LIVE: Night of the Living Dead Christian in Ohio and the UK

Of course you recall that last year Night of the Living Dead Christian released, a novel in which our spiritual state is discussed through the metaphor of monsters. One of the cool things that has come from that is some great conversations with spiritual leaders who are taking that metaphor and using it in their own churches for the month of October.

So, for instance, Beavercreek Nazarene church in Ohio is doing a series called "It Came from Within" in which the pastor is talking about werewolves (representing anger), vampires (representing selfishness) and ghosts (representing unforgiveness) and how they can symbolize us in our spiritual journey. In fact, I will be at Beavercreek Nazarene this coming Sunday, speaking about spiritual zombies! If you're in the Ohio area, I'd love to see you there!

I also wrote this blog post about why Christians are afraid of atheists for JR. It's his birthday today, so go say happy birthday to him!

Connection Church (also in Ohio?!) is doing Monster Mash! Pastor Tony Myles describes it this way:

Monsters are more than the real, evil forces in the spiritual realm or the fictional special effects creatures in movies. Whether we admit it or not, we can all give into our worst side at times… we zone out like a zombie to certain things and feel like life is on autopilot; something sets us off and an inner werewolf of anger emerges; we turn into a kind of vampire who sucks the life out of others; there’s an assortment of other “B-level” characters that come out on occasion, too. Through this metaphor, we’re going to take a better look not only at ourselves but also what God is capable of doing in us if we let Him. It will be transformational and mash up the undead life we can easily settle for.

Lastly, you have to check out Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, a service I am definitely wanting to visit sometime. Canon Richard White and I have become friends. He read NLDC and dropped me a line afterward (they had already done their Night of the Living Dead outreach by then, in which Canon White came into the service in a coffin, carried by some of the men in the church. I liked that so much I ripped it off and put it in the new NLDC short story). This event sounds like so much fun... they're actually taking their Gothic cathedral and making "zones" for different monsters... werewolves, vampires and zombies... and showing black and white clips of different monsters together with a message from Canon White. Should be pretty cool. If you're in the UK you need to go check it out and report back to us!








That's what's happening in Ohio and the UK this month. What's going on at your church?

Eight Bible Characters to Have on your Zombie Survival Crew

Today we have a guest post from my friend Clay Morgan, author of Undead: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn. Clay's book RELEASES TODAY. You should go buy it! Clay's contact info and website are listed at the bottom of the post. Before you get started on this fun post, in which Clay shares which Biblical characters he'd like to have on his side during a zombie apocalypse, you should probably see this picture, which gives you some insight into Clay's fun-loving nature:

A zombie, restrained by Jesus, chases Clay
while Abraham Lincoln watches nearby.

Alright, let's see who Clay picks for his anti-zombie Bible team!

8 Bible Characters To Have On Your Zombie Survival Crew

It's the obvious question that apparently no one is asking. If you were alive during the time of the Old and/or New Testament and faced an uprising of the undead who would you want on your zombie survival crew. It's high time we figure this one out. FOR HUMANITY'S SAKE.

Now I hear some objections rising to the surface like the living dead from their graves, so let me address those concerns here and now.

Objection #1—This is stupid.

·     

      Response: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God."

Objection #1a—What does that have to do with zombies that aren't real from 2,000 years ago?!

·        

            Response: Okay, the truth is that my new book Undead: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn just came out and I wanted to write a post for Matt that combines zombies and my faith in a nonfiction way just like Undead does.

Objection #2—I wouldn't need a team because I would pick Jesus who just wins.

·     

      Response: Ah, thought you might go there. I'm invoking Genie from Aladdin rules though. You know, kind of like no wishing for more wishes but instead you can't take the Almighty or anyone else based on potential miraculous capabilities.

So as you can see there is simply no reasonable objection to be made here. Let's move on.

With so much talk about zombie preparedness, I'm surprised more people don't plan on tossing a Bible in their apocalypse go bag. You'll at least want one to get the skinny on the Old & New Testament all-stars that I would take into battle against the undead any day.   

So here it is, a zombie survival crew of biblical proportions

1

      Moses—Obvious choice. He's a natural leader and isn't afraid to bludgeon evil people. And he did all that work in homemade sandals. I can't even imagine what would happen if the leader of the Exodus got hold of some Nike shoes. 

2

       Lazarus—I'm referring to post-brought back from the dead Lazarus. First of all, if anybody can get inside the head of dead people it's Laz. Secondly, he's probably a pretty fearless dude since he's already been dead once and all.

3

      Jael—You may not remember this woman from Judges 4, but if they had made movies during Old Testament times then Jael would've played Sarah Connor in the Terminator films. When she found a villain named Sisera hiding in her tent she put him to sleep twice—once for a nap and once for good. Know how she killed him? By driving a nail through his head and pegging him to the ground. I need a woman like this if zombies come.

      Samson—ALL DAY. Have you seen this guy's fighting résumé? The guy ripped a lion apart with his bare hands and killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. What?! He was the Chuck Norris of ancient Hebrews.

      Luke—We're gonna need a doctor. Plus I just really like Luke.

6

      Peter—Always bold and ready to go. Hopefully I don't have too many leaders or "cooks in the kitchen" as they say. Speaking of cooks, Peter's fisherman abilities would make for some good eating in a post-fast food world.

7

      David—You HAVE to have David. He's tough and brave and knows how to fight hordes of enemies. I should point out the potential for jealousy here because if any lady survivors do end up under our protection I'm guessing that they'll flirt with David instead of me, but I'm willing to deal with that as long as he brings his "A" game.

      Jonah—Let me preface this by saying that I love the story of Jonah and can unfortunately relate to his disobedient, pouting ways. I hope he hangs in there with me, but if we get in a tight spot I'm thinking he'd let me and Jael toss him to the zoms just like he let those sailors toss him overboard. That will buy us some time. He's kind of a fatalist at times anyway and that can bring down overall group morale. And if things do go all bad we can delude ourselves into believing that he could survive in the belly of a zombie since the whole "I got swallowed by a big fish and lived" thing worked out.

What biblical characters would you take on your zombie survival crew?

Clay Morgan is a writer, teacher, and speaker from Pittsburgh, PA who blogs about pop culture, history, and the meaning of life at ClayWrites.com. He is the author of Undead: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn about zombies, God, and what it means to be truly alive.

Zombies (and a vampire) united for Night of the Living Dead Christian

The Wesley Foundation at Stephen F. Austin State University did a fun thing for Night of the Living Dead Christian this year! They were planning to do a study of the book on campus, so to advertise for the study, they dressed up as zombies (and a vampire) and went out on campus, inviting people to sign up for the study in exchange for a chance to win a copy of the book in a raffle.

It sounds like they had a great time, and a good turnout for reading the book together! Here are some pictures sent in by Amanda Mauldin, one of the Wesley Foundation staff:

Undead handing out fliers for a book study. Don't see that every day.

As you can see, people felt excited to sign up when encouraged by zombies.

Red shirts are very enticing for vampires.

I spoke at the Wesley Foundation retreat this spring. We had a great time.
See if you can find me in the picture. 

The thing about being a zombie is that whatever you're wearing, that's your only outfit forever.
It's best if you can go casual and formal simultaneously like this gentleman here.

So happy to be a zombie. 

On further examination, this zombie has two right hands. Amazing!

I really enjoyed spending time with the Wesley Foundation, their ministers as well as their students. We had a great time at their retreat, and (bonus) since it's primarily Methodists, we never had to talk about Calvinism or whether women are allowed to do ministry. Nice!

My 2 year old thinks I look like a movie star. Or... something.

This weekend I was flipping through an issue of Entertainment Weekly with my two-year-old, M, sitting on my lap, when she suddenly slapped her hand down on a page and shouted, "DADDY! THAT"S YOU!" Here's the picture:

I laughed and said, "That's not daddy." I thought it was pretty funny, though, so later I wanted to show Krista and I opened the magazine to that picture, held it up to M and asked, "Who is that, M?" She looked at it, thought for a minute and said, "That's ugly picture." Curses! Foiled again! By my two-year-old!

Wonderful Wednesday: Zombie Bunnies!

Today's Wonderful Wednesday takes us to the land of handmade zombie bunnies. AAAAH! They live! They are so cute! And deadly!

Meeting Doodles #8: StrengthsFinder

My coaching group just went through our StrengthsFinder material and then we tried to figure out what our strengths themes would be... what our strengths would uniquely qualify us to do or be. Here are the results:

Dan Culbertson, zombie killer.

Matt Mikalatos, cage fighter.

Peter Hibbs, pony trainer.

I'll come back and list our strengths and why these unique strengths contribute to us moving toward these excellent vocations.

A Tardy Valentine Tip For the Men

I have been trying to explain to you gentlemen for some time that a quick way to make some points with the ladies is to watch some version of the movie Pride and Prejudice.

Many of you have not heeded my advice. I'm sure this is because the amount of dedication required to watch a movie that is all about relationships, misunderstandings, slavish devotion, imperiled love and the weird girl getting her man is a little too much for you.

Never fear, a new (slightly edited) version of Pride and Prejudice is now available, which will allow you to dazzle your woman. Now you can read... Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!

Note: Please be aware that when your special lady cuddles up against you and asks, honey, what was your favorite moment in Pride and Prejudice? that the correct answer is NOT When Mr. Darcy bit Mr. Wickham in the face. You have been warned!

I Hate Zombies

If there's one shambling monstrosity I could gladly do without, it's those stupid zombies.

A vampire has a certain vicious nobility, and there is a spare beauty in its complete selfishness.

A mummy has honor at least. He curses with complete impartiality and he keeps his word. You disturb him and he'll kill you. I can respect that.

The wolfman you can feel sorry for. The poor idiot has to lock himself up every full moon, and fight against his deep desire to disembowel people.

Then there's the zombie. Stupid, limping, nasty, flesh-eating imbeciles. They're the lowest common denominator of monsters. They're nothing but a mockery of life and resurrection. It's dumb. Their limbs fall off and retain locomotion. They are dead but they breathe enough to say UUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHNNNNNN. The smart ones can say things like, "Brains." It doesn't even make sense how they move. No heart beating or anything, no blood pumping (unless you kill them for some reason). They're always sneaking up on people and chewing on them. They're not only stupid, they're impolite.

Some people think the best thing you can do for a zombie is to kill it. I say that's too good for a zombie. I like to ignore them completely. So a zombie comes straggling into a grocery store, crying for brains, I just walk calmly past it and get my produce. Stupid zombie doesn't even know to chase you unless you scream and run.

Everybody hates a zombie. And I don't even feel bad writing this because the dumb zombies can't even read. There's always a chance that Dracula might stumble across your blog and have his feelings hurt.

Sometimes I wait until a zombie is all calm and sleepy like and I sneak up on it and balance stuff on it. Like that website, Stuff On My Cat. Only I do it with zombies. I like to dress them up like cowboys and ballerinas. So if you see a collection of zombie cowboys wandering through your streets tonight, you'll know I've been around.