Welcome to The Weekly Town Crier, a collection of links I’ve collected over the past week. Browse. Have fun. Enjoy. Laugh, cry, think. Click and click some more.

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Read as phone companies say “You can’t install applications on your phone and its for your own good.”

Read about the 2009 Bethlehem Conference For Pastors, featuring, John Piper, Mark Dever and Matt Chandler.

Read about the iPhone surpassing the RAZR as the best-selling phone.

Read some of Mark Batterson’s thoughts on rebranding his church.

Read about the “Framework For Religious Harmony.”

Browse this list of ways to speed up your web browsing.

Read as Church Marketing Sucks thinks about churches.

Browse American Photo’s compilation of the 100 Best Album Covers.

Browse as Music.IGN weighs in with their own list of the ten best album covers.

See Michael Jackson’s face warp.

Mac users, see how archive your sticky notes as PDF files.

Read about the new Bonnie “Prince” Billy album due in March.

Read about a WordPerfect’s founder $1 million to help fund the ban on same-sex unions in CA.

Read about the recent study finding that unhappy people watch a lot more television than happy people.

Read as Justin Buzzard encourages us to “Think Biblically About Facebook.”

Read about the Obama camp hinting at a Cabinet post for Clinton.

Read as The Chicago Tribune considers the resurgence of live albums.

Read this piece considering 5 reasons why the Sandman graphic novels changed the face of entertainment.

Read about the likelihood of Obama forgoing his Blackberry as he takes office.

Read as the Washington Post considers “5 Myths About An Election of Mythic Proportions.”

Read as Jonathan Dodson suggests “Six Ways To Engage Culture” for The Resurgence.

Read as Pitchfork interviews members of Fleet Foxes.

Read this piece which considers how many books you would actually have to read before the Amazon Kindle paid for itself.

Read this is list of five devices killed by the cell phone.

Read about the couple who has hired detectives and psychics to find their missing dog.

Read about the possibility of Ricky Gervais making a guest appearance on the American version of The Office.

Read about Ricky Gervais making an appearance on Sesame Street.

Read about the “mystery chord” of The Beatles’ “Hard Day’s Night” finally solved by math.

Read about The Simpsons’ expression that has found its way into the dictionary.

Read about the San Fransisco artists who wants to replace her missing eye with a webcam.

Read about the captured images of planets outside of our solar system.

Read about Zondervan acquiring online community building program, The City, a fantastic church-planting resource.

Read Christianity Today’s review of the new, free EP from Andrew Osenga.

Read their review of the new one from Lecrae.

Read Christianity Today’s picks for their favorite albums of 2008.

Read about the feud between writers of unicorn and zombie fiction.

Here is Mindy Smith’s music video for her song “Come to Jesus:”

With my wife and my good friend Eldon, I had the opportunity the other night to fulfill a long-time concert wish: I got to see Danielson. He played with a full band (though not necessarily the “Famile” per se) this past Sunday night, November 16, 2008 at Modified Arts in downtown Phoenix. I was struck by several thoughts as we marveled at the wonder that is Danielson (this time in the Navy/sailor/soldier uniforms, complete with very cool shoes [see the tour uniform here]) which I have chosen to share in the form of a very brief open letter to Daniel Smith, the architect behind all things Danielson:

Dear Daniel Smith,

Thank you for including the “son” as part of your moniker, reminding us that we are all children of God. Thank you for staying true to your artistic vision even, and especially when others didn’t necessarily “get it.” Thank you for singing “His banner over me is love” even while people were getting drunk. Thank you for singing about a “deeper kind of love” even as the lesbian couple danced just off stage. Thank you for reminding us that Christians who make music don’t necessarily have to play “Christian” music. Thank you for reminding us that Christians who make music (and by default, all Christians) can connect in deep and meaningful ways with those who don’t necessarily share our faith, thus creating “bridges for the Gospel” that might not have otherwise been as apparent.

Thank you for reminding Christians that it’s OK to have fun and love creativity. Thank you for playing the venues you do. Thank you for taking your music seriously, not just as a “means to an end,” but as an expression in and of itself. Thank you for understanding that, though your music might not be for everyone, your message is. Thank you for being salt and light. Thank you for making a joyful noise.

• Visit Danielson’s official website
• Visit the Sounds Familyre Website

My wife knows me very well. We were out to lunch yesterday (here) and she looked across the table and said: “I feel a blog post coming on, don’t I”? Let me set the stage. We were in the back room of the restaurant near a large table of older people. We were the only people in the back room and they were talking quite loudly, so without trying to, we found ourselves eavesdropping a bit.

It became quickly apparent that they were talking about church. We overheard phrases like “…such a great time of worship today…” but then the tone got a bit more serious and we heard phrases, “it was obvious why they did what they did” and “all you had to do was look at the numbers” and then, “the young people just weren’t connecting” and then “those young people just like the dark and the candles and the different music.”

Now, I don’t know where these people go to church but I do know that a local church that continues to hold a dear place in my heart has, in attempt to reach younger people, implement an “alternative” service, complete with dimmed lighting, candles and some sort of different music. I haven’t been to the service so I cannot comment on it except for what I’ve been told. Bit I’ve been told enough and I’ve overheard enough that I’m weary.

I’m weary of churches trying out borrowing from the emergenting crowd for “alternative” services simply as a means to reach “the younger people.” I’m weary of churches not simply preaching the Word with clarity and humble boldness. What many of these churches fail to understand is that “the younger people” can spot a gimmick a mile away and anything with “alternative” in the title is, more often than not, just a gimmick. What many of these churches miss is that the candles and the liturgy and the incense, most of these things were implemented by people seeking a return to simplicity and a sense of “other.”

Many churches see these things being implemented and simply think they can draw “the younger people” my mimicking their culture. But it’s the same thing as Christian culture as a whole. It is often driven by reaction to outside circumstances rather than by creativity from within.

And yet, as I come to be driven more and more by a missional approach to ministry and life, part of me applauds these churches for being willing to try something new to reach people they know they’re not currently reaching. This prompts the question of when something is missional, properly adopting and redeeming some of the cultural landscape, and when is it just a gimmick? How is i that people seeking authenticity have now simply become another target market for (hopefully) well-intentioned churches? What do you think? Where is the line between missionality and pure gimmick?

• Read the article “What Is A Missional Church” by Scott Thomas for Acts 29
• Read Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer

Browse and then browse some more. If I told you once, I told you two onces, welcome to the Weekly Town Crier, where I collect link, you click on some but not others. And then you remember that just because I linked something does not mean I endorse something and then we laugh together about how we’ve come to define holiness simply as separation from the world, because if it did, Jesus’ prayer that the Father not take the disciples out of the world (John 17:15-19) and then you begin to wonder how we could really be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16) and you ponder how we could really ever be missionaries without understanding the culture in which we live. And then you click again.

Apparently, it’s no longer OK to say “That’s so gay.”

See the anatomy of a Lego man.

Read about Ted Turner saying that Jane Fonda’s conversion to Christianity had nothing to do with their divorce.

Read about the cultural disconnect between the recent bands on same-sex unions and the Obama presidency.

Play Super Obama-World.

Read this piece declaring AC/DC as the best band to flat-out rock.

Read this piece finding that iPhones are twice as reliable as Blackerry phones.

Follow Joel Osteen on Twitter.

Read Barna’s examination of “How People of Faith Voted in 2008.”

Read this piece examining the discrimination some “Christian fraternities” face.

Read Pitchfork’s review of the definitive reissues form one of my favorite bands, New Order.

Read Justin Taylor’s short piece pointing out what Brit Hume wants to do in his retirement.

Browse this study of the “happiest” professions.

Never fear. Apparently, the FEMA manual covers alien invasion.

Read this piece saying that Burt Reynolds and Chevy Chase will spoof the spoof movies.

Read about Rick Astley being voted “Best Artist Ever,” in Europe. Yes, you’ve been Rick Roll’d (except, apparently, the article is real).

Read about Batman director being sued by the city Batman.

Read about the growing trend of college admissions’ advisors checking candidates’ Facebook pages.

Browse this list of 20 Typefaces to jumpstart a designer’s career.

Join Covenant Life Church in memorizing ten hymns with their new release: How Sweet The Sound: Remembering The Great Hymns of Faith.

Read Christianity Today’s review of the new one from Cool Hand Luke.

Read about the man suing Classmates.com because his classmates, it turns out, weren’t really looking for him after all.

Read about same-sex unions beginning in Connecticut.

Read as Paste magazine catches up with Denison Witmer.

Read Pitchfork’s interview with Calexico.

Browse this collection of the best album-closing tracks.

Read this piece suggesting that we draft Steve Jobs to run G.M. for a year. I wonder why they didn’t suggest Bill Gates.

Read about the ESV study Bible, which, after “just four weeks on store shelves, the ESV Study Bible has sold more than 140,000 copies, immediately becoming the best-selling study Bible in the marketplace today” and is now coming to digital formats.

Read as Justin Taylor considers the claim that abortion rates dropped under Clinton because of Clinton and rose under Bush because of Bush.

Learn how to become better organized.

Read as the creator of TwitterRank explains his case.

Visit Sojourn’s visual arts page.

See the new movie trailer for The Watchmen.

Read Pitchfork’s review of Trying Hartz, the new Danielson compilation.

Suggest the year’s best releases to eMusic.

Read Pitchfork’s review of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Fordlândia.

Read as boston.com discusses Obama’s “cool” factor. Is that realy what we want to run our country?

Read as Uncut picks Fleet Foxes as their band of the year.

Browse the Gospel and Culture Project.

Read about the Priest who is saying no communion for Obama supporters.

Read about the WI group suing over the Day of Prayer.

I was presently surprised the other day while watching Sesame Street with my boys to see Feist counting to four. Count along for yourself:

Next is one of my favorite artists performing one of my favorite songs: Emmylou Harris (with Daniel Lanois) performing “Where Will I Be?” on The Letterman Show:

Here’s the amazing Rainer Ptacek from 1989 in a previously unreleased music video for “Don’t Know Why:”

Though the sound isn’t great on this one, I think it’s adequate to at least tell why, only two albums into his career, Doug Burr has quickly become one of my favorite artists. Here he is performing “Slow Southern Home:”

I’m not sure when this is from but it appears to be several years ago; Robert Earl Keen performing “Jesse With The Long Hair Hanging Down:”

I’ve said this before elsewhere, but it’s no exaggeration to say that if I could sing like anyone, it would be Robert Earl Keen’s former roommate, Lyle Lovett. Here he is performing “The Road to Ensenada:”

Oh, why not one more, right? Here is Shawn Colvin performing her song, no Jennifer Knapp didn’t write this one, “Diamond in the Rough:”

There’s a strange but vast disconnect happening right now. To my knowledge, Obama is the first and only President elect to mention homosexuality in his acceptance speech, while at the same time, some states (CA & AZ in particular), through initiatives, are moving to place governmental bans on same-sex unions.

While we could and perhaps one day should ponder about what this means for the possible disconnect between Obama and the American public at-large, instead, I want to consider this from a Christian perspective.

For me at least, the passage of these initiative raises many questions. For example, though largely funded and supported by Christians, I wonder if legislation is really an avenue Christians want to take when it comes to social issues. I say this, of course, as someone who desperately wants to see Roe V. Wade overturned, but I also say that as someone who sees the murder of millions of babies and the definition of marriage as being in different categories.

Jesus did not pursue change through legislation. In fact, he attributed some powers to the government but specifically said that His kingdom is not of this world. People wanted to follow Him because there was something distinctly different about Him, something at once attractive and repulsive. I wonder what, if anything might have been different if He had chosen to enforce rather than fulfill OT legislation? It seems to me that the most consistently Christian approach is smaller government and more personal responsibility.

I wonder, as this plays out, what it might look like. As some states move to outlaw these unions and others accept them, are we going to create “safe havens” for homosexuals in some states while the Christians pat themselves on the back in another? I wonder if our pursuit of legislative morality will actually harm our witness? In our pursuit of being right, have we lost our saltiness, so to speak?

Someone recently asked me what I would do if a homosexual couple came to the church and then both came to Christ. Would I tell them to get divorced? No, because they were never really married. God defines marriage, not government. I wonder if pursuing legislation in this way, if Christians are simply rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Does it really address anyone’s heart? Does it really reach out to the hurting. Is it OK to be right without being loving?

I’m just thinking out loud here more than anything else. I’m also looking for discussion. Please join in. Let’s wade through these muddy waters together.

• Read CNN’s piece Same-sex marriage bans paradoxical in historic election