Terry Pruitt's Blog

ESV Bible Online: Passage: 1 Corinthians 1 1 Corinthians 1:10 - 17 Divisions in the Church 10 I appeal to you, brothers, [1] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ...

Evangelical Underground Go over to The Evangelical Underground and check out the awards. Cool idea. I'm a vot'n for my favorites over there. Most of the folks I frequent are already nominated except Rebecca Write. I am thinking I should nominate her for something.

I want to quote the short Wikipedia article on McDonaldization to develop more of a definition of the term. McDonaldization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : "McDonaldization From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. McDonaldization is a sociological term coined by George Ritzer to represent the changes caused by the process of rationalization, or move from a traditional to rationality mode of thought, throughout a society. Ritzer highlighted four primary components of McDonaldization: * Efficiency - the optimal method for accomplishing a task * Calculability - objective should be quantifiable (i.e. sales) rather than subjective (i.e. taste) * Predictability - standardized and uniform services * Control - standardized and uniform employees" My good friend the Jollyblogger has been discussing the McChurch in his posting, " The McChurching of America ". McDonaldization has some good points and some bad points. I really like Starbucks coffe...

Basket of Figs : I saw this tongue in cheek explaination of true worship over a Basket of Figs. This sort of relates to Joe Missionary's blog posting on confusing an agape love for God with using erotic terms to express love for God. "Signs that there is true worship taking place in the church. 1. There is a good sound system. 2. The worship leader is really hot. 3. A lot of young people attend the church. 4. You can feel the love. 5. The music is really loud. 6. There are no organs. 7. People say things like, 'O yes.' 'uh, HUH' 'Yes, Jesus' 8. People are not looking down at a hymnbook; they are looking up at a screen. 9. People have their hands raised. 10. There are guitars. 11. People have their eyes closed. 12. Only a few words are sung, and these are sung over and over. 13. People roll their eyes a lot while they are doing it. 14. The worship team is really hot. 15. People roll their eyes while looking at the screen. 16. P...

Digitus, Finger & Co. � CHRISTIAN CARNIVAL #54 Head on over to the Christian Carnival. I keep meaning to submit an article myself, but I keep missing it lately. Even though you will not find my wares listed, go read some good blogs!

Messy Christian: Who are you? : I read Messy Christian. She gets a lot of hits and a lot of traffic. I am no comparison but I liked her concept, find out who is visiting. Some people I think I know outside the blogdom and others I'm not sure. So if you would not mind, I would like to know who you are. (Of course feel free to leave out any question(s) you feel would be invading your space.) Name: Age: Profession: Location: Two cool things about you: What attracted you to this blog? or Why do you read this blog?: What's your favourite gadget/thing/accessory: Anything you'd like me to post about in the future :

Thanks to the Jollyblogger for putting together a blog roll of PCA bloggers. Also, thanks to Kristofer at Believers' wear for cluing me onto the Open Office button. Both are a fine addition to my modern life style.

They Will Know Us By Our T-Shirts: Don't Eat the Vegetables What do Veggies eat?

LXer: Open Letter to Brin & Page Follow the link to some good thoughts about data formats. Should it be centered on making a company a monopoly or should it be organized in such a way that machines can help people understand the data?

The FireFox Explosion The above link takes you to a full page image is from this coming month's Wired. The image shows various open source software that is fighting the Microsoft fortress. It shows both desktop and back office software types. What is really missing though is the Open Office. Open Office can save things in Microsoft formats or its own. While in one sense this is a copy cat to Microsoft Office, it has much more capability than MS Works. If you are not familiar with MS Works, it is a little office suite which often comes with Windows. In a sense word processing, spread sheets and presentations are very basic to simple computing. While Firefox has made a big hit in the news and we all know about Linux, Open Office is key to people feeling comfortable leaving the MS family since it has the de facto standards for creating documents. While I'm sure there are design features of MS Word that I am just not getting, the main feature seems to me to ...

Member: Dead Christians Society - Christian History This article at the Christianity Today website is pretty interesting. They did the list backwards since the de facto standard has been set by David Letterman. Letterman counts down a list, not up. I'll put a summary here in my own words but check out the link above to get the long version: 10. Christian history permeates our culture and society, you don't know who you are without it, even if your not religious. (This assumes the reader is American, or Western to some extent.) 9. Liberates you from the tyranny of the present 8. Life is too short to learn it all yourself so see what others did right and wrong 7. The deeper our roots; the higher we can grow. 6. Because most anything you have a question has already been thought through long and hard by someone in the past 5. Meet by proxy some really colorful and interesting personalities 4. To understand just how different those who came before us were and...

I encourage you to go over to the Bible Software Review Weblog and take the survey.

I have changed my Myers-Briggs profile. When I first became familar with this test and way of thinking, I was told that people sometimes change how they score. They explained that a person usually changes after a major life crisis. I recently went through a period I like to call my "dark night of the soul", a term used by certain Christian pietist. I think if I took the issue to psychologiest he would say I was depressed. However, recently I was studying and reading the book of Ruth. Naomi is depressed in the story, or rather going through a dark night of the soul. But when she sees the hand of providence in her life she begins to have hope. Though I have not had hope in a long time, I am starting to have hope again. During my dark night of the soul I was just sort of hanging on to weather the storm. But now I am looking for God's hand of providence instead. So my new Myers-Briggs profile, drum roll please.... ENTP - "Inventor". Enthusiastic ...

Sidesspot: Christian Carnival--It's Finally Up-- No Really! Check out the Christian Carnival. There really are several good blog postings there.

In my career I have often counseled those who have worked with me what their next steps could or should be. I think often people just need to bounce some ideas off people and look for reactions. In my own walk with the Lord I have not always been encouraged with appropriate advise. In my teen years I had a lot of hopes and dreams to which my parents could not relate. As an adult, my dreams have at times been so big and grandiose that they were not achievable, off beat things to which others could not relate. I am a visionary. It is both a gift and a great weakness at the same instance. In my forties, I am regrouping and becoming a visionary who has become refined by the trial of forging new paths, both successes and failures. By the way, success is sometime more difficult to handle than failure. As I went running earlier this week I listened to an NPR program on woman who was changing her career from accounting to belly dancer. She had been belly dancing as a hobby for quit...

Wired News: Like It or Not, Blogs Have Legs Article summary: The virtues of blogs and how the writin' aint all that well all the thyme, so let's hope we can do some sort of video blogs. What follows are basically my comments on the article. (Hint: This will make more sense if you read or scan the article.) I suppose we could all get a blogger or wikipedia license before we write anything. Or perhaps, as people write they will get better at it, the spell check will get better and perhaps there will be a grammar check too for such Internet activities. My writing is not on the eloquent side however, I have improved my writing by writing, not by sitting back wishing I could write like the Jollyblogger . Also, I think traffic levels and comments encourage people to keep improving their writing ability. There has been a consensus building that wikipedia just is not the same quality as Britannica . I'm not sure why that must be even talked about. Perhaps i...

CNN.com - Darth Tater: The dark side of Mr. Potato Head - Jan 19, 2005 My wife told me about this. Every kid is gonna want one of these babys!

Perhaps you are intrested in my photographs of Hawaii.

You are a Square. What a weirdo. What kind of Sixties Person are you? brought to you by Quizilla Hat Tip: Rebecca Writes . Visit my wife who is a Folkie .

I'm looking at what subjects need to address in pulpit ministry. I have asked what things need to be addressed. I get different answers depending on how I ask the question. Often people interprete the question to be, "What topics and series are good for preachers to preach on?" In reality, I'm trying to find out what nagging questions are bumping around in people's heads and hearts after they have contact with the world. Tell me, list ten issues that the world needs addressed from the pulpit.

I have been getting some of my computer problems solved this weekend. I got my SUSE Linux machine on the Internet. Whooo-hoo. I also installed Sunbird on both my Windows XP machine and my Linux box. I'm not decided on how useful I think it is. I'll have to play with it for a while. Sunbird is developed as open-source software like Firefox. Sunbird is basically a calendar program. What makes it so great? It is free, my favorite price and it is free, free for people to change and improve. Apple a few years back came out with a calendar which could be published on the web. Sunbird uses the same protocol to publish calendars on the web. I found a free website iCalShare which hosts a lot of calendars. It is a pretty interesting way to share scheduling data. I'll keep you updated on it. And just to remind you, you can run Sunbird on Windows, Linux and OS X Mac. I also installed Firefox onto my Linux box. So I put a link to share Firefox on my template.

Was King Arthur really a Pelagian? - Christian History Last month when I flew out to Hawaii one of the films shown was King Arthur . I really like the costuming, battle scenes, and speculation as to his origins being other than British. I guess there is a minority of scholars who consider his origins being other than British. Probably a minority of scholars consider this partly because he is often thought of as legend as such does not deserve a historical reveiw. I liked the film. It has some sensuality so beware. Check out Focus On the Family's Plugged In revew. One of the issus in the film is Arthur's allegiance to Pelagianism. I think most of the U.S. is Arminian in theology and is assumed as a common value. I think the film deals with this as an issue to give life and brains to the hero. However, despite it being a good plot device, check out Christianity Today's article on it.

Check out this pastor who sees the potential of blogging as a part of ministry. Be sure to click on the title of this article to follow the link.

JOLLYBLOGGER - a weblog for jolly beggars: Preacher Dies During Sermon on Heaven Be sure to read about one fulfillment of this verse. Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. (ESV)

I got 17 right. How’d you do? Everyone over 40 should have a pretty easy time at this exam. If you are under 40 you can claim a handicap. This is a History Exam for those who don’t mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life. Get paper and pencil and number from 1 to 20. Write the letter of each answer and score at the end. 1. In the 1940s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located? a. On the floor shift knob b. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch c. Next to the horn 2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. For what was it used? a. Capture lightning bugs b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing c. Large salt shaker 3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters? a. Cows got cold and wouldn’t produce milk b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze, expanding and pushing up the cardboard bo...

Via TULIPGirl : Here's how it works. Copy the list, then remove from it the names of any authors not in your home library, replacing them with names of authors you have. Boldface the ones you’ve added. 1. Louis Berkhof 2. Jostein Gaarder 3. David Macaulay 4. Jean Lee Latham 5. Paul Johnson 6. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones 7. C.S. Lewis 8. Laura Lemay 9. Ray C. Stedman 10. William Shakespeare Berkhof and Shakespeare are two greats, but it seems that's the only ones I have in common with TULIPGirl. I would like to see how my list compares with others people's book list. As always, comments welcome.

I have been reading up on the Auburn Avenue theology in response to a question that Jennifer sent me. I am looking for a summary of the points made by those who hold to the Auburn Avenue theology. Every summary that I have read has been negative if it was short, or so long that it could not be considered a summary. If you know of a good, balanced summary let me know.

Often I think I need to do the Christian life just right in order to recieve the blessing of God. However when we read the book of Ruth, Naomi is depressed and does not seem to be doing it right. She says things like, "Do not call me Naomi (pleasant); call me Mara (bitter), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?". The grace of God is shed on her anyway. She becomes the grandmother, seregate mother, of the ancestor of King David and King Jesus. It is not because Naomi is so faithful but because God is so good. Lord, I am not worthy of your blessing. I am your servant. Amen

Lord We pray for the young people of Yemen. May they know your free grace and salvation. Saying free grace is redundant but Lord you know That we often try to buy it. In Yemen the young and poor are being sent into labor. Use your church to be a blessing to these young men with no hope of a future. May the laws be just and the programs effecting for changing this situation of child labor in Yemen. God bless Yemen, Amen.

Messy Christian You might check out Messy Christian's new design for her site and read some excellent articles on the tsunami.

Get my wife to help me organize my desk, closet and papers.

JOLLYBLOGGER - a weblog for jolly beggars: Is it ever ok to express a sinful emotion? My good friend the Jollyblogger has been meditating on the Psalms. I encourage you to check out some of his thoughts on the Psalms and the emotions expressed in them. A couple of years ago I was working for an officier who really was emotionally centered. I always thought that men were somewhat more of thinkers and women were feelers. Working with this guy I found out that men are very emotional too. They don't express this through selecting flowered patterns for the bathroom decorations but rather through their all out screaming as a touchdown is made by their favorite NFL team. While working for this officier, the decision process was governed by ego and emotional rush issues. Things were a mess most of the time. In my earlier comments I expressed a difference in how men and women are emotional creatures. Different subcultures in America are emotional in differently also. T...

Lord of all creation, We pray for those who are suffering as a result of the tsunami in southern Asia. This is an oppritunity to show love and concern to others. For those who hunger, we ask that they be filled. For those who have seen their livelihood destroyed, we ask for meaningful work. For those who have lost a child, we ask for comfort. For those who have lost a parent, we ask for protection and provision. Lord we pray also that the generosity that has been poured out will be used in an honorable and effective way. For those who would loot, we ask that they would be thwarted at every side. Amen

I was in my living room one day and I saw a book about the happy pony. I was looking at the cover of this book. It was just so saccharine that I was just amazed at it. I ask my daughter who loves horses about the book if she was reading it. She told me no. I found out the cover was a farse. The book was "A Series Of Unfortunate Events". I thought it was a funny joke. The cover was two sided. The regular cover could be reverse to the "Happy Pony Farm" if some adult was going to direct that the child should read something a little more happy. Today we took the whole family to the movie. It was quite funny. The narrator, author, of the story encouraged everyone to leave the theater several times. Seriously! I stayed. The themes are dark and yet over the top funny. The plot is fairly well developed. The movie, I am told, takes liberties with the original for the sake of brevity. The movie combines several of the books. The main idea is that wh...

As I said, I usually set up goals for the year and I have been thinking about those goals. Perhaps posting the list here will spur some of you to consider your own goals or spur you to hold me accountable or even give me great advise on how to acheive them. 1. Walk with God - Improve my prayer life by praying using the book The Valley Of Vision and by praying for the unreached people in Yemen. Also read through the Bible using my interlinear testements. 2. Marriage - Understand my wife's talent for establishing friendships better. Ask her hard questions that are puzzling me. 3. Father - Teach my children to talk about what they are thinking and what they are learning. 4. Continue with seminary. 5. Improve my organizational skills by asking for help from my wife. 6. Fitness - Begin commuting to work on my bicycle. Continue to work out and participate in sports. 7. Ministry - Focus on the three basics in ministry of preaching, praying and visita...

Technology - canada.com My wife and I thought this was a non-story in one sense because, "Well, yes..."

ESV Bible Plugins I have been using Firefox the past couple of months. If you use Firefox, you might check out the plugin that lets you do ESV Bible searches.