BabuLife

Revenge DVD Deleted Scenes

Harry Knowles over at Ain't it Cool News posted some deleted scene pics from the upcoming Revenge of the Sith DVD to be released November 1.  This is a MUST buy for me of course.

Click here to see the pics.

I think it would have been great if Lucas added the scene of Grevious killing a Jedi.  For a character that is supposed to be a great general, he runs away an awful lot in this movie.  But the movie was still amazing. Also, the scenes of Yoda landing in Dagobah will be nice to see.  This should have been in the film.  There will probably be special, special, special editions in a few years.

Perry Noble's Thoughts...

Here's a post I found very informative from Perry Noble regarding Rob Bell.  I can't get Perry's links to work for me so I just copied and pasted his post.  You can find Perry's site here.

Thoughts On Rob Bell

I have been watching with an amazing interest the articles, the blogs, and the reviews about Rob Bell's new book, Velvet Elvis. And this has caused me to want to share a few thoughts about what has been going on.

#1 - People who understand the least usually speak the loudest!

I am NOT trying to drop names here...or say, "Hey, look at me--I'm special." But my wife and I had the privilege to fly to Grand Rapids back in April and spend the weekend with Rob and his family. We stayed in their home, shared meals together (in really cool restaurants), and talked about life.

I can say without hesitation that Rob Bell is in love with Jesus. He's the real deal! I watched him interact with his boys...and I hope that one day my children can admire me the way his kids admire him. I saw how he adores his wife...and I was challenged and inspired to be a more godly husband. I watched him wrestle with sermon preparation...and witnessed how passionate he was about communicating the truth.

And then I see people ripping the man apart on the internet--and I would be willing to bet you money that they have never even had a five minute conversation with him--they don't know his heart--and yet they feel that God has chosen them to judge the man!

#2 - You can't judge a person based on ONE comment that was probably taken out of context!

If you are a speaker or a leader then you understand this--people WILL misquote you and misrepresent you--that's a fact. It is amazing to me how often I hear, "That preacher over at NewSpring said so and so." And reality is that I did make that statement...but not in the context to which the person repeating it placed it.

Once again--it amazes me the things that people are saying that Rob said. My advice to those people is that you need to stop and look at the fruit of his life...and if it is slightly possible that God may be at work in him and at the ministry at Mars Hill then the best thing for you to do would be to shut up. If Rob is wrong...then God will discipline him...and will probably NOT need the internet to do so!

#3 - Pharisees are alive and well today!

The majority of persecution that Rob is receiving is from...get this...people who CLAIM that they love Jesus! Amazing!

I say amazing--it shouldn't be. If you read the Scriptures then it is obvious--Jesus received fierce opposition from one major group--the Pharisees, the religious people. (Tax collectors and sinners loved Him!)

Rob is different--he marches to the tune of a different drummer...and that is GREAT! Praise God, can you imagine how boring the world would be if we were all the same?

The fact is that many pastors have came out and sharply criticized Rob...and that is sad because Rob will have more people get lost in the restrooms of his church this coming Sunday that some of those pastors will even have in their audience.

My advice--stop trying to reform Rob's theology and begin to look inward--more might be accomplished that way.

#4 - The internet is a place where cowards hang out and try to make life miserable for other people.

This isn't the case with everyone on the internet--but is true for the most part.

I have some rules about my blog. I never blog about anything that I would not publicly say from the stage. And I never say anything publicly from the stage that I would not say to someone's face--that's a fact.

But what amazes me is the number of Christian websites that have had to begin to moderate their comments because mean spirited people who claim to be in love with Jesus show up there and begin to attack things. AND they will spend the majority of their time wrapped up in going from site to site to try and defend their position.

This is the reason I do not allow comments on my blog...I feel that in many cases it gives an audience to cowards who would never even speak to me face to face--but feel they can sit in the bleachers and take shots at my efforts to do what God has led me to do. My advice to those people--either shut up...or put down your hot dog and get in the game!!!

OK--well--that's about it for today--well, maybe not--I don't know--might want to check back later.

Bassist Rocks Worship Team

Here's a great post over at Monday Morning Insight.  Ah...the joys of working with us musicians.  We are all so gifted. :)

Worship Music

Terry Storch had an interesting post called "Secular Music in Church".  I jumped in the conversation a bit and had an interesting back and forth with a fella who just disagreed with the premise of secular music in worship services.

There's an interesting article from Barna regarding the "Worship Wars" that many churches face within their congregations.  A bit of a read but interesting. Click here to read.  While it isn't specifically addressing the issue of secular music in church, it is an interesting read about worship in today's church.

I'll state my opinion as this: Music is neither "secular" or "Christian".  Lyrics can either be about God, to God, or just about life in general (good or bad).

To sing songs that are not about God or to God in a worship service, is not in and of itself "bad" in my opinion.  Some songs can engage a congregation to worship God or reflect on God and his nature while a song that is considered "secular" could be sung as a way to either illustrate a point or draw people into the message and service itself.  There is NO outline on doing a worship service in the New Testament that I've seen.  There is in 1 Corinthians 14 a way to NOT do a worship service.  As Paul preached on Mars Hill quoting an inscription on an altar he saw "To the Unkown God" (sounds like a top 40 song to me) one could do the same in a service.  Much like quoting a poet or philospher in those Biblical times, we do the same in quoting authors, actors, musicians, poets and politicians of today illustrating the fact that all are seeking something.  We can use those things to direct the answer to God.

These are just my thoughts on the subject.  I know there are many that disagree with this thought, which is fine, but to say it's against scripture is a stretch.  As a matter of fact, I struggled a LOT with doing any type of secular music in a service and have arrived at this conclusion.  It's not my preference to do it, but here and there I can see how it could be used.  See this post about our first experience playing a secular song at Grace.

So, what do you all think?

Youth Q&A

Today was a great day for me as I was invited to our junior high class during our second service to talk about our Weekend Service Teams and worship leading.  I am truly blown away by the awesome job our youth leaders are doing.  Huge kudos to Jim Williams (Grace Church Youth Director), Heath and Shea Casey and also Steve and Leah Heinauer.  To have 19 junior highers come to the youth class in a church of 400 is quite amazing to me.  It used to be that we'd have 19 junior and senior high students combined.  These leaders are doing a phenomenal job reaching our youth.

After my visit to the junior high class, I am completely sold on the fact that our youth are not just kids who sit and don't listen.  These young people are very sharp.  I received some great questions from them (apart from the Star Wars questions).  Thanks to Heath for bringing up my hobbies!

I think my favorite question was, "What does the band do when they walk off the stage?"  That question never would have crossed my mind.  They don't want to just know about what they already see on the stage, they want to know what our life is like when we walk off.  Man...what a great question!  What is your life like when you "step out of the spotlight"?  In other words, when people aren't watching you, do you live a life completely surrendered to the Lord in worship? 

By the way the answer I gave is that we huddle up together and pray for our pastor as he delivers the message and for the people to receive it. 

Be Creative

This is a great article I found over at the Leadership Blog.  Creativity is not an easy process.  Check out the story here.

Imaginary Enemies

My wife Addie has a great post today about my oldest daughter and her imaginary friend.  I can say that I never really had an imaginary friend.  I pretty much had imaginary enemies.

Check out Addie's post here.

Fallen Rock Star

As Rock Star: INXS finishes up this week.  I thought it'd be interesting for some of you INXS fans to know what the official conclusion to Michael Hutchences death was.  Another sad tale of a depressed rock star who had everything taken care of as far as his physical needs, yet still didn't have the rest in his soul that everyone really yearns for.  Click here for the official coroners report.

Calling all Bloggers!

Ok.  Steve and Kathy have arrived recently from Louisiana after delivering the collected items for the relief effort.  Please, please, please, take a moment and visit www.GraceHelpingHand.com and drop a note on the post linked here for Steve and Kathy.  It would be great if they could see a little encouragement and thank you from us.  If you aren't a Grace blogger, please feel free to drop a note too!  It's not exclusively a Grace site.

Thanks guys!

HoloNet News

Ok, so if you've read this blog for the past few months, you know that I am a complete Star Wars geek.  For some of you the blog really made no difference in your opinion of my geekiness.

Well there is a site called HoloNet News.com that was created by StarWars.com allowing us geeks to engulf ourselves in the Star Wars universe a little further.  Just pretend you're a citizen of the Republic right after the events of the movie Revenge of the Sith, then click this site here and move your cursor over the obscure alphabet at the bottom of the screen then click away. Sorry Addie, I know this is embarrassing!  You knew who I was before you said "I do".