Royale with Cheese

Church and Money

2011-01-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

There is a lot to be said about progress, blessing, spending, professionalism, offering, and the accumulation of wealth in the modern-day American church.

A lot.

Grossly understated.

Those terms evoke different feelings for different people. I grew up in a church that was always looking for ways to improve. Of course, improvement is intrinsically positive. I think that when improvement is the central desire of the church however, it can lead to all sorts of problems. This particular church to which I belonged even had a motto, which I will paraphrase: We want to change our community and world in Jesus' name. It wasn't long before I realized that this motto had nothing to do with addressing the actual, physical needs of our community. It really had very little to do with addressing the spiritual needs of our community also. The motto should have read: "We want to put a big building in our community, and then convince as many people as possible to come to it." All of this particular church's efforts and resources were put into making this building the most up-to-date, technologically and culturally advanced place possible.

Thank God I don't have my own church. I think my ideas about God are too jumbled and indecisive to lead anyone to any sort of truth. This may be slightly overstated, but I don't think I could stand in front of people, families, children, Christians, week after week without saying something that would offend someone. Don't get me wrong; I don't fear that my tongue is too slippery and that I might drop an inappropriate four letter word. There are plenty of other things one could say in the context of church that would be completely offensive to the average church go-er, but not to most of the world, and more importantly, I think, not to Jesus. I could say that I believe doubt is one of the fundamentals of Christian living, or that homosexuals should have the right to marry, or that evolution probably happened, or that it's more than possible that certain translations in our Bible got things wrong, or that I don't believe that Christians are required to vote or love America (Furthermore, I may or may not agree with any of these statements, depending on the month). Man, most people wouldn't come to my church. I probably wouldn't either. I could even quote some not-particularly-Christian philosopher, musician, or movie such as Ghandi, or Zach de la Rocha, or Tarantino. That sort of thing really grinds the gears of some Christians I know (even though the current church I attend does this from time to time). There is a fine line to walk when you are a pastor that I think is just too thin for my balance, and I would fall one way or the other: either faking or offending. I think that if we are honest with ourselves, a lot of us Christians are like me. I don't think any of this is a bad thing, but I feel that I need to provide some background before I get into the real issue for which I am writing: If I had a church.

If I had a church, I would gather my staff for a meeting. The meeting would be entitled: How to Grow the Church. There would be a big white board that had those words on it, and I would probably choose green and blue dry erase markers, as they are good colors for brainstorming. My staff and I would discuss all of the ways in which we could make our church the best place possible. Of course, our sanctuary would have to have comfortable seats, large screens, special software to project fancy pictures and images on those large screens, at LEAST two rows of lighting, a sufficient sound system (the more sub-woofers, the more worshipful), and enough wireless lapel mics to go around, since handing off a wired mic is too distracting for worshippers, and will probably cause half to not return. The lobby area will need two 32" flat screen televisions, so that mothers who have to step out to nurse can watch the pastor in action. The hallway leading to the parking lot will need a built in sound system so that those late for church will be able to hear the music (is there any way to get some subs in that drop-ceiling, by the way?). This is really only the beginning of a VERY long list that we would write up.

After making the list, I would face the congregation, and give them the speech. "Our church could be so much better if we had more stuff. I think that a lot of people in our community don't want anything to do with Christians because of how technologically un-advanced their churches are."

No, no, no.

That's not the real point of this experiment. The real point is to see how much we COULD raise for all these material things. The even realer (?) issue is the large number of churches that DO raise this much for these material things. The REAL issue (or one of them, at least) that non-Christians have against Christians is how oddly materialistic they can be. (and hypocritical...but that topic is for another time)

So my church would raise money for 6 months for a fund entitled "Church Improvement Fund." The members would even have a detailed list of all the fancy things we will buy to make the church better. (Don't let me forget fake potted plants for the stage) At the end of 6 months we will have raised $60,000, which we will then distribute. Some of that money will help the local food bank feed the hungry in Delaware. Some will help homeless shelters in Wilmington to provide a roof and warmth for those living on the street (an issue very heavy on my heart, as I sit in my warm house, separated from the 14 degree Delaware air). Some will help provide clean drinking water to Africa. Some will help medical workers who are fighting hard to control the Cholera epidemic in Haiti.

THIS is how we can improve our church. THIS is where our resources should be focused. My church will be very content with our metal folding chairs and modest sound system. My church will make Jesus known in this way.

The End of Sum

2010-11-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, November 13th, Sum of One will play our last show at the Everett Theatre in Middletown, DE. I want to take a moment to reflect on what this band has meant to me.

This band has been a part of my life for just short of 9 years. I joined when I was 13 years old. We recorded our first single when I was 14, then recorded two albums when I was 15/16 and 20. I was in middle school when I joined, and played with the band through 4 years of high school and 4 years of college. The experience I gained in playing with a live band, for audiences ranging from 2 to 2,000 (but normally in the 40-50 range), and recording two albums, has been amazing, especially from such a young age. This group of people have obviously had a profound impact on my life as I grew up with them. Ray, Ryan and John are honestly like family to me (and Terra too of course...my sister). My emotions are extremely mixed in that regard, but at the same time, we all felt that it was time to move on and put this thing to bed while we could still be proud of it. The road ahead is a promising one. I hope to be involved with music for my entire life. I hope to move out of Delaware, possibly to Nashville or New York. I worry that the end of Sum of One will be the end of my performing life, and that without Ray calling every week to make sure we come to the show, I will lose some motivation to play. I have so much appreciation for all Ray has done in managing the band; we've given him crap for the frequent phone calls, but without them who knows what would happen? I will continue to play drums at City Church of Wilmington, and will be on the lookout for future projects to be a part of.

I sincerely hope that all of our friends and family will join us for this very special night of celebrating the past 9 years.

Crump

Wonder and Worship

2009-06-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

At the end of the day, when I am lying in bed and I know the chances of any of our theology being exactly right are a milliion to one, I need to know that God has things figured out, that if my math is wrong we are still going to be okay. And wonder is that feeling we get when we let go of our silly answers, our mapped out rules that we want God to follow. I don't think there is any better worship than wonder.

- From Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

Bush part II

2009-05-22T13:34:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, our president made a speech, in which he introduced a new policy called "Preventative Detention," in which we are allowed to indefinitely detain individuals that our Government deems dangerous, or "likely engage in violent acts in the future."

This is the same President who, just months ago, was calling for the closure of Gitmo, and then followed through with procedures to begin closing it.

Maybe he misunderstood...most Americans (mostly Democrats, Independents, and level-headed Republicans) wanted Gitmo closed because it is simply AGAINST the rule of law (a term that Obama used frequently in his speech to criticize the Bush Administration) to detain an individual indefinitely without a trial...not because the terrorists get to live in a sweet Cuban resort.

And he has the balls to give this speech right in front of the Constitution...proverbial middle fingers in the air.

The fact that this has become a partisan issue (so many Democrats who criticized Bush are jumping on board now that Obama is behind it) is sickening, as well as the fact that he has the nerve to criticize Bush in this same speech.

Read what Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Greenwald have to say about it here.
And here is MSNBC's (pretty biased, I must admit) coverage of the speech. (I'm sure a few more seconds of searching will get you the actual full speech, if you can stomach it.)

Well I called this one before the election...

2009-04-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

It looks like the Obama Administration is already rethinking the deadline for withdrawl from Iraq.
(via The Daily Dish)
I truly feel bad for those who even partially based their vote for Obama on withdrawl. In my mind there are two stances on the Iraq situation. You either say that we shouldn't leave Iraq until they can fully defend themselves without our help. This won't be in Obama's first term, and probably not even in the next decade. So now taking that stance is saying that it is ok to indefinately occupy another country...aka empirialism. Doesn't seem very American does it? The other stance is to set an ACTUAL deadline for withdrawl, and plan for the blowback that will occur sooner than later. I admit, this sucks pretty bad too, but in my opinion it is a step in the right direction. It is a message to the world that we made a mistake that we intend not to make again.
I had hoped Obama realized this, but I'm afraid he hasn't. Hopefully (as Ive said before) I'm wrong.

Open Doors

2009-04-10T08:13:00.001-07:00

All my friends are forward-thinking,
getting hitched and quitting drinking.
And I can feel them pulling away as
I'm resigned to stay the same

And you can't even begin to know
How many times I've told myself "I told you so."
And you can't even begin to believe
There's so many bridges engulfed in flames behind me.

The new death cab ep is so great. Sad lyrics set to happy music. You should listen.

Pity, take pity on me.
Cause I'm not half the man that I should be.
Always turning to run
From the people I should not be afraid of.

.

And when my mirror speaks it never minces words
Because these eyes don't shine half as bright
As they used to and they haven't for quite some time.

Because I'm a man who hides from all that binds
And a mess of fading lines
And there's a tangled thread inside my head
With nothing on either end.

I always fall in love with an open door
With a horizon on an endless sea
As I look around the ones who were standing right in front of me.

Domestic Abuse w/ a Twist

2009-03-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Funny stuff from the people at What Would Tyler Durden Do? - My source for all Hollywood Gossip.

Important Things

2009-02-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

So I just watched Demetri Martin's new show "Important Things with Demetri Martin," and it was great. He's probably my favorite standup comedian out there right now, but I was afraid that the skits and stuff would just be stupid. (some of them were) But overall it was a great show...I'd choose it over the crap thats been coming out of SNL world any day of the week.
Go check it out on YouTube before they take it down.

My dog has no legs, yet we still need a leash.

This is the worlds biggest Big Mac, in the Big Mac museum, in some McDonalds in Indiana. I was sad to realize it was made of plastic.

Bale Out

2009-02-05T19:37:00.000-08:00

New term...check it out, and spread it around.

In case you haven't heard, the story in reference is here.
(warning: very angry man, possibly roid-raging for the cause of terminator, spewing words you'd never use around grandma)

25 things.

2009-01-29T21:28:00.000-08:00

1. I hate this kinds of things.
2. I hate when people start these kinds of things the way I just did.
3. But I wanted to waste a few of these facts since I'm not really that interesting.
4. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. That's upsetting.
5. My parents separated a few years ago. That's also upsetting.
6. I miss living in Philly pretty often.
7. There is a strange disconnection between girls I'm interested in, and girls that are interested in me. Sometimes these two variables cross paths, but only for a little while. That's the best way I can explain it.
8. I wish I had the balls to talk to pretty girls in public places. Like they do in the movies.
9. I'm pretty introverted.
10. I normally say really awkward things to strangers...mostly because I'm caught off guard that they are talking to me.
11. I am working on writing a screenplay. I have about ten pages/minutes done.
12. I often wish I majored in something other than music.
13. I don't want college to end.
14. I love movies but I'm very selective: I wouldn't say I've seen every movie ever, and at times I'm annoyingly snobbish and even prejudice about movies I think are bad.
15. I love playing drums, but I'm probably more interested in songwriting, but I can't sing or play guitar very well.
16. I'm not very impressed with music in the past year, but I hate when people only like classic rock.
17. I'm pretty unmotivated. Especially when it comes to homework.
18. I'm one of those crazy third party kind of guys. Socially liberal and fiscally conservative, hence Libertarian, but there are some ani war, socially liberal Republicans that I like: Ron Paul.
19. I care more about my ideals than I do my neighbor. I need to fix this.
20. I want to get involved in helping people in need...but I do nothing about it.
21. I'm a Christian. I'm sometimes embarrassed by some mainstream "Christian" ideals...especially the judgmental, hypocritical kinds.
22. I care too much about what people think about me. I wish I didnt. I look up to people like freegans.
23. I'd like to play drums in a band and make money doing it, but it's unlikely to happen.
24. If my parents hadn't separated I probably would have moved to Nashville by now.
25. I don't understand why ice hockey is so unpopular in America.
25.5. I'll probably come up with a whole bunch more when I'm in the shower or walking to class, since that is when I do most of my pondering.

Time for a new phone...

2009-01-28T14:50:00.000-08:00

and what better than a phone from the genius electronic makers of canada?
Check this guy out!

Ramblings

2009-01-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

Go 'way from my window,
Leave at your own chosen speed.
I'm not the one you want, babe,
I'm not the one you need.
You say you're lookin' for someone
Never weak but always strong,
To protect you an' defend you
Whether you are right or wrong,
Someone to open each and every door,
But it ain't me, babe,
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe,
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

I've been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan lately. He's great. It's amazing how many musicians from so long ago are still so relevant today. I wonder how long pop music will last. Will people in the year 3000 still be talking about Bob Dylan or Elvis or the Beatles?

I watched I'm not there, a movie based on Bob Dylan's life. I didnt really get it. I can appreciate "film for the sake of film" type movies, but this just didn't really do it for me, which is ashame since there are so many great actors in it. Maybe another viewing will be better.
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Last semester I was working on a screenplay, just for fun. It was based on Murphy by Samuel Beckett. I don't know what happened, but I stopped writing. I finished about ten pages, which is about ten minutes.

I was actually writing the screenplay while I was reading the book, because I thought maybe it would give a fresh perspective to the script. I think it ended up more like a line by line copy, and I didn't want that. I wasn't really sure how to get out of that trap. Maybe I'll revisit it. I want to.
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I couldn't think of a title for this blog post.

"You can really suck it"

2009-01-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

hahaha. Tina Fey is great. Apparently they were actual user names of people who were bashing her on the nytimes message boards.
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So, Illinois was good. Long trip. Lots of snow and ice. Some dude spun out and hit the guard rail right in front of us, and I managed to avoid him...Earnhardt style. No I don't watch NASCAR.

I got cut. No surprise. I played like crap, but there were a lot of good players there, so even if I played my best I would've gotten cut. So it was a good experience, no complaints.
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Two shows in MD this weekend. should be a good time. I'm taking full advantage of my newish sampler at live shows, so my band is going slightly more electronic every day. slightly. like a p.h. more.
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I'm playing at the inauguration on tuesday. CNN tells me I should be scared of a terrorist attack. I'm not. Mom always said if you don't believe in them, they'll leave you alone. Of course that was about the monsters in my closet. And it didnt even work too well with them. But who knows.

"Why can't a heterosexual guy tell a heterosexual guy that he thinks his booty is fly?" hahah

Synecdoche, Illinois

2009-01-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

I fell in love again
all things go, all things go
drove to Chicago
all things know, all things know
we sold our clothes to the state
I don't mind, I don't mind
I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind

Listening to some Sufjan Stevens in preparation to my trip to Illinois(e) tomorrow. Trying out for a drum corps called the Cavaliers. They're pretty serious. It will be a good experience at the very least.
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The new Killers album isn't as good as everyone says. Maybe I should listen again.
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I got news from a high-ranking person that Synecdoche, New York is playing at UD in the spring. So get pumped if you haven't seen it yet! A facebook e-vite is soon to follow. By me of course.
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Ok, I'm gonna hit the hay soon for a good 5 hours of sleep. My alarm is set for 1:30. (!)

(edit) Thanks to "Chelsea 514" for the insider info!

Faith like a trampoline or a brickwall?

2009-01-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

"Somebody recently gave me a videotape of a lecture given by a man who travels
around speaking about the creation of the world. At one point in his lecture, he
said if you deny that God created the world in six literal twenty-four-hour
days, then you are denying that Jesus ever died on the cross. It's a bizarre
leap of logic to make, I would say.
But he was serious.
It hit me while I was watching that for him faith isn't a trampoline; it's a
wall of bricks. Each of the core doctrines for him is like an idividual brick
that stacks on top of the others. If you pull one out, the whole wall starts to
crumble. It appears quite strong and rigid, but if you begin to rethink or
descuss even one brick, the whole thing is in danger. Like he said, no six-day
creation equals no cross. Remove one, and the whole wall wobbles
....
What if [one] spring [or doctrine] was seriously questioned? Could a person
keep jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a
Christian?...if the whole faith falls apart when we reexamine and rethink one
spring, then it wasn't that strong in the first place, was
it?
...
Somebody showed me a letter from the president of a large seminary
who is raising money to help him train leaders who will defend Christianity. The
letter went on about the desperate need for defense of the true faith. What
disturbed me was the defensive posture of the letter, which reflects one of the
things that happens in brickworld: you spend a lot of time talking about how
right you are. Which of course leads to how wrong everybody else is. Which then
leads to defending the wall. It struck me reading the letter that you rarely
defend a trampoline. You invite people to jump on it with you.
I am far more interested in jumping than I am in arguing about whose
trampoline is better. "
-Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith

This is from an older book by Rob Bell, which is pretty amazing. His analogies make sense of a lot of things. I just got his new book entitled Jesus wants to save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile. Definitely check this guy out if you're into this kind of stuff...or even if you aren't. haha.

Top 5 Movies of 2008

2009-01-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

Seems like an appropriate way to start a new year and a new blog. These are in alphabetical order.

Be Kind Rewind - While the reality of the plot, and Mos Def's acting both leave much to be desired, I was overcome with the charming home-town feel of the film. Michel Gondry is great at this kind of stripped-down filmmaking, and the fact that he used actual residents of the town with no acting background to act along-side Jack Black and Danny Glover was great.
Burn After Reading - The Coen brothers never let me down. I actually just watched this last night, and it was just amazing. Brad Pitt's character is just plain hilarious. A lot of their movies have that mood the whole time like SOMETHING is going to happen and you just can't wait to find out what...this one is no exception.
The Dark Knight - You've seen it, I'm sure. There isn't much I have to say about this one. Bravo, Heath.
Horton Hears a Who - Ok, I'm biased. You might not like this at all. Horton was my favorite Dr. Seuss book as a kid. It amazed me to think a whole world of living things could exist on a small speck. So I loved the film adaptation.
Synecdoche, New York - (#2 on TIME's list!) The latest from my personal favorite screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and also his directing debut. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a struggling theatre director who starts a large scale theatre project in a life-size replica of New York City, within a warehouse in New York City. It was originally announced that Kaufman was writing a horror movie, but Kaufman soon corrected the announcement, saying the film is about everything that people are actually afraid of in life: sickness, death, despair, regret, failure. It is a beautiful mess of a movie; don't expect your typical Hollywood Blockbuster, and don't plan on catching all the essence of the movie on the first view.

Honorable Mention:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Just hilarious, and super quotable. Almost replaced Horton on my list.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - This was just a great story, and well acted too. It was almost three hours long, but didn't even seem like it.

Worst Movies:

The Strangers - not that I expected much, but this was two hours of nothing happening. And then the "surprise" ending was cliche and pointless.
The Happening - Also the biggest disappointment. I love M. Night and Marky Mark, but they both failed me. The laughable dialogue, equally laughable deaths, and Wahlberg's annoying, whiney character all made me want to join in the festivities and cut my throat with my ticket stub.

Movies I still haven't seen!! - Frost/Nixon, The Fighter, My Winnipeg, Milk

AND Movies I Want to See In 2009:

Where the Wild Things Are - directed by Spike Jonze, featuring acters in giant wild-things costumes with CGI faces. The early stills look awesome. It was originally postponed because the studio said the the shooting they did was too dark for kids, but I think its scheduled for an October release
Watchmen - definitely worth an IMAX trip.
Funny People - I'm not a big Adam Sandler fan as of late, but hopefully Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen will make up for that.
Inglourious Basterds - Tarantino directing Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, B.J. Novak, and Sam Jackson in a movie about Jews fighting back against the Nazis. Oh my, if this is good, it will be GOOD.
Nine - I've been looking forward to something else with Daniel Day Lewis ever since "There Will be Blood," so I don't even care what this is about! (fun fact. this is set to release on 9/9/09, along with another movie entitled "9." Don't get them confused.