Security Threat Forces Partial Cancellation of David Platt’s Secret Church Event

Friday night’s Secret Church was truly held in secret

Pastor and author David Platt

The live, national simulcast went out as planned from an undisclosed location, but people arriving at David Platt’s Birmingham, Alabama church with tickets to be in the live audience for Friday’s Secret Church event found themselves out of luck as security concerns forced the cancellation of that aspect of the event and the evacuation of The Church at Brook Hills.

Fox 6 WBRC reported:

…Brook Hills communications director Chris Kinsley said around 10 a.m. Friday, a threat came in to their sister organization Radical, a parachurch ministry started by Platt which provides Christian resources, including Secret Church.

Kinsley said they evacuated the entire facility, including their early learning center and preschool. Parents were contacted to come and pick up their children early.

The church contacted Birmingham police, who did a sweep of the facility and didn’t find anything. Kinsley didn’t know the details about the threat, but described it as a security threat.

Birmingham police are still investigating the threat.

The Secret Church events are modeled after something Platt experienced when traveling through Asia. People come together in unannounced locations to cram as much Bible and theological teaching as possible into a long, overnight session.  The hours-long lecture often has a broad, pan-thematic subject, such as “The New Testament;” more than one would cover in a single sermon, or even several sermons.

Platt brought the format to his own church and remarked in the book Radical what it was like to look out and see a packed auditorium with thousands of people quietly taking notes… at 12:30 AM. (Read a review of the book here.)

As the book gained popularity and the live events continued to attract more and more people, the church arranged for other churches in other cities to sign up for a live satellite simulcast, technically not unlike the LifeWay events with Beth Moore. Existing recordings of past events have now been translated into twelve languages.

Platt describes his events on the Secret Church website:

When we think of “church” in America, we think of going to meet at a building, singing, praying and hearing a message from a pastor or teacher. But in many places around the world, “church” meets in a home, an apartment, and sometimes even in secret. Many times there are just a few believers who know and follow Christ. These small groups of Christ-followers often meet for many hours in study, prayer, and fellowship. Sometimes they face great difficulties to meet together. In some places it may even be dangerous to gather as a church to worship, pray, and study the Word. So when they come together, they want to make the most of their time together.

Secret Church is our “house church” where we meet periodically for an intense time of Bible study—lasting 6+ hours…

Where the simulcast originated from, and the security issue’s impact on dates for the next Secret Church event were not available as of late Sunday night, nor did we know if police traced the source of the treat. Many people had traveled a great distance to be in the live audience. Watch for updates.

In addition to his role as author and Brook Hills pastor, Platt is also currently the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board.

Wednesday Link List

The cartoon is from ASBO Jesus, which sadly isn’t being updated. The lower one appeared here about five years ago, and was from Pundit Kitchen.

They call it Labor Day because on Tuesday we all had to work twice as hard to catch up. Take a few minutes to pause and do some clicking:

• Churches need to stop taking attendance. Immediately. This means you.
• The marketing of the new MEV Bible translation may leave many feeling it’s something other than what it is.
• Shane Claiborne has a quick debrief on his trip to Ferguson, Missouri…
• …While in a much longer piece, Jamie Wright debriefs her night undercover in Southeast Asia following investigators trying to get freedom for girls being trafficked in the sex trade.
• Essay of the Week: People dress “sloppy” for church. “It’s like some people decided to stop mowing the lawn and then decided to come to church.”
• A look at Britain as a “Global Exporter of Terrorism.” Sample: “…the British elites don’t care so much about their own civilization …radical Muslims have been allowed and even encouraged to build a parallel society within this officially Christian nation.”
• Lots of buzz on Twitter this week about David Platt being elected as the new president of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
• While small churches still begin the hiring process with paper resumés, increasingly the job may never be posted, and the candidate may not even be looking to move.
• So normally for guys, the hot girls in the pew ahead can be a bit of a distraction. Not this time, though.
• Essay of the Month: A thoughtful response to “Christianity is not a religion it’s a relationship.”
• Since this is the time of year that things get hectic, it’s a good time to read an interview with the author of Addicted to Busy.
• Meanwhile, in the land of academic scholarship, this story would be the equivalent of a sports franchise losing a key player to another team and deciding to simply shut down.
• Are pastors now truly afraid to weigh in on social issues?
• Focus on the Family’s Plugged In website tracks media including things like Taylor Swift’s next album, or the TV series Doctor Who.
• Yes, some of the stuff in Christian bookstores is shallow and profit driven, but doing a remake of Jesus clearing money changers in the temple still carries criminal charges…
• …Mind you, there may be limits to holding your peace, such as this loopy theology.
• There’s no separation of state and church in Germany when it comes to funding houses of worship and their staff. Some changes in that system are touching off a church exodus.
• Justin Davis: “At least 2-3 times per month Trish or I will get a text message, email or phone call asking our advice from a pastor or pastor’s wife on how to navigate an affair.”
• No you’re not having a flashback; the new All Sons and Daughters album truly is available as a limited edition white vinyl record.
• Reporting on reporting: A Midwest newspaper still gives lots of ink to coverage of religious stories.
• Two years later, Mark David Chapman, the killer of John Lennon is still saying yes to God and the prison board is still saying no to parole.
• Retro-Linking: From 2012, if your church is online, does this change the target audience of what you’re doing at the weekend service? (Probably more relevant now than then.)
• The president of one of the largest Christian universities is currently going through a divorce, but is also keeping his job.
• If some of the ministers people in your church read, watch, listen to, or download are a little off track, somebody probably needs to say something.
• I know sometimes you have to put the cookies on a lower shelf, but have we dumbed down church to the point it’s now just too easy?
• An outdoor refrigerator with food for the needy seemed like a good idea for this church, until they were bombarded with health regulations.
• Without thinking, Hallmark shipped some same-sex wedding cards to the bookstore at Brigham Young University. Without thinking, bookstore staff displayed them. Question: Why doesn’t the “Christian” university bookstore carry Hallmark’s Dayspring line instead?
• One in six Christian radio stations now carries the one minute feature, 60 Second Re-Charge from the ministry Revival Over The Walls.
• Stormie Omartian moves beyond her Power of a Praying series to look at other topics, including the role of the Holy Spirit, and a recent title on the love of God…
• …In other book news, here’s a Snakes on a Plane title that spells out the plot: The Mainliner’s Survival Guide in a Post Denominational World. Just released from Chalice Press…
• …And a final book item, Made in the USA: The Sex Trafficking of America’s Children is a story of commercial exploitation that didn’t take place in a land far away, but much closer to home, as told by five survivors, four women and one man. Watch the video trailer.
• The same thing that attracts people to the music industry in general may reflect itself in the passions of church musicians…
• …That is, worship musicians who should remember to pronounce the words correctly.
• In the Christian rap music genre, the name to know is Shai Linne. He’s also an associate pastor at Del Ray Baptist Church in greater DC, where his August 17 sermon ran one hour…
• …And I’m guessing that at one time, Shai was on Brad Lomenick’s monthly roundup of up-and-coming leaders. Here’s the latest list.
• Continuing Education Department: ChurchNext.tv lets individuals or churches have unlimited access to a variety of topical courses for as little as $15/month.
• Finally… and the Ice Bucket Challenge begat the…

Link sleuth Paul Wilkinson is also available for private investigations if there’s a link in your life that’s gone missing.  Or, for free, you can read his blog, Thinking Out Loud.

Truth in Advertising

On Wednesday last week, Dee and Deb at the investigative blog, The Wartburg Watch, uncovered an August blog post by Todd Wilhelm who lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, titled Truth in Advertising.  It seems that back in the summer, American author and pastor David Platt flew to Dubai to record a four-hour seminar for simulcast in the U.S. similar to his “Secret Church” events which have been so successful.

David Platt

I became a fan of David Platt after reading and reviewing his book Radical, and have followed his blog and sermon podcasts from The Church at Brook Hills ever since. But a switch from Multnomah to Tyndale Publishing prevented me from reading his sophomore title, Follow Me. After a week of craziness involving MacArthur, MacDonald, Jenkins and Driscoll; I really need some authors I can believe in and fully endorse. But alas, the article by Wilhelm undermines my confidence.

As an indigenous resident of UAE, Todd Wilhelm has an inside track that allows him to see the marketing of the simulcast a little differently.

• First, it wasn’t a true simulcast.
• Second, it wasn’t filmed in a “secret location,” but at the Marriott.
• Third, Wilhelm thinks the location was drummed up to give the event more ‘intrigue.’

On the latter point, he writes:

It may create a buzz amongst American Christians to think that David Platt is risking his life by taping a program in Dubai to be shown at a later time, but let’s call it what it is – a cheap publicity stunt that plays fast and loose with the truth in an attempt to boost book sales.  It cheapens Christianity and makes a mockery of those who are actually facing persecution for their faith.  David Platt should be ashamed of himself.  He faced no danger flying into Dubai to tape his message at the Marriott Hotel.  I, as a Christian in Dubai, face no danger to my life.  I am fortunate to be able to live in a Muslim country that allows me such freedom – thank God for that.

and again,

Lastly, they claim this “undisclosed location” was one “where proclaiming Jesus could mean literally losing your life.”  I am happy to say no one involved in David Platt’s presentation in Dubai on the evening of August 14th lost their life, nor was there ever any danger of doing so because of “proclaiming Jesus.”

and,

All this to say that, in my opinion, David Platt and LifeWay Christian Resources are attempting to boost sales of Platt’s most recent book and accompanying study manuals by creating an aura of cutting-edge excitement based on number of things which just are not true.

It’s good to know that everyone made it out of the Marriott alive, and hopefully before the pool closed.

I read a story like this and immediately, my go-to response is that Platt has more integrity than to be mixed up in all this. I blame the Baptist cash cow called LifeWay for this.  But my opinion of Lifeway has never been very high.

You can go back to the first paragraph for the links on this one… I’ll end this where Todd Wilhelm wisely began:

“For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:17)

Wednesday Link List

Welcome to WLL # 125, the first link-list I’ve composed entirely in HTML. Let me know if renders a little weird on your screen. (Weirder than most weeks, that is!)

• A female senior pastor in the American Baptist denomination is rethinking the concept of pastor appreciation.
• Matt Hafer offers what I consider to be fairly balanced look at that fall/harvest/Halloween ritual of taking the youth group to a hell house.
• Bob Kauflin digs into the somewhat thorny area of local church congregations that add, subtract or modify the lyrics to existing modern worship hymns and choruses.
• Two of your favorites, David Platt and Francis Chan sit down in a very clean room to talk together on video about discipleship.
• You come to church ready to place a $75 check in the offering, but then you decide the music is too loud, so you write “VOID” across the check with a comment on the worship, and place it in the offering anyway.
• In the first of two iMonk links here, Chaplain Mike notes the CNN report that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has removed the web page identifying Mormonism as a ‘cult,’ following the site’s namesake’s visit with Mitt Romney.
• At World Magazine, writer Jamie Dean isn’t too concerned about a Mormon in the White House, because she doesn’t see either candidate as approximating Christian Orthodoxy.
• And over at The Christian Post, they’re announcing that the once popular blog Pyromaniacs has gone political, with multiple posts (six, count ’em) on why the Republican candidate is the better choice. Too bad. I was once a regular reader of Team Pyro, but that was before the Reformed community voted to secede.
• Starry, Starry Night Department: A Christian perspective on the art of Vincent Van Gogh.
• Shaun Groves hits the road as an opener for Mark Schultz and Anita Renfroe (who has to have sweet tea at every stop) and lets the rest of us in on the anatomy of a concert road trip.
• Chaplain Mike at iMonk looks at the music ministry of Ken Medema, who we remember for the song Lord, Listen To Your Children Praying.
• For our music video link this week, here’s an artist I’ve never heard of doing a song I didn’t know, but Shelly E. Johnson’s All Things Beautiful was a delightful surprise.
• It’s been fifty years since Vatican II. Did it move the church in a more evangelical direction? George Weigel comments on the anniversary, in an article that lets me quote the phrase “ecclesiastical parthenogenesis.”
• And after posting that link, we learned that George Weigel made other news this week, being the first speaker at the first Roman Catholic event — not mass — held in the Crystal Cathedral which the diocese has purchased.
• Phillip Longmire has wrestled with personal faith issues and is one of the latest bloggers at Alltop-Christian with his blog Half Baked Lobster. Here’s a great study he wrote on the Antioch church.
• We leave you with a graphic for a sermon series that’s probably being copied in various places. This has been all over the Christian blogosphere, but in case you missed it…

Microblogging Friday

Heard a couple of interesting quotes from The Elephant Room II at James MacDonald’s blog; here’s the first one:

T. D. Jakes on the need for the church to be more integrated:

“When you write the books you read, your truth will always be distorted.”

Second quote from ER II

I think it was Crawford Lorrits on the need for us to stop obsessing on the finer points of doctrine when we’re supposed to be evangelizing:

“When someone is drowning, don’t describe the features of the rescue boat.”

from David Platt quotations at GoodReads.com

“We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.”
― Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

More microblogging this week at this entry at C201 blog

Radical Together by David Platt

You can begin reading some of Chapter One of Radical Together here, or click the link at the bottom to open your own .pdf file of the entire chapter. (There’s much more in the preview than what’s here and it’s easier to read!)

Before Mark came to the Church at Brook Hills (the church I
serve), he had spent practically his entire adult life involved in
church programs and serving on church committees. “You name
it, and I did it,” Mark said. “I was on finance teams and personnel
teams. I worked on capital building campaigns and sat in long term
planning sessions. Every week my schedule was filled with
church activity.”

After becoming a part of our faith family,Mark started hearing
people talk about making disciples. That’s when he realized
that, despite all the good things he had done in the church, he
could not name one person outside his family whom he had led
to Christ and who was now walking with Christ and leading others
to Christ.Mark said to me, “David, I have spent my life doing
all the stuff in the church that I thought I was supposed to do.

But I’m realizing that I have missed the most important thing:
making disciples.” At his workplace and in our community, Mark
is now intentionally leading people to Christ and teaching them
to follow him.

The story of Mark’s life as a Christian should frighten us.The
last thing you and I want to do is waste our lives on religious activity
that is devoid of spiritual productivity—being active in the
church but not advancing the kingdom of God.We don’t want to
come to the end of our days on earth only to realize that we have
had little impact on more people going to heaven. Yet if we are not
careful, we will spend our lives doing good things in the church
while we ultimately miss out on the great purpose for which we
were created.

That’s why I say one of the worst enemies of Christians can
be good things in the church.

Of course, some will disagree with my claim. “How can good
things in the church really be one of our worst enemies?” some
might ask. “Sin and Satan are our worst enemies,” they might say.
And they would have a point.  But let me point something out: We
know sin and Satan are our enemies. We know we need to be on
our guard against them. But too often we’re oblivious to the threat
posed by the good things we’re doing. We’ve laid down our
defenses against the way that the good can hinder the best. In this
sense, good things can subtly and effectively become one of our
worst enemies.

As Christians today, you and I can easily deceive ourselves
into thinking that dedication to church programs automatically
equals devotion to kingdom purposes. We can fill our lives and our
churches with good things requiring our resources and good activities demanding our attention that are not ultimately best for the enjoyment of the gospel in our churches and the spread of the
gospel in our communities.

We must be willing to sacrifice good things in the church in
order to experience the great things of God.

continue reading the preview chapter with this link:  .pdf file

Elephant Room Conference: The DVD

If you missed the Woodstock music festival in 1969, you had to wait a full year for the movie; but just weeks after James MacDonald convened the Elephant Room one day seminar which was simulcast to two dozen cities, the DVD is already available for purchase, so we decided to jump in and bought one for ourselves and a couple of extras.

The phrase, “the elephant in the room” is used to denote the thing that is hovering over a discussion, but is never mentioned.   The idea here is that pastors have things they wrestle with that are discussed backstage when they meet up at major events, but are never shared with a larger audience.  The goal was to bring those subjects into open discussion.

The seven pastors were MacDonald, Mark Driscoll, Greg Laurie, Perry Noble, David Platt, Mark Chandler and Steven Furtick who was cast as a bit of a newcomer to this “big league” group.  Actually, Furtick came across very well, presenting some very timely insights into the subjects, and the very nature of the debates themselves.  Topics included:

• Building numerically versus building depth
• Responding to culture
• Compassion and social justice
• Unity and discernment
• The multi-site church trend
• Money issues
• Loving the doctrine of the gospel but not sharing the gospel

An eighth session dealt with questions that had been texted in during the conference and was actually the most interesting in many ways. 

Over the past few years we’ve seen a growing interest in ecclesiology — the study of what constitutes ‘church’ —  among what would have been traditionally called “the laity.”  Books that would have formerly been written for the exclusive reading of pastors and church staff are now being purchased and discussed by the widest range of Evangelicals, many of whom are forging ahead with startups of home churches or alternative churches.  In a sense, the things the pastors discuss quietly backstage at conferences are being discussed in church lobbies, living rooms and over kitchen tables back home. This DVD set, and the topics it discusses are thereby of interest to everyone.

But it’s not the major takeaway from watching the seminar.

What is most striking is the camaraderie that exists between the pastors themselves.  While they do disagree on some minor points, there is a genuine agreement on the things that matter; what Driscoll well-defines as the difference between national borders (which wars are fought over) and state borders (for which wars are not fought.) 

There were some highlights and lowlights in the video.  One highlight was the overall production quality.  Another was the way they kept the discussion moving, with a moderator and two rotating key opponents followed by a more open forum that allowed the other four pastors to contribute.   Another highlight was seeing that with issues such as multi-site — so much on the minds of people as changes take place quickly — the pastors themselves do not undertake moves lightly, but truly agonize over the ramifications of growth.   A lowlight — and it really has to be said — is the way James MacDonald dominates every discussion, rolling over everyone else like a freight train at times.  I guess it was his party, so he got to call the tune.

I do love the concept, however.  This was a great series of conversations and I would hope that either MacDonald’s crew, or somebody else, would put something like this together this time next year, perhaps with a different mix of pastors and church leaders.  Rather than attempting to describe it further, you can watch a few sample clips here and here. 

What we call church really matters, and you don’t have to be among the ‘professional’ clergy to care.

Read another review of the conference here.

Link here to an index Trevin Wax provided of participants who live-blogged the event.

Wednesday Link List

I want to do something different this week and begin with a link to a page that contains about a dozen other links.  Last week seven influential pastors gathered together to discuss “the elephant in the room” — several of them actually — at the appropriately titled Elephant Room Conference. Trevin Wax does a subject-by-subject set of links to two other bloggers, Canada’s Chris Vacher and Arizona’s Jake Johnson.  It’s not full transcripts, just what you’d expect to post yourself if you were listening with two ears and typing with two fingers (or thumbs).

The Elephant Room subjects and speakers were:

• Session 1: Preaching to Build the Attendance vs. Preaching to Build the Attendees
  – Matt Chandler & Steven Furtick
• Session 2: Culture in the Church vs. Church in the Culture
  – Mark Driscoll & Perry Noble
• Session 3: Compassion Amplifies the Gospel vs. Compassion Distorts the Gospel
  – Greg Laurie & David Platt
• Session 4: Unity: Can’t We All Get Along? vs. Discernment: My Way or the Highway
  – Steven Furtick & James MacDonald
• Session 5: Multi-Site: Personality Cult vs. God’s Greater Glory
  – Perry Noble & Matt Chandler
• Session 6: Money?
  – David Platt & James MacDonald
• Session 7: Love the Gospel vs. Share the Gospel
  – Greg Laurie & Mark Driscoll

…I know, I know; now you’re curious.  There are a lot of interesting quotations from this one-day conference, which originated at one of the Harvest Bible Chapel locations and was simulcast to 15 U.S. and one Canadian location.  So here again is the magic link.  Also, Zach posted a video clip from the conference yesterday.

And now here’s the rest of this week’s blog connectivity:

• Yesterday marks one year since the passing of Internet Monk founder Michael Spencer.  His wife Denise shares Michael’s approach to adventure.
• Tony Campolo suggests to Huffington’s readers that there’s other dynamics at play in the saga that might be called, “The Rise and Fall of the Crystal Cathedral;” dynamics owing to the changing ethnic demographics of Garden Grove, California.
  
• Here’s a special link to the first chapter of former Planned Parenthood employee Abby Johnson’s book Unplanned — file opens as .pdf .
  
• If your first name is Tim and your second name begins with Ch—, chances are you have a new book about pornography.  First it was Tim Challies, and now Tim Chester.
  
• Summer is coming!  If you want to get dirty on the streets of Philadelphia with Shane Claiborne’s Simple Way community, here’s how you connect to attend events.
  
• Donald Miller buys a copy of Love Wins online and offers a straight-forward and concise review.
• For all you worship leaders out there:  Here’s how to tell if you’re a classical music nerd.
• This one’s from 2007, but our YouTube link this week asks the musical question, “What if Worship was Like an NBA Game?“
• From the blog, Small Steps to Glory, here’s a look at a modern day Goliath (well the height part anyway) which gives some perspective to the “David And” story.
• At Arthur Sido’s blog this week, I discovered this trailer for an upcoming documentary on the education system, Indoctrination.
• For all you techies out there, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to broadcast your church services on the internet.
  
• 130 Churches in Calgary, Alberta, Canada are coming together to raise $1.5M to reduce the mortgage on a transitional housing facility established in 2009.
  
• Proverbs 3 promises us, “When you lie down, you will not be afraid;when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” So then what about those of us who simply don’t get a good night’s sleep.  Ryan rumbles through a topic that I totally identify with.
  
• If you find the links I run to religion stories at CNN and USAToday a little too American for you and you’d like to explore stories from the broader world of spiritual interest, here’s the link to the religion page of Reuters News Service.
• send your own link suggestions by 8:00 PM EST on Monday.
  
• Today’s picture:  Songwriter Mandy Thompson cures writer’s block by going analog:

• I’ve always had a huge interest in the spiritual themes that turn up in the comic pages of the daily newspaper.  Comic writers can say things in ways others cannot.  I’ve used Dennis the Menace — now drawn by Marcus Hamilton — here a few times, with the result that one of the panels now hangs in my office.  Here’s another kids-eye-view of God as only Dennis can see it:

Wednesday Link List

Here we link again…

• Topping the link list this week is my other blog, Christianity 201, which celebrates its first anniversary on Friday.
• As the above picture indicates, The Book of Mormon, the book, is now The Book of Mormon the broadway play.  Even LDS leaders admit that the founding of their religion is a somewhat colorful story. (I think the guy in the forefront was working my street last week…)
  
• The book Radical by David Platt was a big seller this summer, with some themes in common with Francis Chan’s Crazy Love. Here’s a link to the free download of the preview chapter for the forthcoming sequel, Radical Together.
• Only six percent of Christian couples pray together?  Pete Wilson lays that statistic out as the basis for a seven day challenge to his congregation.
• A related item:  Canadian Dave Carrol — a confirmed ‘scrapper’ —  talks about learning the art of ridiculous love.
• Another Canadian, former Cambridge Vineyard pastor Robert Hall died suddenly in a construction accident on the mission field in Zambia.  He leaves behind three young children and his wife Kate who is the daughter of Canadian broadcaster Jim Cantelon and his wife Kathy.
• A final Canadian story: Linda Bond was elected — on the first ballot — as head of the Salvation Army International; the fourth time in 150 years that a Canadian has held the post, and the third time the denomination has elected a woman.
• In light of the latest teapot tempest over ‘that’ book, Rachel Held Evans considers The Future of Evangelicalism.
  
• Dean Lusk finds some of those really old Bible translations, like the NLT, in need of an update in this more contemporary paraphrase of Romans 2.
  
• The Maccabeats are back.  This time the theme is the Feast of Purim, aka the story of Esther, like you’ve never heard it before.  (Actually we’re about ten days late, Purim was March 20th this year.)
  
• And while we’re YouTube linking, Darrell from Stuff Fundies Like explains the fundamentalist aversion to playing cards.
  
• At the blog Biblical Preaching, a look at the problem of preaching moralism.
• With Good Friday and Easter Sunday inching closer, I want to share a site with you that is very useful if you lead worship or prepare the quotations that often appear on-screen during weekend services.  Here’s what Daily Christian Quote offers for Good Friday.
• Dave at a new blog, Armchair Theology is running a series of Bible misunderstandings under the title, Calling God Fool.  Click to link to the blog and then scroll into the middle of March posts.

Wednesday Link List

We read blogs so you don’t have to!  Or something.

• Brent Mosley is president of Bluefish TV, the company that makes — among other things — those little two-minute video clips that start your weekly worship service.  He blogs, too.  Check out Is The Church Telling The Complete Story?
  
• Speaking of video, it’s been three years since it was filmed and two years since it was released on DVD, but now you can watch Joe Manafo’s detailed 42-minute documentary study of alternative churches in Canada in its entirety at the website for One Size Fits All.
  
• A list with ten things is actually easier to produce than when you decide to narrow it down to five.  And these five are well-chosen.  Trevin Wax posts Five Trends to Watch for in Evangelical Christianity.
  
• And speaking of Trevin, here’s a video of a church promotion that he (and Zach at Vitamin Z) think is one of the best church advertisements ever.  “Before we tell you who we are, we want to tell you who we were.”
  
• Contemporary Christian book author Skye Jethani tells why he doesn’t read many books by contemporary Christian book authors, in a piece at Out of Ur provocatively titled, I Read Dead People.
• Dan Horwedel whisks you on a link-list journey of his own in a fascinating examination of the Christian worship song, God of This City.  Both the major-key version and the minor-key version.
  
• I don’t read — let alone link — to Ann Welch’s blog very often because it’s more of a women’s blog and a parenting blog, but she’s been in the link-list here since day one because she is a blogger who has my utmost respect. Here’s a shorter piece even the guys can take a minute to read at her blog Resolved 2 Worship, titled Dart Throwing.  (Turn your speakers up, too; she’s got a great blog playlist.)
  
• Chuck Colson believes that while most Christian children’s books contain a Bible narrative followed by “the moral of the story,” we need to teach kids to recognize the worldview being promoted in everything they read.  And he’s introducing a product that will help them do just that.
  
• Pete Wilson raises the oft-discussed issue of swearing, or things that some people consider swearing.   200 comments so far about words like darn, dang, heck, geez, and shoot.  (And then, Daniel Jepson raises the same topic, too.)
  
• A woman in a senior’s home invites John Shore into her room, and then dies holding on to John’s hand.  Yikes!  Obviously, readers are wondering why the story is just surfacing now.
  
• Albert Mohler thinks that Piers Morgan’s interview with Joel Osteen identifies one topic where we either stand for Biblical truth or we try to dance around its politically incorrect implications.  Mohler says that sooner or later we’ll have to deal with our own Osteen Moment.
  
• A Tennessee pastor refused to baptize a couple’s baby because the couple wasn’t married. He wants to make a statement about teen pregnancy.
  
• Time for a quick hymn sing.  Here’s a couple of versions of a classic hymn that is well-known in England but not at all in North America.  One version is more modern, the other is most formal, but both of them work.  Check out Tell Out My Soul.
  
• This week we should pay Trevin a commission.  If you’ve read the bestselling book Radical by David Platt (Waterbrook), you know all about “Secret Church.”  Well, this year, the event is available as a simulcast for any church that wants in. (Posted even though the event is a Lifeway thing. Look guys; no hard feelings!)
  
• Here’s a return of a Link List favorite; Mike Morgan’s weekly comic, For Heaven’s Sake.