The Cultural Invasion of the Mormons

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 17, 2005 in Culture | 13 comments

I never know what to believe when I read posts, articles and other content online. But lately I’ve been quietly enjoying The Killers album, Hot Fuss. I was reading a blog, when I found:

The Killers- Hot Fuss
What’s with all the Mormons pretending they’re badass? You act all swaggerly and pompous on stage, but we all know that you still aren’t allowed to drink soda and have to call your Dad Sir when you have to miss shows to go home for family event night. I don’t know, I just never really like this band when they were called Duran Duran, and their song “Mr. Brightside” actually induced me to experience a series of panic attacks that continued over a course of several months. True story. Thanks Mormons!

It’s always interesting to learn what singers/songwriters worldviews are…full comments at this blog.

Second, Napoleon Dynamite swept through my little neck of the woods. That’s what I’m talking about. As I looked to verify The Killers comments, I ran into this blog:

But I guess the fact that (Napoleon Dynamite) was almost entirely cast and crewed by Mormons gives it just that special touch to make Napoleon and his Mexican friend Pedro’s miraculous triumph seem feasible (side note: when did being Mormon become so cool?)

The Mormons have embarked on a new kind cultural invasion that doesn’t involve bicycles and suits. (Now you see why Napoleon thought bikes were so cool and the hidden pro-bike propaganda! HA!)

The bottom line is how do you know when this stuff is true? The second question then is, what is truth?

The ManKind Project

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 16, 2005 in Church Technology, Culture, Sheep&Goats | 5 comments

Last night I attended a graduation ceremony for The ManKind Project.

The ManKind Project® offers trainings which support men in developing lives of integrity, accountability, and connection to feeling. Our trainings challenge men to develop their abilities as leaders, fathers, and elders as ways of offering their deepest gifts in service to the world.

The ManKind Project’s New Warrior Training AdventureTM is an intense, transformative men’s initiation which invites men to forge a deep conscious connection between head and heart. The NWTA offers men a powerful, challenging opportunity to look at all aspects of their lives in a richly supportive environment.

The New Warrior Training AdventureTM is the gateway to the ManKind Project.

It was pretty amazing to see all these men gather and discuss the relationships and experience they had going away for a weekend (and beating a drum no less) to face their pains in life and heal through this ‘spiritual’ experience. I’m interviewing four guys that went through the process for this week’s sheep.

Vision Nationals

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 16, 2005 in Church | 0 comments

Our church is partnering with Vision Nationals in India. Currently, they have a Children’s Home built in 1999. This building houses 100+ orphans and children of very poor families providing them with 7th grade education, and Christian upbringing. They also have started an advanced Bible College in 1996 giving 4 year bachelor degree in Theology.
They hope to expand facility to house and train 150+ students. New church costs aprox. $5000 to build in a village and $12000 to build in the city. Currently two village and one city church are in the planning stages.
Church planter salary Р$35 Р$100 a month provides partial support for the planter’s personal and missional needs. Our church intends to raise $5000 by to build one of the village churches now in need. Additionally we want to provide ongoing support this new church for until it is self-sufficient. (Ministry Blog)

Anchor Point Church

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 16, 2005 in Church Technology, Sheep&Goats | 0 comments

“Nobody wants to talk about failure,” said Pastor Ryan Sharp. “As a new church, you try hard to build it and then you slap God’s name onto it, so there is a certain sense of gravity and guilt about failing.”

Twenty-eight-year-old Sharp reflected on the highs and lows of being a pastor. “I don’t know the mechanics of why failure happens. I look at it in more of a deistic experience rather than it was God’s will to grow our church and then shut it down. I attribute our failure to many things,” said Pastor Sharp.

Full Anchor Point article >

Evils & Injustice in Hosting Providers

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 15, 2005 in Church Technology, Monk Dev | 0 comments

I’m helping a church re-do their website and move hosting companies. They currently use Easyspace. I was ready to transfer the domains (2) and whamo! I read the fine print:

If you are ready to transfer your domain away from us simply click “Proceed” which will take you to the secure online payment area. Please note that all domain transfers away incur an administration fee of ¬£49.00 ex VAT.

These people are criminals.