• Kick off the new year with CBEmini

    I’m kind of tired of hearing how biblically illiterate teenagers are today. 

    Ultimately, as spiritual leaders and parents dedicated to investing in those students, biblical illiteracy is on us. Our students don’t know the Bible because we’ve failed to teach them. (Guilty as charged) Worse yet, if students don’t have a love for God’s Word that’s reflecting on our own lack of love for the Bible.

    I’m happy to be a part of something that is changing that and helping people have a brand new relationship with the Bible.

    Marko and I worked with the folks at Biblica (International Bible Society) to create CBEmini.

    What is CBEmini? It’s a 9 day trip through Luke-Acts using The Books of the Bible. Basically, The Books of the Bible is the New Testament laid out like a chapter book. All the words are the same but the format is a lot more simple. No columns, no footnotes, no verse numbers… just the story of Jesus and the early church as Theophilus may have read in in the first century.

    CBEmini is a bit-sized version of the 8 week Community Bible Experience. Our hope is that if your students try the 9 day experience that they will want to continue. So far, in our beta testing, that’s exactly what has happened… people are continuing on because 9 days wasn’t enough. (You read that right– students want to read MORE of the Bible.)

    The format is simple. You get a PDF of Luke-Acts to print and students read it. You get together as a group a few times to talk about what you’re reading in more of a book club format than a typically Bible study. (You get a leaders guide, too.) And watch what happens as student read the Bible, really, for the first time. It’s really cool. 

    Over and over again we’ve heard students say… “It’s almost like I’m reading a story and not the Bible.” Or “I love reading this in the same way I read a good book… I just read until I get tired and put it down, then come back later.” Or “I never knew how good the Bible was at telling stories. Things fit together in ways I never saw before.”

    I’m excited about this project because I can only imagine the movement that would be created if thousands of students fell in love with God’s story in the same way the connect to Harry Potter or Twilight. It’s not that students don’t like to read. They do! This tool just helps them read the Bible in a format that they can connect to.

    The best part? It’s totally free. How cool is that? 

    Here’s the punchline: Go sign-up now.

  • American Airlines CEO quits on moral grounds

    American Airlines, once the largest airline in the United States, declared bankruptcy. This is not surprising news for the beleaguered airline industry; what is different is what is emerging from the wreckage. Gerard J. Arpey, American’s chief executive officer and chairman, resigned and stepped away with no severance package and nearly worthless stock holdings. He split with his employer of 30 years out of a belief that bankruptcy was morally wrong, and that he could not, in good conscience, lead an organization that followed this familiar path.

    Read the rest

    Trying to think of the right word for Gerald Arpey’s choice… hmmm… oh yeah… Morals.

    Remember when those in power were known for their high moral standards? Remember when the person at the top represented the organizations highest standards of excellence and character.

    Maybe we should  get back to that? Maybe we should ask organizations to hire people who will uphold the values of the organization above the profits of the organization?

    We should celebrate Mr. Arpey’s choice. He upheld the moral high ground that the company should pay its debtors and retiree benefits while the rest of the board made the immoral decision to file for bankruptcy as an easy way out “because everyone else is doing it.”

    I also found it interesting that American Airlines is calling it a retirement while the New York Times is reporting it as resigning because he thought the board was morally wrong. I wonder which is the truth?

    Hint: The company who declared bankruptcy in order to get away from paying their debts might just be protecting their behind from Wall Street while the guy who quit because he thought that was wrong is likely telling the truth.

    On top of that– Arpey didn’t hold the board hostage by taking a massive golden parachute. (In fairness, I have no doubt that with 30 years of service and having made $14.34 million in the last 5 years, that Mr. Arpey is hitting the bread line any time soon.) He just said… “You know what? If you make this move you are making it without me.”

    I like that in a leader. 

  • 14 Must-Have Gadgets for the Geek in Your Life

    ATTENTION GOOGLERS!

    Here’s a link to my 2012 list

    Let’s face it. For many of my readers I am the geek in their life.

    I’m the nerdy friend you tell your IT guy about when you don’t know what else to talk about because you want to talk about the latest political news about Herman Cain or what happened on SNL and all he is knowledgeable about is Leo Laporte’s ugly shirt in his last episode of This Week in Tech.

    You don’t even know who Leo Laporte is. And that’s OK.

    So what do geeks want for Christmas? What are the things that will make us shout “sleigh ride” on December 25th? I’m glad you asked. Here’s my list of 14 geek toys that I will happily tweet about when the UPS man drops them off.

    For super smooth panning on my YouTube videos…

    buy the Camera Table Dolly for Adam at the Photojojo Store!

    For capturing my every moment of adventure…

    buy the GoPro Camera HD Hero 2 Outdoor Edition for Adam at Amazon.com

    So I look cool at the water cooler…

    buy the Fail Whale Coffee Mug for Adam at Zazzle

    For making me look just a little bit thug on the trolley…

    buy the Custom Comic Headphones for Adam at Etsy

    So I don’t get lost finding a coffee shop on my bike…

    buy the Perfect Fit Handlebar Mount for iPhone 4 for Adam at Amazon.com

    For keeping my desk organized…

    buy the Metal Cordies for Adam at Quirky

    For posting the perfect fish eye Instagram…

    buy the The iPhone Lens Dial for Adam at the Photojojo Store!

    For making stop motion movies of my web design process…

    buy the Neewer shutter release for Canon DSLRs for Adam at Amazon.com

    For getting that nod at the bar from fellow addicts…

    buy the Angry Birds Triple Threat t-shirt for Adam from Amazon.com

    For making people smile more than making them jealous…

    buy the iPad Cover Made from a Real Book for Adam from Etsy

    So I’m using space wisely and keeping my USB options open…

    buy the Space Bar for Adam at Quirky

    For tweeting while walking and keeping the digits toasty…

    buy Texting Friendly Gloves for Adam at Etsy

    For street-level citizen journalism at Occupy San Diego…

    buy the Groundbot for Adam at Rotundus

    For sharing time with Kristen that’s better than updating my status…

    buy the Rocking Chair for Two for Adam at Sway

    What would you add to the list? Leave a comment with a link, maybe I’ll add it!

    Posts like this:
    5 Socially Conscious Christmas Gifts
    Good News Idea: Ring That Bell

     

  • You can’t assume anything

  • Lamborghini + Tree = LamboChristmasTreenini

    MY CAPTION:

    What do you mean I’m fired? I thought you said, “Put my lamborghini under a Christmas tree?” [face + palm]

    What’s your caption? 

    ht to Dirk up in Eagle Rock for the picture… it was windy up in LA last night.

  • To go deep, you have to go wide

    Photo by ??’ via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how our students so quickly dispatch their faith in early adulthood.

    As I’ve read Sticky Faith, Almost Christian, Christians Smith’s research, and played host to the Extended Adolescence Symposium last week I’ve been taking it all in and trying to figure out “why.”

    Why is it that so many students walk away from their faith in early adulthood?

    And I can’t get away from this: The Jesus we present is often times shallow, weak, and boring. He’s easy to walk away from.

    It’s not that following Jesus is any of those things. It’s just that we present him that way.

    I think a lot of young adults walk away because we are shallow, weak, and boring.

    They are thinking deep thoughts about important things, they are reading Joyce and Emerson and wrestling with the Pythagorean theorem while we spend countless hours debating the merits of pop-culture Christianity. We care more about Rob Bell’s glasses than we do why Jesus is allowing hundreds of thousands of children to starve in the horn of Africa. We care more about next week’s worship set than we care about what’s happening on their campus.

    Our students are learning from their own experience that if you want to go deep on things you have to go wide– and they look at us and see us trying to go deep on things we aren’t very wide about.

    • They observe we only read from people we already agree with.
    • They observe we only listen to vantage points we are likely to already hold.
    • They observe we are only stretched intellectually unintentionally.
    • They observe we are avoid big theological questions.
    • They observe we seek training and education for our limited scope and see little value in getting outside of our discipline.

    I’m struck by the reality that most high school sophomore’s have a more mature reading pallete through their literature classes than the average pastor.

    A sophomore is reading Shakespeare, Hemmingway, Arthur Miller, Twain, F. Scott Fitzerald, Maya Angelo… to name a few. The average pastor is reading Francis Chan, a couple of commentaries from the same theological spectrum, and a book about leading small groups.

    You might have an MDiv but you’re looking pretty intellectually thin next to a 15 year old getting a C- in British Lit. 

    We make a mistake when we try to simplify the Gospel. We make a mistake when we try to dumb down what Jesus is saying to what we think our students can understand. We make a mistake of trying to neatly wrap up a Bible lesson into 3 easy-to-remember points.

    Because our students know life isn’t that easy. They expect an infinite God to be infinitely deep and infinitely wide. And what they see presented from their leaders lacks both.

    I think the thing I’m wrestling with is  the reality that students aren’t walking away from Jesus necessarily. They are walking away from the cheap, easy,uninteresting, anti-intellectual, shallow, weak Jesus we have presented them in high school.

  • Facebook shrank the world, literally

    Some recent research using Facebook’s social graph has shown that the world’s largest social network has actually made the world about 20% smaller, socially.

    Some highlights from the study.

    • There are more than 800 million active Facebook users, 50% of which log on daily.
    • The median Facebook user has about 100 friends.
    • If that number feels low, check out this 1991 study “Why your friends have more friends than you“
    • Stanley Milgram performed a study in the 1960s showing an average of 5.2 “hops” between any two people on the planet, hence “six degrees of separation.”
    • While the worldwide population in 1960 was just over 3 billion, today it now 7 billion. Logic would tell you that we would have more hops between more than 2x the amount of people on the planet.
    • Faecbook partnered with a university in Milan, Italy to develop an algorithm which measured the seperation between any two Facebook users. (800+ million worldwide)
    • The distance between hops on Facebook in 2008 was 5 degrees of separation. But now it is 4. And within people in the same country? 3 degrees of separation.
    • This research has revealed that your Facebook social circle is at once both global and local. (84% of people’s friends reside in the same country.)
    • Source

    What does this mean for you?

    • Mostly, it’s just really cool and has no real impact on your day-to-day life.
    • You’ve got to be more careful than ever about talking smack about someone online. Because one of your friends now has a friend who knows that person.
    • Your Facebook status is 3-4 shares away from reaching every person in your country. And 5-6 Facebook shares from any one person in the world.
    • As these online networks continue to interconnect our world, it also reveals a greater and greater desire within each of us to form more localized offline connections. (Support groups, farmers markets, small networks of personal friends, etc.)
    • In general, the larger a persons social network the less likely they are to keep their thoughts/opinions out of the public arena. I think we will see an increase in “private spaces” in social media to foster the open discussion we all so greatly enjoy.
    • Thomas Friedman’s 2005 book, “The World is Flat” was spot on. Fewer degrees of seperation gives more and more power to people with less and less means. This is contributing to a rise in the entrepreneur and socially activated class.

  • Sticky Faith Book Club, Chapter 7

    Sticky FiathAdam: I grew up watching the Cosby Show. One recurring theme was that mom and dad wanted you to move out as soon as possible so that they could move on with their lives. Dad celebrated when a child went off to college and lamented when they came home. While they were always welcomed home (begrudgingly) the goal of the Cosby’s parenting was clear: Become an adult.

    Looking around– I don’t know if most parents today have similar goals. As I’ve said many times I think a lot of parents express co-dependency on their adult-aged children. It’s beyond living vicariously through them, it’s coddling them towards what Robert Epstein labels “infantalization.” They like their children dependent on them and they are willing to do whatever it takes to make that last as long as possible… complaining about it all the while.

    As I read chapter 7 about building a Sticky Faith bridge out of the house and into adulthood I got out of this that we need to have a plan. While I think Kara and Chap emphasized a plan for the senior year of high school and first year of college I know that the plan should include today, when my kids are 10, 8, and 9 months! Why? Because that goal for my parenting has implications in how we do stuff today.

    For me, the goal can’t be safety. If there is one thing that irks me more than anything else about Christian parents it is the idea of safety. It’s as if the measurement of a faith-filled life is how safe it is. What a crock! Following Jesus is anything but safe. Therefore the goal of my parenting can not include safety. Sure, I want my children to grow up making wise choices. But I don’t want their default to be faithless, safe choices as well. My goal for my children is that they will recklessly encounter and follow Jesus wherever he wants them to go.

    Kristen: Megan, our oldest child, is ten years old. We have some time to before she graduates from high school and transitions into college. Still, this chapter provided many good thoughts to consider. My first thought while reading this chapter was to remember from my own college experience that finding and connecting to a church is difficult, even in a Christian college setting. I eventually found a church that I loved. It would later become the church where, as a young married couple, Adam and I served in the high school ministry together and where we formed adult friendships that last to this day.

    As a college freshman with no transportation, I would not have been connected if it weren’t for the clunky church bus that provided a free ride every Sunday. Looking back, I’m extremely thankful for a church that loved college students enough to provide resources to connect us to their congregation. Another reason the church relationship stuck is that the church allowed me to serve as a Sunday school teacher. This was a fairly large church that didn’t “need” me. I never felt looked down on as a young college student, nor did I ever feel like I was being used.

    Another point that struck me was the advice, “Don’t do for your child, what they can do for themselves”. I don’t consider myself a helicopter parent, however, there are things that I do for my kids (because it’s easier/faster/done right, etc) that are a disservice to them in the long run.

    Lastly, I appreciated the section called, “Prepare for Loss” on page 162. I’ve seen too many college graduates (let alone freshman students) struggling with these losses.

    Discussion questions:

    1. How are you feeling about the reality that your child is graduating? What are you most grateful to God for? What causes you fear or misgivings?

    2. What does it look like to trust God with your son or daughter as he or she is graduating?

    3. Do you think your child really knows that you love them unconditionally? How could you handle their next failure or success in such a way that you shower them with unconditional love?

    4. What family and group or church events would you like to try with your child? When is the best time to try them? Who else could you partner with (other parents, mentors, small group leader, youth leader) to help prepare your child for the transition?

  • The worldwide leader in…

    I’ve been a college sports fan my whole life. It’s safe to say there has never been a time like this.

    Never. Ever. Ever.

    One by one the most trusted names in college sports are having the skeletons removed from their closet and broadcast on national news.

    • Jim Tressel, the squeaky clean football coach in the sweater vest at Ohio State, was revealed to be the type of guy who rigs kids raffle contest so the best players prep players get free Ohio State gear. [Source]
    • Joe Paterno was absolutely kicked to the curb by Penn State when it was revealed that he knew about allegations of sexual assault in his football building but did nothing about it.
    • It looks like Syracuse’s longtime basketball coach Jim Boeheim is next. Yesterday his assistant Bernie Fine was fired when ESPN revealed tapes of Fine’s wife corroborating an accusers story. Boeheim issued a statement yesterday that he knew nothing of the allegations. All it’ll take is one email or voice mail with him talking about it before last week and he’s out.

    The Witch Hunt is On

    Once the witch hunt begins, in this latest case trying to determine who knew what and when about Bernie Fine’s sexual abuse of ball boys– it’s nearly impossible to know who is the hunter and who is the hunted.

    I’m not saying these guys are innocent. I’m just wondering if there is more to this witch hunt than what is being presented. Maybe the hunter isn’t as innocent as they appear to be?

    ESPN is the Common Denominator

    As I listened to the news about Bernie Fine yesterday I couldn’t help but pick up on this detail… they’ve had this tape since 2003. Eight years! When you are talking about a man who uses his position to molest children eight years is exactly eight years too long to hold a story. Eight years where someone, probably a lot of people, chose to protect Syracuse basketball instead of protecting young boys.

    That’s not acceptable. We simply cannot let them hide behind this little statement of journalistic “integrity:”

    Davis first gave the tape to ESPN in 2003. At the time, ESPN did not report Davis’ accusations, or report the contents of the tape, because no one else would corroborate his story. [source]

    Wait… did you catch that? Someone at ESPN decided not to air the tapes because THEY couldn’t corroborate the story. They aren’t the police… they are a sports news agency!

    A man comes to them with proof that he was molested by a coach at Syracuse University, seeking help since local police wouldn’t do anything about it, and they sat on the story for eight years.

    Eight years.

    What kind of person doesn’t call the police when he knows a child has been molested? Do we really value sports above children in this country?

    So why now? 

    In the three cases I mentioned  above ESPN had knowledge of these stories long before they broke. Lots of people around Penn State knew of a grand jury investigation of Jerry Sandusky. And no one said a thing while they knew Sandusky continued to have access to the football facilities.

    Lots of people knew the Sports Illustrated article was going to expose Jim Tressel’s knowledge of player indiscretions. And they sat on hard evidence about Bernie Fine was molesting boys for eight years.

    So why now? Why is ESPN holding stories and then subsequently releasing them? What makes 2011 special?

    It’s always about the money…

    I’m not presenting a conspiracy theory. I’m just starting to connect the dots. (And asking you, my fair reader, for your input.)

    ESPN does what they do to make money, right? They tell the story that will make them the most money. And they cover the games and leagues that will make them the most money.

    That’s fair. (While not always moral) It’s a free market system and we live in a country with freedom of the press.

    But I wonder if this has anything to do with conference realignment and TV deals? On November 1st USA Today ran a story entitled, “Is ESPN the Force Behind Realignment?” It was almost a rhetorical question. Of course ESPN is the force behind realignment. As the article mentioned, every team or league will ask ESPN if added or removing a member school will increase or decrease their over all television worth. That automatically makes ESPN the linchpin in all of the realignment conversations as leagues will do whatever it takes to get a better TV deal from ESPN.

    And ESPN would love to see teams play in conferences that worked better for their markets and allowed them to make more money. (Even decreasing travel or shipping by 10% would make them millions more!) Why else would the Big East want San Diego State if it weren’t for their location in the 9th largest TV viewing market in the country… and the only major market without a team covered by ESPN?

    Conference realignment has everything to do with making more TV money for member institutions. Pure & simple.

    Don’t even get me started about the college football bowls. Did you know ESPN owns more than half of the bowls? That’s why we can’t have a playoff, duh! It’s about them protecting their assets.

    So here’s what I’m wondering. Could it be that they held and released these stories to devalue Big 10 football (Ohio State & Penn State) and Big East (Syracuse) basketball?

    You could say… “These are ESPN products, why would they devalue them?” And I’d hypothesize… “Because they have a monopoly and if they can devalue the product they can negotiate cheaper deals with member institutions.”

    What do you think? Did ESPN have the responsibility to involve law enforcement when the Bernie Fine tapes were given to them in 2003? Do you think ESPN would have any reason to hold this (and other stories like it) until “the right time?”

    Or am I just a silly fan who had too much time in the car yesterday to think about all of this?

    Sound off.

     

  • Understanding Advent in 2 Minutes

    ht to Bob Carlton