Mass Appeal

guest post by Aaron Wilkinson

I am a Protestant. I grew up in Evangelical circles, went to a Pentecostal church in high school, worked at an interdenominational summer camp, and attended a Reformed university where I sang some Anglican evensongs; then I went to an Anglican church for a while after graduating. There are bits and bursts of Baptist mixed in there and I currently go to an Anabaptist home church during the week.

In each of these churches, I found things I liked and didn’t like. I prefer to focus on the things I like because it’s more enjoyable and more useful. This was my attitude when I took my first tentative steps into the Roman Catholic church choir that I have been singing with for two years.

This past Christmas my father asked me if there were any aspects of the Roman service which I would commend to fellow Protestants. I figured I’d give my answer in the more organized form of a blog post. I do also have my criticisms, and there are Catholic things outside the Mass that I also appreciate, and furthermore there are other traditions and denominations which may capitalize on these traits – But these are what I personally experienced first or best while sitting in a Catholic pew.

1. Textual History (Or “There were Christians between Paul and Luther?”)

The churches I grew up in derived most of their prayers and lyrics either from adapted Bible passages, or else they were entirely the writer’s own words. One time in the Pentecostal church we recited the Apostles’ Creed, but most of what we said or sang was new and original.

The Catholic services have introduced me to texts and lyrics which are an unappreciated treasure trove of inspirations. I never knew growing up that All Creatures Of Our God And King had a grandparent in Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun, nor did I know that O Come O Come Emmanuel was adapted from the O Antiphons. Ave Verum, O Magnum Mysterium, and Pange Lingua (both of them) are all quite deserving of further attention and Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence has become a favourite of mine.

Some texts may be doctrinally improper for a Protestant service but it’s at least worth appreciating that Jesus-loving people in our shared spiritual history have valued the Ave Maria or Adam Lay Ybounden. Lyrics and prayers that are complete innovations often feel egocentric, intellectually stale, and full of vague sentiment. Not always, of course. I rather like Oceans. But if we are striving to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths then this should be reflected in our art and good artists study the history of their craft. Richer lyrics will be more transformative and engaging than shallow ones.

David Wesley is a great musician who deserves nothing but praise, but to illustrate my point here’s his Evolution of Worship Music which gives less than 60 seconds to 1500 years of church music. It’s not his fault, it’s just our worship climate. On a hopeful note, Be Thou My Vision is a great example of a rich old text enduring.

2. Dialogue (Or “Can I do something?”)

We all know that when the preacher says “In closing” or “My final point” we’re about 15 minutes away from the end of the sermon. And I can’t be the only one who has thought “Is this the 4th song in the set or the 5th? Haven’t we done this verse already? Can I sit down now?”

A missal I was reading once described the structure of the Mass as a sort of dialogue. What happens on the platform represents the work of God and what happens in the pews is the work of His people, and the two respond to one another. We sing praises to God and He, by the priest, gives us His blessing. We speak to Him by our prayers and songs and He speaks to us by the reading of His word. We give gifts to God in the offering and He gifts us with His own body and blood in the Eucharist.

And speaking of the offering, our choir director has started calling the offertory music “The Musical Offering.” I like that. It’s like the music itself is a gift to God and not just background music while you fish out your loose change.

Add to this structure the lay-roles of eucharistic ministers, altar servers, lectors, cantors, etc., and you get a service where A) You get to do something, and B) Your actions have a more defined purpose. Some people can sit passively through a 90+ minute service. I cannot. I like having a role to play.

3. Solemnity (Or “Can we all just calm down?”)

I have occasionally heard it implied or stated that the summit of Christian spirituality is being passionate and excited about Jesus. I love seeing charismatic churches thriving, but I personally am in more need of a God who can calm me down.

The structure and routine of a liturgical service lets a person put aside their personal feelings and circumstances to participate in something bigger than themselves. Many Protestant churches have the ideal of ‘laying everything at the feet of Jesus’ but ritual and routine make that ideal practicable. It’s a lot like acting in a play and reciting the lines of your character. It lets you experience and participate in something bigger than, and outside of, yourself. That often leaves me with my personal struggles seeming smaller afterwards.

Some Protestants worry that doing the same thing every week becomes mindless and robotic, and that is a possible danger. However, the other possibility is that the consistency of the service starts to reflect and represent God’s eternality and dependability, even as we encounter him in our many various changeable moods. And similarly, I think we find that one prayer or song can have many different nuances that emerge as we encounter them in different states.

In all three of these areas, my intent is not to throw shade at protestant services or to elevate the Mass as the ideal service. I do find it refreshing to go to a more familiar kind of service after being at the Catholic church for a stretch. Nevertheless, I’ve gained quite a bit from my experience in the Mass so far and I would love to share what I’ve learned.

I could say more but I’ll have to end it there because, as I write this, it’s time to go to choir practice.

---

Aaron is an English and Theatre graduate of Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario and blogs occasionally at The Voice of One Whispering. He is a tea connoisseur, actor, student of Norse poetry, and Uncle to his roommate’s three chihuahuas.

A Golden Age of Christian Blogging

Blogging introduces you to a worldwide collective of people you will probably never meet in this life.   Nonetheless, the online connection means that you can be a source of encouragement to many, many people. The right words, fitly spoken at the right time, can really make a difference in a person’s life.  That’s why I like this picture. The words are coming off the page to bring comfort. Everybody needs a bit of that now and then. The best things that are happening in the blogsphere aren’t always happening on the blogs themselves, but in the meta. When you get to follow-up with someone who has a particular interest. Or try to offer some direct, offline advice to someone who might appreciate a bit of a challenge.  Or know of a third-party resource that could be of great help. Or just to say, “I really don’t have a clue about your whole situation, but I want you to know someone is reading your blog who really cares.” Or offer to pray for them. To actually pray for them.

Words communicate. People are listening. You can have a part in what they hear.

~ Thinking Out Loud, September 2008

Recently I was thinking about the writers who inspired me to start doing this…many of who are no longer writing online, or are doing something completely different. After leaving comments on other blogs, I decided to start one of my own. We started on a platform called e4God, but fortunately were able to migrate the content to WordPress.

Honestly, I think this was a golden age for Christian blogging. Twitter wasn’t a force and podcasts were rare. Today, many bloggers simply post videos or podcast links or have abandoned their platform altogether in favor of the 140-character alternative. 

Travel back in time with me; except where noted these are in no particular order.

• 22 Words — Not the blog you now know, but in those days, Abraham Piper actually confined each post to exactly 22 words.
• Sacramentis — Sally Morganthaler’s website was a hub for people who wanted to discuss worship ideas. The church was going through a period of accelerated change, and people like Sally, Nancy Beach and Robert Weber were all speaking into that change.
• Stuff Christians Like — The mind of Jon Acuff knew no boundaries. Think Babylon Bee for a previous decade. I think of Jon every time I’m in church and need to give someone a side hug. The blog spun off a book deal with Zondervan.
  
• Stuff White Christians Like — …well, let’s be honest; there were a number of spin-offs from Jon’s blog, Stephy’s was one of them.
• Lark News — The original Babylon Bee.
• The Very Worst Missionary — Jamie Wright provided a missionary’s perspective on short term mission trips which many of us will never forget.
• Fred McKinnon — What avid worship leader didn’t visit late Sunday night or midday Monday to find out what other worship leaders had posted to The Sunday Set List?
• Puragtorio — Can someone help me remember this one? Seriously.
• ASBO Jesus — From across the pond, Jon Birch’s website was delightfully cynical. The initials stand for Anti Social Behavior Order.
• Flowerdust — The writer formerly known as Anne Jackson gained a huge following early on and was a reminder to us all that it was okay to be broken or wounded or both.
• Evotional — The original blog of Mark Batterson, bestselling author and pastor of National Community Church in DC.  (When he called his first book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, I thought, “That’s a real dumb title. So much for his writing career.”)
• Letters from Camp Krusty — My first initiation into the wonderful strange world of Brant Hansen.
• Greg Boyd — This guy had a huge influence on us. We spent endless road trips throughout the U.S. popping discs in the CD player of downloaded sermons from Woodland Hills Church on the Gospel of Luke. Great memories. “Now go out and build the kingdom!”
• Skyebox — Skye Jethani would later play a pivotal role in my own life for which I am most grateful. Today, he’s a regular on The Phil Vischer Podcast and an important analyst and commentator on the state of Evangelicalism in North America.
  
• Out of Ur — The blog of Leadership Journal at Christianity Today and for 22 months, the home of the Wednesday Link List. (See previous entry.)
  
• Tall Skinny Kiwi — As I write this, Andrew Jones and the girls are heading back to Europe mid-June. His unique, ongoing story continues and he has my utmost respect and admiration for carrying on despite the loss of Debbie to complications from malaria and typhoid.
• Donald Miller — I don’t think it was called StoryLine back then, but I can’t remember. He’s been at this a long time!
• Bene Diction Blogs On — Investigative blogging in an era before Warren Throckmorton. But who was Bene Diction? I have a friend who claims to know and says I knew her. Wait, what? Her?
• Naked Pastor — David Hayward migrated his blog to Patheos but then moved back to his own domain. I love his writing, but I’m sure he’s best known for the pictures: Original artwork which you can purchase.
• Without Wax — Pete Wilson is still blogging. Back then, they were like family; I can still name all three of Pete’s boys.
• Trevin Wax — (no relation to the above) Trevin is now more aligned with a tribe I no longer follow, but I tracked with his writing for many years.
• Challies — Tim Challies must have been in the right place at the right time, because today his blog regularly ranks in the Top Ten Christian blog lists in the U.S. though, like myself, he is Canadian. Must reading for the neo-Calvinist set. (Tim lives just about 90 minutes from me. Sometimes in the early morning we drive by his house and root through his recycling bin.)
  
• Take Your Vitamin Z — Zach Nielson’s blog had a cool title. Three years ago this month, like many others, he switched his primary focus from blogging to Twitter. 
• Desiring God — The Pipester was a force to be reckoned with! You never actually had to read it though, because for a time, the Calvinist world faithfully re-blogged every word J.P. wrote.
  
• Reformissionary — The original name for Steve McCoy’s blog. Many nights at supper we prayed for Molly.
  
• DashHouse — Another Canadian, Darryl Dash now writes primarily for fellow pastors and church leaders. He left a comfortable church in the Toronto suburbs a few years back to church plant in the urban core, albeit a more upscale neighborhood.
• Team Pyro — Note that we clustered all the Calvinist bloggers together here. These guys helped convince me that there was a type of Christ follower I wanted to be, and that tribe wasn’t it. (At this writing, the blog has been inactive for about six weeks. Don’t people need their weekly dose of Spurgeon?)
• CenturiOn — Frank Turk from Team Pyro. (Not to be confused with apologist Frank Turek.) I have to give them credit for the excellent illustrations and images.
  
• Vintage Blog— Another one from that era who is still writing; Dan Kimball aka “the guy with the pompadour haircut.” If you’re ever in Santa Cruz, look up Vintage Church.
• Eugene Cho — Another writer who’s been at this for a long time. Korean-born Cho is an author, lead pastor of Quest Church in Seattle and founder of the charity One Day’s Wages.
• Jesus Creed — Scot McKnight is another writer who has been faithfully at his computer producing a large number of columns each week since the world was flat. (With enough book sales, perhaps one day he’ll be able to afford the second ‘t’ in his first name.) 
• John Shore — I tend to think of John today in terms of one particular issue, but in the early days his blog was home for all those who had gotten burned out in their church experience.
  
• Michael Hyatt — Better known today for his writing on leadership issues, on building platform and on writing itself, it was his pieces on the publishing industry I enjoyed most back in the day.
• Blog In My Own Eye — Keith Brenton was another writer who snagged a great blog title. It’s been four years now since Angi, the love of his life was taken from us; yet each day at 3:00 PM, Keith goes on Twitter to offer to pray for anyone with a need or a request.
• Fire in my Bones — From the then-editor of Charisma Magazine, Lee Grady who still has a blog at the magazine. Right now I can’t think of a more balanced Pentecostal/Charismatic writer. (Maybe Jack Hayford, but he never blogged, did he?)
• Monday Morning Insights — Over the years, the Wednesday Link List borrowed a number of story leads from Todd Rhoades’ blog.
• The Idea Club — You never heard of it, right? Actually it was the original name for Cathy Lynn Grossman’s religion blog at USAToday. (Thinking Out Loud actually began as a USAToday blog as well.) An excellent religion reporter. You probably remember better from Faith and Reason. Watch for her byline where quality journalism is sold.
• Internet Monk — Still updated daily, but sadly without its founder, the late Michael Spencer. This one resonated with a lot of people at a transitional time for the church at large.
• Boar’s Head Tavern — Another blog Michael Spencer started. 
• Shlog — The original name for musician Sean Groves’ blog.  
• One Hand Clapping — Julie Clawson was an important voice in those early days. I wonder who reading this knows how the blog got its name?
  
• …Help! I can’t stop…

…This ended up longer than I planned. Those were great days. Through these and other writers I got to read some great books and think about things related to God, Jesus, The Bible, Church, Evangelism, Doctrine, etc., that I otherwise might never have considered.

My life is richer because of all of you…

…So…who did I miss from that era who was big impact on you?

---

And now, a Best-of… moment from those early days:

Wednesday Link List

Welcome to a new, slightly slimmed-down link list. The bottom line is that blog engagement is not what it once was, and Thinking Out Loud is no exception. Providing 35-40 links is a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work; work for which we don’t get paid, as the blog is not monetized. So it’s actually the number of hours spent on this week’s link that were cut. If you send in suggestions then the quantity might go up slightly in those weeks. 

Top links last week were (1) Reformed/Anabaptist; (2) Worship industry killing worship; and (3) Gospel Centered ministry. 

The Wednesday List Lynx; one of many, actually that have been featured here.

Also, if you only show up here once a week, 6 days ago there was a Thursday Link List you missed.

• Essay of the Week: A honest hard look at what we pay “the guest speaker” and how it’s usually on the lower side of fair.
• A ghostwriter of a chance: Who really wrote Billy Graham’s most recent work?
  
• People like a church “where everybody knows your name; and they’re always glad you came…” but even in Cheers, only the main characters knew Norm.
• The 613 is not a book about Ottawa, Canada’s area code. Rather it’s a one pound, 640-page art book with each of the 613 Torah commandments from the Mitzvot illustrated in surrealistic colors. 
• The whole point of a small group is to have a small, tight community, right? Well, in performing an autopsy on his failed small group, this writer realized they had been too internally focused.
  
• Above My Pay Grade Department (which I was also tempted to call ‘I Dream of Genealogy’): A look at the discrepancies between the family trees in Matthew and Luke. 
• Scot McKnight reviews Partners in Christ by John Stackhouse which he finds just might be “the most honest book ever written in the complementarian-egalitarian debate; it is without doubt the fairest book on the topic I’ve seen.” The subtitle is A Conservative Case for Egalitarianism.
  
• Devotional for the media/tech team: “Every tech person is pursuing great sound and video, but are we pursuing the face of God? Even if you aren’t on stage your prayers can do great things.” 
• Belief in God is “still remarkably high by comparison with other advanced industrial countries;” but overall Pew Research is reporting a decline in religion in America.
  
• For several years now, The Gideons in Canada have been charting their own course. That ministry now moves to next steps with the launch of Shareword Global.
  
• Listicle of the Week: A look at the top ten all-time most popular works of Christian fiction. 
• Years ago some of us knew her as Anne Jackson. Now, Anne Marie Miller is six months away from a new title with Baker Books: Five Things Every Parent Needs to Know About their Kids and Sex.
  
• This time around the butler didn’t do it: “The Vatican on Monday (Nov. 2) announced the arrest of two people in connection with the alleged theft of confidential documents, the first such case since the “Vatileaks” scandal saw the papal butler jailed for leaking Holy See secrets.” 
• Barna Research’s David Kinnaman guests on The Phil Vischer podcast discussing religious freedom (once you get past the banter, which makes it kinda like a What’s in the Bible episode.) (Did I say that out loud?)
  
• Media from the other side: A Humanist take on Operation Christmas Child.
• Not entirely new, but if you’re looking for a really unique small group experience for Christmas (or Easter) here’s an eight session Lifeguide Bible study based on different pieces from Handel’s Messiah. 
• Have you heard of those medical insurance alternatives where Christians cover each other’s expenses? Here’s one satisfied customer. 
• The Royal Mail in the UK unveils this year’s nativity-themed Christmas stamps.
  
• At the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, SEO stands for Spiritual Enquiry Optimization. (Okay, I thought it was clever, but my spellcheck had never seen the other spelling of inquiry before.) 
• Not every meme you see about Icelandic atheists and crime is 100% true.
  
• Church pickup lines and equally cheesy Christian breakup lines.
  
• What not to wear to a funeral, plus 19 other pictures of weird liturgical vestments.

For our closing graphic, Mad Magazine gets rather serious:

Wednesday Link List

Praying to Barbie? No, you can’t buy them, but as this story at Religion News Service reports, you can see them at an Argentine art installation. “Barbie is depicted as Joan of Arc, Virgin of Guadalupe — Mexico’s patron saint — and Mary Magdalene, with a low-cut dress that shows her chest. Ken is shown as Buddha and Moses…” Click the image to read the full story.

Only in America: These evangelistic Halloween treats are, “a tri-color candy–yellow, orange, and white, the colors of God–in the shape of a pointed seed and sweetened with honey.” Click the image to read the full story at Religion News Service.

I didn’t get around to putting the top five clicks from last week on Twitter, so here they are: (1) 8 Reasons the Worship Industry is Killing Worship, (2) creative church error-404 pages, (3) Lynne Hybels; 40th Anniversary of Willow Creek, (5) John Hendrix church doodles; and (5) Larry Tomczak. (Let me know if you prefer them here, or on Twitter.)  Now on to this week’s…

• Question of the Week: Are Female Bloggers Violating Scripture by Teaching Men? The author collected a wide variety of responses on this, but you don’t have to look too deeply see this wasn’t exactly a balanced sample of women bloggers.
• St. Louis, Missouri: Seven churches targeted within ten days.
• Essay of the Week: How the worship industry is killing worship.
• A brief overview of the term “belief” in light of the current Oprah TV series of the same name.
• Before their elimination last week, The Toronto Blue Jays were the latest target of Westboro Baptist’s picket parade, at least as they played in Kansas City, since the group is not allowed in Canada. Here’s a couple of Canadian stories along with my personal memo to Westboro that the team is part of the American League, most players are American and are paid in U.S. dollars.
• You can’t sing “Going to the Chapel and we’re gonna get married” and assume that’s how it works in 2015. “Since 2008, the New York City clerks office reports that they have seen a nearly fifty percent increase in the number of weddings held in the ever-romantic Manhattan marriage bureau office.” Increasingly weddings aren’t taking place in religious venues.
• Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and others spent some time last week kicking around that sometimes oxymoron-sounding title, Progressive Evangelical. 
• Ben Carson’s Presidential aspirations have put the focus on his SDA denomination (Seventh Day Adventist) though the group believes that Evangelicals are “future allies of Satan.”
  
• Devotional of the Week: If there was an Acts 19-style bonfire in the year 2015, what might you toss in? Dr. David Murray thinks it would not be Harry Potter books.
• A California pastor says that many churches are harmful environments for LGBT individuals, especially when they want to serve.
• Leadership Lessons: I loved this quotation, “We’re now addicted to meetings that insulate us from the work we ought to be doing.” From a recent 6-minute Unseminary podcast; meetings may be killing mission.
• Media from the other side: At the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a report that a copy of Salman’s “Head of Christ” picture has been removed from a Kansas Middle School; and a Washington High School is being urged to stop a football coach from praying.
• After a year in talks about a church merger, this is not the way the worship leader should be told he’s no longer needed.
• Coming in November: This book contains the never-before published message A. W. Tozer intended as the follow-up to The Knowledge of the Holy, titled Delighting in God.
• When it comes to salvation, he’s Reformed. When it comes to church he’s Anabaptist. 
• Sobering thoughts: Miscarriage from the Dad’s perspective.
  
• Huffington Post profiles Roman Catholic writer Joan Chittister.
• KidMin: First there were talking vegetables, now we have allegory by owls. Watch the Owelgories trailer or read the story. This product is available at Christian bookstores.
• Alongside archeologists sifting through The Temple Mount, a 10-year old boy from Russia finds a 3,000 year old document seal, which dates to the time of King David.
• Calvinist Conundrum of the Week: Did Jesus have a gospel-centered ministry? Or to put the question differently, Did Jesus have a “gospel-centered”^TM ministry?
• Pope Francis Item of the Week: Catholic youth are encouraged to read the Bible, their “most precious treasure.”
• In England, over half of all police time is dealing with alcohol-related crime.
• No doubt squeezed for space, newspapers cut religion coverage.
• Not new, but appropriate to this week is Bruxy Cavey’s article on putting Halloween in perspective.
• Article title that got us most curious: Did Yogi Berra Read the Bible? (Turns out to be a devotional for our Jewish friends.)
• In addition to the inclusiveness represented by LGBTQIP, you may also be “asexual, aromantic, graysexual, demisexual, demiromantic, lithromantic, pansexual, polysexual, skoliosexual, queerplatonic relationships, and zucchini.” But wait, there’s more.
• Video Oddity of the Week: A 9-minute performance piece based on a quotation from A. W. Tozer about Christian unity.
• Long-form Video: Got 40-50 minutes? Brian Houston from Hillsong was a recent Convocation guest at Liberty University, as was Jefferson Bethke and Louie Giglio.

Finally, it turns out while we weren’t paying attention last month, the comic strip Mutts by Patrick McDonnell ran a series of panels with quotes from Pope Francis. Here’s two of my favorites:

Back to the Winter: Don’t forget that here in North America, this is the weekend we all get to go back in time; from Daylight Saving to Nightdark Losing.

.

---

12 More Links! Tomorrow we feature a Thursday Link List for only the 8th time ever. Don’t miss it.

Wednesday Link List

So…any guesses who these people are? Or why they chose to share the photo with a bear whose last moments don’t look particularly happy? Answer below.

• Didn’t see this one coming: On Monday, Westboro Baptist picketed Kim Davis in what one writer called, “the strangest homophobe-on-homophobe attack imaginable.”
• Wanna guess before you click? Should men’s ministry meetings include singing? Maybe that was too easy.
• Essay of the Week: 8 Reasons the Worship Music Industry is Killing Worship.
• Our photo challenge answer: On the occasion of Willow Creek’s 40th Anniversary, Lynne Hybels thanks Bill Hybels for four decades, and in the process, shares some of the Willow story. 
• A society within a society: Women are suffering under Sharia law councils …in the UK.
  
• 100 Huntley Street is Canada’s longest running TV show and the sixth longest running in the world. Last week the Christian talk show — of which this writer was part of Episode #1 — marked it’s 10,000th edition.
  
• We often steal pastoral resource link ideas from Daryl Dash’s Saturday links. Today we say thanks with two short articles by the man himself. First, what’s your level of contact with seniors? …
• … Second, a summary of questions you can ask your sermon text, to allow it to speak to you.
• Judging a Book by its Cover Department: How much attention does your church pay to the outside of your facility? A ten-point church exterior evaluation checklist. …
• … Speaking of church buildings, a look at going green and building eco-friendly gathering places. …
• … Also at the blog Holy Spirit Activism, Swedish host and charismactivist Micael Grehnolm challenges us to return to the Acts model of holding goods in common.
• If you haven’t found it already, Q Ideas is a faith-focused version of TED Talks. Like this one where a Catholic college professor takes us inside the mentality of hook-up culture.
• Got 40 minutes? From two weeks ago, Eric Metaxas talks to Sally Lloyd-Jones about the adult version of the bestselling The Jesus Storybook Bible. …
• … And more recently, Eric talks to Phil Vischer about the newest incarnation of What’s In The Bible titled Galaxy Buck: Mission to Sector Nine (say it out loud and then add lots of echo on the word nine.)
• Playboy Magazine’s discontinuation of nudity isn’t the great victory some think it is. 
• On a regular basis, Stephen Colbert brings the subject of religion to late night talk television.
  
• This worship leader thought the job would offer a chance to bask in God’s presence 24/7. But then things got busy. And then his wife asked, “[W]hat investment are you making in your own heart? You know you can’t give water from a well that’s dry.” Another case of Martha Syndrome.
• The gang at Church Marketing Sucks takes a look at creative Error 404 pages on church websites. (My favorite is below…) 
• Detroit storefront church: The victim confronted the pastor — they were longtime friends — because he believed that the pastor and his wife were having an affair, and that the pastor had got her pregnant. He walked into the pastor’s office carrying a brick and that’s when, allgedly the pastor shot him. The man was taken to hospital where he died.
  
• Apparently adding “In God We Trust” to the county patrol cars isn’t a “church and state” problem in Lonoke County, Arkansas.
• Video of the Week: Love what this church did for a pizza delivery person. (File under: Deliverance ministry.) 
• Sermon Review: If you wanna get right with God you gotta start tithing a full 10% right now.
  
• Larry Tomczak lists nine sins that indicate America is deserving of a serious wake-up call.
• This author thinks the bookstore won’t go the way of the record store…
• …Which reminded us to link to the 2015 Dove Award winners.
  
• We had a pastor once who encouraged the kids in the church to listen to the sermon and draw what they heard. Do that when you’re older and it might look like this. 
• At first I thought this article was about lawsuits, but it’s actually about a different class of suits, what you could call clergy vestments for the charismatic and televangelist crowd.
  
• Don’t you hate it when you’re in your bomb shelter and you can’t get your food bucket open? Jim Bakker has the solution.

 

Wednesday Link List

I know some of you come here looking for the weird stuff, so let’s waste no time. This week, we only had to go to the website of Creflo Dollar:

You can read more about that at this link. (If you didn’t grow up in the church and feel you so far missed hearing about financial prosperity during the Good Friday and Easter services, you didn’t miss what isn’t there.) This later resulted in this cartoon.

Now on to the regular stuff:

• Christian leaders in England say the British government’s plan for “Extreme Disruption Orders” creates a situation which “casts the net so wide that almost anyone could fall into it.”
• Profile-of-the-Week: Pope Francis stopped the car when he saw the boy in the wheelchair, but that boy almost didn’t get there to experience his 15 seconds of fame.
• When your Christmas service guests don’t come back.
• Is ‘We Believe in the Bible…’ the number one item on your church’s statement of faith. One writer notes, “I love the Bible. It’s an important book. But it’s not a member of the Trinity. It deserves to be respected, but it shouldn’t be elevated above God…The Bible is important, but we are not Biblians. We are Christians, called to come to Jesus.That’s why you should run from ‘Bible believing churches.’ Churches aren’t meant to believe in the Bible. They are meant to believe in the God revealed through Jesus.”
• When nobody knows why the pastor is leaving.
• Not-the-Essay-of-the-Week: While not subscribing to physical discipline, the writer makes a case for husbands showing their wives who is boss. Sample: “If your wife is unsubmissive in the sexual arena and chronically denies your sexual advances (without legitimate medical or psychological reasons for doing so) then perhaps that upcoming trip you were going to take her on gets canceled.” (Note: The inclusion of this link does not imply endorsement.)
• In light of the number of people who are born intersex, Preston Sprinkle looks at new book which, through the lens of Christian theology intends to “challenge the simplistic binary model of human sexuality that most Christians assume to be true.”
• An epic-length adam4d panel celebrating the life and influence of William Tyndale.
• Homeschooled hermits? In a well-written piece, this author provides an excellent rebuttal to the idea that kids schooled at home emerge not properly socialized.
• Would the people in your church want to serve the people of another faith group? Skye Jethani: “Naaman—along with Joseph, Daniel, and a handful of other biblical characters—show us that faith can survive and even thrive through engagement with a post-Christian culture, and that the Lord recognizes the difference between serving our non-Christian neighbors and affirming their values.”
• Last week I intended to run links to more than one item by Michael Belote who blogs at Reboot Christianity. Now the list has grown. First: “Being a sex offender is the modern “scarlet letter”–it follows you the rest of your life so that no matter what happens, no matter how many changes go on in your life, you are still publicly shamed and ridiculed because of what you did. You can’t go near schools. You can’t move somewhere and start over.” …
• …”most churches are responding to last generation’s changes in culture and missing the next generation’s culture. We are in a constant state of playing catch-up.” Belote notes that we’re witnessing the birth of “The Third Moral Culture” and a generation raised on social media…
• …The powerful God in this modern-day parable is named Ares. (There’s more good stuff at Reboot Christianity; bookmark or subscribe!)
• The watchdog bloggers always have Beth Moore in their sights, so things are revving up as Moore’s new book Audacious releases soon.
• Beer and Bible. Suds and Scripture. Theology on Tap. Lots of these types of events are popping up, but it always raises eyebrows when the sponsoring church is Baptist. 
• Six problems with modern worship lead to this songwriting rant. Sample: “[T]he vast majority of modern songs are functionally binitarian or unitarian, and only use generic forms of address (you, God, Lord) as opposed to specific ones (Father, Christ, Jesus, Spirit, etc).”
  
• Should worship be an emotional exercise? This article looks at this in detail. Sample: “Music has the power to evoke emotion; lyrics have the potential to direct them.”
  
• If this is available in your area, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation did a profile on former U.S President Jimmy Carter, the Sunday School teacher. 
• Church History:Is the Golden Age of the Church Pot Luck over?
  
• “What do you do when a lone protester shows up outside your house of worship preaching hatred and bigotry?” At an Islamic Cultural Center, the woman got a hug.
• A gut-wrenching story of a man giving his life to save his daughter.
• Leadership Corner: Dealing with those well-intentioned dragons who confront you at the door about your sermon.
• The crisis of young American males: “A growing number of young men—even teens—are snapping. What is causing this? The debate rages today about gun control—and certainly a case can be made that these men should never have had access to handguns or rifles. But this dilemma can’t be solved simply by stricter background checks.”
• It was 50 years ago that the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) commissioned the creation of a new Bible translation that we know as the NIV…
• …Read the complete history (with a very complicated-looking chart).
• Video-of-the-Week: Highlights from the Atlanta Catalyst conference.
• Serious Medical Conditions: Know the early warning signs of Adult Onset Calvinism (written, curiously enough, by an insider.)
• Want your ashes scattered when you’re gone? Religions vary greatly on the practice of cremation.
• Former The 700 Club co-host Sheila Walsh returns “back home” to talk about Five Minutes With Jesus a new devotional for women. (7-min interview)
• Book Biz: Big changes last week for InterVarsity Press (IVP) in England.
• If you suffer from Dyslexia, you probably aren’t reading this, but if you are, now there is a Bible just for you.
• In North America, church clean-up days are never like this.
  
• It’s the first underwater church. Yeah, I know, I didn’t think of it either.

 

If you find a link that is blocked by a pay-wall, let us know so we can remove it. Please try to have your link suggestions in by 6:00 PM EST via email or Twitter.

Wednesday Link List

Notes:

1. For those of you really into links, note that the blog aggregator Alltop has been reformatted. You can read the intro or a summary (depending on the source) to each article now by simply waving your mouse over the links at their site. Check out Alltop Church and Alltop Christianity. (So grateful to be in such great company at this site!)
2. If you missed it, this past Saturday there was a shorter Weekend Link List. 
3. The #IamAChristian graphic below is sized-ready for your Facebook profile pic and ties in with the UCC shooting last week, a rather sobering thought as you post it.
   

Now, on to this week’s catch…

• Martin Pistorius, aka the Ghost Boy, was featured recently at TED Talks. 
• Thinking about Artificial Intelligence: “While strong AI will certainly be able to perceive more ethical nuances to any given problem, we should also consider that they will likewise be able to process information exponentially more quickly as well. This means that the process of spiritual formation for AI will potentially be exponentially faster than that of a human being.”
  
• If I could live my late teens and early 20s over again, I would definitely have gone to an Urbana conference.
• Horror Story: Nine years ago her son shot and killed ten Amish schoolgirls.
• Essay of the Week: Or in this case we could call this “essay of the weak” since Christian apologist Paul Copan looks at the ‘Christianity is just a crutch’ charge, and also looks at the role of absent fathers in atheism. 
• They are restricted by the number of available titles, but there are Christian bookstores in China. Yes, China. And there are actually about 250 of them.
  
• Profile of the Week: A look at Willie Morris, founder of Faithbox.
• Unplanned Parallel: Before we get to smug about the idea of de-funding Planned Parenthood, there are similarities in that story to the emerging concerns about tax exemptions for churches.
  
• A worship leader is not just a purveyor of playlists, or as this author puts it, You are not an iPod.
  
• What do Hell, Jerry Lee Lewis and declining church attendance in Scotland have in common?
• Uniquely U.S. Problems Department: Tyler Braun looks at the question of race as it relates to the education of children, and how that relates to parental decision-making.
  
• Years ago there was a reality show where people would get voted off with the words, “…You are the weakest link.” For some reason I thought of that when I saw this article on the Biblical phrase, ‘the weaker vessel.’
  
• Biblical Time Travel: Abraham and David apply to have a marriage license issued by Kim Davis.
  
• Virtual Reality in the Church: A 17-podcast on how churches can leverage the technology.
• Church Metrics: Barna Research looks at life in the U.S. in a post-Christian era.
• Crowdfunding Project of the Week: This Canadian Baptist pastor is 3/4^ths of the way to funding for the book Art of the Christian Ninja. You can also follow author Allan Descheneau at the blog of the same name.
  
• Two-for-One Special with Pastor Austin Fischer: First a fresh look at the Reformed doctrine called Mongerism…
• …Worship as a Concert: “It seems to me that worship doesn’t need to be less like a concert so much as it needs to be less like a bad concert and more like a good one… At a great concert you get immersed, you lose yourself, you feel connected to the people around you, you feel alive.”
• If US President Obama could give America an alternate ending to the gun control issue, it would probably look a lot like Australia. 
• Some former staff members of Gospel for Asia speak out after the organization was de-listed by EFCA, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
  
• Snapshot of an Historic Moment: The text of the sermon through which Charles Spurgeon was converted.
  
• Hate interruptions? A parenting moment where Dietrich Bonhoeffer meets Dr. Suess…
• …Possibly related marriage checkup: Just ’cause she’s home (or he’s home) does that mean she (or he) has to do all the housework, or should those chores be divided more equitably?
  
• Here’s another interview with Alan Chambers, on his book My Exodus.
  
• Looking for a Hero: Sarah Bessy deconstructs Dr. Who. Quoting the Executive Producer, “And they didn’t give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat ray, they gave him an extra heart. They gave him two hearts. And that’s an extraordinary thing…”
• ‘He who lives by the blog post…’ First Doug Wilson wrote this (with a provocative title like ‘Why Christian Chicks are Hot;’ then a day later, this response. 
• The title of this article may be offensive to some readers. (Let’s call it, “Who would Jesus tick off.”
  
• Early adopters of the .tv TLD who named their ministry after their website; and early pioneers of the multi-site church concept; LifeChurch.TV is now branded Life.church.
• My wife Ruth has been off work (without pay) for six weeks due to a sprained ankle. Rather than focus on convalescence, she’s been recording some of her songs, including this treatment of Psalm 121, called Lift Your Eyes. (If you appreciate what we do here at Thinking Out Loud, for just a buck you can send us some encouragement.)
  
• Dave Aubrey is the winner of the Praise Charts Summer 2015 Song Quest contest.
• Coming to a screen very near you: Two Karen Kingsbury novels are adapted for television.
  
• If you renege on a RSVP promise to attend a wedding, should you be billed for your meal?
  

We end with a personal favorite from the new Christmas Worship Volume Two by Paul Baloche. In this song Rita Baloche combines beautiful lyrics with a classic tune:

Wednesday Link List

Bruxy Cavey, pastor of Canada’s fastest growing church movement, The Meeting House family of churches, got a tattoo over the summer. Click the image to see the verse reference.

…And now, I hereby declare these links officially open. 

UPDATE: 8 AM, Wednesday: Of all the various things I could link to this morning concerning the execution earlier today of Kelly Gissendaner, the one I bring you is simply the brief Twitter thoughts of one of the three media people called to witness the lethal injection, Jeff Hullinger of WXIA-TV.

• The “How’s Your Faith?” question is being played out in many arenas, including Joe Biden’s guest spot with Stephen Colbert. 
• Intrigue Department: Are the Sovereign Grace people and the Southern Baptists getting really cozy? As usual, Spiritual Sounding Board does the research.
  
• Rethinking Pascal’s Wager: “I propose to reformulate Pascal’s wager as urging those who doubt God’s existence to embrace a doubt of desire rather than a doubt of indifference.” Read more at the New York Times Philosophy Department.
• Dredging up the past is never easy, but necessary when you’re promoting a book which dredges up the past.
• The Christian Century looks at the background of To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman. “Before Go Set a Watchman was published, one of Miss Nelle’s longtime friends, a Baptist preacher and scholar named Wayne Flynt, offered a prediction based on its title, which comes from Isaiah 21: ‘For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.’ Flynt was sure that it would honor her father. “It’s clear she thinks her father was a watchman for the town.”
• The religious press loves Nadia, but so do I. She makes this non-sacramental Evangelical think. Like, “…we need to hear the gospel and receive the Eucharist at least once a week. At least. Because we have so many competing messages entering our eyes…”
• Apparently a popular religious figure visited the United States last week. CNN debriefs the week religion topped the news. 
• After a four-week run in four test markets, the television show T. D. Jakes Today is being prepared for national launch in Fall 2016.
  
• Enjoy the link list each week? For just a buck you can encourage us by buying a download of my wife’s latest song.
• Essay-of-the-Week: How that fantasy romantic relationship in your head can be hurting your heart.  Leadership Lessons:
• Ten reasons for pastors and churches to make a congregational connection with a weekly email.
  
• With Christian bookstores closing everywhere, it’s always good to hear about stores expanding, even if it means crossing over to the dark side. 
• During the Sunday morning announcements a Florida woman learned that her husband of 21 years had married someone else in the church.
  
• Don’t you hate it when someone is like, “As it says in Isaiah…” and the quotation is actually from Malachi? Well some unbelievers like to jump all over this apparent Bible contradiction.
• According to Robert Morris, blogs like ours are gossip and pastors and leaders held to accountability by bloggers are on Satan’s hit list.
• The September Young Influencers list is out.
• Porn has reached the 80% saturation point. “Some have said that Internet porn may well be replacing sex-ed for children in this digital age.” More at Focus on the Family’s media blog, Plugged In. 
• I Know What You Did Last Sunday: This website lets you tune in to worship sets from contributing churches. 
• Learning from our friends in the UK: Do church planters and missional workers target high-rise or townhouse complexes on this side of the pond? Check out the National Estate Churches Network (NECN).
• Thinking Out Loud is never monetized, but if you like what we do here, for just $7 you can buy a download of Ruth’s homemade Christmas album. Listen carefully and you might even hear yours truly.
• The Apple Stores: Are they sacred spaces? “Apple Release Day—the Feast of St. Jobs.”
• Ann Spangler names names in a teaser summary of her new book, Wicked Women of the Bible.
• Testimony-of-the-Week: A former Muslim talks to CBN News about the contrasts between the Koran and the Bible.
• Switcheroo: I love stories where, instead of a church meeting in a community center, the church is building the community center. In this case, in Anchorage, Alaska.
• All the cool adults are doing it: The latest publishing trend is adult coloring books and for many there’s a spiritual dimension to the current fad.
• At 59, Gospel music icon Sandy Patti is retiring.
• In the UK, a Christian bookstore chain and an online Christian store merge their warehouse operations. 
• Listening to as I prepare this week’s links: Someone kindly posted the full album of Home by Josh Garrels.
  
• Writers can be protective of their stuff, but cartoonists even more so. I’m thinking of that in context that in the early days we often would begin or end these link lists with the Baptist Press artists, and wish there was still a way to share their material.

Got a link suggestion? Try to get it to us by 7:00 PM EST Tuesday.

Wednesday Link List

If the thought of planning another church Christmas pageant leaves you nauseous, you might want to pick up a copy of the above book. Details at the aptly named Church Marketing Sucks. 

Anyway, last week on Twitter when we did that week’s “most clicked” list, I noted that we seem to have kept many readers from the PARSE days, based on the links you find most interesting, so this week we have an extra dose of church leadership articles.

• From the very outset, when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope on March 13, 2013, the name he chose sent a very clear signal…
• …And here’s the reason the Pope is in the U.S.A. right now…
• …Meanwhile, author Steve Wohlberg responds to the Pope’s visit.
  
• Essay of the Week: Does your house give off a Jesus vibe? If not, more plaques, and crosses and bumper stickers might do the trick. “These days, when I see an Evangelical whose life is a walking billboard for the Christian Ghetto, I immediately doubt they are what they say they are. They are trying too hard to be viewed as a Christian.” Warning: This article has a high snark quotient.
• Church Demographics (1): The back-and-forth transfer growth (which isn’t net growth at all) that happens in the modern, consumeristic church is compared to The Crusades as a tragic, black mark on church history.  “Everything looks and feels great among these entertainment-driven churches. There’s some really good stuff that would work well in the business and marketing world. But something is also lacking, gravely lacking. The back door is just as wide as the front. Depth and sincerity are abandoned. Nothing is taking root in good soil. We’re not truly transforming lives and neighborhoods.”
• Church Demographics (2): “Just nine months prior, we had brought them onto our staff with only one assignment—to plan for their church launch and take as many of our members with them as they could. These four had done what we asked: they were taking 200 of our active members…Their lists included personal friends, favorite musicians, key volunteers, and leaders. People I did not want to lose. Leaders whose absence would leave significant gaps. This was going to be much harder than I had thought.”
• Church Demographics (3): 10 Predictions about the future, and no, Carey Neiuwhouf doesn’t think it’s going to be all about online church.
• Church Demographics (4): The last Catholic priest in residence departs Antarctica. (64-sec. video)
• How to crash your computer’s Bible concordance: Donald Trump has a favorite Bible verse, the one that says “Never bend to envy.”
• Pastoral Transitions: A pastor who names his own successor is usually breaking an unwritten rule, but one writer defends that process. “The solution isn’t to build a better search committee, but for pastors to understand that their leadership is vitally important at that vulnerable point in the life of a church.”
• Plagiarism watchdog Janet Mefferd is back on the air. The new one-hour format launched last week, and initial guests included Ken Ham, Tony Perkins and Max Lucado. Give it a listen.
• Someone sent me earlier to a New York Times article about “boy play,” and while skimming the article, I noticed a serious omission. “Since Afghanistan is governed by sharia law, which forbids sodomy and sex before marriage, how do news organizations explain this Muslim culture’s long history of men forcing boys into sexual slavery?” That quotation is from Terry Mattingly at Get Religion, to whom the omission was also glaring.
  
• Anne Graham Lotz reflects on the loss of her husband Danny as an example of the hurricanes life can throw at us. 
• No, as a matter of fact I don’t plan to stop raising awareness of imprisoned U.S. pastor Saeed Abedini in Iran. In this update a family member was recently allowed a visit.
• Blog Item of the Week: This writer sees the methodology used by the American megachurch akin to an athlete using performance-enhancing drugs.
  
• Equal Time: Timothy Keller responds to three popular objections to the doctrine of divine election. (No, Mr. Trump; not that type of election.)
• Church Planter Dilemma: It’s a church plant. Everybody is new. So how do you come up with an elder’s board? “Just because a person was an elder in another church, is older, or used to be a pastor, does not mean he should be an elder in your church.” 
• Agree or Disagree? 5 Reasons why kids should be in the main (adult) service on a regular basis. Sample: “Imagine the culture shock of a child who has been in church all of his life but has never been in the main service.”
  
• You don’t hear the term too often, but the ‘pastor-scholar’ should not exist in one writer’s view, because they are two different callings. 
• An update on the statue of Billy Graham planned for the U.S. capital.
  
• When you think “Christian media” you might not think of the organization that Wikipedia describes as “The largest Christian media organization in the world, it uses medium-wave or high-powered AM and shortwave transmitters, local FM radio stations, cable, satellite, Internet, and mobile device technologies. Currently, their programs can be heard in 160 countries in more than 230 languages and dialects.” Revisit Trans World Radio.
• Video Venues: Robert Morris has decided the people who attend the 4:00 PM service will no longer be seeing him preach live.
• I don’t know journalist Mary Katharine Ham from Fox News, but was so sad to read of her husband’s passing.
• Brian C. Stiller, the Global Ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance, reports on his trip to Albania.
• Parental Advisory: The new Muppet Show debuting on ABC is for adults, not kids.
• First Persona Account: A reporter is sent to Nazareth to profile a controversial teacher named Jesus.
• New Music Artist of the Week (1): The band Stars Go Dim and the song You Are Loved, which appears on the new Wow The Hits 2016 releasing Friday. (Couldn’t find an official video for this; will update if anyone locates it.) 
• New Music Artist of the Week (2): Known simply as NF, the song I’ll Keep On is also one of the bonus tracks on Wow The Hits 2016 releasing Friday in North America. (Powerful, powerful lyrics.)
  
• Humble + Hungry + Hustle = H3. For a few more days enjoy some extras when ordering Brad Lomenick’s new leadership book in quantity.
  
• Not the Official Video Department: We were looking for this particular worship song for C201 last week, and found what is the strangest juxtaposition of audio track and video images. (No animals were injured in the making of this worship song.) 
• This pastor spent most of last week inside a space capsule.
  
• Too bad the disciples didn’t have camera phones; that leaves it up to artists to provide us with images of Jesus, and these 9 are kinda creepy. 
• Finally…
  

…We’re going to assume by this that North Point Community Church topped the Outreach Magazine list again this year. (Yes, they did.)

We apologize. A link appeared here earlier in the day from a blogger who has specifically asked us not to use his material.

Wednesday Link List

Would you like to know how one regular Wednesday Link List reader, just by submitting news and opinion link ideas could win $500? So would a lot of people. We don’t have that contest. But we do love those of you who submit suggestions.

• Interview of the Week — Sam Smith: “Gary Chapman, the author of The 5 Love Languages, had just written his book. I was a megapastor in North Carolina and I invited Gary to come and speak. He came and spoke, and my oldest son, Blake, was 10 years old. He heard him speak, and then I went home … before the 2:30 deacon meeting. We were going to announce a multimillion-dollar plan… I said, ‘Blake, do you have any idea what your love language is? You heard Dr. Chapman.’ I was trying to do the Christian father thing. He said, ‘Dad, I do know my love language. My love language is time. You never give me any.'” Before leaders can care for others, they need to care for themselves, but confession is a Catch-22.
• The new guy on the late night television block is seen here in a 90-second teaser for an interview on faith matters with Salt and Life Television with Stephen Colbert. 
• The Amplified Bible has been completely revamped. A brief explanation of the new formatting is found in one article which then links you to a passage comparison of Genesis 1. 
• Question of the Week: Why is a large church in Anaheim, California planting a church in Park Rapids, Minnesota? A 150-second video has the answer.
  
• Emerging Adulthood: “The 21^st century has also seen a radical shift in values. Many of our grandparents, having lived through the World Wars and Great Depression, were eager to say ‘I do,’ sign up for a mortgage, and start a large family. Our generation is not so sure.”
• Can a Southern Baptist embrace Calvinism and at the same time still be committed to the denom’s statement of faith in Baptist Faith and Mission?
• The former moderator of Sunday’s Meet the Press, David Gregory talks to CBS about his Jewish faith, his Protestant wife, and his departure from NBC. 
• We often don’t think of people with developmental challenges or intellectual disabilities as a neglected mission field.
  
• With all the faith-interest movies playing right now, I hate to add one more to your list, but some of you might consider He Named Me Malala based on the book I Am Malala. Tony Jones attended a preview screening of the documentary opening October 2nd.
• Social Media Trend – The Divorce Selfie: “Despite the best of intentions of those happily posting… and the smiling faces they display after splitting up, it’s fundamentally a rejection of one’s partner. If that partner is the mother or father of your children, that person shares half of your child’s DNA. To celebrate the dissolution of the partnership that brought the child into being is deeply insulting to the core of a child’s identity—a child often not old enough or emotionally mature enough to explain this to you.” 
• May cause your head to spin: The most convoluted aspect of televangelism you never knew existed. (Story requires multiple readings to make sense.) 
• Did organizers for the Pope’s U.S. visit consider that he’s arriving on what is to Jews, the holiest night of the year?
  
• Got a blog of your own? Veteran Christian blogger Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi) defines blogging as a high calling. (His ten points act as both a challenge and a checklist to those of us who do this.)
• Follow Up: The pastor of the church which hired Tullian Tchividjian explains the job’s responsibilities in light of the denomination’s restrictions on persons deposed of the responsibility of teaching elder.
• A Christian billionaire wants to buy the Syrian refugees their own island. 
• 90 Minutes at the Theatre: Scot McKnight on the NDE (Near Death Experience) genre in books and movies.
  
• A Catholic response to Left Behind styled rapture theology.
  
• With a new book, Accidental Saints, The Atlantic profiles Nadia Bolz-Weber…
• …and Hillsong’s Brian Houston’s new book, Live Love Loud has released.  
• At Christianity Today: Reports from the frontlines of the mission field ain’t what they used to be.
  
• It’s been awhile since I’ve linked to Brad Lomenick’s monthly Young Influencers List of next-generation people to watch, so here’s the link to July’s and the link to August’s. 
• The Canadian Christian television journal Context talks to T. D. Jakes.
  
• Parenting Place: You’re not raising children, you’re raising adults.
• If there is a single player in the National Hockey League who lets his faith guide every aspect of his career, it’s Pittsburgh Penguins right-winger Eric Fehr. He’s just co-authored a book about child bullying.
• She stayed a virgin until marrying at age 37, but he had a past. “Because Diane had prayed for years that her spouse would share her sexual purity, Roger’s past became a significant issue for them to overcome.”
• Check out Jordan’s song, a beautiful music video dedicated to all those who have lost a child.
• A University of Texas professor tells his students, in writing, not to say ‘God bless you’ in his class. 
• For fans of Phil Vischer’s What’s in the Bible, the video trailer for Galaxy Buck: Mission to Sector 9 is now available.
  
• Remembering John Howard.
• Check out your odds of being declared a saint. (To start with, I would suspect being Roman Catholic helps.)
  
• Canadian Corner: When it comes to physician assisted suicide, doctors should be able to say, “I want nothing to do with this.”
  
• Last entered at the Dictionary of Christianese: Defining the 7-11 song.
• Worship Leaders: If you don’t want to 7-11 songs, check out worship sets from other churches at Worship Set Ideas.
• Jeremy Rosado, a finalist on American Idol series 11, released his full length inspirational album Heartbeat, August 28th. On weekends, he leads worship in Tampa.
• Video Oddity of the Week: I used this yesterday at C201, but if you missed it, here’s a rather different choice for background images for a worship song. (Andy Park’s “The River is Here.”)
  
• If you’re a Christian bookstore nerd like I am, the UK website for Eden books has pop-ups every 30 seconds or so, showing purchases in real time for whatever category of merchandise you’re viewing at that moment. Played right (or wrong) you could get a hint of that birthday CD you’re getting.
• Oral Roberts University is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
  
• Finally… “A billboard near the Rowan County clerk’s office where she works reads, “‘Dear Kim Davis, the fact that you can’t sell your daughter for three goats and a cow means we’ve already redefined marriage.’ The sign is in reference to the Bible verse Exodus 21:7, which states, ‘If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.’ The scripture does not mention farm animals of any variety, but it refers to the fact that a male Jew sold into service to pay a debt was released after seven years, but a master could marry his female slave, meaning she stayed for life.” (See below.) Full story at Christian Science Monitor.
  

Which then led us to this one: