TOGETHER with art

Catalyst posted a pretty cool invitation yesterday. Here is the low-down, create art that reflects “Together”. I am personally very excited to see how this looks. Everyone has their own art style, world view, and experience and I love to see companies harness that for a common good. My bible study has been going through Galatians, and yesterday we hit this section. That is what together means to me, Christ.

Let me know what you think, I have not yet submitted it.

Hymn Tuesday

I was blessed enough to play this song on Sunday, thought I would share.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

“Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

“The soul that on Jesus doth leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

the Piper Challenge

Here is a great post from John Piper

For a moment, forget the political puzzle of getting money back when the country is nine trillion dollars in debt. The more immediate question is: How will you make much of Christ with your “economic stimulus payment”? The president says it will be in the mail in time for Cinco de Mayo.

Clue: Nobody in the world will see you spend your money on yourself and conclude that Christ is your treasure. They will assume you are just like them, no matter how loudly you thank God for this boon. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t spend it on yourself (the way we do with most of what we earn). Not everything we do can look different from the world—eat, pay utilities, fill up the car, wear clothes (even thrift-store clothes). And yes, we hope (somehow) that spending on ourselves in some way contributes to our being more Christ-exalting people. Read More

Here are some organizations that we at The Plow have been checking out. They are all simple yet powerful.

Bite Back

Hippo Water Roller

Playpumps International

Making a whale look like it’s in a swimming pool is tough.

I couldn’t get this whale to swim in front of a green screen, so this was my first shot at masking out a moving object. I did this in Motion. I’d love to hear your thoughts… Does it look some what real?

Whales Tales and Wading Pools from Mike on Vimeo.

Rethink Seminar May 15

Here’s a video interview that Corey recently did with Chuck Allen from Sugar Hill church about the upcoming Rethink Seminar. We’ll be in Atlanta May 15th, so if you’re in the area, come see us.

Rethink Interview Chuck Allen from Mike on Vimeo.

Love(ly) Shirts

A buddy of ours printed up some shirts from the Love Poster awhile back. I just wanted to share them with you all, they turned out pretty cool. What I realized when I got them is that it is much easier to design behind the safety of my computer then to actually proclaim truth. I need to make sure that I proclaim to the world everything I say I believe in my design. I am a coward, and I need to pray for God to give me strength.

Eagle versus Man—Who’d win?

Corey and I are in a disagreement. Who would win in a death match—a 6 foot tall 200 pound adult male or an eagle? What do you think? There’s a poll at the bottom of the videos.

We’ve searched YouTube to give you examples of eagles attacking.

Eagle versus Sloth

Eagle versus Deer

Eagle versus Goat

Cougar versus Eagle

Eagle versus Eagle

Colors of the West Coast

For the past 2 weeks I have been driving up and down the west coast. I have really seen it all; beaches, farms, redwood forests, bays and mountains. I have had the weather range from sunny and 95˚ to snowing and 34˚. And what I loved the most was seeing how Gods hand was in all the creation. The beauty that he created is beyond anything I can dream of.

So as a designer, and this being earth day, let me give you the color palette God showed me on my vacation.

Want some more color inspiration? www.colourlovers.com

Creation v. Evolution

Get on your cups on, there is about to be a battle. The internet is just beginning to reach a bubble about creationism, and Ben Stein has a new movie, Expelled, coming out. Ben will argue that Evolution isn’t as solid as some would like to believe, and Christians will jump on the bandwagon with hoots and hollers. I’m not going to take either side on this (note: I clarified this a bit in the comments), but I will say that the triune omniscient God created the earth and all it’s life (watch this sermon by Mark Driscoll for a well rounded Biblical discussion).

This video is from Expelled (from Dustin -> Bob Hyatt)

I think it’s important to only talk with authority about things you know. If you can point to it in the Bible, and say the Bible says ____________, then you have the ultimate authority of the Word of God, please tell the world about it.

This is a subject that all Christians should learn a ton about, it’s one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the way of the average Americans.

Marketing for Celibacy

With all of the sex talk on the blog lately, I thought this would be a sigh of relief.

The catholic church is having a difficult time convincing young men that they should sign up to be poor virgins. According to the this article they have seen a catastrophic decline in the number of young men signing up to be priests.

Enter: the marketing department.

They have begun a huge ad campaign, including NBA games.

A catholic seminary has launched a new site to help persuade young catholic men that they should be heroes and sign up for the priesthood. I like the idea of telling men, they need to be men ( or in this case heroes). Though it doesn’t seem that their story is consistent. They say ‘the world needs heroes’, but they don’t indicate a problem that needs to be solved. It feels more like a GQ photo shoot for guys in weird tuxedos.

The way to call your men to be heroes is to tell them their is a huge problem, sin. And that the blood of Christ, and the grace of God is the only hope. They need to guide their families, churches, and neighbors to cross. Give the men a duty, call them to a higher calling.

And now for your moment of zen: Here’s a fake advertisement from the news story.