From the Washington Post: 4. Warren asked: Define rich. I mean, give me a number. Is it $50,000, $100,000, $200,000? Everybody keeps talking about, 'Well, we're going to tax the rich.' How do you define that?" Give me a number? An odd question for anyone other than a tax attorney to ask. Are we talking $50,000 in Southern California or Southern Sudan? Rich for people who spend hundreds of millions running for public office or rich for people who work three jobs and can't afford health insurance? A better question:...

I don't think I've EVER read anything so incredibly profound, yet shockingly simple. Kyle Lent has done it again. Conservative Christianity, here's the rebuke to end all rebukes. It's amazing what you learn from your own mistakes... I have no doubt that Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are evil and hateful men. I have no doubt that what they do - or did, in Hussein's case - is terrible and wrong. But here is the quandary, and this is where things become complicated: they are supposed to do those things....

"Most of your peers live in a different world from you. The have already crossed the line into the postmodern world. But few of you have. Why? Because you want to be faithful to the Christian upbringing you received, which is so thoroughly enmeshed in modernity . One of the most important choices you will make in your whole lives will be made in these few years at this University. Will you continue to live loyally in a fading world, in the waning light of the setting sun or modernity?...

I'm in one of those uncomfortable places in my life again. I don't like it. Big pieces of my spiritual and emotional life have regrown or resurfaced. Big pieces of my personal life have fallen by the way side. It's strangely enjoyable and horrible at the same time....

I went to church with my parents yesterday. Broadway is a Church of Christ, suffering from most of the maladies of, well, being a Church of Christ. I grew up there and I'm proud to say it's a pretty liberal church when compared to most of the Church of Christ persuasion. Recently, they hired on the interim pastor to be full time. He's young and energetic, most of the qualities needed at a church that's becoming undeniably older. His sermon yesterday (Baby Day) was about Elijah and how parents need...

it's amazing how God picks you up when you're down. this morning i prayed "god, ease my pain." as i'm looking through the shows on my tivo, my eye is caught by my TD Jakes folder of shows. I'm a big fan of the Bishop and always enjoy and learn from his messages. The past two days, he gave an amazing message about potholes focusing on the story of how David was moving the Arc but hit a pothole. cynicism tells me that this was just a coincidence, but when...

after reading jeff taylor's latest post, I ask: where are the ben gibbards' of christian music?...

when you got it, you got it. see bottom for a rebuff. There are churches in the city.  I’ve been to them.  So why are the people I spend the most time with so untouched?  At my school of 1000 students, I still don’t know a single Christian.  It’s like being one candle in a thousand square foot apartment.  And it’s the same experience anywhere I go in the city.  Unless I’m within the walls of a church, everyone I meet is completely unaffected, completely unreached, by true believers.  Eight...

Matthew 26 says:During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples: Take, eat. This is my body. Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them: Drink this, all of you. This is my blood, God's new covenant poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins. I went to a Catholic wedding today. I know you're thinking, "oh gosh, more about the crazy catholics." No, today, I'll actually make sense. I'd never been to a Catholic wedding...

Amid the mass, orgranized chaos at work, I was taken aback by this photo. It's not often that a picture in a newspaper hanging over a urinal can do that to you. The caption read: "Nate Hughes, 7, Hoschton Ga., carries a wooden cross that he made with his father. For the third year in a row, Nate, who weighs 40 pounds, carried the 45-pound cross through his neighborhood on Good Friday morning. Nate said he started the ritual at age 5 because he wanted to remind people of...

I may be on my own in this regard, but I hate tracts. They are those little booklets that have a neat little drawing on the front of hell and then proceed to tell you that you're going there. You're probably thinking, "gosh, how could you have a problem with a ministry tool?". Well, I don't have a problem with tracts, I have a problem with how they've become the ministry and not just the tool. Every Sunday, I have to ask people to stop handing them out at work....

My good friend James' dad died last night, he needs your prayers. James: Take heart in the words of the song you always speak of: stir my affections for you you're my only hope for you, yeshua, explain the way he moves just an ordinary man again you're the first, Jesus by your hand we move you're the image of the invisible god bring fascination...

1. It does not understand the community at large 2. It has poor leadership 3. It has no solid vision 4. It is graying, quickly 5. It’s inbred 6. It’s concerned with look and not action 7. It’s comfortable in its misery, and is looking for company 8. It’s out of touch with the 21st century 9. It’s all about money 10. It’s all politics Top Ten Reasons Your Church Sucks good read....

ROME, Italy -- Actor Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus in Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of Christ" was struck by lightning during shooting. Caviezel was uninjured, but a producer described how he saw smoke coming from the actor's ear. An assistant director on the film, Jan Michelini, was also hit -- for the second time in a few months. The first time, a lightning fork struck his umbrella during filming on top of a hill near Matera in Italy, causing light burns to the tips of his fingers, VLife,...

PSA Broadcasts Objectionable The other day, I called my favorite a.m. talk radio station to let them know that I was getting rather tired of listening to a certain religious group's advertisements all throughout the day on that particular station. I was told that not only are these advertisements not paid for by the religious group for that air time, they are considered "filler" when there are not paid advertisements at any given time; they are called "public service announcements," or PSAs. Many times, I have switched stations to avoid...

There's an interesting article at Yahoo News about how a Cardinal with the Catholic Church is claiming that condoms can't prevent the transmission of AIDS. Intersting why, you ask? Well, there are hundreds of studies that say condoms are 100% effective against the transmission of the AIDS virus. So do you believe the Church or the Research? I'm siding with the research... Update: While I suppose it's unfair to pin this statement on the Catholic Church as a whole, we can't look past it. This Cardinal is head of...

Derek Webb is truly a gift. Very few people could have a show and talk for probably more than 1/2 of the time. I had like 6 songs on video and 20 pictures, but the Lord decided that one of my memory stick's should come up lame. So, I only have two songs and one intro. Thankfully though, I have a new song he wrote recently, maybe called "I Repent", and his intro to "Wedding Dress" and also the song. So we're still good. When you watch these videos, realize,...

I've been going to Paradigm since Hoover told me how cool it was and I've really loved the opportunity. During my first semester, Paradigm met at the old movie theater and had ______ McDill as the speaker. For the life of Hoover and I, we can't remember his first name. We remember all kinds of things like his wife's name (Jill), where he was from, and what he spoke about. I was there when it moved from the movie theatre back to FBC with the big wall on the...

My first inclination is to make fun of the people who weep on the steps of the Alabama courthouse. I mean, come on, who has time to get all upset at something that seems so trivial?Well, apparently, plenty of people have the time. I didn't know much about the case, or why people were so upset and why some were so vehementoly defending a stone. I agree that the message is important, and trust me, I think it's cool that he had that in the courthouse. I did however, write...

"With grief too deep for words, the bishops who stand before you must reject this action," they said in a statement read by Bishop Robert W. Duncan of Pittsburgh. "We are calling upon the primates of the Anglican Communion, under the presidency of the archbishop of Canterbury . . . to intervene in the pastoral emergency that has overtaken us." Because the Anglican Communion is a federation of autonomous churches, however, it is unclear what power its leaders have to intervene. Robinson pledged to work toward reconciliation, and told reporters,...

The church is in desperate need to find new and more effective means by which it might reach our current culture. Most of American Christianity has lost contact with the world by limiting itself to the sub-culture of the Church. As a result Christianity has become marginalized and lost its influence on society. There is a pressing need for the Church to create new wine skins through which she might contextualize a relevant Gospel message. In our rethinking of evangelism, the arts are quietly re-emerging as a means of communicating...

It pains me to read peoples' opinions.Sometimes I just can't handle what other people have to say. Lately, I've read a lot of anti-bush junk on the web and it's amazing how many of these people "try" to sound smarter than they really are. They use big words they learned in political science and try to say that everything's not black and white and that bush supporters are narrow-minded. It's been on my mind a lot lately ever since Congressman Larry Combest spoke to our Sunday school class this weekend....

Getting rid of Saddam Hussein, to me, is not preferable simply because I don't like him, but because there's a country of downtrodden, oppressed people suffering with his heel on their necks. It isn't a conspiracy, there are many third parties who have verified the kind of crimes the Iraqi regime has inflicted upon its own citizens - many of these groups oppose US action. For crying out loud, where was all of this outrage when we were traipsing through Kosovo?Iraq actually had a thriving, educated populace (comparatively) before Hussein...

deliver us from evil? i think not, deliver us from ourselves would be better....

I like Ross King. I really do, but his latest journal entry is very interesting. At first I was a little shocked, but his ramblings do make some sense. I first saw Ross play at Late Nite my freshman year. I loved Late Nite and Treb (the speaker) so much that I was a little bummed to hear that a special concert was going to take the place of our regular weekly service. Anyways, Ross played for a couple of hours and it was amazing. I remembered being mesmerized by...

John Strappazon's message from Paradigm on Halloween was good. So good in fact, that I'm posting it here for everyone to listen to. From an sociological perspective, it's very interesting. A lot of the things mentioned are things that plague society today. But from a Christian perspective, understanding these understandings has already helped me deal with non-believers. The idea of sincerity not reflecting actual fact is something that I believe is killing (non-literally) people all the time....

I need to apologize to James Muhhamed, the Washington DC shooter. I thought we were talking about my God, you know, the real God. But now that I know you're Muslim, I realize I was mistaken; thinking we were talking about God, not your god. Sorry!...

This little "sniper" fellow up in Washington is really starting to annoy me. Sure the killing is horrible and he's a despicable man, but I really think he's giving God a bad rap. He claims that "I am God" to police and the media, but someone please explain to me how this man is God? First off, God is love. This little sniper fellow is not. Secondly, God isn't a sissy. This little sniper fellow is. Thirdly, God doesn't randomly kill the innocent. This little sniper fellow does. Fourthly, when...

Jonah: A VeggieTales MovieKids today need moral instruction, and who better to provide it than a bunch of computer-animated vegetables? That's the big idea behind the Big Idea production company, which for almost a decade has created Christian kiddie fare like Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen for the video market using songs, stories, scriptures, and talking tomatoes, to great niche-market success. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie is the franchise's first foray into the theaters, and it re-tells the story of Jonah with a twee,...

Texas Tech student Joshua Nelson said he believes no one religion should dominate a society."Christianity dominates the United States like the Muslim Taliban dominates Afghanistan," he said.Nelson, a graduate student studying mathematics from Lubbock, said he agrees with the decision made by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to take away the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance."I am happy the words were taken out of the Pledge, but they should not have been put in in the first place," he said. "I believe kids should not be...

We are asked to hold that inclusion of the phrase “under God” in this nations Pledge of Allegiance violates the religion clauses of the Constitution of the United States. We should do no such thing. We should, instead, recognize that those clauses were not designed to drive religious expression out of public thought; they were written to avoid discrimination. We can run through the litany of tests and concepts which have floated to the surface from time to time. Were we to do so, the one that appeals most to...

When I think back to high school and junior high, one of the things i miss the most is Summer Summit. Each summer, 20-30 teenagers from Broadway pile in vans and head up to the Weimenuche to do some backpacking and get back to reality. I have literally thousands of memories from 5 years of attendance. There were some nights we'd wake up and realize we didn't so as good of a job as we though pitching the tent and find ourselves sleeping in 4 inches of cold water. There...

i wrote this comment because of one of kelly's posts, but wrote too much and it wouldn't fit. so i post it here. i always looked at this picture, but never read what you wrote underneath it. I, too, have seen the columbine crosses up close. For our senior trip at church, we went to Denver (home to the Avalanche). The church we stayed at was at the foot of a cemetery where three of the students were buried. It was a beautiful place, at the foot of the Rocky...

Sunday I went out to meet the protesters who regularly stand in front of the Cathedral. I think it is essential a dialog is started. We need to listen to them and they need to listen to us. The most vocal voice was most likely a community activist in the Gay community who said I worked for the MAFIA which in his mind is synonymous with the Church. That conversation went no where. Yet others did, I listened. mostly the question is why? Different forms of why? Why can a...

I'd like to first thank Scott Raymond for linking to this article, and secondly I'd like to thank Matthew Sturges for writing a bold, yet important message about evangelism. Here's an excerpt, but everyone, and I mean everyone, should head on over there and take a read. You, though. You don't believe in magic, or personalized deities. You believe that if there is a God, it's not some dude with a beard in a big white castle, but rather some kind of energy that permeates the universe or something. Or...

i've always had a problem with the book "The Prayer of Jabez" and alot of others do as well. My friend Kelly, said it best over at the Shane Barnard Project message boards... i just can't agree that we should pray for wealth, and that seems to be what the book has taken that verse to mean. God never tells us to expect material comforts in this world--our only comfort is in Him. so since it's not something we should expect, and scripture warns us of the possiblity that money...

John Piper: Invisible God I received a video recently, put out by the Fund for the Feminist Majority, called "Abortion for Survival." We watched it as a staff a few weeks ago. It is a powerful visual statement of why pro-abortionists think abortion is utterly necessary as a means of birth control especially in poor countries. The miseries caused by unwanted pregnancies among the poor are all graphically portrayed. I wondered if the reality of the unborn child would ever be referred to in the video. It wasn't .The tacit...

Disciple Now pictures are now available!...

The Fab 4 are heading to Sulphur Springs to lead some kids to the Lord. Wish us luck!...

i love the gin blossoms. i can't really tell you why. maybe it's the fact that it's perfect road-trip music. I remember driving around colorado in church vans jamming out to Alison Road and Hey Jealousy. i only now appreciate the fact that our youth minister was not constrained by the political church crap that many fall victim to nowadays. we listened to good music, not music approved by the associate pastor or whoever makes the decisions. we listened to the doobie brothers, arlo guthrie, the eagles, and many...

"the world is not impressed by christians who have everything and just turn it into gratitude on sundays. they're just not impressed! so what's the point of it all? right? i mean if we're just on the earth to have everything the world has and then say a thank you on sunday morning and go and live just like them and enjoy everything they have.. what is the point?" - John Piper John Piper gives an amazing message called "Glorifying God through Joy in Suffering" on The Heart of Passion...

you don't have a soul. you are a soul. you have a body.           -C.S. Lewis...

As for me, God forbid that i should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world's interest in me is also long dead. (Galatians 6:14 NLT) Let us rally around this ideal Lord, for boasting in education and money and reputation will surely lead to death....

The Lord your God is with you He is mighty to save He will take great delight in you He will quiet you with his love He will rejoice over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17) he will quiet you with his love... he will quiet you with his love... he will quiet you with his love......

Colossians 1:15-18 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see--kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. That's my favorite part. When we pulled into the FBC parking lot tonight,...