Tyler Kingkade's recent Huffington Post article considers a somewhat disturbing trend in higher education: increased investing in amenities like student services and activities, athletics and facilities. His article considers research by The National Bureau of Economic Research published earlier in January as "College as Country Club: Do Colleges Cater to Students’ Preferences for Consumption?" So What? The cost of higher education keeps climbing higher and higher as does student Read More …
Mega-Interest in Megachurches (#0991)
Warren Bird, research director at Leadership Network, recently shared the ten most popular blog posts on Leadership Network's blog during 2012. Interestingly, 40% of the posts on the list include the word megachurch in their titles: Youngest Megachurch Pastor World's First Megachurch How Many Megachurches? Biggest Megachurch Sanctuaries So What? Megachurches, congregations with worship attendance of at least 2,000 per weekend, have been growing in number and significance in Read More …
Lowest Birth Rate Ever (#0990)
Recently, the Pew Research Center released a report exploring the declining birth rate in the United States. In 2011, the birth rate reached an all time low. While birth rates have declined for all women in recent decades, the rate of decline is significant greater among foreign born women. Among all American women the change in birth rates by age group between 1990 and 2010 is Ages 15-19: -11% Ages 20-34: -8% Ages 35+: +18% Overall: -11% So What? Many factors, Read More …
Power of Thought (#0989)
"The Scientific Power of Thought" is a short (just under 3 minutes) video that highlights the significance and far reaching implications of thoughts. So What? In less than a week, this video was viewed over 1 million times. In a culture that often appears obsessed with measuring any and every aspect of human doing, understanding the power of imagination allows for a more robust appreciation of its value. How do you seek to develop your own use of imagination? Does your Read More …
Top Bible Minded Cities (#0988)
According to the American Bible Society and the Barna Group, America's top Bible minded cities (based on "highest combined levels of regular Bible reading and belief in the Bible’s accuracy.") are Knoxville, TN Shreveport, LA Chattanooga, TN Birmingham, AL Jackson, MS Springfield, MO Charlotte, NC Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA Huntsville, AL Charleston, WV So What? Bible minded isn't a phrase I have ever used nor one with which I claim any prior familiarity. Read More …
Review of When Spiritual But Not Religious is Not Enough (#0987)
Meet the Author Since 2004, Lillian Daniel has served as the Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, of Glen Ellyn in the Chicago area. A renowned preacher, Daniel has taught preaching at Yale Divinity School, Chicago Theological Seminary, and the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her previous books are Tell it Like it Is: Reclaiming the Practice of Testimony (2005) and This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Read More …
Debt & Depression (#0986)
Lawrence Berger, a University of Wisconsin at Madison associate professor of social work, recently published his research findings suggesting the nature of the relationship between debt and depression. Although his work relied upon data from an era when housing was more secure and student loan debts were smaller (4,755 individuals from 1987 to 1989 and 1992 and 1994 in the National Survey of Families and Households), his findings are worth noting. Overall, when "the dollar Read More …
A Spiritual-But-Not-Religious First (#0985)
Diana Butler Bass, popular speaker and the author of several books including Christianity After Religion: The End of the Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening, labeled President Obama's second inaugural speech "the first spiritual-but-not-religious inaugural sermon," while recognizing such is "a twenty-first century expression of American civil spirituality, embedded in but not dependent upon the ancient vision of American Protestant theology of and for God’s Read More …
The Rise of Online Higher Ed (#0984)
In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s higher education was largely assumed as an on campus experience. As technology improved, distance education began evolving from the exchange of documents and media primarily via postal mail to online exchanges. During the 2000s and now in the 10s, the number of students in higher education taking at least one online course grew on an annual basis. It is reasonable to project that in the not too distant future a majority of students will complete at least Read More …
Executive Pastor Trends (#0983)
Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, recently wrote about the role of executive pastor. The position itself is a relatively new construct, arriving in the latter half of the twentieth century. Initially attractive primarily to megachurches, the value of this position is now seen by congregations significantly smaller in size. This observation is one of five trends Rainer highlights: More executive pastors in smaller churches More executive Read More …