Another author, Rick Phillips, recently mused about last month's Christian Bookseller's Association Convention:
My main overall impression of the convention is that the focus in on marketing, not ministry. That is no surprise, and I was not shocked. In fact, I was shocked by little that I saw there, having been forewarned years ago by Mike Horton and his guys. But what surprised me was the blatantness of it all. There was not the slightest attempt to hide or nuance the reality that this is all about marking goods to the Christian consumer market. I would expect at least some disingenuous attempts to convey the idea that this is service done unto Christ. But nope, it was pretty much all about money. This may be why a raw majority of the displays were selling trinkets and other Christian junk, instead of books. (Caveat: Of course, this is in part due to the fact that Christian bookstore owners have to feed their kids. I am sympathetic to this reality. But still, it was astonishing to me to see how the convention as a whole was targeting so overwhelmingly to marketing. I kept wondering what Tertullian wouldsay. A publisher would complain, "But I have to eat!" Tertullian's famous reply: "Do you?"Sam at the Coffee Bible Club explains why church history isn't boring and, beyond that, is good for us. (If you participated in the recent History of Christianity class at our church, please read this!) (HT: Think Christian)
I've long been in search of the secret to becoming a better writer. Little did I know that the answer was as simple as assuming the proper position. (HT: Andrew Jackson)
If you haven't already seen them, someone has come up with an artistic response to Team Pyro's "emergent-see" motivational posters (HT: Brett Kunkle)
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