Zondervan Blog

CNN Reports on the Virtual Church

In the last week CNN has given some attention to the "Virtual Church." In an article about the "Virtual Church," and an interview with Craig Groeschel, the pastor of LifeChurch.tv, CNN brings to light some of issues surrounding one of the newer, and more controversial trends in Christianity. Interviewing a member of LifeChurch.tv, Hjalti á Lava, says:

"It allows me to connect with others and have conversations about the message. Technology allows us today to have fellowship across borders and cultures."

Recently Christianity Today had a blog post discussing this issue by Bob Hyatt, who is pastor of the Evergreen Community in Portland, Oregon, and a regular contributor to Out of Ur, (Part 1 | Part 2).

"The problem, in my mind, with virtual community and internet campuses isn’t that it’s not church... it’s that it is just church enough to be dangerous. Because it has all the easiest and most instantly gratifying parts of community without the harder parts, it ends up misshaping us."

  Learn More | Read Excerpt

Douglas Estes, author of SimChurch is also mentioned in the CNN article. For people that are passionate about the church and evangelism, and feel both excitement and concern over the new virtual world the internet is creating, SimChurch explores much of this debate and covers some of the vital issues that postmillennial followers of Jesus must grapple with.

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About the Author
Douglas Estes is Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Western Seminary-San José and Lead Pastor at Berryessa Valley Church, San José, California. He received his PhD in Theology from the University of Nottingham, UK.

Mary DeMuth Shares Personal Story of Abuse, Healing & Hope

Thin Places: A Memoir
Coming February 2010

Thin Places is about hope and healing more than it is about the traumatic events of DeMuth’s childhood. According to DeMuth, thin places are “snatches of time, moments really, when we sense God intersecting our world in tangible, unmistakable ways.” When she encountered the true love of Jesus at a Young Life camp in high school, DeMuth’s life trajectory changed. God reassembled the pieces of her emotionally fragile self, which initiated true healing and peace.

“Folks may wonder why I’ve spent all this time looking back,” says DeMuth, “dredging up what God sees of my story, what my eyes see. Jesus says truth sets people free. This is my way of doing that—of telling the stark truth on the page so others can be set free.”

DeMuth’s desire is to see readers set free from their family secrets. In light of that, she’s provided a place for readers to anonymously share their family secrets. Since the blog launched in February 2009, over 150 survivors have emailed their family secrets for DeMuth to anonymously post. For more information, visit the blog at: http://blog.myfamilysecrets.org.

Read More | Read Excerpt | Book Details

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About Mary DeMuth
Author and speaker Mary DeMuth helps people turn their trials to triumph. Her books include Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God, Building the Christian Family You Never Had, Watching the Tree Limbs, Wishing on Dandelions, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture and the first two books in the Defiance Texas Trilogy: Daisy Chain and A Slow Burn. Mary lives with her husband Patrick and their three children in Texas. Find out more at www.marydemuth.com.

The Inklings Journey: The Photography

Editors Note: This is a the sixth in a series of posts about Harry Lee Poe and James Ray Veneman's experience with creating and publishing The Inklings of Oxford: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Their Friends. This post was written by James Ray Veneman. Enjoy.

As photography goes, I've always had a tendency to operate on the side of simplicity. Some of my finest feel-good moments have come when reading quotes from well known photographers who said that all they really need is one body and a couple of lenses. Now that's my kind of photography.

Although this project screamed for more lenses, a tripod welded to the camera and a trunk filled with ways to create and control the light, I simply couldn't do it. I did take a tripod and even purchased an amazing shoulder bag designed to make it easier to carry. I also had a few extra lenses, one even being a 300mm, a rather heavy beast. But when it came right down to the shooting, the 300 was used only once for photographs of deer in a distant field, and the tripod was taken out of its really nice bag to provide a little extra support for an evening photograph of The Trout Inn. Fortunately, these occurred very early in our expedition. The long lens and tripod never again left my room at Regent's Park College. From that point on it was a camera body and two lenses. I did carry a second camera body, but it was never used. It was, however, nice to know it was there just in case.

Although I'm certain that the tripod would have been valuable from a technical standpoint, the 'list' was always looming not far from my compositional thought. Time was of the essence, and there wasn't much of it. Although many of the exteriors of the Oxford architecture were breathtaking to say the least, their interiors were absolutely astonishing. A key element of this splendor is light. The designers of these fabulous spaces were undoubtedly masters in the use of light. So, I chose to let the scene created by those original architects provide the light I would use. This, of course, brought about some pretty intense challenges.

Of the tests this approach brought, one was crucial in practically every view, and is consistently a part of photographs produced by anyone, anywhere. Handling the light in reference to shadow detail is always a task of considerable challenge and requires great care, both as the image is recorded, and then later during image editing. There were occasions in which this was not an overpowering concern, but those were few. In most cases, especially concerning interiors, the exposure difference between highlight and shadow was extreme. In addition to careful adjustment of exposure, many of the photographs involving these places took extra time during final file preparation.

Often as Hal and I walked into one of these majestic spaces, my thoughts drifted quickly to the task at hand. How do we quickly capture the needed perspectives, from detail to the wider view, in such low light levels? With the clock always ticking, and without delay, I tried to place the camera in the most suitable positions. Hal's coaching was always helpful at this point. He saw each location from the standpoint of both history and story, often noticing the vital details that I would miss. Thanks to the newer vibration reduction lenses, I could still adjust the camera to obtain higher levels of quality with minimal technical sacrifice, in even the most challenging spaces.

I'm sure if you were to take a camera back to a place of your youth, you would want to capture scenes from your memory. Some of them may have changed dramatically, others very little. Before you raised the camera to your eye, you would look for those nearly exact perspectives that would conjure up those memories. Later you would look through those images and would be able to feel the wind, hear the sounds and smell the fragrance of days past. In some ways, this is what Hal and I were trying to do too. We attempted to give one the chance to not just view an image, but experience, even feel the places that were so much a part of the lives of this group of friends.

A truly helpful phrase I heard frequently from Hal was, "They walked together right through here." Interestingly, it was always at that point that I would begin to see.

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James Ray Veneman, serves as assistant professor and director of visual communication at Union University. A celebrated photographer, he cover the efforts in Iraq, spending time in Baghdad and on board an aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. From this, the book A Greater Freedom was produced. Other assignments include the days immediately following the World Trade Center attack and meetings in Cuba with Fidel Castro.

Charity Auction of Original Handwritten Bible Across America

The original Bible Across America features three leather-bound volumes of the 2,200 hand written 11 x 17 pages. Interested buyers can visit Zondervan’s Bible Across America eBay store here and make an offer to own the world’s first completely handwritten NIV Bible. The auction will close on Sunday, November 22 at 11:11 a.m. EST.

All proceeds from the Bible Across America auction will go to Colorado Springs-based Biblica, formerly the International Bible Society. For 200 years, Biblica has been committed to transforming lives through God's Word by translating, producing, and distributing Bibles, Scripture materials, and other Christian resources through ministry, distribution and retail channels around the world

For more information on this exciting project, visit the Bible Across America website.

Build a Kindergarten in Vietnam

Jonathan Acuff, author of the upcoming book Stuff Christians Like is raising funds to build a kindergarten in Vietnam. Jon writes:

About a year ago, while flipping through a book, my 6 year old daughter saw a photo of a starving child. When I told her he didn’t have enough food to eat, she got quiet and then said, “That’s not real though. That’s pretend right?” That simple question really challenged me about the things in this world I’m OK with being “real.” Like poverty and starving kids and children with no hope. Today, in what I’m hoping is a good stewardship of the Stuff Christians Like platform, I’m asking readers to help me raise $30,000 through Samaritan’s Purse to build a kindergarten for more than 200 kids in Vietnam.

For more information you can read Jon's entire post on StuffChristianLike.com here.

Get more details on this project from an interview with Jon Acuff here.

Inklings Journey: The Plan

Editors Note: This is a the fifth in a series of posts about Harry Lee Poe and James Ray Veneman's experience with creating and publishing The Inklings of Oxford: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Their Friends. This post was written by James Ray Veneman. Enjoy.

Ten days. That’s all the time we had to photograph our way through Hal Poe’s list of essential people and places. But with a book deadline heading our way even quicker than the autumn leaves, we needed to accomplish more on this trip than the photography.

Before leaving England, we needed to have made image selections for specific passages of text. This meant that when the shooting day came to a close, we were not quite finished. Evenings were reserved for editing.

Not that long ago for most photographers, film was still the medium of choice. Regardless of the assignment, the number of rolls to carry was always a major consideration. If one were working internationally, away from the convenience of the familiar, that number of rolls could grow easily into the hundreds. Even working across town, to prevent any moments of hyperventilation, the photographer would never leave without more than enough frames to cover the subject.

Now in this digital age, working in even distant locations, frame count is not nearly the hill it once was. We no longer need to check an extra bag just for film. Most all of the frames we could possibly need will fit comfortably into a small compartment in our camera bag. However, along with this convenience a new challenge has appeared. The number of frames we now take on assignment can be much larger compared to the past. That means having more, often many more, photographs to edit.

During all those years of film, image editing was almost always begun upon return to home soil. The Inklings project was not done in that fashion. Each evening, only minutes after experiencing our latest find of sticky toffee pudding, our first steps were to rename all of the day’s images and file them appropriately. Once that was complete we selected a top edit of the photographs to be considered, and copied them into folders representing each chapter of the book. Next came the most important step of the night, backing up everything we had just done on an external hard drive. Only then was it time to get some needed rest for the next day.

For me each evening’s edit was almost as much fun as the day of shooting. Hearing again the relevance of a particular setting or perspective was fascinating. Hal’s stories made the images come alive right on the screen of my laptop. This was truly one of my favorite parts of the project.

Back in Tennessee, it was time to prepare the files for publication. With a little jazz playing softly in the background, color was fine-tuned, slight cropping adjustments were made, and several other possible corrections might be performed. Although not usually sitting beside me for this part of the process, I could still hear Hal’s voice telling the story of each subject. Sometimes I wished that instead of text, as one turned the pages of the book one would hear Hal’s rich account of those photographs.

If time had not been a factor, the subjects for each day’s work might have been placed in a shooting order primarily contingent upon light. But in this instance, the subjects were photographed in an order that would allow us to complete our assignment and actually make our return flight. Although Hal and I always sought to find the best perspectives of a subject, there were a number of instances in which I turned the camera toward a subject in less than ideal conditions. A few weeks later as I relived image after image, I was reminded of the many times we were faced with the need to compromise.

Of course, I realize that without the diligence of the process and the ever-so-fast pace of Hal each day, the project would never have found completion. Seldom do the perfect, ideal conditions come together for any of us, whether we’re involved in photography or anything else. As for me, give me a little rain and Hal’s stories any day. I’m ready to go.

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James Ray Veneman, serves as assistant professor and director of visual communication at Union University. A celebrated photographer, he cover the efforts in Iraq, spending time in Baghdad and on board an aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. From this, the book A Greater Freedom was produced. Other assignments include the days immediately following the World Trade Center attack and meetings in Cuba with Fidel Castro.

Sufficient Grace

I have been married eighteen years. In a row. To the same person.

This is no small accomplishment, given our culture's view of marriage as a disposable commodity. And given that I am married to a difficult person.

But then again, so is he. We are both difficult people, which is to say, we are human beings, who happen to have opinions, which sometimes differ. I suppose that makes it all the more intriguing that we are still here-waking up next to each other. Well, I'm awake, and he's actually still in bed. I'm a morning person, he's not. I see the kids off to school, he waits up for them when they're out. I went to bed last night before he did, he stayed up and cleaned the kitchen. (Love that).

I remember one of our marriage counselors saying to us that marriage is a crucible, wherein your character is refined. After eighteen years, I can attest to the truth of that metaphor.

A crucible is a heat-resistant bowl, in which refiners burn off the impurities in precious metals. Even after eighteen years, I am still learning about the impurities in my character-my tendency to smooth things over by enabling, for example. My fear of asking for what I need, my resentment when those needs go unmet. My tendency to see my opinions as fact. These small flaws I tend to ignore, and focus on the more glaring (in my opinion) weaknesses of my spouse.

I'm a slow learner, but after eighteen years, I am learning that I should not focus on my husband's flaws. Nor should I focus on my own.

Rather, we should both focus on the sufficiency of Christ. When we expect our marriage (or any human relationship) to give us what only God can really give us, we are bound to be disappointed. When we connect with Divine Love, when we let Jesus meet that soul hunger, two things happen: it takes the pressure off of our marriage to provide something it cannot, and we get the love we need.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…when I am weak, I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9,10).

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Keri Wyatt Kent is the author of several books including Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity and her most recent release Simple Compassion. She is a sought-after retreat leader and speaker. She and her husband, Scot, live with their son and daughter in Illinois. Learn more about Keri's ministry at www.keriwyattkent.com.

The Ministry of Hanging Around

I had the opportunity to be interviewed on an Australian radio program this week about my book Rest. It will air in a few weeks, I'll post the link then.

One question the interviewer asked me was, "What do you do on Sabbath? Is it a day to do nothing? Or a day of worship?"

So what do you do on Sabbath-a day dedicated to God, and to rest? I told him it was a day of absolute freedom from "have-to." The Bible says it is not just a day to chill out and do your own thing, and yet it is a gift from God. But as I went through my Sabbath day yesterday, I tried to notice-what is it that I do, on this day of rest? The phrase that kept coming to me was the ministry of availability. I showed up at church, at a neighbor's home, for my kids-and God met me in it. I was not busy going anywhere else, so I could be fully present with the people God put in my path.

So yesterday, I went to church. Later, I brought some of Aaron's outgrown clothes over to a friend for her nephew, and had time to just sit and chat for a while with her. I stopped by at my neighbors', Jeff and Lisa, to drop off a book. And to ask how their daughter Katie is doing-she was recently diagnosed with cancer (see previous post). I had time to visit for a few minutes, to try to listen. There was no place I had to rush off too.

I had lunch with my son at the kitchen table. He went off for a bike ride with his friends, to play basketball with the kids down the street. I puttered in my garden, in a loosely-held solitude, enjoying the sun, the flowers, the feel of the earth in my hands. My neighbor Jeff was mowing his lawn, and he stopped and we chatted for a few minutes. My daughter texted to ask for a ride home from youth group. I was available to pick her and her friends up. I didn't have anywhere else I needed to be.

I did a little weeding, but set no goals. When my neighbors Colleen and Tony came out on their front porch, the dog and I walked over to sit and chat for a while.

I made dinner-pork tenderloin, peas and risotto. Risotto requires adding broth and stirring, slowly and repeatedly, for about 20 minutes. It's a very Zen sort of cooking experience. You have to stay present.  Preparing it feels very loving to me-and nearly impossible on weeknights full of carpooling and work. But on Sabbath, such attentiveness is not only possible, but enjoyable. We gathered as a family around a simple meal, and talked about life, about the coming week, about what we'd learned at church.

After dinner we put a fire in the fireplace, and just hung out together. The kids finished their homework.

Maybe a day dedicated to God is a day that moves slowly enough that you have time to listen, time to be available.  Maybe connecting with God on this day doesn't require effort as much as it requires simply showing up, and seeing Him in the faces of the people around you.

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Keri Wyatt Kent is the author of several books including Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity and her most recent release Simple Compassion. She is a sought-after retreat leader and speaker. She and her husband, Scot, live with their son and daughter in Illinois. Learn more about Keri's ministry at www.keriwyattkent.com.

The Inklings Journey: The Partnership

Editors Note: This is a the fourth in a series of posts about Harry Lee Poe and James Ray Veneman's experience with creating and publishing The Inklings of Oxford: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Their Friends. This post was written by James Ray Veneman. Enjoy.

“Ready to go?”

These words served as my welcome to Oxford. Hal, Harry Lee Poe according to the cover of the book, only moments after my arrival, was ready to set out. My bags not yet unpacked, and cameras still nestled away, he was fully ready to begin.

Although one might think that some sort of GPS device would be in his hand, or at least a strategically marked map tucked into his pocket, neither was present. Our guide for this adventure would be Hal’s experience, his scores of trips to this completely unique spot on our globe. There were times that it truly seemed that the marvelous magnificence of Oxford was somehow a part of his genetic code. In fact, on numerous occasions as we made our way from one location to another, groups of tourists asked Hal for directions. His explanations, always packed with colorful detail, were so much fun to hear.

Only minutes after Hal’s invitation to begin, I found myself standing in the living room of Walter Hooper. A day or two before leaving on this trip I had re-viewed video material in which he was featured, and now there he was, there I was, it was time to begin. This would be one of the few times on this project that the intended subject was an actual person. Most every other time I pushed my camera’s shutter button, the intended composition included some incomparable aspect of an Oxford structure, a favorite place frequented by the Inklings, or a scene so beautiful it seemed more likely to be imagined.

Prior to this project, my subjects have always involved people and the stories around them. Near the top of the photojournalist’s goals while on assignment will always be to capture the illusive, yet vital, storytelling moment. Often this all-important piece of the visual puzzle is found in the tiniest of detail. An upturned eyebrow, a slight gesture, a subtle change in the light across a subject’s face, or the unexpected collision of activity can become the element that will capture the attention of the viewer and usher them into the realm of the text, the story.

In this instance, the subject matter was as vital as before, it simply took on a new and challenging form. Not long at all into this endeavor I realized that my partner, one who possessed quite a knack for the visual, provided excellent counsel all along the way. Given my lack of knowledge of the various settings and their specific significance, I’m afraid my questions were relentless. I was completely captivated by the stories of where we were, and I am absolutely convinced there is no better storyteller than Hal.

A great example of the way we worked happened the day we visited the Divinity School. I was busy trying to capture interior images, the ceiling, its windows, the fabulous detail, the grandeur of this place, when Hal called me over to a window. Now, to see through this beautiful, but very old glass, one had to be committed. First, I had to step up onto a very small ledge, a little above knee height, in order to inch my way over to the exact position where I was to look. To prevent falling backwards, my left hand gripped tightly a nearby arch, then I leaned as far out as I could to peer through this particular part of the window. As I caught a glimpse of the intended scene, Hal very quietly whispered, “Never before have I seen this perspective.”

As the photograph appears inside the book, it carries the caption, “The round Radcliffe Camera and the spire of St. Mary’s across the fellows’ garden of Exeter College where Tolkien, Dyson, and Coghill were undergraduates.” This photograph captured through Hal’s counsel also appears on the cover.

Scene after scene, the partnership captured far more than I could have alone.

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James Ray Veneman, serves as assistant professor and director of visual communication at Union University. A celebrated photographer, he cover the efforts in Iraq, spending time in Baghdad and on board an aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. From this, the book A Greater Freedom was produced. Other assignments include the days immediately following the World Trade Center attack and meetings in Cuba with Fidel Castro.

Charles Colson: When Atheists Believe

In an article posted on Christianity Today Charles Colson explores how reason and faith are dramatically effecting Atheism. Colson points out that many of today's leading British intellectuals are turning to Christianity, or at least opening their hearts to the gospel.

But it does illustrate something I have been teaching for years: Faith and reason are not enemies. We are given reason as a gift. And while we can't reason our way to God (only the power of God can transform fallen men—I've seen that in prisons for over 32 years),I have long believed that Christianity is the most rational explanation of reality. And that fact, winsomely explained, can powerfully influence thinking people to consider Christ's claims. -Charles Colson

These concepts parallel Colson's most recent book The Faith, in which Colson explains the foundations of faith and bridges the gap between belief, understanding and life. This inspiring and enlightening book engages you with powerful accounts of personal transformation that passionate, intelligent believers have made for centuries, and still make every day. Help you believe more strongly, love more deeply and serve more passionately.

You can read the entire article on Christianity Today, here.

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About the Author:
Charles Colson is an internationally known commentator, columnist, author, and is the founder of Prison Fellowship. His radio broadcast, BreakPoint, airs daily to five million listeners. Former Counsel to President Richard Nixon, Colson converted to Christianity before spending time in prison on a Watergate-related charge. In the last thirty-three years, Colson has visited more than 600 prisons in forty countries and, with the help of nearly 50,000 volunteers, has built Prison Fellowship into the world’s largest prison outreach.   More...