'God gap' impedes U.S. foreign policy, task force says

Fascinating and important statement by a task force of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs headed by R. Scott Appleby of the University of Notre Dame and Richard Cizik of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good.

According to The Washington Post, the task force said:

American foreign policy is handicapped by a narrow, ill-informed and "uncompromising Western secularism" that feeds religious extremism, threatens traditional cultures and fails to encourage religious groups that promote peace and human rights."

Chris Seiple, president of the Institute for Global Engagement in Arlington County and a Council on Foreign Relations member, said:

"It's the elephant in the room. You're taught not to talk about religion and politics, but the bummer is that it's at the nexus of national security. The truth is the academy has been run by secular fundamentalists for a long time, people who believe religion is not a legitimate component of realpolitik."

Top Ten PR Secrets for Non-Profits: # 8 Ask the Questions, So What?, Who Cares?

#8 Answer the Questions: So What? and Who Cares?

I remember an alternately cruel and humorous shout that we used in high school (although I don’t recall exactly how we used it) to put down another group. We yelled in succession: So what? Who cares?

It’s direct and, if used unwisely—as many things are in the high school years—it can be hurtful. In public relations, these are two of your most important questions (and questions it would be good you’d ask yourself before someone like your PR counsel has to).

The first, So What?, goes to the questions of relevance, impact, scale, and consequence. Does what you are doing matter not only to you but also to observers, reporters, officials, or recipients? And will they say so? Perhaps you just don’t know, but you believe what you are doing or contending for is vitally important. That’s fine. Just be sure you ask yourself the question honestly, and if others are slow in coming to the same conclusion you do, know that public mention of your effort may also be slow, and your communications hill steeper.

The second question: Who Cares? isn’t an issue of crass heartlessness, but a measure of whether or not media gatekeepers will care about your story or you mission. Although newsworthiness is a subjective judgment, there are guidelines that most will follow.

To be newsworthy a story usually needs at least a few of these characteristics: proximity, impact, drama, uniqueness, significance, timing, human interest, scandal, or celebrity. Work hard to present your story in these terms—or lower your expectations if it’s an important piece of news, but sadly dull.

With that in perspective, conduct strong programs, make a difference in people’s lives, and change your corner of the world. Eventually, that will make news. And it’s the beginning of good public relations.

--Jim Jewell

Leaders of the Evangelical Generation: John M. Perkins. Community organizer

[I am working on a project that may become a book on the most influential evangelicals leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they've had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time. Who should be on this list?]



John Perkins. Community organizer. b. 1930

John Perkins is a bridge from struggles of the civil rights movement to calls for evangelicals to “let justice roll down” to the poor and oppressed. A careful activist, Perkins inspires a new generation of Christians involved in social justice as chairman of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). He says he seeks to “fill the vacuum of moral, spiritual, and economic leadership that is so prevalent in poor communities by inspiring people to develop themselves and their community through the gospel.”

When John Perkins meets with colleagues on boards and planning groups, he doesn’t seem angry, but cheerful, even grateful. He listens more than he speaks, but when he speaks, he does so with conviction. Perkins is an outspoken but gentle speaking man whose words and actions have thundered and shaken the evangelical establishment and complacency about the needs of many parts of the community that are being left behind.

A sharecropper’s son who grew up in New Hebron, Mississippi, in terrible poverty, he fled the Deep South to California at age 17, after his older brother’s murder at the hands of a town marshal. He vowed never to return.

But after his Christian conversion in 1960 he returned to Mendenhall, Mississippi, where he and his strong wife Vera Mae, founded Voice of Calvary Ministries to evangelize and work in community development. There, VOC started a church, health center, leadership development program, thrift store, low-income housing development, and a training center. Perkins also started development projects in the neighboring towns of Canton, New Hebron and Edwards.

Other the years, he never backed down from injustice, and his support and leadership in civil rights demonstrations resulted in repeated harassment, beatings and imprisonment (he was arrested and jailed during a protest as recently as 2005).

In 1982, the Perkins family returned to California and lived in the city of Pasadena, where John and Vera Mae founded Harambee Christian Family Center in northwest Pasadena, a neighborhood that had one of the highest daytime crime rates in California. Harambee is yet standing, running numerous programs--including after school tutoring, Good News Bible Clubs, an award-winning technology center, summer day camp, youth internship programs, and a college scholarship program.

In 1983, while yet in California, Perkins and his wife, along with a few friends and other major supporters, established the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation & Development to support their mission of advancing the principles of Christian community development and racial reconciliation throughout the world.

Perkins is the author of nine books, including A Quiet Revolution, Let Justice Roll Down, With Justice For All, Beyond Charity, He’s My Brother, Resurrecting Hope, and A Time to Heal, and has written numerous chapters in others.

His strategy has always included not only community action, but also infiltration of the largely white evangelical governing structures. He has served on the Board of Directors of World Vision, Prison Fellowship, National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), Spring Arbor College, and fifteen other boards.

--Jim Jewell

First Ten PR Secrets for Non-profits: #7 Go Deep

When you engage in public relations as a non-profit organization, every move must be strategic and thoughtful. The road to visibility can be long and arduous, and there is nothing more important than your integrity and your reputation. For more than three decades, we have been providing counsel and service to organizations and public figures in the Christian and non-profit sectors. We’ll unfold ten things we’ve learned.

#7 Go Deep

What I’m about to say will seem obvious to many people. But evidently it isn’t obvious to enough people who want to make their mark in the public arena.

Before you attempt to make an impression in the marketplace of idea and impact, become a deeper person or organization or group than you probably are now. Do your thinking and planning, serious study and scholarship, and have a body of research before you make a splash. Establish your expertise, not by saying you are the experts, but by have the background and the writing, case studies, experiences—to demonstrate your expertise.

We’ve had more than one organization—although I’m thinking of one in particular right now—that have announced that it was the best in the field and that it was going to change “the space” and dominate it. The group seemed to have at least initial funding and the ability to throw up a reasonably attractive website and some flashy graphics.

They just don’t have any expertise in the topics—the space-- they intended to dominate. There wasn’t any significant content on their site (or to be found), and what they were beginning to say publicly was at times clever and helpful, and at other times it exposed how thin they were in the gray matter.

Clearly, we have tried to gently provide the counsel to “go deep” and to help them figure out how to do that.

Potential clients often say they want their visibility (and by that they usually mean the ability to raise funds) to go to “the next level.” I can’t tell you how many times over the decade I have heard those exact words.

You do succeed at “the next level” if you begin establishing your credentials without credentials. Public relations work is meant to help the public appreciate the good work you are already doing, and your credentials to do more.

• Become an expert in the one area you want to promote and work

• Do the work. Begin small if you have to, but have something to show.

• Don’t stay at twitter or facebook level. Clever updates don’t establish your expertise, but they can point to it.

• Don’t stay at news release level. A news release can get you an inquiry. Your substance is demonstrated by how you answer the inquiry.

• Put valuable information on your website. The platform should showcase good content.

• Establish a blog and write frequently.

• Don’t just quote others—which is what a lot of blogs do. That makes you a good network, but not an expert.

• Write articles; give speeches.

• Write a book

Young people are blogging less; heck, they’re writing less, thinking less, stopping less, etc. But don’t target those who live by the tweet and the text.
Decisions are still going to be made by those who stop and think and read. Go deep.

--Jim Jewell

12 Things We Should Expect of Christians in the Public Arena

What is the role of individual followers of Christ in the public arena? By this I do not mean solutions presented by the political parties and the governing philosophies that must guide public policies. For evangelical Christians in public life there must spiritual first things--the bedrock that precedes and provides the foundation for actions, traits, and political positions, and that must supercede interest in re-election.

Individuals that are engaged in the public arena in any way find it tremendously difficult to find—and even to do—thinking about public policy and public life that precedes political philosophy and does not rely on the positions articulated by politicians, media commentators, and other political observers.

With some exceptions, Christians looking at public issues are faced with religion-based information in two groups. First, biblical teaching on spiritual life and personal growth that does not attempt to address public issues. And second, political discourse that starts with political philosophy then seeks biblical proof-texting.


12 First Things
What should we be able to expect of evangelical Christian in the public arena? I suggest that there are the 12 first things that should be embraced by faithful Christians whatever their political philosophy. While there can be honest and worthy disagreements on how to apply political philosophy to adddress these concerns, they should transcend the call of the party.

1. Value Character
2. Support Human Rights
3. Develop a Consistent Ethic of Life
4. Honor and Protect Families
5. Help the Poor and Imprisoned
6. Be Responsible Citizens
7. Be Good Stewards
8. Do Justice
9. Recognize Evil
10. Seek Spiritual Vision
11. Demonstrate a Graceful Spirit
12. Share Your Faith

Now, a closer look at each of these:

1. Value Character: Recognize, honor and create public policies that promote personal character and virtue, such as personal responsibility, temperance, duty, respect, kindness, perseverance, and patience. These and other virtues are clearly held in high regard in the Scriptures, and they need champions among policymakers.

2. Support Human Rights: I do believe that the basic human rights of safety from abuse and bondage, the opportunity to worship as we please, freedom of movement and livelihood, and fundamental fairness are God-given, not government-given. It is the role of government to confirm and protect these human rights.

3. Develop a Consistent Ethic of Life: The ethics of life are perhaps the most difficult and divisive issues in the public arena, although there are those who would say that they are the simplest.

Abortion
When people say life ethics are simple they are in most cases speaking of the unacceptability of taking innocent human life through abortion. I agree that it impossible to develop a Christian ethic that supports abortion on demand as a means of birth control. To back up a bit, it is essential that the Christian in public life develop a consistent ethic of life. Something like this: To influence culture and create laws to best save and extend lives; to honor the inherent value of human life, made in the image of God; and to safeguard lives in the present and in future generations.

Death Penalty
A life ethic that argues only against abortion is not complete. I believe it must also re-examine the death penalty, which is routinely supported on both sides of the aisle. The taking of human life by the government is always troubling, and must be constantly scrutinized. If execution is necessary to save lives, then there is an ethical reason to continue its use for capital offenses. But both the death penalty and life imprisonment without the chance of parole effectively remove the perpetrator from society. As such, the death penalty is not necessary for that purpose. If, however, it can be proved that the death penalty is a deterrent to other potential murderers, we should support the death penalty, because it will save lives. I haven’t seen such findings, by the way, but would be open to this proof.

Is it necessary to kill a murderer in order to exact justice or fairness, or is that simply retribution masquerading as “closure?”

Euthanasia
Life is a precious gift of God. But what should we allow when the gift is a terrible burden to its holder. Should we allow the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit? Strong emotional arguments for euthanasia are presented in cases where an individual’s pain is overwhelming or remaining days will be essentially unconscious. But as merciful as it seems at times, I do not believe that we are granted the divine right to take innocent life before God’s time.

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D. wrote:

"... we must be wary of those who are too willing to end the lives of the elderly and the ill. If we ever decide that a poor quality of life justifies ending that life, we have taken a step down a slippery slope that places all of us in danger. There is a difference between allowing nature to take its course and actively assisting death. The call for euthanasia surfaces in our society periodically, as it is doing now under the guise of "death with dignity" or assisted suicide. Euthanasia is a concept, it seems to me, that is in direct conflict with a religious and ethical tradition in which the human race is presented with " a blessing and a curse, life and death," and we are instructed '...therefore, to choose life." I believe 'euthanasia' lies outside the commonly held life-centered values of the West and cannot be allowed without incurring great social and personal tragedy. This is not merely an intellectual conundrum. This issue involves actual human beings at risk..."

War
Our Christian duty as we approach the issues of war and peace is to first look at them as issues of life and death, not geopolitics. Although the temporal issues may need to be factored, questions of life must be first because warfare kills people. Not going to war can either save lives or cost many more lives that the war itself. That recognition is why a longer view of impact must be considered in life ethics. I do believe that strength is the best peacemaker, a contention that has gained great credibility with the collapse of communism.

However, war is unacceptable to satisfy national ego, to gain creature comforts, or to settle scores.

4. Honor and Protect Families: God ordained the institution of the family and His children need to try to keep it together. We must recognize that the family is the primary conduit of the values that civilize us. The leading cause of economic and moral poverty is a broken families. Kids need to grow up with a mom and a dad to love them, to teach them virtue, and to train them up in the ways of the Lord.

There is probably no greater challenge for our culture than maintaining strong families, and there are many forces pulling in the opposite direction. Curbing these negative forces is a worthy role of the public servant.

(By the way, I believe homosexual unions are way down the list of dangers to the traditional family).

5. Help the Poor and Imprisoned: There is no clearer mandate in Scripture than to bear good news to and serve the poor, those in prison, and the brokenhearted. (Luke 4:18). To care for the widow and orphans. This should be high on the agenda of individual Christians and the church. It is vital that believers personally demonstrate that they follow Jesus Christ by their care for the poor.

How do we deal with this mandate as it relates to the levers of government?

If government largesse was effective at creating anything but dependence, I believe we could assume biblical support. The Bible certainly doesn’t prohibit action of the state to assist the poor. But our history shows that government isn’t good at anything but providing relief. Government fails at community and personal development.

6. Be Responsible Citizens: As Christians we are called to submit to the governing authorities (Romans 13). Although in cases when the laws of the state violate God’s laws civil disobedience is the right path, there are far fewer times when that is necessary than some lead us to believe. The Bible clearly calls for submission in most cases, even when the authorities are unjust.

Christians in public life must lead by adhering to this teaching, but must also appreciate and teach the tension between the state and the church.

In The City of God, Augustine wrote:

“The heavenly city, or rather the part of it which sojourns on earth and lives by faith, makes use of this peace only because it must, until this mortal condition which necessitates it shall pass away. Consequently, so long as it lives like a captive and a stranger in the earthly city, though it has already received the promise of redemption, and the gift of the Spirit as the earnest of it, it makes no scruple to obey the laws of the earthly city, whereby the things necessary for the maintenance of this mortal life are administered; and thus, as this life is common to both cities, so there is a harmony between them in regard to what belongs to it.” (Book XIX, Chapter 17)

7. Be Good Stewards: We should expect evangelicals in public life to acknowledge that all good gifts are from God and that He calls on us to be grateful for them and to be good stewards and worthy caretakers of all he has given us.

When there is bounty, God calls for personal generosity. We are to enjoy good things in moderation. And we are to care for the earth, our temporary home. It is right to determine the truth on the impact of human actions on the environment, and exaggerations and blatant lies have undercut the credibility of environmentalists. We cannot fall prey to the emotional earth-worship of hyper-environmentalism.

However, there is simply no biblical support for being anti-environment. When we blindly follow the ravings of many conservative commentators in their criticism of all things pro-environment, we are falling in line with a political strategy, not biblical teaching.

For more on the evangelical approach to the environment, review the materials at Flourish.

8. Do Justice: When we hear someone calling for justice, it is usually a cry for a wrong to be righted or for the government to help with pay-back. Getting even. Micah 6:8 says that God requires us to “do justice,” or to “act justly.” The task of the public servant is to look deeply at the biblical call for justice, which has embedded the understanding of fairness, of justification, of equal treatment, and of reconciliation:

"[In biblical times] when wrongs were done, ordinary people went to the city gates to seek justice in a 'legal assembly' in which citizens participated. The focus of this court, sometimes called an 'organization of reconciliation', was not to satisfy some abstract concept of justice but to find a solution. Restitution and compensation were common outcomes. Biblical Justice seeks first to solve problems, to find solutions, to make things right, looking toward the future." (H. Zehr, Changing Lenses, p. 140-1, 152)


9. Recognize of Evil: The Bible teaches that the forces of evil are aligned against the forces of good. Evil is not a concept; it oozes from every heart not constrained by love. It seeks to overcome the world. The Christian seeking to impact public policy must recognize what the founders did—man is inherently inclined toward evil and dominated by self-interest. It is not a popular thought, but thinking otherwise makes for deadly policy.

“The total depravity of man,” said G.K. Chesterton, “is the one doctrine empirically validated by 4,000 years of human history.”

We have lost sight of this in modern society, which endangers the republic.

“The most common myth of [our time] is that people are good. We aren’t,” wrote Charles Colson, who after a career in cut-throat politics and 25 years in prison and prison ministry knows of what he speaks.

10. Seek Spiritual Vision: The Christian cannot view the struggles and triumphs of our days only through the lens of our immediate interests and of our age. The eyes of the Christian soul must see further, with a view of the unseen (spiritual vision) and a view of the world (world vision).

Although we acknowledge in our churches and personal study that we are only passing through this world, it is difficult to apply this to the rough and tumble struggles of our days and in public life. When we are granted spiritual vision, we see a spiritual dimension to how history is unfolding and our role in it. Paul wrote: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (II Corinthians 4:18).

Also, I am not sure that a mature Christian can be a thorough isolationist, at least not as he or she becomes aware of the violation of human rights around the world, and the persecution of the church. This requires a world vision.

11. Demonstrate a Graceful Spirit: The Christian in public life undercuts his witness and diminishes his effectiveness if he does not show the grace that his been shown to him by God. For the many in leadership the twin challenges in this area are showing humility and forgiving others. Both of these graces are in rare supply in the halls of power and there is no higher work for the Christian public servant than to model these disciplines.

C.S. Lewis said to British servicemen after World War II (the text of which was to become Mere Christianity):

"Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive, as we had during the war. And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger. It is not that people think this too high and difficult a virtue: it is that they think it hateful and contemptible. “That sort of talk makes them sick,” they say. And half of you already want to ask me, “I wonder how you’d feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?”

So do I. I wonder very much. Just as when Christianity tells me that I must no deny my religion even to save myself from death by torture, I wonder very much what I should do when it came to the point. I am not trying to tell you in this book what I could do—I can do precious little—I am telling you what Christianity is. I did not invent it. And there, right in the middle of it, I find: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.” There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven. There are no two ways about it. What are we to do. "

12. Share Your Faith: Those who observe evangelicals for any length of time should at some point be aware that they are telling others about their faith in Jesus Christ, about His grace to help us to live each day, and His plan for our eternal salvation. In a day when “proselytizing” is said with curled lip and a sneer, it should be known in the public square that this is part of the Christian’s obligation. To be obedient we must tell of the hope that is in us and the source of that hope. It is gives us joy to do so. To do otherwise creates a much high level of condemnation.

Finally, observers should also expect evangelicals, along with everyone else, to fail. We are but “jars of clay” who recognize that it is through our weakness that God’s strength can be seen.

--Jim Jewell

Front Porch Revival: A threshold of community

I have a back deck, and if you live in the suburbs, you probably do too. I wish I had a front porch. Kendra Juskus, in a terrific post at Flourish, explains why a front page is an important tool of community and of ministry.

She writes:

The porch is a physical space that is both personal to its owner and hospitable to guests and strangers. It is a threshold of community: neither a place of anonymity, nor of complete intimacy. It is a place where new connections are wrought and old connections are strengthened. One can be invited onto a front porch even as a passerby; it provides opportunities for welcoming the stranger.

Contrast the front porch with the back deck, an architectural feature that arose in American neighborhoods in the 1970s. The back deck is purely private, a sanctuary into which only the friends and relatives of the deck owner are admitted.

Jim Jewell

Tebow Ad Alarms, Surprises, and Triumphs

I really like what Focus on the Family pulled off with the Tebow ad on television’s biggest stage. It wasn’t what I expected, but after reflecting on the strategy, it was a great “head fake” that produced unbelievable interest and then really offended no one, showed a sense of humor, and drove people to the Website for deeper messages on life and family (and the full Tebow story).

Focus’s site got 500,000 hits and 50,000 unique visitors in the hour the ad aired.

But the impact kept growing:

Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger said:

"For Sunday and Monday only, we had 1.16 million unique visitors, which is eighteen times our normal traffic," he says. "And we had 8.6 million terabytes streamed. I don't know what that means [a terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes], but that's apparently 267 times more than we normally have. The full interview with the Tebows that's mentioned at the end of the ad had been watched a total of 762,897 times as of yesterday, and the ad on our website had been watched 305,000 times -- and that's not counting the number of views on other websites. I just saw a link on Yahoo!, which had posted the ad, and it had been viewed on their website over 1.1 million times."

--Jim Jewell

Congressional Action on Behalf of an Individual: Remembering the Elizabeth Morgan Case

Last night on a new program called Deep End, the attorneys conspired to have Congress pass a law for one individual--the Chinese widow of a American soldier killed in Afghanistan. My wife Debbie, who worked for some time for Congressman John Linder of Georgia, recalled that they dealt with these kinds of requests--and advanced them--from time to time.

That got us March 2005 there was high drama when the lights of the Capitol were on past midnight Sunday for the Congress to pass a bill and the President returned to Washington to sign it at 2 a.m., allowing the federal courts to consider the Schiavo case.

I was involved in a similar action in 1989: the Elizabeth Morgan case.

I was working at the time as chief of staff for Chuck Colson at Prison Fellowship Ministries. Our staff working at the District of Columbia jail had met a woman there who stood out in a number of ways. Dr. Elizabeth Morgan was a tall, white, affluent plastic surgeon from northwest DC in a jail full of almost entirely poor black women from east of the river.

She was already a heroine in the jail. She has been there for nearly two years for contempt of court because she refused to allow her six-year-old daughter to go on court-ordered overnight visits to her ex-husband. She accused her husband of sexual abuse of the child, hidden the child, and went to jail rather than tell the court where the child was.

The imprisoned women, the large majority of whom had been abused (you find this in most women’s prisons in the country), loved Morgan for her courage in protecting her daughter from abuse.

Judge Dixon of the District court could not be persuaded that Morgan’s ex-husband, Virginia oral surgeon Eric Foretich, had been abusive. He would not budge, he cited Morgan for contempt, sent her to jail—-and left her there.

When Morgan and this case came to our attention, we were amazed by her fortitude and by length of time an unconvicted individual had spent in prison. When we studied the evidence, it, and the witness of Morgan’s action, persuaded us that there had been sexual abuse.

Colson wrote an article calling for Morgan’s release, for which he was condemned and praised. Interestingly, it was our natural allies, the conservative Christians, who were outraged, and our usual adversaries, the liberals and women’s rights activists, who were supportive.

(Both Morgan and Foretich were professed Christians, but he was of the more conservative variety and a member of a prominent northern Virginia evangelical church).

We began lobbying our conservative Christian brethren. I went to visit with James Dobson and presented our large file of evidence. He agreed to have Colson on the Focus on the Family radio program. Our campaign picked up steam.

At the same time, we talked with our local Virginia congressman, Frank Wolf, about the case, as well as a few Senators. I remember one strategic lunch in the Senate Dining Room with a Senator from Tennessee, whose influence was necessary to create and move a piece of legislation to free Dr. Morgan.

Within a couple of months, our efforts were successful. The U.S. Congress passed a bill specifically for the release of Dr. Elizabeth Morgan. She was freed from prison after serving the longest detention for civil contempt in American history--25 months.

In February 1990, the daughter was discovered living in New Zealand with her maternal grandparents. A New Zealand court gave Morgan sole custody, but the visitation requirement by the U.S. court remained in effect, meaning that if Morgan returned to America with her daughter she would still have to allow her ex-husband to see their daughter. That wasn’t going to happen. Morgan remained in New Zealand with her daughter.

In 2003, a federal appeals court ruled that the law passed by Congress to help the mother was unconstitutional because it applied to one person. By that time, the daughter was 21 and safe from the harm which a mother spent two years in jail to protect her.

--Jim Jewell

Tim Tebow, My Children, and Choosing Life

Eighteen years ago, a bright and confident young woman in Evansville, Indiana, discovered a personal issue that would cause her high school education to be disrupted and would result in her mother kicking her out of the house. She’d made some bad choices, and she was pregnant. She had one more choice to make, and she wasn’t sure what to do. Should she quietly have an abortion and get on with life quickly, or go through the ridicule of her classmates, the scorn of her mother, the hard months of pregnancy, and the pains of child birth?

To my great joy, this young woman had lunch with a friend of her friend who worked at a local church’s adoption program, and after many hours of talking and crying and hand-wringing, she decided to bear the beautiful little baby girl who would become a member of our family through adoption. It wasn’t easy or convenient, but through the love and counsel of this new Christian friend, a fine teenager made the right choice. She chose life.

Although my oldest daughter will not win the Heisman Trophy, she is bright, confident, and beautiful in her own right. As the country agues over the propriety of the Focus on the Family Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow, I think about that Evansville teenager who chose life, as well as another young woman three years later who made the same choice and gave birth to my oldest son, who we adopted through the same agency.

Thousands upon thousands of women make the same choice that Pam Tebow and these teenagers made, facing a battery of conflicting counsel, hardships, pains and dashed dreams.

I don’t believe the legality of abortion is an issue of choice but of the strongest moral necessity, but this Super Bowl ad (from what we’ve heard), and my own experience is not about the legality of having a choice, but the morality and ultimate joy of making the right choice.

--Jim Jewell

35 Pieces of Remarkable Worthless Information, Just for Fun

1. Rubberbands last longer when refrigerated.
2. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
3. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
4. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
5. The shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
6. There are more chickens than people in the world.
7. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
8. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
10. All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
12. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
13. All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
14. Almonds are a member of the peach family.
15. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
16. Maine is the only US state whose name is just one syllable.
17. There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous" - tremendous, horrendous, stupendous and hazardous.
18. Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula"
19. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
20. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
21. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
22. In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10
23. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
24. The Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's A Wonderful Life."
25. Some dragonflies have a life span of 24 hours.
26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
27. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
28. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
29. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
30. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
31. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
32. Mr. Rogers was an ordained minister.
33. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
34. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
35. "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand

redemptive imagination

David Putman, author of DETOX for the Overly Religious has a helpful post on his blog on what he calls "redemptive imagination." He writes

A redemptive imagination is about going all in. How can I leverage my life for his kingdom? What need could God meet through me? What dream could God make happen through me. What could he do with my life to make his name resound with good news?

Leaders of the Evangelical Generation #21 William Lane Craig. Apologist

[I am working on a project that may become a book on the most influential evangelicals leaders of our generation, since 1976, and the impact they've had on the church and their times. I will introduce them briefly on this blog from time to time.]


#21 William Lane Craig. Apologist. b. 1949

It appears that William Lane Craig spends most of his time exercising his body, trim and taut at 61, with a crushing handshake and bodybuilder’s swagger. Would that were true for his unfortunate debate opponents over the years. Despite his physical presence, Craig has clearly spent more time in the library than the gym. He is the super heavyweight of Christian apologetics, arguing for the existence of God, the historicity of the resurrection of Christ, and other profound truths in the most august settings and against the best atheism has to offer.

As Craig presents a “progressive, systematic case for the existence of God” in his work, he provides the intellectual heft necessary not just to defend but to provide strong evidence of the first and foundational proposition of Christian belief, the proposition that God is.

Craig is a seasoned debater—often on university campuses—and he has crossed mental swords with the likes of Christopher Hitchens, and he has famously taunted Richard Dawkins for cowering away from opportunities to debate Craig on the existence of God.

Craig authored The Kalam Cosmological Argument, which is today the most published work presenting a philosophical argument for theism. Craig has been called “the finest Christian apologist of the last half century.” He is currently a Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and Biola University. He is one of the few evangelicals who has made it his life and career apply academic rigor to the questions of Christian truth and in mind-to-mind combat civilly devastated the learned opponents of faith.

--Jim Jewell

Ten Ways Media Leaders Can Keep Media Ethics from Becoming an Oxymoron

After reading a list of oxymorons, beginning with George Carlin’s famous “jumbo shrimp” and “military intelligence," I got a minor laugh in a college course I taught on writing for public communication by introducing as the next oxymoron, Media Ethics. It introduced a section on the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics and I suggested the following list of ten ways the national media could restore its reputation.

1. Accuracy: Attention to detail; accuracy at all costs.

2. Thoroughness: Emphasize thoroughness over speed; getting the story right is more important than getting it first.

3. Humility: demonstrate humility through preparation, broad and vigorous research, and by seeking out experts.

4. Real Affirmative Action in news operations: ideological, religious, regional, and socio-economic, as well as racial and ethnic.

5. Journalism not Opposition: Reaffirm journalists as reporters of news, not the opposition party.

6. Historic Values: Reflect traditional values of the nation—ethics, historic teachings of faith groups.

7. Thinking: Recover the serious and critical mind—beyond the sound bite.

8. Rediscover Shame: wrongdoers should not be honored, they should be dishonored.

9. Self Cleansing: Restore credibility by cleaning up your own house so that journalists are trusted to present news fairly and professionally.

10. Leave NYC: Build national media competence and presence outside New York City and Washington, D.C. It would be good if the major networks moved to Des Moines, or Kansas City, or perhaps Indianapolis.

These were my thoughts for one group of future journalists.

--Jim Jewell

Lower Winter Energy Bills: Home Energy Audit and Guide from Flourish

On the Flourish Blog , very helpful home energy audit and guide to actions to reduce your energy use and lower your utility bills. Puxataney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter, so it's a good idea to take a look.

In Batten Down the Hatches, the Flourish team writes:

Winter is a good time for lots of things: hearty soup, skiing, snow days, hot tea, and good books. But it’s also the perfect time to save energy and reduce your resource use with a thoroughly winterized home. If the winter season has brought higher energy bills in the past, fear not! Here are some tips for helping your energy and environmental costs chill out during the most wonderful time of the year.