Author: Allen Bingham

I am a follower of Jesus, husband, father, and pastor of Haymount United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA.

Personally I am excited about the sharing capabilities, the WiFi connection and browsing for free at Barnes & Noble. 1. Sharing capabilities: One of the best things about hardcovers or paperbacks is that you can give them to family and friends … Nook users can loan books to friends for two weeks and those e-books can be accessed through PCs or smartphones such as the BlackBerry and the iPhone … 2. Android OS: The Nook is the first e-book reader to run Android, Google’s operating system written for mobile devices … Barnes & Noble hasn’t announced anything about putting out a software developers’ kit for the Nook. But it hasn’t ruled out the idea either. 3. Color touchscreen: In the world of e-readers, Nook’s dual display feature is unique. Nook has the usual black-and-white E Ink screen for reading books, but it also has a color capacitive touchscreen … The touchscreen lets readers  browse through books by flicking through them. 4. Access to 3G and Wi-Fi: But Nook is the only one to offer both 3G and Wi-Fi … On launch, it will work only in Barnes & Noble stores, all of which offer free Wi-Fi … 5. In-store browsing: … In a neat trick that takes advantage of Barnes & Noble’s brick-and-mortar stores, the Nook lets users read entire e-books for free in-store.

5 things that make the folks @ WIRED (me to) want a Barnes & Noble’s Nook eReader.

The following is a summary from the Barna Report. Less Sacred – While most Americans of all ages identify the Bible as sacred, the drop-off among the youngest adults is striking: 9 out of 10 Boomers and Elders described the Bible as sacred, which compares to 8 out of 10 Busters (81%) and just 2 out of 3 Mosaics (67%). Less Accurate – Young adults are significantly less likely than older adults to strongly agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. Just 30% of Mosaics and 39% of Busters firmly embraced this view, compared with 46% of Boomers and 58% of Elders. More Universalism – Among Mosaics, a majority (56%) believes the Bible teaches the same spiritual truths as other sacred texts, which compares with 4 out of 10 Busters and Boomers, and one-third of Elders. Skepticism of Origins – Another generational difference is that young adults are more likely to express skepticism about the original manuscripts of the Bible than is true of older adults. Less Engagement – While many young adults are active users of the Bible, the pattern shows a clear generational drop-off – the younger the person, the less likely then are to read the Bible. In particular, Busters and Mosaics are less likely than average to have spent time alone in the last week praying and reading the Bible for at least 15 minutes. Interestingly, none of the four generations were particularly likely to say they aspired to read the Bible more as a means of improving their spiritual lives. Bible Appetite – Despite the generational decline in many Bible metrics, one departure from the typical pattern is the fact that younger adults, especially Mosaics (19%), express a slightly above-average interest in gaining additional Bible knowledge. This compares with 12% of Boomers and 9% of Elders.

Ed Stetzer discusses a Barna Report about our generational perspectives on Scripture.

When organizations inform staff about massive change, transition, cut backs, re-engineering or whatever label they place on it with the assurance that “It’s not personal” that they have to change how their organization operates to work within the current economic climate, keep up with competitors etc, and it’s not about them, the take away is “It’s about me.  It’s all about me.”  It’s about how I work, the tension factor, the fear factor about “being next to get the axe” and their relevance in the organization, to mention a few of many points. The organization is right by another definition when they say “It’s not personal”.  Way too often leadership treats its people in an impersonal way, not taking into account the emotional energy that staff bring to the table, how loyal they are, committed, and how overall they come from a place of wanting to do great work and succeed.

Donna Karlin says change is always personal, especially if some assures you “it’s not personal.”

When we meet David, he’s watching over his family’s livelihood.  The Hebrew word for youngest, qatan, implies insignificant and unimportant. One translator even uses the word “runt.” Though David is the runt of the litter, God selects him to rule over Israel. “Does it surprise you that the youngest child was caring for the sheep?” “Not at all,” Lynne said. “In ancient societies, and even today in remote areas, the weakest members of a family are often the ones assigned to care for the sheep. When we were in Peru staying with a family, a five-year-old boy, a few women, and an old man took care of the family’s sheep. The shepherds were those who lacked the strength or skill to do more physically demanding labor.”

Margaret Feinberg discusses the surprising truth about shepherds in an excerpt from Scouting the Divine

Bruce Sheiman is the author of “An Atheist Defends Religion: Why Humanity is Better Off With Religion than Without It.”  He says his goal as an atheist is to build a better world and not tear down those he disagrees with.  He writes: More than any other institution, religion deserves our appreciation and respect because it has persistently encouraged people to care deeply—for the self, for neighbors, for humanity, and for the natural world—and to strive for the highest ideals humans are able to envision. What are your thoughts?  Are we, as believers too quick to judge non-believers instead of reaching out to them?  If someone wrote an article about “Christianity 3.0,” what should it look like?

Jerod Clark @ Think Christian asks if someone wrote about Christianity 3.0, what should it look like?

A virtual tour of the Museum of Art and Design’s newest exhibition, dedicated to all the surprising ways artists are using paper today. In the year since the Museum of Art and Design reopened in its new digs on Columbus Circle, they’ve been delivering consistently compelling shows—from punk-rock lace to radical knitting experiments. The newest, “Slash: Paper Under the Knife”, opened last weekend and runs through April 4, 2010. The focus is paper—and the way contemporary artists have used paper itself as a medium, whether by cutting, tearing, burning, or shredding. In all, the show features 50 artists and a dozen installations made just for the show, including Andreas Kocks’s Paperwork #701G (in the Beginning).

Everything but the paper cut: eye-popping ways artists use paper from the design blog @ FastCompany