I couldn’t agree more with this.

Cheers.

I didn’t plan to post so soon again about Bono (from U2), but I feel I should point this out. I knew that he had been given an NAACP award recently but I hadn’t taken the time to find his acceptance speech. I came across it today while browsing over at the tall skinny kiwi.
The last 2 minutes of the speech are worth your time.

[youtube]ENp7c6TtBHk[/youtube]

Cheers.

Marty Duren over at SBC Outpost is doing a series of posts this week entitled Stats of the World. Here’s his post from Monday. It’s a very quick read.

Here’s why I’m mentioning it…have you ever wondered what Jesus’ purpose was in feeding the 5,000 (Matthew 14). I think it was partly to show his deity by performing a miracle. But I honestly don’t think that was the main reason. Verse 14 says that Jesus had compassion for the group that was following him. He saw their need and met it. They were hungry. He could have sent them away. In fact, his disciples wanted him to. But he fed them. He was part of a community, the community had a need (a physical need), and he met the need.

If we’re followers of Jesus shouldn’t we do the same. As you read through the stats in Marty’s post can’t you see the needs. Are we, as the bride of Christ, as his followers, are we living as he lived? Are we meeting the needs of the community? I’m not saying all of us need to hop in a plane to Angola or Liberia. But I am saying that we need to open our eyes to the needs of the community we are a part of and meet those needs.

This is what the church is called to.

Cheers.

I’ve recently had a good discussion with a few close friends regarding the state of the American church. While none of us propose to have the answers it was an eye opening conversation. My contention has been that the American church specifically, and the Western church in general, is in trouble, and seriously needs to re-evaluate the ways it engages the culture around them if there are any hopes that they will impact society with lasting benefits.

Many scholars and researches say that Western Europe (including the UK) are anywhere from 10 to 70 years further into postmodernism than the United States. Please don’t read that the wrong way. That’s not a bragging point. But, it does give those in the States the opportunity to use Western Europe as a means of “seeing into the future” when it comes to the state of the church.

Let me give you an example of postmodernism that is quite telling. It exemplifies the world that I live in. Here is an article written by Dr. Albert Mohler. He is the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The article is not long at all, but goes a long way at giving you insight into “religion” in Western Europe. Let me know what you think.

Cheers.

Watch this. It’s about Solomon’s Porch, a church in Minnesota. The pastor is Doug Pagitt.

I won’t tell you what you’ll see, I don’t want to influence your thoughts. But you might be stretched by what your hear.

Cheers.