Mike McLoughlin's Blog

It’s a Bird! No! It’s a Plane! No! It’s The Christian Carnival CXXXII!

Mike McLoughlin — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:43:00 -0700

This week the Christian Carnival is HOT! Lots of HOT Topics to match the summer HEAT with a little humor thrown in!

Thank you to Donald Bosch at the The Evangelical Ecologist for helping me as a rookie host for the Christian Carnival and for John Howell at Brain Cramps for God for forwarding all those great entries and for the much esteemed Dory at Wittenberg Gate for giving us the opportunity to host.

Tom Gilson at Thinking Christian discovers two “tin woodmen" in his short snippet of a story - Only Natural.

Polly at Life is a Buffet (as opposed to a box of chocolates J? ) does a review of her Book of the Month: - The Holy Bible!. “Synopsis: God creates the universe and a man and a woman and then the story blasts off from there with an ending that is out of this world.”

The Deputy Headmistress shares an inspiring story of the authenticity of the Bible in her post: The Common Room: Ancient Manuscripts.

Sprittibee has some practical insight about God's Smoke Alarms from her reading of Bruce Wilkerson’s The Secrets of the Vine.

Dave Lorenzo at Career Intensity promotes The Power of Prayer at Work. My question is, does prayer serve business success or does business success serve God’s purposes in the marketplace? Perhaps Carnival readers would care to comment on the role of prayer for prosperity’s sake or the power of prayer for God’s glory through our work?

Trivium Pursuit posts an article by Mike Evans on Spiritual Depression, Rest, and ASSISTANCE Buttons.

Prince of Thrift discusses debt, specifically, becoming and staying debt free in Understanding The Great Misunderstanding.

Diane at CrossRoads in commenting on the Emergent church “thinks the children of the Baby Boomers have learned their parents' teachings quite well” which perhaps is not such a good thing. Check out her concerns at Where Faith and Inquiry Meet: Emerging into Emergent.

Martin LaBar at Sun and Shield looks at What's really important. And that is showing Christ’s love!

Jeremy Pierce at Parableman discuses Mark Roberts’ argument against doubting the traditional authorship of Mark & Luke. His post is entitled Mark, Luke, and Pseudonymity.

Mandi at Praising Fool in a quest for a church asks “Am I being too harsh since I don't want to go back based on the fact that not a single person welcomed me into their church?”

Jim Nutt at A Nutt’s View asks the question, God has not given us a spirit of fear, so what are we all so scared of?

Andre Yee at Every Square Inch exhorts fellow believers to See God in the Monotony. He offers a quote from G K Chesterton, “But perhaps, God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.”

Brandi at LongStarAcademy shares an incredible story of Words of Affirmation from the Lord.

Father David Jennings at Left of Calvary takes issue with the city of Las Vegas for stopping the service of mobile soup kitchens for homeless people in his post Does Vegas share in Sodom’s real sin?

Katy McKenna at Fallible.com discusses how blogging started for her “as a way to relieve my poor husband from a small measure of his listening duties” at The Beauty Of Budding Bloggers

Mary Yerkes of Releasing the Artist Within discusses her experience with the return of a prodigal son, specifically her 23 year old son returning home to live. Her jumping off point is Henri Nouwen’s Encounter with a Painting. Read it at http://maryyerkes.com/blog/?p=418

Rev Bill makes the point that we all need to Cross the road to see (and understand) what's on the other side! He quotes Henri Nouwen on neighborliness.

Nerd Mom from the Nerd Family explores the trend of Denominations and Colleges Breaking Ties. She thinks denominations are a good idea and wonders why people who disagree ought to still stick together. I can think of some pretty good reasons from Scripture, but perhaps Carnival reader could take up her challenge.

Lennie Jarratt at CrossBlogging discusses the important issue of Stem Cell research at Stem Cell Treatment Allows Girl To Walk.

Anthony at Fides et Veritas responds to Christians proclaiming the imminent return of Christ at Keep on keeping on.

A Penitent Blogger reflects on the attitude that should be maintained by ministers and indeed all the faithful at Ministry with an attitude.

Eric Williams in Ales Rarus asks the question "Must Christians always support Israel?" in his comments about the recent conflict in the Middle East at http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/2414/

Leslie Carbone takes issue with Senator Ron Wyden’s Tax Reform initiative but agrees the tax code needs reform because it is unwise, unjust and immoral in Is the Tax Reform Man Coming?

Mark Olson at Pseudo-Polymath discusses arguments against eugenics from a purely utilitarian viewpoint http://www.pseudopolymath.com/?p=1642.

Barbara Sanders of Alabama at Tidbits And Treasures comments on the ministry of Bill & Gloria Gaithers, some of the best, if not the best, Christian artists of our time God's "Interruption" of the Gaithers

Rey from the Bible Archive looks at his lawn and thinks "Man, there's a lot of work to do in the Church." The Bible Archive - Why Lawn (and Church) Work Doesn't End

And last but not least Mike (that’s me) of the Faith at Work posts his solution to “The Clergy Conspiracy – Decode this Post to Uncover An Explosive Truth!” in his short article commemorating the passing of Kenneth Lay - So Dark the Con of Lay Man.

Thank you everyone for participating. Don’t forget to check ...

Platonic Dualism is Boring!

Mike McLoughlin — Tue, 23 May 2006 12:44:00 -0700

Another Transitions column from our local New Age Guru, Ross Freake at the Kelowna Daily Courier. Ross writes every two to three weeks on spirituality. Every once and a while I challenge what he has to say. (See Pantheism Panned: New Age Spirituality cannot deal with the Problem of Radical Evil & It's Easter time and I am Passionate about the Resurrection!) Here is the introduction to ...

I’d rather be writing

Mike McLoughlin — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:14:00 -0800

That’s the comment my friend Len at NextReformation.com made when asked what he does for a living. It captures my sentiment as well. But the hard reality is that writing is something I do on the side, while I do other things to keep my family fed and people cared for at our family medical clinic.

So I’d rather be writing. But writing takes time and there never seems ...

Biblical Authority and Faith at Work in Professional Practice

Mike McLoughlin — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 15:38:00 -0700

My wife and I will be attending the annual meeting of The Christian Medical and Dental Society (CMDS) of Canada. St. Andrews-by-the-Sea in New Brunswick, this week. An important item for discussion at this meeting is the Society's statement of faith including their belief in the authority of Scripture.

This discussion has been brought about by a recent challenge presented to the CMDS Executive Board by one of its ...

The Challenge to Love God with all my mind.

Mike McLoughlin — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 22:07:00 -0700

This past Sunday our pastor Kim Unrau delivered the second part of the series "Love the Lord your God with ALL your mind." He exhorted us to stop checking our minds at the door of faith. He encouraged us to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2) Most of all, he encouraged us to read, to study and to learn so that we can "show ourselves approved" in the ...

Is this about Ethics or it about Wise dealing?

Mike McLoughlin — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 11:23:00 -0700

In the Outer has a post about Marketplace Ethics, Part I. I don't think this is about ethics, I think it is about wise dealing.

Customers pay for value received.

If another company can provide the same value that you provide at half the cost then you need to examine your business model and figure out a better way of providing that value.

If a competitor cuts the price ...

Blogging my way out of Writer's Block

Mike McLoughlin — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 12:30:00 -0700

I am having a bad case of writers block. So, better to write about it than stew about it. I am writing a comprehensive paper on marketplace mission for a Masters of Christian Studies (MCS) program at Regent College in Vancouver. My professor is Paul Stevens, He is retiring as the Dean of Marketplace Theology concentration at the end of August.

Paul has been a mentor and ...

Lets celebrate God at work in the life of Steve Jobs!

Mike McLoughlin — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:22:00 -0700

The Narrow takes Steve Jobs to task for "undertones" of Eastern mysticism, post modernism and self centredness in a commencement speech lauded by Michelle Malkin's Words of Wisdom. Narrow can't understand what all the fuss is about. Other Christian bloggers are also negative on Jobs' speech

Instead, I say lets celebrate the "undertones" of God's grace in Steve Jobs' story

A person's story, no matter how devoid of ...

Why it is important to know that God is present in ordinary work.

Mike McLoughlin — Sun, 17 Apr 2005 22:23:00 -0700

I was preaching this morning at the Shelter Church in Fort St. John, BC. My subject was faithfulness in financial stewardship.

I told the story of a friend of mine who had asked my assistance in helping better steward his finances. He had quit his job so as to pray five hours a day. He felt God had called him into a season where he was to live “by faith.” ...

Miroslav Volf speaking on God at Work at the Yale Divinity School

Mike McLoughlin — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 20:03:00 -0800

I am attending the annual meeting of the Coalition for Ministry in Daily Life that is being hosted by the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. 114 people are in attendance from business, church, & Para church organizations.

Dr. Volf’s subject was the question of how is God at work in our work?

He broke the question down into four questions:

1. How does God help us succeed at ...