SCOTUS Rulings on Ten Commandments

Two rulings came out today on the Ten Commandments on public property. One said they could be displayed on public property, the other said they couldn't be posted on a courthouse wall. How incongruous. This is not a secular country like France, as Scalia said in his dissent. The Ten Commandments, the basis for our nation's laws, is a historical document that is vital to the formation of our country's legal system. It should be on display at all courthouses.

Update on Abortion Votes in Kansas

Kansans for Life recently updated their site with a chart of our elected reps' votes on abortion/life issues. Check it out here. My own rep, Lana Gordon, has more BADs than GOODs. :(

My friend, Mike Burgess, has a perfect record of course! Too bad he's not my rep.

Gonzales to replace O'Connor on Bench?

O'Connor, Not Rehnquist?

There will be a Supreme Court resignation within the next week. But it will be Justice O'Connor, not Chief Justice Rehnquist. There are several tea-leaf-like suggestions that O'Connor may be stepping down, including the fact that she has apparently arranged to spend much more time in Arizona beginning this fall.

President Bush will appoint Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to replace O'Connor. Bush certainly wants to put Gonzales on the Supreme Court. Presidents usually find a way to do what they want to do.

Gonzales is NOT a conservative's dream appointment to the Supreme Court...but considering the circumstances it is probably the best we can hope for. He would be replacing a judge who is no more but maybe less conservative than he is. Plus, it would be harder for Democrats to defeat the first Hispanic nominee to the bench and nominating a more moderate judge first will set Bush up to appoint a strong conservative to replace Rehnquist who will most assuredly be the next to go.

Southern Baptists end Disney boycott! Finally.

I'm so glad to hear that the Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention voted to end the "boycott" of Disney. Whew! Now I can finally rent that Lion King movie I've heard so much about!

;)

Ban Flag Burning?

There is a movement, again, to ban the burning of the American flag. American Family Association even has an online petition supporting such a movement. While I personally think it would be abhorrant to burn our flag, I also don't like the idea of banning any form of speech or expression. That sounds like I'm a crazy liberal, doesn't it? If I don't want them to ban MY speech--the ability to display religious symbols or speak about biblical topics in a public forum, for instance--then I need to be intellectually consistent. Even lunatics need to be free to express their lunacy, and if that lunacy includes burning the flag then so be it. That's the American way!

PBS appoints Republican as president

Public Broadcasting Names New President

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the group that funnels your tax dollars into PBS and NPR, has appointed a Republican as its new president.

PBS and NPR have always been the most reliably liberal (ridiculously liberal is more like it) broadcast outlets on the airwaves. Now, the liberals are worried about a Republican in charge will make it a BIASED organization!

Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Hillary Rodham Clinton' , D-N.Y., and others expressed dismay at the expected appointment of Harrison. "We find it astonishing that Ms. Harrison, given her former prominence as a partisan political figure, would even be considered as a candidate for a job that demands that the occupant be non-political," the senators said in their letter.

I've never heard them express their concern about the blatant liberalism that our tax dollars support on both NPR and PBS. If any broadcaster should be fair and balanced, it should be the ones funded by John Q. Taxpayer.

Rove says Dems wanted to "offer therapy" to our attackers

Dems Say Rove Should Apologize or Resign

Bush's chief political adviser, Rove said in a speech Wednesday that "liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Conservatives, he told the New York state Conservative Party just a few miles north of Ground Zero, "saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war."

"Karl Rove should immediately and fully apologize for his remarks or he should resign," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement.

Let me get this straight...a Democrat (Durbin) compares our soldiers to Nazis and Pol Pot and that's fine (gee...thanks for the sincere apology), but Rove speaks the truth about the liberal response to our attackers and HE should resign? As Glenn Beck says on his radio program, somebody wrap my head in duct tape before it explodes!

Lost Boy Scout

Here's a lesson to learn...every rule we give our kids should have a caveat or two. I just heard on the radio that the lost Boy Scout saw some of the rescuers but didn't call out to them because "they were strangers." That's really neat how the kid obeyed his parents like that. Maybe we should tell our kids that they shouldn't talk to strangers UNLESS they are lost in the woods and rescue workers are trying to find them! ;)

I'm so glad they found him and he's ok.

Off-topic: The Wage Gap

This doesn't have anything to do with Christianity and politics, but sometimes the truth of an article is so good I have to post it.

The wage gap, give me a break

If a woman does equal work for 25 percent less money, businesses would get rich just by hiring women. Why would any employer ever hire a man?

And...

Men do care about money -- and that, not wage discrimination, is why men tend to make more of it. "Women themselves say they're far more likely to care about flexibility," says author Warren Farrell. "Men say, I'm far more likely to care about money."Men do care about money -- and that, not wage discrimination, is why men tend to make more of it.

In conclusion...

If men want the family time many women have, we must accept lower financial rewards -- and if women want the money, they have to work like money-grubbing men.

Geeks for God

If you're like me and you love your gadgets, and I somewhat even make my living off of the success of mobile technologies, then you can't get too much info about it.

Within 5 minutes today, I discovered that two of the fellas that I have dealt with over the past few years not only care about mobile tech, but put God first! If you're a true geek who puts God first, that's saying something!

Check them out!

PalmSolo: Matt Miller is "Geeking for Jesus"
MobilePassion: Dale Coffing's one TRUE passion is God

While we're at it, I know that PocketGoddess is a Christian. Steve Litchfield, who writes articles for Palmtop User in the UK is also a Christian. Also (and this is kind of a shameless plug since he's a client of mine, but also a friend), Dave Haupert is president of DDH Software (developer of the popular HanDBase app) and also a Christian recording artist. Another site that I've recently discovered is Mobile Ministry Magazine.

Church, Not State, Must Advance Moral Agenda

Read the latest Cal Thomas column, "Church, not state, must advance moral agenda."

Excerpt:

Christians are limited in what government can do for them and for an earthly agenda.

That does not mean government can't do some things. It simply means it cannot advance a moral and spiritual agenda, because it is the church, not the state, that is commissioned to preach and observe God's message.

And alarming news:

Barna has noted that as many conservative Christians are divorcing as those who are of different religious persuasions, or of no religion, and as many of the children of conservative Christians are having sex as non-Christian children.

But the ordained and self-appointed conservative Christian leaders do not seem to preach as much to their own about these shortcomings (or, if they do, they are not heeded) as they do to the rest of the country about theirs.

Wouldn't these conservative Christians have greater moral power if they put their own houses in order before trying to cure the disorder in other houses? Isn't that the principle behind Jesus' story about noticing a speck in the other fellow's eye, while ignoring the beam in one's own eye?

What good is it, my Christian friends, if we know the truth and we speak the truth but we ourselves don't abide by it? How can we be light to a darkened world if our own batteries are dead?

To the first point his article raises, the big difference between conservative Christians and liberal Christians is not the amount of compassion for the poor, but in government's role in dealing with them. In my view, the government is (and should be) very limited in its ability to dole out compassion. That's the role of PEOPLE! It has been shown by studies that liberals give less to charities than conservatives...perhaps because they already contribute to their favorite charity: the Federal government who does our job of taking care of the poor for us.

To the second point, let's be sure our houses are in order before we hold rallies and tell everyone else how God wants them to live.

I question the statistics and I wonder who they define as a conservative Christian. In my church of 1000 members (500 average attendance), I know of very few divorces and we have had very few teen pregnancies. Of course, that's just a microcosm of the society at-large, but I can't believe that the families in my church (as ordinary as they are) don't somewhat accurately reflect the overall Christian culture of America. Our church is full of young, newly converted Christians who haven't got it all figured out yet, but they're trying.

I don't doubt that Christians need to do a better job of walking the walk before talking the talk, but I do have to wonder if these "statistics" aren't just a case of making the numbers work out to make the point they want to make.

Invitation from CWA

Words matter. If we wish to win the war for the culture, we must heed the words of Jesus to be "as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves" (Matt. 10:16).

At tomorrow night's CWA meeting . . .

7:00 p.m.
First Southern Baptist Church
19th and Gage

Phillis Setchel will show us how to seize the opposition's rhetoric and give it additional or new meaning. By learning how to do this, we broaden the meaning of their rhetoric to support and carry our message, while simultaneously diluting their original intent. Such is what happened to the term "family values" under Bill Clinton. They redefined "family" to be something other than the traditional nuclear family.

Assignment: Be ready to cite an instance when you responded defensively to an opponent of God.

See you there. Bring a friend!

Sylvia Chapman

P.S. CWA is for like-minded men as well as women. Welcome men!

Mark Schultz concert

Off topic...

Mark Schultz, one of my favorite Christian artists, is coming to concert in Topeka.

Get ticket info here.

I highly recommend this concert. I'll be there!

Southern Baptists in Doldrums?

Denomination challenged to meetevangelistic mandate

The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s biggest Protestant
denomination and the largest gathering of evangelical Christians in the world,
is in the “doldrums” and faces a challenge to determine whether it is on the
right path, its leader said Thursday.

Convention president Bobby Welch also said:

...the annual number of baptisms in the convention had been largely
unchanged for decades — a worrisome sign because baptism, he said, was “the
first giant step in discipleship, a relationship with the Lord and
Christ.”

As a Southern Baptist myself, I certainly don't like to hear words such as "doldrums." At Promise Keepers a few weeks ago one speaker said that "a rut is a grave without the ends."

What I love about being a Southern Baptist is that it doesn't sway with societal whims and changes in so-called values. It does seem that our denomination is divided between the "haves" and the "have-nots." The bigger churches are growing...those that can provide a wide variety of ministries and services and deliver a dynamic worship service. Those smaller churches just can't keep up.

Our church averages around 500 and we're in the midst of a building program. We still seem baptisms almost every week. Still, it IS tougher now to keep those who touch base with us for awhile and then move on. We're working on it and praying for God's help so that we can keep those he brings into our family.

He also commented on a subject we've discussed on this blog...how we shouldn't abandon public schools:

“We are not suffering today from bad people doing bad things,” he said. “We
are suffering because of good people doing good things at the exclusion of the
main thing ... getting outside of the walls of the church and reconnecting in
New Testament Jesus terms with the people of the world and meeting them at the
point of their greatest need. That’s the greatest cry.”

Welch said the need to reach out to people was why messengers at next week’s convention should not adopt any resolution that called on Southern Baptist families to pull their children from the public schools.

Like I've said, if you feel led to put your kids in private school or homeschool them, that's great. We should not, however, declare that all Christians pull their kids from public schools. Just as we are to be the light in our worlds, our kids are to be the light in theirs.

Abstinence Education Works

A new study released by US Dept. of Health and Human Services reveals that abstinence education works:

teens who participated in abstinence programs had an increased awareness of the potential consequences of sexual activity before marriage, thought more highly of abstinent behaviors, and less favorable opinions about sexual activity before marriage than did students who were not in abstinence programs.

"Students who are in these [abstinence education] programs are recognizing that abstinence is a positive choice," HHS Assistant Secretary Michael O'Grady said.

"Abstinence education programs that help our young people address issues of healthy relationships, self-esteem, decision-making, and effective communications are important to keeping them healthy and safe," O'Grady added.

The fact that abstinence education is controversial and not universally applied is just amazing to me. Not teaching abstinence--instead focusing on "safe sex"--assumes that kids can't curb their behaviors. Maybe that's because those people who prefer safe sex education over abstinence education are never able to curb their own behavior. Hmmm. I wonder. Sex is just part of our animalistic behavior--but secularists think we're nothing more than intelligent animals. We can't go against those lusts! Christians know that God gave us the ability to go against our own desires.

Today's Hot News for Christians in Kansas

Board Trades Barbs Over Evolution

The four moderate members -- still stinging from insults hurled at them in a newsletter put out by conservative member Connie Morris -- said the state board needs to listen to the advice of mainstream scientists.

Morris, of St. Francis, was ready to spar at Wednesday's meeting, quickly criticizing moderates for not attending four days of hearings in May on evolution. The hearings featured speakers prominent in the intelligent design movement who promoted changing the standards to include criticisms of evolution. With several groups calling for boycotts, scientists refused to make the case for evolution.

Ditto. Our state isn't yet so politically correct that this kind of debate is still available here. Not all states can say that. It's a great thing! But the moderates didn't want to debate the merits of their argument, opting instead to stand outside and complain. They had their chance and they passed it up. They still get to vote. Otherwise, hushhhhhh....

Sebelius Touts Anew Expanded Gambling

Enticed by promises of millions of dollars in slot machine revenue for the state, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius isn't ready to give up on the possibility of expanded gambling.

Put aside the wrecking ball affect of gambling on families, how does taking money from people who can't afford it help improve our economy? It's a tax on poor people, because rich people can afford to kiss their money away at a casino--but most people at the Indian casinos are NOT rich. And the vast majority of people who go into a casino with money, come out with less--if not zero.
So...you make poor people poorer, then spend our tax revenue to provide a safety net for people who lose their money at gambling (money that could have been spent on education if gambling proceeds weren't being used for that purpose). Yeah...that's smart.

Now, put that wrecking ball affect back into the equation. You've taken their money and gotten them addicted to a behavior that destroys their families. This is smart, compassionate government at work?

The Porn Generation

Read this column by "The Virgin Ben" explaining the effects of The Porn Generation. His conclusion:

We have successfully defined deviancy down; the deviant is now considered normal. Meanwhile, we have defined deviancy up; the normal is now considered deviant. And the effects upon my generation -- the porn generation -- have been disastrous. We are apathetic about morality, and that apathy translates into nihilism and narcissism -- and in the end, into generational self-destruction. Like it or not, the porn generation is the future of this country.

Agnostic liberals promote a deviant society in which all behavior is acceptable--unless you are like Ben, a college-aged virgin who believes in traditional values. We now see the result of this ongoing onslaught on our culture. And I fear it's just a TASTE of the debauchery to come.

Face it Christians. We can't retreat into our own little enclaves. We must be in the world and work hard to influence it. We must do more than stick our fingers in the dike to hold back the tides of secular "anything goes" decadence. We must pick up the bricks and mortar and rebuild it ourselves.

A little funny...

An honest man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.

"I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do?' bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.

"Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car."

That joke reminds me why I'm hesistant to be a bumper-sticker evangelist. Not that I tend to fly off the handle and flip people off and blare my horn at people, but because it's so easy to irritate people in your car--whether you intend to do it or not. Anyway, I thought the joke was funny.

Phelps seeks to advertise his hate at sports venue

Groan. Fred Phelps, our community's hate-spewing "preacher" who seems to have endless resources to spread his "God Hates Fags" message, is now seeking to pay $50,000 to advertise his upside down American flags and God Hates Fags banners at our community's sports park. It's bad enough that we have to be subjected to his family's billboards depicting anal sex, but we certainly don't need to have that message exposed to our children at the sports park.

"It's an area of law where there really hasn't been a lot of precedent, and so it's a little bit difficult to know in advance just where the courts are going to draw the lines," said Bill Rich, a law professor at Washburn University.

Since the sports park is a public venue, I wonder what legal recourse the city could take to restrict the advertising to acceptable messages. The sad thing is I imagine they could rule that religious organizations can't advertise because that would be a separation of church and state. The result, of course, is that legitimate churches couldn't use those places for advertising in order to block this cult from using their billboards for spreading their filth.

The end of public education

There is a column by Jeff Jacoby today that makes a case for ending public run schools--opting to let the private sector take over to compete for parents of different flavors (nuts included) who could send their kids to the type of schooling they want (Darwinistic vs. Intelligent Design vs. Creationism).

Imagine how diverse and vital American education could be if it were liberated from government control. There would be schools of every description -- just as there are restaurants, websites, and clothing styles of every description. Parents who wanted their children to be taught Darwinian evolution unsullied by leaps of faith in an Intelligent Designer would be able to choose schools in which religious notions played no role. Those who wanted their children to see God's hand in the miraculous tapestry of life all around them would send them to schools in which faith played a prominent role.

That seems like a radical idea...funny that it does since in the not too distant past there were not any government run schools. The main reason I don't mind the idea of public schools is to provide some sort of uniformity in the ways all American children are taught...but the problem is, of course, there IS no uniformity in the way kids are taught. Some schools offer excellent instruction while others bog them down in political correctness or must spend their days as babysitters for non-participatory parents.

I don't think the government will ever free the school system from its clutches...and the teachers unions would shriek of course if it was even discussed.

To me, competition brings the focus on providing excellence...otherwise you go out of business because few people will choose mediocrity if given the choice. If the idea of turning all schools over to the private sector is a pipe dream, then we need to demand excellence from the schools we have. No Child Left Behind was an important first step--bringing accountability into the school system. That accountability comes at a cost, but the cost of not raising the standards is continued mediocrity. The best form of accountability would come through competition, but as I can't see true competition among schools ever happening, we mustn't let go of higher levels of accountability in the schools we have.

Democrat Senator of Nebraska Now Supports Marriage Amendment

One of the only Democrat senators in flyover country (defined by me as the middle states above Texas) has now come out in favor of the US Marriage Amendment? Ben Nelson (D) has said that he would only support the federal amendment if a federal court overruled a state law, which has now happened in the case of Nebraska's own amendment to its state constitution.

From a Baptist Press article:

In May U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon overturned Nebraska's marriage amendment, ruling it was discriminatory and made homosexuals "unequal." The amendment bans both "gay marriage" and Vermont-style civil unions. The ruling is being appealed.

When my own state representative, Lana Gordon, said she wouldn't support the Kansas Marriage Amendment because it wasn't necessary, I told her that any state law currently on the books could be overturned as unconstitutional by a leftist court and we needed the state amendment. As a good old state-rights Republican, I prefer the matter to be handled by the states. Now that a Federal court has ruled against the will of the people (of Nebraska), we must all be concerned that our wishes will be restricted by the Men in Black. It may be the case that only a national Marriage Amendment will protect us from social activist judges.

I'm thankful that Senator Nelson has seen the light. That's a good sign.

A neat post-abortion testimony

I found this little gem today on a gal who suffered through some post-abortion blues and found Jesus watching over her. Give it a read.

Court to hear abortion case

The state's highest court has scheduled arguments from attorneys for Sept. 8 on whether it should prevent Attorney General Phill Kline's office from gaining access to records from two abortion clinics.

This will be interesting. Kline is trying to make sure the laws governing abortion clinics are being followed and needs records to be able to investigate. The abortion mills want to keep their records secret. Granted, "patients" (if that's what you call the ladies who are sacrificing their young at abortion clinics) are entitled to medical record privacy according to the law...but I believe Kline either doesn't need names or the info wouldn't go outside his office.

I need to refresh my memory. Stay tuned.

Blogs for Condi

I'm a big fan of Condi Rice and would love to see her run for president against Hillary ~shudder~ Clinton. I just found a nice blog with links to other blogs that all aim for one thing...drafting Condi as the Republican nominee for president. Check it out at http://condoleezza.blogspot.com.

Faith of our Fathers

Read this excellent column on how the secular left views praying men as "dangerous."

Excerpts:

Some feminists and journalists believe that religion, especially Evangelicalism, is “a key factor in stalling the gender revolution at home”

Listen to groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) take on Promise Keepers, for example, and you’ll hear more hysterical charges. “This organization breeds bigots,” NOW’s Web site says. “Underneath the façade of Christian religion are the workings of the radical religious right, mobilizing men against the rights of women, lesbians, and gays.

Let's remember they blame women's equality for society’s ills.” Their agenda is one of “submission, racism and homophobia.”

But a study by W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociologist at the University of Virginia and author of “Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands,” finds something different:

...religion is a primary predictor of how men approach the world, fatherhood, household labor and marriage -- more than education, location or other factors.

We also see religion’s beneficial effect when it comes to fatherhood. Church-going fathers are more involved with their children “They’re more affectionate, and they’re stricter with their kids,” Wilcox says. “We can see, for instance, in youth-related activities that active Evangelical dads spend about 3.5 hours more per week compared to unaffiliated dads.”

“There’s a sense that God is a part of their lives and gives emotional security to them. This is important because one of the key factors leading to marital problems and problems with parenting is stress. Things like unemployment, especially for men, or a death in the family can lead to poor parenting or poor marriage behaviors for men. If men can offer these problems up to God, God can provide them with a sense of security and direction in terms of how to deal with these things in a productive way.”

What feminists fail to realize is that it was Christianity that FIRST gave women equal rights by saying that they, too, are made in God's image and have high value.

And, I guess, according to them, instilling a sense of right and wrong in children and spending quality time with their children are bad things for fathers to do.

Everytime I see my kids, it makes me love my God more and more. Christian men see their place in the world for what it really is...what their purpose is. And the fact that we turn to the source for truth for guidance (Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the light..."), means we have a better instruction manual for life than those who just have to feel their way through life like a blind pig searching for an acorn.

Feminists: hates Christianity that promotes excellent fathering and family relationships and exalts the role of women, while sticking up for Bill Clinton (a philanderer) and refusing to celebrate the liberation of Muslim women and the new rights of young Afghani girls to return to school. Go figure.

Evolution Panel to Review Testimony

An update in today's Capital Journal on the evolution debate.

Three conservative members of the Kansas State Board of Education will review testimony and documents tonight as they prepare a report for the full board on the teaching of evolution.

Howard and Hillary

I love today's column by Peggy Noonan. In it, she imagines a speech given by President Bush to a crowd in Topeka, Kan. (proving that the speech is indeed a farce, since he never finds reasons to come to Kansas except for perhaps the shortest speech he's ever given at the Brown v. Board anniversary event). The speech she envisions is taken from actual quotes from Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean. The point is...a Republican would NEVER say such things about Democrats.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I want to speak this evening about how I see the political landscape. Let me jump right in. The struggle between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is a struggle between good and evil--and we're the good. I hate Democrats. Let's face it, they have never made an honest living in their lives. Who are they, really, but people who are intent on abusing power, destroying the United States Senate and undermining our Constitution? They have no shame.

But why would they? They have never been acquainted with the truth. You ever been to a Democratic fundraiser? They all look the same. They all behave the same. They have a dictatorship, and suffer from zeal so extreme they think they have a direct line to heaven. But what would you expect when you have a far left extremist base? We cannot afford more of their leadership. I call on you to help me defeat them!"

Mrs. Clinton's comments are in white and Mr. Dean's in yellow, and she changed "right" to "left."

I don't get how they think that kind of talk is good for the country, or will endear themselves to the public.

Howard Deans calls GOP a white, Christian party

Read the SFGate article on Howard Dean's latest effort at self-destruction.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, unapologetic in the face of recent criticism that he has been too tough on his political opposition, said in San Francisco this week that Republicans are "a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party."

First of all, what's wrong with being white and Christian? Second, I don't look like Colin Powell, Condi Rice, or any of the colorful array of political and judicial appointees made by President Bush.

What a goof ball. Keep it up Howard!

Truthfully, it would be better for Christians to have some sort of home in the Democrat party. At least then the Republicans would have to compete for our interests. I'd hate to be taken for granted like African Americans are by the Democrats.

But the liberal wing of the Democrat party don't want us anywhere near them. They are so out of touch.

Promise Keepers

Me and some friends from church went to Promise Keepers in Omaha this past weekend and had a pretty good time. Dave Roever was the main speaker on Friday night (the vet who was ripped to shreds by a grenade in 'Nam...he was incredible) and The Newsboys were the music group. You can see the pictures I took from my Treo of the trip at my SplashBlog.

The growth of Mega Churches

Read this Newsweek article on the growth of Mega Churches.

I love the use of quotes around certain words, such as This year, the 16.4 million-member Southern Baptist Convention plans to "plant" 1,800 new churches using by-the-book niche-marketing tactics. Maybe it's just me, but I can just see the reporter rolling his eyes as he wrote this piece. That said, the article shows how successful churches use today's marketing tactics to appeal to unchurched people. I have no problem with that. I've been charged with publicity and marketing at my own church. People want a quality product and quality presentation. If that works to sell sodas, why shouldn't we use it to sell a new life in Christ? People have abandoned "organized religion" by the masses (no pun intended), as meaningless rituals just simply leave people feeling empty. The growing churches are the ones who aren't afraid to use today's tactics to appeal to today's consumers. As long as the message doesn't shift (we NEED to stick to what's true), the mode of delivery and the marketing used to promote it just needs to be whatever works.

Dave Haupert releases new album

My friend Dave Haupert has released a new 6-song album of his Christian tunes that he has penned himself. Here is a portion of a letter he sent to me and many of his friends and supporters:

I'm so excited to be able to say I finally have finished my first CD and it's available now! The CD is self-titled, and is an EP (an EP is a little shorter length than your average CD, usually 3-6 songs- mine is 6 songs!). I certainly have plenty of music to fill a whole CD, but it seemed like I could either wait until I have recorded 10 songs to make a full length CD, or rush to record some more of my songs, or do what I did- give it my absolute best, my 100 to complete 6 great songs for an EP release and get out there and start sharing. Since this is not my full time job, I couldn't possibly handle recording and gigging at the same time, so the great news is that I'm now able to spend more of my efforts on live performances and doing ministry!

I was really blessed to be able to work with some awesome talent on these songs, especially the newer ones. Will Denton did drums on 4 of the songs- he's the drummer for Steven Curtis Chapman! Joe Mazza, who has played guitar for Nicole C Mullen among others, did some awesome jazz guitar playin' on Track 3. And Rocky Yera, a smokin' sax player from Miami (and one of the best players I've ever heard) performed on two songs as well!

Here's an overview of the songs:
No Plan B - you can hear this one online.
Precious Hands - The song I wrote when my daughter was born - also online What Can Separate Us? - This is a mid-tempo smooth jazz song based on my favorite Bible verse- Romans 8:35 Each Time I Fall - a slow jazz standard style song speaking about those times when we feel that we are struggling in life, yet God has such better plans for us. The sax on this one still gives me goosebumps to hear! When I was Just Your Age - written for my two older boys, an up tempo rock song about the memories from my childhood and my longing to hold on to them. Are You Ready? - this song was rerecorded with live drums and all new vocals. Listen to it online!

The CD was mastered by Vinnie Alibrandi in Nashville and he did a stellar job really bringing the songs together.

The CD is available for sale at Amazon.com, IndieHeaven.com and CDBaby.com- I have direct links to the pages up on my site: http://www.davehaupert.com

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of his CD. It's great stuff, and will be a blessing to you!

Kansas death penalty sent to US Supremes

Overturned death penalty on appeal at US Supreme Court

The death penalty has always been the one issue I've waffled around on. The "eye for an eye" part of me says that the death penalty is a good thing, and MAYBE it serves as a deterrant. Having said that, I generally come down on the side of life...that is, LIFE IN PRISON STANDING ON A PILE OF ROCKS WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER!

First of all, if someone is wrongfully convicted--and it's happened--they can be freed after spending a few years crushing rocks under the hot Kansas sun. Only Jesus could resurrect them from the dead. Second, for truly brutal murderers, why let them get off easy by either getting an injection and going to sleep or lounging in a prison cell reading comics and watching reality TV shows. I think rock crushing for 40 years would be a better deterrent.

There's some Old Testament guidelines that show that the death penalty is acceptable, but Jesus showed us that judgment comes in the next life. We'll get our justice here if we take criminals out of society, but my view is that we shouldn't send them to that eternal courtroom any sooner than necessary.

The Long Pause

Sorry for the long pause. I'm sure the gazillions of you who check this block religiously (sorry for the pun) for updates were wondering where I've been. A) There's just not a lot going on and B) I've just been a traveling man.

I moderated a discussion on blogging today and even talked about how important it is to regularly post to your blog...and it had been 3 weeks since I'd done so. Groan!

Anyway, I'm back. Let's blog!