Terri Schiavo-The Other Side

I always like the truth, even if I don't like what it says.

Here is a very credible interview I heard today with Michael Schiavo's brother. Perhaps the Christian community has swallowed a lie about Michael Schiavo? I think we certainly should consider that possibility, in order to be fair.

-Before Terri's stroke, Mr. Schindler, Terri's father, who was still living in Pennsylvania, had no money because he stole from his business partner and was found out.

-Michael and Terri took them into their home in Florida because of the parents' money problems.

-After her stroke, Michael wanted Terri to be taken care of at home but after a month Mrs. Schindler couldn't bear to see her in this state and so wanted her in a nursing home. Michael complied with her wishes.

-Mr. Schindler told Michael he wanted part of the settlement money and if he didn't get it he would make Mikes life hell, which he has done.

-As for the alleged abuse of Terri by her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Schindler testified at the malpractice trial that Michael and Terri were a wonderful loving couple. They said nothing about any abuse on the part of Michael.

-The Schindler's are presently selling supporter's names recently to the highest bidder--this has been verified by many sources.

-Both Michael and his brother heard Terri say before her stroke that she never wanted to live like her grandmother had on life support. Both Michael and the brother were present when she said this.

-Michael tried for years to take care of Terri. Finally, he had to admit that she wouldn't want to live like this. It took him a long time to accept this.

-There is of evidence that Michael will NOT benefit from any life insurance policy after Terri's death.

-It was Terri's parents, the Schindlers who told Michael it was alright with them if he wanted to date again.

-The Schindlers say that Michael would not allow them to be with Terri as she died. Here is what really happened according to Michael's brother:
Terri's brother was with her for an hour and a half when the hospice felt she was nearing the end and so wanted to clear the room for a while to examine her. Terri's brother refused to leave and so the police had to be called and her brother still resisted. After examining her, the hospice called in Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband. He decided not to call in the parents because of the constant wrangling from them. He wanted Terri's departure to be peaceful. She died soon after this.
Certainly most of this can be verified.

So, if any of these things are true, will the Christian community admit that they have been hasty and judgmental toward Michael and perhaps judged the parents wrongly also? Will the Christian press be fair?

Time will tell.

By the way, if you want to know what my stance is on this case, I have to admit I have mixed feelings about it because I see both sides of this issue.

Andrew Strom--Facilitators

I am very disappointed in the direction Andrew Strom is taking. For those of you who don't know who he is, let me fill you in with a short bio.
Strom is a native of New Zealand who senses God calling him for a radical type of revival especially for the youth. Recently he felt God was leading him and his family to the Kansas City area of the United States. In New Zealand he began the Revival prophetic email list. Right away I began to see this as more of the true revival as opposed to the Third Wave revival we have seen in the past 10 years or so.
But, there were some "redflags" about Strom, the most egregious being his following the Kansas City prophets. Recently, in a Third Wave prophetic conference that Strom attended, his eyes were finally opened. In fact he sent out an email on his list entitled, Why I Left the Prophetic Movement."

The sad thing to me is that it seems that he thinks the Third Wave prophets are the only prophetic movement around. What about Jacob Prasch, David Wilkerson and others? Doesn't he know about these people?

Now Strom has gotten another bright idea. He has decided to gather people around the country who believe in the same message of repentence that he does; people who are tired of the changed gospel, the easy gospel, the watered down gospel, and so forth.

He has asked for people to step foward as facilitators in each area of the country to arrange conferences of like-minded people in their area. He has also said that out of these may come home prayer groups.

Here is why this will not work. And here is why Strom's name will be mud if he continues with this OUTSIDE the church.

First, this type of thing will attract people as facilitators who may not be healthy and mature.
Second, many of these people have already written over the years to Strom that they are outside of the established church.

What happens when you have facilitators that really are not too accountable to anybody and are not even known by the Strom camp? And what happens when you get a lot of people together that aren't attending a church?

Is there another time this happened? Yes there is.

A very similar thing happened in the 1970's with what is known as the "Shepherding Movement." From the beginning of this movement I said there was a MAJOR problem in the direction the six leaders were going. Today these six leaders' names are mud (with perhaps the exception of the late Derek Prince). What did I see in the '70's that I knew would sink it?
The six, known as the Ft. Luaderdale Six (Bob mumford, Ern Baxter, John Poole, Charles Simpson, Dereck Prince and Don Basham), had excellent teachings when they began. But their main problem IMO was submitting to each other INSTEAD of to pastor and elders of a church/or a denominational headship. And if this wasn't a gross error, they taught this same thing to the leaders of their house groups. The house leaders were submitted to the Six, but the six didn't know alot of them.
On top of that, there were major problems in the Shepherding teaching itself.

I am seeing this same thing with Strom. Most of his teaching is fairly good but some of it should be questioned. And now he wants to set up leaders in each area; most of these leaders he cannot possibly know well.

My hope is that he wll contact like-minded churches--those who agree with the bulk of his ideas and teachings--and work through them as facilitators. It will cost less as the church probably wouldn't charge to meet there. Pastors and elders would be for the saftety of the participants to avoid wild, crazy, pyschotic, controlling people interfering and taking over. You may laugh but if you've been into the Charismatic movement much, you wouldn't be laughing...LOL. This is a common problem in Charismatic land. Unaccountability and poor leadership.
This is precisely why I remain more in the Pentecostal camp, especially the established denominations (although at the present time I attend a Presbyterian church--I know...that is strange...:)....but this is where God has me at the present time.

So, I do hope Andrew will think about this more. I was talking in IM to my missionary friend and this was her comment about it:
There are some people who need to say what is on their mind so bad, and they are so ignorant, and arrogant that they could create the greatest problems Andrew could ever imagine

I agree.

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER


May faith in His resurrection power change and heal you in body, soul and spirit.


-Diane-

The Prosperity Gospel Gone Astray

When I first started this blog I talked about the Word of Faith message and how I felt some parts of it were vitally important to the church at large. I'm sure many thought I was crazy. But hopefully, after reading my reasons, they changed their minds, at least a little bit. You can read my reasoning in my posts beginning here.
In the posts during that period I did say that the whole "prosperity message" had just gotten whacked way out of proportion and that I did NOT agree with most of it.

What I am hearing recently is alarming as pertaining to Africa. The prosperity gospel has infiltrated the churches there and completely directed the people to the WRONG conclusion; instead of the right conclusion which is Christ. Here is but one of the many instances of Christian leaders I've read about pleading for help to the U.S. Christians to keep this other "gospel" out of their countries.

An S.O.S. from Barnie de Wet.

"Africa has seen a massive hunger for the Lord, and congregations
can be as large as a million people (so a lot of the TV evangelists
say). Sadly though, sermons are conducted by what I call the
"glitter and glitz" preachers, the ones who arrive in limousines and
seem to put over a message that if you join their church you also
could live in the same oppulence. In a continent where poverty is
so rife, you can imagine the affect this has on the poor, and if their
expectation is not met - what then! There is a RELIGIOUS CRISIS
brewing here.

I'm sorry for the emphasis but I do feel strongly about this, I feel
that the Lord is telling me that something needs to be done about
this situation An expectation is being created and if this doesn't
come about, the backlash may well be devastating for Christianity,
bearing in mind that the Islamic movement is also very active -- I
leave you to draw your own conclusions.The ease by which the
politicians in Zimbabwe have been able to sway good law-abiding
citizens into committing murder and all types of crimes through
a crisis of expectation is frighteneing to say the least. I fear for
the future of God's work in Africa, if "Christianity" doesn't deliver
what is being preached by some. The Moslems are going to have
an open run at the finish line."

CEO Salaries

Before I begin, I need to explain one thing. I was reading on another blog this week about us "Presbyterian (PCUSA) 'types,'" meaning they are soical liberals without preaching much of the gospel. I attend a PCUSA church but it is one of the more evangelical ones.

There seems to be today a huge disparity between the average American worker's income and the outrageous salaries and perks of many CEO's. The evangelical movement as a whole denounces and speaks out loudly about such [political] issues as abortion, homsexuality, etc.; but, when it comes to the poor or huge CEO salaries they are strangely silent.
We are talking about this in my Sunday School class.

Our teacher presented the following statistics to us last Sunday in class:
-In 1965 the average CEO salary was 20 times the average salary ($40,000/year) of the average American worker.
-In 1980 it was 40 times as much.
-In 1990 it was 96 times as much.
-In 1995 it was 160 times as much.
-And in 2000 it was 475 times as much as the average income, or 1223 times as much as the full-time lowest paid workers.

In other developed countries today it is about where it was with us before 1990.
In Japan it is 11 times as much as the average salary of that country.
In England, it is 42 times as much.

So the question that is looming before us is how much is too much.

Still, the Christians are silent.

So now, the secular business press and authors (i.e. Drucker and the Wall Street Journal), are saying that this is a very dangerous trend. They are telling us that the whole thing will implode if a boundary isn't established.

Still, the Chrisitans are silent.

The ceo's of Enron, World Com, and others; and the big accounting firms such as Arthur Anderson and are seen to be criminals.

Still the Christians are silent.

Why aren't Christian CEO's refusing to take all this money and then are written about--even if it is only in the Chrisitan press?

Why is it that former hippies and ultra-liberals Ben and Jerry (yes, the ice cream guys) have established a ratio of 7:1 instead of the Christians establishing this type of ratio in their businesses?
In the Ben and Jerry company's 7:1 ratio, the top paid full-time person can make no more than the bottom paid full-time person. The average CEO salary of most businesses is 1223 times the lowest paid person.

Even the ancients grappled with this. Plato felt it shoudl be 5:1.
Why aren't Christians grappling with this?

I personally don't think a ratio of 7:1 is feasible. But if we go back to even the 1980 level of 40:1 (average salary, not lowest paid) the CEO would be making $1,600,000 per year. Isn't over 1 1/2 million enough to live on? If not, then how about back to the 1980 level of 160 times the average which would put the salary of the CEO to $6,400,000. Surely almost 6 1/2 million would be enough to live on.

Our Sunday School class teacher has talked to some CEO's and one told him that it wasn't about money, it was about topping others--in other words--POWER.

Still the Christians are silent.

The Family Farm

Contrary to what we have seen and read in the past few years about the encroachment of big agribusinesses, it seems that the family farm is surviving quite well. Bruce Gardner, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland tells us that small farms are actually surviving and even flourishing to an extent no one guessed 20 or 30 years ago. He reports that the United States had 6 million farms in 1944, and by 1970 that number had declined to 3 million, a rate of loss of almost 3 percent each year. If the pattern had held, we would have just over a million farms today. Instead we have 2.1 million, and the rate of decline has slowed to a trickle, with today's total essentially the same as that of 1990.

And just how did this happen? According to Mr. Gardner, in addition to the farm income, most farmers are also dependent on income outside the farm. Nonfarm jobs now account for more than 90 percent of farm households' incomes.

Gardner writes,
"In many cases, one family member focuses on the farming enterprise while others - spouses, siblings, grown children - work off the farm. In other situations, no one works full-time at farming - the operation is a side job for the entire family, in some cases a refuge from urban stresses. "

He says that because of this, farmers are doing quite well. In fact they are doing better on the average than most of us.
"...beginning in the 1960's, relative farm incomes began to rise - and by 1990 they had achieved income parity with the rest of Americans. The Agriculture Department's latest estimate, for 2003, is that farm households had average incomes 15 percent higher than average nonfarm levels."

Well, then what about all that gloom and doom we are hearing about the family farm?
Mr. Gardiner answers this, saying,
"The promising trends in terms of farm numbers, increasing incomes and decreasing inequality don't mean there are no economic problems in American agriculture. But they do mean that the industrialization of agriculture has not crowded out small, specialized farm operations. Even in the age of Monsanto and Cargill, there is still a role for Mom and Pop."

Well, I'm not sure if that answers our question about the small farm survival, but I am sure glad the small farmer is still around and I do hope he will be around for a long time. Perhaps they could all go into organic farming. The only markets out here in California that are making a profit are the gourmet health food ones (Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Bristol Farms, Wild Thyme, etc.). They love the small farmer.

A Missionary's Story

At Doug Perry's site you will read this on the site's forum:

"As a missionary wife, I came home from years on a pioneer field in great need of rest, good food, medical help and acceptance from people other than those who wanted to thrust me upon a platform to speak about, "Missions." Couldn't I just once say something about how beastly hard it was trying to raise a child among poisonous snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, man-eating monitor lizards in the front yard, no friends for him, being his school teacher and Sunday School teacher and only companion, and a husband who was so consumed with, "the work," that he had no time for us? And I believed that was the proper way for him to be! I don't criticize this. I never talked about the millions of roaches in my house, about putting my child to sleep by saying, "Be very quiet, and you will hear the rats come into the house," Both my children are in Heaven now. I never spoke of things we had to eat, how thin and ill we all became, of sleeping in villages with bed bugs crawling all over us, with pigs in pens in the kitchen, of vomiting and diarrhea lasting up to a year, of being 80 miles from medical help, a very hard 80 miles. I never talked of any of this.

I talked of people being saved, churches being established, elders being ordained, evangelists raised up by God who were faithfully serving Him without pay for years and years. But Oh, Lord, isn't there someone who will just care about me as a person? I tried to eat at all the feasts in my honor, taken from church to church and shown off; emotionally, I felt as if I were a ruin. I remember walking toward home for five hours at a time, sleeping in a village, and getting up again to do more walking, while having malaria. I didn't speak of this either. They wanted to hear about success, not bedbugs, not snakes, not scorpions and never rats in the house, and never discouragement and illness. At the meetings where I was featured as a speaker, I smiled and had my picture taken. Once, while in this country, I was given some black jam that someone had put it up and stored in their basement for many years. "Missionaries can eat anything," I was told. Oh yes, and it was almost true. I thanked her for it, but didn't eat it.

Once, I told those on my mailing list that my husband was twice healed of very bad malaria attacks in which I feared for his life. The church gathered to pray, and my husband walked out of his room, cool and well. One church discontinued our support because they considered us Pentecostals from that time onward. I thought, sinfully, "Well if he had died, perhaps they would have remained friends with me and it would have suited their doctrine better."

I'm just glad someone is speaking out concerning the fat, wealthy church in America. But I might ask, "Is this really the true church? Is this all there is here? Are there none who are generous, unselfish, loving and have the Spirit of God in them? Is there no true church in this country? We have been looking for such a place for a long time.

I am unwell now, and could be said to be elderly and I don't do much beyond praying any more. My dear, white-haired husband is still a missionary who wins souls, and tries to teach them and support these new lives in Christ, giving them Bibles and other materials, and corresponds with them. We think we have found a church where the pastor is a humble, intelligent man; the congregation is a mixed-race group, which I like. An intelligent, black woman is the only adult Sunday School teacher, and yes, men sit in her class, gratefully appreciating her; the class is large. As a rule, we are unable to stay for that. My husband is still a tireless evangelist, but he has time for me now.

In Christ's love,
(A missionary)"

[NOTE]: The interesting part of this is the above missionary is a good friend of mine. I met her in a Christian chat room several years ago. She and her husband, it turns out live only about 40 minutes from me. They have visited me twice, one of those times in joining my late mother and I for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thoughts for the Day

*Adrian Warnock is still searching the blogosphere for the Simple Gospel.
Here is what he found at The Narrow. It's under the About Me section on the blog's left-hand bar.

"I'm just a nobody who wants to tell everybody that there is somebody who can save anybody."

*Dan at Cerulean Sanctum has written another award-winning post, Recovering Christianity's Balance. You've just got to check it out.

*I've referred from time to time to a blog entitled, The Poor You Will Always Have With You..... About every 5-6 weeks the blogger there posts and it's always worth reading. The latest post there is entitled, Proverbs 17:23 and it's another good read.

Christian Carnival 61

This week's Christian Carnival is up and running at Christweb. And I have to admit I don't remember a Carnival with as many intriguing posts. One that really interested me was a review of a book where the author took the 3rd chapter and 16th verse in every book of the Bible and did three things: He had a caligrapher draw a picture of what was happening in the verse; he went through the Greek (or Hebrew) of each word; and he presented an outline of the book in which the verse is found. Amazing.

Redeeming the Culture-A Response

This post is actually an answer to a post at Jollyblogger, entitled Redeeming Some More Culture. And his post was a response to a post at the Dane, entitled Christianity vs. Culture Interview.

The Dane is interviewing someone named Michael Cossarwal about engaging the culture. Mr. Cossarwal doesn't think we should be doing that. Nor does he think we should be redeeming the culture from the outside. David at Jollyblogger, from what I read there, seems to agree also (I think).

And, I absolutely agree.

Years ago, I attended what is called a camp meeting. As a mostly Presbyterian evangelical/modern-neo-Pentecostal, I didn't know what a camp meeting was. The original ones were held in tents, but in sophisticated Southern California (yes we are laid back, but also sophisticated), tents aren't exactly what would be appealing. So, basically, we met in the church and had meetings day and night with guest speakers. That was the camp meeting. One guest speaker was from the Rhema outfit (The Hagins’ place) and he was actually quite good. In fact, he said something that I have never forgotten as it had such a huge impact upon me. He said the community changes as individuals change. And this is my premise for this post.

He explained that when a family member changes through conversion to Christ, there is potential for the entire family, or at least much of the family to change. And if several families change, then the potential is there for the neighborhood to change. If several neighborhoods change, then the town or city has the potential to change. If cities change, then perhaps states/provinces/territories can change. If states/provinces/territories can change, then a nation can change. And if a nation can change, then the world can change.

There are examples throughout the world today where a large number of people in a town were saved through Christ and the whole town changed. I remember especially one I read about in Latin America. The article was written by the missionaries who worked there, although I cannot remember the exact country.Let's take a microscope there and find out.
First, a lot of the men in the town couldn't find work so they gave up. Others could work but just didn't wish to. The ones who did work were fairly poor. Drugs and alcohol were rampant. Fights and even killings were frequent. Many of the houses were dark and dirty. The crops weren’t growing too well. This is basically what happens when satan is in charge.
After the conversions, the town changed within months. First, the men were motivated by the Holy Spirit to find some type of work, or create their own work. Second, the drugs and alcohol use almost ceased. Third, the fighting and killings stopped. Fourth, the houses became neat and clean. Fifth the crops began to grow to be healthy and mature. And a sixth benefit was the townspeople's approach to those outside of the town. Before, they were mean and hostile to their area neighbors. After conversion, they became kind and giving and helpful. After a year, the town began to prosper, and of course the towns around them took notice, both of the increased prosperity and the change of behavior. This is what is supposed to happen. The objective is for us to answer people when they question us about our manner of life. We get converted FIRST, and THEN as changes occur, and they should, people will naturally be curious. In fact, I know the Holy Spirit will make sure people are curious.

Here is another example that will hit home to many readers.

This is a true story.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, while the rest of Europe was in the Renaissance, working their way out of medievalism, the country in our tale was almost back in the Stone Age. At least they were somewhere between that and the Middle Ages. The people were dirty and dishonest, fighters with each other and anyone else from the outside that dared to visit their country. They were heavy drinkers and idle. The country was cold, dank and dark and the people reflected their surroundings. Then one day, one of their citizens, who had been captured in a war and was made a galley slave, had escaped and came back to this country (OK….you Presbyterians should know where I am going with this…...:).
He had learned from a fellow slave something called The Reformation. Upon hearing these teachings, our slave guy believed in Jesus through grace alone, faith alone and Christ alone.
Upon his return to his country--the dirty, dank, dark one--he began to preach this new message of saving faith. Within fifty years most of the dirty, dank, dark country was converted. And the result? The people began to be known as thrifty, clean, wise, hard-working, educated and so forth. They not only influenced their country, but also another country that was to be the greatest in the world in the future. In fact, it was these people's ideas that was the basis for the new country's constitution.

And what was the name of this formerly dirty, lazy country?
Scotland.

And what was the name of the country they also helped to change through their emigrants?
The United States of America.
Do read sometime about the contributions of the Scotch and the Scotch-Irish (Ulster Scots) to the USA—its history and principles and religion and science and political thought and…and…and……

In the current issue of Christian History, the theme is the Council of Nicaea. One article is an interview with a professor of Early Christian History at the University of Virginia, Robert Louis Wilken. Here is what he said about what happened when the state (Rome under Constantine) became “Christian.”

…by the fourth century…..I don’t think the church was co-opted by the state. It was the other way around: It’s Constantine who changes.

OK..so far so good. But then he says this,

And once that happens it means that the church assumes responsibility for forming the society—a task it didn’t have before.

Yes! And that is precisely the problem we are facing today. And I will be so bold as to add to Professor Wilken’s statement. I will add that the church should NOT assume the task for forming the society but they assume the task to form individuals and THEY re-form the society.

I just finished reading the book every blogger is talking about, Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey. On the whole, I really loved this book and believe it’s a must read for every Christian leader. However, there was one section of the book that I found a tad disturbing. I think it's because I seem to be suspended between the Old School Presbyterianism and the New School. What this means is I am kind of reformist and truly take a more scholarly approach to the Scriptures; but on the other hand, I cannot seem to shed the Pentecostal experiences and theology I learned along the way. Ms. Pearcey basically is a tad negative about the emotionalism and the results of the First and especially the Second Great Awakenings. While I do agree with some of her conclusions, I differ with her problem of the revivals being too individualistic instead of the Reformed emphasis on community.
While I agree that certainly we can become way too individualistic and that is my gripe with much of the Charismatic and some of the Pentecostal community today, isn’t Christianity individualistic?
Do whole communities become converted as a rule? Not usually. Individuals become converted and then THEY change communities IF enough get converted. In saying this, I don’t believe for a moment that we should follow the methods of some of the former revivalists, especially Charles Finney. The Holy Spirit must be the converter without our clever methods.
But, the gospel must be preached. And, frankly today, between the Christian Right emphasis on “saving politics,” and the postmoderns’ emphasis on “engaging the culture,” the true gospel of Christ is getting lost in the shuffle.

People CANNOT come to Christ if they don’t understand why and how. Falling on the floor (only) won’t do it. “Accepting Christ” so we have purpose in our life won’t do it. Romans 10:9,10 makes it absolutely clear that IF the gospel isn’t preached, then how shall people believe? The rhetorical question there is of course—-they cannot believe.

I end this with two items.

First, part of the interview by the Dane with Michael Cossarwal which says it quite well:

Hate to say it, but I think it's all a result of an impoverished reliance upon the gospel as a means to change lives. No longer does the believer actually believe that the preaching of the word is the means to saving grace. So, having given up on the gospel, the believer must look to other means to bring about the kingdom of heaven (or a reasonable facsimile). And of course these other means are inadequate.

And second, Brad's testimony which illustrates completely the change conversion makes. Today Brad is a pastor changing others. That is how he is engaging the culture (my words, not necessarily his...in fact he might disagree with my more narrow view).

We must remember this powerful fact:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Romans 1:16 (NIV)

Video Evangelism and Postmoderns

I always think nothing could get worse in Evangelicalsim and then I read something that tells me things are getting from bad to worse. This week I am reading a book by Brian McLaren and understanding nothing he is saying which I think he secretly wants....:). There seems to be an outer group such as me, and then this cliquish "in" group called the postmoderns. From what I am reading, we in the outer group cannot possibly understand the postmoderns so we shouldn't even try to talk with them much less mentor them. Only the "in" leaders can do this.

Bob at his TotemtoTemple blog directs us to a masterpiece review of McLaren's last book (his next one comes out on this March 25) by Tim Challies. From what Tim wrote, I don't think he got it either. But then Tim isn't in the "in" group either. Maybe Tim and I can reminisce about the good ole times together.
The sad thing is, for Tim who is young, I think the good ole days were last week. That is how fast all of these new and very "off-track" ideas are bombarding the church. Between universalism which seems to be really what McLaren is into, and the Third Wave, and open theism and God knows what else...and only God does know, we are under attack from the INSIDE.

And if all of that was bad enough, get this:

Church 'Brings Christ Into the World' of Violent Video Game's Players

"A Colorado congregation has an unorthodox outreach that uses a popular but violent video game to share the gospel. With two televisions, eight controllers and two Xboxes to accommodate up to eight video game players at a time, Red Rocks Church in Golden draws white-collar professionals with mortgages, kids with expendable incomes and scruffy-faced teens who come to play Halo 2 (H2), the record-breaking video game that raked in more than $125 million during its first 24 hours on the market in November -- making it the biggest one-day sales event in entertainment history.

In H2, which is set in 2552, players take on the role of a marine who is skilled in the art of hand-to-hand combat. In detailed maps, players stalk one another and try to eliminate one another with all manner of weapons.

Yet while the other gamers are hoping to go on killing sprees or running riots, Scott Bruegman, pastor of Red Rocks Church and an avid video game player himself, is hoping to grow his flock through the Halo outreach, which is currently held on Thursday nights.

"We started playing Halo to have fun," Bruegman, 33, who moved to the Denver area two years ago to start a church targeted at teens and young professionals, told "New Man" magazine in the March /April issue, out now. The full story on Xbox evangelism can be found in the magazine.

"But as more people came to play we saw that it was a great way to meet people," Bruegman added. "Eventually, we realized it was a great way to build relationships that could lead to conversations about Christ."

So why does Bruegman use H2, a first-person shooter game that is rated "M" (for mature) and features blood and gore, violence and even some bad language?

"Halo has brought people together and relationships have formed," Bruegman said. "By playing Halo a sense of trust develops and the non-Christian gamers see Christ-like attributes in our lives. As we've become friends they've started asking us about life and God."

Jeff Marlan, 30, an aspiring professional golfer, is glad Bruegman was willing to embrace an entertainment phenomenon and use it as a tool to minister.

"They've really impacted my life through the times we've played Halo," Marlan said of Bruegman and other church leaders. "I've always been a Christian, but I've never been too involved in church. It's been a life-changing experience."

Adds Bruegman: "We're befriending people who have had few positive encounters with Christians and we're bringing Christ into their world."

For more information on how to use video gaming as a form of evangelism, visit: the-whats-next-collective.org, xboxmission.org, redrockschurch.com."

I rest my case.

Decade email

I received the following in my email from an online friend about yesterday's post, The Decade Matrix:

There are now two services in most churches, one for the "old folks," who want their hymns and a solid sermon; and one for the young folks who have to have the loud music, dancing and a sermon the old folks would call "nothing but froth."

It was the next part of the email that REALLY caught my attention:

We of the Bridge generation are grieving the lack of depth in the young people, and the lack of longing for the depth of teaching in the Word, and the blank looks on their faces as we speak of having a longing for God Himself.

I must say that I agree.

The Decade Matrix

Several years ago I read a fascinating book which puts into a clearer perspective the difference between the generations here in America. I've said here before what I see now, and even more severly in the future, is a generational war in the church. I've also said here that the main problem in our country, as well as the church, is the worldview of two major generations:
the younger Gap generation and the Baby Boomers with their brothers and sisters (the Baby Busters) and Boomer's children (Generation X)
vs
the Older Gappers and WWII generation.
A new, many times non-Christian worldview has been dragged into the church by the young Gappers and Boomers and now the Busters, which IMO is destroying it. And more importantly, there is NO acknowledgement nor repentence from the Christians in these younger generations concerning this problem.

I hope my synopsis of this book, The Decade Matrix, by James O. Gollub, pub. 1991, will prove to be helpful to you.

1. Children of the Century-b.1900-1909
In this generation are Preservers, Adaptors, Pragmatists and Explorers.
This generation came into a world of promise. There was a huge change in technology with the inventions of cars, planes, phones, movies and progress in general.
-->When they were adults they experienced the Great Depression Crash of the 1930's.
In WWII, most of this generation were too old to serve so they got the plumb jobs.

2. The Dream Deferred Generation-b.1910-1919
In this generation are the Martyrs, Self-compensators, Clock watchers and Conservers.
By the time these children were born, several social improvements had been made such as cleaner water, shorter work hours, better nutrition and increased life expectancy and of course the new inventions which saved time both inside and outside the home.
-->This generation was in their twenties when the Great Depresssion occurred. Because there were few jobs, many in this generation finished high school and some went on to college. This generation served in the armed forces in WWII while their wives were the first generation of women to have good paying jobs in factories and other workplaces.

Their dreams in childhood and teens were constantly being deferred by world events. Thus, they wanted MUCH more for their children, and that is where the problems began as we shall see.

Children of the American Dream-b.1920-1929
This generation are Attainers, Performers, Dreamers and Cruisers.
They grew up under the paternalism of the goverment. This was the first generation of teens who had pocket money and most were born in towns and suburbs instead of rural areas. This generation was the also the first immersed in movies.
-->They spent their childhood during the Great Depression and their teens during WWII. These were the parents of the Baby Boomers and the Gappers, and after the Depression and WWII, they didn't want their children to suffer and have lack as they had.

The Bridge Generation-b.1930-1939
This generation are the Good Old Boys and Gals, Romantic-Realists, Envoys and Bootstrappers.
This was the first generation that grew up with radio.
-->They spent their early childhood in the Great Depression and their teens in WWII.
In adulthood they were the company men.


The Gap Generation-b.1940-1949
This generation are the Peter Pan and Wendys, Chameleons, Questors and the Princes and Princesses.
-->Their early childhood was spent during WWII and their older childhood and teens during the Cold War. The Gappers, like the Boomers do not wish to grow up (Peter Pan and Wendy). Their parents were the Dream-Deferred generation and as a result many Gappers were treated as special since they were born during the War.
They were the last generation as a whole to be born in cities and towns. After that, most were born in suburbia. They were introduced to TV in their late childhood and teens. As young adults they were the early participants in the sexual revolution, the hippie movement, the civil rights movement and the free speech movement. The most successful became Yuppies in the '80's..

The Baby Boomers-1950-1959 (1946-1964)
This generation are the Future Perfects, Voyagers, Homeboys and Homegirls (first of their families to go to college) and Lenny the Dharma Bum (followed the Lenny Bruce-Jack Kerouk "beat generation" beliefs)
They were first generation to have TV their whole lives. Their parents were the Children of the American Dream. The Boomers were aware of the reality behind the "perfect" family portrayed on TV and the radio. This led to the hippie generation. Theirs was the first generation to be expected to be technocrats--in other words--they believed any problem could be solved by science.
-->They grew up with the nebulous fear of the Cold War.

Techno-Kids-1960-1969
This generation are the Billy Budds, Cosmopolitans, Missing Ingredients and Keepers of the Flame. Their parents are the Bridge Generation.
There was rapid social change in their childhoods.
-->As teens the economy began to slow down in the '70's, women's rights and affirmative action laws were passed, and there was a rising teen suicide rate as well as a rising divorce rate among their parents.

Around Blogtown-2

Let's take a look at what's been happening around the blogopshere recently.

First of all, the Christian Carnival for this week is up and running at Belief Seeking Understanding.

Dan E. has been writing some very good things on the state of the church. One thing I really like about his blog is his balanced views while still telling it like it is. His post, Wrongly Dividing the Gospel talks about the social gospel. Having grown up under the social gospel and never hearing the true gospel, I can certainly testify about how it wreaks havok on people's lives. It basically can keep them coming from Christ by not telling them the HOW. Dan looks at how this same gospel is once again making inroads into the evangelical church. Hey! It already destroyed the evangelical churches of the late 19th century (the current mainline churches). Let's stop already.

I get a lot of links to good blogs at Adrian Warnock's site. Recently I saw this link at his site and boy is it ever a good one. At A Slice of Laodicea, Ingrid takes on the Purpose Driven theology and exposes what it is doing to the evangelical church. Write [right] on Ingrid!

I have frequently directed you to Ambra Nykola's blog. She is a kind of a conservative, a Christian, an African-American, young, witty and so much more. It's always exciting to me as I apporach her blog in my daily blog reading. Her perspective may be different than the usual "non-African-American" blogger, and so is very worthwhile the read. Apparently, a lot of other people like her blog as much as I do since she has a huge readership.

Another blog I've mentioned here is Rebecca Writes. Esconced way up there in the cold [brrrr] Yukon teritory, she quotes frequently from American and English Puritans (the dead ones mostly). Lest you might think that is majorly boring, consider this:
First-the quotes are short
Second-the quotes seem to be very relevant to what is going on today in the church and/or a Christian's life. And after reading these Puritan writings, I once again see that the Bible knows what it is talking about when it says that there is nothing new under the sun.

Catez at All Things 2 All is currently writing about science and Christianity. She is holding a Science and Christianity Showcase if you wish to send her a post on that topic. I really appreciate her scholarship on this subject and I've learned quite a bit from reading her posts.
She is also the owner of the Women4God Blogs blogroll.

Finally, (this is not a Christian blog especially), if you have any interest in the life of a professional violinst, check out Laurie Niles' Violinist.com blog. I especially was interested in her auditon last March, 2004 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra as I had always wondered what happened at an audition to a major orchestra. Laurie is also a Suzuki teacher and blogs about her students from small children to elderly adults.

Happy reading.

My next post will be on the characteristics of each generation living today and how they got those characteristics. It will be a fascinating and educational read I think...and VERY important for the church at large. I will take my information from a most interesting book.

Recall Notice

With all the blogging about the Simple Gospel recently, I thought the following, received in my email, was not only cute, but absolutely true.

TOTAL RECALL
The Maker of all human beings is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype unit's code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed, "Subsequential Internal Non-morality," or more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed.

Some other symptoms:
1. Loss of direction
2. Foul vocal emissions
3. Amnesia of origin
4. Lack of peace and joy
5. Selfish, or violent behavior
6. Depression or confusion in the mental component
7. Fearfulness
8. Idolatry
9. Rebellion

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this SIN defect. The Repair Technician, Jesus, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs.

There is no additional fee required. The number to call for repair in all areas is:

P-R-A-Y-E-R.

Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure.
Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component. No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with:
1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self control

Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Believers Instructions Before Leaving Earth), for further details on the use of these fixes.

As an added upgrade, the Manufacturer has made available to all repaired units a facility enabling direct monitoring and assistance from a resident Maintenance Technician, the Holy Ghost. Repaired units need only make Him welcome and He will take up permanent residence on the premises!

WARNING:
Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded.

For free emergency service, call on JESUS.

DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility.

Thank you for your attention.

Please assist where possible by notifying others of this important recall notice.

The Christian Carnival

It's here! All 50 wonderful posts!
Welcome to................

THE CHRISTIAN CARNIVAL......SOAP OPERA VERSION
I have always been fascinated by soap operas, those afternoon dramas of angst. So, I thought it might be a bit of fun to classify the posts under the program of which they reminded me.

With 50 posts, this is a long one--so grab some refreshments, read through, click through, and enjoy.

Diane

ALL MY CHILDREN
*Baptising infants can be problematic to many evangelicals. What happens if you grow up as a Southern Baptist and now are attending a Presbyterian church? Megan has some important questions to ask at her blog, Half Pint House. It’s time for her “half-pints” (check out their cute pictures at the top left of her blog) to get baptized. After wrestling with this issue, she is getting a bit of peace about it....from....well, you have to read Paedo Perspective to find out from whom she is getting her peace. Well, yes it’s God, but also someone else too.

*Cerulean Sanctum is one of the blogs I visit regularly and his post, The Christian Walk in a Nutshell just could be a catalyst for various denominations and groups to unify. Dan basically takes three group views: the Jesus-emphasis folks, the Scripture-emphasis folks and the Holy Spirit-emphasis folks, and shows how we need a balance of all three. Or as Rodney King said, “Can’t we all just get along?”

*In our cozy lives here, we don’t always think about the suffering going on in the rest of the world, especially among the children. Amanda of Wittingshire reminds us that there are Christians giving up their lives here to meet the overwhelming needs of these often sick and dying children in other lands. Read about some of these heroes and how they do what they can to relieve the suffering, often at their own peril, in her post, Elsewhere.

*Cwv at Christianity is Jewish answers the question "Why does everyone seem to hate Christians and Jews?" Using an important verse in Genesis, the implications of that passage is discussed in light of the former question. To find out what verse that is and its relation to the question, you just must read his post, The First Gospel.


AS THE WORLD TURNS
*Heather at Madame Rubies points out that human logic and reasoning don't always get the job done in her post, Trust and Obey. Maybe God knows something we don’t?

*I’m currently reading a best-selling book in which the author is trying to figure out what makes the "red-staters" tick. He sees a lot of evangelicals in the political process. He tells about a creationist conference in which he makes fun of the presenters. Hey guy! I hate ta tell ya….but we have some top scientists on our team now too. But what happens when someone turns the tables on the Darwinians and points out that they are believing incredulous ideas on their side as the very creationsits they accuse. Then you must read what Dick at Viewpoint wrote in his post entitled,
Argument From Personal Incredulity.

*Joshua at In the Agora describes the move on the part of many evangelicals toward a more environmentally friendly view of the earth, instead of the dominion, exploitive view in past ages. OK—-guess what percentage of evangelicals in a poll last year support STRICT environmental regulations? Well, you’ll just have to read Joshua’s informative post, On borrowed land to find out.

*Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard, raised a ruckus recently with his remarks about the differences between men and women. At Fructus Ventris, the blog discusses this and presents a very interesting view at the end of the post entitled, Summers' Remarks Supported by Some Experts


THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
*This next post will knock your socks off. Here is a sampling.
"With some exceptions, Christians looking at public issues are faced with religion-based information in two groups. First, biblical teaching on spiritual life and personal growth that does not attempt to address public issues. And second, political discourse that starts with political philosophy then seeks biblical proof-texting."
Oh boy—-I can’t wait to read the comments at this blog. This is going to be great! He is dealing with so many vital issues here. So what is it about? James at StonesCryOut has done a post entitled,
Evangelical First Things in Public Life: 12 Things We Should Expect of Evangelicals.

*Tom Wolfe’s latest book, I Am Charlotte Simmons, has garnered a lot of discussion and controversy. Phil at Collected Miscellany points out that there actually are people like Charlotte Simmons, although many today would like you to think that isn’t so. Read Phil’s review of the Tournament of Books reviewers’ review at Charlotte Simmons in the Tournament of Books.

*Where should we put our church? Terry at Pruitt Communications gives us several possible scenarios and their implications with this most interesting post, Strategic Ground: Series On Withdrawing From Society.

*Yikes! I hope spunkyhomeschool mom doesn’t hit me over the head for the soap opera theme. Seriously, she has some very good things to say about how to control what your child watches on TV. Her solution is presented in
Don’t Control the Remote…Cultivate an Appetite. And just wait until you find out what she does. Frankly, I think this is a must read for parents.

*Upon Matt’s wife’s return from doing tsunami relief in Southern India, Matt makes several observations about the continuing effort his church is making at St Gabriel's Tsunami Relief Blog
They came with $50,000 which they thought was a lot. But after seeing the extent of the devastation and poverty, they had to make some tough decisions about exactly where the money would go. So who did they decide to help? Find out at Partial Telling of a Tremendous Story. And what really blew me away—-and I think this is an absolutely excellent example for the church and Christian ministries at large—is they accounted for every cent of the %50,000. And I mean every cent. These people are truly the "Bold and the Beautiful."

*For the past few years I’ve been on a crusade to encourage those Christians "aging" to stop with the botox and the face lifts already and get on with the process gracefully. Diane B. at Borgard Blog has written a superb post in a similar vein. Kudos to Diane and her post, Beauty.


DAYS OF OUR LIVES
*You put water in three pots and bring the water in all three to boil. Then you dump in raw carrots in one, raw eggs in another, and coffee grounds in the third pot. OK---so what happens in the three pots? Give up? Find out at Sharing Spirit as Kim shows us that conflict is a part of life but if we ignore the resolution of those conflicts, we miss some important lessons. Read her post, Resolving Conflict.

*I was majorly touched as I read The Mountain, The Pit, Grace and Reconciliation at
Another Man's Meat.
Phil has done a very well-written account of how God's grace was revealed to him on the mountain top and in the pit. And....along with his personal story, he weaves in the stories of both Job and Abraham.

*I’m always interested in what younger pastors are thinking. Well, younger than I am, which probably means 80% of most pastors...:) So, over the past few months, I’ve been intrigued to follow much of what Brad is posting at his blog, 21st Century Reformation. Lately, he is talking about the church as community and that community as a witness to the secular community as an agent of change. This post, Church as Prophetic Witness, is a part of that series and takes a look at our worldview regarding the role of the church in God's program and how it relates to our early church experiences.

*What is it like to be a fish? What is it like to be a fisherman? Violet of promptings has written a cute poem in her post, fishing that answers the question, "Exactly what did Jesus mean when He said He would make us fishers of men?"

*I guarantee that this post will stir a bit of controversy. Parableman tackles the subject of slavery and asks if slavery is ever a good thing in his post, Slavery and Christianity. He points out that the most frequent references to slavery are
about our slavery to Christ. Also the Torah restrictions on slavery make
ancient Israel's slavery a very different institution from American slavery.
These points help support the overall argument of the series, that the Bible
does not endorse wrongful slavery but that not all slavery is in principle
wrong.

*Ron at Northernburbsblog entered into a dialogue with an agnostic. He answers four questions that the agnostic asks which reminds me of the same four that so many non-believers ask. Read how Ron answers these very important questions at Answering Not Crunchy's Call.

*OK..I’ll admit it. Forgiveness is one of my weak points. So, it’s always good to read posts on the subject to remind me to keep working on this issue. A Penitent Blogger writes a short but very effective post on this subject in Haven’t forgiven enough.


GENERAL HOSPITAL
*Question of the day: Did Adam and Eve have an immune system intact before the Fall? Martin, a college science professor, at Sun and Shield tackles this question in his post, The Fall and the immune system>. He also discusses whether good germs and bacteria were present before the Fall. And if not, when and where did they come from?

*I’m rather surprised that I haven’t read more from Christians about animal transplants in humans. Catez at Allthings2all tackles this in her post, Xenotransplants: Are Pig Cells in Humans the Answer?. At the end of the post she asks if anyone has a Biblical perspective on this. I know I will be checking back often to see if anyone answers this question as I too want a resolution to this topic from a Scriptural perspective.


GUIDING LIGHT
*Jim at A Nutt’s View shines a light on Psalm 119:105. There is one part of his post that really hit home to me. He asks how you would react, if when you were in school, you knew everything that would happen to you later in life. You absolutely have to read what he says he would have done. This great post is entitled, A Lamp Unto My Feet.

*When our public servants display their Christian character and beliefs in their work, it’s certainly something to write about as Doug has done at Belief Seeking Understanding. His post, Jeff Johnson - Faith And Public Service, describes an interview with a candidate for Minnesota Attorney General and how he weaves his Christian faith into public life.

*Agent Tim has been on special assignment to investigate fellow blogger Adrian Warnock’s simple gospel. In To Die For, Agent Tim accepts nine of the simple gospel’s points but....oh....that tenth one. To find out what the tenth one is, you will simply have to be an agent too and investigate this post yourself.

*Recently, I’ve been wresting with "Why do we pray?" It seems that I’m not the only one who is thinking about this topic. The bloke in the outer has been thinking about it too. In his post, What is the Real Purpose of Prayer, he asks if it is about changing things, or is it about changing people, in particular, the people who pray?

*Why is blogging the new way to go? Weapons of Warfare gives us the dangers and the delights of effective blogging in his post, The Point Of It All.

*Here is an interesting question. When practicing human rights, is a humanistic approach better, or a theistic one? Donald at
Back of the Envelope gets into the discussion between two other bloggers in his post, Humanism and Human Rights. The last paragraph really caught my eye. After reading it I asked myself, “What really is our rationale for helping people? The humanist says because they are human. However, if someone is disabled, are they “less human?” Is this perhaps where humanism, might break down?" Donald makes an excellent point here.

*Proverbs says 29:18 (KJV) says,
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Mark at pseudopolymath reflects on this verse and The Vision Thing.

*A lot of us bloggers share the concerns of Jeff the Baptist as to who our evangelical spokesmen (or women) should be. In his post, The Falwell Factor, he makes a very interesting comment at the end: Is there someone else who can do better? Can we do better?

*Many of us grew up in more liberal churches where we were told that if we were "good," we would go to heaven. David at A Physicist's Perspective shares How I became a Christian, Part I. Boy, does his testimony sound like mine.

*If one goes back historically to how we got into this mess of the courts legislating instead of judiciating, one would study the defining case, Marbury vs. Madison. Mike at theJesusfreak takes us back there and then propels us forward to the Dred Scott decision and finally Roe vs. Wade. In What is the Christians responsibility in government? Mike asks the important questions, should Christians be involved in government? Should we submit to the governing authorities in America? Who are the Governing authorities in America? What can we as Christians do to change America for the better and for the glory of God?

*At times we are quick to judge those around us. Dory at Wittenberg Gate reminds us that before we jump to erroneous conclusions, we might wish to consider The Unknown Factor.

*The "Young and the Restless" modern Christian may not always wish to learn about what their predecessors said. But, hey! The dead guys are a part of the Body of Christ too. Who are the "dead guys?" In Know Your Dead Guys, Rebecca of Rebecca Writes talks about the entire Body of Christ throughout the ages and challenges us to listen to some of the things these dead guys said and wrote when they were alive

*I am going to secretly admit that when I first read this post at The Bible Archive, I thought perhaps this blogger had been out in the sun too long. Then I realized what he was doing...:) It's actually a neat literary device and drove the point home extremely well. And just what is that point? In Worshipping On Mountains our blogger gives us an example of what silly things can happen if we use only a deductive method of Bible study.

*This week the Supreme Court of the United States will make an historic decision.
Cindy of Notes in the Key of Life
asks this important question of us:
"Why should Christians be vocal about allowing the Ten Commandments to remain on display?" She quotes some of the leading Christian attorneys dealing with this case in her post, Why Should the Ten Commandments Be Displayed?. One of the lawyers quoted was interviewed by Cindy herself. A must read!

ONE LIFE TO LIVE
The Terri Schiavo blogathon was held last week and we have some posts about that subject.
*Karen Marie at From the Anchor Hold has an excellent suggestion for you and me. In her post, Ways to keep what's happening to Terri Schaivo and her family
from happening to you, she has the best discussion of a Living Will and Directives that I think I’ve ever heard. I believe you will certainly want to read what she says.

*At Metal of Heaven, David has written something that I’ve been haranguing about for years. We re not all evangelists! You’ve just got to read his great post,
Contrarian View From the Pew: A team game. You men will really love this post as David makes great sports analogies to make his point. Or maybe I should say—he hits his point to home base.

*Christian news services and blogs seem to be ablaze with fury over the movie Million Dollar baby. A good friend of the Ales Rarus blog owner, an MD/PhD student with a knack for bioethics, has written an intelligent defense of the flick, which Ales Rarus has posted on his behalf at In Defense of Million Dollar Baby.

*Lee at Capt Trekker talks about Terri Schiavo and Million Dollar Baby. Two items caught my attention. The first one is about Lee which you will understand readily when you read the post. Second, at the end of the post is one of my all-time favorite quotes. It is the famous one from Martin Niemoller, one of the leaders of the anti-Nazi Confessing Church Movement. And boy do I agree with Lee that this might be relevant to both the Schiavo case and the Million Dollar Baby dilemma.

*Is it Christian to support the death penalty? Oh boy! Now we’ve opened Pandora’s box now. Nick at NickQueen.com tackles this very difficult dilemma. I’m not going to give away what he says in his post, The Death Penalty. But it is short and really to the point; and I think it will leaves us thinking all during the coming week.
By the way, Nick, our Christian Carnival founder and guru, has branched out to showcase new bloggers. You might wish to check out Out of the Wilderness Showcase to see his interviews with these new bloggers and their exciting blogs.

*The paradox named Hunter S. Thompson took his life recently. William at Beyond The Rim writes a poem about Hunter’s life in A Life in the Key of Lost.


PASSIONS(My intention here is not in the sexual sense, but in the emotional/spirtual sense)
*I am very left-brained. That means that I am ultra-analytical and logical. And, as most left-brainers, I am art-challenged. That is the politically correct term for "I can’t draw." I find that most pastors and teachers are like me which makes me happy. But unfortunately, this makes it uncomfortable for those who are not like me. When I read not just any song and dance, it was utterly amazing. I cannot even begin to explain what Joy of karagraphy, does. You’ll just have to read it. But I will say that I bet Joy is a right-brainer. And to those of you who also are right-brained, you will absolutely love this post. Oh by the way, it’s about 2 Peter 1. But you will never read an account like this.

*There is a problem in the church which almost nobody in the church is talking about from what I gather. However, I find that this is a hot topic on email discussion lists, Internet forums and Christian blogs. What is it? Well, I am going to tease you and say you must read Rick’s post, What's wrong with Church? at Brutally Honest to find out.

*This post really hits close to home for me as I knew Bob Pierce’s daughter well. She wrote a book about his ministry in which she tells the toll his absences took on their family. Bonnie at Off the top relates this and asks in her post, Whose heart is broken?. What price should the ministry exact and how can we keep a balance?

*Bill at Walloworld tackles the theme, “How should a Christian engage the film and theater world?” In his post, Film, Theater, and the Church, he asks if film and theater are incompatible with Christianity, or are they just another medium for humanity to tell stories about themselves? At the end of his post he points out something that I really had never thought about. We tend to demonize movies, but he talks about other professions outside of the movie industry, such as law, where lawyers encounter some pretty horrible things too.


THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
For years I’ve said that too many Christians want a cafeteria-style Christianity. If you want to know what that means, do read Jen’s wonderful post at her blog, Jen’s Thoughts on Nothing In Particular. But instead of calling it cafeteria, she calls it Jen's Thoughts on Buffet-Style Religion Hey! I like the “buffet” word too.

*Many bloggers, including myself, keep hitting on the theme of a too easy Christianity and the need to preach the real gospel. Stephen at ChristWeb presents a teen survey recently taken and poses the question, "How do you market true Christianity to teens?" To find out, do read his post, Teen Religion Survey.

*"Neither God nor salvation is a controlled lab experiment." I love that quote from Tim’s post, There's Growth, and Then There's Growth at his blog, Church Voices
Tim discusses another hot topic of the church world today, church growth. At the end of his post he gives the answer to church growth. And just wait until you read his answer. I loved it!


ALL SOAPS
I just had to put this post under this category since in all soap operas, everyone is habitually suffering.

*At Dappled Things, Father Jim, a generation X Catholic priest, presents a very thorough Scriptural theology of suffering in his post, Suffering in Christ. He writes that his post presents a Scriptural synthesis of the Catholic theology of participating in the Passion of Christ.

And that's it folks. Happy blog reading.