AI:6 - No update/recap tomorrow
Sorry, big sis (and any other of you fine folks who read my summaries), but I won’t be able to get anything out in the aftermath of tonight’s top 3 performance show. I’ll be out of town on business, and my connectivity will be dicey enough that I’m just not going to worry/stress about trying to do a write-up. I will, however, give a few predictions as a way to soften the blow…
I still fully expect Jordin to emerge victorious, something that is now starting to be touted (her victory, that is, not my prediction) by various oddsmakers & other prognosticators. She’s just that good, and that much the right choice. As I’ve said before, the AI machine needs Jordin to win as a way to reconfirm the machine’s credibility.
I wouldn’t, however, be totally shocked if we don’t end up with the 2nd all-girl finale. Blake may not be truly as good a singer as Melinda, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if his fanbase gets the job done & helps put him in the finals with Jordin. Many folks might be shocked, but if you really look at closely, there’s a certain logic to Jordin/Blake finale.
As AI Top 3s go, this edition is right up there with AI:2’s Ruben/Clay/K-Lo & AI:5’s Taylor/Kat/Elliot powerhouses. While they are not clearly superior, very credible arguments could be made for stating that Jordin/Blake/Melinda are the best top 3 ever.
I just hope that the song choices are worthy of the talent level, and that we get at least one pantheon-level performance, or if you prefer “AI Moment”, tonight. I just have a feeling that Jordin could deliver a performance the likes of Bo’s In A Dream (still probably my favorite AI performance ever…) or Kat’s Over The Rainbow — if she does, that could be what helps put her over the top.
Let’s enjoy these last two weeks — the long march is almost over! 
-ghp
Book Review: _Me, Myself, & Bob_
BOOK REVIEW:
Me, Myself, & Bob
by Phil Vischer
2006 - Nelson Books
ISBN: 0785222073
I am a Veggie Tales fan, and have been for darned near a decade. My kids were born & hit the video-watching phase right about the time that VT exploded in the late 1990s. VT were well-written, had a good message, great humor, and appealed to both kids and adults, much like the classic Looney Tunes and Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons. I bought the videos, the books, and the CDs… for my kids, of course. I happily admired the seemingly meteoric rise that Big Idea Productions (BIP) enjoyed. I also noted the oddity of the emergence of the 2-D Larry-Boy videos, when I took my son to the viewing party at the local Evangelical Bookstore. I noted it in passing when I read something in the mainstream press about some problems that BIP was having. I then noted with sadness what had really happened, when I came across Phil Vischer’s blog, in which he laid out the story of The Fall of Big Idea Productions. Most recently, I read Vischer’s book, Me, Myself, & Bob.
Me, Myself, & Bob works on several levels. It’s an autobiography by someone in my age cohort. It’s a business/management book. It’s a cautionary tale. It’s one man’s search for the theological meaning in day-to-day life. And it works on all of those levels. It really is a fine book.
As a “baby-buster” autobiography, I found the book to be quite entertaining, as I personally identified with much of what Vischer described about his interactions & experiences with 1970s & 1980s era pop-culture. As he vividly recalls his earliest exposure to MTV videos, so do I (Chris Ebert’s house during JV basketball tryouts in 1982, the video was Men At Work’s Down Under…). And, while my formative religious experiences were orthodox Lutheran, rather than revivalistic/proto-American Evangelical, it’s still something with which I can easily identify. Over the course of the book, Vischer revealed himself to be someone that I really think I could be friends with (and that doesn’t happen too often…).
The book also works, at least on a certain level, as a cautionary management tale, as well as a pop-history, insider’s view of the rise & fall of a unique & well-loved business. Even knowing the ultimate outcome, it’s exhilarating to watch BIP thrive & grow. Vischer also does a great job of letting us all see just what it was like from his seat at the helm of BIP. He enables us to thrill along with him, as the gambles pay off & the dream becomes reality. We begin to feel uneasy right along with him, as generally-accepted business “reality” begins to intrude & demand that compromises be made. And, finally, we share in his despair as BIP crumbles & is rent asunder by a baseless lawsuit & verdict. Vischer then summarizes some important business lessons that he learned as a result of the whole saga — lessons that are simple in nature, but insightful & useful nonetheless.
Most interesting, however, is the thread that holds the whole book together — Phil Vischer’s quest to understand the theological implications of day-to-day life. In the end, I would posit that Vischer arrives at a very Lutheran understanding of this topic as it is outlined in the Doctrine of Vocation. Specifically, the stuff that we do as we normally go about our daily lives is important because it is how we serve our neighbors. God uses even the most mundane (from our point of view) of our tasks for His good will. We need not have a job or task that is specifically linked to a “ministry” in order for that job/task to have merit & God-pleasing meaning.
Another important part of understanding vocation is to understand that we are called to be faithful, not to be “successful”. Vischer nicely sums this up in the following passage from the book’s penultimate chapter:
“So what’s the point?What should you take away from my first attempt at adult nonfiction, other than, perhaps an inkling that I should return to my day job?
Simple. First, God loves you. Not because of what you can do, or even because of what you can become if you work really, really hard. He loves you because he made you. He loves you just the way you are. He loves you even when you aren’t doing anything at all. We really shouldn’t attempt to do anything for God until we have learned to find our worth in him alone.
Second, when it is time to do something for God, and that time will come quickly if you’re listening, don’t worry about the outcome. Don’t worry about “10 percent more” or “30 percent less.” That’s his job. Your responsibility is simply to do what he asks.”
Vischer isn’t always 100% correct in his doctrinal underpinnings, but he does get a lot of core stuff right. And that’s more than can be said for a lot of the folks out there in the contemporary American Christian landscape.
This is a good book — well crafted, with a good message. Check it out at your local public library, or just pick up a copy at your favorite bookseller. You’ll be glad you did.
-ghp
[Note: This review will be cross-posted over at the Luther Library, as soon as I can get my posting process over there squared away. You'll want to check out the Luther Library, as many good, cogent reviews can be found there.]
Delegate Dialog - thoughts
Something that I think will happen over the course of the next two months, is that the strawman dichotomy of “doctrine vs. mission” will get trotted out by a vocal contingent in the LCMS.
This false dichotomy is usually proffered in the bemoaning of a focus on “incessant doctrinal purification”, and that pastors need to be more “mission-minded” rather than just being “caretakers”.
This false dichotomy can be quickly debunked & exposed by reading this quote from LCMS Founding Father C.F.W. Walther:
“Many say, ‘Instead of disputing over doctrine so much, we should much rather be concerned with souls and with leading them to Christ.’ But all who speak in this way do not really know what they are saying or what they are doing. As foolish as it would be to scold a farmer for being concerned about sowing good seed and to demand of him simply to be concerned about a good harvest, so foolish it is to scold those who are concerned first and foremost with the doctrine, and to demand of them that they should rather seek to rescue souls. For just as the farmer who wants a good crop must first of all be concerned about good seed, so
the church must above all be concerned about right doctrine if it would save souls.”
–C. F. W. Walther, synodical president
“Our Common Task–The Saving of Souls,” 1872
It’s an emotionalistic argument, and it’s certainly not one based on Scripture or the Confessions.
The drumbeat will be loud, but it can, and must, be withstood.
-ghp
Delegate Dialog - an update
When I gave the rundown of LCMS convention-related materials that I had received so far, I included this description:
“Last Saturday, the same day that I received the convention workbook, I also received an unsigned, one-page, newsletter-type of document (originating from 14400 W. 100th St., Lenexa, KS) titled “Delegate to Delegateâ€. It looks to position itself as the first of several newsletters like it, that seem to be aimed at providing some general-purpose type of helpful information for a/the first-time delegate.”
I’ve since come across some information that sheds some light on the genesis/source of this anonymous “Delegate to Delegate” newsletter. To wit:
Delegates to the convention have recieved a “Delegate to Delegate” letter, rather pleasant and inoculous, but no name. I suspected the author’s pleasantness was to hide his true intent to be revealed in comming letters.
The computer is really a great tool to uncover [this info]. I did a search on the address in Lenexa, Kansas and got a name, Leonard Brothers Flooring. The Kansas Secretary of State website showed that corporation delinquent in their annual registration, they had closed. The mysterious letter was mailed from Independence, Missouri so I checked the Missouri Secretary of State website for a Leonard Brothers Flooring. They are a Missouri corporation with the registered agent’s name, David Domsch, also a notorious supporter of Jesus First. Yes he is a delegate to the convention. The delegate and corporate agent have the same address, 3349 South Scott, Independence, Mo. 64052.
Suspicious cynic that I am, my first thought upon seeing the anonymous newsletter was to suspect that it originated from someone in the JesusFirst/DayStar camp. And it turns out that my initial suspicions were correct. Bummer. I can only imagine what crap will be spewed forth in future anonymous “Delegate to Delegate” newsletters…
-ghp
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