All posts by mjfelker1980

General

No Time

1 Comment

Wow! It has been a long time since I last posted. I have written a little but nothing “post-worthy” has been able to escape my brain. Life has been pulling me in 80 different directions lately and later this week I will board a bus and head to the nation’s capital on a band trip with my stuidents. I wanted to post something this morning because I have a window of opportunity.

Books on My Desk

The Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright
What a great book. Wright is the Man! In his quest to find out who Jesus really was and is Wright gives these 4 reasons for the journey: God, Scripture, Truth, Mission. He believes that the better we understand Jesusthe Son the more we understand about God the Father. Wright seeks Jesus out of a loyalty to scripture isn’t afraid of Truth. Finally, we seek Jesus because as Christians we are committed to His mission. I am accepting the Challenge

Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas by Michka Assayas
The Singer on his father. The Singer on Africa. The Singer on God, faith, and politics. The Singer.

These two books have been great. Look for them next week on the Best of page.

Popular Culture

Salvaged History

Eureka! Extraordinary discovery unlocks secrets of the ancients
By David Keys and Nicholas Pyke
17 April 2005

Thousands of previously illegible manuscripts containing work by some of the greats of classical literature are being read for the first time using technology which experts believe will unlock the secrets of the ancient world.

Among treasures already discovered by a team from Oxford University are previously unseen writings by classical giants including Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod. Invisible under ordinary light, the faded ink comes clearly into view when placed under infra-red light, using techniques developed from satellite imaging.

The Oxford documents form part of the great papyrus hoard salvaged from an ancient rubbish dump in the Graeco-Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus more than a century ago. The thousands of remaining documents, which will be analysed over the next decade, are expected to include works by Ovid and Aeschylus, plus a series of Christian gospels which have been lost for up to 2,000 years.

These kind of stories fascinate me. In my undergraduate, my major (Youth and Family Ministry) required me to take 3 semesters of Koine Greek. I loved it. I wasn’t the best student (I took 5 semesters) but I made strides everyday. The language added such a depth of knowledge and reality to scripture that I find myself constantly reaching for my USB4. I still love it. It will be amazing what these text might reveal about ancient culture and daily life. It will also help CBS advertise its new fall line-up of CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and the all new CSI: Mesopatamia.

Link

General

Celebrity

Last night I made my radio broadcast debut. The private school where I work is holding its annual benefit dinner next week. We have asked Jim Morris to be our speaker. Morris’ story was retold in the Disney movie “The Rookie.” At 35 years old, he signed a major league contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Tampa Bay’s AA farm team plays here in the city so I had a chance to talk about the event during the game last night. Being in the radio booth was fascinating. The announcer had his laptop at the desk with 3-4 browser windows open. He would call the pitches and then use the internet to announce game scores or small facts about the players. He also had two stat books open and update the stats mid-game. One time a player stole second base. He picked up the book called the 1-1 pitch and then talked about how that player had only stolen 2 bases in his whole career. The man needed four arms to complete his braodcast. It was alot of fun. At the beginning of my interview, the announcer thought I had said “Jim Morrison” instead of “Jim Morris.” I quickly recovered by assuring him that it wasn’t the Lizard King who was speaking but the baseball player.

General

Not Cracked

UPDATE
My foot is not broken. The ER doctor did not read the x-ray correctly. So, yeah….

I broke my foot.

Friday, the vice principal and I spent the day preparing a cookout for our Seniors. The day went very well. I think we cracked that I’m-a-Senior-and-I-hate-everyone armor. They had fun eating and we had fun doing for them them. Balance was brought to the Force. While cleaning up I offered to take the big grill to the baseball field so that the parents could cook for Friday nights game. Now, this is no little Webber hibachi grill. This is a behemoth, industrial size cooking machine.

I grabbed a handful of junior high boys to help me. The boys were great. Instead of griping, they argued about who got to help lift it. I carried one side while the boys took turns with the other. Our trip took us through the building, across the drive, and into the gates for a distance of roughly 200 yards. Somehow, someway the grill slammed into my foot. It hurt. I was just thankful that a) it was my foot and not one of the students and b) that the sharp corner didn’t rip into my foot. No one was to blame. No one was fooling around. It just happened. That was 3:45pm.

I finished cleaning up/ putting everything away, went home, took a shower and we went out to eat. I had a great bar-b-cue chicken sandwich. As we got up to leave the pain in my foot returned. I limped out to the car but the pain was bearable. We went to the bookstore to kill some time before the movie and I worked through the pain. No biggie. It was now 7:00pm.

“Fever Pitch” was really funny. Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore had a real on-screen chemistry. It was one of the factors that made me sit through the entire film as my foot swelled and the pain become almost unbearable. The Soxs won in the end and the credits rolled. 9:30pm.

The emergency room was crowded but not full. My turn to be seen came at 12:45am. After x-rays, a nap, and a half hour sitting on a gurney in the hallway I was told that I had, in fact, broke my foot.

Monday morning I see the orthopedic. 25 years go by without a broken bone and a week into my silver anniversary and I get cut down by a cooking appliance. D’oh!

To be continued…

Books, Theology

Snappy Post Title

I just finished The Last Word and the Word After That.

It has been 4 years (to the week) since I first read A New Kind of Christian. This book wrapped up the trilogy. I don’t have time to post my thoughts right now. I am heading to Atlanta for a funeral at 6am so I will try and post a little something about it on Friday. If anyone has read any of the books and would be willing to discuss them with me, drop me a comment. Peace.

Popular Culture

Digital Music Revolution

Shnikes! I agree with Mark Cuban! Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has written a great tech triste on the death of the CD. Over the past year many have been pontificating about the death of the album. Cuban takes the argument and moves it ahead. His idea of “music kiosks” excites me and his vision of the music sections in Best Buy evolving to meet the needs of the MP3 player is dead on!

I am a frequent iTunes user. While I do miss the experience of heading down to the store, tearing open the case, and pouring over the liner notes and the disc art I enjoy this new digital experience. Both Jack Johnson’s “In Between Dreams” and the Complete U2 digital boxset came with liner notes (.pdf files). This may be just me, but I feel that on some level iTunes is a community. You see what others ar buying and listening to. You can browse user submitted iMixs of individual’s playlists. I loved the old experience and I am loving the new. Instead of complaining about the new medium, Mark Cuban engages it full steam. Maybe he’ll send me the seed money to start one of these kiosks.

Mark Cuban
Via Jordon Cooper

Ministry

Challenge of the Day

2 Comments

“I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certian evidence that anyone has gone.” – Christopher Columbus from his journal (1492)

Travis Stanley posted a thought on his site last week concerning “change.” I loved how he summed up his thoughts on what true change is. it isn’t found in new songs, powerpoint, or new paradigms. It is is firmly rooted in Christ’s sacrificial life. He states:

Whether we consider ourselves modern or postmodern, older or younger, traditional or liberal, sin lies not in our particular positions but in our unwillingness to be hospitable to the other position. For Christ did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking on the very nature of a servant, and became obedient to death–even death on a cross.

This is the path of ministry–the journey of the cross. If change must occur, it occurs by disciples of Christ emptying themselves of all selfish desire and seeking the needs of the other. Change occurs when we are willing to change in order to make the other comfortable. The change a minister should bring is not simply changes in forms of worship and ministry, though these may be good and necessary at times. The change that should be brought by the minister is a change of life–a change into the likeness of Christ. For if we do not look like Christ, what good does our post-modern, missional, emerging, progressive, liberal worship styles do us? If we don’t act like Christ, what good are our innovative programs and ministry styles? To form people into the image of Christ–this should be the goal of all ministry.

Yes! That is what true ministry is. It isn’t razzle dazzle. It’s real. It’s relational. It’s love.

Books

Knowledge, Network, Compassion

In 2003, I read Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends by Tim Sanders. This book, by far, has had the greatest impact on me as a minister. Sanders has the uncanny ability to connect the heart with practical stories and practical solutions to helping you grow as a human being and as a professional.

Today, Tim Sander’s The Likeability Factor : How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life’s Dreams is released. During my lunch break, I am going to run down to Books-A-Million and snag me a copy. I would recommend Tim’s books to anyone who wants to succeed at life.

UPDATE: Book in hand!