The Glory & The Cost of Living in Silicon Valley

In the expensive areas on America’s coasts, demand is robust, because of high incomes and pleasures… California’s Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley, has a splendid Mediterranean climate and incomes that are 60 percent above the U.S. average. Unsurprisingly, people will pay plenty to live there. Between 2005 and 2007, average housing prices in the county were close to $800,000, more than four times the U.S. average. Prices have dropped since then, but according to recent sales data, the San Jose metropolitan area, which includes Santa Clara county, remained the most expensive place in the continental United States in the second quarter of 2009.

-Edward Glaeser, The Triumph of the City, pp. 188-189

Having a 3rd Kid is Cheaper Than You Think

I love having three sons, so I enjoyed this USA Today article, Hey Parents, the Third Kid’s A Bargain. Here is the lead:

In a tepid economy, people look to save money however they can. One strategy? Not having kids. After hitting a high of 4.3 million in 2007, U.S. births tumbled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to about 4 million in 2010.

It makes sense. Each year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture produces a study calculating how much it costs to raise a child to age 18. In 2010, the price tag was $226,920 — curiously close to the U.S. median house price ($221,800). Given how vexing housing has been, families are understandably wary of adding similarly-priced babies to the mix.

But a closer look at these numbers shows that the real sticker shock happens when you have the first kid — something the vast majority of couples do. After that, the marginal costs decline considerably, to the point where the third kid — the one most families don’t have — is downright cheap. That’s good news for would-be bigger families because, despite vague talk of overpopulation as this planet crossed 7 billion inhabitants in October, Americans tend to undershoot, not overshoot, their preferred family size.

The Great Tech War of 2012

Last month’s issue of Fast Company ran a fascinating article, The Great Tech War of 2012, exploring how Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon are battling for the future of the innovation economy. Even if you’re not interested in tech or business, this is a fascinating read on innovation and leadership.

Why Marriage is Hard

Any two people who enter into marriage are spiritually broken by sin, which among other things means to be self-centered…That is why a good marriage is more painfully hard to achieve than athletic or artistic prowess. Raw, natural talent does not enable you to play baseball as a pro or write great literature without enduring discipline and enormous work. Why would it be easy to live lovingly and well with another human being in light of what is profoundly wrong within our human nature? Indeed, many people who have mastered athletics and art have failed miserably at marriage. So the Biblical doctrine of sin explains why marriage–more than anything else that is good and important in this fallen world–is so painful and hard. -Tim and Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage pp. 40-41

“These New Churches Will Undoubtedly Fail”

Last week Metro Silicon Valley ran an article on our church plant/church planting in Silicon Valley that has stirred up some great discussion.

Last Friday I was at a Bay Area coffee shop and, over the course of two hours, I got into a discussion about Jesus, the church, and culture with eight different people who were sitting at nearby tables and reading the article.

The online version of the article allows people to leave comments. The comments have been heated and interesting. A man named David left the following comment:

Young people are a lot smarter than these church folks believe. Silicon Valley is made up of people who believe in the sciences, not some silly infantile superstitious beliefs that contain no empirical evidence. These new churches will undoubtedly fail.

David’s comment is not surprising. Many church planting attempts have failed in Silicon Valley. Many churches have failed to engage the very secular culture here. And estimates say that only 4-5% of Silicon Valley is considered “churched.” This is the context in which I’m planting Garden City Church. And I love it. It’s a wonderful challenge. And my confidence isn’t in David’s words, my confidence is in Jesus’ words:

I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The Penn State Scandal.

Below is the intro to Joe Cater’s post on the Penn State Scandal. You must read the whole thing. I am so angry over the passivity, cowardice, selfishness, injustice, and evil exhibited by men at Penn State.

For the past few days I’ve been trying, without success, to make sense of the disgusting spectacle at Penn State. My reaction can be summed up in one word: inexplicable. The actions of Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno, Graham Spanier, Mike McQueary, the rioting Penn State students—all of it is inexplicable. I tell myself that it must be an anomalous event, for I can’t bear the idea that it may be symptomatic of our larger culture.

Since other writers have formed more coherent opinions on the topic, I’ll share what I think about what they’ve written.

My main thought about the situation is summed up by this comment by Rod Dreher:

I don’t know that I can think of an act of everyday cowardice more vile than Mike McQueary, big strapping 6-foot-4-inch Mike McQueary, walking away when he came upon an old man sodomizing a little boy.

Exactly. McQueary is the living embodiment of cowardice. The idea that a man could act in such a manner is beyond my comprehension. Anyone who is even remotely sympathetic to his situation or thinks they may have done the same thing in similar circumstances needs to stop whatever they are doing and begin some serious soul-searching.

Garden City Church in the News

The current issue of  Metro Silicon Valley came out today and features an article on Garden City Church and on church planting in Silicon Valley. I’m encouraged to see such fair and favorable reporting.

Here is the lead:

A few months ago, with just $3,000 in his pockets, Justin Buzzard packed up his car and drove down the bay toward San Jose. Like so many young people, Buzzard came to Silicon Valley with big dreams.

Start something new. Find a following. Get funding. Change the world.

But Buzzard didn’t come here to found the next tech startup. He came to “plant,” or open, a church.

“It’s a region that’s impacting the rest of the world, and you don’t have another place like this on the planet,” says Buzzard, whose 2-month-old Garden City Church attracted 120 worshippers on a recent Sunday.

Click here to read the article.

Christianity is the Unreligion

I am loving Dane Ortlund’s new book, Defiant Grace: The Surprising Message and Mission of Jesus. To give you a taste, here is a quote from the book that I’ll be using in my sermon this Sunday:

Christianity is the unreligion. It turns all our religious instincts on their head…

The ancient Greeks told us to be moderate by knowing our inclinations. The Romans told us to be strong by ordering our lives. Buddhism tells us to be disillusioned by annihilating our consciousness. Hinduism tells us to be absorbed by merging our souls. Islam tells us to be submissive by subjecting our wills. Agnosticism tell us to be at peace by ignoring our doubts. Moralism tells us to be good by discharging our obligations. Only the gospel tells us to be free by acknowledging our failure. Christianity is the unreligion because it is the one faith whose founder tells us to bring not our doing, but our need.

Pray For Our City: 37 Homicides in San Jose

San Jose is the 10th largest city in America. A lot of people live here. And, right now, a lot of people are being killed here. So far we have 37 homicides in 2011.

San Jose has been known as “the safest big city in America,” but this year that title is being challenged. The homicide rate hasn’t looked like this in a long time.

The map above shows where each of the 37 homicides have taken place (Click here for an interactive map that details each of these homicides). Our new church plant, Garden City Church, meets on Sundays right in the middle of this map, very near to most of these homicides. You’ll notice that most of these killings have happened on the east side of the city–I believe this is typical, that it’s most often in “the east side” of our cities that homicides happen. Is this true for your city?

Pray for San Jose. Pray for the killings to stop. And please pray that our church (and many other churches here in San Jose) can be used of Jesus to bring new life to a city that’s experiencing a lot of death right now.

Authentic Manhood

My friend John Bryson and his partners are putting together some exciting material for men. Watch this 2 minute video.

33 Trailer from Flashlight Media Group on Vimeo.