live blog from Church 2.0 Forum in Orange County

Here at NewSong Irvine for Church 2.0 Forum, coordinated by Greg Atkinson. This is my live blog, courtesy free wifi with good throughput at NewSong –

June 26, 2008 | Filed Under internet | Comments 

finding a church home in Irvine California

I like connecting people to people. There, I’ve said it. Whether it’s people to God, people to resources, people to churches, people to places, it’s listening people’s question and connecting to what they’re looking for.

In a recent conversation, someone moving into the Irvine area is looking for a church. He’s been checking different churches out, but hasn’t yet found the right one. Ingredients that he’s looking for: a Bible-teaching church, a strong children’s ministry, fellowship with other Christians, a place to serve, and not too loud. A church like Bent Tree Bible Fellowship would be ideal, he said. It’s a kind of healthy church that feels like home (for certain evangelical Christians).

I ran through my mental rolodex and here’s what I came up with (in no particular order). But comparatively few right there in Irvine, surprisingly. There are plenty of great churches in Irvine, granted, but not sure all fit the description above. Perhaps you know some others.

(I think you can leave out that the Bible-teaching churches that are too vocal about the faults and problems of other good evangelical church’s practices…)

I’ve indexed more than a dozen church directories and search engines here — great reference there for anyone looking for a church anywhere.

[update] brand new website just launched by Jon Acuff -> Can I Wear Jeans? at caniwearjeans.blogspot.com for a directory of candid church reviews, cf. read back story from Steve Knight

[update May 2009] also see this list of churches with evening worship services

June 25, 2008 | Filed Under internet | Comments 

neither competitor nor achiever

I met Daniel Im at the Awaken Conference this past April, and enjoyed a very engaging conversation with this next gen leader. It always excites me when I meet someone with new ideas and isn’t a cookie-cutter person living out a predictable narrative. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I don’t know if he’s bilingual as he ministers in bilingual Montreal, Quebec, (i.e. English and French), but he did start blogging and I want to share a lil’ link love.

Like Daniel, I’m a big fan of StrengthsFinder. (I also like the Birkman Method, but that’s an expensiver tool b/c of labor-intensive consulting fees.)

Daniel shared some good thoughts about his achiever theme in this post titled Competition vs. Achiever. He’s got an achiever strength theme, which I thinks makes it easier to figure out the value he adds to an organization. I got a more unusual mix: ideation, input, strategic, adaptability, woo.

But, here’s my dilemma — I don’t get motivated by competition nor by achievement. In a goal-oriented, accomplishment-celebrated, free-market-economy, make-a-difference kind of a world, I don’t have an easy time discerning my ideal job description, overall end game, nor setting life goals. (contrast with Mark Batterson’s ambitious life goals) I don’t feel bad about this (or, I feel less badly about it, over time), but it is very much a personal dilemma.

Ironic thing is: I’m the oldest of three boys in my family of origin. You could say that I’m the embodiment of more complexities and contradictions than the average bear.

June 23, 2008 | Filed Under dialogue, journal | Comments 

Saturday surprise: thinking in many directions

Spending a Father & Son day, deciding between Redondo or Hermosa or Manhattan beaches. Might get in all 3. Lunch destination is FIVE GUYS in Carson, California. Yes, the best burgers in the country has come to Southern California!

Dropped off wifey at International Printing Museum, her workplace in Carson. She’s got a dream job too. A virtual generator of word art has been the buzz this past week — see www.wordle.net — this pix is my del.icio.us tags:

Rhett Smith gives Kudos to N.T. Wright for Going on The Colbert Report. He might be the 1st theologian on a cable TV news satire show. I’ve never watched Colbert, so don’t know what category he self-identifies with. [direct link to video]

Saw this quote at the masthead of this magazine’s website — “The New Criterion is probably more consistently worth reading than any other magazine in English.” Intriguing. Intellectually intriguing.

The Criterion did have this fascinating article title: Sinners in the Jacuzzi of a Laid-Back God. And, its blogroll had: God of the Machine.

Lifechurch.tv Radio — Lifechurch.tv has an online streaming radio station, in addition to all the other goodies they put online. This radio station automagically plays a mix of Christian contemporary music and praise & worship.

Taking my first vacation of 2008 starting next Friday. Driving up the coast of California to the Bay area. Family will be with me. Maybe see Bruce Reyes-Chow if he’s not on the campaign trail. Thought about staying at Madonna Inn, but since we’re driving thru, didn’t want to spend that much $$ for 1 of their 109 unique themed rooms. Need to keep our budget for foodie excursions at our final destination.

June 21, 2008 | Filed Under internet | Comments 

how do you spell your last name

On those rare occasions I have to talk to a live customer service representative, with almost everything going self-serve or going online, I’ve rarely ever had someone who knew how to spell my name. Here’s the script I have been using as of late:

My name is DJ Chuang — first name is DJ as in “disk jockey”, and last name Chuang, spelled as “Charlie Help Uncle Apple Nickel Google”.

I don’t have the phonetic alphabet down cold, nor the script. So I’m open to suggestions — add a comment.

Reminds me of a story of a real person whose last name was Fu. And when he spelled it out by just pronouncing each letter, some CSRs got offended!

What do you do to spell out your name?

June 16, 2008 | Filed Under journal | Comments 

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