This is my pre-published version of an article I wrote for Christianity Today International's Resources department. It is part of a larger downloadable study exploring Church rental issues. Here, with the help of a few friends, I consider the advantages and disadvantages of renting worship space.

The urban landscape is becoming increasingly crowded — and expensive. While churches have been moving out of the city to the suburbs, the cites have been growing. The North American Misssion Board reports that nearly 6 out of 10 Americans live in the 50 largest cities. And while establishing a new congregation in a populous city context poses many challenges, the lack of affordable space for church property is one of the most daunting. Purchasing facilities for worship in most large cities, especially for a church plant, is often impossible.

Wherein I opine on the culture war between Christianity and those of homosexual persuasion, and their supporters.

So, breaking news, San Fransisco is a gay-friendly town. Oh, more breaking news: Chrisitanity is anathema to a sinful lifestyle. And it's an easy target for sinners.

So the 24th annual hedonistic fetish event, San Fransisco's Folsom Street Fair (wiki definition), created a poster playing off da Vinci's "Last Supper." Instead of tableware, there are sex toys. Instead of Jesus and his disciples, there was "Sister Roma" and " "half-naked homosexual sadomasochists" (WND). And, of course, there were sponsor logos.

The fair is scheduled for September 30, three days from now.

Predictably, the Christian community at-large has recoiled in disgust and lashed back with angry diatribes and calls for apologies. The poster, itself, has been labeled an "unprovoked attack against Christ and His

George O. Wood has been elected to the office of the General Superintendent of the General Council of the Assemblies of God

George Wood is a prince of a man who is not only well-educated, but sensible. In my experience in interacting with him not only in meetings but when I provided support on his computer (for some time he was the only executive to use one), he is considerate, a gentleman, and actually listens to the people around him, regardless of their status or stature. He understands missions, being the son of missionaries. He understands contemporary culture, and he is one of the smartest men I've ever met — next to Rich Hammar.

Sometimes business meetings can be funny in their own little way. Especially when politicking gets heated.

Oh, the hi-jinx of business meetings. I actually laughed out loud at one minor General Council tempest that could have had massive implications for the vote for the general superintendent on Thursday.

During the nomination process, pastor Tommy Barnett from Phoenix, Arizona (pastor of one of our fellowship's largest churches) announced he wasn't interested in being nominated as he didn't want to surrender his pastorate, there came a resolution to clarify language regarding the role of the General Superintendent. (The resolution stated that the GS would be responsible to "cast the primary vision" for the fellowship along with other executive officers, to "provide spiritual oversight and leadership" to headquarters personnel, to "strategically

Tomorrow, the 52nd biennial business-meeting for the General Council of the Assemblies of God begins. On Thursday, our next General Superintendent will be selected. Here are my thoughts on matters over which I have no input or influence, and which are probably inappropriate for me to publicly opine over. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop me from writing! If you read this and think I'm an idiot for writing it, just remember: you read it!

[Skip all the blather and just see my pick for the vote, if that's what you're after!]

The Generational Exchange … Happens Now

Stop now. Before you go any further, before you cast your nominating vote, before you accept your nomination (as if anybody reads this), go listen to

On the resignation of the Assemblies of God's current superintendent, Rev. Thomas Trask, and the chaos that is in its wake. Wherein I opine on matters explicitly not my business.

I'd like to make it perfectly clear at the outset: I am not a credentialed Assemblies of God minister. I'm not a credentialed anything really. I'm blogging on this matter because it's of interest to me as an Assemblies of God churchgoing Pentecostal who loves his Fellowship and because it's also of interest to you, my faithful readers.

Oh, also because I tend blog on this sort of thing, and I promised you that I would.

What you are about to read (if you read it) is opinion mixed with some facts. I will try to source

Overheard recently: "I'm wondering what's the difference between church and the bar?"

In church you pray for the Spirit. In a bar you pay for the spirits? (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Anyways...

Everybody knows your name…

When Jennifer and I lived in Springfield, MO, and worked at the Assemblies of God headquarters, our friendly pagan neighbors invited us to join them at a neighborhood bar for lunch. We were on our way back home from church where we had invited them, so we figured a little tit for tat was probably in order.

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.

Note: As promised, my long rambling cogitation is now available here.

[tags]trask, tom-trask, thomas-trask, thomas-e-trask, general-superintendent, general-superintendant, general-council, general-council-of-the-assemblies-of-god, assembly-of-god, assemblies-of-god, rev-trask, reverend-trask, resignation, blogrodent, religion, christianity, pentecostal[/tags]

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

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

Why so many problems begin with frustrated desire

Every day, headlines assault us with troubling news. These recent titles from a local news website are just a small sampling:

• Two Shotgunned to Death [source]
• Joyriding Gang Member Slain; Crash Injures Family [source]
• Local Soldier Dies in Afghanistan [source]
• School Gets Tough on Commencement Outbursts [source]
• Wife Gets $184 Million in Divorce Ruling [source]

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.

What causes fights and quarrels among

Social justice gets a bad rap among many Evangelicals and Fundamentalists, but Tony Campolo sets us straight. Check out this video.

It's official: I'm presenting at the 2008 Internet Ministry Conference hosted by GospelCom.

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.

And it has begun. I'd say the issue is now real.

While it hasn't surfaced within the Assemblies of God yet, I suspect it will within the next few years. Meanwhile, The Church Report Online released a special report in its May 2007 issue, titled: "Identity Crisis: A Transgender Minister Reappointed to Lead

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

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

Recently, I posted my Spider-Man Bible Study / Discussion Guide. Simultaneously, I dropped a few comments on some blogs that referenced a different Spider-Man Bible Study produced by Fuller Theological Seminary's professor Craig Detweiler.

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

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

Update: The Spider-Man 3 study can be found here.

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

I've blogged on tragedy before:

• Church shooting at Sash Assembly of God, Sash, Texas and a survivor's reaction ("God Protected Her")
• Katrina ("On Moral Levees," and "Nature, God, Blame and Shame")
• Former A/G youth pastor, Eric Brian Golden, who murdered his wife ("Youth pastor slays wife, confesses. Why, oh why?", with several updates)
• And 9/11, five years later ("September 11 and a Terrible Joy")

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:

Central Bible College: Our First Act of Civil Disobedience (via Soulforce)

The blogger, Brandy Daniels from Wheaton, writes:

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.

Click here to view the blogroll right here right now. Then bookmark!

Greed is the surprising accompaniment to almost all our sins.

We all like lists. They help create organized presentations, and they are easy to remember. Perhaps that is why God chose a list format to present some of his most well-known laws. But what if we took that list — the Ten Commandments — and reduced it to its essence? What basic sins would we identify? One hopelessly alliterative preacher condensed the Decalogue to a clever three-point quip: man's chief temptations are "gold, girls, and glory." Gary Downing, in his article "Accountability That Makes Sense," agrees, calling them "the three issues with which we all struggle: money, sex, and power."

But perhaps we could distill even further, to a sort of grand unifying sin: greed. It is the misplaced love and desire that drives broken

While things are confusing down here, we can always trust in the hope of heaven.

About an hour northeast of Indianapolis on April 26, 2006, a tractor-trailer drifted across the Interstate 69 median. In its path: ten students and staff in a Taylor University van. The tractor ripped through one side of the van, scattering wallets, purses, and debris across the dark roadway and sending five souls into eternity.

In the accident's aftermath, one survivor was identified as Laura VanRyn, and officials contacted her family as she was airlifted from the site in a comatose state. Over the next several weeks the VanRyn family kept constant and prayerful vigil at her bedside while she struggled out of her coma.

Then came the shattering revelation: the young woman they lovingly watched over did not answer to the name Laura VanRyn. Instead, a battered and broken stranger lay in her place: fellow Taylor student and

In some cultures and eras, apostates face certain death. In America, it's the church that's dying from apostasy.

Apostate — it's not exactly a common word. But for those doomed to hear its rare pronouncement, it can mean imminent death or serious eternal consequences.

Like repentance, apostasy implies a rejection or abandonment of a practice, ideal, or belief. And one religion's penitent is another one's apostate.

This irony became apparent in the first formal court case involving charges of apostasy in Kuwait. The court found Hussein Qambar Ali guilty for converting from Islam to Christianity in December 1995. Since Shari'ah law in Kuwait (and many other Islamic societies) prescribes the death sentence for apostasy, the court called for Ali's execution, along with the termination of his marriage and the distribution of his possessions to heirs.

"Apostasy in the Islamic world is serious," said Ali. "Anyone, even an ordinary person, has the right