Ok Muppet Lovers - Feast on some of this goodness...
Well team, I'm breathing a pretty huge sigh of relief here as my life returns to normal.
Subject: Good for you guys!! Sounds like you'll put it to good use...
While most "religion" and religious folks scare the crap outta me, your minister Bert (and now, reading through your website, your church) seem to generally enjoy the path he's guiding you on and what God has laid down for him to lay out for you...you guys seems to think outside the box!
Anyway, I'm glad you had such a generous soul within your congregation. It sounds like your plans for the first installment of money goes to a great cause.
Good luck!
Best Regards,
Celia Falkin Alger
This is some cool stuff. This lady is obviously not a believer and maybe this little media blip is something that God can use to reach her.
Another buddy of mine in Washington told me it was the first time he saw a preacher on TV that didn't make him cringe.
I'll take it.
And this blog entry comes from a church in Virginia who had some really cool things to say about True North. Thanks guys! Much love to the Fair Oaks Mafia.
Anyway, God willing, I won't ever have to do that again. But if I do, I shall try to live by the words of the great L.A. revival preacher E V Hill, who said:
"Be who you is. If you ain't who you is, then you is who you ain't."
Amen.
And now, on to more important things.
BIG HUGE "THE RIGHT THING" PROPS to Cynthia Colletti who correctly identified this guy
as Crazy Harry from the Muppet Show. He was my favorite.
Way to go Cynthia!!! You have rocked my face off once again.
Well done.
That's all for now, loved ones.
Hasta.
This week's 'The Right Thing' question:
Who was your favorite muppet?
Well, it's been a really wacky couple of days.
Everyone tells me they think I did well with all this and I think overall God was glorified. Promoting Love146 on television was a huge goal for me and I'm happy to say I got to mention them in both interviews.
I am told that Good Morning America has a viewing audience of 6 million. Around 2 million for the Early Show. That's potentially 8 million people who heard about Love146 and the work they're doing. That's a win!
However, at the moment, I'm exhausted, I'm over-stimulated and I desperately need to wind down. I'm also finding myself extremely sensitive to criticism.
I was really not prepared for the level of hate mail that came in. To me, putting this money to good use was a no-brainer. I'm aware that for some it's controversial, but I just was not ready for the amount of crap being aimed at me.
Not just "hey we disapprove" stuff, but the kind of acidic, angry, vitriolic prose that really shakes you up. Honestly, it's a strange sensation for me. Not that I don't get criticized - it's just usually not at this volume or with this tenacity. It's been a long time since I've been on the working end of some good ole fashioned self-righteous Christian judgementalism. Nothing fun about it.
My voicemail and email boxes are jacked with messages about how I should be ashamed of myself and how I have no business calling myself a pastor. One anonymous caller left me a voicemail that said he expected me to be indicted within the year a-la Jimmy Swaggart and that I should get a good lawyer if I'm going to keep scamming people out of their money.
Pastors across the country will be condemning me tomorrow morning and that's not something I can take lightly.
Along with the condemnations, there are an equal number of solicitations. Hard luck stories from around the country are pouring in, and to be honest, I've stopped reading them. That stuff comes home with me. I'm not trying to be insensitive - I just don't know how to deal with all that need.
There are also an equal number of congratulatory messages, and words of encouragement. Funny how the negative stuff always sticks with you more.
I'm happy for whatever good has come of all this media attention and I'm sorry for whomever I may have disappointed. I've been under more pressure these last two days than I can ever remember in my life and I'm sure I did a few stupid things in the middle of it.
I'm confident however, that God was able to see my stupidity coming and use it for His glory anyway. I'm also confident that this will soon be over and the media will have moved on and found something new to focus on.
This morning I baptized three people in the Long Island Sound.
Tomorrow, I'm back in the pulpit and I can't wait. I'm starting to feel like a pastor again.
Thanks for all your prayers and support gang. See you soon.
B
Shot of the cameras. I keep telling myself this will all be over soon!
The weirdness has reached what I sincerely hope is it's climax.
I will be on the Good Morning America show tomorrow, as well as The Early Show.
I'm speechless and I can honestly say I have never been this nervous in my life.
Truthfully, I'd really like to just get back to work.
Pray for me peeps. I want God to be glorified in all this.
Thanks.
Outside cookin burgers while my mug is on the 6:00 news. Had a press conference today to let the media know about this crazy donation. Look for it tonight at 10 and 11 and tell me if you think I look fat. :)
So I'm clearing the last vestiges of my vacation/retreat inbox cobwebs when I find a couple of emails regarding the series of messages I did in July based on U2.
One was from Beth Maynard - the author/editor of this book, which I used in my research for the series:
She listened to the messages and had some very nice things to say about them.
These are the comments she posted on her blog, http://u2sermons.blogspot.com/
"Rock Band: U2" sermon series
Thanks to reader Cynthia for letting me know about a July sermon series from True North Community Church
on Long Island (New York, USA) using U2's story and work in
conversation with the Psalms. Drawing on Walter Bruggemann's
orientation-disorientation-reorientation paradigm, the series moves
through U2's career over four weeks. There is audio for all the
messages at the link above.
If you don't enjoy highly breezy homiletics you may be put off initially, but from what I've sampled there's some very good stuff once you get past the breeze -- Pastor Bert Crabbe is obviously much better informed about the band than many people who attempt a sermon series based on U2's work (able to quote from Flanagan, for example, and full of funny imitations of Christian comments on the band in the late 80s); further, he has heartfelt points to make that relate to his U2 material more than superficially.
It's ok if I'm breezy. Hearing from the editor of one of the books I used for research made me feel like the man.
And this guy, host of the Duke of Data blog, just copied all four messages and pasted 'em onto his site!
I think that's some pretty crazy stuff. Cool though, no?
Is Tom Pryor the joker?
I think it's possible.
You decide.
A little pre-retreat mario kart action. Check out these girly girls dukin it out!!
By the way. Amazing job on the 'Caption Please' section on that last post. Speedy too! I will keep 'em coming as long as my iPhone stays charged!
I'm at Tuscarora for our annual core staff retreat. Posting from iPhone. Should have some good pics.
Start with this one and hit me with a caption.
Peace.
