1. Post-hurricane Gulf Coast has become the real Jesusland
"With government agencies stretched thin by the massive scope of the Gulf Coast recovery effort, groups from every conceivable religious denomination are shouldering a heavy share of the workload," the Associated Press reports today. "Tens of thousands of volunteers from hundreds of faith-based groups have poured into the region. That virtually bottomless well of labor makes them a valuable resource for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps coordinate their efforts to avoid duplication." There's a bit here about "the uneasy intersection of church and state," but the story seems pretty clear that these busloads of believers aren't coming to the Gulf Coast for government funds. One wonders what the longterm spiritual effects will be, both in the areas hit by Katrina and in the towns where dozens, hundreds, or thousands of these volunteers will return to.

2. IMB executive committee will rescind motion for member's ouster
In January, trustees for the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board asked the full convention to fire Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson from the board for what they called "broken trust and resistance to accountability." After a fair bit of media attention, they're reconsidering that call. Now Baptist media outlets say that the trustees will rescind that call at their March 20-21 meeting. "It's mainly [that] we discovered more options for handling trustee relationships than we thought we had," IMB chairman Tom Hatley told Associated Baptist Press. Burleson has extensive commentary about the development on his own weblog.

3. As the deer passeth Nancy Trejos turned in a classic for yesterday's The Washington Post. (Sorry we ...