Friday, April 22, 2005

5:31 PM Check this out. Business Week magazine says that Blogs Will Change Your Business. They’re about that. Read this article (written in the style of a blog) and be convinced. Then go start you own weblog. 11:12 AM The latest entry in the Crosswalk weblog is called My Friend Prayed for Me. 7:26 AM Bob Johnsen has a nice historical note about Louis Talbot, our first pastor:

After graduating from Moody Bible Institute, Louis Talbot was determined to become a misionary to China. He applied to the China Inland Mission and was accepted as an exceptional candidate with a gift for evangelism. Before going he wanted to take further studies at McCormick Seminary. While at the seminary, he was called to pastor a brand-new church in Oak Park, the Madison Street Church. He served from March 1915 to June 1917. The Church continued to grow and many years later became Calvary Memorial Church. The Lord had other plans for his life,

7:08 AM George Will has written a hugely important column about the dangers of America’s therapeutic culture in which the goal is to build self-esteem and make everyone feel better about themselves. Here are a few snippets:

In the Scottsdale, Ariz., Unified School District office, the receptionist used to be called a receptionist. Now she is “director of first impressions.” The happy director says, “Everyone wants to be important.” Scottsdale school bus drivers now are “transporters of learners.” A school official says such terminological readjustment is “a positive affirmation.” Which beats a negative affirmation. Manufacturers of pens and markers report a surge in teachers’ demands for purple ink pens. When marked in red, corrections of students’ tests seem so awfully judgmental. At a Connecticut school, parents consider red markings “stressful.” A Pittsburgh principal favors more “pleasant-feeling tones.” An Alaska teacher says substituting purple for red is compassionate pedagogy, a shift from “Here’s what you need to improve on” to “Here’s what you have done right.”

The whole column deserves to be read and digested. Here’s one more quote:

Because children are considered terribly vulnerable and fragile, playground games like dodgeball are being replaced by anxiety-reducing and self-esteem-enhancing games of tag where nobody is ever “out.” But abundant research indicates no connection between high self-esteem and high achievement or virtue. Is not unearned self-esteem a more pressing problem?

Will concludes that we ought to worry about the “national enfeeblement must result when therapism replaces the virtues on which the republic was founded — stoicism, self-reliance and courage.” 7:00 AM Here are the two latest entries in the Crosswalk weblog: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment The First Price You Pay is Always the Cheapest 6:55 AM Friday shout-out to Natalie Totire, Bernadette Campbell, Debbie Snyder, Tim Bollier, Dan McCollum, Kevin McCullough, Ray and Padma Villagomez, Bruce Thorn, Ken Aycock, Paul “Fire” Lynch, Rick Suddith, Bob and Linda Kryder, Jeff McAllister, Bernadette Luciano, Betty Arnold, Willie and Sue Tops, Ricky Kirkpatrick, Glen Bruns, Joe Peplinski, Phil Newton, Chris Eaton at VMI, Butch Henderson, Brent and Marie Jones, Flo Shultes, and a big hello and welcome to Emma Mae Shaffer born March 31 to Jason and Julie.