GLENN'S PODCASTS!

PLAY & SUBSTANCE

Mind you, by the title I do NOT mean one cannot grow or deeply benefit from play! Yet comes the question: how might we best spend the bulk of our days on this planet?

Well, there are a load of problems with words, but the context I'm thinking of today is that we often just sit and talk with little or no corresponding action. I've ragged on this point many times here but...

This a.m. I read an interesting piece that I think was/is worth considering concern (and on occasion, obsession) to culturally relate to broad generations. People get concerned about motives (good thing to be concerned about) obsessing about obsessing (also good to consider and avoid) and image is often just too important to us (regarding insecurities, personal kingdom-building... not good) and so forth. A worthy thing, among many others, to ponder and discuss. But there is a point at which we must get off our chair and actually engage with practical needs.

There ARE people starving, homeless, railed on due to their race, ethnicity, mental/physical disabilities, etc., etc.. There is a point where sitting around jawing (Athens...) about every new thing just ain't doin' much actual good.

Action.

O.K., -considered- action, sure... but it's a LOT easier to talk or write or verbally fry this or that philosophical "fish" to the point it's just head-verbage and a waste of time.

So it's time for me to "engage" (in the words of Picard :) and hopefully help answer the real questions/ help ask the right ones as opposed to simply tossing words like marbles and in the end, only finding my life was more a matter of play than it was substance... which, it seems to me, does not at all describe the life of Jesus!

April Updates And...

Had a great music/speaking weekend with my friend (and Prof.) Shawn Young, his family and friends at Greenville College. Did some gardening with/for my sweet Wendi at Cornerstone Farm, fixing up the old mobile home (rotten flooring... old tin trailer!) and have a few more projects to do there (it never ends in these old wrecks, heh!).

Roy, Ed and I just finished our video shoot for Bound For Glory (the song is Since I Laid My Burdens Down) and I daresay Nathan Cameron ROCKS in his concepts as well as execution on this video! Hope we can get some of the whitetail deer footage in the dvd- they showed up while we were filming in the forest preserves around Chicago :)

More podcasts coming soon as I can get 'em uploaded... and a longer bit of writing regarding a piece of Scripture about our interaction with the Holy Spirit also... check back here in a day or so.

Project 12 plans for Cstone Fest abound, and I have plans to upload a number of podcasts with various Project 12 teachers also.

New myspace pages (Glenn Kaiser as well as Glenn Kaiser Band) but glennkaiser.com remains my key site.

Thanks again for the many kind responses to the podcasts, writing and music! Hugs, -Glenn

RSS Feed For Glenn's Podcasts Here!

For those of you listening to my podcasts- you can also subscribe for free to the RSS (real simple syndication) feed if you wish.

In very brief, RSS allows your computer or Mp3 player to automatically download every podcast we publish online automatically into your computer/ipod/Mp3 player device as we publish them. You can then listen whenever you wish, knowing you're totally up-to-date with what we've got available in podcasts.

Here's the info. -thanks to one of our fine audio-video guru's Nathan Cameron:

Go to this link -You can reach the link through http://glennspodcasts.blogspot.com/

Click on the "Subscribe to Glenn's Podcasts" button

http://feeds.feedburner.com/glennkaiserspodcasts

Click on "add to iTunes" button

Or if you don't use iTunes click the link "show all subscribing options"

Click on the RSS reader you use

If your RSS reader isn't on the list (such as Google), copy and paste the feed

http://feeds.feedburner.com/glennkaiserspodcasts

into your RSS reader. Done!

LABELS & SELF-DEFINITION

This is based (and some parts quoted) from something I recently posted in an online leadership forum. Warning- I apologize in that there are many "I" and "I'm" words here, but remember, this is indeed about "self- definition":

I'm a Christ-follower, flawed in all things including my walk- following Him, as are all of His followers regardless of how they/we think or "do church". We're all "in process".

Beyond that I try to only use labels for specific communication reasons (i.e., I tell people I'm a pastor to freak 'em out that they might hopefully realize there's not a set mold of what a pastor looks like and so forth) or that I'm ordained in a DENOMINATION (rhymes with "abomination"- in some people's view... not mine) and you get my point... it's simply an attempt at communication on my part.

I've often thought of myself as perhaps a sort of walking object-lesson: one can be serious about following Jesus but not look, sound or sometimes vote in a sort of "party-line" way. It's risky, dangerous, you can often be misunderstood, but what about genuine love, the Word of God, loving the -whole- Church -as-she-is-? I'm INTO this!! Loving God and others REGARDLESS... is worth the pain. Pioneering (not based on self-fulfillment but on meeting real needs of real people) is my life. It's part of my calling. Let the fallout come, I just don't care about mass "acceptance" of the "illustrious ME"!! In the end, God and those He loves matter, He's never left me in the dirt regardless of how others have treated me. I forgive them as I trust God for His forgiveness!

I'm rarely uncomfortable with "the other" regardless what that means or who that is- unless I'm find myself deeply tempted to sin via their trip- or if for example, I find my self so angry that I must leave the person(s) or discussion before I sin against them in rage or the like.

Many younger folks (as well as older of course) label people all the time (in chats about person or group X, Y or Z) but loudly proclaim how much they hate labels. The need for mirrors/accountability is obvious.

Yet rarely does any individual or group absolutely fit a given label. Humans are too inconsistent for that.

So...

God is my Father, Jesus my Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit is my Guide/Counsellor/Comforter. All who follow Him are my brothers and sisters and all others are pre-believers who live in a spectrum spanning ignorance, rebellion, faith, receiving/walking in God's grace... or not. This is certainly equally true for those who follow Jesus...

Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter
Meaningless as these days are to some, just like life depending on if you have a life... they remind me over and over of what Jesus went through for me, you, us.

So many people in need, so many don't really have a clue what Easter morning is all about. Then again, we need to be "easter people" so they'll realize what's (or in this case, WHO's) up!!

For your consideration...
-Glenn