Hill Country Writer

Laity Lodge Consultation on Technology - March 2011

2011-10-05T14:00:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, I was privileged to be at the Laity Lodge Consultation on Technology - March 2011. Rosie Perera just posted this set of photos on Flickr.

I attend a lot of incredible retreats at Laity Lodge, but this was hands down one of the best. Eugene Peterson is always great, but Borgmann challenged me to think in ways that I could not have imagined--so that my family now engages regularly in focal practices (like walking to school, playing board games, etc.) We have even tried to create some focal practices around technology, too, sharing movie night, watching youtube videos together, and working on Lego stop motion movies with their ipods.

You can hear all of the talks from this retreat at the Laity Lodge website. I highly recommend them, but at least listen to the panel.

Zombies

2011-09-02T16:22:00.001-05:00

Zombies, a gallery on Flickr.

This is a sample gallery for Claire on my favorite pastime.

Taking a Break Here

2006-12-21T19:59:00.000-06:00

I'm taking a break from HillCountryWriter. I may come back, I don't know. In the meantime, I'm spending some time launching a new blog in WordPress over at GoodWordEditing.com. If you get a chance, drop a comment over there. I'll be posting several times each week.

I'll also continue to upload chapters to my Entire Book in a Blog. I'll also continue to use blogger for short-term, self-contained blog projects like that.

And everyone remember, the same Mark Goodyear that posts here is posting there. For all the title changing and whatnot, I'm still me. I just need to explore whether WordPress can work the way I hope it will. Here's hoping.

Part of that hope will be to see what happens when I grab my archives here and take them there. It sounds like a kind of blogger armageddon, but I want to give it a try. If the world of HillCountryWriter ends suddenly, you'll know that my little archive grabbing experiment failed.

So anyway.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I Need Your Advice

2006-12-16T09:43:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine built me this beautiful blog over in Word Press. I like the Word Press platform a lot better, but I could never have learned it without my blogger training wheels.

Originally, my thought was to run HillCountryWriter here and a separate blog there, GoodWordEditing. Similar to what Camy does with Camy's Loft and Story Sensei. But now I worry that I will not be able to keep both blogs running.

So I'm thinking of bringing HillCountryWriter to a close. I'll still be writing over at the other site as myself, plain ol' Mark Goodyear. I still post the same kinds of content, but the new platform will give me many more options for design and content uploading.

So here's the question. What do you all think I should do? Is it a travesty to close HillCountryWriter? Do you think the other site looks good?

Also, does anyone know what would happen to inbound links if I moved HillCountryWriter archives over to WordPress?

Does Your Work Help Others or Harm Them?

2006-12-13T11:48:00.000-06:00

Andre Yee raises some interesting issues about work as a calling over on his blog. (I'm a bit slow in responding, but better late than never.)

In the comments, he recasts Spurgeon's statement about "trades which are injurious to men's minds" in 21st century language: "whether it does good or harm to our fellow man."

Now, I don't think marketers, actors, or grocery managers who sell alcohol are immoral. I've just heard people call them immoral professions. I've also heard people throw such stones at public school teachers (really!), nuclear power, and businesses that they deem "too financially successful."

I like Andre's idea that our work must not do harm to others, but I wonder how much we are held responsible for the decisions of others to harm themselves with our work.

For example, Andre suggests that working as a bartender may be immoral. I can imagine seedy bars where that would definitely be the case. But what if I were a bartender at Chili's or some similar restaraunt? Does my specialization within the restaraunt make my work there inherently immoral?

Can someone mix margarita's for God? Can they brew beer for God? Can they ferment wine for God?

And more importantly, if they can't, then am I depending upon someone's immorality before I can order up a margarita?

These questions are rhetorical really. I think people can mix drinks for God. It's strange to say. And it's a job that would certainly require a high level of integrity, but it is conceivable to me.

(I should add a reminder here that my views on this blog are not the opinion of my employer or the websites that I edit. Whew. Had to get that off my chest.)

Darkness and Truth - CSFF Blog Tour Day 2

2006-12-12T15:39:00.001-06:00

First, if you haven't read the first chapter of Trackers, Stuart Stockton posted it over on Speculative Faith. (Ok, that's a lot of links for one sentence, go here to read the first chapter. And as long as we're sharing first chapters, consider reading the first two chapters of my fantasy novel. And I fully admit that link is shameless. ; )

Here's my favorite paragraph from the first chapter of Trackers:

"Twenty paces high and a hundred deep, the Wall of Traxx ringed the stronghold with a vast stretch of flowers and thorns. The flowers bloomed on the outside—tiny but profuse blooms of roses, lilies, sunflowers, daffodils, and flowers even an experienced tracker like Timothy couldn’t name, all infused with intoxicating fragrance. But beyond the blooms lay a maze of thorns the size of a strong-arm’s lance and briar thickets that a mogged rhinoceros couldn’t pass through. Many men—indeed, full armies—had been fooled by the wall’s enticing exterior, only to be impaled by the thorns and die tangled in the briars."

Yesterday, Becky LuElla Miller commented on the darkness of the imagery in Trackers. A lot of the Christian market shies away from dark imagery. Even Anne Rice, the Queen of Dark Fantasy, felt she had to distance herself from such images once she returned to the faith.

Consider this New York Times quote from "A Once-Feared Kingmaker Called to a Different Battle": "After announcing in 2003 that she would no longer 'approach the altar of God in convolution' by writing books about vampires, Ms. Rice in 2005 published Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, the first of several planned novels about Jesus."

It seems to me that Christian fantasy always approaches the altar of God in convolution. Or is this simply a matter of degrees?

I love literal novels about Jesus, and I love writing poetry about Jesus. Don't get me wrong. But what I love about this genre. Speculative fiction gets underneath people's defenses. Public school teachers read Narnia to their students. Tolkein's faith comes to life through the redemption of Frodo and the shire.

That's the power of speculative fiction.

I read an essay by William Edgar in It Was Good (Square Halo Press) about how Christian artists wrestle with the issue of evil.

Edgar wrote, "C.S. Lewis once said that the Christian writer should have blood in his veins, not ink. What he meant was that if an artist sets out to make a Christian statement in an art object, the chances are it will not be art, but a contrived pronouncement. Rather, the believer, like anyone else, should first be passionate about his chosen medium, work in it, and let any ‘message’ emerge almost as a by-product. . . . Living in the real world, being human, knowing about life and people, believing in truth, and wrestling honestly with the troubles and sufferings that inevitably come along, these are the best ways to prepare to create.”

I agree with William Edgar. Too often Christian artists "don’t quite dare walk between the flames trusting that God can guide us and deliver us. We refuse to admit of tension and ambiguity. Because of that we can’t honestly ask with the Psalmist, ‘Why, O Lord?’ Our artistic production is not surprisingly one-dimensional. Being real in art is only possible when we can be real with God. The slaves in the antebellum South were… They are among the many in ‘misery’ to whom the light has been given. And so they have asked, ‘Why?’ When we have recovered their candor we may be able to say it in our artworks.”

The world is a dark place. Speculative Fiction allows us to discuss that darkness in ways that won't dangle temptations before the reader.

Here's a good example. My wife is terrified by realistic violence in movies. But she adores Lord of the Rings. "Oh, that's fantasy," she says. Somehow, the genre trick of setting the morality tale in another world contains its literal dangers without diminishing its moral power.

That's the power of speculative fiction.

Yesterday I confessed that this market for Christian speculative fiction seems to be wide open. Who can doubt the market for Christian fantasy? Becky emailed me with this comment (because blogger comments were acting buggy),

"It seems evident to me that there is a demand for these books, but publishers who haven't picked up CSFF before are watching the few who have and telling us at writers' conferences that the books don't sell.

"My response is, fans of the genre don't know it's out there and aren't going to Christian stores to look for it, so our first job is to educate the public.

"Once readers find an author like Mackel, I think it will be like the bursting of a dam. But first ... there's this "get the word out" stage."

Finally, I should let the author of Trackers speak for herself on this very issue! Beth Goddard posted an interview, in which Kathryn Mackel says,

"What I love most off all is using the vehicle of fiction to portray the daily provision and deliverance by which a Spirit-led life is blessed. Niki huddling under a piece of shroud to escape the fire of wrath is an exciting scene but more importantly for me, it’s a picture of the covering that Jesus Christ gives me. Fantasy gives the writer so many opportunities to portray spiritual truths—and joys."

"Imaginative literature gives us the tools to show truth in so many compelling ways. People perceive truth in different ways. Jesus knew this, which is why he taught some in parables and others in harsh tones. The apostle Paul geared his teaching for different cultural groups. Certainly Tolkien, Lewis, and Charles Williams used fantasy (and a little science fiction, in Lewis’ case) to great effect."

What do you think? Is there a market for Christian fantasy? Does the Christian market have room for the dark truths of the world?

(And keep your fingers crossed that blogger comments start working.)

Here's that list of participants again: Jim Black, Jackie Castle, Valerie Comer, Frank Creed, Gene Curtis, Chris Deanne, Janey DeMeo, April Erwin, Beth Goddard, Mark Goodyear (Yours Truly), Todd Michael Greene, Karen Hancock, Elliot Hanowski, Katie Hart, Sherrie Hibbs, Sharon Hinck, Joleen Howell, Jason Joyner, Karen, Oliver King, Tina Kulesa, Lost Genre Guild, Kevin Lucia, The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium, Terri Main, Rachel Marks, Shannon McNear, Rebecca LuElla Miller, Caleb Newell, Eve Nielsen, John Otte, Cheryl Russel, Hannah Sandvig, Mirtika Schultz , James Somers, Stuart Stockton, Steve Trower, Speculative Faith, Chris Walley, Daniel I. Weaver

Comment Problems

2006-12-12T09:51:00.000-06:00

I was so excited to switch to the new blogger. And now people are emailing me saying they can't comment.

This isn't a shameless attempt to get comments, but I need some comments on this post to check some things.

And of course, I love you all!

Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour!

2006-12-11T17:30:00.000-06:00

Recently, I joined the CSFF blog tour. It's a group of folks dedicated to helping the publishing world see the validity of this genre. I'm still puzzled though. Why do we need to convince publishers that there is a market for books like Lord of the Rings and Narnia and Wrinkle in Time?

Speculative Fiction was part of Christian fiction long before Christian Publishers organized themselves in the mid 1980s.

Still here we are. Over the next few days, I'll be posting more about this specific blog tour and the Kathryn Mackel's book, Trackers.

As much for myself as anyone, here is the complete list of people participating in this blog tour.

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Mark Goodyear (Yours Truly)
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia
The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver

Modern Day Noah

2006-12-11T16:15:00.000-06:00

For better or worse, it's The Office meets Noah's Ark. A 21st century sit com interpretation of holy writ. Of course, I still haven't seen Bruce Almighty.

To the point. For now let's assume good faith about the movie, which is to say I figure it contains no obscene heresy or ridiculous denials of God's basic goodness or justice or what have you.

Are movies like this helpful to the gospel or harmful?

Darn It, Men Can Be Thankful Too

2006-12-08T18:18:00.000-06:00

"A damn'd mob of blogging women." That's a paraphrase of Nathaniel Hawthorne's feelings about women.

I don't feel that way.

But, man, these ladies are blogging fiends. I'm talking about productivity here. How do they do it? Tip of the hat to Camy Tang for leading me to the One Thousand Gifts.

(The only guy I know who even comes close is Scot McKnight. I'm convinced Scot is actually a team of preachers spread across denominations. Scot must be a conspiracy. It's the only explanation for his prolific abilities.)

Have you seen this?

It's sponsored by Christian Women Online. Their expressed purpose is to unite women of faith. That's a good purpose, but I'm not a woman.

Still, I couldn't find any rule that said their One Thousand Gifts project was specifically to unite the women of faith. It seemed to be more inclusive than "Finding the Me in Mommy" or "Scriptural Fruit Cake," for example.

So, I'm going to list One Thousand Gifts, too. Try and stop me.

1. My wife, Amy, who keeps me in line.
2. My daughter, Carroll Jane, who we call CJ and who reminds me to slow down.
3. My son, Lyle, who reminds me to run (the pre-school teachers at our church call him "4 by 4").
4. My dad, the FedEx pilot, who taught me to dream.
5. My mom, who taught me to love.
6. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Wow, am I a bad Christian for not thinking of this until #6?)
7. My friend, Dan. (Who apparently ranks just under Jesus.)
8. In fact, the entire communications department starting with Keith (you're the best, man)
9. And Vicki (she is a Llama farmer!). I can't say how much you all mean to me in #7-9.
10. Oh heck, I can't leave out the development people. Like Perri. She taught me about dispensationalism.
11. And Connie, who gives me chocolate kisses and a poinsetta!
12. And Sherry, who just retired to be with her grandkids full time, but I miss her.
13. Let's see. More people. My sister, Renee, OF COURSE. She lives in San Antonio. And I love her to death. She can't tell a lie.
14. My brother-in-law, Greg, her husband. We had a good time at Laity Lodge. We need to kill each other on the XBox again soon.
15. My other brother-in-law, Rob. Amy's brother. You keep me honest, man. And we can watch slasher flicks together. Cool.
16. And OF COURSE, my blood brother, Nathan. I love you, bro. Enough said.
17. His wife, Tammy, who is still trying to help me understand the perspective of a Southern Belle. I'm trying (and I love you too.)
18. Their wonderful four kids. My daughter can't wait to spend Christmas with you all.
19. My sister's wonderful kid(s). The one that's out and playing with Lyle . . . and the one that's still cooking.
20. The sudden feeling of being overwhelmed by the tremendous blessings of my friends and family and the knowledge that none of them will think I'm ranking people here. This is a stream-of-conscious list.

More later. (If I'm crashing a party by doing this, I'll stop. I just think the idea is too good to limit to one gender, even if they are the fairer sex.)

Open Letter to a Kid Discouraged with the Cello

2006-12-08T12:23:00.000-06:00

Dear Barkat Kid,

First, I think you should seriously consider becoming an outlaw. "The Barkat Kid" is a moniker that is just too cool to pass up.

So, here's the deal. I heard you are discouraged with the cello.

Your mom says you are good at the piano. Yea! I wish I could play it well.

Knowing that you are good at the piano, I'm going to make a little leap here. But I also suspect that your talent with the ivories is partly to blame for your frustration with the cello. You know what good music should sound like. And you know that the squeaks and sqawks coming from your cello are something else entirely.

The cello is so hard. Hard even to play in tune. And you probably feel like you are years away from sounding the way you know good music should sound.

But your mom has these free lessons. Maybe you can agree to a trial period? Maybe you can set some specific goals you need to achieve during that time measure your progress? To feel better about the instrument? Maybe lessons for a year allows enough time to test it?

You know. I'll bet your mother secretly wishes she could play the cello. Maybe you feel like she is forcing her ambition on to you. That's a divisive way of putting it, but it raises another question. What if your mom took cello lessons with you? She'll probably kill me for suggesting this. [UPDATE: in the comments, L. L. Barkat reveals that her husband has the cello ambitions. Hey, man, I can't blame you. I have similar guitar ambitions. But no guitar discipline.]

Also, the cello can feel like a very serious instrument. Try to remember what it means to play an instrument. Don't work the cello. Play it. Enjoy it--even when it feels like the cello is always winning. Eventually, you'll get it. Someday, you'll play that game and win. Checkmate. If you can learn to love it, you'll master it slowly, but surely.

Finally, see if you can find some cello mentors. Not your teacher, of course. He or she is hopelessly prejudiced toward the cello. Older high school students who play well, might work.

Finally (that's a second finally), you may be interested in the music by our youth minister and his wife. Lady Jane Grey. They play Texas Folk with guitar and--you guessed it--cello. And if you get a chance, you should definitely read Midnight Hour Encores by Bruce Brooks. It's about a young cello player.

Sincerely,

Marcus
(just another adult who wants you to keep playing cello because he wishes he could play cello)

Read Christian Fantasy Online - Light on Trite

2006-12-05T09:27:00.000-06:00

Reader beware: I've been a little obsessed with a larger book project lately, so the post you are about to read is shameless navel gazing and self-promotion. Enjoy the lint!

"Light on trite." That's a summary of L. L. Barkat's comment on chapters one through four of Into the Mountain, my Entire Book in a Blog.

And isn't our tendency toward trite cliché the big challenge in Christian fiction? How do we write moral tales, avoid immoral descriptions and immoral characters, and still present a truth that is real enough to be honest?

Too much Christian fiction ends up being trite.

We want to avoid pain in our books. It's only natural. The world has enough pain. So why would we create more pain for people to read about?

The reason is simple. If our characters don't work through real pain and suffering, then their redemption will be cheap. And cheap grace only leads to self-righteousness and apathy.

Thanks also to Patrick Borders at Emdashery for inviting his readers to check out EntireBookInaBlog.

Be sure to subscribe to guarantee your chance to read the entire book. (If NavPress asks for the full manuscript, I will stop posting new chapters. UPDATE: NavPress asked to see the second half of the first half of the novel on Tuesday!--um, that would be the second quarter of the novel, I guess.)

If you haven't read much, I'd invite you to start at chapter 1, The Dreams Begin.

Here's a teaser for chapter 6...

“I went to the Iska this morning,” I said. “She took one of my mountain blankets and told me the creation story again.”

“The Iska took a mountain blanket?” Jena looked confused. Looking at my display, she must have realized the reason for my strange folds. My blankets were folded to hide their designs. “How long, Beka?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you dreaming?”

“Everyone dreams. Sometimes I dream the traders will steal me away. Sometimes I dream my parents will work again. Sometimes I dream Adam will decide to marry us both. Then at least I would have a friend in my own family.”

Jena rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean, Beka. Are you dreaming about mountains.”

“I would be his second wife, of course. That would make you third.” I laughed, “Pour me some gepa, Third Wife!” but Jena ignored me.

“Do you think you will leave the village?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I whispered.

Camy Tang on Dialogue and Action Beats

2006-12-04T07:55:00.000-06:00

Story Sensei has pointed out something so true--and yet so obvious in her recent series on dialogue. Some writer's tend to qualify their dialogue with too many action beats. (Be sure to read her short post about action beats.)

Camy then discusses both appropriate and inappropriate uses of action beats. Sometimes the dialogue needs a pause. Sometimes the characters stop speaking for a moment, and the writer must insert some description to create that moment for the reader.

But usually dialogue makes the story move quickly--in part because of the short paragraphs, I think.

When we add too many action beats, I think it actually slows the reader down even more than normal description--because now the reader has to switch mental gears from dialogue to description and back again.

I only know one way to learn the art of dialogue. Read plays! And the best way to find the best plays is to look at the Tonys. Search by winner of best Play in the drop down list and you'll find 70 to choose from. Now get some used copies! Often these will come with several plays in one book, like The Beauty Queen of Leenane. (If you are feeling stout of heart, check out other works by Martin Mcdonagh--especially The Pillow Man.)

Flesh Eater - a new poem

2006-12-01T17:28:00.000-06:00

Crackers snap against brass plates and scatter
crumbs across paper doilies while we meditate.
Dan, my preacher uncle, believes in water
like his Dunker grandpa, demanding holy baths
to seek God’s face and favor. Catholic Dan,
my friend, once explained transubstantiation.
I wish I could believe this
communion mush mixed with my spit transforms
to flesh in my throat. God's power could turn
symbol into fact, surely, but his Word
spreads fire hotter than literal truth.
Burning symbols leave bushes whole,
green and fragrant with Spring. Why
do I want the bush to burn? Why
do I want God’s power to leave ash
in the land and a scar on my heart?

Some verses I was thinking about when I wrote the poem.

John 6:53
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."
John 3:5
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit."
John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John 18:37-8
"You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." "What is truth?" Pilate asked.

A note on this poem for Dan Goodyear and Dan Roloff. I love you guys, and I hope it is okay that I used you as symbols in my poem. I'm not trying to critique your specific beliefs here. I'm just thinking about my own. One thing I know for sure, God's grace is big enough for all who call on the name of Jesus as their savior. And I like that you are both named after the eldest son of Israel. It seemed important somehow.

Shhhh, Let's Go Blog Tipping

2006-12-01T12:15:00.000-06:00

Apparently, it takes the force of 4.43 people to tip a 1 ½ ton cow. And cows are also incredibly light sleepers. Only an urbanite could believe such a ridiculous idea. Here in hill country slow towns, we know better.

Blog-tipping is no urban myth. This week I'm going with the tip of the hat metaphor rather than the food service metaphor. So no advice to sub for the 20% markup on my meal. Just a nod and a smile.

Also, I'm too tired for more than two.

Patrick Borders at the Emdashery

He guided me back to the ever enlightening and controversial J. A. Konrath. Who is now giving away books online just like me! I'm part of a bandwagon and didn't know it.
His article Muse, I Didn't Think So part of the Carnival of Christian Writers #2.
His cat hisses at passive sentences. My kind of cat.

Darren Rouse at ProBlogger

He's a former Baptist pastor turned problogger. A little like my friend, Gordon.
He's transparent about what can and can't be done with a blog. This guy works hard. Now read his disclaimer!
He's one of the top ten blogs on technorati because he's a visionary. Consider his blog job board and his involvement with b5media, an exciting network of bloggers.

More blog tipping:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

Scot McKnight on Forgiveness

2006-12-01T07:30:00.000-06:00

Scot McKnight has a wonderful post this Friday about forgiveness. I don't post things like this very often, but I felt the need to respond to Scot and my thoughts would have hi-jacked his comment section. I'm trying to link to posts more often rather than ramble in long comments or introduce new links. (Thanks to my friends like L. L. Barkat and Andre Yee for tolerating this in the past.)

I barely know how to forgive because I've had so few opportunities to do so. My life has been almost completely free from hardship.

My mother on the other hand, God bless her, escaped an incredibly abusive family. She says she doesn't remember many details, but we know it was bad because she ran away from home when she was only ten. (She thought she was twelve. Unbelievable.)

Every so often we ask if she would like us to look up her blood relatives. Find out what happened to her parents and her four siblings. She just wants to forget them. And in many ways, she seems to have succeeded.

So here's the trouble. Our family tree has no branches on her side. I know a few names, but they are like characters in a book. I find myself needing to forgive people I never knew. People I don't want to know. And I need to forgive them for disappearing so completely.

My grandmother never baked me cookies.
My grandfather never read me stories.
They aren't ghosts.
They aren't bad memories.
They just don't exist at all.

How do you forgive that?

New Chapter in My Fantasy Novel

2006-11-29T17:15:00.000-06:00

Working on preparing my manuscript for NavPress. Here's an early polished chapter.

4—Preparing for Market

I stepped over pieces of Iska’s story fish on my way to the first circle. Where the judges of the village lived. They were all watching the people hurry to prepare their goods for the market. The more attractive the display, the more likely the traders will make a purchase.

Adam and his first wife, Nora, sat on a blanket, next to strips of deer meat and a stack of deer skins. Adam was the trophy of her display. His bare chest, dripping with sweat and darkened by the sun, left no one wondering who had chased and killed so many deer.

Click here to read the rest of this chapter.
Be sure to subscribe to ensure that you get to read the entire manuscript.

NavPress Expressed Interest!

2006-11-27T12:30:00.000-06:00

First, the good news! It's the birth of Jesus. And more recently in my life, it's the title of this post. Jesus loves me, and NavPress is thinking about it.

Here are the details. Leslie Nunn Reed has been acting as an agent for me since January 2006 . . . sort of. We have no formal contract, but she pitched the proposal at the ICRS this summer. Tyndale and NavPress both expressed interest.

A senior editor at NavPress just got back with Leslie. To paraphrase his email, he is sorting through the large stack of proposals on his desk and he likes Into the Mountain by Marcus Greenberg. (I'm assuming he meant me.) This guy, a senior editor, wants to know if it is still available.

As if it might not be available anymore!

NavPress!? The same press that published Ragamuffin Diva's great Murder Mystery? Needless to say, I'm excited. Like dancing in my chair excited. I'm trying not to get too excited. I'm trying to limit myself to feelings like this: [clears throat and adopts a serious tone] I'm encouraged that someone likes the book or is thinking at least that they might like it.

I immediately told Leslie to jump on it. Half the book is polished. (I'm repolishing it a bit more this week.) She expects he'll want the first half. Which will give me time to finish polishing the second half. (New writers should know this: I have rewritten this book about five times.)

Second, the bad news. It's not really bad news. But you can imagine that NavPress may not want me posting an entire manuscript online before they publish it. So here's my plan. Lean in close, and I'll whisper it in your ear: If you subscribe to "Entire Book in a Blog," I promise to send you the pdf for the manuscript even if I have to shut the blog down.

I admit it is also a shameless marketing attempt to get people to subscribe to that blog. Don't worry about spam or anything. I just send one new chapter per week. You're only committing to about forty emails, plus a few more commentary posts. (I won't sell you anything. Ever.)

To be honest, I would also really really really appreciate your comments there. They will guide my work as I prepare it for NavPress.

That's it. I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful!

Thanksgiving and Pork Rinds and Feedblitz, Oh My!

2006-11-20T22:10:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This is my last post for a few days. I'm just going to be present for my family this week.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year because I love food. Mmmmm. Pecan pie, hot turkey, LOTS of gravy, Mum's cornbread stuffing (yes, the same Mum who went duct tape crazy). And family and love and none of the stress or expectations that go along with presents. Just good times and good food. My kind of holiday.

Pork Rinds are nasty, no doubt. But they are yummy nasty, if that makes sense. They are also the subject of chapter 3 from Into the Mountain: The Gospel of Pork Rinds. With a title like that you can't go wrong. If you would like to start at the beginning, go to the Table of Contents. I just consolidated the book posts all on EntireBookInABlog this morning. All three chapters are available as pdfs as well, thanks to esnips. For those of you who like fried pig skin, bon apetite! For those of you who don't, you don't know what you're missing.

Feedblitz. Finally, I spent this evening doing a little blog cleaning. I dusted off my sidebar and rearranged some things there. I even installed a feedblitz subscription service! (Tip of the hat to Camy for suggesting this.) If you are tired of checking back here for the next poem or the next chapter in my blogbook or whatever, life just got a whole lot easier.

Just type in your email address and click subscribe. You can unsubscribe just as easily. Try it:

Subscribe to HillCountryWriter

(If you are worried about spam, don't. I barely have the time to blog much less spam anyone. I'd sooner go play cars with my two year old or dance the tango with my daughter or sit on the front porch swing with my wife. Life is too short for spam.)

Friday Friend's Blog Tipping

2006-11-17T16:13:00.000-06:00

So this is week three of blog tipping. You can read last week and the week before if you like. It's been a busy few weeks--here and at my desk. I keep meaning to take a break from blogging. I may post a few chapters at Entire Book on a Blog and rest a bit. On the other hand, I just got the greatest link from Brian Solis, here and here. Funny how this place works like that.

I felt a little weird about the "tips" part, but I'll try one more week to see how it works. Everyone must know this: I'm a hack. The only tip I should give is 20% after a good meal. But since I'm just a poor editor, you're all stuck with my words (and my email subscription or RSS feed).

Brian Clark, aka Copyblogger

He's just awesome. I first read Brian in April 2006. Copywriting 101 and Magnetic Headlines had me hooked.
Then I downloaded his ebook Viral Marketing, still worth a read.
And he's still providing good content. Check out his tips on building a subscriber base. Wow!

Tip: Readers love it when you are honest. Not that marketing copy is dishonest, of course. But I can't say how much I appreciated last week's post where you levelled with the readers.

Andrew Jones, aka Tall Skinny Kiwi

He took a blog fast for an entire month. (I should do that, but I feel like I need to get a bunch of readers first. Odd.)
He posted a link to this funny and heartbreaking cartoon, Kiwi!
He posts amazing stuff. Like this bit about the Reformation.

Tip: Thanks for posting the stuff about Mark Driscoll. Especially important to me was your comment, "mark is my friend."

Tod Bolsinger, aka, um, Tod

You're always nice when I edit your work. And that goes a long long way, man.
You are a triathlete. Crazy man.
You like N. T. Wright, and your church is stunningly beautiful.

Tip: I'm about to drive you and your wife to Laity Lodge. Buckle up.

MEETfish - City on a Hill? Or Not Yoked with Unbelievers?

2006-11-17T12:30:00.000-06:00

The verdict is still out on this. On the one hand, I admire Christians who try to join the net. Certainly, I have mixed feelings about MySpace. Less so about Facebook. And you can probably guess how I feel about the blogosphere. All of these are questions of how Christians live in the world without being conformed to it. It's the big question of the web sites I edit: What does it look like when Christians take their faith to work? How much can we engage the world and find beauty there before we conform ourselves?

Last week, I was privileged to meet with an executive of a major Christian publishing network. He mentioned MEETfish as a social networking service to watch.

This morning someone forwarded me an announcement about the site. So I joined. I even created a group called Faith and Work. (If you hurry, you'll probably see me in lederhosen on their home page.)All of this activity is a little impulsive and potentially dangerous. I need to be careful that people know I'm not speaking for TheHighCalling.org in my comments there.

But oddly enough, this social media stuff has become an area of research for me. (My official title is "Research Editor.")

Random note: I ran a spell check on this post. And blogger's spell check doesn't recognize "blogosphere" as a word. Hmmmm.

Into the Mountain - Chapter 2

2006-11-16T12:15:00.000-06:00

Chapter 2.doc

Hosted by eSnips

I just posted chapter 2 of my "Entire Book in a Blog." To avoid some clutter here, I'll be posting the mess there and linking from here. That way I can fiddle around without disturbing anyone's RSS feeds. (Someday I should set up an email subscription like Camy...)

At any rate, this is the first "fantasy" chapter. As you read, remember that the audience is intended to be young adult girls, ages 13-17. Here's a teaser:

Into the Mountain
Chapter 2 - The Deer and the Fish

“Iska, I dream of mountains.”

The Iska is the only one in our village who has always lived alone.

Iska smiled. She squatted over one of her storage pots in the ground and pulled out a gepa cake.

“They’re sweet,” she said. “Nora made them for me because she’s looking for a girl to be her husband’s second wife.”

“I’m not that girl, Iska.” I took one cake from her, and she laughed.

“I know, but Adam can make some family very happy when he takes their daughter to the first circle.” She grabbed two cakes for herself.

“Adam’s not a Kawa. He doesn't live in the first circle yet,” I said although I knew it was just a matter of time. His first year of marriage was over. “Won't he buy a chance at the bolu toss before he buys another wife?”

Iska spat on the ground near her hearth. “Men do not buy wives.”

Read more

Trust Your Readers Not to Break the Plate

2006-11-15T20:46:00.001-06:00

Several years ago, my wife's grandparents move into a retirement community. In that process, they gave away little bits stuff to us.

What you see here is a platter that they sent home with my mother-in-law after her last visit to their house before my wife's grandparents moved. It took me days to see what this platter looked like... because I couldn't bring myself to disturb this astounding duct tape wrapping.

It was a lot of duct tape.

Read the rest of this post about publishing and editing at GoodWordEditing.com...

A Place of Inspiration - and a poem

2006-11-15T13:02:00.000-06:00

Here's the thing about Laity Lodge. Normally, I have to buckle down to work. Keep myself focused with the BIC principle (get your "butt in the chair" and write).

Not at Laity Lodge. It's a thin place. The line between heaven and earth is fuzzy, and it almost seems like God is whispering to me. If I can just get quiet enough, I can almost hear him.

I guess that sounds cheesy or trite. Or maybe it sounds like marketing talk, but I'm not trying to get anyone to go to Laity Lodge here. Some places are just beautiful, and there is truth in the beauty.

So here's a poem I found there. I was listening to Ashley Cleveland and Kenny Greenberg in the room called "The Great Hall". And I thought of Beowulf. Grendel originally attacks Herot because he their music is too loud and joyful.

This one is for Ashley and Kenny. You two are the best.

Hurts

Most middle class monsters retire
to a country estate or a ranch in the hills
if they aren’t slain by god-
like heroes mano e mano and exaggerated
onto the pages of high school English books.
Grendel, Jr., knows the truth.
“Dad was a hard case,” he says.
“But I still wasn’t ready to lose him.”
20th century shrinks tired his story out
on their couches. Now he shares it
just to fill silent spaces at parties.
“Gram and I were reading Genesis—
I liked the gold leaf letters,
the haloed icons in the margins.”
Gram liked the moral: “cursed to walk
the earth.” That’s hope. She’d wink at me.
“The earth will pass away—It’s gonna
die. Heaven, too. Us, too.” Who knew
prophecy could find its way into our dark
lake cave? Dad came on the heel of her
words, blood soaking his stump of an arm
and the crude tourniquet at his shoulder.
When curses lift, it hurts.
I hoped for love, but Dad died
in anger and fear. “Get them back.”
He coughed. “Make them pay.”
Not free, just gone. And Gram thought
she’d help hope, bring it home, fix it tea,
offer her life, too. So the hero came.
Dad was cold on the couch where I sat
and watched grandaddy’s sword grabbed.
Gram mounted it above the door when he left,
for safekeeping, she said, though none of us
expected him back from Nod. Is that why
she fought so slow? stretched her neck and bowed
her head before the man the call a hero?
“Come on, kid.” He held Gram’s head
in one hand and my wrist in the other.
Years later, I twisted his ring on my finger
while the dragon ate him. I did not lift
my grandaddy’s sword. It still hurts.

(On another note: I get to lead a poetry workshop this summer at a retreat where Ashley and Kenny will be leading the worship!)

Subscribe to HillCountryWriter!

2006-11-15T08:15:00.000-06:00

You know you want to . . .

John Cobb and the Dead Christ

2006-11-13T22:02:00.000-06:00

I've been off-blog for a few days leading a small writing workshop to supplement a retreat at Laity Lodge. Father Don Neumann led the retreat for the Joshua Group. He talked a lot about Christian mysticism and finding Christian truth in non-Christian texts.

My duties were limited to mixing and mingling, performing "Dark Night of the Soul" and "Mystic Trumpeter" (oh that is a beautiful beautiful poem!), and leading a 2 hour workshop.

The other workshop leader was John Cobb. This man is amazing. And I wanted to post some snapshots of his work that was on display. I'll post them over the course of several days to keep things short.

"Dead Christ" is study for a much larger egg tempura work. Image Journal posted some images of these in Summer 2005. Here's what John said about the study:

"That's a philosopher friend of mine. Bruce Ballard. He teaches in Missouri. He had this hip problem. And he was in such pain. So I laid him out on a piece of foam board with a rag rug over it. And I put his pain in the painting."

Friday Friend's Blog Tipping

2006-11-10T15:32:00.000-06:00

Last week, I started a little tradition that will continue as long as I can manage. You can read more details about blog tipping in that post. Let's get to the meat.

Howard Butt (Wisdom from Howard)

How many 78 year-old executives do you know who have a blog?
He's basically the father of the current spirituality and work movement.
He talks about the joy of sauerkraut.

Tip: I know you're driven. It's what has led you to excellence. I just want you to know that you are doing a good job. Your work has mattered and will continue to matter. And God will honor it.

L. L. Barkat (Seedlings in Stone)

She posts tons of pictures on her blog.
She writes good poetry.
She's been featured in Publisher's Weekly!

Tip: One of your biggest strengths is your consistent length. Every post is the perfect bite-size thought. My favorite thing is when you post a painting and respond--either in poetry or prose. Also, I think you shouldn't be afraid to link to your web site.

Scot McKnight (Jesus Creed)

The man is a writing machine. 3 Posts a day! How does he do it?
His series on calvinism blew my mind. (And I'm still picking up the pieces.)
Anyone who can build that kind of community is worth admiring.

Tip: I am in awe of how prolific you are. The best tip I can offer are these links to send more people to your site. Your post on Ted Haggard was incredibly kind. Thanks for all that you do.

You are all awesome. When I grow up, I wanna be just like you.

(Also, sorry for the messy book posts. For now, start at the Table of Contents and follow the internal links. I'm rethinking how I can make it work better. Probably I will post the book somewhere else in its entirety, then link to it from here.)

Into the Mountain 1.4 - The World Fades

2006-11-09T21:52:00.000-06:00

Chapter One (concl.)
<< read 1.3 || read 2.1 >>

He leaned in close and asked, “Hey, want to go for a ride?” His voice sounded sleepy like it was filled with little rocks and scratches. I wanted him to clear his throat. And he smelled bad, too. Like alcohol and old sweat.

“You’re drunk,” I said backing away.

“Had to celebrate this car,” he said waving one arm widely toward the car and grabbing my wrist with the other. “Get in. I’ll drive you home.”

“I’d rather walk,” I said and pulled at my arm.

“Come on. The car’s not stolen.” He opened the passenger door. “Get in.”

“Aren’t you going to pay for the gas?” I asked.

“I did the credit card swipe thing,” he said in a low voice. He smiled too, but it was like he was smiling at some secret dirty joke he was telling himself. “Get in the car.”

I did.

His smile softened. “See how easy it is? Now buckle up.” He closed the door and whistled as he walked around the front of the car.

I kept one hand near the handle and did not buckle up.

“Before we go home let’s take a little ride,” he said starting the car.

“Yeah,” I mumbled, waiting.

As he pulled out of the gas station, I threw open the car door. We weren’t moving too fast yet, but I still hit the concrete hard. “Hey!” my dad shouted. He would have stopped probably, but traffic was coming in both lanes. The car hesitated a moment, then squealed into a lane, the back end fishtailing so the passenger door slammed shut.

I stood up and stumbled back toward Bubbie’s.

“Are you okay?” someone asked.

My face felt hot like I was about to slip into another dream. I was starting to black out and I stumble inside to sit down. “Are you okay?” someone asked again, but the question was cut off when the door of the convenience store closed behind me with a little jingle. I slumped into a booth and the world faded away.

Into the Mountain 1.3 - Sara's Dad

2006-11-09T19:50:00.000-06:00

Chapter One (cont.)
<< read 1.2 || read 1.4 >>

Around 4:30 I gave up on finding Ruben.

My backpack was heavy on my shoulders, and sweat dripped down different parts of my body. I needed to be home by 5:30 just in case dinner was early. Once in middle school, I missed dinner because I stayed after school for a junior honor society meeting. The dishes were still on the table when I walked into the kitchen, but there was no food left. My dad had already stretched out on the couch with three empty cans of beer on the floor and my mom sitting on his lap. He was still living with us then. I remember grabbing some crackers and eating in my bedroom with Victoria. Or something. There are worse punishments.

So I started the walk home. Pass two blocks of strip-malls, turn left at Bubbie’s Gas, cut through the municipal golf course, and cross the street to Jim’s restaurant. Our apartment is the next block.

I don’t know how far the walk is in terms of miles or anything. I guess it is about two miles. Just a little too short to bother with the buses. During the winter I am always thankful that I don’t live in Ohio or Illinois. Or in the mountains. South Texas never gets much below fifty degrees. One or two days a year, I bundle up with two layers of jeans and three shirts under my jacket. When the weather is really bad, Tori and I endure the disgrace of riding the bus. But the weather is usually nice. Or at least tolerable. Like most of my life.

Some guy was filling up his red sports car at Bubbie’s, the little mom and dad gas station where I buy worms on Saturday. He smiled at me from behind his sunglasses. One of his hands was on the gas pump and the other was in his pocket. I was thinking to myself “Should I wave back or something?” when I realized the guy was my dad.

“Where did you get that red car?” I asked even though I wasn’t supposed to talk to him.

“Come on over and check it out,” he said.

I was suspicious, but we were in full view of the street and the golfers. So I walked over to the pump.

“It’s nice,” I said. I wondered if it was stolen. He couldn’t have bought it, and he didn’t have any friends.

He leaned in close and asked, “Hey, want to go for a ride?”

Into the Mountain 1 - Sara Waits

2006-11-09T19:41:00.000-06:00

Chapter One (cont.)
<< read 1.1 || read 1.3 >>

“You okay? Did you have a bad day?” I asked, looking at the concrete squares of the sidewalk.

“Sucked. I need a cigarette,” Tori said.

“Can’t you wait a block before you light up? You don’t want to get another Saturday detention.”

Victoria laughed. “You think mom cares?” she asked.

“I care.”

My sister rolled her eyes and pulled a cigarette out of her dress somewhere.

“Geez, Tori. We’re right outside the school.”

“Are you gonna stand here all day or what?”

“I’m kinda waiting on someone,” I said. My sister’s face went rigid. I scratched my head and cowered from her, worried she would turn her glare on me. But she wasn’t mad. Just hurt. She pursed her lips in an angry kiss, and made a little grunt with her nose.

“It’s Ruben,” I explained.

At the mention of boys, Victoria softened. We never tried to compete with the opposite sex. At least, we hadn’t yet.

“Guess I’ll make the walk solo then,” she said and put the cigarette to her lips.

“Not right in front of the school,” I whispered.

“I’m walking alone today—I’ll do what I want, kid.”

I tried to pray that she wouldn’t get caught, but my prayer dissolved itself into mindless repetition. Dear God send the teachers away. Dear God send the teachers away. And I thought about my dream again, the mountain stretching up underneath my feet. I am so tired, but I put one foot in front of another. Dear God. Dear God. An endless request my mind mumbled over and over while I continued to stare at the sidewalk.

No one spoke to me. Lots of kids walked by after Victoria left, but none of them were my friends. The door clicked open, and my eyes found someone to watch. One girl walked with a strut that made her curly hair bounce. Her hair was beautiful, red. I figure she used a fancy brand of shampoo to make it like the commercials. It was too beautiful for school, really. She looked like she was on her way to an expensive restaurant or something. I noticed other people noticing her hair, too.

A guy walked out behind her, wearing fancy faded jeans. My jeans were just faded. He didn’t seem to know the girl, but I pretended that he did. I imagined that they were really popular instead of just pretty and rich. He was her boyfriend, of course. But she was mad at him because it was their three-month anniversary and he forgot. Three months! And he didn’t even bring a fake flower or a card or a piece of candy. Worse—when he found out, when she told him at lunch that he had forgotten their anniversary, he didn’t seem to care. He even got a little mad. She was too occupied with her own hair to realize that he was mad at himself, not her.

Around 4:30 I gave up on finding Ruben.

An Entire Book Online

2006-11-09T17:30:00.000-06:00

Into the Mountain: A Book of Visions is the working title for this book. I'm completely open to suggestions and comments. You can even point out typos. I'll post chapters in small chunks to make it a little more screen friendly. If you prefer to read from print, I'll post the Word files for whole chapters on my esnips account.

Table of Contents

Part One: The Uncertain Mirror (chapters 1-10)
1. Sara: The Dreams Begin
2. Beka: The Deer and the Fish
3. Sara: The Gospel of Pork Rinds
4. Beka: Preparing for the Market
5. Sara: Fishing in the Dark
6. Beka: A Mountain on My Blanket
7. Sara: Waking up at Bubbie's
8. Beka: The Foolish Iska
9. Sara: Sleepwalking
10. Beka: An Excellent Sale

Part Two: The Story of the Mountain (chapters 11-18)
Part Three: Sleepwalking (chapters 19-30)
Part Four: Into the Mountain (chapters 31-38)

Thanks to those readers who encouraged me that this is not some crazy idea--especially L. L. Barkat who is a constant source of encouragement and Debbie Weil who showed me Paul Gillin's model for posting a book. (Debbie Weil is also one of my favorite social media experts. I'm still shocked and pleased that she commented on my blog.)

From time to time, I'll also post query letters and proposals and anecdotes of my experience with this book so far.

The Pitch
Living in a broken home, stalked by her own father, seeking comfort with her boyfriend in ways that will cause her even more trouble, Sara lives a life of desperation. When her fainting seizures start, so do her visions of another world. In that world, Beka the weaver has her own troubles and dreams.

Faced with marrying a man she doesn't love, compelled to create art that horrifies her village, possessed by the spirit of her Creator, Beka seeks comfort in the parables of her village storyteller. But even this friend tells her she must leave the village. The Creator's call cannot be ignored. When Beka enters the Mountain of the Creator and Sara confronts her father's sin, God leads both girls through darkness to redemption.

Into the Mountain - Sara and Victoria

2006-11-08T23:20:00.000-06:00

Chapter One
<< read TOC || read 1.2 >>

During school I dreamed about mountains again. First I dreamed about Ruben. Just one of those short thirty second dreams—more like a picture. Ruben smiled and offered to walk me home from school and said, “Let’s forget about last Saturday, Sara.” But I knew we couldn’t forget.

Then my dream skipped a bit. Ruben disappeared, and I saw this enormous mountain range.

I didn’t see Ruben that day during school. After school I looked for him, but he wasn’t around to walk me home. Or even to say hi. I waited for him on the steps near our school’s main entrance, hoping he would walk out and I could apologize for Saturday. I created the conversation in my mind, sometimes apologizing, sometimes slapping him, sometimes holding his hand, sometimes grabbing it until he apologized. Stupid daydreams.

Monday afternoon was hot and sticky, like our bathroom in the morning after three of us take a shower. The bathroom door at my house has a lock. I escape there several times a day and pretend to be hyper clean. For some reason my mom accepts this, so I get to shower twice a day. Maybe because I am the baby girl. My older brother, Ted, never has things so easy at home. But he’s the oldest and a boy.

While I was waiting for Ruben in front of the school, I saw my older sister, Victoria. She slammed her way through the steel doors and nearly knocked me into the street.

“Hey, kid,” she said. Her backpack was pulling her skirt up in the back.

“Your skirt, Tori,” I mumbled.

She darted her head around and rolled her eyes then shook her whole body until her skirt dropped back over the back of her thighs. Several guys turned around to watch.

“Thanks, kid. You ready to walk home?” Victoria closed her eyes. Her eyelids had so much black liner and dark eye shadow that they seemed to sink into her skull when she closed them.

I bit my lip. Victoria was unpredictable sometimes. If a day went sour, she could turn nasty. She sighed and scratched at her bra strap. I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to talk to her or not. She wanted me to walk home with her, which seemed to be a good sign. Not anti-social at least. Not hostile at least.

I loved Victoria more than anyone.

Continue reading by clicking on "Read 1.2" above.
Or download the entire chapter now:

Chapter 1.doc

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About the Decision to Post an Entire Book Online

2006-11-08T23:18:00.000-06:00

So I have this book. I've been working on it for five years. Back then I made a vow to write a book in five years. I met Tim O'Brien in Austin and heard him speak. He said he tried to allow himself five years for each book. It was best not to rush things, he said.

I thought, "Heck, I can write a book in five years!"

I wrote the first draft in just a few months actually. But I have completely rewritten the book several times over the course of several years. (I'm currently on Goodyear Book version 4.0, in case you are wondering.) Early versions were scary.

This one is pretty polished, but still problematic for publishers. As one Christian agent put it, "I wouldn't want my teenage daughter reading your book." Ouch. Pull the dagger out of my heart. If you can believe it, she didn't mean to be quite so insulting and has now sent the book to interested editors at NavPress and Tyndale. Believe me, if they contact me, this puppy will disappear from the web never to be seen again.

I am working on other projects now, but it seemed sad that this book had never seen an audience. You know, maybe it stinks. Maybe it doesn't deserve an audience. But I think it is mostly just too quirky for presses to take a risk on a new author.

If it stinks, please, let me know.

If you like it, let me know that too.

Above all, thanks for reading anything at all. What a gift you give me just by listening.

Free Script - Joshua Sends Spies to Jericho

2006-11-08T23:08:00.000-06:00

This sketch is based on Joshua 2:1-14. It goes with a children's ministry curriculum written by Group. I'm posting it here primarily for archive purposes, but anyone is welcome to use and adapt it for their ministry. You can download an editable version of the script in my esnips folder:

Joshua Sends Spies...

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Joshua Sends Spies to Jericho

Cast: Teacher, Bumblemonkey, Spy, Rahab, King
Props: Spy gear (dark glasses, fedora, trench coat), Elvis jacket, Elvis hair, red cord/scarf, Manila envelop labeled TOP SECRET, Student Verse Cards, a notecard with “Message from the king” written on it, 1 Bible robe, Pirate accessories, 1 music stand

Teacher: (enters and talks to kids from podium stage right) Good evening, kids. My name is (your name) and I’m here to tell you tonight’s Bible story about spies! But first we need to review our key verses.

We’ll start with the older kids. Which of you older kids has the first key verse for tonight? You can stay right there. You’re going to help out our spies tonight by reading the key verse. Can you say it for everyone right now?

Kid 1: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6a.

Teacher: That was very good. Now let’s all say it together. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Which of you younger kids has the second key verse for tonight. Can you just stand where you are and say the verse for everyone?

Kid 2: “God’s mighty hand cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7

Teacher: Very good! Here is how we’re going to help our spies. Whenever they say “impossible mission,” you two stand up and everybody will say the verses with you. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Then “God’s mighty hand cares for you.” Ready? Let’s practice.

Bumblemonkey: (entering suddenly) Arrrrgggghh!

Teacher: (deflated) Hi, Andrew.

Bumblemonkey: That’s Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey! Hey kids! Did you miss me? (wait for response) Well, I’m right sorry apologetic ‘bout being gone so long. Had to sail me sloop down the Guadaloop, savy. A big boat for a skinny shallow river. ‘Twere a right impossible mission. (stress those words)

Kid 1: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Kid 2: “God’s mighty hand cares for you.”

Bumblemonkey: Not bad, ye drogs. But keep yer ears to the wind.

Teacher: You’re going to have to pay close attention.

Bumblemonkey: So as to be ready to let go and haul with those key verses.

Teacher: Let’s begin our Bible story then.

Bumblemonkay: Aye, ma’am. The Bible is great, grand compass for flying the sheets.

Teacher: That’s right. (Andrew stands over her shoulder) Andrew?

Bumblemonkey: Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey, Ma’am!

Teacher: Could you at least stand over there.

Bumblemonkey: Oh, aye, Ma’am. (He goes to stage left.)

Teacher: Now, last week Joshua became the leader of the Israelites. And one of the first things he did was send spies to Jericho.
(King enters)

King: Well, hello everybody. I’m the king of Jericho. Thank you very much.

Teacher: You’re the king of Jericho, not the king of rock and roll.

King: A well I bless my soul What's wrong with me? . . .

Bumblemonkey: He’s a short-nippered squiffy, that’s what’s wrong.

King: Don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true. . . [I don’t want no other love]

Teacher: (cutting him off) So the king of Jericho was far, far away on the other side of town.

King: Wise men say only fools rush in… (The king half dances his way to sit down in the back row of kids while singing “Wise men say only fools rush in.”)

Teacher: (cutting him off again) Where no one could hear him singing. (King is silent.) And Joshua’s spies arrived in town.

Spy: (sneaks in very dramatically, hugging walls, etc.) Shhhh. Don’t make any noise. Joshua has sent me on an impossible mission. (Stress these last words.)

Kid 1: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Kid 2: “God’s mighty hand cares for you.”

Bumblemonkey: Impossible mission? (Spy runs away

Kid 1: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Kid 2: “God’s mighty hand cares for you.”

Bumblemonkey: Are you another short-nippered squiffy, mate?

Spy: (looking around suspiciously) I have an assignment from Joshua. (Opens a “top secret envelope” and reads the following letter)

Your mission—if you choose to accept it—is to travel to the impossibly dangerous city of Jericho, breach its impossibly enormous walls, and spy on its impossibly dangerous people. You may not survive. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

Bumblemonkey: Strike the deck, man! This be no fireship! (wads up the letter and throws it at the king. Then ducks as if it were going to explode. Wait a beat before saying next sentence.) Must be a dud.

Teacher: Moving right along. The spies went to visit the house of Rahab.

Spy: What does Rahab have to do with the impossible mission? (Rahab enters and stands stage center.)

Kid 1: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Kid 2: “God’s mighty hand cares for you.”

Rahab: (She is the “straight man” of the sketch.) I’m Rahab. What do you want?

Bumblemonkey: (Be sure not to read this as a double entdre.) Arggghhh. You be a lady of expansive sensibility.

Rahab: That doesn’t sound very nice. But you’re welcome to stay here.

Teacher: About this time, the King realized that Joshua’s spies had entered his city. (The king has unwrapped the note and read it. Now he waves it in the air indignantly.)

King: Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.

Teacher: The king sent a message to Rahab to find the spies.

King: (Handing a note to one of the kids) Hey you, take this message to Rahab.

Rahab: (As the kid approaches the stage) This looks like trouble, guys. You’d better go hide. (SPY and BUMBLEMONKEY go hide among the younger kids. Then Rahab reads the KING’s note.)

King: (Shouting to Rahab from his position in the audience) Bring out those men because they are spies, and I’m all shook up. [Hmmm-mmm-mmm]

Rahab: (Interrupting) I didn’t know they were spies. Besides they already left the city. Um, a few hours ago. I don’t know where they went.

King: I guess they just . . . returned to sender, address unknown. (Half dances his way out of the room. Then from the hallway, he shouts out.) Elvis has left the building. Thank you very much.

Teacher: So the king’s men left Jericho searching for the spies. And the gate of the city was closed for the night.

Rahab: You can come out now. (SPY and BUMBLEMONKEY stay in hiding.)

Spy: (suspiciously) Is it safe?

Bumblemonkey: Don’t question a jenny of expansive sensibility, man.

Spy: But we’re on an impossible mission. (SPY and BUMBLEMONKEY walk up and stand on either side of RAHAB.)

Kid 1: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Kid 2: “God’s mighty hand cares for you.”

Rahab: Do you want to please God?

Spy: (Removes spy sunglasses/hat and turns more serious.) Of course, we do.

Rahab: Then have faith. Like the kids have been saying. God’s mighty hand will care for you.

Teacher: And Rahab explained how she came to believe in God. She had heard about all of the miracles God had worked for the people of Israel.

Rahab: Please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you.

Spy: Rahab, you saved our lives, so we will save yours. (Puts spy sunglasses/hat back on and resumes “spy” persona.) But you can’t tell anyone what we are going to do.

Rahab: Go hide in the hills for three days, then go back to your camp.

Teacher: She asked for a sign so that the Israelites would not hurt her or her family.

Spy: Tie this red cord in your window. When we take the city, we’ll know not to harm you because we’ll see the red cord.

Teacher: Rahab’s house was part of the city wall, so she let the men down by a rope through the window. And they escaped from the city.

Rahab: Don’t forget to hide for three days!

Spy: Don’t forget to hang the red cord in your window!
(SPY and BUMBLEMONKEY step off to the side but don’t actually leave the room.)

Teacher: When the spies returned to Joshua they brought him an excellent report. They said, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.” (RAHAB moves next to teacher.)

Spy: (Delivers straight, stands next to RAHAB) And that’s how they completed their impossible mission.

Kid 1: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Kid 2: “God’s mighty hand cares for you.”

Rahab: (Delivered straight) And God’s mighty hand did care for Rahab. She learned to have a strong faith in God.
(KING enters and stands next to SPY, BUMBLEMONKEY enters and stands next to KING. All the actors form an arc stretching from stage left: BUMBLEMONKEY, KING, SPY, RAHAB, TEACHER. )

King: (Delivered straight) Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Spy: God’s mighty hand will care for each of you too.

Teacher: But remember, without faith it is impossible to please God.

Bumblemonkey: (Still a dumb pirate) Arrrgggghhh! A strong faith in God will keep your sails full of spirit. Our God is a great grand creator, kids. Don’t you forget it! (Exit all except the teacher.)

Teacher: Kids, we hope you enjoyed the story of Joshua sending the spies into Jericho. His mighty hand takes care of us because he is a good God. That’s why we want to please him by standing strong in the faith. Believe in God. He is good. Good night!

Social Media for Dummies (and Parents)

2006-11-08T17:15:00.000-06:00

Tuesday morning I presented some ideas on social media at my work, and I thought others might be interested. I don't pretend to be any kind of definitive authority. I'm a hack. Really. If you are an expert, if you disagree with something here, feel free to set me straight with a comment. I love nothing better than good dialogue.

(Although a really great polka is nice too. And Kalamata olives. Mmmmmm.)

Enough intro. Here's the quick low-down, with links. You can also download a presentation version complete with helpful screenshots. I built it in WordPerfect Presentations, but I saved a version in PowerPoint too.

MySpace, Facebook, Blogs. If you're not technologically savy, you're probably asking yourself,

"What’s the big deal?"

Brian Clark puts it this way:

“Good blogging creates authority, plain and simple.”

I'd take that one step further. Good social media creates authority.

Before we get too far into this, let’s define some terms. Make sure we're all on the same page here.

As I understand it, there are 2 big distinctions. "Social Media" is a broad umbrella term that refers to any media that invites interaction. This includes blogs, MySpace, Facebook, wikis, discussion boards, etc. "Social Networking" is a subcategory of social media that specifically makes real world contact its primary goal. This includes sites like MySpace and Facebook.

I made a crude graphic to demonstrate this to my coworkers:

So let's go through some of this material. Starting with...

Blogs

If you didn't know, it's short for “web log.” (Hey, some people don't know that.) Here are a couple of quick facts:

Most blogs are free.

Most blogs have no more than a handful of posts.

Just last week I saw the first standardized “Social Media Press Release.”

Technorati is currently tracking 59.2 million blogs--as of November 7, 2006.

Blogs are becoming a powerful marketing tool.

UPDATE: My friend Dan Roloff found this super cool, concise version of the Social Media Press Release.

In his book Blog, Hugh Hewitt puts it this way:

“People’s attentions are up for grabs. Trust is being transferred... The blogosphere is about trust.”

Social Networking Sites

There are many of these, but the ones getting the most attention are currently MySpace and Facebook. Here are a couple of quick facts:

Like blogs these are free.

Unlike blogs, they contain public and private sections.

Only friends have access to the private space.

So, um, bad things sometimes happen in the private space.

In her recent NYT article "The Overconnecteds," Betsy Israel and a kid she interviewed put it this way:

"Those 14 and older spent [more than 6 ½ hours daily] on a social networking site, usually MySpace (crowded, wild, like a cyber spring break) or Facebook (graphically neater, mostly for students). These sites are like sprawling digital yearbooks, each page crammed with photos, text, videos and blogs.

" 'Imagine if everyone you knew sent you a Christmas card all on the same day. You wouldn’t actually see them but you’d have that comforting sense of being surrounded by the people you have known.' "

This isn't all bad. As I reminded the folks at my office throughout this presentation. The sky isn't falling. Really! Social Media is just a way to use technology to do what people have always done. Currently it is still in a state of near anarchy, but things will probably settle down in a few decades.

Brian Solis describes the positive element of social networking this way,

"Community and collaboration are no longer defined by physical proximity but by common interests."

Here's a weird thought

2006-11-06T21:27:00.000-06:00

I'm thinking of posting a book here. I have no aspirations to gain some audience or really any readers for it. It just seemed like an interesting experiment to post an entire novel.

No hook. No catch. No fishing for subscribers or purchasers. No intros with a forced download to read the rest. Just the whole book. Right here.

A serial novel in 500 word blurbs.

The Corporate Blogging Book says one of the top five things people want to see on blogs is more fiction.

I'm sure other people have done this before, so it's not like I'm charting new territory or anything. Though I would hope the book would be better than most freebies.

So why not?

Amazed and Tickled by My Daughter’s Metamorphosis during a Game of Rocket Ship

2006-11-06T12:47:00.000-06:00

Here's a little work in progress. I've almost adopted Billy Collin's rule of poetry. He says, he writes the first draft of every poem in one sitting. Of course, subsequent drafts get more attention to craft, line breaks and verbs especially. Wordy verbs are a poetic no no. This one was inspired by some ideas we discussed in our Bible class yesterday. Enjoy.

Amazed and Tickled by My Daughter’s Metamorphosis during a Game of Rocket Ship

Watching my daughter, I half believe the Greek
hierarchy that honors spirit over flesh. She flies
on my feet, a giggling girl transformed by lift-off,
rocket turbulence shaking her tiny frame.
Holding my hands for balance, she imagines space
and sees it. “Earth to CJ. Earth to CJ.” Her face
turns serious scientist to communicate through static
with ground control. “What do you see?” control asks
because a five-year-old imagination has clarity—
more than any tube or plasma or liquid crystal,
she sees into deep space, spotting the obvious
in a dusty lampshade—“I see the moon!”—
and transforming her brother into “Aaaah!
A space monster!” Her ray gun tongue
generates a lazer warble. Her hands beam flame.
But the space monster refuses to fall.
With one well-placed whack, his bubby pillow
brings our spirits down to earth in a pile
of flesh, giggling and cuddling and sharing
kisses like movie popcorn, no ghosts, no ethereal
technology spirits dancing their myth in a cave,
just flesh of my flesh, and hugs for my hugs,
bound by gravity and honor and hope,
shattering my half-belief, converting me
to a new faith, a new day transformed
by the renewing of our minds and hearts
and cheeks sore from laughing in a 3-personed hug.
I know our bodies do not disappoint us.

Carnival of Christian Writers!

2006-11-04T13:46:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm only a week late on this link to the Carnival of Christian Writers. But the advice is pretty timeless.

Gina Conroy compiled a pretty hefty lineup of materials. If you are interested in general writing tips or Christian writing specifically, go check it out.

And if you like her carnival, you should submit something yourself. Or join the webring. Or both!

Here are some of the highlights:

Terry Whalin from Howard Books
Camy Tang on writing good hooks
Mary DeMuth on commercial vs. literary writing
Jennifer Cary's epiphany about agents and editors

Barbies at Communion

2006-11-03T17:15:00.000-06:00

l.l. asked, so here it is. One of my few publication credits.

During communion meditation young men pass
shiny brass plates with saltless crackers
and shots of grape juice and the speaker
compares communion to German McDonald's:
an oasis of comfort in a foreign land?
"We share this meal.
Amen? We share
this meal. We share."
While I smile at his cadence,
my daughter undresses
Ariel Barbie, Tinker Bell Barbie,
and 12 inch generic sleeping beauty.
I don't know why Ariel's butt crack
makes me nervous, shining up at me
as I break a corner of cracker, Christ's
flesh passing over naked dolls
breasts without nipples
like an Eve before shame.

Friday Friend's Blog Tipping

2006-11-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

This is a combination of Scot McKnight's "Friday is for Friends" and Liz Strauss' Blogtipping posts. Those of you all who comment here know that I believe strongly in link love. And comment love, too, I guess. Comment here, and I'll likely return the favor. (Occassionally I won't for personal reasons.)

So it is about time I got into the blogtipping business and handed out what measly link love I have. Give your blog away. That's the Christian way. Also, to be clear to the Texans, blogtipping has nothing whatsoever to do with cowtipping. I am not knocking over anyone's blog in the night here.

Here goes. I'll do my best. (If I don't tip you this time, don't be offended. I plan to get around to everyone.)

Dan Roloff

First, I admire Ramblin Dan is because he offices underneath me. When I bang on the floor, his ceiling shakes.
He also tries to save lady bugs. What a guy! He's got a lot of heart.
Dan's vision of the scattered church is powerful.

Tip: I know you want to bring more focus and strategy to your blog--and that's good. But everyone loves a ramblin' guy. (Dan, you must watch the video.) Sometimes the best part of my job is just talking with you and picking your brain. You are a great mentor and a great guy. Thanks.

Gordon Atkinson

Real Live Preacher is just the best. He first introduced me to the Monkey Chow Diaries.
He did a communion taste test.
Which he can get away with because he understands what communion is all about.

Tip: You are at your best when you make the gospel real. Sometimes it's your narrative stories. Sometimes it's your advice to reader's questions. Sometimes it's just the open community you model for the church. Don't pressure yourself to produce a masterpiece every time. We just love to hear from you. (I'm not sure I quite understand this tip thing.)

Camy Tang

She's got two blogs, Story Sensei and Camy's Loft. I like them both.
She does the most creative things with del.icio.us and other online marketing tools like creating a Christian fiction search engine.
She's does everything with a kick of wasabi.

Tip: The way you blog is so innovative. I aspire to do a lot of what you do. And you are always nice to me, even though I post some pretty stupid things on your blog sometimes. What can I say? Sometimes I have pretty stupid thoughts.

Thanks to all three of you for introducing me to the blogosphere. I owe each you a deep debt for learning about how important all this social media stuff is becoming.

GBYB (God Bless Your Blogs!)

Is Your Writing Too Hard to Read? Try Fry's Readability Graph

2006-11-01T09:10:00.000-06:00

At TheHighCalling.org I have the privilege of editing work by some of the best Christian poets and writers in the country. Many of them are very successful in the academic world.

Which creates a problem. We started getting some esoteric academic work--because that's what they were used to writing. Academic writing specializes in abstraction and generalization. It's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just what Universities do.

So a few months ago, I added a new little request when I sent out writing guidelines. "Try to keep your text at a 9th grade reading level." I've heard that's the general reading level that newspapers aim for. I figured we didn't need to be more literate than the New York Times.

Of course, the writers called me on it. As they should have. My inbox filled with questions. What does 9th grade reading level mean? How do I know if my writing is simple enough? Why don't you have more confidence in the intelligence of your readers?

That last question got me.

But reading level isn't about the reader's intelligence. It's about respecting the audience and making the process as simple for them as possible. That's what good writing does. Good writing simplifies complex ideas into a form that makes them accessible.

But I owed it to my writers to find research that would back up my hunch. My mother-in-law was a reading specialist for the UT system schools. Because she's now retired, she was delighted to help me explain reading level guidelines to our writers.

First, she loaned me Content Area Reading. My first clue that assessing reading level was more complicated than I thought: there is an entire college course on it.

Thankfully, Fry's readability graph simplifies the process. His graph looks at two things:

1) the # of words per sentence
2) the # of syllables per word.

Very simple. And a good exercise for every writer. After we fill out the little graph, we can ask ourselves, "What is the typical reading level of my work? Is that appropriate to the audience I want to reach?"

I Totally Scooped Copyblogger

2006-10-31T15:03:00.000-06:00

Of course, "scooped" is a ridiculous overstatement. But I figure I deserve a little celebration. Consider this short post my victory dance. Hoo-ah! Last week I said,

Hyper short short stories (whether 6 words or slightly longer) seem like the perfect way to add some zest to bullets.

This week, Brian Clark writes,

Hemingway wrote with simple genius.

Perhaps his finest demonstration of short sentence prowess was when he was challenged to tell an entire story in only 6 words.

Granted I was just posting a challenge to my creative writing friends. Copyblogger is the one who makes it readily applicable. Brian, you know I love your stuff. I'm just glad to see that I'm even close to your wavelength.

Campfire Stories for Halloween

2006-10-31T10:33:00.000-06:00

As a Christian, I always feel guilty that I love Halloween so much. I just do. I love zombie movies, too. And ghost stories. And horror stories that remind me just how dangerous the world can be--but from a safe and fantastic and beautiful distance.

The genre of horror has moral value. Scott Derrickson taught me this: If someone says God is dead, it may be time to show them the devil.

My daughter and I have been reading scary stories leading up to Halloween. Last night we read Madeleine L'Engle's "Poor Little Saturday." Fantastic ghost story--perfect blend of creepy cute for a young kid. (Sadly, it's not online anywhere.)

So here is my little offering to the wonders of horror:

Campfire Stories

After dinner at Shotgun's
we drive back to the grounds
wondering will the camp code prove true.
It does. Our tent is unmolested
though lonely amidst various perky groups.
Across the road in site eleven
nearest to the bathroom, middle school boys
whisper about Bloody Mary.
"She'll come out of the mirror
You'll see her behind you,” they say
”With hands dripping red—”
In the bathroom a father is making
a game out of cleaning his sons' ears
"Hold this while I clean your brother's
And we'll see whose are dirtier."
"Go deeper," says the brother,
his face against the bathroom mirror
while dad mines wax with a Q tip.
At our campfire we laugh
when I read King's Boogeyman aloud,
wondering if the site 11 boys can hear
my voice sneaking up behind them,
my words dripping red—

A Good Scream Meets A Good Editor

2006-10-25T13:36:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the "Wilhelm Scream" is a hollywood archive classic. Like a good slogan or catch phrase or character, it keeps going and going and going.

This just demonstrates the power of presenting old material in a new context.

Enjoy!

A short short short challenge

2006-10-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

Wired magazine published 33 short stories in the latest issue. Each one is 6 words long. They got the idea from Hemingway.

Here's his original "hyper short short":

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

I don't know the copyright rules on six word short stories, but I'm going to reprint my favorites from that issue as a challenge to others. Write a six-word story in comments.

Gown removed carelessly. Head less so. (Joss Whedon)
machine. Unexpectedly, I'd invented a time (Alan Moore)
It cost too much, staying human. (Bruce Sterling)
I'm dead. I've missed you. Kiss . . . ? (Neil Gaiman)
The baby's blood typ? Human, mostly. (Orson Scott Card)
To save humankind he died again. (Ben Bova)

Here's one I don't quite get by the way. Can anyone explain it?

Tick tock tick tock tick tick. (Neal Stephenson)

(I know they are all men. I swear it's not an evil conspiracy. Margaret Atwood had a good one, but I'm not going to post it here.)

So let me repeat the challenge. Write a story in six words. Leave it in the comments. I'll put one there too.

Update: Brian Clark has some interesting tips on using bullets as a way to focus the message and even invoke action on the part of the reader. Hyper short short stories (whether 6 words or slightly longer) seem like the perfect way to add some zest to bullets.

Another Update: Brian posted an article about Hemingway's six word story as a guide for copywriting. And Wired posted a full list of the stories on their site.

Haunted House Made out of Balloons

2006-10-23T09:26:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday morning. Happy Halloween.

This was too good not to share. For the past several years, Larry Moss has been creating a haunted house made entirely from balloons. "Balloon Manor" is one of the most wonderful and happy creative things I have seen in awhile.

A lot of people belittle their abilities. "Yeah, I just make balloon animals." Not Larry. He started calling it "balloon art." You know the old phrase, "As a man thinketh." Larry thought of balloons as an artform, and they became one. Then he combined his passion for Halloween with his passion for balloons.

The result it pretty astounding. And it is a good reminder that passion and focus lead to excellence.

Check out the dragon head entrance! If you have time, be sure to take the guided tour.

The Best Viral Marketing Story Ever

2006-10-19T21:26:00.000-05:00

It happened at Columbia University in the early 1990s. You can hear the story on This American Life "Recordings for Someone." It comes just after Ira Glass's introduction.

I'll retell it here so we can cut to the moral.

During the year of "the best phone message ever," Columbia had a phone system that allowed students to forward their messages to each other after they attached a short introduction. Students regularly forwarded stupid messages they received from parents, friends, siblings, angry significant others, you get the idea.

One night a student received a message from his angry mother. He sent her on a goose chase and didn't honor his end of the commitment. When she called him back late in the evening, she was ticked. Imagine Oedipus' mother was a crackhead from New Jersey.

(Quick Lit Tip: Oedipus' mom was named Jocasta. Instead of leaving an angry message for her son, she hanged herself.)

Instead of gouging his eyes out with his mother's toga pins, the Columbia student forwarded the message to several of his friends. Who forwarded the message to their friends. Who forwarded the message and forwarded the message.

This one doesn't have any meat--unless you're a college student feeling guilty about the numerous ways you are betraying your heritage by carving out your own independence. But it's hook is raw emotion.

And, of course, an angry mom who tells the Little Mermaid what she can do with herself.

Do yourself a favor and listen to the first few minutes of this week's This American Life. (It's a little off color, but they bleep the bad words.)

I wonder. Could a blogging writer create this kind of viral phenomenon intentially?

How?

Surely someone has already done something this powerful with blogging.

Who?

Sometimes You Just Have to Polka

2006-10-19T20:46:00.000-05:00

Goodyear Family in Fest Garb

Confession time. Every fall my family hits the Texas German festival circuit. Oktoberfest. Wurstfest. Weihnachten in Fredricksburg. Sometimes even Beethoven Hall in San Antonio. We hit as many as we can.

See, I picked up three bad habits when I lived in Germany.

1) Coffee
2) Beer
3) Polka!

Oh and yelling SCHEISSKOPF! at the top of my lungs when I stub my toe.

(Not really.)

Good Bait Hurts

2006-10-19T10:33:00.000-05:00

Brian Clark is writing about link bait again over at Copyblogger.

Link bait is any blog or article or flash page or virtual publicity stunt designed to make people link to it. From white papers to ebooks to advice lists.

Which reminds me of the classic writing tip: Good writing hooks the reader.

Annie Dillard tells a story in The Writing Life that has become a kind of mantra for me. Here is my version:

During a particularly hard winter, an Eskimo village died of starvation. The last two survivors—a woman and her baby—fled the village looking for food. Near a lake they found an emergency stock of fishing supplies. A hook, a line, a knife. But no bait. Her baby was crying.

What else could she do? She took the knife and cut a piece of meat from her own thigh. She used a piece of herself for bait to catch the first fish. After that first fish, she had guts leftover for more bait.

But the woman will always have a scar on her thigh.

Whether I'm writing ad copy or business copy or editing someone's introduction for an inspirational essay about spirituality and work, I know that good hooks have good bait. And good bait comes from the writer's own flesh and blood and guts.

Good writing leaves scars.

Good bait hurts.

(Why do so many people keep writing?)

The High Calling of Blogging

2006-10-18T09:32:00.000-05:00

Tall Skinny Kiwi is back from his September blog fast. If you haven't read his blog before--whoa.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

Sunday's post "Blogging for the Long Tail" especially caught my attention. It demonstrates Andrew's unique blend of practical advice (re blogging, SEO, and the Long Tail) and theology (what a beautiful way to re-envision Asaph's Psalm 78!)

Andrew provides a good reminder that what we write--even for the tiniest of audiences, l.l.--can bring Glory to God. And who knows what audiences will find our old stories and poems and essays?

Here's the verse my wife framed for me. It hangs just to the right of my computer screen at work. The line's not from Asaph, just an unnamed "afflicted man": Write these things for the future so that people who are not yet born will praise the Lord.

In God Works in Your Daily Grind, Todd Lake puts it this way: "God is not looking for . . . any of us to dream up something dramatic to do for our Lord. We have been called by God to simple, faithful integrity in our daily work."

Here are some questions (for myself and others):
Can we spend our entire lives writing and writing and creating and creating and be content with no reader except God himself?
Can we be content with "simple, faithful integrity"?
Does my work have value if the best attribution identifies it as simply the work of "an afflicted man"? Does yours?

(Note: this is also my first attempt at a trackback to another blog. Blogger doesn't do these easily, so we'll see if it works.)

Jesus in Red Swim Cap

2006-10-15T16:15:00.000-05:00

Jesus in Red Swim Cap

So the other day my daughter was drawing a picture of Jesus. She draws Jesus a lot. More than most kids I know--but then I don't spend much time examining the artwork of other people's kids. Maybe they draw Jesus too.

Here was our conversation.

ME: Wow, CJ, what a great picture!

CJ: Yeah. It's a picture of Jesus.

ME: He's wearing a shirt with a red stripe.

CJ: That's his red sash.

ME: Oh.

CJ: It matches his red swim cap.

ME: I see.

CJ: He's on the cross.

On the back side of this page, she drew Jesus on a wall. "Like Humpty Dumpty," CJ said. The kids are coming to visit him and talk to him. And Jesus is wearing his red sash again, but no swim cap this time. CJ never explained to me why Jesus wore his red swim cap on the cross, but not on the wall.

My wife and I are still trying to meditate on the theological implications of our daughter's drawings.

Two Secrets for Powerful Writing, plus links to secrets from other bloggers

2006-10-12T09:32:00.000-05:00

This morning, Copyblogger Brian Clark said, “Bloggers can do anything they want. . . . Many bloggers are not writing news oriented blogs, at least in the journalistic tradition.”

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Brian, but this comment demands a qualification and response.

Perhaps bloggers can do anything they want. But if bloggers want to write well, they are going to make use of many many techniques from journalism. Good writing follows rules. Period.

Of course, there is some variation in the rules of each genre. Business writing and news stories and poetry and fiction and religious writing and narrative nonfiction are not exactly the same. But they are certainly the same species of communication–with only minor genetic differences.

Good writing is concise. It is clear. And good writing puts its meat upfront–even when the meat is on a big hook.

All activities have a creative element and a pedestrian element. All written works have the moment of creativity and the pedestrian transference of information.

All writing is pedestrian—at some point. When the writer puts his butt in the chair and starts typing words, relying on pedestrian rules of grammar and pedestrian rules of syntax and pedestrian structures of genre.

To put this another way, I used to tell my writing students, "I am not here only to entertain you. We'll have fun, sure. Writing is fun because work is fun." But every writing course is about learning the rules and conventions that others expect you to use when you communicate—whether it's poetry or creative writing or literary analysis or technical writing.

People don't like to talk about rules much in our country. We like individual freedom. We secretly admire the Republic of Texas whackos who hole up with rifles and shotguns and refuse to pay their taxes.

Fine, invent your own rules for poetry or writing or blogging—and see who bothers to read your work.

Here's the truest advice I know. Like most Truth is comes in the form of a paradox:

1. Know your audience. Give them what they expect. Give them what they want.
2. Know yourself. Be creative. And sylistic flair. Throw your audience a few surprises that bring life and joy to their drab view of the world.

For the record, here are three sites that have some good, creative, bits of occasionally pedestrian advice. (And none of those things are mutually exclusive.)

Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)
9 + 1 Things Every Reader Wants from a Writer
Good Blog Writing Style

Vintage21 Jesus Video #1

2006-10-11T16:09:00.000-05:00


This comes from a church in Raleigh called Vintage21. Apparently, they made a series of video spoofs like this in the Spring of 2003. Brilliant use of drama! (Also my first attempt at posting a video into my blog. Here's hoping it works.) See more Jesus spoof videos here.

Editors are Gleaners

2006-10-11T07:02:00.000-05:00

A little prose poetry for today.

The Gleaners

“Where did you glean today? Where did you work?
Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
–Ruth 2:19

The sky turns darker than we expect in the hill country. Each evening in fall, clouds trickle over the hills and promise to hide the stars again. Tonight, my daughter swings after dinner and the wind and her movement blows her hair forward and back, forward and back, sometimes taking her words away from me. So I have to ask, “What did you say, honey?”

And she leans nearly upside down in the swing, smiling, her eyes like stars.

“I’m glad we moved to the pretty place.”

The money wasn’t as much as we’d hoped for, but the world doesn’t seem to value words like it once did. Or maybe it never did. Mark Twain died broke, I hear. As did Poe and Melville and Dickinson. Socrates wrote dialogues and took hemlock. Jeremiah wrote Lamentations and wept. Moses finished the Law, but never finished his journey to the Promised Land.

“You like it here, then?” I ask my daughter in the swing.

“You really really really wanted this job, daddy.”

“I did,” I say.

“And now you can teach people about God.”

She is four but still prefers me to push her; my hands on her back send her higher to the sky.

“No wishes tonight,” I say looking at the clouds.

“Silly daddy, we don’t really have to see the stars to wish.”

(Read more about Jean-Francois Millet's painting here.)

HillCountryWriter Category: Poetry Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing poetry writing verse

The Myth of Bookstores

2006-10-05T23:24:00.000-05:00

1) Convince bookstores to buy your book.
2) Convince readers to buy your book.

I’ve heard authors complain about poor sales, blaming their agent, blaming their publisher’s puny marketing budget. Often, these books have decent sales into stores, but poor sales out of stores. J. A. Konrath talks about this a bit in Worry by Numbers. (His blog is amazing by the way, and I link to him throughout this post.)

I can tell you a typical "author's tale of woe" I've heard several times. The book gets better than average marketing: decent coop in some stores (front of store placement), shelf talkers (a little bit like the instant coupons that hang next to items in the grocery store), and even large display boxes in a few stores.

But the book still does’t sell. Because it isn’t very good.

I sympathize with authors who want to blame others when their book doesn’t sell. Heck, I’m one of those authors. (My books haven’t even sold to publishers!) Every book is like a baby. Many authors pour their lives into their books—and the books still end up being hideous progeny, to quote Mary Shelley.

By the way, she wrote Frankenstein when she was seventeen. How old are you? (Before you beat yourself up too much. Remember this: life doesn’t card you at the door.)

Back to the bookstores. As much trouble as authors have, bookstores have troubles of their own. Especially the independents. Just read the intro to Rebel Books. But they also have a few tricks up their sleeves to help them turn a profit. To really get this, we’ll need to look at the life of a book's printrun. (Completely oversimplified, of course.)

The Book Is Born

And there is great rejoicing. Lots of love and kisses from the publisher, the agent, the editor, the author’s friends and family. Everyone is happy. Someone buys the author balloons.

The Book Sells into Stores

If you’ve worked hard and had a bit of luck, Ingram and other distributors list your book. They don’t do this for free, of course. But a lot of the big box bookstores can’t even order your book if it isn’t listed by a distributor like Ingram (they have a cool site) or Baker and Taylor.

EITHER the Book Sells out of the Stores . . .

If you work a little bit harder and have a bit more luck, people buy your book in the stores. Perhaps your marketing is strong and effective. Perhaps you do a 6 month book signing tour. Whatever the reason, people buy your book. And someone else buys the author balloons again.

. . .OR the Book Gets Returned

Someone play taps.

Here’s the really weird thing about bookstores—I’m told they can return books to the publisher free of charge up to 90 days. What some bookstores do, then, is keep books for 89 days. They rotate significant chunks of their inventory at no cost to themselves except the effort and the postage.

Where Do Those Returns Go?

The best scenario is that they are stored in a warehouse somewhere. Then reshipped to some new bookstore where they will have a chance to meet more potential readers.

Often though these books are never stored. They ship to the publisher on large pallets all mixed up. Many mid-sized publishers find it too expensive to 1) sort the books or 2) store the books. So they sell the whole mixed pallet as remainders.

I can't be sad about remainders, though. Remainders fuel the wonderful discount book industry, like Half-Price Books here in Texas.

If no one buys the remainders, they become pulp. (Gulp.)

What Do You Do If Your Book Stalls at Some Point?

Well, if you’re like me, you’ve stalled at birth. Although I prefer to think of myself as an author who is still pregnant. My gestation period is just unusually long.

Other books don’t sell into stores. John Poch, a poet friend of mine published his first book with a small press, Orchises, then couldn’t get it listed with Ingram. As a result, I couldn’t order copies for my students. I had to call the small press on the phone and talk to the publisher himself! He was a cool guy, though, and he was thrilled that I bought 30 copies of one book.

Self-published authors like John Erickson often have this problem too. If you don’t know who John Erickson is, be sure to follow the link. He completely sidetracked the big distributors.

My poet friend did too, ultimately. His first book has all but sold out! He peddled Poems himself for several years—selling a few copies at every convention or speaking engagement he attended. Now, he has a new book that is just hard to believe. (A bit like that cotton-eyed joe flying lawn mower video.) I wish him the best of luck with it.

Of course, neither Erickson nor the poet would have succeeded if they didn’t have excellent books. If a book isn't excellent, all the marketing in the world won't make it sell much. If your book doesn’t sell, it becomes mush. Ashes to ashes. Pulp to pulp.

Three questions:
Is your book an excellent read?
Is your book an excellent product?
If you didn’t answer yes to both of those questions, what are you going to do?

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing

Organization and Writing

2006-10-04T20:18:00.000-05:00

My wife and I are the volunteer drama ministers at our church, First Baptist Church of Kerrville. This is part two of a series, Page to Stage, that will walk you through our process for bringing drama to life in our church.

So how do you work backwards from moral to story? With preparation, thought, and unflinching honesty.

PREPARATION

Most of the time I’m working from curriculum I didn’t write. That means I start with a specific Bible lesson. At least it’s a good source of inspiration! The trick is not to preach with it.

Jesus didn’t even do a lot of preaching. He mostly told good stories. Many of them rooted in the Torah. Many of them without simple endings or morals. If you haven’t read his parables in awhile, take a look at the shrewd manager or the persistent widow.

The brief stories are more like descriptive character sketches. They certainly aren't simple allegories or analogies.

The last sketch I wrote was about Moses striking the rock to bring forth water in Exodus 17:1-7. Of course, I did more research and study! With a little bit of thought and a concordance, I rediscovered Psalm 95 and 1 Cor. 10:1-13 which also refer to this story. Jesus and the woman at the well seemed like another story to keep in mind as I wrote (John 4:1-24).

Now that I had my theological grounding, it was time for. . .

WRITING

Then I realized what this story was about for me: The Israelites have every reason to trust God—he’s done so many miracles for them. He even follows them through the desert as a supernatural pillar of cloud and flame! But they want to trust in other things.

So I wondered. In American culture, where do we place our trust? First, I thought of all the superhero movies. Everybody loves a superhero. Second, I thought of science. I love science, but I know many people who trust in science more than they trust in God. Not good. Finally, I realized that sad truth: we'd rather trust anything other than God.

Out of this idea came a superhero who trusts in strength, a scientist who trusts in knowledge, and a dowser who trusts in his divining rod. (I like idea triplets like this. Maybe it's a trinity thing. Maybe it's a five paragraph essay thing. I don't know.)

With this rough idea for the story, I would need at least five actors: Bumblemonkey (our recurring character), the Narrator (who has a script and prompts us when we forget), Moses, Israelite(s), and the Superhero/scientist/dowser.

It’s important to know upfront how many people you’ll have. Rather than write a circus with the three tempters running amok on stage, I had to allow for the possibility that they would all be played by the same person. (Which they were—my wife. Who is not a faithful blogger, but she is darn cute.)

I wrote one set of “temptation lines,” changing only what each tempter said and how Moses responded. This would help Moses and the others by giving them less to memorize.

It may seem odd to write with the actors' memorization limitations in mind, but being successful in sketch writing (or any endeavor really) simply demands . . .

UNFLINCHING HONESTY

Part of being honest in this situation is recognizing the audience and the context. We are taking ten minutes of the bible class—so a moral play is in order. The characters must be honest and real, but they can be stock characters. And they can also speak/preach to the audience at the end.

As soon as I got to the moral, I realized the mistake I had made. I set up false dichotomies. God vs. human strength. God vs. scientific knowledge. Too many churches set up similar dichotomies when they read the Bible. Our stock character, Bumblemonkey (the bomolochus), exists just for this purpose. He never quite gets it. And so he lets me verbalize the false moral.

Then another character can correct him.

Explaining what the moral is not can be just as important as explaining what the moral is.

It’s not high art. But neither is it propaganda. It is what it is: an opportunity to let the kids see a fun show, to let the actors become the Word on stage, and to write a short sketch that will teach and delight.

HillCountryWriter Category: Drama
Technorati Tags: drama scripts acting church editing writing

Jesus Christ Avatar

2006-10-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have to get other people's take on this. I love using technology to serve God, but this Jesus Avatar strikes me as a strange and incongruent.

Bob Darden of the Wittenburg Door offers this tip:

"Keep watching when Messiah stops talking. Then move your mouse across His picture and you'll see what real omniscience looks like. Seems mama wasn't kiddin' when she said Jesus was watching!"

When Hollywood Meets Jesusland

2006-10-02T15:10:00.000-05:00

My last post on the VeggieTales vs. NBC saga drew more interest than I expected. (Not hard since I expected none.)

NBC says it removes God-talk to appeal to a wider audience. VeggieTales says the integrity of their show has been compromised at the last minute. LA and Hollywood value the ad sales. JesusLand values the sermon.

In a comment on the last post, Andre wonders "if as a Christian community, we're too sensitive and adversarial in our approach to the 'world'." Too sensitive? Heck, we've got a chip on our shoulder the size of a wooden plank. Thanks for reminding me to, um, open my eyes to it.

Which all brings me to say, the latest two interviews I worked on for TheHighCalling.org address this issue more philosophically.

Pastor Michael Catt and crew clearly value the sermon.

Ralph Winter and Scott Derrickson clearly understand the need for sales.

More often, the second approach produces a better product in the end. Just compare Facing the Giants (which I adored despite myself) and X-Men (which I own).

Both interviews are really interesting! Take a look.

FACING THE GIANTS: A Church Thinks Outside the Sanctuary (interview with Michael Catt)
FAITH IN HOLLYWOOD: A Christian’s Daily Work in Filmmaking (interview with Ralph Winter and Scott Derr

HillCountryWriter Category: Church stuff Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing editing writing church Christianity religion God Jesus

Editing Vegetables Is Just Wrong

2006-09-28T14:21:00.000-05:00

NBC has been chopping brocolli lately. Or tomatoes at least. I'm a little late on this news, but I just had to post it.

It's a good reminder to me as an editor. The audience is only one factor in any revision. The author's integrity is another. Most important is the integrity of the work itself.

Update: The ap picture of Larry Boy in armor mysteriously turned into some guy with glasses and a goatee, so I took it down. Also, you might be interested in Big Idea's statement about their agreement with NBC.

HillCountryWriter Category: Church stuff Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing editing writing church Christianity religion God Jesus

Asthmatic Aladdin

2006-09-24T18:54:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted any poetry in awhile. Here's one about my son.

My son flushed a binder clip down the potty.
I don’t know when or why. One day
he ransacked the desk drawer and toddled
into the bathroom carrying the clip
like an anchor. Flushing, a new skill, a joy,
pull the lever. Listen to water giggle and slide
down that hole. When I was young I imagined
an evil genie lived in the toilet. Each flush,
the noise and rush of everything, might rouse him
from that kink in the porcelain—the one I followed
with my hand at night when asthma came.
My parents ran a hot hot shower then sealed the room.
I’d lay alone, on the bath mat feeling the cold
porcelain bowl and kink with my hand
while the mirror turned white with steam, my breath
caught, my pipes clogged. My son’s turned
two. I’m told asthma’s not likely anymore.
The auger I bought won’t hook the thing he flushed.
We’ve no shortage of binder clips and don’t miss
the one now trapping paper and sludge so my wife
must traipse across the house each night.
I also try sulfuric acid. No kidding.
The label warns do not inhale, and application
Requires inverted bowls to catch the fumes.
It takes a plumber finally. But he is kind
and quick. The binder clip makes him laugh,
still shiny after acid and water. You’d never know
it slowed our flushes so long. “Did you do this,
sweet boy?” the rugged man asked my son, tussling
his hair with a clean scratchy hand. The toddler smiled,
looked away, then giggled and slipped into his hole
of a room, waiting for our hope to summon him forth
conjured again in puffs of joy and destruction
that always fulfill our wishes.

HillCountryWriter Category: Poetry
Technorati Tags: poetry writing verse

Philosophy of Children's Worship Drama

2006-09-22T13:09:00.000-05:00

My wife and I are the volunteer drama ministers at our church, First Baptist Church of Kerrville. This is part one of a series, Page to Stage, that will walk you through our process for bringing drama to life in our church.

Writing drama for church is tricky and backwards. It is an attempt to communicate a descriptive truth, rather than a prescriptive truth. However, the organizational process often includes sitting down the curriculum or sermon. Then asking, how can I illustrate this moral?

This is precisely the wrong way to write good descriptive truth. (Or good anything for that matter.)

You're probably wondering what I mean by descriptive truth. In "Behind the Lens", Hollywood director Scott Derrickson defines it well.

He writes,

"The church loves truth in its prescriptive form, truth that says, "Here's what's wrong, and here's how you fix it. Here's the diagnosis, and here's the cure." The truth of the artist, although far more often descriptive, is still truth. Church people are uncomfortable with too much descriptive truth. It's often ugly, confusing, disorienting, problematic, wild and sensual. But prescriptive and descriptive truth don't cancel each other out. They coexist. Films and screenplays can contain prescriptive truth, but unless they're also saturated with descriptive truth they won't work." (emphasis mine)

Sir Philip Sidney, a writer who inspired Shakespeare, made a similar claim four hundred years ago in his essay Defense of Poesy. He wrote that good writing should teach and delight. Sidney wasn't talking about Hollywood or Christian drama specifically, but his advice holds true for writing today.

So what does all this have to do with children's drama? Do we really need to consider our philosophical approach to art when we're just reenacting the story of Moses striking a rock at God's command?

Yes, yes, yes!

If any message deserves our utmost attention in the telling, it is the gospel message. If any audience deserves our most thoughtful philosophical approach, it's our children.

"Of course," someone might say, "Sidney and Derrickson are talking about art, not children's drama on Wednesday night."

Oooooh. I hate that. If you don't like watching cheesy, didactic propaganda, why do you think kids will? Kids especially know a good story when they hear one. Finding Nemo is a good story. Doogal is not.

As I write drama for our children's ministry I try to remember one thing: this is a chance to bring the gospel story to life. This is not about bringing sermon illustrations to life. This is not about creating an elaborate pneumonic for memorizing biblical details. Good drama is a chance for the body of Christ to make the Word become flesh again—through our own flesh and the visceral stories of descriptive truth that come from our flesh.

I promise to get practical in the next post.

HillCountryWriter Category: Drama
Technorati Tags: drama scripts acting church editing writing

Page to Stage

2006-09-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

My wife and I are the volunteer drama ministers at our church, First Baptist Church of Kerrville. We do everything from write sketches, find and adapt sketches, act in sketches, direct others in sketches, help others write sketches, etc. This year we are also helping direct the drama portion of our Christmas musical. Page to Stage is a short series that will walk you through our process for bringing drama to life in our church.

1. Philosophy of Children's Worship Drama
2. Organizing and Writing
3. Recruiting and Communicating
4. Rehearsal, Rehearsal, Rehearsal
5. Performance and Curtain Call

HillCountryWriter Category: Drama
Technorati Tags: drama scripts acting church editing writing

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

2006-09-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Blimey! Ye squiffy readers of me ol' blog, today be "Talk Like a Pirate Day" when all us old coat stripey's on account with the jack of coins can talk the shanties of the sweet trade!

And to me loyal readers (both of ye) I be bilge-sucking at work to help keep the ol' wench afloat. Thus, me current retreat to the briny deep of blogdom. I hope to resurface soon.

Fair winds to all!

(Also, I have two posts on "Myths of Publishing" in the works--the myth of book stores and the myth of bestsellers; and a new series "Page to Stage" walking through the details of a week in the life of drama ministry.)

Myth of Agents

2006-09-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

When I started working as an editor just over a year ago, I began to learn about the strange world of publication. In this series, I'll be your inside man on books. I'll get you the hook-up, the scoop, the hush-hush, the low-down. This is part four of a series where you'll learn the real deal.

Did you know I have a manuscript? Several actually, but let's not count the ones I wrote in high school and college. But one manuscript in particular became my training ground. I rewrote it five or six times. Now it's pretty polished.

IF ONLY I HAD AN AGENT.

I hear this line from so many people. Authors with no contract think an agent will get them a contract. Authors who sell a few thousand books think an agent will help them sell a hundred thousand. Authors who sell a hundred thousand books think an agent will help them sell a million.

Agents are not fairy godmothers.

The pasture of publishing is not greener on the other side… where the agents are.

As Rick Christian says: Even with an agent "you're not guaranteed a hot date to the ball."

Speaking of Rick Christian, go read these two Christianity Today articles: No Longer Left Behind and the rebuttal No Secrets about Agents, Man.

THE AGENT FORMULA

Don't misunderstand. A good agent in a good match with a good author who has a good manuscript—this is a powerful formula for publishing success.

When Don Pape gets with Ragamuffin Diva, one book becomes a franchise. When Steve Green and Upwords help Max Lucado focus, a few inspirational books become the model for branding.

Any break down in the formula can lead to problems.

Obviously, avoid bad agents. This means upfront fees. An agent is not an editor and vice versa. Beware of "literary representatives" who are not agents. Also, be aware of the different kinds of agents. Some focus on more on contract law, others on marketing, others on fiction, others on nonfiction. I have researched good agents of all types. Take a close look at the books and authors they represent. Compare the client lists of Nunn Communications and Alive Communications. Clearly, these agents serve different kinds of authors.

DEFINE SUCCESS--IT'S THE GOAL

And take a closer look at that formula. Here is what it is not:
Good Agent + Good Author + Good Manuscript = Good Match
No, no, no, no, no!

The "good match" is a necessary ingredient—not the end goal.

The end goal is publishing success. A publishing contract, good sales into the stores, and good sales out of the stores to readers.

Which raises a more specific question each writer must answer for himself or herself: How will you define success?

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing

The Crucible and Cake Like Communion

2006-09-11T11:44:00.000-05:00

On September 11, 2001, I was teaching English at Sandra Day O’Connor High School. My classes all voted to continue reading The Crucible rather than watch the news nonstop.

One of my students turned 16 that day. Her friends brought her a chocolate cake. She shared it with me, and it was holy like communion.

Other people are sharing memorials. I wasn’t going to share, but Andre and ZeFrank reminded me that it is important.

To remember.

The Five Minute Exodus (with Pirates)

2006-09-10T20:16:00.000-05:00

Pitch:
The Five Minute Exodus (with Pirates) was our first official sketch for the children's program at our church. It was an overview sketch, previewing the entire semester (which is covering the exodus and up through Joshua as per the Group curriculum). We thought the kids could use a refresher course on some of the beginning parts of Exodus, so we added in the 10 plagues, too. (Plus, it just makes a fun scene.) I added my own little theological thoughts about Jesus at the end. This sketch was also a follow-up to our teaser announcement on Sunday morning to get the kids excited about the program.

Practice:
If you are looking to do something like this at your church, here's how the dirty details of our process. Amy and I emailed our drama team (InnerMission) a week prior with the schedule. I heard back from four people, and I wrote under the assumption that they might not all make it. Thus, the Israelite lines can be one person, with the narrator picking up some. Also, the Rock and Pharaoh can be the same person if you just give Pharaoh's last line to the Rock.

Last year, we started our drama ministry with regular rehearsals after choir, but we ran into scheduling trouble. Plus, that rehearsal schedule had us occasionally meeting when there was no specific "gig" in the pipeline. We used those times to discuss drama in general, practice acting, and pray together. But sometimes it felt compulsive rather than necessary. (Compulsive prayer? Yes, remember we had all just spent time in devotion and worship during choir practice for an hour and half.)

We now rehearse for specific sketches one week prior at the same time as the performance. We met August 23 (for an hour). Since this was a new group, we also squeezed in an additional performance after Monday night choir practice (another 45 minutes). Then we met 20 minutes prior to the performance on August 30 to run through it again and get all the blocking fresh in our heads.

In the future, I don't anticipate needing quite so much prep time, but we are a new group. And this is a new format for them. At Oakhills we would meet 1 1/2 hours prior to performance, assign parts, block, memorize, and go. It was pretty wild sometimes--but some of us had worked together for 10 years under the leadership of Jeff Pickens. (Great man, we love you, Jeff.) Next time, I'll try to remember to get some photos with our recently refurbished digital camera.

The Sketch:
Feel free to use the sketch at your church, but please see my two stipulations.

THE FIVE MINUTE EXODUS (with Pirates)

FW Friends Kick-Off Event

Cast: Teacher, Bumblemonkey, Pharaoh/Rock, 1-3 Israelite(s), Moses
Props: Moses’ Staff, 2 Paper Sacks, Bottled Water or Squirt Gun, Stuffed Animal, Rope, Whip, Pirate hat/accessories, 3-5 Bible robes

Teacher: (enters and talks to kids from podium stage right) Good evening, kids. My name is (your name) and I’m here to tell you all about FW Friends tonight! Does anyone know what FW Friends stands for? (wait for answer). That’s right! Faith Weaver Friends. That’s what we are here. We are friends helping each other weave a stronger faith. And do you know how we weave a stronger faith? (wait for answers) That’s right, we study the Bible! This Fall we’re going to be studying the story of Moses and Joshua.

Bumblemonkey: (entering) Arrrrgggghh!

Teacher: Not you again.

Bumblemonkey: (seizing the teacher) I be Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey, and I took ye captive on Sunday.

Teacher: I remember. Well, Captain Andrew—

Bumblemonkey: Bumblemonkey.

Teacher: Right. That worked okay to get people’s attention on Sunday, but now we’re trying to have a Bible lesson.

Bumblemonkey: For the FW Friends, I know, Ma’am. But ye wouldn’t let me help educate the young sprogs, so I had to take ye captive.

Teacher: (to the audience) Look, feel free to just ignore him…

Bumblemonkey: (nonplussed) Free!? Ye be no longer free, Ma’am. Ye be my captive.

Teacher: You can call me your captive all you want, Andrew—

Bumblemonkey: Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey!

Teacher: —But God has set me free. Just like he set the Israelites free.

Bumblemonkey: God has set ye free, ye say?

Teacher: That’s right.

Bumblemonkey: (considers this) Drivelswigger! Sounds like trick. (to the kids) What think ye, sprogs? Could God set her free? (wait for their answer) I don’t know.

Teacher: It doesn’t matter what you know or don’t know, Andrew.

Bumblemonkey: Captain—

Teacher: Whether you will admit it or not, God has set me free.

Bumblemonkey: Arrrrggghhh! Tell ye what I’ll do. You have five minutes to convince me. Then (serious) ye walk the plank.

Teacher: You promise to be quiet for five minutes while I tell the Bible story of Exodus.

Bumblemonkey: (moves in closer) Aye.

Teacher: Exodus in, um, five minutes then.

Bumblemonkey: Aye. (stands over her shoulder)

Teacher: Andrew?

Bumblemonkey: Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey, Ma’am!

Teacher: Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey, then. Could you at least stand over there.

Bumblemonkey: Oh, aye, Ma’am. (He goes to stage left.)

Teacher: Here we go. (Israelites enter) Exodus starts with the Israelites in captivity in Egypt.

All Israelites: (enters, waves) Hi, we’re the Israelites.

Bumblemonkey: But there’s only three (or whatever number you have) of you!

Israelite 1: We didn’t have enough actors.

Teacher: (ignoring them) Now a new pharaoh came to power in Egypt.

Pharaoh: (enters with small whip) I’m the wicked pharaoh of the west. (Israelite cowers)

Teacher: (Pharaoh paces in front of the Israelites and snaps the whip at them) Pharaoh was mean to the Israelites because he thought there were too many of them. He ordered the slave masters to treat them harshly and even drown their baby boys in the river.

Bumblemonkey: (to Pharaoh) Ye dirty dog. (to the Teacher) Four and a half minutes left.

Teacher: Skipping a bit, (Moses enters and goes to front center) God called Moses to lead Israel out of captivity.

Moses: Hi, I’m Moses. God appeared to me in the burning bush.

Israelite 2: (steps forward) Hey, you’re one of us! (steps back)

Moses: That’s right. (to Pharaoh in a big voice) Pharaoh, let my people go!

Pharaoh: (as Wicked Witch of the West, comes front center next to Moses) Going so soon? I wouldn't hear of it. Why my little party's just beginning.

Teacher: When Pharaoh refused, (Moses goes to stage left) God sent 10 plagues against Egypt.

Moses: Their rivers turned to blood.

Pharaoh: (the plague lines go very quickly, Pharaoh is tortured front center throughout) Ewww.

Israelite 3: Then frogs came.

Pharaoh: Frogs?

Moses: And lice. (Pharaoh scratches head)

Israelite 1: And flies. (Pharaoh swats at head)

Moses: And their livestock died. (Pharaoh turns and moos)

Israelite 2: And they got boils. (Pharaoh scratches arms)

Moses: And hail destroyed their crops. (Pharaoh mimes getting rained on)

Israelite 3: And locusts ate what was left.

Moses: And darkness came. (Rock turns out the lights)

Pharaoh: (serious) And then the worst of all, every first born son in Egypt died. Including my boy. (to Moses) Take your people and go. (Pharaoh turns his back and goes up stage. Rock turns the lights back on.)

All Israelites: We’re free! (move to front center with Moses)

Teacher: But Pharaoh changed his mind by the time Moses and the Israelites reached the Red Sea.

Pharaoh: (as Wicked Witch again, pointing) I’ll get you my pretties, and your little dogs too!

Bumblemonkey: (to the Teacher) Four minutes left.

Teacher: But the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water.”

Moses: (Moses raises staff) So I did.

Israelite 1: (Moses and Israelites walk to stage left) And we walked across on dry land.

Teacher: Pharaoh led his army across the Red Sea after them. (Pharaoh runs in place in stage center) And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians.”

Moses: (Moses raises staff) So I did.

Israelite 2: And the waters rushed back.

Israelite 3: And swept the Egyptians away.

Pharaoh: (dramatic death scene, turn in circles and fall spread eagle on the stage) I'm melting! I'm melting! Ohhhhh.. What a world! What a world!

Teacher: (clears throat) And swept the Egyptians away.

Pharaoh: Oh, right. I’m leaving. (gets up and exits; Israelites and Moses move to center stage).

Bumblemonkey: (to the Teacher) Three and a half minutes.

Teacher: Now the Israelites were in a desert and had no food.

Israelite 1: If only we had died in Egypt.

Israelite 2: (to Moses) You brought us into the desert to starve.

Moses: God told me he would send bread from heaven for us to eat. (Israelites and Moses mime that it is snowing)

Israelite 3: (after a pause) Wow! It’s like snow.

Israelite 1: It tastes like wafers made with honey.

Israelite 2: What is it?

Teacher: The Israelites asked. So that is what they called the bread: “What is it?” or in their language “Manna.” And in the evening God sent quail.

Israelite 3: Manna and meat, but what’s to drink?

Teacher: God told Moses to go to the rock at Horeb . . .

Rock: (enters, wearing a paper bag on head) Hi, I’m the rock at Horeb.

Teacher: . . . and strike the rock with his staff.

Moses: So I did. (Moses hits Rock on top of head with his staff)

Rock: Owww.

Moses: Sorry.

Bumblemonkey: (to the Teacher) Two minutes.

Teacher: And water came out. (Rock hands out bottled water to everyone or Rock squirts Moses with a water gun.)

Rock: (lifting bag to peak out) Can I go now?

Teacher: Sure. (Rock exits) Then Moses met God at the top of Mount Sinai.

Moses: (to Israelites) Wait here. I’ll be back after I talk to God. (Walks out into the audience and guides the students through their lines)

Teacher: On Mount Sinai God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. (Commandments read aloud from cards by oldest students, preselected. Give each student a copy of the next ten lines, with their line highlighted.)

Student 1: You shall have no other gods before Me.

Student 2: You shall not make for yourself an idol.

Student 3: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

Student 4: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Student 5: Honor your father and your mother.

Student 6: You shall not murder.

Student 7: You shall not commit adultery.

Student 8: You shall not steal.

Student 9: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Student 10: You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s.

Teachers: Meanwhile the Israelites created a golden calf to worship. (Hands Israelites a stuffed animal, they worship it in a silly way.)

Israelite 1: Well, Moses took so long.

Moses: (angry) So God sent a war and a plague that killed many people.

Israelite 2: (nonchalant) Bummer.

Moses: And I ground the golden calf into powder and made the people eat it. (Moses throws the stuffed animal off stage/out of room.)

Israelites: Ewww.

Teacher: Then God wrote down the Ten Commandments for Moses again. He told the people to build him a house.

Moses: (Front center, deliver to audience) The Living God will inhabit his tabernacle. He is not a manmade idol.

Teacher: So the Israelites built the tabernacle exactly as the Lord commanded them. (Israelites mime superfast hammering and sawing) And Moses assembled the tabernacle exactly as the Lord commanded him. (Israelites give “tabernacle pieces” to Moses) And no one could enter it because the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Israelites and Moses step back from front of stage) The End. (Moses and Israelites take a bow)

Bumblemonkey: (to the Teacher) And time to spare, Ma’am.

Teacher: Whew. We did it, kids! (Rock and Pharaoh reenter; Moses, Israelites, and Rock rejoice)

All: Yea! You’re free!

Bumblemonkey: (move to center stage) Heave to, there Ma’am. You still be walkin’ the plank.

Israelite 1: (step up to Bumblemonkey stage right) But she told the story of how God set us free.

Bumblemonkey: Aye, that she did. But she did not show how God has set her free.

Moses: (step up to Bumblemonkey stage left) But don’t you see? The Tabernacle prefigured the temple.

Bumblemonkey: Prefigured?

Teacher: That sort of means the Tabernacle was an early version of the temple.

Rock: (taking bag off head and stepping forward with Pharaoh) And the temple prefigured Jesus himself.

Israelite 2: (stepping forward) Jesus said he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

Moses: He was talking about his death, burial, and resurrection.

Rock: (stepping forward) His body was the temple.

Israelite 3: (stepping forward) And now the church is his body.

Teacher: (stepping forward to front stage center) Jesus Christ has set me free just like God set the Israelites free. (pulling Bumblemonkey forward to front stage center) Just like he can set you free, Andrew.

Bumblemonkey: Ain’t I free already? Flyin’ the sheets and sailin’ the seas?

Pharaoh: As long as you’re a captive to sin, your ship is just a floating prison.

Bumblemonkey: Aye, it do feel that way sometimes.

Moses: Andrew, we’ve all been just where you are. But…

Moses, Pharaoh, Rock, and All Israelites: Jesus set us free.

Bumblemonkey: Yer offerin’ me an act of pardon and grace?

Teacher: Why don’t we all go outside, and we can talk about it some more. (Cast agrees and exits)

Teacher: Kids, I hope you enjoyed the five-minute Exodus. It’s just a preview of all the wonderful things you’re going to learn during FW Friends. (And we didn’t even get to the talking donkey!) I’m going to go talk to Andrew now. I think next time you see him, he’ll be a reformed pirate.

HillCountryWriter Category: Drama
Technorati Tags: drama scripts acting church

The Gutenberg Blog Scavenger Hunt

2006-09-07T14:08:00.000-05:00

We are in the middle of an awakening and a renaissance. You might have heard about it. When Gutenberg created the movable type press, he made information more available and accessible. Arguably, that revolution of technology in 1447 served as a catalyst that spread renaissance ideas across Western Civilization.

The Internet has catapulted us into an information age that is doing the same thing. It’s old news really—harkening back to dotcom prophesies in the 1990s—but it’s gotten new spin recently with the Web 2.0 hype about blog marketing and social media. Christian bloggers are even having a convention.

I write this because some of my friends have questioned my sanity of late. I start talking about blogging as worship, and they get these worried looks on their faces. So I’m sending all of them on . . .

A BLOG SCAVENGER HUNT!

Start by clicking on "Comments" at the bottom of this post. Keep the comment window open for recording your scavenger hunt findings.

1) Find a one-sentence nugget of truth about faith and daily life from the comments on RealLivePreacher.com. Paste it into your comment window with the URL or a link if you know html. (If you are interested, read more about Gordon Atkison here.)

2) Find a one-sentence nugget of truth about faith and daily life from the comments on Jesus Creed. Paste it into your comment window with the URL or a link if you know html. (If you are interested, read more about Scot McKnight here.)

3) Find a one-sentence nugget of truth about faith and daily life on It Takes a Church. Paste it into your comment window with the URL or a link if you know html. (If you are interested, read more about Tod Bolsinger here.)

Dig Deeper?

If you want to dig deeper into the strange world of blogging, marketing, and "movable byte" publication, take a look at these links, articles, and posts:

GodBlogCon

Influential Interactive Marketing's 5 Rules of Social Media Optimization

CopyBlogger's Social Proof: Herd It Through the Grapevine and Viral Marketing

Wired Magazine’s Monkey Bites: Web 2.0 Champions and Stinkers

SEO Book's 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity

SEOmoz's 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic

HillCountryWriter Categories: Blogging Church stuff
Technorati Tags: blogging blogs church Christianity religion God Jesus

Meet Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey

2006-09-03T08:07:00.000-05:00

Last week my wife and I performed a sketch on Sunday morning to promote our Wednesday nights kids program (Faith Weaver Friends from Group Publishing). It was a pretty zany sketch for Sunday, but it ended up working pretty well.

Here's the pitch: a Bible school teacher refuses to let a pirate help teach the kids, so he takes her captive.

The adults thought it was cute. And, of course, it was great fun for me to wear a huge Captain Hook hat and yell "ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!" But we knew it was a success when we heard this story.

At the end, I put a rope around the teacher's hands and lead her off to captivity. One five-year-old girl asked her mother, very seriously, "Mommy, is she going to be okay?" The mom explained that we were just pretending. Then she added, "But you should go to Bible class on Wednesday just to make sure."

Heh heh heh.

Here's the entire sketch. It works to promote just about anything, though we worked in some references to their theme of study so the sketch was more than pure Monty Python. Feel free to use the sketch at your church, but please see my two stipulations.

Bible Study Promotion (with Pirates)

Teacher: Good morning. Parents and kids, you’ve probably noticed that summer is ending. Labor Day’s around the corner. School’s starting again. And you know what that means. FW Friends on Wednesday nights at First Baptist! Starting this Wednesday at 6:30. There’ll be games and snacks and projects, music and memory and surprises. Best of all, we’re going to learn about God’s chosen people—how God saved Israel out of captivity and gave them the ten commandments and brought them to the promised land…

Bumblemonkey: (entering) Arrrrgggghh!

Teacher: Um. Who are you?

Bumblemonkey: (bowing) I be Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey, the scurviest old coat did e’er sail a yawl up the Guadaloop.

Teacher: Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey?

Bumblemonkey: Aye.

Teacher: I see. Well, Captain Andrew—

Bumblemonkey: Bumblemonkey.

Teacher: Right. I’m trying to make an announcement here…

Bumblemonkey: About the FW Friends, I know, Ma’am. That’s why I’m here. To be educatin’ the young sprogs. To go on account with the Jack o’ Coins. To sign me X, and join yer crew.

Teacher: (to the audience) Oh, that’s a good point. We always need more adults to help teach the children.

Bumblemonkey: (to the audience knowingly) Savvy?

Teacher: But, Mr.—

Bumblemonkey: Captain

Teacher: Bumblemonkey. You really think you’re the best role model? (stage whisper) Aren’t you a bit over the top.

Bumblemonkey: This here personas fer the kiddies, Ma’am.

Teacher: It’s a little brash for Sunday morning.

Bumblemonkey: Thank ye, kindly.

Teacher: In fact, it’s a little brash for Wednesday. The story of Exodus is exciting enough on its own. God performs some of his greatest miracles and Moses is one of the greatest leaders in the bible. (Bumblemonkey says “aye, aye” throughout). We don’t need some ridiculous pirate.

Bumblemonkey: (hurt and surprised) Drivelswigger! I’m an old coat stripey of the sweet trade!

Teacher: I think it’s best if you didn’t help.

(Bumblemonkey walks away sadly)

Teacher: Like I was saying. This Wednesday at 6:30 is our kick-off event for FW Friends. We’re going to learn about the Israelites and how God led them out of captivity.

Bumblemonkey: Arrrrggghhh! Captivity, say ye?

Teacher: You were supposed to leave.

Bumblemonkey: But I didn’t, ma’am. I’m a commandeering this here event. Takin’ ye captive—like yer story’s about.

Teacher: No, no. It’s the Israelites who were captive. But God set them free.

Bumblemonkey: Aye, aye. (removing his hat and speaking with reverence) He’s a great, grand Creator, and that’s no lie. But now it’s you who’s captive, by the hand and hook of Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey! (He starts to take her away.)

Teacher: (to the audience) I apologize for this.

Bumblemonkey: Come with me, Ma’am—and you, kiddies—if you want ter see the loverly lady again—tell yer parents to bring you e’ery Wednesday night at 6:30 for FW Friends! See yer bulletins for more information (pronounce “informahsheon”). Arrrggghhhh!

Translation of Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey’s Pirate Speak from "How to Speak Pirate":
Drivelswigger: nonsense
Jack o' Coins: the paymaster
Go on the account: to embark on a piratical cruise
Savvy: you understand?
Old coat: a veteran sailor (see "stripey")
Sprogs: raw, untrained recruits
Stripey: long-service able seaman (named for the many stripes on his sleeves, indicating an "old coat")
Sweet trade: the career of piracy
Yawl: four-oared ship's boat or small sailing boat

HillCountryWriter Category: Drama
Technorati Tags: drama scripts acting church

2006-09-01T15:16:00.000-05:00

Derek Webb has a new CD and it's free! So go download Mockingbird.
You know, I love free stuff. Here's the announcement from his site explaining why he's giving it away:

on september 1st, we're launching freederekwebb.com, a place where anyone can go online and not just hear but actually download, keep, and share 'mockingbird' completely for free. In addition, freederekwebb.com will give you an opportunity to invite your friends to download 'mockingbird' in order to get them in on the conversation as well.

we hope this bold campaign will provide a jumping off point for conversations about all of these issues, and communicate my commitment to playing my part in starting them. so please help us spread the word: on september 1st, 'mockingbird' will be set free!

You should know in advance that when you get the album, it will say, "Now that you've saved $10 or so on a free record, consider giving it to some of these good people."

That's not really fair because I wouldn't have spent $10.00 on the album. I just wouldn't have bought it. Now I feel like I'm cheating somebody for not donating. My penance is to post a link to the three charities:

(Also, it took me two tries to get the download to work because I didn't download the zip file.)

To Work or To Preach?

2006-08-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

On the blog Every Square Inch I recently posted some thoughts about “Preparing for Mondays.” In that post, Andre tells the story of George Mueller, a strong Christian who served God through his daily work in orphanages.

The Problem with George Mueller

While I find the story of Mueller encouraging, it also presents some problems for me. It is easy to think of Mueller’s job as serving God, but my job is editing. Mostly, I just stare at a screen all day and work with writers I’ve never met. How can that possibly glorify God? In short, how can normal jobs glorify God?

Andre is keeping me honest. He posted this comment in response to my cynicism:

Mark,

You make a very thoughtful comment and thanks for sharing Rom 12:1-2.

I like how you reference the solution of your dilemma back to scripture. But I have a followup question - why do you think a businessman or factory worker have a hard time finding a biblical purpose in his vocation?

It took me a long time to respond (in blog years, I guess). In part because my daughter just started kindergarten and my world turned upside-down. But also because Andre forced me to define the dilemma.

Going To Work or To Preach?

Here’s the dilemma in a nutshell:

Does my work itself have value?
Or is my work just a vehicle to do God’s
work?

David Miller of Princeton talks about two approached to work. People tend to see either the intrinsic value or the extrinsic value of work.

TheHighCalling.org encourages people to see the intrinsic value of their work. Someone who believes work has intrinsic value will then serve God by doing excellent work. The better I edit, the more I glorify God. The better an English teacher teaches English, the more he glorifies God. The better a bricklayer lays bricks, the more he glorifies God. The quicker a wood chuck, chucks… You get the idea.

Other people focus on the extrinsic value of work. Os Hillman tends to encourage people to focus on the extrinsic value of work. Workers glorify God by sharing their faith at work or by giving some portion of their salary to the institutional church. Work becomes a mission field where we go to sow seeds. It isn’t so much that the work itself glorifies God, but the explicit sowing of the Word through our work. By this logic, an editor glorifies God by editing text that will explicitly convince people to trust Jesus. A teacher glorifies God by sharing Christ with his students. A bricklayer shares Christ with his coworkers. I don’t know what the woodchuck could do . . . except use his salary to fund the work of the institutional church.

Of course, I’ve over simplified both arguments. And I’ve set up a false dichotomy between Os Hillman and TheHighCalling.org. Os is a great guy, and he helps a lot of people find purpose in their work. (I had breakfast with Os several months ago, but that is another story.) If you are interested in this kind of thinking, Mark Greene of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity masterfully discusses both views of work in a very readable and enjoyable book: Thank God It’s Monday.

Finding Purpose in our Vocation

Finally, I can get to Andre’s question: “Why do you think a businessman or factory worker has a hard time finding a biblical purpose in his vocation?”

This question has two parts:
1) Why do I think this… Well, I’d start by saying it’s just my hunch. As a teacher, I saw a lot of people who didn’t seem fulfilled in their work. As an editor for TheHighCalling.org I’m seeing even more. The rise in books and resources to help people find the purpose of their vocation suggests I’m not the only one who thinks people aren’t finding purpose in their vocation. In fact, Andre’s blog is a way of reminding people of their purpose and admitting our tendency to forget that purpose.

2) Why do people have a hard time finding their biblical purpose in work?
I don’t know. Jesus makes it pretty easy. Everything boils down to two commandments.

Love God.
Love your neighbor.

That’s it. Even the great commission tells us to make disciples and teach them to obey the commands Jesus has given (which all boil down to the two commandments.)

My daughter and I were talking about this a few nights ago. She’s five. We’re reading Edward Tulane, a great book that’s sort of a twisted Velveteen Rabbit. Edward is a loser bunny, but after some hard knocks he is gradually learning what it means to love others more than himself.

So my daughter asked: “Why is it so hard for Edward to love other people?”

I told her, “I don’t know. People just try to make life more complicated than it is.” Then I got preachy. “Edward doesn’t know how to glorify God in everything he does,” I said. (That’s a phrase from our prayer each night. “God, help us glorify you in all that we say and do.”)

Then I asked my daughter, “Do you know how to glorify God in all that you do? Do you know how to glorify God at school?”

She said, “Yeah, I respect my teacher.”

“Is respect a kind of love?” I asked.

She thought a minute and nodded. “Yeah. I think it is.”

“I love you, honey,” I said with great respect.

“I love you, too, Daddy,” she said and kissed me on the cheek.

Dig Up Some Talent

2006-08-29T20:49:00.000-05:00

In response to the Myth of Millions, Andre wrote:

I agree - write for the joy of it. A writer has to write...whether there are potential monetary reward is secondary...you do it because it's how God wired you.

My response to Andre outgrew the comment section, so here it is:

I write because it's the talent God gave me (to mix metaphors with the parable of the talents).

Not to write is the same as burying that talent in the ground.

In short, writing is my high calling.

The thing is--so many people expect God to reward their talent with monetary success and physical comfort. I've even talked with young writers who acted as if God was obligated to reward their desire to write! We expect God to bless our words so that they rise to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. I remember even recently turning in prayer request cards that asked, "Pray that God would give me 5,000 words this week."

On the one hand, I think praying specific prayers is good. On the other hand, those requests bordered on treating God like he was some kind of literary slot machine. If I kept pulling the crank, I'd eventually hit the jackpot.

But God isn't a Greek Muse. He just calls me to write. So I do.

With some luck and a LOT of hard work, maybe someday I'll make some money directly from my writing.

For those interested, I've made exactly $90.00 from my writing in the past five years.

But I've been much more focused lately, and I've got some tangible and achievable monetary goals for the next nine months.

And don't worry, readers, I'm not going to hit up any of you with product or service offers. This isn't that kind of blog.

Three tangents:
1. Check out the new category links in my side bar. Cool! They might even work as tags for Technorati, I'm not sure yet.
2. Also, I added some new stuff to the bottom of each post. If you like something, digg it or add it to del.icio.us!
3. I have to edit a book this week, so I'll be out of pocket for a bit.

Blogging

2006-08-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

Category: Blogging
Nearly every blogger ends up doing some naval gazing about this new publication medium. I'm no exception. I have at least tried to avoid excessive lint fluffing.

Blogging as Worship
Goodbye Blogging
Gutenberg Blog Scavenger Hunt
Keep “Out of Ur”!
Redeeming Technology!

A Response to Out of Ur

Shep’s Question

Technorati Tags: blogging blogs

High Calling

2006-08-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Category: High Callings in the Workplace
My work with TheHighCalling.org and FaithInTheWorkplace.com has me constantly thinking about what it means in America for Christians to "take their faith to work." Is it proselytizing? Is it evangelism? Is it just good honest work, done with integrity? If you are looking for definitive answers to those questions, you won't find them here. But you will find me trying to understand how Christians live out God's will in our daily life.

Christ Has Guts
The Coalition for Ministry in Daily Life
The Colbert Report
Does God Call Garbage Men?
Emerging Assumptions
Fellow Work Place Blogger
Hearing the Call
“Heavenly Light from a Stack of English Papers”
Hey, Wanna See My Cathedral?
Higher Calling
Institutional or Scattered Church?
Looking for a Perfect Church?
Never Give Up or Never Give In?
You Need to Read What These Christians Say About Science

Technorati Tags: work jobs careers business daily life

Teaching

2006-08-27T20:57:00.000-05:00

Category: Teaching
Originally, I began this blog as a way to document my favorite teacher stories. As you can see from this list, I didn't write very many. But here they are.

Guest Poets
“Heavenly Light from a Stack of English Papers”
Limestone Literary Magazine
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Cakes

Technorati Tags: education teaching lesson plans

Publishing

2006-08-27T20:49:00.000-05:00

Category: Publishing
Since June 2005, I have worked as a Research Editor. It doesn't sound like much of a title, but you wouldn't believe some of the things I've learned about the publishing industry. I've shared some of that information here:

An Editor’s Daily Work
Editing Is How You Transmit Your Message
Editing Vegetables Is Just Wrong
Here’s Some Encouragement: Stop Whining!
I Dance Like Everyone’s Watching
A Little Celebration
Lure Fishing Takes Patience
Myths of Publishing (a series)
Not All Writers Hate Editors
A Resolution to Write Less
Turning Tables But Not Cheeks: The Christian Booksellers Association (a series)
When Hollywood Meets Jesusland

Technorati Tags: publishing books editing

Poetry

2006-08-27T20:38:00.000-05:00

Category: Poetry
After teaching English for ten years and getting a Masters in English Literature, I have become a bit of a poetry junkie. Here are some of my thoughts on poetry and some of my poems:

Poems
“Attraction”
“The Blogger’s Prayer”
“Easter 1 or Jesus in the Shower” (published!)
“Easter 2 or Passion Play”
“A Five Year Old to Her Mommy”
“Great Commission”
“Hill Country Achilles”
“Sitting in the Choir”
“Sluicing for Mother”
“Sunday Morning at the Donut Palace”
“Working During the Holidays”

Thoughts on Poetry
“Dog’s Death” by John Updike
Easter Poetry
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Golly Geez
Guest Poets

Technorati Tags: poetry writing verse

Is the Bible a Myth?

2006-08-27T15:07:00.000-05:00

Last year, a speaker at Laity Lodge used the word "demythologization." It's a fancy seven syllable word coined by Rudolf Bultmann, a German theologian. (Sadly, he also became a Nazi sympathizer.)

In this series, I've tried to wrestle with some heavy theological issues. It's not easy reading, but I did my best to make it accessible.

1. A Summary of Bultmann
2. The Problem with Bultmann
3. The Relevance of Bultmann
4. Language IS Reliable
5. Spreading the Word

HillCountryWriter Category: Church stuff
Technorati Tags: church Christianity religion God Jesus

Church

2006-08-27T15:03:00.000-05:00

Category: Church
My official job title with the H. E. Butt Foundation is "Research Editor." That means sometimes I have the interesting task of just studying "church stuff." Sometimes it's the Bible itself; sometimes it's historical interpretations of the Bible; sometimes it's the New York Times business section.

From time to time, I've written generic "Church Stuff." Here's a sampling:

Is the Bible a Myth? Series
Blogging as Worship
Redeeming Technology!
It’s All About Billboards, Bumper Stickers, and a Book
Prophet’s Don’t Get Group Hugs

Technorati Tags: church Christianity religion God Jesus

Drama

2006-08-26T16:45:00.000-05:00

Category: Drama
My wife and I are the volunteer Drama Ministers at our church. Here are some of the scripts we've created and thoughts we've had. Feel free to use/adapt any of the scripts, but please follow

MY TWO STIPULATIONS:

1. Give proper credit.
2. Email me to let me know how it went.

You can find copies of these scripts in Word format at

	Marcus Goodyear's Scripts
	Hosted by eSnips

Scripts:
"The Best Kind of Morning" (Boaz’s Monologue to Ruth--not appropriate for children)
“Bound”
“The Cross Shop”
“Easter Morning”
“Meet Captain Andrew Bumblemonkey”
The Five Minute Exodus (with Pirates)
“When I Met Jesus”

Thoughts:
Audience vs. Congregation vs. Wild Cheering Fans
The Church Pitch
Drama at Every Church
Getting Started with a Drama Ministry
How God Prepared Us For Drama
On Performing Easter Dramas
Page to Stage (a series)
Whatever You Do Glorify the Lord
Worship and Hospitality

Technorati Tags: drama scripts acting church editing writing

Myth of Millions or the Long Tail of Literature

2006-08-25T07:54:00.000-05:00

In case you're wondering, I made a grand total of $3600 on the Eerdmans book, RealLivePreacher.com. And this is a book that won the Independent Publisher's Award for essay/nonfiction in 2005. It's a tough world out there for writers.

And Real Live Preacher had an audience.

Writer Randy Alcorn hears similar assumptions from aspiring writers. People ask him, “I'm not a published author but feel God has gifted me to write. Do you think it is a realistic goal to expect my writing to provide my yearly income?” Read his answer. And also go read the general publishing advice he offers on his FAQ page. (You’ll have to scroll down a bit.)

If that’s not enough to depress you, read Greg Johnson’s general discouragement for writers.

“What’s the point of all this schadenfreude?” you ask because you like German words with no English equivalent.

First, I want to dispel the romantic myth of writing for a living. Sure, it happens on occasion. But don’t quit your day job. Most well-known writers had other occupations.

Max Lucado and Rick Warren are both still pastors. C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkein were both professors. Flannery O’Connor raised birds (really). Walt Whitman was a nurse, a teacher, and a journalist. Jane Austen lived with her brother. Shakespeare was a producer. Chaucer was a diplomat. Few writers realize monetary success from writing during their lifetime. (Consider the famous poet, John Keats.)

Second, here is the practical and potentially uplifting part. If you are going to write, write with your eyes wide open. Know that you are investing in a hobby that may benefit posterity. Know that you are probably creating for a very small audience . . and that is okay. As a teacher, I called it gift writing, and it’s the Long Tail of literature.

Third, if you insist on writing for money, then at least be realistic. Your work will need to sell large numbers. That means it will need to appeal to a large audience. And it will need to be very good. If you expect to make millions, you probably aren’t being realistic.

So don’t worry about making millions. Don’t worry about making anything. Just have fun, and treat any kind of publication or monetary reward as a bonus.

Write for pure joy.

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing

Not All Writers Hate Editors

2006-08-24T09:26:00.000-05:00

Scot McKnight just got back the edits on his latest book, The Real Mary. If you are a writer, go read his post An Ode to Lil. It details his response to those edits.

I especially like something Bob Smietana says in the comments, "An editor’s first concern is making the connection between writer and audience." That's a good reminer to editors and writers both.

As an editor I'm really just trying to make our writers look good to our specific audience. But so often I get treated like an egotistical, invading general. Or some drunken pirate hack. Arrrggghhh!

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing writing

Fellow Work Place Blogger

2006-08-22T14:52:00.000-05:00

A guy named Steve started a new blog about Marketplace Ministry. That's a phrase from Os Hillman. Os is a good guy.

Steve asked readers (his small group, I assume) to "share how God has used you at work to show Jesus to coworkers, customers."

The honesty of the question, sitting there on a blog just struck me. Here's my response:

Steve, I've spent the past year or so wrestling with these questions in a big way.

For me, faith at work is only partially about evangelism. There are lots of ways to "show Jesus to my coworkers." Eventually, I'll get around to talking about my relationship with Jesus if/when they ask. But I won't force a conversation about Jesus with my coworkers any more than I will force a conversation about my wife and family.

I also have found that I don't have to force the conversation if I am letting the love of Christ work in me. That is how I accidentally converted one of my students a few years ago. I say "I converted her," but I was only a witness to God's work in her life. It was the biggest miracle I have ever witnessed.

Most of the time my work is lacking in miracles. I usually try to show Jesus just by doing good work. A guy named Earl Palmer says the best way to take your faith to work is to be startlingly good at what you do. Work so well that people will tolerate your Christianity, he says. That seems like good advice to me.

HillCountryWriter Category: High Calling Thoughts
Technorati Tags: work jobs careers business daily life

Myths of Publishing Part 2

2006-08-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

When I started working as an editor just over a year ago, I began to learn about the strange world of publication. In this series, I'll be your inside man on books. I'll get you the hook-up, the scoop, the hush-hush, the low-down. This is part two of a five or six part series where you'll learn the real deal.

MYTH TWO: THE MYTH OF THE AUDIENCE

I don't mean readers are a myth, of course. Without readers no one would publish anything!

I just mean a publisher's inquiry into your target audience has a different purpose than you might realize. It's pretty much commen sense when you think about it. In every good book proposal, the author will discuss market and genre.

Consider Michael Larsen's advice for the general market, Penelope J. Stokes' advice for Christian markets specifically, and Michael Hyatt's advice for submitting to Thomas Nelson.

One of my friends in publishing told me the hard truth about books one day on the phone. He said, "Look, Marcus, publishers will talk about the quality of writing and the value of literature all day. And they believe in those things. But they are not in the literature business. They're in the business of selling books."

Publishing is a business. Don't ever forget that. When a publisher asks about your target audience they want to know who will buy the book. That much is obvious.

But they want to know something else, too.

Who is your audience now? A teacher who has been on the convention circuit for five years . . . already has an audience. A business consultant whose leadership seminar fills up an auditoriums . . . already has an audience. A politician who is about to spend three months on a campaign tour . . . already has an audience.

If you already have an audience now, you can bring two assets to the publisher--your manuscript and your audience.

If you already have an audience, you already have a living, breathing market, with arms and legs and hands and, of course, pockets.

Marketing your book is no longer about turning an abstract audience into a real one. It is simply a matter of telling your current audience, "Hey, I have a book."

So, right now, who's your audience?

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing

Myths of Publishing Part 1

2006-08-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

When I started working as an editor just over a year ago, I began to learn about the strange world of publication. In this series, I'll be your inside man on books. I'll get you the hook-up, the scoop, the hush-hush, the low-down. This is part one of a five or six part series where you'll learn the real deal.

Also, I'm trying to use technorati tags for the first time.

MYTH ONE: THE MYTH OF THE AUTHOR

"What?!" you say. "But authors are like gods. They create a universe and inhabit it with people and weave the tapestry of their fates."

Just stop, okay? It isn’t that simple. Sure, authors have a tremendous role in the creation of their book, but they are hardly like gods creating in a vacuum. They receive all kinds of help from agents and editors and publishers and even ghostwriters.

Read the Acknowledgements page. Those people wrote the book together. You've seen movies written and directed by the same guy, right? Authors are like that. The vision is theirs, sure. But a whole crew of people brought the work to life.

There may be a few exceptions. Authors who disappear into a cabin somewhere and come out with a book that just needs to be retyped at the publisher. But I've never seen one of these monsters.

A word about ghostwriters . . .

Have you ever seen a book by two people? The name you don’t know is probably the person who wrote the book. The ghostwriter. Often, a ghost will interview the author for ideas and vision and sequencing, then get to work on a draft. These collaborative efforts are usually acknowledged with a double byline.

But the law doesn’t require a ghostwriter to be acknowledged at all. If “authors” want full credit, they can buy it. Hilary Clinton bought her ghost’s silence for $120,000. Does that make her an author? What do you think?

And why does this matter?

Other than acknowledging the ethical slipperiness of this wide-spread practice, it matters for people who want to write. Aspiring writers need to understand that their work is a draft. Their ideas and their style are not holy creations. A book is a product that other people will help them refine.

If they don’t want other people to chop up their sentences and change their endings, they should self-publish.

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing writing

Myths of Publishing

2006-08-17T09:11:00.000-05:00

When I started working as an editor just over a year ago, I began to learn about the strange world of publication. In this series, I'll be your inside man on books. In this series, I'll get you the hook-up, the scoop, the hush-hush, the low-down.

1. Myth of the Author

2. Myth of the Audience

3. Myth of Millions or The Long Tail of Literature

4. Myth of Agents

5. Myth of Bookstores

Update: I originally titled this series "Myths Publishers Want You To Believe," but the more I wrote, the more I realized that title was fake. It created a false division between publishers and writers. Of course, they don't want us to believe these myths either!

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing

Prophets Don't Get Group Hugs

2006-08-16T07:52:00.000-05:00

I heard Earl Palmer speak a few weeks ago at Laity Lodge. That's him on the right; click on him to go to his church. He listed several roles that Christians adopt in their service to Christ. I don't remember them all, but they included things like being a mentor, being a teacher, and being a prophet.

Some people are called to be prophets like Jeremiah and Elijah and Ezekiel and Isaiah. They essentially turned over the tables in their cultures. They called the people back to God.

Our culture desperately needs prophets.

The problem is too many people want to play the role of the prophet without accepting the responsibility of the prophet. They want to turn over the tables, but then they expect a big group hug in return.

It ain't going to happen.

Jeremiah wrote Lamentations for a reason.

In a recent comment Shep said,

I haven't seen Jesus around here lately (turning over tables or righting them) . . . What does one do who is called to tip a table or two?

Well, Shep, thanks for reading. If God calls you to turn over tables, you better do it. But pray hard about it, first. In fact pray hard about everything. Do everything with prayer and petition with Thanksgiving and the peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Jesus.

Because when you start tipping tables, you'll need that peace in your heart and mind. No one's going to give you a group hug.

HillCountryWriter Category: Church stuff
Technorati Tags: church Christianity religion God Jesus evangelism

What Does An Editor's Daily Work Look Like?

2006-08-15T14:39:00.000-05:00

Every two weeks, I choose and edit the content for FaithInTheWorkplace.com. This site is sponsored by TheHighCalling.org, which means we provide the content and work with CTI to make it as successful as possible. It's a classic win-win partnership. At any rate, I also write the newsletter introductions. So here's a link to one of those. I'm curious what you think.

I was talking with small business owners at my church recently. One man said, "Sometimes I think we advertise too much Jesus at work. We wear Jesus on our business cards like an endorsement from God."

Of course, there's nothing wrong with a Bible verse on your business card, but our work doesn't need such an explicitly Christian message to glorify God . . .

Read more at FaithInTheWorkplace.com

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing

Who Do You Think You Are?

2006-08-13T13:10:00.001-05:00

The LA Times recently ripped the International Christian Retailers Show (ICRS) in Denver in their article "Christian Retailers Put Their Print on Products." This is the slightly delayed part four of a series discussing the event, its history, and its implications.

First, I wrote about the history of the CBA. Second, I wrote about Jesus turning over the money tables in Jerusalem. Third, I wrote about God's 21st century temple (our lives) and made a hard claim: if Jesus junk is sacrilegious, then all junk is sacrilegious.

Recently, I have been doing some research for Labor Day Sunday materials. (You can also read about it at Faith In The Workplace.) If you take a look at these sites, you'll see that my job puts me right at one of the tables in the temple.

Essentially, these booklets and sermons are a sales pitch to churches. Does somebody need to come turn over my table? What about Claudia Mair Burney's? She sells fiction marketed specifically to Christian readers. What about Jim Thomason's? He works for a publisher that has made millions of dollars by selling Bibles. (Even worse, consider his title "Vice President of Human Resources." It practically reduces company employees to chattel.) What about Don Pape's table with Alive Communications (the guy on the far right)? As part of his job, Don pushes publishers to offer higher advances on royalties to authors (like Mair). Are these people corrupting the Kingdom with their freemarket concepts and business plans?

Of course, not! I've read Mair's book. It's uplifting, challenging, and exciting. I've met Don Pape. I wish he were my agent. (In fact, I wish I had an agent.) I haven't met Thomason, but I thought I'd pick on him anyway. I don't really think Human Resources people are evil.

They can be, of course. Anyone in any walk of life can be evil. Human resources people can treat their employees more like resources than humans. It's a kind of betrayal, really.

Writers can betray their audience. Publishers can betray their readers. Agents can betray publishers or writers or both. Editors like me could betray the church with a shoddy product or a slippery message or even just an impure motive to use God's message for profiteering.

If we betray others, Jesus will turn over our tables. It's just a matter of time.

We Christians can define ourselves however we want--by our jobs, our relationships, even our stuff: "Hi, I'm an editor" or "Hi, I'm CJ's daddy" or "Hi, I'm a homeowner." But God defines us differently.

We are children of God (see 1 John 3:1-3).
We are priests (see 1 Peter 2:4-13).
And the world is our temple.

So the question is not whether "Jesus Junk" belongs in the Christian community. The question is whether your spiritual sacrifices are glorifying God in your daily life. If "Jesus Junk" offends you, don't buy it. Pretty simple.

I mean, really, who do you think you are? What do you think you are here for?

Glorify God with every purchase you make in a store.
Glorify God with every decision you make at work.
Glorify God with every word you speak at home.
Glorify God in everything that you do.
Declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into the light.

And leave the table turning to Jesus.

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing writing

You've Never Seen Anything Like This

2006-08-10T08:36:00.000-05:00

I have no other comments. This New York Times video is five minutes long with a thirty second ad first. I'm speechless. Watch it. Tell me your reaction.

Chinese Corpse Factories (you'll have to choose if from the list of videos).

If you don't feel up to a video on this topic, you can read an article about the ghastly new industry.

"Ghastly" is their word. But it's fun, don't you think? Makes the whole issue feel like an episode of Scooby Doo. That is the guy's goal afterall--to make anatomy fun. On the other hand, is this taking things a bit too far?

Update: my office partner said this guy's exhibit is in Houston right now. She saw it, and described it as "gruesome, but amazing."

Blogging Programs?

2006-08-09T08:20:00.000-05:00

Recently, I have become disgruntled with blogspot. This began with its refusal to allow category tagging. Wordpress allows this. I'm thinking of switching.

On the other hand, I've been here for several months. And I have the incredible technorati rating of 1,195,250. At least I'm a round number, I guess.

Any thoughts or insights from others?

I Dance Like Everyone's Watching

2006-08-09T07:57:00.000-05:00

For just a few years in high school, I loved to dance. Music brought me incredible joy, and I just let everything go. It wasn't sexual or inappropriate, just joyous. Then I started to think about people watching me dance. And I lost the joy.

I don't know if I looked like an idiot, or just felt like I looked like an idiot. Probably both. (And I'm sure frequenting German discotechs didn't do anything for my style.)

Whatever the reason, I can't dance anymore. I dance like everyone's watching--even when nobody is watching.

Editing and writing feel like that sometimes. As I write and edit, part of me needs to think about the people watching. I need to remember to

* serve my audience
* focus my arguments and topics
* not indulge in too much personal reflection.

But there's a danger in focusing on the audience too much. If I'm not careful, I begin to resent the audience--especially when I'm editing. Who are these people? I wonder. Where are they? Why don't they comment more on Ramblin' Dan or great articles like A Burning Bush Would Be Nice? What do they think of my interview with John Medina. Is it too long? Does its view on evolution offend them? When I ask questions like these, I second guess myself. I get afraid. I lose the joy.

Here's the catch. As an editor, my job is to remember the audience. Sigh. Can you tell I have a long stack of essays to work on?

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing

The Blogger's Prayer

2006-08-03T07:27:00.000-05:00

"This, then, is how you should pray:"

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done
in the blogosphere as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily post.
Forgive us our snark,
as we also have forgiven those who snark against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from gossip and self-absorption and porn.*
For yours is the blogosphere and the platform and the readership.
Amen.

*Everyone knows the internet is full of pornography, but check out these statistics.

I wish every Christian who gets publically annoyed about the ICRS would get at least as publically annoyed about porn.

HillCountryWriter Category: Poetry
Technorati Tags: poetry writing verse

You Need to Read What These Christians Say About Science

2006-08-01T08:33:00.000-05:00

Scientists who are Christian? Not Christian Scientists. These guys aren't prescribing prayer instead of penicillin. They're not even Intelligent Design advocates. These people practice real science, make real discoveries, and receive respect from other scientists. In fact, they make up 40% of scientists!

And they aren't afraid of talking about their faith.

Consider this interview I did with John Medina, just published on TheHighCalling.org. That's him on the left and he really is that excited about life. (I wish you could hear the man talk--he fires off words and ideas like his head is a gatlin gun. And let me tell you, his words have more power than any bullet.)

TheHighCalling.org isn't the only site interested in faith and science. The Foundational Questions Institute is offering big money to scientists who want to study the relationship between physics and theology. The New York Times and the big publishers are getting in on the action, too.

In a recent New York Times article, Faith, Reason, God, and Other Imponderables, Cornelia Dean writes about the onslaught of recent books about faith and science. Here's her introduction:

Nowadays, when legislation supporting promising scientific research falls to religious opposition, the forces of creationism press school districts to teach doctrine on a par with evolution and even the Big Bang is denounced as out-of-compliance with Bible-based calculations for the age of the earth, scientists have to be brave to talk about religion.

Not to denounce it, but to embrace it.

That is what Francis S. Collins, Owen Gingerich and Joan Roughgarden have done in new books, taking up one side of the stormy argument over whether faith in God can coexist with faith in the scientific method.

With no apology and hardly any arm-waving, they describe their beliefs, how they came to them and how they reconcile them with their work in science.

In The Language of God, Dr. Collins, the geneticist who led the American government's effort to decipher the human genome, describes his own journey from atheism to committed Christianity, a faith he embraced as a young physician.

If you don't want to read the column, check out this video interview with the Cornelia Dean (about five minutes long).

I go to a Southern Baptist Church, so I'm used to hearing the dichotomy of science and religion. (Consider what the thoughts of Mainstream Baptist Dr. Bruce Prescott several months ago.)

I'll leave you with John Medina's thoughts on this dichotomy:

A great God has made this universe that we see. Why do we fight over something so beautiful? Science and Christianity are sometimes opposed because people are opposed, not because the ideas are opposed. That's something we should not forget.

(To my friends who disagree with my take on science, I love you. I don't post this to pick a fight or try to force my views down your throat--though you are certainly welcome to comment if you'd like.)

HillCountryWriter Category: High Calling Thoughts
Technorati Tags: work jobs careers business daily life

Turning Tables: Temple or Kingdom

2006-07-30T08:49:00.000-05:00

The LA Times recently ripped the International Christian Retailers Show (ICRS) in Denver in their article "Christian Retailers Put Their Print on Products." This is part three of a four part series discussing the event, its history, and its implications.

First, I wrote about the history of the CBA. Second, I wrote about Jesus turning over the money tables in Jerusalem.

Today, I want to think about Jesus in the temple some more. I've heard preachers and others use the Jesus in the temple argument to rationalize their own righteous indignation. They fight so that God's house isn't compromised.

"Bookstores don't belong in church buildings!" they might say.
"Don't fill those Christian bookstores with trinkets."

But the logical analogy doesn't work entirely. Jesus cleared the temple in righteous anger, but we don't have a temple in the same way anymore. As I learned from N. T. Wright, traditional judaism focused on worshipping at the temple. He calls it a "temple religion." First century judaism was more complicated because they were scattered so widely. Synagogues were beginning to address this problem. And I get the sense that churches today more closely resemble the synagogue than they do the temple.

Of course, we have no picture of Jesus rushing through synagogues turning over tables. And we have no perfect analogy for the "Jesus Junk" that we see for sale "in his name." At best we can say that Jesus himself is now the temple. He said he would tear the temple down and raise it again in three days. And now the church is his body.

Here are a pair of syllogisms:

1) Jesus said he would rebuild God's temple in three days.
2) Jesus then rose from the dead after three days.
3) Jesus must have meant his body was God's temple.

1) The church is the body of Christ.
2) Jesus said his body was God's temple.
3) The church itself has become God's temple.

I don't mean the church building or even the people when they are worshipping together
in the church building. I mean every believer who calls on the name of Jesus, no matter where they are or what they are doing.

And you might be wondering, What does this have to do with the CBA? How is this a response to that cynical LA Times article?

Which reminds me of Colossians 3:15-17. Whatever you do--whether in word or deed--do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. You see, if Jesus Junk is somehow sacrilegious, then all junk is sacrilegious.

I know that was a big leap, so let me explain. If Jesus didn't want God's temple to be a marketplace, if the church is now God's temple, then we should not be living our lives as if
our purpose is the marketplace. My purpose as part of the body of Christ is to glorify God--in all that I do.

Of course, I don't think all junk is sacrilegious. Junk--Jesus or not--isn't a matter of sacrilege. It is a matter of taste. One person's junk is another person's treasure. For example, I have a weakness for science fiction and fantasy novels. I don't go to comic-con or anything, but I could imagine having fun there. Could God be glorified through Comic-Con? Could God be glorified through a comic book movie like X-Men?

Absolutely.

Could God be glorified through an explicitly Christian comic book?

Absolutely.

Are the audiences for these two products the same?

Probably not.

Maybe you can see where I'm going with this. I'll try to wrap it up tomorrow.

Update: Well, I tried to wrap it up in a timely manner. It took me a bit. But I did write Part Four here.

HillCountryWriter Category: Publishing
Technorati Tags: publishing books editing writing