My friend Jedidiah Coppenger, along with other creative minds at B&H publishing, produced this video parody about "ginormous" study Bibles. The idea is that the forthcoming HCSB Study Bible will be much less clunky and bulky than some of the others in the market. Regardless, I'm glad that there will be a study Bible for the HCSB! Can't wait for October 2010!

Enjoy the video!

Entry by Micah Carter

I'm a gamer. I've been one since I can remember, enjoying and mastering games on platforms like ColecoVision, Atari 2600 and 5200, Sega Genesis, Nintendo (8-bit), SNES, N64, Playstation, PS2, GameBoy (before it was color), Sega Game Gear, and the list goes on. Even now, my sons (Ben, 6 and Jon, 3) and I enjoy playing PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii, and Xbox 360.

Which brings me to the subject of this blog: the Bible on a video game console. That's right, B&H is unveiling the Bible Navigator X for the Xbox 360, which highlights the HCSB translation.

Granted, there have been some cheesy attempts to bring games with biblical or Christian motifs to the video game culture, but this project is different, and it's legit.

I'm excited about the opportunity to have access to the HCSB on my Xbox, even though I probably won't use it as much as my trusty, leather bound hard copy. But I am confident that the Bible Navigator X can and will be used as a ministry tool for youth groups and, hopefully, as an evangelistic tool to reach gamers with God's Word.

And for $5 or 400 Microsoft Points, who could pass it up, right?

Take a minute to check out the website for the Bible Navigator X. You can also read more about it here. And don't forget to check out www.hcsb.org for more information about this excellent Bible translation.

Entry by Micah Carter

Be honest. Do you have any idea what the title of this post means? Chances are, if I'd never stumbled on the conversion story of Augustine of Hippo (early church father, AD 354-430), I wouldn't either.

Tolle lege means "take up and read." While he was under conviction of sin, Augustine heard some children singing this phrase as they played -- and he concluded that God was telling him to "take up and read" the Scriptures. And the rest is history, as they say.

Every now and then we take a poll in our office to see what each other is reading, in addition to the Scripture (of course!). This poll is a helpful, interesting and encouraging exercise. It allows us to know a little more about each others' interests and reading habits, but it also spurs us on to keep reading and to read broadly. So, for what it is worth, here's what we are reading (or have recently read):

Micah Carter: Just finished "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and just started "Scouting the Divine" by Margaret Feinberg. Soon to start "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp.

Polly House: "Devil Bones" by Jefferson Bass (CSI-type mystery set at UT Knoxville), "Truth and Beauty" by Ann Patchett (memoir by a Nashville author), "Home to Harmony" by Phillip Gulley (sort of a Mitford-type), and a couple of weeks ago finished "Leaving Church" by Barbara Taylor.

Brooklyn Lowery: Rereading "Spunk and Bite" by Arthur Plotnik (a writing tips book that sort of pokes fun at the age-old "Strunk and White" that every journalist knows and loves).

Rob Phillips: Just finished "Grace" by R.T. Kendall (addresses the 10 commandments) and recently started "Theology of the Reformers" by Timothy George.

Kelly Shrout: "The Prodigal God" by Tim Keller.

What are you reading? Would you recommend anything to us? Take a minute to leave us a comment to encourage us to tolle lege!

Entry by Micah Carter

Yesterday in our chapel service at LifeWay, our president and CEO Dr. Thom Rainer played a video for employees that highlights a particular employee ministry effort called "LifeWay Community Fund Campaign."

This campaign is designed to raise funds, specifically employee donations, to support local charitable organizations in the Nashville area. The mission statement captures the vision and intent: The mission of LifeWay Community Fund is to provide financial assistance to faith-based and humanitarian charities that align with LifeWay's vision and values.

Each year LifeWay partners with 10 charities to support them in their ministry efforts. Here are the organizations and charities for 2009:

• Maury Chaplain Ministries, Inc.
• Graceworks Ministries, Inc.
• Siloam Family Health Center
• Pregnancy Care Center of TN
• Madison Computer Learning Center
• Youth for Christ
• Cottage Cove Urban Ministries
• Ultimate Goal Ministries
• Community Outreach Ministries
• Operation Andrew Group

Each of these ministries is impacting our community -- Nashville and surrounding areas -- with services, helps, assistance, training, and evangelism for the kingdom of Christ. Here, in a brief video, is a presentation of these ministries that the LifeWay Community Fund Campaign supports.

Entry by Micah Carter

Shall I thank God at this Thanksgiving?

Why was I born at this particular time in the history of the world? Why was I born in a spotless delivery room in an American hospital instead of a steaming shelter in the dank jungles of the Amazon or a mud hut in Africa?

Why did I have the privilege of going to school with capable instructors while millions around the world even without a school book sit or squat on a dirt floor listening to a missionary to pick up anything to know?

How does it happen that my children are tucked into warm beds at night with clean white sheets while billions of babies in the world will lie in cold rooms, many in their own filth and vomit?

Why can I sit down to a warm meal whenever I want to and eat too much when billions will know all of their life the pangs of hunger?

Do I deserve to share in such wealth? By what right? Why me and not other millions?

Why was I born in a land I did not build, in a prosperity I did not create, in a freedom I did not establish?

Why an American sitting comfortably in my own living room this Thanksgiving rather than an Indian sitting in the dark corner of some infested alley in Calcutta shivering in the cold or a Cambodian in the rubble of what used to be my home or a Nicaraguan running in the jungle afraid?

Do I deserve it? By what right do I have it?

My pastor at Clearview Baptist Church (Franklin, TN), Mark Marshall, shared these words -- taken from an 1980s Christianity Today article -- last Wednesday night during his message. I was cut to the heart by them as I listened. And yes, I am gratefully and humbly asking the same questions this Thanksgiving.

Do these thoughts and questions cause you to stop and think? Even more, are you driven to gratitude and humility before the Lord for his incredible blessings in your comfortable life?

Entry by Micah Carter

Jennifer Tramel   

• Every Thanksgiving, my family is in charge of the fruit salad. It’s basically fruit cocktail, whipped cream, fresh fruit and pecans. Nothing spectacular, but it’s a favorite among my extended family. In the past, we’ve always gone to someone’s home for Thanksgiving, but as the kids get older and time becomes sparser, we’ve started meeting at a restaurant for either Christmas or Thanksgiving. Cracker Barrel has become one of our favorites --  we are supporting those who have to work on Thanksgiving, avoiding cooking and cleaning, and we still have time together over a meal. Once the meal is done, my own family usually comes home to watch a football game and a movie later that night. And while we are watching the movie, we begin to bring Christmas decorations down from the attic. Of course we can’t take too long, for there is the day after Thanksgiving sales going on the next morning! My mother, my older younger brother and I get up, leave the other three wimpy family members at home sleeping, and head on out to brave the insanity. With coffee by our side, we press on through the crowds to find our items from the sale brochures we acquired. Most of the time, we don’t even really buy anything. It’s just time for us to spend together and make memories, as we watch other people lose their minds for a morning!
  
  

 Rob Phillips

• Growing up, Thanksgiving was always a great time for our family, with one notable culinary exception: on the day after Thanksgiving my mother combined the leftovers into a baked dish she called “turkey surprise.” The surprise was that anybody actually ate it! My brother and I coped by sneaking off to Burger King and scarfing down Whoppers.

 Janet Sullivan

• Our family’s Thanksgiving week activities look something like this. Beginning Tuesday, all of our extended family (around 15 of us) gather with our church family in Franklin, TN, at our church-wide Thanksgiving feast. Then on Thursday, which is my husband’s only day off for the week, we get to sleep late, then meet with my parents and children to eat and fellowship again. We all eat too much, then catch some of the football games on TV. When we get home, we fall into a semi-coma state until bedtime. Friday, I begin decorating the house for Christmas very slowly, since I’m still full of turkey, of course. On Saturday we meet with my husband’s side of the family at his parents’ home for more Thanksgiving food. By Sunday we are all gobbling, but I can never get enough turkey and dressing and all the other good food we have on this special holiday. We are so thankful for family and friends all year, but it’s good to stop and say a special thank you on Thanksgiving.

 Kelly Shrout

• Food and family dominate my Thanksgiving traditions. Growing up in Texas my mom would make the entire Thanksgiving meal for more than 25 relatives. Turkey, ham, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, pies, cakes, puddings ... I get hungry just thinking about it! My mom would delight in serving the meal to any and all who came to our home. Our humble home was the gathering place for the hungry. After the meal, my parents would prepare plates of food to share with neighbors. The day was about giving, sharing and counting our blessings. Now that I have a family of my own, I order our Thanksgiving meal from Publix and wish I would have paid more attention to my mom when she tried to teach me how to baste a turkey. So on that thought, my family and I will travel either to my parents’ house in Texas, or my in laws’ in Louisville, to bum a nice Thanksgiving dinner off of them. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Take a minute to enjoy this multimedia presentation from Kent Harville, LifeWay's corporate visuals coordinator and photographer. Kent takes us "behind the scenes" as he explains the process and results of finding a photo opportunity when there doesn't seem to be one.

The photos are excellent, and they were taken at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Asheville, NC.