Bernie Madoff, a Wall Street mogul, was arrested earlier this month for defrauding his clients, including a number of charities, of $50 billion. If true, it will rank as the largest fraud case ever. I don’t suppose anyone is that surprised anymore when a powerful figure abuses his or her position for personal gain. And sadly we’ve seen such abuses among church leaders as well.

But The New York Times is reporting on a much smaller case of fraud not coming from a position of power in the church, but from the pew. Bryant Rodriguez, 44, began attending El Camino Church last year. He attended baptism classes, became well connected with the small congregation, and subsequently defrauded members of the church out of $600,000.

The authorities said that Mr. Rodriguez asked…

‘Tis the season for giving…or not. Contrary to what many believe, it turns out that conservatives and not liberals are the most charitable givers. Nicholas Kristof at The New York Times has a really great op-ed on the subject. Here are a few surprising results from the research.

1. Red states are most likely to give to non-profits, and states in the Northeast are the least likely.

2. European countries give more humanitarian aid per capita than America, but they don’t give as much individually.

3. The least charitable are the French.

4. Gays are one of the most charitable groups in the US.

5. Some of the stingiest in the US are secular conservatives. (I guess they don’t love God or their neighbor.)

6. “If donations to all religious organizations are excluded, liberals give…

I’m in the midst of a freelance project editing and updating the questions for a new version of the NIV Quest Study Bible. I haven’t studied Leviticus this carefully since I was in seminary a decade ago. Of course Leviticus is where most religious conservatives find their justification for opposing same sex marriage (ssm)–specifically Leviticus 18:22.

Going through the Torah again has gotten me thinking about the current dialogue (if you can really use such a civil word to describe it) about same sex marriage. Gabe Lyons and David Kinnaman in their book unChristian, have documented the widespread perception that Christians are homophobic due in no small measure to their very vocal opposition to ssm. And the passage of Proposition 8 in California last month putting a halt to…

Barna research now shows that the number of “unchurched” people in the United States has increased by 92 percent between 1991 and 2004. He defines “unchurched” as an adult that has not attended church in the previous six months other than a holiday or special event (funeral or wedding). Such a dramatic increase can only be accounted for by one thing-more people have quit going to church.

You might be one of them. And if you are, the Seventh Day Adventists want to know. Ken Wetmore, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor in Spokane, has launched the WhyIQuitChurch.com campaign. The site, which is being advertised on buses in Spokane, features a simple survey where people can explain their church background and why they’ve stopped attending.

At that address, respondents are faced…

Alan Hirsch Responds to Kimball’s “Missional Misgivings” | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

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