The Terrible Town Hall Meeting:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia(remember I don't like research)

"A Town hall meeting is an informal public meeting derived from the traditional town meetings of New England. Similarly to those meetings, everybody in a community is invited to attend, voice their opinions, and hear the responses from public figures and elected officials, although attendees rarely vote on an issue. In today's heterogeneous communities with large populations, more often, town hall meetings are held so that people can influence elected officials in their decision making or to give them a chance to feel that their voices are being heard.

There are no specific rules or guidelines for holding a town hall meeting. If the turnout is large, and the objective is to give as many people as possible an opportunity to speak, the group can be broken down into smaller discussion groups. Participants all hear an opening presentation and then group-up to discuss an aspect of the presentation. Each group appoints someone to summarize their group's discussion.

I'm from Atlanta, Michael Vick and all the hoopla surrounding him is an inescapable fact. I watched the ESPN sponsored "Town Hall Meeting" and was a little bit saddened by my neighbors. Take the leap to see why.


I have to admit that I wasn't feeling well most of the day and slept through the first thirty minutes of the show/spectacle. Perhaps in those 30 minutes someone said something that would change my view of the way people acted. But, without that knowledge the whole thing really bothered me. I couldn't tell if people where there because of Vick, Dog Fighting, Racism or what. It was odd.

I was a bit thrown off by the, what seemed to be, strong vocal majority who felt that dog fighting was being looked at too strongly. The sound bite from T.O. comparing Dog Fighting and Hunting is as well a thought out opinion as I've heard on the topic. I actually wrote a little bit on Dog Fighting, here. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but I brought up our natural right and responsibility to cull the herd for a species' protection and our own dietary needs. I appreciate that T.O. can see hunting and Dog Fighting in the same light. He's right, killing for sport is wrong.

If you hunt for no reason other than to kill something, then you aren't any better than Vick and the "Bad Newz Kennels". I don't think that's the majority of hunters though. Even if the average hunter isn't thinking about controlling herd sizes, they do eat the meat. If they don't, then they are just as bad as Vick. All that to say this, Pit Bulls don't need they're herd to be thinned and no one eats the fallen dog. So, T.O. dog fighting is not the same as hunting, when hunting is done right.

Now, I've grown up with the inescapable fact of racism. I'm not Stephen Colbert, so I unfortunately do see race. Luckily, I am saved by grace so I don't view a person according to the color of his skin. I view them according to the state of their soul. Before I sound hypocritical, I am human, and I make mistakes. I've made snap judgments on just about every ethnicity, including my own.

With that said, I really feel like the ESPN debate and the debate on Vick kept going back to and keeps coming back to race. Shame on Atlanta. Shame on us for making an issue of law an issue of race. Shame on every African American who has panned any view opposing theirs because someone of another ethnicity said it. Shame on each white person who has made a more harsh judgment than they should because of Vick's race. Heaven will be multicultural, if you can't handle that, you need to reconsider your faith.

I really feel like the ESPN debate was a benchmark. It was a show of the present climate in Atlanta. If it felt like there is a divide, there is. If nothing else, it needs to be a catalyst for people who want to see that divide shrink. I don't know what that means, practically. I just know that we Christians have a long way to go to break through the stereotypes and racism of intercity Atlanta. Maybe we need to have a town hall meeting on it.

Sub-Par Reviews: Ten Dumbest Things Christians Do

In what I hope to be the first of many reviews on all forms of media. I'll be looking at the book I just finished a month ago. Why do I call this "Sub-Par Reviews"? Well, you'll just have to read it to figure that out. Take the leap to read my review of Mark Atteberry's book.

I loaned my copy of the book out a few days ago, so I have nothing that I can reference with. Except, my mind. What I do remember of the book is that it seemed to say, "Maybe I'm proof-texting, maybe I'm speaking too much from experience, but you're being stupid. Stop it." 10DTCD is a book that seems to be focused at the laity as well as the ministry staff of churches. It lays the conviction on pretty thick at times by pointing out pretty easy to understand shortcomings of the Bride of Christ in America in the last 20, or so, years.

For instance the first big finger wag belongs to us slinging mud on the Bride of Christ. Talking bad about the body of believers. Tearing down the Universal Church before people ever even get a chance to meet the local church. Seems simple enough right. Well, Mark had some alliteration that helped you remember the big ideas from the chapter. In fact, alliteration is all over this book. Sometimes, it seems unnecessary and forced.

The book continues with winners like "Speaking above the level of your knowledge" and "Winning people to the Church instead of Christ." There are other quite good chapters like, "Allowing the wolves to live amongst the sheep" and "Accepting the Unacceptable" which really get confrontational. The book does make you check yourself. It's a pretty good mirror to see if you're making any of the mistakes. I saw myself in the mirror a few times.

There's a study guide at the back with about three questions for each chapter. Sometimes the questions are directly pulled from the chapter and sometimes they are kind of a stretch.


Final Thought:______________________________________________

All in all, I give the book 4 out of 5 "Sub-Par Stars". I think you should check it out, but if you're Reformed you need to go into it with the understanding that this is not and will not ever be held up there with Calvin's "Institutes" or other tenets of literature. Though, it is a nice look at a pastor's 30 years of ministry and some practical pointers that he has garnered. This is definitely not a Sub-Par book.

Before Church:

So, I have about 5 minutes before I leave and would like to remind people to GIVE ME IDEAS for my new tag line! Also, myself and my two very good friends have been talking about doing something creative. They made the poor choice of supporting me in my fiction writing. So, by golly, I'm going to make them pay by actually writing. If you see me make sure you give me a little, very soft, kick in the butt and remind me to keep working.

Off to church. I'm poorly rested and looking forward to coming together with the body of Christ.

Also. . .Jennie comes back today! She was on the trip with the women of the church, as mentioned in my Thrift Store post.

And here is the rest of it.

A Bouncy Trip to The Thrift Store

Today I was at the "A-Z Thrift Store" and two really great things happened to me. I think that one of them might have been an, "I want to live" type moment. That is, if I had been depressed or something. I'm not, which is why I don't need an, "I want to live moment". I guess I should take a moment and address the random person who might find this blog by searching "I want to live". If you typed that in because you are depressed, well, you should keep living. You being alive excites someone, even if it's not you. On top of that, and more importantly, God made you and cares for you. I bet I would like you if I knew you. So, keep living, I want you to live!

To find out what two things happened at the thrift store, take the jump.



The "A-Z Thrift Store, I believe, is a church run organization. My girlfriend and I went in to look for her a 90's themed outfit. She's going on a trip with the women of the church and they are going to hold a "multi generational" fashion contest. So, we went looking for the most 90210esque outfit they had.

I guess it would be more appropriate to say, she went looking for clothes while I went looking for a discarded digital video camera. No luck, on the camera. It was in my searching through the old Polaroid cameras and discarded falderal, that I made my way to the vinyl albums. I went looking for some ridiculous album that I wouldn't feel bad about melting up into a cool vinyl bowl that I had been wanting to make. This is where I got to be a part of the awesome joy altering moment.

Right behind me, in what I believe was the children's book section, was a man and his daughter. She was probably 10, tops. I'm going to assume he was in his thirties, even thought I don't see why it matter. This little girl was sitting on the floor with her feet under her and her feet splayed out pointing either way behind her. She sang a song, that she wrote, and was probably writing just before it came out of her mouth. It was delightfully Spanish. The best part was that she was wearing big white on the outside, pink on the inside bunny ears.

Needless to say I stayed in the record section a little longer glancing over my shoulder as she continued to sing her song and lightly project herself into the air. Only occasionally did I pick up the word "Bounce", often repeated a couple times. That was so sweet. She didn't have a care in the world, she was a bunny and her song was perfect. It was a bouncy song, full of joy. She didn't stop singing till I stepped out of the records and into her line of sight. I broke the illusion. There's a whole post in itself right there. But, onto the second, less amazing thing.

When I got done ruining that little girl's party I went to look at the used furniture. I wanted to see if I could find anything to help me with the storage in the youth trailer. It needs shelving. I didn't find it, but I did see a perfectly fine Ping-Pong table. I looked at it and it only had to braces that connect the frame to the table missing. It didn't seem like that big of a deal. I passed it by though. I didn't see any point in looking for a price, I didn't want to spend that kind of money.

I did a once around the furniture and came back to the Ping-Pong table(also check this out). I looked for a price this time and couldn't see anything. I scoured the thing until I saw "SOLD" in big black letters. I was down till I realized that it was scratched through. I perked up a little. I still didn't see a price on it, which made me think it was actually sold and someone was trying to ruin my party. I walked to the board game area.

Did you know that christian board games have terrible art and packaging. It's true, and there is no better place to see this than at a Thrift Store. That's because, all those religious board games you buy for people don't get lost, they get donated. So you can scrap your board game evangelism ministry. All that means is that I didn't spend much time in the board game room. I was going to find my lady friend when I saw a woman with a box full of fake leaves in her hands. I stopped her and asked if she worked there. When she said, yes, I tentatively asked her if the Ping-Pong table was really sold or not. She told me that it in fact had not been sold, I began to glow. She asked me if I wanted it, and I asked, "How much?" She replied, "Today, for you, five dollars."

I nearly flipped out. I immediately ran to ask my pre-ance if she thought it was a good idea to buy it. She gave me a qualified yes and I called the church pastor to see if I should get it. He gave me an unqualified yes and told em to get it and keep it in the fellow ship hall. It was on. I was buying a full size, five dollar Ping-Pong table. So, today, I need to go to bed, I'm going to go pick up my Ping-Pong table and take it to church.

See how great a day I had? Thank you "A-Z thrift Store", you made my day. See the bouncy tie-in? Bouncy rabbit girl. . .bouncy Ping-Pong balls? I gotta say, that's the best post title ever! Hope y'all have something close to as great a day as I have had.

Choose My New Tag Line!

Yes. . .you can take on the huge responsibility of replacing the beloved and well worn "Rudy" tag line. Here's the deal, I'm going to accept your application for what my new tag line should be in the comments of this post. I'll give it a week and then close comments up. The following week I'll put up a poll for you all, read "both" of you, of you to vote on your favorite.

I need your creativity!

I'll start. . .

The Cold Hard Truth:

I didn't win. I'm sure you've noticed the book thing isn't there anymore. . .who cares, whatever. It was a stupid contest. Like I even wanted those stupid books. I bet the winners were Tim Challies' friends. Even if he gave them to me, I wouldn't want them. I'm never reading his blog again.

Forget him. . .and his stupid contest.

The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do

I just finished up the above mentioned book with my youth during Sunday School. If any of them come by I'd love to get their opinion of the study. In fact that might be better suited for the actual youth website. So, just forget that last part.

I do plan on putting up a little personal thought on the book. This then could be considered as a warning, heed it wisely. . .

A quick blurb of my thoughts on the book would be something like this, "Not the end all book on biblical church growth, but it's not the worst place to get started as it touches most of it's points without to much top-end thought." That might be my blurb. I might revise it, because the top-end thought part seems rude. I really did enjoy the book, I'd hate to give off any other view. The book just didn't ask much of the reader.

Help me win books!

Tim Challies, is giving away all six volumes of the Reformed Expository Commentary Series. I have a feeling that most of my friends and youth who frequent this site won't want these books, at least not as bad as I do.

So, I figure you all can help me get a hold of this collection by just clicking on the link above. It will sign you up for the contest, but it will also give me an extra shot at winning. I think that if you do the math, I'm not really getting an advantage, but maybe even thinning my possibilities to win.

That's not going to slow me down though. I want those books and one chance just isn't going to do it. In fact, that's almost like gambling, you guys don't want me gambling, do you? So let's make this more probable by clicking on the link. I'll let you read my books if we win.