So here we are today with just eight months left to Christmas and I haven’t bought you a thing. It’s been a crazy week up here. Our little ministry is actually organized as a commercial business — why, I can’t remember — which means the Canadian income tax deadline hits us on April 30th like a ton of bricks. (We can’t afford to pay an actual accountant, nor can we use tax computer software. The process involves copious amounts of Wite-Out and liberal doses of almost-swearing.) So we were doing that, plus this, plus trying to sort out a number of other situations not worth mentioning here.
► The Assemblies of God denomination has elected its first female General Secretary. The presbytery “unanimously elected Donna L. Barrett to serve as the 11th general secretary of the U.S. Fellowship. With this election, the 21-member executive board fills the unexpired term of James T. Bradford, following his midterm resignation to pursue full-time pastoral ministry at Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri.” She’s been a youth pastor and a church planter. General Superintendent Doug Clay stated that, ““While Donna was not selected on the basis of her gender, I know this moment will be meaningful for many women who feel God’s calling on their lives.” The AOG press release noted that “Barrett will serve as the first woman on the Assemblies of God Executive Leadership Team.”
► Monday’s mile of mayhem in Toronto took place not far from where my oldest son lives. We’ve seen this happen in U.S. cities, but now it strikes closer to home.
► Why are Christian academic institutions churning out graduates with PhDs in theology when the job market is terrible? This author calls it morally irresponsible. “Tell the students that they should have a solid Plan B and then tell them to make it their Plan A. Teaching overseas is a possibility. Pastoring, unfortunately, seems to be the default option, but they should get out of their heads the naive, idealistic fantasy of the scholar-pastor, delivering publishable sermons to an eager congregation. Don’t kid yourself: apart from rare cases, by pastoring you’re leaving scholarship behind, and woe to the frustrated PhD who tries to turn his/her church into an ersatz classroom.”
► One week ago today (4/18) a 50-year old Roman Catholic priest was stabbed to death in Mexico. But this is even more disturbing: “He is the 22nd priest killed in Mexico during the current administration, which began in 2012, according to the Catholic Multimedia Center. It said Mexico leads Latin America in the killing of priests.”
► Mystery of the Week: Significant staff departures at Religion News Service. (Leading to this.)
► Watchdog blogger Warren Throckmorton says everyone who has or is contributing to Gospel for Asia needs to read this report of a February federal hearing into the organization’s finances.
► Rewriting a widely used liturgical resource: “Proposals to incorporate marriage rites used by same-sex couples into the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) of the Episcopal Church in the United States will increase pressure in the Church of England to “dissociate” itself, the secretary general of the Archbishops’ Council, William Nye, has warned. In a letter to the Episcopal Church’s Task Force on the Study of Marriage, which has produced the proposals, Mr Nye writes that… the Episcopal Church could face ‘calls for more, and more stringent, consequences’ if it authorizes new rites.”
► Sadly, the case against Bill Hybels intensifies with new allegations. Also… the letter (4/20) the WC elders sent to the church community.
► After so many stories of crosses being taken down in government buildings and public spaces, how about the opposite? “A cross will be hanging in all Bavarian government authority buildings from June 1, following a decision by the state cabinet. The symbol is meant to signal a Christian cultural identity, according to Bavarian Minister President Markus Söder. ‘The cross is not the sign of a religion,’ he said after the cabinet meeting.
► File this one away and see if comes up anytime again: The phrase, ‘Prince of the Church.’ “[Friedrich] Schleiermacher chooses the term carefully, demurring from ‘Father of the Church’ as a possibility, because it is already used in a stipulated sense (i.e. of certain figures from the ancient church); but, like that term, Schleiermacher’s new term does not indicate some sort of office, and is the furthest thing from clericalism. though the prince of the church wields authority, it is authority of an informal kind: the authority of understanding, prudence, and piety.”
► A documentary film has Hillsong, TobyMac and Bethel Music in its sights in this half hour Australian production, “New Age Christianity Infiltrating the Church.”
► At the movies, at least in the UK, is the film Two Crowns. It’s based on the life of a man who, as a prisoner in Auswich, has probably turned up as a sermon illustration in your church at least once. [Or, watch the trailer.]
► Trending? In a mobile phone, laptop world does a pastor need a physical office anymore? Here are six reasons to rethink the office-required paradigm.
► You’ve already seen the technology at consumer electronics shows or maybe you know someone who owns a headset. Watch out, though, because it could be the next frontier in p0rn0graphy.
► The hero in the Waffle House shooting is the same guy who started a GoFundMe page for the victims. As of Tuesday night, it was up to $120k.
► The Bible is overrated. So say the editors of GQ, a popular men’s magazine. Last week they published a list of “21 books you don’t have to read and 21 you should read instead.” At #12, Agota Kristof’s novel The Notebook was recommended as a substitute for The Good Book.
► Word of the Week: Sequelvations. “Christians often joke about their first, second and third times getting saved. Many have stories of fourth, fifth or even tenth times! Some folks get saved on a weekly basis, just for good measure. Churches love those hands. They look killer on spreadsheets and metrics. Maybe your first salvation was the result of an emotionally-charged situation, peer pressure or fear. Maybe that led to subsequent salvations (or sequelvations), because you felt the need to double-check your security. It’s the equivalent of driving home at lunch to make sure you didn’t leave the iron on. Also, no one calls them sequelvations. We made that up.”
► A pastor is claiming that the Oprah Winfrey Network show Greenleaf was the idea of himself and another person, and idea they pitched to that same network years earlier. ““[T]hey didn’t even seek to hide the theft; they used the same character names, and copied verbatim unique and novel storylines, themes, subplots and the overall tone of the show. They even named their antagonist after Plaintiff Pastor Barrie (Pastor Basie in ‘Greenleaf’).”
► Strangest thing you’ll read all week: “Grave sucking, sometimes called grave soaking, is the process by which someone lays on the grave of a deceased Christian in order to absorb their mantle or anointing.” That, plus a connection to Jesus Culture and Bethel Church.
► If you’re free tonight (4/25) and in San Francisco, you’re invited to a Beyoncé Mass at Grace Cathedral. “to sing your Beyoncé favorites and discover how her art opens a window into the lives of the marginalized and forgotten, particularly Black women.” There will be a sermon by Rev. Yolanda Norton, Assistant Professor of Old Testament at San Francisco Theological Seminary, will be preaching. Rev. Norton created a ‘Beyoncé and the Hebrew Bible’ class at the Seminary.“
► Finally, does your church worship team have an aerialist? All the cool churches are doing it. (And here, one writer responds.)
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Thinking Out Loud 
I spent a lot of time on the Gospel for Asia post and nearly as much on the pastor office/ no office link.
Our church does not have an aerialist. That job description needs to worded very carefully to disquish worship aerialist from pole dancer. Maybe bring in Tim Challies for that discussion.
Comment by Clark Bunch — April 25, 2018 @ 6:18 am
Re: your link to the “grave sucking” article reminded me of a very informative website that deals with these NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) types – including Bethel. It’s: http://www.spiritoferror.org/
The Website manager and another fellow also wrote a couple of very helpful books on the subject. I come from a semi-charasmatic/3rd wave background, but these NAR types really push the boundaries of orthodoxy
Comment by jeff — April 25, 2018 @ 8:07 pm
last link: you said “aerialist” I read “atheist” and thought sure, we always allow space for that as an evangelism tool – especially when we need a drummer
Comment by jeff — April 25, 2018 @ 8:11 pm