The Rev. E. Thomas Trask, General Superintendent of the General Council of the Assemblies of God, has announced his resignation. I will prepare a report with more details soon. Really. I will.
Well, really, I'm more tortured, than artistic. And it may be argued that the artistic is more artifice than artful. But I try, nonetheless.
Folks who don't know me well (meaning just about everybody) don't realize I have this creative half that doesn't wield its powers in the company of friends and coworkers until long after we meet. In fact, not knowing myself as well as I ought, even I remained largely unaware of this need to create until the beast was unleashed during my final year of high school. My more "public" facing personna tends to be bookish, I suppose — and there's a good reason for that: I'm rarely without a book. Even in good company.
I try not to post too many things close together, but I was too excited about this to let it slide without posting.
No, I didn't get a job.
Tonight I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was a reflection off the rim of my eye-wear. Then I thought, Wait, is that a spider dangling in mid-air? So I looked, and I saw what I at first thought was the hugest arachnid I'd ever seen clutching the wall of my house.
But, no, after I stopped screaming hysterically (at least, in my head), I looked more closely, adjusted my spectacles, and realized I was seeing a beautiful dragonfly.
I gently encouraged the little critter up on my finger and, cupping my hands
For the second time in my short life as a blogger, I've been meme-tagged by an evil blogging compatriot hoping to provoke me into playing a silly blog-tagging game, generating more content, and generally surrendering to mass hysteria.
Okay. I'm in! But only because I'm a sucker for attention. And because, like the "One Book Meme," this question interests me, and I like it.
By the way, I was tagged by Carl Thomas over at the Revival Blog who, believe it or not, actually got a touch snarky with me in his post. This is a bit like playing touch football, only instead of being touched, or tagged, or merely pushed, you get a wedgie:
Rich — If he completes it, (remember that "imminent" post on Ted Haggard
Back in May of 2006, while in the employ of Christianity Today International, I was asked to do a little something for my boss, Kevin Miller, a CTI vice president and leader of the Resources division.
Kevin's a great guy, a good friend, and an excellent manager — a true joy to work with. When his 20th anniversary at CTI came due, we wanted to do something to poke a little fun at him while still honoring him for his 20 years of service.
CTI took a huge risk asking me to put anytng together, knowing my style of humor (many waited with bated breath and crossed fingers, dreading the final result, and eagerly looking forward to the entertaining train-wreck it was sure to be). Who's great
The light of the Church on Earth is a bit dimmer today, but the chorus in Heaven is that much more joyful.
Statement by the President Regarding the Death of Ruth Bell Graham Contact: White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 202-456-2580
WASHINGTON, June 14 /Standard Newswire/ -- the following is a statement by the President regarding the death of Ruth Bell Graham:
Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of Ruth Bell Graham, a remarkable woman of faith whose life was defined by her belief in a personal, loving, and gracious God. She was an encouraging friend, accomplished poet, and devoted mother of five and grandmother of 19.
Ruth's marriage to her husband Billy was a true and loving
From international to household warfare, roadway to classroom outrage, and mortal to financial loss, such stories reveal our fallen, human propensity to sin.
The cause of these impulsive, sinful outbursts is no secret: When we want what we cannot get, we lash out.
Last week saw a milestone pass in our house: AJ enjoyed his very first last day of his very first year of schooling. He has now officially "graduated" kindergarten.
Never having parented before, and having no memories of Kindergarten myself (I never went, scofflaw that I am), I didn't realize there was actually liturgy for Kindergarten graduation. Maybe this is something we only do here in the Midwest. Or maybe it happens all over the world and I've been clueless for 39 years. Probably the latter.
I think milestones are important to celebrate — even if there's no real par-tay and spiked beverages involved. I mean, we really don't do these things well in
Gospel Communications has teamed up with the Internet Evangelism Coalition and now the two conferences, GospelCon and the Internet Evangelism Conference, have been merged. The conference serves two dual purposes: one is to train GospelCom's ministry partners how to use technology to do their ministry, whether it's finding a useable open source CMS, using design to communicate effectively, or writing better post titles. The second purpose is to train believers to do evangelism and ministry more effectively whether it's learning how to write your personal testimony more effectively, how to share your faith online, or how to use social networking tools wisely.
I'm delighted to be invited to present this year. I'd
I recently wrote about the relatively unremarked issue of gender dysphoria and believers opting for gender reassignment. I wrote that I had communicated with Assemblies of God leadership about this issue some years ago, and that I believed a position paper is in order — now, not at some later date when it becomes a "real" issue.
I've often heard it said within Pentecostal circles that the Holy Spirit gets little recognition — even within our own Pentecostal and Charismatic circles. Of course, there's some theological justification for this: According to Jesus' promise in John 14:26, one of the Holy Spirit's primary roles in the believer's life is to direct our attention to Jesus:
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
As I was checking out a few of my unread feed subscriptions tonight, I came across a mention of the Google Trends service. This tool has been in service for quite some time, but since I was
As most of you who regularly visit know, back in November of 2006 I was laid-off from CTI. It wasn't anything nefarious or antagonistic — CTI always has been and continues to be very good to me, still tossing occasional freelance work and article assignments my way. (Hopefully because of my skill, not out of mercy. Though mercy is good, too, and welcome!) When my project's funding ran dry and I was out on the streets (well, more like in my skivvies, lounging around the house, generally making a nuisance of myself) I immediately signed up for a paid account at LinkedIN. I was sold on what it promised for professional networking and job searching opportunities.
Not yet disappointed
LinkedIN has not disappointed me. That isn't to say it's actually delivered on
Okay, I'll fess up. I am a shameless self-promoter. Yes, I blog for the writing and for you, my Gentle Readers, but it's also nice to get feedback and see real-world data that makes the feedback … um … exciting.
So, some time back I nominated my own site, yes this site right here, in the "Religion" category at the Blogger's Choice Awards (I waited till now to mention it because Alexa, which generates the thumbnails for the contest, kept pulling in a screenshot for my site that was showing a brain-dead URL.) I am sure this self-nomination is a mark of my own immaturity. And I'm okay with that — while also recognizing there's probably something there worth analyzing … someday.
Do I think I have a lollipop's chance in kindergarten of actually
Some GodBloggers have been critical of the whole "movie-based Bible study" enterprise. Not surprising, really: using Hollywood movies to teach Biblical truth is a little like using dance to teach worship, or wine to serve Communion. There may be a place for it, but it's going to generate controversy somewhere.
I've been asked before to justify how I could write a Bible study with a movie as its context. After all, if I'm writing a
If you're like me, you want to know whether anyone's eating the meat you grind out from the butcher shop of ideas called your blog. Sure, there's some measure of pride and ego involved: as your stats move ever upward your sense of confidence inflates proportionately. So does your sense of importance and pride. We all want at least a little touch of fame.
Problem is, unless you get a lot of comments on your blog, it's difficult to know how many subscribers you have reading your feed, or which posts are getting the most attention, or whether your visitors are first-timers who never return, or old die hards who just can't get enough of your tasty cuts. Yes, traffic analysis is more than just pretty charts, it's a window into
My Spider-Man 3 movie-based Bible Study is here, at long last! I have permission from CTI to provide the study here on my site. Over the next few days or weeks, I'll post the previous combo-study I wrote for Spider-Man 1 and Spider-Man 2 as well.
Warning: the following contains spoilers! Stop now and do not read below this paragraph if you hate knowing anything beyond what the trailers reveal.
Spider-Man 3 The greatest battle lies … within
The first two Spider-Man films established Peter Parker and his super-heroic alter-ego as a popular and profitable theatrical draw: Spidey is loveably unstoppable and Peter Parker is the nice boy everybody wants to see "get the girl."
But Spider-Man 3 severs those silky threads of comfortable niceness, dumping Peter Parker and Spider-Man into a dark abyss where evil infects the
A blogger with a "why" beats one with only a "how"
Blogging can be a waste of a leader's time if he doesn't know what he's doing or why he's doing it. (Especially why.)
I would never suggest a leader start blogging (or podcasting) unless they've already been reading some choice blogs and are starting to get some idea of what value a blog can bring to a ministry or to one's life. Rushing into blogging without first experiencing it is like convincing someone to preach who's never heard a sermon in their life. Sure, it might be comical or even refreshing — once.
I apologize for any difficulty you've had recently connecting to the site. This blog is hosted on a shared server at SiteGround.com. Unfortunately, when you're on a shared box you suffer along with hundreds of other providers whenever someone gets spammed, DDOSed, or hit by a runaway process or script. I know — I've been the culprit a few times before, and paid the price for it. But once in a while I'm also the victim, and that seems to be what's happening today.
According to the SiteGround support center, everything's hunkey dory. According to the server notification center, there are no updates or information that I should know about. So, when I go through the laborious process of collecting information, pulling together stats on server performance (see the graph behind
Yesterday I caught a premier press-screening of Spider-Man 3 and I'm officially here to tell you that this movie rocks! And, yes, before you criticize me, that is official trade lingo for a movie that … well … rocks!
It may not be appropriate for a kid still in kindergarten, which is why I didn't take AJ, even though I could have (I was allowed one guest), but it's primarily because there is violence (what heroic actioner doesn't feature violence) and a really scary Venom. :: shudder :: But if it weren't for the fright factor I'd take AJ tomorrow. As it is he's already wanting to see the movie and begging me to take him. (I had no idea he'd already watched the first two
In early 2005 I wrote a Bible study for the Spider-Man 1 & 2 movies, currently only available via ChristianityToday.com. Last week I stopped by the offices of Christianity Today International and "volunteered" to freelance the Bible study for Spider-Man 3, as well, opening May 4 in a theater near you. (Here's the official site. Here's the IMDB site.)
So, this coming Tuesday, thanks to CT Movies editor, Mark Moring, I will attend a screening of Spider-Man 3 at 10 AM in downtown Chicago. Wahoo! After that, I will put on my thinking cap, review my extensive notes, think hard and start writing about the many redemptive themes from the film to weave into a Bible study useful for small group discussions and
But since the massacre at Virginia Tech, I've been at a loss for words. I've wanted to try to research this to put it into perspective for myself and perhaps my readers — as if anyone could. But it's still too grisly and horrifying. I
I was surprised to read of a recent arrest at Central Bible College when some folks arranged a non-violent protest and an attempt to "dialog" with allegedly "homophobic" school officials over Gay, Lesbian, and Transgendered issues recently:
We arrived to Springfield, Illinois [knowing] at the beginning that it was likely that Central Bible College would not be as pleasant a stop. We relentlessly pursued conversation with the administrators at the school, who told us again and again that our voice was not welcome, that this was a conversation that the school did not need or want.
Arriving at CBC, the protesters found the school ready, with police and security from Evangel, CBC, and the General Concil all around (all hands on deck, apparently). After loitering on the sidewalks just off
Michele, blogging at Reformed Chicks Blabbing and Life Under the Sun has taken over where the former "Christian Bloggers blogroll" (defunct since October, 2006) has left off. Her mission: Get every orthodox Christian blogger linked up. It's an ambitious task. I'm here to help.
While not as selective nor exclusive as my own PneumaBlogs list, Michele does have requirements. If you want to join the Christian Blogosphere BlogRoll, visit her site.
For the second time in my short life as a blogger, I've been meme-tagged by an evil blogging compatriot hoping to provoke me into playing a silly blog-tagging game, generating more content, and generally surrendering to mass hysteria.
Every day, headlines assault us with troubling news. These recent titles from a local news website are just a small sampling:
It's official: I'm presenting at the 2008 
I recently wrote about the 
Blogging can be a waste of a leader's time if he doesn't know what he's doing or why he's doing it. (Especially why.)
