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Scientists have discovered that when 10 percent of a network is committed to an idea, it spreads throughout the entire network. Any 10 percent can do it. Social media enthusiasts say this explains Facebook and Twitter’s effectiveness. They are effective—at spreading ideas. If however the aim is to change institutions, it still requires only 10…
Starbucks doesn’t have a sexy mission—which is why it’s successful. Successful companies make a distinction between mission and purpose. Mission is what an organization does. Starbucks sells coffee. Not very sexy. Purpose is why a company exists. For Starbucks, it’s experiencing the third place. Sexy. Faith communities often conflate the two, however, creating a mish-mash…
If it’s sauce for the goose, it’s sauce for the gander. Michael Shermer intuits a pattern. Our brains are “belief engines” that naturally “look for and find patterns” and then “infuse” them with meaning. This debunks the idea of a deity. What’s ironic is Shermer intuits a universal pattern that everyone infuses patterns with meaning….
Guess who speaks in tongues? In his soon to be released book, You Lost Me, Barrna Group president David Kinnman describes a growing percentage of Christians who have checked out of church. He calls them exiles, calculating there are between eight to twenty million of them. Exiles think culture, then Christianity. When you approach faith…
To win the culture wars, study the war against cancer. In the 1940s, finding a cure for cancer was likened to fighting a war. The new symbol overhauled the fight against cancer strategy. Today, many writers liken America’s values debates to culture wars. If they’re right, the faith community’s strategy is also overdue for an…
Studying the seals of four states might help. Brinkmanship is a bad way to resolve our budget crisis. It is however indicative of a broken system. Fixing the system as well as resolving our debt crisis might benefit from studying the seals of four states—Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Kentucky.
It’s easels more than evangelism that makes a difference. Mormonism is a hot topic nowadays. Newsweek magazine recently highlighted its vitality, evidenced in politics and business—think Harry Reid, Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, and Steven Covey. But it also animates the Twilight vampire novels of Mormon Stephenie Meyer. Many attribute this vitality to Mormon missionaries evangelizing…
By Kevin Antlitz What would it take to remove Flint and Detroit, Michigan from the list? According to a recent Atlantic Monthly article, the most recent FBI crime data lists Flint and Detroit, Michigan as the two most dangerous cities in America.1 How would the church contribute to solving this problem? Crime is a complex…
Civil War buffs say it’s self-evident the South was finished when Vicksburg fell on the fourth of July 1863. Niall Ferguson disagrees—the decisive event occurred earlier. History and human nature remind us how self-evident truth is not always self-evident. In the case of America for example, the decisive date might not be the Fourth of…
Lost Day
Michael Metzger
September 5, 2011
The lofty language of the U.S. Department of Labor (today marks “a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country”) doesn’t seem to fit reality. Labor Day isn’t acknowledgment; it’s escape—from work. That’s because words like holiday, prosperity, and well-being have lost their meaningful connection…