Wednesday Link List

First, here are some stories that ran at PARSE last week that you never saw here:

• Your Moment in the (Local) Spotlight – In all the leadership articles I’ve combed, I’ve never seen this topic discussed, even though it is often a part of ministry life for local pastors and leaders: “At this time of year there are a myriad of opportunities to speak on local radio, and now even on local television channels. I was fortunate enough to do a media training course as part of my ordination training… If you are on for 2 or 3 minutes (a typical interview format) you might only have five sentences in total. Time flies on air! So decide what is most important, and get that in first. If you leave your most important point to second or third place, you might never get to say it…” In total ten solid pieces of advice.
• The Gay Wedding Cake Challenge Moving Forward – “A Christian printer from Northern Ireland who came under fire for refusing to print a gay magazine is backing proposals for a conscience clause in the Province. Last year, Nick Williamson said he could not print a publication because its sexually explicit images would go against his Christian faith. But the magazine’s editor obtained legal advice and the case was referred to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. Williamson supports the plans to amend equality legislation to introduce a conscience clause. The proposals were prompted by the case of Ashers Baking Company, which is facing court for declining to produce a pro-gay marriage campaign cake.” The goal is to create a situation “where everybody’s rights can be upheld and balanced.”
• There’s No Such Thing as Mental Illness – Voddie Baucham is a popular speaker and pastor of Grace Baptist in Spring, Texas. According to a recent sermon transcript, he stated, “Psychology and psychiatry — and they’re not the same thing, one’s a medical doctor who goes to medical school, a psychiatrist, gets a medical degree, k? And they can dispense drugs, and, and that’s pretty much all they do, just dispense drugs and [unintelligible] drugs — and the other one, a psychologist, you don’t go to medical school, that’s a complete different degree, k? But in both instances, psychology and psychiatry have never cured anyone of anything.” There’s a lot more of this on the transcript, as well as, on the same website, a personal response.
• Redefining Reaching the World – “For decades, missionaries did not consider a people group “reached” until 20 percent of the population was considered ‘evangelical.’ Today, the statistical benchmark is 2 percent. What brought about this change of definition? And how has it impacted missions strategies? Dr. Robin Hadaway, professor of missions at Midwestern Seminary recently wrote an essay for the Southwestern Journal of Theology, in which he recommends a “course-correction” away from the two-percent threshold and back to something like 10 or 20 percent….The needs of unreached peoples to hear the gospel must remain an important factor in making these decisions, and yet Hadaway believes other criteria should be considered, including the receptivity of a people.” Trevin Wax reports on changes taking place, then offers, “I have misgivings about setting an arbitrary percentage for ‘reachedness,’ whether high or low. Every country or people group is different, with various needs and histories.”
• When You Share Your Building with an Ethnic Church – One main issue for three Lincoln, Nebraska churches sharing First Baptist’s building had to do with the role of children in worship. “Jiang says the reason the Karen and Chinese worried so much was because, to them, the English congregation was kind of the leader of the whole church: it was their building, and they had been there the longest. ‘…the relationship is kind of like guest and host.’ No one ever said anything about their concerns — until a few months ago.” Text and audio at National Public Radio.
• The Amish Television Interview – Although it’s a lot like the news reports where a whistle-blower is interviewed in silhouette, it is an actual eleven-minute video documentary of Amish life narrated by a carpenter and father of eight children. “Very, very few outsiders join the Amish, as far as leaving… there’s probably ten or fifteen percent that leave the Amish… they want their conveniences, their car and phone and things like that… If we are here as a pilgrim, traveling through this world for a better land then the less earthly possessions we cling to, the better off we are.”
• Leadership Trials and Tribulations – “Someone who is not performing well on the team. You’ve warned them numerous times. They have exhausted their chances with you. You’re at the point where you believe it would be better for them to leave the organization. Before you release them (which is one of the hardest things a leader has to do)… Have one more meeting.” Ron Edmondson on the meeting before the last meeting.
• No Staff Christmas Party Here – “Pope Francis issued a blistering critique Monday of the Vatican bureaucracy that serves him, denouncing some officials who lust for power at all costs and suffer from ‘spiritual Alzheimer’s’ that has made them forget they are supposed to be joyful men of God. The pontiff’s Christmas greeting to the cardinals, bishops and priests who run the Holy See was no joyful exchange of holiday good wishes. Rather, it was a sobering catalog of 15 sins of the Curia that Francis said he hoped would be atoned for and cured in the New Year.”

Christmas List Lynx arrives just in time to wish you a Happy New Year.

Today we have an economy edition of the link list, as we’ve been given the week off by our PARSE overlords.

• This week’s tempest in a Tweet-pot concerns a Twitter post by Ed Stetzer that sparked outrage among Calvinists, that opened up the whole can of worms that is LifeWay retail, and sparked a very active Twitter hashtag, #the15.
  
• Essay of the Week: It’s like the Separation Clause versus Free Speech in the case of a sixth-grader invited to a faith-based event in California.
• It’s a top ten plus one in this list of the defining events in 2014 in the ongoing Christian LGBT conversation.
• Leadership Lessons: When pastors play their trump card, or use their veto.
• You’ll have to move really fast on this one, but if you want to top up your 2014 donations, and are looking for suggestions, Brad Lomenick has 17 organizations he recommends supporting.
• For your consideration: Contemporary worship services have eliminated the act of individual and corporate confession of sin.
• Mars Hill Seattle: It’s not over ’til that fat preacher sings. Okay! Not fair! The Daniel Plan author Rick Warren is all about weight loss, but he did deliver the final sermon at the various campuses of Mark Driscoll’s former church. Watch all 45 minutes.
• Andy Stanley: “Imagine where the Church would be if this was typical.”
• …But windowless churches like Andy’s are killing the stained glass window business.
• While it may have seemed that every weekend this year another faith-flavored movie was at the local cinema, it was also a good year for Hinduism at the box office.
• When it comes to Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper; would Jesus deny certain people participation?
• Even if you caught our review collection for Exodus: God and Kings, here’s one pastor’s detailed review.
• For worship leaders who struggle with compiling a weekly song list, Graham Kendrick suggests Psalm Surfing.
• A true inside look at Christo Redento, the Rio statue we know as Christ the Redeemer.
• While Pope Francis made a lot of headlines in 2014, here are 5 stories that got way too much attention.
• One of the two NYPD officers slain this month will posthumously receive the degree in Religion he was working toward at a Christian college.
• Huffington Post’s Religion People of the Year are the various members of the clergy who stood together with the Ferguson protesters.
• Another anti-modern-worship piece, this one objects to seeing the worship time “as an encounter with God.”
• Calvinists Anonymous: A 38 minute podcast where one pastor lists the reasons he had to exit.
• Loved this line: “But Mark Driscoll, you haven’t even given us a chance to miss you . . . ” (See third item.)
• If someone in your church comes out as gay, and you don’t like that, you could always just beat the crap out of them.
• After 87 years, Canada’s Bethany College is closing in 2015.
  
• The challenge of religious accommodation: “This is the third widely reported incident in the last few months in which ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have delayed a flight by asking to be segregated from women.”
  
• In Sweden, the use of arson against places of worship has targeted Islamic sites.
• Mark Batterson bought a castle. (Thought we’d just leave that one as is…)
• Weird Video of the Week: Is this beautiful art or something deeply disturbing?
• Twitter-er of the Week: The fake Ann Voskamp poster. (Start at the oldest posts.)
• Congrats to Adam and Bethany, Team Soul Surfer, for a respectable 3rd place finish on series 25 of The Amazing Race.