How to Google God

Few topics incite discussion as much as effective discipleship. Most of the time, the debate centers around the content of effective discipleship; what is it a Christian should be able to do, or know, or be? Other times the discussion revolves around the method of discipleship, such as whether it should be a classroom experience or carry more of a mentoring dynamic.

In a recent address at The New York Times Schools for Tomorrow conference, former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers offered a new dynamic to the conversation.

Namely, how a changing world is changing learning.

His premise was that despite a rapidly changing world, education has changed very little:

“Students take four courses a term, each meeting for about three hours a week, usually with a teacher standing in front of the room. Students are evaluated on the basis of examination essays handwritten in blue books and relatively short research papers. Instructors are organized into departments, most of which bear the same names they did when the grandparents of today’s students were undergraduates. A vast majority of students still major in one or two disciplines centered on a particular department.”

But, wonders Summers, suppose the system was altered to reflect “the structure of society and what we now understand about how people learn?”

Daily Headline News

Meet the Marriage Killer

It's More Common Than Adultery and Potentially As Toxic, So Why Is It So Hard to Stop Nagging? (Bernstein, The Wall Street Journal)

Google to merge user data across more services

Google on Tuesday said it will begin tracking people as they use Google search and Gmail, watch YouTube videos and use other Google services — at their computers and on their mobile devices. (Acohido & Yu, USA Today)

What if solar storms knocked out the Internet?

The likelihood is remote, but there's a chance that a solar flare like the one that disrupted the Earth's electromagnetic field Tuesday could be responsible for the temporary demise of the Internet -- or at least your ability to access it. (Netburn, Los Angeles Times)

Washington is America's most literate city, again

For the second year in a row, Washington tops an annual list of American's most literate cities. (CNN)

The Choice For Integrity

Are you living your life to your fullest potential? Studies show that one out of every three adults say they are not, and only a slim majority would say they are "mostly" becoming all that they could be. Many feel held back by something in their past, choices made that now define who they are. But what if new choices could be made? What if going from "good" to "great" is, in the end, a choice?  If so, what would those choices be? Throughout January Senior Pastor Jim White explores the idea of pursuing our potential in "Great by Choice," a look at the five areas where choices matter most to who we are, and who we can become.