i’m a big fan of rob bell’s work. i enjoy all his nooma videos, as well as his book “velvet elvis.” It came as no surprise to me that I loved this book. “jesus wants to save christians – a manifesto for the church in exile” is an interesting take on our current way of living. bell takes us on a journey back to sinai, where we start wondering how far “east of eden” we’ve come as a society.

i can already tell that this book will undergo major scrutiny and criticism as it can easily be interpreted as “anti-america,” “down-with-the-corporations”-type stuff, but as with anything of this genre, you have to realize that the author’s opinion doesn’t have to be yours. if it is, fine. if it isn’t, better.

the first 2/3 of the book or so outline the cries of the oppressed and how we should be willing at every point in our lives to drop everything to respond to that call. there are some general statistical facts on world hunger, poverty, etc. – not a lot we haven’t heard before, but refreshing nonetheless. bell seems to be calling for a revolution in the church. one of my favorite quotes from the book is “church should exist not for the believers, but the nonbelievers.” how true.

while the authors compare the biblical exiles and empires to the nation of america, terrorists, and war, all of this must be taken in with an open mind. the introduction says that you have to read the book beginning to end or it won’t make any sense. this is true. if you open the book in the middle and start reading about how america is nothing more than an empire of socialites, you’ll probably return it to the store.

cover to cover, this is a great book. rob’s best in my opinion. it’ll certainly be on my re-read list.

rating: 5 out of 5

Here is a list of what I plan on reviewing here on the blog in the next few days:

MUSIC
Starfield – I Will Go
Chris Tomlin – Hello Love
Dave Barnes – Me & You & the World

BOOKS
Rob Bell – “Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile”

You’ll notice that I’m going to be doing a whole slew of album/book/movie reviews here in the next few days. Trying to catch up with the new blog, that’s all.

I’ve gotta tell you – DC*B’s Remedy Club Tour Live CD/DVD Combo was one of the most highly-anticipated releases of the year for me. I went to two places to find it out of stock (on the day of release) before ultimately driving 30 miles to pick up a copy.

When I first listened to the CD, it became apparent that the production quality wasn’t stellar. It didn’t seem like a typical Crowder concert to me. I’ve seen them several times live and it’s more often the banter between songs that defines the experience rather than the songs themselves. Musically, it’s a great album. There are several new additions to old DC*B favorites, as well as some newer, updated versions of songs off their latest effort, “Remedy.”

Once I popped in the DVD, it was almost as if I was watching something completely different. I felt like I was at a Crowder concert. I already knew that the filming was done over two different concerts, but I didn’t know that they would cut in shots from both concerts in the middle of the songs. For example, it’s common to see a shot of the band mid-song, and about ten seconds later cut to a different angle of the band, where they’re all wearing different clothes. The music is not interrupted here. This makes it feel like a little less authentic. Even if there were small mistakes, I would have felt better about watching the same concert beginning to end instead of sporadic intrusions by a different-colored-shirt-wearing David Crowder and band.

The DVD extras are fantastic, including many videos of the band teaching you exactly how to play their songs, the exact equipment they use, etc.

Since this is a DVD/CD combo, I’ll separate my ratings.

CD – 3.0 out of 5
DVD – 4.0 out of 5

I gave a talk last night about the L-word. I started with the story of how Nikki and I met, and what a completely unexpected turn our lives have taken with me going into ministry. Then we looked at several video clips from movies and TV shows and talked about the types of love portrayed in those clips. The clips ranged from true love (Courtroom scene from “Mrs. Doubtfire”) to material love (When Tom Hanks has to part with “Wilson” from “Cast Away”).

Here is a post I made on our youth blog before the talk last night:

As I prepare for tonight’s youth fellowship meeting, I’ve begun thinking about love. Not your everyday love, but real, true love. I’m sure you are all familiar with the following verses from 2 Corinthians, most notably heard at about every wedding you’ve ever attended:

“Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.”

When we read this scripture, we’re prone to think about this in terms of loving another person – another human being. But we often show this type of love for material things. Things as trivial as a new handbag or a new cell phone.

I want to tell you straightforwardly that the odds of you experiencing this true love described in 2 Corinthians when you are in high school are very, very slim. Less than 5 percent. That’s not to say that you might feel such a strong desire to be with a person when you’re in high school that you think it could only be love, but when that person dumps you, or vice versa, the feelings really change, don’t they? You can go from totally, head-over-heels “in love” to “I hate you” in an hour. True love conquers all. True love doesn’t depend on what day it is or what the situation is.

So as we go into our youth meeting tonight (though I’m sure probably none of you will read this before then), I pray that you will open your hearts and minds to know that someone out there has this love for you. Someone cares enough about you to offer up his life for you. Someone wants an intimate relationship with you more than anything in the world. This is someone that will never fail you, never leave you, never abandon you, and anytime you want to speak with him, you don’t have to worry about him hitting the “ignore” button on his phone or simply not responding to your text. God is madly in love with you, and like it or not, that love is here to stay.

See you tonight-

-Jon