Check out the video from 1993 – I remember watching those videos and it seems that ALL of those technologies are in place and ‘normal’ now.

Photo: Jon Klinepeter - by S. Bailey © 2010

On Sunday, August 15, 2010 – my church,  Willow Chicago welcomed our new Campus Pastor, Jon Klinepeter and his family.  Below are bits of the message he shared with our congregation on Sunday.

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The Kingdom of God is not just a future certainty but a present reality.

When we align ourselves with the love of Jesus – we are aligning ourselves with the Kingdom of God.

Every time there was a societal or religious margin that told someone they didn’t belong, Jesus went beyond it. Jesus’ love knew no margin based on background, ethnicity, sin choices… Jesus never met anyone who was beyond his love. There wasn’t a margin that Jesus wouldn’t crash through to show his love for someone.

Love breaks the rules and is somewhat unapologetic about it. It says to religious and social rules “I don’t care!” Choosing the Kingdom of God makes us appear foolish, child-like, dangerous, and unwise. How naïve and crazy Jesus must have looked and felt on the cross.

I want other churches to think we are crazy… because I don’t care what other churches think of us.

If the lost in this city think that we are amazing at loving -then we are living out what God has for us.  If the poor and broken in this city know that our love is not just theoretical in prayer, but is tangible in action, then we are arriving at what God has for us. If the gay community in this city feels first our Love, then we are arriving at the kind of community that God has for us.

To the outcasts, the single moms, the people who are told they don’t matter, the people who live in neighborhoods where they are told that the color of their skin defines what they will ever be, we’re not going to just reach a hand. We will step beyond the margins and embrace them in our Kingdom of Love.

We break all the rules… especially the religious ones. We will infuse the sacrificial love of Jesus into our city.
–Jon Klinepeter

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I’m excited about the possibilities of how God will continue to use Willow Chicago.  I’ve only had a few brief conversations with him, but already I see he has a great heart for compassion and reconciliation that is bold and authentic.   If you would like to check out the audio of the full message it can be downloaded or streamed here: The Kingdom of God

I’m spending Thursday and Friday getting the recharge of my year in the Global Leadership Summit.  The  summit isbeamed live via satalite to over 400 locations Across North America.  This conference is for every kind of leader “church” and “secular”

Take a look at some of the conversations going on now:

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This Gateway LT2032u Black Netbook has turned out to be a great deal.  I’ve had it for less than a week now and so far I’m loving it.

If you’re getting a case for it, be aware that the 6-cell battery makes it too big for most slim cases (the battery ads about an inch to the size when closed).  I have mine in a slim case, but the battery sticks out the zipper (and thus can’t be fully closed. I just wanted something so that it would be protected in whatever bag I put it in and it serves that purpose ok for now.

Speaking of batteries  – the life on the six cell is amazing.  In power-saving mode and with the screen brightness dimmed to 10%, Windows has estimated 9 hours of battery life.  Even in normal mode you’ll get at least 6 hours of of it. It’s great to be able to leave the house without a power adapter and not worry about running out of juice! I do occasionally use a Clear WiMax broadband USB adapter and that sucks a LOT of power (the machine estimates 3 hours of battery life with it running).  I’ve tethered with my iPhone and that set up doesn’t eat the battery nearly as fast (I think I can get 4-5 hours with that set up).

One challenge on netbook screens in general is software that assumes your monitor is taller than 600 pixels – so every now and then you’ll find a fixed size window with an “ok” button that is below the edge of the screen. You might have to hit Tab and Enter until you “select” the right button to continue.  This is only an occasional issue when installing software or on setup / preferences screens (like the one on Adobe Reader 9 which comes pre-installed)

Windows Starter 7 won’t let you customize the desktop or colors, but you can legally install the free “Window Blinds” application from Stardock to let you do some customizations including colors and background images.

I’m hunting around for a good price on the 2GB ram upgrade.  I’m thinking about getting 800Mhz gaming memory – but I don’t yet know if this machine will support the higher speed. I notice that web based flash games (like Farm Ville and Cafe World on Facebook) can be quite unresponsive, so I’m hoping the added RAM will solve that.

Netflix runs just fine at full-screen.  NBC online videos are choppy at full screen but run just fine in the regular size view (which still fills up a good portion of the screen.  I haven’t tested out HD YouTube videos on it yet.

The speakers don’t get very loud, but I wouldn’t want a bigger machine just for louder speakers.  The headphone and microphone jacks are conveniently located on the side so they are out of the way.

The brightness of the LED display is REALLY BRIGHT.  I find that most of the time, I run it at a reduced brightness (70%) and don’t loose any detail in the images.

The track-pad is tiny, but very functional.  Lots of great customizing options for it as well.  The Multi-touch gestures are handy too, I’m glad they are included on the gateway machines.

The video on the webcam is nice – not stellar, but very nice – better than the cam built into my larger laptop. The built in microphone was decent as well.  This is great for Skype calls while sitting at my desktop or full-size laptop working.  I can run Skype full screen and still be productive on my other computer!

The keyboard buttons are sized nicely.  I don’t have too much trouble with typing  — the exception being the undersized backspace key.  I would have liked that to be larger and sacrificed the size of the – and = keys instead. I occasionally find myself hitting = instead of backspace. Also, the keys don’t have any traction / friction so you never quite feel like your fingers are in the right spots. Also, the “fn” Functions are in a deep red – which can be a little difficult to read on the black keys.

I’ve read elsewhere about the fan being loud – haven’t experienced that (and don’t expect to). The machine doesn’t run hot either.

The hinges open and close smoothly through the full range of motion.  The machine feels solid yet not too heavy.

Overall this computer is one of the best values out there for this kind of product and I’m happy with my purchase.

Get details and follow-up on this event here: http://thenines.leadnet.org/

On the other hand, I have a friend who’s experiencing simlilar life circumstances, but who withdraws from people — adding to the isolation and pain.  He’s frustrated with his own progress in his life journey and in me talking to him I was preaching to myself!  I realized that I set my own expectations about how and when things should be progressing – and when it turns out to be more difficult thatn I anticipated, I get discouraged.  I’m trying to stay mindful of what I want to tell others — since it probably is ringing true in my own world as well.

So with that I’m going to keep my head up and keep moving forward… even if it’s slower than a snail’s pace.

I don’t even want to begin to write it all here.  I tend to overwhelm myself when I start counting up all the negative stuff.  Focusing on the good coming out of it all, I’ve found out that I have a much larger network of folks who are praying for me than I previously realized.  I’m connecting on deeper levels to some people from my church – something I’ve wanted to do but have been afraid out of fear of rejection or disapproval.  I’ve come to realize that soooo many issues I face stem from years of negative expectations placed on me by others – I’ve been trying to ‘prove them wrong’ for so long.  I’m learning more and more that the wounds that time heals are pretty deep and that’s why it takes so long.

I’m aiming to write something of significance about my life here no less than once a week.  I’m hoping this will help me get the most out of the Solutions class I’m taking at church.  It’s based on the Book “Changes That Heal” by Dr. Henry Cloud.  I’ve read one of his books and heard him speak twice now and I really think great things are coming from me putting this stuff into practice.  The class/group is 9 weeks long so lets see how this goes.

That’s all for now… I’ve got lots more I want to write, but I don’t feel like writing it all right now. I will soon.

I’m hoping that we as a group are turning a corner and will see greater opprounities in the future.  Click any of the photos in this post to see the bautiful photography my mom captured of us using my camera.  I edited them in Adobe Light Room, but she did an excellent job to begin with!  Now it’s off to bed as I have two services to sing in at South Barrington with my church in the morning!

The official start time in Chicago is 12 Noon… this is where you see the geek come out in me (oh… you hadn’t noticed?). I’m actually looking forward to this!

In the prayer service, we center the entire service time around worship and prayer. In our service today we prayed for many things, but the way in which we reached out to God was soooo powerful. To give some context, my church is somewhat on the conservative side. By that I mean most people aren’t likely to lift their hands in worship or do much in an outward expression of their worship experience. However today I saw some powerful things throughout the congregation. During a special time of prayer for personal healing we asked those who needed prayer to please stand – we thought many would be apprehensive about “standing out” in the service. To take it a step further, we asked the rest of the congregation — if they were comfortable with it — to do the biblical practice of laying hands and pray for those who stood. As one of our powerful prayer warriors — Kyella — came forth to pray I was in awe at what I saw next. In a room of around 1,000 people I saw people everywhere circled around individuals praying for them. The power of this moment was magnified by the fact that our church draws a diverse section of Chicagoans – people from every age group, ethnic, and socio-economic background. From the main floor to the balcony men women and even children were interceding on behalf of one another.
Proceeding that powerful moment of prayer I was part of another prayer in which several people representing different groups prayed. This prayer included sign language, prayers in Romanian, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and most touching to me was a prayer from Juan, a blind member of our congregation. Juan prayed a simple but powerful prayer that our church be a church for people who are different and that they can be loved here. Indeed that has been my experience – I am different – but I am loved! The Willow Chicago church is different from the other Willow churches but indeed God is doing something GREAT in this place!
I could go on and on, but today was such a powerful experience of Worship in our congregation – the power of what God did was evident in how our service closed. Our final song was “Presence of the Lord” — a song we’ve never sung in our church before. You never would have known it the way the church went up in praise — people clapping, smiling, yelling out, dancing, hands lifted — all over the congregation! It was a beautiful sight to behold. I truly believe God is doing something dynamic in how he’s transforming our services bit by bit. I’m watching people grow in new levels of Worship… I’m seeing people put their faith to work in their communities… I’m part of a body that is loving everyone in whatever state they are in and seeing people commit their lives to following Christ!

In the mean time this space will soon be updated with everything about me… church, life, ministry, photos, video, and more.

Thanks for dropping by!

–Darren