The May 2012 Roundup : 10 Links, 2 Videos, 1 Youth Minister in a Hoodie

What a wonderful month May has been, and it isn’t quite over yet! Today, our kids finish their first year of homeschool, and they have done great. Of course, they have a wonderful teacher, but you already knew that!!!

This weekend, we are looking forward to having the Chorale from Freed-Hardeman University with us at Lebanon Road. They’ll be singing for us after lunch on Sunday as they conclude a summer tour. If you are in the Nashville area, come and worship with us and stay for lunch and what promises to be a great concert.

Okay, on to the links for May. Here are the first 5.

1. Need something to do this Summer to increase your faith? How about reading through the New Testament! You can do it in the 100 days from Memorial Day to Labor Day by following this schedule from Stone of Competence.

2. I can’t really introduce this post adequately, so just take a minute or two and read “Chosen by God” by Chuck Webster. All I can say is, “Amen.”

3. A couple of years ago, I read the book Simple Church. While I don’t agree with everything in that book, I do like the overall concept. Thom Rainer (one of the authors of that book), writes from time-to-time based upon that book, and I like this post, called “Simple Leadership.”

4. I don’t want to give away the point of this post, so I’ll just link to this straightforward, but good article by Jeff Jenkins called, “How Do You Treat This Book?”

5. John Gaines shares an interesting take on how Christians should handle boycotting or not boycotting businesses. This article is short, but deserves a slow, thoughtful read. It’s called “How Do Christians ‘Target’ Their Purchasing Power?”

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Now, as we get to the half-way point, it’s time for our humorous video. This one nearly defies description, but I want to give a little background. The youth group at the Jefferson Avenue Church of Christ in Cookeville, Tennessee, completed 52 service projects in 52 weeks, leading up to Go! Camp. To celebrate, they put together this video that, well, is utterly hysterical. The young people in this are great!!! Two things to know: (1) at the 2:33 mark, there is a cameo by none other than John Nichols, who grew up at Lebanon Road [he’s actually the one in the “still” shot before you hit “play,” and (2) though there is a break near the end, stick with this to the very end. You’ll be glad you did!

Okay, enough said…enjoy this!

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Back to the links

6. Do you get tired sometimes of fighting for the truth? My dad shares a great article to remind us to keep going. It’s called “Who Switched the Volume?”

7. Andrew Phillips shares an odd news story, but them makes a very important application in his post “Sending the Wrong Message.”

8. We should desire to restore New Testament Christianity, but doing so is not always easy. Matthew Morine writes very well about this in his article “1st Century/21st Century Tension.”

9. I had to link to an article by Michael Hyatt this month, since I just bought his book. I love his take on leadership, and his blog is a “must read” every day for me. This post is tremendously thought-provoking. It’s called “Your Life is the Sum of Your Choices” (yes, it has over 580 comments!).

10. Finally, an older post from our blog. I am trying to link to some posts that are older, since our readership has grown in the last year or so. This one uses some quotations from the very first Millennial Harbinger to talk about “A ‘Lost Sign’ of Christianity.”

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Well, that’s it, except for our monthly sign off. Since school is ending, it is Friday and I am truly in love! This month, we share a version by Alien Ant Farm, who’s best known for their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal.” They show that they can cover music by The Cure, too, in this one. Enjoy, and we’ll see you in June!