AndroidTapp.com will be giving away a New T-Mobile G1

AndroidTapp.com will be giving away a New T-Mobile G1 cell phone (a $450 value)! Plus Free shipping as well. The winner will be chosen at random. Promotion starts Monday 11:59pm CST December 22, 2008 and ends Monday 11:59pm CST January 19, 2009. There are several ways to enter the promotion and win, multiple entries are allowed based ONLY by the criteria at the following URL: http://www.androidtapp.com/androidtapp-tmobile-g1-cell-phone-giveaway-promotion/

A Thought from Dave Black

Hey, fellow pilgrims! Here's something to do today if you have a spare minute. Go to your church's website and see who in your church is mentioned first. My guess it's gonna be the leaders (elders, pastors, staff, etc.). There will probably even be a nice photo of your pastor. Think about that. What is that telling visitors to your site? That the people who count first and foremost are the "ministers." But if we're all ministers (as the New Covenant clearly teaches), why not highlight what the so-called laity are doing? For example, you could mention how brother so-and-so is visiting the nursing homes, or how sister so-and-so is working in the local food pantry, or how the congregation is having a prayer meeting for missions, or how this family is passing out tracts, or how people are getting together during the week for fellowship and Body-building. Put their pix on your home page, rather than your pastor's. Why not revamp your home page to make it a little less top-down and a little more bottom-up? You know, sort of like Jesus (Mark 10:45) or like the way Paul greets the saints in Philippi first, and then mentions their overseers and deacons, almost in passing (Phil. 1:1)? Come to think of it, in most of the openings to his letters he doesn't mention the leaders at all!

Just a thought....

Source: http://daveblackonline.com/blog.htm

The Shack by William Paul Young

The author of The Shack, William Paul Young, joined Steve Brown Etc. to talk about living in a jacked-up world full of pain and loss and…full of a God who loves us. I encourage everyone who would like to know more about this book to listen to this fun interview with Steve Brown.

I went to Walmart to purchase this book after seeing the author interviewed on James Robinson's television show. My wife and I loved this book, we are sharing it with many family and friends. If you do a Google search for this book you will find many in the Church who are very critical about this book. Most of these critical reviews I have read seem to take parts of the book out of context of this fictional story, however. I think Wayne Jacobsen has done a good job of answering the question, Is The Shack Heresy?

Visit TheShackBook.com for more on the book and visit WindRumors.com for more from Mr. Young.

The 2008 season is here!

Preseason Week 1:Redskins (0-0) vs. Colts (0-0)

The 2008 season is here!

The Redskins will open the NFL preseason against the Indianapolis Colts in the 46th annual Hall of Fame Game on Sunday, Aug. 3 in Canton, Ohio.

The contest will kick off at 8 p.m. ET at Canton's Fawcett Stadium and will be televised nationally on NBC's Sunday Night Football.

Are We Willing to Wash Osama's Feet?

http://gregboyd.blogspot.com/2007/11/washing-osamas-feet.html

Spiceworks: Free Network Management Software

Spiceworks (http://www.spiceworks.com/) is free network management software designed for networks with up to 250 devices. It combines inventory, monitoring, reporting, troubleshooting, help desk and community Q&A into one easy-to-use application. It enables you to quickly and conveniently inventory the hardware, software, and patches that reside on your network; monitor your network for new software, license compliance violations, low disk space, offline servers, low printer supplies; report easily on the information you need to manage your network; troubleshoot any issues with your network; run a simple help desk; ask questions to the Spiceworks community of IT professionals worldwide. Spiceworks requires no agents to be installed and managed.

Redskins clinch playoff spot!!

Redskins quarterback Todd Collins connected with Santana Moss on a 42-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to put Washington ahead 27-3. Dallas added a field goal, but otherwise the quarter was uneventful as Washington sealed a 27-6 win and the NFC's final playoff berth. The Cowboys played their starters into the third quarter, but only rushed for a franchise record-low 1 yard (on 16 carries) as Washington controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

Give the Gift of Safe

Who is this guy? Chris Pirillo is a geek among geeks: technologist, television host, magazine columnist, blogger, author, and entrepreneur. In short, he's a technology renaissance man for the 21st century. (See more of Chris's videos at YouTube, or subscribe to his RSS feed.)

Give your friends and family the gift of a safer Internet: OpenDNS. It's free and requires nothing to download or install.

Who will you give it to?

http://www.opendns.com/

Watch "Church Outside the Walls" Part 1 Online

Family Room Media recently decided to make the complete version of Part 1 of their "Church Outside The Walls" 4 part video series available online. The full quality DVDs are still available at their online store.

'Church Outside The Walls' is a four part video series with each video running about thirty minutes. Part 1 'The Dropouts' focuses on Christians who have left Sunday morning 'church' services and the whole religious system of doing 'church' in order to return to the simplicity of Christ.

You can watch it online at the following URL:

http://familyroommedia.com/Dropouts2.html

Ekklesia: Christ-centered, open participatory gatherings

New Testament documents were written to Christian communities that possessed a certain spiritual environment. For them, "church" was not filing into a building and sitting like a pillar of salt during a worship service officiated by a clergyman (pastor or priest). The modern "audience church" historically evolved (or devolved) from cultural elements that, in my view, replaced the organic expression of church life that the early Christians knew.

That said, I believe that understanding the grand narrative is only a piece of the puzzle toward rightly grasping Scripture (as well as the incredible Lord that Scripture presents). Another important piece is to live in the same spiritual context in which the early Christians lived. This includes face-to-face community as well as Christ-centered, open participatory gatherings.

For instance, try applying Paul's teachings in 1 Corinthians 14 to a typical church service. It can't be done. What congregant, for instance, sitting frozen in a pew is going to interrupt the pastor or priest during his sermon? And what pastor or priest will yield the floor to the person who interrupts? Hence, 1 Corinthians 14:30 has no relevance at all in such a setting.

However, if a group of Christians are living in a face-to-face community that practices, as the early Christians did, open-participatory church meetings, then that passages makes perfect sense and all of the instruction applies.

I believe there is a great need to freshly examine how we have been "doing church" since the Reformation. I also believe that a new look at the New Testament narrative along with the historical origins of our church practices can teach us a great deal about ecclesiology . . . if we are willing to be instructed by it.

Taken from the Present Testimony Ministry February 2007 newsletter: http://www.ptmin.org/february2007.htm