Joel Osteen is recently covered in this article from GOOD Magazine. What is interesting is that a tremendous amount of non-Christians are influenced by Joel. The author states: "Whether they realize it or not, they are being drawn by God. Who goes to a worship service on a Friday night, man?"

What do you think? Can Joel Osteen's Prosperity Gospel actually bring people to the Kingdom? Or is it diverting them?

Hard as Nails is a somewhat bizarre Catholic ministry that tries to help teens understand the severity of sin by letting them share in Jesus' Passion. They were recently featured in Newsweek, Nightline, and on HBO.

"If you sin, you better have the courage to bash Jesus' face in!"

Courtesy of Amy Welborn

Here's a lovely piece courtesy of Monday Morning Insight (thanks Todd), which dives deeper into REVEAL, the ground breaking study from Willow Creek about what programs are a waste of money, and what actually helps your church grow closer to Jesus...Read More

The VeriChip has been FDA approved for implanting into humans! This brief article talks about the possibility of everyone in the US being required to carry a chip.

Some people have compared the VeriChip to "the mark" described in Revelation. If these chips became required to buy stuff, would you get one?

For added conspiracy theory-ness, read the comments below the article:

"In May of 2008, there is a national move to start issuing a national ID card that contains the RFID chip. This is going on through our government largely without general awareness. My profile pic is a picture of the Amero, printed at the US mint this year. This is a currency that may be used between borders of Mexico and Canada."

Speaking of YouTube Spoofs, the DVD Nooma series, from Rob Bell, has reached a level of ubiquity where it is being spoofed on YouTube. Here and here are a few examples. Do you think you can do better? Make a Nooma spoof and post it on our CATALYST facebook group.

Speaking of Rob Bell, Time recently ran an interesting article (here) about our friend Rob, in which he is briefly compared to Billy Graham.

Check-out the preview for Rob's latest Nooma: Name