Specials of the Day – 8th November 2009AD

Exams are still on at the moment so more substantial blogging to come. In the meantime, continue to enjoy these latest ‘specials’ from around the net/blogosphere.

The latest installment of Canon’s EOS range was announced about a month ago, but is now widely available. I’m eyeing one off a the moment, and just need to sort out finances to get it! But for now have a read of Digital Photography’s Review’s review. It can get a bit technical but if you’re still keen then take a look at the intro to ground the context of the 7D’s release, head to the review’s comparisons and then jump to the conclusion. Otherwise use the drop box menu to navigate.

This is a nice and short story of fellow inmates helping out a guard officer during an attack by a fellow inmate..

Tim Challies recently posted up a series of blog entries on the issue of sexual purity. This particular e-book is aimed particularly at single Christian guys. I highly recommend it. Also on the same topic, Mark Driscoll released a similar e-book a few months back titled ‘Porn-Again Christian‘. That’s also available as a free download from Re:Lit (Reformation Literature).

The Briefing archives online have a great testimonial of a non-Christian’s first-time experience in (an Anglican?) church. There’s plenty here for us to chew on as we consider how to serve those in church who are there for the first time ever. Consider especially the language our churches use, the assumptions we make about what different things mean (like communion, offering/giving, songs…etc), and how we generally communicate what church family life is like by our interaction with people.

Speaking of going to church, here are some photos and design plans for First Baptist Church of Dallas’ new…wait for it…$130 million dollar building! Jared Wilson from First Things has some things to say about that:

Nobody should fault FBC Dallas or anybody else for building a building. But this isn’t a building. This, and a bunch of other stuff, is Bible Belt Disneyland. This is evangelicalism with more cowbell. This is Field of Dreams attractional church. And it stinks to high heaven. I was directed to a church website once while doing some research that had in its mission statement this sentence: “We will be a missional church, reaching out to the community to invite them to come see what we’re doing at ___________.”

Not go and tell. Come and see is the “mission” of megachurchianity. Which is why you need evangelistic windows.

Ying Yee has a passion for ministry to the +50 bracket in church. He offers some insightful reflections on his blog as to why more people are converted in their youth as opposed to older age. It’s worth reading and…well…reflecting upon.