This just in from my handy, dandy Google news alert service. It's an interesting article reviewing two recent books that deal with the declining moral standards of Americans - Christians included.I'll post part of the article here and provide a link to the rest.Country experiencing moral decline? Sociologist, theologian both seesignificant dropBy RICHARD N. OSTLINGAP Religion WriterAs the 21st century began, University of Virginia sociologist JamesDavison Hunter produced a jeremiad that deserved far more attention than itreceived: “The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good orEvil” (Basic Books).Hunter contended that America is suffering a dangerous decline in“character” and morality among youth, and criticized public schools' attempts atmoral education and “values clarification.”He said educators, misled by psychology, treat morality in terms ofpreferences, supposing that the inherently moral self should be liberated tomake autonomous decisions. That never works, he claimed; history and experienceshow that morality stems from strongly held,…

As LifePoint gets close to being three months old, it's been amazing to see how God has nurtured a growing sense of community. It shows up before and after our worship gatherings. It shows up during our weekly LifeGroups. It shows up in coffee shops, over lunches, and around living rooms. It shows up in the level of caring that blows me away. It shows up when people open their homes to people they didn't know several months ago.One of the greatest opportunities in starting a new church is to build into it a healthy DNA. Over time, this DNA replicates itself. If the DNA is healthy, that's good thing; if it's toxic ...We certainly spent time during our pre-launch days teaching about biblical community. But now we're seeing it happen!

One of the blessings of returning to San Diego has been reuniting with a friend from Northern California. Her and her family were members of our church community in Walnut Creek and she is now playing softball at San Diego State. We remember back when she would watch our children and change their diapers!We took the family over to one of her practice games yesterday against Loyola-Marymount. It's the last inning, bases loaded, and the Aztecs are down by one run. And Tamani's at bat. A wild pitch ties the game. A few pitches later Tamani drove in the go ahead run -- which also turned out to be the winning run! Go girl (click here to see her picture).It's been great to be back around Tamani. She comes to LifePoint and helps out with the kids. We have her over for dinner most Tuesday nights. She's just a great…

As many of you know, I'm a BIG Google fan. Besides the search feature, I love being able to click and drag a Google map and the local feature has become the new yellow pages. With all that said, I'm a bit surprised (and disappointed) by the following:Go to Google and type the word 'failure', and press the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button.You'll have to try it for yourself.

Rather than post several entries, I've decided to lump them all together in a Thursday night blogging buffet.Pineapple tip. Rather than buy the pre-sliced pineapples from the deli, I purchased my first-ever whole pineapple. I was all prepared to go home and begin chopping. Until one of the Von's employees said, "You know this won't be ready to cut for several days." What ensued was a primer on how to tell when pineapples are ready to be cut. I appreciated the tip.Flashing Kensington sign. Many of San Diego's older neighborhoods have their name on a street sign that spans the width of a city street. Tonight I went for coffee in Kensington and noticed something about the Kensington neon sign. The "sin" part was starting to flicker while the remaining letters were solid and bright. Message from God?Chicken Little. Save the Barenaked Ladies singing the opening song, Chicken Little was…