http://billycalderwood.com the weblog of Billy Calderwood Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:28:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en <p style="text-align: center;">A wonderful photographer and great friend Margie Ryckman took some amazing photos of our family recently.  She uploaded a few to her blog <a href="http://blog.icedteaphotography.com/2010/07/bitterbittersweet.html">here.</a><a href="http://blog.icedteaphotography.com/2010/07/bitterbittersweet.html"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-852" title="screen-shot-2010-07-30-at-122038-am" src="http://billycalderwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/screen-shot-2010-07-30-at-122038-am-300x187.png" alt="" width="300" height="187" /></a></p> Thanks Margie! http://billycalderwood.com/?p=851 Too many church planters plant in their heads and not in their communities. This happens in two ways. Some are Bible-only types, and others are model-inspired - and both make the same mistake of ignoring their culture. It is easy to develop a solid, theological grasp on the essential components of ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=848 <object width="400" height="265"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10410290&#38;server=vimeo.com&#38;show_title=1&#38;show_byline=1&#38;show_portrait=0&#38;color=&#38;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10410290&#38;server=vimeo.com&#38;show_title=1&#38;show_byline=1&#38;show_portrait=0&#38;color=&#38;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="265"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/10410290">MISSIONAL COMMUNITY...SIMPLE</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user465333">jeff maguire</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> http://billycalderwood.com/?p=846 <strong>“Many religious workers assume that parenthood motivates people to return to their spiritual traditions and to church attendance. This perspective is especially common when it comes to justifying the frequent disengagement among young adults. </strong>Sometimes faith leaders go so far as to simply wait for parenthood to occur, when they ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=844 http://billycalderwood.com/?p=842 http://billycalderwood.com/?p=840 http://billycalderwood.com/?p=838 "...the resurrection is not, as it were, a highly peculiar event within the <em>present</em> world (though it is that as well) it is, principally, the defining event of the <em>new </em>creation the world that is being born with Jesus. "...though the historical arguments for Jesus's bodily resurrection are truly strong, we ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=831 httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A40iV-DxM2k http://billycalderwood.com/?p=829 I don't normally give a second thought to words that come out of the mouths of shock tactic junkies and alarmists conservative or liberal.  However, this nugget from Glenn Beck and the response below by the Rev. James Martin are too interesting to pass by.  I believe that Beck's perspective ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=826 <blockquote>For generations the church has been polarized between those who see the main task being the saving of souls for heaven and the nurturing of those souls through the valley of this dark world, on the one hand, and on the other hand those who see the task of improving ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=824 <span style="font-style: italic;">The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=822 <div style="margin: 0px;">Come to the Bible, not to study the history of God's divine action, but to be its object; not to learn what it has achieved throughout the centuries and still does, but simply to be the subject of its operation.</div> <div style="margin: 0px;">... Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)</div> http://billycalderwood.com/?p=820 Investment in AFAC will save thousands of lives and provide hope and a radically different future for generations to come in the country that has become the global epicenter for the HIV/AIDS pandemic. You will not find a better opportunity to make a real, long term difference! <strong> The Reality in Swaziland:</strong> • Highest prevalence of ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=814 <a href="http://billycalderwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/thulanisfamily.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-812" title="thulanisfamily" src="http://billycalderwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/thulanisfamily.png" alt="" width="500" height="420" /></a>Thulani Mbeki is married to Cebile, and together they have 9 children. Thulani was not able to produce enough food for all of them on his land, and was unable to find work in the towns in Swaziland. So he ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=811 <a href="http://billycalderwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/danielsfamily.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-809" title="danielsfamily" src="http://billycalderwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/danielsfamily.png" alt="" width="309" height="455" /></a>Four years ago, Daniel’s and Dhumsile’s parents succumbed to a long illness. No one in the community will talk about how they died. They had 7 children. Now the oldest girl, Dhumsile, age 17, has left school to seek work ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=808 <a href="http://billycalderwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/zizzos-music-night.pdf">zizzos-music-night</a> http://billycalderwood.com/?p=806 <a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2009/08/swaziland_the_k.html">FRONTLINE/WORLD . Dispatches . iWitness . Swaziland: The King and the Web &#124; PBS</a> Click for video... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=803 My wonderful wife was the featured "Mom in the Move" in the SBParent.com newsletter.  I'm very proud of her!   <a href="http://www.sbparent.com/Moms_on_the_Move/index.html">Moms on the Move</a> http://billycalderwood.com/?p=799 <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOVOJrAbfKGbFx_EpjIORH3QAU0AD98TTT882">The Associated Press: UN: World hunger reaches 1 billion mark</a> One in six people on planet earth is officially undernourished or suffering from some form of food instability.  If you are not involved in helping to bring about a resolution to this crisis, check out <a href="http://www.afachildren.org">afachildren.org</a>.  Below is ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=797 Powerful perspectives from young people in a country facing tremendous poverty and the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world.   <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2009/03/090325_g20_youth_wt_sl.shtml">BBC World Service - News - What young people want from the G20</a> http://billycalderwood.com/?p=795 As many of you know, I serve on the BOD for Advocates for Africa's Children, an organization dedicated to caring for OVC's and fighting the AIDS pandemic in Swaziland/Southern Africa.  One of the organizations goals for 2009 is to raise 300K to help start Africa Works Swaziland which will create ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=791 One of the things I am totally looking forward to in 2009 is <a href="http://theideacamp.ning.com/page/about-1">The Idea Camp</a> hosted by Charles Lee and company. This event has been conceived as an "<strong>open source hybrid conference</strong> designed to help people move from the realm of ideas to implementation." <blockquote>We are ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=788 Shane Claiborne and co. push "buy nothing day" in Philly <center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_W5t_VeoxZA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_W5t_VeoxZA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></center> Shane Blogs about it <a href="http://www.sojo.net/blog/godspolitics/?p=4220">here...</a> <blockquote>Enough to the myth that happiness must be purchased. Enough to an economy that is awarding CEOs salaries 500 times that of ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=787 <a href="http://billycalderwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/aidsribbon.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-785" title="aidsribbon" src="http://billycalderwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/aidsribbon.jpg" alt="" width="87" height="150" /></a>Hi Everyone! Today is the 20th anniversary of World Aids Day. Having recently returned from Southern Africa, I have witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by this disease and have been totally inspired by the work that is being ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=786 Hey Red Friday Group Members! Thanks for joining and participating in our first Red Friday! I'm happy that so many folks joined this group in its first 24 hours! Those of you that joined know that the idea behind Red Friday is borne out of a willingness to embrace simplicity and ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=783 Thanksgiving morning I picked up a newspaper and was absolutely overwhelmed by the number of "black friday" shopping ads it contained. It got me thinking... What if the day after Thanksgiving became the biggest giving day of the year, not the biggest shopping day of the year. ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=782 As many of you may already know, I just returned home after spending 2 1/2 weeks in Swaziland with an organization called Advocates for Africa's Children.  I will be sharing much more with you in the future but here is the bottom line:  The need is enormous but so is ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=780 "In my classes I liken theology to basketball (no doubt a vestige of my doctoral education at Duke.) It is not merely a subject to be studied "objectively," but a practical discipline. To study Christian theology adequately is to practice Christian theology, as one practices basketball whether as a player, ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=779 “The proponents of “political theology” are therefore right to claim that the meaning and truth of Christian convictions cannot be separated from their political implications.  They are wrong, however, to associate “politics” only with questions of social change.  Rather the “political” question crucial to the church is what kind of ... http://billycalderwood.com/?p=778