the e-meter by Scientologists everywhere

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jun 24, 2005 in Culture | 0 comments

Found this on cyberspace. A review of the ‘e-meter’ used by Scientology:

Over a ball-breaking glass of Fantome Brise-Bonbons at Blind Tiger last night, I made a stunning revelation: I’m totally entranced by this Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes experiment. It has everything I could ever want from a news story: Potential brainwashing, aliens, ninjas (well, Tom was a samurai once, which is like a ninja with a bamboo fetish), and gadgets. One in particular: the ‘e-meter,’ or ‘Electro-psychometer,’ a “pastoral counseling device” used by the Church of Scientology to detect, among other things, the emotional state and thoughts of those attached to the device.

Full Review: Scientology e-meter

The Resolved Church

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jun 22, 2005 in Church Technology, Sheep&Goats | 1 comment

“Each week we BBQ, drink beer, and hang out together,” said Pastor Smets. Nearly all of the people at The Resolved live in Pacific Beach and work there. At Sunday’s service, six of the seven people who attended worked within one block of each other, on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach. “I work in a record store, two people work in coffee shops, and two at a clothing store. We all ride bikes to work. I haven’t bought gas in a month-and-a-half,” said Smets.

“Since we all ride bikes, we started a bike gang called the DreadKnocks,” said Joe Foster, a congregant of the church. The name, DreadKnocks, came from the Cobra gang in G.I. Joe that hangs out in the swamp. Foster and the gang wear denim vests with their gang’s moniker on the back. Foster said that a local rival gang has felt threatened by them. “We’re thinking of challenging them to a jump duel to end the rivalry once and for all.” Foster moved to Pacific Beach from Nashville after he met Smets and Bragg at a conference about starting new churches. Foster said this church has been a departure from past church experiences. “If you are looking for someone to give you all the answers and pump you up to make you feel good, you won’t like this church. If you want honest people that talk about how we can deal with the human condition from a Biblical perspective, you will like it. This is a nonthreatening environment for people to learn about the Bible.”

Full Article: The Resolved Church

Portland Trip – Donald Miller & Rick McKinley

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jun 18, 2005 in Church | 3 comments

Last week I spent 4 days in Portland. I enjoyed a morning with Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) discussing some of the projects he is working on. Exciting stuff will be coming from him (in the form of books, the Burnside Collective and even radio?…)

I met with Rick McKinley at a pub and I am really excited about McKinley’s next book unfortunately he may push back it’s release 6-months. The book will bring a lot of the work he has done on the Kingdom of God and how that pratically applies to a local church and their ministry. Imago Dei is doing so many ‘Kingdom’ minded things that other churches need to take a look at and learn from. [The more I think about the emergent movement the more I hope churches emerge toward a Kingdom view (versus programatic/fiefdom) of church.]

Saint Gregory the Great

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jun 15, 2005 in Church Technology, Sheep&Goats | 1 comment

Father Gallagher said many Protestant ministers are leaving their traditions to join the Catholic Church. “They usually become Catholic because of the 6th chapter of John, on the Eucharist. They realize what they are teaching is not what they are practicing.” Father Gallagher added that the Catholic tradition is the only valid priesthood. “We are not condemning [other traditions], just acknowledging the reality. Their priesthood is not valid. The Catholic Church has been around for almost 2000 years. There is a history of who founded the Catholic Church and we can trace our steps back to Jesus Christ. There is a Real Presence of the Sacraments administered by people who trace their roots to Jesus.” Father Gallagher said he did not want to judge these other traditions but wanted “people to participate in true Sacraments.” Gallagher recommended I contact the Coming Home Network which supports Protestants who become Catholic.

Jim Anderson, at the Coming Home Network, is a liaison with Protestants who seek to learn more about the Catholic Church. This year, Anderson said there has been a 40 percent increase in the number of Protestants who have contacted the Coming Home Network. Anderson said many pastors sacrifice their vocations and occupations upon conversion to the Catholic Church. I asked Anderson why people decide to leave their tradition to join the Catholic Church. “Many of the clergy as well as lay people in the Protestant denominations are having a crisis of faith, not in Jesus, but in, ‘What is truth and how do we know it?’ In the past, beginning in the 16th Century, Protestants answered the question of authority with ‘Sola Scriptura,’ or ‘the Scriptures alone’. Beginning in the 19th Century through the 20th, and continuing to our own century, there has been continuing erosion amongst mainline Protestant denominations in the authority of the Bible. If the Bible was your only authority, and your denomination had rejected that, all that is left is subjectivism. If all that is left is subjectivism, you now have truth being decided by the annual national convention through popular vote.”

Full Article: Saint Gregory the Great

New Blog Look

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jun 15, 2005 in Church Technology | 1 comment

Launched a new look based on Marcos Sader‘s equiX design.