I have the distinct privilege of living in a happy place. According to a list just released by Coastal Living magazine, I live in one of America's five happiest seaside towns: Kiawah Island, SC Naples, FL Sausalito, CA Lake Bluff, IL Tiburon Bay, CA So What? The list was crafted using a list of the magazine's Dream Towns over the last 15 years and Facebook recommendations. The editors narrowed then ranked this larger list by considering their ranks on the Read More …
Christianity is Bigger Than (#0737)
Some people are certain Christianity can only be formed into a rather specific image of their choosing. Any religious person or group claiming to be Christian is only found worthy of such when conforming to that image. Sadly I have encountered this type of thinking many times. Last week, Cal Thomas' editorial used this rationale to label Barack Obama as a fake Christian or as one "preaching another gospel" because the President used the Bible to support his view of Read More …
Review of Follow You Follow Me (#0736)
Meet the Author John Voelz serves as one of two lead pastors at Westwinds Church (Jackson, MI), overseeing music and the arts. Given the topic of his first book, Follow You Follow Me: Why Social Networking is Essential to Ministry (2012), his Twitter profile offers a good introduction to who he understands himself to be: "Husband, Father, Poppie, Musician, Artist, Cartoon, Pastor at Westwinds, Writer, Painter, aggravator." Book Basics Voelz views himself as an Read More …
Annoying Worship Songs (#0735)
Yesterday Andrew Jones blogged about worship songs that annoy him. More specifically, he shared examples of worship songs that are "lame or badly written or have sentences that just hit me wrong," including "Your Love Never Fails" includes "You cause all things to work together for MY good." (Jones reminds his readers that the passage the song is referencing isn't about "me" at all, since my isn't found in Romans 8:28.) "Mighty to Save" includes "Saviour, he can move the Read More …
Are You Ready? (#0734)
While some people are more adventurous than others, most spend the majority of their time and energy in the "everydayness" that comprises most of life. In youth, adventure means setting aside all that is to fully be something and/or somewhere else. As people age adventure becomes, quite frankly, less and less adventurous. Big plans tend to come in the form of vacations or temporary variations from the norm. In short, people become increasingly risk averse. So Read More …
Mega Megachurches (#0733)
Warren Bird, Research Director for Leadership Network and co-author of 24 books on various aspects of church health and innovation, recently blogged about the global growth in and diversity of megachurches (congregations with an average weekend worship attendance of at least 2,000). Americans know about megachurches since they have grown rapidly in number over the last several decades. According to Scott Thumma and Dave Travis, (Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Read More …
Facebook’s Future Viability (#0732)
Facebook is everywhere I turn lately. I continue to encounter: news, news and more news about and leading up to the IPO; blogs and news stories on how the Instagram acquisition will not happen soon as was originally indicated; information that all is not well with online ad revenues, especially compared to Google; and people who are passionate about the future of Facebook, especially from those favoring both extremes. With this in mind I was intrigued to learn the Read More …
Trends in College Degree Attainment (#0731)
I grew up with the understanding that a college degree was a part of the path leading to the American dream. A recent Chronicle of Higher Education interactive graphic provides the clearest visual explanation of trends in college degree attainment across the country. The graphic provides county by county analysis of the percentage of adults with college degrees, which can be further sorted by gender or race. Additionally, the graphic provides the same information for Read More …
Review of Inside the Large Congregation (#0730)
Meet the Author Susan Beaumont is an ordained American Baptist minister who has spent the last 25 years educating and empowering congregational and corporate leaders. After serving as an Area Minister in the American Baptist Churches and managing her own consulting practice, she joined the Alban Institute in 2005 as a senior consultant specializing in large congregations. She is the co-author of When Moses Meets Aaron: Staffing and Supervision in Large Read More …
12 Religions in a Year (#0729)
Amanda Greene's recent article explores the yearlong religious experiment of 29 year old Andrew Bowen, a man who sought to attain faith in humanity rather than divinity through his quest. During 2011 he practiced a new religion each month, in effect becoming Hindu in January, Baha'i in February, Zoroastrian in March, Jewish in April, Buddhist in May, Agnostic in June, Mormon in July, Muslim in August, Sikh in September, Wiccan in October, Jain in November, and Read More …