According to this article from the Union-Tribune, children will bear the brunt of the budget cuts.

“We realize that our state legislators have very difficult decisions to make,” said Wilbert Miller, pastor of First Lutheran Church of San Diego. “What we don’t understand is why our children should bear the brunt of such cuts.”

Children shouldn’t bear the brunt of the cuts right?  But then who should?  What should be cut?  Let’s take a closer look at our state budget:

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picture by Mike Licht

wikipedia defines New Urbanism:

“New Urbanism is an urban design movement that arose in the United States in the early 1980s. Its goal is to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban planning, from urban retrofits to suburban infill. New urbanist neighborhoods are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs, and to be walkable.”

The principles of New Urbanism include walkability, mixed use (retail, office and residential) buildings, mixed income housing, and increased density among others. The goal is to create communities that are more community oriented, encourage face to face interaction, beautiful streets and city centers. It rejects our car and road centered lifestyle and values urban walkability over suburban disconnectedness. People can work, shop and sleep all in the same neighborhood and walk to all of it.

Honestly it sounds great. I don’t really like cars. I like riding my bicycle. We are too disconnected with our neighbors. There’s really very little community in the American dream of a house in the suburbs. It seems like we’re always trying to separate ourselves and become more individualistic in our society. So New Urbanism’s approach in rethinking the American dream and reemphasizing the community is really refreshing. [Read more]

photo by brebot

In California we have the opportunity to vote on a state constitutional amendment that would define marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman. This vote promises to be a very close one and in California, it’s probably a bigger deal than the presidential election. (The presidential election has been wrapped up for awhile in California).

I see older white families holding “Yes on Prop 8″ signs on busy intersections in the morning. I see younger ethnically diverse people holding “No on Prop 8″ signs on those same intersections at night. It is a very interesting fight considering that 8 years ago, prop 22 was passed with an overwhelming majority (61%).

I can perfectly understand why non-Christians would vote no on 8, but arguments for Christians to vote no on 8 have been popping up. This blog post argues that Christians should vote No on 8 because we should acknowledge religious freedom for all and not all religions think that homosexuality is wrong. Basically, don’t pass laws that force others to be Christian or think like a Christian. Many would use this same argument for abortion. Many would argue that we should vote no in order to ensure the separation of church and state.

One thing these people forget is that there is no such thing as neutrality. Those against prop 8 would have you believe that a No vote is a neutral vote on prop 8. You’re not FOR gay marriage, you’re merely for personal freedom and choice. You’re for allowing people to do what they want to do. You don’t want to restrict people’s freedoms even though personally you believe gay marriage is wrong. They argue, if you’re against men marrying men, then don’t marry another man. But if someone else does it, its none of your business. [Read more]

photo by Josh Parrish

Any of you believe it? Check out www.chrismartenson.com and take the crash course. Check out lifeaftertheoilcrash.net

Basically it’s saying that our entire economy and way of life is based on the presence of cheap oil. We have already peaked in terms of oil production but not worldwide demand. Worldwide demand for oil will continue to grow exponentially. Oil prices will skyrocket and oil producing nations will stop exporting oil once they realize the world is going to run out of it.

That will make not only our gas prices skyrocket, but the price of everything else will skyrocket also because it takes oil to transport and build everything. Our way of life is built on oil and since oil will no longer be available, our lives will be changed forever.

World wars and massive famine and depression will result.

There can be a solution to the energy crisis. It needs to be dealt with in two respects. Supply and demand. [Read more]

photo by Daquella manera

Charles Lee encourages us to vote on actual issues rather than image or rhetoric. The problem is, I don’t know enough about almost all the issues.

It’s very difficult to vote on issues. We would all like to say we vote on issues, but really its difficult for the President to have a good understanding of all the issues. The President has hundreds of advisors. We only have the internet. [Read more]

“Great respect goes to Barack Obama not only for saying criticism of candidates’ children is out of bounds in political campaigns, but for making it personal, and therefore believable. “My mother had me when she was eighteen…” That was the lovely sound of class in American politics.”

Read this line in this article by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal online.  Completely agree.  Completely agree.

photo by Helico

Bi-vocational ministry shouldn’t be held up as an ideal, but should be looked at for what it is–a good idea that just doesn’t work.

As I was perusing some blogs, I ran across an interesting discussion on bi-vocational ministers. Chris Marshall has a really heartfelt post on his struggles with being a bi-vocational minister. After I read that post, I just felt sad. Sad sad sad.

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photo by annia316

Recently I read Dr. Scorgie’s post on whether or not Christianity will become a force to protect the environment. He characterizes worldviews that do not ascribe to a green Christianity as “sinister” and those that do as “healthy” and “hopeful.” Evangelicals have traditionally been labeled ‘conservative’ politically and therefore against environmentalism but there seems to be a new movement towards an environmentally friendly evangelicalism.

It’s not convincing.

I think it’s really really cool to be green. When someone drives a Prius or tells me they bike to work, I seriously think that the person is really cool. It helps that these people dress very fashionably and are usually artistic and technologically advanced also. I’m not joking or being sarcastic. When people talk about recycling or refuse to use Styrofoam, I admire them. They live downtown so they can walk to work or use mass transit. They buy groceries from local growers and eat organic.

But I just can’t buy it. Why? [Read more]

photo compilation by pardeshi

Asian American (AA) church leaders are particularly concerned with building multi-ethnic churches. In fact, EVERY Asian American pastor that I personally know has at least seriously considered building a multi-ethnic church. But why?

There are a number of possible reasons: (Much of this is my own personal observation, so take it all with a grain of salt. It is not meant to offend anybody… my observations may not even be true.)

1. Theology and hermeneutics

2. Ethnic church baggage

3. Identity issues

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photo by dasasaki

We know that the Asian American population is growing… particularly the American born Asian population. But where are Asian Americans headed? Which church will minister to them? Will it be bilingual churches? Will it be Asian American churches? Or will it be multi-ethnic churches?

Due to the huge surge in population (look at the charts in my last post) Asian American churches will grow in all forms. I believe English ministries will grow larger and more robust, Asian American churches will grow both in number of churches and the size of the churches themselves, and so will multi-ethnic churches. But I believe that Asian American churches will capture the largest portion of this population increase. Second generation Asian Americans are going to be choosing their own churches for the first time in large numbers, and they will overwhelmingly choose Asian American churches.

Churches are primarily built to support a single culture. Whether or not this is biblical is debatable, but the fact is that only 5% of churches in America are racially integrated.  Pastor Ken brings up the homophily principle in his video presentation. African-Americans have historically attended African-American churches. Hispanic-Americans have attended Hispanic-American churches. Thus it follows that Asian Americans will attend Asian American churches. Again, this is not a matter of whether or not this is desirable. This is just plain what happens. It’s very difficult to argue against the fact that Asian Americans will naturally want to be with other Asian Americans. They feel more comfortable. They know you understand them on certain levels.

For the first time EVER, Asian Americans are developing a distinct ethnic culture that is all their own. Church attendance will reflect that culture. For the first time we are seeing distinctly Asian American cultural icons. Anime, boba, asian yogurt places, none of these things existed when I was in high school. Especially in California, Asian American culture is finally defining itself. The reason? The biggest reason is that for the first time there are enough Asian Americans to create their own culture separate from their parents culture and separate from mainstream American culture. They will therefore have a church that is separate from their parents and also separate from mainstream America.

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