Here’s what’s caught my online recently…
On Fifteen Things to Try: 15 Fresh Salads for a Very Lovely Lunch
On Numbers and Success: It’s All about the Numbers
If we want to know if a particular ministry is being “successful” we should ask the following question: What signs of the kingdom have we seen or experienced during the past week? All other measurements of success fall subservient to that single question.
On A New Vision Statement: Just Give Me Jesus
Coming up with a vision statement has been ingrained in my mind and it got to the point that I felt inadequate as a pastor if I did not have a cool vision statement that no other church had. Do you know how hard it is to come up with a vision statement? I have spent hours praying and even fasting over a vision statement, thinking that a vision statement would instantly grow my church.
On Being Relevant, Popular, and Contextual: Be Irrelevant
…being relevant is one of the biggest scams Satan has sold the 21st century Church (especially in the US). Millions of people have sold out to the whims of pop-culture (and yes, there’s a difference) in the name of relevancy.
We say we’re being relevant by immersing ourselves in The Bachelor or in Twilight or even (heaven forbid) The Hunger Games. We say we’re trying to be relevant by obsessing over how we look or the latest fashion trends. We say we’re trying to be obedient to being “all things to all people,” but in the end, we simply look confused.
We have to stop pretending we don’t enjoy these things, people. We like shows like The Bachelor and movies like The Hunger Games. We don’t just watch them under some misguided guise of relevancy. We watch them because we enjoy them.
On A Generation That’s Staying Home: The Go-Nowhere Generation
Perhaps young people are too happy at home checking Facebook. In a study of 15 countries, Michael Sivak, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (who also contributed to the D.M.V. research), found that when young people spent more time on the Internet, they delayed getting their driver’s licenses. “More time on Facebook probably means less time on the road,” he said. That may mean safer roads, but it also means a bumpier, less vibrant economy.
On Being Yourself – Not a Role: How to Attend a Conference as Yourself
My sense of self is dangerously close to my sense of role. I’m a writer, a speaker, a consultant, a father, a husband, a skier, etc. But who am I when I’m not actively being those things? Who am I’m without my accomplishments — past, present, or future?
Just me. Which, it turns out, was unsettling.
What about you? What’s caught your eye? What’s happening over on your blog?