A Happy Independence Day to our U.S. readers and a one-day belated Happy Canada Day to readers in the land north of the 49th. On with the linkage …
- I'm not sure what the major story is here: That Eric Metaxas has finished a new book—Miracles—or that veteran talk show host Dick Cavett is guest-hosting the next Socrates in the City event.
- What's in a sermon series title? Reading this short devotional, I wondered what would happen if Andy Stanley's popular series Guardrails had been called Rumble Strips.
- For preachers, there is a difference between messages that exhort and messages that evoke.
- Here are some questions to ask as you're sitting around the campfire: Can we sin in heaven? Also, Doesn't God need to have had a creator? Or, you could just go in the cabin and play Dutch Blitz.
- David Fitch says you can't be missional and be multi-site.
- Quotation of the Week? "… Prayer is like a shot of WD-40 into my brain. It unsticks things. It loosens things up. I run more smoothly after I pray." How I learned to pray like a Catholic.
- When a major issue faces your denomination, you can form a task force to spend several years looking into it, or you can let your denominational college's scholars provide direction.
- Another hidden story: A United Methodist minister who officiated his gay son's wedding is reinstated; but the final paragraph reveals he has two other gay children.
- In New Zealand, you can't suggest in media advertising that anointing oil and prayer brings healing.
- I have a great respect for bloggers who do investigative writing, especially when there's lots of intrigue.
- More than simply architecturally significant: A new house of worship in Berlin is a mosque, a synagogue, and a church.
- A UK writer brings focus to someone usually not considered in the story of the detention of Meriam Ibriham in Sudan.
- Essay of the Week (1): A look at a new HBO series based on the novel The Leftovers, and what the writer calls "the power of rapturology." (Also coining the word, "apocalyptabuse.")
- Essay of the Week (2): In making Christianity all about "going to heaven" we've basically tricked an entire generation with a flawed sales pitch.
- Though he already has great daily stats, apparently Tim Challies struck a nerve when he briefly stated that he doesn't allow his kids to attend or host sleepovers.
- Christianity Today's July/August issue debuts its list of 33 young leaders under 33 in this summer cover story.
- Editor's Update: This link used to like to a story about Tyndale House Publishishing severing their relationship with Mark Driscoll. But recent stories on Publishers Weekly and The Christian Post reveal that Driscoll's relationship with Tyndale is still intact
- An explicit article for the sisters: "we have got to stop focusing so much on virginity that we forget to include purity in our discussions."
- Five takeaways from Monday morning's Supreme Court victory for Hobby Lobby.
- Looking at a Focus on the Family Study that indicates your college-bound kids don't have to abandon church and faith.
- The Trinity Western Law School story continues to develop as the province of New Brunswick's Law Society breaks ranks with its counterparts in other provinces and approves the school.
- Even the curators of Calvinism at Reformation21 got involved when Instagram shut down an account over a cute baby picture.
- Under new proposals, officials in Northern Ireland would be able to have in-house visits with homeschool families to monitor progress.
- The medium is the message: So, did Samuel really return from the dead and speak with Saul?
- Michael Newnham runs this same blog post every Wednesday. (This sidebar to the story may make you cry.)
- If you like a real preaching challenge, you could try Revelation 8 and 9.
- While the web page is trying to sell a book, the principle is worth considering: That care-giving should be in your church growth toolbox.
- This links to a very short piece, but one that strikes a nerve in my own home. What's it like returning to the church where spiritual abuse has taken place? How does it feel on that first Sunday?
- Music corner: The Canadian band Lightfall has already played some prestigious gigs and has a new 4-song EP.
- What do you do when your dad is pastor of one of America's largest megachurches, and you find yourself 13 and pregnant? Years later, Sarah Jakes is becoming a role model.
- Here's a complete list of all the people Jesus placed under church discipline or excommunicated.
- The Underground interviews Christian Electronic Dance Music artist Beckah Shae.
- Not only does the title contain a pun, but it poses a question you may have had about Catholic church services: What's the Smoke For? And Other Burning Questions About the Liturgy.
- Finally, the holiday weekend question that's on everybody's back bumper: Got KJV?
When not playing one of the 820 Solitaire variants while listening to sermon podcasts, Paul Wilkinson blogs at at Thinking Out Loud, edits the devotional blog Christianity 201, and provides hints of the following week's link list on Twitter.
