Personal Development on Social Media

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A Social Media Fast

Author

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Scripture

Isaiah 30:15

So in the last three years, in order to reorient myself and head back onto the narrow way, I’ve given up social media and/or the internet for Lent. At first it’s agonizing. I’m like a caffeine or nico...

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Author

Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie

Keywords

If you check your social media feed, the debate has been settled. Yes, you can be perfect. Other people are living beautiful, joyful, effortless lives. In fact, it's embarrassing that you haven...

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This Place is Enough

Author

Jenny Odell

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 1 John 4:11-12, Philippians 4:11-13, 1 Timothy 6:6-8

A simple refusal motivates my argument: refusal to believe that the present time and place, and the people who are here with us, are somehow not enough. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram act li...

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One Problem with Modern Life (Especially Social Media)

Author

Martin E. Marty

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8 , 1 Kings 18:17–39, Proverbs 15:1, 2 Timothy 2:24–25, Ephesians 4:15 , Psalm 85:10

One of the real problems in modern life is that people who are good at being civil lack strong convictions and people who have strong convictions lack civility.

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Adolescence and the Pings, Not Pong

Author

Craig Detweiler

Keywords

Adolescents have been offered a license to post without any accompanying ethical framework. Is it fair to blame teens for misusing tools that didn’t exist in our childhood? If I had been given a phone...

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The Great Re-Wiring of Gen Z

Author

Jonathan Haidt

Keywords

Gen Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting, addic...

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Dorothy Day: Read Books-Not the News

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 2:1-6 , Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Philippians 4:8, James 1:5, Psalm 119:105

A common question I’m hearing from folks these days is whether it is beneficial (or a moral imperative) to pay attention to the news. The Catholic nun and social activist Dorothy Day asked the same qu...

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Forever Elsewhere

Author

Sherry Turkle

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:25, Mark 4:19, Hebrews 2:1, Isaiah 55:2-3, Ecclesiastes 5:1

We say we turn to our phones when we’re “bored.” And we often find ourselves bored because we have become accustomed to a constant feed of connection, information, and entertainment. We are forever el...

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Desperate for Attention

Author

Ashley Hales

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 16:13, Exodus 33:14, Isaiah 49:15–16, Matthew 18:3–4, Luke 15:20–24, Psalm 139:1–3

We’re little children wandering the aisles of the internet because we’ve lost the presence of our loving parent. We are desperate for the attention of a good Father who sees us. We have no idea how to...

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Showing People Louis

Author

Mike Cosper

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 16:7, Matthew 6:1, John 12:43, Galatians 1:10, Philippians 2:3

In his excellent book, Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World , Mike Cosper shares a short vignette about the comedian Louis C.K.* Louis CK tells fans he meets in pu...

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A Desire for Fame Rises in Millenials

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

In a survey given in 1976, participants were asked to list their life goals. Fame ranked fifteenth out of sixteen. In a recent survey, 51 percent of millenials listed being famous as “one of their top...

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What the Internet Reveals about Us

Author

Olga Khazan

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 23:27, Isaiah 29:13, Luke 12:2, 1 Peter 3:4, James 5:16

People can say one thing and do something totally different. You see the darkness that is often hidden from polite society. The thing that you see is a widespread insecurity. I think people put on a f...

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Mental Health Today

Author

Alan Noble

Keywords

Scripture

1 Kings 19:1-18, Job 3:6-7, Lamentations 3:17-26, Matthew 26:36-46, 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, Psalm 42:5-11

We don’t know what we are doing, and I think this is especially true about the way our society deals with mental health. In just the past fifteen years, I have witnessed a massive shift in how evangel...

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Preventing Pastoral Burnout: How to Cope with Overwhelm

Author

Alan Briggs

Keywords

A Leadership Coach’s Perspective I make it a habit to study what’s happening in churches across the country. I get the honor of coaching some incredible pastors, so I need to stay fresh. Any time I’m...

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An Unexpected Friendship: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 4:8, James 5:16, Proverbs 19:11, Romans 12:17-21, Luke 6:27-28

Sometimes moments of forgiveness and friendship come from unexpected places. In 2018, the comedian Pete Davidson appeared on the “Weekend Update” segment of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Davidson made a ...

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Collective Narcissism in Churches

Author

Chuck DeGroat

Keywords

In His book When Narcissism Comes to Church, Chuck DeGroat shares about a unique phenomenon that occurs in organizations: Collective Narcissism: Churches are particularly susceptible to a phenomenon...

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An Invitation to an Unhurried Lent

Author

Alan Fadling

Keywords

Finding Grace in Lent The practice of Lent has become a place of grace for me over the last number of years. While some feel that Lent is a failure to recognize that our salvation is rooted in gr...

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Finding Our True Selves While Battling Depression

Author

Gillian Marchenko

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 139:11-12, 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, Job 3:11, Isaiah 42:3, Psalm 88:18

In her compelling memoir Still Life , author Gillian Marchenko recounts her struggles with depression. In this excerpt, Marchenko describes one of the many paradoxes that come with depression: how ...

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The Art of Followship

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:16, Philippians 2:5-7, John 13:34-35, Matthew 11:29, Mark 8:34-35, Luke 9:23

Editor’s Note: The following illustration came from one of my own (Stu’s) sermons, as I was trying to help the congregation make a paradigm shift from the church as a building, to the people of God: ...

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An Unexpected Friendship

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:2, Psalm 34:18, Proverbs 19:11, Colossians 3:13, Ephesians 4:32, Luke 6:37

Sometimes moments of forgiveness and friendship come from unexpected places. In 2018, the comedian Pete Davidson appeared on the “Weekend Update” segment of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Davidson made a ...

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The Virtue of Simplicism

Author

Jeff Myers

Keywords

Bumper stickers—and their counterparts on social media—make Simplicism seem virtuous: “Look at me! I’m a good and brave person for distilling this complex issue down to its essence and righteously tak...

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The Race to the Top of the Ladder

Author

Heather Thompson Day

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:2, Matthew 11:28-30, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Galatians 1:10, Psalm 34:18

In today’s culture, it’s a race to the top of the ladder. According to Pew Research, millennials are the most educated generation. No one does comparison quite like millennials. We have apps for every...

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Author

Dr. Caroline Leaf

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 4:5-7, Ecclesiastes 12:11-13, Isaiah 28:9-10, Matthew 7:24-27, James 1:22-25, Psalm 119:11

Gathering information without processing and applying it is counter to how the mind works and how the brain is structured and has a deleterious effect on our mental and physical well-being, creating a...

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Author

Jeremy Vlasin

Keywords

Authenticity

So you’re a Christian? If your Twitter feed was pulled up in Church so everyone could see all your tweets, would you get uncomfortable?

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Author

Nicholas G. Carr

Keywords

Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the better. The last thing thes...

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Author

Erin M. Straza

Keywords

Most people I know who establish new patterns of healthy living do so in community.

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Author

The Guardian

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 78:4-7, Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 , Judges 2:10-19 , Isaiah 5:20-21, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Psalm 12:13-21

The Pew Research Center study showed that millennials had far more negative views of their generation compared with Generation Xers, baby boomers or other age groups. More than half of millennials, 59...

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What do All These Personality Quizzes Point To?

Author

Anne Bogel

Keywords

The BuzzFeed-style quiz is taking over the internet, serving up answers to questions no one is asking. What Star Wars character are you? What restaurant trend describes your personality? Which Hogwart...

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The Great Scourge of Modern Communication

Author

Dan Allender

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 19:14, Matthew 12:36, Proverbs 15:28, Proverbs 12:18, Colossians 4:6

E-mail is the great scourge of modem communication. It facilitates the passing on of simple information, yet it forces complex matters to be presented In a fashion that makes what is difficult appear ...

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Author

Nicholas G. Carr

Keywords

What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Whether I’m online or not, my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: i...

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