One of my favorite things bout Comic-Con every year though are the completely random photos that show up online during the event. After all, when you have a couple of thousand Stormtroopers, supervillans and comic book characters walking around there’s bound to be a few good photo opps, right?

Here’s a few of my favorites. Feel free to leave a comment with your captions for any or all of them.

Leave a comment below with your caption for any of the photos above.

As we’ve spent time talking to people who aren’t currently in a church today, I’ve found many reasons for their lack of spiritual development – busyness of life, irrelevant messages, bad experiences. And of course, there’s the age-old turn-off: money.

We in the church have gotten quite good at asking for it. We’ve written books and created consultants to help us ask better and get more of it. We cloak the ask behind Christianese lingo by calling it a “Capital Stewardship Campaign” to make it sound less like what it really is: asking people for money.

Before I get any further, let me emphasize a couple of things. First of all, we need to be generous people in the church and give back to God what He has so richly blessed us with in both tithes and offerings. Second, there is nothing wrong with building church buildings or even stewardship campaigns for that matter.

That being said, I wonder if some churches would be better “stewards” of their “capital” by downsizing instead of upgrading? Do we really need a bigger structure or do we, perhaps, need to multiply to reach our city through multiple smaller communities of faith?

Sadly, many churches, in an attempt to reach more people, built large, elaborate structures that they are now dragging like a ball and chain behind them. Instead of opening up new opportunities for ministry, they have found that their ministry now consists of making desperate appeals on Sunday to bring enough in to pay the utilities.

Steve McSwain, a former minister turned religious skeptic, said in a column in the Huffington Post:

Go into many churches today, and instead of finding an institution interested in saving the world, what you may find is an institution vastlymore interested in saving itself.

Ouch.

While 40 million people died of starvation in the last decade, churches spent $10 billion on campuses. I just have to wonder, is there a better way to be the church today? How can we have built more churches over the last 50 years than any other country in the world and yet still be growing slower than countries where churches where hundreds of thousands of people meet in homes and portable structures?

Again, because I know that this is a sensitive topic let me again make it clear, I am not in any way condemning or pointing fingers at churches with large buildings. Some of my favorite churches to attend while travelling have multi-million dollar structures with projectors that cost more than my house. Some have even found ways of utilizing their building resources throughout the week.

I’m not in any way saying large buildings = bad and small portable churches = good.  I just worry that we’ve lost sight of what it takes to reach the unreached here in America. Have we made it difficult it is to find God among our theatrically lit stage and sprawling campuses? Has our need to pay the electric bill overtaken our need to reach the lost in our community? Do the people we’re called to reach come before the programs we build to get them there?

I don’t have the answers but I do know that these are the kinds of questions we need to be asking more of to find them.

Your thoughts?

One invention that most older people have been forced to adapt to is the cellular phone. Nearly everyone has one. And yet in the 10-15 years that cell phones have been around, another shift has come: texting.

I read an article in the most recent Wired Magazine called, “The Phone Call Is Dead – How text messaging is threatening (and preserving) the telephone conversation.” In it the author noticed a trend in his cell phone bills in recent years that many of us have probably seen as well. He found that his mobile phone minutes have been steadily decreasing while his text messaging usage was increasing.

According to Nielson, the average number of mobile phone calls we make is dropping every year after hitting a peak in 2007. And our calls are getting shorter: In 2005 they averaged 3 minutes in length; now they’re almost half that. We’re moving, in other words, towards a fascinating cultural transition: the death of the telephone call. This shift is particularly stark among the young. Some college students I know go days without talking into their smartphones at all. This generation doesn’t make phone calls, because everyone is in constant, lightweight contact in so many other ways: texting, chatting, and social-network messaging. And we don’t have just more options than we used to. We have better ones: These new forms of communication have exposed the fact that the voice call is badly designed. It deserves to die.

The author goes on to say how our culture chose to adapt to the text message because it’s a better method of communication. When we call someone, we’re interrupting them. It’s the phone equivalent of showing up at someone’s home unannounced and ringing their doorbell. We have no way of knowing if this is a good time to talk for them or not. The text message is less intrusive and more polite. Using our illustration above, it would be akin to slipping a note under someone’s door. They can read it and reply when it’s convenient to do so.

Alas, for those poor couples at the restaurant table across from me the other night, their world just keeps changing. Just about the time they get used to talking on cell phones in the car, along comes texting, DMs and Facebook. What’s next?

Just for fun, I put together a little poll to find out how you prefer to communicate. Choose one of the answers and then, if you want, let me know your thoughts on the future of communication in the comments below.

While I’m not negating the need to cast a compelling vision, I wonder if we’ve perhaps placed too much emphasis on getting people to follow our vision instead of finding ways to help them achieve theirs? Erwin McManus, always the wordsmith, says it much better than I could:

We need to reclaim the movement of Jesus Christ – it’s not the place where people are forced to conform and be standardized, but a place where people are seen as unique and find their originality in Jesus Christ. I think those of us who have been entrusted as followers of Jesus must not simply cast vision and call people to it. We must create visional environments where those who work with us and serve under us have their dreams and visions ignited and set free.

Erwin McManus

Creating “visional environments” is a whole lot messier than simply casting great vision. It means that we need to spend time listening to those who serve alongside and under us. It means we need to discover their buried dreams and hidden passions and find ways to cultivate them.

The strongest leaders, I believe, are the ones who can cast a vision for their team that allows everyone’s dream to grow and flourish, not just the leader’s. Regardless of your opinions about Obama, this one quote he made during his campaign sums up that kind of leadership perfectly: “I’m asking you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington – I’m asking you to believe in yours.”

Your thoughts?

Reception and death-grip aside, there are some pretty amazing things you can do with this phone. I’m going to share some of my favorite apps and accessories in a series of “iPhone Essentials” posts. Today’s list features some great apps for cycling.

DailyMile (Free)

Although technically not an iPhone app, I use this site all the time to track my cycling workouts and connect with other cyclists (you can find and follow me at www.dailymile.com/people/bradruggles).

DailyMile is a social media tool for runners, cyclists and swimmers. It’s been a great way for me to track and view my rides over time. They have pretty good mobile version of their site that you can pull up on your iPhone but some of the key functionality is missing. There is hopefully an iPhone app in the works (fingers crossed).

Even though this isn’t an app I just had to mention it since it has become the main tool I’ve used to track my cycling workouts and routes. Even if you don’t have an iPhone you can still take advantage of this great site.

Cyclemeter ($4.99)

I’ve tried several apps for tracking my cycling while I’m on the bike and this one has been the best I’ve used so far. Cyclemeter (www.cyclemeter.com) gives you the ability to track your workouts using GPS, visualize your routes and stats with helpful graphs, and share your workouts using popular social media sites. I’ve used Cyclemeter alongside my trip computer on my bike and have found it to be only marginally accurate. If you’re going for complete to-the-minute and to-the-mile precision you’ll want to invest in an actual trip computer. For the average user though this app isn’t bad. I really like the ability to see my routes as well as view my elevation and speed graphs.

view this app in iTunes

RunKeeper (free or $9.99)

I’ve tried RunKeeper a couple of times but the jury is still out. Despite the name, this app can be used to track both runs and bike rides. It has the standard GPS map tools along with a few extras like the ability to link specific iPod playlists with your workout and handy graphs while your activity is in progress. You can also take geo-tagged photos along your route if you want to remember a specific landmark. There is a very functional free version of the app and a fairly high-priced Pro version for $9.99 (I’ve only tried the free version so far). Like I said, I haven’t used this app enough to be hooked but I have heard pretty good things from people who use it all the time. It was also ranked #8 in TIME Magazine’s Top Ten iPhone Apps of 2009.

view this app in iTunes

iMapMyRide (free or $4.99)

I’m least familiar with this app out of the three I have listed but I know it’s been around for a while which means they have had plenty of time to improve each version. I also know that there is a pretty active membership-based online community at mapmyride.com. This app has most of the same standard features as the two above with the added ability to post and share specific routes via the MapMyRide web site. You can download the free ad-supported app or purchase iMapMyRIDE + for $4.99.

view this app in iTunes

Tigra iPhone Bike Mount ($44.95)

If you’re going to be using your iPhone to track your bike rides you’re going to need a decent case. I researched bike-mounted cases online and discovered the Tigra iPhone Weather Resistant Bike Mount for $45. The BikeConsole features a weather resistant housing that allows for touch screen operation. It fits any size handle bar and allows for a rotation of 360 degrees. It also features a shock resistant silicon lining that allows for rugged usage on mountain bikes, motorcycles and golf carts. As an added bonus, even though it is advertised as an iPhone 3G/3GS case it fits the iPhone 4 as well! I’ve used this particular case for about a week now and have been very happy with it.

Have you tried any of these apps? Which do you like best? Got any others cycling apps or tools you recommend?

Just to clarify before my attention-grabbing headline creates an Internet rumor, I was meeting someone at Starbucks a couple of weeks ago and glanced at the albums for sale at the counter where you check out. Starbucks normally has a pretty good reputation for picking out and highlighting great new music and artists. Imagine my shock then when I saw the soundtrack to the latest Twilight movie prominently displayed right next to Jack Johnson! Oh the horror!

I playfully harassed the barista behind the counter about what Starbucks was coming to selling crap music like that. Then I flipped the album over and started looking at some of the artists. Sia…I liked her…Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, Muse, The Dead Weather. Wow, there were some great artists with some new music that I wanted to hear.

I pretended I wasn’t interested and then went straight home and picked up the album on Amazon MP3. It’s been on heavy rotation ever since. It’s one of those albums that I wouldn’t normally admit to owning but hey, good music is good music, right? I just might change the cover art in iTunes to something a little less embarrassing like The Shins.

So what music do you have a hard time admitting that you own?

Take today for example. I started off on a good pace for my regular 17-mile ride on the Monon but soon found that my chest and windpipe was feeling tight. The harder I would push, the more difficult it would be for me to catch my breath. I’ve never had asthma so I wasn’t sure what the problem was. When I got back my nephew (who is a much more experience athlete than I am) told me that he’s had that same problem before as well. He said it usually happened after he had eaten junk food the night before. Suddenly it clicked…that piece of ice cream cake I ate last night at my nephew’s birthday part probably wasn’t the best fuel for my biking.

It got me thinking just how finicky our bodies can be. When you’re training as an athlete even the slightest thing can throw things out of whack.

And then I read these verses this morning in Galatians:

“You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough.” (Galatians 5:7-9)

Paul often used athletic comparisons when talking about our Christian walk. After this morning’s ride I remembered that, just like an athlete who is training for a major event, we have to be careful to remain disciplined in our faith. Even the smallest thing can throw us off our game and completely sideline us. Our wrong choices will catch up to us eventually. We can either learn from the mistakes and admonishment of others or else risk becoming the warning ourselves when we fall flat on our face.

Run well my friends. Stay committed to your training as you keep your eye on the prize.

1. What you see is what you hear. (No lip-syncing for instruments or voice)
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it. (No hidden sounds)

Those two simple rules have allowed Pomplamoose to create some pretty awesome songs and covers that have garnered them millions of views and over 150,000 subscribers on YouTube. The talented duo continue to crank out new music all the time and even have begun selling their songs on iTunes. Here are a few of my favorite Pomplamoose videos I’ve found.

Another Day

Telephone

Beat It

Nature Boy

Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing

There’s plenty more music on their YouTube Channel so check them out.

What do you think? Are you a fan of Pomlamoose’s style or are you weirded out by her unblinking stare? Which Pomplamoose cover is your favorite?

I honestly didn’t hold out much hope for catching anything. For one thing, I wasn’t sure if there ever were much fish in this little pond. Plus, we were fishing with just a few lures on an old fishing pole and I had no idea if I was even using the right tackle for whatever was in the pond. However, I assured myself that it was more about the memory of going fishing with dad than actually catching something.

We had been fishing for about 25 minutes or so when I told her it was time to go. And then, “Dad! I think I caught something!” I thought she had maybe just hooked some seaweed but then I saw the pole jerking and knew she had something on the line.

She reeled in for a few seconds and then I saw the fish splash out of the water. It looked big! I grabbed the pole and helped her reel it in. Now I’m starting to worry that the line we had might break. We managed to get the fish on shore. Chloe had caught her first fish and it was a pretty nice one (I say that out of my extremely limited fishing experience).

After a few minutes of coaxing (Ewwww, gross! It’s all slimey!) I finally managed to get Chloe to hold her catch so I could take a picture:

We threw the fish back in and headed home. Chloe was pretty proud of herself for reeling in her first fish and I was just thankful that God showed a little mercy on a Dad who didn’t have a clue what he was doing! Someone commented on my Facebook status and said, “You’re the only man I know who’d rather paint fingernails than go fishing.” Ok, that’s not entirely true…let’s just say that maybe I can be good at both.

Do you have memories of fishing with your dad when you were a kid?