why, yes, this is a statue of lenin, mickey mouse and jesus, walking hand in hand. do you find that odd or something?

c’mon with the captions, baby.

(thanks to rob craig for sending this via email, after he saw it on matthew paul turner’s blog)

and the winner is…

sorry, didn’t get to listing “contenders” this time around. there were a handful that made me chuckle or had a superior level of wit to them. but my two favorites, honestly, were:

Jeff Lilley’s
…each with a kingdom vision.

and
adam mclane’s
This statue is bestowed on megachurch pastors once they hit 10,000 in average weekly attendance. The motto on the bottom reads, “Rule with an iron fist, create a fantasy world, and teach them to walk like Jesus-ish.”

as you should assume, adam is slightly more than 100% ineligible, since, you know, we have a shared bank account and all.

that means: jeff lilly! you are a cham-peen! unfortunately, i didn’t actually offer a prize this time around (oops — forgot about that), so this wild and crazy level of congratulations constitutes the entirety of your prize. enjoy it!

i was there, at the national youth workers convention, when matlock asked everyone to take out their smart phones and record the david crowder band playing this song. then, everyone was instructed how to upload their videos. and those were pieced into this bit of wonderment. love it.

alert whyismarko reader hans shaffer sent me this pic he took in hungary. yup, i’m going global, baby. hans suggested it would make a good photo in need of a caption, and i tend to agree. bring it. the winner gets a copy of my new book for parents when it releases in mid-december, Understanding Your Young Teen.

CONTENDERS

sorry rev mjc, i’ve heard “marko polo” my entire life.

Matthew McNutt
Marko: Hey Adam, check out our new Cartel HQ!
Adam: Um …
Marko: I know, right? Amazing!
Adam: Dude, where’s my name?

e. sutter
Rick Perry’s third government agency…

Coop
Artist’s rendering of Marko’s dream home

(not eligible to win, but funny…)
adam mclane
In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Oestreicher expressed his disappointment in the size of the banner in comparative size to the rest of the building. “When I spoke in Budapest, they wrapped the entire Mattias Church, including all of the tiny spires, in a plastic rendition of my book Youth Ministry 3.0. While I appreciate the effort the people of Bulgaria went to with the banner. They could have at least covered all of the columns.”

(made me think of the stonehenge scene in spinal tap…)
pbj
Marko to intern:
I thought “inches” was understood when we were talking about bigger name tags

Andrew Seely
IKEA headquarters announces it’s new product line of push pins. (plastic parts and sharp parts sold seperately)

Dennis
“Occupy Bulgaria led by infamous cartel leader”

Gman
In the midst of scandal – Penn State changes its name.

brian aaby
Bulgarians believe in the sign gifts.

and the winner is…
coming in late but strong, i’m giving it to brian aaby, for Bulgarians believe in the sign gifts. nice, brian. you get a copy of my new book when it releases in a few weeks (if you want it!).

that title, that new word i saw somewhere recently, that’s my whole post. it’s my favorite new word, this mash-up of procrastination and relaxing (or chillaxing, already a mash-up itself!), because it so perfectly captures my primary methodology for waisting time in order to put things off.

yes, i’m procrastilaxing.

tic long sent me a link this morning, rightly mentioning it was ripe with potential for fun.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Southern Baptist Convention is considering changing its name.
SBC President Bryant Wright said Monday that he’s appointing a task force to study the idea. Wright says the name is too regional and creates challenges as the denomination tries to grow.

the article goes on to say that they’re calling for ideas. so, hey, how about we pitch in!

be nice, but not too nice.

maybe you heard, or maybe not, but a public employee in arizona did something yesterday afternoon that caused a series of events to trickle through the electrical grid, resulting in a complete power from the bottom of orange county south to an hour into mexico, and east all the way to yuma arizona. all of san diego county was completely without power (and other counties also). it was crazy. thanks, arizona. power for us came back on in the middle of the night.

but yesterday was also the first day of my new san diego cohort of the youth ministry coaching program.

so, when the power went out and we had no lights or air (and the church we meet in was locking up), we moved to a park:

and, when my kids didn’t feel like sleeping in their hot bedrooms without a fan, they choose to sleep on the front lawn!

crazy stuff.

amazing shot today, calling for your creative captioninging. bring it:

(photo thanks to likecool.com)

CONTENDERS!

Kirk Moore
It smells like ash.

Caroline
Maybe next time, think about having something besides the bean burrito, please.

Eric
“George, turn around. I think I left the iron on…”

Rob
Elijah: 1, prophets of Baal: 0

Matt
A screenshot from every Michael Bay movie ever

jeremy street
Lintzilla!

Jeff Baxter
Another Youth Event Complete. Time to Head Home.

Kurt J
Why “Blue Flames” around the campfire are never a good idea.

Dave Wollan
the Jeep is the 9th horcrux!

and the winner is…

Rob
Elijah: 1, prophets of Baal: 0

some great ones this time, but rob’s brought an audible chuckle when i read it.

i’ve had this photo in need of a caption sitting in the bottom of my drafts since april of 2009. seriously. it was originally sent to me by tyler hagan (i only know that because i’d written that much of the post back in 2009!). now, well fermented and aged in oak barrels, it’s ready for the light of day. bring on the captions. best one gets your choice of prizes:

a. a big attaboy (or attagirl)
b. a complimentary space in the youth ministry coaching program (program fee not included)
c. lunch with me, my treat (transportation, accommodations and all other expenses, save for the actual food, not included)

THE CREAM OF THE CROP…

Eric Carter
Years of rolling barrels and stealing princesses leaves a once famous Donkey Kong immobilized and alone.

Brian Pengelly
Proof that not all youth pastors become senior pastors by 40!

Paul
Planet of the Apes the golden years.

Rob
another Twitter photo of Anthony Weiner surfaces…

Rob
scooter rides with Scopes at the Unitarian VBS.

Eric Smith
Like many child stars before him, curious George bares the damage of years of wild living with little or no parental guidance.

Chris Saulnier
Grandpa?

Matt
The Fast and The Curious

and the weiner is…

this was a tough call. a few made me snort or laugh out loud. rob’s “scooter rides with scopes at the unitarian VBS” was hilarious. but for sheer brilliance, i’m going to give it to matt and his “The Fast and The Curious”. that’s some intelligent wit there, matt. props to you. pick your prize!

on monday mornings, i normally try to have a substantive blog post. but, due to a weekend that was both relaxing and full, that didn’t happen this week. so i will unapologetically go with this most-amazing photo caption.

let me get the obvious caption out of the way:

NINJA PIG!

ok. now, you provide the better captions, and i’ll pick a winner. the honor of winning this baby is beyond words, baby.

CONTENDERS

chris
“Richard was about to find out that selling Mary Kay just wasn’t his thing.”

Dennis
Mmm.. Bacon

Russ
Tic’s new position as executive pastor is a lot different than he expected.
(marko comment: this is FANTASTIC)

Sean Meade
Bibleman’s arch nemesis

Todd L.
“Quick! To the Wienermobile!”
(marko comment: also quite funny!)

pbj
deleted scene from the Jesus film (youth version): Demon Pigs from Matthew 8:32

Josh
If only he had read the sign earlier that said “wolf convention ahead”.

leslie
oh grandmother, what large nostrils you have…
(marko comment: so fantastically random!)

Tim Mauriello
Worst. Harry Potter costume. Ever.

Jeff Moulton
Survivor: Arkansas

and the wiener is…

tough call — and runner-up mentions to
Todd L.
“Quick! To the Wienermobile!”
Jeff Moulton
Survivor: Arkansas

but i’m going to call the winner as…
Russ
Tic’s new position as executive pastor is a lot different than he expected.

i’m developing and general editing a bible for young adults (17 – 30 years old), which will release in the spring of 2012. it’s a MAJOR undertaking, as i’m working with more than 125 writers and 6 photographers to create about 450 extra-biblical bits (book intros, a small amount of commentary/application, lots of personal narratives and other bits, as well as 146 artistic black-and-white photos to illustrate some of the pieces. the project started with a consulting meeting in december of 2009. i developed the concepts in the spring of 2010, and we signed the contract and launched the project last september. my 11 deadlines began in january, and i’m currently editing the content for the 6th deadline — so i’m a little over halfway finished. it’s really shaping up to be an amazing project.

but i had a challenging little problem in the last month that would have been almost impossible prior to the age of the internet.

i was trying to find a photo to illustrate a “lament” about child soldiers. for most of my photo needs, i’m working with a gifted group of about 6 photographers. i send them a list of themes for each deadline, and they give me thumbnails to consider. i received a couple submissions for this theme, but neither was a photo of an actual child soldier (both were shots of cute kids dressed up like soldiers). it felt like too weighty of a topic to treat cutely. so i contacted a major christian ministry that works in the area of child soldiers. i offered them a small licensing fee, and even said we would print a QR code right in the bible, giving hundreds of thousands of young adult readers a link to their site. but they wanted more money, and i didn’t have the budget for it. that was extremely frustrating, to say the least.

here’s where my friend, the interwebs, came in to save the day.

i search on flickr for “child soldier”. on about page 10 of images, just as i was about to give up, i found a few wonderful images that seemed like a fit. i clicked over to the photographer’s page, and from there to his website. drat: the guy is french, and his website (even with google chrome’s translation function) was pretty much impossible for me to use. i went back to his flickr site and tried to find the photo i’d seen in the search. but he had over 800 pages of photos, and i wasn’t finding it.

i sent him an email, asking if he spoke english. he responded in very broken english that he didn’t. then my daughter tipped me off to dictionary.com’s great translation tab. i started emailing the photographer back and forth, putting my responses through the english to french translation before sending them, and his french responses through the french to english translator. within a couple days (with the time change, responses were always next day), i had an agreed license fee and a hi-res image. now i just have to get the publisher to wire him the fee!

sure couldn’t have found this solution a decade ago. i heart the internet.

(i’d show you the image, but i don’t have a license for that! but you can see it here.)