Tag: Stuff Christians Like

My piece of the “is that American Idol Contestant a Christian” group checklist

I’m participating in a Stuff Christians Like experiment. Because Stuff Christians Like is one of those things that Christians like. I am “part 14” of a checklist for answering the question “is that American Idol contestant a Christian”… I’m not American, I don’t watch American Idol (or the Australian iteration)… but here’s how you tell:

14. The contestant sings a Lady Gaga song … with an acoustic guitar = + 1 point (You can make almost any song feel kind of spiritual with an acoustic guitar.)

To add up your score with over a 130 other ideas on this scorecard, visit the post on stuffchristianslike.net.

April 6, 2010

YouTube Tuesday: Side hug rap

I’m a little late posting this one…

“When I hug people I leave room for the Holy Spirit…”

Just in case you’re stupid enough to think this video is serious – “Christian Side Hugs” are one of the most popular topics put forward on the Stuff Christians Like blog…

Christians also like white boy rappers who have very little sense of rhythm.

November 25, 2009

Harnessing your blogdom for the power of awesomeness

Jon Acuff at Stuff Christians Like has turned a good idea into a book deal, notoriety, and one of the Christian blogosphere’s most popular blogs.

This week he’s turned his blog into a money raising powerhouse – securing $30,000 in donations for a new Vietnamese orphanage in about 18 hours.

That’s pretty awesome.

Abraham Piper helped out with an interview – and has announced that this week he’ll be focused on raising money for worthy causes – starting with child sponsorship.

I like these ideas. So much that I’m setting up a Tear Really Useful Gift Shop as an experiment. I’d like to buy goats and cows for villages  in the hope that they’ll be called Eutychus.

Click here to buy a really useful gift. Prices start at $5 for fish farms. I don’t expect anyone to buy a cow for $300. But it’s an animal, so I included it in the store – along with some vegetarian options.

If you want to donate part of a cow let me know in the comments.

November 11, 2009

Stuff “Christ Followers” like…

On the one hand these videos are really funny and poke legitimate fun at “bumper sticker” Christian sub-culture.

On the other hand, they’re pretty dumb and based on the pursuit of the Holy Grail of Christian authenticity. The “Christ Follower” totally listens to U2… he even says so… in the third video.

Both extremes are dumb… just as they are when it comes to the Mac v PC ads being spoofed – as this SMH article so humourously points out…

I hope the video is actually mocking both ideas – but I get the impression it’s pushing people to define themselves as “Christ followers” rather than Christians, as though the label is so loaded with negative ideas that it needs replacing. I end up feeling just as frustrated by both of them.

When you boil it down, both Macs and PCs are computers, and both the characters in these videos are sinners forgiven through the work of Jesus.

Besides there’s nothing more fake than the relentless pursuit of authenticity.

November 3, 2009

Nine Christian blogs you should read

These are not necessarily my favourite blogs by Christians – but they are the ones that are most likely to cover interesting trends in evangelical Christianity (in the Australian sense of the word evangelical – which mostly means reformed)…

  1. John Piper’s blog at Desiring God, his son Abraham Piper’s 22 words is another one of my favourites… his current post is a cracker.
  2. Mark Driscoll’s blog at the Resurgence – lets face it, what Christian male under the age of 30 isn’t at least a little bit of a Mark Driscoll fanboy. He’s a Mac, and Piper is a PC.
  3. Tim Challies blog – great link posts and book reviews.
  4. Between Two Worlds – nice short summaries of the American Christian blogosphere.
  5. Craig’s blog – the Australian equivalent of Between Two Worlds – nice short sharp summaries of important discussions and developments around the Australian scene.
  6. The Internet Monk – trying to define him is difficult. Post reformed, post evangelical, partly Calvinist – usually interesting or thought provoking.
  7. Church Marketing Sucks – a nice little site dedicated to improving the way churches communicate Jesus.
  8. Communicate Jesus – an Australian equivalent to Church Marketing Sucks.
  9. Stuff Christians Like – the Stuff Christians Write writer has his finger right on the pulse of Christian culture – warts and all.

A list of nine barely does my subscription list justice, there are heaps of notable omissions both from gospel ministers in Australia to collective blogs like Pyromaniacs or the SolaPanel – and a bunch of quality blogs by bible college students.

It would be remiss of me not to mention Design4Church – a most excellent blog about graphic design for churches at this point…

Any good ones I’m missing?

September 9, 2009