I don’t really follow Twitter accounts. I find them annoying and usually uninformative. There are very few people in this world that I want to have minute by minute updates on their lives and none of those people use Twitter. With that being said, if people used Twitter like Leonard Sweet does, as Michelle points out, I’d be a lot more inclined to follow the feeds. Jumping into someone’s brain occasionally to see some of their questions or thoughts on situations is quite interesting. However, then it gets really annoying again when it becomes like a Facebook wall where you start posting messages to people. Jordon is now moving his Tweets to his sidebar now too, which is good, I think it’s where they belong.

I have been waiting for this for a really long time. Brilliant move and now there is seriously no reason ever for anyone ever to use Outlook. Gmail is now offline!

Sweet new website that gives you recommendations of what movies to watch by what movies you like.

Going to a show on Friday called the Where’s the Band tour. It’s all the frontmen from a few of my favourite bands and most importantly Thrice. (Dustin Kensrue of Thrice, Matt Pryor of the Get Up Kids, Chris Conley of Saves The Day and Anthony Raneri of Bayside). It’s sold out though, so you can’t go, hopefully I’ll get some nice pics.

We have finished filming our first ever commercial for this year’s Evolving Church conference, and I’m pretty pumped to get it online. Mind you we shot it ourselves with our cheap equipment, but I think its great. It should be up before the end of the week.

Gran Torino was a great movie, really enjoyed the character development. Seven pounds was also pretty good, a little predicatble but still good. Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler are the next two on my list. I’ve also just started getting into the season called It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It is absolutely hilarious, a little racey, so if you are sensitive pretend I didn’t write that.

This e-mail reminds me of a lot of people. Some of those t-shirts are really hilarious though. Some….a little over the top.

Oh Mark Driscoll. Seriously, what a douche.

This weekend I was able to get OSX (or as Joe calls it, OS TEN) onto my PC using Kallyway. This is a giant step in my ultimate goal in life to prove to everyone how horrible of an investment purchasing a Mac is. If OSX will run perfectly on any laptop, it will be official that Mac users buy Macs and spend twice the money for the same speed strictly because of style and brand loyalty. I knew this was true long ago, but finally it is becoming more realistic. Plus, I’ll be able to run Final Cut on my PC now too, because none of my friends refuse to believe me that Premiere is just as good as a program, if not better in my opinion.

I’m now officially using Google Reader. Don’t know why I wasn’t before, I should have known that having it all online was a good move. Plus, now I can read it on my phone too with my Google Reader app.

We have an amazing new soup/wrap place across the street from theStory called Spoon Lickens. There is going to be 150 different soups to choose from on the take-out menu and 9 different ones each day to order. 3 of the 4 soups I’ve had were out of this world. It’s a bit pricey, but I’m pretty pumped we have another great restaurant downtown Sarnia.

I now realize that almost all my links are somehow tech related. Guess that’s just how it swings this week.

This is just wild. (ht) It’s like Jesus is saying “hey, look I know it’s supposed to cost you something to go where no one else will go, but here I’ll make it easy for you, I won’t make it cost you anything out of your pocket, just give up your life and go here, you don’t have to pay a dime” and yet, we’ll never go. We like when it costs us lots of money but nothing of our lives cause then we trick ourselves into believing that we are somehow sacrificing something.

New aggregator of sorts for posts about being missional.

I would go here just for the fun of it.

Good post and I totally understand he says, “Apparently, Christian bookstores want you to buy The Shack, but they don’t want you to “buy” The Shack, if you know what I mean. You know, like, please only “buy” it in the give-me-some-money sense.” Like seriously, I can’t stand that shit, I can’t believe a Christian bookstore would sell something they don’t believe in. How lost have we become when we start up a store to separate the good from bad so we can sell the good but then when we realize that the semi-bad makes money we can somehow settle our conscience with a sticker?

New song, good lyrics

Been listening to The Album Leaf, Band of Horses and Jeniferever lately, all new bands for me and they are awesome.

Installed this app on my G1 and it worked….guess I don’t need a blue tooth remote for Powerpoints anymore.

Tickets are on sale for the Evolving Church Conference in Oakville, Ontario, early bird rate ends soon so make sure you get your tickets.

Porn Industry Seeks Federal Bailout (ht joe)

The kids at theStory put together a quick video for the Christmas Eve service, it was well received and hilarious (probably mostly because they are our kids.)

Joe’s documentary was in the Observer today.

A view of alternative churches
celebrating faith
By TYLER KULA, THE OBSERVER
Joe Manafo spent 18 months travelling the country to learn how people who don’t fit into the mould of traditional Christian worship celebrate their faith.

He spent $6,000 and, with video camera, visited every province except Newfoundland and Labrador, talking with people trying to find alternatives.

“These are churches and groups that, while the message is the same, the way it’s played out is completely different than an everyday church,” he said.

The result is a 45-minute documentary called, “One size fits all?” Manafo is planning a Sarnia showing in early 2009, but the specifics haven’t been determined.

One place Manafo encountered in Kitchener put on punk, metal, country or ska concerts four nights a week to pay the bills. And there are numerous other approaches to connect with people disenchanted with traditional church models, he said.

“That’s not to say that I’m making a movie about churches that are doing things right. There’s just a different flavour, a different style. They’re doing their thing, reaching their crowd, while these other, more established, mainline churches are serving their crowds.”

The alternate churches also tend to cut through what Manafo calls “pop Christianity,” worship that is plastic, all shine and only on the surface.

“Whereas more normal, more established churches are pretty much straight up, stoic perhaps, very much locked into a pattern, these churches are very experimental in nature,” he said.

“These communities very much connect with a crowd of people that wouldn’t necessarily fit in ‘normal churches,’” he said. “And they’re learning to, I guess, express their faith . . . with God in ways that are unconventional.”

Manafo is no stranger to the short film and documentary genre. In fact, he helped organize the popular Sarnia Short Film Festival this past fall.

He is also a “church planter” and is responsible for The Story, an alternative start-up church in Sarnia on Christina Street.

For more information about

the film or travel blog visit onesizefitsall.ca.

A Small Rant for Christmas

Time picked their best 10 video games of 2008, this game called Hunted Forever made it on the top ten and it took a guy 3 weeks to make and he’s making a living from it. Awesome. You can play it for free online on the link above.

Good story to listen to especially for Christians.

The Bible & Homosexuality: Enough with the Bible Already

Kinnon on Keller on Fitch on Kimball on Missional Growth?

I really enjoyed this issue of Geez that just came out.

Phil Nellis has a bunch more artwork out. Check it out. Loved this one.

Top 100 Sites of 2008

Good gift ideas (a little to late)

I don’t think I mentioned it yet, but I got an unlocked G1 and am loving it. I moved away from the blackberry completely and got rid of the data plan which was a purposeful move to try and not stay that connected but still connected enough that I could manage the business. So you may see random links in the future about Android.

I think this may be the next lens I purchase.

A good friend of mine makes her own Jewelery. It looks pretty sweet and if you ask me a great present for someone for Christmas and your helping out artists (she’s from Guelph). So buy some here. Her stuff is called Emma Designs.

Fuck the poor (ht)

Top 5 Ways for Ministries to Get Over the Recession or in my opinion some good ways for Christians to suck it up and quit whining cause you had to see it coming and maybe finally this will help us actually believe that are hope isn’t in this system and make us rely on something better. Jordon’s Recession Survival Guide. This whole recession thing is starting to excite me.

10 more reasons I love gmail

I went with Joe this weekend to the Canadian Youth Worker’s Conference to screen his Documentary. Met up with lots of old friends, heard Campolo give a great message on authority and power and got to sleep in the same bed as Phil.

I bought the G1 Phone unlocked of Ebay last week. I pick it up in the morning. It’s supposed to work on Rogers or Fido so I’m pretty excited to allow my mobile experience move into this new era. More to come on this I’m sure.

Buy Nothing Day – I’ll be participating.

I Was Never ‘Called’ to Journey Alongside of Poor People – I’ve heard that excuse a million times.

Brilliantly written, especially the intro. It’s about security. (ht)

Great post on being unequally yoked, he really takes the imagery to a great place.

3 and 12 and 120