VirtueOnline: BREAKING NEWS: THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION IS FINISHED

David Virtue is reporting THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION IS FINISHED.

Lycos News: AP: 'God' Apparently Responds to Lawsuit

Apparently God is defending Himself in court, filing a response to a lawsuit against Him that sought an injunction against Him for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants." Relief was sought by State Sen. Ernie Chambers, an agnostic. God responded that the court lacks jurisdiction and listed St. Michael the Archangel as a witness.

VirtueOnline - News - Exclusives - NIGERIA: Four New Suffragan Bishops for CANA

From VirtueOnline: "The House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) announced today that they will consecrate four new Suffragan bishops for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), a missionary initiative of the Church of Nigeria in the USA. They bishops elect are the Rev. Canon Roger Ames (Akron, OH), the Rev. Canon David Anderson (Atlanta, GA), the Ven. Amos Fagbamiye (Indianapolis, IN), and the Rev'd Canon Nathan Kanu (Oklahoma City, OK)." I've met Roger Ames, worshiping in his church once and on other occasions at HarvestNet events in the Cleveland area. He is the pastor of St. Lukes Anglican Church of Akron, OH and a very great guy. Check out their website just for the sheer entertainment value of the intro. I just love a solidly evangelical, charismatic, mission minded, Anglican church.

VirtueOnline: Vatican Representative Tones Down 'One True Church' Statement

The Vatican is sounding slightly conciliatory in their latest remarks.

Keacher.com � Blog Archive � Chocolate Zen

How pure is your chocolate? 85% 99? 11% Apparently it matters. Here's an article about pure chocolate. In my house chocolate is a food group. I've never had any 99% pure chocolate but would like to. Where am I going to find some in CNY, or for that matter in northern MN where I am right now. I need chocolate in a bad way right now. Feels like I need to post a personal ad on craigslist to see if I can score some chocolate.

Pollstar -- The Concert Hotwire

Some of you are putting together large evangelistic events or outreach events for your church and utilizing bands as the main attraction. I was alerted to a rescoure that will help you get an idea of what particular bands might draw for attendance if you hired them. Check out Pollstar. As I understand it, the magazine or web site provides you details of the band's most recent appearances with the size of the venue and how many were in attendance. In theory this would give you an idea of how that particular group might draw in your community. Obviously you need to take into consideration other factors such as population, free or ticketed and if ticketed, how much per.

My New Home

I am excited about my new home. I'll be living in the Village of Liverpool, NY sometime next month. Though I have downed graded my yard size by over an acre I bought a huge home: 2606 square feet. One needs that much space with 5 kids and nearly 30 computers.

Leif Horrell - COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - Christian / Rock / Acoustic

Also this weekend I got to see my friend Leif Horrell and his partner in crime Wade James. Leif was great like usual. He does "Come Home Running" better than Chris Tomlin. Leif is avialable for concerts or to lead worship for your special events and his music is available on iTunes & elsewhere. The CD's he brought this weekend sold out. He now has a following in northern MN.

Pat Boone & Thousand Foot Krutch

I have a confession to make. I just bought mp3's of Pat Boone & TFK from iTunes. How's that for a dichotomy? Saw them both in concert this weekend and was impressed. Pat Boone was great and the crowd loved him. When he was done with his show they burst into a standing ovation. Not only is he a great entertainer and a wonderful gentleman, he's a fantastic evangelist. Mr. Boone can preach. This was the first time we worked with him but we certainly hope it's not the last. Just for the record this weekend: Pat Boone and TFK drew crowds equal in size to Diamond Rio and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. All 3 bands and Mr. Boone were a pleasure to work with and generous with time and autographs for fans. Added to my playlist today: Wonderful Time Up There, Pat Boone What Do We Know, TFK Breath You In, TFK

A great festival

Sustaining Pastoral Excellence - Shooting the Rapids

Here is a great article about the life cycles of pastoral ministry. This is cutting edge research by the Evangelical Covenant Church leadership found through their Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program, funded by a grant from the Lily Foundation.

Very Big Week For Me

I'm in Hancock International Airport (SYR) in Syracuse, NY right now, getting ready to make my journey to northern MN. For the past year I've planned, worked hard and gone through airport hell repeatedly for this big event. Diamond Rio, Thousand Foot Krutch, Ricky Skaggs, the Power Team, Untitled Skateboards -- even Pat Boone -- will be there. All working for me. Bottom line: I hope to see several hundred or more people give their lives to Christ. I'll be gone for 12 days. This will be the longest I will have ever been away from my children and I'm not thrilled about that. I keep trying to look at it like a missions trip. Some how I feel better about it that way. Normally I'm a guy who can't go to Wal-Mart without calling home twice.

Adventures in Church Visiting

I've been in a variety of churches over the past month ... New Song Church in Grand Rapids, MN New Song is an Alliance church plant that is a couple years old. They meet in an airport lobby (it's a small unused terminal) on Sunday evenings. It was kind of fun to watch planes land and take off during the service. Word of Life in Baldwinsville, NY Last weekend my wife and daughter went to a wedding shower on Sunday morning, so the boys (my posse) and I attended the Word of Life's Family Island Festival at Paper Mill Island. They had an outdoor worship service and then a free hot dog lunch, blow-up games for kids, special music, and bike giveaways. It was a lot of fun -- they had cotton candy which generally equates with happiness for children. Liverpool Community Church in Liverpool, NY This week we decided to visit Liverpool Community Church which is pastored the Steve Macaluso, who was my Resident Dorm Director and Admissions Director my first year at my beloved Roberts Wesleyan College. LCC bought the old AV Zogg School in the Village of Liverpool. There was no one there today -- church campout so we were part of a couple dozen people. But we got reacquainted with some old friends and enjoyed a good sermon. Very impressive what they have done with the facility. LCC is a Free Methodist Church.

Marco's Blog: Google Earth Flight Simulator

Apparently Google Earth has a hidden easter egg: A Flight Simulator. Haven't tried it out yet myself but hope to soon.

Tithing

In a conversation with another clergy person this week, he told me that his denomination -- not local church -- takes his tithe (10%) right out of his paycheck like a deduction. Anything he would like to give to the church he pastors is above and beyond the 10% his denomination takes. That just struck me wrong in a number of ways. It takes away the opportunity to be obedient to God's calling to give. The tithe is just taken, demanded, and the opportunity for you to "give" is taken also. The other piece that bothered me is that it doesn't go to the local church. Maybe I'm extra-biblical in my beliefs on this but I really think people should give all their tithe to the local church and giving to other ministries should be above and beyond that. And just in case you were wondering, I forgot to ask whether it was off the gross or net but I'm guessing it's the former. What do you think?