well, i am heading to uganda this summer. our missions team consists of 7 men and 1 woman. we will be building a multi-purpose building and helping to lead a missions camp for students at the university. the missionaries we are partnering with are dave and jen carroll.

here are two sites from ugandan newspapers that you can check out. they are the monitor and newvision.

the seder we had last week was also cool. if you have never been to a seder, i would encourage you to try it out. it is the best example i can think of where your taste is part of the story. your actual sense of taste. the bitter foods are bitter for a reason. the sweet food is sweet for a reason. the flat bread is flat for a reason. this idea is beautiful and should be replicated to speak to our current context.

mark

another blur of a week. easter. i was listening to garrison keilor saturday night and in his tales of lake wobegan, he mentions the pastor being ever so busy and that is why he gets paid the big bucks. well, minus the big bucks, it was a busy week. we again put together an experiential story by creating a walk-through of the last week of Christ's life. i called it stations toward the cross instead of staions of the cross which i think are unbiblical. minus the fog machine setting off the smoke alarm with 10 minutes before it began, the event was very powerful. i love narrative immersion! someday it would be fun to connect with others that are doing this same thing.

maybe someday.............................................

we have been experimenting with some different forms of gatherings that might be attractive to a person who does not know Christ (who know what to call them now?). sinner used to suffice, but oh well.

last week we had an expresso cafe where we celebrate creativity. we have done about 6 of these now and they keep gathering steam. we have poets, painters, rappers, breakers, unpluggers etc. do there thing. we then give everyone an opportunity to get in on the fun with interactive creative stations etc. and of course, there is lots of caffeine and goodies (also an art form-yumm!). all of the proceeds from that go to feed the hungry.

another thing we are doing is called the salon. the idea is actually french (boo) but really took off in seattle and is spreading. it is a night to invite people to converse. there are actually books to help you with your salon. we are seeing cool stuff happen from these. i just discovered a site that could be used for advertising a salon if you are interested. www.meetup.com

also, if you are just interested in doing a salon, here is a good site. www.conversationcafe.org

and if you have an idea on connecting gospel and culture, let me know. email me at mark@newsongministries.com.

my daughter turns 9 today. i am officially an old man. we celebrated her party last night. when i asked her where she wanted to go, she said "OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE." my daughter, the red meat lover. wow.

she is such a great kid. she has taught me more about myself and my faith than anyone else. she is an amazing young girl and i am eternally blessed to have her call me "daddy."

been a while since i have blogged. been a little crazy.

2 retreats
major writing project
expresso cafe with our journey group (which was amazing, remind me to tell you about it sometime)
we hosted a couple who are thinking of church planting in the cleveland area

busy but good. I am tired however. but i thought i would check in.

great site. alternativeworship.org.

got this quote from a blog quoting another blog. jordon cooper listed it as todd hunter's commenting on dallas willard's quotes. confused? i am. anyhow, just read-

We keep trying to make Sunday church into community with people driving to these meetings from 20-30 minutes away. We then try to fix this obvious lack of community by adding some form of home group. Now people drive 20-30 minutes to a second meeting and we fool ourselves into thinking we have created community. While striving mightily to form these pseudo-communities we lose twice: First, these meetings can never amount to true community , by definition (with the exception of cyber communities) I'm not sure about this one yet, but I'm open... has a strong geographical component. True community requires routine, unplanned contact—like what you have at work, school, neighborhood, etc. Here is the second loss: while running to meetings of this sort, and thinking of them as our Christianity, we ignore the authentic communities we are already in! We neglect the very places we could be working with God as ambassadors of the Kingdom to form (educate, grow in grace and true spirituality, grow in numbers as new Followers of Christ are added, etc.). [more thougths on todd's blog at todd's blog

some interesting thoughts. i have asked some of the same questions. what is even more sad is that in some ways i feel a greater sense of community with my unsaved neighbors than i do with believers. the upside is that i feel in a real sense that we are living out the salt and light thing in our neighborhood. i think that the whole cocooning effect is having more of an impact than we think. proximity=simplicity=community. hmmmmm

if you have ANY opinion about starbucks at all, you have to try this site- www.buttafly.com/starbucks. When you are through, check out some of the other pages like the new chicken soup for the soul. i actually laughed out loud.

what an amazing weekend we had. my wife was given a shower by the women of newsong. and yes, they asked me if i would attend. i actually don't mind because i enjoy sharing in my wife's celebrations. and this was a big one. stacey shared from her journal the anguish and pain of waiting 7 looong years to have another child. i am amazed at her transparency and even more amazed at her writing ability. she can express herself in ways that i can only dream about. she is a God-send to me. i felt affirmed, proud and most of all overjoyed at the faithfulness of God. this has been the longest journey of my life. 7 years of famine have led to a new season of blessing. you can see a picture of our new baby and her big sis at www.fcvn.org/ramsay-miller.htm.

another group that is intriguing is billy corgan's band zwan. very 70's peter mac looking web site zwan

Here's a great story. Wheaton is going to hell. ;-) wheaton and dancing

an article on mars hill church in seattle by the seattle times. "it's more chris rock than puritan." christ is another guy i think the church could learn a lot from.

seattle times article

If you like U2, and I do, here is a link to a Christianity Today article where he talks openly about his faith. His style of evangelism and just life is so appealing to me.

U2 article

Here is a quote from Winston Churchill that my boss told me last week. It was good timing for me, maybe for you too.

"If you are going through hell...keep going."

so this is my first blog.

this has been an incredible time of life for me and my wife (and for that matter my daughter raegan). we just adopted a baby girl from vietnam and we couldn't be happier! the last few weeks have been filled with great joy and wonder at God's gift to us. more later.

i hope by blogging will be able to share the ups and downs in life along with various ramblings about life, God, ministry etc. that might help someone along the way.