American Idol: Over Half the Finalists are Christians (or have strong ties to the church)

This season's American Idol is shaping up to be a gospel music showdown.

MTV.com reports that:

"This season . . . Christians . . . are . . . watching because more than half of this year's crop of finalists — including Danny Gokey, Michael Sarver, Kris Allen, Scott MacIntyre, Matt Giraud and Lil Rounds — either have a strong affiliation with the church or are worship leaders in their communities."

And here's an interesting quote that begins the article:

'[This year's 'Idol'] shows that a Christian singer can have artistic integrity,'

Read the entire article here and come back and respond to these questions:

Understanding that we are called to come out and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17), is this a case of Christian sellouts trying to come as close as possible to the world (you know, the whole "friendship with the world = enmity with God" truth that James talks about)?

Or are they being providentially elevated to a position of incredible influence because of their faithfulness (like the Old Testament prophet Daniel)?

Ignatius! The future of youth ministry . . . or are we there already?

Many thanks to Todd Rhoades over at the Monday Morning Insight blog for this little gem.

Watch this hilarious mockumentary about a seriously pathetic youth-speaker-wannabe. There arent' really "ministers" like this out there . . . are there?


Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.

Though We May Be Small . . .

. . . we can accomplish much when we pull together.

Christians and Alcohol: The Age Old Debate Continues

ChristianityToday.com's Out of Ur blog has an interesting post that's sure to distill some controversy. Here's a sample:

"Some younger pastors in traditionally teetotalling denominations are beginning to view bans on alcohol use as out of date. Is their so-called liberty in Christ simply an excuse for bad behavior? Or are the old timers adding laws to the gospel?"

Read the rest of the article here, then come back and post your thoughts on this intoxicating subject (sorry about that).

Where's My Bailout? Great post on God, the Church, and the Economy

Perry Noble, senior pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C. , serves up some good advice for Christians in these troubled economic times. Listen to this:

"The reason our country's in such bad financial shape is we let our need for greed consume us . . . When the stock market started going down, your god died and you don't see him resurrecting any time soon," Noble noted. "You think the economy has a hold on you when you don't understand that God actually has a hold on the economy."

Strong words; good preaching. Read more here.

Helping Churches Make Difficult Financial Decisions

Pastor Mark Driscoll has offered up 3 Principles to Guide Financial Decision-Making for churches facing a serious budget crunch.

The three principles are:

• Spending - Spend money on those things that grow the ministry and not simply on those things that make it easier on your staff.


• Pruning - Without pruning, a ministry is wasting energy, time, resources, and leaders on proverbial branches that are no longer bearing lots of good fruit . . . most—if not all—leaders know what needs to be cut. But they fail to act with courage because they anticipate fallout, people leaving, and hurt feelings. Sometimes God uses hard times to compel his leaders to make the decisions they need to make, and this is one of those times.


• Core - Don’t make cuts on your core essential ministries but rather on your secondary and auxiliary ministries.
  

Read the full post here.

John Maxwell Arrested on Weapons Charges. What??!!??

Yeah, you read it right. Leadership guru and Christian speaker John Maxwell was arrested for carrying a weapon hidden in his luggage into an airport. Sounds crazy, but you can read his own words about the incident in his blog by clicking here. It's not as diabolocal as it sounds . . .

Frankly, I think it's refreshing to see a leader taking responsibility for his actions. In the past, we've seen politicians, sports figures, and religious leaders engage in elaborate cover ups - here we have a leader exhibiting the true marks of leadership.