AXiS

Child-like Faith Part 2...

2011-12-21T09:50:00.000-08:00

Part 2...

The concept of Childlike faith is a lot like believing in Santa Clause: “seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” (Santa Clause 2) The idea is that we believe something even if there is no evidence to back it up. Childlike faith is devoid of reason and implies inexperience and naivety (hence childlike).

Biblical faith, on the other hand, is defined as understanding truth, and being active in your trust and commitment to God.

In Hebrews 11, the "hall of faith", it describes men in the Old Testament who followed God with their lives. The recurring theme in Hebrews is faith defined as trust- it is assurance and commitment acting out through evidence. As believers, we need to ground ourselves in God’s word, and search for what it means to have real genuine faith.

We need to ask ourselves: "Is there evidence to support this belief system, or is it just based on "feelings"? When you deny principles that are grounded in reality, your faith is wishful- it’s child-like faith. But faith is not wishful thinking; it’s based on reason.

The illustrations in Hebrews 11 give perfect examples of how people put their trust in God by being obedient to what He promised. Everyone at some point in his or her life ends up making a choice on what they will believe. The question is: is their faith based on feelings or reason? Do they have child-like faith or real faith? You may comment below…

written by Melissa Prieskorn

Is Child-Like-Faith Biblical?

2011-12-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

Part 1...

In a popular song by Jars of Clay, they sing a lyric that says, “They say that love can heal the broken. They say that hope can make you see. They say that faith can find a Savior. If you would follow and believe, with faith like a child.” What do you think about the idea of “child-like-faith?” Is that how we, as Christians, are supposed to understand or approach God?

In Matthew 18, the disciples asked Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Not only is the phrase “child like faith” not mentioned in this passage, it is not mentioned in the rest of the Bible.*

The word ‘Faith’ is used very flippantly these days to the point that anyone who believes in anything has faith. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of faith is: “having complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” It sounds like even he didn’t have a very good idea of what faith was!

So what is faith? How would you define it? You may comment below…

written by Melissa Prieskorn

*The term child-like-faith does show up in 1 translation of the Bible, but not in the Matthew 18 passage. Please see: Psalm 116:6 NLT.

You Can Wait On The World To Change Or You Can Change The World

2011-11-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

John Mayer’s song, “Waiting on the World to Change” managed to find its way into my head this morning. Sure, it’s a little outdated -- maybe even vintage by today’s standards -- but none the less, it’s stuck in my head.

When the song released in 2006, it caused some controversy. Some claimed it was a song about the apathy of our generation, while others argued that it was an anthem for the generation that would one day be in power.

In The Advocate, Mayer described the song this way, "It’s saying, ‘Well, I’ll just watch American Idol because I know that if I were engaged in changing anything for the better, or the better as I see it, it would go unnoticed or be completely ineffective.' A lot of people have that feeling."

He’s basically saying that it’s not that we don’t care, it’s just that we’re afraid and perhaps, by the time we are adults, we will be ready to be part of the solution. We will be bold enough to make a difference and finally have the tools to do great things.

But where does that leave us right now? Can we do anything worthwhile today?

Rachel, a 12 year-old girl from Florida thinks so. So much so, that she has worked for the past 3 years, raising over $250,000.00 and building 27 permanent homes for a community in Haiti. Check out the video by clicking here.

Rachel said, “Life is life. You can’t just say I’m going to make Haiti the best place in the world and it happens at the snap of a finger, you have to work at it. You have to make it happen.”

Rachel’s success was evident way before she received press coverage, newspaper articles and blogs written about her. Rachel is bold and not waiting for her “generation to rule the population.” She’s starting now. Her next project? Build a new school that was destroyed in the earthquake back in 2010, and guess what? She’s halfway there!

Is "The First Time" An Example of Soft-Child-Porn?

2011-11-13T08:07:00.000-08:00

Glee -- Episode 3 of Season 5 -- "The First Time" part 3...

Over the past week, we have been inundated with pictures of Joe Paterno and the horrendous scandal at Penn State University. Everyone is outraged at the horrible sexual abuse Jerry Sandusky allegedly inflicted on kids under the age of 18. Why is everyone mad? Because the vast majority of American's, regardless of religious or political persuasion, agree that taking advantage of a minor is morally wrong.

Think about some of the laws that are currently in place to try and protect kids: child-pornography is not only immoral but it's also illegal. If you want to view a porn website you have to be older than 18. And if you want to get into a strip club or bar you have to have a valid ID proving you're an adult (even this was not out of bounds for the episode -- Blaine and Kurt receive fake ID's to go to a gay bar on diva night).

Yet the producers, directors, actors, and actresses of ‘Glee’ are representing underage sexuality on prime-time TV. Granted, the actors and actresses themselves are older than 18, but they are representing and targeting kids under 18 years old with the show and their marketing campaigns. Is this a form of child-pornography? Is it promoting soft-porn to those who are underage? Should Fox be held accountable for their representation of child-sex or are they simply utilizing their right to free speech? Something seems inconsistent here...

What do you think? You may comment below…

Where Glee's "The First Time" Went Too Far

2011-11-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

'Glee' -- Episode 3 of Season 5 -- "The First Time" -- Part 2

For any 'Glee' fans out there, we just want to clarify that this post is not about hating on 'Glee' -- it's about looking at the content of this week's episode and comparing it to truth and reality. Many of you have heard us say that "the issue is not unanswered questions, this issue is unquestioned answers -- the answers that our culture gives us that Glee gives us that we believe without questioning their validity." Today we are going to look at some of the unquestioned answers in episode 3 of season 5 of 'Glee' entitled "The First Time."

Unquestioned answer #1: Artie says, “as a friend I support your strange aversion to fun…” Axis wants to know: "Really? Staying a virgin is a strange aversion to fun? Is sexuality just about fun and just about pleasure?"
Unquestioned answer #2: Artie finishes off his monologue with, “How do you expect to convey the human experience…when you haven’t even opened yourself up to one of humanity’s basic and most primal ones?” Axis says: According to this logic, if Broadway was doing a production of The Lion King, the guy playing Simba would need to become a lion for a couple of weeks so that he can accurately convey the part. Does this sound right to you?
Unquestioned answer #3: Sebastian hooks up Blaine and Kurt with some fake ID's so they can go to a "gay bar". Axis says: are fake ID's legal? Considering the definition of a "fake ID" includes falsifying information -- probably not!
Unquestioned answer #4: Sexuality exists for two people who love each other. Axis says: Nope – sexuality exists for two married people who love each other – big difference.

The entire episode has two foundational wrong assumptions:

Wrong Assumption #1: sexuality is okay outside of marriage. Axis says: If you believe the Bible is accurate in what it teaches you understand that this assumption is false. In the second chapter of Genesis before the Fall, Adam and Eve are brought together by God and become one flesh. Sexuality is created by God for two people within a marriage relationship.

Wrong Assumption #2: sexuality is simple. Axis says: It’s not just a matter of making a decision of whether you love someone or not. Having sex affects the entire person – it affects someone physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

At Axis, we believe a correct view of sexuality is important because it affects the entire person. When the Bible talks about a husband and wife "becoming one flesh" it's talking about two people dying to themselves and becoming one person. Sexuality is very powerful because it connects people physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Biblically sex is meant for marriage, and is considered morally wrong outside of that boundary. But personally, when two people become intimate on that level and then break-up, the damage is also much deeper.

The biggest problem with this episode of 'Glee' is the fact that it devalues sex. By talking about it as the "basic primal experience," an opportunity for fun, and something that everyone does -- it makes it sound like sex isn't really that big of a deal. Even when the show talks about waiting, it's not because of ethics or morals, it's because of selfish reasons. In fact, this episode of 'Glee' makes sex seem a lot like ice-cream. If you want a treat -- go for it. If you don't want to get fat -- wait. In both cases sex becomes something we consume rather than the most beautiful part of a marriage relationship. It becomes all about "I instead of all about "us."

Do you agree? You may comment below...

Tomorrow we will take one more look at this episode, don't miss it!

Did This Week's Episode of 'Glee' Take Teen Sexuality Too Far?

2011-11-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

Let’s face it – TV shows need ratings and nothing boosts ratings more than controversy. Sure there might be some negative backlash, but the “it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission” philosophy seems to work for companies like MTV and shows like Fox’s ‘Glee’. Most people think news organizations exaggerate information anyway, so when a story comes out like, “Straight, Gay Couples Lose Virginity on ‘Glee’ Episode, Spark Controversy” a lot of us think they are just trying to find a story and that it probably wasn’t that bad. If you are a fan of the show you might find yourself saying things like; “they unfairly represented the show”, “they just don’t understand the symbolism”, or maybe the one most of us use regularly “it really wasn’t that bad.”

The celebration, support, and approval of teen sexuality in this week’s episode of ‘Glee’ was really that bad. For many fan’s of the show this blog might seem to be unfair, but this blog is not about hating on ‘Glee’. It’s about looking at content and deciding how it measures up with truth and reality. For anyone who missed the episode, here is a summary:

______

“Losing my virginity was a great experience for me because it was with someone I loved.” This quote from Tina sums up this week’s ‘Glee’ episode. So far, episode 3 of season 5 has caused more controversy than any other episode. Why? Because all 42 minutes are dedicated to celebrating, supporting, and approving of teen sexuality.

The theme of the episode is a high school production of West Side Story. Artie, the student director, begins the episode by challenging the two main stars Blaine and Rachel with their virginity. It just so happens that both stars are virgins, and are waiting for the “right time.” Artie replies, “as your friend I support your strange aversion to fun, but as your director I’m concerned…how do you expect to convey the human experience to an audience when you haven’t even opened yourself up to one of humanity’s basic and most primal ones.”

As a result, both stars begin the process of giving away “something that no one else will ever get (Rachel).” At first, they both are considering sex for the wrong motives – to become better actors. Rachel even gets caught putting her acting before her boyfriend Finn, and it causes a small rift in their relationship. Luckily, Rachel has friends that are “experienced” and can help her through the rough patch in their relationship. Unfortunately, neither Blaine nor Rachel get a chance to have sex before their performance, and that’s when Rachel says one of the most telling lines of the day: “The audience is smart! The only sensible solution is to cancel the show.” The story ends with Blaine and Rachel both learning that they have been selfish, and that their boyfriends are all that matter. In the end they give away their virginity, and the audience is left with the call to celebrate the consummation of their relationships.

There was almost a redeeming part in the episode, when Quinn, the girl with the most “experience” in the group asks, “Do you want my advice? Just wait – look what happened to me…I’m not just talking about getting pregnant – I’m talking about losing something you can never get back. It changes you. It makes everything more complicated.” But even in this dialogue there’s a problem: waiting is not about right vs. wrong, Quinn's reason for waiting is still all about her.

The reasons she gives for waiting are: you might get pregnant and be inconvenienced. You might lose something you can never get back. You will change. You will have a complicated life. That seems to be the problem with the entire episode. Sexuality is reduced to the pursuit of selfish pleasure.

This leads us to a very important question: is sexuality all about us and finding pleasure? Find out what Axis thinks about this episode tomorrow, but for now we'd like to know what you think. Please comment below...

*image from "The First Time" espisode: http://www.gleeimages.com/albums/promotional/episodes/3x05/normal_304GLE_305-sc4_0548.jpg

Gas stations, public restrooms, and no shoes...

2011-09-12T08:31:00.001-07:00

My feet smell like gas! Not the kind of gas that is created from Mexican food, the petroleum kind that goes in my car. (to read more click here...)

10 Days Without...

2011-09-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

One of the Axis employees is going from apathy to action, check it out!

10 Days Without…

My name is Daniel Day and I am going 10 days without certain “necessities” to raise awareness for social needs around the world. Here are the first 4 of 10 items I will go without:

10 Days Without… shoes [Sept. 11 - 20]
10 Days Without… furniture [Sept. 25 - Oct. 4]
10 Days Without… media [Oct. 9 - Oct. 18]
10 Days Without… legs [ Oct. 23 - Nov. 1]

I currently work for Axis, a ministry that challenges students to move from apathy to compassionate action [click here for more info]. I realized, however, that I wasn’t doing the very things we ask our students to do — make a real difference in the world. Oftentimes, we talk about making a difference, but we fail to come up with practical ways to do so. What if making a difference is as simple as starting a blog, and walking into a business meeting without shoes? That is the question I’m trying to answer.

You can help by supporting the causes featured each 10 day segment. 90% of all funds raised every 10 days, will be sent to the featured organization, and I will post a picture of the check on this blog on the 11th day. 10% will help cover the cost of this blog and support my family. The featured ministries did not pay to be featured, I just believe in them and want to raise money for their causes.

You can also help by participating in the event [ i.e. going without shoes for 1 day or all 10 days], and then spreading the word about this blog. Get people to read the stories each day, and then give to the cause. Post 10dayswithout.com on your Facebook or Twitter feeds, tell people why you’re walking around without shoes, help make a real difference in the world.

Excited to be partnering with Shuzz, an organization that provides shoes for kids around the world. Check out their website: www.shuzz.org. More info to follow this week.

*to see these segments defined please view the Schedule by clicking here

Pure Apple Cider

2011-08-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

Are you the real thing or just sugar water? Watch this video and you can comment below...

Awesome Pictures from Collision 2011

2011-08-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome time at Collision 2011 in the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin, NC this past weekend. Here are some pictures from the Rush of Fools concert.

Christian Celebrity?

2011-04-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

It seems like only yesterday when young superstar Miley Cyrus made the cover story of Christianity Today. How thrilling it was to hear someone so famous talk about her relationship with God. "I sing, dance and act for Jesus!...I do everything for Jesus." Christians across the country were excited that someone cool recommended Jesus!

Now in a new decade, times have changed -- Miley's changed. Many of her actions have caused Christians to pull back their Miley endorsements. She's not the only one who make mistakes, in fact some Christians have done things that are arguably worse in the eyes of our culture. In recent years we have seen pastors struggle with their sexual identity, Christian leaders abandon their families, and Christian authors manipulate their sources.

So, what’s the point?

Jesus is not cool or uncool based on human endorsement, no matter how famous that particular human. Trying to convert our friends because a celebrity “loves Jesus” is dangerous. Why? Because people, pastors, Axis employees, and celebrities, fail us.

We must tell others about Jesus. It is our duty as Christians to tell this dying world about the glorious salvation and hope that is Christ. However, we can’t base the gospel on celebrity endorsements or our own charisma. We must base it upon Scripture and upon what Jesus has done. He Himself is our firm foundation.

Titans from the worlds of politics, sport, music, television and religion stride the Christian stage and screen with an authority born only from their mass appeal. 'Following the star' has become the exact opposite of what it was for the three wise men. Today it leads away from Christ, not to him. - Os Guiness

The point is not to harp on Miley Cyrus’s mistakes or to compare ourselves to other Christians who fail. As a side note: if a video camera captured every moment of your life, do you think there might be some things TMZ would want to feature? The point is that authority on faith doesn’t come from mass appeal or celebrity endorsement.

So, where do you think authority on faith issues comes from? Make a comment or join the discussion on Facebook.

¹ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20186041,00.html

² Os Guinness, The Gravedigger File, p.154

photo borrowed from: http://www.celebrity-sunglasses-finder.com/image-files/miley-cyrus.jpg

What Cigarette Do You Smoke Doctor?

2010-12-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Isn’t it ironic when you drive by the entrance to a hospital and see a group of doctors and nurses smoking? It’s amazing how the very people who are responsible for promoting health, are the same one’s who are knowingly polluting their bodies and destroying their lungs.

Smoking wasn’t always viewed as a bad thing for your body. In fact, in 1949 when this commercial was made smoking was a status symbol, and seemed to be as innocent as eating candy. Now smoking commercials are banned, and many American’s would love to see smoking made illegal.

It’s amazing how easily deceived we can be in our culture, especially when we are misinformed. We as a culture, have been socialized into trusting whatever a person in a white jacket tells us is true. We have been trained to look at the “experts”, and follow their guidance. This is not always a bad thing, especially if your doctor suggests by-pass surgery to save your life. But this commercial from 1949 does bring up an interesting question: How many people were deceived into smoking cigarettes and destroying their bodies because a guy in a white coat told them smoking was okay?

Today, our culture is filled with “doctors” and “experts” on every subject. Think about the amount of shows on TV devoted to the medical profession. House, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, ER, General Hospital, Nip/Tuck, The Listener, Royal Pains, HawthoRNe, and Nurse Jackie just to name a few! Obviously these doctor’s and nurses are just characters in TV drama, but they are still teaching us ideas about life, God, relationships, and our identity in this world. Whether it’s the idea of giving into your bi-sexual desires, encouraging a woman to have an abortion, or simply that not all lives are worth saving, these people are trying to teach us something.

Even CNN and Fox News are filled with “experts” telling us that according to them someone has messed up the way life is supposed to work in this country. Whether it’s in the 1970’s where the scientists were warning about global cooling, or today when they are worried about global warming, they all have an agenda and a message. Eugenics, euthanasia, abortion, and many other “important” medical discoveries and processes come from “experts”, but a few years later, when you turn around and look at them again, it looks a lot like a doctor smoking a cigarette.

So whats the point? The point is not that we need to go into our doctor’s offices, and question everything the stethoscope man says about strep throat. But just because a guy wears a white coat or a woman is speaking from a college platform doesn’t mean that we can simply absorb what they are saying as true without analyzing the content. See, the issue is not unanswered questions, because there will always be a new discovery of something we don’t know anything about. The issue is instead unquestioned answers, the answers that the “experts” of our culture preach that we internalize without deciding if they are true ideas or not. In 1 Corinthians 10:4 Paul says, “Brothers do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” We can’t just believe what we hear from an expert, just because it comes from an expert. We have to analyze what they say, to make sure what they are saying is true.

Whether it’s a fictitious doctor from Grey’s Anatomy, or a real expert from Harvard University, we must be on our guard. Trusting the experts can save our lives, but it can also give us lung cancer. Just because our culture tells us to listen to an expert, doesn’t mean we need to shut down our minds and believe everything they say.

Awareness Test-Watch the video first!

2010-11-08T07:22:00.001-08:00

Did you get the right answer? Videos like this are great because for a moment we get excited about counting all 13 passes, then we realize a little orange basketball and white outfits have kept us from the real story. When it comes to a silly video, we can laugh at missing the moon-walking bear, but what happens in real life when we focus on the wrong things?

Think about the man or woman who successfully navigates the business world by working a lot of hours and making a lot of money. Three cars sit in the driveway of their white victorian 6,000 square foot home with a swimming pool in the back and an indoor gym in the basement. Businessweek and the New York Times write numerous accolades in story after story, with quotes from every major businessperson on Walstreet. Our culture demands that this person be envied, respected, and looked up to. Business has been their focus, and they have counted the passes: 13!

The only problem is, our business professional has missed the lives of his children. Children that looked up to their dad or mom with respect and honor, but never felt any love or affection in return. In other words, our business hero comes home with a big number 13 tattooed to his chest, only to find an empty home with the remnants of a moon-walking bear.

Or what about the college student, who is pumped up about the four best years of their life right in front of them. Fall comes, they get involved in a fraternity or sorority, attend every major sporting event, every major party, and every campus ministry meeting. Monday night is ultimate frisbee, then there is Tuesday night Ice, Wednesday night they meet with their college ministry, Thursday night well we all know what to do on Thursday’s in college, Friday night is cookout night at the house, Saturday is the game with all it’s festivities, and Sunday is church and a little bit of rest before the week starts over again.

They could never have imagined college would be this much fun, and they are only three semesters into their college career. If you asked them how many social, athletic, or greek events the have each week they would probably say 13. Their GPA is now a 1.5 but it's only that high thanks to some online classes where notes are allowed. Everything is going well, until they receive a letter explaining their opportunity to bring their grades up elsewhere. With head bowed, and a regretful tone they repeat, “13...13...13” while, packing up their bear costume, and heading home.

Or how about the high school student, who is so excited to be in a relationship with him! She really is living a “Teenage Dream” every weekend, as flowers, movies, and dinners lead to her first experience with true love. You know, the kind of “love” we mean, the kind of love you see in Twilight. The kind of love that makes you realize how incomplete you were before you met him or her.

Anyway, our high-schooler is so excited about her relationship with him, that she gives away everything. Finally, she can be complete by consummating their love. 13 minutes later her life will be changed forever. As her belly starts to grow, so does the regret that Katy Perry promised wouldn’t exist. All she is left with is 13 minutes, while the bear moonwalks it’s way out of her life.

Awareness is good, but only if you are aware of the right things. Being aware of the wrong things can be devastating. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us to

be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (niv)

Paul tells us over and over again in Corinthians and Galatians, that we can be taken captive by ideas and philosophies. Don’t get caught counting basketballs while missing out on the big picture.

Our enemy is real, deceptive, and distracting. So whether you get distracted by a melody line while internalizing a dangerous message, or whether you allow your job to consume your life, we must all “be self-controlled and alert” “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

"Teenage Dream" at the Ballpark?

2010-10-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

“I love good surprises, especially when they involve tickets to a MLB play-off game! Baseball is one of those sports that can be very boring to watch on TV, but nothing comes close to describing the energy exuding from a ballpark during the playoffs. Peanuts, Cracker Jacks, $11 hotdogs, and free foam fingers add to the nervous excitement of several thousand crazy fans awaiting the first pitch. As the old song goes...”root, root, root, for the home team, if they don’t win its a shame, ‘cause its one, two, three strikes your out at the old ball game!”

Unfortunately, it was one of those nights for the home team, where they fought a good fight but came up short. However, losing the game took nothing away from the amazing time we had enjoying the festivities. Every break between innings was filled with a song during which the crowd would get up and start dancing around. From “Cotton-Eyed Joe”, to “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”, and then the wonderful classic “Teenage Dream.” Yes, that’s right! “Teenage Dream” filled the space between the third and fourth inning.

All the fans got up to dance like they always do, and we sat back and watched them all sing the lyrics:

“We drove to Cali, and got drunk on the beach. Got a motel and built a fort out of sheets. I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece, I’m complete. Let’s go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love. We will dance, until we die. You and I will be young forever. You make me feel like I’m living a Teenage Dream. The way you turn me on, I can’t sleep. Let’s run away and don’t ever look back...”

Somehow, Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” is related to Major League Baseball, I am just not quite smart enough to figure it out! It’s amazing though, how the messages of our culture invade almost everything we do. “Teenage Dream” is still holding strong at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and it’s success simply translates into greater and greater influence.

We all want to live a “dream”; whether its businessmen and women pursuing the “dream” job, families pursuing the American “dream”, or teenagers looking for what it means to make the most of middle school, high school, or college. Our culture has an answer for us when it comes to living the “dream”. For the business world you need to make as much money as possible. For families they need to have the biggest house on the block, at least one car for each family member, and a swimming pool. And the dream life for students, well Katy Perry just defined it: drinking, sex, and a relationship with someone who makes you feel ‘complete’.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every though to the obedience of Christ.”

Are you taking every thought and idea captive? Are you thinking about what you hear in a sermon at church, see in a movie, and listen to on your iPod, or are you simply consuming the message passively? Ideas are powerful, even when they are simply played over the loudspeaker at a baseball game...

2009 Mash-up

2010-02-26T09:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we sent out our e-newsletter with this video featured. We'd like to get your feedback on it. What things stood out to you about this video? What are some good ways to think about the lyrics, images, ideas within the top songs, music videos and artists in 2009? What do you think the 2010 mash-up will look like? How should we respond? Let's discuss!

Grey's Anatomy and Human Doing

2010-02-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

Title: “What a Difference a Day Makes”
TV Show: Grey’s Anatomy
Company: ABC Studios
Location: Season Five, Episode 22 (7:18-8:00, 24:31-26:49)
Target Audience: College age students and 20 somethings
Cultural Impact: This show raises questions of life and death, identity, and often encourages love and sexuality however/with whomever as long as it makes you happy.

Growing up we’re always taught that what we do is important. Our actions and accomplishments make us who we are. Every day our culture undermines our worth, value, and significance as unique human beings unless we’re doing something important with our lives – whatever that means. Grey’s Anatomy sends this message to us through its doctors, patients, and frequent emphasis on being a “human doing” rather than a “human being.”

In episode 22 of Season 5 – “What a Difference a Day Makes” – we’re introduced to a girl named Becca. She arrives in the trauma unit of the ER after she was in a car accident with eight of her friends. They were on their way to their college graduation. As the doctors of Seattle Grace Hospital assess the damage and attempt to start treating her wounds, she realizes what she is missing. Her college graduation means everything to her. As the Valedictorian, she had a speech to give. Becca feels like she NEEDS to graduate from college. College was her life. School was her life. All she ever did was school. For someone whose life has been centered on her academics and schooling, college graduation day is the ultimate goal.

As elementary school, middle school, and high school students, we constantly look to the day way off in the distant future when all our hard work will pay off. We long to be a college graduate, a “grown up.” For Becca, that day was within her reach, yet she couldn’t grasp it from her stretcher in Trauma Room #2. Nearly in tears, Becca tells the doctors, “Today is the day my life’s supposed to start!” If graduation from college marks the beginning of life, what was the meaning of all the years before that?

It’s so tempting to base our worth and identity in the things that we’re good at – the things that consume our time and give us reputation and esteem in the eyes of others. We depend on those things, as Becca did, to give our life meaning. When people asked her, “Who are you?” her first response would probably be, “I’m Becca. I’m the class Valedictorian and soon-to-be college graduate.” That was her life. But we saw that when that foundation she had built for herself was suddenly ripped away, she was left with an identity crisis.

If I could give Becca advice I would encourage her to remember that she still has worth and value even if she can’t give her speech and can’t graduate. She was created intentionally, uniquely by God and that in itself gives her value.

Maybe Becca was on to something when she said “Today is the day my life’s supposed to start.” If she is willing to let go of her need to base her identity in her abilities, accomplishments, and actions, maybe she truly can start living – really living in the confidence that she matters not because of WHAT SHE DOES but WHO SHE IS.

By: Kristin¹

Notes

Kristin was a student at the Focus Leadership Institute (FLI) this past 2009 fall semester and will be going back to finish up her schooling at Corban College in Salem, OR. We miss her tons as she was an awesome intern for Axis in the FLI Practicum. Every semester, several FLI students are able to spend 96 hours as interns with AXiS and travel all around the country with us ministering to students.

Do You Look Like a Christian?

2009-12-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

Title: “The Wrath of Con”
TV show: Gossip Girl
Company: CW Television Network
Released: May 4, 2009
Location: Season 2, Episode 23: “The Wrath of Con” (18:58-20:36)
Target audience: High school youth
Cultural impact: Christian stereotypes portrayed

“Come on, G, don’t you miss Dior? Prada? Looking fabulous? I mean, for you,” Blair says with her usual air of snobbishness.

“Jesus loves me as I am,” Georgina replies almost with a tone of confidence.

“He would love you more with some styling.” Blair places a long pearly necklace around Georgina’s neck. You can see the slight longing behind her eyes as she gazes at how the jewelry looks on her slim figure in the mirror.

“Think of the fun you used to have pretending to be Sarah and Svetlana...slipping people roofies...outing them to their unsuspecting parents at dinner.” Blair attempts to remind Georgina of her past, assuming that somehow Georgina’s apparent religious beliefs aren’t strong enough to overcome the inward desire to return to those acts of mischief and spontaneity. Georgina fiddles with the necklace around her neck and looks at the floor. Then, she appears to shake off the thoughts that are beckoning her to go along with Blair’s plan. She regains composure and turns to face her challenger.

“Those things don’t call to me anymore, Blair. Look, I made a choice. I let go of the evil so I can find love and happiness with the good. I know it sounds dull, but it’s actually quite nurturing.” Georgina removes the necklace and hands it back to Blair. “Can’t you understand?”

“More than you know.” Blair’s lack of sincerity is obvious in her tone, though she continues with her act of kindness and gentleness.

“I gave up my old ways when I let Jesus take the wheel.”
“That is a Carrie Underwood song, not a life choice.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you if it goes against my beliefs.”
“But when you look at it, Jesus drove you here, right?”
“Actually, I believe his name was Jesús.”
“Not in the cab, in your country-western way of life. You said God would help you find a way to earn my forgiveness. And here it is.”
“So my amends would be to entrap Poppy Lifton...get the money back that she stole, and destroy her in the process?”
“Exactly. If you cut revenge out of the Bible there’s not even enough pages to make a pamphlet.”
“And they shall know I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance on them.”
“How’d you know my favorite passage?”

Does being a Christian mean you can’t have style or fashion sense? Because, if so, let me renounce my faith right now! ... Just kidding. But seriously, why do we have these silly conceptions of what a truly religious person is supposed to look like? Why can’t that person simply be “normal”? Why can’t that person look like you?

What do you think?

By: Heather¹

Notes

Heather was a student at the Focus Leadership Institute (FLI) this past fall semester and will be going back to finish up her schooling at Evangel University in Springfield, MO. We miss her already as she was an awesome intern for Axis in the FLI Practicum. Every semester, several FLI students are able to spend 96 hours as interns with AXiS and travel all around the country with us ministering to students.

If Only Everyone Were Like This 7 Year Old

2009-12-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

This is a great story for this time of year. Hopefully it motivates all of us to THINK and ACT a little differently.

I found the article posted below in a copy of The Costco Connection. It seems like many organizations and companies are coming together and showing how everyday people are making a difference in the world around them. The magazine highlighted twenty stories about people creating change all over the world; but it was the article about a seven year old girl that caught my eye. I hope you are encouraged by this article as I was.

by: Meghan

Gossip Girl -- Analysis of "The Serena Also Rises" from Season 2

2009-12-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

Title: “The Serena Also Rises”
Tv Show: Gossip Girl
Company: CW
Location: Season Two, Episode 5
Target Audience: High School Youth
Cultural Impact: It promotes sex, self-indulgence, and manipulation while pushing mature issues on highschool students.

With its high-fashion society, glamorous characters, a life beyond our pocket book, and extremely juicy gossip, it's no wonder why Gossip Girl is so popular among teens! But we need to take a closer look at the not-so-subliminal messages this show is putting out. Not only has everyone of the upper-east side grown to accept gossip in their lives, but their purpose gets wrapped up in power, status, or pleasure, all through selfish motives.

As a female, I have fallen short and bowed to my stereotype that girls gossip. It's not easy to avoid the stories we hear or the power we associate in possessing knowledge over our peers, but it's a damaging act. Soon we fall prey to believe everything we hear. Then we pass it along, only to victimize the subject. Do we ever stop and question the evidence? How many times have we been the initiator of gossip? or the victim?

The episode, “The Serena Also Rises,” is completely saturated with stepping on people to rise to the top. Blair, the Queen Mobster of the High School, feels a threat to her throne so she gets tickets for her friends to a high flutent fashion show her mom is putting on. Regardless of her attempts to buy her friends, they are easily swung to the attention of Serena, who was recently published in the tabloids. Blair goes to every evil measure to sabotage her own mother's show in order to hold onto her power and status. When Serena is invited to the show, Blair moves her seat to the back. Once Serena's front row seat is retrieved, Blair kicks out all the models. In return Serena is asked to model, but Blair replaces her dress. Thanks to little J the show recovers, but Blair goes to any measure to secure her dignity and seek revenge on anyone who will take it (whether on purpose or not).

It doesn't stop there. Dan throws morals behind his back and does anything possible to get a good scoop on one of Manhattan's elites. Charading genuine interest, manipulating trust, and then exploiting his new friend in order to get a story that will get him into Yale. Jenny goes behind her father's back, skipping school, and lies to her boss in order to rise in the fashion world. Serena buys into the lies that watching out for another's feelings only holds back her true potential. Is that what life is about: sacrifice anything and everything to rise to the top?

Whether it be gossip, stealing dresses, buying off your friends, or simply telling white lies to reach the top, is it worth it?

By: Emilie¹

Notes

Emilie is currently a student at the Focus Leadership Institute (FLI) and will be going back to finish up her degree at Lincoln Christian University in Lincoln, IL. Every semester, several FLI students are able to be interns with AXiS and research for us as well as travel around the country ministering to students.

An Analysis of House -- Is Karma Real?

2009-12-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

Title: “Instant Karma”
TV Show: House
Company: FOX
Released: October 12, 2009
Nominations: NA
Location: Season 6 Ep. 4
Target Audience: High School +
Cultural Impact: Answers the question of reality ... Karma is real.
Scene: 31:45-34:00, 37:15-38:07 and 39:57-40:21

In this season of House, Dr. House is back from the psych ward! Foreman, however, has House's job until he can get his license back. In the mean time, House is "sitting" in on cases giving his “two cents”. In one of the new episodes, “Instant Karma,” a very wealthy businessman has an ill son. For years private doctors have tried to figure out why the boy’s health was so poor. Finally, the father wises up and goes to House.

At first, the team would not take him. Then House and the team become interested in the young boys case. After the typical guess and fail, House figures out what the boy has. House diagnoses the boy with Dego’s disease, a rare disease that causes micro blood vessels in the brain, skin, and GI track to break down. Sadly, there is no cure.

As you can tell by the name of the episode, Karma has a major influence. The businessman believes that his successes in life are the root cause of his son’s health. He opts to forfeit everything that he has in hopes of leveling out the universal balancing scale. When the camera cuts into the room with the lawyers begging him not to sign the final papers because he will lose everything; House cut’s in to enlighten them, “That’s the point! The Billionaire thinks that the gods will treat him better if he’s broke.” Roy, the billionaire father, replies, “There has to be some kind of balance. You can’t have all the good fortune in just one area of your life. It’s not how the world’s supposed to work.” When Foreman tells the man that his son isn’t dying from bad Karma, but of an incurable disease, Roy replies by saying that his son isn’t dying and he’s not going to allow it to happen. Shortly after he signs the papers, his son flat lines.

While Wilson confronts House about trying to keep 13 around, House has an epiphany and figures out that it’s not Dego’s disease. The team starts the boy on a new treatment, and the boy is back to his old self!

In this episode it’s a lot easier to see the worldview that is being promoted. Spiritualism is one of the fastest growing belief systems worldwide. It is the belief that the spiritual realm is all that exist and everything else is an illusion. But my questions are: Who is in control of the scale? Why is the scale unbalanced? What makes the scale balanced? Why does the scale have to balance? Who decides when the scale is balanced again? What is the scale? What is good? What is evil?

Can Karma and Spiritualism answer these questions? Can this belief system give satisfactory answers to the ultimate questions of good, evil, and purpose? Instead of relying on one aspect of reality to answer these questions, could we look to a mixture of both the natural and spiritual reality to give us answers?

By: Jared¹

Notes

Jared is currently a student at the Focus Leadership Institute (FLI) and will be going back to finish up his degree at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, MO. Every semester, several FLI students are able to be interns with AXiS and research for us as well as travel around the country ministering to students.

Here are the clips mentioned above. *Warning* There is mild abusive language in the clips *Warning*

Where did 2009 go?

2009-12-04T08:19:00.000-08:00

Welp, it's the end of 2009 (almost). We have had some amazing opportunities this year to encourage folks to be active in their lives and in their faith.

This fall semester, we had six interns come to us from the Focus Leadership Institute here in Colorado Springs. They were a great help to us this semester. One of the projects they did was to help research tv shows from this past year. In the next couple of weeks we will be sharing some of their discoveries. We hope you enjoy and will join in on the conversation!

Sips of Time

2009-11-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

Right now I am sitting in the backseat of the AXIS van, sipping on the remainder of my strawberry limeade slush. My iPod plays Lifehouse in my ears. And we break / And we burn / And we turn it inside out / To take it back / To the start / And through the rise and falling apart / We discover who we are... (Song titled “Who We Are”). I watch the horizontal landscape pass by my window in fast forward, the fields and clouds blending together to create a blurred backdrop for my return to Colorado Springs. My mind likens the swift scene to the passing of time. I look back on my few decades of life and wonder where the days went. People often describe the years prior as “time slipping by,” as if there can be no control over how the minutes of each day are spent. To a certain extent this is true—the clock ticks forward without anyone’s permission—though I believe there is a way to exert authority over the moments that befall us.

How about not letting time slip by, but taking sips of that time instead?

It has occurred to me that rarely do we take responsibility for how we spend the precious moments that are allotted us. We feel as if we are slaves to the minute and second hands, the regulator between our first and final breaths. If we consider time as a liquid being shoved down our throats, the outcome is our constant disgust and our fight against it. If we instead consider time as a drink to enjoy sip by sip, we savor every flavor, every distinct ingredient that it contains. What if time is not a bird which flies away, constantly escaping our grasp, but a fluid which can be looked forward to enjoying—a delicate, delicious, delightful thing that we choose to take pleasure in by the sip? That perspective might change our attitudes. In fact, it might change our lives. If time is something that cannot be avoided, why wrestle it when you can commune with it? Why is time our enemy and not our friend? It seems to me that if time is a constant, our behavior towards it is completely within our control and our attitude towards it dictates our displeasure or content. Sip the time, my friend, and savor every passing moment, for it is indeed passing. And why waste the delicacies that are before you?

By: Heather¹

Notes

This was Heather's first trip with AXiS. Heather is currently a student at the Focus Leadership Institute (FLI) and will be going back to finish up her schooling at Evangel Universityin Springfield, MO. Every semester, several FLI students are able to be interns with AXiS and travel all around the country with us ministering to students.

Louisiana: A Culture All It's Own

2009-10-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

Growing up in New Mexico, I have experienced a different culture. I only recently discovered this after fully introducing the Axis team to New Mexico during our first trip this semester. Below, I have listed a few of the experiences I was able to share.

New Mexico is the only state where you are always asked "red, green or christmas" at every restaurant (these are for Chile Pepper variations). My Christmas (the holiday) decorations include a yard of sand and 200 paper bags. I eat tortillas instead of bread. A lawn is not necessary when I can use crushed rock and a cactus. A dust devil can roll your trampoline down the street, yet leave the rest of the neighborhood unscathed. Spanglish is an actual language. Tumbleweed-men are made during the winter because there is no snow. The Roadrunner is our state bird and the Yucca is our state plant. Every potluck includes Enchiladas, Posole, and Biscochitos. Prevalent animal life includes Tarantulas, Scorpions, Centipedes, Black Widows, Child of the Earth Bugs, Rattlesnakes, and of course the occasional Jack Rabbit or Quail.

Upon leaving New Mexico, I thought I would not experience culture shock to the extent that the team had.... that was until I visited Louisiana.

Our first night in town, the AXiS team met up with Jon Jon, a Floridian and our newest AXiS staff member; we had an incredible down home meal cooked by none other than Miss Eloise, and we cheered on the 2A Houma Christian School varsity volleyball team as they shut-out a 5A team. Starting with that first evening, I began to experience this unique culture of the South:

Boudin - deep fried pork with rice in pork casings. While in Houston, I was asked if I had ever tried this southern favorite. Upon our first meal out in Louisiana, I ordered it (not too bad).

Jambalaya - a cajun dish made of rice, seafood, chicken, vegetables, etc. This turned out to a common dish, as we had it multiple times (my favorite!)

Gumbo - a creole stew, made with tomatoes, okra, and other vegetables and meats, including shrimp and chicken.

Bayou - a body of water usually a slow-moving river or stagnant channel. Many times, I found it difficult to differentiate between the bayous and the lawns of some homes.

The French Quarter - We couldn’t see New Orleans without taking a stroll through this Mississippi port.

Cafe du Monde - A very popular cafe in New Orleans that served up their very own brand of coffee and fried pastry. This cafe came complete with live jazz music.

Chicory - the coffee made at cafe du monde. It is made with the root of the endive plant. It is roasted and then ground to be added to the coffee. (really good).

Beignet - a fried pastry covered with a thick layer of powdered sugar (a perfect compliment to the chicory)

Nutria - “Rodents of unusual size? I don’t think they exist” - try again! One night, as we drove back to our host home, we saw what looked like an ROUS; and that is exactly what it was. It was an animal that looks similar to a beaver, but is actually a rat....a large water rat. (see the title picture to find out what a Nutria looks like).

I guess there is more culture in our country than I ever gave credit. With that said, if you want some unique American culture, go to New Mexico or Louisiana!

By: Meghan

The All-Singing, All-Dancing Passion of the Christ - Part 6

2009-10-06T09:57:00.001-07:00

I started off this series (five posts ago and about five months ago!) by stating that I had learned a lot of bad theology by listening to sermons as a kid. Whether or not they were doctrinally correct, these dull-as-ditchwater Sunday morning episodes had me thinking that Jesus (and His Father) were about as lively and exciting as a Pez dispenser. On a good day.

When I was young, I admired church plays for their truth-telling about a Savior who was somehow mysteriously at once glorious God incarnate and humble carpenter. Although I couldn't understand it conceptually, I could understand it experientially. I experienced the energy and excitement simply by watching an actor play Jesus on stage. I felt as if I understood everything for the first time. I was caught up in a big adventure. Actually, it was the right size. It fit. It was much much bigger than me, yet not bigger than life itself. It was what I wanted life to be about.

I was excited about an enormous Passion play at my church this year. But something went wrong. The Gospel Story was hyped up with flying acrobats, flashing lights, and hollywood special effects. I felt like I was watching the latest Peter Jackson flick. Ordinary humans don't fit in that kind of epic. (By ordinary, I mean you and me, people who hope that qualifying as a disciple doesn't include looking like a J-crew model, or frolicking gracefully from one divine appointment to the next on a bright and perky CCM score.) That just doesn't fit with the way life is. Or the way I want it to be. Ordinary humans don't fit in the Iliad.

It is true that we serve a big God. Much bigger than we can imagine. His story is an epic -- in its own way. It is unique. It is unlike any other story that humans could invent. And this is the amazing part: It is for us. Whether or not we want to accept the frightening honor, God has written us into the Greatest Story Ever Told. That really is Epic.

Thanks for reading for the last five months!

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

By: Chad

Say Hi to Jon Jon!

2009-10-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

Written 9/28/09

Hello from (humid) San Antonio!

My name’s Jon Jon Wesolowski. I’m a student taking a semester hiatus to travel and teach worldview as an Intern with Axis. In between trips, I will be doing various things around the office and helping out in anyway I can. I’m From Tallahassee, Florida and I’m not used to seeing snow in the summer time or, for that matter, ever. I could have sworn that I was beginning to get frost bite when I went to check the mail. My roommate, however, assured me that freezing wasn’t possible at 34 degrees. I beg to differ.

Climate aside, I’m so grateful to be here and to be a part of Axis. I drove out here to Colorado Springs nearly two weeks ago and have had the opportunity to be apart of two presentations thus far. The time spent with students was emboldening; every conversation gave energy so that, no matter how much of my physical energy was drained, I was more excited about the next chance to pour into the lives of the students. I left each conference exhausted, but already anticipating the next trip. I think I could do this forever.

On my drive out here, I came to a road block in a major city. The police redirected the traffic to the exit ramp. As I turned down my music and looked over, I could see a dead body laying in the street with a coat over his face. Immediately I began thinking about one of the biggest questions of life, and that is, "what happens when I die?" Axis inspires me because the program gets students to consider life's important questions. Most people do not consider their life, or their beliefs until it is too late, or tragedy has struck. What a privilege it is to be a part of something that enables students to consider their worldview while they have their life ahead of them.

With everything being how it is, I can tolerate the weather in exchange for the fulfillment I have in being a part of such a great organization. Who knows, I may end up enjoying the life of blizzards and storms, snow and ice. My mentor once told me, “There is no bad weather--only bad gear.”

By: Jon Jon

PS - If you are one of the students who has heard Jon Jon speak with Axis in the last few weeks, this is a great place to leave encouraging feedback for him or just give a shout out!

PSS - This PS was not written by Jon Jon:).

PSSS - To become an Axis Intern someday you must have been either a staff member for Summit Ministries www.summit.org or have attended the Focus Leadership Institute - www.focusleadership.org

Community and Relative Truth

2009-09-28T19:23:00.001-07:00

"In passing, we should note this curious mark of our own age: the only absolute allowed is the absolute insistence that there is no absolute." Francis Schaeffer said this more than thirty years ago. It seems that he was on to something.

On a related note, a notable new show just launched called, Community. In popular culture you usually don't hear the term, "moral relativism" discussed in every day conversation. In the pilot of Community, the term was recently used (tada). It is brought up In a comical dialogue between the main character, Jeff, and his old friend, Dr. Ian Duncan (who is now a professor at the community college that Jeff is currently attending). Jeff is trying to get Ian to give him the test answers to all of the tests he will take throughout the semester. Here is the dialogue that transpires...

NOTE: Hulu only keeps TV shows up for a limited time, so this clip will eventually disappear. It's a good discussion tool for the time-being. Below is the dialogue in case the clips are taken down.

Dr. Ian Duncan: Suppose I was to say to you it was possible to get those test answers.
Jeff: I would say, "go for that."
Dr. Ian Duncan: I'm asking you if you know the difference between right and wrong.
Jeff: I discovered at a very early age that if I talk long enough, I could make anything right or wrong. So, either I am God or truth is relative. And in either case, boo yah!
Dr. Ian Duncan: Oh, interesting, it's just the average person has a much harder time saying "boo yah" to moral relativism.

Here is a dialogue that transpires when Ian brings the test answers to Jeff...

Dr. Ian Duncan: Every answer to every test in your curriculum this semester.
Jeff: I knew you could do it buddy. Thank you!
Dr. Ian Duncan: [...] What do I get?
Jeff: The satisfaction of being even.
Dr. Ian Duncan: Even, fairness, right, wrong, there is no God, boo yah, boo yah.
Jeff: What do you want from me?
Dr. Ian Duncan: Your Lexus...
Jeff: My car, for a semester worth of answers?
Dr. Ian Duncan: Will it be just a semester though, Jeff? Won't you be taking the easy way out for the next four years? I want payment in advance...

Axis' questions are... Does this dialogue have any consequences attached to it? Or, is it simply a comical and satirical dialogue on a unrealistic moral dilemma? We'd love to hear your thoughts! Is this dialogue good, bad or indifferent? If you have seen the whole show in context, do you think that the ideas (such as this one) in the show are innocent comedy or can this and other ideas from the show be saturated into the lifestyle of those who watch it? Would the consequences of this philosophy be good, bad or indifferent?

Thoughts?

PS - SPOILER ALERT (Don't read below if you don't want to know what happens in the show):

Dr. Duncan ends up not giving Jeff the answers to the test, but instead gives him blank pages. Does this change the dialogue at all?

The All-Singing, All-Dancing Passion of the Christ - Part 5

2009-09-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

The gospel is Epic, don't get me wrong. But not epic like Braveheart. Not epic like Cirque de Soleil.

I read an author recently who said that perhaps Christians have confused their beloved Scriptures with their beloved fairy tales. And after having seen that Passion play, I think it is true. We love to see movies and plays incorporate the familiar epic themes of creation, sin, salvation, redemption, and destiny. But we forget that these themes were God's originally, and ours by inheritance (also God's idea). Some of our minor stories -- our best ones, perhaps -- borrow their grand, epic feel from God's great story. Not the other way around. Therefore, we ought to pay closer attention to how these themes have been embraced by culture and how they have been distorted.

Without a doubt, Jesus framed his entire ministry in terms of a grand, sweeping meta-narrative. He was the "son of Man" predicted in the book of Daniel to come trailing on the clouds of Heaven. But Jesus was also born in Bethlehem. He lived, ate, slept, and walked on the same 200 square miles of arid Palestinian dirt his entire life. He died and was buried in that dirt less than four decades later. Jesus was epic, but he was also historic.

Christ never allegorized all of life in the service of pure spiritual truths. He didn't give preference to grand spiritual ideals over the messiness of human existence. He dealt joyfully with the physical needs of people, while he dwelt with them in their neighborhoods. At the same time, he invited them to share in a Kingdom that was not of this world. Jesus was epic, but he was also domestic.

The Gospel does not blast an epic volume of feel-good theme music to drowns out difficult truths about life. Remember Jesus' harsher sayings? Such as to amputate your sinful members, or to "compel" the poor and the marginalized to come into the Kingdom? Look for those in our latest popular epic stories (Slumdog Millionaire?). The Gospel is also certainly not epic in an attitude that champions worldly archetypes: muscle-strapped masculinity and Helen-of-Troy femininity. Jesus was epic, but also surprisingly realistic.

Finally, nothing in the Gospel is epic on a scale that eclipses seemingly ordinary people and seemingly ordinary events. Even the real William Wallace (not the Mel Gibson incarnation) was a minor landowner and a knight. The disciples? They really were royal rejects.

Jesus was epic, but he was also comic.

To be continued...

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

By: Chad

Back At It Again...

2009-09-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

Axis is on the road again! And we couldn't be happier!

We have been in New Mexico (shout out to Grace Outreach!!!), Michigan (shout out to FRCS!!!), and Texas (shout out to BACS!!!) in the last three weeks. It has been three amazing weeks with three amazing groups of students.

We launched Axis Round 2 at Franklin Road Christian in Detroit, MI and we are really excited about how God is going to use it. After-all, He is the one that brought it together over the last six months, not us!

The Axis team is arriving in New Orleans, LA as we speak to and hang out with some students at Houma Christian School for their school year kick-off. Pray for us to be following the Lord's will as we speak to them!

We are slated to be in Tucson, AZ, Des Moines, IA and San Antonio, TX still in September. For more on our calendar, visit - The Axis Map.

We will start getting regular blog posts from various team members again soon.

Much love,

Axis

The Reviews are in...

2009-07-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

When David and Lindsey visited Midwest Bible Camps "Senior Week" in Iowa in June, they had a great time. One of the cool things that happened is that two of the student attendees wrote short essays about their experience and gave high praise to the AXiS team. We are so thankful the Lord allowed AXiS to make a difference in their lives! Following is what they had to say:

By: Lindsey Seufferlein
Town: Cedar Rapids, IA
Grade: 12 (just graduated)

There are a lot of programs out there that are supposed to reach out to teenagers and strengthen their faith. When I first found out about AXiS, I will admit that I had pretty low expectations.

When the presentation began, my expectations were immediately confounded. AXiS is the most worthwhile program of its type that I have ever seen. Many programs try to teach you what to think ... but AXiS teaches you how to think. David and Lindsey [the leaders] encouraged us to challenge what we’re told -- even by them. AXiS wants our faith to be our own, and they want us to be able to explain to others why we believe what we believe.

My faith has been challenged time and again. I have friends that are atheists, friends who are agnostics and friends that buy into feel-good spiritualism. AXiS gave me new ways to communicate with my friends and speak the truth to them. Beyond that, AXiS showed me how to speak truth saturated with love, because [when we do,] that’s when other people can best see God.

Another great thing about AXiS was that the program is engaging. It was easy to pay attention to the slick graphics, dynamic speakers and relevant examples from pop culture. Everyone that experienced the program with me was amazed at how quickly time passed during the presentations.

AXiS is a Christ-centered and relevant program that I would absolutely recommend to anyone. It helped solidify my faith and develop new ways to engage in conversation with people about the things that are most important to me. I am so glad I had the experience of learning from and getting to know AXiS and getting to know David and Lindsey. It was a blessing.

By: Daniel Lawrence
Town: Cresco, IA
Grade: 12

[AXiS] teaches the most eye opening ideas about Christianity, life and the way we should live. I thought that AXiS coming to camp was a great idea because it gave us evidence and questions to ask when we get into situations with people who say that God doesn’t exist. No one [at my school] really knew why they believed in God, including me, but looking around at the complexity of the world and knowing that it just could not happen by accident really helps me in my Christian walk.

The AXiS program taught me that ideas have consequences. Good ideas have good consequences, and bad ideas have bad consequences. Take ideas captive, or be taken captive by ideas. This means that when people throw out ideas about different things (life, religion, etc.) that we should not just agree with them because they sound convincing, but we should look it up and research the ideas that people are trying to sell to us.

They talked about the difference between knowing the path and walking the path and that everyone has faith. Faith in God, evolution, or anything that people can’t see or touch.

They touched on different religions like Atheism, Hinduism, Buddhism. They told us the percentage of the world that believes in those religions, where they are most popular, and what celebrities or people believe those types of things.

I think that the AXiS group is a blessing from God. They are great for young crowds and old ones. They communicate the message so well that everyone can comprehend the information that they present to the group. I think that AXiS was the best thing for my life at this stage. [...] AXiS is great and I promise that you will not be disappointed.

The All-Singing, All-Dancing Passion of the Christ - Part 4

2009-07-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

My favorite church play was (and still is) the Passion play.

This year, my church put on a biggie-size one. I mean, really, really biggie-size: the Sunday I heard about it, they were calling for three hundred men, women, and children to don the bed sheet and Birkenstocks and join the back-up choir. I was ecstatic. This was going to be the ultimate antidote to all the dry sermons that I had endured, and a grand second act to all of the plays I had admired. It was going to be epic.

And it certainly was epic. A sweeping Miltonian opening scene, in which dark-skinned acrobats leapt, somersaulted, fell and then fought against the cosmic forces of good for lordship over the universe. Entire historical sequences, such as the Red Sea crossing, interjected as nothing more than a scene-setting device. Choreographed commotion surrounding the birth and celebration of baby Jesus (which looked a lot like the presentation of Simba into the Circle of Life). Two dozen hyper-muscular angels and demons hovering around a crucifixion sequence of grim visual realism. It was as if Cirque de Soleil had been sent through five years of Sunday School. Jesus never spoke an audible word, but all of his deeds were amplified by a wall of sound and music, which told you exactly how to feel and when to feel it. Right up to the epic, stirring conclusion, when Jesus stepped out of the tomb. The entire stage was suddenly wreathed in fireworks and blazing with white lights. It was epic.

And, after all of those histrionic outbursts, I somehow left feeling a little disappointed.

Don't get me wrong. The gospel is the Greatest Story Ever Told. The gospel is Epic. But not epic like actors pumped-up to look like the guys that Bruce Willis fought in every movie from the 1980's. Not epic like Chuck Norris's (or John Eldridge's) beard. Not epic like Braveheart. Not epic like the Iliad. And, sorry to say, not epic like Cirque de Soleil

To be continued...

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

By: Chad

Help Save the Chairs!

2009-06-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

The first AXiS Service Day video is finally up.

Here are some things to think about when watching this video...

1. How can I make a difference in my community?
2. Who can I recruit to help me make a difference?
3. Can I give up one hour of playing guitar hero or skip a summer nap to help others?
4. If I decide to serve, will I remember to wear my bear repellant?
5. If I decide to serve, will I make sure that all chairs are tied down properly and securely?
6. If I decide to devote my life to serving others, that might make it so the AXiS team won't find anyone to serve (this is a good thing). This would save a lot of chairs in the future!

If any of these points do not make sense, check out the below video and we are sure the fog will lift!

To watch a larger version of this video, click on the video and you will be brought to a site with a larger version or click here.

by: Jeremiah

The All-Singing, All-Dancing Passion of the Christ - Part 3

2009-06-23T10:12:00.001-07:00

And all of this should begin to explain why I loved church plays.

I loved plays because they merged with the current of my imagination. They satisfied a deep, unslaked thirst for images and story-lines: for truth-in-life. I loved the portrayal of an ordinary Savior who hung out with his disciples and laughed at their jokes. He seemed like someone I would want to hang out with. I loved the jaunty depictions of a Lord who dressed strangely, moved around a lot, and talked with his hands. He seemed like someone I would want to talk to.

I loved the strange, surprising sound of Jesus' words when they were spoken aloud. And I even loved the homely re-enactment of Jesus' miracles. Somehow, subversion with low-tech and no-budget special effects made Jesus' signs of power appear even more sublime and even more spectacular to my young mind.

Needless to say, nowadays I love sermons as much as I love plays. I have developed an analytic mind, and I am able to thrill in the discovery of new "facts" about scripture. Still, I owe it to church plays (among some other things, including a solid family life) that I now know how to synthesize these facts into a worldview. Life has taught me that a worldview is greater than a sum of truth claims. It is the current of real life that connects all these dislocated truth claims together. If I were to explain to you about a person whom I love deeply, I would have to tell you much more than all the facts about that person; I would have to tell you their story. In the same way, I loved the Jesus that I could place within a story -- even within my own story. That Jesus made sense to me.

So I loved church plays. And my favorite church play was (and still is) the Passion play.

To be continued...

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

By: Chad

American Idol in Action

2009-06-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, I admit...I'm a fan. The guys here in the office can attest to that one. I tuned in almost every Tuesday to see the performances and then again on Wednesday to see who made it to the next round. I didn't know the full effect the show had on America until the last few rounds of the season, when I found out that the show brought in approximately 624 million votes over season 8...random fact.... that is more votes than the past FIVE presidential elections combined (notice I say number of votes and not number of people who voted)! Not to mention that 28 million people tuned in to the season finale and just under 100 million votes were cast (and yes...I voted). But when the show comes to an end... what's the point? What was the point of watching talented young people perform night after night? What difference does it make in the long run? I was very impressed to see how American Idol uses both the viewership and talent to make a difference in the lives of more than the last few standing on stage in May.

Alicia Keyes promoted Keep a Child Alive, an organization dedicated to stopping the spread of AIDS. During one episode of AI, Noah Mushimiyimana, performed on stage and the performance was sold on iTUNES for the charity. On top of that, they promoted a text- fundraiser that brought in over $500,000 from viewers.

David Cook’s older brother passed away from brain cancer in the beginning of May this year, after battling it for many years. During the finale, David Cook performed his new song “Permanent,” and sold the single on iTUNES with all proceeds going to the organization, Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure.

Another organization, never really mentioned during the season, yet making huge waves now that season 8 has come to a close; is Sophia’s Heart Foundation. The foundation was founded by the 3rd place finalist, Danny Gokey, in honor of his wife Sophia. The organization works to provide musical instruments and college scholarships to students, to provide food, clothing and shelter to those in need, and also provide medical assistance for children in need of treatment.

American Idol Gives Back also supports organizations such as The Children's Health Fund, Children's Defense Fund, Make It Right and Save the Children; not to mention more local programs.

Overall, I was very impressed with the difference American Idol and the performers/contestants make in the lives of others all over the world... but what about us? We always talk about action and about the small things we can do as young people. We always assume we have to do this huge act to make a difference in the lives of others and then we shut down when the task seems to much. Sometimes, it’s just as simple as purchasing a song or sending a text message. Don’t back down. Start small.

By: Meghan

From Blog Apathy to Blog Action!

2009-06-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, can't believe it is already the middle of June!

Jeremiah, Chad and Meghan are currently working on very exciting things like curriculum development, marketing mailings, business plans, donor phone calls and newsletters.

Chad just got back from Southern California after helping his brother and sister-in-law for a few weeks. He got to meet an owner of Jedidiah , a really sweet clothing company out of San Diego. Check them out! If you are lucky you might be able to order AXiS t-shirts made by Jedidiah in the near future. Keep your eyes out!

Meghan just got back from gorgeous Seattle, WA, where she was in a good friend's wedding. Ah, June, the former month of weddings!

Jeremiah has had the privilege of watching his two little boys enjoy a summer with a backyard for the first time in their lives. They previously lived in apartments and town-homes.

David and his wife Lindsey vacationed in Iowa last week (really? yes, really!) and are currently speaking on behalf of AXiS at a summer camp somewhere in Iowa. They are speaking at Midwest Bible Camp's "Senior Week."

Jeremiah, Chad and Meghan really miss David and all of Lindsey's home-made goodies that they get to eat when David shares.

If you read this post, please give AXiS a summer shout out in the comments section! We would love to hear from you. Let us know who you are and how you know about AXiS. Also, let us know what part of the country you are from.

Now, enough of this blog apathy from AXiS... You can look forward to some new posts in the days to come. Get pumped!

The All-Singing, All-Dancing Passion of the Christ - Part 2

2009-05-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of bad theology as a kid, a lot of bad ideas which clung like the Sunday blue blazer I had to wear in late-August. Or the dust in our ancient church library that I accidentally wandered into once. Or the Caucasian flannelgraph dolls in Mrs. Jeffcoat's third grade Sunday School Class.

I have already said that most of these ideas came from the sermons I heard. But maybe I should be honest and admit that when I was a kid, I didn't listen to most sermons. I endured most sermons by winding and unwinding my mother's pin-lever watch until she grew visibly irritated. After that, I signed my name to bulletins. I did this repeatedly and with such concentrated effort that my fingers hurt. I loved the carbon-copy effect on the backs of hymnals that I could achieve by pressing harder with my pen. Maybe I imagined that once my brightest and most promising years, the precious years of my childhood, had all disappeared into years of sermon-listening, I would have a last will and testament in the form of scribbly indentations on all the covers of hymnals in the church.

Anyway, I would have succeeded.

But all of this should begin to explain why I despised church sermons... and why I loved church plays. Plays were stylish, and rare. Sermons were not. Sermons were artless, and very common. If I would have been a more cerebral kid (like my boy-genius brother), I could have learned something from them. But to me, they were useless. Deadwood. If they went anywhere, it was on the ambling current of my imagination.

To be continued...

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

By: Chad

Summit Ministries from a Grand View

2009-05-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

On May 16, 1891, the Hotel Grandview, in Manitou Springs, Colorado, opened its doors to the public for the first time. Located high above Manitou Avenue, the hotel boasted one "grand view" over the valley and Manitou Springs. The hotel welcomed patrons from all walks of life, from coal miners in Cripple Creek to U.S. Senators. It continued to serve their guests until 1962 when the hotel was sold to Summit Ministries.

Now, 118 years to the day since the doors opened for the first time, the aroma of home-made peanut butter and freshly baked bread drift through the hallways of the turn-of-the-century hotel. It is May and once again the Historic Grandview springs to life with students and staff. The hotel, after laying silent for the past several months, now resonates with laughter and worship as the summer sessions of Summit Ministries worldview and leadership conferences for high school and college students kick into gear once again.

The ballroom, once used for mid-day teas and exquisite galas, now joins together some of today’s greatest minds when it comes to the Christian Worldview. Students sit under some of the most influential minds of our day, including Dr.'s Del Tackett, J.P. Moreland, Frank Beckwith and David Noebel.

The veranda, where Harry S. Truman once spent an afternoon reminiscing with an old friend, is still lined with rocking chairs and still overlooks the beautiful town below. Today, it is used as a forum for students to dialogue with speakers in a small group setting and to incorporate the ideas taught in class into real-life situations.

As stated on it's website, “Summit is an educational Christian ministry whose very existence is a response to our current post-Christian culture. Countless Christians are renouncing their faith and many more are adopting the false humanistic philosophies and religions of [our day]. Most have adopted these ideas into their own worldview, while still others go on to renounce their Christian faith altogether. Summit views its role in God’s kingdom as a catalyst to counteract this alarming trend." Summit is "teaching Christians to analyze competing ideas, challenging them to stand strong in their faith, educating them to defend truth, and ultimately equipping them to impact the world for Christ.” You can learn more about Summit by visiting, www.summit.org.

In a survey, George Barna found that 80% of students who were active Christians in high school and college will have left the faith by age 29¹. Summit’s mission is to ground Christians in their faith, to equip Christians to defend the biblical worldview and to prepare tomorrow’s servant leaders.

Summit was the first place I learned how to engage the culture without forfeiting Truth. For once, I was able to challenge the ideas that I have always been taught as truth and align them with Scripture. Summit equipped me for college so that I would not be one of that 80%, and furthermore, opened the door for Focus on the Family Institute (now Focus Leadership Institute) and AXiS.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and basic principles of the world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8

Notes

George Barna, "Most Twenty-Somethings Put Christianity on the Shelf Following Spiritually Active Teen Years." You can find the article online here.

Back^

By: Meghan

labels

2009-05-19T06:47:00.001-07:00

the quote, “once you label me you negate me” has been attributed to Soren Kierkegaard¹.

when we label others we nullify their individuality and can then justify treating them according to the limits of that label.

it is a discreet way of dismissing someone and replacing them with a stereotype.

labeling has been the gateway for racism, hypocrisy, and generally neglecting others that are different.

thoughts?

Notes

AXiS does not necessarily endorse all of Kierkegaard's philosophy, but instead we want to focus on thoughtful ideas within his (and others) writing.

Back^

by: David

The All-Singing, All-Dancing Passion of the Christ - Part 1

2009-05-15T07:23:00.001-07:00

I had a lot of bad theology as a kid.

I was in church every Sunday. During Sunday School lessons, I sat cross-legged on my little rug-square. I listened intently and answered all the questions correctly and quoted versus in the NIV. I sang Father Abraham with all its hand motions and endless reprises. And all the while I imagined Jesus just like a walking Pez dispenser.

I told you I was a little heretic.

No one ever taught me that Jesus was the plastic purveyor of an Austrian pellet candy. Not exactly. But spring-loaded and smiling, ready to reward complete strangers with his sweet and tart nuggets of advice, that's just how I pictured him. I just couldn't figure out why everyone back then didn't absolutely love him for it, too.

On the other hand, during "big church" sermons Jesus could have been a dried out and cracked old commencement speaker. (I would realize this years later when I was about to graduate from college.) He was 33, but I pictured him much older. Sour. Semi-famous. And, translated into the stilted cadence of our pastor who mostly read passages out of the KJV, inexcusably overeducated. In the sermons I heard, it was like Jesus kept returning to the crowds with his vague, gauzy speeches of empowerment and resolution, but -- poor, frustrated old soul! -- his own disciples foundered and failed to graduate.

Occasionally, when we had guest preachers, I got the impression that Jesus was like the David Copperfield of the first century. Like the time he healed a guy's eyes -- twice! Why did he do it twice? In my young, television-irradiated mind, it was his obvious instinct for showmanship.

I had a lot of bad theology. And it sounds strange to say it, but I think that I gathered most of it from the sermons that I heard.

To be continued...

By: Chad

The Soloist: More than Music

2009-05-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the film, The Soloist, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. The Film is based on the real story of a columnist, Steve Lopez, and his encounter and journey with Nathaniel Ayers, a brilliant musician; living with schizophrenia on skid row in Los Angeles.

On the surface, the film is about a friendship formed through music; but more so than that, the film exhibited a glimpse of the reality of homelessness in Los Angeles and how we, as Christians are viewed in light of that reality.

According to the 2007 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, there are nearly 74,000 people living on the streets of Los Angeles County. The film showed an adequate representation of this staggering statistic, but what jumped out at me was something deeper than that.

At different points in the film, Steve Lopez engages in conversations with both an Atheist and a Christian. At one point, Lopez interviews an Atheist, who is picking up trash alongside a Los Angeles freeway. The interview is cut short when Lopez sees Nathaniel across the street. Although the interview is very short; I think a very strong statement is made through this interaction (which I will define later).

At many points throughout the film, the camera pans the outer wall of the Lamp Community (a nonprofit that works to end homelessness by helping those with mental illnesses move from the streets into actual homes). On that wall is a very large, illuminated sign that states: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” This is Romans 6:23. The producers of this film do an excellent job of making sure the audience reads it a dozen times. At another point, a Christian musician decides to work with Nathaniel and asks him to perform in front of an audience. Of course, the audience is dressed in suits and those in attendance are not enthusiastic about seeing Nathaniel perform. Just before Nathaniel steps in front of his small audience, his mentor asks to pray with him and then sends him out to a scene of humiliation, alone.

Now to my point.

The Atheist is willing to go out and pick up trash alongside the road, yet when this homeless man enters the scene, he goes back to his good deed of keeping LA beautiful. He is willing to clean up behind people, yet ignores the people in need right in front of him.

We look at the world around us as an excellent opportunity to share the gospel and teach the Truth. After all, that is what we are called to do. I am not saying that the verse on the side of the building was wrong or that we aren’t called to pray for those around us; but is that all we do? I think the world tends to see us as those who will make a claim for Christ and walk away. I’m sorry, but that’s not the Jesus I follow. He not only spoke the Truth, he reached out and fed the hungry, he healed the sick, he loved those who no one else would love. If we claim to be disciples, is it not about time to actually be the hands and feet of God, rather than just the mouthpiece?

By: Meghan

the best things in life aren't things...

2009-05-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

let’s talk about cars... i drive a 2004 toyota echo. the wheels are tiny, the champagne paint is similar to the color of a fishing lure, when it is windy my car drives like a kite, and the body style looks similar to a football helmet. to date, i have never been accused of driving a “cool car” and i don’t think i ever will. however, my car is fun to drive (in a mario-cart kinda way) and it works incredibly well.

oh ... and did i mention that it gets an average of 43 miles per gallon?

why all this banter about an automobile? here’s why. i see cars, like most things, as a tool. it takes me from Point A to Point B. now my toyota echo isn’t a ferrari enzo that can zoom from 0 to 60 in 3.6 seconds and it can’t go 217 miles per hour, but last time i checked the speed limit for toyota echos and ferrari enzos is still 75 miles per hour and we both have to stop at red lights¹.

in my view the purpose of a car is transportation ... not status, prestige, or style. it just seems that a lot of people are trying to prove something by the vehicle that they drive. just think, if people treated a stapler like they treated their car. some people would have a diamond-studded, hydraulic-powered stapler that uses platinum staples. wouldn’t that be silly?

here’s the point. the best things in life are not things. there is nothing wrong with owning stuff. the problem is when the stuff owns you. the outrage is when we overlook what is important in life (loving God and loving others) because we are busy paying homage to the status a ___________ can give us.

earnestly, david

Notes

and for the record ... my toyota gets 34 more miles per gallon than a ferrari and is about $600,000 cheaper. my friend fraser ratzlaff with Children of the Nations could feed almost 2.4 million meals to starving children for the price difference!

Back^

This Moment

2009-04-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Ten out of ten people die.

It’s not necessarily a frightening statistic; just a fact of life... literally. I think that we often live as if we have all the time in the world. I don’t think it's a conscious notion that we pursue. I don’t wake up in the morning thinking, “I can do anything because I'm invincible.” It would be nice to think that we can take on anything and everything, but we, as humans, are frail.

As young people, I think we live as if we are unbreakable because we hold to the idea that we have 60 or 70 more years ahead of us. Is it a silly perception to have? Of course not. From personal experience, we see that most people will live to be 70 or 80 years old. Not only that, but we do not live in a spirit of fear that we may not take our next breath. Even so, we do not always have the awareness that we cannot control our next breath or keep our hearts beating.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “No kidding,” right? I teach about the concept of death while on the road with AXiS, yet I never fully grasped its full reality until recently. April 17, 2009 is a day I will not soon forget. A friend of mine was killed in a tragic accident in Colorado Springs. I have had friends die before, so why had this one hit me so hard? I think it was because she was only 18. She had just started college last semester. She was younger than me.

James says, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.’” James 4:13-15

Our lives are just a vapor and we are never guaranteed tomorrow. Knowing this, how will we choose to live today?

By: Meghan

Are You Serious?

2009-04-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

people comment that they think i am a serious person. and when i think about it ... it makes sense. i often walk around with a furrowed brow contemplating the inner workings of our culture and usually i forget to smile! and yet again, today, i am serious ...

call me naive but i cannot believe how many artists make a living by destroying other's lives.

point and case. asher roth has a single out called “i love college” that is number nine on itunes and has been viewed over five and a half million times on youtube.

i quote, “that party last night was awfully crazy i wish we taped it | i dance my face off and had this one girl completely naked | drink my beer and smoke my weed | my good friends is all i need | pass out at three wake up at ten | go out to eat then do it again | man, i love college.” below is the video.

* WARNING - PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS OBJECTIONABLE LANGUAGE AND IMAGES IN THIS VIDEO *

Asher Roth - I Love College
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup

what furrows my brow and breaks my heart about it is that this is a life many people LIVE or ASPIRE for ... simply put ... a life of selfishness, irresponsibility, and abuse. to me, affirming the lifestyle of “i love college” is like affirming a father feeding poison to his young children ... in both cases people die.

why can’t people release singles that are about something bigger than this?

seriously, david

Road Trip Diary - The Brookhill School - Tyler, TX

2009-04-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

Written: April 8, 2009

Team: David, Chad, Lindsay, Terrie, Johanna, Missy

Tyler, Texas. I have to admit that I pictured dusty brown ground and lots of cattle and cowboys, as I told one of the students jokingly this week. Tyler was a pleasant surprise with its budding greenery and flourishing grass. It was quite a pleasure to experience a change of scenery from Colorado Springs this week as we ministered to middle school and high school students at The Brook Hill School.

The principal, staff, and the students were welcoming to our crew of six and they soaked in the information that we shared about media, music, and worldviews. Many of the students were challenged when we used their favorite artists and songs as examples of the basic worldviews: naturalism, spiritualism, and theism. From my perspective, it was a little frightening to address their questions at first, but we made a special effort to be responsive and very loving toward the students. I remember an encounter with a middle school student that seemed to be more than just chance. I was very tired and I decided to find a place to rest for a period. God had other plans and I ran into two boys in the hallway. We had a good conversation but one of the students was really struggling with some things that we had presented and he needed to vent a little bit. I was amazed at the timing of the encounter and I sensed that God was using me to encourage this young student to keep pursuing God. He expressed that he was mostly an atheist and was having trouble believing that God is there. It broke my heart to hear the edginess in his voice and I wondered what he had experienced that had made him so jaded about the Christian faith. After giving him a bear hug and walking away, however, I knew that God had done something to change his life in our brief encounter. I have continued to pray for him because it would be a shame for such a bright student to turn from the faith because his questions were not welcomed or addressed.

Later that same day a teacher asked us to speak in her classroom because one of her students was troubled that we seemed to be taking artists’ work out of context. After three of us attended the class for an open discussion, this student was relieved and had a genuine appreciation for what AXiS is doing. This was a prime example of why the relational focus of AXiS is so important. Unlike many other guest speakers that travel to schools, we spend the day in students’ classrooms to help them process what we presented and to build relationships with them. There were many opportunities for us to bond with the students during two and a half short days but some were deeply impacted. One student even had tears in her eyes when we were saying goodbye to her!

Many of the students were moved to greater openness or passion by our visit. One atheist student said that chapel for her is boring but she really enjoyed and learned from the AXiS presentation. She identified with the cartoons that we had presented and expressed that now she has a different perspective of God. Another student expressed that she has a renewed passion about her faith and she was even interested in working for AXiS someday! Other students asked us questions about how to more effectively share their faith, how to remove the fake identities that they wear in school, and some just needed to vent about things that they felt they couldn’t tell anyone else. We spoke with vibrant Christians, nominal Christians, Atheists, and Muslims. A team member was even able to dialogue with a student from Saudi Arabia.

The students and staff had such a positive response to our team and the material that we presented that the principal invited AXiS back for next year!

Right now we’re on our way back to Colorado Springs, exhausted but very content with our visit and the ministering that we were able to do. This part of Texas is flat and green and the sun is setting in a gorgeous orange and purple display on the horizon. There couldn’t be a more perfect way to wrap up a trip than with a team of friends, beautiful scenery, and the contentment of knowing that God used us during the past few days to touch lives deeply.
By: Missy¹

Notes

This was Missy's first trip with AXiS. Missy is currently a student at the Focus on the Family Institute (FFI) and an alum. of The University of Connecticut. Every semester, several FFI students are able to be interns with AXiS and travel all around the country with us ministering to students.

Now, That's How It's Done!

2009-04-08T07:49:00.001-07:00

We first saw this on our good friend and AXiS board member, John Stonestreet's blog.

Sean McDowell (Josh McDowell's son) is a teacher at a high school in SoCal¹. He is also a national speaker and author. Nice rep.

We absolutely love the idea of what he did with his students several weeks ago. He brought his students on a "missions trip" to the University of California at Berkeley (thought to be one of the most "liberal" colleges in the country). The one thing you need to know is that these students are trained very well by Sean and the other teachers at Capistrano Valley Christian School. You can check out more of the videos of Sean's teaching and subscribe to his blog at www.conversantlife.com/blogs/sean+mcdowell.

One of AXiS' goals is to fix the statistic that says, "Only one-fifth of twentysomethings (20%) have maintained a level of spiritual activity consistent with their high school experiences."²

AXiS' hope is that we can keep encouraging parents, high school administrators/teachers, and college ministry leaders to continue to challenge their students to think deeply about the reality of their faith. We are so glad that there are people like Sean out there who are making it a priority to teach young Christians to love God with their minds (Matt. 22:37).

Sidenote: Check out this other great blog post by JR Briggs, former pastor of Pierced @ Woodmen Valley Chapel here in Colorado Springs. It is especially pertinent before Easter, but can be used anytime.

Keep an eye out for more posts from David, Chad, and the first post from Meghan in the days to come. Happy Wednesday!

Notes

That's southern California for all you non-cali folk. Back^
George Barna, "Most Twenty-Somethings Put Christianity on the Shelf Following Spiritually Active Teen Years." You can find the article online here. Back^

By: Jeremiah

Surprise. No, Really, Surprise!

2009-03-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

We all know that body language carries most of the conversation. Apparently, according to communication specialists, we communicate much more with our posture, our gestures, our mouths and even our eyebrows than we do with our words. (Which makes the life of a writer like me a lot more difficult. You can feel sorry for me now. Seriously =(! See, now you do. )

I have learned recently that all these non-verbals, especially this muscular contortion of the strange monitors in our heads we call "facial expression", may serve a second purpose. To explain, I recommend an experiment. Find a snotty-nose kid with an expressive face and a lollypop at the nearest public park. Walk up to him, and yank that sucker right out of his head. Now notice his eyes become like little squinchy slits right before they start to leak fluid and he starts screeching for his mommy. That little commotion with his eyes happened for a purpose. In this case, anger actually limited his field of vision. "Angry face" tended to eliminate all irrelevant detail for Johnny and allowed him to focus. It also communicated to you very clearly that little Johnny was not your friend at that moment.

Notice what happens next. You turn blithely to explain to the kid's mommy about your little physiognomy experiment and -- realize that it is actually his extremely disgruntled 250-pound ex-con father who is already upon you. And he is swinging a baseball bat. Your eyes suddenly become wide, and your pupils dilate. Your eyebrows jump up, and your muscles go very unfortunately slack, causing your jaw to to drop, completing overall a very embarrassing picture in the history of your life. You take a quick, in-breath of air and you prepare to be squashed. In other words, you are surprised.

Whereas some non-verbals, such as posture, gestures, and so-called "angry face," may be very helpful in communicating information to others, other non-verbals can be very critical in receiving information from the world. Surprise, for instance, obviously helps us take in new information about our surroundings and become even more alert. With its bugged-out eyes, soaring eyebrows, and dropping jaw, surprise is actually a very healthy emotion and a healthy facial expression. (Try it with your face right now. It even feels good!) And I don't think we experience enough of it. Why? Not because we are too decent to be out harassing little Johnny's in the park, but because we are chronic control freaks. Our entire lives are scripted, we rehearse every moment. We strive for mastery. We even expect our own friends to consult with us before buying our birthday presents.

So what can surprise us? I think tragedy can. [...]

By: Chad

Emptiness

2009-03-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

consistently my mind has been drawn to the wisdom woven into the proverbs of solomon. maybe it is that solomon and i are both collectors of punchy sound bites, or maybe the clarity of his axioms frequently haunt me.

in proverbs 22:8 solomon contends that the person “who sows iniquity will reap vanity”.

a possible paraphrase could be, “the person that plants disobedience to God will harvest a meaningless life”. when i step outside of my circumstances and consider my actions, when i critique the choices that i am daily planting, i am forced to wonder ... will my life harvest emptiness.

By: David

Nothing is Real or a Lie...

2009-03-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

One of most interesting new shows on TV is Lie To Me on Fox. It has a unique premise. The show is about a group of professionals that help various government agencies and individuals solve cases by analyzing whether people are telling the truth. I think the fifth show has aired now, and for some reason, it really intrigues me every week. The characters on the show observe things such as facial expressions, body language, verbal tone, and even the speed in which someone says something to find out if people are lying. I don't know why I am attracted to this show, but I find that after watching the first minute, I have to watch to the end.

I was watching the show last night and found a really strong worldview clip. Thanks to Hulu, I can share it with you all and see what you think.

(Here's a tip, if your bandwidth is as slow as mine, pause the clip for about 15 seconds to buffer before you watch it, so that it doesn't freeze on you.)

The prisoner character in the clip shares a very popular life philosophy. He says, "Nothing is real or a lie. It all depends on the color of the glass you're looking through." Relative morality is prevalent in today's society. I believe this is an example of that concept. Within the AXiS presentation, we put this concept within both the Naturalistic and Spiritualistic worldviews. Each of these belief systems, however, come to this conclusion for various reasons.

What do you all think of this clip? How often have you heard this statement? What would your response to this statement be if someone said this to you?

By: Jeremiah

AXiS Blog

2009-03-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

We would like to introduce you to the Official AXiS blog!

Our hope is to post to this blog four times every 2 weeks. Please pray that we can accomplish this.

Regular contributions will be given by David Eaton - AXiS Executive Director of Communication, Jeremiah Callihan - AXiS Executive Director of Administration, Chad Barlow - AXiS Research and Training Coordinator, and Meghan Libassi - AXiS Administrative Coordinator. We also hope to have guest contributions by various AXiS volunteer team members.

For those of you who don't know, those who donate their time as volunteer team members are professionals primarily from the Colorado Springs area. We have had youth pastors, police officers, editors, social workers, and many other professions represented by team members that have visited, schools, churches, and other groups all around the country in the past 2 years.

We are so excited to provide you with a way to stay in touch with the happenings of AXiS. Most importantly, though, we are excited to continue to motivate ourselves and you to move from apathy to action!

Now, go make a difference! Oh, yah, and don't forget to read our blog regularly!