The UmBlog

Bloggers seemed to benefit from ebbing tryptophan blood levels this past week. As always, you can subscribe to my shared feeds where I cull these winners from or simply visit the blog regularly and look at the list at the top. The headings link to other posts on mine on that topic. Church A pastor responds gracefully to the strip club with a nativity on its roof at the Ooze. Titles and offices and gifting in church. Pastor or what ? Another way of understanding Willow Creek's  Reveal survey results. Human Rights Delay tactics in India's courts continue for Christians in the untouchable Dalit class. Interview with Jim Dawes, author of  That the World May Know: Bearing Witness to Atrocity . Effects of illegal immigration . Is it a federal priority ? Stem cells The skin cell method is simpler as well as ethical than embryonic stem cells. Mormons Two gospels ? Native Americans How casinos affect the way tribe members are treated .

Welcome to this week's Top 10 . I've been too busy to blog lately, but I've still had time to read the feeds. If you'd like to see what i find interesting other than these top 10, look at the top of the blog or click here . And without further ado... Church I have a few selections from in this category. Subheading: Conversion Guy Muse has two of importance this week. Follow up on new converts is essential. A first person account of joining a church from the St. Paul's blog. Sociologist Bradley Wright compares the NYT map of megachurches with population density. Subheading Missions Guy follows up this week with shared lessons on starting a church planting movement . Subheading Charismata In memoriam of John Wimber who went to heaven 10 years ago. Subheading Theology J.P. Moreland warns against replacing the power of God with Bibliolatry . Native Americans Indigenous names leave their mark all over the U.S. Yet Americans still think it's not a problem to use...

Since not every reader visits this blog and notices the shared feeds section at the top, I'd like to share some of my favorites of the past week. Sunday 1-At An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution , Steve Martin attempts to define the nuances of the word "evolution" to his fellow Christians. He begins Much of the confusion in the evolution debate lies in the meaning of the word “evolution”. Since it can have several different meanings, and even the scientific definition of evolution can include several distinct components, it is not surprising that many confusing and confused arguments are articulated. Certainly the conversation is very difficult when conversation partners discussing evolution do not share the same definition, conflate several of the definitions, or elevate one component of evolution to be descriptive of the whole. Monday 2-At Evolution News and Views , Catholic evolution proponent and professor at Brown U. Ken Miller is challenged for claiming to much. Th...

I suspect my shared feeds at the top of blog are under-utilized. Half my readers don't visit anyway. So here are my favorites for this week. Sunday 1-Maryland's 2nd place finisher in the solar decathalon, as reported at Inhabitat which leads with The second place winner of this year’s Solar Decathlon is the University of Maryland’s Leaf House, which is, as the name would imply, green, naturally inspired, and modular to boot. When designing the zero energy home, the student team drew inspiration from the simple, yet vastly complex leaf. The abode boasts every sustainable system from the obvious high-tech solar panels to a liquid desiccant waterfall to control humidity, grey water recycling, green wall, and even a plug to charge an electric car. In my opinion, the" liquid desiccant waterfall to control humidity" is way beyond cool (bad pun, I'm sorry). 2-Ben Witherington, who reappears at the bottom of this list shares his sermon, LOST—THE PARABLES, NOT THE TV SHO...