Saturday Notes

WE FIGURED OUT THIS WEEK that Cheryl and I are going to Guam for a couple of weeks in October. The specific dates aren't yet set but I'm going to take some vacation time to help out at the Pacific Islands Bible College.

Why Guam? Even though it's a small island, population 160,000, it's the crossroads of the Pacific where the Asian, Polynesian, and American cultures all converge. By the grace of God this humble school for training Christian leaders has ended up in any extremely strategic spot. In addition to all of that, Guam has a cool coat of arms.

Anyone have suggestions of places to see? Things that we absolutely must do when we're there? Great deals on air travel?

HOW METHODISM slipped from being a counter-cultural movement to an institution which saw itself as the conveyor of the culture -- three scholarly books reviewed. This is a not-so-subtle warning shot across the bow of contemporary politically-enamored evangelicalism (of both the Moral Majority and Sojourners varieties).

CREATIVE HOUSING -- shipping containers transformed into modular housing and office space. (via Jordon Cooper)

COMING SOON -- A whole wave of browser-based applications using AJAX which will replace desk-top applications -- and thus your computer's operating system will be irrelevant to the application. For example, you'll be able to use a web-based word processor that will function the same way in a Windows, Mac, or Linux-based environment. The OS wars will be over because it just won't matter! Link

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH in Australia is asking Mel Gibson to stage the stations of the cross in the streets of Sydney during World Youth Day in 2008. Link

If he accepts, it will definitely be "staged."