Since I have a few posts in the pipeline about the city, building on yesterday's post, I found this to be quite interesting. Andy Crouch talks about a shift in how we identify ourselves—previous generations would define themselves by their work, but today's generation finds the identity of place much more important. I've observed myself that people will often ask where you are from before they ask what you do, although this may have to do with the fact that I live in a very transient place, one which very few people call 'home' in the sense of being born and raised here.

Watch the clip and let me know what you think.

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Soong-Chan Rah is a professor at North Park Seminary in Chicago. He's recently written a book called The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity. This video touches on the themes of his book, as he discusses American evangelicalism and the way it has become captive to the culture around it. There is lots of good stuff in here, and instead of trying to summarise it all, I'd encourage you to watch the video. If you've read Andy Crouch's excellent book, Culture Making, you'll hear some similar things from Rah. Likewise, if you've read Jamie Smith's also excellent book, Desiring the Kindgom, you'll appreciate a lot of what Rah has to say as well, particularly his reference to the mall as the centre of American religion. Additionally, Rah's emphasis on the need for the church to recognise the changing demographic's of America is important to understand.

(HT: Anthony Bradley)

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Yesterday, Robin and I drove out to Daytona Beach for the 52nd annual Daytona 500 (it was our birthday present to each other, as mine was on the 12th and hers is on the 17th). We went last year as well, although they ended up calling the race early due to rain. This year, it was clear and sunny all day, although chilly—by the time we left it was in the low 40s. We also sat there a lot longer than we anticipated due to a couple of red flags, the first one lasting almost two hours. Apparently the frost and rain we've had here over the past few weeks did a number on the track and created a pretty sizeable pothole that they had to fill to make the track safe for racing. As the cars were running over it, bits of asphalt were coming up and expanding the hole. But in the end the racing was great, and we were fortunate to have some really good seats on the frontstretch near the start/finish line to see the action.

Being the gearhead that I am, a get a big rush from the power, speed, and sound of these cars. Some people look at NASCAR and just see a bunch of cars turning left. But for me it's about tuning engines to squeeze out that extra bit of horsepower, setting up the suspension so that it will be able to hit the apex of the turn perfectly each time, making the right calls on pit road, and learning how to work the draft. It takes a lot of skill and talent from every member of the team, not just the driver.

Anyway, here's a short clip (really short!) of the pack of cars flying by at 190mph toward the end of the race. It's pretty wild to see them cover 2.5 miles in 30 seconds.

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The General Synod of the Church of England took place this past week in London. I mentioned it earlier this week, referencing particularly the debate that was to occur regarding the Church of England's relationship with the Anglican Church in North America, since that was the most interesting item on the agenda for me. Below is the video recording of Lorna Ashworth presenting her Private Member's Motion. You can also watch the debate that followed (part 1, part 2).

Also of interest was the address by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. He addressed the idea of human freedom and emphasized the need to listen and learn from each other.

If you refer to my earlier post, I provided a variety of links with more reading on Synod. Those sites now have their post-Synod thoughts online, offering a variety of viewpoints on what transpired. Also, you can find the official press release from the ACNA online here.

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I stumbled across this video tonight, and it was fitting since I've been thinking some about Christians working as police officers. Let me know what you think. I might be blogging more on the subject in the coming weeks.

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