This is my friend Duncan from Edinburgh, Scotland. He’s a director at The Bank of Scotland - which is like the third largest bank in the world!?!? (Duncan, correct me on that). I was just thinking about writing him to ask what his take was on all the financial crisis talk. Then I saw this up on his blog this morning.

It’s worth taking a look at and reading.. the whole thing. It helps to understand all that is going on and realize that this really is effecting a lot of people.

Just thinking…

Blogs were the big story for 2005.

YouTube for 2006.

Facebook for 2007.

What’s the big story for 2008?

Twitter?

I don’t know.

What do you think?

This video was from Rocket Boom’s February 5th edition. Great new video blog that I’ve been following. It’s just all internet culture. Most videos are around 2 to 3 minutes long. You should check it out.

This video was a random stop in Lynchburg, Tennessee to talk polictics.

It’s amazing… absolutely amazing that small groups of people can actually lower their intelligence the more they talk.

That’s why I don’t talk to people like this.

Two days from now will be the largest determining factor of the overall health of our economy this year.

Black Friday.
The profitability of retail business and the American economy is in the hands of consumers who are hopefully giving generously.

It’s a real easy equation and a perfect indicator of the financial health of the country. It goes like this:

More money = More gifts

If I made more money this year, I will feel more generous and buy more gifts and therefore stores will make more money. It’s actually very straight forward and simple. You can base the fiscal health of an entire year off of this forumla with a fair amount of certainty.

Here’s another thought.

Starbucks actually transformed their stores over to the Holiday decor and promo items five days early this year. The logic? 25% of their sales come from this time of year. So why not back it up five days and push that percentage to 28?

Makes sense to me. Christmas has always been about profitability, hasn’t it?

So it hit me the other day… What the big deal is about High School Musical. It’s this: It’s probably the first big Millennial Generation identifiable movie. When I say Millennial, I’m referring to the now junior high and high school generation.

It’s funny, because for me and other Gen-Xers, I think back to The Breakfast Club. It’s that kind of film where our parents didn’t get it, but everyone from that generation identified with the movie. It became part of our generation’s brand/ethos/psyche.

Then think about where we’ve come from since. The Breakfast Club portrayed values like drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, absent parents, detention and apathy toward life. High School Musical is centered around more positive themes: modesty in sex and language, team-oriented sports and school work, sports stars are coachable and loyal to the team.

It’s a different generation. But I’m happy about that.

But that’s just my thoughts.

Worth checking out.

So here’s my personal recommendation to everyone for the month of May just to shake things up a little and get you thinking outside the norm.

In keeping with the theme of redeeming and transforming culture, I’ve linked to two great articles that I think are completely worth reading.

1. To Change The World: Briefing to The Trinity Forum by James Davidson Hunter.

Hunter lays out his five propositions on what it takes to change worldviews. I highlighted them in a post yesterday. I think this 10 page article is crucial to church leaders wanting to engage culture.

2. Selling Homosexuality to America by Paul Rondeau.

This article is a little longer and lays out the re-positioning of homosexuality in the public arena and how artists of marketing are shaping culture everyday. It’s actually quite brilliant and for me… inspiring.

So there you go.

Feel free to leave some feedback here.

Hopefully it provokes some things.

Here are some great points from James Hunter’s briefing to The Trinity Forum titled, “To Change The World.” He makes five points about culture that I don’t think we always get. They make sense, but I hadn’t thought about them like this before.

1. Culture is a resource and form of power. Think of culture like money. Some people have more of it to spend. A Ph.D. has more cultural capital to spend than a car mechanic.

2. Culture is produced. It gets made. It’s a product. Chuck Colson said, “History is little more than the recording of the rise and fall of the great ideas - the worldviews - that form our values and move us to act.” Culture is created by shaping and forming those worldviews and ideas.

3. Cultural is created at the center, not the periphery. It’s not quantity that counts, but quality. The individuals and institutions most critically involved in producing culture are at the center. Those with lower cultural capital are on the periphery. This is why there are a few people in the film industry or the recording industry that control the majority of music and movies that enter the mainstream.

4. Culture changes from the top down. It rarely changes from the bottom up - or from the masses. The work of world-changing is the work of elites and gatekeepers. Sociologist Randall Collins lays out the argument that all world civilizations throughout history have been framed by as little as 150 to 3,000 people (out of the total 23 billion people that have lived).

5. Culture changes the most when networks of elites and institutions overlap. When economic, political, and entertainment resources overlap, worldviews have the potential to shift dramatically. That’s why Bono makes so much progress when it comes to AIDS in Africa. It’s not just an entertainment-industry thing. It’s political and economical. It’s common purpose across varied beliefs and backgrounds and educational status.

I think as Christians and the church, it should send us back to the drawing board when we start talking about changing the world. If worldviews changed from the masses on the periphery with little cultural capital, then the church would be the major influencer in America.

But it doesn’t.

And it isn’t.

So we should rethink this.

I would say that most of the Christians I know think of the story of salvation like this: Fall, Redemption and Heaven.

In this story, the purpose of redemption is life after this world and the only people who have any value are “saved” people. All efforts, resources, talent, time and money are spent solely for the purpose of evangelism. I think that’s why we’re called evangelicals.

But what if the story goes like this: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Heaven.

It actually becomes a different story.

The purpose of redemption becomes much more then just escaping this world. It actually becomes about renewing it.

The gospel then isn’t just about individual happiness and fulfillment and God’s wonderful plan for my life. It’s about His wonderful plan for the whole world.

It’s a story of God’s kingdom renewing ALL things.

It’s not just Billy Graham. It’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. too.

If we lose the emphasis on conversion then we lose the power of the gospel for personal transformation.
If we lose the emphasis on the corporate (or kingdom) then we lose the power of the gospel for cultural transformation.

Came across a great quote from Francis Bacon:

“Man by the Fall fell at the same time from his state of innocence and from his dominion over nature. Both of these losses, however, can even in this life be in some part repaired; the former by religion and faith, the latter by the arts and sciences.”

I think Christians (especially evangelicals) tend to shove art to the very fringe of life.

By “art” I not only mean painting, sculpture, poetry - “high art” - but also music, the novel, theater, film, photography, flower arrangements, oration, writing, business, etc.

Right? Anything we create.

Life becomes… narrow when we place Bible reading, prayer, service - you know… all the good religious stuff - above art.

When we establish a hierarchy between the natural and the spiritual we misunderstand the lordship of Christ over the

WHOLE man

and the

WHOLE world.

If redemption involves the WHOLE man then it has to include his intellect and his creativeness.

The arts and sciences are not at the margins of the Christian life.

Here’s the BETTER METAPHOR: We are artist. The canvas is what we create. Perhaps the viewer is God.

I think the Bible is clear that early on God created man (in His image; the image of an Artist) and deployed him with two major purposes: CULTIVATE and CREATE.

Genesis shows us that “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it.”

God’s role for Adam was a CULTIVATOR. God created Eden, but Adam was to care for the garden and protect its beauty.

God also created the space for Adam to be a CREATOR.

“He brought them (animals and birds) to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam chose a name for each one.”

Adam engaged in the work of creation.

So at the center of what it means to be a human created in the likeness of God is to be a CULTIVATOR and a CREATOR of the culture around us.

So the question is…

“What are you CULTIVATING?”

“What are you CREATING?”

Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn painted what most believe to be a self-portrait in 1629 titled, “The Artist In His Studio.”

The EASY METAPHOR here is that God is the artist and we are the canvas. In this painting we have sort of an outside view of God at work on his masterpiece.

But this metaphor has two MAJOR FLAWS:

The first is that we are the end product of God’s creativity. Which means that God’s purpose in this world is leading people into personal salvation (His masterpiece) and that’s it. We in turn lead others into salvation and join God in His artistic work.

The goal is salvation.

Which leads to the second flaw: God is not at work in creation or culture or this world we live in. In fact, He really isn’t interested in it at all. If we are the end product and the greatest masterpiece for God is our personal salvation, then it doesn’t really matter what happens to the rest of the world. Our careers, environment, government, education, etc. all take a back seat.

Almost as if we need something to occupy our time here while God is working on His masterpiece.

I think there’s a BETTER METAPHOR.

I had a great time at Q last week and got to hang out with a lot of cool people.

Here are a few pics from the venue. The Tabernacle was a great choice.

I’ll start to post some of my thoughts over the next few days and weeks. If you want a complete list of notes from the event you can check out:

Duncan McFadzean from Scotland - What’s Your Point Caller - Duncan and I had the chance to meet briefly. Cool guy. Works for the Bank of Scotland. There’s a good chance I’ll end up over there before the end of the year.

SBC Outpost - Don’t know him, but a great set of notes.

Scott Hodge also posted some of his thoughts. Scott is a great guy. We had a conversation while I was getting coffee on Thursday night. I’d make a trip to Chicago just to buy him lunch.

DJ Chuang of Leadership Network put up his thoughts at the L2 Foundation Blog. I met DJ the last morning. I happened to sit at his table. Which is the way it worked most of the event. You find a table to sit at and wait to see who sits there with you. Just like that… you have new friends.

The outside of the Tabernacle.

The Q stage.

The foyer. The place was covered with art from floor to ceiling.

I leave early tomorrow morning for the Q event in Atlanta hosted by The Fermi Project. I’m looking forward to some great speakers and good conversation. I’ll be posting from the conference later in the week.

Lucky number 13 proved its magical power as Lance Mackey was the first to cross under the Burled Arch in Nome in dramatic style early Thursday morning. Mackey and his team of 9 dogs arrived at 8:08 pm (Alaska Time) completing the 2007 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race in 9 days, five hours, eight minutes and forty-one seconds. Mackey set out to win this race with fierce determination: both his father and his brother won before him wearing bib #13. Now, Lance is the third Mackey to win the Iditarod sporting bib #13. All this happened on the 13th day of March 2007. Woa… that’s freaky!

Wells Fargo presented Mackey a check for $69,000 (that’s it!) and Chrysler Dodge gave Mackey the key to a brand new Dodge Ram Pick Up Truck.

The Iditarod is into Day 3 and vertern Jason Barron has the lead coming out of the Rohn Checkpoint. Barron grew up in an Iditarod family with his father racing his first when Jason was seven years old. Jason and wife Harmony are currently living in Montana raising high-performance racing dogs.

So far, Jason has rested for a total of 6 hours and 10 minutes… In three days! Oh yeah, and the temperature is currently -2.

Keep up on the current leader board here.

You’ve probably been keeping up this with this, but “The Last Great Race on Earth” - the IDITAROD took off from Anchorage this morning.

1150 miles from Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western coast of the Bering Sea. Each team can have 12 to 16 dogs and they will finish anywhere between 10 to 17 days. The record is 9 days, 11 hours, 11 minutes and 3 seconds. Crazy.

Catch all the up-to-date information including the leader board and real-time stats at Iditarod.com.

As crazy as it was to hear that Britney Spears shaved her head, even crazier is the web site that is selling her hair.

buybritneyshair.com is the proud owner of what remains of her hair and is selling it for a minimum offer of $1,000,000.00. No joke. Check out the screen shot from the site and picture of her hair.

A million dollars? Hmmm… It IS the opportunity of a lifetime… PLUS a portion of the proceeds will be donated to charity (aka: Crossroads Rehabilitation Center).

Shaving her head, getting tattoos, parties at the house, the marriage is broken up, checking into rehab… it’s Mike Tyson! Britney has turned into Mike Tyson!

One of my favorite Super Bowl commercials featured Kevin Federline (estranged husband of Britney Spears) performing in a glizty rap video. But really he is only daydreaming on the job - as a fast-food employee. Nationwide produced the commercial with their tag line, “Life comes at you fast.” I thought it was brilliant. The National Restaurant Assoication however, disagrees:

“The ad amounts to a ’strong and direct insult to the 12.8 million Americans who work in the restaurant industry,’”

President and Chief Executive Steven Anderson said in a letter to Nationwide. Anderson added that the commercial

“would give the impression that working in a restaurant is demeaning and unpleasant.”

I don’t think the commercial gives the impression that working in a fast-food restaurant is demeaning and unpleasant, I think working in a fast-food restaurant as a 30-year-old is demeaning and unpleasant.

I guess I’m not real sure what all the fuss is about. I would rather serve burgers and fries than be rich any day.

What has stolen all of our “hits?” Why will NSync probably sit at the top of the record for fastest-selling album of all eternity? And why will Justin Timberlake never be as big as his former band?

(Gasp! ) “I don’t know. Quick! Tell me!”

Pirates.

“Pirates?”

Yep. Pirates.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed…. (shhhh)… but pirates are everywhere.

Johnny Depp has romanticized the role of a pirate to every little boy in America… and to a lot of middle-aged women. Darryl Hannah wears her pirate-esque eyepatch in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Remember Super Bowl XXXVII? Do you remember who played? The Buccaneers and the Raiders; 2 pirates in the ultimate battle for good. There is even a national “talk like a pirate day.” I’m not kidding. It’s September 19th. The day you end all your sentences with “Argggghhh…”

Being a pirate is trendy. Watch how many pirate costumes you see at Halloween. It’s cool to be a pirate, or fantasize about pirates or shadow sword fight in the break room at work. People understand. You just wish you could be a pirate. Sail the open seas, experience freedom, plunder small towns. Life would be good.

I know a lot of pirates. And the music industry is loosing mass market share every year because of the pirates I know (some 10 million of them). Because when push comes to shove, file sharing is… well… pirating.

Some may disagree.

“File sharing is a complex issue.”

File sharing is not a complex issue. If you can pull Justin’s new SexyBack off the internet and you aren’t paying anyone for the song, neither do you own the copyright to that song, you are a pirate. You got something for nothing and where I come from that doesn’t make you a very nice person.

I’m not necessarily saying you shouldn’t be a pirate or even that I haven’t moonlighted as a pirate or even that I care if the music industry ultimately collapses. I just think we need to wake up in the morning and look at ourselves in the mirror and say, “I’m a pirate. Argggghhh.”