Bezalel @ Kaleo

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Apr 29, 2005 in Church | 2 comments

Kaleo’s very own Bezalel has released their first cd. They’ve gotten a great response. Check out the cd at www.cdbaby.com/bezalel. Vote for them at www.musolist.com/bezalel/, they currently are in the Top 5. They even got picked up by Tower Records.

Mixing eclectic influences from Bach to the Beatles, Dylan to Death Cab, and a little Rolling Stones and Radiohead thrown in for good measure, Bezalel is creating beautiful ambient indie-folk-pop songs filled with tension and truth. Brian, Chris, Dustin, and Mike met at Kaleo Church in San Diego, CA where they just sortta organically formed a band to lead the congregation in song. One thing led to another and they recorded “Fidelity on High” in Brian’s studio, which will be released in April. This album could be defined as one of the most adventurous worship albums ever recorded. Not your typical CCM Nashville crap, if you know what we mean. That’s about all we have to say about that.

We are really proud of this new cd as a reflection on the community we are creating here in San Diego.

Bonita Valley Community Church

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Apr 27, 2005 in Church Technology, Sheep&Goats | 0 comments

In the 35-minute sermon, Pastor Brawner included jokes, humorous stories, a fairy tale, and a comment about the Chargers. At one point Brawner said, “The Apostle Paul was a golfer. You can tell this because Paul said, ‘That which I want to do, I don’t do. That which I don’t want to do, I do.’ A joke that referenced Romans 7:15. The simple sermon made five points and concluded with, “Like Jonah, We Are Invited To Run ______ God!” The congregation wrote in “with” as the final point.

Bonita Valley Community Church Article

Mega Churches that are Family of God-centric

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Apr 24, 2005 in Church | 3 comments

Have you seen a large church that does a good job of not segregating the family into compartments based on age, gender and sin groups? What does that look like? How can a large church still be a place that is united as a Family of God?

It seems as I visit ‘mega-churches’ they all are program-run and divide the people of God into small groups based on these classifications. I would love to hear if people have seen a large church do this well.

The Kabbalah Centre

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Apr 20, 2005 in Church Technology, Sheep&Goats | 1 comment

“Kabbalah is a spiritual wisdom that precedes all religions. It was founded over 4000 years ago. Kabbalah is not really a religion or Jewish mysticism but a spiritual technology. Kabbalah teaches people how to attain lasting fulfillment. The tools of Kabbalah provide peace of mind, transformation, and the ability to rid ourselves of uncertainty in our lives. Kabbalah exposes the real nature of God. God is nothing more or less than a lasting energy. God is not a god that punishes us or rewards us. It is people who follow religions with a mindset of ‘God is doing this’ that are missing the real game.” Joseph Shvili told the class that the rules of the game are like natural laws. “Gravity has nothing to do with being Protestant or Catholic. It’s a principle of the universe. If you know the principles, you can play the game and win.”

The Kabbalah Centre article >

My own ‘Sin City’

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Apr 18, 2005 in Culture | 5 comments

‘Sin City’ was how I felt one-quarter of the way through this film. I hadn’t heard much about the film, other than watching a couple trailers. I had hoped it was going to be Kill Bill meets The Punisher (from the comic book, not the bad movie flop.) Instead, I was taken on a ride that easily lived up to the films name.

The movie takes place in a dark, rainy place called Sin City. The film is an adaptation from Frank Millers comic books (graphic novels is what they call them in the credits) and it follows three interconnecting stories. The list of stars is A list material with Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro and down from there to Mickey Rourke and others.

Cannibalism, decapitation, molestation, prostitution, murder, abuse, drunkenness, debauchery and just about every other sin you can think of was packed in this 124-minute wicked-fest. Now I understand this is what we should expect from a culture that has flipped God the middle finger, while we live in our sin-drenched lives where people no longer fear God. But even with that understanding, I have to confess there was a time I realized this film had gone too far and I needed to leave the theater. Well, I didn’t and at the end of the film I felt miserable.

Swirling in the graphic blood-soaked scenes was a moral message straight from hell. Good was bad, bad was good, justice was perverse, the Church corrupt (the local Cardinal sanctioned and participated in the kidnapping of prostitutes, next they are decapitated and then finally they eat their flesh), cops were on the bad guys payroll and the good guys were the murderers. This movie has so twisted the designs of God, I could only imagine the liberty it offers viewers who now have a new low of humanity to look at with pride and say, “Well I’m not as bad as…”

The primary motivation to write this review is to recommend that you not see this film. In our desire to be ‘culturally relevant’ often we do this knowing we enter into a world of sinners, but you don’t need to see this film to learn about the wicked world we live in.