Seth Godin is interviewed on the latest episode of the Catalyst Podcast. It features Seth Godin’s big ideas behind Squidoo and his two most recent books, Meatball Sundae and The Dip. The Catalyst team also gets Seth Godin’s thoughts on the church and religion.

To listen to the interview or subscribe to the podcast, visit the Catalyst website. It is well worth it for any Seth Godin fan.

If you are a fan of Ed Young and Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX), you will be thrilled to know that Ed Young recently started blogging. Readers get an up close and personal look at Ed’s life and ministry (bathrobe and all). To check out the new blog, visit EdYoungBlog.com.

UPDATE: Due to lack of demand The XL Church Leader has been cancelled.

The creator of Rev! magazine, Group Publishing, is offering a new bi-monthly newsletter catering to churches averaging 1000 or more in attendance. It is called XL Church Leader, and you can download their first issue for free from their website.

CNN reports at least 1 in 4 teen girls ages 14 to 19 in America has a sexually transmitted disease.

Who has an STD?

• 50% of black teen girls
• 20% of white teen girls
• 20% of Mexican-American teen girls

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted the research. It is heartbreaking to realize that so many teen girls have made the moral mistake of sex before marriage and are suffering because of it.

According to The Barna Group and LifeWay Research, 1 in 2 teens in America attend church. But sadly some of these church-going teens are also included in the statistic of STD carriers. So it brings up one of the age old questions of youth ministry:

How can we get the message of abstinence to stick?

For Discussion:
- Are there any youth ministry methods or success stories that you think effectively get teens to practice abstinence?

New research from The Barna Group has identified five distinct segments in how Americans participate in faith communities. Here is a quick profile for each of the five:

1. Unattached - 23% of American adults
   This group has no personal interaction with a regularly-convened faith community, but they do use religious media. They do not attend conventional churches or organic faith communities, such as a house churches.
   >> 1 in 3 have never attended a church
   >> 59% consider themselves to be Christian
   >> 17% are born again Christians
   >> More likely to be single, male, and divorced at some point.
2. Intermittents (the under-churched) - 15% of American adults
   This group has participated in either a conventional church or an organic faith community within the past year but not within the past month.
   >> 2 in 3 have attended a church event within the past six months
3. Homebodies - 3% of American adults
   This group has attended a house church within the last month but not a conventional church.
4. Blenders - 3% of American adults
   This group has attended both a conventional church and a house church within the last month.
5. Conventionals - 56% of American adults
   This group has attended a conventional church event or service within the last month but not a house church.

For more insights , read The Barna Group’s original report.

Ministry Today has published a subjective list of the seven most innovative church buildings in America. The online article goes into detail about each church building but does not include any photos. So I scoured the Web for photos so you could have a glimpse at a few of these innovative church buildings.

#1 :: Northland A Church Distributed (Longwood, FL)
Photo Credits: Mark Beeson, G Jackson Lights, and the church website.

#2 :: Living Water Community Church (Bolingbrook, IL)
Photo Credit: Wildesign Group Architects via Flickr.
UDPATE: Original photos taken by Aspen Group.

#3 :: New Beginnings Christian Center (Portland, OR)
Photo Credit: Building God’s Way.

#4 :: Victory Christian Center (Tulsa, OK)
Photo Credits: Daniels and Daniels Construction and the church website.

#5 :: Parkway Christian Church (Surprise, AZ)
Photo Credit: CCBG Architects.

#6 :: The Vineyard Church (Urbana, IL)
Photo Credit: Aspen Group.

#7 :: Cornerstone Christian Fellowship (Chandler, AZ)
Photo Credit: Rowland Companies.

For explanations why Ministry Today calls these seven church buildings the “most innovative in America,” check out their online article. They certainly are some cutting-edge facilities, but I also know that there are quite a few other remarkably innovative church buildings around the world.

For Discussion:
- What are some other innovative church buildings that inspire you and why?

[via Preachers and Teachers]

At the beginning of April 2008, church leaders will gather at the Awaken Conference in Pasadena, CA to hear from Erwin McManus, Bill Hybels, Wayne Cordeiro, and other spiritual leaders. The Awaken Conference also has a blog, which is intended to be a source of discussion about new modes and methods for doing church. Last week, I guest blogged the following thoughts on how to discover new and more effective ways for doing church.

In his book The Medici Effect, Frans Johansson explains how breakthrough insights come at the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures. This is why it is important to study what methods are working for other churches. This does not mean you should mimic other churches, but simply, you should purpose to understand why a method is successful within its context. As you do this, your scope of knowledge will widen and, consequently, give you more breakthrough insights into what will and will not work for your church.

But don’t stop there. Expand your intersection to outside of the church bubble. How are other people using technology? How are businesses learning to communicate more effectively? Are there any insights you can glean by observing God’s creation? Sometimes a completely unrelated idea can be the source of an innovative insight.

But when it comes to discovering new, better, and more effective methods for doing church, intersecting your life with the cultures of the people whom you are called to reach offers some of the best insights. The better you understand the cultures of your community, the more insights you will have in how to best reach them. Be like Jesus. Spend time with people.

Lastly, we cannot forget that the most important part of our intersection is God. He is the source of our greatest insights. And when His wisdom is coupled with your willingness to study and pursue new things, you are sure to find ways to do church more effectively.

Be sure to check out the Awaken Blog. They have new insights every week.

Looking for some church facility inspiration for your innovative youth group? Check out these two dimensional sticker lamps created by Italian designer Alicero Signoli.

[via Trend Hunter]