A week rarely passes when one or more of my colleagues doesn't share with me some new bit of news about the poor health of American Christianity. Some of these pieces are based on nothing more than personal opinion or inappropriate generalizations from very small samples while others are reflections on richer data sets alongside more thoughtful reasoning. In my very informal review of the last dozen pieces of news others shared with me about the future of the American church a total Read More …
Ed Stetzer
Sermon: Being and Making Disciples (#1217)
Sermon Text: Matthew 28:16-20 Sermon Excerpt Earlier this week, I read an article about the big shifts in the global religious landscape. This piece offered many significant facts based on the Pew Research Center's recent comprehensive demographic study of religion in over 230 countries and territories. Their research finds that 84% of all people in the world today practice a religion. Christianity is the world's largest religion, and it is a majority religion in 157 Read More …
Misusing Statistics (#0880)
Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay Research, recently blogged about findings of research his organization conducted on how pastors use statistics in their ministries. The findings are based on a phone survey of over 1,000 pastors in late 2009. When these clergy were asked if Christians frequently misuse statistics to fit their own agenda, the vast majority (66%) responded affirmatively. Stop and think about this statistic about the use of statistics. According to Read More …
Reflections on 75 Recently Published Books (#0221)
Over the last year and a half (roughly 75 weeks), I have posted my reflections on 75 recently published books. I encourage you to browse the list as you think of your reading list for 2011. Each title is linked to my review. Author Title Year Allison, Jay and Gediman, Dan, eds. This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable American Men and Women 2006 Allison, Jay and Gediman, Dan, eds. This I Believe II: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable American Men Read More …
Most Pastors Don’t Identify Obama as Christian (#0206)
Almost every American with a television or access to the internet has been exposed to stories questioning the sincerity of President Barack Obama's Christian faith. According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, those indentifying President Obama as a Christian have declined from 51% in October of 2008 to 34% in August of 2010. During that same time period, those labeling him a Muslim have risen from 12% to 18%. Among those who state that President Obama is a Read More …
Review of Transformational Church (#0132)
Stetzer, Ed and Rainer, Thom S. Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations. B&H Publishing, 2010. ISBN: 9781433669300. Meet the Authors Ed Stetzer is the President and Missiologist in Residence of LifeWay Research. Ed is a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine and Catalyst Monthly, serves on the advisory council of Sermon Central and Christianity Today’s Building Church Leaders, and is Read More …