Excellent Blog Posts Round-up for July 08

There's just a backlog of excellent blogs/posts I've run across in July, so rather than try to post on each one I thought I better just get caught up and share several of them as an end-of-month round-up. Enjoy!

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Tim Stevens of 'Leading Smart' on "Thinking about Parenting" - our influence as parents really starts to decline rapidly once our kids hit the early teenage years, so make those years count. Tim also points to a great illustration on communication by Pastor Mark Beeson "Perhaps they Can't Hear You" (video clip).

Phil Vischer (the genious behind Veggie Tales) is launching something new this fall, and has created a video to explain it with some previews from the show. The Agile Ministry blog pointed this out in the post on "Video Pick: Jelly Telly". Phil is trying to address a generation of kids who are not learning much about their faith or how to live it out. He has a passion for using the most exciting technology and video techniques as a platform for biblical values. Jelly Telly is looking to plant a seed that might someday become the Christian Nickelodeon or Disney. Now that's a big dream!

'Developing a Preaching Calendar' - the why, how, principles and details of creating a one-year preaching calendar and how that gets broken down into the actual messages, in an 8-part series. (From the blog "Making Difference Makers")  Jay also has a short post on his 'Message Prep System' which is aimed at a Department Head having a 1-Year plan, and a related posts for for ministry leads or department heads on the need and how-to of a one year planning calendar.

Another excellent series from the Making Differnce Makers blog, "Triple Your Youth Ministry in One Year". Don't let the title scare you off - it's a great mix of principles and practical advice. While these ideas have indeed tripled the size of several youth ministry programs, your mileage may vary.

Ministry Best Practices blog had two particularly good posts this month - one a "Cliff Notes on Vision", and the other a top ten list on "Ways to Draw Me to Your Church".

Kem Meyer of 'Less Clutter Less Noise' gives some great tips on Using the Web as a Primary Communication Vehicle.

Insight from NewSpring on the process they went thru for their 'Church Rebranding Process' starting with a new logo. It took them a while but their goal was 'modernization, understanding their identity, and visual catch-up with who they actually are'.

Nelson Searcy of 'Church Leader Insights' talks about the 'Need for Spiritual Anchors in Your Life.' Some very good ideas in there!

Carlos, blogger on Ragamuffin Soul showed a video clip of an awesome way he blessed and surprised his wife on her birthday.

Tony Morgan drew some ministry inferences from what looks to be an interesting book called "The Starfish and the Spider," which discusses decentralized vs. centralized leadership. He also had a techie article on the use of a popular blogging platform, Word Press for church websites.

Mark Driscoll on Resurgence had an interesting series with a title I loved: "Spurgeon is the Man!"

'Thoughts on Life and Leadership' blog by Jenni Catron, who is the Executive Director at Cross Point Chuch in TN.

Digital Leadership Network talked about the Twitter Spurt on the California Earthquake, and makes a very interesting note: "This incident galvanized my feelings about Twitter - it's not about the news; it's about people. It's about relationships; it's about who connects to who. When do those connections happen and when are they the most meaningful... Increasingly, as the relationship economy emerges, our networks of trusted "friends" will grow more vital. The communication tools we use to support them, whether email, cell calls or tweets, have inherent value. Maybe, as prudent Christians, we will change our view from time spent online to time invested."