DJ Chuang :: Feeds

new look from upgrading WordPress

Happy 4th of July! Laying low and staying inside today because of a slight sunburn yesterday at Wild Rivers, even though I used suntan lotion, maybe unevenly. Will join neighbor for BBQ at dinner and watch the fireworks at Grand Park from our bluff overlook.

Upgraded to WordPress 2.5.1 today, and will stick to pre-designed themes and widgets for this site — for ease of upgradability and speediness. I tried to use the cos-html-cache plugin to speed things up even more, but couldn’t get it to work.

I loved my previous website design, which had tons of customization code and colors that was adapted from Unsleepable. But, that prevented me from easily switching themes nor upgrade WordPress versions. And, I’ve had 3 or 4 people say my website wouldn’t load in their MSIE browser.

So, this new look is to keep things clean, not intended to be permanent, and it does make all the content available in the navigation, and it should feel squeaky clean and faster too.

family vacation included Googleplex stop

Just returned last night 11pm from part 1 of family vacation in the San Francisco Bay area. Now for part 2 of family vacation here in South OC or thereabouts, mostly father & son time until the 4th. Come by our 4th of July BBQ + Swim + Fireworks in Aliso Viejo, any time after 3:00pm; contact me for location and directions. We’ll have incredible view of local fireworks b/c we overlook the town center and park. Back in office on Monday 7/7.

To honor my family by giving them my full undivided attention, I did not pre-schedule any meetups with people, though I did see David Liu [his wife blogs more than he does + team member of scrapbook supplier Maya Roads], Tim Tseng, and Bruce Reyes-Chow [newly elected Moderator for PCUSA] along the way. Plenty of back stories, but I’m on vacation, so the stories will be part of our family memories but not permanently recorded in cyberspace.

Made a spontaneous stop in Silicon Valley. Took some effort, but did get entry into Googleplex (Google’s world headquarters), courtesy an old friend from Carolina days. Walked around the Google campus for about half an hour on an unofficial tour with our (lawyer) host in sandals. I love unofficial. What an amazing place, love their very distinct very cool corporate culture. Don’t know how much of Google work life has been game changer for other companies. One can only hope and dream and vote for change.

At Googleplex, stopped by Google Store for a very soft bamboo t-shirt. Coolest visual was a rotating earth with dots eminating into space, representing web searches from around the world.

Other exclusive family memories: 2 hotel nights free courtesy HHonors. Pyzano’s Pizza. Wall-E on opening night. Rides on BART and Muni buses. Exploratorium. Saw 100s doing CityChase [NOT available in LA]. Tom’s Cookies. Kite flying at Crissy Field and Marina. Napa Valley. Buckhorn Grill. Golden Gate Bridge. Fisherman’s Wharf. Barney’s Burgers. Cafe Do Mundo. Select photos here and here.

live blog from Church 2.0 Forum in Orange County

Here at NewSong Irvine for Church 2.0 Forum, coordinated by Greg Atkinson of churchvideoideas.com. This is my live blog, courtesy free wifi with good throughput at NewSong –

finding a church home in Irvine California

I like connecting people to people. There, I’ve said it. Whether it’s people to God, people to resources, people to churches, people to places, it’s listening people’s question and connecting to what they’re looking for.

In a recent conversation, someone moving into the Irvine area is looking for a church. He’s been checking different churches out, but hasn’t yet found the right one. Ingredients that he’s looking for: a Bible-teaching church, a strong children’s ministry, fellowship with other Christians, a place to serve, and not too loud. A church like Bent Tree Bible Fellowship would be ideal, he said. It’s a kind of healthy church that feels like home (for certain evangelical Christians).

I ran through my mental rolodex and here’s what I came up with (in no particular order). But comparatively few right there in Irvine, surprisingly. There are plenty of great churches in Irvine, granted, but not sure all fit the description above. Perhaps you know some others.

Saddleback Church (which does have an Irvine campus now)
Rock Harbor [disclaimer: my home church]
NewSong
Mariners Church [William Young, The Shack's author, will be there next week!]
Pathways Church
Irvine Presbyterian Church
Harvest Community Church
Ambassador Bible Church
Calvary Chapel
The Crossing
Ev Free Fullerton
Newport Mesa Church
Riverview Church (OC campus of Australian church)
Great Park Church

(I think you can leave out that the Bible-teaching churches that are too vocal about the faults and problems of other good evangelical church’s practices.)

I’ve indexed more than a dozen church directories and search engines here — great reference there for anyone looking for a church anywhere. [update] brand new website just launched by Jon Acuff -> Can I Wear Jeans? at caniwearjeans.blogspot.com for a directory of candid church reviews, cf. read back story from Steve Knight

(Update from #pdwc08 worshipconferenceblog.com) spread the word- contact COX cable to add the Gospel music channel in Orange County!

neither competitor nor achiever

I met Daniel Im at the Awaken Conference this past April, and enjoyed a very engaging conversation with this next gen leader. It always excites me when I meet someone with new ideas and isn’t a cookie-cutter person living out a predictable narrative. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I don’t know if he’s bilingual as he ministers in bilingual Montreal, Quebec, (i.e. English and French), but he did start blogging and I want to share a lil’ link love.

Like Daniel, I’m a big fan of StrengthsFinder. (I also like the Birkman Method, but that’s an expensiver tool b/c of labor-intensive consulting fees.)

Daniel shared some good thoughts about his achiever theme in this post titled Competition vs. Achiever. He’s got an achiever strength theme, which I thinks makes it easier to figure out the value he adds to an organization. I got a more unusual mix: ideation, input, strategic, adaptability, woo.

But, here’s my dilemma — I don’t get motivated by competition nor by achievement. In a goal-oriented, accomplishment-celebrated, free-market-economy, make-a-difference kind of a world, I don’t have an easy time discerning my ideal job description, overall end game, nor setting life goals. (contrast with Mark Batterson’s ambitious life goals) I don’t feel bad about this (or, I feel less badly about it, over time), but it is very much a personal dilemma.

Ironic thing is: I’m the oldest of three boys in my family of origin. You could say that I’m the embodiment of more complexities and contradictions than the average bear.

Saturday surprise: thinking in many directions

Spending a Father & Son day, deciding between Redondo or Hermosa or Manhattan beaches. Might get in all 3. Lunch destination is FIVE GUYS in Carson, California. Yes, the best burgers in the country has come to Southern California!

Dropped off wifey at International Printing Museum, her workplace in Carson. She’s got a dream job too. A virtual generator of word art has been the buzz this past week — see www.wordle.net — this pix is my del.icio.us tags:

Rhett Smith gives Kudos to N.T. Wright for Going on The Colbert Report. He might be the 1st theologian on a cable TV news satire show. I’ve never watched Colbert, so don’t know what category he self-identifies with. [direct link to video]

Saw this quote at the masthead of this magazine’s website — “The New Criterion is probably more consistently worth reading than any other magazine in English.” Intriguing. Intellectually intriguing.

The Criterion did have this fascinating article title: Sinners in the Jacuzzi of a Laid-Back God. And, its blogroll had: God of the Machine.

Lifechurch.tv Radio — Lifechurch.tv has an online streaming radio station, in addition to all the other goodies they put online. This radio station automagically plays a mix of Christian contemporary music and praise & worship.

Taking my first vacation of 2008 starting next Friday. Driving up the coast of California to the Bay area. Family will be with me. Maybe see Bruce Reyes-Chow if he’s not on the campaign trail. Thought about staying at Madonna Inn, but since we’re driving thru, didn’t want to spend that much $$ for 1 of their 109 unique themed rooms. Need to keep our budget for foodie excursions at our final destination.

how do you spell your last name

On those rare occasions I have to talk to a live customer service representative, with almost everything going self-serve or going online, I’ve rarely ever had someone who knew how to spell my name. Here’s the script I have been using as of late:

My name is DJ Chuang — first name is DJ as in “disk jockey”, and last name Chuang, spelled as “Charlie Help Uncle Apple Nickel Google”.

I don’t have the phonetic alphabet down cold, nor the script. So I’m open to suggestions — add a comment.

Reminds me of a story of a real person whose last name was Fu. And when he spelled it out by just pronouncing each letter, some CSRs got offended!

What do you do to spell out your name?

Saturday surprise: to be evangelical is not to vote one way

At the 2008 National Pastors Conference, I made a tough decision because no one else was going to make it for me. I sat in the seminar with Scot McKnight so I could shake his hand afterward, rather than sitting in the seminar titled “The Relationship Between Politics and Christianity” with a panel of Charles Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Claiborne facilitated by Krista Tippett. So, I weighed in with blogger solidarity instead of watching rock stars in live action.

Perhaps it’s timely that I mention it now, with American politics ramping up for the November presidential election between Obama and McCain.

(photo: Colleen Scheck/Speaking of Faith)

I’m delighted to see that the seminar I missed was recorded and produced by the Speaking of Faith crew and made it freely available. Just listened to the edited radio broadcast version and it’s a profoundly insightful conversation of how Christians can translate their biblical faith into different actions and different votes. Such a stark contrast to how a conservative evangelical voice has dominated the portrayal of all evangelical Christians, when (in actuality) there are many complex differences among people who live out their common faith and shared values.

• 
  Listen to the edited version [mp3] (53:09)
• Listen to the entire unedited version (1:32:05)
• Watch the entire seminar (QuickTime) or via Vimeo
• Browse the SOF website for more related links
• download the MP3 for $6 or get the CD for $9 from NPC [or you could download the MP3 for FREE from SOF; guess you can call this a convenience fee]
• Read Greg Boyd’s blog entry summarizing his post-debate thoughts

Three Degrees of Separation from Speaking of Faith on Vimeo.

L2 Foundation website makeover

Took much longer to get the content migrated, but now it’s done. Changed over domain name settings today and the redesigned L² Foundation website is now live!

3 of the biggest changes are:

• combining the L2 blog with the L2 website
• placing all the resource links on one web page
• entire redesign of the look & feel, as well as the “backend” CMS, now powered by wordpress.org

There’s a few more things to tweak and fine tune. The overall look and feel should be a welcomed sight. I did keep the L2 blog archives over at wordpress.com, and imported all the 2007-2008 blog entries into the L2 website. Not sure how confused Google and other search engines will be with all the permalinks getting messed up.

Thanks to Tim Bednar at Turtle Interactive for the redesign!

(East) Asian Americans and pastor searches

Minorities keep growing– Hispanics are now 15% of the US population and Asian Americans at 5%. A handful of items coincidentally coincided, beginning with this comment in my inbox:

I was thinking the other day about the term “Asian American” and how it might need another word like “East” in front of Asian to truly reflect the perception that people have when they hear the term “Asian American.” Recently I’ve been thinking outside of the box and it just dawned on me how easily we assume or center “Asian” in the East or Far East mainly consisting of China, Korea, and Japan. When U.S. Census bureau includes Indian subcontinent and south Asia under “Asian” many “East” Asian Americans are not used to the concept or a picture of Asians including the Indians.

In my experience, I find that a majority of Americans of East Asian descent don’t even identify with that label, identifying much more often with labels like “Chinese American”, “Korean American”, or “Japanese American.” For instance, this new Korean American Christian Media website launched a few months ago as a “full service social networking community focused on the 1.5 and second generation Korean-Americans.”

Granted, too, I have noticed that a lot of the Asian American conversations tend to revolve around 2nd+ generation Chinese/ Korean/ Japanese. But, I’ve noticed for individuals and groups that do identify with the Asian American label, most seem to be cognizant about including Southeast Asians and South Asians along with East Asians.

2 other emails in my inbox: (1) a church in Chicago wants to bring on staff an Asian-American pastor (or African-American) for their Downtown Chicago congregation. Details of this ministry opportunity at Holy Trinity Church are online. (2) a 2nd generation Korean United Methodist church near Detroit, Michigan, is looking for a Lead Pastor, someone who can meet the UMC criteria and being forward-thinking. See details about this opportunity and contact me when/if you know someone who fits the bill. More ministry job opportunities at ISAAC.

Plus, there’s that “model minority” stereotype that still lingers. The College Board published this report, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Facts, Not Fiction: Setting the Record Straight — read/ download full report (PDF). Their press release got titled ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype Obscures Reality of Asian American and Pacific Islander Educational Experience and New York Times noted how Report Takes Aim at ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype of Asian-American Students. It ain’t easy being labeled an Asian American.

If racial stereotypes weren’t such a sensitive matter, maybe this parody news article wouldn’t sting as much– Asian American Pastor Speaks Only English: Chicago native of Korean descent also knows no martial arts. Could we possibly laugh at ourselves and with each other across racial ethnic lines?

Saturday surprises: Jeff Shinabarger blog + more

Weekends are typically lower traffic for most websites. This suggests that there’s an awful lot of web surfing and internet use during work / business hours. Some of that may be legitimate research and work-related stuff. Some of it not so much. In an open-source collaborative world, the lines between work and play, business and personal, are blurring. For the next gen, it’s bordering on ridiculous if an employee is told that “you’re not paid to Twitter” or “you’re not paid to blog.” Not all twittering and/or blogging is good for business. But, twitter can be used in a way that better connects a business (or organization) to its audience and potential audience (aka customers, constituents, members). For the record, I don’t blog here during my work hours, and I keep 99% of my twittering during work hours work-related. (I say that because my Mom and my managers read my blog.)

Saturdays are now a new rhythm for me: a mix of home-related errands, father-and-son day, and/or chatting on the phone via free weekend minutes.

Today I’m starting something new I’ll call Saturday surprises. I’ll do a top-of-mind brain-dump of what’s surprised me during this (past) week. Saturday surprises will be a live post, not a post that was created days in advance and made to go live in the future. Caveat: I may not blog every Saturday or only surprises specifically from this week.

• Jeff Shinabarger is blogging up a storm! Having blogged for just a few months, Jeff blogs almost every day (more frequently than me) and blogs with great reflections and observations about the global village we live in, with a smattering of the intersection between faith and life. He’s a networker par excellant who lives in Atlanta, showed wonderful hospitality to my family last summer during our cross-country drive, and was one of the co-founders of Catalyst and Q. Riding in his Prius (my first time) almost won us over to buying one. Almost. Best surprise post this week: NEED magazine - stories of people helping people.
• Contrast that with Christian subculturing and ghettoing: A Gym Designed to Cater to Christians in the New York Times. I think it was Jesus who told his disciples to be salt and light in the world, and not to hide the light under a bushel.
• The world of parody now includes Asian Americans! The Holy Observer, Asian American Pastor Speaks Only English: Chicago native of Korean descent also knows no martial arts pokes fun at ethnic racial stereotypes and NextGenerAsianChurch discusses this article with nervous laughter
• Audios and sermons from the sold-out NYC Dwell Conference 2008 now online. Photos too. Aside: I’ve been collecting and archiving everything I find about Tim Keller in my Google Notebook - Tim Keller. That’s everything said by Keller and about Keller.
• Looks like the majority of my blog readers (those who responded to the poll, anyways) are okay with my current level of disclosure.
• Hopped on 2 earlier flights via standby, both to/from DFW. On the outbound from SNA, wife dropped me off 90 mins before departure. I went thru security. Walked to Gate 14 where an earlier flight was 14 minutes before departure. Asked if they could get me in via standby. They could & they did. Sweet! Curb drop-off to gate and take-off. No standing or sitting around. On the return from DFW, I was added to standby list of an earlier flight. Grabbed an iced venti Starbucks DoubleShot (which has 6 shots!). Got on this earlier flight with a seat in the exit row. Double sweet!
• I have something in common with Mark Driscoll: my kid and 1 of his kid both like having a “pajama day”, where the kid stays home all day in jammies

my stealth conference. my disclosure level.

I’ve been in Dallas since Sunday night, hosting a stealth conference of my own: an invite-only gathering of next generation Asian American pastors. This kind of a gathering is nerve-wracking, since the majority of attendees are taking a huge leap of faith to come together, meet people they’ve never met, and dive in on meaningful conversations. With so much preparation and investment already put into this 2-year project via a special partnership between L² Foundation and Leadership Network, there was no absolute guarantee of success — and that can make anyone’s nerves on edge. I think what might have helped people be more at ease was to declare it a blogging-free zone. I kept my twittering fingers from getting active, and was allowed to hold on to my Blackberry Curve the whole time.

I’m very pleased and grateful that things went as well as it could have gone. One superior said it was a “home run,” and that the opinion helped calm my nerves. (but, a small voice from my Asian heritage whispers and wonders what would it take to get a “grand slam”)

While I have not yet gotten a green light for more disclosure (remember, we insured that gathering was a safe place), I can say that a number of select and choice insights from these next generation church leaders and pastors will be published as a free & downloadable white paper in a couple of months. I’d love to share that with you as soon as that’s released.

Now, a question for you– both regular and irregular readers of djchuang.com here– how do you think/ feel about the level of disclosure on this blog? Bordering inappropriate, too guarded, or about right? Click in your answer on this poll below. And if you want to pontificate, add a comment.

Purpose Driven Network Summit and persevering faith

A word of welcome to the click-thrus from the ChristianityToday news article, “Rebooting PEACE: Rick Warren adds reconciliation to an already ambitious mission strategy.“. According to the press conference after the Summit, 1,700+ were in attendance; not sure how the CT article counted 650.

See my PD Summit links (live-blogging, live-twittering, recorded live-streamed videos) by scrolling down to the blog post titled “Links to Live Summit at Saddleback“. Read great summaries of the 12 main sessions by clicking over to the Learnings @ Leadership Network blog.

On another topic, I read how this LA Times reporter lost his faith, in The Man Who Learned Too Much: For eight years, William Lobdell reported on an industry plagued by scandal, deceit and corruption. It cost him his faith, and now he’s writing a book about his odyssey. I wondered what keeps me hanging in there with my faith in Jesus Christ. [*] Also see Ken Fong’s commentary on having lunch with William Lobdell last November (which got 110+ comments) and Ken Fong’s mirror of the original LA Times article.

I too see and experience things about churches and Christians that are disappointing and disillusioning. My conclusion? When things seem darker, I gravitate to 2 passages: 1 Corinthians 15 and John 6:68 — ““Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

What keeps you from losing faith?

slow down & save money. open house & bbq.

While working out (I try to do that 3x a week) walking on treadmill, saw the big weekend news item about excalating gas prices — $3.87 national average, over $4.00 in my ‘hood. CNN was interviewing a guy from Consumer Reports saying that if you speed up from 55 to 65 mph, you lose 5 mpg in fuel (in)efficiency. Accelerating from 65 to 75 mph, you lose another 5 mpg. Tip: drive 55 mph, get 10 more miles to the gallon. Being translated, save $6 per tank when you slow down. Pointing finger at myself, no one else.

Hosting an open house and bbq at our new condo town home on Memorial Day 10am-8pm. Come by as long or as short as you’d like. Family-friendly. Swimming pool and house tour optional. RSVP to me and I’ll get you directions to Aliso Viejo.

An overflow this week with conferences on both coasts. Purpose Driven Network Summit (#pdsummit08) had over 1,700 pastors and leaders from Tues to Thurs at Saddleback. 30+ recorded videos on Ustream of interviews & conversations with panelists and attendees. I’m in a handful of them too - look for orange. At the PEACE Coalition press conference afterward, they said they’d do this Summit again next year in May 2009. Props to Tony Steward for pulling off excellent live-streaming web coverage, and my fellow conversationalists Carlos, Tony, Tom, and Mike! Aside: 1 of my audience shots.

Whiteboard Sessions (aka #WiBo) kicked off their one-day big deal on Thursday with around 1,000 — lotta videos over at ConferenceChannel.org . More than a handful of crazy pastors went to both! [update: just read these sagely words from Jeff Shinabarger recognizing people’s gift and potential — do go over there and welcome Jeff to the blogosphere! He’s blogging into his 2nd month now.]

Question to all: should I create a new Twitter account for play-by-play conference tweets? A few have said that I’ve overloaded their phones.

Shifting gears between conferencing + conference calls + phone calls + meetups has wiped out. Maybe I’m getting too old for this. Extending my weekend, starting now, to be unplugged. Peace out.

Links to Live Summit at Saddleback

Get real-time updates and videos for the Purpose Driven Network Summit at Saddleback Church, May 20-22:

• my real-time twitter at www.twitter.com/djchuang + all Summit tweets via hashtag #pdsummit08 [cf. Terrance’s excellent how to use hashtag]
• Live stream video of interviews at the Summit + behind-the-scenes at www.ustream.tv/channel/purpose-driven-network-summit-2008 [I’ll be on air here on Day 2 + 3]
• Live blog of the PD Network Summit over at Learnings @ Leadership Network blog
• my YouTube video clips + other YouTube videos tagged pdsummit08
• First PD Summit session with Rick Warren was streamed live at saddlebackfamily.com/mediacenter/services/ (8am-11am Pacific)
• my webcam live at ustream.tv/channel/djchuang-live as I’m roaming the Saddleback campus
• Excellent summaries over at Dave Ferguson’s blog + Charles “chazzdaddy” Hall + sound bites @ Chris Teachable Teacher Stevens
• other LIVE Summit team bloggers — Carlos “RagamuffinSoul” Whittaker + Tony Morgan “Live”
• Live twittering at twitter.com/tpmorgan + twitter.com/cadillaczak
• Bobby Greunewald with Qik video– LIVE and recorded clips too

More links here as I have time to post them.

[aside] twitter feeds for Mark Batterson and Ben Arment are unofficial / unauthorized tweets of their blog posts. Anyone know how to get access over to their rightful owners? Mark Driscoll’s twitter is also fake.

[day 1 post-event: very full day. very tired. i tried too hard to cram in extra lunch meeting off site and took several calls too. feast or famine. lots of other great blogging. YouTube video clips take longer to upload than I have time for. I’m thinking of spending more time in the Ustream broadcast room for live conversations and interviews, rather than presentations from main stage, anticipating less live blogging next 2 days; props to my teammates: Tony Steward’s masterful new media strategies & productions + Tony Morgan’s a great interviewer + Carlos “loswhit” bringing lots of energy and enthusiasm + many more I’m too tired to name and link up Rick Warren jumps in to say HI (at 13:56) during this Ustream interview with Bobby G; also see Pastor Rick say HI to webcam #2 at 9:40]

[day 2 post-event: jumped in on several interviews + conversations on Ustream today— with Mike Foster + New Media and the Church + more about Multi-Sites at Saddleback and North Point. fun to banter. made a Chipotle run for lunch, yummy! Found out about free book giveaway over at Books @ Leadership Network blog! More next week too! Uploaded more than 17+ PD Summit videos onto YouTube]

twas the night before Rick Warren’s stealth conference

The conference known as the Purpose Driven Network Summit kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday morning 5/20 shortly after 8:00am Pacific Time. The LIVE Summit Team will be blogging + podcasting + live-streaming videos, plus feature interviews with the 35 pastors serving as panelists. Rick Warren himself will be delivering 4 or 5 messages to the 1,500+ pastors in attendance.

At the pre-event briefing this afternoon, the LIVE Summit Team heard about the schedule and logistics. The first Rick Warren message will be live-streamed for the pastors to watch LIVE — the message is specifically for pastors, and the organizers want as many people to watch/hear it as possible. The web link for this exclusive live video feed will be emailed out to subscribers of Rick Warren’s Ministry ToolBox. Sign up at saddlebackresources.com for free.

One thing I’ve noticed today is how Pastor Rick and his staff all exude a desire to support pastors in as many ways as possible. They’ve been doing it for years via Pastors.com. This Summit looks to be quite the roll out for several great things that will support pastors on the front lines of ministry. Here’s a hint: they’re working on using the Internet to provide free videos that’ll encourage pastors weekly, especially those meeting in small groups. And, I’m anticipating there’ll be more info about how the P.E.A.C.E. plan can help more pastors and churches serve & love the world.

prep’ing for Purpose Driven Network Summit 2008

Special thanks to Tony Steward (and Rick Warren) for getting us connected and getting us bloggers access to the Purpose Driven Network Summit this week May 20-22 at Saddleback Church! Tony has dubbed us the “LIVE Summit Team“, which includes Carlos “RagamuffinSoul” Whittaker, Josh “morethandodgeball” Griffin, Tony Morgan “Live”, and me. Tony (over-?) ambitiously wants to reach 15,000 viewers

We, the LIVE Summit team, will be blogging, podcasting, and live-streaming video during the entire conference. We’ll use Twitter too — those of you who twitter at the Summit, please use hashtag #pdsummit08 to be trackable.

Watch the PDSummit08 live-streaming videos and interviews at www.ustream.tv/channel/purpose-driven-network-summit-2008

I’ll be live-blogging at the Learnings @ Leadership Network blog and here, if CoverItLive works the way I think it should. Plus, we’ll be equipped with FLIP cameras, so I’ll be posting raw videos over at my YouTube channel, a la man-on-the-street style.

After it’s over, the PDSummit08 conference podcasts will be posted at Rick Warren’s Ministry Podcast.

Your turn - what question would you ask Rick Warren and/or any of the 35 panelists? Ragamuffinsoul already has 38 comments — don’t make me look bad with any less!

Internet 101 slides + video clip; next week at Saddleback

My UYWI08 workshop yesterday went well, I think. The Internet 101 workshop introduced 5 web tools using non-techie speak: website, blogging, email newsletter, podcast, and social networking. About a dozen people attended. The well-equipped room had (a very slow) PC and projector and (one button on/off auto-retract) screen all built-in the APU classroom (Duke 106). This is not the kind of class room I grew up with — I like it. For the technology alone, I would be open to the idea of being a teacher, even though teaching is not my top talent (I think).

Max Torres used his handy-dandy Flip video camera (equipped with flip-out USB port!) to record parts of the workshop - here’s the 1st 6 minutes - on YouTube. That Max is one seasoned techie, 1st introduced to personal computers back in CP/M days. My own intro was with the TRS-80 in my high school days. And here’s the workshop powerpoint slides.

I (attempted to) used my Olympus digital voice recorder [256MB version; I actually have the WS-320M; both have built-in USB:: no messing with gadget cables] to record the audio for the workshop, but the battery died about 30 minutes in. I’m using a new work laptop, so all my software + customization is gone. Taking longer than anticipated to rebuild, so posting the audio may take a few days amidst other real-life activities.

Aside: next week May 20-22, Pastor Rick at Saddleback Church hosts an unadvertised invitation-only pastors conference. Some are even calling it a “stealth conference.”

I’m in the midst of had successful negotiations with the organizers to get access. A most impressive speakers lineup! [ht: plantingpartners.org] [update: so, I’ll be live-blogging from the PD Network Summit over at the Learnings @ Leadership Network blog — sign-up there for a reminder]

Mark Batterson will be at both this PD Gathering conference AND at The Whiteboard Sessions in metro Washington DC! Don’t know of Ben Arment has a private jet to get him cross country in a jiffy. Mark, I love sweet tea too! Perry Noble is bi-coastal conferencing too. [update: got Twitter direct message @ 1036am Pacific that Ron Sylvia is bi-coastal conferencing these 2 too; 5/18/08 - Tony Morgan will be there with live webcasts from the green room with speaker interviews + links to the previously private conference website *ahem*]

week of pain

Spent a few days in Dallas in back2back2back meetings. Good to be with my teammates, especially as the bonding gets a little more stronger with every meeting. We 12+ directors only meet together once a quarter. Then we’re again scattered like the wind all over the US of A. Once in a while running into each other at conferences.

And it’s been a sombering week, with prominent tragedies all over: 43,000+ people @ cyclone in Myanmar (aka Burma), 50,000+ people @ 7.9M earthquake in Sichuan province of China, 25 people @ tornados in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia, 90 people @ Jaipur bombings in India, and the on-going war battles in Iraq.

The one that hit closest was the plane crash piloted by Pastor Forrest Pollock, accompanied by his 13-year old son. Pastor Pollock was flying en route to Dallas for a conference I was attending on Monday and Tuesday, but he didn’t show up in time. About a third of the way through, we heard about his plane being lost. The next day, we heard the plane was found: crashed. No survivors. See press release from Leadership Network + any of the 63 news articles crawled by Google News.

Pollock pastored Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida. View and sign guestbook over at serenitymeadows. The Celebration of Life service for Pastor Forrest Pollock and his son Preston will be webcast live on Saturday morning May 16th at 9:30am (Eastern).

[aside: someone copied this post word4word without trackback or hat tip — I’m not upset, just wanted to link + say Google found it]

keeping a finger on the pulse of culture

Culture is always changing, some faster, some slower. I’m one who loves ideas, not as an avoidance of real world real-time life, I hope that’s an accurate assessment. I find myself often thinking about interplay between Gospel and culture. I confess I need help moving from thinking to action. Lots of help.

Tim Keller (at Dwell Conference last week) mentioned a super way to keep a pulse on culture, especially for a New Yorker(?) — check Arts & Letters Daily. Every day it has book reviews, opinions, and essays.

So it’s looking like another action-packed month for me. I have this propensity to cram lots of activities together. Have a compulsion to stay active. Though yesterday, found myself sleeping more hours than usual. With that much going on, I’ve not kept up with the blogosphere conversation for over a month now. Get a glance occasionally at twitters of live stream tweets. No heady Arts & Letters Daily either.

This week is the move, and have to do much apartment cleaning too. Then a quarterly staff meeting in Dallas next week, plus UYWI 08 - Urban Youth Workers Institute conference at Azusa Pacific University. At least the latter is within driving distance.

96% don’t want to know expiration date

Watched ‘The Bucket List‘ on the UA flight 405 from LGA to DEN, Jack Nicholson + Morgan Freeman.. I blog this as I watch it to the end. Love hearing Morgan narrate. Masterful.

Morgan’s character’s a trivia buff, cited a stat- of a 1,000 people surveyed, 96% don’t want to know the date of their life’s end.

Yet it’s certain. Not sure what the ignorance does. I’ve given that day some thought over my years, probably younger than most.. What I hypothetically dread is pain or loneliness or blood or hospital residency or life support (of any kind) or prolonged wearing out of my earthly tent. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to get there any sooner, but I would prefer that it’d happen fast and unconciously. (See, I can be reflective.)

So the idea of the bucket list and the popular web 2.0 portal 43things is listing all the things you’d want to do in a lifetime. For people who like planning, that’s fine for them.

I hate planning– even for the next meal, much less tomorrow. But have to do that planning thing for everyday life in the real world.

I don’t not have a big list. For me, I do have a few to-do’s on my short list. I’ll add more as I go. Hit the ground a-running. One is to travel more internationally, experience more world cities. I’ve only been to 3 in my adult life. I’m anticipating Tokyo is next. Have to figure out (and plan) how that’ll happen. Tips are welcomed. Harigatogajiamus.

1 month 2 times in New York City

Mostly packed and ready for my second New York City trip this month. I just checked-in online and printed out my boarding pass. (Last time, departing from NYC, my failure to do this was the decisive factor that made me miss my flight.)

On this go around, I’ll be there for 5 days/ 4 nights, which includes the sold-out Dwell Conference, a Yankees baseball game, staying at a hotel in Upper East Side, and who knows what goodies I’ll eat.

I had blogged about the Dwell Conference on 2/21/08, and had set a reminder to myself to register a week later. Well, wouldn’t you know it, a whole rush on registrations happened that very week, and it was sold out! (Did my blog have something to do with it?) I was left with no (legitimate) way in, and already booked my air travel and hotel! I pulled strings left and right, pleaded and begged, even making a trip to Mars Hill Seattle, but no go. I was #41 on the waiting list. And then my colleague had to cancel her trip on Thursday 4/24/08, and we got her registration transferred over to me. Voila, I’m in!! What an answer to (a desperate) prayer!

There’s 90% chance rain on Monday (tomorrow), but I’m in the plane most of the day. I hope that doesn’t mean a flight delay.

I have to get up at 5:00am to catch a shuttle to the airport, so I’d better be off to bed. (btw, recent personal news: closed escrow last Friday on condo town home + see photos; update – I’ve added a tumblr blog for mundane everyday stuff at daily.djchuang.com for a glimpse of my mundane life)

For real-time updates, follow me on twitter.com/djchuang >>

finally my Starbucks card does something!

I’ve been a Starbucks card member for years. Years I tell you. I’ve worn out at least 3 cards from heavy usage over time. I’ve had to ask the cashier to transfer my credit to a new card, because the old one was losing its magnetism. Automatic recharge on the card was nice, as was the quicker swipe on checkout was too, but mostly marginal.

The most recent change that Starbucks has added as bonuses to the Starbucks card are a good start: syrup and milk options for free, brewed coffee refills for free, free drink with whole bean purchase. (I don’t know why the graphic avoided the word free.)

Now, here’s some of my wild-brained ideas that I’ve submitted to myStarbucksIdea.com — register there as a user for free, and vote for these! and/or add comments there for these ideas!

• delicious soft serve ice cream and/or frozen yogurt
• 30 daily featured drinks + top 10 selling drinks scoreboard constantly updated
• improve website by combining similar ideas [where I mentioned askanything.marshillchurch.org]
• great drink with no sugar and no caffeine
• web sequel: my Starbucks drink website — as in myStarbucksDrink.com
• suppress receipts without saying No every time

Ya think any of these have a leg to stand on? FFT (fan-freakin-tabulous)? awesomatimistic? kewl beans? off the hook? perfectomundo?

does assurance equal certainty?

An old friend sent me this controversy brewing at Cedarville College. I went to seminary with David Hoffeditz, who was apparently dismissed last summer under mostly hushed tones. Details are slowly coming to light, as the Dayton Daily News reported several weeks ago, as — Secret recording suggests firings timed to avoid furor: A theological issue splits the conservative Baptist school and could pose a threat to future enrollment and Cedarville firings worry fundamentalists: School says theology had no role in firings of Bible profs; others not so sure::

Cedarville historically has been fundamentalist, or orthodox, since becoming a Baptist institution in 1953, and requires all its students to minor in Bible. But the new emergents’ views on truth and certainty had crept into the Bible department, according to students and faculty, creating a schism.

The fired professors, David Mappes and David Hoffeditz, were on the fundamentalist, conservative side of the divide. Their supporters believe they were fired because they openly challenged other faculty members’ more liberal interpretations of the Bible in the classroom.

Mappes and Hoffeditz were fired in July despite receiving new contracts just a few months beforehand.

I was in the same seminary dorm with David Hoffeditz for a couple years, delightfully joyful guy. Apparently he had more brainpower than he let on, seeing how now he’s a very capable professor. David himself has issued 3 public statements about his situation at http://dmhoffeditz.netfast.org, even as he & his wife expect their 1st child next week!

The website www.cedarvillesituation.com tracks a lot of the developing story, er, situation. Article # 3 describes the firings this way:

President Brown, in the presence of fourteen witnesses, said on December 17th of last year that the word “assurance” in the University’s Truth and Certainty statement means the same as “certainty.” The exact lines in The Truth and Certainty statement are thus:

“The Christian has the privilege of living with confidence made possible by God’s grace. Christians can be assured that their beliefs are warranted even if their understanding is not comprehensive or perfect in every instance. This certainty is to be held with humility and love.”

. . . Since Dr. Brown (authoritatively) equates “assured” with being “certain” there is a dramatic problem. Those faculty who signed the statement (the statement is incorporated in the Faculty Handbook which is then incorporated in the faculty contracts) without meaning certainty must face dismissal.

But what has happened is that the “certainty people,” Thigpen, Cragoe, Hoffeditz and Mappes have been dismissed.

Plus, 2 welterweight blogs do battle cage-match style in the blogosphere– Cedarville : Liver vs. Cedarville: Heart.

I feel badly for David and the other terminated profs. I’ve read a handful of paragraphs linked above, and it all seemed way too nuanced for me. I’m going to bed.

mother of all church planting conferences

I excerpted this from my Digital @ Leadership Network blog post ::

A huge gathering well into the thousands, like about 2,800 church leaders in Orlando, Florida — at the Exponential 08 Conference, aka National New Church Conference! Touted as the “mother of all church planting conferences“. (Wish I could be there, but I’m still recoup’ing from my heavy travel season, not that I’m conferenced out. Plus, I have work to do besides attending conferences, I really do.)

Some of the live reporting of the action from the floor (via blogging, twittering, photos, and/or video): Todd Rhoades of Leadership Network and MondayMorningInsight.com, Scott Hodge, Chris Elrod, and Jay Hardwick. Follow tweets from toddrho / scotthodge / chriselrod /  jayhardwick / mpayne1970 / ronsylvia.  And/or, see the latest in the blogosphere via Google Blog Search.

[update] Todd Rhoades provides live streaming from the “green” room backstage, with speakers interviews. He’s recorded the ones with Dave Ferguson and Alan Hirsch. Chris Elrod is taking questions for his interviews with Alan Hirsch, Rick Warren, and Tim Keller today 4/23/08! What would you ask Tim Keller? Send a direct message to Chris Elrod with your questions >> + Chris Elrod has great sound bites twittered from Keller’s Thursday morning talk