The Fine Line Extended Version (HD) from josh franer on Vimeo.

I had the opportunity to get a copy of Kary Oberbrunner’s new book The Fine Line. When it arrived in the mail I was instantly intrigued by its premise of re-envisioning the gap between Christ and culture. And what a gap it is at times.

The Fine Line poses this question: “What does it mean to be in the world, but not of it?” Answering correctly yields relevance, something the world deeply desires, but rarely sees.

I belive these conversations are critical and often misunderstood by followers of Jesus. Kary does a great job at presenting a balanced, thoughtful, and yet challenging case for Christians to re-engage and become culture creators.

Kary calls himself a “Recovering Pharisee” and currently leads Discipleship and Leadership Development at Grace Church.

If you live in Southern California, we would love to have you be a part of the Junky Car Club Rally.

The event is on December 6th from 9am-11am at The Camp in Costa Mesa.

The rally will be focused on the issue of Mobile Homelessness and helping families who are living in their cars.

I will be sharing more thoughts and information on this in the days to come.

For more info visit the Junky Car Club website.

I’ve been very fortunate to work on and create some successful projects. I am always humbled to have been a part of creating initiatives that engage people.

While many of the projects have influenced people of faith, I consider none of them Christian projects. I do not create anything specifically focused on that particular target market. I rarely consider them in the generation of a concept or a project.

And before I scare you off let me just say that I am a follower of Jesus. I love the Church. I hope everything I do honors my creator.

So here is my tip for launching a successful idea. Market to humans. Not Christians.

If what you are doing doesn’t communicate or connect to God haters, people of other faiths, or those who don’t subscribe to your beliefs, then you’re in for a rough ride.

I love the artist Banksy. Yes, he does graffiti on walls but the work itself is no doubt beautiful art.

Here is another provocative and interesting work.

I talk to and meet a lot of people who are wanting to start movements. It seems to be the buzz word of the day. In fact, I hope to start a few myself.

The problem is you can’t create or start movements. Movements just happen.

I was in a meeting last week and I compared it to creating a wave in a wave pool vs. the ocean.

An ocean wave you simply get on and ride. You get your surfboard, you wake up early in the morning and ride. You have a responsibility to show up and do your part but you don’t create the wave.

However, a wave in a wave pool requires a bunch of work. You have to build a big wave creating machine, have engineers draw up plans, have lawyers discuss liability, have a business plan so you don’t go bankrupt, and countless other items to make the wave (or movement) happen. Btw, you still have to bring your surfboard.

So let us be clear about something. You DON’T create or start movements. That’s a dream, not a strategy. Movements just happen like ocean waves. And sometimes they are 3 footers and other times they are tidal waves. Both are valuable and important.

As people who want to make the world a better place, our only comittment is to get on our surfboards, be in the ocean, and enjoy the ride.

I see a lot of “Not of This World” bumper stickers and tee shirts where I live. I’m not even sure what it is. My guess it is a Christian clothing company. But I’m not totally sure. (Update: It is a Christian clothing line located in Southern California)

So here is my humble opinion about this particular statement/brand/company.

I think “Not of this World” is a horrific/disastrous message. What is even a greater tragedy is for Christians to be getting excited about these 4 words. And let me tell you, people are excited about “Not Of This World” because I see it EVERYWHERE!!!

I would prefer for people get excited about the message “Be In The World!” Yes, BE IN THE WORLD. Slap that on your bumper!

That “other” message…we’ve got that one down already. How do I know this? It is demonstrated by our tragic lack of influence on the culture at large and our rather “clean” hands these days.

Let’s jump into the world. It’s where the action is.

Just submitted the title of my talk and a summary paragraph for Ministry Com. I’m excited to present there September 18. MinistryCOM is the only national conference dedicated to church communications professionals.

SHAMU AND THE UNFORTUNATE TAMING OF THE WILD

Artists, communicators, and the dreamers of the world have bought into the lie of living safely. Often the ideas that could make the most impact for the kingdom are left to die a lonely death. Through discouragement, critics, and the lack of personal courage, we have accepted a life of safety and have allowed the maverick spirit of creativity be tamed. In this session, Mike Foster will unpack the true story of living on the edge and encourage all of us to dream a little bigger and live a little wilder.

These people were at Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club last week. Apparently, they are really into tennis. And freakin people out.

Whatever is going on here is pretty clever and certainly interesting. These pics are not altered. The people actually look like that while they were watching the tennis match.

I think it is creepy and cool all at the same time.

So is the truly the evolution of man?

What they need to show is Man maximizing influence, goodness, and the beautiful. All this has come with the help of technology.

It is forward progress, not backwards.

We just launched a new campaign over at Deadly Viper called People of the Second Chance.

The People of the Second Chance is a community of individuals who advocate radical grace and second chances. We champion lost causes and think that a second chance is a human right.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE.