Random

• They let us back into the US! We're hanging out with my brother Greg and his family in Blanchard, Idaho.

• Seth Godlin on the value of free ~ link

• Small is beautiful when it comes to Indian retail ~ link

• Braxton is done at Riverside after only two months. If he was really getting $600,000 a year he should still be able to do fine for at least a few months -- unless he has signed a contract for a NYC apartment. ~ link

• Proposal: Introduce one new "Covenant song" at each Covenant event. ~ link

• Liberty University has re-opened the door for the College Democrats club. ~ link

Random

• I'm sitting on the porch, drinking lemonade, watching the birds, and the slow flow of Kootenay Lake.

• This goldfish bath plug makes me smile. ~ link (via)

• Terry Mattingly has an interesting column on Franchising McChurch by Jon Mark Yeats and Thomas White. The book is yet another scathing attack on the impact consumerism has had on the American church. I don't know much about the book but the column could be a good discussion starter. However, I'm now at the point where I'd like to see some creative alternatives -- alternatives which don't just identify problems but which help with solutions -- realistic solutions that will engage hearts and minds and capture imaginations. ~ link

• Martin Marty hits it all this week -- America's real religion involves celebrity veneration, guns, sports... Again, no real solutions but a clear exposition of the issues. ~ link

• Hayim Herring says that we live in the era of "Four A's" ~ link

Anything (almost)—products or services—can be modified, or if nonexistent, can be created with relative ease.

Anyone, regardless of credentials or pedigree, can be his or her own expert in many fields that were typically reserved for specialists (for example, we can be our own stock brokers, financial planners, publishing houses, filmmakers, business consultants, and educators).

Anytime, we increasingly demand that goods and services be available to us at our convenience.

Anywhere, in real time or virtually, at home or abroad, we can experience different cultures on a global scale.

Rabbi Herring's solution in the Jewish context is for synagogues to reconceptualize their venue as a third place.

• Mark Driscoll, the shock jock of Calvinism, has been banned from a Christian radio network. ~ link

• Google SMS -- new suite of apps for Africa -- an investment in the future ~ link

• There appears to be a correlation between price of hot dogs and taste ~ link

Random

• RG Lewis: "...Christ is often revealed through critical tension. We are not called to solve the tensions but allowing those tensions to reveal the One who has answers to all the questions of humanity." ~ read more

• I guess I've been living under a rock. I saw a sign today for an "optometric physician" -- which I suspect is another way of saying "optometrist" (OD). That's confusing. It sounds like an ophthalmologist -- which is a physician (MD or DO) who treats the whole body but specializes in eyes.

• I heard another phrase this week that was new to me. "She is majoring in hippie studies." Apparently hippie studies is a reference to one of the very soft sciences or arts.

• Seth Godin on dealing with fads and trends -- and never-satisfied early adopters. ~ link

• See Beth Bilynskyj on "ecclesiastical romanticism" ~ link

Covenant Annual Meeting

With the conclusion of the ordination service tonight the 124th Covenant annual meeting is now history. (See a list of ordinands.) It's actually kind of fun to go to these meetings when you don't have any responsibility except to chat with old friends and make some new ones.

Don Johnson (in Santa Barbara) watched the live stream of the ordination service. My bud Stan Friedman in the Dept of Communication (that department does a great job on a shoestring!) told me that there were over 235 computers downloading the live feed -- many from outside the US. I know that some churches set-up an ordination viewing on a big screen when one of their staff members is ordained and they can't bring the whole church to the annual meeting. It's not as good as having the service locally but it works.

Our next stop is Nelson, BC to visit with Cheryl's brother for two days. Then we'll drop down to North Idaho to visit my brother for two days. Then we dart back to Phoenix to receive our cargo container.

Random

• Using Twitter in church planting ~ link

• Google thought it was under attack when it suddenly received a surge of searches for "Michael Jackson" ~ link

• Starbucks has a spiffy new store design. ~ link

The Covenant is bucking the trends

The Evangelical Covenant Church is bucking all the denominational trends. "The Covenant is countering every single trend. We are growing. We are growing younger. We are growing more diverse. We are growing in conscience." ~ Gary Walter

From Gary's report:

• The Covenant has grown 53% in the last 10 years

• The number of all ethnic and multiethnic congregations has grown from 81 to 186 in between 1996 and 2008

• Nearly 24% of all Covenant congregations are multiethnic

• 69 churches are in process of being planted

• The Covenant is planting about 20 churches every year –- an average of one every two to three weeks

• 46 churches now have an average attendance of more than 600 people

• Swedish Covenant Hospital, Emanuel Medical Center, and Covenant Retirement Communities provided $33 million in free care

• Covenant World Relief was engaged in 31 projects with the poorest of the world’s poor

• Break the Chains, the human trafficking initiative, begun in the Department of Women Ministries, has raised more than $350,000 to date

• Representatives of 330 churches benefited from seminars given by various departments in 2008

• National Covenant Properties loaned $46.3 million to 71 churches in 2008

Random

• We're having a good time catching up with old friends (and making some new ones!) at the Covenant Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The Ministerium met earlier today and my friend Steve Bilynskyj, who had agreed to let his name stand for a position on the executive committee, discovered this morning that the position was that of president. It's good to see that not everything changed while we were gone. He'll do a great job.

• I had forgotten how the twilight lingers until past 10:30 p.m. during the early summer days up north -- more so than in Turlock or Phoenix -- and certainly more so than Guam (just 13° north of the Equator) where there is no light in the sky after 6:30 p.m.

• Sorry. I'll catch up (more or less) on my Facebook and Twitter in a few days.

• Why Muslims like the color green ~ link

• Abuna Pauolos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, says that it is time to pull the ancient Ark of the Covenant out of storage and to reveal it to the world. ~ link

• Two 70's icons gone -- Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. It's been a rough week for ancient-pop culture. Contrary to popular belief they were not invincible gods. Neither are the rest of us.

Random

• "Pastors no longer automatically hold positions of community influence. But they can -- and should -- earn a place in their communities by participating in them, says pastor and author Nelson Granade." This is a good article. ~ link

• Ray Anderson, my doctoral mentor, died on Sunday. Though he was relatively unknown by the average church goer his imprint on the church was significant. ~ link

• We stopped in Pasadena for a few minutes yesterday and I gave myself a tour of the new library at Fuller Theological Seminary. Impressive. I also got a new library card. Now I'll have to show up there more often.

• Chat with someone who speaks a different language. BabelWith.Me translates on the fly. Free. I'd like to hear from some truly multi-lingual people about the accuracy of this. ~ link

• Ed McMahon is gone. ~ link

• The Anglican Church in North America, an alternative to the Episcopal Church in America, has been constituted. The interesting thing about this particuluar church is that it grafts the Reformed Episcopal Church (which split from the Episcopal Church in 1873) back into the Anglican mainstream. ~ link

The Anglican Church in North America unites some 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes into a single church. Jurisdictions which have joined together to form the 28 dioceses and dioceses-in-formation of the Anglican Church in North America are: the dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin; the Anglican Mission in the Americas; the Convocation of Anglicans in North America; the Anglican Network in Canada; the Anglican Coalition in Canada; the Reformed Episcopal Church; and the missionary initiatives of Kenya, Uganda, and South America’s Southern Cone. Additionally, the American Anglican Council and Forward in Faith North America are founding organizations.

• In spite of the rhetoric from the emerging church folk and the Barna crowd, younger people are still flocking to megachurches. ~ link

We're on the road

• Greetings from beautiful Buttonwillow, California -- where Motel 6 not only left the light on for us but the AC as well. The cleaning crew had left it set to usher in a new ice age -- must have been 50° in here. At least we know it works.

• Our new 7-year-old Corolla gets 37 mpg on the highway. The last I heard the American auto industry was lobbying the US government to set the average fuel-efficiency standard at 35 mpg by 2020. I don't know where they landed on that but it sounds less than bold.

• Quartzite, Arizona looks about the same as it did the last time we drove through there 3 years ago. There has been dramatic change throughout the rest of Arizona -- new communities, roads, retail, and houses (although a lot of them are sitting empty).

• We had a great Indian dinner with Kirk, our oldest, in Glendale, California.

Happy Father's Day

It's appropriate that Father's Day is the longest day of the year. Happy Summer Solstice!

Random

• So far every store and restaurant has taken my Discover card -- in contrast to Guam, where only a few stores (mostly mainland US chains) even know what it is. (I like getting the cash kickback.)

• Humor me. I'm still readjusting to various aspects of American culture. It's a bitter sweet adventure because we're also missing our Guam friends and the pace of life there.

• Flash from the past! Cheryl and I did the CiCi's pizza buffet tonight. They now seem entrenched in Arizona. When we lived in Texas and the chain was new our whole church would often meet at CiCi's after worship.

• Last night we met our friends Jeff and Mary Johnson and had a feast at Famous Dave's BBQ -- another outstanding meal at a place that I'm sure most people know about but which has been totally off our radar. Jeff says he's going to open one on Guam in his spare time. That would get the island hopping.

• Weary of toting my laptop halfway around the world I purchased an Acer subcompact from Fry's Electronics last week. They were on sale for $237. I thought it would be good for short emails and surfing. But I've been surprised at how much other work I can actually do on the mini. I've even written out half a sermon.

• Greenland has taken another step toward autonomy -- severing more ties with Denmark. ~ link

• The US government has already messed too much with the economy. Now they (we!) want to fund a cash for clunkers trade-in program to get people to buy new cars. So far, I haven't heard anyone explain where we're getting the money to buy people's old cars. We'll just print more, I suppose, and let our grandchildren pick up the tab when the whole thing comes back to bite us. ~ link

Random

• The Fuller Doctor of Ministry (DMin) is now available in Australia through a partnership with Tabor Adelaide. ~ link

• The Evangelical Covenant Church has a new church planting wiki ~ link (via)

Why I like my NLT Study Bible

Effective Bible teaching and preaching has only a little to do with mining profound exegetical truths from the text. It has a lot to do with figuring out how to communicate those truths in the clearest and simpliest ways possible. I usually need more help with that than drawing out the nuances of some obscure Greek word.

Random

• Arizona is finally getting back to triple digit normal -- 103° this afternoon.

• Since the last time we were in Arizona CVS has established a presence -- on every corner. There are also now Target stores on every other corner.

• It seems like they're pulling a 2-year-old from a pool most everyday around here. ~ link

• We're planning to drive to Portland next week for the annual meeting of the Covenant.

• John Ortberg has been blogging. ~ link

• Brad Pitt is coming to Phoenix for some filming. I figured that if I mentioned his name the blog traffic would take a jump. ~ link

• Tomorrow is Juneteenth -- marking the end of slavery in the US. ~ link

• A beta of Microsoft's new free antivirus software, MSE, will be available for public download on June 23rd for the first 75,000 users. ~ link

Random

• A German company wants to sell gold bars out of vending machines -- at 30% above current market value. This does not sound well-conceived. Gold buyers are typically conservative investors who watch the percentages closely. ~ link

• Tokyo Christian University offers a BA degree which integrates liberal studies, Bible, and theology -- and it is taught in English. ~ link (via)

• Opera Unite is cutting out the middle man -- taking the next step beyond web 2.0. ~ link

• Africans may soon be getting broadband internet access through a system which uses hydrogen-filled weather balloons flying overhead at 80,000-100,000 feet. ~ link

• There is a whole new set of interesting nature-oriented iGoogle themes. I'm currently running the "under the sea" theme from National Geographic. ~ link

• 1.07% of Pakistan's population is made up of refugees. 0.70 % of Germany's population is made up of refugees. See if your country is on the chart. ~ link

• Richard Lewis' latest lesson on cross-cultural interaction -- "Hierarchy of Trust" ~ link

• Another prominent Anglican is swimming the Tiber. ~ link

Random

• Community Church of Joy, the Glendale, Arizona church which has been a flagship in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is disassociating itself from that denomination and is joining the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC). ~ link

• Twitter delayed a 1-hour maintenance shut-down so that they would not interrupt communication between Iranian protesters. Two weeks ago China blocked Twitter on the anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre to thwart protesters. It's a powerful communication tool. ~ Link

• We took our rental car back to the airport today. We had rented from Fox Rent a Car, a fairly new discount company, and had a very positive experience.

• Renting a car at Sky Harbor International Airport is interesting. Renters are bused to an off-site not-so-mini-terminal where business is conducted. It's different than any off-site set-up I've seen -- and extremely efficient. ~ link

• Opera Unite could turn every computer running the Opera browser into a web server. ~ link

• Arizonans are having a tougher time managing credit card and mortgage debt than consumers all other states -- except Florida and Nevada. ~ link

Random

• I wondered if this might happen. President Johnson Toribiong of Palau is taking some local heat for his willingness to accept the Uighurs (Muslim separatists from western China) from the Gitmo. ~ link

• They now sell Blue Bell ice cream in Arizona. The last time we had Blue Bell was when we lived in Texas 14 years ago ("the best ice cream in the country" -- which they didn't export out of Texas at the time). So I bought half a gallon of chocolate cookie dough ice cream -- even though it wasn't the cheapest option in the freezer aisle. (It was still less expensive than any of the cheapest stuff on Guam.)

• We took our new-used Corolla (w/ 94,000 miles) to a mechanic to see if it might be in good enough shape for longer trips. He REALLY liked what he saw and said that he'd not hesitate to take it on a longer road trip.

• Spam is bad for the environment. Each spam message generates 0.3 grams of carbon dioxide. Does this mean we can now sic the EPA on the spammers? ~ link

Random

• Today is Flag Day in the US.

• Melissa reports that Erten (the PIBC student and member of the Thai mission team who injured his hand when it went through a plate glass window) is out of the hospital after his surgery. Doctors expect a full recovery. Apparently he is doing well. Thank you for praying.

Adjusting to Arizona

• People are as friendly here as they are on Guam.

• Our new-used Toyota Corolla has a cassette player. I was hoping for an 8-track but when you buy used you take what you can get.

• I'm still having to remind myself to add the sales tax onto the price of things. In Guam the tax is included in the posted price.

• There are a lot fewer empty houses than I imagined.

• There is a lot more empty retail space than I imagined.

• In spite of the economic slow down they're still building new houses.

• People are expected to make full stops at red lights and stop signs -- and mostly they do. If you don't the camera takes your picture and they mail you a ticket.

• More times than not the Circle K clerks give me soda refills when I bring in my vat. One clerk felt obligated to tell me that the soda is so inexpensive that it hardly costs the company anything to do that.

• Pineapples for $1 each. Mangoes 2 for $1.

Random

• Quotable: "I've argued for a long time that a steady diet of cynicism destroys respect for humans, and David Letterman has now reached that level. What he said is inexcusable. Not just poor judgment, not just stupid, and not just crossing the line. It was inexcusable." ~ Scot McKnight

• We've got wheels. This afternoon we purchased a 2002 Toyota Corolla -- not a lot different than the 1999 Corolla we had on Guam. That's a good thing.

• We had fun evening with some 20-somethings (friends of our nephew Josh) who came over for dinner. My optimism gauge shoots way up when I'm around people like them.

• From The Salt Lake Tribune -- "Evangelicals urge gentler approach to Mormons" -- good article which reflects the more dignified way that evangelicals are relating to their LDS neighbors. ~ link

The latest on the situation in Thailand

More from Melissa:

Just wanted to send a quick update....

Erten is still in the hospital but will be coming home tomorrow. He will need to have the hand cleaned each day of the week for a week. I am told he is in good spirits but when we went to visit he was tired and seemed sad. Kalvin (our other leader ) is staying with him. We will be excited to have him back tomorrow.

Some good news is that the medical bills will only be in the neighborhood of $1200 which we have. It may leave us a bit short at the end but we are trusting that God will provide for our needs.

Another good news is that the doctor believes the surgery was successful and Erten will eventually have full use of his hand.

Please continue to pray for God's provision and protection.

Also pray for some Thailand Campus Crusade staff in the south park of Thailand. A van with about 7 - 8 people had an accident and are now in the hospital.

These things are not positive but have put us in a position where we are forced to rely on God... and we know that He is good. We are all thankful to be here.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Blessings,
Melissa

PIBC student hospitalized in Thailand

Melissa Heck, the PIBC dean of women, who is a part of the Thai mission team this summer sent this emergency email a few hours ago.

Although it is hard for us to understand exactly what happened one of our team members, Erten, walked into a glass door and it shattered severing the tendons in his hand and severing two veins. He was rushed to the hospital where he needed surgery to repair his hand.

He is in the hospital recovering --- should be okay but is in a lot of pain.

Please pray for Erten's recovery.
Please pray for the medical expenses to be covered some how.
Pray for God's protection over the rest of the team.
Pray for God's wisdom and discernment in the ministry. The spiritual battle here is fierce.

Thanks.... Melissa

Erten is the guy in the yellow shirt in the picture. He helped us pack our container last week before we moved.

Random

• AAC (autoclaved aerated concrete) a masonry material that can withstand a 2,000° fire for four hours, deadens sound, is energy efficient, is impervious to termites, is bulletproof and waterproof, is resistant to seismic activity, generates no waste in its creation, and is used throughout the world but for some reason is unacceptable in California. ~ link

• Former Mormon missionaries are finding a new mission in door-to-door sales. Apparently they're pretty good at it. ~ link

• A rare wild whooping crane has been sentence to life in the zoo after he became too dependent on humans for food. ~ link

• Last August we couldn't find a mixed berry pie on Guam for Cheryl's birthday (our tradition). Each week we kept looking at the grocery store. However, today we found what we needed at Marie Callender's -- so finally her birthday is complete. It was worth the wait.

• I managed to find my old Safeway Club card so could get the Breyers ice cream to go with the pie (2 for $5 w/ the magic card). Ah yes, it's all coming back to me. I'm starting to remember how the game is played. Reverse culture shock.

• Facebook finally figured out that users shouldn't just be numbers in their system. I'm now www.facebook.com/BradBoydston. Surprise. (Does anyone remember CompuServe -- which throughout the 80's insisted that everyone really wanted an email number rather than an email address with letters and words?)

• I'm getting a "Blogger is unavailable right now. We apologize for this interruption in service" message -- something which I haven't seen much lately. Since we're being nostalgic about the good old days on the internet, does anyone remember when those Blogger error messages were nearly a daily occurrence? I can't complain about an occasional hiccup in the current system. I've been around too long. Forget the good old days!

Jeff & Mary's condo

Our Guam friends Jeff and Mary Johnson just took possession of a fixer-upper condo in Fountain Hills, Arizona. They flew in a day ahead of us and have been busy this week with cleaning, painting, plumbing, and preparing to hang cupboards. We dropped in on them for a few minutes this afternoon.

Random

• Typhoons somehow trigger slow earthquakes? ~ link

• ¡Viva LA taco truck! ¡Viva UCLA law school! ~ link

• Our friend Stella says that the Guam quarters are pretty scarce. ~ link

• USA Today has a story on seminaries which offer their degrees to inmates. PIBC has been offering classes inside the prison on Guam for years -- although the school has been pretty low key about the program -- probably a good thing. ~ link

• It's now officially a pandemic. Good thing we all got the panic out a few months ago. ~ link

Random

• We hit the ground running and spent some time scoping out ministry opportunities in the area (more of that tomorrow). In the late afternoon we hung out with my parents. This evening I've been scrolling through the 1,000+ blog posts that have accumulated these past 3 or 4 days in Google Reader. So far no jet lag. The Phoenix weather is a comfortable 94°/20% humidity/no sweat.

• Walmart opened a new type of grocery store in Phoenix today -- an experiment specifically targeting the Hispanic consumer. ~ link

• The Republic of Palau "has agreed to a US request to temporarily resettle up to 17 Chinese Muslims" who had been housed at the Guantanamo Bay detention center on Cuba. Interesting -- especially because there is a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment in Palau right now. The small island state is not too far from Indonesia and many Paluans are very concerned about Muslim influence. ~ link

• And now -- Schuller's daughter is in charge? ~ link

• Drama on Guam today -- emergency landing after a cockpit window catches fire ~ link

• Now that we're gone, a Google map of Guam is starting to take shape. The island is a hard place to get lost. But it's also a hard place to find your way around. ~ link

• I just discovered a quirk in the blogger publishing system. When I updated my time zone in their system it went back and re-dated all of my previous posts according to the date in this time zone. (No big deal if you're just dealing with a few time zones of difference but if you've been blogging from the other side of the international date line it really screws things up.) I've adjusted a few manually but mostly I'll probably just leave things as they are. Sigh.

New megachurch survey

The National Survey of Megachurch Attenders, a just-released nationwide survey by Leadership Network and Hartford Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religion Research provides insights on the people who attend megachurches. For example,

• nearly two-thirds of megachurch attenders are under 45 years old.

• Nearly a third of megachurch attenders are single, unmarried persons.

• Megachurch attenders are both more educated and more affluent than attenders at other churches.

• The majority of megachurch attenders are not necessarily new to Christianity, but nearly a quarter had not recently been in another church before coming to a megachurch.

• While newcomers almost always attend a megachurch at the invitation of family, friends or co-workers, the real attraction tends to be the church’s reputation, worship style and senior pastor.

• Long-term attendance flows from an appreciation for the church’s music/arts, social and community outreach, and adult-oriented programs.

• 45% of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church.

While it's all very interesting I don't see anything surprising in there.

We survived!

Guam to Phoenix in 26 hours, 8,000+ miles, 3 airplanes, 4 airports -- all luggage and passengers made it. We slept well last night and amazingly there are no signs of jet lag (yet). It may be that fatigue trumps the clock.

Random

• The PIBC Thai mission team left this morning (with a bang) and right about now are probably enjoying their seven hour layover in the Bangkok airport. ~ link

• We depart from Guam in less than 8 hours. We spent the day running errands and saying our last good-byes to people.

• How to save money with a rain barrel ~ link

• Bookmark -- 35 amazingly well-designed church websites ~ link

• Not on the amazing list above (yet) but The Gallery Covenant Church (launching 1-10-10 in St Paul, Minnesota) already has a great website and logo ~ link

• A Connecticut school district has tossed out the Algebra textbooks and replaced them with their own customized online curriculum. ~ link

• We posted a ministry update this afternoon. ~ link

• My gmail has been a pain all day today -- incomplete loading and attachments coming through with issues. Perhaps they really do need to keep the "beta' label on gmail for awhile longer.

Random

• Turn an Altoid tin into a cute little toolbox. ~ link (via)

• We said good-bye to all of our good friends at the Lutheran Church of Guam this morning. It's a great church. We will definitely miss those people. However, we will probably see Pastor Jeff and Mary Johnson in Phoenix this week. They leave for Arizona tomorrow and will be on the ELCA missionary circuit for a couple of months. They've bought a condo in Fountain Hills, Arizona which may need some painting. Hopefully we'll be able to help out with some of that. ~ link to LCG website

• Don Tapscott on the "impending demise of the university" -- his thesis is a bit overstated but he's not too far off. I wouldn't use the word "demise" and would call it a "retooling" for a different style of learning. ~ link (via)