Brad Wright is associate professor at the University of Connecticut where he studies the sociology of Christianity. I enjoy reading Brad’s blog which offers up an interesting mixture of sociological analysis, Christian reflections, great photography and just plain fun.

Over the past few weeks Brad has been reviewing Willow Creek’s recently published Reveal study from a sociologist’s perspective. I found his analysis of Reveal very “revealing!”

Here are the links to Brad’s series along with key excerpts from each post. The excerpts are only meant to whet your appetite and give you an idea of what Brad is doing in each of these posts. I encourage you to visit Brad’s blog and read the full posts to get the whole picture.

1. A review of ‘Reveal: Where are You?’ by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson – “I will take what is my somewhat standard approach and discuss what I think works well and what I think can be improved. As a sociologist, I’ll focus on methodological issues more than church growth issues.”
2. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, II – “Spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.”
3. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, III – “Let’s start with some things that Reveal does well: First, they are collecting data … Second, they collected both qualitative and quantitative data … Third, they ask some very interesting applied questions … Fourth, I think that one of their findings will prove especially valuable for the church – that Christians of different maturity levels need different things from their churches. That is, a church’s activities are not one-size-fits-all.”
4. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, IV – “The Reveal Study emphasizes the consequential dimension of religion – various attitudes and behaviors that should be changed by religion … They use the experiential dimension as a predictor (or independent variable) which they call a spiritual continuum. This leaves significant aspects of the Christian walk not covered by the outcome measures employed by Reveal … The limited range of outcomes in Reveal does not invalidate it findings, but rather examining a broader range of outcomes might produce a richer, and ultimately different, story.”
5. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, V – “The big take-home message of the Reveal Study, according to the authors, is that church involvement doesn’t predict spiritual growth but there is a spiritual continuum that does … From how the authors describe it, a spiritual continuum is a Guttman scale measuring self-defined relationship with Christ … Here are some problems with this measure …”
6. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, VI “The Reveal Study documents that people with higher scores on the continuum also score higher on measures of spiritual growth. It’s not that this statement is inaccurate, rather it’s uninteresting. If you have two measures of about the same thing, well of course they will be highly correlated and thus predictive of each other.”
7. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, VII – “The big story to come out of Willow Creek’s Reveal Study is that the seeker-sensitive ministry made famous by Willow is supposedly flawed and ineffective … Is the Willow Creek actually flawed? Maybe, maybe not, but we can’t tell from these data … The big changes apparently in place at Willow as the result of Reveal may in fact not be warranted. In short, they may be fixing something that isn’t broken.”
8. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, VIII – “A significant minority of sample members described themselves as spiritually stagnant or were dissatisfied with their church … This statistic highlights the problem posed by Reveal not having a comparison group, for we don’t know if it’s good or bad. Let’s say I told you that a sports player was successful at two-thirds of what they attempted, and then I asked you if this is good. Well, you would need to know how everyone else does. If it’s free throws, this isn’t very good. If it’s completing passes, this is very good. If it’s getting on base, it’s the best ever.”
9. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, IX “A key finding in Reveal is that a good portion (up to 25%) were mature believers who said that they were stalled in their spiritual walk. This has been used as an indictment of the Willow Creek, with its focus on bringing seekers into the church. As we think more deeply about this finding, however, it may not be problematic.”
10. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, X “The study’s authors plan to give the current Reveal study in 500 other churches. By doing this they could easily get up to 50,000 respondents … Nonetheless, this next phase of Reveal isn’t necessarily a big step forward … What then would I recommend for Reveal? Three things … These three suggestions would substantially increase the power and importance of the Reveal study, helping it to further achieve its laudable goals of helping the church grow.“
11. Church Surveys: Willow Creek’s Reveal Study, Summary “I hope that this series has been helpful to the authors and readers of Reveal. In academics, critical attention is a form of flattery … it indicates that one thinks a work is worth consideration. I believe that Reveal will be looked back upon as an important step in the American Christian Church discovering the value of empirical data.”

Related posts:

• A Sociologist Reviews UnChristian
• What Do People Want Most from Church?
• Willow Creek Shifts Model Based on Reveal
• Quick Takes – 11/17/2007

Super-size me. Looks like somebody ate too much turkey for Thanksgiving. Meet George, an extremely fat hedgehog found by a wildlife aid group on the side of the road along with his friend Mildred, which is normal-sized.

Unclear of the concept. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to be an official observer for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. In a recent speech to his militia in Iran, Ahmadinejad said, “If the White House officials allow us to be present as an observer in their presidential election we will see whether people in their country are going to vote for them again or not.” Will someone please explain to the president of Iran that George Bush is not even allowed to run in this election?

Also unclear of the concept. The Humanist Community Center in Palo Alto, California offers Sunday School classes for the children of atheist parents. “One Sunday this fall found a dozen children up to age 6 and several parents playing percussion instruments and singing empowering anthems like I’m Unique and Unrepeatable, set to the tune of Ten Little Indians, instead of traditional Sunday-school songs like Jesus Loves Me.” (HT: Stand to Reason)

From yesterday’s Boston Herald on House Bill H3922:

Parents who spank their kids – even in their own homes – would be slapped by the long arm of the law under an Arlington nurse’s proposal to make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to outlaw corporal punishment … If signed into law, parents would be prohibited from forcefully laying a hand on any child under age 18 unless it was to wrest them from danger, lest they be charged with abuse or neglect.

This is a well-intended but bad piece of legislation that interferes with parental rights of discipline in the home. Spanking is not child abuse. (See related post for an explanation of the differences: To Spank or Not To Spank). The state Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 1999 that the current law clearly draws “a line between permissible physical discipline and prohibited abuse.” The hearing for H3922 is scheduled for today, at 10:30 am at the State House in Boston before the Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.

What do you think about this proposed ban? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Quick facts: In 1979, Sweden became the first country in the world to ban spanking. Corporal punishment in the home is currently illegal in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the Ukraine. (Source: Boston Herald)

Related post: To Spank or Not To Spank

Spanking is a controversial subject today. Some people advocate the spanking of children as a legitimate means of parental discipline. Others try to equate spanking with hitting or child abuse. They say that if you spank a child, you teach the child violence and the child will end up hitting others.

We used spanking with our children when they were younger as a means of discipline, along with other disciplinary tools (reprimand; loss of privilege; time-out; etc.) Even at a young age, they were able to understand the difference between spanking and hitting. And now that they are older, I am happy to report they do not exhibit any violent tendencies.

I believe spanking has a place in parental discipline, but we should have some guidelines to follow. Here are some principles that I encourage parents to observe when spanking a child.

Principles to observe when spanking:

1. Do not use spanking as your only means of discipline. It is best to reserve spanking for open defiance or disrespect from a child.
2. Never spank in anger.
3. Explain to your child what you are doing beforehand.
       – Tell your child that you are going to spank him or her.
       – Tell them why you are spanking them.
       – Tell them where you will spank them and how many times.
4. Be sure to affirm your child afterwards.
       – Affirm them verbally (tell them you love them).
       – Affirm them physically (hug and/or hold them).
       – Make positive eye contact (for reassurance).

Here is a chart I have given to parents in the past to help them understand the difference between spanking and hitting/or abuse. Spanking is different from hitting in the act, manner, intent, attitude and results.

                                    Spanking vs. Hitting or Abuse

How about you? What are your thoughts on spanking and the discipline of children? Feel free to share in the comments.

Related post: 8 Great Family Rules to Help Any Home

Anyone speak German who can tell us what this is all about?

HT: Neatorama

Most blog stats have the capability of tracking what Google search phrases brought different visitors to the site. I often check this feature just to see how visitors are finding my blog. (The visitors remain anonymous; I only see the last search phrase that was typed into Google before they arrived at the site.)

Most of the time the searches are fairly routine: such as “sermons on habakkuk” or “sins of the fathers.” But every once in a while, a search phrase will jump out at me as either odd or humorous.

Here are three search phrases that caught my eye in the past few months:

• Is Squanto in the Bible? – This one happened last week and brought the visitor to the Legend of Squanto post. Somehow I just thought it was funny. Actually, for someone not familiar with the Bible or American culture, it is a legitimate question. And the answer is: No, Squanto is not in the Bible. The contents of the Bible were completed sometime in the first century. Squanto was born in the 1580′s and died in 1622.
• How to get rid of your pastor – I don’t know if this person was serious about getting rid of their pastor or not, but their search brought them to the Pastors archive page and eventually to the joke post, Four Ways to Get Rid of Your Pastor. I hope all is well with their church (and pastor!).
• Ray Fowler dead or alive – You can bet this one caught my attention! This search brought them to the Death archive page and eventually to the post on the death of D. James Kennedy. I am not sure what this visitor was looking for, but I take comfort in the fact that there are plenty of Ray Fowler’s in the world. (Watch out, Dad!)

How about you? If you are a blogger, have you ever had some unusual search phrases lead to your blog?

Yesterday’s message in The Ten Commandments for Today series was on the eighth commandment. The message was called You Shall Not Steal, taken from Exodus 20:15.

Exodus 20:15 – “You shall not steal.” (NIV)

Here is the outline that the message followed:

I. The meaning of the commandment
    A. Property and ownership (Psalm 24:1; Luke 16:10-13)
    B. Respect for another person’s property (Isaiah 61:8)

II. The different ways that we steal
    A. Theft, robbery and extortion (Ex 20:15; Deut 5:19; Ezek 22:29)
    B. Kidnapping; selling a person into slavery (Exodus 21:16)
    C. Stealing from employers (Titus 2:9-10)
    D. Stealing from employees (Jeremiah 22:13; James 5:4)
    E. Refusing to work for a living (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12)
    F. Rip-offs and false measures (Job 24:2; Prov 11:1; Amos 8:5)
    G. Failure to pay debts (Romans 13:8; Psalm 37:21; Prov 3:28)
    H. Tax evasion (Mark 12:13-17; Romans 13:6-7)
    I. Fraud of any kind (Leviticus 19:13)
    J. Charging excessive interest (Exodus 22:25; Proverbs 28:8)
    K. Malicious gossip and rumor (Proverbs 22:1)

III. Robbing God
    A. Failing to pay tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:7-8)
    B. Living a hypocritical life (Jeremiah 7:9-11; 1 Cor 6:19-20)
    C. Living for self instead of for God (Romans 12:1-2)

IV. Consequences of stealing
    A. It angers God and provokes his wrath (Joshua 7:10-12)
    B. It deprives another of his due (Leviticus 19:13)
    C. It brings shame and disgrace to thief (Jeremiah 2:26)
    D. It leads to deception, lies and greater sins (John 12:4-6)
    E. You must face the penalty of the law (Romans 13:3-4)
    F. Your family may suffer economic hardship (Proverbs 6:30-31)
    G. You will lose what you gained (Psalm 62:10; Proverbs 13:11)

V. Repentance and full restitution
    A. Full restitution goes above and beyond (Ex 22:1-4; Lev 6:1-7)
    B. True repentance results in full restitution (Luke 19:8)

VI. Positive corollary: Work for the things you obtain! (Eph 4:28)
    A. Do honest work for an honest wage.
    B. Do something useful.
    C. Work so that you may be able to share with others in need.

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

More on Amazon’s Kindle: check out the Newsweek article, The Future of Reading. “Books are the last bastion of analog … Music and video have been digital for a long time, and short-form reading has been digitized, beginning with the early Web. But long-form reading really hasn’t. Yet.”

Visual Dictionary Online. “When you know what something looks like but not what it’s called, or when you know the word but can’t picture the object, The Visual Dictionary has the answer. In a quick look, you can match the word to the image.”

Real Clear Sports. New sports information site. “RealClearSports, a sister site of RealClearPolitics and RealClearMarkets, is a sports page of sports pages. Everyday the RealClearSports team finds and selects the best sports news, opinion and analysis from publications in over 100 media markets.”

Tony Woodlief  reflects on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s prison letters. Quoting Bonhoeffer: “I believe that even our mistakes and shortcomings are turned to good account, and that it is no harder for God to deal with them than with our supposedly good deeds.”

Tony Kummer at Gospel Driven Children’s Ministry shares links to free Christmas craft ideas for kids. “Are you looking for a great craft idea for your children’s Sunday school class? Then check out these websites. They list many great kid’s Christmas crafts, ideas and projects … Try these for your Sunday school lesson, children’s church, or at home with your children.”

Comedian Steve Martin shares his memories of doing stand-up comedy at Knott’s Berry Farm on November 22, 1963 – the day John F. Kennedy was shot. “We assumed the performance that night would be canceled, but as show time neared, word came down that we were going on. We couldn’t fathom why; we believed no one would show up, much less enjoy us. I still can’t explain the psychology, why the very full house that night was able to roar with laughter. The obvious must be correct: our silly show was providing some kind of balm that soothed the ache.”

Tim Ferris tells you how to learn (not master) any foreign language in 1 hour. “How long does it take to learn Chinese or Japanese vs. Spanish or Irish Gaelic? I would argue less than an hour. Here’s the reasoning … Before you invest (or waste) hundreds and thousands of hours on a language, you should deconstruct it. During my thesis research at Princeton, which focused on neuroscience and unorthodox acquisition of Japanese by native English speakers, as well as when redesigning curricula for Berlitz, this neglected deconstruction step surfaced as one of the distinguishing habits of the fastest language learners.” (HT: Copyblogger)

Joe Carter shares the following facts about the importance of family dinners. “The more often teenagers have dinner with their parents, the less likely they are to smoke, drink, or use illegal drugs. In fact, compared with teens who have frequent family dinners, those who have dinner with their families only two nights per week or less are at double the risk of substance abuse. Compared with teens who have dinner with their families only two nights per week or less, those who have family dinners five or more nights in a typical week are more likely to report that they have never tried cigarettes (85 percent vs. 65 percent), almost 50 percent likelier to report that they have never tried alcohol (68 percent vs. 47 percent), and more likely to report that they have never tried marijuana (88 percent vs. 71 percent).” [Source: Family Facts]

I got a kick out of this joke Black Friday* ad. You won’t find me shopping on Friday. I will be hanging out at home with Rose and the boys (after breakfast at Cracker Barrel, of course).

Black Friday Special! Flat-Screen HD Television with FREE Nintendo Wii Remote. $99.99. Minimum 10,000 per store. No rainchecks. Make and model of television may vary. Wii remote may or may not include wriststrap.

HT: Woot

*Black Friday (the Day after Thanksgiving) is traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season. The term, traced to the 1970s, is now widely agreed to symbolize the turning point for most retailers (when profits go “into the black”). Black Friday is often called the busiest shopping day of the year, though only twice in the last few decades (2003 and 2005) did it actually beat the Saturday before Christmas for that record … in the United States, anyway.

John Milton wrote the following poem when he was only fifteen years old. (He would later go on to write the epic poem, “Paradise Lost.”) The poem is based on Psalm 136 and was later made into a hymn by church organist John Bernard Wilkes.

“ALL PRAISE TO GOD” – by John Milton

Let us, with a gladsome mind,
Praise the Lord, for he is kind:

For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

Let us blaze his name abroad,
For of gods he is the God:

He, with all-commanding might,
Filled the new-made world with light:

All things living he doth feed,
His full hand supplies their need:

He his chosen race did bless
In the wasteful wilderness:

Let us then with gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind.

 
This is just a selection of verses from the poem. The actual poem is much longer, repeating the lines “For his mercies aye endure / Ever faithful, ever sure” as part of each stanza.

Click here for poems by Ray Fowler.
Click here for more Thanksgiving related posts.

ChristianAudio.com has a special Thanksgiving offer. From November 17th to November 24th choose any one of ten audiobooks for a free download. You must use the coupon code THANKS2007 during checkout in order to get the download for free.

I just downloaded The Legend of Squanto for my boys for Thanksgiving. (Focus on the Family Radio Theatre Dramatic Production. Including a complete cast, cinema-quality sound, and original music. Run time 1.8 hours; normally $12.98)

Here is the description from the website:

This audio drama brings to light the story of one of America’s early legends — “Squanto.” History remembers Tisquantum as the Native American who taught early settlers to fish and farm. He’s even credited with the first Thanksgiving. But few hear the story of the condemnation that dragged him outside America to a life in chains and what he discovered after his exile. It’s an inspiring true story of this little-known early American that triumphed over injustice and changed what would become the United States.

Click here for more Thanksgiving related posts.

Bible commentator Matthew Henry made the following entry in his journal the night he was robbed. This is a great example of “giving thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

“Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.” (Matthew Henry)

Click here for more Thanksgiving related posts.