All posts by mjfelker1980

Ministry

Minus the Gold and Goat Hair

1 Comment

I’ve got a BIG question brewing.

The curriculum for Zondervan’s Read the Bible in 90 Days was delivered to my house during Thanksgiving break. My wife and I tore into the blue box and unpacked all the materials. All of this excitement came from our experiment last month: We read through the entire New Testament in under 20 days. We didn’t just breeze through it. We thoughtfully and carefully read through scripture together. It was a great experience for the two of us. It was so enjoyable that I decided to plunk down the money to purchase the entire kit that would take us through the entire Bible “cover to cover” in 90 days.
We are deeply entrenched in week one and last night we read about the some important events in the history of Israel. Exodus 17-28 takes the Israelites out of captivity, across the Red Sea, into the wilderness and to the foot of Mount Carmel. They receive the Ten Commandments and they receive instructions on how to build the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. All of this to bring me to my question:

What would it take to re-create the Tabernacle for real?

Sure, I’ve seen models that kids have made in VBS. I’ve seen scale models and maps and blueprints but I’ve never seen a life size recreation.

I’ll be honest. Reading all of the measurements and instructions began to wear on these tired eyes last night. All those cubits, acacia wood pieces, blue strips of cloth, and golden clasps seemed to become a blur to me. I began to get bored with this section. Then I tired to put myself into their sandals. The Israelites were riding high on the victory of God’s defeat of the Egyptians. I’d be willing to bet that they were pretty ecstatic about this project.

Then I began to get excited. I thought about how awesome it would be to teach about the Tabernacle while standing the court of the Tabernacle.

I am seriously considering trying to build a Tabernacle. Of course, I don’t have the money or the resources. I am no engineer and craftsmanship is not my spiritual gift.

I am more of an idea man.

What would it take to do this? Has it been done? Any ideas?

Ministry

Desktop Ministry

3 Comments

I am a sucker for great ideas that utilize the arts and technology within a ministry setting. Tim Schraeder’s blog, Cr8vE (creative) chaos, posted a great idea that he has used to promote the ministry he is a part of.

Tim began creating desktop wallpaper (?) that featured his church’s logo and a scripture reference. The images were available for download from the church web site. Tim said that his congregants used the wallpaper for their laptops and on their home computers and really seemed to enjoy showcasing the artwork and bringing a bit of recognition to their church. However, Schrader wanted to push the idea a little further.

So he created desktop calendars. The calendar works like the static desktop wallpaper but instead of a scripture reference, the wallpaper now features the days of the month and a list of the sermon series and special events happening at his church. (Tim created four different Christmas themed calendars: 2, 3, 4)

This is not a crazy idea. Not a hard idea. This is just a plain, easy, creative way to impact those in your church. It is a fun way to get information to the people who need it.

In any given church there are bound to be a few creative people who have 15 extra minutes that they can spend working on this type of communication tool. Why haven’t you asked them to do something like this for you yet? Sounds like a New Year’s Resolution challenge to me.

Monthly Desktop Calanders
Via

Books, News, Popular Culture

Uh Oh!

6 Comments

According to a letter sent to BBC producer Lance Sieveking in 1959, C.S. Lewis would have been very opposed to a live-action movie based on The Chronicles of Narnia.

Dear Sieveking,
(Why do you ‘Dr’ me? Had we not dropped the honorifics?) As things worked out, I wasn’t free to hear a single instalment of our serial [The Magician’s Nephew] except the first. What I did hear, I approved. I shd. be glad for the series to be given abroad. But I am absolutely opposed – adamant isn’t in it! – to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare. At least, with photography. Cartoons (if only Disney did not combine so much vulgarity with his genius!) wld. be another matter. A human, pantomime, Aslan wld. be to me blasphemy.

All the best,
yours
C. S. Lewis

Uh oh, indeed! The letter even mentions Disney.

I, for one, have been eagerly anticipating the live-action/CGI extravaganza The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The movie, produced by Walt Disney and greenlit by the Lewis estate, is set to open on December 9th. From all accounts the movie seems to be a literal translation from page to screen. Still, this letter does make me squirm a little. I wonder if the media’s intrest in making the letter public has to do with a commercial campaign led by conservative churches a’la The Passion of the Christ. CNN reports that “Disney hopes that the movie, which has its world premiere in London on December 7, will be as big a hit with children as the “Harry Potter” series, thanks in part to the support of Christian church leaders.”

Regardless of the media’s agenda in making this letter public, the question remains:

What would Jack think of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?

Blasphemy in Narnia
Via

Firm on the Rock, U2

Pressed Against the Glass

Zoo Station
Achtung Baby
U2

I’m ready, ready for the laughing gas
I’m ready, I’m ready for what’s next
I’m ready to duck, I’m ready to dive
I’m ready to say ‘I’m glad to be alive’
I’m ready, I’m ready for the push
In the cool of the night
In the warmth of the breeze
I’ll be crawling around
On my hands and knees

She’s just down the line
Zoo Station
Got to make it on time
Zoo Station

I’m ready, ready for the gridlock
I’m ready to take it to the street
I’m ready for the shuffle, ready for the deal
Ready to let go of the steering wheel
I’m ready, ready for the crush

Just down the line
Zoo Station
I’ll be on time
Zoo Station

Alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright
It’s alright, it’s alright
It’s alright, it’s alright
Hey baby, hey baby, hey baby, hey baby
It’s alright, it’s alright
Don’t worry, you’re catching it up

Time is a train, makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass

I’m just down the line from your love
Zoo Station
Under the sign of your love
Zoo Station
I’m gonna make it on time, make it on time
Make it on time, just make it on time, baby
Zoo Station
We’ll be right here
Zoo Station
It’s alright, just make it
Zoo Station
I’m gonna make it on time
Just two stops down the line from your love
Zoo Station
Just a stop down

General

Happy Thanksgiving

6 years ago today I had the best Thanksgiving ever.

Thanksgiving is trluy an American holiday. That’s why everyone in our group began to get a little nervous as the 4th Thursday of November began to get closer and closer. We were thousands of miles away from home living in Athens, Greece and we wanted to know how we would celebrate this holiday. Nobody missed Halloween and nobody raised a fuss because we didn’t have a fall break but I was concerned. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It isn’t the food. It isn’t the football. I love Thanksgiving because of the fellowship.

Call me an old softy but I love being together with friends and family with absolutely no expectations.

You don’t give gifts on Thanksgiving. You eat together around the table. You don’t have to decorate your house better than your neighbor’s for Thanksgiving. You sit on the couch and laugh with your dad. Thanksgiving is perfect because you get out of it what you put in. It’s real and not contrived.

I was going to be heart broken if we missed out on Thanksgiving. Here we were a group of college students away from home. How would we spend this day giving thanks.

We spent it at a Greek Mexican resturant. Instead of turkey we ate French pheasant. We had mashed potatoes and corn. We had stuffing and green beans. We had it all.

It was the most amazing dinner I’ve ever had. Friends gathered around a table truly giving thanks for each other, for our families, and for our blessings.

Every year since then I have tried to tap back into those feelings of thanks and fellowship I expereineced that night. Who would have thought that a Greek Mexican resturant would help me understand the meaning of an American holiday? Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

General

Update

Lots of things going on here at Kicking at the Darkness // MichealFelker.com. I will be in Nashville over the weekend so there will be little to no movement here on the site. I am working and tweaking on this theme and a couple of others as well.

I recieved my new Relevant Network box yesterday. It was chock full of new books and new music. Be looking for a review or two.

I will be working on a couple of posts while I’m gone. I had promised you an outline of a some of the Catalyst confrence presentations. I will post one this week just as I promised.

I am working on a few new features for the site. I want to have a weekly feature and a monthly feature. With December appraoching fast, I hope to have our first monthly feature ready for publication on DEC. 1.

Any feedback from you, the reader, would be welcomed. You can always contact me at KickingAtTheDarkness (at) gmail (dot) com.

Grace and Peace.

General

Don’t It Always Seem To Go

My throat hurts. All those late nights and early mornings caught up to me this week. I all but lost my voice Tuesday and Wednesday. It seems to be better this morning but my throat still hurts. I really miss being able to sing. My whole life revolves around music. Whether I’m in the car, on the couch, walking down a hallway, or sitting at my desk I sing. I hum. I bob my head to the beat thumping in my mind. I want to just sing but sadly I can’t. I sound like screeching brakes. Hopefully, I’ll be over what ails me this weekend. I keep you posted.

News, Popular Culture, Theology

Let The Choir Sing…


Africa needs justice, not charity. The purpose of Live 8 was for the citizens of the world to demand this justice from the leaders of the 8 most powerful countries in the world at their summit a few days later. Under great pressure from the billions of people who took part in Live 8 and the Global Campaign for Action Against Poverty, world leaders made promises to double aid and cancel the unpayable debts of the poorest countries. This was an amazing breakthrough which we should all be proud of. Campaigners will be working to make sure world leaders keep these promises and go further.

One of the big stories over the summer was the historic Live 8 concerts that went on all over the world. Bob Geldof and friends used the G8 summit as a way to highlight the problems with poverty and AIDS, not just in Africa, but all over the globe. Thanks to the concerts and organizations like ONE the information and images concering young children dying of starvation and preventable disease made its way into Western homes this past summer.

Today, Live 8 was released on DVD. The 4 discs come loaded with music and images that you may have missed if you watched the Mtv and VH1 coverage that day. The sound quality is great and all of the best performances are included. Go check it out but… before you do that… make sure that you have signed the ONE Declaration. Let the world know that you care.

ONE.org

Popular Culture

Tommy, Can You Hear Me?

1 Comment

And then, on July 7, 2001, at 10:30 am, I lost my ability to hear everything. While I was waiting to pick up a rental car in Reno, I suddenly thought the battery in my hearing aid had died. I replaced it. No luck. I switched hearing aids. Nothing.

I got into my rental car and drove to the nearest emergency room. For reasons that are still unknown, my only functioning ear had suffered “sudden-onset deafness.” I was reeling, trying to navigate in a world where the volume had been turned down to zero.

But there was a solution, a surgeon at Stanford Hospital told me a week later, speaking slowly so I could read his lips. I could have a computer surgically installed in my skull. A cochlear implant, as it is known, would trigger my auditory nerves with 16 electrodes that snaked inside my inner ear. It seemed drastic, and the $50,000 price tag was a dozen times more expensive than a high-end hearing aid. I went home and cried. Then I said yes.

This was the beginning a fascinating article from this month’s Wired magazine. It is the story of one man’s desire to hear his favorite peice of music again despite his hearing loss. I love listening to music and I can’t imagine what I would do without my hearing but I am thankful for people like the men and women in this article who are willing to endure the long process of pushing the scientific envelope. Read the article and get lost in the geek that is cochlear implant software development.

Link