How to Google God

Few topics incite discussion as much as effective discipleship. Most of the time, the debate centers around the content of effective discipleship; what is it a Christian should be able to do, or know, or be? Other times the discussion revolves around the method of discipleship, such as whether it should be a classroom experience or carry more of a mentoring dynamic.

In a recent address at The New York Times Schools for Tomorrow conference, former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers offered a new dynamic to the conversation.

Namely, how a changing world is changing learning.

His premise was that despite a rapidly changing world, education has changed very little:

“Students take four courses a term, each meeting for about three hours a week, usually with a teacher standing in front of the room. Students are evaluated on the basis of examination essays handwritten in blue books and relatively short research papers. Instructors are organized into departments, most of which bear the same names they did when the grandparents of today’s students were undergraduates. A vast majority of students still major in one or two disciplines centered on a particular department.”

But, wonders Summers, suppose the system was altered to reflect “the structure of society and what we now understand about how people learn?”

Daily Headline News

New York elbows past Los Angeles as America's rudest city

New Yorkers are the rudest people in America, but they glower with glamour, according to the latest survey of Travel & Leisure magazine readers, who ranked New York more boorish than Los Angeles -- last year's champ -- but who also praised New Yorkers as the country's most stylish jerks. (Susman, Los Angeles Times)

HPV study finds 7% of U.S. teens, adults carry virus in mouths

Infection with human papillomavirus heightens the risk of developing cancer of the mouth and throat. The findings indicate that most cases of oral HPV can be traced to oral sex, rather than to kissing or casual contact. (Roan, Los Angeles Times)

Religious freedom under threat from courts, professor warns

Oxford academic Roger Trigg points to 'clear trend' privileging secular values over religious conviction. (Shariatmadari, The Guardian)

Gang violence is less related to drugs than thought, CDC says

The finding that drugs played less of a role than previously thought by the public could be important for policymakers, because it could shift the focus in how society attempts to prevent gang deaths. (Muskal, Los Angeles Times)

The Choice for Courage

Are you living your life to your fullest potential? Studies show that one out of every three adults say they are not, and only a slim majority would say they are "mostly" becoming all that they could be. Many feel held back by something in their past, choices made that now define who they are. But what if new choices could be made? What if going from "good" to "great" is, in the end, a choice?  If so, what would those choices be? Throughout January Senior Pastor Jim White explores the idea of pursuing our potential in "Great by Choice," a look at the five areas where choices matter most to who we are, and who we can become.