Do you use illustrations from TV shows / Movies?

I am curious to know what kind of preaching illustrations you guys / gals use the most. By this I mean, what "genre" or "category" do you find the most helpful and elicits the most "ahhhh! I get it" type of responses?

I do suppose it depends on the particular composition of your congregation or audience, but perhaps some general discussion and recommendations so we can learn from each other?

To narrow down the discussion (assuming there might be one. LOL! It's very slow moving here!), I was wondering about whether any of you use illustrations from TV shows / movies and what kind of feedback you have gotten.

I recall for example that back in Malaysia I found that illustrations from popular movies or popular TV shows generally tended to get a positive response from the youth / younger adults but it was not necessarily the most effective. The reason seemed to be that with the huge number and variety of movies and TV shows, even among say the youth or young adults, not all would watch the same shows / movies. But when I used such illustrations I often got blank looks from half the congregation! :-(

And in addition, I just did not have the time (or money) to go watch the vast variety of movies / TV shows. I remember trying to watch at least one episode of every TV show that came out but soon gave up due to the lack of time and the fact that most of the shows "sucked" :-)

I used to "cheat" by going to a website that gave a blow by blow synopsis of every movie, analyzed its content, highlighted possibler discussion areas of key themes etc. That was great until the site required payment for access :-( BTW, while I "cheat" I do tell the congregation / audience that I have not personally seen the movie and that I got the synopsis off the internet.

Anyone care to chip in on this topic? I do have some more thoughts on this topic but best not to hog the conversation :-)

Have a blessed weekend!!

Virtual community?

Now that this blog has had a small injection of new life, I thought it might be interesting to see if there is any interest in reflecting on the concept of a "virtual community".

I find I do quite a lot of my ministry as well as personal interaction with both Christians and non Christians via e-mails, online chats, blogs and forums. I have gotten to know some people very well via the cyber world -some of whom I have yet to meet in "real life" (or even speak to on the telephone)

And may I add that I am not into stuff like facebook (have an account but use it sparingly). To start off (hopefully), here's a short article by Scott McKnight...

For the link to the article, click here.

February 16, 2009

Scot McKnight on "Virtual Community"

A response to Shane Hipps video from NPC.

Thanks for your video, Shane. Your point about not equating virtual community (grant me the term for the moment) with real community is one that needs to be heard. But, I'm not so sure it is this simple...

First, as a blogger who has what I have sometimes called the Jesus Creed "community," I do think there are some senses in which community is apt. For some, this is about the only "community" with Christians they can right now have. I honor that. For others it is therapeutic to dance, as it were, at a distance -- not the complete thing, of course, but still participating in some dimensions of community. And there is another dimension: there are clearly dimensions of fellowship at work in blog communities. Never the whole, but some. And that needs to be considered for what it really is.

But now something perhaps more significant: by shrinking community to embodied community I wonder if we have written "communion of the saints" (a community) off the map. Isn't there something eternal, something spiritual, and something profoundly true that all Christians of all ages and of all locations are in communion with one another?

This means it may be appropriate to refer to internet communities as a participation in the communion of the saints (I have experienced this with some folks whom I've gotten to know at some levels via internet and via e-mails and via parcel post letters) and as virtual communities.

I would agree with you that some substitute virtual for real at their own loss; I would also agree that some think they are the same. But I wonder if it is not swinging too far the other way to deny the word community to what can happen -- palpably so for many -- in cyberspace.

Come to think of it, I wonder if you might just provide for us a full definition of "community." Do you mean "ecclesia" or "koininia" or something else?

Scot McKnight is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University, author, and blogger.

Official Launch of MBS Alumni Homepage

About 4 tables of students, alumni and lecturers attended the Chinese New Year "Lo Sang" gathering on 9 Feb 2009. After Patrick shared on the objectives and functions of the Unofficial MBS Alumni blog, the MBS ED dept officially adopted it. At the press of a button, Rev Dr Tony Lim, the new Dean of English Dept made the "unofficial" disappeared and up came this new blog.

It will eventually be linked to the MBS ED homepage and the names of new graduates will be added in due course. Technology has enabled this blog to help you have instant knowledge about the people in your graduating class and connect with lost lost friends. For those who are not that tech-savvy, follow the following steps:

1. On the right column, scroll down and look for labels and click alumni - you find the whole list of mbs alumni there.
2. Go through those highlighted names and click on it and you will be directed to their site where you can find more information about that alumnus.

The only problem is that only a few names are hyper-linked at the moment. But you can help - if you know of people on that list, kindly ask them to log on and leave some comments giving us the link to their personal blog or the church/organisation they are working with.

We look forward to serve you better!