unChristian Wrap-up

When you hear the name Chick-fil-A, what comes to mind?

• The greatest chicken sandwich of all time?
• Excellent customer service?
• Waffle fries & lemonade?

What about when you hear the word Christian? I would like to think you imagine:

• Loving without attached strings
• Advocating for the voiceless
• Genuine
• Compassionate
• Etc.

I just finished reading the book unChristian where it takes a humbling look at what younger generations think of Christianity. It includes none of the preceding thoughts. In fact, through extensive research, it concludes that Christianity has an image problem. Instead of giving you a book review that is a couple years too late, I will pass on some of the striking finds.
* the term outsider is used to denote someone outside of the Christian faith

In a national survey, it found the most common perceptions of present-day Christianity are antihomosexual (an image held by 91% of young outsiders aged 16-29), judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), too involved in politics (75%), out of touch with reality (72%), & old-fashioned (78%).

These statistics are compiled from thousands of people standing outside Christianity looking in. Obviously, I disagree. However, I am on the inside looking out. Their opinion greatly matters. The stats are a honest look at what they think of all Christians...what they think of me. What am I doing to help fix this image problem?

Interesting book to read if you get a second.

Haiti

Want to help Haiti but unsure who to partner with to help?

Try Compassion International.

It "exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults."

Compassion International has been helping Haiti for more than 40 years — teaching, feeding, educating, loving, mentoring, caring and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.



Myself & Devanee sponsor a child through Compassion. If you've got questions, let me know.

Trouble

I have been in this coffee shop music kick for a long time. In fact, my shuffle is full of laid back musics that does everything but motivates me to run. I'm not saying Ray LaMontagne's song "Trouble" is that but it definitely is a song that makes me want to take off my shoes, prop up my feet, and chill. Maybe think deep thoughts...maybe not.

Ray LaMontagne - Trouble from The Staus House on Vimeo.

Only a test...

This is only a test to see if I could post a specific photo set from Flickr in this blog...looks like it worked.

FLICKr BLOG

It's not everyday that I take the time to say I really like something on this blog. But tonight, I've opted to put down my book, take a timeout from the State of the Union, and tell you that I really like something.

I like pictures - taking them, looking at them, and one day collecting old pics (I say 'one day' because I haven't started yet). Today, I would like to pat Flickr's Blog on the back for a blog well done. They post pictures that are sick and I like sick pictures.

unChristian

A couple years ago I started reading the book, unChristian but lost interest. It's based on research by Barna Group and has several dry spurts, which regardless of the book - dry spurts put me to sleep. However, I've had a resurgence of motivation to read. I once heard David Gergen (a smart guy) explain the need to read in order to develop and boost your leadership capacity. Today, I decided to attempt to read this book in 1.5 weeks to hopefully improve my ignorance of young Americans impression of Christians. This is a quote from one such young American found in Ch.1...

"Christianity has become bloated with blind followers who would rather repeat slogans than actually feel true compassion and care. Christianity has become marketed and streamlined into a juggernaut of fearmongering that has lost its own heart."

I'll keep you updated on how it goes this week.

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights
Originally uploaded by stuchap

Recently our church support Giddings State Indians Football Team which is a high-restriction facility for troubled youth sent there by juvenile courts. Great time supporting those seldom receiving support.