Random

• The ELCA is reporting a membership drop for the 16th consecutive year. There's got to be a bottom somewhere. The good news is that the Lutheran churches in Africa are still growing like gangbusters. ~ link

• Kent left San Franciso this evening (Guam time) and is scheduled to arrive on Guam tomorrow (Friday) -- almost exactly 24 hours after departing. Normally the trip would take about 17 hours but we used frequent flier miles for the ticket and that complicated the itinerary. He's a trooper.

• ChurchRelevance's top 90 church websites -- most of them are way too slick. They seem sterile -- photos of models, etc. Not that churches should have crappy websites, but even from a crass marketing standpoint slick oozes with inauthenticity -- no matter how much the site says that they offer "authentic community." Does anyone else get this impression, too -- or am I being overly critical? ~ link