Ocean City Floated Away (Almost)
By Brandon | May 12, 2008
Last night I awoke at 2 am to a pretty wild storm. The wind was howling, rain was coming down, and we lost power at least 4 times throughout the night (the carbon monoxide detector kept reminding me). Little did I know that it would only get worse during the day.
For those of you who are not familiar with Ocean City, it is a barrier island in New Jersey. Since the island is at sea level, rainfall just stays until it evaporates. Combine this with high tide (which was at 3pm ocean / 4pm bay), and you have one wet mix.
By 2 pm, the wind and rain was dying down, but none of the water was leaving the island. My mom told me that the OCPD would be closing all 4 bridges off the island at 3 pm (because of high tide), so I left immediately. Even at 2:30 (hour and a half before high tide), I could barely get onto the bridge.
Below are some pictures I took with my ghetto phone:
 |
This is on 34th Street (the bridge between my home and OC). And yes, that is the bay on the road (I am actually driving in the wrong lane, since the outbound lane is under that water) |
 |
Blitz’s Market on 34th Street. The large sign laying in the parking lot is not supposed to do that. |
 |
This was an old tree on the Tabernacle grounds, right in front of our office. It was about 5 feet from my boss’s car. |
For more pictures of the day OC almost floated away, check here: Down the Shore
Topics: Personal, Random | No Comments »
Kids Say the Funniest Things
By Brandon | May 11, 2008
In Megan’s Sunday School class today (4 & 5 year olds), I was helping a boy write a card to his mother. I asked him to write his name, which he proceeded to scribble on the card. I said I couldn’t read it, to which he responded “It is in French.”
I love working with Jr. Highers, but sometimes kids say the funniest things.
Topics: Random | No Comments »
I am Iron Man
By Brandon | May 10, 2008
“I am Iron Man” - Tony Stark
I am up in Lancaster with Megan, and we just went to see Iron Man with her cousin and his fiancee. Talk about a great movie! Tons of action, special effects, sarcasm (gotta love it), and one kick-butt suit. As my friend Dom put it: “Easily the best Marvel movie made so far!” I would agree, putting it above the X-Men and Spiderman movies.
What really made the movie for me was seeing the character development of Tony Stark. In the beginning, we see an arrogant, self-centered weapons dealer. Through the movie, he shifts his focus on good and saving people. Sure, the arrogance is still there, as are the rest of his character flaws. However, he totally rocks. If you have not seen this yet, go right now (or after Mother’s Day) and see it. Hurry up, because next weekend is Prince Caspian and the following weekend is Indiana Jones 4. What a month!
Topics: Movies, Random | No Comments »
Book Review: What Matters Most
By Brandon | May 6, 2008
Finished another book this week: What Matters Most by Doug Fields. It was a very quick read, but well worth the time. In the book, Doug helps the reader learn how to say NO to good things (ministry opportunities, friends, and one million other things) so you can say YES to what matters most (God and family). Far too often, pastors and youth workers can get caught in crowd-pleasing mode, making it tough to say no. Fields encourages the reader to establish boundaries in your life. Ministry is important, but a person’s spiritual health and relationship with family is more important. An excellent resource, and one I plan to revisit again and again, as a priorities checkup. Rating: 5/5
Topics: Book Review, Youth Ministry | No Comments »
Book Review: Jim and Casper Go to Church
By Brandon | May 4, 2008
I read the book Jim and Casper Go to Church this week. Based on the research of Jim Hender (Christian and former pastor) and Matt Casper (a “seasoned atheist”), this book follows their journey as they visit 12 churches across the country. From Saddleback to the Potter’s House, they visit each church’s main service, unannounced, and proceed to rate all aspects of the service from their outsiders perspective. While not a truly accurate judgment of each church’s full ministry, these ratings are simply how the church is perceived by first time visitors.
The book is based on a brilliant concept: market research. If a church claims that “All are Welcome” or that they are “Visitor Friendly,” you need to have constructive criticism. And who better to give tips on the “visitor’s perspective”: a 20+ year Christian on the Elder Board, or an actual visitor? Throughout the whole book, Jim and Casper make the reader evaluate their own church, especially noting how visitors, “seekers” and non-Christians view it. A great book. Rating: 4.5/5
Topics: Book Review, Christianity | No Comments »
Creative Outreach Methods
By Brandon | May 1, 2008
Tonight I went to a Switchfoot concert at the Music Pier in Ocean City. It is not everyday that we have a major concert in town, and even less that I am not in charge of. It was run by the local chapter of FCA as an outreach event. Myself and some other local youth pastors helped out at a raffle booth. Students had to fill out a questionnaire in hopes of winning an iPod Touch. The questionnaire took about 10 minutes, and was primarily based on the Romans Road. Students had to look up passages in the FCA-provided Bibles and respond to what they had read. It was a great way to get students who never open the Bible to read it’s words for themselves.
Topics: Youth Ministry | No Comments »
Book Review: Velvet Elvis
By Brandon | April 28, 2008
This weekend I finished Velvet Elvis, the widely popular debut book by Rob Bell (of Nooma and Mars Hill fame). I must preface this review by saying that I have always enjoyed Bell’s Nooma videos, having used them in school, youth group, and church. I have been impacted by these movies personally, and know many many people that have been impacted by these movies as well.
With that being said, at times I was disappointed with Velvet Elvis. While containing Bell’s trademark style of talking (He seems to talk. Just. Like. This.), the book lacks the creativity in imagery found in his videos (think Two Trees). The book seemed too scattered and disorganized for my concrete-sequential mind.
Content-wise, the book was about average. Bell tends to rely more heavily on 1st and 2nd century Judaism than most pastors and/or authors. This does provide some great insight into the background of the New Testament. However, this must be taken with a grain of salt, as most scholars cannot agree on what Judaism looked like during the time of Jesus (only afterwards). I do not agree with some statements that he made, but I can live with them. In fact, Bell takes a very Berean approach to his writing, as evident on his back cover:
“We have to test everything… Do that to this book. Don’t swallow it uncritically. Think about it. Wrestle with it. Just because I’m a Christian and I’m trying to articulate a Christian worldview doesn’t mean I’ve got it nailed. I’m contributing to the discussion.”
Overall, I would recommend this short read (under 180 small pages) to anyone who wants a glimpse at the thinking of one of America’s more famous pastors and emergent leaders. Rating: 3.5/5
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Modern Day Textual Criticism
By Brandon | April 26, 2008
Today I read an interview with Daniel Wallace, a prof at DTS and Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. The mission of the CSNTM is to digitally photograph and document manuscripts of the New Testament. These fragile artifacts, some of which are over 1000 years old, are too delicate to be handled by all the scholars who want access, and are rapidly deteriorating. Dr. Wallace and his associates are digitally archiving these manuscripts to provide easy access for scholars, as well as retain these manuscripts for future generations. Last summer, they were able to discover about 34 new manuscripts that were previously unknown to Western scholars. They are doing a great work, and I am very interested in what they are able to discover this summer.
Topics: Christianity | No Comments »
SYM Podcast Live TODAY!!
By Brandon | April 25, 2008
The crew over at Simply Youth Ministry is doing a live podcast today (4/25) at Noon PST (3pm for normal people who live on the East Coast). I am so happy that they changed the day of the podcast from Thursday to Friday just for me. If you have not experienced this show, you must. Terrific humor with just enough youth ministry so you don’t feel guilty for listening.
Follow the live podcast here: SYM Podcast
Topics: Youth Ministry | No Comments »
Logos Bible Software: A Review
By Brandon | April 23, 2008
Last week I gave in and purchased Scholar’s Library: Gold from Logos Bible Software. What a great purchase it was! I am loving it!! I use it every single day, and it greatly aided me in writing a recent paper for Grad School. Although I am still a novice when it comes to using the software, I am slowly learning all the tricks and tools found in this program.
Three Things I love about Logos:
- Power. This thing is powerful. Within one minute, I can search my entire electronic library of hundreds of books. The paper I had due last Monday was on 1 John 2:12-17. I type in the reference and hit search, and within seconds I was getting information back from all kinds of sources. The same type of research in a physical library would have taken me hours (and likely not as in depth).
- Language Tools. I am just wrapping up my first year of Greek studies. Before that, I took Hebrew in undergrad. This software has taken all that I learned in those two years and made them instantaneous. Rather than taking a great deal of time and effort into parsing a verb, I simply hover the mouse over a Greek/Hebrew word, and the parsing is shown. Then you can double click on the word, and the lexical form and definition appear. So easy.
- Notes. This was one part of Logos that I was not expecting: how useful the notes would be. If I am reading a text, and want to add my own comment, question, idea, or reference, I can. It is as simple as 2 mouse clicks away. These notes appear as a little yellow graphic at the start of each verse. When clicked, these graphics take me to pages and pages of notes, previously scattered throughout a few Bibles and books, but now brought together under one roof. I find myself marking and noting things more on Logos than I do on my thin-margined physical Bible.
Now I don’t think that Logos will ever replace all of my books (I am still getting used to reading whole books on a computer screen, and my favorite commentary, EBC, is not on Logos). However, if a book is available on Logos, I am now more likely to buy it from them instead of a physical copy. Logos is perfect for research, writing, and general Bible studying. It is an ideal tool for youth workers as they prep for a lesson (my primary use). Next update for me is the Sermon Builder Addin.
Topics: Christianity, Resource | No Comments »
« Previous Entries