Links to interesting and/or entertaining reading. No agreement nor endorsement implied…
It’s Time for Muslim Outrage Against the Boko Haram
The attack that is taking place on Islam as a religion here is something that Muslims worldwide should really reflect upon and then ask ourselves why we are not being as vocal on this issue as we were on those mentioned before. Don’t we all have a responsibility to speak out substantively about what is taking place in Nigeria? And more importantly, what is our responsibility to those women who were abducted and how do we demonstrate a lived consciousness of their realities?
Lighten Up, Christians: God Loves a Good Time
We say that we would like to be more like God. So be more thrilled with moonlight. And babies. And what makes them. And holding on to one lover until you’ve both been aged to wine, ready to pour. Holiness is nothing like a building code. Holiness is 80-year-old hands crafting an apple pie for others, again. It is aspen trees in a backlit breeze. It is fire on the mountain.
The wise pastor told his new worship director, “There is one style of music I hope you never play in our church.” She grabbed a pen and asked, “What is it?” He replied, “I will never tell you. If we all insist on getting our own way, we will never sing anything.”
My Congregation Barely Sings; How Can I Help?
Church leaders underestimate how deliberately they must push against these cultural trends to get their church singing; to teach them that the untrained but united voices of the congregation make a far better sound than the Tonight Show Band; to teach them that singing loudly in the presence of other people is not awkward; to teach them that all our emotions don’t have to be individually spontaneous to be worthy, but that there is place to guide and conform our individual emotions to the group’s activity.
This morning, I was doing Six Steps to Loving Your Church with my very small growth group (me and two church wardens). And the question asked: “What do you really love about your church at the moment?” And my answer?
Christian funerals. Yep.
Why Foreign Missions Are Going To Become Even More Challenging! (Part 2)
Churches of Christ are represented in a little over 90 of the 196 independent countries of the world with probably around 1000 American workers outside of the United States. We have a lot of work to do—and the challenge of world evangelism is growing.
5 Things Christians Should Stop Saying
- “That’s Really Just a First World Problem.”
- “I’ll Be Praying For You.”
- “Are You Saved?”
- “I Have an Unspoken Prayer Request.”
- “Don’t Worry, God Has a Plan.”
30 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Horrible
While I like to think I know a little about business writing, I often fall into a few word traps. For example, who and whom. I rarely use whom when I should. Even when spell check suggests whom, I think it sounds pretentious. So I don’t use it.
And that’s a problem, because just like that one misspelled word that gets a résumé tossed into the “nope” pile, using one wrong word can negatively impact your entire message.
Tsunami cat reunited with owner after three years
A Japanese woman was overjoyed to reunite with her cat three years after it disappeared during the 2011 tsunami disaster. Even the cat looked moderately pleased — by feline standards.