Around the blogosphere...

Best Video (nominated by Susan Rogers St Laurent):
Clark Retirement Community LipDub

Funniest Photo:
What Really Happened to Stonehenge

Most Inspiring: 
Elaine Storkey at Christianity Today with “A Liberating Woman: A Reflection on the Founder of Christians for Biblical Equality”
“As founder and president of Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) and of Peace and Safety in the Christian Home (PASCH)—as well as in 13 books and hundreds of scholarly articles and lectures—Kroeger demonstrated, while holding to scriptural authority and evangelism, that the gospel addressed many concerns of contemporary feminism.”

Most Powerful:
Emerging Mummy with “In Which I am Part of the Insurgency”
“Sometimes I think that there is a war on women. It may be unofficial but oh, sisters, it's pervasive and horrible in some ways, culturally acceptable and mundane-but-devastating in others…”

Most Important: 
Mark Galli at Christianity Today with “The Most Risky Profession”

Most Honest:
Shan K. with "A Spectator Along God's Highway"
"Being a gypsy at the side of the road, though, leaves me with a view of all the caravans passing by.  I look away often, but when I don’t I see a parade of people in spiritual machines moving forward, forward.  They get in these machines together and fly the flag of their particular vehicular choice.  They sing driving songs and shout driving directions to other travelers from bullhorns. They make faces at the people in the cars and chariots and flintstone-mobiles travelling the road near them.  They move fast, they move slow, they move all zig-zaggy.   They throw out candy or maps or broken glass or umbrellas. But they never seem to understand that from where I’m standing now they all look the same." 

Best Satire:
Kurt Willems with “Sign My Petition for a Constitutional Amendment to Ban Divorce”

Best Series:
Mason Slater with “Whatever Happened to Sin?”

Best Question:
Laura Ziesel with “Is Christianese Always Bad?”
“After my miscarriage, sometimes I had no words of my own. I was unable to form coherent thoughts and put words to my feelings. I think this is a common occurrence during grief...once I was able to borrow the words of Scripture to express my grief, I thought and spoke in Christianese a lot. But you know what? I didn't give a rip. I had words, and I had words that were both helpful and true. So, I sounded like an 80-year-old church lady. Oh well.”

Best Conversation-Starter:
Scot McKnight with “I Wish I Hadn’t Said That”
Scot asks, “What is one thing that was so important to you in your early 20s that you now either don’t believe or are downright embarrassed about?”  (The comments that follow this post are a fun read.)

Coolest Image: 
The Kitchn with “Pots and Planets”

Strangest ‘Religion’ Story:
Austrian Atheist Wins Right to Wear Pasta Strainer In Driver’s License Photo

“Effemigate” …

I never expected that our effort to stand up to Mark Driscoll’s bullying would trigger the reaction that it did. But after a crazy week (in which I was accused of "libel" by WORLD magazine of all places), Driscoll issued a response that suggests  the elders of Mars Hill Church heard our requests and spoke with Mark about the carelessness of his words. My hope is that this acknowledgement of fault represents a first step toward changing the overall tenor and tone of Mark’s ministry…but of course only time will tell. 

Hundreds of folks wrote blog posts on the subject. A few that stood out to me included: 

Tyler Clark with “Mano-a-Mano”

John Jensen with “A Letter to Pastor Mark” and “A Follow Up…”

Brian McLaren with “Two Roads Diverged in an Evangelical Wood”

Karen Swallow Prior (at RELEVANT) with "Who Would Jesus Bully?"

Donald Miller with “What Does Healthy Masculinity Look Like?

“A Letter to Mark Driscoll”

Jamie Arpin Ricci with “What A Godly Man Looks Like”

David Hayward with “The New  Jesus”

Ellen Cooper Davis with “Be A Lover and a Fighter”

Brian LePort with “Let’s Put a Human Face on the Other”

Alise Wright with “Why I Wrote Mark Driscoll”

Preston Yancey with "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Anna Blanch with “Calling Out Christian Leaders in an Age of Digital Media”

There are many more worthy of sharing, so if one comes to mind, please feel free to link in the comment section. For now I’m ready to move on from this kerfuffle and work instead on building better frameworks for discussing masculinity, femininity, gender, and sexuality in the Church.  As many have noted, this conversation transcends a single Facebook status or a single pastor. And I am convinced that once we strip away the stereotypes, the prejudices, the cruel jokes, and the biblical abuses,  this conversation will result in GOOD NEWS for men and women alike! 

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So what caught your eye online this week? What’s happening at your blog?