going with this. I think we should go back to theocracy and I should be appointed (anointed?) Holy American Emporer.

Sorry. Anyway, it's a good day. I hope it works out.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done,
B

Micro-Church

Hats off to Howie.

I’ve been mulling this over throughout the weekend after Howie and I talked about it Friday night at a lock-in we were running.

I’m really excited about the idea of Micro-Church. What is Micro-Church I hear you ask? Well, within the laws of physics, one must assume that if there’s a micro church there must be an opposite: mega church. We all know what mega churches are. The sprawling suburban worship centers with five services per weekend and 15 pastors on staff. So, micro church-the actual opposite of mega church would be mini church, but that denotes a level of weakness or inferiority-would be the equal and opposite reaction to mega churches in all their glory. A small group of people, humbly and quietly gathering together at a church, or at a home, or in a park to talk about, pray about, sing about, learn about God. A few points of interest:

The church has become deluded. These mega churches-in my opinion-miss something big in the message of Jesus Christ, humility. Mega churches have bought into the American ideal that bigger is better, which is contrary to Jesus’ teaching on the last and the least and the lost. In Borat (whose wisdom will be discussed in the post below), Borat ends up asleep on the street in front of a church. The camera wakes up with Borat still sleeping on the church porch and the Sunday morning worshippers going out of their way to walk around him. 15,000 people, worshipping together in a 25 million dollar church, in a upper middle class suburban neighborhood---doesn’t sound anything like the last, least or lost. Doesn’t sound very marginalized at all. The message, mission and purpose of the church have been lost to the pursuit of numbers on the membership roles or the pursuit of the biggest Family Life Center.

The solution is going back to the base roots of the church. A few people gathering together, mostly in homes, to read and study scripture, sing hymns and talk about living as Christians. These few people collect gifts or dedicate time to serving the marginalized in society. This group may OR MAY NOT be associated with a larger church, or church conference, as simply a branch off of a mega church. This is how almost all denominations started-the Christian church, the Protestant church, the Methodist church.

Two problems:

The issue is the interpretation of our great commission, to make disciples of all the world. I think we can spread the love, compassion, justice and peace that Jesus teaches and represents without making our churches big and ugly and impersonal and inauthentic and Americanized and computerized and polarized. So, how do we make disciples of all the world and not let ourselves get too big for our own britches?

The second problem is keeping these groups of a few people gathering together to simply and humbly experience life as God’s kids together theologically informed. The potential for sectarianism and, at the most extreme, cultism is high. Becoming overly private and separated from other groups goes against the relational aspect of church. On the other hand, we live in a time in which its easier than ever to be in touch with people. So, possibly, online communities of these micro churches, something like myspace, is a way to keep them together and united as a body.

The emergent church tried this. They broke out on the claim of anti-organized church and being the alternative to big, faceless suburban mega churches. But, then they grew and grew and have now organized into a church corporation of their own.

Anyway, sorry this is so long. But its been awhile and this has been on my mind. Comments on Micro-Church are welcome. Stay tuned for yet another post today on Borat!

Yeshemaash! My name ah Borat..

So begins one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. No, not the funniest I’ve seen and certainly not the funniest movie ever, like some critics said. Christmas Vacation, Spaceballs, Wayne’s World, Anchorman…all are funnier than Borat. But, still it was an unbelievably hysterical movie.

Well, I know that at least two people are waiting to hear what I really think. Mom and Dad, I cannot believe you sat through that movie. You walked out of American Pie!

Anyway, all sorts of adjectives could be used to describe Borat-shocking, hilarious, genius, outlandish, obscene, unrelenting, disturbing, disgusting, side-splitting, alarming…prophetic?

Let’s talk about what a prophet does. In the Old Testament sense. Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all of ‘em. Their job was to say, “Hey, Idiots, you’re not getting it!”
And that’s exactly the point of Borat. This guy comes to America to learn about American culture and values; instead, he found New Yorkers too afraid of each other to greet another human being, car dealers who don’t blink an eye at the term “p*&^y magnet” (“That would be a corvette” says the industrious salesman), a southern pastor who all but ran away at the site of a black escort (something about eating with prostitutes comes to mind but I don’t know why), worshippers who are so passionate about their own evangelical experience that they walk over a homeless man on their way to church, and a young man who thinks the nation would be a much better place if slavery was reinstated. The film maker, Sasha Baron Cohen, takes one look at what America says is important and shakes his prophetic fist.

Alright, I might be reading more into this than I should. It’s just a movie, a comedy. It’s goal was to make us laugh and it made us howl. But like Lavarr Burton used to say, don’t take my word for it. Go see it. You will laugh the whole time. But, be warned…Borat includes the most outrageous, disgusting, disturbing, and so-bad-you-feel-horrible-for-laughing-but-you-will-laugh moment ever made. You’ll know it when it starts and you might want to close your eyes…

Peace, B

Defending not Defensive

Alright peeps. Enough's enough.

To my brother, thank you for the advice and guidance. But, I'm not making an argument here. I'm not writing a legal document that I hope will stand up in court. I'm ranting. And, I think it's fair to say, that so far seminary is not helping me in my ministry. I'm glad it helped you. I also think it's fair to say that the supreme court is truly out of touch with mainstream american culture and thought, no matter who's on it. Anyway, I digress. I do enough research, I'm not going to look anything up EVER for the purposes of this blog. I'm just going to type and see what happens. That's what I do and I've never claimed to do any more.

To my friend Mustoe, being open-minded does not mean having no opinions. It means having your own opinions and being willing to dialogue with folks with differing ones, like our new friend Dark Gable. I do think I'm open-minded; I'm willing to listen to other peoples viewpoints, see the value in them, and reject them all equally! Ha, just kidding. And you're right, I didn't vote in 2004. But, I'm an American damnit. Complaining about things I had no part in creating is my God-given right, just like owning a handgun that's only real purpose is to shoot human beings and telling strangers what they can or cannot do in their bedrooms. Sorry again.

To Caldwell, nice addition to the debate my friend. I think in the next presidential debate, the vice pres. candidates should stand behind their partners and go, "Aww, Snap!" when they make a point. Remember, life is about getting over our "doctrinal issues".

To Dark, thanks for stopping by. I look forward to your future additions to the conversation. All I hope for is a country where people like you and me who don't agree can live together, truly and honestly dialogue together, and work together to make our world a better place.


B-R-A-D to tha B. I'm outie 5,000, take it sleazy.
Catman...