Christian Guitar Hero???? I thought it was a joke too. But here is the email that Jack (He's Back) sent me"

  http://www.christianguitarherogame.com/index.html   Look at the banner graphic on the page - I think the female looks like a real Christian, with her bustier, fishnet, g-string and her Warlock guitar knockoff … the guy with his biker grimace, leather jacket and air-humping his Les Paul looks like he could be a pastor …  
Here's a link to the product I saw on display; you have GOT to read the comments from purchasers: http://store.digitalpraise.com/guitarpraise-2.aspx  

… it would really be cool if you made expansion packs of a band, Like Guitar Hero has Aerosmith, I would totally pay top dollar for a THIRD DAY expansion pack. Consuming Fire has an awesome guitar intro that I would love to play to. another thing that would really be great is being able to play online so that you can worship and praise God with other in cyber!

Thanks for givin' the devil a BIG BLACK EYE!!! Very cool I was excited to see some of the older christian bands like White Cross, Petra and Bride … I would put these christian bands up against any that the "world" has to offer… they would blow them away!!! If you havn't heard some of these guys just look em' up on the web… I believe that God has the best musicians for himself.

I'm so glad that me and my little ones can finally rock out totally awesome-style with the praise of God in our hearts. None of that Satanic meaningless dribble like in those secular Guitar "Hero"(I put that in quotations because Jesus is the only hero…ever). My kids have been begging me for one of those Rock Band games but I told them"Unless a song is about praise and worship of our lord, I don't it in my house" Because as everyone knows, if a song isn't about God or Jesus, it's about worshiping Satan. My son tried to argue that a lot of secular songs are about personal feelings or deep thought and thats when I knew I'd have to set him straight. Now that he got his hands on Guitar Praise he can totally rock out without sinning.

I would like to think that this site and those comments are a parody of some kind (I love a good parody) but something about them rings true. THANKS FOR GIVING THE DEVIL A BIG BLACK EYE? Satan has got to be pissed right now…sitting at home…in hell…with a frozen steak over his recently blacked eye…or he's laughing at how stupid many Christians are…in fact he's laughing at how he tricked them into thinking that he was the one with they black eye when clearly these comments do nothing but damage the good name of Jesus.

On a side note, I have never played Guitar Hero…but the thought of rocking out to some Petra Praise sounds great right now…"Somebody's gonna praise his name…somebody's gonna call Him Lord…it will either be you and me…or it's gonna be a rock or a tree…"

 I totaly just rocked that.,,,,(for Jesus of course).

Just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving Day. We have a lot to be thankful for living in this country and serving at the feet of our wonderful Savior who shed His blood and died for us even though we didn't deserve it. Although many things for many people are unstable and unclear at this most uncertain time in world history, there is nothing more secure then knowing Christ. So let’s give thanks for all He has given us. Enjoy your food, football, family and friends.

Ted Haggard is returning to the church. However, this time he's coming back, not as a pastor, but as a Christian Businessman.  And as many of you know, a Christian Businessman is just like any other businessman, except when he loses money, he blames the devil.

From the article:

– "Earlier this month, a guest took the pulpit at Open Bible Fellowship in Morrison, Ill., a 350-member church surrounded by cornfields. The speaker was an insurance salesman from Colorado named Ted Haggard.

The former superstar pastor, disgraced two years ago in a sex-and-drugs scandal, had returned — this time as a Christian businessman preaching a message that was equal parts contrition and defiance. Haggard linked his fall to being molested in second grade and apologized again." –

You see. Haggard didn't cheat on his wife, lie to his church and use illegal drugs because he's a sinful human being. No he did all that because he was molested in 2nd grade.  And as many of you church-goers understand, the key to success in the ministry is to be molested at an early age.

Update: Because that last sentence seems to have hit a nerve, let me just say that this is something JP and I have been joking about for years. Primarily because our youth pastors at City Bible Church (Bobby Mac and Dougie) both admitted to being abused when they were children.  It's as though past abuse is a pre-requisite for becoming a youth pastor.   

Check out this video of Frank Damazio and Benny Perez talking about their half million dollar offerings…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIfUyrWi_fA

That Frank is one funny guy…

 (h/t Negrodamus)

For all you degenerates out there who, much like me, enjoy sports and gambling about as much as they enjoy CBC bashing than this is the site for you. CentSports.com gives you a dime and lets you bet away. If you are good you can turn that dime into a dollar…and if you are bad you lose your dime and have to start all over.

 I just started with this last night and am currently betting 100%…thank you Portland TrailBlazers. I'm up to 12 cents and well on my way to my first million.

 Check it out here:http://www.centsports.com/?opcode=280852

A friend of mine recently sent me this email:

 I recently had a conversation with a christian buddy of mine who somehow
had managed to remain ignorant of my political leanings. I am the sort to
usually ask a couple of questions and let people ramble. It supports the
illusion that I am a good conversationalist.

At any rate the "conversation" turned to the election as many conversations
these days are wont to do.

So far pretty normal. What shocked me, and I must say frightened me, was
not his opposition to our President-Elect, but rather his…enthusiasm…for
Obama's assasination. I literally went cold and got off the phone as
quickly as I could and erased the number from my cell. This was someone I
had previously thought misguided but on the whole rational. Now that I am
paying attention to the problem I have been hearing reports and anecdotes
that this sort of thing is somewhat widespread.

This all leads to my question. How do we as christians respond in love to
christians and others who are gleefully advocating the assasination of our
nations President? My first reaction is anger and a desire to marginalize
them to the hinterlands of civilzation but that doesn't really jive with the
message of the gospel

So what do we do?

I haven't had much time to work up a response yet, but I thought I would throw the question out to you….What Do you do?

No, it's not another Disney pirate movie. Today I wanted to point out something that really irks me. After last week's article on CBC's annual Faith Harvest I poked around their web site to see what was going on. I discovered something else: CBC is starting a young adults ministry in the Pearl District of downtown Portland. So why does this bother me?

First off, we need some history. CBC had a young adults ministry in downtown Portland in the late 90's. At the time, Steve &  Debbie Trujillo were the pastors of Quest, aka young adults ministry. Long story short, they had the vision to reach out to students and young people who were in the heart of downtown Portland. They managed to find a location just a few blocks from the Portland State campus and lobbied Frank and the elders to provide the means to meet down there (the rent wasn't going to be free). Coincidentally, I think it may have been Faith Harvest season (my memory is fuzzy about that) and PF decided to put the decision to the people of the church. Personally, I have to wonder if he was gambling on the idea failing, because they needed $100,000 to get started. Well, that fateful Sunday night he grabbed a baby carriage in the audience and asked people to put money & pledges in the baby carriage to "birth" this ministry. Much to the surprise of everyone (and PF's especially I think), the people came through. 

Being a part of "Main Street" was a special time for those of us involved. Because we were no longer on CBC campus we were freed from a lot of restrictions on how to do church, everything from music to preaching to small groups. It was as if God had given us a blank check to do exactly what we had been talking about for years. Within a few months, we had over 300 students meeting every Tuesday night, and we also had an open night on Friday as well that was more of a place to hang out. For many students, Main St. was their church, and we had students driving all the way from Eugene to attend. We were having a direct impact on the exact people we wanted to reach and on top of that, some other ministries began to be launched out of Main St. Steve has always had a heart for the hard cases, those people that others had given up on. His "staff" was filled with young people who had been disenfranchised by institutional churches, and he also made a point to reach out to the poor and the homeless downtown during that time. 

But Main Street ended after just a year. I don't want to gossip about the details about the why's of this, but the bottom line was that PF pulled the plug and the primary reason given was financial. I guess he felt that it was too expensive to maintain a ministry that was not directly under his thumb or taking in tithes on the campus. It was a huge blow to the morale of those of involved. Many young people, including staffers, abandoned Quest and it remained in limbo for a year. Steve and Debbie finally decided to move out and start their own church in downtown Portland, and after much wrangling with the CBC eldership finally obtained their "blessing" and were sent down there. Steve was true to his ideals and has since spent his efforts on building a small church downtown that is focused on bringing relief to the downtrodden, both physically and spiritually. (I should also mention that Quest was absorbed by the Teen Ministry under Doug Lasit, and CBC had no separate young adults ministry for years.)

The Father's House is the culmination of Steve & Debbie's vision to have a direct impact on those people living downtown. They have also continued to minister directly to the homeless and street community of PDX in many ways, and have been recognized for their efforts on more than one occasion by city officials including the Mayor and Chief of Police, and others. Steve is the kind of humble guy who would be the first to admit that God provided the opportunities to do these things that he's been praying for for years. Ultimately, his "failure" at CBC led to his greatest success in fulfilling his dream to be a part of a very special ministry. One only has to look at pictures like this one or this one to know that he gets it when it comes to what church is supposed to be about and how money fits into that. (Isaiah 58)

So, back to the original topic! Why is CBC now suddenly concerned about the young adults of Portland? Ironically, they've once again chosen downtown Portland as their meeting place. I guess now that PF has campuses all over the city that he controls, one more isn't going to be a problem. Nor did they choose a poorer neighborhood, but the Pearl District which has seen a recent influx of culture and money over the past 5 or so years. I think it had more to do with being someplace cool and trendy ($) rather than trying to step on Steve's turf. Rather than directly support the Father's House, they want to move in a mere 20 blocks or so from another church that they themselves planted and have since ignored (financially or by recognition) despite having Jack Louman as a non-resident "elder". They want to restart a ministry PF killed a decade ago for reasons that seem less than credible. With the Lasit's on their way out to Denver, I suppose they'll be divvying up the pastoral duties to new staffers which includes the new young adults group Origin . I'm sure that Ranjy Thomas is a fine young man, and I have no beef with the guy. But I can't help but shake my head at this move because it reinforces my opinion of PF that he's OK with a good idea as long as it's his idea and he can control it.

One a side note, I'm curious about this meeting location. Google Streetview just shows a few parking lots for trucks and MAX trains. Is this the correct address?

Someone recently posted this comment and I thought it deserved it's own post so that all could read and comment.

SICK, SICK, SICK. I can not believe it!!! Has anyone else seen the CBC website about Faith Harvest? They are now using hungry Cambodian children to help raise money for the latest capital campaign. This is too far. This is wrong. Why oh why do people keep giving these lunatics their hard earned cash? Fine, preach tithing. But combating the flailing economies certain affect on your revenue stream by flashing photos of hungry children in the third world is truly a new low. I would pray for a bolt of lightning to strike the domes but it would probably see it as a sign that God somehow approves of you guys. Mark Estes should be ashamed for narrating this video. Mark, you and I both know that the vast majority of that money will never ever end up in Cambodia. Why can’t you guys on that hill just for once be honest about where the money is going to go?

Pretty sad indeed.

Now that the election is over we can finally move on to other things right?  Well not quite yet.  There is still one big political hot pot brewing in our country and I think we should touch on it.  It's been a major topic of conversation before but it's worth noting that from this election 11 states passed measures that put bans on gay marriage, and 8 of them eliminated civil unions.  Story Here.  As a result here in California, there have been massive protests; freeways and roads have been shut down, and people have set up shop outside many different churches, specifically the Church of Latter Day Saints, but even Saddleback (Rick Warren) has been targeted.  Story Here.

Personally, I think it's pretty specific and clear that God is against homosexuality and marriage should be a sacred covenant between a man and a woman.  Having that belief should not be considered hatred or bigotry if it's not used to attack or discriminate against gay people, but rather a reflection of ones own personal choices.  Where I struggle with this issue is when the government begins telling others what they can and can't do in their personal lives, especially when there is no visible harm to self, others, or society as a whole.  There are lots of things in the Bible that are not reflected in the world (or the church for that matter) yet I don't see state measures stopping them (i.e. sex before marriage or greed).  Throw in the fact that Christians have become the mouthpiece against gay marriage, and I cringe at the harm being done.  As stated in the article "it's very unfortunate and embarrassing that the (Christian religion) is in large part responsible for this act of bigotry," the Rev. Ed Bacon told The Associated Press following his Sunday sermon.

So how do we balance the clear direction that a gay relationship is wrong with the clear message that we are called to love and serve everyone, "even the least of these."  Is passing bans on gay marriage really the right message Christians want to send?  Why not let the chips fall as they may and use our time and energy to reach out to those in sexual sin rather then push them away?