One odd way to generate blog traffic…

The blogosphere is a funny place. Not that such a statement needs proving, but allow me to submit to you this little piece of evidence:
About a month and a half ago I spent a few days in Tijuana, Mexico, with my church doing a house build with Amor ministries. Before leaving for the trip, [...]

Great New Frontline Blog

For those of you that are a part of the New Song family, you’ve heard about our Frontline Ministry and all of the great stuff that they do.  For those of you that aren’t, our Frontline Ministry is essentially a community service, evangelism, social justice, and a million other things ministry all rolled into one.  [...]

On changing the wind…

Even though it happened more than seven years ago, it remains tattooed on my brain.
It was my senior year in high school, and I was a member of my high school’s student newspaper staff. At the time, I was still in my they-will-know-we-are-Christians-by-all-of-the-Christian-junk-we-show-off stage, so I took pleasure in advertising my Christian faith through [...]

Vegas, Freakonomics, and Fear

Here are a few thoughts from the weekend…
* I got back yesterday afternoon from a quick weekend in Vegas. I was there for a friend from high school’s bachelor party, and it was the first time I’d been to Vegas since I was 12 years old. It was great getting to hang out [...]

Brief Book Review: Do Hard Things- A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations

Recently I was given a copy of the book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex and Brett Harris. I read it in a couple of days, and can confidently say it should be read by anyone who works with teenagers, and then given to teenagers to read. I don’t [...]

Rob Bell’s new NOOMA: What are You Saying Yes To?

Rob Bell’s newest NOOMA video, Shells, is being streamed on the NOOMA facebook page until Wednesday at 12 p.m. EST. I watched it last night, and it’s great.
In this one, Rob tackles the idea of “busyness”, calling it a drug that many in our culture are hooked on. I think he’s right. [...]

Monday Afternoon Quarterback

Sitting at Pier View on a Monday afternoon (man, if I keep doing this so often I’m going to be like Ron Gollner and his St. Arbucks….only with smaller biceps).
I’m reading Stanley Hauerwas for my political theology class, and at the moment I’m reading a chapter out of his book The Peaceable Kingdom. It’s terrific, [...]

Are college degrees a waste of money?

First things first…Christie and I are sitting at Pier View Coffee in Oceanside, and it is absolutely beautiful today.
As I was driving here I listened to an interesting NPR Talk of the Nation Opinion Page piece. It was an interview with a career counselor who had just written an op-ed piece for The Chronicle for [...]

San Diego Zoo, Prison Merge

The Onion has done it again. Recently they had a great story about a Padres game getting “sunned out”, and now they’ve got this great story about a planned merger of two San Diego institutions.  I can’t wait to go visit. I want to be a writer for The Onion in my next life.

Derek Webb on Following Jesus

Once again I stumbled across a cool piece on the God’s Politics blog hosted by Sojourners, this time by the always provocative and oft prophetic Derek Webb of Caedmon’s Call. I suppose the article, entitled “Following Jesus vs. Social Activism” , doesn’t say anything that I haven’t heard or thought about before, but in it [...]