Noah’s Ark Park Hiring Policy; Engaging the Non-singers

On Monday I raked leaves and collected links; you could call it my own little feast of ingathering.

• Apparently, if a conservative family wants to block their daughter from going to college, they can refuse to sign off on her financial aid package.
• That Noah's Ark theme park in Kentucky may not qualify for state tax credits if they only hire people who believe in the flood after which the park is named.
• Many Evangelicals distance themselves from Joel and Victoria Osteen, but their views may be more common that we think.
• On the issue of election, this writer states you must choose between two extremes, there is no middle ground.
• Worship Leader's dilemma: Wanting to continue to use a song by [name of worship leader] after a revelation of moral or doctrinal issues.
• You can file this one under the category of Most Counterproductive Conversion Stories Ever. (Author's words!)
• If there are people in your church who have simply run out of money, it may be that whatever approach you take to help them may not be helpful.
• Scot McKnight's blog has a sneak preview of Philip Yancey's new book, Vanishing Grace …
• … A different type of book is coming October 27th: Unwelcome, a collection of church visitor horror stories. #DoNotDoThis (You can win a copy by sharing your own.)
• An update on a September article that went viral, in which a woman describes the aftermath of her husband's coming out, divorcing her, taking the children, and marrying another man.
• A church mourns the loss of its youth pastor, his wife and teenaged sons.
• Zondervan has launched an instructional video that links to a webpage to help parents and grandparents navigate the maze of child and teen Bibles currently available.
• If your church uses a bulletin—print or electronic—you need to read these 15 observations on church communications and look at the links for each one.
• A veteran Christian songwriter on the issue of people who aren't singing and how to get them engaged …
• … but if you've got about eight minutes, here's a church where I don't think you could not sing.
• If you're reading the Bible purely as a manual or textbook, your sermon titles may be similar to the ones listed in this article.
• Celebrate President Jimmy Carter's 90th birthday by suggesting that he might go to hell for saying that Jesus wouldn't discriminate against LGBT people. Or better yet sign a petition asking for an apology from the two pastors who made that claim.
• Essay of the Week: "God Has Never Done a New Thing Using Old Songs." (I guess we know on which side of the worship wars this one falls.)
• The next time it's your turn to make the introductions, instead of introducing people in terms of what they do, introduce them in terms of what they are.
• Celebrity Stalking: It's interesting how his Christian faith keeps intersecting with Justin Bieber's journey, but this week it was Selena Gomez photographed with T. D. Jakes after attending his church.
• What does relief and development in Africa have in common with last week's Nobel Prize winners in Physics?
• From the leading Anglican website in the UK, an all-time top 100 Christian books list.
• Contest: Here is an illustration desperately needing a sermon to go with it. Which text and application would you pick? (Sorry, there are no prizes.)
• People's expectations for funerals are changing.
• Sermon of the Week: Talbot Davis on FedEx, UPS, and why we should embrace obscurity in Christian service.
• Children blurt out the worst things at the worst times, but this one has that nightmarish quality…
• … and speaking of nightmares, a lot of people are terrorized by the thought of being picked to do the closing prayer at small group.
• Rob Bell's latest 'Surf 'N Seminar' conference claims to be targeting "People in business, creatives, entrepreneurs, those who work in healthcare, education, law, media and of course, moms." In other words, the "Business Edition" is for everyone. (Everyone who has the $700.)
• Celebrating new births: Each new faith commitment at Louis Giglio's Passion City Church is represented by a light bulb.
• Video of the Week: This live acoustic version of Depths from Hillsong's No Other Name album, not to be confused with Hillsong United, which brings us to …
• The band Hillsong United took five awards home from The Dove Awards, and the Gospel Music Association also presented an award to satellite radio provider Sirius XM.
• It's unlikely your boy will want to wear a dress, but if that, or something similar arises, this parent's response is worth filing away.
• The writer of a piece on "The War on Advent" would like to see secular party-planners be more more liturgically minded.
• Podcast of the Week: Sorting out the Nephilim from Genesis and Numbers. Or trying to. Actually, we're not sure who they were. (27 minutes)
• If you want the marriage to last, have a cheap wedding, but many guests.
• Are you a hypocrite? "Being a hypocrite is a human condition, not just for churchy folks."
• There is also an egalitarian movement in the Jewish community.
• Separating church and state collides with the principle that you can't exclude on religious grounds as a New York high school makes a second attempt to shut down a Christian club.
• KidMin Korner: I wonder if the Read and Ride concept has application for Christian education programs?
• Link List Extra: The woman at the well had a name. (Well of course she did; everyone does.)
• Yes, there were weird news stories this week.
• Finally, the latest children's book from Tyndale House is one part Dr. Who and one part Duck Dynasty.

Paul Wilkinson's wisdom and Christian multi-level business opportunities—"just drop by our house tomorrow night, we have something wonderful we'd like to share with you"—can be gleaned the rest of the week at Thinking Out Loud, Christianity 201 and in the Twitterverse.