A Layout Solution

Welcome back.

Blogger Woes should be resolved by the following: Blogger Buzz: A Layout Solution.

There's now a 'button' in the "Formatting" section of your Settings. It worked for me. Nice.

Into the future,

davidT

Emergent's White Maleness. I'm Here to Help.

Welcome back.

Emergent has been putting together a series of updates from their June 05 Emergent Summit. Their latest update deals with, in their own words, the 'white maleness' of emergent and the need for more:

1. Women leaders
2. Latino, African American, Asian, Indian (and more) Emergent leaders

With regards to both #1 and #2 there are many who are ready to contribute. Specifically to #2, there are many of us ready to help. Count me in.

Into the future,

davidT

Workout Pictures

Picture 1: Standing barbell curls

Picture 2: Barbell clean and press

Welcome back.

After my male procedure 2 weeks ago, I was forced to take 10 days off from weightraining. But last week, I was back and today I'm doing chest and back.


Here's a bit of what it all looks like. I work out in my home gym in our garage.

Some of My Weightraining Gear:
1. Squat rack
2. 20lb, 25lb, 35lb. dumbbells for arm curls and incline dumbells
3. Olympic size Plates, 45, 35, 25, 10, 5
4. Olympic size bar
5. Olympic size curling bar
6. Bench - incline, decline, leg curls
7. Pad for abs, crunches, reverse crunches, planks
8. Ball for abs
9. Knee, wrist wraps, belt, gloves
10. Standard size bar for warm ups
11. Weight rack to store plates
12. Fan, it's getting warmer
13. Treadmill, for aerobic, twice a week
14. Standard size bar and weights, 25, 10, 5

My workout regiment is:
Weightraining - 4x/week
Aerobic - 2x/week (overlap)
Abs - every day
2 days, rest

My eating plan is:
100g Whey protein every day, Myoplex Carb Control and MyoPro Whey
6 small meals a day, equal carbs/protein. Tuna, salmon, oatmeal, yogurt, chicken, wheat bread, apples, eggs
Multi-vitamins every day
Water, 10-12 cups every day
No pizza, no sweets, no junk food, no high carb or fried foods, no ice cream

If you'd like some advice, I'd love to help.

Into the future,

davidT

Blogger Woes

Welcome back.

Even though I'm glad Blogger has added a free image loading feature, as it's been reported here, here, and here, Blogger has done something to our post template so that the body of each post now appears at the botton of my links side column, therefore making the post look blank. Not good!

So now i'm having to insert comment marks before and after the BodyPost tag on my template and a closed comment mark before each post and an open comment mark at the end of each post.

This is a nuisance and I don't even know how or why it works, I'm just trying what some at the Blogger forum are trying and so far so good.

But it sure is annoying, because I had to go back on my last 20 posts and edit each of them manually. And for any archived comment, I'd have to do the same.

Arghh!

Into the future,

davidT

Today, I Cried Hard

Picture: Soldier in Nicaraguan Revolution.

Welcome back.

Small things trigger grieving. I saw our little boy's train sitting alone by the door while they were all at the store, and I missed him and that touched my heart and I began to cry. About grandma, how much I miss her, about my love for our boy David Dennis (2 in July), about feelings of loss, of sadness and some recent marriage sadness. Grieving is like this, it just suddenly comes. July 3rd it will be the 6th month since my grandmother-mother's death. She died of a brain anyurism on Jan 3rd and went into the hospital on Christmas Eve. She was 78 and raised me since age 6. She would walk me to Willard Elementary School here in Long Beach every morning. I miss her every day. I'm okay.

Into the future,

davidT

btw, I want a tatoo and the picture above is what I would get.

I'm an INFJ

Welcome back.

The other David T is an intj. I'm his cousin, an infj. Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging. Mini-Myers-Briggs Type online test. It says here that I'm made to be a teacher, pastor, writer, creative, counselor. That's a relief! I guess I'm in the right field. Oh yes, and my contributions to society are "vital and profound." In other words, I'll always be poor! : )

INFJ Profile:

Strength of the preferences %

Introverted 11
Intuitive 62
Feeling 50
Judging 17

Qualitative analysis of your type formula

You are:

* slightly expressed introvert
* distinctively expressed intuitive personality
* moderately expressed feeling personality
* slightly expressed judging personality

"Usually self-expression comes more easily to INFJs on paper, as they tend to have strong writing skills. Since in addition they often possess a strong personal charisma, INFJs are generally well-suited to the 'inspirational' professions such as teaching (especially in higher education) and religious leadership. Psychology and counseling are other obvious choices, but overall, INFJs can be exceptionally difficult to pigeonhole by their career paths.

Hey Trotter, this means we are meant for each other!

Take the Test Yourself.

Into the future,

davidT

A Help to Church Planters in Long Beach

Welcome back.

Today I had lunch with Thien Doan, a new church planter in Long Beach. His church is called "City Lights Church". Thien is a Talbot MDiv grad, married, two children and just finished a 1-year church planting training through EV Free in Little Rock, AK. He is planting among the Urban poor and Urban professionals of downtown Long Beach, near Roosevelt Elementary School.

At the end of our conversation, he told me he needed relationship and encouragement. We read through 1 Timothy 6 and prayed together for his work. I enjoy those times.

Thinking of planting a church in Long Beach? I'd love to help and show you around the city.

11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

13In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Into the future,

davidT

WL Training - What Are You Reading?

Picture: Steve Bell.

Welcome back.

You know how you sometimes read something that at first you don't like, in fact you throw in the delete folder? Those are the articles, emails, etc. that I usually come back to, because they're the ones that convict me the most. Application - get them out of the delete file quickly.

The article by Steve Bell, whom I had never heard of before (sounds like Michael Talbot, folk, guitar), is one of them. He speaks here almost abruptly as in chip-on-my-shoulder-with-modern-worship-leaders and songwriters (which is not the best way to do mentorship) about the lack of depth, content, meaning, beauty, Scripture, theology, etc in our current modern worship songs. Much needed. I do wish Steve wasn't as upset about this as he says he is, but what he's got to say has much merit. After all, he made me undelete his file back to my IN-folder and blog about it. In fact, I'm printing this one out and sharing it with our WL (Worship Leader) Forum in August.

Here's a sample of Steve Bell's music.

In his interview he talks about asking worship leaders "what are you reading?" The idea is that we write from what we put into our minds. He asked a class of popular modern worship songwriters this question and Steve says he got a bunch of blank stares. Ouch.

So, what am I reading? I didn't think this was such an anomaly. But here it goes. May this list help young worship leaders to read and put into their hearts and minds things from 100 years ago, 5 years ago and today:

1. Webster's Dictionary. I am songwriter, so words are everything. I'm currently in the IN (as in INcandescent) section.

2. Rhyming Dictionary. Again, words, words, words.

3. Psalms. Psalm 8 this week, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name..." (feel free to humm the chorus along : ) I know I am

4. 1 Timothy. I'm studying to speak at our evening services the next 2 Sundays, I speak about once a month

5. Selected Readings from the Gospels and OT. From "A Guide to Prayer for All God's People" - This week, readings from the book of Matthew

6. Francis de Sales, John of the Cross. From Richard Foster's "Devotional Classics". Themes such as "Dark Night of the Soul" and "Introduction to the Devout Life."

That's what I'm currently doing. And of course listening of all music genres (country is a tough one). Plus like for most of you, I have a bunch more on the 'working on' list - "Emotional Intelligence", "Learning to Lead", "Divided by Faith", "What's So Amazing About Grace", "Searching for God Knows What", "Conversing with Emergent" and others.

Application: Does your worship leader have a budget for books? If not, how will he read? I'd go with 25% of their music budget for books, conferences, and leadership development.

So how does this come out in worship? I'd say in terms of actual words and verbosity upfront, only about 10% of it. Worship leaders sing, pastors preach. But if you have a speaking gift (as in, people are touched when you open your mouth), you can go up to 12-15%. That's a lot! That's how much I do after 12 years of WL and much affirmation. Otherwise, it comes out during rehearsals, auditions, WL training forums, emails, blogging, conversations at the Church Picnic, at home, in my marriage, loving our children, what I actually DO with my time, my posture while leading worship, my goals and values on what to do with compliments as well as failures.

"Let's get back to your message board. You said you'd asked some songwriters what they'd been reading lately, and you got a bunch of blank stares.

Bell: Yeah. I was with a bunch of songwriters. I won't say who, but you'd know a bunch of them. Anyway, I was just very keen to find out what they were drawing on. It wasn't a sucker punch at all. I was just looking for good leads.

There was one fellow who's turned out a lot of songs, and the guy just didn't read. I think that says something when you're supposed to be a person who is making, ostensibly, meaningful music. I want to ask, 'What are you drawing from?' For someone who's supposedly doing meaningful art to not be in the discipline of reading, I don't know . . ."

Into the future,

davidT

Map of Where I'll be in July

This is where I'll be July 15-July 30th. Russia, right outside of Moscow at an orphanage camp out in the woods. Temperature, 70F. I'll be there together with our team of 11. Please pray for the music we will do, that it will communicate through language and social barriers to the hearts of the children. Map of Russia. SOAR International.

Click on map to enlarge. See bubble on left.

Walking the Streets of Long Beach

Welcome back.

Procedure Update: Day 2. Still slow walking around, but better. Resting.

It's been a while since I took a bus down Anaheim St. or walked down Long Beach Blvd., just to notice the life, the people of my city. I used to this often, ride my bike. That's how God began to reveal His burden for the city.

It's time to do this again. Do you want to better know the needs of your surroundings? Take the bus down to MyCity Blvd. and pray. And while you're there, read Trotter's list on "How to Build Community" as you walk around.

I wrote a song about this a few years ago:
I want to walk/the streets of Long Beach/and see with my eyes/the people you want to reach/I want to walk/the streets of my city/and see in their eyes/the people they long to be/Jesus, use me/Jesus, heal me/

Text reference: Matthew 9:35, "35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing and...36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them..."

Into the future,

davidT

Happily Ever After - Sexually Satisfied

Welcome back.

Maybe not this week, in light of yesterday's procedure. For you young marrieds, it does get better and better (but more is always good), heh, heh. We will celebrate our 10th anniversary August 19th of this year in Palm Springs, no children, just the heat, the pool and each other.

Pastors Enjoy Better Sex.

Into the future,

davidT

Two Incisions

Welcome back.

How do I say this? I just got back from having the "procedure". Which one you ask?

Here's a joke:
A man visits his doctor to enquire about a ...:
"Well," he said, "I was thinking about getting a ..."
"That's a big decision", replied the doctor, "Have you talked it over with your family?"
"Yeah,...and they're in favour 15 to 2."

For me it was 5 to 0. Yep, that's the one! Just got out about 40mns ago. OUCH! Where are those frozen peas...they did two incisions for the vasectomy. You can imagine the rest. I've never had so many people mess around with me in my life. The ladie nurse said to me, "good for you, most men are chicken!" Yeah, I'm all that.

So I asked the doctor, "How many macho Latino men do you get in here?" He said, "not many" I am SOOOOO all that! He said to lay on my back all day long and no weight training for 1 week. I feel out of it. If you're thinking about this yourself, I can help. No, I don't want to laugh...ouch.

Unto the couch,

davidT

On Hymns, Commercialism and Modern Worship

Welcome back.

I grew up with Spanish Hymns, "Cuan Grande Es El" (How Great Thou Art) and "El Vino a Mi Corazón" (He Came into My Heart), but I can't say that I am hymns person. When I lead worship, I do one to two hymns about every 4 weeks or so. Recently, and ironically on the same day I got a note saying "please, more hymns", while my senior pastor said to me, "please, no hymns." Pretty funny.

I do hymns because they have great meaning, but I don't do them all the time. There are bad hymns just as there are bad modern worship songs, and what I mean by bad is bad lyrically and melodically. The melodies of some hymns are just odd.

Theology? Sure, hymns have plenty of good theology, so I do hymns. BUt modern worship songs have an honesty, vulnurability and melodic enjoyment that hymns sometimes lack. Then again, a hymn like "O Worship the King" and most of the re-written modern hymns that are currently being done rock my world.

Then there's $. Hymns make $ right now. That's why many artists are doing them. It makes sense, hymns are hot, people miss them, the boomer generation is getting older, more nostalgic about their roots, the Christian market is being saturated with the latest "Passion" worship song that sounded like last year's Passion song, so let's record some hymns with electric guitars and sell some records, oh yes, and sing good theology and teach the kids to respect history. I'm fine with most of that, except the $ part of it. See Jesus turning tables in the church lobby.

Will I do more hymns as I get older? I grew up with about 25% hymns and about 75% modern worship (of the day) and lots of "música de la revolución" (Revolutionary Music). So I will at most, do about 10-20% hymns as I get older, because that's how much is IN me to begin with. I'm okay with that. I enjoy all the great hymns as much as the next traditional person, but not all day long.

I'm into modern worship, modern rock, pop/acoustic stuff, groove oriented passionate music, with a taste for Latin, urban and hip-hop. I'm into hip-hop. I'm not into traditional Gospel, adult contemporary or country. I appreciate the genres, it's just not what I prefer to do, I'll do it 10-20% of the time. I've done just about everything in the past - Vineyard, Maranatha, Tommy Walker, Ron Kenoly, Integrity, Hillsongs, all big sounds except for Vineyard which is now almost obsolete.

I've done the brass section, 6 singers, multiple teams, rotating vocals, Gospel choir thing. Most contemporary churches either do the Willow Creek big gospel/pop contemporary thing, a'la Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church, or the old contemporary ("Shout to the Lord", "Come Now is the Time", "Open the Eyes of My Heart") songs.

I do mostly modern worship songs, the usual stuff these days - Tomlin, Crowder and Hughes, with new local guys such as Phil Wickham and my own original material which sounds like Juanes and Coldplay (so I think). No wonder North Coast Church in Vista, CA has 13 worship services all with the same preacher and message (video venues). The only difference? The styles of worship. Division? Consummerism? Worship wars? I don't know. Music unites us but it also defines us. The church is the only place where we confuse style and preferences because of the faith aspect. Outside of the Church, we all know what we like and why and we stick with it, choose according to it, buy, spend, etc. all based upon what we like.

Can you imagine yourself suddenly liking hip-hop if you're not into hip-hop? Can you see yourself into country if you're not into country just because it has God/Jesus in the lyrics? I don't see it. I'm okay building churches around worship styles because more than spiritual this is about culture, taste, what shaped us as jr. highers, even what songs helped us connect with love and relationships (see Madonna, "Like A Virgin", boy, now I know I'm old!).

Music is not about preference, it's about identity, it's about who we are, like the color of our skin. I can't stop being what I am, I just have to learn to appreciate everyone else, keep growing, be united and accept others. Some churches deny this and they make everyone listen to the same style, on the name of Christ, faith and unity.

Some people may listen to what I do on Sundays and say, "more hymns" or "more slow songs" or "less new songs" or "more Shout to the Lord" and more "the FISH (Christian radio station)" songs. It gets weird, but all I can do is be true to myself, to culture and honor the people that come into church each week and lead them into the presence of God.

What's your opinion of music inside the church and music outside the church and your preferences? Should we not bring those into the church because we're about God? Or should we be more like North Coast and be more honest about what we like and build churches according to style?

Hymns Make a Comeback.

Into the future,

davidT

My People Suffer

Welcome back.

I've been thinking about my home Nicaragua lately. Going to Russia this summer to work at a camp for orphans, seeing pictures of the Russian children, having our own children get sick and stuff, all has opened my heart to the pain children endure each day. Many of the orphans in Moscow live in the drains underneath the city. We've seen pictures.

Then I think of the children of Nicaragua. We teach our children of the need back home. We show them pictures, we talk about them, we pray together for the children of Russia, Nicaragua, the world.

Pictures like these of men and women sifting through a landfill to look for food, clothes, with animals around them while holding babies in their arms are hard to see. I've seen these scenes first hand.

I read on a magazine that Brad Pitt recently said "we could end world poverty in our life time. That's exciting." Is that true? I hope it is.

My next missionary trip needs to be to Nicaragua. I've been talking with CEPAD, my dad's social justice organization of 20 years (prior to becoming a pastor) and I'm trying to fit a December exploratory pre-trip into my schedule to Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia and Boaco, cities outside of Managua.

Lord, send us out.

Links: Clika la Chureca. Nicaliving.

Pictures: La Chureca landfill outside Managua.

Into the future,

davidT

Isabela's Surgery, Mixed Results

It's just been a strange week since our girl's tonsilectomy/adnoinds/no-tubes.

First, there's the pain and no-sleep of the healing process. We've been up every night the last 7 days. Pain, crying, discomfort, medicine, crankiness, etc. and that's just Rachelle and I! : )

Last night she was up from 3-5am. We all feel like zombies, like having a new born. She is healing and is feeling better each day. She is talking more and eating more normal food and less popsicles and ice cream.

Second, we're not sure she's better, not yet at least. We don't see a big difference yet. She is still sleeps with her mouth open and now her nose is clogged all day long. When she talks, she sounds like she's talking through her nose, it just doesn't sound like her. That's hard.

Third, we just need to sleep. Part of the perspective we need is gone with our sleep. But we're trusting God she's better and that we'll begin to see an improvement in her over time. That's our hope at least. We have a follow up app't with the surgeon next week so we'll see what happens.

Lastly and better, Jesus healed her ears. The day of the surgery, the doctors found out the fluid that had been in her ears for 9 months, had drained and so they didn't need to put tubes in. That was the main reason they were going to do the surgery in the first place, but God chose to heal her. We remember that every day.

I'm just tired. I want to work out, today is arms/shoulders/abs of course. I hope I do. I would also like to go for a run. We'll see.

Most Nicaraguans Disagree with Dissolution

::.Angus Reid Consultants.::: "Some people have proposed for the president to call a state of emergency, dissolve powers and call a constituent assembly to find a solution to the country’s problems. Do you agree or disagree with this proposal?

Agree, 41.9%
Disagree, 49.7%
No opinion, 8.4%

My vote: Agree.

HousingMaps - Los Angeles

Unbelievable! You can click on the push pins and see a picture of the house or apartment for rent, yes a picture, an email, phone and address and cost. These guys are using Google Maps illegally, but Google doesn't seem to care!

Why didn't I think of this? Need a place to live? HousingMaps - Los Angeles.

Should I not buy any new Macs until the Intel-based Macs arrive?

Oh.....now I get it! Yeah right. But the question is worth asking. I guess I'll never get (neither will anyone else) the G5 PowerBook I was saving up for. I better sell my G4 PowerBook now while it's still worth something and save to buy the new stuff in 2007. Amazing stuff. I never thought we'd be here, but change happens, change happens.

Macworld: Feature: Apple & Intel: What you need to know: "Should I not buy any new Macs until the Intel-based Macs arrive?

It depends on what your needs are and what your current Macs are. Over the next year, Apple’s going to be coming out with numerous advancements on existing PowerPC-based Mac models. And keep in mind, according to Apple the PowerPC won’t be completely eradicated from the company’s product line until late 2007. If you’ve got an aging Mac system, do you want to wait until 2007 to get a new one? If you bought a new Mac today, you could be pretty confident that it would serve you well for several years and probably wouldn’t become obsolete any faster than it would normally, given the march of time.

Then again, if you’re comfortable with the Mac systems you’ve got now, and don’t feel the need to buy a Mac for a while, waiting until Apple crosses the next barrier might be a good idea. Or it might not, because…"

The Country Under My Skin

Welcome back.

In a Book Review: The Country Under My Skin, in Nicaragua Living, there's a line by the reviewer that helps me understand myself.

Speaking of the author, Giocanda Belli, the reviewer says:

"That is, Belli is open about her thoughts and emotions just like I see with most people here in Nicaragua."

Now I get it! : )

Another book I'm reading, also recommended at Nicaragua Living, is "Meet Me In Managua" by Wendy Murray Zoba. Wendy is an award-winning writer and has worked as a reporter for Time magazine and as editor and senior writer of Christianity Today. Managua, is the capital of Nicaragua, my beloved country of origin. My mother and two sisters live in Managua. Our church has made many missionary projects to Nicaragua. I need to go back soon to scout future projects.

Into the future,

davidT

Latinos in Comedy, No Recognition

Welcome back.

Paul Rodriguez was my hero in the 80's and early 90's. Hey, a guy that looks like me, talking in English, on TV and making people laugh. Awesome. Ricky Ricardo ("I Love Lucy") was also in the picture, but I was just a little boy back then.

Now comes George Lopez ("The George Lopez Show"), and I think he's awesome. In the show he's a middle class, well dressed, home owner (not the mechanic), kind of guy. His recent bout with kidney disease makes him only human. I had noticed he had lost a lot of weight, not sure if that was related to his disease or not.

In his interview, Lopez speaks of his kidney disease and Latinos in comedy. He says the media doesn't want to acknowledge the success of his mostly Latino show because Latinos are not important to Hollywood. That this 'quiet revolution' of Latinos on TV is being ignored. True. Keep doing what you're doing George, take care of your self, be grateful for your life and your incredible wife and keep making people laugh. Your time is coming.

A stand-up wife helps Lopez stay on a roll:

"'This is a Chicano's worst nightmare,' he quips in the voice of his cynical stand-up character, the hard-boiled barrio bad guy. 'Something that makes you owe your wife — forever!'"

Lopez, however, feels the program hasn't received the credit it deserves as a broadcast milestone. His wife agrees.

and...

"This is the first sitcom with a Latino family," she says. "Chico was Latino, the Man was not. Ricky Ricardo was Latino, his wife was not. This is an entire family of Latinos, and this is the first time in history that's been done.... This is groundbreaking, and yet everyone has just kind of ignored it."

"You know why?" adds Lopez. "They don't want to acknowledge we're important."

Into the future,

davidT

How to Read More Blogs at Once

Welcome back.

Can't keep up with all the blogs on your list? Ethos : How To Read Your Favorite Blogs... is a good resource on what's called "news aggregators" (basically an application that reads blogs). Maybe it's time for you...

Into the future,

davidT

Our 3.5 year old is out of surgery

Isabela got out earlier today from a tonsilectomy, adnoids and no-tubes after all. They were planning to put tubes in her ears but she didn't need them at the last minute. Her liquid had mostly cleared and it wasn't as thick as they expected. Jesus was already healing her going into the surgery. We went in at 8:30am and got out at 3pm.

She did well with the anaesthetic, both Rachelle and I had a couple of breaking points, but we were strong for our girl. You have to be in those situations and then you cry in the bathroom.

We expect her recovery to be about 1-2 weeks, depending on how she does with pain, nausea, bleeding, etc. Lots of popsicles, ice chips. She can eat anything she wants and feels good doing. She's sleeping right now. She'll miss a week of school and will need to rest most of that time.

Thanks for praying. Please pray for her recovery and for strength for the parents.

davidT

US Strategy against FSLN Backed by Nicaraguan Government

This does not surprise me. But it's amazing to me now as an adult how U.S. intervention is real. Like many Central Americans, I grew up hearing of "la intervensión yanqui." Yankee intervention. Now I see what they meant.

Actually, I would also intervene. The Sandinistas should never come back to power in Nicaragua. Nonetheless, the people of Nicaragua should decide that, and Bolaños will only remind everyone of Somoza the more he allows himself (as this article claims), to be manipulated by the U.S. Let the people figure this one out.

US Strategy against FSLN Backed by Nicaraguan Government.:

He added that "there is an escalation of US interference in Nicaragua" in the wake of the great successes of the Sandinista Front in the past year.