On her blog, Amber Cox shares six things that she has learned from her dad, Mark Beeson, who is the senior pastor of Granger Community Church (Granger, IN). Here is a summary:

1. Just keep doing the next right thing.
   “I don’t have to worry about everything, I just need to focus on doing the next right thing, right now, in front of me in this very minute. Then, after that decision is made, I can move on to the next right thing.”
2. Attitude is everything.
3. Strive to live without regrets.
   “You’ll have some regrets, it’s inevitable, but you can strive to save yourself from regrets later if you think about consequences now. Ask yourself, ‘Will I regret this later?’”
4. Someone is always watching you, looking to you, modeling after you.
5. Have a friend, be a friend.
   “If I am friendly, people will want to be my friend. I found this to be true on many levels.”
6. People are idiots.
   “Generally, people (including myself) are idiots, and realizing that helps me to laugh often, to love extravagantly and forgive quickly.”

What is noteworthy about these six bits of wisdom is that these are the life lessons that particularly stood out to Mark Beeson’s daughter, which means that they are core, fundamental principles that he lived by as a father and as the pastor of what is considered by many to be one of the most innovative churches in America.

The Fermi Project has created a podcast for church leaders that explores how the future church can effectively spread the gospel and shape culture. It is hosted by Gabe Lyons and Andy Crouch, who, in the first episode, interview Chuck Colson about his thoughts on history, culture, and Christianity.

The Fermi Project is also the organization behind Q, the ministry conference this April that will investigate the church’s future role in shaping culture.

We live in a consumer culture. To get a visual of it, check out photographer Chris Jordan’s art series “Running the Numbers” which depicts:

• 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags
  (the number used in the US every hour)
• 60,000 plastic bags
  (the number used in the US every five seconds)
• 106,000 aluminum cans
  (the number used in the US every thirty seconds)
• 15 million sheets of paper
  (equal to the amount of office paper used in the US every five minutes)
• 3.6 million tire valve caps
  (one for each new SUV sold in the US in 2004)
• 75,000 shipping containers
  (the number of containers processed through American ports every day)
• and more

[via Information Aesthetics]

Brian Sims of Brentwood Baptist Church (Brentwood, TN) is making church special for the deaf. In fact, Brian has created a church service exclusively designed for deaf people. It is called Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church, and here is what they are doing to relevantly meet the needs of deaf people:

• Installed 30 speakers in the floor so that the congregation can literally feel the music.
• The entire room is on a loop system which allows a deaf person with a hearing aid to tie into the sound system with the flip of a switch.
• Each seat has a direct line of sight to the stage.
• The seats are 30″ wide instead of the standard 18″ wide which gives congregants more space to communicate with sign language.

According to Brian, research reports that 80%-90% of deaf people do not attend church. After all, why bother going if it is impossible or too difficult to understand anything.

Relevance is being able to communicate how God’s Word applies to a person’s life. The first step is clear, understandable communication.

[via The Christian Post]

We know that kids watch too much TV, and we know that it concerns parents. Now research shows that watching too much television does affect kids’ health.

The Scotsman reports that according to Dr. Aric Sigman watching television can have the following 15 negative effects:

1. Obesity
   Too much viewing not enough activity.
2. Healing
   Television viewing “may lead to an increase in the migration of “cutaneous immune system mast cells”, parts of body tissue that play a key role in healing wounds and offering defence against disease.”
3. Heart Trouble
   “The adult risk of raised cholesterol and the potential for heart disease is strongly linked to TV viewing habits formed in childhood and teenage years, setting up a store of problems for later life.”
4. Metabolism
   “A significant relationship was found in which the metabolic rate decreased as average weekly hours of television viewing increased. Lowered metabolism leads to a reduced ability to burn fat.”
5. Eyesight
   “Permanent eyesight damage previously attributed to genetics is now being strongly linked to television-screen exposure.”
6. Alzheimer’s
   “Television viewing between ages 20 to 60 is associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease: for each additional daily hour of television viewing, the associated risk of Alzheimer’s disease development increases. Attention, memory and reaction time may also be affected.”
7. Attention Span
   “Long periods of TV viewing may affect what are called the ‘neuronal mechanisms’ behind attention and impulse control. This means damaging brain-cell development and the person’s ability to concentrate on non-TV subjects. For children this could mean learning difficulties and attention disorders.”
8. Hormones
   “Watching television suppresses production of melatonin, a key hormone and powerful antioxidant that has important roles in the immune system, sleep/wake cycle and the onset of puberty. Melatonin regulates the body’s internal clock but bright screens may interrupt production.”
9. Cancer
   “Reduced levels of melatonin may also result in a greater chance that cell DNA will produce cancer-causing mutations.”
10. Early Puberty
    “Exposure to TV screens affects the melatonin levels of younger children, in particular at the onset of puberty.”
11. Autism
    “Early childhood television viewing may be an important factor in autism, which currently affects one in every 166 children. Television may be a trigger in young children with a tendency to the condition.”
12. Sleep
    “A significant relationship was found between exposure to television and sleeping difficulties in different age groups ranging from infants to adults.”
13. Hunger
    “The lack of sleep ascribed to the effects of watching TV may directly increase appetite and body-fat production. Research suggests it could do this through alterations in the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which regulate feelings of being full and of hunger respectively.”
14. Brain Growth
    “Even interactive media such as computer games have been associated with limited neurological activity. Watching television has been found by neuroscientists to be a “non-intellectually stimulating activity” for brain development.”
15. Diabetes
    “TV viewing is directly related to and significantly raises the risk of abnormal glucose metabolism and new Type-two diabetes. This is linked to side-effects of a sedentary lifestyle and the kind of diet that can go with heavy TV watching, such as sweets and sugary drinks.”

The British Audience Research Bureau reports that the average Briton will have spent more than 12 years of their life watching television by the age of 75.

Pastors.com recently published the results from Cory Miller’s 2007 Christian Bloggers Survey. Roughly 360 Christian bloggers were surveyed. Here are the results:

Preferred Blogging Platform

• 50.1% Blogger.com
• 21.0% WordPress
• 9.3% TypePad
• 2.5% MySpace
• 16.1% other/no answer

How Long They Have Been Blogging

• 55.5% less than 1 year
  >> 33.2% 1-6 months
  >> 22.3% 7-12 months
• 33.0% 1-2 years
• 11.4% 3+ years

Post Frequency

• 47.7% 1-10 posts per month
• 22.1% 11-20 posts per month
• 18.0% 21-30 posts per month
• 9.0% 31-40 posts per month
• 2.5% 41-50 posts per month
• 0.8% no answer

Gender

• 84.2% Male
• 10.4% Female
• 5.4% no answer

Age

• 1.4% 18-20 years old
• 24.3% 21-30 years old
• 37.1% 31-40 years old
• 21.0% 41-50 years old
• 9.8% 51-60 years old
• 2.2% 61+ years old
• 4.4% no answer

Ministry Role

• 34.9% Senior Pastors
• 21.0% Associate Pastor/Minister
• 18.3% Layperson/Church Member
• 11.4% Church Staff
• 14.4% other/no answer

If you aren’t blogging yet but like the thought of it, be sure to check out The Blogging Church.  

This past weekend was my first time to see a Solatube, and I was impressed. What is it?

It is a lighting system that reflects sunlight from the rooftop through a tube and into your building. It is the perfect solution to provide bright natural light to areas that skylights can not reach. You can even add on a dimmer switch to control the amount of light you want to let inside. Not only is it an innovative lighting solution but it can save your church money over time by replacing electricity.

[via Cool Hunting]

The Gallup Poll conducted an interesting study that asked Americans how comfortable they are electing a president with certain characteristics. The results:

• 95% would vote for a Catholic
  (+60% since ‘37)
• 94% Black
  (+57% since ‘58)
• 92% Jewish
  (+46% since ‘37)
• 88% A woman
  (+55% since ‘37)
• 87% Hispanic
• 72% Mormon
  (-3% since ‘67)
• 67% Married for the third time
• 57% 72 years of age
• 55% A homosexual
  (+29% since ‘78)
• 45% An atheist
  (+27% since ‘58)

2008 Presidential Candidates:

• Mayor Rudy Giuliani is Catholic and has been divorced three times.
• Illinois Senator Barack Obama is black.
• New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is a woman.
• Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is a Mormon.
• Arizona Senator John McCain will be 72 years old at the time of the election.

[via Outside the Beltway]