The UmBlog

a good explanation of the straits my business is in...selling pills is like selling airline seats... 'We get Viagra. They get malaria.' - Acton Institute PowerBlog : "Huber, a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute, summarizes in brief the anti-drug company argument, and then goes on to examine what truth there is in such claims. He says of the difference between creating and administering drugs, “Getting drug policy right depends mainly on getting that difference straight—the difference, that is, between ministering to the sick and making medicines—and grasping its implications from the start. Big Pharma’s critics do not even try.” He goes on: Pricing is indeed the key. Whether the first pill typically costs $100 million or $1 billion to develop, replicating it costs less—a thousand times less, or perhaps a million times less. This slope—precipice, really—is far steeper than most of the other hills and valleys of economic life. It complicates things immeasurably. It a...

Ms. Malkin presents another perspective on the Israel Hezbollah conflict. "The truth about Muslim outrage over Qana is that it's not really about the tragic deaths at Qana--just like the cartoon jihad was not really about the cartoons. Remember: Muslim outrage over the Danish cartoons was stoked and manufactured amid attempts to bully Denmark over the International Atomic Energy Agency's decision to report Iran to the UN Security Council for continuing with its nuclear research program. Iran blamed Israel for the cartoons: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is at odds with much of the international community about Iran's disputed nuclear program, launched an anti-Israeli campaign last fall when he said the Holocaust was a 'myth' and that Israel should be 'wiped off the map.' In a speech marking the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Saturday, Ahmadinejad linked his public rage with Israel and the cartoons satirizing Islam's mo...

Figures, my response, the anti-diversity of gay marriage, to my paper's editorial, which promoted same sex marriage legislation, isn't unique. i came across this site just now....this site says everything i've been saying, hence i like it and wish more people knew about it. Where’s the Diversity? Same-sex unions introduce all-male-white-dominated public institutions. • Gay Men Categorically Exclude Women, in the Name of 'Love' • Gay Women Categorically Exclude Men, in the Name of 'Love' • Homosexuality Separates Men and Women into Segregated Same-Sex Groups • Homosexuality Automatically Excludes Children in the Name of 'Love' • Homosexual 'Love' Automatically Excludes a Child's Mother or Father • Gay Men Use Women as Second-Class, Artificial Sperm Incubators • The Constitution Requires Equal Treatment of Genders • One Man + One Woman i...

Joe Carter writes For the sake of argument, let us concede that certain humans are not persons, just as certain persons are not humans. This means that a human being can be a non-person but that a person (at least a human person) must also be a human being. No one argues that there are a classes of human persons that are not also human beings. Being a human being is, therefore, essential to being a human person. This leads to a peculiar insight. We can kill non-person human beings (e.g., the embryo). We can also kill human persons that are also human beings. But we cannot kill the human person without killing the human being. In fact, you cannot kill any type of person unless it is already a living biological being. The Spanish may be able to kill Great Apes but lawyers cannot kill a corporation. What is being killed is not the person but the being. This distinction is important because those who argue that it is acceptable to kill non-person humans base their rationale on the claim th...

Chad W. Thompson writes The movie makes some worthwhile points, to be sure, as many in the gay and lesbian community suggest that those of us who have chosen not to embrace the gay identity have done so primarily because we fear the stigma of society or the rejection of our families. Indeed, some of the mutants in the movie may have changed their “orientation” for the wrong reasons, as is the case in the real world of men and women struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions. Therefore to the degree that the Christian church has used shame or fear to motivate gay and lesbian people to change Sir McKellen’s criticism is warranted. Nonetheless, there remain many individuals in the Christian church who have abandoned their homosexuality not because they fear man, but because they love God. As a young man I had an encounter with God in which he made it clear to me that homosexuality was not what he wanted for my life. I knew that if I wanted to experience the fullness of an intimate rela...

there is also a movie out by the same name...here is an excerpt of a commentary piece by an electrc car owner, driver, advocate. As with any new technology, an electric vehicle was more expensive than its gas counterpart. Also, the limited range scared off customers, even though the average American drives only 34 miles a day and every electric car could go at least twice that far on a full charge. These cars had great potential, but no media covered their subsequent crushing. It is only with the release this summer of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" that the full story comes out. This film chronicles the rise and fall of the General Motors EV1, an electric car I leased on the day it was released in 1996. Zero to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, a top speed of 140 mph and a range of 120 miles. GM discontinued this car just a few years later. No car company today makes a mass-production electric vehicle. My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinue...

I guess if you are embarassed by the actions of your country you call the news about it propaganda...i'd be embarassed and ashamed too if i were Indian. In a country that's overwhelmingly Hindu, why does the BJP feel the desparate need to make anti-conversion laws? could it be that Christians love the tribal people who have been ignored and abused by Hindus and for some strange reason the tribal people and the bottom castes are no longer interested in being Hindus anymore? India In India 2005 was characterized by a significant increase in attacks against Christian communities and also a deterioration of relations between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority. This phenomenon can be blamed on the attitude assumed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- the largest Indian political party, with nationalist Hinduist characteristics -- and by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- a paramilitary group of Hindu extremists and considered the BJP’s armed wing. After the sound de...

Compass Direct : INDIA - STATE TIGHTENS CONTROLS ON CONVERSIONS : "India - Tuesday July 25, 2006 STATE TIGHTENS CONTROLS ON CONVERSIONS House passes amendment even as current law leads to violence against Christians. July 25 (Compass Direct News) – In spite of a national minority panel report confirming violence against Christians in the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh, the state government today passed an amendment making stricter the “anti-conversion” law that has increased persecution of Christians. The amendment, introduced in the House assembly on Friday (July 21), requires clergy and “prospective converts” to notify authorities of the intent to change religion one month before a “conversion ceremony.” In its current form, the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act of 1968 requires that notice be sent to the district magistrate within seven days of conversion. The advance information must state the name and address of the person converting, along with the date and venue...

Thanks to all those readers who pushed this blog over the 3000 visits mark today. The blog currently averages 19 visitors a day, since i added the sitemeter in late October. the blog started March 2005. i love you all. God is good jpu

MoreheadsMusings: A Modern Parable and “Those We Do Not Speak Of” since he moderates comments, and mine don't always get published, here is my comment... John i'm surprised you don't see an even closer parallel to the Mormon culture state you live in. i think there are more bogeymen in the mormon world than the evangelical one too. but what about the amish or the mennonites? are they Christian sub-cultures we should view negatively, like "the village?" it was a great movie. i saw the analogy of cults, not american Christian sub-culture. a friend of mine visited an Amish farm and asked about their ability to evangelize. the farmer replied that non-Christians flock to observe them and talk to them. plenty of evanglization happened from the Amish to their visitors. i talked with an Amish team from Ohio who was helping rebuild a house in Bay St. Louis Mississippi after Katrina, they did have to hire someone to drive them down there. Monasteries also are surprisingly e...

A commenter didn't like my earlier post. I wrote a long reply so I thought i'd post it here also,  with the links Hi AK06, i appreciate you taking the time to post a comment, but i'm not sure you read my post thoroughly...i'm really not interested in a scientific study smackdown. i did point to one study written up in USA Today that demonstrated that kids raised in two parent homes are better off than other situations...averages hide the extremes, there are children who do extremely well in single parent homes, or gay parent homes and there are children who do horribly in traditional families. I recommend reading the entire " talking points " link which includes statistical conclusions such as, Thousands of published social science, psychological and medical studies show that children living in fatherless families, on average, suffer dramatically in every important measure of well-being. These children suffer from much higher levels of physical and mental ill...

I love finding dueling bloggers who don't know they are blogging. In the left corner, David Fitch who is a guest at the Leadership Blog: Out of Ur: The Myth of Expository Preaching (part 2): proclamation that inspires the imagination : FROM TEXTBOOK TO DRAMA Preachers must resist all modernist temptations to see the Scriptures as a propositional textbook of religious facts. Scripture is real accounts, testimonies, and witnesses of God’s people. It is alive. So let’s read and speak as ones invited to participate in the continuation of all this story! This means seeing the Bible as a Narrative Recently, von Balthazar, Sam Wells, and Kevin Vanhoozer have all taught us to think of Scripture as Theo Drama where we become the participants. This is the metaphor I believe we must follow in our preaching. If this is true, then we need to put historical exegesis in its proper place. It a tool grounded in history that must be submitted to the traditions and history of God's work in the ch...

Wash. court upholds gay marriage ban - Yahoo! News OLYMPIA, Wash. - The state Supreme Court upheld a ban on gay marriage Wednesday, saying lawmakers have the power to restrict marriage to unions between a man and woman. The 5-4 decision disappointed gay-marriage advocates and left Massachusetts as the only state that grants full marriage rights to gay couples. The decision was the latest in a series of significant court rulings favoring gay-marriage opponents. New York's high court dealt gay couples another blow earlier this month when it ruled that a state law limiting marriage to between a man and a woman was constitutional... Forty-five states have laws banning gay marriage or limiting marriage to between a man and a woman. Congress recently rebuffed a move to get a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. In other recent rulings on the issue, courts reinstated voter-approved bans on gay marriage in Nebraska and Georgia, and Tennessee's Supreme Court ruled that vo...

Marriage Matters - Christianity Today Magazine "Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, is not so sure that other states will be protected from having to acknowledge same-sex marriages from Massachusetts. If that happens, she believes charities that oppose homosexual unions would be treated with the same stigma as institutions that sponsor racism. As a result, religious schools and missions could lose their tax-exempt status, she said."

Mission Complex Vandalized in Karnataka, India Hindu extremists vandalized an indigenous church and ministry complex in Shivanapura district, Karnataka state, on Saturday night (July 15), rampaging through facilities and locking terrified residents in their dormitories. Compass Direct News reports that shortly before midnight, Hindu extremists entered the Shivanapura Marthoma Mission, stoning facilities and smashing nearly all window panes. Rev. Alexander Tharakan, 34, his wife, his 2-year-old daughter and his 70-year-old-mother awoke to the sounds of the destruction and the jeers of the extremists. Their door was latched from outside. Four buildings were damaged, the pastor said. “My little girl is still frightened,” he added, “especially at nights.” Pastor in India Arrested During Sunday Worship Police on Sunday (July 16) arrested Pastor Om Prakash Pandey while he was leading worship at his independent church in the village of Daksinwara, in the Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh st...

my local paper published an editorial today (free reg) titled Love makes the difference with the subtitle Prohibiting same-sex marriage harms both gay couples and their children . a recent study has shown that children do best in two parent homes. I don't know if gay parents were included in this study. the editors then reason, "Good parents can be gay or straight. Bad parents can be gay or straight. Studies, written and reviewed by pediatricians, psychologists and other child health care professionals, indicate that children's development — socially, emotionally, academically — cannot be tied to their parents' sexual orientation. If it's a loving environment, children will achieve." Here is the irony. The very same people who argue for equal status under the flag of diversity want to deprive children of diverse parental influence, a man and a woman. i think these talking points from family.org are helpful. -Same-sex families always deny children either the...

Scot McKnight writes in response to a book by Noll and Nystrom with the same title....... The problem I see with the book is that it focuses on what ecumenical dialogues contribute to reality, and I’m not sure — however much I like such things — ecumenical dialogues accomplish all that much except for (1) those involved and (2) those who are close to the minds of those involved. What happens at a local church when some ecumenically-minded theologians get together and come to some agreement? Here’s what I mean in this case: I don’t see that typical, lay-level (and ordinary priests I bump into) Roman Catholics understand justification the way Protestants do, at least in any meaningful sense. I study conversion stories, and right now I’m doing some research on why Catholics become Evangelicals. What I see is that, while the theologians might be able to articulate at a profound level the subtle differences that mean the differences are not as substantial as once thought, the lay folks are ...

"This is a key concept in this debate -- the only way to get usable human embryonic stem cells is to kill the embryo. The embryo is simply a human being in an early stage of development. Thus, taking the embryo kills a human being. This is not particularly debateable." They actually point to Stand to Reason's talking points..."The piece, entitled " Are you against stem cell research and cloning? " give good, concise answers to some of the questions that arise concerning why Christians would oppose this procedure when it supposedly holds such great promise."

this is a cartoon of folk-Mormon theology condensed into 6 minutes. was the cartoon genre chosen to insult Mormons? no. it's simply the result of a low budget. is it representative of modern scholastic LDS? not according to the talk i listened to , but the boys on their bikes who come to my door wouldn't disagree with it. its interesting that unbelievers who aren't protecting anything can make critical cartoons of mormonism also.

We've been reading this series aloud as a family for a few weeks now and everyone has been enjoying it. It's a fantasy novel set under New York City where humans founded a city named Regalia in the 1600s. They share the underland with giant rats, the bad guys, giant cockroaches, giant bats, giant spiders, etc. One convenient aspect of these creatures giantism is they speak English too. We are reading book 3 right now, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods , and there is an extended vomiting scene, which confirms its a book aimed at boys. But I have 2 daughters who also enjoy the stories, they like picking up earthworms too. This title was provoked by a scene early in the 3rd book when Gregor is trying to figure if he should return to the Underland as prophecied and go on the next quest. His grandmother tells him that the prophecy will find him even if he refuses the quest. "I'm in another prophecy, Grandma," Gregor said, and showed it to her. "Then you got t...

 there is no tie-in to any other topic i've done before except Scot Mcknight linked to it and it is really funny....

Michael Hamblin makes excellent moderate observations on C-stone, he was there,  and the blog storm it has generated. Two highlights follow... It is important to note that Slice of Laodicea dramatically overstates what actually happened at the Imaginarium. Most of the artwork at the Imaginarium was chosen because of its association with the chosen topic, namely understanding how Christians and various cultures deal with the reality of death, it was not particularly occultic except in perhaps the most shallow cultural understanding. Likewise, the attempt to observe the Day of the Dead - while distant from the Mexican tradition and therefore anachronistic - was itself devoid of occultic elements. People were not conducting séances or attempting to communicate with the dead, but rather were using the time as a memorial for those who had passed on, and to celebrate life.... Unfortunately, Jon Trott’s responses to events at Cornerstone is somewhat less than charitable, effectively putting J...

There is so much good stuff in this article on missions that i've included a large snip. i wouldn't expect any less from Robertson McQuilkin, president emeritus of Columbia International University and the Evangelical Missiological Society. Church-to-church ministry. We encounter similar problems with this second emphasis. The central issue is this: When it comes to those who are not within reach of a gospel witness, by definition there are no churches for our churches to partner with. To reach the unreached, we must cross boundaries, and for about one-third of the world's people, there is no receiving church on the other side. Stan Guthrie, a CT senior associate editor, notes in his book Missions in the Third Millennium that cross-cultural ministry remains essential to the Great Commission: If all ministry were done by Christians of the same ethnic groups as their non-Christian neighbors, some 4,000 sociolinguistic people groups without any Christian witness would remai...

July 20,2006 New rule in temple town against Christian evangelization Tirupati (ICNS) -- Charging that Christian missionaries are carrying out evangelical and conversion activities in the Hindu temple town of Tirupati, the temple authorities have made it mandatory for all employees to sport a ‘tilak’ on their foreheads. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) that manages the affairs of Lord Venkateswara temple, on Wednesday issued direction to all its 10,000 employees to sport a 'tilak' on their forehead. ‘Tilak’ is a mark of Hindu auspiciousness. Officials said the new rule has been issued amid allegations that some employees were helping in the evangelical activities like distributing pamphlets among pilgrims visiting the temple located on Tirumala Hills. By sporting a 'tilak' the employees would be expressing their firm faith in ...

NPR : Applauding Bush's Veto on Stem Cells , noooo, NPR isn't applauding this, Joe Carter is. I linked to his blog this afternoon and 30 minutes later i hear him on NPR as the representative for The Center of Bioethics and Human Dignity . He pulls no punches either. The gist is, yes, it's good that Bush vetoed a bill funding human embryo research because embryos are humans too, but IVF needs to be halted too, because it's wrong to make surplus humans and keep them frozen or toss them when the parents got enough. Good job Joe.

Joe Carter at the evangelical outpost: Tricky Dickey: Congress, Cowards, and Embryonic Stem Cell Research weighs in with stuff like this... If corporations asked the government to fund research into hydrogen-fueled cars by over-hyping their potential while denigrating the alternatives (i.e., electric cars), the watchdogs in the media would be writing Pulitzer-winning exposes. Yet embryonic stem cell research, which currently consists of bad science and even worse ethics, is given a pass. The hype and outright dishonesty surrounding the support of this research instead of adult stem cell research is scandalous -- and has been abetted by the mainstream media. (Former Science Editor Tim Radford of the UK's The Guardian even admitted at a recent conference that he and his fellow science journalists hype stem cell research to sell more newspapers.)

"Going back to Specter's claim that embryonic stem cell research is morally justified because it does not cause the destruction of human life. Senator Specter is right. Destroying embryo's for research purposes shouldn't be halted by the ethical police from pro-life advocates. In fact, the Senator has the moral high ground...If. If the embryo itself is not a bonified human. The mere name "embryo" point directly to the kind of thing it is, a living human in the embryonic stage. Embryo's are specific types of things, which give them their name. An infant is called an infant because it is in the infant stage of development. Take that same infant and follow it through it's developmental process to it's adolescence stage. Logically and scientifically speaking the present day adolescent is the same human being as the infant, just in a later stage of development. Apply this to the embryonic stem cell research debate. The same infant prior to it's inf...

the article isn't online yet for the Calvary Chapel Summer 2006 magazine, http://www.calvarymagazine.org/online_magazine.htm , but there's a great perspective on outreach at Easter time. "Instead of paying a large sum of money to hold a massive meeting in a stadium on Sunday morning, Lance and the church eladers felt a burden to develop relationships with people in the community. fos seven days, they offered special events, music, and guest speakers; then leaders served a large meal to nearly 600 people at a time. 'Instead of having 10,000 people for two hours, we had 8,000 people for 30 hours.' Many accepted Christ."

"But it is important to recognize that having an “intergenerational church” is not about just seeing people sit in the same worship service for 60-90 minutes. We do that in movie theaters, and that is not community. Intergenerational relationships occur outside the worship gatherings, so focusing all our energy on the worship service does not produce an intergenerational church." - Dan Kimball

you'll have to click the link to see the mullet tie-in...but this is some neat stuff I count 7 parties in the book of Esther and we will look at all of them, one by one. The Kingdom of God is, like the feast of Purim, a time for feasting, joy, generosity and justice. I think it is also a time in this Post-christian Europe for the church to act like Esther and not Queen Vashti. I have mentioned this before a few years ago but will throw it out there again: Vashti was the only wife. Esther was one of the girls in the harem. Vashti was a host. Esther was a guest. Vashti lived in safety. Esther lived in danger Vashti thew a private party for her selected friends. Esther threw a public celebration for her people. Vashti had luxury and ease. Esther fought for justice Vashti enjoyed privacy. Esther was on show. Vashti gained privilege. Esther developed beauty. Vashti's parties never happened again. Esther's party became a yearly festival. Vashti had beauty. Esther had beauty and w...

my dad is at the place in his sanctification where he has embraced being a heavy duty pray-er. last night he told me he prays for family and friends and governments for 2 hours every morning. he has the time, he's retired. but he is daily committing 1/8th of his waking hours to full on prayer. he keeps a list with him, so that when he is asked to pray for something, he writes it down on his list right away. he prays for me and my family and my brother and his family, every day. its no mystery why i live a blessed life. he reminds me of the old testament prophet Job, who offered sacrifices every morning for his children just in case they sinned...they did all eventually die...but my dad has already been through the ringer, a few times. and it was all those trials that taught him to pray. i hope i can be like my dad someday soon.

an interesting Pastor's website George Byron Koch : "My undergraduate degree is in physics (1964); my graduate degrees are in Christian ministry - both a Master of Divinity in 1992, and a Doctor of Ministry in 2003. My doctoral dissertation is on Teaching Healing Prayer for Victims of Sin. There is also a PowerPoint version of it here. Among other things, it points out that most of the Christian church is focused on sinners and their redemption from sin. This is a good thing, but it is only HALF of the gospel. It misses the fact that sin always has victims, and the wounding they've received often cripples them in life, or leads them into their own sin. The GOOD NEWS of Jesus is that just as much as God is willing to forgive sin and sinners, so is He willing to heal sin's victims. That's the WHOLE gospel. Read more about it in the dissertation. ................................. For those of you who find my combination of interests peculiar at best, and for whom Chri...

Thanks for finding and posting this Pastor Jon ... 'There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church' (1 Corinthians 12:5-7, NTL). Fascinated by the conduct of flying geese, Dr. Robert McNeish, wrote 'Lessons From Geese' for a sermon in his church in 1972. Demonstrating the power of a good idea, his essay spread and has become a classic statement of the importance of teamwork. Fact: As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an 'uplift' for the birds that follow. By flying in a 'V' formation, the whole flock adds 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the th...

Culture Watch: Thoughts of a Constructive Curmudgeon: Letter about Pornography : "Dear Editor: All three articles on the emergence of Pornopolis (7-9-06) omitted something. None quoted anyone arguing that pornography is deeply immoral and unhealthy. One article mentioned those in 12-step programs trying to overcome pornography addiction and another quoted one social critic saying something mildly critical. Yet no philosopher, theologian, or religious leader was consulted. Why not? Despite the fact that what was once rightly condemned as lewd, crude, and demeaning is now big business and immensely popular, there are still many among us who won’t strip to the beat of that deranged drummer. Pornography is a tragic perversion of an originally good gift of the Creator. Like ancient Rome and other civilizations in decline, America is exchanging moral and religious standards for illicit sexual gratifications without restraint. Yet restraint is the price of civilization—in every area, not...

In my series on prayer in March i avoided the topic of the watchnight of prayer because i've never done it. but i need to read articles like this. here are a few highlights... Fearing a huge crowd, he came early to get a seat. But when he arrived he was surprised to discover a chapel with a capacity for only 500—that was empty! A few people eventually came in, but there was no leader, no songs or worship, just chit chat about news, weather, and sports. Forty-five minutes later an elderly man, the leader, but not the pastor, walked into the chapel to offer a few devotional thoughts from the Bible and give a brief prayer. The meeting was over, and as the seven attendees filed out of the chapel, Yohannan sat in stunned silence, his mind filled with questions: Was this it? Weren't they going to stay and wait upon God? Where was the worship? The tears? The cries for guidance and direction? Where was the list of the sick, and the poor, and those in need? What about that burden the pa...

provocative article at Leadership Journal by Angie Ward. btw, i'm GenX and unlike Mark Driscoll, who is the same age as I am, i haven't planted a mega church. Here's a teaser.... "A generation skipped? Bob Chandler spent 13 years as a campus staff worker for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in North Carolina. Chandler always had plenty of students lining up for leadership roles within the group each year, but in the early 1990s he began to notice a shift. 'Students stopped aspiring to leadership,' he said. Instead, Chandler found he now had to work hard to recruit students to these positions. Where did he first observe this shift? In students who had been born in the late 1960s and early 1970s–the heart of Generation X. Ray Johnston, senior pastor of fast-growing Bayside Church in Roseville, California, finds an explanation for this in 'generational theory,' the idea that there are recognizable patterns to generational cycles. 'Leadership skips a g...

just received this from Anton and Janet who run the ApologeticsIndex .... It was long past-due, but we have just posted a major entry on the Emerging Church at Apologetics Index: Postmodernism and the Emerging Church Movement The author is David Kowalksi, an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God. He has authored a number of articles, including two in the "Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity," published by Berkshire Publishing. The article provides - An appropriate response to the Emerging Church Movement - An overview of the distinctive teachings and goals of the Emergent Church - A look at the movement's methods and communication strategies - The Church's proper role in postmodern culture - An overview of the movement's leaders - An overview of the movement's opponents - A (satirical) glossary for those who are new to the conversation - Overviews of Emergent ...

under my clustrmap i added a new feature called feedblitz...if you are too busy to check for the latest posts here, add you email addy in the little box and my posts come to you...check out feedblitz's assurances that they won't spam you.

FAQ for house church planting in Guayaquil Guy Muse missionary in Ecuador keeps it real simple...

Wayne writes Isn’t it just as likely to characterize Paul’s travels and teaching not purposed to plant churches, but to spread the gospel and make disciples? I think that is stated far more clearly. The churches he identified and visited later could have been just the fruit of doing the former things that Jesus clearly asked his followers to do. In my view you can plant all the churches you want and never see true discipleship happen or true community. God knows I’ve visited hundreds of those. But you can’t teach people how to walk with the King and not see the reality of church life spring up all around you.... I’m not really a house church guy, so I’m not sure I’m in trouble there. I see Jesus’ church take on a number of living expressions when people learn to follow him first and love each other second. House church is one of those. And I think it can be done incredibly well. But I also think it can be done with incredible religion and pain.... When I taught ‘church planting’ team...

an amazing interview at Christianity Today with Rt. Rev. Dr. David Zac Niringiye, an assistant bishop of Kampala in the Church of Uganda. "I have come to the conclusion that the powerful, those at the center, must begin to realize that the future shape of things does not belong to them. The future shape of things is on the periphery. The future shape of things is not in Jerusalem, but outside. It is Nazareth. It is Antioch. If you really want to understand the future of Christianity, go and see what is happening in Asia, Africa, Latin America. It's the periphery—but that's where the action is."

the set up: Gene Appel, lead pastor of Willow’s South Barrington campus, said that leaders have been asking God for months for a new vision for Axis, and they sense an emerging desire to be a “diverse church with an intergenerational vision.” If Axis’s launch ten years ago signified the start of the next-generation-church-within-a-church phenomenon, what are we to make of Axis’s demise? Has Gen X ministry been a failure, or was Axis a victim of its own success—a transition ministry that has outlived its usefulness? Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, and author of Emerging Church and Emerging Worship, has written about the end of Axis. In part one of his post, Kimball discusses why the church-within-a-church model is difficult to maintain. the conclusion: This is why so many worship gatherings launched within a church last only 3-5 years. Very few last any longer than that. They end up imploding because if the new worship gathering is truly rethinking...

Mr. T sheds gold after Katrina destruction - Yahoo! News : "The former television action star shed the piles of gold chains that were his signature look after witnessing the destruction from Hurricane Katrina...'If you're not going to go down there with a check and a hammer and a nail to help the people, don't go down there.' "

i'm not suffering from summer laziness...in fact, i'm suffering from just the opposite, too busy to blog. also, i'm suffering from a locked down winxp machine running only IE with no blogging add ons, so any page i want to add can't be done quick and dirty... a recent critical commenter wants to know why my Christian abuse in India stories never come with links to secular articles...i've been chewing on that awhile. i have posted secular links before, see some of my recent reply comments , but it is harder to get hits in English on google news from India. that's one filter. i think the minority status of christians in india probably means that beating up on Christians isn't newsworthy anyway, another filter. and in a country of a billion people, 2 killings a month, just don't rise to the top of news sources, expecially if those killings or beatings or rapes occur in the more rural, less sophisticated areas of India. i imagine its analagous to an american...

The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, La., is a passionately written condemnation of bureaucratic ineptitude at the local, county, state and federal levels during Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, he also counters the depressing anecdotes with positive ones, of the Coast Guard, of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, of the National Guard, of doctors , and, especially, of neighbors. He acknowledges that the appearance of racism and hindrance of aid is not the same as ineptitude, but it's hard not to suspect motives... p.334-335 In his column, Novak brought to light Representative Mark Foley's complaint that his community, West Palm Beach, Florida, had airplanes ready to evacuate Gulf Coast residents on Tuesday, August 30, but FEMA refused the offer. Examples of FEMA's flat-out rejection of help were unfortunately common. It was a form of proactive dereliction that was downright baffling to most observers. When the Sen...