Mad4Christ (a community outreach group founded by my friend John Williams) is organizing a Back2School outreach, in the Lincoln Elementary school zone, to help families in need. They’re accepting school supplies and financial donations. John needs all supplies and donations no later than August 4. Anyways, to find out more and contribute, click here.

Perry Noble with Three Convictions About Children’s Ministry. This is one area that I believe most churches don’t stress enough.

One of the Worst Verses In the Bible. It’s amazing what a little context can do for scripture.

Do you REALLY want people to be honest, authentic and real? Matthew Paul Turner with Nothing But the Truth… So Help Me Blog.

“Doubt is God’s way of tearing down the private fantasy we have constructed about him—where what we think about God is without further need of reflection, no longer open to growth. Doubt does not mean that God is “dying” for us. Doubt signals that we are beginning to die to ourselves, and that can be very painful—dying usually is.” – from The Benefit of Doubt
HT: William Guice

“None of your achievements are so big that they can’t be torn down in an instant by a lapse in judgment.” – Steven Furtick with It’s Coming Back

Speaking of lapses in judgment, here’s Paul Steinbrueck with 7 Leadership Lessons Learned from Cleveland Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert’s Embarrassing Letter About LeBron James.

Has the Church made an idol of marriage?

Pastor Artie Davis wrote, “I was reading a business blog the other day, called 15-signs your business sucks! As I read it, it became apparent these signs apply to the church. I have no intention of equalizing the church with any type of business. But rather passionate about finding another missing piece to help my fellow gladiators who are fighting for the Kingdom and serious about making an eternal impact. So it is in that spirit I ask you this question, does your church have any of these signs?” - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of Artie’s post.

“Being wounded is far better than never experiencing life with people.” – Tyler Braun on being Wounded.

Bible Quotation FAIL. This was just too funny – assuming, of course, that it’s real.

What We Can Learn From Michael Jackson

Tim Smith with Practical Ideas for Family Worship. Some pretty good stuff here.

Donald Miller’s lab Lucy is filling in for him at his blog for the next few days and I must say, her first post is pretty deep.

If I Don’t Become A Christian, Can We Still Be Friends?

Thoughts on Revival from my good friend John.

I’ve tried to avoid talking about the oil spill because too many people want to make it a political issue (especially with the cap and trade bill still making waves), and I hate talking politics because they’re so divisive and I’ve realized most aren’t willing to actually listen to those with differing opinions.

But I’ve had a few conversations with some friends and the oil spill inevitably comes up.

So we started brainstorming, and this may sound overly simple, but here goes.

1. The obvious first choice is for each of us to do our part. I’m not talking about turning into tree huggers or any other extremes, but simple things that we’ve all heard about. Energy-efficient appliances, fuel-efficient vehicles, stuff like that.
2. I don’t know if this is an EPA thing, or what, but quit allowing corporations to sell or trade emission limits. I’m sick of hearing company X talk about how green they are when everyone knows they sold off emissions to company Y. You’re not making things better, you’re just passing the buck.
3. The government should make it more difficult for American companies and retailers to buy products and supplies from foreign companies that don’t meet our environmental guidelines. We’re the largest consumer in the world, why aren’t we using that to our advantage? Tariffs, fines, whatever – if they want American business, they’ll meet American standards.
4. Eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. Even the most liberal of pundits estimate that we’ve got nearly fifty years worth of oil in Alaska – that’s enough time to get my next point working.
5. Make renewable alternative energy sources THE energy sources. I’ve heard it a dozen times in the last week; “Alternative energy is just that – alternative.” Well, as long as we keep treating it that way, nothing will change. Progress takes time. When the Wright brothers flew for the first time, I doubt they envisioned the airline industry carrying hundreds of passengers around the world. Yet, merely twenty years after their first flight there were nearly thirty airlines around the world. If energy companies and automobile manufacturers and farm equipment manufacturers and etc. really start pushing forward in designing and implementing renewable and/or sustainable alternatives to the current energy models, who knows where we’d be in twenty years?

Those are just a few ideas my friends and I came up with, and like I said, they are pretty simple. Maybe they’re too simple to actually work…… but then again, maybe not.

I saw the following quote on a church sign today:

The Bible is the foundation of liberty.

Not bad, assuming you’re a Christian.

Only one problem – the quote was attributed to Thomas Jefferson.

You know, our third president.

Now, I believe Jefferson was one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history, and there are many good quotes attributed to him; but considering he was a deist and even removed portions of the Bible with which he did not agree, how am I supposed to take the above quote seriously?

Oh, wait, that type of thinking screws up the whole God and country sermon they were planning, doesn’t it?

Seriously – if that’s the direction you’re wanting to go, there’s better quotes to use.