Book Review--Nelson's Illustrated Guide to Religions

The book calls itself--A comprehensive introduction to the religions of the world analyzed from a Christian perspective

Nelson's Illustrated Guide to Religions covers more than 200 religions, sects, and cults, most of them ones the reader might encounter on any given day. It is the most complete and up-to-date Christian guide to world religions. Perfect for the student as well as the layperson. Written by leading expert in religions, James A. Beverley. Benefits include: Easy-to-follow format and comprehensive content make this the perfect resource for both scholars and laypersons Reader's knowledge of world religions is expanded, providing a new context for their own faith and world view.

I work with a lot of churches of varying evangelical persuasions, so I was excited to get and read through this book. It does provide a good format and appropriate level of information to give you a conversational grasp of various religions. I also own and have enjoyed ...isms, Understanding Religion, and would offer it as another source of similar info though it is more snapshot where the Illustrated Guide delves a bit deeper. The other book is also written from a more secular viewpoint which offers pros and cons as well.

All in all this is a great resource for your library and I will continue to use it often.

Quote of the Week

From one of the best comedies of all time...

"I am the gatekeeper of my own destiny, and I will have my glory day in the hot sun...cya."--Nacho Libre

Happy Father's Day

I have several important jobs...but one of the most important is being a dad, here is a great example of a fathers love...and a pretty good small groups video too!

Top Three #35

I'm a sports fan! That's one of the reasons this time of year is so great, Baseball is in full swing, while Basketball and Hockey are into their final rounds of playoff action. So this week I'll be sharing the...

Top Three Professional Sports Franchises

3. Montreal Canadians--yes, my Red Wings have the most championships (soon to be 12) of any US based team, but the 24 Stanley Cup wins by the Canadians is unequaled, they've won 1 out of 4 Stanley cups ever contested!

2. Boston Celtics--So the Lakers may come one closer to their 17 NBA championships this year, the more impressive fact is their winning percentage in finals, .850 vs .483 for the Lakers (which they have a chance to improve to .500 with a win this year!)

1. New York Yankees--As much as it pains me to admit, their record 26 World Championships is the best of any north American sport, we could go into lots here, but the record speaks for itself. They have averaged a World Series appearance every 2.7 years since the first series in 1903.

Honorable Mention--Since I did not name an NFL team above, let's explain a bit...you can see the number of championships listed above, in comparison, the Pittsburgh Steelers won their 6th Super Bowl last year to break a three way tie for the most with Dallas and San Francisco, and each of those three teams won most of their Super Bowls within a single decade 70's for PIT (4 of 6), 80's for SFR (4 of 5) and 90's for DAL (3 of 5).

Quote of the Week

I pray for my sons...I stumbled on this recently...

"Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory."--Douglas MacArthur

Top Three #34

I'm becoming a little more intentional with this Blog, trying to focus(sorta) on fewer, more important, topics. Of course there will always be a little nonsense (as anything worth doing should have!), but in my attempts, I've been researching a little as to where readers are coming from so here are the....

Top three traffic sources for The Point Blog

3. Twitter--This channel is growing the fastest and now accounts for nearly twenty percent of visits

2. Direct Traffic--about a quarter of all visitors come directly to the site, so these are apparently repeat visitors, thank you!

1. Facebook--A third of all visitors to my blog click through from facebook.

Honorable Mention-- there are several other sources primarily google keyword searches and clicks from others who have me on their blogroll, let me know if you place me on your blogroll and I will happily return the favor!

Quote of the week

"I'm really absolutely sure of some things that I don't quite know."--Rob Bell