The Bible has been around for ages.  It’s worked just fine in print.

First, people tried to bring it alive with audio.

Then others said, hey, while we’re at it, why not dramatize it!

And now we’ve apparently arrived at the next iteration of experiencing God’s Word. . .

Finally, some one has brought the Bible into the present Web 2.0 world.  Or have they?

Here’s my wish list for a Bible 2.0 that would embrace all

• We live in an Internet world, put it online! A multi-media Bible should be available on-line, all the time, from anywhere.
• Instant Community - We should be able to interact live with other people that are reading the same portion of the Bible at any given time.  If it’s on the internet, it would be easy to know who’s invovled with which parts of the Bible in real-time.
• The Power of User-Generated Content – We grow by hearing each other’s testimonies.  By sharing our own.  By identifying with the common struggles we are all going through.  The next generation Bible will allow individuals to contribute their own stories, their own viewpoints, their own insights and joy.  Content shouldn’t be limited to ivory tower authors.  Wikipedia is more accurate than the Enclyopedia for a reason.
• Don’t Let Sermons Go To Waste - Preachers generate TONS of content weekly, easily tagged to a specific anchor verse.  Imagine being able to open the Bible and gain access to thousands and thousands of sermons of different flavors on the same portions of scripture.
• FAQ + SAQ – By aggregating the masses, you could assemble the most robust set of answers to FAQ’s as well as the Seldom Asked Questions.  Just imagine how many more questions would be sparked by a resource like that!
• Tour Guides – You could have live or multi-media guided tours of the Bible.  With virtual tours of Biblical landmarks, drama, art and other great content, real value can be created by taking people different journeys that bring new meaning to Bible Reading Plans.

Those are just some wish list ideas off the top of my head.

But I guess just like the Web 2.0 is waiting for the next big thing to bring us to Web 3.0, the Bible 2.0 is a step in the right direction.

What other features would you want in the Bible of the Future?

John Piper Uses Twitter, has a dynamic website and is obviously with us in the 21st century.

But when it comes to preaching, his views on technology are surprising. . .or not.

Take a look at this short interview video clip where he discusses his thoughts on when pastors use videos and movie clips and moving graphics during church services.

I love how he ends the response by addressing the age old new question:

Will the pastor go to hell for using movie clips during their sermon?

What are your own thoughts on this?

Do you have any examples of specific sermons or pastors that utilize video or movie clips in a way that completely elevates the herald’s message on Sunday morning?  Messages that could not be accomplished without the A/V and media team?

One way to look at this question is, is there a difference between required and preferred?  If you were in a media-heavy church and the pastor came out this coming sunday with NO monitors, no screens, no technology except a mic on a stand (not even the wireless behind the ear or lapel mic!).    Would if still fly?  Would everyone be in just utter shock?

Please share a comment (and links to any sermons on the web) below.   While we all know the default techno-embracing answers, I’m quite curious to see what your reaction is!

Creation Festivals are annual events that have become the Nation’s Largest Christian Music Festivals.

The Creation Experience includes four jam-packed days of music, teaching, baptism, camping and fellowship.

Creation Festival is giving away 11 free songs from some of the top Christian Contemporary Music bands: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s almost here. . .Tim Keller’s next book — Counterfeit Gods.

If you’re like me, you’ve already been to Amazon.com’s pre-order page for the book which gives the best deal ($13.46, 33% off now $11.66!) if you’re comparing prices including S&H.  Especially if you have Amazon Prime free shipping like I do.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djchuang/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

But waiting for October 20, just isn’t good enough for some.  Here’s something for you guys that are in this bucket — a free pdf download from the soon to be released book: Read the rest of this entry »

Today, Facebook flipped the switch on Len Sweet. Apparently a “hater” reported one of Dr. Sweet’s Napkin Scribbles podcast links as “hostile.”

It goes to show you that the power of the press is certainly alive. It also shows how the Internet has democratized everything. The power of one can shut down a megaphone for Xtianity with one simple email. We are at the mercy of the Google’s, Facebook’s and Twitter’s of the world.

Perhaps it is time to see the power of P2P networks and figure out how ‘the people’ can harness it for syndicating content via our micro-blogging venues. But that’s a whole different blog post.

Because of this one hater report, his iTunes podcast landing page URL actually got onto some of the major URL blacklist / spam lists for ISPs within hours — and it will stay blocked via various means until they do a manual review to wipe it off. (for example, tinyurl.com won’t allow you to create a shortcut URL to it because it thinks it is malware now).

Well in the meantime, here’s the actual podcast that got Len Sweet banned from Facebook and other places. Sit back and enjoy some censored content right now:

We won’t know what the original report had an objection to, but can you find anything in this podcast that might be deemed offensive or hostile?  Leave a comment below.

When engaging the world in our now post-Christian times, I really feel that the Church needs to perk up its ears to the message that atheists are pushing against the existence of God. The campaigns are getting more sophisticated, media savvy and loud.

This video is fast and fluid and you’ll feel the persuasiveness as the message proceeds:

Aside from the petty, but gross misunderstanding shown in the portrayal of Christian’s imposition upon others, how do you respond to this type of bold argument?

For me, I see that if you take a moment to think about the path of this argument, you’ll understand that some basic epistemological criteria are ignored in dealing with supernatural issues. One area I think those that want to pursue atheistic positions should consider further is the assumption that subjective experiences cannot be used as evidence for assessing objective reality. Or whether logic and reason can be relied upon solely in determining God does NOT exist. The Christian claim is supernatural. It ain’t logical at all.

If we are to be called heralds for God, we seriously need to understand the campaign against God and the Church. Listening to their pitch is the first step.

How do you respond to this specific video? How do you respond to the atheist of today?

One of the advantages for most going to Princeton Theological Seminary is the size of the institution’s endowment because that translates into 90% of the students receiving some type of financial aid.  I have heard something like 80+% receive a full ride.  So on top of the academic competitiveness, there’s the free money thing that ups the competition to get in the door.

But of course that means there’s 10-20% of the seminarians that definitely need to find some green to fund their education.

Logos Software is doing their part to chip in and is giving away one $1000 seminary scholarship each quarter.  The Logos Bible Software Seminary Scholarship is open to all students currently enrolled in an accredited theological seminary located in North America, or those who plan on enrolling within the next 8 months.   One incentive to apply (other than hard cold cash?!) is that I was offered a 30% discount on their software just for applying.

The only requirements is to watch a 15 min video promoting their Logo Bible software and filling out a one page form.  Seems like a no brainer for anyone that is hitting the books…or I guess, THE Book actually.

By the way, if you are awarded the $1,000.00 Tuition Scholarship, you’ll also get their Logos Scholar’s Library which contains over 330 titles — supposedly, in print, all these titles would cost over $6,100.  Theological book nerds should be drooling over this offer just because of this. Check out all the books you’ll get for free: Read the rest of this entry »

I’m excited to join the vidcast tomorrow of Tim Keller and the Leadership Summit people over at Willow Creek.

But in the meantime, take a look at this interview where Tim Keller talks about the 4 or 5 ways in which evangelism must be different today in order to be impactful.

One of Dr. Keller’s key points specifically applies to urban centers, such as Redeemer’s setting: NYC.  He talks about how critical it is for the Church to really provide the tools, resources, modeling and teaching to its people how to integrate their faith **in** their work.

IMHO, he is spot-on in that cities tend to have more vocationally focused people (people who live to work, vs. work to live), so building out ministries such as www.faithandwork.org is quite mandatory if there is to be any impact.

But the lesson can be applied to much broader applications.  The Church today can’t just teach objective knowledge about the Bible.  It can’t just focus upon spiritual praxis.  It can’t just just provide moral teachings as well.   Not anymore.

When non-Christians are exposed to the Church’s message, they really need to see how it looks like if they were to step into the light.

The only way to do that is to build communities where this intentional integration of the Gospel into vocation that Dr. Keller talks about is vibrantly embraced and highly visible.

The new rules and approach to evangelism now take on a wholistic ministry approach.  You do see that, right?

Why doesn’t Jesus show up in person on a TV screen, on a nice blank piece of paper, or someplace else that seems a little bit more reasonable than where people reportedly see him these days?

Our faith pushes us to expect the unexpected of God, especially during Advent, but in the residual grease of a frying pan where you just fried a cheeseburger?

Perhaps your faith is stronger than mine. . . .

I recently shared about the upcoming online conference, THE NINES, on 09/09/09 and 09:09am Central. It’s put on by Leadership Network and Catalyst.

Well, it’s here!

Here’s the tentative schedule of speakers (Eastern Time) — tons of great content available free to you:

9AM — Troy Gramling, Mark Beeson, Anne Jackson, Dave Ferguson, Scott Hodge

10AM — Perry Noble, Stacy Spencer

12PM — Dino Rizzo, Nancy Beach, Steven Furtick, Reggie McNeal

1PM — Craig Groeschel, Leonard Sweet, Greg Surratt, Jon Tyson

2PM — Margaret Feinberg, Larry Osborne, Matt Carter, Pete Wilson

3PM — Neil Cole, Reggie Joiner, JD Greear

4PM — Mark Batterson, Dan Kimball, Mark DeYmaz

5PM — Jud Wilhite, Brian McLaren, Bob Roberts, Rick McKinley, John Ortberg

6PM — Alan Hirsch, John Bishop, Toby Slough, Ed Stetzer

7PM — Mark Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, Brad Powell

8PM — Darrin Whitehead, Brian Bloye

9PM — Eric Bryant, Nancy Ortberg, Rick Warren

Wonder who’s going to put on The Tens on 10/10/10 at 10:10am?