U2 Sweeps Grammys

From U2 rolls over West and Carey at 48th annual Grammys by Greg Kot of the Tribune:

It was expected to be a race between Kanye West and Mariah Carey Wednesday at the 48th annual Grammy Awards, but in the end U2 rolled to its biggest night yet.The rock veterans won five awards, including song of the year (which honors songwriting) for "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" and the coveted album of the year for "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."

Between this year and last, u2 has won 8 Grammys for their work on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb!

Sandy Cohen reports:

Grammy night belonged to U2, but Bono and the boys recalled that hasn't always been the case.

“We've been here and lost on some of our most important albums. We've been at the other end of this, too,” the U2 frontman recalled after the group walked away with five awards on Wednesday, including the coveted album of the year trophy for “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.”

Bono noted the group was particularly disappointed that its 1991 album, “Achtung Baby” didn't fare better. Drummer Larry Mullen said the reaction to 1997's “Pop” was another disappointment.

“After the 'Pop' record, things like this actually mean something,” he said.

U2 now has 20 Grammys and counting, and guitarist The Edge was asked if that certifies the group as the greatest band in the world.

“I think we are tonight,” he replied.

eBay Atheist

If you've been bouncing around in the Christian blogosphere lately you've probably heard of the "eBay atheist." An atheist, Mr. Hemant Mehta, started an unusual auction on eBay. Up for bid? Mehta's attendance at a Chicagoland church of the highest bidder's choice. Off the Map was the winner and they've asked Mehta to attend a number of local churches and report back on what, from an atheist's standpoint, the hits and misses were at each. Tonight it's Willow Creek, and it's New Community, not a seeker service - yikes! Click here to track the eBay Atheist blog.

office memo

Ricky Gervais is gonna pen an episode of the stateside version of his creation, The Office.

I don't know whether to be excited or afraid! Dildos at Dunder-Mifflin? I guess we'll all have to tune in to find out!

Willow Creek Community Church in the News

The CBS local news did a story tonight on area megachurches, including Salem Baptist, Harvest Bible Chapel, New Life and Willow Creek.

The story itself was not very insightful (at one point Mora intones "they call them min-ist-ries") but the extended interviews with Bill Hybels and James Meeks (pastor of Salem Baptist and one of the speakers at this years Leadership Summit) are worth checking out.

A couple of my favorite parts (paraphrased):

Mora asks this strange question: "What you do - are there greater similarities to a Falwell, a Graham, a Meeks, an Osteen, or more differences?" I would've been flabbergasted by that question but Bill didn't miss a beat, "When people ask me what we teach, I tell them we teach the same thing Billy Graham has taught for 50 years. Now stylistically we would compare one way or the other, because methodology changes over the decades."

Another interesting moment was when Mora tried to get Meeks, who pastors an inner city church, to speak out against Osteen and prosperity gospel. Meeks response was that God is not against people having wealth, He is against people having wealth and not using it to do God's work. "To whom much is given much is expected. " Those who are more focused on materialism eventually come back to the truth because material things don't satisfy the way a right relationship with God does. If there are people in a church who are off balance, they'll come back into balance, they have to.

Fuzzy Cat

I haven't posted a cat painting in a while so here is one of my favorites. This is acrylic on Arches 140lb, cold pressed paper. I usually don't remember where my paintings end up, but I remember this one because it is the only painting I ever shipped to Germany!

More Sargent Sketches

I've got a couple new sketches. The first one is Asher Wertheimer and the second is Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears. Graphite in my sketch book. About 8x10. The tinting is compliments IrfanView.


As usual, as soon as I post them here I can see some things that need to be fixed - something about shrinking them so you see the entire picture at once always does that. Mr. Wertheimer's right jaw line needs to come in at more of an angle because his chin is supposed to be tucked in. And with the other one, I tried to widen her neck and then forgot to go back in and put the folds of her collar back in.

Megachurch Myths Debunked

A new study conducted jointly by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the Leadership Network shows that the number of "megachurches" (protestant churches with congregations of 2000+) has nearly DOUBLED in the last five years!

The surprises don't stop there.

The Christian Science Monitor reports:

The study debunks many myths about supersized congregations. The vast majority, it turns out, are not politically active. Nor are they homogenous: On average, 19 percent of the congregation is a nonmajority group; 56 percent of churches are making efforts to be racially inclusive.

They are not mostly independent churches; two-thirds are affiliated with denominations. And they are part of a broader trend found in other research: a growing concentration of worshipers in the largest churches.

"Something is happening that is leading more and more people to shift from smaller to bigger congregations within all denominations, liberal and conservative," says Mark Chaves of the University of Arizona. His research shows, for example, that 15 percent of Southern Baptists attend the largest 1 percent of their churches.

What's the appeal of large churches? Commentators' favorite explanation has long been a baby-boomer desire for anonymity. People close to the scene say that may have been true 25 years ago, but not today. They see a cultural shift in which people are comfortable in big institutions. Yet most compelling, they suggest, is the expectation of quality.

"Today people demand quality, even if it's subconscious," says David Travis of Leadership Network, a church consultant group. "They find quality almost everywhere else in their lives and expect it in all venues - music, visuals, preaching, written communications."

The cost of running churches has increased, and it's increasingly difficult for small churches to deliver that level of quality, Dr. Chaves says.

The founder in 1992 of a new church that is now home to 3,000 members (70 percent formerly "unchurched") sees it a bit differently: "Churches don't get large by accident - there is an outreach of spirit, a heart for reaching people outside the church," says the Rev. James Emery White, senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, N.C.

The Hartford study confirms that, while most megachurches have a range of evangelism programs, what most contributes to their growth is word-of-mouth, enthusiastic members reaching out to neighbors.

Megachurches are successful because they attract and retain more people over time. They have hospitality programs, hold orientation classes, encourage participation in fellowship groups or volunteer community service. In short, they make people feel at home.

What newcomers are after, Dr. White says, "is a sense of spirituality; they want the transcendent in their lives. And they are hungry for relationships, to be interactive as they carry on their search for God."

While many are seeking community, worship remains the central focus of the church, the study shows. It's also a myth that megachurches grow by offering "theology lite." The churches generally hold strong beliefs; have a clear mission and purpose; and have high expectations for scriptural study, prayer, and tithing.

For more news coverage on this story click here.

Bono at the Summit?

I came across a blog that named Bono as one of the speakers at this year's Leadership Summit. That was news to me, so I checked out the Willow Creek Association and this is what they say:

[Speaker:] Bono, Lead Singer of the rock group U2 and TIME Magazine's 2005 Person of the Year in an exclusive, video-taped interview with Bill Hybels.

I don't know what to make of this. A video taped session seems a little chintzy for the Summit, and the Summit has kept visits from high-profile speakers hush-hush in the past, so there is a possibility that Bono might actually show. Then again, with most attenders viewing via satellite and Bono being a notoriously busy dude, it's probably more practical to go the video route...

Verdict? Since I try to make the Summit a part of my year every year it doesn't really matter, one way or the other. But I'll still have my fingers crossed!

Bono at the National Prayer Breakfast

As many of you probably know by now, Bono spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday. His speech was quite good and can be read at DATA or watched at CNN.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. “If you remove the yolk from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places”

It’s not a coincidence that in the Scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It’s not an accident. That’s a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. [You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.] ‘As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.’ (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.

The speech also includes a cute reference to the book God's Politics by Jim Wallis and a quote that has, in the past, been attributed by U2 Sermons to Bill Hybels, with the qualification that Bill Hybels might have been quoting John Wimber. If U2 Sermons is right, then I'd be remiss not to include that bit in my Willow-centric blog, wouldn't I?

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord’s blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it… I have a family, please look after them… I have this crazy idea…

And this wise man said: stop.

He said, stop asking God to bless what you’re doing.

Get involved in what God is doing—because it’s already blessed.

Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.

And that is what He’s calling us to do.

Willow Creek Community Church in the News

The Courier has a little blurb on the success of the year end fund drive. 1.8 million was raised, 1.1 million of which will go to fighting global poverty with a special emphasis on the work we began last year in AIDS ravaged Zambia and South Africa. The remaining money will go to Casa de Luz and disaster relief.

The Daily Herald has an article about Casa de Luz.

Latinos now account for about 20 percent of the people living within a 20-minute drive of the South Barrington-based megachurch, and its leaders are taking notice.
...
About 200 people are expected to attend the services this weekend — most of them from Elgin, Carpentersville and Palatine — but the church predicts that number will grow to more than 800 by the end of the year.

Actually, about 800 showed up this weekend!

The outreach effort started Friday night with a concert by popular Mexican Christian singer Maria del Sol — an old Hermosillo friend — that brought out hundreds.

The number was actually about 3,500! Way to go Casa!

Gillian Anderson on PBS

If you are home on Sunday nights you can catch Gillian Anderson in Bleak House on PBS. So far I'm not really digging the Dickens melodrama, but Anderson is worth tuning in for.

If you are a fan (of Anderson, not Dickens) check out this interview in the Houston Chronicle.

Here's my favorite part from the interview:
"David (Duchovny) and I and (series creator) Chris Carter have been excited about and determined to do the next X-Files movie," she said. "It would be a huge amount of fun to get together in a kind of reunion situation and make a really good, really scary film." Sounds good to me!

Keillor reviews "American Vertigo"

You gotta love Garrison Keillor. Book reviews are rarely this fun to read. Then again, reviewers rarely have this kind of material to work with!