Competition Time...
Back in 2004 I quoted a fellow blogger that "Scooby Doo matters deeply".
So true.
Maybe not that deeply, but important never the less!
And then I saw this from Mr Cloud's wonderful T-shirt emporium (check it out for some other gems):



Which got me thinking: what would Scooby do?
Must be competition time: Come up with a good answer to that question and you might win a prize (UK commentors only and keep it clean!)...
So what would Scooby do?

(competition will close at midnight, Sunday 25th April, 2010)

Vote Baby Vote!
All the talk of General and local elections coming up has reminded me of the brilliant short track "Vote Baby Vote" by Deee Lite. A funky 30 seconds with a serious message...

I'm quite unsure where to put my cross this time, although will probably end up with my usual choice. I did a "who should you vote for" online test, but found it little help! One thing that does concern me is that with all the expenses scandal stuff still in people's mind that people will decide not to vote. I'm not sure that's a helpful way forward. For all its flaws this is how we do it, so I think I'm with Deee Lite in saying "Vote Baby Vote". And in case you're not sure if you're registered, try here...

And for Christians, this article is interesting "Jesus calls us to vote..."

Pop charts and Bishops remarks
Nice post by Rob on Lord Carey's comments on UK Christians feeling squeezed and attempts to put a retired Christian band in the charts.
Couldn't have put it better myself!

Andrew Jones on John Piper on Emerging Church
Just a link to this post by the itinerant Tall Skinny Kiwi, giving a wider perspective to Piper's interesting video piece.
Nice work!

UPDATE
Andrew has another post adding balance to his previous one. Again helpful thoughts!

Plus more storms for Piper for inviting Rick Warren to speak at a conference.See Scot Mcknight's thougts here

Genesis
Interesting clip of N.T.Wright talking about Genesis 2-3 and comment at Jesus Creed.
Originally from here.
I found Wright's comments helpful anyway!

All you ever do is criticise...
Been meaning to re-start the blog after a deliberate break for a week or so now. Finally getting to it!
And only to link to a great post by Scot Mcknight on criticising (except he's American so it's got a "z") the church (here).
Gems such as this:
"if you want perfection, don't look to the church. If you want the ideal, don't look to the church. If you want a perfect fellowship, don't look to the church. If you want the utopian society, don't look to the church.

But if you want a gaggle of cracked Eikons, sinners and mistake-makers and sometimes goofed up and sometimes incredibly loving and joyous and devoted, then look to the church. You'll find that kind of group, but not the perfect group."
But check out the whole thing, as it's good stuff!

Baptist Ecclesiology
Interesting article on US Baptists and emerging church in the Baptist Standard (ht to Andrew for link).
Love this phrase from the final paragraph:
"Baptist history might offer an alternative explanation—ecclesiology is more defined by the practices of a Spirit-led community than by assent to the statements of a modern theological meta-narrative...the emerging church movement may provide hope for reformation to Baptists ignorant of the difference between modern truths and Truth incarnate"

Links
2 Posts from Jon to check out:
"Recommended resources for new youth ministers", check the comments too. I would add "The Godbearing Life" by Dean and Foster as a must read

Also "The future of statutory youth work" which raises some important questions

Meetings
Not sure if ministry means more meetings than other jobs, but you sure get to be part of lots of dreary sessions (and a few good too)! (I mean here businessy type planning meetings rather than "worship gatherings", although maybe part of the problem is separating the two).

Anyway simple stuff is always worth reminding ourselves of, so I appreciated this podcasted guide to "avoiding death by meeting". (You can get it via Itunes as well).
Like I say, nothing radical, but a reminder to keep focus, that we can learn a lot from!
And Baptist church members meetings often need some of these lessons too...

T Shirt Must Have
Found this great tshirt. Available here.
And fear not there is a UK shop...

And if you scroll down you see some "Baptist Chick" tshirts, which actually worry me more!

Wellbeing
Another report shows UK "ranked low on youth wellbeing", compared to the rest of Europe.

Baptists together
This week we were away at High Leigh again with a small group of "district minsters" from the LBA. The Association is divided into 10 districts of 20-30 churches in each. Our conversation was around trans-local ministry (apostles anyone?), supporting pastors and other such stuff. Was a good time, and re-enforced the notion that we are to be "inter-dependent" despite our insistence on the autonomy of the local church.

On a separate (but maybe not totally unrelated) note, stumbled across this post from Nigel Coles, asking whether the Baptist Union should be more wikipedia than Oxford Concise. If you're a Baptist it's worth a read.

One for musicians
It's over an hour long, but Bob Kauflin's "band on the run" seminar about arrangements for worship musicians is well worth a look. Great refreshment of the basics for bands playing together in worship.

Worship Music Guitar Hero?
After Christianised dance mats comes guitar praise.
Available this side of the pond from Wesley Owen.
Maybe I'll be better at this than "normal" guitar hero?

Blog Comments
John Smulo wants today to be "blog comment day". Nice idea, but I confess to not having commented anywhere yet (or receiving any comments).

Essential Shopping?
Just found this site with some fantastic "I am a Baptist" merchandise: tshirts, hoodies and more.
What more could you want?
Even this Baptist Bear!!!!
Maybe this year my colleagues at the London Baptist Association will get a Christmas present...

Poster
This graphic amused me.
I'll reserve making comment at this stage...
I found it at Way of the Master

More random links
A few links worth looking at:
Dave Gilpin: "Holy Crapola" Some great thoughts on faith, miracles etc.from a "contemporary church" type pastor (hope that's not an insult to the man!) especially in the light of the summer's events down in Florida. Here's a quote:
"It’s time to say no to nonsense and silliness and create a faith life that’s filled with the real deal of how God actually operates and wants to operate in the twenty first century"

Andy Goodliff on "10 Books every Baptist Minister should read". I'll confess now I haven't read many on his list, but it did get me wondering what would be on my list, and maybe one day I'll get round to posting that...

And finally a less serious one - showing my age. Here's a video link to an ad. for a long lost chocolate biscuit. Plus if you're a biscuit fan this site is essential

The Bible says..
I stumbled across this site a couple of days ago which suggests that "The Bible Says" has been "the mantra of Baptists throughout their history". (Amusing that a conservative site would suggest that Baptists have a mantra!).
So it was even more apt to find Sean commenting on that very phrase on his blog today. Check out his post and the post from Doug Chaplin he links to for an alternative view of that loaded phrase...

Durable Faith?
Interesting article from Relevant about 20 somethings faith struggles, post youth group.
Obviously massive differences in US context to UK but some challenges facing youth ministry to find ways to help young people develop what a friend used to call "durable faith", that lasts into adulthood.