The Week-est Link, Jan. 4, 2008

1. A look at the Emergent Church movement by PBS. The video is 10:44 long. It's got some interesting material, and commentary from a Trinity Evangelical Divinity School professor, Don Carson. I'm hoping to take a class from him in coming days. The video shows us that the Emergent Church is a confused movement, a mishmash of practices from other religions combined with a dose of traditional Christian doctrine. The saddest moment: when a young woman at the weekly gathering says something to the effect of, "I've learned that we have questions, and we don't need to have answers." While it is true that Christians must embrace a mysterious providence at times (a point we must not fail to state), it is also true that by God's grace, we have found the One who is the Answer. HT: Josh Harris.

2. The results of the Iowa presidential caucuses. The short of it: Huckabee wins, Obama wins, and Hillary Clinton finishes third. I am not a huge fan of Huckabee, though I would like to see and hear more from him. Though I disagree strongly with his politics, I find Obama an arresting figure. He has that "it" factor that all great politicians possess, that ability to appeal to many people through a combination of poise, grace, populist communication, and a larger-than-life persona. See also the helpful commentary from Dr. Al Mohler (last paragraph especially).

3. A great soundtrack: Finding Neverland. The theme, in both its major and minor keys, is quite moving. The movie is a sad one, and the soundtrack captures the movie's mood nicely. Good driving or studying music.

4. An excellent piece by 9Marks writer and Virginia pastor Mike McKinley and Christians and coolness. McKinley makes a number of salient points that young Christians very much need to hear in the current day. Note that McKinley himself would be considered "cool" by many, as he has a bunch of tattoos. However, I publicly dispute his claim that he is the "resident cool guy" at 9Marks--who, I would query him, has a rap cd?

On that note, have a nice weekend.

The Week-est Link, Nov. 9

1. A tear-your-hair-out piece from Men's Vogue by the former New York Times reporter Charlie LeDuff. Apparently LeDuff, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, decided to stay at home following his daughter's birth. His wife went to work. Writes LeDuff:

I am sad for those fathers I had the pleasure to know during the years I was a correspondent. I remember the soldier in Iraq who was not there for the birth of his child. The journalist who came back from the war zone only to be called Uncle by his son. The Mexican man in Long Island, his only presence at home back in the old capital being his photograph and a Western Union receipt.

The only thing in the article that set my teeth more on edge than the passage above was this quotation on the reaction of children to nannies at the local playground:

We go off to the park to see the Latina nannies who care for the Little Lord Fauntleroys of a neighborhood filled with two-career families. It's only a 15-minute walk from my own neighborhood, but it's another world altogether. My friend Angelica tells me, "The children love us more than they love their parents. The little one calls me Mommy."

This article reveals a society gone mad, a culture that reverts the natural order of the home and that, in increasing numbers, features a familial economy in which both dad and mom leave the home and entrust the kids to a stranger.

If this does not already sound like a bad situation, consider the progress such a movement has made in the Christian church, and then you will really be in for some righteous indignation.


2. Be careful on who you throw your personal weight behind with the GOP race for the 2008 presidential nomination. Mike Huckabee, for example, is surging, but do we know enough about him and his record to wholeheartedly support him? There doesn't seem to me to be a great candidate for evangelicals yet in this race. I lean towards Romney, but even he gives me pause. At any rate, there is much time before the big stuff happens, and so, while I'm really hoping Giuliani loses momentum (as he's pro-choice), there is alot about the various candidates that remains to be seen...

3. Good flick. I would encourage couples to give it a watch, particularly when it's the wife's turn for a chick flick. Husbands, it ain't Braveheart, but Miss Potter ain't Gone with the Wind, either.

Have a great weekend.