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A La Carte (February 21)

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Smartphones Make You Tired – Take note! “For a productive day at work tomorrow, give the smartphone a rest tonight. Reading and sending work email on a smartphone late into the evening doesn’t just make it harder to get a decent night’s sleep. New research findings show it also exhausts workers by morning and leaves them disengaged by the next afternoon.” This Social Media Guard may prove helpful.

The Cult of the Visioneer – This is pretty common in the evangelical world today: “The process is simple. A church has a pastor. The pastor receives from God a specific vision and mission for his church. The church follows the visioneer.” (Here’s another Ref21 article on the same subject.)

Lecrae @ Huffington Post – The Huffington Post has a long profile of Christian rapper Lecrae.

Jamie Coots, 1971 – 2014 – You probably heard about the death of Jamie Coots, a third-generation signs-following pentecostal who handled venomous snakes in worship (and, not surprisingly, died after being bitten). Here’s a short film about his life and strange, strange ministry.

In Her Shoes – Here is some help in ministering to those who are grieving after losing a child.

A Family Mission Statement – I really like the idea behind this. I’m not sure that I’ve got the discipline to pull it off, though!

Pride

Pride is a sinner’s torment, but humility a saint’s ornament.

—William Secker

  • The Path to Contentment

    The Path to Contentment

    I wonder if you have ever considered that the solution to discontentment almost always seems to be more. If I only had more money I would be content. If I only had more followers, more possessions, more beauty, then at last I would consider myself successful. If only my house was bigger, my influence wider,…

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    A La Carte (April 22)

    A La Carte: Why my shepherd carries a rod / When Mandisa forgave Simon Cowell / An open mind is like an open mouth / Marriage: the half-time report / The church should mind its spiritual business / Kindle deals / and more.

  • It Begins and Ends with Speaking

    It Begins and Ends with Speaking

    Part of the joy of reading biography is having the opportunity to learn about a person who lived before us. An exceptional biography makes us feel as if we have actually come to know its subject, so that we rejoice in that person’s triumphs, grieve over his failures, and weep at his death.

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    Weekend A La Carte (April 20)

    A La Carte: Living counterculturally during election season / Borrowing a death / The many ministries of godly women / When we lose loved ones and have regrets / Ethnicity and race and the colorblindness question / The case for children’s worship services / and more.

  • The Anxious Generation

    The Great Rewiring of Childhood

    I know I’m getting old and all that, and I’m aware this means that I’ll be tempted to look unfavorably at people who are younger than myself. I know I’ll be tempted to consider what people were like when I was young and to stand in judgment of what people are like today. Yet even…

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    A La Carte (April 19)

    A La Carte: The gateway drug to post-Christian paganism / You and I probably would have been nazis / Be doers of my preference / God can work through anyone and everything / the Bible does not say God is trans / Kindle deals / and more.