Back in Business!

Just returned a couple of weeks ago from a time spent as the Worship Coordinator at the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center in New Hampshire, which is operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.  The summer was on a whole a great experience.  Our music team was amazing- we put together a band called 67 Strings (named for the number of strings we had broken as of press time on a CD we recorded, the final tally for the summer I think came to 78, which is well over the border into the territory of ridiculousness), you can listen to (and download for free) a sampling of our music here.  Other activities at camp included playing on ropes courses, kayaking, fishing from a floating dock we had rowed to the middle of a lake, chasing a bat out of a chaplain’s residence, leading back-packing trips, protecting our backpackers from a large bear and a pack of coyotes, and cooking on a wood fire in the pouring rain.  Like I said, on a whole I think this was a great experience!

I am now back in New Haven, have added to my list of adventures for the summer finding a friend left stranded in DC by the earthquake and living through a hurricane in New England.  Am hoping things settle down in the next couple of days so we can start classes... Lots of things I have thought about over the summer that I intend to write about here.  Should start posting again soon!

Sunday Roundup and Travel Announcement

Starting a new tradition, something I have learned from several very successful bloggers, which is to do a weekly round-up of posts that I find interesting from other sites, some summary comments on what’s happened on this blog, and look at what’s coming up.  Everyone who does this has a kinda catchy name for it, which I have not come up with yet.  So... Any and every suggestion is very welcome.

This weeks will be kinda light because I just decided to do it today and my memory is not that great...  But here are some things that I recommend checking out:

For a short blurb that tries to take a balanced approach to issues of Christian involvement with society, see Kevin DeYoung’s post Glory of God: Conspicuous Christlikeness.

Two interviews worth checking out.  First, an interview with Andy Byers about his new book Faith Without Illusions can be read at David Flower’s blog here: Q&A with Andrew Byers

Second, an interview by Andy Byers and Joel Busby of pastor and scholar Jason Byassee, which I found very interesting and helpful, can be read here: The tension in the hyphen of “Pastor-Theologian”: An Interview with Jason Byassee

An interesting post on the issue of negotiating boundaries in evangelical professional relationships can be read at the Christianity Today women’s blog here: “Guarding Your Marriage Without Dissing Women”

On this blog, our most popular post of the week has been Aristotle and Cosmological Arguments, which was partly a product of the lively discussion that came out of the most popular post on this blog for the month, Aristotle and Free Will.  Thanks to my friend Nick, author of the blog Alētheia for all of his thoughts in response to that post.

Also this week I recounted some Traveling Adventures from my trip to California and Nevada for my grandfather’s memorial.

On the restless young and reforming blog this week we began in earnest our discussion of John Piper’s book Desiring God.  The most popular post of the week continues to be Introducing Desiring God by John Piper.  Check out two other posts, The Foundation of Christian Hedonism in Desiring God by John Piper and Word Games and the Joy of Worship in Desiring God, for more on the discussion.

Tomorrow I leave to begin my summer job as worship coordinator at the Barbara C. Harris Camp in New Hampshire.  Excited for the opportunity to work with a lot of youth from Massachusetts this summer and staff from around the world.  Will continue to post here from there, though maybe at a reduced rate for the summer, and expect to have lots of fun stories to tell about the summer camp experience.

In the spirit of Episcopal worship (and since it is Sunday), here is the collect for this week:

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven.  Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.  Amen.

Great Music for a Great Cause

A few weeks ago, as many are aware, several devastating storms tore through the Southeast, hitting Alabama especially hard.  I, at least, have been lamenting (as I watched the simultaneously fascinating and horrifying videos of major devastation to cities I once lived and worked in) at not being in Alabama to help any with the recovery efforts.

Another thing I have lamented since moving to the Northeast is no longer having Birmingham's incredible local music scene to keep me entertained with fantastic folk and rock musicians.

The "quick fix" for both of these problems, at least for the moment, has been this album put together by several of Birmingham's fantastic musicians (and a few friends from other areas like Nashville, TN, where I flew in today) to raise money for the recovery efforts that continue in that state.  I have been listening to this album for the last week and it really is fantastic!!  Please check it out and consider donating the $10 to help many who are in need.

Cheers!

The Cross and the Ecumenical Movement

Very interesting post by the World Council of Churches about its new leader. I'm excited to see what this guy is going to be doing!

Want a Challenge?

Message tonight by David Platt at Brook Hills was one of the most challenging messages I've heard in a while. And bold, he definitely stepped on some toes in the process of challenging us.

So I thought I'd pas it along to you guys, since its always good to be challenged!

Here's the link:

http://www.brookhills.org/media/page_audio_chrono_2007.htm

Listen to the message for November 11- A Mission Only the Church Could Stop

Take A Look at This:

Just got back from "Secret Church" at the Church at Brook Hills. It was essentially a condensed Hermeneutics (study of how to study the Bible) course that was really pretty good. Pretty much exactly like my Hermeneutics professor (Malick) teaches the material but in four hours instead of a whole semester.

I highly encourage you to take a look at the stuff they put up on-line from the speaker tonight. Here's the link:

http://www.brookhills.org/secretchurch/page_media.htm

Look at the .pdf's under "How to Study the Bible," and if you get the chance, listen to the audio or watch the video as well. Enjoy!

Awesome Message!

So I went to a church here in Birmingham today (Church at Brook Hills) led by a guy named David Platt. For those who don't know anything about him, David is a really awesome pastor, originally from New Orleans but he moved up here with Katrina and now pastors this church. He taught a message this morning that was awesome. I strongly recommend listening to it (I don't really want to give a synopsis cause then you'll be less likely to listen), but basically David was talking about the Christian life, and how its root is supposed to be in Christ, not activity (which we have an unfortunate tendency to make it into). He made a really striking and bold statement- A lot of times we are guilty of idolatry because we make the "Christian life" more important than Christ himself.
Here's the link:

http://www.brookhills.org/media/page_audio_chrono_2007.htm

Go here and listen to the message from today (Sept. 16). You might also listen to the one before it, I haven't heard it yet but was told by a friend it was equally awesome (and its the first part of the series that today's message continued). If you have the ability, I would recommend watching the video, he makes an object lesson you might not get from just audio.