Week in Links

Some interesting things I found around the web this week:

Five Predictions For The Future Of Energy
People love to prognosticate about how the world will power itself in the future. But only one person can be right. Here’s some of the possible ways the next 50 years might turn out.

Wi-Not? South Korea’s Seoul To Blanket The City With Free Wi-Fi
South Korea is already light years ahead of the U.S. in terms of broadband infrastructure. Perhaps the lessons learned as Seoul rolls out its program will push the world closer toward truly wired cities.

Are Your Presentations Powerful Or Pathetic? 4 Persuasive Presentation Preparation Tips
Sadly, some of presentations distract from their important messages. A chronic case of PPD (Pathetic Presentation Disorder) can surreptitiously sabotaged their agenda.

9 Little Steps to an Awesome 5K Run
Five kilometers is a great distance for runners of all abilities. Its 3.106-mile length is perfect for the beginner looking to test their stamina. There’s a 5K race almost every weekend for those intermediate runners looking to set a personal record. For the advanced runner, it is a perfect length to tune-up before a longer distance race.

Spicy Pasta Salad with Smoked Gouda, Tomatoes, and Basil by The Pioneer Woman.
I found some smoked Gouda at my lovely little local grocery store yesterday, and I knew immediately what I was going to make. It’s a pasta salad based loosely on one I tried from Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago, one brought to the Lodge by recent guests. I can’t remember all the ingredients; I just remember that smoked Gouda played a role. I have tons of basil in my garden (which means I’m finally, at long last, happy) so I went a little crazy in that department.

A Missional View of the Doctrine of Election
How a Robust View of Election Leads to a Holistic Gospel and Meaningful Mission Engagement. JR Briggs has a whole series on this. The link is for part one.

A Comprehensive Post on SEO
The truth behind SEO and how to rank well in Google. Some of the following information might be obvious and some of it might seem strange.

If you thought like a missionary
A collection of thoughts you might have if you thought like a missionary.

Congregational Government is from Satan
James MacDonald posted on his blog that congregational polity is from Satan. Bill Kinnon wrote a few posts on it and MacDonald chimed in.

Meditate Your Way To A More Creative Mind
being creative is not as simple as being relaxed. It also involves the ability to make unexpected connections, to move fluidly among concepts, to consolidate past memories, ideas, or impressions and arrive at new insights.  Meditation can set the stage.

Make a Transparent Dry Erase Board for less than $6
This is cheap and easy and so very cool!

How I Beat Writer’s Block: A Haiku
It may seem counter-intuitive, but in my experience the best way to overcome creative block–in art and in life–is to give myself some parameters.

Christian Nation, Fitch, Non-Crackers, and the SBC 2011
An interesting look at the immigration debate the SBC in Phoenix this week by an atheist/skeptic. Warning: there is some dicy language so be prepared.

Left-leaning Christians to rally around ‘Wild Goose’
Starting Thursday, the bygone staple of the tent revival will be reincarnated on a bucolic North Carolina farm as The Wild Goose Festival. Nearly 10 years in the making, the festival is an attempt to reimagine Christianity for the 21st century under a bigger, wider more inclusive tent.

“Not ‘Missiology precedes Ecclesiology’ but ‘Missiology is Ecclesiology’…”
We must be careful when we say “missiology precedes ecclesiology” lest we think the church is a mere pragmatic enterprise. We cannot devise a technique to lead us into being this (the church in mission).