Greatest Program Ever

A friend of mine, Lori Ritchey, who is 40% nicer than the average human, has gotten me re-enthused about the Mac program Garageband. This easy to use slice of music producer heaven is the best thing since snorkeling. A few weeks ago a bunch of us sat down and recorded a friends new song at my house.  Lori played the role of Quincy Jones, as we added vocal tracks, drum loops, et al. It was a blast.

 

Last night Tim and Julie Smith came over for dinner. I resurrected an old song Julie wrote in 1995 and got my Quincy on. Here's what the recording sounds like. 

LetitRain2.mp3

Francesco and Friedrich

Francesco and Friedrich had a lot in common. Both grew up with supportive families and were afforded excellent educations. Like many others, both went through a time of questioning in their late teens and early twenties. This searching caused a dramatic change in they way they looked at life. It fashioned in them determination that in turn impacted tens of millions of people. In fact, the shock waves of their impact were so intense that they are still keenly felt to this day.

At age 21, Francesco, or St. Francis we know him, rejected the luxury offered by his wealthy father. Instead, he literally stripped away material seductions and embraced an existence of prayer and simple living. 

His epic devotional life sent a jolt of conviction through the corrupt power structures of Christendom. His ministry to lepers, discipleship of young leaders, and love for nature inspired multitudes to abandon material pursuits. His heart to reach Sultan Melek-el-Kamel are still so relevant 780 years later, they read like a headline from today. His famous quote "Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words" so adeptly describes Christ-like outreach that it has been cited by nearly every preacher, pastor, and small group leader who ever cared about genuine ministry. 

Friedrich Nietzsche also stood to inherit his father's position. His skill in languages made him a natural candidate for the ministry and so as a teen he began his studies to be a pastor.

At the age of 21, Nietzsche also stripped off what he felt was a horrible encumbrance. Against his mother's pleas, he dropped his theological studies and embarked on a career in philology and then philosophy. A hatred for the religious traditions of his childhood and the ideas of key intellectuals merged in his brilliant mind. He ended his college experiences not as a pastor but as a skilled and ruthless enemy of Christianity. 

This pastor's son has inspired more serious denigration of the faith than any other thinker in history. He is a founder of existentialism and postmodernism, and an icon to atheist groups everywhere. His concept of the self-realizing superman is said to have influenced Hitler. His quote "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him" has energized anti-supernatural apologists in almost every philosophy department on the globe.

The stories of Francesco and Friedrich are not unique. The fact that college-age people are at the root of almost every history-shaking moment can be seen over and over again. Charles Wesley was a 20-year-old student when his fate as a Methodists founder was sealed. Charles Darwin was 22 when set foot on the Beagle. Hudson Taylor was 21 when he sailed for China. The father of all anti-supernatural philosophers, David Hume, embraced his worldview at the age of 18. At 17, Spurgeon was a seminary student and pastoring near Cambridge. Stalin also attended seminary at 17. By 21 he dropped out to dedicate his life to the socialist movement he discovered there.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the majority of great world leaders found their mission during this season of life. The inescapable conclusion is that the next great leader is sitting in any one of a million coffee shops near a campus contemplating their future right now.

In this era of globalization, no one can say if the next leader will be male, female, rich, poor, fair or dark. We know that he is around 20, brilliant, and impressionable. She lives near Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Johannesburg, or any one of the urban areas that attract crowds of post-Christian twenty-somethings. Unlike younger teens, he has gained the social and intellectual maturity to follow through on his idealism. Even so, she does not yet know that the ideas she is blogging about will soon influence the globe.

Will he be Francesco or Friedrich? Will She send shock waves of spirituality through a sleeping church and world or will he use his political and philosophical skills to convince a generation that God is dead? We do not know, but make no mistake - he or she is out there. The only question is, who will reach her first?

Curt

West Coast Chi Alpha

"Bringing the Church to Campus."

I am the future

100,000 Voters Strong

In 2004 much was made about first time voters flocking to political concerts hosted by mega rockers. Post election tabulations showed that college age people wanted to head bang  with John but not chad punch for his cause. Twenty something have a long history of not showing up on election day.

 

Amazingly, in this election cycle something different has already happened. Almost 100,000 under 30 voters shattered turn out records in Iowa. In New Hampshire Hilary's come from behind victory suppressed the story of record turnout but they to saw a wave of twenty somethings actually voting. In South Carolina a record one in five voters where under 30. The AP is reporting that the number of young voter register in California for the primary is already greater then the total for the 2004 presidential election. In short, Obama my have be able to do what Springsteen and Kerry could not. He may be able to ignite a generation. So, what if this generation does more than rock?

 

If it happens however, it will not be a hippie movement. Instead of LSD trips expanding minds we will see RSS trips mobilizing people. Instead of "turn on and tune out" as a message we'll hear "iTune in and YouTube on" to get the message. What this revolution lacks in flowers and beads it will make up for in blazing technological and it will make the hippy movement appear like a blip on the green monochrome screen of history.

Let me be clear. I am not commenting on a candidate or a political cause or a issue. Whatever you personally feel about Obama, this is about more than liberal vs. conservative.  It is about the what, why and how of capturing the hearts of a generation.

And not just any generation. A group that may be the most talented and confident cohort to come along in 100 years. Whether it is the predictions of noted generational experts like Neil Howe and William Strauss, the trends reported in the UCLA freshmen study, the hard data of rising SAT scores or a simple observation of their internet savvy, make not mistake, this group has game.

curtharlow.com

curtharlow.com

• Reorganized my fly box
• Had to, went fishing yesterday
• Spent several moments thinking about the six trout I caught
• Spent several more moments thinking about the two bats that I also caught with a fly (no kidding...both got off by themselves)
• Got my inbox down to four
• Cleared off my desk
• Read about God's mercy in Joel
• Prayed for many friends
• Cleaned out my car
• Found my blue tooth ear piece
• Stayed faithful to my eating and work out plan
• Tickled my five year old
• Watched my boy come home from school with a smile on his face
• Listened to my wife laugh on the phone with Kimi Bui
• Wrote a quick blog while sitting by a fire in my back yard

The Dance?

It is Jesse's second day of HS, which makes it official. All three of our kids are out of the house and in school for a good portion of the day. We be old.

We prayed and had a great deal of consternation about enrolling Jesse in this public school here. When we were young and idealistic we always said that our kids would do public school because we wanted to be a missional family that does not cloister away from the world (besides, us teach...that would be almost like child abuse).

In the light of real life school violence, size and curriculum concerns, we are not so high and mighty in our missional purity now. He was homeschooled last year and this was great for his math scores and our stress level. It was not so good for his social life.

We looked hard at the Christian school option for him. Bottom line...man is that a lot of money and these schools tend to have an "uber kid" mentality. In other words, six hours of homework every night. So, he is going to the 2700 students California Public School System mega campus.

His classes are organized in the new "block" schedule. Basically that means he has four shorter quarters in the year (app. nine weeks each) and instead of six or seven classes a day he has just four. The four class are all in 90 minute blocks. The idea is that students can focus more on each class and teachers are not crowding lessons into 45 min. segments. So far we love it. Especially for our situation involving the juggling of homework for three kids.

He has World Geo, Art, Spanish and Language. Each Monday he has one other one hour class that all Freshmen take called Advocacy. It is kind of like study hall on steroids.

Jesse reports to me that "The students seem really nice. So far I have not seen any bully types but that's probably because there are policeman in our school everywhere."

The first dance is in two weeks.