(video embedded below)

Yep. That about sums it up.

Jason

I have never wanted nuggets this bad.
Never.
Well… yup, never.
Check out the video below (no sound, so make up the crazy dialogue in your head) and the full story here.

(video embedded)

Jason *over and out*

I’m gonna let it shine!
I totally remember singing this song as a child. I loved to sing.
Our Sunday School teachers sang it with us almost every week.
I agree we’re supposed to be a light, but let’s think about that second verse for a moment…

“Hide it under a bush, Oh No! I’m gonna let it shine!”

Now, I’m no rocket scientist, but even I know hiding a fire under a bush won’t put out the flame. You’ll just have a BIG FIERY SHRUB and probably catch your clothes on fire. Look out lil’ children! And while we’re on the subject of open flames, “Who encouraged these children to play with fire?!?” Fire Marshall Bill would not approve.

Jason *over and out*

So big news of the “yet to be released” new iPhone being left for people to find and share about on the internet so Apple has some buzz going on lost in a bar, and Gizmodo has all the specs here (it looks lovely).

Oh, and ht to dave for turning me to this gem of a video.
These guys make me want to DJ again (with my dirty old vans, ha).

Inked. Branded. Marked.
What does it look like to be marked by God?
By His love, healing, restoring power?
A couple of weeks ago we launched a series titled, “Inked.” We’ve been looking at the healings of Jesus. People’s lives being touched (branded) by Jesus, they are healed, and life as they know it is never the same.

As we filmed for the series bumper at Fuzion Ink, we hung out and talked with the artists (one of which attends Forefront with his family) and it was so cool to hear their stories.
How life has moved them.
How their lives and their clients stories intertwine through this artistic medium.
How a community of artists who many people are scared of just because the way they look (craziness!), is actually an amazing family of people who look out for one another.

This is Tony Scambony and his story. Enjoy.

Inked. Branded. Marked.
What does it look like to be marked by God?
By His love, healing, restoring power?
Last week we launched this series, “Inked” which is an extension of the scenes we see throughout the New Testament of the Bible. People’s lives being touched (branded) by Jesus, they are healed, and life as they know it is never the same.

As we filmed for the series bumper at Fuzion Ink, we hung out and talked with the artists (one of which attends Forefront with his family) and it was so cool to hear their stories.
How life has moved them.
How their lives and their clients stories intertwine through this artistic medium.
How a community of artists who many people are scared of just because the way they look (craziness!), is actually an amazing family of people who look out for one another.

One of the first guys we caught up with is Forefront’s very own, Dave Lukeson. Enjoy.

Forefront meets 10 a.m. Sundays at Ocean Lakes High School.
Fore info and directions check out: http://www.forefront.org

Between the challenge laid down this past Sunday (post coming tomorrow), the Women’s Retreat and the Baptisms on Sunday… it’s be a terrific week for celebrating how God moves through the people of Forefront Church.

Check out the videos from things happening this past week:

Women’s Retreat: March 4-6, 2010:

Baptisms: Sunday, March 7, 2010

“…Come as you are.”
A news report of a church here in VA. All I have to say is that I will not be introducing this type of service anytime soon at Forefront (to which my wife and everyone else will scream, “THANK YOU!”).

Man, Oh Man.
Try getting that image out of your head. Ha. Good Luck.

Jason *over and out*

We’ve batted around the how, why, pros, cons, and even a little glimpse into the process of what it takes to do a streaming service online. But, now to the real question at hand:

“Is the ‘online church’ experience- church?”

It depends. But in most cases- No.
Weighing the pros and cons against scripture leads me to believe a few things about solely attending an online service:

1. The Definition Of Church: The definition/picture of the “church” according to scripture points to live, face to face, living life together, rubbing elbows in service, worshiping the Creator together, kind of interaction. This does not happen with “online church.” Though some will debate this fact. There is no substitute for the local church. Now whether it takes form in the idea of “house church” or “congregational gathering style church,” this local gathering paints a clearer Biblical picture of how God’s church should move and breathe in the community.
2. The Accountability Of The Live Interaction: Accountability is almost vacant if not totally unavailable. Too many people we encounter through the ministry God’s called us to do here are introverted by nature and would attend online without ever saying a word, chatting a phrase, or interacting with the people involved. The argument could be made that these same people wouldn’t walk through the doors of your church. We have TONS of introverts and new people who attended every week. It’s all about the environment/culture you create. They won’t stay anonymous for long in a building with friendly people prompting them to move to another level with God.
3. The Practice Of Spiritual Disciplines: The practicing of spiritual disciplines is difficult even within the local church being together weekly and seeing one another face to face- with online church this grows exponentially. This new embodiment of the “online church” can restrain many  people from freely expressing and flourishing in their spiritual disciplines. Loving, giving, serving, worshiping, community, communion, and the list goes on. These are things done with others. Now granted being online, you have “other people” in the experience, but you are not interacting with them in the same way face to face discussion happens. For instance, I love my wife. We talk every day. We also use Twitter, Facebook, and texts to communicate. If I cut ties to all face to face interaction with my wife and just use technology- our relationship will fade (and I will fade). She is built for physical interaction and I cannot fulfill my duty as a husband if we’re cut off face to face. I cannot practice it. Likewise, I am built for acts of service and I cannot serve her the way God built me if we do not see one another. Our disciplines as a couple work better and we grow in them when we are interacting in real life. Online church does not afford people the opportunity to  flex their spiritual muscles and do what God built them to do.
4. The Idolatry Of The New & Improved: I love technology, but even in my own life I have to weigh the amount of time, energy, and resources that are being placed on computers, cell, mp3 players, TV, DVD’s, etc. It could go on forever. As we grow as a culture and advance ever so quickly into new and exciting technologies, my fear is that we could be whisked away by the shiny new toys of a culture heading away from the Creator. Now, I’m not saying any of these “things” are bad in and of themselves, but when we begin to rely on power, bandwidth, site analytics, user patches & updates, and tools that are supposed to make our lives “easier” instead of relying on the one and only God of the Universe… we are walking on dangerous ground. As a church we flirt with this technology line on a constant basis and have really had hard talks about what it looks like to scale back things so we can always know we’re relying more on God than the almighty Apple Computer. It’s a tough place to be in a “show” and “special effects” culture. People are waiting to see the glitz and glamor of something amazing, and as leaders many are trying to feed them what they “want.” but what if we stepped back and focused more on what they “need?”

I know some people who are doing streaming services and people’s lives are being changed. I think that is great. Any time people can encounter God- that’s a good thing. But, my fear is that we might be chasing the trends too closely and it could backfire on us as we try  to do the work God has called us to do. We should weigh everything against the Bible and see where it stacks up. As for Forefront Church, we won’t be going the live online route. In times of a crunch we will use technology as a way to keep the message from not being heard at all, but nothing can imitate or replace the local church.

Jason *over and out*

*I’ll take questions via Twitter, Facebook, & the blog and do a wrap up post from things you have interest in talking about