My wife wanted to read Jesus Girls after reading the review.
Can’t get it anywhere except the publisher right now though. I emailed them asking when Amazon would have it and they said, who knows, Amazon is really slow sometimes. However, they gave me a 25% off coupon that is good until Sept. 20. That’s $5 for IM readers who might be interested. The code is: NOTESS

What I’m doing now: I’m on a men’s retreat with the men of St. Patrick’s Anglican Church. It’s a real pleasure for me to just be “one of the guys” and not in a leadership position. It’s only a little more than a day, but it’s a much needed break from preaching, teaching, talking, etc. Pray I enjoy silence, rest, friendships and good teaching before I return home to preach Sunday morning and evening. No blogging till I return.

Podcast: Sometime before Monday a.m. Most likely sometime Sunday.

Site News: We still have RSS users who are getting partial posts in Google reader. RESUBSCRIBE to the feed using the icons on this page and the problem will be solved.

Also, if comments seem to have vanished, find the “older comments” link at the bottom of the thread, and all available comments will be visible.

Stuff: I really don’t get it with the Jonathan Edwards fan club. I really don’t. Turn off the guy’s books and look at his life. Moderately interesting. Am I missing something?

Meanwhile, Phil Johnson looks at the subject of transparency and, unsurprisingly, finds it to be a sin to publish your unresolved doubts. Using Psalm 73 as an example- a Psalm with plenty of doubts resolved, but definitely published before resolution- Johnson says “In other words, Asaph confesses that if he had broadcast his doubts before resolving them, it would have been a sinful act of betrayal against God and against the children of God.”

No one will be surprised that I would say that 1) if our stories contain doubts, so be it, and 2) if we are called to proclaim the Gospel, be leaders, etc, that doesn’t mean the stories of our doubts are to be avoided until they are resolved. I’ll agree with Phil, however, to this point: If you have “Nicene” level doubts, you shouldn’t be in church leadership.

What someone says in their own writing, poetry, lyrics or prose doesn’t concern me. Art contains the whole human experience. But doubts about core Christian beliefs aren’t the Gospel, that’s for sure. But that the Gospel is for doubting people, that’s also for certain.

Friends: Thanks to those who have recently used the Amazon Wish List to send some encouragement my way. You are greatly appreciated.

Last night, Denise and I had dinner with longtime IM commenter and friend “Chaplain Mike” Mercer and his wife Gail. We had a truly wonderful time and are thankful to God for the gift of fellow travelers. It made me wish again that there could be a real world gathering of the IM community. What a wonderful opportunity that would be to know “you are not alone.”

Thanks to Todd Meadows and Sam Judd for enriching this week with their leadership of our school’s fall spiritual emphasis week. Todd is the student pastor at Grace Baptist in Somerset, Kentucky. Sam is a musician and teacher from Nashville.

We’re all dying and we’re all going to care for the dying. Do you notice? Some people are going through a world of death, one day at a time, and all alone.
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Richard Dawkins vs Karen Armstrong. Anyone want to tell Dawkins that God doesn’t exist in the universe? This is why CS Lewis said Pantheism is so attractive. See Michael Dowd, Thank God For Evolution, for that option.
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Almost done with revisions of the book. One more go through and a bit more writing, but I’m seeing the finish line. It’s possible I’ll be done before I go to South Carolina the end of the month. If you don’t listen to the podcast, I will be at DaySpring Community Mennonite Church in Sally, South Carolina Sept 26-27, teaching the Gospel of Mark. Then vacation in Charleston for a few days.
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I’m on a mad crusade to eat tuna salad. I can’t get enough. Good recipes, sources, seasoning etc are welcome. Current version: Mayo, shot of Dijon mustard, bit of onion, sweet pickle. Black olives if I have them.
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Met a fellow who reads the web site. First question was did I know Tim Challies. I wonder if Challies gets the reverse question? I guess it’s logical that bloggers know each other, which many of us do, but not in a normal way. Hard to explain.
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My book has lost its title. Yes, “Jesus shaped spirituality” will be all over the book, but it won’t be the title. The people who know more about this than I do want a title that’s more representative of what I’m all about as a writer. I have to agree that JSS sounded like something from parts of the bookstore I wouldn’t visit. So we’re going to get more “bite;” more edge. I have submitted a new one. We’ll see how it goes. “Southern Cooking” will be fine with me. I just want it to do well. Maybe so well that I can think about being able to do more writing, along with part time ministry, as a career. But that’s a ways off, at least for now.
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Thanks to an IM friend who sent me almost every book written by C.J. Sansom. Very gracious of you.
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It is frightening to realize to what an extent twitter and facebook change your concept of reality. Suddenly, HERE is what other people are thinking and doing. I’m considering dropping a number of twitter feeds that are making me feel my life is a worthless failure. I’m not joking. It’s not bragging, exactly, but the selected aspects of life that are featured- all the good stuff, none of the struggles, doubts- is messing with me.
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Just finished reading Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley. One of the best reading experiences this year. Couldn’t put it down. You can find reviews everywhere. (This one at the NYT has many nice features, like an audio slideshow.) If you are a person who has lost both parents- as Buckley did in one year- then you’ll find this book a true friend. And that’s what it is: true. True to the human journey. True to the comi-tragic difficulties. True to our feelings. And truly humane. It’s funny, sad, wise, sweet, rich, thoughtful and spiritual. Buckley is an atheist, but his father was a devout Catholic. I wish I could point to Christian writers who can write this sort of thing with the light, poignant touch of Buckley, but I can’t. And that is part of why we don’t seem to be really human. When we talk about human experience, we have all the required Christian rhetoric that must be used. We sound artificial. Many of us probably are. We don’t want to entertain much reality because we’d wind up entertaining our doubts. Our faith is propped up and we don’t want too strong a wind to blow. So we excuse ourselves from the human conversation and keep to ourselves.

And then we say people don’t want to know Jesus because they love their sin and hate God. Maybe we should consider what we have done to show what it means to love God and live with Jesus. If we could stand the honesty.

Get the book. It’s a wonder and a quick read.

And btw, the fact that the GCR meetings are available on Vimeo is another good sign. Welcome to the real world, SBC business meetings. And Baptist Press, too bad we won’t have to listen to you tell us what’s going on.
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We’re in the process of buying a car. We are Dave Ramsey types, so that means taking cash out of our little piggy banks and giving it to other people. Traumatic. My wife needs a sedative. I just want it all to work out. It feels like gambling.
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Book Notes: My book has four parts. Started revisions of part II today. I’m doing about a chapter a workday, so about five a week. Should be done by end of September when we have a vacation on the beach in Charleston, S.C. Due date for the manuscript is October 20th. Jesus Shaped Spirituality is happening.
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According to this picture, I have all the essential books. Now I just need an LCMS church closer than 2 hours away. C’mon people. Think missional! Seriously, these are all great books. The Lutheran Service Book has proven to be best single all purpose devotional and prayer resource I’ve used. All the good stuff from the Treasury of Daily Prayer, plus the hymnal, and much smaller.
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We had free mangoes at work this week. Lots of good things to do with mangoes- like smoothies- but just eating them sliced was….slimy. No other word for it. Slimy. Blindfold someone in a haunted house, and you could seriously do some terror with those things. I’ll let you work out the script.
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I had a guy this week on the “Call to Worship” thread say that he had never heard a call to worship in a worship service. Great job, evangelicals. Way to eradicate everything.
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Glenn Lucke wants to know why so many seminary students ***cough reformed Baptists cough***….uh…. talk funny. Read it.
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To whoever bought the Everett Ferguson Baptism book off my Amazon wish list….and then didn’t have it sent to me: hope you’re enjoying it. Way to play with my head
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Someone who fisked this blog three times last week has taken the day to ask everyone who has a problem with him to drop by his blog to talk about it. I’ve checked in and so far it’s just fans. False alarm. Nothing to worry about. If you invite people to air their differences with you and no one does, well the conclusion is obvious, right?
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The Cub’s Milton Bradley- arguably the most mentally unstable baseball player of the last decade- has gone off the rails again, ranting that he’s “hated” in Chicago. Now let’s take stock of this. 1) It’s the outfield at Wrigley Field. Does anyone on, let’s say, the opposing teams ever get verbally abused out there? 2) Do you think your $30 million three year contract has anything to do with it? 3) And then your team is one game over .500 while you just plain suck, mailing it in every day. Nothing there?

Why not start a blog, Milton, and ask people to share their grievances with you?
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No preaching till Tuesday. IM Radio later this weekend. Cya.

New Reformation Press has some new teaching from Dr. Rosenbladt: Where In The Church Is The Gospel? Dr. Rosenbladt is one of the finest teachers anywhere, and if you are in despair about where to find the Gospel, listen to him.

I’m still in the first draft mode, but I’m basically at the half-way point in the book. I’m seeing four parts and I’ve got one more chapter and I’ll have two parts done. Writing is hard work, but I am really fortunate to have some time off work- mostly- to get accelerated writing done.

Our family is looking for a good deal on a place to stay on the beach near Charleston, South Carolina in late September. Any hot tips are welcome.

I’m seeing the first editions of the new look Internet Monk.com. Not going to stun anyone with unnecessary spinning crosses, but very nice work with many improvements.

Next Reformation reviews one of my top ten books: Dissident Discipleship.

Consistently the most interesting blog on the planet: Mockingbird.

I’m trying to find a Baptist scholar who will do a blog interview on the historical questions raised by the Baptist view of the Lord’s Supper. I’d take any Zwinglian-literate reformation scholar who’d like to volunteer, but I really need a Baptist. Does such a creature exist.

I neglected to get publicity up earlier in the week for the opening of Credo House at Reclaiming the Mind Ministries. If you are in the neighborhood, check out what Michael Patton has going on. If you are a theology geek in the Edmond, OK area, this is paradise for you. Classes or just chilling out: either way you’ll find this to be a unique ministry.

Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, two guys who don’t agree on everything by any means, have penned one of the most useful and forceful documents I’ve ever read on the displacement of Jesus in contemporary evangelicalism. It’s called “The Jesus Manifesto.” It appears to me that the Emerging Church is one of several targets for this document. It’s exceptional and I hope you’ll print it and give it appropriate attention. (I can’t find a decent website with this, but there’s a good pdf.)

Some good things happening with LCMS youth.

Most of the BHT discussion this week has been about the new Derek Webb album. If you’re worried about Derek and the Gospel…

A guide to enjoying coffee.

-Piper talks about what you have to believe about creation to be an elder at Bethlehem. If I hear this right, you can believe in evolution (most versions) and an old earth. You must believe in a “recent” redemption history. My follow up would be on the mechanism for arriving at Adam and Eve. Could you believe in previous, non-human, ancestors or must you believe that Gen 1-2 is literal in describing that Adam was made from dust and Eve from a rib? Seems that the door is wide open in this statement to affirming Genesis 1-2 as compeltely true without tying it to a particular scientific theory of origins. God made them from pre-existing matter as a miracle of creation. Wouldn’t that solve a lot of issues? Not all, I know, but many. For example, what about the 35,000 year old flute? Not made by a human? (HT to HA at BHT)

-How many of us ever thought we would hear the following preached at an SBC national meeting?

“God will make his glory known, whether we risk it all or not. God doesn’t need us. God never needed us. We need him. We desperately need him and because we need him so much we should be willing to risk everything for his glory. One Purpose. The truth is, the entire Southern Baptist Convention could drop dead and turn to dust and God will still make his name rise about every other name and his glory will be shown.”

David Platt, one of the young lions in the SBC who are changing the face of a denomination by dealing with the denominational idolatry that is our greatest problem.

-SBC News: Danny Akin and Marv Knox see it: Morris Chapman lost and humiliated himself. My advice stands: do the honorable thing. Resign.

-Do you know of a blog that has a “look” you’d recommend for a future version of InternetMonk.com? Send along the URL and tell me what you like. I am looking at a wider page. Two parallel columns on the side, one for links and one for ads. More contact info at the bottom (Twitter, iTunes subscription), larger rotating banner and more prominent tabs.

-Timmy Brister recently found that this blogger plagarized this post almost word for word. This goes back to something I see more and more of every day: don’t mistake the loud, noisemaker internet theologians for people who actually have a connection to how Jesus lived and acted. I stole this good theology. Good grief. I’m not shocked as much as just wondering how you don’t see the ironies of your own sinfulness. If you are going to have something to say, then become a person who has something to say. Or say nothing and be thought MUCH wiser.

-The Holy Post is the religion blog of the National Post. They have an impressive article on what you need to know about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Good RSS fodder.

-The single best source of religious oriented news I’ve found is Religious Intelligence. Their Twitter feed is very generous and they cover the gamut of important stories. No Jesus on a tortilla type stories. Serious journalism. I highly recommend this for bloggers who want religion stories for citation and commentary. Also has digests, country profiles, etc. Very impressive site.

-For instance, did you know that the cross in the Red Cross emblem is under attack in the UK?

-If you’ve sent me books to review….I’ve got them, and I will get to them, but you are now dealing with a guy who has to deliver a book by October 20. First things first, but I won’t forget you. Even if I’ve had your stuff for a long time.

-The Fearsome Comrade has a very Lutheran take on miracles. Highly recommended.

7. Finally, and this is probably the most “Lutheran” of all reasons–God generally uses miracles to either establish or confirm the publicly preached word, not to change it. Moses’ miracles were confirmation of the promise to Abraham. The prophetic miracles were to turn Israel back to their long-standing covenant. The miracles of Jesus confirmed that he was the one the prophets spoke of, and the miracles of the apostles continued to attest to this and Jesus’ own teaching. But the revelations of ghosts? The speculations of philosophers? The accretions of folk tradition? The inventions of men? These simply are not the objects of miraculous attestation in Scripture. And, more often and not, the forms of worship and doctrines taught by these sources frequently appear to blatantly contradict what was given in the beginning–which is why the miracles are supposed to be so necessary. Sure, of course an early Christian would be reluctant to add a pantheon of demigods to the divine liturgy! That’s why God had to send all the ghosts to convince everyone! But in the Bible, when God had an important revelation to confirm, he didn’t just send a ghost–he sent a prophet and ultimately his Son. Something as critical as a change in the liturgy needs more than a ghost story to back it up.

You might be surprised to know that I am substantially less skeptical about stories that fit the pattern we see in Scripture. Mostly, this is limited to healings and exorcisms done by missionaries. But God sending a ghost to tell you to build a shrine to her? Not likely. At least, not the God I’ve read about in the Bible.

-Speaking of interesting blogs, you aren’t going to find a more interesting, provocative, observant and fun blog anywhere than the Mockingbird blog. It’s excellence can hardly be described. Read it everyday and be incredibly envious. But don’t steal their stuff. Steal Timmy’s stuff.

-If a real WordPress geek can tell me why I can’t upload pics to this site, I’d appreciate it.

I’m sending along an audio Advent greeting with this post.

Rod Dreher comments on and reproduces Terry Mattingly’s lecture, “What Do Converts Want?” Lots of things of interest here for the post-evangelical crew.

W.H. Chellis makes the case for a serious belief in Santa Claus. This is much needed in our day, especially when belief in Santa is attacked by skeptics like my daughter.

I’m 52 and just learning what “Hodie” is all about. Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “Hodie” is a superb piece of Advent/Christmas music.

Reverend Cwirla’s Blogosphere is really Advent Central, along with the BHT’s Advent blog.

James White has some video from the John 3:16 Conference. Apparently some in the “crowd” of 600-800 don’t believe Calvinists are Christians. I certainly believe you can be lost in any version of theology or church, and I have no doubt that this brother is sincere, but a constructive conversation about Calvinism can’t proceed on the premise that Calvinists are lost. (And the ridiculous blaming of the SBC’s 6% Calvinists for decreased baptisms is right out front. White is correct that a conference like this mainly communicates that future ministers will be shunned if they have any Calvinism in their doctrine.)

When David Allen asks what unites Southern Baptists, I’d love to hear his answer to what he calls “Baptist distinctives.” Teetotalism? The Hymnal? And the “theological systems” he wants to avoid should include incoherent fundamentalism as well.

My Mac problems over the weekend solicited a lot of advice. (Thanks BHT and IM readers.) But none of it worked. I finally archived and reinstalled, which solved the problem, speeded up everything and used a bit more space than I like. But the culprit- I assume- was removing Gimp. This was a clean removal, and X11 is probably at fault. All I want is a simple program to reduce pics! But it was a full day of doing the same things over and over with the same result, which I think is the definition of insanity.

I am seriously bored with the blogosphere, and most of the blame goes to the week I just spent with Twitter. There are people updating their life every 3-5 minutes. “Drinking coffee and reading the paper.” “Walking to store.” I suppose one must do something with those hand held devices. Here’s mine. “Sitting in chair, typing.” Fascinating stuff, huh. I need to hone my experience.

/Film finds Milk less than incredible, and admits that message will surely overwhelm art in this movie’s future.

Cyberbrethren has some useful information about using the Treasury of Daily Prayer for Advent. If you’ve purchased the TDP from New Reformation Press or plan to, you’ll want to bookmark this post.

Abraham Piper asked an interesting question a few weeks ago: How many sermons do you listen to a week? I listen to too many. If I could, I’d just listen to one. Maybe something like Fr. Patrick Reardon at All Saints Homilies. I do believe there’s a lot of overkill as a result of the net’s ability to overflow us with information. Sometimes, I just feel nauseous at it all.

If you didn’t catch it, Victor Davis Hanson wrote 10 Very Un-PC things in a recent column. One of the most provocative pieces this year. Something to offend and delight everyone.

I have issues from being an only child, and one of them is difficulty when my friends talk about me or criticize me for trivial things. I’d hoped this would get better as I got older, and I’d master the “Crotchety old Curmudgeon Who Doesn’t Give A ____” routine, but I’m not doing well at all. I remember my dad getting his feelings really hurt badly when he discovered some of his coffee drinking buddies were talking about him. I never saw him so hurt. I don’t want to be like that, but I think it’s too late. Suggestions welcome.

So a 34 year old temporary at Wal-mart was trampled to death when a crowd at a Long Island store became a savage mob and threatened to break down the doors. The employee fell in the mob and was killed by….by…everyone who walked over him.

So who do you blame for that? How much do you sermonize on greed? (How much do southerners and modwesterners get to gloat that this happened on Long Island? Yankees do love their Wal-Mart.) How much does this point to our materialism?

People have been killed at Rock concerts, religious events, political events, etc. The stupidity of a mob isn’t restricted to Black Friday, but it’s not too hard to see that the bargain mania and manipulation of the whole idea of “Black Friday” has gone into some places in our culture that we don’t want to look at. We can be brutal, savage and dangerous when someone gets between us and what we want. If you don’t do the “Black Friday” thing, don’t feel too self righteous. I tell my students that if all of us had a free murder every ten years, we’d use up 95% of them in the first month.

In closing, I’m working on some form of a New Year’s resolution where I 1) read a lot less theology, 2) read a lot more biography, poetry and fiction and 3) don’t buy books, but use the Library (40 mile round trip) more. Any suggestions or wisdom are welcome.

I’m fascinated by the tendency of a lot of evangelicals to pass the pulpit down father to son. Biblically, it’s nonsensical, but practically it can be the difference between staying afloat or sinking as a ministry.

I recently listened to Matt Haggee, John Haggee’s son. Haggee himself has always fascinated me. Where else in the world of Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity do you have fundamentalists reading their sermons from manuscripts with applause cues throughout, just like a political speech. Matt is a clone, with the exception that he’s dropped about 120 pounds at least. As this sort of preaching goes, he was pretty good. It’s prosperity gospel lite, with a better than most presentation of the Gospel. (Osteen should take a note, especially from Daddy John. When he’s not being apocalyptic, he can preach the evangelical Gospel dead on.)

I want to train my students to applaud on cue. Any hints, Matt?
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The fundamentalists who run the Southern Baptist Convention are after the Calvinists again. Obviously despairing that the “Building Bridges Conference” didn’t give the right preachers the opportunity to call Calvinists the right names, and faced with nagging possibility that out and out lies don’t go over as well when the guys you’re lying about are present in large numbers, the fundamentalists had a “John 3:16″ Conference at SBC President Johnny Hunt’s church. Speakers preached about the five points of Calvinism and straightened everyone out.

No recordings are posted, but Calvinistic live-bloggers were present (See their posts at Challies.com). My favorite part is the Caner Contention; the continual denial that Southern Baptists have any theological heritage at all except what the Bible says. We aren’t Arminians or Calvinists or anything else, they say. We’re just plain ‘ol Bible believing Baptists. Biblicists.

Bring up those crickets, Van Til. Thank you.

That’s a lie from anyone who says it. Not ignorance. Lying. They all know better.

I’m not a Calvinist, and some Calvinists ought to be put far, far away from the rest of us. But in general, the Calvinists in the SBC are more Gospel-centered and missionary than the rest of the convention. (Guess what seminary has sent the most IMB missionary candidates to the field the last decade? Yep, Southern. Where, of course, they can’t believe in missions. (jn)

The John 3:16 crowd is a sloppy bunch when it comes to scholarship, as Justin Taylor deftly and embarassingly demonstrates on his blog. Just about their every sentence at this kind of meeting makes an informed student of theology pause and wince. But they have Jerry Vines on their side, hawking his products and telling you what the greek really means.

Really, this is silly. Just silly. Calvinists in the SBC are doing far more good than harm, and the truth is that the fundamentalists need someone to blame for the fact that Jerry Falwell-style Evangelicalism is falling apart. One live-blogger said that 90% of the audience was middle-aged and over. That’s your problem old white guys: younger SBCers aren’t even listening to you anymore. You are talking to yourselves. Read Acts 29 Well….except here in SE Ky where I live. Here it’s 1962 and holding.
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I need a Catholic priest to write me at michael@internetmonk.com. No, I’m not converting. I have some questions about single clergy and married parishioners. Too hot to post about here, so help me out.
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Speaking of Roman Catholics, looks like IM will be acquiring a RC book publisher as an advertiser very soon. I’m excited. Watch for an additional sponsor on the sidebar in a few days. Then I will be the only blog in the world with Lutheran and RC advertisers. C’mon Orthodox, emergers, Baptists….don’t be left out. The IM audience is 400,000 unique visitors this year and 1.5 million page views. Contact me if you want to be part of the ecumenical fervor or gang fight or whatever we’re going to have.
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On the podcast, I asked if anyone would like to help me acquire ESV study Bibles for all my chapel preachers here at the ministry where I work. We’ve received 3 and have the promise of 2 more. So to fill the bill on the guys who preach on Sunday, I need one more. (I’m trying to get tru-tones, either color, for all of them.) If I have more than one, I’ll start giving them to the guys who teach Bible in the middle school and preach in chapel during the week. The IM audience has always been great about this kind of help to our school. If you want to participate, write me at michael@internetmonk.com, and you can have the Bible sent to us.
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Ready to rethink your views on Christians and politics? (OK. I’m cheating) Sometime when you have the chance, read this piece by the Lutheran Church in Australia on the Two Kingdoms. It’s outstanding. Then listen to John Macarthur’s two messages on “The Christian in a Pagan Society” from his series on Titus (All Macarthur’s stuff is now free btw.)

Give it some thought.

Your Internet Monk says have a great weekend.

I don’t do lists of links, but Zoo Station has a fine one. Spend some time there.

As election time rolls around, I’m still unimpressed with either Presidential candidate, but I’ve made up my mind on the Kentucky Senate race. Mitch McConnell’s attack ads on Bruce Lunsford are the most incredibly vicious distortions and manipulations I’ve ever seen in politics. And this is a state where politicians still shoot each other with some regularity.

We’re studying Exodus in my Bible classes, and Peter Enns’ Exodus Commentary in the NIV Application Commentary series is outstanding for teaching that is aimed at bridging contexts and majoring on application. I have several good commentaries in that series. They are non-scholarly, but highly useful to the communicator.

Robert Velarde writes on C.S. Lewis’s view of pop culture. Lewis’s disdain for the newspaper reminds me that the information revolution has had a terrible effect on Christians. Few read. Few think. The majority believe all kinds of things that aren’t true or are patently ridiculous. But of course, without Snopes, how would I know that?

Excuse me, but I’m very close to writing a parody on stereotypical blog commenters. Particularly those who seem to be living in a realm of spirituality the rest of us are only allowed to admire from our places here on earth. One ought to be very careful about speaking to someone else’s personal spiritual condition as if God had given you insight he hasn’t given to them. Christians speak of life and scripture, and with the Spirit’s help, both together. But there’s a reason I don’t answer the many letters I get asking for highly personal help (and even phone calls!) I don’t know you. You don’t know me. We share a bit, and we can talk about what we do know, but this community doesn’t allow me to speak about what is in your heart, how you treat your wife, what you think about in worship, what church you must attend and so on. Spirituality ought to come with the first fruit of humility. Yes?

Those of you who want to know what politics will do for you should read this post on the Palin family getting a $150,000 clothing allowance from the GOP. And how they could have saved at least $3k on that.

I love two podcasts that recreate, in their own way, the eclectic radio formats of my younger days. My favorite is 3 Chords and the Truth from Revolution 21. Favog is a bit out there as a blogger, but as a music podcaster, he’s the best anywhere. Support this guy and enjoy this music.

Fast coming up in that race is The Best Radio Show You’ve Never Heard. Better known tunes and less talk. Get both of these and you’ll have 2+ hours of great music from all over the map and time line.

For some reason, the blogosphere has been a much more pleasant place during October….Hmmmmm.

If the menu item in Lexington’s best Mexican Restaurant (Jalapenos) says “Diablo,” don’t get involved unless you are serious.

Kevin Kelly is a founder of Wired Magazine, a Christian, and a guy with a wonderful talk on the “Next 5,000 Days of the Web.”

My wife is the kind of person who still stands in front of a Macdonald’s menu, trying to decide what to order. So when she goes to pick out new glasses, bring a tent and pack a lunch.

Great album: John Mark McMillan, The Medicine. All his music is remarkable. Here’s a sample. He and his band were the worship leaders at a conference I attended last year. An artist who really stands out in his lyricism and risk-taking, vulnerable performance.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that the most important fact in my ecumenical conversations is this: I preach and teach the Gospel and the Bible. It’s my training and my lifelong passion. Bottom line- there is no reason to renounce my calling to preach the Gospel. Don’t Waste Your Life and all that stuff.

Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky is having Shane Claiborne and Charlie Hall for Worship-Arts 2009, February 19-20. I’m hoping to attend.

Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God Tour is coming to Lexington’s Ashland Avenue Church Dec. 4

Ray Ortlund, Jr on Power in Preaching.

One of the most valuable moments of my life was this: I turned in a paper to Dr. Richard Cunningham, my philosophy professor at SBTS. He gave it back, and said he couldn’t accept it because of the spelling errors. I was embarrassed, and angry, and embarrassed some more. I went home and improved my spelling. (I still have a long way to go.) It taught me to QUESTION MYSELF. I wish I had applied that lesson far more often than I have.

Religulous, Fireproof and An American Carol are all out there at the same time. Interesting.