Wednesday Link List

Summertime and the linkin’ is easy…Our biggest collection ever with 40 bullets!

• The major story this week was that the Church of England voted to end centuries of discrimination and will now consecrate women as bishops.
• Beyond the Titus and Timothy texts, there are other qualities that make for a great elder.
• Story of the Week: She spent her whole life within a few yards of her parents, growing up aboard a YWAM ship. And then she left for college.
• Over the years, many articles have been written on how to be the Christian wife of an unbelieving husband; but I’ve never seen it done as a catechism.
• 

  Read the list here or at PARSE, the blog of Leadership Journal (click this image)

  As you leave to “do church” each week, your residential neighbors probably stay home. That’s the subject of both a music album and a series of documentary videos. Check out The Desert Blooms Project.
• Churches and pastors wanting to share compassion in the middle of the border crisis have been told they aren’t welcome. (More at this story, also.)
• Analogy Avenue: Do we want to attract spiritual seekers, or are we looking for people to join the family? Lessons from the discomfort zone. (Complete with belly dancing!)
• Pew Research has been busy documenting the destruction of church property and facilities by governments. Worst offenders: Russia, China and Tajikistan.
• A story in pictures: Faith Chapel Christian Center in Birmingham, AL opened the door to a multi-purpose center. The Bridge has everything you want in a community recreation facility, with programming to match.
• Essay of the Week: The two types of people you meet when it’s time for worship.
• What’s in a name? This essay examines the various manifestations of what we generally term Reformed or Calvinist theology.
• The December movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings (aka the Christian Bale Moses movie) has a short trailer posted online.
• You already knew this, but to repeat, crafting a sermon and drafting a book are quite different.
• Essay of the Week: For gospel-centered preachers, it’s not necessary to go on a Where’s Waldo? quest to force Jesus to turn up in every text.
• Is social justice truly mandated for the Christ follower, or does it take place organically?
• Baptist ethicists counter the idea that a sexual revolution is taking place among Christian youth…
• …In another Russell Moore-related link, what do you do when a man in your church has confessed his adultery to God, but never told his wife? (7-minute podcast.)
• Defining ‘pastor’ and knowing what a church should expect from the pulpit and what the pulpit should expect from the church.
• Not surprisingly, the Wild Goose Festival 2014 had its detractors.
• Wow! People are really sensitive when you take their religious symbols and use them to sell blankets.
• A former Jehovah’s Witness returns to the denom’s HQ for a tour of the Watchtower Building in New York.
• The question everyone in ministry is asking this week: Does your church look like a beauty salon?
• From the UK, a metric look at church metrics. (The trick is transitioning between sizes.)…
• …while in the States, a look at how small(er) church pastors live in the tension between ministry and management.
• Jonathan Merritt accurately notes some of the tension points in Christian publishing over responding to the gay issue.
• Get Religion looks at the death, by his own hand, of a Dallas pastor, and also at the manner in which it was reported locally.
• After they fill in a welcome card, how does your church follow up with visitors?
• This week the Church of England also voted to relax the requirements for clergy dress.
• Here’s a future book topic, Sandra Stanley on a parenting methodology she calls constant conversations. (Part one of a multi-part series.)
• If your family has trouble choosing among several mealtime prayers you use, now you can always roll the die.
• Short but profound: Many of our miscommunications lie in the ambiguity when words have two meanings…
• …and more on the undermining of the meaning of “friend.” (No, it’s not about Facebook.)
• So if we can extrapolate from this story, it’s not the 98% of clergy that are the problem, it’s the 2% that make headlines.
• Sometimes a disclaimer needed: In a Sunday sermon at North Point, a recreation facility was recommended. Players compete with micro-chipped golf balls, but checking the website, alcohol is a big part of the party packages.
• Binding Satan: Do not attempt this at home.
• Okay. I don’t have a specific link, but there sure was a lot of buzz online about this book.
• Sermon of the Week: This one has Babel, Pentecost, European travel and several funny moments.
• I have no comment: The Jesus Scarecrow.
• The Pope continues to meet with American televangelists, but everyone was talking about the photo-story where James Robison gets a papal high five…
• …Finally, you can now own the same red sock the Pope wears. (They ship from Paris. How do I know this?)

While not curating the internet, Paul Wilkinson blogs at Thinking Out Loud and C201.

Wednesday Link List

With lots of people doing summer things this week, I thought we’d tinker with the format while nobody’s looking. ANYTHING YOU CLICK will take you to PARSE, the blog of Leadership Journal, the Link List’s owner.  But first, we take you to Monday’s edition of the comic Pearls Before Swine (click image to link).

• This could be a model for other cities: You’ve heard of business incubators, now a ministry incubator and network hub is opening in an iconic location in Canada’s capital.
• He’s a Christian comedian with an Evangelical focus, and yes, Nazareth is his real name.

I usually bury the video links near the bottom, but this week uncovered two clips I wanted to give more prominence.

• I have a pet peeve about so much American Christian music being guitar-based and Nashville-rooted, so this synth-based piece, You Brought Me Back to Life put a smile on my face. (Read why Citizens and Zach Bolen landed on my radar.)
• On YouTube he goes by DavidWesley, and relatively speaking, we’re practically next door neighbors. This original song, performed acapella is titled Real Life Offering, and is one of many…
• …of course if your tastes run to something more like rap, watch for Tedashii.

Church leadership stuff:

• This one takes you to an 11-minute video that suggests that the moral failure of pastors is linked to relaxing our standards as we grow accustomed to the darkness of the dominant culture.
• If it was just a matter of expository or topical preaching it would be easy. Unfortunately, there are at least eighteen other variants.
• Conference crashing: In a 4-minute video, Aubrey Malphurs offers eight reasons why lay people aren’t getting involved.
• Pulpit Plagiarism: At least one reporter has been taking notes.
• A UK church has been forced to remove signage telling non-believers they will burn in hell, after a complaint that the wording constitutes hate speech.

Essay(s)-of-the-Week:

• No, it’s not about translations: Four Modern Versions of the Bible that are Ruining The Bible.
• An economist looks at psychology. No specific link here, you’ll have to jump into this ongoing series at the New Zealand blog Blessed Economist, called What is a Person? It began May 26th and grows more complex and more interesting with each new post.
• While reading some updated stats on the Korean church in North America, I discovered a link to a three-part series on the unique challenges when doing pre-marital counseling with Asian-American Christians.
• A Christian response to a New York Times article advocating that cohabitation is better marriage preparation than courtship.
• If we’re going to teach our daughters modesty, let’s be doing it for all the right reasons.
• It’s not really essay-length, but David Murray has a blog post just for your kids.

The wider religious world:

• The Vatican’s rules aren’t stopping a number of women priests from having themselves ordained anyway.
• The founder may be gone, but the spirit of Westboro Baptist Church is alive and well…
• …However, Phelps’ grandson does a radio interview reflecting on leaving the church and thereby somewhat leaving the family. (Click audio link for May 31st)
• The U.S. Navy says the phrase “Atheist Chaplain” is an oxymoron and rejected a Humanist Association-backed candidate for the second time.
• Like every other human on the planet, Pope Francis needs to take a summer break.
• Mormonism isn’t getting in the way of the guys in Red Yeti pursuing rock ‘n roll success.
• A colonel in a Russian security service is sentenced to 3.5 years for stealing a priceless Gutenberg bible.
• Quick read: Many of the journalists who cover family issues have no children.
• Infographic: The rise of secularism in U.S. religion.
• You might not recognize some names in the Wild Goose Festival lineup of musicians and speakers.

Worth reading:

• I often wonder how it is that people will write things not knowing their lives are going to be suddenly taken, such as this blog post by a Virginia teen a few weeks before his death.
• It’s one of those “Ten Things” articles about VBS, but this checklist includes VBS things you never considered.
• There’s not a lot of substance to this first post, but veteran Christian blogger Andrew Jones aka Tall Skinny Kiwi is back online after a year’s absence.
• In the markets where they have survived, Christian bookstores are offering a surrogate church experience for millennials.
• “Everyone should see a counselor from time to time.” Even your kids.

Be afraid; be very afraid:

• Online and in Christian bookstores, October marks Thomas Nelson’s release of The Duck Commander Bible.
• I’m not sure that a large outdoor billboard promoting your church’s children’s ministry should include a quotation from Adoph Hitler.
• This 2011 video turned up on a few Twitter accounts over the weekend: Al Mohler affirming that “New Calvinism” is the only way.
• Scalpers were asking $850 for tickets to Joel Osteen at Yankee Stadium.
• A hip-hop church in North Carolina has a Saturday service at 5:30, but “Happy Hour” starts at 5:00. (See image below!)
• I see a blood moon rising. I see trouble on the way.
• Finally, if you collect classic obscure and crazy laws, here are ten church related statutes.

So how do you like your links? Categorized or free-range? Leave a comment!

 

Wednesday Link List

This paradigm-shifting “chunky” cross necklace is sold on Etsy. I’ve seen the “inline” cross on bracelets, but never necklaces. Click the image to purchase.

It’s the last day of the month and also the income tax deadline in Canada. Having 15 more days than my U.S. friends in no way implies that I’ve got my tax return complete, or even started; but hey, we’ve got links.

Walking out to the tip of the hand was the highlight of my recent trip to Rio. Okay, actually I found this on the blog Launch Clarity; click to read (and check out the April 24th post on church signs.)

Clicking anything below is going to redirect you to PARSE, the link list’s owners for the past ten months. Happy linking!

• So who you do you see as the most influential people to your life and faith? Time Magazine has their Top 100, and one blogger has his.
• Can I share something with you in confidence? Actually, there are things for pastors to consider before answering.
• Links to more links: Ten talking points concerning Paul’s words, “I do not permit a woman to teach…”
• The Rest of the Story: As Heaven is for Real (Thomas Nelson book) becomes a box office success, the mother of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven (Tyndale House book) reveals serious concerns about the latter book’s veracity.
• Not on Twitter? Here’s 25 things that might change your mind about joining (and 25 peeks at Tweets you’re missing.)
• A Pro-Choice organization has successfully forced Google to take down advertising for crisis pregnancy centers.
• Breaking up is hard to do: Especially in a smaller church, it really hurts when individuals and families leave.
• I am so challenged by everything Shane Claiborne writes, especially stories like this one.
• Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts has passed the one million copies sold mark.
• Another Christian film project: Check out For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles.
• It’s hard to know how to process this, but just days before the service canonizing Pope John Paul II, a giant cross dedicated to his memory collapsed, crushing a man to death…
• …Also at The Telegraph, China is on target to be be the world’s most Christian nation in about 15 years.
• If you missed out on becoming a saint this weekend — most likely because you’re alive and reading this — here are your next steps to sainthood.
• 31 speakers at this year’s Wild Goose Festival.  How many of these names do you recognize?
• This one’s about six weeks old now, but like The Bible Answer Man I’m voting for Osteenification to be one of the new words of 2014; at least in Evangelicalism, if not a great title for a Christian rap song.
• American Bible Challenge, seen on the Game Show Network, is returning for a third season with host Jeff Foxworthy.
• Holy genealogy, Batman; this woman claims to be the Virgin Mary’s 65th cousin.
• Move over, Charlton Heston; Ben-Hur will be the next project for Mark Burnett and Rona Downey.
• North Point Church probably has more internet domains registered than any other church, so they’ve created a central focal point for their online activity.
• Via Skype, this weekend, Greg Boyd was a guest on Premier Radio’s Unbelievable broadcast/podcast in the UK.
• These Easter kisses weren’t candy or chocolate…
• …And if your Easter attendance wasn’t all it could have been, maybe it’s because you missed this article.
• This isn’t one of the major annual book lists, but smaller, independent Christian publishers have their awards, too…
• …Also on the topic of size, a small church pastor apologizes to his kids for all the things they had to do without…
• …While at Parchment and Pen, a half-hour podcast about megachurches also offers many insights into smaller churches.
• Though Trinity Western University’s law school won the battle in their home province, British Columbia; the same didn’t happen in more populous Ontario.
• When Thom Rainer was asked if he would officiate at their wedding, first, the couple always got this letter…
• …Which brings us to this picture; it makes a point in a creepy way.
• Despite having 7,000 daily blog readers, she decided it was time to drop out of the race.
• Devotions from the headlines: On Ukraine and the sovereignty of God.
• As youth culture dominates, the elderly have lost their place at the table, both in broader society and in the church.
• A member of the band Jars of Clay is the latest get caught in the middle of the gay marriage issue.
• The company that helped Mark Driscoll reach bestseller status, is currently laying low.
• At my own blog this week: Faith-focused movies in perspective, and pastor homes in gated communities.
• Getting in touch with my feminine side: Sandra Stanley’s recipe for strawberry pizza.
• Finally, we also leave our female readers with this: Church would be a safer place for men if hot women would dress a little frumpy. (For balance: some advice for men.)

Paul Wilkinson can be read daily at Thinking Out Loud, Christianity 201 and Twitter. Below: A Baptism cake (source unknown).

Wednesday Link List

From the Sojourners Magazine slide show and report on the Wild Goose Festival

With an over 70% U.S. readership, I don’t have a lot of high hopes for record high stats on the 4th of July, but here goes anyway.  Lots of Wild Goose Festival coverage here, too.  If you’d like more links, there was a Weekend Link List here on Saturday.

• So why does Mark’s gospel begin with a quote attributed to Isaiah when it’s actually taken from the book of Malachi?
• Small-town pastor Chuck Warnock did a graduation address to a Christian high school that’s worth reading in full, but if you can’t take the time, at least check out The Monkey Experiment illustration.
  
• Author Cathleen Falsani (Belieber) goes off the grid (not by choice) at the Wild Goose Festival and then comes back on the grid (via Sojourners) to share her experiences.  “The revolution is not dead.”
  
• Speaker Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove reflects on the festival, an event he sees in a long line of camp meeting culture.
  
• He was the only explicitly non-religious speaker invited to the Wild Goose Festival.  Bryan Parys travels with Chris Stedman.
  
• Ian reflects on the theologically relaxed atmosphere, while a Unitarian Universalist fills us in on the LGBTQ issues that were raised, and more details on the music.  There are many more reports — use Google Blog Search — to help you get the picture…
  
• Have your say: It’s Open Forum Week at Internet Monk.
  • Monday: Open Forum for Pastors
  • Tuesday: Open Forum for Readers around the World
  • Wednesday: Open Forum on America (Independence Day Special)
  • Thursday: Open Forum for Mission Workers
  • Friday: Open Forum for Bloggers and Writers
• Thomas Kinkade’s wife and Thomas Kinkade’s girlfriend are in a battle over the artist’s fortune.  (There’s one of his works in one out of every twenty homes in the U.S.) Sixty-six million is at stake.
  
• Apparently Church Executive magazine — it’s usually racked next to Newsweek — thinks the new generation of pastors isn’t speaking out on national issues. As one of those mentioned, Pete Wilson responds.
• Randy Alcorn has a three-in-one post with an update on Steve Saint, a discussion of the problem of men not being readers, and a related reblog of a Russell Moore piece on men and online addictions.
  
• Author Timothy Paul Jones fills us in a little on some of the books that did not make it into our New Testament.
  
• Brave New World Department: The first genetically modified humans have been born. Yes. Only in America.
  
• A Christian writer gives a thoughtful and thorough review of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, albeit with a few spoilers.
  
• Okay, we do have a link that’s tied to the 4th of July: Chad Hall looks what happens when patriotism comes to church. “Conservative Christians rightly resist religious syncretism …but we fail to see that equal and greater harm comes from the syncretism of Christianity and nationalism.”
  
• Medical Complications Department: “The medicine he had to take as a child to fight his cancer had eventually caused his heart to wear out… he had to have a heart transplant…[years later]…the medications Chuck had to take to maintain his new heart had given him cancer.” Read J.’s tribute to his friend.
  
• Dan Kimball has a new book and a new website coming. Here’s the 411 on his new project: Adventures in Churchland.
  
• And Mike Breen (Lifeshapes) has a new blog. A good place to learn more about what he and 3DM is doing with church-planters is to start with this 5-minute video.
  
• Website Discovery of the Week: HarvestUSA — Proclaiming Christ as Lord to a Sexually Broken World.
• Mark Sandlin explains why he, a pastor, is taking three months off from attending church.  “I want to understand what it is that the ‘spiritual but not religious’ like about not being in church AND I want to understand what I, a life long churchgoer, miss about not being in church.”
  
• It’s been a year since we introduced you to Aimee Byrd, Housewife Theologian who is still blogging regularly and living proof that not all radical Calvinists are male. (Hence, no specific link here.)
  
• Yes, I know just about everybody else has blogged this by now…but here’s the bacon graphic… Everyday Theology had the best intro: “If you live in 17th century Holland, it’s fine to summarize your theology using flowers. But in 21st century America, we prefer our theology a little meatier, and saltier, and greasier. So forget the five points of TULIP, here is the new creed for the Five Strip Baconist!”

Wednesday Link List

I always type a ‘filler’ introductory paragraph here when I start, only last week, I didn’t update it and you were left with the rather lame, “Wednesday is here again.”  If you’re reading this, I didn’t catch this one, either.

• For one week, Talbot Davis cancels the morning service at Good Shepherd United Methodist in Charlotte in favor of having multiple home church meetings instead, though they do gather at the church later in the day.  “You don’t bring your family to church… but we are living, breathing churches; the temple of the Holy Spirit, so we actually take the church with us to the campus each Sunday to celebrate in community what God is doing is in the home.”
  
• For some people, the upcoming weekend just hurts, and church services just amplify that hurt. Those are the people dealing with infertility. Russell D. Moore rethinks Mother’s Day:”What if pastors and church leaders were to set aside a day for prayer for children for the infertile? In too many churches ministry to infertile couples is relegated to support groups that meet in the church basement during the week, under cover of darkness…”
  
• Save the date: June 21-24 — The second Wildgoose Festival in North Carolina; with the most amazing mix of musicians and speakers. If I could get to only one U.S. summer festival, this would be it.
  
• Here is Proverbs 1:8-9 in the new Social Media Bible: “My followers, read your father’s tweets & do not delete your mother’s messages. For they will be retweetable.”  The genealogies in Matthew are especially interesting.
  
• Antioch Baptist Church pastor Ken Hutcherson says, “I am the gayest man I know.”  But then he explains what that means. “…Hutcherson is not a homosexual, nor does the happily married man have a same-sex attraction of any kind. He is, however, on a mission to take back words, phrases and symbols he believes groups…have “hijacked” from the American lexicon.
• Michael Belote thinks that both at home school and public school, children aren’t learning how to learn.  “…we have become a nation of individuals who are firmly entrenched in philosophies that we do not understand: we are loyal to paradigms of which we remain mostly ignorant with regard to detail…”
• Rebecca St. James narrates Mother India, a documentary premiering this fall about the real backstory in another film,  Slumdog Millionaire.  “…a compelling documentary following the adventure of 25 courageous orphans living as a family along the railway as they make pivotal decisions that will directly impact their future… filmed in January 2012 in southern India with a small production team…”
  
• Karen Spears Zacharias has released a true story highlighting the impact of child abuse. A Silence of Mockingbirds is released through MacAdam Cage Publishing, which means this one may not be at your local Christian bookstore.
  
• Does your church sing a lot of worship songs that are exclusive to your church; songs that were written by your own worship team leaders?  Bobby and Kristen Gilles recommend finding a place of balance.
  
• An interesting dinner date: Canadian cult-watcher James Beverley dines in New York with Peter H. Gilmore, head of the Church of Satan. “…His positive characteristics are nonetheless evidence of God’s common grace…”
  
• Don’t know where Tim Challies finds these things, but here’s an interesting blog about an Australian couple now serving in Mongolia.  This is a general link, scroll back and follow recent developments in a country where even buying a chair is a major accomplishment.
  
• Michael Kruger suggests five different ways technology is affecting us in Rescuring Church from a Facebook Culture.  “…It is a low-commitment and low-accountability type of interaction.  We control—and entirely control—the duration, intensity, and level of contact.  At any moment, we can simply stop.   But, the Christian life, and real Christian relationships don’t work like this…”
• Here’s another piece about technology at church, as in Matt Hafer’s Showing VHS’s to a Blu-Ray World. “Our financial giving isn’t where it needs to be and we brainstormed on why. One of the reasons that was plain to us is, we pass a bucket around and tell people the drop in cash or checks. The problems is, no one in 2012 carries cash and most people under 35 write a check about once a month…”
• To post or not to post?  Matthew Paul Turner found this picture of a rather disturbing piece of fashion he called The Jesus Mini-Skirt.  If the image isn’t here, then you’ll have to click; it means better judgment prevailed.
  
• Not exactly a Christian story, but CBN News reports on Chinese students being given IV hookups to amino acids to boost energy as they prepare for college entrance exams. It’s controversial, but not believed to be harmful.
  
• Eugene Peterson didn’t just get up one morning and start translating the Bible. Several steps led up to the creation of The Message including: “…He read translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, from Greek to English. He discovered the translation principles use by these translators.”
  
• The Grace Television Network now claims to be “Canada’s Largest 24/7 Provider of Christian Programming.”
  
• As I type this, on Monday, Jon Acuff is at Stuff Christians Like #1199, but if I remember to update this, he will have passed the twelve hundred mark. [Later…] SCL #1200 was inspired by some people who chose to talk all through the service on Sunday… while sitting in the front row!
  
• If you feel you must criticize something your pastor did or didn’t do, save it for Tuesday. Many pastors have a tougher time getting through Monday than Sunday.
  
• Click the images to connect with more comics from ASBO Jesus (above) and For Heaven’s Sake (below).