Random Thoughts 1/26/12

• According to a recent poll, one in five German young people don't know that Auschwitz was a Nazi death camp.
• Television is awash in bad ideas but this one just screams train wreck.  "The Office" is going to spin off a new show called "Schrute Farms" about Dwight Schrute and his bizarre family.  I've always been a fan of "The Office"'s quirky humor and Dwight is central to that… but I can't imagine how this show could revolve around a character that's not very sympathetic.  The early comparisons are to "Cheers" and its spinoff "Frazier" but Kelsey Grammar's character was lovable, not creepy.
• "I go to church but I don't let it affect me!"  46% of people in a recent Barna survey reported that attending church in their past has had no affect on their lives.  Wow!  Granted, the "attended in the past" group might include a broad swath of folks who never really gave Christianity a chance.  But in the same survey, 61% can't remember any insight gained from their last church experience, which may speak volumes about the lack of teaching in many churches.  It may also show that many people don't seize the opportunity to grow in by studying and learning.
• Last week I challenged our board members to list three people they could invite to church.  You give me the list within one week or I'll come asking for it (the due date is today!).  Then we both pray for each of the people and sit down and discuss each person: why they don't already go to church, how we can best minister to them, whether I can help directly or indirectly.  
• Here are 40 shortcuts and tips for you iPhone.
• We are NOT having a Super Bowl party at the church this year.  We have for several years in a row and probably will most years in the future, but not every year.  This is one of those years.
• I'd vote for almost anybody over Obama, but Newt Gingrich gives me the creeps.  I think he has done a better job than most of articulating conservatism, but that doesn't necessarily make him a true conservative.  In fact, he comes off to me as a purely political animal who will adapt to any niche that will have him.  I want to give him the benefit of the doubt (he reportedly is a newly repentant convert to Catholicism), but it's hard to trust someone who oozes manipulation.  I heard someone say today what I've been thinking for awhile:  he's a Republican Bill Clinton without the charm.  That might still make for an effective president… but, ewwww.