Next Few Hours Critical for Saeed Abedini

Urgent prayer need:

Posted Monday at the American Center for Law & Justice website:

There’s been a very troubling development in the case of American Pastor Saeed Abedini, a U.S. citizen imprisoned in Iran because of his Christian faith.

The ACLJ has confirmed through Pastor Saeed’s family members in Iran that he has been moved from Evin Prison in Tehran to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj – an even more dangerous prison where he faces life-threatening conditions and treatment.

A member of Pastor Saeed’s family in Iran arrived at Evin Prison today for the regular weekly visit and was told that Pastor Saeed had been moved to this this prison outside of Tehran yesterday – about an hour and a half drive away. The family member travelled to Rajai Shahr Prison and was told that Pastor Saeed is imprisoned there and is not permitted to have any visitors.

…continue reading here…

If the video is not playing through this page, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JrgzVUJdzs

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Wednesday Link List

So, is Pope Francis a revivalist?

Now, on to the links…

Some very, very high profile Christian sites and at least one radio show get their news stories here. We know who you are…

• Jamie, The Very Worst Suburbanite reflects on life in the ‘burbs here vs. life in the ‘burbs in Honduras in The Color of Greige. 
• With help from a Gordon College professor, the classic handicapped icon/logo/thing is getting an entirely new vitality. 
• Knowing Nik Wallenda made it safely doesn’t make it any easier to watch, even in this 90 second summary video.
• Its been one year since Saeed Abedini said goodbye to his family to build orphanages in Iran. Help us bring him home.
• Got a son or daughter entering high school? It might be time to buy them a necklace.
• Publisher Thomas Nelson reports on Twitter that already six colleges have signed on to use Ken Wytsma’s Pursuing Justice as a textbook. But then, we predicted that.
  
• Find your pastor: Phillip Wilson invites you to play Top Twelve Preacher Styles. Hopefully your minister isn’t in this list at all. 
• Critics have accused the Scottish Government of following the same failed approach of ever-more sex education at ever-younger ages to lower the teen pregnancy rate. Now they’re talking preschool.
  
• Essay of the week: Go deeper with Michah Murray on the concept of Love The Sinner Hate The Sin.
• Photo essay of the week: A visit to the abandoned Holy Land theme park in Connecticut, closed since ’84.   
• This 2-minute video is the reason I part company with John MacArthur’s dispensationalism and anti-Charismatic rhetoric.
• The Dictionary of Christianese defines traveling mercies and the many variations on cradle Christian. Be sure to also see, bookmark and use their full index of terms defined so far.
  
• World awareness: Here are five quick facts on the problems caused by lack of access to safe drinking water.
  
• Author Max Lucado has formed a partnership with Thomas Nelson and The Salvation Army (SA), to produce a special SA edition of You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Your Turbulent Times
  
• Have you or someone you know been hurt by a local church? Here are things to remember and steps to take. 
• Ever feel like God is ticked off with you right now? Here’s a take on the question, Does God get disappointed with us? 
• Warning: You may disagree with this 3 1/2 minute video on debunking rapture doctrine.
  
• Jen Hatmaker’s end of school year parent confessional went viral and is closing in on 4,400 comments. 
• The website of the Smithsonian Institute profiles the unique and often controversial ministry of Aimee Semple McPherson.
  
• A Baptist church in Georgia (the European country, not the US state) finds middle ground with its high orthodox neighbors by using robes and incense. 
• With a new album ready to release, Andrew Schwab talks to Matt Greiner of the band August Burns Red. 
• In other CCM news, usually the people who lead Holy Land tours are somewhat older authors, pastors or musicians. So… an Audio Adrenaline tour of Israel? 
• After at least four years, Paul Baloche is releasing another worship album in French. 
• Lamentable blog discovery of the week: Pimp Preacher, a collection of con artistry by minsters, from the Preacher Bureau of Investigation.
  
• Steven Furtick with a short piece on The Real Test of Worship, reblogged from 2010 for a new audience.
• Please note that if you have a blog and about 15 seconds after it opens it starts playing very loud music that you like but maybe nobody else likes, we will not link to it.
• That’s it for this link list; stay ‘linked’ during the week here and on Twitter.
  

The Wednesday List Lynx might be getting a new home as early as next week.

Stop the presses! Is this the last link list?

We’re cooking up a partnership that could mean more people than ever would get to share in what we’ve been doing here for five years. Just think of the larger number of people who would get saved just clicking on these same stories. They might not even have to click; conviction might come just by reading the teasers. 

Really, why are we considering this? It’s about power and the ability to take bribes to promote various blogs and websites.

So stay tuned. Same bat time. Same bat channel. But maybe not actually same bat channel.

Wednesday Link List

This is a picture Shane Claiborne posted on Twitter of the community where The Simple Way ministers in Philadelphia: Sprinklers open for cooling on a hot day

Be sure to read the post which immediately precedes this one, about Calvinist propaganda for kids… And now for another day on the links…

• “If a church tells the Scouts they are no longer welcome to use their facilities a whole bunch of kids, most of whom are not gay, are going to get one clear message: You’re not welcome at church. Fighting the culture war has already hurt the Christian image, as we are much more recognizable for the things we are against.” Before your church has a knee-jerk reaction to the situation, take 90 seconds to read this including the updates in the comments.
• And speaking of people we make unwelcome in the church, here’s a story like no other: A particularly buxom young woman (i.e. size DD) unravels a sad tale of a lifetime of being marginalized by the local church.
• Another great, concise (about 12 minutes, I think) sermon by Nadia at House for All Sinners and Saints on Hope. Realistic church motto: “We will disappoint you.” Click this link to the text, then click the internal link to listen, then click back to follow along as you listen. 
• 30 Churches in Holland, Michigan are covering their individual church signs this week with burlap on which is painted “One Lord, One Church.” This is a movement designed to promote unity between the denominations.
• The White House has issued a statement pressing the Iranian government for the release of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini, but Iran does not recognize his U.S. citizenship. 
• Yesterday’s Phil Vischer Podcast was the best so far! Phil and panelists Skye Jethani and Christian Taylor are joined by anthropologist Brian Howell discussing short-term missions.
  
• Teapot tempest or major issue? A Methodist pastor refuses to stand for God Bless America. Hours later, The Washington Post has to run a separate article to showcase all the responses the first article got.
• For the pastor: A different approach to mapping out your fall (and beyond) adult Christian education program. 
• Also for pastors: What to teach about tithing? Andy Stanley teaches percentage giving. But as Jeff Mikels points out, some people don’t like that concept.
  
• The K-LOVE Fan Awards are out! Guess what? They like Chris Tomlin. Wow, there’s a surprise! See the winners in all nine categories.  
• If you don’t mind wading through a lot of posts to unearth some classic wit and wisdom — and several bad worship team jokes — there’s always Church Curmudgeon’s Twitter feed.
  
• Rob Bell is on the ‘cover’ of Ktizo Magazine, an e-publication built just for tablets.
  
• Porn is an issue for women, too.  Maura at the blog Made in His Image shares her struggle and suggests that step one is sharing your struggle with another person.
• Also at the same blog: Christian women, should you buy that itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polkadot bikini? Rachel says its a matter of exercising God-given responsibility.
• We mentioned the blog Blessed Economist once at C201, but I’m not sure if we did here. It’s economics — the real thing, not personal finance — from a Christian perspective. Here’s a short piece to whet your appetite, there are some longer case studies there as well.
• A friend of ours who graduated recently in film studies has posted a 17-minute short film about a band of orphans Fleeing through the wilderness of post-apocalyptic British Columbia in search of food and shelter who take refuge in an abandoned church and face a horrifying choice.
• Also on video, a group of high school teens at Camp Marshall got together in 2011 to produce a rather artistic video of the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing that serves as a music video and a camp promotional video. 

Found at Postsecret, but this post actually isn’t very secret; a lot of people express this same sentiment online