QUOTE: "We’re really fun-loving and we enjoy life. We’re not a cult. We just love Jesus ... and fireworks.” —Pattie Guidry, a church member who also volunteers as a fireworks salesperson at House of Prayer First United Pentecostal Church in Thibodaux, La. The church sells fireworks before the Fourth of July every year to raise money for missions projects and to pay off the debt on its buildings. Its pastor expects to raise between $15,000 and $20,000 after taxes and pay off the church’s mortgage by the end of the year. [houmatoday.com, 6/28/10]

Christian campus groups that are officially recognized by public universities must be open to accepting gay students as members or they risk losing recognition and funding, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

In a 5-4 split decision, the court ruled in favor of the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, which barred the Christian Legal Society from recognition and funding because it would not accept members who were engaged in homosexual relationships, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The ruling states that campus groups cannot bar any student that wishes to become a member or move into a leadership position, even if that person does not agree with the group’s beliefs.

A school "may reasonably draw a line in the sand permitting all organizations to express what they wish but no group to discriminate in membership," wrote Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the majority opinion that hailed from the liberal side of the bench.

As the economy continues to stretch budgets, more churches are turning to bivocational pastors—those who hold a second job in addition to ministering—to meet their needs.

According to Ray Gilder, national coordinator for the Southern Baptist Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network, bivocational pastors play a crucial role in the church by ministering to churches that can’t afford full-time pastors, and their numbers are growing.

Gilder, who was meeting with bivocational pastors at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting last week in Orlando, Fla., told USA Today that about half of Southern Baptist churches currently rely on bivocational ministers. Almost all of these are small churches, often in out-of-the-way places that don’t get the spotlight.

Dear Ministry Leader,

This is an invitation to be among the first to join the new Ministry21 Network. The name refers to ministry in the 21st century. It’s a relational network to bring you together with like-minded pastors and leaders from the Spirit-filled community to develop your own leadership skills, connect you with others, provide needed coaching, continuing education and wonderful resources.

Let me tell you more (If you would rather listen to a video, click here).

For years I’ve been a networker. I learned it from my mentors Jamie Buckingham and Jack Hayford. Frankly, it’s the way I’ve built my media company. Several times a year I meet with high, net-worth Christian businessmen in a small confidential setting for “iron sharpening iron.” I can’t tell you how valuable that’s been to me. So I understand the value of “networking.”