Random

~ Our #1 son Kirk, with whom I'm staying while in San Francisco, gave me a tour of his office at H5 Technologies. He is a linguist or "discourse analyst." Their company was recently written up in Forbes -- which is good because I've had trouble explaining what they do.

~ The 115 year-old congregation in which I grew up in San Jose, California recently sold their church building, netting more than $3 million. The money is being channeled back into new church plants, compassion ministries, and a restart of the congregation in a new location.

While the facility was great, the old location was always poor and the parking was inadequate.

Interestingly, when they were disposing of the furniture, Cornerstone Covenant Church in Turlock, where I was pastor for 11 years, ended up with the communion table. It fits in well at Cornerstone.

~ "America's consumer economy may be a symptom of a bigger illness -- and it could be killing us all. As a species, we simply don't know what to do with all this excess, says prominent UCLA researcher Dr. Peter Whybrow," who has written American Mania. -- Link to Marketplace Story

~ Is prosperity a blessing from God or a crime? -- LA Times article on rich megachurch pastors As I see it the answer to the question depends on what we do with the prosperity. If we use it to live in self-indulging opulence it's a crime -- at least in God's eyes. If we channel our prosperity into serving God and others it is a blessing. As Jesus pointed out, "it is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35) This isn't really all that complicated of an issue.

~ Global climate change chart illustrating the ups and downs over the last 4,500 years -- Link

~ Great gadget -- ceramic food warmer that sets on steam radiators -- simple and clever but not too useful on Guam

~ New LDS doctrinal revision seeks to bring Book of Mormon more in line with science. This is no real surprise -- Mormons have a very fluid understanding of revelation. -- Link

~ Another mega-church merger -- Word of Grace in Mesa and CitiChurch in Scottsdale, Arizona have merged to form a single multi-site church. -- Link

~ "Lessons In Not Sucking: Cheap Marketing Ideas for Church Planters" -- Some are actually very good ideas and very relational -- Link

~ The rise of super cities -- 19 cities in the world with 20 million or more people in the 21st century. -- Link (via). Think mission opportunity.

~ The Farnsworths have moved. Dave and I will be moving our offices into their old apartment, which is connected to the administration building at PIBC. -- Link