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Showing posts from May, 2014

The Myth of High - Easter - Attendance at Church ... Why Easter Is Not Special to Those Not in Church

I t seems like every year I get numerous emails and fliers encouraging our church to go all out inviting people to attend worship on Easter Sunday.  This is said to be the most sure thing there is among those who are not feeling really connected to a church.  They are said to be guaranteed to feel the need to show up on Easter at least. For context, I live in an area made up of small suburbs of Dallas, Texas.  If you add up all of the suburbs and also the small towns, and edges of larger nearby cities in reach, such as a slice of Plano, Texas, there are 194,000 or so teens and adults according to several reliable sources near us (edge of Northeast DFW). In 2011, 2012, 2013, and now 2014, we have "gone big" for Easter.  Several of these years we have sought out the best set of advisers and coaching available to figure out how to see people reconnect at that one particular day that everyone in the coaching world says is so "great" for reconnecting.  Other years we

ERLC's Russell Moore - Houston we have a problem...

A s a representative of thousands of churches small and large, effective and ineffective, some type of names other type of names, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission led by new president Russell Moore is tasked with speaking up on the Christian view (positive and negative). The ERLC is tasked with speaking to many various issues we actually face in our time (not theory issues). This speaking on issues is meant to instruct churches not just to know, but also to act according to God's wisdom in standing firm in faith.  Yet, by definition, the ERLC will have certain strengths and weaknesses due to any president's ability, wisdom, and spiritual walk. For instance, Richard Land the former president had some good views, but also in many's eyes had some weaknesses in something he said that led to his moving on, and Russell Moore's replacing him. I know Russell Moore personally from days in graduate school at the same institution.  It was a Bible believing graduat

...with Illiberty, Injustice for half the country... HGTV values

HGTV has some great programming.  I have really enjoyed watching it over the years.  True, the shows do get old sometimes, as they air repeats quite a bit, but as a young family house hunting from time to time, we have enjoyed it for ideas.  Sort of a tv version of Architectural Digest for ideas.  Recently I have had to cancel HGTV though.  It's not that I have no use for it. Actually I'd prefer to keep HGTV, but I cannot as an American or as a Christ follower.  HGTV has become intolerant of democratic values and also of Christ following values from the New Testament. The issue for an audience at large is HGTV does not believe in democratic values.  They believe in selective justice.  The recent cancellation of a pair of brothers, who to me are no one, people I have never met personally nor know, is a real issue for true Americans and also true Christians.  This is why I have cancelled HGTV.  Democratic values include liberty and justice for all. Recently, however, HGTV ha