Last time we looked at the 2016 Summer Olympic candidate city’s logos. Now we turn to the other unifying element of each bid-the city mottos. I admit up front that Olympic mottos tend to be both corny and forgettable. But they may indicate something about each city’s tone, as well as the themes we might see expressed in the opening ceremonies and marketing of the games. As with the logos, here are the mottos and my comments.Chicago“Let Friendship Shine”Sappy? Yes, but it could be worse. I do like the notion of friendship. It communicates the warmth of the city and the hope that athletics can bring diverse people together and bind them in friendship. It may also be a useful value to

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On Wednesday (09/09/09), Leadership Network and Catalyst hosted an online event called “The Nines.” It featured 9 hours of 9 minute videos posted by church leaders each answering this question: “If I had nine minutes to share one thing with church leaders across America, what would I tell them?”I was invited to participate in The Nines, and I chose to talk about the issue of legitimacy and something I call “the Daisy Cutter Doctrine.” I’ve gotten a number of emails and Facebook responses to the video. And some colleagues have reported some Twitter activity about it too. (I didn’t actually see my video air or the Tweets because I was taking my son to his first day of pre-school at the time.)

I guess the organizers of…

 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…

Next month I will be participating on a panel with a Jewish rabbi, a secular humanist, a Muslim, and a Buddhist. The event is part of the Interfaith Youth Core’s “Leadership for a Religiously Diverse World” conference. For most of my life I have been very comfortable in interfaith settings. In college I even majored in comparative religion and greatly appreciated my interactions with people holding other worldviews and theologies. In general I am very supportive of Christians learning about other faiths with the goal of fostering respect and understanding.But last week a judge in Quebec has pushed the value of interfaith education to a new degree, and I’m curious to hear what you think.

Here’s the scoop. Last year schools in Quebec introduced a new…

In just a few weeks, on October 2, the International Olympic Committee will select the host city for the 2016 summer games. The four finalists are Madrid, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Chicago.Living in the Chicago ‘burbs, and having been born and raised here, it’s obviously a big deal to think that the Olympics may be coming here. In the weeks leading up to the final decision, I want to spend a little time comparing the four candidate cities and their bids for the games. There’s nothing deep, theological, or even informed about this analysis. Just my opinions with a heavy bias in favor of Chicago.This week we start with each city’s logo design.ChicagoThe US bid city has gone with an unconventional design. Most stay away for

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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…

This was reported by CNN:

The “disgusting” blob that Fred DeNegri’s wife says she poured out of his Diet Pepsi can was probably a gutted frog or toad, the Food and Drug Administration said.

DeNegri was grilling in his backyard tiki bar in Ormond Beach, Florida, when he popped open a can of Diet Pepsi, took a big gulp and started gagging, his wife, Amy, said.

He emptied out the can down a sink but something heavy remained inside. His wife took over and shook the can over a paper plate until something resembling “pink linguini” slid out, followed by “dark stuff,” Amy DeNegri said.

“It was disgusting,” said Amy DeNegri, 55. “And now, what started out as a normal afternoon in our tiki bar has blown up…

Do you believe your work matters to God? That question has been on my mind as I prepare a sermon for September 20th. It seems like people in the church are often celebrated for what they do within the church or through the church or for the church, but we offer little attention or affirmation for the labor done outside the institutional structures of the church. The message we subtly communicate is that the 2 or 4 percent of a person’s time spent engaged in activities related to the church are what matter to God–they “count”–but the 95+ percent of the time they spend at work, with family, preparing meals, changing diapers, or mowing the lawn don’t really matter to God unless they incorporate church/missionary actions into those…