UPDATE: Using Random.org, the following commenters were randomly chosen to each win a free ticket to Cultivate Conference – Jefferson Henson (#4) &  Jeremy Davidson (#5).

Cultivate Conference (Huntington Beach, CA) is just two weeks away, but you can still win 1 of 2 free tickets I am giving away to Church Relevance readers.

You can join church leaders from around the world convening in southern California on May 4-5 to discuss the intersection of culture, innovation, and church communication.

HOW TO WIN A FREE TICKET:

1. Simply leave a comment on this post. (you can only comment once)
2. Be able to attend Cultivate Conference if you win a free ticket.
3. At 7:00p CST on April 21st, two winners will be chosen using a random number generator.
4. A free ticket code will be emailed to each winner.

A limited number of seats are available. So if you want to be guaranteed a spot, you may just want to go ahead and register for Cultivate Conference.

Further Reading:
2012 Church Conference Calendar

The spring edition of the top church blogs list is now published. The most obvious change is that the list has grown to 200 well read blogs.

To see the list, ranking methodology, and selection criteria, click over to the top church blogs list.

The top church blogs list would not be possible without reader suggestions each year. So if you don’t see a blog on the list that you think should be there, please mention its domain in the comments.

Here are the points of interest worth mentioning about this spring’s list:

• Tim Challies took a dive to #30 because Google pagerank is currently not available for his site. He typically has a pagerank of 5, which means he should have been ranked #3. Sorry, Tim.
• Reformed bloggers continue to strengthen their rankings while contemporary Evangelicals continue to drop.
• Sites that keep changing their domain or RSS feed url suffer temporary and sometimes permanent setbacks as they start over on reader counts and inlinks. It happened to Justin Taylor in 2010 when he dropped from #2 to #8 when he switched his site to The Gospel Coalition. After a year, Justin Taylor finally rebounded to #1. This year’s major domain switch drops go to Jon Acuff whose domain switch caused him to drop sixty-two spots from #6 to #68 and Anne Jackson whose domain switch caused her to drop one hundred thirty-three spots from #33 to #166. They’ll bounce back.
• This is the first edition to feature bibliobloggers (biblical studies blogs). Shockingly, I was clueless about this niche until several months ago. They even have their own Top 50 Bibliobloggers List. It is intellectual gold.
• Compete traffic does not usually like to give data for Blogspot, WordPress.com, and non-US domains. Unfortunately, that skews the rankings unfairly.
• Blogs that are part of larger sites, such as The Gospel Coalition, The Christian Post, USA Today and Beliefnet, receive boosts because Alexa and Compete only count full site traffic (although Compete can track subdomains depending on formatting).
• Blogs that have been successful for many years can afford to not post much and still rank high because they’ve earned a nice Google pagerank and stockpiled inlinks and RSS readers. After my light posting in 2010, I don’t deserve my ranking of #14, but having over 1,000 posts with strong search engine optimization sustains my traffic.
• Having a successful blog requires more luck or divine intervention than ever before. If you started blogging in 2000, you needed to be consistent to be successful. If you started in 2005, you needed to follow best practices. Now great content, consistency, best practices, and networking do not guarantee success. Some of the best blogs I have found do not appear on the list.
• In fact, I recommend checking out the following blogs that didn’t make the list: Think International, Tony Steward, Fellowship Creative, Exploring College Ministry, Relevant Children’s Ministry, and Tim Schraeder.

Read the top church blogs list and share your own observations.

Moleskine notebooks have been the favorite planning tool of many creatives and pastors over the years. Some love them because of the durability. Some love the paper texture. Some use them just because of the hype.

But a Moleskine isn’t the only option for your prayer journals, sermon plans, and brainstorming sessions. In fact, here are 15 Moleskine alternatives to consider. Unfortunately, Moleskine did not submit review samples for comparison.

POCKET NOTEBOOK

Field Notes Memo Book

Dimensions: 3.5″ x 5.5″
Page Count: 48
Cover: 80#c (270g) French Dur-O-Tone  :: Packing Brown Wrap :: Saddle Stitch Binding
Paper: 50#t Boise Offset Smooth :: White

Styled after agricultural memo books and ornate pocket ledgers, Field Notes come in a 3-pack of lightweight memo books. It is a simple design but an endearing one with a clever layout on the inside covers to keep record of ownership and contents as well as the practical convenience of a 5-inch ruler. Although sturdy in construction, they are probably best kept out of back pockets for the sake of longevity. Available paper formats include plain, ruled, and graph paper.

Current Price: $9.95 for 3-Pack at FieldNotesBrand.com

Ecosystem Flexi Cover Artist Journal (small)

Dimensions: 3.5″ x 5.5″
Page Count: 192
Cover: Flexi Cover :: Onyx :: plus Elastic Closure, Bookmark, & Inner Pocket
Paper: White :: Blank

Ecosystem’s journals are created from 100% post-consumer recycled material. The cover is soft and flexible with enough texture to grip one’s fingers. Unfortunately, it and the glued binding do not look like they could handle a beating too well. The paper is good – just thick enough for quality writing while keeping the journal compact. Available paper formats include blank, ruled, graph, and calendar.

Current Price: $9.95 at Amazon.com (color change: grape)
See more Ecosystem products.

Piccadilly Essential Notebook (small)

Dimensions: 3.5″ x 5.5″
Page Count: 192
Cover: Hard Cover :: Black :: Smyth Sewn Binding :: plus Elastic Closure, Bookmark, & Inner Pocket
Paper: 80 GSM :: Off-White :: Blank

This Piccadilly notebook has the opposite strengths and weaknesses of the above Ecosystem journal. Picadilly features smith sewn binding, so you never have to worry about pages falling out. And the hard cover ensures this notebook will hold up even with rough use.  The paper seems too thin and maybe even cheap in comparison to other pocket notebooks.

Current Price: $6.95 at PiccadillyOnline.com

Rhodia A6 Webnotebook

Dimensions: 3.5″ x 5.5″
Page Count: 192
Cover: Hard Italian Leatherette :: Black :: Smyth Sewn Binding :: plus Elastic Closure, Bookmark, & Inner Pocket
Paper: 90 GSM Clairefontaine Brushed Vellum :: Ivory :: Ruled

I am quite fond of this Rhodia pocket notebook. The hard cover wrapped in leather is pleasant and feels expensive  to touch. The downside is its soft leather wrapping appears to attract dents and markings easily. The paper has decent thickness and is smooth. The binding is Smyth sewn.

Current Price: $12.00 at Amazon.com
See more Rhodia products.

MEDIUM NOTEBOOK

Ciak Notebook (12 x 17 cm)

Dimensions: 5″ x 6.5″
Page Count: 256
Cover: Man-Made Leather :: Smyth Sewn Binding :: Tan :: plus Elastic Closure & Bookmark
Paper: 100 GSM Recycled :: Ivory :: Blank

Ciak journals are handmade in Italy. The leather is soft, and the pages are thick. Add in some Smyth sewn binding, and what is not to love? (Unless you are the type that needs a back cover pocket.)

Current Price: $21.99 at JournalingArts.com (color change: black)
See more Ciak products.

Ciak Multicolor Notebook (12 x 17 cm)

Dimensions: 5″ x 6.5″
Page Count: 288
Cover: Man-Made Leather :: Red :: Smyth Sewn Binding :: plus Elastic Closure & Bookmark
Paper: 90 GMS :: Multicolor :: Ruled

Like the above mentioned Ciak journal, this multicolor notebook offers a soft leather cover and durable Smyth sewn binding. Where it differs is it has more pages that are slightly less thick and that come in a rainbow of signatures.

Current Price: $21.99 at JournalingArts.com (color change: black)
See more Ciak products.

Piccadilly Primo Journal (medium)

Dimensions: 5″ x 7″
Page Count: 288
Cover: Soft Cover with Dot Pattern :: Black :: Smyth Sewn Binding :: plus Elastic Closure & Bookmark
Paper: 80 GSM :: Cream :: Ruled

Once again, Piccadilly delivers a terrific cover and great binding, but at just 80 GSM, the pages are too thin for my taste. The cover’s dotted pattern adds a nice textured grip to the touch.

Current Price: $12.95 at PiccadillyOnline.com

R.L. Allan Journal

Dimensions: 7.75″ x 5.06″
Page Count: 256
Cover: Pigskin Leather :: Caramel Tan :: Smyth Sewn Binding :: Semi Yapp Edges :: plus Bookmark
Paper: Lightweight India Writing Paper :: White with Red under Gold Edges :: Ruled

R.L. Allan is Scotland’s prestigious Bible publisher and the only publisher to be granted the Queen’s Royal License to publish the Authorized KJV in Scotland. With a century and a half of experience, R.L. Allan has refined their reputation into one of the world’s finest craftsmanship. You get that quality in this journal. The cover is a thick pigskin leather with semi yapp edges to protect the page edges. The pages are a very thin India paper held in a Smyth sewn binding. The page edges have a red bleed with shining gold tips, and the ruling is a very tight 1/8 inch. For 256 pages, it is very thin at 1/2 inch. It is quite beautiful. The only downsides are you must be careful the ink you choose if you want to prevent bleeding and you either must write small or use two lines to accommodate the tight ruling.

Current Price: $42.00 at EvangelicalBible.com

Ecosystem Hard Cover Artist Journal (medium)

Dimensions: 5.25″ x 8.25″
Page Count: 240
Cover: Hard Cover :: Onyx :: plus Elastic Closure, Bookmark, & Inner Pocket
Paper: White :: Ruled

This Ecosystem journal lacks the Smyth sewn quality binding that many other notebooks offer, but a few special qualities overcome that flaw to make it one of my favorites. The cover is very stiff and firm but has a very appealing softness to it despite not being leather. And the paper is very thick and smooth. Perhaps I like it so well because its strong cover and thick pages make me believe it can endure a lot of abuse and travel. I only hope the simple binding can last the journey with it.

Current Price: $16.95 at Barnes & Noble
See more Ecosystem products.

Clairefontaine Basics Notebook

Dimensions: 5.75″ x 8.25″
Page Count: 96
Cover: Cardstock
Paper: 90 GSM Clairefontaine Paper :: White Smooth Satin Finish :: Ruled

Clairefontaine claims to be the best paper in the world for writing. All I know is these notebook pages are thick, incredibly smooth, and beautiful. Although they have a certain college-student-backpacking-through-Europe look, I’m not so sure the cover and binding would hold up through a rough semester at seminary. It may not offer what most would want for long-term archival journals, but the quality is certainly an upgraded treat from traditional spiral bound notebooks.

Current Price: $9.00 for a 2-pack at Amazon.com
See more Clairefontaine products.

Ciak Sketchbook (15 x 21 cm)

Dimensions: 6″ x 8.5″
Page Count: 256
Cover: Man-Made Leather :: Lime :: Smyth Sewn Binding :: plus Elastic Closure & Bookmark
Paper: 100 GMS :: Ivory :: Blank

Like its smaller counterparts, this Ciak sketchbook has a quality cover, binding, and pages. It makes me want to draw. Depending on your artistic technique, the flexible cover may or may not be a plus.

Current Price: $21.99 at JournalingArts.com (color change: black)
See more Ciak products.

Rhodia Classic Meeting Notebook

Dimensions: 6.25″ x 8.25″
Page Count: 160
Cover: Laminated Cardstock :: Black :: Spiral Binding
Paper: 80 GSM :: White :: Ruled with Sections

Rhodia’s meeting notebook makes meetings more efficient with a practical layout and clever design. Each page features a spot for the date, meeting summary, meeting notes, and action items. For convenience, each page is also microperforated for easy tear outs. It is perfect for board meetings or brainstorming sessions.

Current Price: $22.00 at Amazon.com (size change: 9″ x 11.75″)
See more Rhodia products.

Behance Action Journal

Dimensions: 6″ x 8″
Page Count: 200
Cover: Hard Cover :: Black :: Stitched Binding :: plus Elastic Closure, Bookmark, & Inner Pocket
Paper: 100% New Leaf Sustainable :: Dot Grid with To-Do List

Behance’s Action Journal is a creative’s dream. A dot grid page layout provides just enough structure for precision and just enough freedom for the creative groove. The right side of each double page spread conveniently features 7 spots for action items and a box for items on the backburner. And with thick microperforated pages, you can take them with you as needed. The cover is firm and almost stiff but as soft as suede. The design is beautiful. My only complaint is it is so nice I almost don’t want to use it. (almost).

Current Price: $17.50 at Amazon.com
See more Behance products.

LARGE NOTEBOOK

Quo Vadis Habana Notebook

Dimensions: 6″ x 9″
Page Count: 160
Cover: Flexi Cover :: Black :: Smyth Sewn Binding :: plus Elastic Closure & Inner Pocket
Paper: 90 GSM Clairefontaine :: White :: Ruled

Quo Vadis’ Habana Notebook comes with a leather cover that reminds me of important executives. The paper is classy, thick, and smooth Clairefontaine paper. And the notebook even comes with an inner pocket. It is really quite nice and maybe too nice. It would be a perfect fit for senior pastors and administrative roles, but it is a bit hard to picture creatives with such an executive look and feel.

Current Price: $20.00 at Amazon.com

Ecosystem Sketchbook

Dimensions: 7.2″ x 9.9″
Page Count: 128
Cover: Hard Cover :: Onyx :: plus Elastic Closure, Bookmark, & Inner Pocket
Paper: White :: Blank

I wish I had this Ecosystem sketchbook back in my days at art school. I love the size. The pages are generously thick. And the cover is the same stiff yet very soft quality found on other Ecosystem hard covers. The paper is thick enough to accommodate just about any medium from charcoal to quality ink and probably even watercolor. However, a bit more tooth and texture to the paper would be nice from a fine arts perspective.

Current Price: $15.56 on Amazon.com
See more Ecosystem products.

BONUS

Rhodia Mouse Pad Clic Bloc

Dimensions: 7.5″ x 9″
Page Count: 30
Paper: 80 GSM :: White :: Graph

I have been using paper on a clipboard as a mouse pad for years. The convenience is hard to beat. Now Rhodia has a polished solution with their mouse pad notepad. Streamline your workspace by merging your mouse pad with your notepad.

Current Price: $5.65 at Amazon.com
See more Rhodia products.

Special thanks to all the companies featured for contributing complimentary products to this review. Some links are Amazon affiliate links.

There are several free online Bibles I use from time to time. Each has its own unique flavor and loyal following. And all of them offer an impressive long list of translations.

Where they differ is special features. If you are looking to study Bible verses, plan a sermon, or create an online study group, Bible Study Tools (www.BibleStudyTools.com) has developed the world’s largest online Bible resource site.

6 Features Worth Checking Out

1. 45+ Translations
   Bible Study Tools features a growing number of Bible versions, including translations in English, German, French, Italian, and Latin.
2. Largest Online Library of Bible Resources
   Choose from well-known and respected Bible commentaries, concordances, dictionaries, and encyclopedias and enjoy access to the Apocrypha, lexicons, and historical works. This library includes the insights of John Calvin, Matthew Henry, Charles Spurgeon, and C.I. Scofield and features such classics as the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Nave’s Topical Bible, Fox’s book of Martyrs, and The Works of Flavius Josephus.
3. Reading Plans & Devotionals
   Begin a trackable Bible reading plan or choose from an extensive list of devotionals by many of Christianity’s most recognizable pastors, authors, and theologians.
4. Pastor Resources
   Get help planning your sermons by reading articles on effective preaching by respected ministers and search for sermons and illustrations using Bible Study Tool’s extensive database.
5. Personalize Your Experience
   Use the “My Bible” features to personalize the website with your own Bible study notes, highlights, tags and bookmarks.
6. Community Groups & Events
   BibleStudyTools.com also includes tools to allow small groups and Sunday school classes to create group pages for studying Scripture together online and event pages for connecting offline.

It is a generous selection of features that takes some time to delve through it all. And it is particularly exciting to see the valuable publications from their library made available for free online.

Special thanks to BibleStudyTools.com for supporting Church Relevance by sponsoring this post.

The creators of Q Conference have released 4 small group studies called Q Society Room.

This is my favorite small group curriculum thus far. It is a good balance of compelling content, beautiful graphics, user friendly length. It is also quite versatile and can stand alone as just a DVD curriculum or be extended with participant guides that help engage the small group around the topic. Each DVD lesson uses  If I had to nitpick, the conversations among a small group of experts at the beginning of each DVD lesson occasionally come across as staged and unnatural. But reality is these small group studies really are close to perfect.

THE WHOLE GOSPEL’s lessons include:
Get the DVD
Get the Participant’s Guide

1. Reframing the Gospel by Tim Keel
   Tim Keel of Laidlaw College’s School of Mission and  Ministry (Auckland, New Zealand) discusses the nature of the gospel message and challenges us to get a better picture of the gospel by returning to the Bible and, specifically, the Old Testament that shaped Jesus’ worldview.
2. Spiritual Conversations by Ron Martoia
   Author Ron Martoia discusses the ways we view God and how that influences the conversations we have.
3. Cultural Commission by Charles Colson
   Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship Ministries discusses the Bible’s holistic worldview and how it addresses God’s redemption of entire systems and cultures in the world.
4. To Write Love on Her Arms by Jamie Tworkowski
   What is love and its role in the church? Discuss this and hear Jamie Tworkowski’s about To Write Love on Her Arms.
5. Culture Shaping Project and Debrief
   Go on an outreach project with your small group. Ideas include helping widows, mentoring and tutoring, or visiting a prison.

THE SPIRITUALITY OF SCIENCE’s lessons include:
Get the DVD
Get the Participant’s Guide

1. The Language of God by Dr. Francis Collins
   Dr. Francis Collins of the Human Genome Project discusses the relationship between our two sources of knowledge – nature and the Bible.
2. Science and Faith at Odds? by Alister McGrath
   Theologian Alistar McGrath discusses if the natural sciences challenge the Christian faith and how our interpretation of Scripture affects this.
3. What Every Christian Could Learn from a Scientist by Catharine  Crouch
   Catharine  Crouch of Swarthmore College shares what the principles about understanding the world and faith in God that she learned from studying light emissions from individual tiny semiconductor particles known as nanocrystals.
4. Indescribable Wonder by Louie Giglio
   Louie Giglio discusses why he believes that Christians should be proponents of scientific discovery.
5. Culture Shaping Project and Debrief
   Take on a project with your small group. Ideas include meeting a professor, hosting a screening, or volunteer to care for creation.

WHERE YOU LIVE MATTERS’ lessons include:
Get the DVD
Get the Participant’s Guide

1. Grace of the City by Tim Keller
   Tim Keller of  Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York, NY) suggests that every Christian who desires to be a culture-shaper should consider living in an urban context.
2. From the Garden to the City by Mel McGowan
   Urban designer Mel McGowan discusses how the meaning of community has been lost as well as how what we create and do today brings goodness and restoration to our cities that will endure in eternity.
3. The Future of the Suburbs by Joel Kotkin
   Joel Kotkin of Chapman University discusses the growth, future growth, and influence of the suburbs in American life.
4. Grace in and for the City by Tim Keller
   Tim Keller of  Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York, NY) distinguishes the differences between cities and suburbs and why Christians should consider the benefits of living, working, and ministering in the city.
5. Culture Shaping Project and Debrief
   Go on a project with your small group. Ideas include supporting local businesses, police car ride-alongs or meet with the mayor.

ENGAGING POST-CHRISTIAN CULTURE’s lessons include:
Get the DVD
Get the Participant’s Guide

1. A New Mission to the West by Os Guinness
   Philosopher Os Guinness discusses the colossal changes that have taken place and how they threaten our faith.
2. Renewing Cities Through Missional Tribes by Jon Tyson
   Jon Tyson questions if attempts to program community inside the church (i.e, small groups) are disconnected from the norms, values, and networks of our everyday lives.
3. Post-Christendom Mission by Alan Hirsch
   Alan Hirsch challenges us t reconsider our mission within the post-Christian West.
4. Why We Can’t Change the World by Andy Crouch
   What if we have gotten it wrong when it comes to how the world is changed? Andy Crouch offers a different perspective that tests our assumptions.
5. Culture Shaping Project and Debrief
   Conduct a project with your small group. Ideas include volunteer in your community, host a film screening, or throw a party that includes non-Christians.

Disclaimer: This post features complimentary review samples and affiliate links.

Are you looking for a few good church conferences to attend in 2011?

I’ve assembled a list of over 30 recommended church conferences to consider. I usually attend a few each year, and I can thank a handful of ministry conferences for dramatically shaping my ministry perspectives today.

To see the list, visit the official church conference recommendations page.

Which conferences will you be attending?

Further Reading:
Church Conference Calendar

It has been over a year since I blogged about Clover church websites. This year Clover has released 12 new features that make it an entirely new product.

Clover has been generous enough to support ChurchRelevance.com for over 2.5 years, but this post isn’t an ad. Instead this post is my written admiration and appreciation for what I believe is one of the most user-friendly, powerful, and all-inclusive church website solutions available.

This year Clover completely overhauled their content management system, Greenhouse, and relaunched it with the following 12 new features:

• New Media Player
• Podcasting
• New Calendar
• Password Protected Pages
• Font Sizing Options
• New Dashboard
• Linking Within Site
• Image Slideshow
• Linkable Pictures
• Photo Albums
• List Pages
• Form Pages

Clover is low cost and super convenient. Despite being Flash-based, each site is search engine optimized. Of course, like any content management system, Clover is what you make it. The default templates are beautiful, but be careful you don’t get carried away with odd choices for fonts, colors, and more.

Clover isn’t for everyone, but I’d recommend it for the majority of churches.

My list of the Top 100 Church Blogs has been updated for fall 2010.

This is the 4th edition of the list, and it has been interesting to watch it evolve. Each update adds new blogs that have recommended or discovered. And each update has some surprise ranking shifts as various blogs change their url, change their RSS link, or even lose Google PageRank. This fall 2010 edition saw a considerable number of blogs lose Google PageRank since the spring 2010 update (I’m not sure why).

As I’ve said before, the list is far from perfect. I try to pick metrics that are stable, high in integrity, and difficult to artificially inflate. But even still, the list is flawed.

Don’t get too hung up on the psychology of rankings. I encourage you to use this list as a resource to scientifically see what others find worth reading.

The Top 100 Church Blogs list is a great starting point to find great church blogs to read. But also be sure you look elsewhere for good blogs to read. Personally, some of my favorite church blogs do not make the rankings.

For Discussion:
>> What blogs not on the list do you recommend checking out for the next update?
>> Should the Top 100 Church Blogs list be an annual fall update or a twice a year spring and fall update? Currently, it updates twice a year.