Emmy Award winning journalist Chris Yaw is an Episcopal priest who effectively blends his expertise in media and ministry with his passion for building healthier congregations in his new creation: ChurchNext. Recently he interviewed me on the topic of the continued decline of mainline Protestantism in America. You can view the video or download a mp3 here. So What? Yaw asked me the kind of questions congregational leaders should be discussing as they consider what it Read More …
Trends
Declining Biblical Literacy (#0616)
Almost everyone agrees that Americans are not very religiously literate. While lacking basic knowledge of the world's great religions, Americans typical know more about Christianity. Last week the Barna Group reported on research it undertook for a noteworthy client: the American Bible Society. The following snapshot shows how people responded to some basic questions about Christianity: So What? John 3:16 has been among the most popular signs at American professional football Read More …
Stop Sitting (#0615)
Tim Sanders is a former Yahoo! executive and author of four books, including the New York Times bestsellers Love is the Killer App (2003) and The Likeability Factor (2006). Recently he blogged about the health risks associated with sitting. According to an infographic created by MedicalBillingandCoding.org, people who have sitting jobs have twice the rate of cardiovascular disease as those with standing jobs. Since January is traditionally the month of Read More …
2012 Trends to Ponder (#0613)
Sociologist Bradley Wright teaches at the University of Connecticut. I have mentioned his work on several occasions, including reviews of his two most recent books: Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World (2011 – my review here) and Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media (2010 – my review here). Earlier this month he blogged Read More …
Help Stop SOPA/PIPA (#0612)
I talk about many issues on my blog, but politics is not typically a part of that diverse mix. Today, I feel it necessary to share a little about an issue that has become quite political. A few weeks ago SOPA or PIPA were acronyms known by a select few; today a majority of Americans will learn more about them. Two bills -- SOPA in the House (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA in the Senate (Protect IP Act) -- seek to stop the illegal copying and sharing of movies and music on the Read More …
Low Commitment Christianity (#0609)
Yesterday, I reviewed Rodney Stark's latest book: The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion (2011). Throughout the book he offers considerable sociological insight, including the following paragraph on the shortcomings of low commitment religious groups: The conclusion that competition among faiths will favor "low cost" religious organizations mistakes price for value. As is evident in most consumer markets, people do not Read More …
What Pastors Believe (#0607)
LifeWay Research released the results of their latest poll of Protestant pastors earlier this week. The 1000 participants "overwhelmingly believe that God did not use evolution to create humans and think Adam and Eve were literal people." More specifically, "I believe God used evolution to create people" - 73% of pastors disagree "I believe Adam and Eve were literal people" - 74% of pastors agree So What? Thankfully the article does note that this pastoral group's beliefs Read More …
No Longer Divided: Virtual & F2F (#0605)
Earlier this week Arnab Sen, head of strategic planning at MRM (a global, top-five digital and direct agency in India), wrote a post for Mashable.com arguing that the virtual world or online world and the offline or face-to-face world are melting into one. More specifically, he writes: Social science studies increasingly suggest that the divide between the virtual and real worlds is narrowing. Our experiences of reality may no longer constitute a duality. So What? The melting Read More …
Digitizing Theological Texts (#0602)
Leonard Allen, Director of Leafwood Publishers and Abilene Christian University Press, recently wrote a guest post for the New Media Project's blog about the challenges and opportunities in digitizing theological texts. Allen suggests that digitization expands the potential audience for these texts and allows for increased interaction between readers as well as, in some cases, between readers and the authors. While these potential gains are significant, they are only Read More …
Time in A Web-Based World (#0600)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He is also the master of saying a great deal using relatively few words on his blog. As we start the year most call 2012, he wrote a 204 word post about the artificiality of time that included this sentence: "The decision to work at a different rate than others can be a significant competitive advantage." So What? Time isn't what it was Read More …