There's a fascinating article in the New York Times this morning about a pastor of a meagachurch who spoke against promoting politics in the church, and as a result of his message, the church lost 20 percent of their congregation.

Money Quote:

When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”

Mr. Boyd says he is no liberal. He is opposed to abortion and thinks homosexuality is not God’s ideal. The response from his congregation at Woodland Hills Church here in suburban St. Paul — packed mostly with politically and theologically conservative, middle-class evangelicals — was passionate. Some members walked out of a sermon and never returned. By the time the dust had settled, Woodland Hills, which Mr. Boyd founded in 1992, had lost about 1,000 of its 5,000 members.

But there were also congregants who thanked Mr. Boyd, telling him they were moved to tears to hear him voice concerns they had been too afraid to share

To me the best part of this article is the details about the difficulties in running a mega-church. Just fascinating.

Last week there was a request for a song to the tune of Green Acres. And in City Busines Church, you ask and you shall receive.

From future Grammy Award Winning Songwriter Anonymous, I give you:

TTTO: Green Acres

Tithe buckets bursting at the seams
Ushers bug-eyed at the piles of green
Frank's bullshit spreadin' far and wide
Oh my God, there's no place left to hide

Three Cafés serving mean lattés
Gen Church throwing once-a-week par-tays
Vancouver even meets on ice
They've got it all except for Jesus Christ

…Big bucks!
…This sucks!
…The crowds!
…Too loud!

This ain't for me.
Good bye, CBC.
Kel's Pub here I come.

Oregon native Harold Reynolds was recently fired from his announcing gig at ESPN for sexual harrassment. Evidently, he has a history of this behavior and when he "inappropriately hugged" a personal assistant at Outback this past week, the ESPN Brass had enough and fired him. Rumor has it, his wife who had just given birth, was also none to pleased.

However, as with every cloud, there is a silver lining and hopefully this recent firing will give Mr. Reynolds a chance to focus on his other career, which includes being a Christian Speaker through the group All American Speakers. Check it out.

Harold shares this testimony:

Some people think that Christianity is a crutch that people use to overcome problems in their life. Something's wrong in their life that they can't fix, and so they lean on God. That was never the case with me. I was never into drugs or alcohol. I didn't run around. I wasn't into partying. I was never down and out. And yet God saved me.

Yes, God did save Harold. And although Harold wasn't into drugs, alcohol or partying, I suggest that All American Speakers update his bio a bit and include some of his other: "likes and dislikes."

Likes: Long Close Hugs and Personal Assistants.

Dislikes: His wife and Accountability.

(Hat Tip: Chris Snethen who understands that it's the simple things in life that make us laugh.)

Andrea Yates who methodically drowned her five children was found not guilty yesterday by reason of insanity. A blogger at Oh How I Love Jesus defends the verdict and places blame on the husband:

Her husband is just as much to blame. She was expected to have all these children with no planning for them, was not well from so many births, was forced to homeschool them and basically never had any “Andrea” time while her husband went about life as normal. He had to know something was wrong and he still didn’t get her the help she so desperately needed.

I guess it all comes down to whether you really think Andrea Yates was insane. I don't. According to the facts of the case, Yates killed her children from the youngest to the oldest. And by the time she got to the oldest children, the kids were in on the plan, and were running around the house like crazy trying to escape their mom. She waited till her husband left for work, and she did it before her mother-in-law showed up. To be fair, she also suffered from Post-partem depression, but Post-partem depression isn't insanity. And this seems to be the only evidence offered. Just because you do something unbelievably despicable that doesn't make you insane.

This is all to say that, No, the husband is not equally to blame. There are a lot of mothers who manage to have several children, homeschool them without any "me" time, and yet still avoid going insane and killing their kids. Namely, my mother, who homeschooled seven kids and the worse she ever did was occasionally scream and curse at us. (which was oddly a badge of honor in our house. If we could get our mom to curse, we knew we had done well.)

I'm not a mother. I will never experience Post-partem depression. And I am sympathetic to how difficult motherhood can be. That said, no matter how difficult, I'm not willing to give a woman a pass for killing her children.

I realize this blog is becoming a conduit for the Washington Post, but heh, I live in their city and I like what they write. And yesterday the WaPo had a great article on how the Religious Left is standing up to the Religious Right.

Ten years ago, if you told me I would identify with the Religious Left, I would have scoffed and ridiculed you. However, after seeing the hypocrisy in the Religious Right (yes, I'm talking to you Ralph Reed), I'm beginning to side with those damn Christian Liberals.

Here's a quote that best describes how I feel:

"I join the ranks of those who are angry because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus but whose actions are anything but Christian," declared Meyers, who has written a new book, "Why the Christian Right is Wrong.

Oddly enough, politically I am still relatively conservative. It just fires me up when people use Christ as a reason to push their own selfish agenda.

Chris Snethen sends over quite possibly the greatest sermon summary I have ever read. It's a little long, but well worth the read.  The author recently attended a Fourth of July Sermon at a Mega Church in Nashville, and shares his thoughts. As always, try to read the whole thing.

Money quotes:

My dad and mom had both been appealing to me to attend a service and their appeal finally won me over for Cornerstone’s Fourth of July service which bills itself as, “Nashville’s Largest Indoor Fireworks Show.” This phrase was so compelling that I accepted an invitation on the spot. Call it churchtainment or enterchurch or whatever garbled conglomeration of church and entertainment you’d like. Bottom line: it’s churchtastic. So I embarked upon the first ever Church Game Diary on Saturday July 1 of 2006.

During the performance:

I check my cell phone to see what time it is and it suddenly occurs to me that it is 7:33 and I have yet to hear an actual Bible quote.

It’s 7:39 and I realize I’m watching the pastor speak on the jumbotron instead of watching the pastor himself directly in the center of the pulpit.

And after leaving the church:

For all the world I feel like I’ve just left a sporting event. Only I’m not sure if my team just won or lost.

Two recent articles were printed in the Washington Post that discuss Oregon and it's affect on a person's religion.

The first article that caught my attention was written by a woman who decided to become a Wiccan after spending an afternoon at the Oregon Coast. Money quote:

One summer's afternoon, visiting the Oregon coast, I found myself having an unexpected moment of clarity. I stood at a rocky shore with the ocean spray against my cheeks and the sun beaming down, glorious in its intensity. A chant rose from my throat only to be lost in the sound of breaking waves. It was the earth that seemed to speak to me, filling me with a peace I seemed to have lost.

The second article discusses how an atheist scientist came to know God after reading C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity and hiking in the Oregon Cascades. Money quote:

He realized that as a scientist, "you're not supposed to decide something is true until you've looked at the data. And yet I had become an atheist without ever looking at the evidence whether God exists or not."

He began looking and early in the process read Lewis's "Mere Christianity."

"In the very first chapter," he said, "all my arguments about the irrationality of faith lay in ruins."

Yet he was besieged by doubts during two years of struggle and study. Finally, he went hiking in Oregon's Cascade Mountains. One morning, he said, "I fell on my knees and asked Christ to be my lord and savior. And he has been there ever since, the past 28 years, as the rock on which I stand."

So what 's the moral to these two stories:

Stay away from the Oregon Coast that freezing water will turn you into a witch.

TTTO: The Beverly Hillbillies Theme Song (Ballad of Jed Clampett)

Come 'n' listen to a story 'bout a man named Frank
A word o' faith preacher with no money in the bank
Searching for a message that would reel the suckers in
He said "Give and God'll make you rich" with an evil grin

Tithe that is. Frank's gold. Lotsa green.

Well the first thing ya know ol' Frank has got 'em wowed
Elders said "Frank needs a bigger crowd"
Said "on the hilltop" is the place you ought to be
So he loaded up his soapbox and moved to CBC

Portland, that is. Twin domes. Starbucks.

Now it's time to say goodbye to Frank and all his ilk
They're servin' up the yeast and waterin' down the milk
They know that you'll come back next week to feel-good CBC
To pick your pockets clean again for their prosperity

Leaven heaven that is. Jumbotron. Have a latte.

Written by Anonymous

Given recent world events, I have decided to add another installment in our long running "Watch" series. Currently, we have City Bible Watch and Candace Watters Watch. But given the recent conflicts in the Middle East, I have decided to add another fun addition to our Watch Series: Apocalypse Watch.

Evangelical Christians everywhere are absolutely giddy at the thought that the world may be witnessing the beginning of the apocalypse. And Christ's Return is right around the corner.

So stock up on that grain, get your bottled water ready and start scouring the newspaper for signs of the Anti-Christ. The tribulation is coming.

And frankly, there is no better person to kick off Apocalypse Watch than recent commenter Generation Church, who shares this sage advice.  

In the end, it doesn’t matter what any of us think, but what God thinks. Pretty soon you are going to see God moving throughout the world. There are going to be major earthquakes, volcanic activity, and catastrophic hurricanes. This is because we as people have tried to kill God, and follow our own lusts. I hope many of you are found not straddling a fence, but standing on the side of God.

My college roomate Peter has found Christ's Daughter.  Her name is Kathleen McGowan and she's writing a novel about her life.

Money Quote:

But when it comes to McGowan's claims about her own bloodline (which she mentions in the novel's afterword), the publisher is treading lightly, with no plans to promote the author's personal story.

"It's an interesting back story, but we're marketing this fabulous novel," says Trish Todd, editor in chief at Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster.

Todd says she has no problem believing McGowan's claim that she descends from a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. "Yes, I believe her. Her passion and her mission are so strong, how can she not be?"