Author: Robert

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advent conspiracy '09


i’m pretty excited about how tapestry is celebrating CHRISTmas. last year we participated in advent conspiracy. we brought it into the worship gatherings and took up an offering for clean water through living water international. it was a great thing so this year everyone agreed to do it again and push it a little further. so for advent conspiracy this year we’ve decided to give the entire church offering through december 31st to provide for clean water (we’ll pay all our expenses through money we already have in the checking account.). the goal is to raise $5,000 to buy a well in central america. this is a big goal for our little church but we’re excited about it. we started last week and as of tonight we $925. woohoo!

SIDE NOTE – tonight one of my friends brought a guest to tapestry. the guest is originally from kenya. i immediately challenged him to a race because i’ve always wanted to say i ran with and beat a kenyan.

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guns and evangelism?


as we discussed at tapestry last week there is some military terminology used within the new testament to describe the life of a follower of CHRIST(ephesians 6:11-20 for example). yet i think many CHRISTians do a really poor job of using these military descriptions in front of non-believers in such a manner that they are not perceived as threatening. i was most convinced of this when pam and i watched “JESUS camp” with some non-evangelical friends. i understood the lingo was being used in the movie so while i didn’t agree with it i wasn’t scared by it. that’s part of the problem of being in a culture, you get used to things that others might not understand. our friends were alarmed by the terminology. they were reminded of al quaeda. i didn’t really blame them.

the above video is another example of such terminology being used in a manner that could easily be perceived as scary. it’s from my alma mater, swbts. the point of the video should be a good thing … let’s share the gospel with our neighbors. instead it is a video of some students caring guns and talking about “taking the hill.” i think some of my friends would be truly scared of this video.

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the week in tweets – 2009-11-14

  • @redheadlindsay don't complain b/c lsu's pockets aren't as deep. of course, even with the interception the outcome would have been the same. in reply to redheadlindsay #
  • I know a lot of my friends don't like the new DCB album because it doesn't translate to easy church music but I really like it. #
  • @theboy1der -not sure they should. i'm a little sick of DCB music being the go to music for some churches. i like it being more of an album in reply to theboy1der #
  • @Joshross – i'm always up for coffee, lunch, and catching up. in reply to Joshross #
  • thinking about tapestry buying a billboard for Xmas that says "JESUS wants you to spend less on HIS birthday!" any thoughts? #
  • @joecausey oh i like that! in reply to joecausey #
  • @joecausey oh i like that! in reply to joecausey #
  • thank you vets for all you have done. #
  • @Joshross – would have been great. sorry i didn't see it in time. in reply to Joshross #
  • @pamelaaugust made general tso's chicken for supper. mhmmm! it was amazing and SPICY! my lips are burning but my stomach is happy. #
  • woohoo! i finally have wave! #
  • off to chippewa falls to hang with @ppolnaszek , @johnthemember and others that will be determined when i get there. #

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curling season has begun

SWEEP!!!

curling season began last night! woohoo! we didn’t win but i am on a team with one of the best skips in the league and we lost last night on the last end by one point to one of the other great skips of the league. it was a really good match. it should be an excellent year.

also, adam holte decided to join the league and learned how to curl last night. woohoo!

btw, if you need family photos you should talk to adam. he is an amazing photographer. here’s the link to his business.

adam learning to curl

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the week in tweets – 2009-11-07

  • if anyone has lottery prayer mojo i would appreciate you using it over the next 5 months for me & jim & jill to get into the NYC marathon 🙂 #
  • i just found out that there is a guy coming to tapestry who was once a champion dog sledder. how cool is that?!?!?!?!? #
  • hanging with @ppolnaszek & @johnthemember and being amazed/scared of how much coffee they drink. they've had 4 cups since i've been with. #
  • policeman loses nose in circumcision ceremony http://bit.ly/wT2AJ. made me think of @sptapestry and smile. #
  • Consumerism is about disacquiring as much as it is about possessing – Peter Sedgwick #
  • morning is jambalaya prep time. afternoon is jambalaya making time. evening is rest from jambalaya making time. now is walking the dogs time #
  • @Joshross – pam is having one of her classes over to the house in reply to Joshross #
  • @dannygilliam – that comes later tonight but wouldn't fit in 140 characters in reply to dannygilliam #
  • @pamelaaugust has a class over to the house for a movie that relates to their study & supper. fun introducing wisconsinites to jambalaya. #
  • finished the second to last paper for "doctrinal foundations of contemporary ministry." not reading "knowing GOD" again for a long time. #
  • @eLP88 make sure it is a good filling lunch because bama likes its tiger meat marbled #tigerssuck #rolltide in reply to eLP88 #
  • pam is pulling for the wrong team to win! http://twitpic.com/on8l0 #
  • @eLP88 exactly! how about them tigers? #tigerssuck #rolltide in reply to eLP88 #
  • @nicoleccausey no pam is wrong! 🙂 rool tide! in reply to nicoleccausey #
  • RAMA JAMA! #
  • @nicoleccausey yes pam is awesome but in regards to lsu she is just wrong! roll tide! in reply to nicoleccausey #
  • @nicoleccausey – i agree it was probably an interception BUT do you really think it would have made a diff? in reply to nicoleccausey #

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conspiracy of grace

and now for yet another reason i love being a part of tapestry.

one of our guy’s life has changed dramatically over the past 18 months (i will call our friend “fred” from now on). he was doing some things that are no longer who he is. a girl that he “hooked up” with over 18 months ago called him to tell him that he was the father of an 8 month old baby boy that he didn’t know about. surprise.

fred’s son lives with the girl back in fred’s hometown in the upper peninsula of michigan. this is around 5 hours away. fred wants to be the best father he can be, supporting his child, spending time with him, and generally fathering. therefore he drives back to his hometown every weekend to take weekend custody of his son and then he drives back to point for school to go to uwsp on monday mornings.

so he sent a message to me asking if tapestry could pray for him. he wasn’t sure how everyone would respond but he really wanted people praying that he would be a good father to his son. i passed it along he got more than he asked for … in a good way.

the next day i received a phone call from someone asking for fred’s address so they could send him a gas card to help with all the travel. this quickly moved from a gas card to a gas card baby shower. fred came over to pam and my house thinking he was coming for supper and was surprised with a male oriented baby shower (brats, root beer, etc). some groups might have responded in judgment but tapestry responded with an awesome night of grace and love. it was a terrific night.

yesterday i received the following message from fred:

I cannot express how much the congregation of Tapestry means to me. As much as I appreciate the many gifts, I appreciate something else much more: friendship/family. People who are already counting pennies giving up money because I needed it, brings tears to my eyes. When I told my parents, my mother was crying and I was fighting the tears at the party. I am proud and thank God for each and everyone from Tapestry. I LOVE YOU ALL!!

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our advent conspiracy


tonight after a few weeks of talking about it with tapestry we all decided to celebrate CHRISTmas by redirecting the entire church offering during the advent season. every dime that comes into tapestry while we are discussing advent conspiracy will be spent on providing clean water for people in a central american village. none of the offerings given during november 22nd through december 27th will go for tapestry’s own expenses. i just felt that the most CHRIST honoring thing we could do during the celebration of HIS birth was spend all our offerings on others in need. thankfully tonight the threads of tapestry agreed with me. in fact, this is going to have to be a bit of an extreme offering for us because the funds necessary for a complete well are more than we typically bring in during a month. to be successful we’ll have to give more than we’ve ever given before. it should be quite cool.

it is nice to be connected with a group of people who are more interested in taking up a special offering to provide clean water than they are in taking one for a building or to meet their own desires. it should be an excellent CHRISTmas.

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fall back

oh how i love you my yearly extra hour. falling back is a wonderful thing. why do we ever have to spring forward? springing forward sucks.

of course, it also means that it will be dark at 5 p.m. tomorrow and soon 3:45 (yes it gets darks in wisconsin that early when the depths of winter hits us). i’m not a huge fan of the early darkness. it makes it difficult to find the time to run and pam swears that she suffers from seasonal affective disorder due to the lack of sunlight.

to recap – extra hour = good, lack of sunlight = bad.

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the week in tweets – 2009-10-31

  • @SteenAR – huh? #
  • montana, our female basset hound, just got her head stuck in the litter box cover and ran through the house with it stuck on her body. #
  • @bachriea – i love this idea BUT it might end my marriage also. in reply to bachriea #
  • listening to this week's "this american life" episode (thanks adam) and amazed by an amish kid getting it and a hell house crew not. #
  • i love fall leaves BUT i hate racking. an autumn dichotomy. #
  • i didn't think it was possible but watching "small potatoes: who killed the usfl" made me like donald trump even less. thought it was imposs #
  • @natebyrd3 – whoops in reply to natebyrd3 #
  • i think i fall in love with tapestry a little more each day – a conversation this morning has turned into a conspiracy of grace. makes me 🙂 #
  • i wonder what could happen in the kingdom of GOD if the majority of churches DIDN'T have buildings instead of 93% having them. a miracle? #
  • http://twitpic.com/n7g31 – Adam 3rd bass drum from left. Woohoo! #
  • http://twitpic.com/nalxf – $5 if you figure out what i was saying #
  • CRAP! i just realized that the packers/viking game starts at 3:15 this week. it will end before tapestry but not before setup! #
  • @jaa22 – yeah – i'll steal that at some time. in reply to jaa22 #
  • i love my boys but i hate that as teens they not only ate all the house food but they start with all the good stuff! nutty bars are gone! #
  • AGAIN! I HATE LEAVES! I raked the yard yesterday and it looked great. Now it is COVERED in leaves again! Looks as though I did nothing! #
  • @allisonrichmond – nice try and it was about relationships but it was as treating a gf as a drug to fill a blank. in reply to allisonrichmond #
  • @dhaltom7 – ohhh! that would have been good and religious but it was about treating a gf as a drug to fill a blank. in reply to dhaltom7 #
  • i'm on a document projector kick again. anybody know anything about canon's. is this a good deal? http://bit.ly/2SHmpB #
  • I just salsajacked Noah's chip! #
  • Misdirection works by encouraging consumers to think of consumption as a way of enacting profound values – Consuming Religion #
  • @thegsides – WRONG! jedi's don't wear hats and luther wore a hat. in reply to thegsides #
  • YOU have made us for YOURself and our hearts are restless until they rest in THEE – Augustine #
  • @natebyrd3 – GO DAWGS! actually i don't really like GA either BUT I HATE FLORIDA! in reply to natebyrd3 #
  • @zmikko – thanks zach. i've been looking at uwsp's but the only time they've had one i missed it by 20 minutes. in reply to zmikko #
  • @thegsides – that's not a hat. whereas this pancake thing is a hat http://bit.ly/2WooMy in reply to thegsides #
  • @thegsides – that is what i'm saying. it's a hood! lightsaber doesn't make up for it b/c luther being a preacher prob carried a sword 😉 in reply to thegsides #

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following in my brother-in-law’s steps

zune

jim posted the podcasts that he is presently listening to. i realized it was something i hadn’t done in a while and thought i would do so now. the radio antenna on my car has been broken for a year but i’ve been too lazy to replace it because i basically just listen to podcasts. so here’s what is on my zune at the moment.

  • advent conspiracy podcast
  • catalyst podcast – i’m not a big fan of leadership stuff within the church but i do like the interviews they have on this podcast
  • tips from the top floor – my favorite photography podcast
  • ecclesia church – a great church in houtson
  • espn football today – i have to keep up to date with what’s happening in the “no fun league”
  • fly fish radio – makes me dream of a river runs through it while i listen to it
  • imago dei church – a wonderful church in seattle
  • mars hill bible church
  • new yorker poitical podcast
  • npr: talk of the nation
  • npr: it’s all politics – my favorite political podcast
  • npr: story of the day
  • npr: wait, wait don’t tell me – a fun, news game show – SECOND FAVORITE
  • orvis fly fishing podcast – i can’t afford their equipment but i can steal their ideas.
  • dan small’s wisconsin outdoors radio – hunting and fishing in wisconsin
  • pri: to the best of our knowledge
  • q podcast – q is a butt kicking conference and the podcast ain’t bad either
  • stuff you should know – the title says it all – this one is a lot of fun
  • tapestry messages – yes i relisten to the tapestry messages -  you got a problem with that?!??!?
  • TED talks – great ideas and thoughts
  • the economist
  • the moth podcast – a different story for every podcast
  • the ring community church – a group of friends down in baton rouge and a wonderful church
  • the skeptics guide 5×5 – 5 minutes with 5 skeptics
  • this american life – you need to listen to this – MY FAVORITE

that’s the regular line up that i listen to as i am driving or running. any other recommendations?