Writing for Mashable, Lauren Indvik reports "According to the Association of American Publishers's StatShot study released Thursday, e-books made up nearly a quarter (22.55%, to be precise) of U.S. trade publishers' book sales last year." So What? Just a few years ago e-books were a curious new option with limited adoption. In 2009, e-books accounted to only 3% of U.S. trade publishers' book sales. Put differently, e-books experienced a 650%+ increase in adoption between Read More …
Review of Shadow & Light (#1064)
Meet the Editors Darryl Tippens, Jeanne Murray Walker, and Stephen Weathers each have considerable experience as professors of English. Currently, Tippens is Provost and Professor of English at Pepperdine University, Walker is Professor of English at the University of Delaware, and Weathers is Associate Professor of English at Abilene Christian University. Individually their contributions to their respective specialties within the discipline are significant; together they have Read More …
Pastoral Selling (#1063)
Clergy obviously need more than spirituality, academic preparation, and field education to become great bishops, deans, rectors, and vicars. Retired Navy chaplain George Clifford recently included the above quote in a blog post emphasizing the importance of the skill of selling within the framework of leadership. He writes: Spend a day with the bishop, dean, rector, or vicar of one our relatively few growing, thriving dioceses or congregations and you will observe a Read More …
Church Marketing Shifts (#1062)
Lindsay Christian's recent Capital Times article, "Marketing God: Churches Turn to the Web, Social Media to Attract Members," explores how many congregations in her area have shifted their marketing time and monies from print efforts to online endeavors. Christian's piece effectively explores how a significant trend has impacted congregations in her community. To highlight the significantly diminished return on investment and increasing irrelevancy of print advertising (especially Read More …
Mistreating Atheists? (#1061)
Intriguing Article Earlier this week my wife sent me a link to Tania Lombrozo's recent NPR article: "Atheist Shoemaker Loses Faith in U.S. Postal System." The article explores a study by the maker of Atheist Shoes considering what appears to be unfair treatment of their shipments by the USPS. Troublesome Experiences Atheist Shoes is a "cadre of shoemakers & artists in Berlin, Germany who hand-make ridiculously comfortable, Bauhaus-inspired shoes for people who don't Read More …
Don’t Believe Easter, Live It (#1060)
David Henson, a candidate for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church who received his Master of Arts from Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley, CA), recently wrote what has become for me the most thought provoking post I have read this year on the topic of Easter. He writes: Frankly, I don’t care if you believe Jesus was literally or metaphorically resurrected. And neither does Easter. I find it laughable we try to reduce the power of Easter to a proposition, as if the resurrection Read More …
Bible Ownership & Readership (#1059)
According to "The State of the Bible 2013," a poll conducted by The Barna Group for American Bible Society, there is a significant gap between Bible ownership and readership. More specifically, almost 9 out of 10 Americans (88%) surveyed own at least 1 Bible & the average household contained 4.4 Bibles, and only 1 in 5 Americans read the Bible on a regular basis. So What? While this gap isn't surprising, a related statistic is: 3 in 5 (61%) wish they read the Bible Read More …
Don’t Wreck Your Ministry (#1058)
Ben Reed, pastor of small groups at Long Hollow Baptist Church (Hendersonville, TN) and communications director for the Small Group Network, recently blogged about how people wreck their ministries. Reed shared a few obvious ways people ruin their ministries before sharing a list of 17 additional ways he labeled "not so obvious," including: quit dreaming, never build relationships with people outside of the faith, spend 98% of your time in your office, never go to Read More …
Review of Faithful Generations (#1057)
Meet the Author John R. Mabry is a pastor, spiritual director, musician, professor, and author. Since 1994, he has served Grace North Church (affiliated with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and are currently in-care with the United Church of Christ) in Berkeley, CA. Since 1999, he has been in private practice as a spiritual director, directing those of differing generations. Mabry teaches spiritual guidance, world religions, Read More …
Time for Leaders to Stop (#1056)
Scott Williams has considerable leadership experience as a prison warden, lead pastor of a congregation that grew to an average weekly worship attendance of over 3,500 during his tenure, consultant, and social media guru. He is also the author of Church Diversity: Sunday the Most Segregated Day of the Week (2011 – read my review here). Recently, he shared his list of "21 Things Leaders Need To Stop Doing." Stop treating your employees like they are just another Read More …