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Breaking news. Newtown. Sydney. Australia. Dave Miers gets a credit in his Greek exam! That’s not a typo. If you happened to be walking down King St on Friday afternoon, you’d already know this… thanks for the high five! Giddy up.
We had dinner with our good friends Marty and Trine on Friday night (pic above). Marty is also uber-smart and helps me with Greek each week. Shout out.
Regular break it down content below:
“In the year 3000, YouTube, Twitter & Facebook will merge into 1 super time-wasting site called YouTwitFace.” – Conan O’Brien (h/t Hayesy via tweetski). It’s easy to waste time online! True dat. There’s even been a bit of a trend in some tech-embracing churches to encourage twittering during the sermon. Last week, Josh Harris wrote a good counter piece on why he’d be discouraging his congregation from tweeting during the sermon and John Piper, likewise, had some good gear on the “difference between communion with God and commenting on communion with God.” Wise words of caution.
Here’s some more gold from Piper on why and how he will be tweeting:
I see two kinds of response to social Internet media like blogging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others.
One says: These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.
The other response says: Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can.
His response to social media reminds me of my #2 reason for blogging.
Don’t be a twitface.
This is a flippin’ awesome video from one of my favourite blogs, Ragamuffinsoul.com:
Smile. Now go and read Los’ 7 Keys To Starting A Movement based on the video…
Just heading out to go and see Steve Morrison @ the Basement. 830pm. $20 tix @ door.
Featuring:
Here’s an ad from a jeans store window. It reminded me of a certain rugby league scandal. Which came first: rugby league players engaging in group sex? Group sex being used to sell products? Or group sex by ‘consenting’ adults being generally accepted?
Confession time. I like R&B and Rap music. Yep. Boyz II Men. Tupac. Sometimes I say to people that I used to like it during high school, but the truth is, I still like it! I like the beats, the harmonies, the poetry and the jive talk. BUT I came to the point where I couldn’t listen to too much Rap music because it wasn’t the best stuff to be filling my head with. I also realised that singing along to ‘I’ll make love to you’ wasn’t the most edifying gear for me to be singing as a single Christian dude.
This week I’ve been listening to a rap album that’s really good AND a lot more edifying for my ears and my soul. Tedashii – Identity Crisis. The album comes out on Tuesday (American Time). Tedashii is a Christian rapper (homies with Lecrae and the Reach Records crew). Here’s the thing. Christian Rap is often C-Rap. But for Tedashii, it’s actually good. Well produced. Not lame. He’s got cred. Creative lyrics. Good beats. Great R&B loops. Sweet R&B singers. Encouraging. (I often use the word encouraging, but I’ve been really encouraged by this album!)
So much of African-American hip-hop culture is about identity. Cars. Cash. Bling. Women. Alcohol. Status. Ripped abs. Gangs. Violence. Identity Crisis is brilliant in the way it re-thinks the idea of identity for the Christian. The identity theme flows throughout the album. Created in the image of God. Fallen. Adopted. Now part of a community. The album has a clear picture of the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the new identity that belongs to those that believe in Him.
Two of my fav tracks: Hollywood which is Tedashii’s testimony; and Make War which kicks off with a snippet of a John Piper sermon about making war against sin in your life.
This album is the goods. If you’re a young Christian dude into rap – check this gear out – it’s good and will encourage you. If you’re a parent or youth leader who’s got young crew into rap, buy them the album to help them think about their identity.
Susan Boyle keeps rocking the suburbs on Britain’s Got Talent. I’ll give every reader of this blog a warm fuzzy if she DOESN’T win the final! Singing ‘Memories’ in this vid.