(Yesterday, the server at Stuff Christians Like just quit. Monday’s post about the new book I wrote was the largest traffic day in SCL’s 2 year history and the server cried like an NFL player dumped by a Kardashian. We’re upgrading the server as we speak and posting a comment takes about 7 seconds to load right now but it should work. In the meantime, below is the post we didn’t get to see. And if it ever happens again, you can get updates by following me on Twitter.)

Last night on Twitter, I felt like the Stuff Christians Like bat signal lit up.

Out of nowhere, about 10 different people linked me to a new site and essentially said, Prodigaljohn has to talk about this. When I went to the site, I realized that other bloggers had already talked about it. Months ago.

So on second thought, it wasn’t like the bat signal was lit. It was more like the Nightwing signal was lit, the superhero Robin became after he broke up with Batman. (Why didn’t I date much in high school? Girls like comic book knowledge right? Ladies?)

The site my friends linked me to was billed as offering a Christian version of Twitter. Being somewhat of an expert on Christians taking popular secular ideas and putting a God spin on them, four thoughts instantly jumped into my head:

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The other night while we were driving around, my 7 year old L.E. piped up in the back seat and said, ìOh look, thereís one of those Happy Him doughnut places.î

Since weíve only lived in Nashville for a few months, I thought it might be possible that there was in fact a doughnut place called ìHappy Him.î Itís a fairly good description of the general doughnut audience (Him) and how you want to leave them after theyíve sampled your wares (Happy).

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Traditionally, you only release one book per year. There are exceptions, but there are generally 12 months between book releases. Stuff Christians Like came out in April, so itís only been out for seven months. We thought that maybe weíd release a second book in the spring or fall of 2011.

But then I joined Dave Ramseyís team and one day a coworker named Daniel Bell suggested we do an additional book. He thought it might be cool to create a funny, visually surprising book that covered all of the silly things that happen to people when it comes to money. Weíd still focus on releasing a book in the spring that had elements of Serious Wednesday in it, but could we do a bonus book in between?

Inside, I thought, ìThatís crazy. Concept, write, illustrate and finish a book in 10 weeks? Who does that?î

And then I remembered, Dave Ramsey does. This entire company is built on the idea of saying, ìWe do,î when faced with impossible ideas and the question, ìWho does that?î

So we did.

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A few weeks ago when I was in Mexico, someone challenged me to eat an entire thing of queso in one bite.

One bite? How is that even possible? It’s all gooey and barely “spoonable.” You don’t really “bite it.”

Ahh, but this one had congealed. It had hardened into a hockey puck of cheese. It was one thick disc of cheese in a bowl. And at the other end of the table, I heard one friend tell the other that he’d never eat that just to win $40.

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Last week, I spoke in San Diego about the impact of Christ in the Denzel Washington movie, “Man on Fire.” And for the most part it was a pretty good experience.

Why just, “for the most part?”

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We’re doing a fun, quick project with Samaritan’s Purse. The person who creates the most fantastical shoebox and donates it to Operation Christmas Child will win a big box of awesome. Publishers like Waterbrook Multnomah and tons of musicians and t-shirt companies and many others are jam packing this thing with great prizes. (If you want to get your item in the box and get some love on SCL, email me.)

But how do you build a shoebox? You can find great info here, or watch the quick video below. Please note, when the video talks about wrapping the box, that’s where you can get crazily creative to win the giveaway or you can focus on awesome items in the box. The video is also from Australia and has the wrong date in it. You can email a photo of your entry by November 17 to OCCcontests@samaritan.org. And then drop it off at one of these easy locations.

Last year, readers of Stuff Christians Like raised $60,000 to build two kindergartens with Samaritan’s Purse. It was amazing experience and reminded me why our family has supported that organization for years.

This Christmas we’re going to do something different.

We’re going to do the Stuff Christians Like Big Box Giveaway. (Or SCLBBG)

What’s that?

Simple, we’re going to hold a contest to see who can come up with the most creative, awesomest, fantastical shoebox with Samaritan’s purse. Operation Christmas Child collects shoeboxes full of stuff to give away to kids all over the world every Christmas. They’ve given away 77 million shoeboxes since 1993. But I told Franklin Graham that Stuff Christians Like readers would create the most creative shoeboxes they’ve ever seen. (I didn’t tell Franklin that personally, I was just being dramatic. But I would tell it to him if we ever played racquetball or ate a pizza together. I would.)

The shoeboxes are distributed to over 100 countries to victims of poverty, war, disease and natural disaster.

To participate, take an empty shoe box and fill it with toys, hygiene items, school supplies, candy and items that are gender and age specific according to the category you select on the packing label. For more info check out this list. (Samaritan’s Purse includes a Gospel story booklet with each box. Most shoe box recipients will have an opportunity to enroll in a 12-lesson discipleship course through the local church called The Greatest Journey)

When you’ve filled and designed and bedazzled the ultimate box, email a photo of it: OCCcontests@samaritan.org

Let’s accept entries until November 17 so that you have time to actually drop it off and send it out. My family will also be participating so maybe if you’re in Nashville we could all go drop them off together and grab coffee.

The best box is going to win a huge box of awesome stuff from me. CDs, autographed books, clothes etc. (If you’ve got a book or CD or anything else awesome you want to throw in the box, email me.)

I think it’s going to be fun and I’m excited about partnering with Samaritan’s Purse again.

For more info or to find a drop off box near you, visit Samaritan’s Purse.

(I didn’t grow up listening to what might be classified as “devil music.” I grew up on Public Enemy and LL Cool J. (Obviously.) But today, Joe Waller drops by with a great guest post about that infamous music parents the world over classified as “devil music.” Enjoy.)

Listening to Devil Music

“Hi. My name is Joe, and I listen to heavy metal music.” This simple statement has the power to affect the masses in very dramatic ways. If said around the older crowd at church, I’d expect looks of shock, horror, and maybe even a fainting or heart attack.

If said around a group of friends who view me as the sheltered church kid, then looks of confusion take over as they wonder what’s gone wrong in the world to turn me over to the dark side of music. If said around my parents, I see the “I don’t understand” shaking of heads as they go back to their Phil Keaggy and Sandi Patty. Yes, this simple confession of interest can yield very different responses. Most of which are opposed to such music.

The confusion stems in part from us not having an agreed upon definition of “devil music.” Here are 8 indications that you may in fact be listening to it:

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At a wedding recently I experienced the musical equivalent of a unicorn.

I would have taken pictures but it would have been weird if everyone was turned to look at the bride and I was taking pictures of the organ player. (Organist? Organneer? Not really sure.)

At this point in church music, I kind of assumed that organ players are an endangered species. Similar to how National Geographic will show you a profile of the Snow Leopard with a red dot in Tibet where they inhabit, I expected that Christianity Today would do the same thing with organ players, showing that their natural habitat is the Bible Belt and that there numbers are dwindling.

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We’re announcing a big, crazy, fun thing on Saturday. It will involve giving away a huge “box of awesome.” If you’ve got something awesome like a book, a CD, a t-shirt, coffee, etc. that you want to put in the big box of awesome email me. We’ll feature it in a post on Stuff Christians Like and let the 150,000+ awesome folks who read each month know you’re awesome for helping out.

Thanks!

Side hugs and a gratuitous use of the word awesome,

Jon