Wednesday Link List

Welcome to the Link List. Beware of the Dog:

My wife took that picture while standing about five feet away. It never budged. As to the little home decor item at right, it’s an actual item made by Heartfelt, Inc. Can I put you down for a dozen of them?

This week a big shout-out to all the radio guys who check us out every Wednesday for program material. You can watch for our invoice in the mail.

• Shane Claiborne was among the 18 arrested in Tuesday’s protest against the death penalty at the Supreme Court according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch. More details appeared in the National Law Journal.
• Essay of the Week (with videos): A look at the youth worship phenomenon and its potential alternatives.
• Another Must-Read: Six things to consider to ensure we get evangelism right.
• According to Danielle Shroyer, author of Original Blessing: Putting Sin in its Rightful Place, Jesus didn’t believe in original sin and neither did the early church. An interview with the author.
• While many churches face declining numbers, Iglesia Ni Cristo is in a major growth spurt with their newest location, a former Calvary Chapel opening in Silicon Valley. (40 Local churches in Northern California alone.)
• Phil Vischer Podcast guest this week is Brandon O’Brien, author of Paul Behaving Badly. (Interview starts about halfway through, though the banter segment is enhanced by the live audience.)
• Quotation of the Week: “No Sunday School teacher ever explained that the young girl Esther was being trafficked for sex when she was rounded up with other young virgins for the king’s harem.” This is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. 
• A new law in Nigeria would require pastors to step down after 20 years or on reaching age 70. In Evangelicalism, 90% of pastors would be affected.
  
• Russell Moore kicks of Signposts, a new podcast. The 13-minute first episode explains the podcast name which is different than the “end-times almanac” you might be assuming. 
• Past an awkward headline, this article challenges the local church to set priorities in 2017 while the world rapidly changes.
  
• Getting Church History Right: Reformation 500 isn’t necessarily the 500th anniversary of Protestantism.
• Doctrinal Article of the Week: Ten things you should know about sanctification. 
• Theologian and author John Sailhamer has died. (He’s featured in tributes all this week at Internet Monk.)
  
• Bishop Eddie Long has died.
• “Some glad morning when this life is over…” How Christianity has shifted from what the early church believed about the afterlife.
• Why take the oath of office to be the President with a hand on one Bible when you can have your hands on two? 
• Annual Report: Though I’m of a different tribe, it’s interesting to read the various issues The Catholic League tackled in 2016.
  
• Leadership Lessons: Shepherds need shepherding. A look at accountability.
• At age 82, this former priest is now a Spanish Bible translator.
• Worship Workshop (1): “I yearn for a model that resists the evolutionary cycles of culture. A model that doesn’t borrow music from any culture, but instead creates transcendent music suitable to the full range of more-or-less constant affections reflected in the worship liturgies of the whole Bible…”
• Worship Workshop (2): Balancing creativity and simplicity when it comes to starting a new year with new ideas and new songs.
• Mormon Leaks: Insights into the salaries of the group’s upper echelon. Do you think these numbers are high or low?
• Short Devotional: Based on the song Chain Breaker.
• They like Jesus, but not Paul.
• Christianity in Africa: A few weeks ago it was a pesticide spray. Now a pastor has his congregants drinking engine fluid.
• Well, that’s a first: Youth Pastor jokes on The Tonight Show. (The comedian is developing a related series for ABC.) 
• I deferred to the better writer in the family to describe this one. He came up with, “An interesting look at the implications of the creation account presented as secular culture-critiquing parody.”
  
• Canada’s most listened-to and most controversial religious radio guy, Drew Marshall returns to the air on Saturday at 1:00 PM EST after nearly half a year.
• A new Young Influencers List is out. (Does Brad do a ‘Where are they now’ feature?) 
• Facebook Page of the Week: Not sure what to make of Christian Horror Book Stores and Google Maps can’t trace the address. 
• Keeping Score: James Emery White checks out 2016 predictions that didn’t come true.
  

…and yes it’s true. Skye Jethani was part of the cast of Puzzle Place. We offer a screenshot as proof.