Hanging with Massive Scar Era [Mascara]

In Cairo we hooked up with Egypt’s famous hardcore metal band Massive Scar Era for a chat. The coffee shop was closed but we found a place on the street for a tea and a sheesha. Massive Scar Era, or Mascara, is an amazing and original hardcore band. Really. I saw them perform at Cornerstone…

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11.11.11 event at Pyramid cancelled

Cairo, Egypt. We met these German guys last night who had come all the way to Cairo to attend the rituals at the Pyramids on 11.11.11. They said there was a rumor that it would be cancelled and it that was the case, they would probably rock up to the Day of Prayer held in…

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The Cave Church at Garbage City

This week we visited the monastery of St St Simeon (Simon) the Tanner (or shoemaker) which is now most commonly referred to as The Cave Church. It’s longer name is St. Simon the Tanner Coptic Orthodox Church in the Mokattam garbage village. St Simons, the cave church on a garbage dump, is the largest Christian church in…

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Egypt and the Day of Prayer 11.11.11

Update: Just got back. 70,000 tickets sold. Going very well. What a shame that the evangelical leaders were not allowed on the stage. Hopefully they will all learn to get along. Update: More info about the Day of Prayer taking place today . . YES TODAY . . in Cairo. I talked with one of…

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Does Occupy Wall Street Mock the Arab Spring?

Occupy Wall Street. I saw David Fitch on the subject and that Brian Mclaren recommended reading Tom Beaudoin’s A Note from the Protest and I read an interesting article about a Baptist minister holding his “Occupy Till I Come” sign and using a few Bible verses to back it up {Yeah King James!} Fair enough. Yesterday I was…

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Hippie Hostel with a Misison

Our good friends Al and Tina Nord and the Nomad’s Land they help run in USA made the news. Congrats. Watch it on CBS here under “Hippie Hostel with a Mission.” You might remember last year Debbie and my kids walking a pilgrimage across Alabama to raise money for the Nomad’s Land. Same one. This…

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Egypt. Where are the bloggers?

So I arrived in Cairo last night on my way to New Zealand. I have a few days to see some sights, eat some dates, and meet some bloggers. Where are the bloggers here in Egypt? – I would have liked to have coffee with Alaa Abd El Fattah, one of the bloggers at Manalaa.net, but unfortunately, he is…

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12 Vintage Theoblogians: Where are they blogging now?

10 Years ago I only knew of a dozen Christian bloggers. When I first started Tallskinnykiwi in 2001, I was the only Christian blogger I knew of. Very soon I had discovered a few more faith bloggers on Blogger.com and by encouraging a few of my friends to start blogging about religion, the number grew.…

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US$2,650 for Turkish Earthquake. THANKS!

A HUGE THANK YOU to all who gave towards our Turkish Earthquake appeal. As you know, a 7.2 earthquake hit eastern Turkey last week leaving thousands of families homeless in the FREEZING FREEZING COLD! I know it was freezing because I was there a few days later, freezing my skinny butt off in the mountains…

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Vintage Theoblogians

Have you been blogging continuously on religion for over ten years? Fantastic. You are a vintage theoblogian and you deserve something nice . . .  like a badge for your blog. I made up a quick one at the suggestion of some vintage theoblogians here but I would like to increase the list and have people…

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Delhi, India next week

Part of our family and team will be in India next week. Delhi, actually, And this is where I need someone to help me. Because of an unusual ticket change, Air India were gracious enough to change the tickets due to visa delay but they insist that someone actually walk into their office in Delhi…

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7 Billion People

7,000,000,000 We are now 7 billion people on the planet, as of a few days ago.  Related: Nice letter on Pyros for the 7 billioneth baby., Wired Mag

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Don Carson and a wrong-headed appeal to Matthew 18

I just read something Dr Don Carson wrote this year about the emerging church and a “wrong-headed” appeal to Matthew 18. “Several years ago i wrote a fairly restrained critique of the emerging church movement as it then existed, before it morphed into its present diverse configurations.That little book earned me some of the angriest,…

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I love poor people but

I love poor people and spend most of my time with them. But poor people bug me with the amount of DOGS they have. The greater their poverty, the more dogs they adopt. The dogs are always larger than they should be and they are always mean. In fact, the meanness of the dogs is…

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Reformation Day, 2011

As usual, I have a Reformation Day thought. Or two. Or even three. 1. Mariners Then: Around 1517, the Turkish were raiding the Med Sea and bringing terror to the Europeans, even the English who were the other worthy sea-power, standing up against the Turks. Martin Luther wrote much about the Turks. Now: Turkey is…

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