Book Review Bloggers

If you haven't heard of it yet, go check out Book Review Bloggers at Thomas Nelson. It is a pretty cool idea (and I know it isn't a new idea) to get the word out about your products. The other thing I like about it is "I can haz free books!"

Anyway, sometime soon, I wil publish my review of "Field of Blood" by Eric Wilson. It is the first book of the "Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy" (with Haunt of Jackals second in line).

I am right at half way through Field of Blood and am enjoying it. The blend of mystery and vampire genres drawn on a Jewish/Christian backdrop is done (so far) very well by Mr Wilson. He is intertwining story lines in such a way that you think you know where he is going at times and are completely clueless at others. Not clueless about the story but about what's around the next chapter. A good way of building up tension and suspense. I'm looking forward to how he plays it out: what will be "solved" in this book and what will be left open for the rest of the trilogy to close.

So, I should be done before too long and have the review here for you...

Positive Thank You

It's Tuesday again and I want to say "Thank You."

It is Veterans Day here in the US. Here's a little background on what Veterans Day is and how it came to be.

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. ”

So, on November 11th each year, we take time to remember and say thank you to those who have served, and those who still do serve, our country's armed services. Many of whom have put themselves in, and are currently in, harm's way to protect people that they do not and may never know. It kinda reminds me of another story of love and sacrifice...

So I want to take a moment to say "Thank You" to all of the veterans that have served and fought for this country and the people in it. Thank You to my friend Don who served years ago in the Navy and is proud today of the ultimate sacrifice that his son made in Iraq earlier this year. Thank You to my friend Randy who took the lessons he learned at West Point and the US Army in the 70's and became one of the finest leaders I know. Thank you to Tab who took care of a bunch of Marines out in the desert. Thank You to Michael M. for sacrificing so much time from his growing family to serve. Thank You to Brenden for his service in the US Army. Thank You to Bill for his 27 years in the Navy and his son Jeff who is serving in the Army in Iraq right now.

And Thank You to my Dad, Kenneth, for serving in the Army in Vietnam in the 60's and teaching me what it means to serve, sacrifice, and love.

We are all now and forever will be indebted and grateful to you and all veterans. Thank you for all you have done.

Father God, I thank you most of all today for creating in these veterans a heart for service and sacrifice. I thank you for the opportunity to know men and women like this and to be influenced by them. Lord, I thank you most of all for the sacrifice that you made for each and every one of us. For Jesus Christ on the cross sacrificed for our ultimate freedom. I rejoice today in your love and grace for us. May I always remember this sacrifice and praise you. In Christ I pray. Amen.

Cool technology. Also? Useful

The video below is a free 30 second clip that I made using Animoto. What is Animoto? I'm glad you asked.


Animoto.com is a site/application that allows you to make video slideshows using pictures and music you choose. The engine inside Animoto, with very little prodding from you, "analyzes" the music and mixes the pictures and effects with the music to produce the video. With a free acount, you can make 30 second videos like the one here. Long videos are $3.00 USD and you can even download or order DVD quality copies of your videos.

So, side from the cool factor, what is there? Well, I think this tool can be very useful for lots of people. I'm specifically thinking about how we can use it in our church. We don't really have a media budget but have had more interest lately in how we could use it. Animoto provides an effective means of creating the content and a low-barrier-to-entry way of making it available. We're looking at creating a few slideshows as "bumpers" for some presentations coming up. I'll let you know how it goes.

How do you think you could use something like Animoto in your church or in your business?

(Hat tip: human3rror)

Positive Results

It's Tuesday and, even with all the election stuff going on, it's time to be positive.

I'd like to point out someone that I think is making quite a positive impact. I've "gotten to know" this fellow through blogging and Twitter but we've never met in person. That's still a little strange to me on some level, but I'm getting over it rather quickly...

Anyway, I follow John on Twitter and love reading both of his blogs: human3rror and ChurchCrunch.

John is so obviously passionate about doing God's work that you can't help but smile. The thing that really makes that great is the way he pours that passion into the things he has been gifted by God with. From what I know of John, he is very talented when it comes to web-based technology (esp. Web 2.0) and is constantly digging into (and even building) technology for the purpose of serving God, promoting God's kingdom, and building up the Body.

If you are interested in technology, passionate people, examples of practical Christianity, and the like: go follow John on Twitter, read his blog, and join the conversation with some comments.

John's passion has inspired me of late to try to bring more of my gifts and talents to bear for the purpose of building up the Church and spreading the Gospel. I'm off to a slow start but I think I'm starting to make some progress.

So, thanks John. Keep doing what you are doing. You're reaching a lot farther than you might see.

But I like the color blue

It took a little longer than expected but I now know what color I am. Reading the rest of NCD's The 3 Colors of Ministry and taking The Three-Color Gift Test didn't actually take long. It was more about a few other things going on this weekend.

Once I finally got around to opening the book again, it went pretty quick. Here's the basic info on how the gift test works:
* 180 questions where you rate on a scale of 0 - 4
* 30 questions that someone else that knows you rates 0 - 4
* Some basic math to get 2 scores for each gift category
* A couple of charts so you can translate scores into category ranks
* Discovery of your potential 3 - 5 Manifest (active) gifts and 3 - 5 Latent (inactive) gifts
* Reading descriptions about each of the gifts (30 in all)

It probably took me around 15 minutes to go through the 180 questions, scoring, and ranking. If you need to find someone to answer the other 30 questions, it could take you longer. (I had folks at the house that were willing to help me out.)

So, the results?

Manifest gifts:
1. Giving
2. Wisdom
3. Shepherding
4. Knowledge
5. Service

Latent gifts:
1. Evangelism
2. Helps
3. Discernment
4. Mercy
5. Leadership

(I did 5 gifts in each area because of how they grouped.)

Once you have your gift list, there is a small chart that has each gift according to color. Once I ranked mine, I found out that I have way heavy in Green and Red gifts with only one gift in Blue. And it was a latent gift.


As you can recall from the picture at the right, that puts me pretty heavy in the "Creator" and "Jesus" areas and leaves me out of the "Spirit" section. According to the book, I've got wisdom and commitment, but little power.

So, from here, I'll be reading up on what the book has to say about the gifts I've identified as my potentials here. After that, I'll be back to round out the review of the book and let you know what else will come out of this process.