Missional Street Preaching????

Yesterday, over at the Reformissionary Blog, Steve McCoy wrote what Joe Thorn is calling "the most important post of the year". I came across it early on and thought it would be another cool blog post from a great missional reformed blog. I was certainly surprised when I read it. Was it about some new ministry method? A new Reformed book? Another (sigh) Reformed controversy? No. He's calling those of us in the Young Reformed Camp to return to our great heritage of street preaching.

Street Preaching. That is the new cutting edge idea he is advocating. I'm sure we've all seen street preachers screaming at local shopping centers or colleges that the people are sinners who are going to hell.

This is him on a good day

Heck, I've cringed at the sight of well meaning people screaming like maniacs on street corners. But Steve asks a very good question:

What if evangelicals hit America with 200, or 500, or 1,000 theologically strong, gospel-centered pastors who start preaching in open-air and public places in their cities, beyond their Sunday morning worship services, at least once a week for the rest of 2011? What would happen? 

These guys know something about street preaching

 Let that question hit you for a moment. Our movement is made up of some godly, theologically informed people. Image if more of us went out there to preach the good news? McCoy outlines ten things that might happen. Among them are a raised awareness of the gospel, and outreach to people who wouldn't normally enter your church walls.  It might shock a lot of us in the camp to know that the people we look up to (Spurgeon, Whitfield, Edwards, Van Til!) were also street preachers. Since yesterday, Steve has updated his blog with some information a few of us shared with him, and I encourage you to take a look and join the conversation. I'll try and post some of that as I can. Please visit the conversation going on at the Reformissionary blog.   Please pray and see if this is a ministry area that God is leading you into.

I should add, this may not be a ministry for everyone. But I do think there are a lot of us that might be able to use this ministry tool. I"ll try and post my findings in the days to come. 

$1 ESV Bible

                    
Justin Taylor, over at The Gospel Colition, is reporting the good news that Crossway is now selling a paperback ESV Bible for $1 (when bought in bulk). If your ministry needs to give away free Bibles, you may as well pay a good deal for a good bible. I personally use the ESV Study Bible, read it on-line, and would recommend it to anyone who wants a good Bible to read and study from. Check out the video below, and see why John Piper likes the ESV.

I Had to Share This

Flashback Friday's: Pixar Edition

Hi Everybody! Well, I figured if I'm going to get back on this page, I should bring back some of the fun elements. Well, as you know, Flashback Friday's are my weekly nostalgic look back at pop culture. This week, Pixar celebrates it's 25th anniversary as an independent company. From the Wikipedia article, it states that "Pixar was founded as the Graphics Group, one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm that was launched in 1979 with the hiring of Dr. Ed Catmull from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)". And after all these years, the technology has flourished to give us some incredible movies. Pixar needs to be credited with created animated films that aren't afraid of speaking to adults as well as kids. If you've seen Toy Story 3 you know what I'm talking about. Here's a sample of the work Pixar has given us over the years.

Young Sherlock Holmes
One of the first times Pixar's technology was used in a film was from this scene from the movie Young Sherlock Holmes. I really enjoed the special effects of this movie, but for years I wondered how they did this scene. Turns out it was with a little Pixar magic.



The Incredibles
My appreciation for Pixar however started with a little movie called The Incredibles. Not that I wasn't a fan, but as I was in college at the time, this was the firs time I could appreciate one of their movies. It was a superhero movie but it felt like it belonged in the same class of movies as James Bond or Indiana Jones.Very good company to be with. The jazz score gave it a classy feel. This wasn't just a kids movie, this was for anyone whoever wanted to be a hero. Sadly, I doubt that they'll ever make a sequel, but if they do, I'll be the first in line to see it.



Ratatouille
By the summer of 07', a lot of buzz surrounded Pixar's next film: Ratatouille. It was a gamble, I thought, to make a movie about a rat that wanted to be a chef. Kids movies could get away with this stuff, but it wouldn't appeal to adults. Yet, in the summer of '07 that is exactly what happened. Foodies of all ages rejoiced as they saw tasty recipes made by a little rat with big dreams. Pixar took the culinary world and made it relatable and in the process made a very grown up cartoon. I could be wrong, but I think this was the first step's Pixar was taking to making movies that could actually touch on adult themes while still appealing to kids.



UP
When the teaser trailer to this film appeared, I was immediately impressed. I don't remember the last time and octogenarian was the hero of an animated film. Pixar again took a gamble, and created a truly wonderful movie that will be remembered as one of the best films of the 2000's. The first ten minutes of UP proved to be the most hauntingly beautiful as they celebrated love, life, marriage, and the pain of death. The adventure that makes up the rest of the movie made me feel like a kid again.


I hope Pixar continues to create movies that touch both mind and heart. I know I'll pay for that any day. Now say it with me, Adventure is out there.