Here’s an article about our brothers and sisters in China. A sample:

Rev. Jin Mingri peered out from the pulpit and delivered an unusual appeal: “Please leave,” the 39-year-old pastor commanded his followers, who were packed, standing-room-only on a Sunday afternoon, into a converted office space in China’s capital. “We don’t have enough seats for the others who want to come, so, please, only stay for one service a day.”

A choir in hot-pink robes stood to his left, beside a guitarist and a drum set bristling with cymbals. Children in a playroom beside the sanctuary punctuated the service with squeals and tantrums. It was a busy day at a church that, on paper, does not exist.

what happens when your poster boys for truth, doctrine and all that is good in the world begin to live a purpose driven life? Well, you have “no choice but to issue this warning to the body of Christ” [link added] Looks like Greg Laurie is joining forces with Rick Warren, and the ODMs are not too happy. This is one crazy case of guilt by association.

story submitted on our submissions page by Richard Abanes

I couldn’t begin to count how many times it’s happened.  I’ve been discussing a certain issue with someone, and eventually to prove his point, the phrase “well this is what the Bible says” comes up – usually followed by a long, poorly edited, copied and pasted passage from BibleGateway.com.  In the person’s mind this passage is the end of the argument, the last hurrah, the final amen.  It is the trump card of debate, and the checkmate of discussion.  The howitzer of the Bible has been pointed squarely at me, and I am a casualty of theological disagreement.

I’ve often wondered where the practice of referring to the Bible as a weapon came from.  I remember in Children’s Church when we have “sword drills“.  The teacher would open her Bible, pick a verse at random, and the student who found the verse in the least amount of time won.  Not to boast or anything, but I remember winning more than my fair share of these battles.  Perhaps growing up in a pastor’s house where I was surrounded by Bibles had given me some sort of innate ability to thumb through the pages of Scripture quickly…

Read the rest of this entry »