Wednesday Link List

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• Essay of the Week: A must-read from a Millennial Generation writer on why 59% of his peers have dropped out of church. On each of 12 points, author Sam Eaton offers solutions.
  
• Dialog of the Week: Internet Monk’s Chaplain Mike talks to “a concerned Christian” about “allowing Gays” to attend the church. 
• Media Watch: Who is reading Christian books? Watching Christian television? Attending Christian movies? The percentage of non-Christians is surprising. 
• The bad news: Scot McKnight on signs of Evangelicalism’s demise.
  
• How much should the pastor get paid? “30 percent of pastors have student loan debt averaging $36,000.” Should that be a factor? …
• …On the same topic, this study of American and Canadian churches. 
• An advocate for those who have suffered abuse in the church pleads with publisher David C. Cook to stop selling books by Tullian Tchividjian.
  
• A conference at Liberty U. next month is under fire because of two of the invited speakers. (A shorter summary at Christian Post.)
• Are they false teachers? Or just a bit confused? Or maybe just totally lacking in discernment? Perhaps we need the discernment before we use the false term too quickly.
• Godbey. Worsley. Sawyer. Worrell. Recognize any of them? They’re alternative versions of the New Testament that you won’t find elsewhere. (Check out the pull-down menu.)
• Speaking of different versions, let’s talk about wineskins. Why is that in each of the synoptic gospels, Jesus seems to be saying something quite different?
  
• Trending in education in the UK: “Muslim pupils outnumber Christian children in more than 30 church schools.” The reason? “Muslim parents are sending their children to Christian schools to prepare them for ‘life in modern Britain.'”
• ♫ New Release Today presents seven powerful worship songs on video… ♫ 
• ♫ …If you like that, you might also like NRT’s modern hymns video collection. ♫
  
• Bible Quiz! Well, actually it’s a New Testament Apocrypha Quiz. Ten questions. You should easily beat my score.  
• Kari Jobe shares the story of what was going on her life as she recorded her new album, The Garden.
  
• You wanted to know: Why the Baptismal Font has eight sides.
  
• In yet another “gay wedding cake” case, a Washington state Christian florist who was ruled against by nine judges in that state’s Supreme Court now stands to lose her life savings. (Well, you know the saying…) 
• Quotation of the Week: “American evangelicalism has invented pious fictions like “the Roman Road” and the Four Spiritual Laws and the “prosperity doctrine” because they promise everything and ask next to nothing in return. A nod of assent and an eternity in heaven is ours.” A Baptist News look at N. T. Wright. 
• Women’s Words: Liz Curtis Higgs guests at Ann Voskamp’s site. On loss: “…we could not save him and arrived too late to say good-bye. Even now, years later, the missed opportunity and the tragic loss still weigh heavily on our hearts. It’s an ache that never goes away, a missing piece that can’t be replaced…” (Be sure to read the whole piece, there are many photos by Ann throughout the article.)
  
• This Episcopal church has no paid clergy, so lay people do some preaching. (1 min. video)  
• Whatever it is that Andy Stanley’s planning to say to his congregation this Sunday, it won’t be streamed live or rebroadcast that day.
  
• I found this at an apologetics blog which was new to me, God from the Machine. This recent article looks at Askton Kutcher, Sex Trafficking and the common thinking that sex is morally neutral.
  
• Marriage Matters: One of the best articles on midlife crisis you’ll read, I promise.
• Preaching Place: Rehashing the sermon on the drive home often brings discouragement to clergy. Here’s 7 Things to remember if you think you just laid an egg.
• I thought this was a post-Christian period we’re in. This free, all-day Saturday symposium at Biola University is titled Art in a Post-Secular Age. (March 4th) 
• The story continues: “On Monday [2/13], Saeed Abedini pleaded guilty in Ada County Magistrate Court to violation of a restraining order taken out by his estranged wife, Naghmeh.” The judge “sentenced Abedini, 36, to 180 days in jail but suspended all but five days.”
• Catholic Corner: A French priest with rather outspoken views on abuse now faces charges himself…
• …While in another part of France, a priest declares that God wanted him to live with a woman he had fallen in love with.
  
• No, not the south. Racism is alive and well in the northeast as well. 
• Another great Phil Vischer Podcast, this time with former Christian radio personality Melinda Schmidt.
  
• Is Foy a common name? It took me awhile to track down what this new book is all about. 
• ♫ Gospel Grammy winners this year included songs as performed by Tamela Mann, Hillary Scott, Kirk Franklin, and Joey + Rory. The full list, with nominees is at grammy.com …
• … Because it’s that first name, Tamela Mann, that readers here may be least familiar with, give a listen to Grammy winning song God Provides. (Kirk Franklin wrote this which means he won twice, as did Hillary Scott.) ♫ 
• Non-Music Video of the Week: The Gift of Cerebral Palsy. I encourage you to stay with all 6 minutes of this. 
• Book Excerpt: Cosmopolitan offers the story of Joey + Rory’s proposal from the book This Life I Live.
  
• John Piper Nude Selfies! Oh wait… it’s an article by John Piper on why you shouldn’t send nude selfies.
• Provocative Headline of the Week: Elmo Goes to Church – What Sesame Street Can Teach Us About Worship.
• A North Carolina Baptist pastor is worked up over American Girl releasing a boy character doll. (Don’t tell him about G.I. Joe.)
• Finally, let’s face it. Some people go to church to meet people of the opposite sex. But in Nairobi, scantily dressed single ladies are targeting married men, and the wives are having to be extra vigilant.
  

The item in our top and bottom image was found in a candy store and originates with LaughRat.com (viewer discretion advised).