Blog Potluck

NOTE: Most recent “potlucks” are at the top—older ones below.

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SABBATH BLOG POTLUCK – 7: January 18, 2008

This is the biggest potluck here so far! So—you know the drill: a small sample here and there, and pretty soon, your plate is full. Some good things on the table, so step right up.

• A current top movie is “The Bucket List,” with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Two old geezers with cancer make a list of everything they want to do before they “kick the bucket,” then set out to get it all done. I have my own “bucket list,” and it includes visiting various places on the planet before time runs out—including Bora Bora and Australia/New Zealand. In her January 10 post at Aussie Adventures, Melody Tan photo-documents her recent outing to the outback. The awesome photos make me even more determined to get down there while I’m still above ground.

• Speaking of down under, Aaaaargh, ye pirates! The Newcastle students (Australia) are organizing a swashbuckling scavenger hunt for during their summer vacation, which is going on now, you northern hemispherites! Check their December 5 post at NASA. I remember these hunts from my carefree kiddo-hood—and I wanna go, I tell you! Alas, I’d need a lottery win to afford the airfare.

• If you enjoy poetry, there’s a smorgasboard of good ones in Andy Hanson’s January 15 post at AdventistPerspective. And of course, if you just like reading in general, get yourself over to one of Trudy Morgan-Cole’s two blogs: Compulsive Overreader. At her other blog, Hypergraffiti, read her January 14 account of exactly the kind of Scrabble triumph of which so many of us dream.

• Sometimes I read a blog post and say almost out loud: “Right!” That’s my response to the on-target January 15 post at Peace Messenger, sharing a USA Today columnist’s take on the dangerous and ill-advised alliance between the church and politics.

• Amazing Grace, sure. But Annoying Grace? Check out Divya Mathew’s provocative January 4 post at Adventist Youth.

• I always get a lift when I check in on BealcA’s Pad. It’s author, retired and 14 years on O₂, seems relentlessly optimistic and genuinely sold on Jesus.

• I’m still a great admirer of what’s happening at Beré Adventist Hospital, which I posted on last July. Abandon your TV “reality” shows and sample some recent posts here—you’ll discover what reality really is! See also Beré bloggers Liz Randall at Footsteps Into Africa, Sarah Sexton at Into Africa, Sonya Reaves at La Sonya, and WWU student Mary Jo at The Journey of Service.

• In “The Triumph of the Southern Baptists,” Arsenio Lembert, Jr. at EndrTimes provides an interesting history and profile of that influential denomination in a January 15 post.

• Turns out single people use up a lot more resources per person—and churn out a lot more waste—than married people do. Want the evidence? Check out Michael Prewitt’s January 13 post, “Go Green: Get Married,” at Eye of Harmony.

• Student missionary Brent Sherwin has some great pix of Machu Picchu, a floating Adventist Church on Lake Titicaca, and other Peruvian views, at Peru 2007–2008.

• I always enjoy the up-to-the-minute research Monte Sahlin shares over at Faith in Context. Some great new info up, on the Church and Christianity.

• Need some real-world, practical ideas about what it means to keep the Sabbath? Help yourself to the ones David Ocequera lists in his January 9 post, “A Sabbath Observation,” at Writings From the Grass-root.

• Sarah at Travail: A Writer’s Journey, posts about the unrest in Kenya and how it’s affected the Adventist university there. Her January 12 post shares a BBC news article she received via Homer Trecartin in the Office of Adventist Mission at the GC.

• David R. Larson, DMin, PhD, a former college classmate of mine and currently a professor of religion and ethical studies in the Loma Linda University School of Religion, blogs at Ponder Anew 2! David reports in a January 15 post on a presentation by Adventist physician E. Albert Reece, M.D., on the controversial topic of human embryonic stem cell research.

• In her January 13 post at Wishing Doesn’t Make It So, Vera shares her list of “Things That Make Me Cry.” Hmmmm. What about you? A thought-provoking post.

• In “Pulling a Malcolm,” Malcom S. Douglas, at his eponymously named blog, reveals in his January 13 post that he’s been a student at five Adventist colleges/universities. Anybody top that?

• In What Is Spiritual? this month, Richard Harty explores in a January 6 post whether we’re good or bad—and on the concept of original sin. I enjoyed his look at Eddie Izzard’s view of the doctrine.

• Shawn Brace at New England Pastor had an October 2007 cover article published in the Adventist Review entitled “Saving a Seinfeld Generation From Itself.” In a January 10 post, Shawn shares some not-so-enthusiastic feedback he got in a letter to the editor. Sometimes, those of us who write don’t get 100 percent warm and fuzzy responses. Even blog comments are a mixed bag. So hang in there, Parson Brace.

• If you’re interested in the weekly Sabbath School lessons, try these blogs: 1888 SS Insights, e-Sabbath School, Sabbath School Class Notes, and Sabbath School Insights.

Now some lists. First, here’s a sampling of the International flavor of this blogroll:

Australia: Bravus, NASA, Aussie Adventures, The Edge
Nigeria: Blessin’s From Pedrito
Saipan: Bubbles in Paradise
Denmark: Kenneth Birch
France: Kutchu
Poland: Lady Be Good
United Kingdom: Locus Standi, Nomad, Pearl, The Nomad Chronicles
South Africa: Salisbury House Blog
Barbados: The Advent Journey
Albania: Theology With Meat
Thailand: Twenty Something

Next up: A list of at least some of the numerous blogs that focus mostly on home, the family, and/or home-schooling. If I’ve overlooked any, many sorries.

A Virtuous Woman
Because I Said So
Busy Mommy of Four
By Faith
Daughter of God
Gracious Hospitality
His Grace to Me
I Should Be Doing Laundry
Joy in the Morning Light
Lundie’s Life
Mammy’s Musings
The Cress Chronicle
Thoughts From the Hill
Gentle Breezes
Live and Learn
Mocha Moments
Seasons of the Heart
The Joy of Raising My Kids at Home
Waiting for Him

Finally, some housekeeping items….

Deleted from the blogroll—no posts for at least six months:

Adventist Confession and Healing
Adventist Women for Peace
Andrews University Leadership Roundtable
Barbara’s Reflections
DeeDee’s Blog
Dianne in Russia – 07
Hockey Pastor
iAdventist
Jon’s Space
LightBraker
Mind the Way
Potluck Witness
Zambian Adventists

Site either down or removed (thus removing from blogroll):

A Family’s Love
Adventist Gender Justice
Adventist Science Educator’s Association
Just Josue

Final Post (will leave up for a while longer):

Ciao! Direct From Italy
Just Another Work in Progress

Name Changes:

Blessed to Be a Keeper at Home…now Busy Mommy of Four
Missionary Surgeon in the Making….now Missionary Doc in the Making

 

SABBATH BLOG POTLUCK – 6: December 7, 2007

Last Blogroll roundup for 2007. Merry and Happy to ye all!

• The pastoral trio who have jointly blogged at Just Pastors are each heading off to new challenges and will be closing down their combined effort—though for now, the blog is still online. They hint at likely solo sites to come, and if/when those are known, they will be added to Telescope’s blogroll.

• The Spectrum Blog—possibly the most heavily trafficked Adventist blogsite on the Net (though see the next item)—is closing down its “old” blogsite, integrating it with the main Spectrum magazine site. So fear not, the blog continues, though with a new venue and redesign. Since the magazine too draws significant traffic, it will no longer be possible, of course, to know what part of the combined site traffic is for the blog.

• I’m only guessing about Spectrum Blog’s traffic—I don’t have stats on that—but here’s one that could also be either #1 or #2: HeavenlySanctuary.com. In a November 20 post, they report an astonishing average of 50,000 visits a month! A couple of times, Telescope here has made Technorati’s daily 100 fastest-growing blogs list, but I’ll likely be snoring away under the daisies before this site ever gets 50,000 hits in a month!

• Johnny Ramirez-Johnson, EdD—a professor in the School of Religion at Loma Linda University—and whose blogsite Johnny on C.P.R. has been on some kind of hiatus—has put the site back “under construction.” Will be good to have Dr. Johnny’s voice rejoining the conversation.

• On an issue I’ve also referenced here in this blog—the stalled SCHIP effort in Congress to produce expanded children’s health insurance coverage—Ryan Bell, senior pastor of the Hollywood SDA Church, has a December 4 post updating this legislation, at his blog Intersections. Find the link in this post to an article in which he’s quoted on the topic in the influential Congress-focused website of The Hill—the newspaper with the largest circulation of any Capitol Hill publication.

• Wanna know which Adventist blogs have the most frequent postings? My unofficial sense of it is that in addition to The Spectrum Blog named above, other contenders would be Pastor Bill Cork’s Oak Leaves, Jim Miles’ Jimblog, and together, Trudy Morgan-Cole’s two blogs: Hypergraffiti and Compulsive Overreader.

• Speaking of Bill Cork, who pastors in Houston, Texas—and who says I can call him “Cardinal Cork”—evidence seems to have surfaced (see a December 2 post at Adventist Youth) that he succeeds in keeping at least some of his parishioners awake through his sermons!

• Southern Adventist University student Raymond Thompson’s formerly titled Beyond Belief is now Harvest for Hope. And the former In the Life of Bekso is now Painting a Picture…By Zah and Bekso.

• Seth Ellis, a teacher hailing from Vancouver, Washington, has a blog with one of my favorite and more provocative titles: Gorp Soliloquy. Seth’s beautiful photos make me homesick for my real home-base—the great Pacific Northwest (I’m temporarily domiciled in the desert Southwest). Seth also has a gallery of his photography at Wallygoots.com.

• In a November 27 post, Loma Linda religion professor Siroj Sorajjakool at The Sacred and the Space in Between gets all philosophical on us in a post entitled “To ‘P’ or Not to ‘P’.” Yes, it’s about what you probably suspect it is, so if you need a change of pace in your reading, head on over. But men, don’t leave the blog seat up!

• I’m all envious. In a November 30 post, Greg Brothers, pastor of the Lincoln City, Oregon, church, reports in The Oregon Adventist Pastor on their recent doozy of a coastal storm that whipped up 45-foot seas and 125-mph wind gusts. I love it when Oregon Coast weather goes postal—have been there in the past when Mama Nature throws a hissy fit.

• At some point when I find time, I may try to reorganize the blogroll a bit, according to common focus. For example, missions, home-schoolers, Bible and Sabbath School lesson study, theology, social networking, traditional Adventism, progressive Adventism, etc. But that won’t be until somewhere out in 2008, that’s for sure.

• As always, I say goodbye to blogs that haven’t posted for at least six months. Leaving the roll this time:

Adventist History
The Assistant Teacher
Reading (Life) Between the Lines
Project SYN.E.R.G.Y.
Lewis County Adventist Softball Team

And one more:

mm2smile (no longer open to the public)

 

SABBATH BLOG POTLUCK – 5: October 26, 2007

Another roundup from the Blogroll:

• At The Oregon Adventist Pastor, Lincoln City, Oregon, pastor Greg Brothers takes a look in recent posts at the “megachurch” phenomenon—fousing his observations on the New Hope Community Church in Portland, Oregon, and the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.

• The 50^th Anniversary of a book that made waves in the Adventist Church when it was published—and has ever since—is being marked here in late October at a special “Questions on Doctrine Conference” at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. The conference assembles theologians and church leaders to revisit the implications of that book. See posts at Ponder Anew, Progressive Adventism, The Spectrum Blog, and Northern Lord vs. Southern Lord, among others.

• FUN STUFF #1: Are you a Mom? One of my daughters emailed me a link to a funny-true video clip that even non-Moms may get a smile from. I won’t post it on my blog, but go to No More Somedays and click on “The Mom Song” (October 2 post).

• Don’t know how I missed noticing this one—but back on July 14, Timothy, in his most recent post at Mind the Way, wrote on the topic of “Fear and Love.” Having posted on this myself a couple weeks ago on October 14 (see “Fear and Love…Oil and Water”), I truly resonate with his thoughts. If you read this, Timothy, how about updating your blog with some new posts?

• Maybe you’ve noticed the entry in my Blogroll—It’s Awesome to Be Rawsome!—the chronicle of Tommie’s more than two years of eating, I assume either all or mostly raw foods. She puts her daily food journal right out there for you to check out. Now, I’m not sure I’m personally ready to take the plunge into eating only raw foods—or if I ever will—but ever since the encouragement of my own favorite online health guru, Mike Adams, the “Health Ranger” at NewsTarget.com, I’ve been challenged to eat more raw veggies. The challenge, for me, is coming up with healthful dips. I mean, I’m just not ready to chow down on raw broccoli crowns without something to help them go down!

• FUN STUFF #2: I once had a Siamese cat named “Spooky.” He developed some bladder problems and had to have surgery. He came home with one of those conical hoods around his head to keep him from messing with his incision. About that time, I came across a newspaper article by a guy whose cat had a similar procedure. He referred to his cat with the new name “Satellite Head.” In I Am a Missionary Kid, see a great photo of two satellite-head kitties under the October 12 post.

• Looks as if Typepad’s servers are down, so I won’t be able to scout out any Typepad-based blogs till the next potluck.

• Andy’s Cerebral Outpourings seems to have changed its name to Notes to My Future Self. Written by Andrew Riffel, a 21-year-old Math Education major and president of the Student Association at Pacific Union College, his chronicle of college life brings back a lot of long-ago memories of when I too was a PUC student and SA officer. Where does the time go?

With each Potluck, I prune away any blogs that haven’t posted in at least six months. So this time, I say goodbye to the following:

Tribe of Levi
The Kilted Clergyman
Sabbath School for a New Generation
Riches of Grace
Our Lady of Forgiveness
Life As a Cultural Adventist
Finally, Brethren…

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my “Newly Discovered Adventist Blogs,” but with this many going out the back door, I’d best hop to it and round up some new ones, let this no longer remain the largest Adventist blogroll. Shall do soon.

 

SABBATH BLOG POTLUCK – 4: October 6, 2007

• My sister, Pat, is into scrapbooking, big-time. Elana Geyrozaga at A Day at a Time seems to have the same virus. In one recent post, she describes the keepsake “Ministry Album” she’s been preparing about her husband’s pastoral service (they’re currently in Hawaii).

• A truly great little story about a young woman, her cookies, and an airport boarding area can be found in a September 20 post at HeavenlySanctuary.com. To get the current page, click “Home” on the left.

• Cleanliness being next to godliness, you might enjoy Ann’s take on “Natural Body Care” at His Grace to Me. She discusses chemical- and additive-free body care items, such as Dr. Bronner’s soap, which I’ve been trying out myself since reading about it on NewsTarget—by health researcher Mike Adams.

• In addition to his extensive list of Adventist history books, Hobbes at Hobbes’ Place has just posted also a lengthy list of Adventist history–oriented theses.

• One of the largest and most influential Adventist blogs is scaling back and redesigning. Progressive Adventism is by Julius Nam, PhD—an assistant professor of religion in the Loma Linda University School of Religion—who announced the change in a September 30 post entitled “Downshift.” Along with many others, I’m sure, I’ll miss the “old” PA, but at times I too feel as does Dr. Nam, who wrote: “I’m overwhelmed with life.” All the best, Julius, as you seek to keep everything prioritized and in perspective. The Willes Blog too posts a note that the site is down “until I get my head above water.” Maybe my own September 6 post—“When Life Gets to Be a Bit Much”—wasn’t too far off the mark!

• Sabbath Pulpit, by M.Div. student Sherman Haywood Cox II, is a treasure trove of media files and articles showcasing the best in Adventist preaching—primarily the sermons of African-American preachers. See recent files by E. E. Cleveland, Henry Wright, and others. Sherman’s other blog, Second Advent Podcast, is now retitled Lessons on Faith Ministries.

• Debbie Ann has moved her blog Seasons of the Heart to Seasons of the Heart2.

• Trailady at Signs & Wonders describes the anguish of her personal spiritual journey that has led her to leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church. See especially her August 26 post, “Breaking Away.” Read too the comments in response. I admire Trailady’s honest sharing—and can certainly resonate with much of what she shares.

• A big Amen to Sarah A.’s post, “Numbers Obsessed,” on Travail: A Writer’s Journey. She urges that we be more obsessed with counting those who stay around than those who come into the church.

As usual, my Blogroll says goodbye with this installment to blogs that haven’t updated for at least six months. These include:

Continuous Dialogue
Future Is Now
Intersection (not Intersections—Ryan Bell’s blog)
Seventh-day Adventist Missions
Stan Jensen

And one blog seems to just be “gone”—Teacher Features.

This will have to last you till the next potluck.

 

SABBATH BLOG POTLUCK - 3: September 14, 2007

• At Wondering About God, kumardixit, a Maryland pastor (don’t know if that’s his name or a username), has a couple of recent posts about the apparently pending sale of CUC-owned WGTS-FM in D.C. I have a personal interest in the topic, as my son is the Program Director there.

• For an interesting look at the aftermath of largely North American evangelistic efforts in Eastern Europe in recent years, check Albanian pastor/theologian Julian Kastrati’s July 4 post at Theology With Meat.

• At The Wheeler Spin, Tompaul Wheeler shares a free excerpt from his new Review and Herald book GodSpace. He also has written a young adult devotional called Things They Never Taught Me. Good to see that Tompaul picked up some literary genes from his parents Gerald and Penny Estes Wheeler—editorial colleagues of mine from years gone by.

• Alexander Carpenter at The Spectrum Blog can’t be accused of “playing it safe.” His 9/11 “Petraeus video roundup” brought a predictably lively response. When it comes to issues of war and peace, even and perhaps especially Christians will have strong opinions. Tennessee attorney Brian Arner at Resonance also has a pre-Petraeus report take on the debate. And Wheaton, Maryland, pastor Steve Murphy at Livesmart Today reacts to the Petraeus report as well.

• At Re-inventing the Aventist Wheel, Marcel Schwantes posts an interesting post plus video clip—“When a Pastor Messes Up”—on the challenge of rebuilding trust and helping to heal a hurting congregation wronged by the betrayal and long-time financial misconduct of a previous pastor some years earlier.

• An Amen to the September 7 post of the apparently anonymous Ohio bird who holds forth at Nutty Nuthatch. He pleads for pastors/evangelists to retire their ancient borrowed/stolen sermon illustrations—some of which are urban legends, pure and simple. Just because it worked for Fordyce Detamore a few decades back doesn’t mean it is fresh and effective in 2007.

• Down under in Perth, Australia, some creative new approaches to “doing church” are afoot. See “Café 7—Doing Church” at NewChurchLife if you need your idea pump primed.

• If you just need a good true story, try “Pastor of Disaster”—Marty Thurber’s September 2 post about his experiences in mopping up after an F4 North Dakota tornado, at Just Pastors. He’s one of the self-dubbed “Three Blogsketeers”—a trio of pastors who have never yet met each other in person—only through their joint blog effort.

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As in the previous installment below, it’s time to remove from the blogroll some blogs that haven’t updated for at least six months. Goodbye for now to the following—which I’ll happily add back if they become active again:

Teamnet Ministries
Ladies 4 Christ
Youthtalk
The Vintage Homemaker
The Story in Which We Find Ourselves

In addition, the following two blogs have been removed by their authors:

SDA Hikers
Substance and Shadows

 

SABBATH BLOG POTLUCK - 2: August 24, 2007

Over at Adventist Media Response and Conversation, Ron Corson comments on newly published letters of the late Mother Teresa expressing doubts about her faith.

Internet marketer Dee Bovis at blogbydee has a YouTube video (see his July 19 post for the link) on his choice for world’s best marketing tools. He also has a marketing website if you—like me—are interested in this area.

Trudy Morgan-Cole is a writer in St. John’s, Newfoundland, who keeps two active and cleverly named blogs on writing, reading, and other literary pursuits. See Compulsive Overreader and Hypergraffiti.

Richmond, Virginia, pastor Trevan Osborn at Divergence complains about rising prices—and along with several other blogs, notes CNN’s current “God’s Warriors” series by Christiana Amanpour.

Mike Prewitt’s August posts at Eye of Harmony include reporting on the recent ASI convention in Louisville, Kentucky. (I also attended the gathering in the Kentucky Convention Center.)

PUC pre-law student Kirsten Nixon’s recent posts at Dubium.org focus on education—both Adventist and public—and current presidential politics.

One regular feature of Samir Selmanovic’s Faith House Manhattan that I enjoy is the weekly “Sabbath Poem” he includes. But check his blog also now and then for updates on this urban interfaith project in the Big Apple.

Liz Randall from Spangle, Washington, has arrived for mission service at Beré Adventist Hospital. See her posts at Footsteps Into Africa. See too the blog of La Sonya—also recently arrived at Beré.

At the Insight Magazine Blog, editor Dwain Esmond has a late-July post on the Lindsay Lohan – Britney Spears – Paris Hilton – Nicole Richie quartet of young Hollywood actresses in seemingly perpetual trouble (see “LindsayLo in Heaven”). Having myself served a hundred years or so ago as assistant editor of Insight—back when it was young and so was I—I enjoy checking in on it now and then.

At iAdventist, Travis Walker in a recent post explores the relationship between faith and politics.

Heard about the “Lifehacking” phenomenon? Technorati lists Lifehacker as the sixth most popular blog in the blogosphere. In his August 9 post at Georgia Grown, Harold Cunningham lists his choices for “Life Hacks for Ministry.” Worth checking his picks.

This site’s blogroll contains several sites by home-schooling mothers and homemakers (I’ll list them in an upcoming Blog Potluck). One of the most exquisitely beautiful blogs I’ve encountered is at Gracious Hospitality. Give yourself a treat and scroll slowly through this blog on homemaking, enjoying the beautiful photos, the country-home ambience, and the great posts by La Tea Dah.

HeavenlySanctuary.com (tagline: “Virus Protection for the Mind”) was founded by Marco Belmonte and Dion Kaszas—two friends who met on the campus of Canadian University College. The blog is operated by a team of creative “freedom fighters” with the mission of telling the truth about God’s character.

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Sometimes I add a blog that hasn’t been updated in quite some time, in hopes that its creator will resume posting. But as of this Blog Potluck installment, I’m beginning to prune my blogroll to eliminate blogs that haven’t updated in six months or more. Here are a few for this installment. Following the blog name is the date of last post. If any of these blogs should become active again, I’ll be happy to add them back to the blogroll.

Blog the Future: November 13, 2005
Doug’s Advenntures: February 26, 2007
Health: The Adventist Way: November 9, 2005

Some blogs on my blogroll seem to have been discontinued. If they reappear, I’ll add them back. For this Blog Potluck, the following site seems to have disappeared.

Daughter Awaken

That’s it for this installment. More on another Sabbath.

 

SABBATH BLOG POTLUCK - 1: July 22, 2007

ONE OF THE MOST active and influential sites in the Adventist blogosphere is The Spectrum Blog—a subset of Spectrum magazine. They occasionally offer a roundup of what’s happening in that Adventist blogosphere called “Adventist Blog Potluck.”

Now, I’m too much of a latecomer to this particular sphere to know whether the term blog potluck originated at Spectrum or not—but if it didn’t, it should have. After all, is anything more unique to Adventist culture than the post-church potluck? A sample of this—a sample of that—and a prayer that one’s alimentary canal will accept without postprandial protest the various unfamiliar microbes converging on the sagging tables.

With a tip of my bloggy hat, then, to The Spectrum Blog, I would like to begin my own occasional Sabbath sampling of what’s being said out there by some of the keyboarders in my blogroll to the right. To my knowledge, this blogroll is the largest in the Adventist blogosphere. Currently I have north of 200 entries and continually add new ones. There isn’t room enough to fully annotate the list, but I would like to begin describing some of the most active, interesting, and well-known.

• Where better to begin than with The Spectrum Blog itself, which some time ago launched a project called “Bloggin’ the 28”—meaning the 28 Fundamental Beliefs. Various Adventist bloggers take a turn at sharing their own perspectives on this core set of theological statements. Currently, Houston International church pastor Bill Cork is blogging #16, on the Lord’s Supper. The Spectrum Blog is edited by Alexander Carpenter, an Andrews University graduate currently studying at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

• Bill Cork is among the more prolific Adventist bloggers on the Net, and his Oak Leaves is on my own short list of must-read blogs.

• Also on that list is Julius Nam’s Progressive Adventism. Julius is an assistant professor in the Loma Linda University School of Religion. Packed with interviews, video clips, a sizeable blogroll, and ongoing categories such as “Adventist Identity” and “Fresh Expressions,” Progressive Adventism is another essential stop as I make occasional circuits of my blogroll.

• Re-inventing the Adventist Wheel is written by multiple bloggers who also have their own blogs. Moderated by Marcel Schwantes, who directs a Glendale Adventist Medical Center program called Churches Without Walls, this blog too offers a wide variety of fare: interviews, video clips, book reviews, a lengthy blogroll, and a site category search. One recent post offers an interview with best-selling Adventist author Chris Blake.

• Two peace-focused blogs include Peace Messenger—the blog of the Adventist Peace Fellowship—and the blog of Adventist Women for Peace, founded by five women friends and colleagues at La Sierra University.

• Speaking of Adventist women, don’t miss Adventist Gender Justice, Trisha Famisaran’s blog—a lecturer at La Sierra preparing to enter her Ph.D. studies at Claremont Graduate University. Also see Ministry Sister—a blog by women preparing for church ministry.

• Many Adventist pastors are active bloggers. Greg Brothers, Lincoln City, Oregon, writes The Oregon Adventist Pastor. Trevan Osborne, Richmond, Virginia, blogs at Divergence. I’ve mentioned Bill Cork’s Oak Leaves, but this Houston pastor also holds forth on at least three or four other blogs. Then there’s Just Pastors, by a troika of Adventist parsons who call themselves “The Three Blogsketeers”: David Hamstra, Josue Sanchez, and Marty Thurber. Hollywood pastor Ryan Bell’s Intersections is one of the most heavily trafficked blogs on my roll. Ontario, California pastor Mike Leno blogs at GraceNotes. And be sure to take in Pasadena, Maryland pastor Timothy D. Lee’s I Am Persuaded. Another Maryland pastor (Wheaton) is Steve Murphy. Read his thoughts at Live.Smart. Seattle pastor Matthew Gamble blogs from the Northwest. And Richard Doss (not sure of his church) shares his thoughts at P.Richie’s Place. Finally (for this list of pastoral blogs, anyway), El Centro, California, pastor David Oceguera blogs at Writings From the Grass-root.

• I early on discovered that certain blogs seemed widely read and appeared on most Adventist blogrolls. For example, Johnny on C.P.R. (culture, psychology, and religion), by Johnny Ramirez-Johnson, a professor in the Loma Linda University School of Religion. His son Johnny, Jr. also has a well-read blog at Johnny’s Cache. Dr. Ramirez-Johnson’s fellow LLU religion professor Siroj Sorajjakool blogs as well at The Sacred and the Space in Between. And before leaving even the Loma Linda campus, don’t miss blogs by David Larson, co-director of the LLU Center for Christian Bioethics, at Ponder Anew 2!—and Carla Gober, director of the Center for Spiritual Life and Wholeness, at Intersection (not the be confused with Ryan Bell’s blog).

• Monte Sahlin, vice president for Creative Ministries for the Columbia Union Conference, posts an influential blog at Faith in Context.

• Sherman Haywood Cox II, a healthcare computer professional at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennesse, draws many readers at Sabbath Pulpit.

• The same is true of library specialist Raul Batista of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, whose Northern Lord vs. Southern Lord is just as interesting as its title.

• Leading out in a unique urban interfaith project, Samir Selmamovic draws many visitors to his site at Faith House Manhattan.

• In other parts of the world, young Danish Adventist Kenneth Birch is always part of the Adventist dialogue at his eponymously named blog: Kenneth Birch. See also locus standi, by British blogger Torsten Pedersen. Paul Whiting works as an administrator for New Zealand’s statutory social work service—Child, Youth and Family.

• Ron Corson of Olympia, Washington, posts regularly at Adventist Media Response and Conversation.

• Jared Wright speaks with a Christian perspective to environmental issues at Adventist Environmental Advocacy.

• Focused on linking faith and global issues—particular in the Middle East—The Declaration of Dependence is the blog of Zulema Ibarra, one of eight founding members of KEP—a project based at La Sierra University.

• Edward Guzman, a former youth pastor who says he’s now “going the academic route,” posts on a wide range of topics at Substance and Shadows.

• Michael Peterson, an electrical engineer working at Intel in the Portland, Oregon, area, has created a virtual Sabbath School class discussion at Sabbath School for a New Generation.

• Andrews University professor of New Testament Interpretation Jon Paulien writes his blog at Revelation-Armageddon.

• History-focused blogs include Hobbes’ Place and Michael Campbell’s Adventist History.

• One of my don’t-miss blogs is by Jim Miles, a teacher at Armona Union Academy in California. His posts at Jimblog on current events and politics are always thought-provoking.

Now, almost for sure, some excellent bloggers out there are going to think they were overlooked—or relegated to my “B” list! Not so. Need I remind you, though, of what happens when you take one sample of every dish at one of those typical thousand-casserole Adventist potlucks?

So I’ll have to pass for now on some great blogs and mention them on another upcoming Sabbath.