You gotta love the Georgia Straight. Not the water, the Vancouver quasi-newspaper. Here's Ken Eisner's first lines on Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed the documentary by Nathan Frankowski opening today.
"Truth begins and ends with the title of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a semislick advertorial for “intelligent design”, the sanitized public mask of creationism, itself invented by Christians who think their God is too stupid to have come up with evolution on his own." (You can catch the rest of his hilarious take here.)
You gotta love that - and I'm not being cynical when I say that. If you're in downtown Vancouver, you gotta understand this is how a lot of people think. I'm not mad about it. In fact, I miss it. Maybe I'm just strange.
So, if you can get to the Cinemark Tinseltown Theaters today, you can pony up your $8.50 and see for yourself. If we still lived downtown, I know that's where I'd be tonight! ...sometimes I really miss that place...
And if you're too lazy to find them yourself, here are a couple of other articles on Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
Globe and Mail Arts column
Georgia Straight Movie Feature
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Eulogy for My Dad
It's amazing to be a part of a faith community that cares. Here is the wonderful email sent out by the Albert District of PAOC regarding my Dad.It is with sadness, we inform you that Rev. Ernest (Ernie) Siggelkow passed into the presence of the Lord early on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 15, 2008 at the age of 90. To cherish his memory, he leaves his wife, Rev. Hilda (Mueller) Siggelkow, and their sons, Rev. Darcy (Aileen) Siggelkow of Nanaimo, B.C. and Rev. Dallas (Heather) Siggelkow of Vegreville, Alberta. Ernie was predeceased by his first wife, Clara (Lincoln), in 1966. Ernie leaves their children, Sharon (Ron) Davis of Calgary, Alberta, Darla (Wayne) Lowenberg of Eston, Saskatchewan, Douglas (Donna) Siggelkow of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and Carolyn (Les) Dueck of Estevan, Saskatchewan to cherish his memory.
Ernie began his pastoral ministry with the Apostolic Church of Pentecost in 1942 and then after marrying Hilda, he joined The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada in 1967. He has been a faithful and well loved pastor serving in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. His final pastorate was in Whitecourt, Alberta before retiring in 1992.
The funeral for Ernie will be held at the Vegreville Pentecostal Church, 4615 Maple Street in Vegreville, Alberta on Thursday, June 19 at 2:00 PM. Interment will be the following day in Burdett, Alberta. Please continue to pray for the Siggelkow family.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
We still have Uncle Darcy...
Here's part of an email we recieved from Aileen's sister Pam. Her son Carson is about 5 years old.
"I told Carson, that Darcy's Dad had passed away and he went to be with Jesus, and of course I'm crying and Carson asks me why I'm crying. I couldn't get some words out at the time, so he says to me, "Are you sad?" I nod yes. He says to me, "It's OK Mom, we have pictures and we still have Uncle Darcy to remind us of him."
"I told Carson, that Darcy's Dad had passed away and he went to be with Jesus, and of course I'm crying and Carson asks me why I'm crying. I couldn't get some words out at the time, so he says to me, "Are you sad?" I nod yes. He says to me, "It's OK Mom, we have pictures and we still have Uncle Darcy to remind us of him."
Sunday, June 15, 2008
4 AM phone call
The phone rang at 4 AM this morning. As soon as it rang, I knew that it was my brother, telling me that our Dad had just slipped into eternity.
His passing was expected, and on his part, wished for...longed for. He was not exactly a 'patient man', and when he got something into his head, he wanted it to happen sooner than later. As his illness slowly beat his body down, his one desire was to get on with the next adventure. Dying was taking too long.
But he did it so well. He was ready to go, at peace with himself, those he loved, and his God. We were able to have our last long chats, to say our good byes, and to have him lay his hands on our heads and pray for us and bless us one last time. The grace on his life through his last days and hours was amazing.
So Father's Day 2008 became the day my Father went to see his Father in Heaven. It's the best Father's Day present he ever got. And while we miss Dad, we don't wish him back. That he is 'in a better place' is far more than a trite saying. It's true.
So tonight I catch a plane to Alberta to help with all the arrangements that accompany this sort of thing. I'm pleased to go. It's an honor.
His passing was expected, and on his part, wished for...longed for. He was not exactly a 'patient man', and when he got something into his head, he wanted it to happen sooner than later. As his illness slowly beat his body down, his one desire was to get on with the next adventure. Dying was taking too long.
But he did it so well. He was ready to go, at peace with himself, those he loved, and his God. We were able to have our last long chats, to say our good byes, and to have him lay his hands on our heads and pray for us and bless us one last time. The grace on his life through his last days and hours was amazing.
So Father's Day 2008 became the day my Father went to see his Father in Heaven. It's the best Father's Day present he ever got. And while we miss Dad, we don't wish him back. That he is 'in a better place' is far more than a trite saying. It's true.
So tonight I catch a plane to Alberta to help with all the arrangements that accompany this sort of thing. I'm pleased to go. It's an honor.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
keeping the plates spinning
Gary Taitinger is the Senior Pastor at Mill Woods Assembly in Edmonton. In a recent article of Enrich (April 2008) he was talking about the challenge of having an effective church service. He said "the ideal is to achieve optimum fruitfulness in a generation-blended service. To do this means to simultaneously address the spiritual interest spectrum of the curious, the convinced, and the committed while entreating to music taste buds and learning biases intrinsic in five different generations." That's kind of wordy, but he makes the point well.
Then he drops the bomb: "We reluctantly conceded that our staff wasn't smart enough to keep all those plates spinning at the same time. It may still be possible, but a combination of consumerism and individualism has rendered it a formidable puzzle at present. Some would argue that we are only appeasing those factors by doing what we're doing [creating a weekend worship service geared toward the thinking, non church young adult], and they may be right." He then goes on to tell how they found the 'all-star' young adult pastor to come in and how this new service grew from 45 to 1200 in a year. From what I understand it became the hottest thing with YA crowd in Edmonton...and depending who you talked to, was successful in attracting the non-Christian...as well as vacuuming up many of the YA crowd from the other churches in the city. Then, after a couple of years, the key leader left, and from what I hear, the service crashed and burned.
His thoughts and the history of the experiment have given me a lot to chew on. The church I'm in is a true multi-generational church. 5 generations under one roof. Senior seniors, a whole bunch of babies [literal babies; I'm not speaking metaphorically!], and everybody in between. So how do we make that work? If Gary Taitinger and his awesome staff feel like they can't keep the plates spinning, then how can we ever hope to? I must admit that at times it feels like an overwhelming task...and we often wonder if we're really doing the job.
Well, we already have an good YA service - Island Tehillah, a Monday night event for the 18+ crowd. We're working hard on maximizing it's potential, which involved keeping it true to its DNA as a city-wide gathering, not just an ET specific event.
And we want work really hard to honor and respect the Builders of our congregation. These Saints of God have sacrificed a lot to allow our church to become much more contemporary in style than Mill Woods probably is on a Sunday morning...but I don't know that for sure. I do know that ET is more contemporary in it's music and such than I was expecting when I showed up 2 years ago. But we still want to connect with and minister to our seniors - not just on Sunday morning, but in other generation-specific ministries through the week.
But the nagging thought I have is whether we are really asking the right question. Is it really all about the worship gathering? Is that really to be our focus? Is that how we are supposed to measure church and define success?
Our worship services are important, and as the most visible aspect of a local congregation do get the most attention. But is that focus misplaced? And if so, what should be the focus and the measuring stick of a local congregation?
All I know is what we are doing is marginally successful. Are we really making an impact in our community by seeing people come to Jesus? Not nearly as much as we would like. Is our 'Sunday service' approach going to make the difference in the micro-culture we call Nanaimo? Hmmmm.
Then he drops the bomb: "We reluctantly conceded that our staff wasn't smart enough to keep all those plates spinning at the same time. It may still be possible, but a combination of consumerism and individualism has rendered it a formidable puzzle at present. Some would argue that we are only appeasing those factors by doing what we're doing [creating a weekend worship service geared toward the thinking, non church young adult], and they may be right." He then goes on to tell how they found the 'all-star' young adult pastor to come in and how this new service grew from 45 to 1200 in a year. From what I understand it became the hottest thing with YA crowd in Edmonton...and depending who you talked to, was successful in attracting the non-Christian...as well as vacuuming up many of the YA crowd from the other churches in the city. Then, after a couple of years, the key leader left, and from what I hear, the service crashed and burned.
His thoughts and the history of the experiment have given me a lot to chew on. The church I'm in is a true multi-generational church. 5 generations under one roof. Senior seniors, a whole bunch of babies [literal babies; I'm not speaking metaphorically!], and everybody in between. So how do we make that work? If Gary Taitinger and his awesome staff feel like they can't keep the plates spinning, then how can we ever hope to? I must admit that at times it feels like an overwhelming task...and we often wonder if we're really doing the job.
Well, we already have an good YA service - Island Tehillah, a Monday night event for the 18+ crowd. We're working hard on maximizing it's potential, which involved keeping it true to its DNA as a city-wide gathering, not just an ET specific event.
And we want work really hard to honor and respect the Builders of our congregation. These Saints of God have sacrificed a lot to allow our church to become much more contemporary in style than Mill Woods probably is on a Sunday morning...but I don't know that for sure. I do know that ET is more contemporary in it's music and such than I was expecting when I showed up 2 years ago. But we still want to connect with and minister to our seniors - not just on Sunday morning, but in other generation-specific ministries through the week.
But the nagging thought I have is whether we are really asking the right question. Is it really all about the worship gathering? Is that really to be our focus? Is that how we are supposed to measure church and define success?
Our worship services are important, and as the most visible aspect of a local congregation do get the most attention. But is that focus misplaced? And if so, what should be the focus and the measuring stick of a local congregation?
All I know is what we are doing is marginally successful. Are we really making an impact in our community by seeing people come to Jesus? Not nearly as much as we would like. Is our 'Sunday service' approach going to make the difference in the micro-culture we call Nanaimo? Hmmmm.
Monday, June 09, 2008
The Rest of the Story
Here's the news item that Chandra mentioned in her story.
One killed, six injured after vehicle goes into lake
June 09, 2008
One person was killed and six others were injured Saturday afternoon when a pickup truck went off a logging road and into Upper Campbell Lake.
According to Campbell River RCMP, the driver appeared to have lost control of the mid-sized truck. The vehicle left the road, went down a steep embankment and came to rest in the lake.
No other details were released about the victim. The other six people were transported to Campbell River Hospital and treated for various injuries.
Alcohol does to appear to be a factor in the accident which remains under investigation.
One killed, six injured after vehicle goes into lake
June 09, 2008
One person was killed and six others were injured Saturday afternoon when a pickup truck went off a logging road and into Upper Campbell Lake.
According to Campbell River RCMP, the driver appeared to have lost control of the mid-sized truck. The vehicle left the road, went down a steep embankment and came to rest in the lake.
No other details were released about the victim. The other six people were transported to Campbell River Hospital and treated for various injuries.
Alcohol does to appear to be a factor in the accident which remains under investigation.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Kenzie was found!
Here's the story from Chandra about their adventures on Saturday. I got the crisis phone call from her Saturday afternoon to pray. Aileen was on the phone with Chandra while we were in the vehicle heading to Campbell River to be with them when they got the news Kenzie (who has just turned 2 years old) had been found safe and sound. It is a miracle, and Chandra and Mike want to thank everyone involved. Here's the story from Chandra:
"Thank you to all who participated in our emergency prayer chain on June 7th.
"While we were camping just outside Campbell River our two year old daughter, Kenzie went missing. She was only discovered to be missing within minutes, but despite our efforts to look for her it turned up nothing. Luckily we chose a site away from water or any dangers, but she still managed to wander off.
"After 45 minutes of about 6 people searching the trails, we had called 9-1-1 which involved the Search and Rescue team. Two of the six people proceeded on horse back and one on a quad to search for her. The search team involved a search dog, 2 helicopters from Comox and a large group of people.
"30 minutes after the team showed up a vehicle drove into a lake up the road. Some of the team and a helicopter left to assist in the accident. Those people involved in the accident were seriously injured, but because of Kenzie's disappearance this may have saved their lives because everyone was just minutes away instead of a half hour away.
"After she was missing for 2 hours we put out the emergency prayer chain. This all took 4 and a half hours, but she was found in the end by the search dog and one of the people on horse. She was safe and content when she was returned to us.
"We just thank God for the amazing events that took place and the people we were surrounded with in the effort to find her.
"Thank you to all who participated in our emergency prayer chain on June 7th.
"While we were camping just outside Campbell River our two year old daughter, Kenzie went missing. She was only discovered to be missing within minutes, but despite our efforts to look for her it turned up nothing. Luckily we chose a site away from water or any dangers, but she still managed to wander off.
"After 45 minutes of about 6 people searching the trails, we had called 9-1-1 which involved the Search and Rescue team. Two of the six people proceeded on horse back and one on a quad to search for her. The search team involved a search dog, 2 helicopters from Comox and a large group of people.
"30 minutes after the team showed up a vehicle drove into a lake up the road. Some of the team and a helicopter left to assist in the accident. Those people involved in the accident were seriously injured, but because of Kenzie's disappearance this may have saved their lives because everyone was just minutes away instead of a half hour away.
"After she was missing for 2 hours we put out the emergency prayer chain. This all took 4 and a half hours, but she was found in the end by the search dog and one of the people on horse. She was safe and content when she was returned to us.
"We just thank God for the amazing events that took place and the people we were surrounded with in the effort to find her.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Thought for the day
"Christians who let their weaknesses and inadequacies hold them back are just as self-focused as are believers who use their strengths to build self-glorifying kingdoms. When will we learn that it's not about us? God is not impressed by our gifts, nor is he frightened by our inadequacies." (Gary Thomas: Authentic Faith)
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Nanaimo high school locked down due to threat
Well, here's another day in the life of our girls at thier school. It's like the second or third time this year. But I'm glad that the administration do take this stuff seriously, and I'm super-proud of friends like Dave who step in and make sure things are safe! Here's the story:
Nanaimo high school locked down due to threat
Police are searching for 13-year-old youth
Danielle Bell, Daily NewsPublished: Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Police locked down a Nanaimo high school this morning after a threat of violence toward the school.
Hundreds of students at Nanaimo District Secondary School were locked inside their classrooms after a teacher overheard an indirect threat of violence made by a 13-year-old boy.
Police investigators and school administrators determined the youth who made the threat is not inside the school, according to a statement released by Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O'Brien.
Officers with the Nanaimo Youth Response Team are inside the school assisting teachers and students while they investigate the incident. Police are working to locate and question the youth involved.
All exit doors are locked and movement in the school is restricted.
The lockdown came a day after the school sent home a letter notifying parents of a "worrisome graffiti message" scrawled inside the NDSS boy's bathroom. Both police and school officials continue to look into that incident, though neither will elaborate on the nature of the graffiti.
You can catch the rest of the story here.
Nanaimo high school locked down due to threat
Police are searching for 13-year-old youth
Danielle Bell, Daily NewsPublished: Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Police locked down a Nanaimo high school this morning after a threat of violence toward the school.
Hundreds of students at Nanaimo District Secondary School were locked inside their classrooms after a teacher overheard an indirect threat of violence made by a 13-year-old boy.
Police investigators and school administrators determined the youth who made the threat is not inside the school, according to a statement released by Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O'Brien.
Officers with the Nanaimo Youth Response Team are inside the school assisting teachers and students while they investigate the incident. Police are working to locate and question the youth involved.
All exit doors are locked and movement in the school is restricted.
The lockdown came a day after the school sent home a letter notifying parents of a "worrisome graffiti message" scrawled inside the NDSS boy's bathroom. Both police and school officials continue to look into that incident, though neither will elaborate on the nature of the graffiti.
You can catch the rest of the story here.
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