Controversy of the week: a high school teacher speaks out about Bush. I believe in free speech, but I believe in intelligent conversation. And what many think is free speech is simply opinionating an ideology. What teachers like this need to be doing is not bashing Bush with slogan-like lines but instead to discuss why it is that Kansas is red, or put differently, why so many vote for what Bush stands for. It is far too simple to bash leaders, to blame it on a person, and to reduce the complexities of the discussion to simple ideological slogans and bite-sized lines. Education like the provokes reaction and resentment, which comes out in other ways.
1. Christian Cryder responds to my “Why I am not an emergent youth minister” with a wonderful post about his own journey in and out of ministry.
2. I regularly clean up my Sidebar and sometimes I eliminate blogs I haven’t visited in a while — just an effort to be tidy. Well, I knocked off Alan Hartung’s blog some time ago and have put it back up. Check this one on Attack Mode. I did an interview with Alan — on iChat: a first for me. He and Kris had to explain to me that the computer is also a telephone.
3. Weekly wisdom from Jim Martin’s blog: on time. I, too, have years in my life I don’t recall much about.
4. Online encyclopedias are, like the views of many politicians, always shifting, but Theopedia’s piece on the New Perspective on Paul provides some good stuff. (HT: Jordan Barrett)
5. Blind Beggar’s Ten Distinctives of postmodern ministry.
6. This one shocked me. What, Barry on ‘roids? Say it ain’t so! How can this be news?
7. The ultimate complication in the ordination process: Vaughn Treco (former student).
Many of us are interested in what Brian McLaren might be saying in his new book, and John Frye has a nice synopsis and review. I’m waiting for a copy myself.