Have you ever mapped out your life? Just recently I was thinking about the Ideas that have stayed with me over the years. Some of these are from books, while others are from conversations. Though some ideas are difficult to separate from the experiences that carry them, these are not primarily experiences that have shaped me. That’s a different list. Nor is this a list of my favorite books. Another list. These are ideas that have stuck with me over time. Here are 14 of the most significant ones. Continue reading »
Tag: Culture
Getting Under Your Skin
15
May
The Baja Beach Club in Barcelona made headlines three years ago when it began to “tag” it’s patrons with microchips embedded in the arm. The chip is used to identify people when they enter and pay for drinks.
So, let’s say, you go to the Baja Beach Club. A nurse preps you with a local anesthetic. She then injects the micro chip into you arm with an intimidating syringe. Now you can enter the Club and listen to the DJ as he mixes music and order a drink from the bikini-clad waitress. She sweeps the tag reader across your arm and bingo, you’re good to go. It seems a bit much for a Piña Colada.
“I know a lot of people have fears about it,” [the Club's co-owner] says. But he points out that many people already have piercings and tattoos. “Having a radio-transmitted chip under your skin makes you very unique,” he says wryly.
All this might seem a bit extreme….But as go the bohemians, so, eventually, go the rest of us.
Here’s the prediction. People now aged 50 or under “are quite likely to have some form of wireless gizmo attached or implanted in their lifetime.” (The Economist 2007, April 28 Issue)
See you in the Mystic …
A List: What I’m thinking about (Part 1)
16
April
[youtube YsCR9Y4Ymvo]
Welcome back. You belong here. I’m shooting-from-the-hip but here goes.
Questions I’m asking #1 – 32…
1. We are exiting the postmodern and entering a new world dominated by genetic engineering. What shape will the gospel take when men no longer die?
2. Why do people still get excited about being postmodern when as followers of Jesus, we’re from the future?
3. There are a lot of articles explaining how Pastors or churches should go about hiring staff. Does this point to the fact that we have lost Continue reading »
This we know: the dead do not return.
8
April
Joyful Easter. Fifty thousand years of accumulated experience by the 70 – 100 billion Humans who have lived on this planet have led us to know at least one thing: the dead don’t return. Continue reading »
Revolution?
13
March
welcome back. you belong here.
I was asked this last week about Barna’s new book Revolution. I confess that by-and-large I don’t read Christian books. Barna’s book is no exception. So while I couldn’t comment on the content of the book, I did comment on the title, Revolution.
Continue reading »
Culture Code – Part 3
15
January
American Culture, Shopping, and Christmas
I hate to shop.
My wife loves to shop.
That’s marriage.
Cultural Anthropologist and Marketing Guru, Clotaire Rapaille, writes (The Culture Code) about why people around the world live and buy as they do. Each culture, he tells us, has a code that if discovered can tap into the deep unconscious impulses that motivate our behavior.
So let’s dip our toe into the cold deep water of culture and test out what a deeply American activity like “shopping” might mean. The American Culture Code for shopping, according to Rapaille, is “RECONNECTING WITH LIFE.”
Decoding Culture– Part 1
2
January
Welcome back. You belong here.
The Culture Code – Why we live and buy as we do
As Christ followers in the west, we must take advantage of our priviledge to “exegete” scripture. What are these ancient people trying to say to each other about what is meaningful to them? We must also “exegete” the cultures of 21st century Nashville or Miami, Edinburgh or Dusseldorf, Paris or Barcelona, Tokyo or Sidney. What’s particular to a context? What’s universal? Last week I read The Culture Code by Clotaire Rapaille. [Yes, the author is French but let's give him a chance.] Rapaille is also an immigrant to America. Like me. He’s a cultural anthropologist that consults half of the Fortune 100 companies on
marketing issues.
In a way, Rapaille does what every thoughtful missionary has always done. He decodes culture. This task, once the domain of overseas workers, has come “home” and become part of the work for every church planter, pastor and leader in the West. We live in a changed culture and the clues to communicating with and reaching people have changed. Rapaille discusses several items of interest. Among these are
Opaque vs Transparent Strategies – 1
12
November
Welcome back. You belong here.
There is a spectrum of approaches for creating community with and among unreached people. Let’s draw from the world of technology for an anology.
Technologies exist on an opacity/ transparency spectrum. [Hat Tip to polymath and wordmaven Dean Sharp for the find].
An OPAQUE technology is one in which the technology being used is cumbersome or is
“in the way.” Posting a photo to your website using HTML is opaque. The HTML stands
between you and the task you’re seeking to accomplish. In a sense, you can’t “see” through
the technology to the photos you want to post. Opaque technologies require skills and capacities that do not come naturally to the user. For a more TRANSPARENT technology, think of using “Point to and click” technology to drag the photo of your choice into the page you’re creating. Using your finger to point is more natural to the user than typing HTML.
A transparent technology is one in which the technology is invisible. Continue reading »
24 comments » | Church Planting, Evangelism, Featured, Mission
Mega Church or House Church Networks: Part 2/ Heart and Hospitality
29
October
Welcome back. You belong here.
In PART ONE of this Two Part post titled, The Mega Church and Home Church Networks: Twin Trajectories and Why We Need Them Both, I wrote the following:
The first [Mega Church] trajectory needs excellence and resources to launch and heart and hospitality to succeed. The second [House Church Network] needs heart and hospitality to launch and resources to succeed. [More on this in my next post].
One of the reason corporate leaders and corporate churches don’t get mission to the emerging culture is Continue reading »
Should we “go to church”?
13
October
Welcome back. You belong here.
Alex,
I need your advice. I have a friend who is going to another extreme.
He feels that all churches teach legalism, all pastors have their own
agenda and churches should not have walls but “engage the darkside”.
For this reason, he has decided to not attend church at all. He has no
plans or possibly even no desire to seek out a church to be a part of
but he realizes he needs a mentor and he needs community, fellowship
with other believers.