Mission in strange places

Just in case you ever thought that evangelism online was an impossible thing, or that the Internet was a waste of time in terms of bringing Jesus to people who've never heard of him, check this blog post out. It comes from a site called Reflections of a Broken Man, and I was alerted to it via another blog post - and the writer of that post came across it by checking out the blog roll on a friend's blog. Thus the Internet leads us down strange and intriguing pathways.

But the strange and intriguing thing about what happened to the writer of ROABM and the girl he introduced to Jesus, is that the 'conversation' took place in the middle of a World of Warcraft game.....

Stifling innovation

Youngme Moon writes: Here's a question for you: If you had to come up with a checklist for your organization that was guaranteed to stifle imagination, innovation, and out-of-box thinking...a checklist designed specifically for people who want nothing to do with disruptive change...what would it look like?

You can find his slightly irreverent (only in the business sense) response on the Conversation, one of the Harvard Business blogs. I can't link directly to it, as it's a Vimeo video.

Why should anyone who reads this blog watch it? Because the same kind of thinking often (more than often) goes on in the church....

A Purple State of Mind

In a recent Christianity Today article, Brandon Fibbs writes about Friends, Faith and a Feud. The two friends are Craig Detweiler and John Marks, and they date their longstanding friendship back to college days, when they were roommates. However, one of them, Detweiler, is a Christian, and Marks is not - he was until the year he met Detweiler, as it happens.

Detweiler is a filmmaker, and between them they've made a documentary in which they have an ongoing conversation about Christianity, faith, believing or not believing and a good deal more. The film, A Purple State of Mind, is available on DVD, and you can order it here, or see more about it on their site.

If you've nothing else to do (apart from buying the DVD, that is) you can watch a number of outtakes on the site (same link as the last one). This will give you an idea of the approach they take.

The DVD would make great viewing for small groups, since it gives an insight into the way someone thinks who isn't a Christian and who's got plenty of reasons/answers as to why he shouldn't be, as well as showing how to have a conversation with a non-believer without losing your cool, or your friendship.