Easy Mac Micro Maniac

Everyone needs some internet entertainment. Check out: Easy Mac Micro Maniac and see what happens when you nuke soap, eggs, marshmallows, footballs, etc. Very humorous.

ESPN - Biggio to retire after season - MLB

One of my favorite baseball players of all time is retiring after this season. Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros is hanging up the spikes. Biggio will be a Hall of Famer some day. He is "the only player in major league history with 600 doubles, 250 homers, 3,000 hits and 400 steals. Biggio is a career .282 hitter. " Trivia question: Biggio is one of six players to have over 3,000 hits -- ALL WITH ONE TEAM. Name the other five ... I'll leave the answer in the comments.

Daren Streblow

Daren Streblow is a comedian who lives in Cloquet, MN. His site has video clips of him. He's also got a couple of short cartoons that are stupidly funny.

John Stott Ends Public Ministr

Apparently John Stott, who is 87, is concluding his public ministry and moving to an Anglican retirement community.

Top 5 Future Trends Religious Leaders Need to Know | Christianpost.com

Len Sweet lists 5 trends we need to know about ... • Size does matter. • Well curve replaces bell curve. • EPIC rules: Experience. Participation. Images that throb with meaning. Connection. • Digitized. • Crusade Nine.

Boydston for ECC President

Except I wouldn't want it to interfere with his blogging. Thank you to Jonathan Wilson for the idea. Who is your choice for the next President of the Evangelical Covenant Church? Brad Boydston? Bill Clark? Gary Walters? Evelyn Johnson? Larry Sherman? Robert Owens? These guys have no shot but it would be very cool to have them as President .... Adam Edgerly .... Nate Pawl .... or the first husband and wife presidential team Jimmy "Doo" and Cathy "Doctor" Stanley-Erickson.

U.S. backs churches in atheist fight

Unfortunate. Three historic churches in Detroit were pledged money by the Detroit Downtown Development Authority to improve their structures in time for the 2006 Super Bowl. Atheists sued the Authority. The legal wrangling has halted the distribution of the pledged grants. The churches had already started their work and are now experiencing a financial nightmare because the monies have not come through. It appears the courts will side with the Authority because the money was not for Bibles, prayer books or indoctrination.

United Episcopal Church of North America

Yet another Anglican body that I have never heard of: United Episcopal Church of North America. Overall they appear to be orthodox and have a couple of dozen churches in total. Their web page led me to: The Order of St. Benedict, which is the religious order of the UECNA. They give a description of their Rule: The Rule of St. Benedict was written for those who live in monasteries and convents away from society. This Anglican Order of St. Benedict is a working order in which our brothers and sisters serve in their own communities while observing a modified version of the original Rule. When I read about orders such as these, I find them very appealing and seemingly unattainable.

The Letting Go: music

The worship band at the Indian River site of Life Church of the Nazarene has their own web space with some great music.. Check out their myspace page.

Is The Islam Religion Harmless?

Do you know about the danger of becoming a Christian? One could lose their life. Read here.

Post-Christian-ChurchPlanting

OK, so you've seen the YouTube vide: Shift Happens -- a short video about cultural shifts in our society. Here's a similar style video about the church in the US and the need for church planting. Please watch: Post-Christian-ChurchPlanting. The video is linked to a great blog, Goodmanson.com, by church planter Drew Goodmanson.

Teenager loses 'purity ring' legal battle

Interesting article about a school with dress code requirements that a girl's purity ring breached. Though members of other religions are allowed to wear head coverings, the school said the ring was not essential to her faith. The court agreed. The legal arguments are interesting.

Wal-Mart To Sell Jesus, Religious Action Figures

Heavy sigh. I wonder why anyone thinks this is really a good idea. Is this an infraction of one of the 10 Commandments? From Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Should we pursue members who are leaving the church? - Outreach & Evangelism

Every pastor faces this. People leave. The people left think the pastor should chase them and convince them to come back, or at least find out why they left. Truth be told people's hearts have left months before their butts have. They're aren't likely coming back. Grieve their loss and let them go to be blessed elsewhere (or to be a thorn in someone else's side).

Leading Up

A friend of mine introduced me to a new term recently: leading up. I don't really have a precise definition for this term but a quick Google search shows its fairly common just new to me. Essentially, as I've seen it played out in his life and mine, an explanation of leading up could be: Leading up is leading those who are in leadership over you. That's a tricky thing to do. You can't lead with positional authority and just tell them what to do. You're the subordinate. You can't just be the smarter person who always knows more than they do. Then you'll appear as a threat. Leading up is about relational maneuvering. One person who mentored me said to me once, "You need to lead this team in such a way that the ideas and pathways you introduce they adopt and think they were their own." That's what you have to do when you lead up. Leading up could appear arrogant. "How is it that you think you should be in charge?" But truth be told, sometimes you end up working for people who aren't as qualified, or don't have the leadership moxy, or don't have the ingenuity that you do. Sometimes you work for people who are mean, disingenuous, critical or inept. Sometimes you really are smarter and a better leader. All of these require leading up. Leading up needs to be done in such a way that it does not appear subversive, as if you are attempting a coup. Even if you are. It requires care for those you work for. You need to have theirs and the organization's best interest at heart. Leading up. My new favorite phrase. PLEASE NOTE: If you are one of my bosses, this doesn't apply to you. ALSO NOTE: If you work for me, don't get any ideas.

Pope Says Other Churches Not True. Ultrarev Says Pope Wrong.

Again I say, I wish I could be Roman Catholic ... to enjoy the liturgy, the connection with such an enormous world wide body, it's history, episcopacy and deep spirituality ... but I can't. Especially when the Pope comes out with statements like this. But anecdotally, my experience is the preaching is bad, the music is worse and overall they fail to be missional. Yet I admire how they desire to be guardians of truth and to fight for the dignity of God. I wonder what Benedict's interest in ecumenism is if he doesn't really believe there are other true churches other than the Roman Catholic Church. Why consort with heretics? Just to convert them? He called the other 'churches': "mere ecclesial communities." What is that? Are we of any value? In response to this declaration, the 'ministry of doctrine' of the ultrarev declares to be in full communion with all those who name Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and that all who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior are a part of the true church, no matter their denominational or non-denominational persuasion. Psalm 119:63 "I am a companion of all who fear Thee ..." (KJV)

Coffee News

CAPPUCCINO For the coffee snobs out there like me, there is a nice article, The mystery of the "short" cappuccino. - By Tim Harford - Slate Magazine, about getting a good cappy at Starbucks. I know, I know, Starbucks is more known for being expensive than high quality but here's something to try: order a "short cappuccino". HOME BREW It was 99 degrees here yesterday. Blistering. So for those of you looking for a nice cool drink there is a great article about Iced Coffee from the NYTimes: Iced Coffee? No Sweat. You'll need to sign up for a password or get lucky at Bugmenot.com.

Salt Lake Tribune - Suburban polygamy

Just another article about (or helping) polygamy becoming mainstream. You might be surprised with a Google search or two to see certain groups within mainline churches that are supportive of polyamory. What we're seeing is a slow creep towards polyamory or polygamy becoming considered acceptable. So many of the arguments that have been used by mainline churches to defend the blessing of homosexuality can be uniformly applied polyamorous relationships (and others). Watch. It's coming.

Baptist Press - 55,000 answer 'The Call'

55k people gathered in TN at LP Field, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans for a solemn assembly — a repenting of the sins of our nation. This is a good thing. A very good thing. Repentance always precedes revival. See also "The Call".

Prayer Walkers Hasten Pace to Reach 24,000-Mile Goal - Evangelical Covenant Church

Have you signed up to Prayerwalk with the women of the Covenant Church and walk your part of their 24,000 mile goal? Now is the time: for your spiritual and physical health. 24,000 miles is the distance around the globe. NOTE: this is not just a women's event but is sponsored by The Women's Ministries of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Church Blasts Premarital Sex Proposal - Newsday.com

An interesting article about a family center at a Jesuit University that says the church should approve of couples living together that are engaged to be married. "'It would appear closer to the truth that they are growing, perhaps slowly but nonetheless surely, into grace,' Michael Lawler and Gail Risch wrote." As part of their justification for their position the researchers point to church history: "Lawler and Risch wrote that between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Catholic Church allowed couples to have sex once they were betrothed. That changed under the Council of Trent, but many modern Catholic couples have reverted to living together and having sex before their weddings, the authors wrote." The Diocese of Omaha does not agree and severed ties with the family center. Church Blasts Premarital Sex Proposal - Newsday.com

VirtueOnline: OHIO: Forty Anglican Churches Join in Pan-Jurisdictional Church Planting Event

Anglicans love acronyms. It seems each week we see the creation of some new alliance of churches or organization and it has some catchy acronym. The most current I have seen is GLAN, which is the Great Lakes Anglican Network. GLAN is a loose affiliation of orthodox Anglicans of a variety of different affiliations: Bolivia, Uganda, AMiA and others, who support each other in the common missional cause of spreading the gospel. GLAN just recently had a conference on church planting reported on at Virtueonline. It's exciting to see that many of the Anglican groups are not really hung up on the political issues of the day that have caused division in the Episcopal Church. They seem quick to organize and mobilize themselves for church planting and evangelism.

Welcome : GoodSearch : Search the Internet with GoodSearch and support your favorite charity or school.

Here's a way to make a small amount of money for your favorite charity. Have them sign up for GoodSearch, and use it as your primary search engine, making money for them every time you search.

Kijiji United States: free local Classifieds Ads and Want Ads for Housing, Apartments, Furniture, Personals, Vacation Homes, Pets, Jobs, Resumes, Cars

Craigslist has some serious competition now. Another free classified ads service is on the market: Kijiji.

The Good Wife's Guide.jpg

See The Good Wife's Guide from Housekeeping Monthly, May 13, 1955. A good wife always knows her place.

theCRonline.com: Episcopal Church Seeks to Sue Unpaid Volunteers of Breakaway Virginia Churches

Here's an interesting story about the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia suing churches that no longer want to be affiliated with them but want to keep their property. Not only are they suing the church as corporation, including it's clergy, but are also suing it's volunteer unpaid leadership. In a related article, David Virtue reports that the strategy of the Episcopal Church against those churches and dioceses that want to leave is to bankrupt them. They apparently have deeper pockets than anyone they go up against, and just plan to stay in the game until the church or diocese they are wrangling with concedes out of frustration or lack of funds. It appears to be the way to win but at what cost? In many cases they may win keep and the property in dispute but the clergy walks away with nearly all the parishioners. The Diocese is left with an empty building and not enough parishioners to pay for it or have a vibrant ministry there.