Central New York Starbucks Closings

Starbucks Gossip: Starbucks releases the full list of store closures The Starbucks Gossip site has a PDF listing of the Starbucks stores that are going to close. Locally, here in the Syracuse, NY area there are three listed: Store#, Store Name, Address, City, State 11278, RTE 11 & HOGAN RD, 7897 BREWERTON RD, CICERO, NY 8132, CARRIER CIRCLE, 6570 WEIGHLOCK DR EAST, SYRACUSE, NY 10752, SWEETHEART CORNER, 3911 BREWERTON RD, N SYRACUSE, NY Then again, who cares? Locally the best coffee is still at Cafe Kubal.

Church History Tree (.jpg)

Have you ever seen this church history graphic? It is a graphic pictorial of church history in the form of a tree. It's from an old Covenant Church history book that I think was by Phil Anderson. Anybody know the author of this graphic?

A Pastoral Conversion

VirtueOnline: Surprised By Grace: How The Risen Christ Can Change A Mainline Pastor. This article is a beautiful, humble story about a mainline, PCUSA pastor that went from being a "well-trained historical-critical, Neoliberal pastor" to becoming an evangelical.

Apologetics Making Comback. Skeptics Asking Different Questions.

A New Day for Apologetics | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction Apparently there is a renewed interest in apologetics but don't go searching for your copy of Evidence that Demands a Verdict just yet. It seems that new skeptics are asking new questions. "Despite all the recent attacks on faith -- or, perhaps, because of them -- these are definitely the best of times for Christian apologists such as Lee Strobel, William Lane Craig, Ben Witherington III, Darrell Bock, and J. P. Moreland. They are making documentaries, writing books, giving media interviews, attending debates and conferences, and presenting the public with what they say is a growing mountain of scientific and archaeological evidence documenting the truth of Christianity." UPDATE: Another apologetics article. Here is how several contemporary scholars are arguing for the existence of God. God Is Not Dead Yet by William Lane Craig | Christianity Today

Church Security Needed Right Here in Syracuse

Masked gunman steals church's Sunday collection- Syracuse.com Right here in Syracuse, a youth with what looked like a BB gun robbed a parishioner holding the collection plate at Holy Family Church. Desperate times indeed.

John Lennon Sounds Like A Worship Leader

'Bigger than Jesus? The Beatles were a Christian band' - Telegraph John Lennon once made the claim that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. In an interview now published, he claims he was misunderstood. And he sounds like a lot of Christian musicians these days when he said, ""It's just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ," he says. "Now I wasn't saying that was a good idea, 'cos I'm one of Christ's biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ's message, then that's what we're here to do.""

New Book: Stories With Intent by Dr. Klyne Snodgrass, North Park Theological Seminary

Snodgrass: ‘Parables of Jesus’ – Moving Beyond Misconception - Evangelical Covenant Church Dr. Klyne Snodgrass of North Park Theological Seminary has published a new massive tome on the parables, which some scholars are calling the definitive work on the subject. 846 pages! List price is $55.29, but amazon.com is selling it for $34.83.

Questions ....

My beloved friend Luke posted some questions on my blog recently that I want to re-post as a blog entry. "I had a friend in a small group ask me a highly related question - noting how we now feel about such things as Christians supporting slavery and joining the KKK, as well as a lot of other mistakes, going back to the Inquisition, the Crusades, etc. His question was, "What are future Christians going to look back at us and not be able to understand how we could believe or support?" What do you think we do or accept or believe, that future generations of Christians will really scratch their heads over?" That's a tough one.

Global Evangelism Resource: Lausanne World Pulse

Lausanne World Pulse - IN THIS ISSUE...The Effect of Migration and the Growing Diaspora on Evangelism Efforts...and Other Issues of Global Interest Interested in global evangelism? Lausanne World Pulse. You will want to bookmark their extensive Resource Page. One of the co-publishers is my old friend Dr. Lon Allison, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. He also serves as director for the Institute for Strategic Evangelism at Wheaton College.

Family Movie Reviews -- Entertainment Guide for Parents

Family Movie Reviews -- Entertainment Guide for Parents Normally I use Screenit.com to review movies before I let my kids watch them. Sometimes they want to watch older movies and Screenit lacks reviews for them, i.e. Indiana Jones movies. Family Movie Reviews covers a lot of older flicks. A good resource for parents.

Thanks Dan Miller @ 48Days.com

48 Days - Your Source for Career Building! Dan Miller over at 48Days.com posted a note I sent him about how I love to work at home. Thanks Dan. I thoroughly enjoy listening to Dan's podcasts. He looks and sounds like Bob Newhart -- if you are old enough to remember him. A special note to pastors: the last stat I heard was that several hundred pastors a month become unemployed via termination or resignation, and nearly 50% leave pastoral ministry within 5 years of being ordained. For many pastors you're training doesn't leave you with a lot of employment options ... or does it? That's where Dan Miller comes in. I think he can help a lot of pastors find their new calling, even if it isn't in pastoral ministry.

Willowcreek Still Focuesd on Reaching Unbelievers

VirtueOnline: Megachurch Sets Record Straight on Recalibrating Yes Willowcreek Community Church is recalibrating their ministry. Yes they want to help more mature believers become more Christ centered. No they are not taking their eyes off reaching the unchurched and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with them -- despite what some reports have indicated. Willowcreek came out with a statement correcting some media reports that said they were now shifting their focus toward more mature believers. Not true. I love Willow and Bill Hybels is one of my personal heros. From Nancy Beach .... ""Let me be very, very clear," she said during WCA's annual Arts Conference. "We are never ever going to abandon reaching nonchurched people. This has been a part of our DNA since we started this church. It was built on the foundation of saying 'we want to reach our friends.'" "And if you cut us, we bleed evangelism," she added in an emotional response to misinformation. "This is a place that wants more people, as many as possible to come into heaven with us.""

Praying for Gas Prices?

Group Asks for Divine Intervention to Ease Oil Prices -- CNSNEWS.COM 07/03/2008 I suppose any prayer is good prayer.

Great Story About a Growing Covenant Church

Nontraditional pastor takes his congregation into the 21st century - TwinCities.com I love stories of church growth, especially when they are from my own tribe, the Evangelical Covenant Church. The linked story above is about Crossroads Church of Cottage Grove, which grew from 90 to 1700 in about 15 years. They're building a new facility.

Social Networking + Ministry

Jesus in MySpace: Churches use social-networking sites Just a short article about how various ministries and ministers are using social networking, or web 2.0 apps in their ministry. It showed up in a Google news search I did for "Evangelical Covenant Church" as the article quotes Youth Pastor Tim Schmoyer from MN. I've been doing a lot of this lately for the ministry I work for ... building a GodTube, YouTube, Facebook and MySpace pages. Working toward a Wikipedia entry, Amazon presence, web site blog, utilizing Twitter, possibly Flickr and a few others. I'm using these as "connection portals" for our ministry, attempting to network with as many people as possible who might be interested in festival evangelism. But now I've learned of a few other resources I had not thought of and a couple I had not heard of. Yahoo! and Google groups are possibilities that I had not thought of. Evite, Friendster and MyChurch.org are some that I didn't know about. Quote from article about MyChurch ... "But one Christian site that is catching on through word of mouth is MyChurch.org -- a social-networking site built around congregations. It currently has about 21,000 churches on it from across the United States and Canada, and about 150,000 individual members. The congregations range from Baptist to non-denominational to Salvation Army. “It is kind of a MySpace for churches,” said Jon Suh, one of the founders. The site was created about a year and half ago to fill a need that Suh’s congregation, The River Church in San Jose, Calif., felt."

Leadership By Email and Other Dumb Ideas

Email appears to be here to stay. I remember when I was ahead of the curve and only a few of my friends had email. Now only a few of my friends don't. It's a pervasive form of communication, though not always the best. Most of us have had issues with communicating via email. I've experienced people who have misunderstood the intention of my email as they attempted to deduce the tone. They thought I was mad, angry, critical, etc. when I really wasn't at all. I've also experienced sending numerous emails to people thinking that I'm keeping them up-to-date on a project, event, etc. only to some how have ended up in their junk folder, sifted out by their spam filter. Me spam? Oh the nerve of some computers. A new issue that I am seeing repeatedly right now is leaders trying to lead an organization using email. Recently I've seen leaders of small organizations (less than 15 people) that send out emails regarding a change in significant company policies & procedures, or the termination/promotion/resigning of an employee, and even, ... egads ... a change in company vision. People, listen to me. You cannot lead with email. You cannot effectively cast vision with email. I work with a lot of pastors. Recently had a conversation with a pastor about one of his leaders making some crucial errors in judgment and miss some opportunities that one would have that obvious. We talked and I asked, "Tell me about how you trained him for this position? Did he have a job description? How did you cast the church's vision to him?" He responded, "Well I sent him a couple of emails that clearly outlined what they were supposed to do." I said, "Yeah, but when you sat down with them to go over the details of their leadership position -- tell me about that meeting." [minor stammering] "Well, uh, we've mostly communicated via email." When you have leaders in your church you cannot expect them to know what to do because you've sent them email. To effectively lead a leader you have to spend time with them: casting vision, talking about the potential and your hopes for the ministry, discussing the pitfalls, what-if's, problems, victories, solutions, gold mines of the church. Email can't do that. You cannot keep your finger on the pulse of a team or leader via email. Part of my work is leading teams of leaders, empowering the leaders to lead. One constant mantra I make is that, "You can't expect a postal mailing to get people to attend your meeting/event/prayer gathering/etc." Mailings alone just don't work it anymore with the possible exception of handwritten greeting cards. When I was pastoring the deluge of postal mail was staggering and I just didn't read it all. I threw out a lot of important stuff along the way that I probably wished I didn't. My new mantra is becoming, "You can't expect an email to get people to your meeting/etc." and "You can't do leadership with email." People now have multiple accounts (I have a dozen) and get staggering amounts of email. If you are leading a team, email and postal mail are great to get details out, but if you really, really want people to show up email and postal mail can only be enhancements to your phone call. Don't lead with email. Let email aid your leadership. Maybe next time we'll talk about leaders with blogs who only post every couple of months and think all their followers know what their talking about or up to. They've never heard of Google Analytics.

Tyndale House, Barna and Viola Being Embarrassed

Brad Boydston has been posting links to comments by scholar Ben Witherington on his blog, who has been reviewing a new book by George Barna and Frank Viola (not the former Twins pitcher): Pagan Christianity. It seems that Barna and Viola want suggest that the current expression of church worship is heavily pagan and doesn't have it's basis in NT Christianity -- at least that is what I am getting from Witherington's reviews, as I have not read the book. Witherington is a NT scholar at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, KY (blog • website • Wikipedia), and he is shredding Barna's & Viola's poor scholarship and outright failure to get facts right. Brad rightly asked, "At what point do the editors at Tyndale House Publishers need to be accountable for letting so much historical inaccuracy slip through in Pagan Christianity? without a fact check?" Indeed. They and the authors should be outright embarrassed by now.

Lord Save Us From Your Followers Movie Synopsis

Have any of you watched the movie: 'Lord Save Us From Your Followers'? FACEBOOK: LORD, SAVE US FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS. Summary .... The movement starts here. Coming to theates in June 2008. The most talked about film in decades. Pass the word. Though nine out of ten Americans claim a belief in God, public expression of faith is more contentious as ever. Even as discussion of religion floods the media like never before, the rhetoric is divisive and hyper as the 2008 elections loom on the horizon. Lord, Save Us From Your Followers is the energetic, accessible documentary that explores the collision of faith and culture in America. Fed up with the angry, strident language filling the airwaves that has come to represent the Christian faith, director (and follower) Dan Merchant set out to discover why the Gospel of Love is dividing America. Utilizing a broad array of expert interviews, man-on-the-street bits, hilarious animations and “I’ve never seen that before” stunts, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers brings everyone into the conversation that this country is aching to have. In the tradition of “entertaining documentaries” like Super Size Me, Bowling For Columbine and What the Bleep Do We Know?, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers, employs the language of pop culture to create a provocative, funny and redemptive viewing experience that will leave the audience talking for hours. From the man-on-the-street blitz of “Bumpersticker Man” to a “Culture Wars” game show, from Dan’s proclamation drive to re-name St. Paul to New Leningrad to the controversial and moving “Confession Booth” at Gay Pride, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers delves into all the hot button issues with candor, humor and balance. With exclusive interviews with comedian/Senatorial candidate Al Franken, former Senator and Religious Right inside man Rick Santorum, noted “liberal evangelical” Tony Campolo, conservative radio host Michael Reagan, racial reconciliation activist Dr. John Perkins and features with Bono, Pastor Rick Warren (“Purpose Driven Life”), James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, no stone is left unturned in this engaging, unpredictable and challenging look at the conflict over religion in America.

Bribing People to Church

Gas cards draw people to God - RecordOnline.com - The Times Herald Record An A/G church on downstate NY gave away $10 gas cards to families to get people to come to church. 22 new families show up -- 80-100 people and 20 people accepted Christ.

Chinese Church Growing Out From Underground

Jesus in China -- chicagotribune.com A number of Chinese churches and ministries are coming out from underground. Though still illegal, they function openly and authorities are ignoring them. There is just an avalanche of Chinese people becoming Christian, even some celebrities and Communist Party members. Some estimate that the church is now as big or bigger than the Communist Party. Their Christian values are also having a positive impact on the economy. Very exciting to see how God is growing the church in China. We read church history books in the US about great revivals with Finney, Whitefield, Wesley, Edwards, Graham, Azuza St., etc. I wonder if future history books will write a global church history and we'll learn about the Chinese awakening. Who are the Billy Grahams of China that we don't know about yet? Or is there an altogether new way of doing evangelism that only happens "underground"? God is good.

Will a Computer “Symbiote” be Implanted in Future Human Brains?

A quote from the article: "Scientists at the University of Florida aren’t just creating a neural implant that can translate human brain signals, but one that can act independently to increase its efficiency and synergy with the brain as it learns new things." Just another technology that the church is going to have to be prepared to engage and think about theologically, morally and philosophically. What if neural implants could be programmed to help us sin less, know the Scriptures better and give us boldness to evangelize? Will churches then have programmers on staff updating people's brains turning them into techno-disciples? What if someone's computer chip is reprogrammed by someone evil person causing them to do something heinous? Did they sin or was it just a computer abuse or glitch? This is not just some far fetched scientist's sci-fi idea. Real scientists are working on this stuff. Hopefully real theologians might begin thinking about it also.

Virtual Church

I commend this site to you with both audio and visual resources for practicing Christian spirituality: the Daily Office, Lectionary, Liturgy of the Hours, Ignatian and Benedictine readings, Anglican Prayer Cycle, even Taizé and an icon with a couple reflections. I just listened to the podcast of New Zealand Prayer Book office. Very well done. I also prayed and read Scripture using the Missio Dei Breviary. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Next Generation Alliance

Here is a little information about the Next Generation Alliance: Luis Palau Association hosts the Next Generation Alliance web site. Next Generation Alliance Facebook page: "In light of Luis Palau’s vision of raising up the next generation of evangelists, NGA exists as a global network to identify, affirm and equip evangelists worldwide to complete the Great Commission in our generation." If your community of churches are willing to work together for the furthering of the Kingdom and the evangelization of your area, here are some groups that will partner with you to make that happen. Featured NGA Evangelists Frank Alexandre Espoir et Deliverance Bob Boyd Bob Boyd Ministries Brad Butcher Passion 4 People Jeramy Burchett Global Music Evangelism Keith Cook On The Go Scott Dawson Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association John Garrick Eternal Impact Ministries Brock Gill Illusionist Nick Hall Pulse Christian Holst For His Glory Evangelistic Ministries Bob Mortimer Bob Mortimer Motivational Ministries Bill Newman Bill Newman International Mike Parker All Nations Ministries Reid Saunders Reid Saunders Association Mike Silva Mike Silva International Greg Steir Dare 2 Share Bill Thomas Bill Thomas Evangelistic Association Mark Thompson Mark Arts Inc. Martha Wagner Hope Ministries International Rob Welch For His Glory Evangelistic Ministries Johnny Wilson Johnny Wilson Evangelistic Association Rusty Wright Probe Ministries Steve Wingfield Steve Wingfield Ministries Inc. Jose Zayas Jose Zayas Evangelism International

Lean A New Language

8 Free Online Resources For Learning A New Language Saw this resource link and thought of a couple of you that are attempting to learn new languages for missional purposes.

Gen Y Friendly Churches

PC World has a succinct little article about: 5 Ways to Make Your Company Gen Y-Friendly. Which of course makes me think about what are 5 ways we could make the church GEN Y Friendly. Here is PC World's advice for employers: 1. Offer attractive benefits. 2. Promote work/life balance. 3. Narrow the rungs of the corporate ladder. 4. Ensure managers are engaged and accessible. 5. Foster "face time". Here's some advice on making the church GEN Y friendly 1. Be Honest About Sin But Forgiving, Loving & Non-Judgmental Toward Sinners. Sure this is the generation that is more pluralistic in their beliefs, tolerant of alternative views and sometimes holds competing views simultaneously. But they absolutely respect people who are sincere, devout and honest about their beliefs, even strange or odd beliefs, as long as doing so doesn't make them self-righteous, smug, mean or uncaring. And most of all, church leaders need to be honest about their own sins, faults, shortcomings and mistakes. 2. Offer Eternal Salvation and Temporal Life Transformation. All churches must preach the truth that Jesus Christ died for the sins of all humanity and offers them the free gift of eternal life. But we must also preach about how Christians can carry the power of the Holy Spirit to transform the world we live in. Christianity is more than a ticket to heaven. God speaks through His Word about how His people can heal the evils of this world. 3. Have a Holistic Ministry Approach. How does our faith in Jesus Christ and the truths of His Word speak to our physical and mental health, our work and/or student life, our friendships, our marriage and family life, our sex life, our decision making, our use and accumulation of wealth, etc. Christianity is more than a theology to be believed but is a faith that drives us to live. 4. Offer Options. If you haven't already, end the mindset that says everyone works M-F, 8-5 in an office and is free evenings and weekends and that is when they will come to the church building to be ministered to. Experts I hear these days say an overwhelming segment of our workforce are self employed and are creating multple revenue streams to support them. Find creative ways to make church life available at alternative times, in various ways and have it brought to them. 5. Be Interactive. Have you done a Q&A lately in church or at church meetings? More than once when I was preaching, I used note cards in the bulletin to field questions that people had about God, the Bible, spirituality or the Christian life. I've used the sermon as a Q&A time, sometimes I preached and did Q&A following, and even did an entire sermon series based on questions received. Also, give the young, inexperienced, non-expert a voice in church life and leadership and make church leaders available for conversation and receptive to input. Younger generations do not believe they have to "pay their dues" before they are heard or received. 6. Be Real. Allow the opportunity for leaders and lay people to tell their story of how God and His church are a part of their life. Let people tell the story of how they came to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Let people tell the story of how they have seen or experienced God and His people at work in their life. Do it in worship, in newsletters, on websites, etc.

Who Speaks For You?

Recently James Dobson of Focus on the Family spoke critically of Barrak Obama's use of Scripture. Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell has created a web site: James Dobson Doesn't Speak For Me defending Obama and attacking James Dobson. I like James Dobson. He's a smart person and his ministry has spoken into my life on more than one occasion. I work with is daughter, Danae, on occasion and she is a delightful person. I like Focus on the Family's ministry. I admire their commitment to pastor's families and the multitude of resources they make available to everyday Christians. They'll help anybody who asks them. But I tire sometimes of hearing Dr. Dobson's voice in the public discourse. Granted he is often being quoted by media who use sound bites and aren't accurately representing him. I've had that happen to me also. And furthermore, if he doesn't speak up, who will? But I think we've reached the point where many evangelical Christians are tired of hearing the latest difficult statement from Dr. Dobson and tired of feeling like the media looks to him to speak for them and they don't want him to. All that led me to the question recently, "Who does speak for me?" Who do I trust to speak on behalf of evangelicals? Certainly not Dobson or Pat Robertson, Falwell never did, -- those guys are the common ones the media refers to as evangelical leaders. Joel Osteen is getting more press time these days but I'm not sure I trust him to speak for me, though I appreciate his humble, gentle spirit. Rick Warren? Possibly. Bill Hybels? Probably, but we're hearing less and less from him. I guess that's why I have my own blog. So I can speak for myself. Who speaks for you?

US Slavery in the 1940's?

According to this article, STLtoday - Slavery by Another Name, slavery existed in the US until the 1940's through "legal" means. "In March 1908, an unemployed black man named Green Cottenham was arrested in Alabama and found guilty of the vague charge of vagrancy. Unable to pay exorbitant fines and fees that accompanied the conviction, he was sentenced to a year at hard labor and "sold" to a mining subsidiary of U.S. Steel, which agreed to pay his debts in return for his services and sent him in chains into a coal mine." This kind of servitude continued into the 1940's. Still slavery. Numerous African-Americans were arrested on trumped up charges and "sold" into servitude for their debts to be paid.

Gary B. Walter Elected Ninth President of Covenant - Evangelical Covenant Church

Congratulations Gary! These are exciting times for my beloved Evangelical Covenant Church .... we continue to succeed with church planting and growth, have added a revitalization ministry, are becoming passionate about compassion, justice and racial reconciliation ministry ... and now have elected as President one of the denomination's very best leaders. I'm extremely optimistic for the future health and growth of our denomination.

[heavy sigh] Another Senseless Death at the Hands of Religion

Autopsy: Easy treatment for teen who died in failed 'faith healing' | kgw.com | News for Oregon and SW Washington A 16 y/o boy died because he did not seek/receive medical help for a urinary tract condition that would have been solved with a simple catheter. He refused treatment while believing in faith he would be healed. Would it be safe to say that any church that discourages one from seeking medical treatment in lieu of faith healing is dangerous? A quote from the news story ... "The family belongs to the Oregon City Followers of Christ Church. The church is a fundamentalist Christian denomination that recently made headlines after two members were arrested and accused of using prayer instead of medical care to try to cure their deathly ill daughter." Do you think it would be appropriate for other Christian churches in their community to publicly denounce them and call them to repentance? Would it be appropriate for them to say, what is happening in this church is not part of the teachings of Jesus Christ and his message found in the Bible? What do you think?

Some of My Favorite Photographers

Jim Whitmer Photography. This past week I had the privilege of working with Jim and Mary Whitmer, both of whom are outstanding photographers. For the past s