Links and Elevators

NASA just finished the first stage of their Centennial Challenge competition (link). This is a new series of technology competitions that they modeled on the X Prize contest. The X Prize, as I'm sure you recall, was a contest to see which group or company could design an aircraft that could carry two people into space and make a return trip into space within two days. It was worth one million dollars and was thought to be the precursor to private space travel.

The Centennial Challenges are an entire series of challenges like that. The first challenge this past year was to create a super-strong rope that could be used as space elevator. The second challenge was to create a robot to travel up a line like this carrying a heavy load. These two competitions were worth $50,000 each but no one won either one. Next year's continuation of this series will be worth $200,000 instead. Space tech is cool (says the sci-fi fan).

And if that bores you then have fun with this game instead. The best time that I've seen so far is 22 seconds.

And in case anyone missed it, here's that article about Richard that was in the London Free Press last week.

Weekend Review

Did you all read the article about Richard Phillips in the Christian Life in London insert in the London Free Press last Wednesday? He still has those commercials on TV for his old school and now he has this article about his work with the youth shelter in London. I think that's thirty minutes of fame now.

This past Saturday my Little Brother carve a pumpkin. I vaguely remember doing that as a kid but I had to learn how to do it all over again. We managed to get a fairly intricate carving done that looks really cool. Thanks to my mom, I have some before-and-after pictures but I can't post them for the sake of my Little's privacy. Sorry about that.

This past Friday I attended nine20, the young adult group at Open Doors church. I've recently started playing percussion with them for worship each Friday but this time none of the regular worship leaders showed up. I was drafted into worship leadership at the last minute and we ripped off a quick ten minute sound check and practice. The worship went well.

The guest speaker was Harvey Katz, finishing off part two of a talk about evangelism. (See Part 1 here.) He preached from the passage in 2 Corinthians 3:12-18, which has one of my favourite verses: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." I had a song in mind that I used to play for the after-service worship at FCCC (my old church) back in the day. I started playing as Harvey was finishing his talk and I ministered in song afterwards. It was great since I haven't done that in more than a year except by myself. My piano playing was fairly pathetic but it got the job done. I'm always a little surprised at how effectively God uses me to lead worship but it's great that He still does.

Speaking of God using me, I'm off to Windsor this coming weekend to do some inner-city outreach. There's a church there that helps train other churches in that kind of ministry. I'll be heading down as part of the worship team to play percussion for two different events and I'll also be doing some walk-the-streets outreach stuff on Saturday afternoon. This will be cool since I haven't done anything like this in quite a while. I'll be away from early Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon.

News & Views

Ah, now I can dip into weird news again, for your reading pleasure...

Did you hear about the 10-foot boa snake that terrorized an apartment building? One guy went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, looked down at the toilet after turning on the light and realized there was a snake coiled in his toilet looking up at him. The snake was living on rats it found in the sewer, apparently, and it would pop up in toilets. Check out the full story on that link and a funny picture.

"This year alone, Shanghai will complete towers with more space for living and working than there is in all the office buildings in New York." (Link)

The CSI Effect: The CSI TV shows are having a tangible effect on reasl-life juries, according to this article in the Toronto Star. Juries are demanding forensic evidence more than ever before and, like the show, are more inclined to accept the unhappy ending without this kind of evidence.

I heard about a new type of window that is strong enough to repel bullets (link). This new material is both stronger and lighter than the existing bullet proof glass. That piqued my interest since one of my recent friends, Andrea Black, happens to be a mechanical engineer for a company that builds tanks. She's sometimes gets to build explosives to test their tanka rmour armour, which is really cool job.

Personal Space

I hung out at nine20 this past Friday evening, as I usually do every Friday evening. It's the young adult group at Open Door church. Harvey Katz was a guest speaker and he had a talk about the principles of evangelism. Harvey's an excellent evangelist so he knows what he's talking about but I was still surprised by his easy explanation about what it requires.

As a summary for my own sake, he said that it comes down to personal space. Y'know how it's weird to speak to someone that's a "close talker?" Those people that don't seem to understand that we need a little more than a few inches between us during a conversation? And yet the closer you are to someone, the easier it is to offer a hug or that kind of thing. Harvey said that it's the same deal with everyone's spiritual space.

Too often, Christians act like "close talkers" and get too serious too quickly about spiritual issues. I found that comment odd since I had the vague impression that evangelists were successful in reaching people precisely because they got through people's boundaries. Instead, Harvey said that we need to identify people's personal distance from us and from God and allow them to lead. That's right, the evangelist isn't the one in control of the conversation!

There are various levels of spiritual space in peoples lives, Harvey said.

1. The Unconvinced: These are the people that cannot be swayed through conversation or debate. The best course of action is to pray for them and to show God in our own lives.
2. The Inquirers: They may ask questions so we can answer them, but don't overdo it and give them more than they asked for. Pay attention to their social cues and don't bore them or push them.
3. The Seekers: These are the people that are intently searching and they may have long and deep conversations about these issues. In this case, do not push for a decision. Let them come to their own conclusion.
4. The Finders: These are the people that have decided to become Christians. This will seem like a final destination at the end of a long road. We need to understand that this is the beginning of their journey with God instead of the culmination.
5. The Keepers: "It's not how far you've gone, it's the path you're on."

The way that Harvey explained this makes it so much easier in my head. Give people an opening during conversations to ask about God. If they pursue the topic, talk to them at their discretion. Evangelism isn't about breaking through into people's lives, it's about helping people find what they are looking for.

Ain't Just Words

The Toronto Star had an article this past week about the upcoming Raptors season in the NBA. Last year, Sam Mitchell was the rookie head coach and it showed. He had to "hug some players and kick some others in the butt...This time around, though, the Raptors coach is pretty sure he's going to do the right thing to the right guy."

Most notably, Rafer Alston imploded part way through the season and threatened to quit the NBA entirely. Presumably the coach used a little too much tough love with him (like the suspension that was given) when he needed to use more encouragement. Too late to fix that problem now that Rafer is gone - though I suppose that does fix it in a way.

It's interesting to see the coach showing some personal growth in such a public way, though that is the nature of sports journalism. It reminds of my own experience with the youth worship team at Faith (FCCC) back in the day. I thought that I was an excellent leader and teacher. In my mind I was practical, motivating and properly focused on the spiritual aspect of worship. In the minds of the youth, I seemed demanding, oblivious and stubborn.

I led the youth worship team for what, two years? After the first year, Leonard Terry (our pastor) preached a series on communication and I clued into the fact that my perception of my leadership and communication skills did not match the youth's perspective. By far, the biggest change for me was that I realized that I needed to encourage the youth a whole lot more. I always thought that they were doing an excellent job and that they were progressing nicely but I rarely said that to them.

Some of the youth really didn't appreciate my leadership, to put it nicely. The side effect was that it gave many of them the chance to mature themselves. Can we submit to an authority that we don't like? Can we follow a leader with whom we do not always agree? What if others are making negative comments, how do we handle that situation? I taught the youth a lot during that time and unfortunately some of it was through a negative example, but fortunately many of them still developed regardless.

I've said for a long time that we can't grow too much as Christians until we take on leadership roles ourselves in some capacity. That was certainly true for me. I look back on my growth during that leadership time as the one experience that impacted me the most in my life. I've had innumerable learning experiences during my twenty-seven years on this planet, of course, but I point to that time as my key epiphany.

So to any of the members of the old youth worship team that may read this, I offer my thanks to you. I love the time that I shared with you all and I appreciate all that you have given to me. I pray that my communication with others and that my current and future leadership would be as encouraging and inspiring as possible.