October 8, 2009 by iMonk
Some miscellaneous site news for those of you who have any interest in behind the scenes.
I believe the number of comments on the front page right now is easily a record. There are more 100/200+ comment threads on the front page today than any day I can remember. It’s not only extraordinary conversation, but I have rarely needed to engage in any moderation at all. So thanks to everyone for making this a great blog with the most diverse conversation in the blogosphere.
Coming Up? Well, I sent out a new Liturgical Gangstas question on spiritual warfare in ministry. I’ll do a podcast tomorrow. I hope to have a sermon in “Preaching for Grown-Ups” posted before the Monday. I’ve been writing more than usual, so expect a bit of a break, but you never know.
Some of you have asked my opinion of the FTC ruling regulating blogs receiving compensation for product endorsement or review. The only thing I accept for product review is a sample of the product, i.e. a book or a dvd/cd. I have never received any other compensation for reviews or endorsements. I’ve been offered an array of things, but I don’t consider that to be ethical. If I receive a book to review, I’ll tell you in the review. So the FTC is welcome to stop in. I’ve gotten a pile of free books, a handful of cds/dvds, and a couple of t-shirts. [Continue reading]
September 21, 2009 by iMonk
RESOURCE: More than 80 pages of Mosaic are available to view here.
UPDATE: THE CONTEST IS CLOSED. Congratulations to winner Brian Ladd.
For those of you interested in the New Living Translation of the Bible, there will be some excitement at the release this week (9/22) of the Holy Bible: Mosaic Edition, a unique edition of the NLT that combines a year’s worth of weekly devotional material shaped around the Christian Year and expressions of various traditions with an NLT reference Bible. The Mosaic Bible is now available for order at Amazon.com.
The devotional side of this Bible has a large collection of diverse Christian art, quotes, stories, Biblical observations and other materials from every continent and every age of Christian history. It truly does present a “Mosaic” of the Christian church. I believe many of the IM audience will have a particular appreciation for this Bible.
A wealth of material from the publisher is available at HolyBibleMosaic.com.
I’ll be sponsoring a Question and Answer session with Mosaic General editor Keith Williams on October 14th.
September 8, 2009 by iMonk
From Michael Patton at Reclaiming the Mind: Reasons to start The Theology Program:
Inexpensive: You can’t beat $100 per course! If you need a scholarship, our generous donors have provided some. Contact carrie@reclaimingthemind.org for more information.
Serious: We take theological education serious enough to say that you are joining a program that is not simply intended to make you look like us, but to teach you how to think with integrity. No matter whether you are a new Christian, seeker, or a seasoned believer, this course will help you work through every major issue in the Christian faith. It will help you to know not only what you believe and why you believe it, but how to think through the most important issues of life.
Convenient: If you can’t make every session, we have multiple ways for you to make it up, both online or on-site. We have done everything we can to combine convenience with serious studies. [Continue reading]
September 7, 2009 by iMonk
Headed for 700,000 unique visitors this year, with a current Technorati rank of just over 2000. That’s in the world. (There is an error at Church Relevance. Alexa says I had 20,000+ unique visitors in July. That’s not correct. In July I had 58107 uniques and 454,000 unique visitors as of today.) That’s with 29 million hits. Last year: 44 million. Almost 6 million page views so far this year.
We have the most diverse audience in the blogosphere. No mere echo chamber, but independent thinkers from every tradition.
I can’t promise your ad will result in anything for you, but I can promise that associating with Internet Monk.com is an investment that places your product, ministry or cause in one of the best possible places to raise your visibility. You’ll get great placement on the front page and weekly plugs on the podcast.
So come on New Living Translation 
You know you want to
September 1, 2009 by iMonk
Frank Viola’s new book “FINDING ORGANIC CHURCH: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Sustaining Authentic Christian Communities” (David C. Cook) releases today at a discount from Amazon.com.
This is the practical follow up to all of Viola’s other books. It’s also a stand alone book exploring the subject of organic church planting in great detail. Here’s an early review:
The author of “Pagan Christianity?” (with George Barna), “Reimagining Church,” and the bestselling “From Eternity to Here” has written a detailed manual on how to start and sustain an organic church. Everything from what to do with the children, to the developmental stages of church growth, to the diseases of an organic church and their cures are all covered in this comprehensive volume. Church planting principles for organic styled churches are packed together with the author’s practical experience of living in and starting such churches. Each chapter is full of advice, outlining the unique problems that such churches will face and their solutions. Church planters of all types will benefit from this book as well as those wishing to explore an alternative way of church gathering. — Christian Book Reviews, 2009
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You’ll see a Theology Program ad in the “Endorsed” section under this post. I know that Michael Patton’s Theology Program has received many students from this website and I hope that it will receive many more. And here’s why: As a new theology program affiliate, I will receive a nice affiliate fee for everyone who enrolls in the program or buys the entire DVD/workbook set from Renewing the Mind using that icon. So click, enroll and help me buy new tires.
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You will also see a new ad from Modern Reformation magazine. I have an article on discipleship in the current issue and they have a nice introductory offer for IM readers who click through from the ad. This is a great time to subscribe to the magazine. Liturgical gangsta Eric Landry is editor and I appreciate his support of IM and of the opportunity to contribute to a journal that is way above my pay grade.
August 23, 2009 by iMonk
Introduction
1) The Worship Setting
2) The Tools
3) The Leaders
4) The Congregation
5) The Prelude
6. The Call To Worship
Remember that there will be 23 posts in this series. There is also a “Church” category here at IM, and also a “Baptists” category.
July 27, 2009 by iMonk
1) Many of you have, like me, found Andrew Marin’s ministry to be extremely helpful on the issue of building bridges between evangelicals and the GLBT community. Having met Andrew personally and watched him communicate with seminar audiences, I can only say that we should all do whatever we can to extend the ministry of Andrew and the Marin Foundation as far as possible. [Continue reading]
July 16, 2009 by iMonk
Thanks to a lot of hard work by Joe Stallard, the new Internet Monk is coming on line tonight. Plenty of bugs and minor matters to attend to, and I can’t promise that we won’t need to go off the air briefly, but here we are.
Please notice that the Primary post is now larger than all secondary posts. Recommended ministries and sponsors are easy to find. Amazon Wish list and Pay Pal are easy to see.
All RSS, podcast and comment feeds can be found on the sidebar, in the meta and at the bottom of the page. Facebook, Twitter and iTunes subscriptions are all available at the bottom of the page.
The Archive tab contains IM by the month and the last 100 posts. This is useful to many of you, I think. Also, comment threading is now enabled.
Once again, thanks to Joe and welcome.
July 10, 2009 by iMonk
Our friend Alan Creech has three items of interest.
First, Alan Creech Rosaries Aids to Prayer, like Ropes and Little Beads, has a new web site. Easier to navigate, RSS feed, all the whistles and bells.
Second, Alan is doing a podcast on spiritual formation. It’s called Oremus and many of you who pray the hours, etc will enjoy it. You can subscribe via iTunes.
Finally, if you like what you see on Alan’s pages, remember that he’s doing freelance web design for a living. He’s got a very distinctive style that’s clean and elegant. He’s a real artist in this medium. Consider employing him for your site. He does personal and commercial work. You can see his work and business here.
For those of you who wonder, the Liturgical Gangstas and the Evangelical Untouchables will return as summer ends.
July 5, 2009 by iMonk
UPDATE: A few photos are at my Facebook page. I still can’t upload photos here for some reason.
Denise and I just returned home from Cornerstone 09. We have a lot to do, but I will get right back to blogging and podcasting later tonight and tomorrow.
My apologies to the Pirate Christian radio audience. You’ll get a re-run of a previous Internet Monk Radio tomorrow (Monday). No time to podcast this past week at all.
Also, my apologies to a few people whose comments wound up in the “moderation” queue, and I did not check this page while I was gone. All your comments are fine, but it took me a few days to get to them. No offense please.
My apologies as well to a bunch of people who send me questions to be answered. I can get to so few of them anyway, and I may not get to them at all. This isn’t disrespectful to you, I assure you, but is a realistic reflection of my life, which includes job and family demands that have to come before writing lengthy responses to reader requests. In this case, travel just made it impossible. Again, please don’t take offense. [Continue reading]
June 25, 2009 by iMonk
MORE: Because of continued generosity, I have been able to schedule more work. I’m more aware today of the role this blog plays in people’s lives than any day that I’ve done this. THANK YOU IM COMMUNITY.
UPDATE: Financial need completely met. The IM community is supernatural. Thank you for your generosity. There is still work to be done, but we’ve made a considerable progress. At this point, the major need is someone knowledgable about themes, banners, etc.
UPDATE: Why it is always a pleasure to ask this community to support what I do with my writing and podcasting.
Michael, you’ve helped me to understand the true Gospel and you can’t put a price on that. In fact, I’ve recently started a blog to help uncover the damage I and many others have received by being a part of _________ Ministries …… Much of your writing has helped me unravel the fear, guilt and confusion that I was wrapped in. So, a hearty thanks.
April 18, 2009 by iMonk
UPDATE II: Some of your comments are getting dumped by spam filters for multiple links. I can sort through the trash if I have time and you let me know. ALSO some of you “Need a Church” folk need to check back in the discussion. You’ve been answered.
I get a constant stream of letters from people who need a good church. Some are in bad churches. Some can’t find a church.
So here’s what I want to do:
1) Write NEEDS a Church or KNOWS a Church at the top of your comment.
2) I want everyone who is looking for a church to post a BRIEF comment designed like this one:
Your NAME First. Then GENERAL LOCATION, specific enough to get a decent answer, but not implying you aren’t willing to drive a few miles. Example: “Louisville Area.” Then describe BRIEFLY what tradition you’re looking for or any other vital info. Don’t tell your entire sad story. We’re all pitiful
3) THEN Anyone with knowledge of a church that might match up can provide their information.
Got it? OK, I’m turning off moderation. Be helpful.
March 15, 2009 by iMonk
Michael Patton is the director of Reclaiming the Mind Ministries and is one of the teachers on The Theology Program.
Tony Kummer is on staff at a Southern Baptist Church in the midwest and blogs at SBC Voices.
Ryan Couch is a Calvary Chapel pastor in Oregon, and blogs at Small Town Preacher.
Kirk Cowell pastors a Church of Christ in North Carolina.
Lindsey Williams is planting a PCA Church in North Carolina, and blogs at From Acorns to Oaks.
Matt Edwards is a small groups pastor in an independent church in Washington, and blogs at Awaiting Redemption.
Darrell Young pastors a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church near Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
March 9, 2009 by iMonk
A 1500 word version of “The Coming Evangelical Collapse” is now up at the online version of the Christian Science Monitor and will be in the print edition later this week.
Thanks to the good folks at CSM for this opportunity.
Also, there is now an icon on the sidebar for a direct subscription to the podcast via iTunes. Thanks to Lurker Shane for the help.
February 23, 2009 by iMonk
Every so often, it seems like a good idea to get the basic facts about your Internet Monk straight. I do this mainly for the sake of commenters and others who sometimes make factual errors. I’m often stunned at the weird things people believe and say about me, what I do and what is my real-life ministry.
My name is Dennis Michael Spencer. I go by Michael. I prefer not to be called Mike. I have gone by Dennis occasionally, such as in college.
I’m 52, born in 1956.
I’m the campus minister and Bible teacher for a large Christian school in southeastern Kentucky, I’ve been here for almost 17 years. Most of my students are not Christians. Many are internationals.
I preach 9-12x a month to approximately 300+ students and staff, sometimes in daily chapel and sometimes on Sundays. I teach 4 classes of Bible and one section of AP English IV every weekday. I teach English III in the summer. [Continue reading]
