religion sucketh

I usually check Google Reader daily, but the past couple days I hadn’t had a chance, so this morning I checked and had quite a few posts to catch up on. Here’s a few that stood out to me:

Jason Boyett rants on not “standing” for Christmas. I have to say Jason puts into words some things I’ve been thinking for a few years now.

Carlos Whittaker discusses the idea of being TOO excellent in ministry. As someone who has felt the pressures of people who mistake perfection for excellence, or think more money = excellence I can say Los’ post definitely got me thinking.

Jared Wilson writes about fears that the Church has encouraged, and in some cases even created. I think everyone who grew up in church between 1970 and 2000 experienced at least some of these fears. And it was doubled if you went to a Christian school.

Last, but not least, NewSpring Church makes an announcement to their church family. While the announcement is directed toward those who call NewSpring their church home, it serves as a witness to all Christian communities that the more you do to spread Jesus’ fame, the more attacks will come. Possibly even from within.

So, here we go again. I’m going to have to start getting more consistent with this, since technically a new week has already begun. And since one of these posts was actually done today. But anyways, here are the top posts I came across this week.

Is Driscoll Nuts?

Craig Groeschel on why he still believes in small groups and the

elements of a successful small group.

Ed Stetzer interviews Andy Stanley on communication.

Is online community real?

That’s so gay!

Confessing Safe Sins

Last but not least, this morning at First Baptist Church of Maryville, Illinois, a man walked into the 8:15 am service and shot senior pastor Fred Winters three times. Winters was killed and two members of the church were injured. While this is definitely a sad situation, it is not new. In recent years, violent acts in churches have been on the rise. And while some will make the excuse that “this is a sign of the times”, we should not sit around unprepared. I cannot tell you how many churches I’ve visited, of all different sizes, that have inadequate security/emergency plans, or worse, none at all. In his blog Mark Driscoll asks the very important question: does your church have a plan?

Last weekend I was in Dallas and away from my computer, so I never got around to posting a best of post. So I decided to do one today and include a few links from last week as well.

The Next Generation at Swerve.

Is your church Amish?

Bible Translations – The G.I. Joe Way

Attractional and Missional It’s from The Resurgence; need I say more?

The New Fundamentalism

Perry Noble has a new series of posts on Five Styles of Leadership That Always Lose Here’s Part One.

Tony Morgan asks some great questions with his post The New Traditional Church.

Great advice for pastors from Craig Groeschel; Take Some Risks.