Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season prior to Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Vice President Joe Biden sparked curiosity when he appeared in public and on television with a smudge of ash on his forehead. One news anchor in the UK had no idea what it was. “What’s happened to his head?” asked Kay Burley on Sky News. “It looks like he’s walked into a door!” The co-host speculated that he had fallen on the ice while attending the Winter Olympics. (As if we needed more evidence that Britain is an utterly post-Christian secular culture.)

Biden is a practicing Catholic, and the ash was part of the Ash Wednesday mass he had attended earlier in the day. While usually associated with Roman Catholic expressions of…

Last month I sat down for breakfast with Ed Stetzer while we were both in Phoenix for a conference. Afterwards Ed “tweeted” about our meal together and commented that for some inexplicable reason “Skye isn’t on Twitter.” He gave me some playful grief about it on our drive to the conference, and others have asked why I don’t Tweet as well. So I decided it was time to finally show my cards.

First of all, I don’t believe Twitter is evil, wrong, or in any way immoral. And I’m not condemning my many friends who love to Tweet. But it’s not for me. Here are the top 10 reasons why I don’t use Twitter (not that there’s anything wrong with it).

ONE

My life really isn’t that interesting (and in most cases,…

  This week I’ve been catching bits and pieces of Ken Burns’ new series on PBS: The National Parks-America’s Best Idea. I’ve loved everything Burns has produced, especially his documentary on World War II, but the National Parks combines his historic story-telling abilities with some of the most beautiful images of America’s most beautiful places. It’s a fantastic series, and I look forward to watching the entire thing on DVD.What I found most intriguing so far has been the story of John Muir-the man, perhaps more than any other, responsible for pushing the federal government to preserve large sections of wilderness. Muir, raised by a brutal Calvinist father and beaten in to memorizing the entire Bible, escaped the rigid confines of his Christian tradition to discover the beauty…

Read more about ministry legitimacy and “The Daisy Cutter Doctrine” here.

 A few months ago I flew down to Dallas to interview Matt Chandler for Leadership Journal. Chandler has been getting a lot of attention in recent years–both for the rapid growth of his church as well as his outspoken adherence to Reformed theology. I must admit, I had some hesitations about interviewing another very popular, very young, very “successful” pastor. Without giving away my biases…I’ve not had a great experience with people who fit that description.

I was pleasantly surprised by Chandler. Not only did he offer thoughtful, reflective, and self-aware responses to our questions (rare qualities among large church pastors who tend to be “doers” more than “thinkers”),  he was also humble. But Chandler isn’t known as a touchy-feely. He likes speaking boldly and even abrasively about the…

There’s an unemployed man in your congregation. After searching for months for a job, he’s finally gotten a position on a landscaping crew. On Sunday, before the close of the worship service, a leader calls the man up to the platform. He tells the congregation about the member’s new vocation and then invites others up to the platform to place their hands on him. Together the church prays and ordains him for his new work, asking God to make him an instrument of his beauty and care for creation, and praying that he would bring pleasure to God and goodness to others through his labor.

How would your church be different if this sort of scene was a regular occurrence? For landscapers? For business people? For students going back…

Princesses scare me. It isn’t their volatile behavior, creepy step-mothers, or the ferocious fire-breathing beasts that often accompany them that worry me. Rather, it’s the mind control they have over my daughter. When she sees a princess, her pupils dilate and her head cocks. It’s like invisible fairies are whispering spells in her ear. Then she turns to me and says, “Daddy, can we buy that?”

Disney’s “Princess” brand campaign was launched in 2000, when the company’s new chairman of consumer goods brought together Disney’s favorite heroines under one banner. Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel became a marketing dream team generating billions of dollars. They appeared on everything from DVDs to Band-Aids. The Disney spell was cast upon my daughter literally minutes after she entered…

I know Eric Bryant through our participation together with the Origins Project. On his blog, Eric has been doing a series of teleseminars with church leaders and thinkers. On June 1 (3-4pm Central) he will be interviewing me live about The Divine Commodity. The teleseminar is free, but you need to sign up in advance to participate.

SIGN UP HERE for this free, live teleseminar.  

Eric’s teleseminars are similar to conference calls where you can dail in and listen/interact live, or you may listen online via live streaming audio. By signing up you can also submit questions to Eric and me to answer during the call. Check out other recent teleseminars on Eric’s blog.

Thursday, April 16th, is the blog tour for The Divine Commodity. Below are a list of blogs featuring reviews, highlights, and questions from my book. I’ll be interacting on most of these sites, so be sure to pay them a visit. I’ve also recorded an interview on Moody Radio’s Primetime America program. Part one of the interview will air on Thursday at 5:30 (central) and part two on Friday at the same time.

 Out of Ur (OutofUr.com)

Flowerdust.net (http://www.flowerdust.net/)

Stuff Christians Like (http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/)

Ragamuffin Soul (www.ragamuffinsoul.com)

Monday Morning Insight (http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/)

Mark D Roberts (http://www.markdroberts.com/)

Ben Arment (www.benarment.com)

Church Relevance (http://churchrelevance.com/)

Bob Franquiz (http://bobfranquiz.typepad.com/)

Bob Hyatt (http://bobhyatt.typepad.com/)

Cole-Slaw (http://cole-slaw.blogspot.com/)

The Forgotten Ways (www.theforgottenways.org)

Reclaiming the Mission (http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/)

Shaun Groves (http://www.shaungroves.com/shlog)

Frank Viola (www.frankviola.wordpress.com/)

The Gospel-Driven Church (http://www.gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com/)

Christina Meyer (http://w2christina.blogspot.com/)

Lee Coate (http://leecoate.wordpress.com/)

Preaching Today (http://blog.preachingtoday.com/)

Gathering In Light (http://gatheringinlight.com/)

Off the Agenda (http://blog.BuildingChurchLeaders.com)

Take Your Vitamin Z (www.takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com)

Staying Focused (http://kimmartinezstayingfocused.wordpress.com/)

ZonderFann…

What’s the point of Lent? That’s a question worth asking given that many Christians seem opposed to traditions not found in Scripture. (Of course most people have no problem observing Christmas. The Puritans rejected the holiday for the same reason some contemporary Christians reject Lent…it’s not biblical.) My friend Bob Hyatt has posted his thoughts about Lent on his blog. Here’s an excerpt:

So what is Lent about for me?

Learning to say no. It’s about detaching from many of the things I have attached to unthinkingly, not because they aren’t valuable or are necessarily bad for me, but so that I can look at my life, assess what my real priorities are and begin, when this period is over, to reattach to certain things more thoughtfully. And perhaps, leave some…