More than 60,000 hits. Since August, 2009 we have been slowly building some momentum, and our readership has come from every continent in the world (except Antarctica— the penguin vote is not tabulated.)
More than anything, I’m aware of the blessing and strength that this site tries to impart. Originally, the vision for brokenbelievers.com was directed at Christians dealing with mental illness. But because of the tremendous need, I extended the scope of this site to include strugglers and rascals. People that the Church has closed its doors. Anyone on the margins, the “black cats” and the “tax-collecters,” and the harlots. And all failures!
BB has linked up with “Faithful Bloggers,” a few months ago. It provides BB with a much needed guidance and support. If you have your own blog, just click on the logo on the BB Home Page. I have also added a link to a side ministry of old classic CCM. So much can be added to that “ministry” and we will try to help the aficionados of classic Christian music and their requests.
Back to the numbers of BB. Right now we are averaging almost 200 hits everyday. (These are coming from almost 200 individual computers.) Some bloggers do over 100x this, per day, on their sites. But I’m quite happy with were we are at; and that many hearts that get blessed.
One more thought, I am looking for another person who feels led into a ministry like BB. A posted teaching, once or twice a week. Heart and spirit are more important than polished skill. Just hit me with what your thinking, we can pray. I would ask for a committment of one year. I’m at flash99603@hotmail.com.
Blessings on you, and thank you for supporting BB, esp. w/prayer.
This was a book saturated with holy surprises. For sure, the title seemed eccentric and I couldn’t be certain that it be worth reading. After I read several pages I was able to use my own “spiritual” GPS and locate, and understand the “lay-of-the-land.” There was a sense of reading something very fresh, and striding to keep up with Mikalotos. I discovered that I couldn’t wait for the next page, which is a great indicator.
Imaginative and engaging. If this book transformed into a person, I would immediately invite him to my living room for coffee and a conversation. I would not hesitate. Plot and content wise–this is a narrative of a man’s journey to what is real. Especially in the spiritual realm of the truth, where it is best to possess what you confess.
The book unfolds with adventure after adventure. It has a plot that seems like sci-fi. It is both exotic and friendly, all at the same time. If I could think out loud my impressions of “Imaginary Jesus” in a single word it would be “winsome.” Mikalatos presses into our imaginations a journey that is both amusing as it is cutting. It is a fun read, that is explosive and sure, it puts together for us an understanding of our own hearts in this generation.
Outside Review: “Take the theological forcefulness of Bonhoeffer, combine it with the imaginative whimsy of C. S. Lewis and the wit of Charles Spurgeon, and you get Matt Mikalatos. Imaginary Jesus marks the debut of one of today’s most prominent young Christian writers. “(Gary Thomas, Author of Sacred Marriage and Pure Pleasure )
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I purchased my book direct from Amazon.com for $10.19 USD.
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: BarnaBooks (March 18, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10:9781414335636
ISBN-13:978-1414335636
ASIN:1414335636
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars. (134 customer reviews)
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #75,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Someone made a real good effort to put up this billboard. Essentially it expresses a lot of humility without any compromise. My gut feeling is that it touches a lot of frayed thinking in a very good way. Ministering grace can be a definite challenge, especially when the scorner and mocker are heavily involved.
I think it not only speaks to the person who doesn’t believe, but it connects to the believer who thought that this could very well be true. And actually, humility beautifies the Church very wonderful way. (I would submit that perhaps this was the real reason this unfolded the way it did?) This is a perfect time for the Church to admit a definite humility of heart and mind. This is never easy, but is always good.
Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008[1]) was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, record producer, writer, playwright, actor, photographer, and humorist, who is credited as “a key figure in the development of contemporary Christian music“,[2] “the most significant artist in the creation of contemporary Christian music (CCM)”,[3] the “father of Christian rock music”,[4] the “Godfather of gospel rock”;[5] “Christianity’s first rock star”,[6] the “bad boy of Christian music”,[7] and “the poet laureate of the Jesus revolution”.[8] “By 1970, Norman had the most recognized name (and face) in the Jesus Movement and the Christian music scene”,[9] with Time magazine soon describing him as “probably the top solo artist in the field”.[10] While he had long been associated with the Jesus people,[11][12] and was even described as “the personification of the Jesus Movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s”,[13] Norman himself “did not particularly identify himself with the youth-oriented ‘Jesus movement’ of the time”.[14][15] He has been credited with having a significant influence on many artists, both secular and religious.[16] Norman has also been described as having a “propensity for spinning stories”,[17] and a “penchant for revisionist history”.[18]
Since Norman’s first professional release in 1967, more than 100 of his own albums have been released through such commercial record labels as Capitol, MGM, Verve, and his own independent labels: One Way Records, Solid Rock Records, Street Level Records, and Phydeaux Records. Norman’s first album, I Love You, recorded when he was one of the lead singers for the group People!, was released in 1968. The band’s cover version of The Zombies song of the same name reached number 14 on Billboard magazine‘s top twenty list in 1968 as a single.[19] Norman left People! in 1968 and subsequently performed as a solo artist, appearing both on mainstream and independent labels.[20] In 1969 Norman recorded Upon This Rock, “the first commercially released Jesus rock album”,[21] and in 1972 one of “the most influential Christian rock records of all time”, Only Visiting This Planet.[22] Norman’s recordings are noted for their Christian and social subject matter, having successfully “wed the rhythms of pop music with the spiritual and social outlook of Christianity to create a kind of flower-power gospel.”
–Copied from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
My note: Larry Norman seemed to struggle most of his life. He was a very talented and gifted songwriter. Some of his “issues” seem to be proceed from what some considered bipolar disorder, but that probably was never medically confirmed. He was known by many to be a rascal (the kind of person we minister to at BB.)
An excerpt from Christianity Today, announcing his death.
“Christian music legend Larry Norman died Sunday of heart failure, according to his brother Charles Norman. He was 60.
Norman, a blonde, long-haired rocker who is often called the father of Christian rock music, was a giant in the Christian music industry, said Chris Willman, senior music writer for Entertainment Weekly.
“His influence outweighed his sales so much that it’s comical,” Willman said. “He certainly had a heart for evangelism — almost to his detriment, I might say. He really could’ve been a star if he were singing about something other than Jesus.”
Norman’s 1972 Only Visiting This Planet album is regarded as one of the top contemporary Christian music albums of all time. His many hits were at the cutting edge, said Larry Eskridge, associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College.
“The song ‘Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?’ was one of his enduring trumpet blasts against the stodgy, old Christian establishment,” Eskridge said. “‘I Wish We’d All Been Ready’ fit with the end times, apocalyptic feel that was in the air at the time.”
“I Wish We’d All Been Ready” was also featured in the 1972 end times film, A Thief in the Night. In concerts, the singer gave his trademark “One Way” gesture, pointing an index finger toward heaven.
Eskridge said Norman was an icon during the Jesus People of the 1960s but distanced himself from the movement when it became a fad and eventually faded.”
Broken Believers 