Poking my head back in . . . is this blog still here?

Missed the old place . . .

But I wanted to announce the adding to the blogroll of a fantastic site called Stuff Christians Like. It's hilarious.

For example:

#61. Being Relevant

If you ever want to really insult a Christian, say the following:

"I don't think you're relevant."

That is our kryptonite. The idea of irrelevance keeps us up at night. Seriously, if someone doesn't find us to be relevant than we're probably going to need to fire the worship leader or at the bare minimum get him a pair of white Pumas. Irrelevance is simply unacceptable.

The weird thing though is that in some ways, Jesus was the perfect example of what it means to be "irrelevant." Think about it. His message was the exact opposite of what was going on in the world. People were expecting a strong, powerful, forceful savior and instead got a baby. The powers that be were drunk on the law and he preached against their hypocrisy. He shunned the people that were relevant and hung out with the irrelevant, the tax collectors, hookers and sinners. Now granted you could argue that to a world hungry for truth, the truth of Christ was very relevant, but I'm just saying it's an interesting thought exercise.

Heh. More to sample:

#47. Rooting for secret Christians on American Idol.

#43. Metrosexual Worship Leaders.

#26. Songs that sound Christian but aren't.

#24. Church names that sound like clothing stores.

They are all funny, and many will smack you in the face with the truth while you're laughing.

[Hat tip: Jared]

If you get a chance, go check out the changes on Thinklings, which is the group blog I contribute to.

It's also the first blog I ever wrote for. Hard to believe we've been going at this for nearly five years.

It's based on Bloo too (and is, as is this space also, running a pre-release of version 1.00). It's been through three blogging packages since I first revved it up; it started on the venerable old B2, then went to WordPress, and finally to Bloo.

My Thinklings brothers are some of the best friends a guy could ask for.

In the comments thread of the iMonk post I referenced in my previous post, a commenter wrote this:

"Thanks, Michael, this is good work. It’s really refreshing to read something this positive on a Christian blog."

I can well understand where this commenter is coming from, which is one reason I'm on a very refreshing blog-reading hiatus. Other than blogs by family members, I currently only read what Jared's writing on Gospel-Driven Church, and what Michael's writing on the Internet Monk. These are two of the very best out there.

I can understand where the commenter's coming from, but it doesn't mean I wasn't depressed when I read that comment.

I'm looking forward to the day when "Christian blog" and "positive" aren't seen as an oxymoron.

We're not there yet.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

I've been breathing the blog-free air for about a week and a half now. It's not a complete blog-abstinence - I've continued monitoring spying on interrogating reading my kids' blogs, blogs of other family members, and two other blogs that edify me. But I'm no longer drinking from the daily firehose of the blogosphere.

All it took was me reading one last snarky, straw-mannish, ungracious comment on another blog to get me asking the question I should have asked a long time ago: "Why do I do this? What earthly good is the blogosphere, anyway?"

I realized there was no good reason for me to immerse myself in the blogosphere. I've been heavily into blogs for over four years now, and I'm not sure that the net effect has been good. That doesn't mean that there aren't some tremendous blogs out there - there are. I will continue reading a very few of them, but I'm hoping I'll be a lot more choosy. And hopefully I'll stick with this.

You might think about taking a break from the blogosphere too. Try it, you might like it!

You don't need to read blogs.

(Um, except for this one. Of course :-)

Tonight I cleared out some of the blogs on my Bloogroll that have either not updated in a long time (a year or so) or that are just not there anymore.

If your blog isn't in my bloogroll anymore and you think it should be, let me know.

Here are a few quotes seen on Provocations and Pantings (all the quotes in his post are good, but these few stood out to me):

This one will make you think. It makes me wonder if we should re-think what it means to "belong to a denomination".

If you can assume that merely showing up at church is a minimum indicator of spiritual life then it is not too much to conclude that over half of our denomination’s 16.3 million members are spiritually dead.

- Tom Ascol

And, for an "amen x a million" moment:

Well Christian blogs should not be for self-promotion. It is disturbing that far too many Christian blogs are shamelessly pushing self and not seeing the potential for kingdom expansion via the blogosphere. Everything from personal agendas to personal stuff is being pushed. But here, as everywhere else, we must shape our interaction in the public square by humility.

Nor are blogs a place for covertly forgetting the Christian duty to be gentle. Far too many blogs are rude and full of vitriol. And all in the name of boldness for Christ! God forbid that Christian blogs be like such. As Jonathan Edwards–no wimp!–once said, Christian piety is a sweet flame.

- Michael Haykin

Did I mention that D.A. Carson is a hoss?

“Most people go through life concerned that others will think too little of them. Paul was concerned that others would think too much of him.”

- D.A. Carson (via Naselli)

And this one, oddly enough, brightened my day :-)

Tech researcher Gartner Inc. reported earlier this year that 200 million people have given up blogging, more than twice as many as are active.

- Ted Olsen

Jared Wilson continues his glorious practice of taking nail, hitting with hammer:

The Missing Ingredient

I really think it may be joy.

I'm just speculating here.

When I weary of a doctrinal compatriot's constant knocking of the Church to the extent that it essentially becomes their raison d'blog, I stop seeing "prophet" and start seeing "scrooge." I see the pervasive unhappiness with the spiritual quality of fellow believers not as indication of the blogger's properly calibrated prophetic barometer but as indication of their thinly veiled joylessness.

Remember: only God gets to vomit people out.

Read the whole thing.

I've got lots of post ideas. I just haven't found the time (or the guts, frankly) to post them. But here are some thoughts and links while I while away my lunch hour.

Remember the old cliche' "it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness"? My candle is not that bright and I feel sometimes that I'm walking through the inky-black darkness of the blogosphere holding aloft one of those little sparklers you find on a cupcake. But, doggone it, I'm going to grit my teeth and continue to do so. Yes, we need our Jeremiah's, our weeping prophets. And, of course, all is not well, in our country or in our churches.

But sometimes I think people can't see the light of hope for the darkness they've chosen to focus on.

Maybe I'm wrong. But, for those of us living in the western world at least, we live in an age of unparalleled material blessing and freedom. Even our poorest are rich by history's standards. And, if that wasn't un-PC enough to say, though the church in America is badly in need of reform, discipline, and a re-focusing, it is also full of some very, very fine Christians and some brave, stalwart pastors and leaders. And many churches are holding onto the truth, while simultaneously doing honorable work among our poor and dispossessed.

Am I whistling through a graveyard? The Bride is beautiful. And much maligned, even by those who are part of her.

There's a balance to be achieved. I'm not speaking against Godly criticism of our church culture. I have recommended (and heck, I will again) Gospel-Driven Church as an example of how to do this right. The Internet Monk is also a site I highly recommend, though he is no stranger to dark nights of the soul and confessional blogging (and getting mercilessly slammed for both). Yet he tenaciously holds on to the truth, to orthodoxy, and hope.

So I'm reading this passage in a new way today. Do you see it too?:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

- Romans 8:31-39

Also, apropos of (almost) nothing, check out this quote by J.D. Hatfield:

The New Testament is centered on Christ, and its exhortations on the holiness of believers. This is not a simple call to obedience, but to holiness. Holiness is not righteousness, righteousness flows from holiness. Holiness isn’t simply obedience; it is being set apart for God and depending on God by drawing your boundaries, as God would have them. Obedience flows from holiness, and holiness is cultivated by a right understanding of God and what He has done for us in Christ. To understand Christ more fully is to be made more holy in practice.

That's something for me to chew on, definitely (HT Transforming Sermons).

Finally, from the aforementioned Gospel-Driven Church, It's Not About Programming; It's About Culture. The final few paragraphs are below:

It is wearying trying to sell our churches on the notion that what they've been selling for so long doesn't work. It is difficult suggesting that the service-centered approach to reaching the lost has failed. It is a delicate thing to suggest that we have not exalted Christ and we have not glorified God and therefore we haven't really served the people we've claimed to.

And yet for some of us inside this culture, slogging away at discipling the culture into a more vital discipleship, it is incumbent upon us to, in our hearts and minds, say "Here we stand. We can do no other."

I rather like that, and I'm inspired by efforts to change the church that flow from sincere love and concern for the Bride and devotion to her Lord.

So I'm going to hold my candle aloft. And you can blow it out, but it's the frustrating kind that bursts back into flame without having to be relit [Bill makes his "booyah" face].

And I'm also going to attempt to start policing what I read on the Blogosphere and who I link to in my Bloogroll.

It's either that or Prozac . . .

Sorry for the long absence. Everything's been very good, just busy.

A few quick notes:

What do you think of the new theme? It is a port of a WordPress theme called Red Train. I've been working on new Bloo themes lately. If you're a Bloo blogger interested in spicing up your blog (or if you're just interested in seeing the available themes), you should check out the Bloo Themes site.

Also - happy birthday Andrew!

And, finally, Jared suggests 11 church innovations:

1. Sing hymns.

2. Preach through a book of the Bible.

3. Talk about sin.

4. Celebrate the Lord's Supper more frequently.

5. Have a Scripture reading in the service.

6. Transition creative content from aping popular commercials and other media to creating your own, wholly original content.

7. Read, study, and teach theology.

8. Put as much effort and resources into men's ministry as you do women's. On the flipside, pair up younger women with wise, older women in mentoring relationships with the same conviction you have about men being in accountability and mentoring partnerships.

9. Hire from within.

10. In promotional material, use actual photos of actual people in your community.

11. Preach the Gospel.

My good friend and fellow Thinkling, Jared Wilson, is now solo-blogging over at Gospel-Driven Church.

It is an important blog, and I highly recommend it. Check it out!

. . . Tales from Middle Earth, which is blog written by a church planter and humanitarian worker who has utilized the neat trick of referring to the places where he works by Middle Earth names.

And it's just good writing and a neat Kingdom attitude. A taste:

I arrived in Edoras in Rohan in 1996. There were a couple of guys working there already. They had a big fight that Spring. I didn't know much about it. There was some girl named Finuel who had accepted Jesus and wanted to follow Him as Lord and Saviour. The rub came in that her parents found out about it and refused to let her meet with any foreigner or study the Bible. Young Short Term guy said forget the parents meet in secret and teach her anyway. The Team Leader said no. Finuel's defining characteristic was rebelion. If Jesus had made a difference in her life then we dare not encourage her to continue to be rebellious. I didn't know her or what to think so I did something truly remarkable. I kept my mouth shut.

Young Short Term guy left after a few months. Spring turned into a blisteringly hot summer. 115 or so in the shade, and precious little of that. There was only one building in town that had air conditioning and it was a fancy hotel built by Southrons and then abandoned. The local authorities picked it up and it was a decent place to hang out. It was cool and quiet. I found a guy who worked there and we did language lessons a few times a week. Yes, in spite of all appearances I am not a complete fool.

One day as I was standing in the hotel lobby waiting for my friend to come in, a beautiful woman came up to me and started talking to me. I was concerned for two reasons. One we were in a hotel and a strange beautiful woman that I had never seen was suddenly talking to me. I was concerned what my friend would think if he walked up just then. Secondly, the first thing out of her mouth was, 'Do you ever feel that God has left you?' Rohan is not like Gondor, where I live now. They are very hostile to any display of any faith. So, I said something insightful like, 'I guess maybe.' Then as she began to pour out her troubles I suddenly realized that this must be Finuel. I didn't know her but since there were only four expatriot families in town (Edoras was around 600,000 folks) she could easily guess who I was. My brain kicked in then. I listened to the Holy Spirit. Spoke words of encouragement and even got to pray for her before my friend showed up. I saw her one time more before I left Rohan the next year.

So, what happened? Well, her parents were astounded at her transformation. She was obedient and respectful. After a year they allowed her to study the Word and meet with a few Christian women. Much later some in her family came to faith also. A house church was started. Another house church. Then she got married to a Christian man and they felt called to go to Mordor.

Read the rest. It's good.

[Hat tip: Brian over at the BHT]

Today is Take your kid to Blog day!, another great idea from BlestWithSons.

Expect a kid post soon.

My Better Half will (possibly, if we can talk Daughter #1 into it) have a kid post up soon too.

Good idea Blest!

Well, as I've diddled and dawdled on release 8 I am now squarely in the sites of the spammers, and have been overrun with spam today.

I will remedy this soon.

The spammers have discovered Bloo and spam is starting to trickle into my comments (and those of other alpha testers).

I wish the guy developing Bloo would hurry up and get his remote blacklist snapOn done. The lazy bum!

Oh wait, that's me . . .

We were down all day (and so were several of the alpha testing Bloo blogs) due to a serious Denial of Service attack on our webhost.

Looks like we're back up, for the moment.

Today I added Steve McCoy's blog Reformissionary to the Bloogroll.

Steve's writing is challenging, thoughtful, Scriptural, and visionary. Check his blog out if you get a chance.

The 95th Christian Carnival is now posted over at Eternal Revolution. There's some good reading to be had.

I took part in it this time around, offering up this post.

Check the carnival out if you get a chance.

Ok, thanks to some help from my good buddy Thor, Thinklings looks like it's up again. It's been completely reloaded and upgraded.

Cross your fingers :-)

Just noticed that Bob at Mr. Standfast has a new blog called Gratitude and Hoopla. He'll be posting there primarily, although he's not decided whether Mr. Standfast will continue to get bloggage. I've got them both on the bloogroll.

Yesterday I heard a preacher say, "The party's on!" Yes, that's about right. The party's on. I'm no cockeyed optimist when it comes to this life, this world, but, well, I know the hope (the celebration) to which I've been called. The end, the destination, is a party. The joy then will be complete. Perfect. Not marred by sin, tears, dissipation. So . . . I'm already excited. If it looks and sounds like pure foolishness to you, oh well. I'm just letting you know, this is what I'm about. this is where I'm at. This is why it's called "Gratitude & Hoopla."

Well said.

In case anyone was wondering Thinklings is now upgraded to WordPress (well, most of the way upgraded :-) and is back up and running. Update, Thursday morning: NOT REALLY :-(

I'm punchy.

I leave you with this. This is very, very inspiring at 12:30am (I'm not kidding).

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

- Isaiah 40:28 (ESV)

If you haven't known or haven't heard about our great God I hope and pray that you will reach out to him. He's not sleeping right now - he never does. And he has all the time allowed by his eternal Now to take you in his arms, even as he is moving and active all over this huge world and all its 6 billion+ souls. He has time for you.