Archive for February, 2008
Dwindling Congregations
Thursday, February 28th, 2008If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!The annual membership figures published in The Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches this month shows that mainline Protestant denominations continue to lose followers. In the new report, the Episcopal Church dropped a whopping 4.15 percent in a year, […]
What’s More Dangerous to Your Health?
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008The New York Department of Health last week spent $800,000 for full-page advertisements in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal calling on the CEOs of major movie companies to quit showing characters smoking cigarettes in youth-oriented films. Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines urged the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to assign […]
Magazine challenges
Monday, February 25th, 2008Because of changing tastes and technology, it’s not the healthiest of times to be in the magazine industry, including those periodicals filling a niche in evangelical Christianity.
Magazines that had robust circulations only a few years ago are history, victims of the faster (and free) Internet.
New Man, which early in its 13-year history had a circulation […]
Better Than “No Country for Old Men”
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008For those who aren’t really excited about seeing all the R-rated depressing dramas that are bound to snare Oscar gold on Sunday, I have a suggestion: watch a classic comedy from Hollywood’s golden era.
Comedy today, whether in motion pictures, television or theaters, tends to reflect the crude and sexualized culture around us. But back in […]
Unexpected Opportunities
Monday, February 18th, 2008An ice storm in Springfield, Mo., last week afforded employees at Assemblies of God headquarters to have two unscheduled days off work because of hazardous travel. Mercifully we didn’t lose power or trees at my home, both of which happened during last winter’s more potent ice disaster.
Rather than just sit around and eat and watch […]
What’s the Rush?
Thursday, February 14th, 2008Media outlets, particularly television and magazines, spent much of 2007 touting various presidential candidates. The pack journalism mentality even picked a front-runner for the Republicans, a candidate who managed to go nowhere once the votes started being counted.
Now, more than eight months from the general election, the major networks are in a hurry for it […]
Death of a Guru
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008I had more than a passing interest when I read that Transcendental Meditation founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died last week at the age of 91.
Throughout most of the 1980s I worked as a newspaper reporter and editor in Fairfield, Iowa, headquarters of Maharishi University of Management (MUM). One in five residents in the town of […]
Time to jump into the blogging fray
Thursday, February 7th, 2008A wee bit late I’ve joined the 21st century and entered the blogosphere.
Why have I united with the cause? Times demand it. Young people read blogs more than they read traditional media (i.e. magazines and newspapers). If I ignore blogging, odds are I’ll be sadly out of touch a couple of years down the road.
I […]
The privilege of picking a president
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008Super Tuesday has passed, with voters in two dozen states (including Missouri where I live) having the opportunity to have a say in the presidential nomination process.
Of course by early February only two or three viable candidates are left for each of the major parties, compared to the seven or eight the Democrats and Republicans […]