Time to dust off the flannel graph, test the cassette deck, and warm up the filmstrip projector as another season of ministry kicks off.
- Following in the footsteps of the film God's Not Dead, a new movie, A Matter of Faith debuts in selected markets on September 26th …
- … and then, it came to pass that ChristianMingle.com begat Christian Mingle: The Movie, releasing in October.
- In the UK, more than 400,000 children don't live with both parents …
- … which brings me to this series running on my own blog which we call The Divorce Effect by Jeff Snow; Part One and Part Two (with a final part releasing tomorrow.)
- The children of Saeed Abedini, a U.S. pastor imprisoned in Iran, appeal to President Obama to intervene.
- Eight charts, 24 questions, and lots to think about in this look at how changing culture impacts the church.
- Your church has a website, it's on Facebook, and on Twitter. Surely that covers all the social media bases, right?
- Pastor Problems: When your church has all the wrong people.
- The Blaze profiles Matt Chandler.
- "Pope Expels All Muslims from Rome" was the mock headline on this provocative blog post.
- Christian authors are getting dragged into the politics of Amazon's conflict with a major publisher over ebook pricing.
- The persecution of Christianity by ISIS is a living nightmare. At times we just want to look away.
- Possibly under-reported: The story of four Far East Broadcast Company volunteers who were beaten to death in Ukraine …
- … and this week I discovered another website devoted to persecution of Christians.
- Revisiting the late Michael Spencer (aka Internet Monk) writing about The Coming Evangelical Collapse.
- The modern equivalent of Baal worship may be taking place in an arena in your city, or even in your living room.
- Were there unforeseen consequences of running children's ministry concurrent with adult services?
- When the deceased would identify as one of the "nones," what does a Christian bring to the funeral?
- Like a snowball rolling down a hill, a several-months-old article by Michael Gungor about certain parts of Genesis has gained momentum online. Last week he responded.
- So what's your true denominational bent? I took a few of these online belief surveys, and no I'm not going to say.
- Peter Enns' new book is titled, The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It. Test-drive a good-sized excerpt for a limited time.
- "More than 3,500 Spurgeon sermons have been published, but none from his early ministry." B&H aims to rectify this with 400 early ones in a multi-volume set.
- The issue of whether or not you can be gay and Christian is following a parallel track in the American Muslim community.
- Social media can bring necessary attention to the missteps of key Christian personalities, but it's wrong for the writers themselves to demand contrition.
- So was there an actual Adam? "In 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 5, Paul places Adam and Jesus in parallel relationship."
- Matthew Paul Turner nails his 38 theses on the future of the church to the front door of his blog.
- Nadia Bolz-Weber's 15-minute sermon (a record length for her, I think) on feeling totally inadequate to administer pastoral care. (Click to listen as you read.)
- What the world needs now: A Bible that does everything except walk on water. (Wait, it does that, too.)
- Even though certain forms of sexual abuse aren't considered the most extreme, they are still abuse.
- A 19-year old's decision to be an organ donor gave his family more time to say goodbye. (And a warning to parents about the drug known as spice.)
- Tullian Tchividjian's best sermon ever according to his son. (Note: It's rather short.)
- The author of The Shack asks the musical question, “If men are so much more messed up than women, why are they in charge?”
- Amen Analysis: Tim Challies' seven ways to ruin a prayer meeting including what he calls prayer tics.
- Essay of the Week: Spiritual Insanity; "frantic lives of fidgety discontent."
- Outline of the Week: A long, but thorough look at why God allows disasters and calamities. Part One. Part Two.
- Robert A. Schuller with a health update on Robert H. Schuller.
- Building program on steroids: A $300 million replica of the original Temple of Solomon in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- It's not a tell-all, but it's interesting reading a book by the son of a famous, almost iconic, megachurch pastor father, especially when you know who that father is.
- From the same family (literally) that brought you Love and Respect comes The Illumination Project, a six-week DVD curriculum for young adults ages 18-35.
- Known as "The Friendly Atheist," Hemant Mehta is recalling God is an Abusive Boyfriend (and Why You Should Break Up) citing broad backlash from people, including atheists, who've experienced abuse.
- Growing up with their music, I had to include this link on finding the seed of the gospel in the music of classic rockers, The Guess Who.
- Does the U.S. Internal Revenue Service unfairly target churches?
- I guess I'm too late for the "Praying in Public" 15% discount at Mary's Gourmet Diner.
- First there was the Coexist icon featuring multi-faith symbols. Next there was the Christian apologetic response, Contradict. The latter is now a book.
- Redeeming the cable series Black Jesus.
- Once this Phoenix, Arizona Mormon Temple is dedicated, the free tours will end.
- Only the names have been changed: It wasn't gays and it wasn't wedding cake, it was lesbians and bridal dresses …
- … and as the broader society redefines marriage, so do dictionary editors.
- Although this short blog post references a specific denomination, it's clear that all of us can fall into the trap of making our distinctives the main thing.
- Why every group you belong to needs a class clown.
- Now all you need to rebuke the devil is a free smartphone app.
Paul Wilkinson blogs at Thinking Out Loud and edits Christianity 201, the latter of which is always looking for submissions.
Posted August 13, 2014
