Just a heads up, the Albert Mohler radio program today features a conversation that Lisa Anderson and I pre-recorded with Dr. Mohler last week about how singles can prepare for marriage.
If you haven't been routinely listening to the Albert Mohler program, today's show would provide a great sampling of this outstanding broadcast. Few theologians are as intentionally engaged in cultural headlines and trends as Dr. Mohler (especially in so many different media outlets) and more importantly, few cultural commentators offer solid Biblical analysis as consistently as Dr. Mohler does.
If you visit the Website for the program, you can get details on catching the show live, via podcast or on a station in your area. You can also sign up for Dr. Mohler's daily link list--an email update of news headlines that I've found to be one of the best aggregators of news that's essential to people of faith.
I should probably go ahead and confess to Boundless readers who are big Lisa Anderson fans (and you know who you are) that Lisa doesn't get a whole lot of air time during the first two segments. Unfortunately, the "going to break" music chimes in just as Lisa starts to answer questions during those segments. But she finally gets to open up with some classic Lisa insights in the final segment--so stick with it.
Check it out and come back and join the conversation here about the issues raised on the show. In the meantime, don't miss today's article by Dr. Mohler, "The Marks of Manhood" (as well as the article we featured last week: "The Seduction of Pornography.")
So every Thursday I send out the weekly Boundless e-newsletter. Along with a review of the latest articles, blogs, podcast and other stuff, I write an engaging editorial.
This week I thought it'd be fun to give a shout-out to our Facebook fans. So that's exactly what I'm going to do -- simply "fan" us over on Facebook, and leave a comment letting me know that you want a personal mention in today's e-newsletter, and if you get in before I finish writing it, you'll be in it.
Good times. Good community. Good grief. That's Boundless.
Catalyst 2009! by Lisa Anderson on 10/02/2009 at 10:41 AM
I know I haven't blogged in FOR-EVAH, but here I am. It's been a crazy couple of months here at work and beyond, and in between launching new Focus initiatives, dealing with a staff reduction, serving on a church plant committee, and choosing a new hair color, I've been busy.
But listen up. I'm going to Catalyst next week in Atlanta! I'll be manning the Boundless booth, handing out Guy's and Girl'sGuides, and chatting with anyone willing to stop by and say hello. Please come by and introduce yourself if you'll be there!
While in Atlanta, I'll be staying with my dear and hilarious college friend, Krista, who is also attending the conference. She and I shared a bed in the Bahamas once. She also made me jump from her couch to her kitchen floor so I wouldn't mess up the vacuum lines on her carpet. Truth. After the conference, I'll be chillin' for a couple days with my sister Sara and her family. Sara is the one who once referred to my singles group as my "youth group." I'll be giving her a whole Boundless education during my visit, don't worry.
For those of you going to Catalyst, who are you most excited to see (besides me, of course), and what speakers are you looking forward to hearing? And for those of you who have gone before, what should I expect? What are "don't miss" opportunities? And do any of you have good connections or recommendations for folks I should interview while there? As we all know, a Lisa A interview is not for the faint of heart. Not sure Andy Stanley can handle me. But I'm open to suggestions...
We're excited to announce the premiere of our new movie review for young adults called Reel Discernment featuring Plugged In's Bob Waliszewski and Cheryl Wilhelmi. Each week Bob and Cheryl will give us a quick look into what we can expect from the new releases. Here is this week's description:
Focus on the Family founder and chairman emeritus James C. Dobson, Ph.D., issued the following statement Sunday on the slaying of late-term abortionist George Tiller:
"We are shocked by the murder of George Tiller, and we categorically condemn the act of vigilantism and violence that took his life. America has from its foundation respected the rule of law, by which every citizen is guaranteed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those constitutional rights are forfeited only when crimes have been committed, and the perpetrator is charged and found guilty by a jury of his or her peers in a court of law.
"Tiller recently faced serious charges related to the killing of babies in violation of the law, by the most grotesque procedures administered without anesthetics or compassion. We profoundly regretted the outcome of his legal case, believing the doctor had the blood of countless babies on his hands. Nevertheless, he was acquitted by the court and declared 'not guilty' in the eyes of the law. That is our system, and we honor it.
"Our condolences are extended to the Tiller family. The person or persons responsible for his death should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Here's a sneak peak at the pilot of our new movie review video featuring Plugged In Online's Bob Waliszewski. We'll change the background and add movie clips for the final. Some of Bob's rating terminology will change too, but this will give you a good feel for what it could be.
Also, we've put up a new poll on the Boundless homepage so you can cast your vote between "The Big Picture" and "Reel Discernment," which was a write-in that seemed to gain some momentum.
They have recently introduced a bug that disallows you from using any HTML in your comments. I've submitted a bug report, and am hoping they fix this error ASAP.
I'll hold my tongue on what I think of their developers, and their policy of using paying customers as their beta testers. Hmf.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Hope to see it fixed shortly.
There's a lot to like about the conference formerly known as New Attitude, now going by the short, Twitter-friendly moniker Next. Engaging speakers who'll be right there, in the flesh: Joshua Harris, D.A. Carson, Kevin DeYoung, C.J. Mahaney, Sinclair Ferguson. Some great bands (who've been featured on our podcast) to facilitate worship. Boundless contributors Carolyn McCulley and Tim Sweetman and Ricky Alcantar and Bob Kauflin and maybe Stephen Altrogge and maybe others will be there. There'll be time to chill with old friends, and new ones. And who can forget the famous Baltimore clam chowder? Not me.
But perhaps most exciting is this: Boundless will be there. OK, it's just my wife and me sitting at a folding table alongside a few other ministries in the ad hoc bookstore. But what's really exciting is that we'll have 500 copies of our new Guy's Guide to Marrying Well mini-book.
Yeah. Not just a virtual PDF or Flash file. The real deal with real paper held together with perfect binding. Yeah, that's sweet.
We'll also have some info on how you can pick up additional copies, as well as on our forthcoming Girl's Guide to Marrying Well. Or maybe I'll just have a sign-up sheet on which you can write your name and e-mail address and I'll get you the info once we get it.
If you're going to be at Next this weekend, please stop by, say hi and pick up a copy. I'm planning to take and share some video from the conference, so if you want to be famous, that's another reason to stop by. I don't think we'll have any chocolate this year, so don't stop by for that.
Check out the video below of us opening a box of mini-books:
We had 123 entries for the Drive Thru History giveaway contest. Whew! That was a lot of reading. I felt like I was actually in history class. Some of our contestants really poured their hearts out, other really poured it on and then there were some that just didn't get it. (They thought the contest was a random drawing so their entries just read "Thanks!" which didn't get them a Drive Thru History set but it sure did make me laugh.)
Thanks for all the entries. It was a pleasure to read about your experiences. Unfortunately I could only pick five of you. And here they are: Elaine, Liz, Tami, Jon Coffman, and Joy in Chicago. Congratulations!
Elaine (4):
Modern history came alive to me while talking to my grandparents about growing up during the Great Depression and their early marriage during WWII. Both are fantastic story tellers and remember so much.
Ancient history came alive to me when I had to teach it to my sixth grade class. One of my students had Drive Thru History and my husband and I watched it to research the ancient world. I had never made connections between cities and events and the Bible.
I would love to have a set for to leave for the school because this is my last year to teach. We've start our family and the baby's due Sunday.
Liz (10):
I went on a mission trip to Poland my senior year of high school. While our group was there, we had the sober opportunity to visit Auschwitz, one of the main concentration camps used during the Holocaust.
I will never forget looking at the incinerators, the thousands of pairs of reading glasses left behind, the tiny children's shoes that were taken, and the locks of shaven hair, realizing that the Holocaust was indeed, a real event. Thousands of children were torn from their families, only to die in loneliness and fear because of their lineage. That single trip to Auschwitz was life changing for me, as I recognized the horrific lengths that sin can lead an individual to follow. I was also reminded, to an even greater degree, of the value of each and every human life, created in the image of God.
As I walked through the halls and across the grounds of that concentration camp over ten years ago, I realized that the Holocaust was not just some story written for a moral lesson or education. The torture in that camp was real, and the responsibility of Christians to protect human life is mandated. Reflecting upon the needless death of so many men, women and children, history made itself very much alive that day at Auschwitz — and left me with a memory that I hope never fades.
Tami (15):
I grew up visiting historic sites all over the United States — native sites in Arizona, California Missions, the Hoover Dam, Mount Vernon, Cape Canaveral, West Point, houses owned by the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts ... the list goes on. I read many, many a plaque and roadway marker. (And judging by old family stories, I think that might have been how I *learned* to read!). I'm also certain that this awareness of history prompted me to become a history major in college.
It was then that a book brought history to life for me, in a unique and very memorable way. That book: The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.
My church situation, growing up, was dry. The church was focused on "bigger, better, newer," yet there wasn't much sense of God's presence and transforming power. As I got older, I sensed there was much more to the Christian life, and I yearned for unity and deeper community. As a junior in college, I took a course in the history of Christianity, and a Kempis' book was on the reading list. I had never read anything like it; a Kempis wrote of sincere devotion to the Lord, keeping near to Him, and weighing one's own thoughts, attitudes, and actions carefully. My eyes were thus opened to those who lived in Christ before me, and I came to recognize that I had spiritual "brothers and sisters". Through this experience, my desire to read the Bible devotionally increased, and I also got a better sense of the community of saints throughout time. So you could say, in a sense, pre-Reformation writings were the catalyst for my own personal reformation!
Jon Coffman (59):
History bored me in high school. It was dry. I discovered Steven Ambrose and his books (like Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers, and the like) that I really began to enjoy reading history (or listening to it on books on tape). So much history, and it seemed so boring in high school! But with story tellers like Ambrose, David McCullough (wrote John Adams and 1776), Kenneth Davis (Don't know much about history), history came alive. History is story telling, and there are some great stories out there.
Joy in Chicago (121):
As an Orlando native, I had a keen sense of the fantastical but not necessarily the historic. Hundreds of visits to Disney World had armed me with a wonderful imagination, yet I struggled to view history as more than mere stories and legends. In particular, I struggled to understand how the Bible related to the rest of world history, which was extremely frustrating to me as this was the very history God wanted us to understand!
In summer 2006, I spent 5 life-changing weeks on an archaeological dig and tour of Israel. There were so many incredible moments: standing on the shore of Galilee where Jesus called his disciples, hiking through Ein Gedi where David hid from Saul, passing by the same gate in Dan that Abraham passed on his way from Ur, praying at the Wailing Wall, walking through the field where David fought Goliath, standing in the tomb where Jesus' body was laid, looking at Peter's house in Capernaum, walking past the steps of the Second Temple where Jesus overturned the moneychangers' tables, and countless others. How incredible it is to be able to read the Bible now and say, "I've been there!"
But nothing brought history alive to me like digging at Tel-Gezer, one of King Solomon's cities. I literally got to brush away the sands of time and unearth the past. Although it was thrilling to hear the archaeologists discuss the origins of the pottery and other relics we found, nothing compared to when I personally discovered a 3000-year-old chalice while digging in the temple area! There I was, after 5 weeks of seeing some of the most important sites in history, holding a chalice from the time of King David that I had discovered on my own — not in some museum, but with a pick ax! That find landed me on the front cover of the January/February issue of Biblical Archaeology Review magazine, making me a part of history!
Boundless needs your help deciding on a name for our new movie review video featuring Plugged In Online's Bob Waliszewski. Each week Bob and host will share Plugged In's unique perspective on the good and bad that's coming out of Hollywood. The two names we've landed on for the feature are "The Big Picture" and "Reel Wise."
Or if you can come up with a better name, submit a write-in and become eligible to win an audio CD set of Focus on the Family's radio theater production of The Chronicles of Narnia (a retail value of $99.99).
[Editor's note: This is *not* a "game of chance," and there is no "luck" involved. We've received some submissions that are just a few words long, and that imply that we'll be drawing names out of a hat. We won't. We are reading every comment, and will select the ones that meet our requirements and that most resonate with us. Just trying to help clarify. :-) -- Ted.]
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I hope ya'll enjoyed Dave Stott's interview on last week's episode of the podcast. If his Drive Thru History series piqued your interest, we've got good news: Boundless is giving away five 2-DVD sets of the show.
This is a great educational resource and it's just plain fun. You can check out a 4-minute trailer over on Tangle.
To enter our giveaway, leave a comment below telling us what brought history alive for you. Was it a high school teacher, college professor, book you read, historical site you visited on vacation with your crazy uncle Larry?
On Friday, May 8 we'll select the five entries that piqued our interest, and feature those winners in a blog post. That means you'll need to write and submit your comment by midnight on May 7 (Mountain Standard Time). Five of you will not only get to enjoy your own Drive Thru History, you'll also get some of the Boundless spotlight. Will you be among the Chosen Five?
Sadly, for logistical reasons, and not because of any antipathy toward those who live outside the United States, you'll have to be "residing in the U.S., its territories and possessions." Apologies to our international readers. For more riveting legalese, read our Contest Rules and Regulations.
The National Day of Prayer has partnered with tangle.com to create the Freedom Video Contest! One lucky contestant will win a trip for two Washington D.C., where they will experience the historic National Day of Prayer festivities in person alongside Dr. James and Shirley Dobson and Beth Moore!
All you have to do to be the lucky winner is enter a video explaining the importance of prayer in your life:
Create a video expressing the importance of prayer in your life. This is your opportunity to tell the world about the freedoms we enjoy in the United States of America and what they truly mean to you as they relate to prayer for our loved ones, our leaders, our nation and our world. Take advantage of this platform as you express your passion for and the power of prayer.
In this tangle video Michael W. Smith talks about his heart for National Day of Prayer and tells you a little more about the Freedom Video Contest. You can hear more from Michael on the Boundless Show this week. He will be joining us to talk about his most recent album A New Hallelujah.
Focus on the Family founder Dr. James C. Dobson, Ph.D., announced that he is stepping down as board chairman, effective immediately. From the Focus press office,
The board of directors issued this statement: "One of Dr. Dobson's objectives during the last decade has been to help identify the next generation of leadership for the ministry, and to see it established securely before he stepped away from administrative oversight. That purpose has now been fulfilled, and we applaud Dr. Dobson for this concern for the future of the ministry."
Dr. Dobson's other responsibilities at the ministry will not change significantly. He will continue the "Focus on the Family" radio broadcast, and handle other duties as in the past. He will also continue to write the newsletter, sent to 1.6 million people per month. He and Mrs. Dobson are anxious to devote themselves to the joys of grandparenting.
"One of the common errors of founder-presidents," Dr. Dobson said, "is to hold to the reins of leadership too long, thereby preventing the next generation from being prepared for executive authority. I have wanted not to make that mistake with Focus on the Family, which is why I stepped back, first from the presidential duties six years ago, and now, from board chairmanship. Though letting go is difficult after three decades of intensive labor, it is the wise thing to do."
Focus on the Family board member Dr. Albert Mohler, addressing 1,000 Focus employees and visitors on the Focus campus, said we're now riding a tsunami that began 32 years earlier with just Dr. Dobson and his wife Shirley. I feel it very personally. My job, God's provision for my family this moment, is inextricably linked to Dr. Dobson's faithfulness to God, talents, and hard work.
And those of you reading this blog, blessed by the ministry of Boundless, are riding the same tsunami. Lord willing, you will be the beneficiaries of the next generation of leadership Dr. Dobson has taken great care to identify for Focus on the Family.
On Monday, February 9 the Daily Broadcast will be airing a topic that I think will be particularly interesting to the Boundless audience: The Search for a Godly Spouse. Pastor Alistair Begg will be joining Dr. Dobson and John Fuller to talk about important characteristics to look for in a future spouse. The second part of their discussion will be aired on Tuesday, February 10 followed by a special opportunity to dialog with the Boundless team about relationships.
Please join us in the Search for a Godly Spouse Forum at 4-6pm (EST) for this unique opportunity. You can register for the forum today so you'll be all set to go.
Have a good weekend friends and I'll look forward to seeing you in forum on Tuesday!
Okay, I realize this isn't going to be relevant for a lot of you, but I suspect many Boundless readers might be interested in a marriage event Focus on the Family is hosting at the end of this month. "Focus on Marriage" is scheduled for February 28th as a satellite simulcast with an estimated reach of 50,000. It will feature Gary Thomas, Beth Moore, Del Tackett, Gary Smalley, John Trent and Jeremy Camp. The emphasis of this conference is on seeing marriage through God's eyes. To that end, the event is going to have little in the way of tips and techniques and a lot in the way of developing a higher view of marriage.
Whether you're single (I'm always impressed when singles make it a point to attend a marriage conference) dating, engaged or married, I hope you'll consider participating in this unique marriage conference. You can find out more at www.FocusonMarriage.com.
Anyone wondering what's up with Motte and Beth in Ethiopia? Motte had every intention of blogging from Africa on his new iPhone; he even suggested he might call during the podcast recording. Unfortunately the only way they've been able to send updates has been through Facebook. But in light of recent developments, I just had to blog on their behalf and ask for your prayers.
Motte said he was prepared for pain. And from the looks of things, he's right smack dab in the midst of it. And they haven't even begun the long flight home. Some of the things he and his wife have endured:
Missing bags, the ones with the baby stuff and formula;
Barking dogs that kept them awake when it was finally time to sleep;
Showers that didn't work;
E-mails that wouldn't send;
Phones that wouldn't connect;
Now comes a new challenge. One of the twins is really sick with a high fever and pneumonia (and the other baby appears to be coming down with something). The challenge is lack of adequate medical care and the possibility that the airline won't let her fly Friday when they're all supposed to head home.
Please pray for healing for the twins, especially Olivia, as well as for grace and physical stamina and strength and wisdom for Motte and Beth. They really need our prayer support over the next 24 hours! This is a God-sized opportunity.
Thank you, faithful readers. And pray-ers.
Between the time I started writing this post and now, there's been an encouraging update: Olivia's fever broke and all had a good night's sleep. Praise the Lord. They are planning to fly home Friday. Please pray them home safe and sound.
I'm finishing off The Boundies with the top podcasts of 2008 based on number of downloads. Since the number of downloads is cumulative, I'm dividing the year between The Boundless Shows released before and after July 10th. Which should provide us a more accurate ranking of popularity.
I wasn't surprised to see the relationship themed shows do well. But I was surprised at the popularity of the career and community themed shows. This sort of data definitely helps as we plan our topics for 2009.
A final word about the podcast. Look for some changes this year. Candice Watters has begged off the Roundtable because of her increasing responsibilities at home. But she'll still be answering questions for the Inbox. Suzanne Hadley will be stepping in to add her voice to the Roundtable.
And we'll be giving away those awesome Boundless T-Shirts on just about every episode. Of course that depends on you. We'll let you know the details in next weeks show.
Yesterday, I chronicled the blog posts that generated the most views and comments for 2008. Today, I'll expand to The Boundies to the Webzine and give you two top ten lists of most viewed Boundless articles and answers for the year. (I decided to separate the Boundless Answers column because it really is a different animal from the regular narrative form featured on Boundless.)
A couple of things. The Shack was big topic in 2008, both here and on the Webzine. So were topics about relationships (surprise!), particularly issues of settling and initiation. But I get the feeling we'll be seeing a little more variety in the top ten for 2009 with the return of J. Budziszewski's Office Hours.
Be sure and check these out if you haven't already. And check back Thursday when I'll have the top ten Boundless podcasts for 2008.
Consider this the first installment of The Boundless Blog Awards or "The Boundies", a collection of the most viewed and commented on blog posts from the previous year. Now this doesn't mean these were the best posts (despite this post's title), merely the posts with the most pageviews and comments. There have been many great posts that can't compete with the more controversial ones in quantifiable measurements.
So without further ado, we'll begin with the posts that generated the most pageviews and comments for the year of 2008. The winners are:
January "The 'I Just Haven't Found the Right One' Trump Card" by Motte Brown -- 4,066 Pageviews "The 'I Just Haven't Found the Right One' Trump Card" by Motte Brown -- 179 Comments
Like I said, these are the posts that generated the most views and comments, not necessarily the best. It's just the easiest way to rank them.
Which is why I'd like to hear from you, our readers. Which Boundless blog post(s) would you characterize as "Best Of" for 2008 based on more subjective criteria like most impact or most controversial or best written?
Congratulations composer girl! With your comment of "Ted (#57): Good." you are our 50,000th commenter! And you've won a free Boundless T-Shirt! Look for an e-mail from me soon.
Thanks for playing everybody. That was fun. We should give away Tees more often ... especially since we still have bunches in inventory. *sigh*
Today, we'll celebrate a small milestone on the Boundless blog *drum roll please* the 50,000th comment. And as a way of saying thanks to you, our commenters, we're giving away a Boundless T-Shirt to the person who submits comment number 50,000 (we're around 49,900 right now).
Here's what you need to know:
You can comment on any blog post, no matter how old
You can submit as many comments as you like, just make it relevant to the original post
Be sure and include your real email address so we can contact you for your mailing address and shirt size
Merry Christmas to all of our readers and commenters. Thanks for contributing to the conversation and helping make this blog a thriving online community.
Last week, I invited our readers to sign up for our interest list to receive the Boundless Magazine we're proposing. We received over a hundred responses from that little blurb. Thanks.
This week, I'm including a pdf of the first nine pages of the prototype we'll be debuting at New Attitude next week. It includes the cover, title page, introduction from Steve Watters, and an article from Boundless contributor Rachel Starr Thomson titled, "For Such a Girl as I."
Enjoy.
Oh, and be sure to sign up for our interest list if you haven't already. Your support is needed.
New Attitude by Motte Brown on 05/12/2008 at 8:18 PM
It's that time of year again. You know, when we make our annual trek to Louisville, KY for the New Attitude conference. I always look forward to the worship, teaching, and fellowship. So edifying.
This year The Boundless Show host Lisa Anderson will be with me. She'll help out with the booth and take the lead on the interviews we've scheduled with Josh Harris, Mark Dever and Albert Mohler. I'm sorry to report, though, that John Piper gave us the big dis (not really) when we requested an interview -- something about going on hiatus from interviews because of a book he's writing.
Oh, and we'll be debuting the Boundless Magazine. It's a prototype of what we hope will become a regular quarterly print publication with all exclusive content. Be one of the first to receive it by signing-up on our interest list. Much more on this later.
As for the prototype, it's got all exclusive content too and we're hoping to have our PDF version available soon. But if you want a hard copy, you'll just have to come to Louisville and drop by our booth at New Attitude.
Did you know that today is Patriot's Day? I didn't.
It's observed in only Massachusetts and Maine but every third Monday in April marks the 'shot heard round the world,' Patriots Day. Here's an excerpt from Jules Crittenden of the Boston Herald commemorating the event:
Patriots Day may be the least known American holiday, and the day most deserving of our recognition. Observed in Massachusetts and Maine only. Don't know it? It marks the day, April 19, 1775, on which Americans took up arms against their king, and bled, at the crack of terrible dawn.
Crittenden posts written accounts from the eyewitnesses of the brief skirmish that started the Revolutionary War. Paul Revere's account of his famous midnight ride to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams is fascinating.
At the request of MarkB, I've configured the blog so that each comment is numbered. That way you can easily reference an earlier comment: "In comment #109, BDB said...." Those of you who know HTML can link to those specific comments by pointing to the URL you get when you click on a comment number.
Here's the thing: I've included the comment number in two places: a small number to the left of your name in the gray bar above each comment and a large number to the right of each comment. If you don't see that large number, "refresh" this page. It'll then show up. If it still doesn't show up, go here and refresh that page until you see ".comment-number" at the bottom of that page.
Here's the question for you: Do you prefer the small number or the large number? Can you suggest a tweak that'd make your preference look even cooler? Is there anything else you'd like us to do to improve your experience on The Line? Am I trying to be too much of a people-pleaser? (Thanks, Carrie, for pointing out the typo 'd made in that previous sentence.)
All you Boundless aficionados may have noticed the change to the homepage this week. It's something we've been working on for a while to feature a new article each day and position the blog more prominently on the homepage. It's our way of giving you what you want, when you want it ... every day.
We also think it'll give our readers a chance to delve more deeply into the content, instead of having to choose between three on Thursday if your capacity is tight.
Ted is planning to make an official announcement this week in his e-newsletter. And next week, he'll be sending our subscribers a daily announcement to familiarize them with the new daily publishing schedule. (If you haven't already, please consider subscribing to the Boundless e-newsletter. Each week Ted gives you an interesting perspective on the articles and a touch of insider information you won't want to miss.)
And if you have a mind to, please give us your feedback here to let us know what you think of the new Boundless.
The Line is hosted by TypePad. For the most part we're very happy with their service.
They've recently reconfigured our comment spam filter, however, and it's wrongly stopping a lot of legitimate comments. Hmf.
I've submitted a help ticket with them, and am awaiting their reply. Thanks for being patient as we work our way through this problem. Please know that we don't consider you to be spammers.
Al Mohler: "We are here [in Las Vegas] because we believe the Lord would hold us accountable for this new media opportunity.... We're in this place of deception to communicate the truth."
Dr. Mohler is encouraging us not to be like Calvin Coolidge, but to be engaged communicators. We have a responsibility to be stewards of the gospel.
9:40 a.m.
Genesis 3 explains why we have difficulty communicating with each other. "Propaganda is explained by Genesis 3. Slander is explained by Genesis 3."
"God forfeited His personal privacy" for the sake of His creatures.
9:45 a.m.
He Is There and He Is Not Silent -- the book by Francis Schaeffer that affected Dr. Mohler when he was 15 years old.
9:55 a.m.
Mohler is explaining that communicating has been part of the Christian tradition since its foundation. He referenced St. Francis of Assisi, who said, “Preach the gospel; sometimes use words." But the truth is that communicating through words -- books and such -- are a key aspect of communicating the gospel.
9:58 a.m.
The thought just went through my head that Tim Challies should be here. He's a vastly better blogger than I am. He'd do Dr. Mohler's talk justice. Hmf.
Hang in there -- I'm doing my best to help you feel like you're here. :-)
Essentially Dr. Mohler is providing us a history of communication through to today, taking a few rabit trails along the way to show how Christendom has exploited media.
Looks like Amy from over at The A-Team Blog is liveblogging as well.
10:30 a.m.
"Anonymous blogs are a scandal," according to Dr. Mohler. Some advertisers, he points out, require a blog to have a physical address, to enforce accountability.
Dr. Mohler is encouraging us not to leave snarky posts and comments, but to write thoughtfully. To make a "serious argument." Rigorous intellectual thought.
As you've likely picked up, a contingent from Boundless and Focus on the Family is attending this year's Godblog Converence. Over the next day or two, you may hear from bloggers you're unfamiliar with: Lisa, Monica and Jeff (as well as Steve, Motte and myself).
We're happy to share our experiences with you in as "real time" as possible. I think that'll give you a heightened sense of the events on the ground, and help you feel part of this gathering of new media-aware Christians.
So ... enjoy!
(BTW, I'm typing this in a room of some 80 other Christian bloggers. I just finished chatting with my friend Joe Carter. On the stage in front of me are Al Mohler, John Mark Reynolds and conference coordinator Dustin Steeve. Beside me are bloggers from around the country, intent on honoring the Lord with their crafty communication.)
We're having some issues sending out this week's Boundless e-newsletter, so let me just go ahead and publish it here. Enjoy!
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After weeks of rehearsals, my church's series of Easter services was finally upon us. I was looking forward to the second song in particular, when dozens of children would storm down the aisles and join in the singing.
It was months later that I realized that a new friend of mine, Glenn Packiam, had a hand in writing that stirring, lyrically-rich song, "My Savior Lives." Since then, I've seen his name at the top of other song sheets in the worship band's repertoire. This is a humble man with a heart for God, a heart for engaging Him and inviting others to do the same.
It was around that time that the Boundless team met with leaders of the young adults ministry at New Life Church here in Colorado Springs. That's how I met Glenn. Over the months we chatted about what young adults find relevant and challenging, and I asked him if he'd write a few articles for Boundless. I'm happy that he agreed to my request.
I have to say that this first article of his, "Change is Local," isn't actually something he wrote specifically for Boundless, but is an excerpt from his recently-published book, Butterfly in Brazil: How Your Life Can Make a World of Difference. In this article Glenn challenges us to question our big dreams, to consider rather the humble act of simple obedience and sharing with those around us what Christ has done in our lives. And if God wants to move us to a position of prominence, say as a nationally-recognized songwriter, He'll do that in His own good time.
Candice Watters wrote this week's second article, "Crash and Burn." It's about a long distance relationship that takes a turn for the worse ... and then the car they're in gets totaled. What's the "burn" in the title all about? Well, that's what happens to their affections for each other as a result. If you're in a long distance relationship, one where you mainly communicate online, you should check out this article.
Our final article is brought to us by Carolyn McCulley. "With Those Who Rejoice" challenges us to resist the urge to grumble and be discontent when good things happen to our friends, things that we've been praying would happen to us. If you've been single for a while, and have friends who have gotten engaged or married, you know what I'm talking about. The thing is, Scripture instructs us to "rejoice with those who rejoice." And though we may not feel like doing so, the rewards for doing so make the efforts for having done so worth it.
A few weeks ago we received an email from Focus's Editorial Director of Youth Outreach, Tom Neven, expressing interest in guest blogging for The Line. We thought, Wow. Tom Neven, an author oftwo books who's written for The Washington Post, Time-Life and many other publications wants to blog for Boundless. That seriously upgrades our talent!
Needless to say we were thrilled with his proposal and would like to welcome him as our new guest blogger.
Here is Focus on the Family's press release regarding the passing of Dr. D. James Kennedy:
Focus on the Family founder and Chairman James C. Dobson, Ph.D., issued the following statement today upon learning of the death of Dr. D. James Kennedy:
"The Church has lost one of its truly significant figures, and American families have lost one of their most passionate, effective defenders. For decades, Dr. Kennedy has been a passionate defender of biblical truth in a culture that increasingly forgot it. He was a giant in the battle to restore traditional values in our nation."
"Most importantly, I believe, Dr. Kennedy would want to be remembered as a man whose greatest desire was to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Believers around the world are indebted to him for holding firm to that important calling."
Right around this time last year, I posted "The Boundless Backstory" and kicked off The Boundless Line.
Here's an excerpt:
The articles we post each week never quite tell the whole story. Often it's in the email banter our articles kick off that things really get interesting. Other times it's in our weekly team meetings that our best stuff surfaces. Some days a hot issue dominates the news and we want to hit it from a Boundless perspective, but we know we won't be able to turn around a formal article while it's still fresh. We've always wanted to share more of this backstory with our readers and it's our hope that this can be the place for that. ...
Ultimately, we want this space to be more than just a hardcore fan area. We don't want to just add more words to the blogosphere. Instead, we hope to build with you a community of believers who care passionately about how faith in a boundless God intersects with this boundless season of our lives and that as a result our lives will bring Him glory.
Over this past year, we've realized that maintaining a blog can be a lot of work -- especially "feeding the beast" of regular content (we've now produced 855 posts) and going through the process of releasing lots of comments (14,666 and counting) -- especially the ones that take us to task. But we've also found that it's worth the headaches. We love the discipline of producing frequent posts, the vulnerability of submitting our thoughts up for your consideration and most importantly the relationships we feel growing deeper within the Boundless community.
To celebrate our one-year anniversary, we're going to dig up some of our favorite posts from the time before we hosted comments and give you a chance to join the conversation. Watch for those over the course of this week.
The Bloggers Choice Awards works like the Peoples Choice Awards or the All-Star Game, meaning it's up to the people! The rules are pretty simple. You sign-up, nominate and vote for any and as many blogs as you want. And nominees such as the Boundless Line are encouraged to solicit votes.
And thanks to all the Boundless Line contributors, readers and comment contributors. Recognition or no recognition, I think we've succeeded in building "a community of believers who care passionately about how faith in a boundless God intersects with this boundless season of our lives."
I was on vacation last week when it happened but I wanted to mark the passing of Dr. Harold O. J. Brown on Sunday, July 8, 2007. Dr. Brown was the founder of Care Net, a pro-life organization that supports a network of 1,090 pregnancy centers in North America.
Considered one of the great theological and philosophical minds of our generation, Dr. Brown gave his life to impacting the culture with the hope and healing offered through Jesus Christ. After the Roe v. Wade decision, Dr. Brown was moved by the tragedy of abortion, both for the unborn child and the mother, and troubled by the apathy within the Protestant church. With the inspiration of philosopher Francis Schaeffer, and the guidance of Billy Graham and pro-life Catholic leaders, Dr. Brown founded the Christian Action Council in 1975. In 1980, one of the first pregnancy centers was opened in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1993, the organization changed its name to Care Net, with a new, laser-focused mission of mobilizing Christians to plant and support pregnancy resource centers.
In a 2003 interview with the Care Net Report, Dr. Brown spoke about the apathy within the Protestant church and of how Roe v. Wade caught evangelicals by surprise when the decision was handed down.
It was Sunday night, the 21st of January and Arimond Nicolia (Professor at Harvard), including [myself] and others were gathered to discuss the impending decision. Dr. Lou Bird, then with the Christian Medical Society (later to teach at Grove City College, PA) said, "What are we to say regarding the extreme cases of abortion?" Most people thought only about the really "hard cases."
Then the next morning the Supreme Court dropped the bomb. But few Evangelicals really thought through the consequences of Roe v. Wade. The late A. W. Criswell (head of the Southern Baptist Convention) was critical of the early pro-life movement, saying essentially "we don't really know" what abortion is. Later, Criswell changed his mind and came out against it. The Evangelical response was weak. The mainline churches basically supported the decision as it was the "law of the land" and this was generally viewed as a good thing. The Baptists waffled, the Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodist Church and the Religious Coalition of Abortion Rights all supported abortion rights. Only the Presbyterian Church in America, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the various conservative Lutheran denominations opposed the decision.
It took the late apologist Francis Schaeffer to galvanize the Evangelical community against Roe v. Wade.
But as Kurt Entsminger, President of Care Net, said, it was Dr. Brown's rallying call that led hundreds of thousands of Christians to open pregnancy centers in their communities. And hundreds of thousands of children's lives have been spared from abortion as a result.
The Boundless Line blog is being featured this week on one of the top Christian blogs on the Web. Tim Challies of Challies.com highlights the Boundless Line in his King for a Week section along with RSS feeds from our latest posts.
Here's a portion of his write-up about Boundless:
King for a Week is an honor I bestow on blogs that I feel are making a valuable contribution to my faith and the faith of other believers ... or sometimes just because I really like them.... I met several of the brains behind Boundless while I was at the New Attitude Conference, even sharing a meal with them, and was blessed by getting to know them. They are a humble and godly crew who really do want to serve the church through this site.
Challies.com receives over 100,000 visits a month and has a top 2,000 Technorati.com ranking out of 71 million blogs. Tim is considered an acknowledged authority for book reviews and is one of the premier Christian "live bloggers" in North America. He has been invited to many of the major evangelical conferences this year, including John MacArthur's Resolved, Ligonier, New Attitude, and Together for the Gospel.
For our readers who aren't familiar with Challies, it's well worth a daily peek to get his take on what's going in the culture and the evangelical community.
If you're not a subscriber to our free e-newsletter, you really should be. Let me tell you why:
You are notified of the week's freshest articles, sometimes before those articles even appear on the Boundless.org homepage.
You get a bit of "backstory" to the articles.
Sometimes I give our e-newsletter subscribers a heads-up on what we're working on for the coming week.
We've offered product giveaways only available to e-newsletter subscribers.
You express your appreciation for our work in a tangible way by signing up.
We don't share your name or contact information outside out ministry. You won't be getting spammed. And if you decide you don't want to receive it any more, you're just a mouse click away from unsubscribing.
Here's an example of the e-newsletter I sent out two weeks ago, in which I spill the beans on forthcoming articles.
I came across a blog yesterday that got me thinking about adding "social bookmarking"-type links at the bottom of each post. Here are some examples:
Digg This!
Discuss on Newsvine
Add to del.icio.us
Reddit
Share on Facebook
Furl
Would any of you find these kinds of links on The Line useful, or are they just clutter? Are there other kinds of links you'd like to see at the bottom of our posts in addition to or instead of these?
We've received a couple of comments and e-mails recently accusing us of "censoring" reader comments.
The truth is that we publish the vast majority of comments, whether they agree with the original post or not, and whether the tone is cordial or not. We consider comments a wonderful way to allow our readers to provide their feedback (both positive and negative), to expand the discussion and to get to know each other.
Perhaps this is a good time to reiterate our comments-publishing policy, something I addressed head-on in January and something that's outlined on every blog page in the paragraph just above where you enter your comment.
At the outset, I need to correct the improper use of the term "censor." Censorship typically is something done by government officials in an effort to infringe on free speech; private individuals who make decisions about what to publish on their sites is not such an infringement. As a private organization, what we are doing is "moderating" -- choosing to publish those comments that facilitate conversation and further the discussion, and not publish comments that are vulgar, irrelevant, and otherwise detrimental to the conversation.
In the past several weeks, we've not published just a few comments: two were personal ads, one was a vicious attack against a blog moderator, one went over the top accusing us of "censoring" comments, one included too much intimate information, one used vulgarity, one misrepresented us, and one was from a man who talked about how he enjoys having sex with other men.
In none of these cases did we "censor" a comment because we disagreed with that comment. We're confident that our readers will be able to evaluate those comments we personally disagree with, and so we're not afraid to let them go through.
I also need to remind our readers that because each comment is not published until either Motte or I have a chance to read through it, sometimes it can take a day or two before your comment hits the site. We do take time between our other Boundless-related responsibilities to publish comments, and even review and publish them after work hours and on the weekends and holidays. That said, sometimes it may take more time than you'd like for your comment to be published.
As I did with my last post on this topic, I'd like to invite your comments about our policy as stated and as practiced. Please submit your comments below or e-mail them to us at editor@boundless.org.
We're having issues with our website's publishing system, so the three articles we have for this week haven't yet made it to the site. John's "Boundless Answers" column, which was to hit the site this past Monday, has also remained unpublished. I'm sorry about that.
In the meantime, here's a hint at what to expect.
Though there's nothing about dating, Purity Balls or global warming in any of these articles, I'm confident you'll still find them provocative.
The best way to know when these articles go live is to subscribe to our free e-newsletter. Let me encourage you to sign up if you haven't already done so.
4-CD Kit containing the audio portion of the teaching
120-page Study Guide (additional guides available)
Quick Reference Card to help you remember what to say
300 "Icebreakers" (tracts) to get you started in witnessing conversations
... and more!
Are you interested in winning it, either for your own study or for use in a small group? First, make sure you're currently subscribed to our e-newsletter. Then, send us an e-mail letting us know why we should give it to you, and on Monday, March 5 we'll announce the winner in that day's e-newsletter. We apologize to our international readers, but we're unable to open this contest to those who live outside the United States.
If you're interested in knowing how to better share your faith with unbelievers, Way of the Master is for you. It's been commended by such Christian leaders as Ravi Zacharias, Joni Eareckson Tada, Josh McDowell, John MacArthur, and David Jeremiah. For more information, either read the article on Boundless, or visit their website.
Don't forget -- please submit your entry by midnight on March 4, as we're selecting the winner on March 5.
Every Thursday I write and send out an e-newsletter highlighting the week's articles and editorializing on whatever else strikes me as relevant at the time.
Upon re-re-reading today's e-newsletter, which I had just sent out to our 28,500 subscribers, I saw that two of the paragraphs began with "Finally." See what they saw here.
It's my understanding that in certain Asian countries, weavers intentionally insert a "flaw" into the rugs they make. Their explanation is that only God is perfect, and so out of a humble acknowledgement of their own imperfection they purposefully mess up a bit.
Whether my two Finally's are intentional or not, I'll leave up to my dear readers. Regardless, it serves as another reminder that God is perfect. And I am note.
We're having ongoing issues with our webservers. We are working on addressing these problems. I sincerely apologize that you have to endure them.
The articles scheduled to go live today in fact were published, but our homepage didn't update on schedule. While we're working on it, here's the list of fresh articles:
THE AMAZING WILBERFORCEby Drew Dyck
One man can make a difference. In 19th century England, that one man was William Wilberforce.
OPTIONAL ANXIETYby Roberto Rivera y Carlo
Wealth and fame are fine. But the fulfillment of high status is found somewhere a bit less glamorous.
Of course, if you are a subscriber to our e-newsletter, you already know this as I sent it out early this morning. Here's what it looks like. Not a subscriber yet? Click here to become one. It's free, and the editorials are pretty engaging. Sometimes.
This is a moderated blog. This means that all comments are approved by one of the Boundless staff before they go live.
The vast majority of comments -- whether they agree with the initial post or not -- are published. The disagreements serve to further the discussion. The agreements confirm and elaborate on the points made in our original posts. And it all makes for provocative and enjoyable reading.
But there are some comments that we choose not to publish. These posts fall into a variety of camps:
They're spam (we received two of these just this morning).
They're much too "personal," revealing too much detail about one's personal life to the point of causing readers to feel uncomfortable and potentially libeling someone mentioned in the comment.
They're redundant, rehashing a point already made, sometimes merely with more fervor.
They're unconstructively offensive (this includes vulgarities and over-the-top personal attacks).
The commenter's e-mail address is not legitimate.
They're merely contentious (we deleted, for example, some comments from an atheist pretending to be a Christian, who on his personal blog wrote about us: "I provoked a contributor at one of Focus on the Family's nutty blog sites into sounding like a [insert two vulgarities here]").
I'm tempted not to publish comments from e e cummings wannabes, but I have yet to crack down on anyone who's spelling-challenged, grammar-challenged or capitalization-challenged.
Literally 99 percent of the 1,000+ comments we've received in the past couple of months have been published. If you're one of those select whose comment doesn't make it to the blog, please don't be offended. Instead, please try to practice grace and understanding toward those of us moderating this blog in the moments between our other responsibilities. If you do have a question about why your comment wasn't posted, feel free to either submit another comment with your inquiry or e-mail us directly at line@boundless.org.
What do you think of our policies about posting comments? Too harsh? Too permissive? Or in the words of Goldilocks, is it "just right"?
I'm taking a moment to mark comment number 1,000 on The Line. Another milestone: We recently had our 100,000th visitor. We truly appreciate all who read our blog and contribute to the conversation, conversation typically characterized by intelligence, relevance and civility.
As we move forward with our dialog, there will most certainly be disagreement. So let us remember the words of the late theologian Francis Schaeffer taken from his book The Mark of a Christian:
"The world must observe that when we must differ with each other as true Christians, we do it not because we love the smell of blood, the smell of the arena, the smell of the bullfight, but because we must for God's sake."
For a great exploration on how to practice such "for God's sake" dialog, check out the following Boundless articles, published four months ago when The Line made its debut: Blogging to Worship God and Blog Responsibly.
You may have noticed over the past day or so that the Boundless Line has a fresh new URL: www.BoundlessLine.org
Three things to note:
1) If you use a "news aggregator" such as Firefox, Bloglines, Safari, Windows RSS Platform or LiveJournal you may have to update your link to our site. Try simply using http://www.boundlessline.org/rss.xml
2) It's a whole lot simpler to remember "www.BoundlessLine.org" than the domain we previously used!
3) There's currently a glitch in Internet Explorer where you have to type in the "www" before the "BoundlessLine.org" -- for all other browsers, you can just use "BoundlessLine.org"
Motte and Suzanne and I had a great time attending and presenting at the New Attitude singles conference six months ago. It's a conference that has it all: engaging speakers, great music, hip location and cool attendees (though I can think of a few exceptions among the presenters).
Here's a webpage where we discussed NA06 and link to some articles published on Boundless and written by Na speakers.
Anyway, I just got word that they'll be opening up early registration the week of Thanksgiving. Even though the conference isn't until the end of May, if you're thinking of going it may be a good idea to sign up early -- they're giving away five free registrations each day during the period Nov. 22-26.
Copyright 2009 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. The Line and Boundless Line are trademarks of Focus on the Family.
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