Nazbo pride. Love the video.
(Also love how everyone from the West Coast thinks that Kansas City is in Kansas and not Missouri.)

Labels: Funny, Life

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Brian McLaren was in town last night speaking about his new book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. It was an excellent presentation, one of those "big idea" kinds of presentations that just build and build. I thought he did a great job of packing all of these concepts into a 1 1/2 hour presentation. While I felt like I was keeping up with him, tracking with where he was going, I still left with my head spinning. There was just so much that he covered and the implications are innumerable.

Later in the evening Brian joined us at the Princeton Emergent Cohort and we were also joined by the North Jersey Emergent Cohort. We packed 20+ people into a small corner of the Yankee Doodle Tap Room. It was a great time of informal conversation and we picked Brian's brain about Narrative Theology, Stanley Hauerwas, Radical Orthodoxy, global economies and local economic practices, Wendell Barry, Plato, eschatology, N.T. Wright, Andrew Perriman, terrorism, the presidential election, pastoral care, dealing with conflict in the local church and the writing process. It was a great conversation with a great thinker.

I've loved all of Brian's books that I've read so far but I had Everything Must Change on the backburner. No more. After last night I want to dig deeper into what Brian's getting at in this book because I think it's going to be incredibly important for the church as we quit playing "intramural games" as he put it, and start addressing how the Gospel frames and narrates our lives in such a way that we are sent into the world in a posture of serving, reconciling, compassion and healing.

If this stuff excites you like it does me, be sure to check out the Deep Shift tour. Brian will be in the Bronx May 2-3rd. If you can't make it to the tour be sure to check out everythingmustchange.org where people are contributing and dreaming of ways to change the world one act at a time.

Labels: Discipleship, Emerging Church, Life, Non-Violence, Politics, Theology

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For Lent this year I gave up television with the exception of LOST. I got a lot of flak for including this caveat when I was asked about lent. I understand why people would think this was only going half-way or just a lazy attempt at spiritual discipline. The truth is I was really fasting from useless background noise.

Tv and film for all their similarities have very different effects on the viewer as well as the intended outcomes their producers have in mind. On a very basic level their relationship to selling products is very different. Insightful critiques about the constant product-placement in film not withstanding, the film is the product. The film is selling itself, we pay to see the film and then for 2 hours we watch the film uninterrupted. Television is set up to draw us to the tv for long enough that we will sit through commercials trying to sell us products. The show itself is not the product but the means by which we are exposed to the product. And so it is in the interests of television creators to create content that always leaves us unsatisfied, always wanting something better to watch. An excellent film will likely attract more attention and then more ticket buyers, but a television show that can be entertaining enough to keep our attention while always leaving us wanting something better helps to perpetuate the genre and expose us to more advertising. Bad tv is good for tv.

If you're like me, you've fallen into this trap. I'll turn on the tv hoping to find something good to watch (knowing full well that I can count the number of quality programs on one hand) and just end up having the tv on as background noise. After years of doing this I've become so comfortable with having the tv on in the background I felt awkward alone in a room with out it's constant stream of sound. This is bad.

I never have a film on "in the background" simply to fill the air with sound. When I watch a film I do just that, sit down and watch it. So for lent I decided to give up all tv. I put the LOST exception in there because I interact with LOST like film, I sit down and engage the narrative and then turn off the tv and talk about it. LOST is never "background noise" I use to eradicate silence in my life. Tv in had become just that for me... a way to eradicate silence.

So for the entire season of lent I watched 8 episodes of LOST and the Oscars. That was it. In forty days I had watched 11 hours of television. It was so good. I wasn't staying up as late, I was way more productive in my work and I began to read so much more. So I'm trying to keep up the habit. I haven't been as strict as I was during Lent, but I'm trying to only watch tv if I'm going to engage it and turn it off if I find myself using it to drown out the silence. Because silence is good for the soul.

Labels: Christian Time, Discipleship, Life, TV

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Today is Kara's birthday!

I love that she has become the unpaid editor of my blog (I still have a misspelled word in my last post to check on).

I love that she ain't afraid to keep it real and loves blasting ghetto rap while driving around.

I love that she's a pushover when it comes to going out to celebrate, no matter the occasion!

I love her beautiful hair and how she fusses over it.

I love her mind and how she uses it to serve God and the church.

I love that she'll still watch a zombie movie with me, even now that we're married.

I love that she's such a book nerd.

I love that she keeps me on my hermeneutical toes.

I love her style and attention to fashion, but also that she's taken to the idea of giving away clothes.

I love that 10 months and 4 days ago she said "I do."

I just plain love this girl.

Labels: Life

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A few weeks ago we hosted a youth worker training night for the Middle School and High School shepherds at our church. Mike King was gracious enough to come facilitate the training for us. Mike is the President of YouthFront, an interdenominational youth ministry assisting organization. They put on a lot of concerts, community service events, camps, prayer retreats and the like to be a service to youth ministries in the Kansas City area. But another focus of YouthFront is training youth workers and that happens all over North America, primarily through their branch called SonLife. Both Mike and the President of SonLife, Chris Folmsbee, have recently written some amazing books for youth ministry, Presence Centered Youth Ministry and A New Kind of Youth Ministry respectively.

What's funny is that I didn't meet Mike during some big youth event or camp while I was in Kansas City, I met him at Seminary. Mike's in his 50's, he's the President and CEO of an incredibly successful youth ministry organization but he still has a passion for learning and thinking theologically about ministry. If you pick up his book you'll see what I mean. So it was a pleasure to have Mike come and do some training with our youth shepherds. He was very encouraging and affirming about the work that's happening in our church. It's always good to be with friends. Later Mike had breakfast with some of our staff at the Princetonian Diner and after that he and I went to Small World Coffeehouse to hang out until he got picked up on his way to visit Ian Cron and the youth workers at Trinity in Greenwich, CT.

What a great week.

Labels: Discipleship, Emerging Church, Life, Theology, Youth Ministry

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Improv Everywhere agents cause a scene in Grand Central Station.

Labels: Funny, Life

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Shane Claiborne was tonight's general session speaker. These speakers are usually the "big guns" and are charismatic, charming, well polished, impressive... you know, the kind of speakers that make you wish you were way better at speaking or preaching. And as we all know Shane Claiborne just wrote a book in the past two years that has just been hugely important for so many of us. It's turned this little-known servant of Jesus from the rough part of Philly and made him somewhat of a Christian rock-star. People are calling him our generation's Mother Teresa, etc, etc. I love Shane's heart, I love his vision, I love what he's about. And Shane is all about Jesus. Tonight he showed us that, while simultaneously begging the question if we are indeed all about Jesus. You see Shane was flown in here to be tonight's "big gun speaker" and after about 30 seconds of intro, playing with fire and a joke, Shane just launched into the Sermon on the Mount... and I mean ALL OF IT. Then he ends with "Wow, that was the greatest sermon ever preached. Jesus give us the courage to live it out."

Done.

Exit stage right.

There was an interesting reaction. On the one hand a lot of people are thinking, what?? he got paid the big bucks and got center stage to just go up and read from the bible? I could have done that. Then immediately following those judgmental thoughts came the reflection on just how hyped up we get on "good speakers" and how distant Jesus' words have become to us when we hear the greatest sermon ever preached and find ourselves thinking we didn't get what we came for. You could feel the awkwardness rise in the air as people began to wonder to themselves "was that really IT?" and then a reverence fall over the crowd as we realized what we had just thought and how pitiful we can be at times.

Labels: Discipleship, Life, Theology, Youth Ministry

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National Youth Worker's Conference is something I've wanted to go to for years and this year I am finally here! A bunch of youth staff and shepherds came out from our Church together. We left Allentown at 5am to get on a plane from New Jersey to Atlanta and it's been non-stop ever since. I wasn't here 5 minutes before I spotted Mike King and gave him a big hug.

I want to take a moment to highlight some stuff from Lauren F. Winner's breakout session on teaching chastity to teens. This has been something I struggle with as a teacher/preacher/mentor to teens. As Winter said, the "pragmatic" scare tactics obviously don't work and they don't speak to the sacredness of sex in it's right context. One major mistake we often make in our teaching on sex, Winter pointed out, is that we focus teaching about Chastity on sex itself rather than framing it within the life of discipleship. So chastity becomes a "strategy" to win a good Christian partner or something along those lines. This avoidance of sex as a way to make yourself more sexy to the right person is not chastity.

Winter reminded us that chastity is a Christian discipline, specifically a discipline of restraint (like fasting). And like fasting, Chastity is meant to turn your attention from one thing (like food, or sex in this case) and instead focus on God. By approaching chastity in this way, "not having sex" is not about avoiding disease or attracting the right kind of mate, but is a very important way in which you discipline your body to obey God. Chastity is a practice of surrendering our will and desire to God so that he might rehabilitate our will and our desire. This kind of chastity cannot simply be undertaken by the lone individual but must be lived out in a community that will support such disciplines.

This kind of chastity only makes sense then, to disciples of Christ who are already on the journey towards surrendering their lives to God. This seemed to upset some people in our session who wanted Winter to talk about how to explain this kind of chastity to a non-Christian kid. Her answer was pretty simple, chastity is a Christian spiritual discipline, and you can't expect a kid to live into that kind of discipleship before they actually connect with God. But we seem to get the cart in front of the horse on this one by trying to conjure up reasons for non-Christian kids to stop having sex, and in so doing we abandon the language of discipleship that is at the very core of what chastity is all about.

For more check out her book, Real Sex: the Truth About Chastity

Labels: Discipleship, Life, Youth Ministry

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Kara and other PTS students were invited to visit the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. a while back and she signed us up. Earlier this month we got on a bus with other PTS students and took the trip down to D.C.

The Holocaust museum experience was very different than what I was expecting. On the first hand I thought that it would be a lot more macabre than it actually was, but either way I thought that being faced with the horror of it all that I wouldn't be able to make it out without breaking down and crying. This was not the case, indeed I didn't see a tear shed by anyone there. Instead the overwhelming brutality and evil you see in the museum for hours and hours on end just seemed to cause us all to shut down. I for one went into a kind of emotional turtle-shell, being so shocked by an all-day exposure to the Holocaust. The museum takes you through the rise of the Nazi party on the top floor, down into the persecution of Jews and removal to ghettos on the next floor down and finally to the "final solution" on the lower floor. You literally spiral downward as you follow the time line of the Holocaust. The transition from the middle floor to the last floor is a transition of "How could people be so racist and oppressive" to "How could human beings do these unspeakable things to other human beings." It is silent. It is intensely horrifying. Kara and I sat in a room listening to audio recordings of survivors telling about their experiences during the Holocaust. Part way through one of our guides came in to sit and listen as well. He was a Holocaust survivor. I can only describe that moment as being a mix of the most reverent sacredness and the a gut-wrenching disgust.

The second (and I think regrettable) thing I wasn't expecting were the several instances in which I overheard conversations about the current violence in Israel between Israelis and Palestinians, conversation that was itself tinted with racism. In one conversation in particular a woman even shamed "the liberal media" for ever taking pictures of Israeli soldiers shooting at kids with rocks. All the while I'm thinking, "those journalists are being a witness to the lopsided violence happening in Israel, how can you honor people who had the courage to be a witnesses and tell the world of the Holocaust but demean the people who would be witnesses against your own tribe." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. As I looked around at this museum full of the testimony of some of the worst racism and suppression ever directed at one people and saw the consequences of that I was saddened to learn that not everyone there had apparently learned the same lesson.

Labels: Life, Non-Violence, Politics

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I haven't been blogging much of late, but for good reason. Earlier this month I joined the staff at Allentown Presbyterian Church just a few miles down the road from our home in Princeton. Life has been busy as I've been getting ready for the upcoming year and learning as much as I can as fast as I can while we still have our amazing youth director, who founded the youth ministry 10 years ago around. She and her husband are taking a year to live in Africa starting next year and there's a lot of "passing the baton" in these past weeks. I'll keep blogging, but at least for a while it might be a lot slower than it has been.

Labels: Life, Youth Ministry

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I saw this commercial the other day and laughed my head off. This sums up years of draft day frustration. Yes - Chad, Jeff and Sammer - I am calling you out.

Labels: Life, Sports

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I like these dudes. I suppose there's a part of me that still likes Bulldogs because they were our high school mascot, but you can't deny the essential cuteness to an English bulldog. My wife likes small dogs, I tend to like medium to big dogs. But a Bulldog is something that we can agree on. So what about you? Dogs or cats? Big or little? Indoors or backyard?

Labels: Life

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Several months ago I incorporated something new into my devotional life... a podcast. That wonderful group of Catholics called the Jesuits have been doing a daily (during the week) scripture meditation called Pray-As-You-Go. It's really very similar to Lectio Divina. The podcast begins with some contemplative music ranging anywhere from monks chanting to solo guitarists singing in Spanish. Scripture is then read and there is a long time for prayer over the scripture passage, then the scripture is repeated and more time is given for prayer. There are usually some questions to think about during the prayer times. As the Jesuits say, it's really more of a framework for your own prayer than a sermon, etc. They usually last anywhere from 9 to 12 minutes long and are always keen to observe the Christian calendar. In the spirit of Mike King any many other wise people, I wanted to practice this and actually have incorporated it into my life before I went and started recommending it to others. That being said, it has been a blessing in my own life and has given structure to my own prayer time that I think many of you might find helpful.

Labels: Christian Time, Discipleship, Emerging Church, Life

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Today my graphic design venture, Red Coyote Studio, has officially been launched. Check out the site here.

Labels: Graphic Design, Life

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Kara and I can't wait to see the Simpson's movie!

That's all.

ps-for your own Simpson's avatar check out simpsonsmovie.com

Labels: Film, Life

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I know it's been a few days since I've posted on EP but I felt as though I should really give Sharon Huey's sermon (click for the mp3) some time to digest and work on me before posting a sentence or two of summary and then moving on.

Sharon's sermon spoke deeply to many of us. As clumsy as it may be, I'll try to sum up a bit of what she had to say that's been at work in me of late. Those of us who meet at EP every summer tend to lean towards the "radical" and the "revolutionary" streams within this family called church. Our heroes are people like the Berrigan Brothers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, MLK Jr., Oscar Romero, etc. We tell stories of revolutionary saints, people of God who would not bow to the patriotism of their day but sought to be radically obedient to God and work for justice and mercy in their communities. When we think of Jesus we don't think of a "nice" guy who spoke in sound bytes easily turned into daily calendars by Hallmark. We think of the wild-eyed Son of God, on a mission, ready to overturn tables and smash the status quo.

But the beatitude passage from Matthew 5 that Sharon shared with us reveals the kind of people who showed up for Jesus' revolution. To be blunt, nobodies. Jesus' revolution wasn't made up of the steely and hardened Kingdom fighting crew we sometimes wish the church was made from these days. It was the awkward disciples, who didn't always "get" Jesus, the people on the margins of society, the poor, the sick.

And yet how often do we as pastors, or laity groan because our churches are filled with people who just don't "get" Jesus, people with problems, people with crap in their lives. We sometimes wish for the "lean, mean revolutionary force" for the Kingdom of God and are stuck with these embarrassingly human people. Sharon reminds us that the Kingdom being made of these people is the revolution.

Some of us have been a part of churches that really embodied a revolutionary Kingdom of God kind of life. But then we move on and run into these "embarrassingly human" churches that just don't "get" Jesus like we think we do. And this is what I've been mulling over. Because I feel this frustration deeply for both good and bad reasons. I feel this frustration because I long, like many of us, to see the church shed its allegiances to poisonous civil religion, rampant materialism, and the suburbification of the Gospel. But all too often I allow this frustration to be a form of self-righteousness rather than about a longing for God's spirit to take hold of the church. I forget that if the church wasn't made up of losers who don't come close to being the kind of Kingdom revolutionaries like MLK or the Berrigan bros that I wouldn't be a part of this family either. I forget that discipleship is a long road and not a status of those who "get" it.

Labels: Discipleship, Life, Theology

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Today was day one of the 2007 Ekklesia Project gathering. This is my third year attending the annual conference and it really has come to resemble something of an extended family of sorts. I've often been asked to describe what EP is or what EP does and it has been difficult to sum up in a short mission statement what we really are all about... but we know it when we see it. As Phil Kenneson said tonight, we're not quite an academic conference and we're not entirely a "church" conference although those both seem to characterize a lot of what we do. Perhaps, as Phil suggested, we're more like a family reunion. These EP conferences are about friendships between pastors, theologians and laity who share convictions about a few core things. Among these are the conviction that as disciples we are first and foremost a people defined by Jesus (not America, not the Denver Broncos, not our Alma Matter, etc), also that real discipleship must take place within community and we share the conviction that we are a people formed and shaped by many things, so the church must be active in faithfully forming disciples in the way of Jesus. This was just a little bit of an introduction to tonight's talk by Phil.

I'll post more about Sharon Huey's sermon from earlier in the afternoon. I'm posting a link to all three audio recordings from today here as well.


Brent's Opening Comments.mp3

Afternoon Worship.mp3

What Are We Doing Here.mp3

Labels: Discipleship, Life, Theology

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I've been tagged by Lucas aka - myfourwalls

The rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My Eight Random Facts/Habits

1. Fact: I own a straw cowboy hat. A nice one.

2. Habit: I keep movie ticket stubs and tape them to a wall wherever I'm living. When I move I start over. Yesterday I got my first movie ticket from Princeton life.

3. Fact: I am 160 Gigabytes shy of having 1 Terrabyte of HD storage. :D

4. Habit: I Q-Tip my ears about twice a day.

5. Fact: I've had a cool Gandhi quote mug for about a year that I just drank out of for the first time yesterday. The quote: "be the change you wish to see in the world..."

6. Fact: CSS makes me happy.

7. Habit: I listen to exactly 2 LOST podcasts a week, while simultaneously browsing lostpedia.com

8. Fact: I am a citizen of the Colbert Nation.

Alright, I'm now tagging Wilson Ryland, Eric Lee, Kaz Trypuc, Brian Postlewait, Mike Murrow, Rusty Brian, Matt Martinson and Mike King

Labels: Life

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A few days ago Kara and I arrived at our new home in Princeton, the CRW apartment buildings (we're in 101) and have been settling in ever since. The east coast is now home. I'm excited about this new chapter but let's hope I meet a few of New Jersey's more hospitable folks. Right now the "east coast" stereotypes are well founded, at least off campus anyway. To all those friends in DC and NYC, we're now much much closer to you, let's plan on getting together sometime soon.

Labels: Life

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I've uploaded around 250 of the best pictures (out of 1,600) that Kara and I took on our honeymoon in Ireland. It was breathtaking. Check them out on my flickr page.

Labels: Life

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June 2nd Kara and I tied the knot. It was a beautiful ceremony with lots of friends and family there to celebrate with us. Thanks to Andy Johnson and Ron Benefiel who officiated over the ceremony. Kara's girls looked great in their green dresses and Nathanael was sharp in his tux. My guys and Kala all looked great too. We had a lot of fun before the ceremony taking pictures with our Photographers Brandon and Melissa (bassettphotography.com). They did a great job and made the whole process a lot of fun.

The day began as soon as I got dressed in my tux, I met Kara in the chapel where she gave me my ring, which she had engraved "Life Together 6-2-07." What a great engraving! She looked stunningly beautiful in her dress, a simple and clean white gown that hung to the floor. It was a great moment. The rest seemed to go by so fast, but it was perfect, everything we had ever hoped it would be. Married life has been good, we're in the process of moving now. We'll post some updates on our website www.charleandkara.com as time goes on.

I've also got a new name as a part of this whole married thing, Kara and I both have taken the last name Lyons Pardue, so now I'm Charles Parham Lyons Pardue. :D

Labels: Life

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I spend a lot of time studying in Coffeehouses. In fact, I'm in one right now! I've come to know and love many of the Coffeehouses in Kansas City for various reasons and I thought I'd pass on what I've learned about some of my favorites. So here's a little rundown of how some of my favorites stack up in different categories.

The Coffeehouses are...

1. The Crave Cafe
   39th & Genessee, Westport
2. The Westport Coffeehouse
   40th & Pennsylvania, Westport
3. Scooter's Coffeehouse
   47th & Pennsylvania, The Plaza
4. Muddy's
   51st & Oak UMKC
5. The Roasterie
   62nd Ter. & Brookside, Brookside
6. Latte Land
   Various locations
   

Staff
1. The Crave is owned and operated by Pete, a likeable barrel-chested dude whose arms are sleeved with tattoos. He takes coffee seriously and will give your latte all the attention an artist would. The rest of his crew consists mostly of friendly young women who could pass for being alt rock stars and have the musical taste to make you think they are.

2. Westport Coffeehouse's barista staff are a mostly friendly and outgoing bunch, some are pretty reserved and straight-forward but not unfriendly.

3. Scooter's baristas can be too friendly sometimes. In that overzealous and overinterested kind of way.

Edge [The Crave]

Food
1. Westport Coffeehouse has some of the best grilled Panini's in town, you can even get hummus.

2. Muddy's also has some great Panini's and sandwiches to choose from.

3. The Crave has a few overpriced pre-packaged sandwiches available, but breakfast is the best time to get some great food. Try the omelettes and biscuits.

Edge [Westport Coffeehouse]

Coffee (hot)
Since Coffeehouses aren't just about studying, but also about GOOD COFFEE it only makes sense to take a look at this as well.

1. The Roasterie has their own coffee roasting plant here in Kansas City and has a large assortment of beans to choose from. This is all an in-house project.

2. Scooter's makes a great latte and also has a huge selection of beans to choose from for those of you who like your coffee without milk.

3. The Westport Coffeehouse has great tasting coffee and a few bean choices to check out.

Edge [The Roastarie]

Coffee (cold)
Some of us started drinking coffee at that "one place" whose name I shall not utter here. And drinking coffee at that "one place" often consisted of blended cold drinks. These drinks taste really great and for all that this "one place" does to irk me, they are tops at making blended cold coffee drinks. How do our lovely local KC coffeehouses stack up?

1. Latte Land does the best job (if not better than "that one place") at making a smooth wonderful cold coffee drink. It's not chunky, it's not a milkshake, and it's not bitter. Kudos.

2. Scooter's comes in a close second in the refreshing blended coffee drink you crave in the summer.

3. The Roasterie does something different with their blended drink that gives it a unique taste. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but it's not all that bad as blended drinks go.

Edge [Latte Land]

Internet
Because I mainly darken the doors of coffeehouses to study or do design work internet access is a must. Good internet even trumps good coffee for me (gasp, oh the horror... hey it's true). So here's a breakdown of each of the coffeehouses and their internet offerings. By the way, that "one place" makes you give T-Mobile your firstborn if you want internet access... boo, hiss!

1. Scooter's, The Crave, Muddy's and Latte Land all have free and reliable internet. Thank you. You realize that in the year 2007 free WiFi is not seen as a luxury but as a given. For this you are to be highly commended and I frequent you all the more because of your generosity.

2. Westport Coffeehouse still subscribes to the 20th century paradigm which assumes WiFi is a luxury, and that we should pay them for access. To be fair they are slowly but surely moving towards free WiFi. They used to charge you for it up front and then good luck actually joining their network. Now they just ask that you buy a minimum of $5 and WiFi is included and since they have such tasty Paninis this isn't a huge burden. Soon however they need to drop charging for WiFi altogether.

3. The Roasterie offers free WiFi, but they restrict the kind of internet access you have. For instance not all Email clients (Apple Mail, Outlook, etc.) will connect, and your IM program will also not connect. Limited connectivity is more frustrating than spending a minimum amount to get access.

Edge [Scooter's, The Crave, Muddy's and Latte Land]

Ambiance
1. The Crave is an old two-story house converted into a literal Coffeehouse. Couches abound. There are a few old school video games that play in the background. The folks who frequent the Crave are a diverse group. If you want to go to a Coffeehouse and have really good really really random conversation the Crave is the place.

2. Westport Coffeehouse has that artsy feel, and there is a steady rotation of local art on the walls. The dark atmosphere, Mrs. Pac-Man and Pinball games make this a great local joint.

3. Muddy's is the only Coffeehouse I've been to with Pews. Well they seem like pews anyway. This is the college Coffeehouse of UMKC so you won't be the only bum studying all night at this place. (also Muddy's is the only one that stays open until Midnight)

Edge [Crave]

Music
The music playing in a Coffeehouse can also make or break a studying experience.

1. The Crave as I mentioned before is staffed with a bunch of baristas who have great musical taste and as they usually choose the music themselves. Its always good.

2. Westport Coffeehouse has a jukebox full of classic music, which plays at random or will play what you'd like it to if you're willing to pony up.

6. (coming in DEAD LAST is Scooter's) Scooter's has some kind of elevator music channel that plays really really bad tacky 90's music. Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Boyz 2 Men, etc. If you go to Scooter's don't forget to bring your iPod.

Edge [Crave]

Seating
If you're looking to study then you realize that couches probably won't serve you well for that 4 hours of reading/writing you need to do all spread out with books and laptop.

1. Westport Coffeehouse has 5 square tables that are GREAT for just this kind of long-term studying. The rest are really small round tables from which you can perch and keep watch on the precious square tables (which have outlets). I've only been relegated to the small round table once.

2. Scooter's is set up for studying and has plenty of seating with plenty of power outlets, although the tables are smaller than WPCH's they are plentiful. There's even a surfboard shaped table if you're into that kind of thing.

Edge [Westport Coffeehouse]

I gave 1 star for a "first place" in a category and .5 star for "second place" so here are the results.

1. The Crave Cafe, (4 stars)
2. The Westport Coffeehouse, (4 stars)
3. Scooter's Coffeehouse, (2.5 stars)
4. Latte Land (2 stars)
5. Muddy's, (1.5 stars)
6. The Roasterie, (1 star)

Labels: Life

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It wasn't until college that I met the forgotten Martin Luther King Jr. Like everyone else I had met the civil rights leader in grade school, learning about him in history texts and on MLK Jr. day. This man was so monumentally popular in US history, held up as a saint who helped make racial equality part of what it means to be an American. But I didn't meet the other MLK until years later and I've come to find out that most people never meet this other MLK. It was in his last years here on earth that Martin Luther King Jr. turned his attention towards the growing poverty in the United States and towards the systems that help cause and maintain such poverty. He turned his attention towards the growing militarism of the United States and towards the wars being fought. Indeed MLK had the courage to say that the United States was "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." It was this MLK that our country has forgotten. This MLK was assassinated. The words of this MLK still have a prophetic word for us today.

Thanks to Mark Bilby for this article about the forgotten MLK.

Labels: Life, Military, Non-Violence, Politics, Theology

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Wow. I'm still in a bit of a dream-like state after watching what was the most exciting bowl game (if not football game) I've ever seen. Aside from the "Cinderella story" surrounding Boise State's season this year, I'm marrying into Boise State fandom (and what a time to do it) so tonight's game was even more speical for me. As a long-time New Mexico Lobos fan (formerly of the WAC now in the Mountain West) I know all to well the lack of respect WAC teams like Boise State get. We're not Pac-10 or Big-10 or ACC teams, nor do we play them that often so we've always been seen as the "kid brother" in College football. But this year Boise State went undefeated, climbing all the way to #8 in the BCS rankings, good enough to get them into a BCS bowl game. Finally some respect. But NOBODY expected Boise State to actually beat Oklahoma, a longtime football powerhouse and National Champion contender. NOBODY... except Boise State themselves.


After an amazing first quarter where it looked like Boise might blow-out OU, the Sooners fought back to tie the game up with less than 1:26 to play. The Broncos quarterback, Zabransky threw a bad pass on the first play of their drive, it was picked off and ran back for a touchdown. Now with a minute left the Broncos were driving to tie the game instead of putting it away. A few solid passes by Zabransky had them back in the game, but with 0:18 left on the clock they were still 50 yards from the endzone.

It's 4th and 18 with 0:18 left in the game, the Broncos need a touchdown to tie. Zabransky throws a 16 yard pass to Drisan James at Oklahoma's 35, and James pitches the ball to Jerard Rabb running the opposite way and around the defense, diving into the endzone with 0:07 left in regulation.

Overtime.

The first play of overtime, OU's incredible running back Adrian Peterson goes 25 yards for the touchdown. OU kicks the extra point and Boise State gets their turn at OU's 25 yard line. It took two fourth-down conversions (one for the touchdown) to put Boise State within one point of OU. But rather than kick the extra point to tie it up and continue the battle Boise put the whole game on the line by going for the two-point-conversion and on a "Statue of Liberty" play won it all.


...then Ian Johnson, the Bronco's star Running Back who ran in the game-winning two-point-conversion, proposed to his girlfriend... who said "yes." You couldn't have written this any better.

Labels: Life, Sports

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I woke up this morning to a voice mail from my friend and fellow Broncos fan, Rusty telling me that Darrent Williams had been shot and killed hours earlier. Darrent was a starting cornerback for the Broncos and along with Champ Bailey he helped make up the toughest secondary in the NFL. Just hours after the Broncos were eliminated from the playoffs, Darrent's death puts that disapointment in perspective. What a sad day.

“All of us are devastated by this tragedy. To lose a young player, and more important, a great young man such as Darrent Williams, is incomprehensible. To lose him in such a senseless manner as this is beyond words. My deepest feelings, all my thoughts and prayers, go out to Darrent’s mother and family. The entire Broncos’ organization shares my grief. Darrent was a wonderful young man, and his passing is a great loss for his family, the Broncos and the city.”
-Pat Bowlen (Broncos Owner)

“Losing a fine young man such as Darrent Williams leaves me speechless with sadness. We all know that Darrent was an excellent player, but as a person, he was a first class young man who brightened every room with his smile, attitude and personality. I cannot express how heartsick I feel at this loss. All of our players and coaches are completely shocked by this terrible tragedy, and my deepest condolences go out to the entire Williams family.”
-Mike Shanahan (Broncos Head Coach)

Labels: Life, Sports

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We’ve got a little less than one day left in 2006, so I think it’s safe for me to finally post my second annual “best of” lists for 2006. Man-O-Man I hope a bunch of great films and albums don’t come out in the next 18 hours and make me look like a fool. Feel free to argue the insanity of my picks and link to your own “best of” lists. Remember today and tomorrow are the two days when “thou SHALL judge” the previous year anyway.

Albums
5. Tool - 10,000 Days
4. AFI - DECEMBERUNDERGROUND
3. In Reverent Fear - Stomacher
2. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
*1. Derek Webb - Mockingbird
*This album is FREE (just click the link)

Films
6. Why We Fight
5. Taladagea Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
4. Inconvienient Truth
3. Lady in the Water
2. Blood Diamond
1. Little Miss Sunshine

TV Shows
5. My Name is Earl
4. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
3. The Colbert Report
2. LOST
1. The Office

Books
5. The Secret Message of Jesus:
Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything
by Brian McLaren
4. The Irresistible Revolution:
Living as an Ordinary Radical
by Shane Claiborne
3. The Myth of a Christian Nation:
How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church
by Gregory Boyd
2. Presence-centered Youth Ministry:
Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation
by Mike King
1. The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture:
How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church
by Shane Hipps

Posts on chuckp3.com
5. July 4: Civil Religion’s Easter (10)
4. Dead Man’s Chest (11)
3. Kara and I are Engaged (17)
2. Radical [financial] Trust and Obedience (19)
1. Faith in the Military (46)

Gadgets
5. EyeTV Hybrid
4. Google Analytics
3. Library Thing
2. Harmony Remote
1. YouTube

Labels: Books, Film, Life, LOST, Music, Technology

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Labels: Life

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Labels: Funny, Life

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This past Saturday Kara and I took a trip from Princeton, NJ where she is studying New Testament at Princeton to New York City. While in the city we went to the Empire State Building. After waiting an hour in line to get to the top we finally emerged 86 stories above Manhattan, all of New York City laid out before us.

I quickly spotted our friend, Andrew Zirschky, who I had hide in the crowd to film the unfolding event. As soon as I knew Andrew was filming us I let Kara step up to the front row to look out over Manhattan. While she was in front of me I stashed my own camera, got the ring out and dropped to a knee. She was still enjoying the view so I tugged on her coat to get her attention. She turned around and the rest is history. We're engaged! She "counter-proposed" and gave me an engagement ring too, marking me as "spoken for" as well, which I'm a big fan of. What a great day! I love this girl so much.

Labels: Life

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Labels: Life, Theology

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Labels: Life, Travel

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