Michael Spencer, who became a friend personally as well as a friend of Common Grounds Online, has died.

Michael's prodigious output as a blogger, both at Internet Monk and at the Boars Head Tavern that he started, relentlessly directed readers to the person of Jesus. His wide-ranging reading interests incurred the ire of some, but many readers like me found provocation of the best kind, inspiration and encouragement. Michael was captivated by radical grace, and now that Grace has captured him. Though he died, yet does he live.

Many of my friends are pastors and I regularly hear them lament the difficulty of finding "a right fit" for a position on their church's staff team.

A friend of mine, a former large church pastor, has been doing this the past three years and he excels at executive search. William Vanderbloemen just left the search firm where he was previously to launch Vanderbloemen Search Group

Thinking William's particular expertise might be useful to some of my clients, a couple of years ago I introduced some pastors to William. William has been exceptional at this task of confidential pastor search and my clients have been quite pleased with what he brings to the table.Read more

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus passed away this morning around 10 a.m.  Editor of the journal, First Things, Neuhaus has been a voice for the unborn, an advocate for the Christian intellectual tradition, and a brilliant ambassor of Christ an of His Church.Read more

Although I have been a CGO contributor for years now I do not know if I am free to do the following.  I hope so.  If not, Glenn, just hit delete.  Read more

Some PCA folks have created a new blog called PCA Conversations.

I love the irenic spirit articulated in their "About" link. These are thoughtful folks, hoping for charitable discourse about important topics in the PCA and broader church.

Excerpt from their "About" verbiage:Read more

In February, 2008 five PCA pastors gave talks at a conference called "Denominational Renewal". Hundreds of PCA pastors and seminarians attended.

We will host a forum on these talks at CGO. We will spend one week on each talk, in sequence. The forum will run from Monday, September 15 through Friday, October 17.Read more

We will return Monday, July 14.

Have a great Fourth of July holiday, remembering and celebrating the our country's birth and the freedoms our forefathers achieved for us, by God's grace.

Three CGO contributors spoke at the last Synergy conference for women in mission. You can hear Carolyn Custis James talk about her new book The Gospel According to Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules, Leigh McLeroy’s encouraging message entitled The Plot Thickens: Following the Story’s Twists and Turns, and Reggie Kidd’s Our Sister Phoebe. Read more

Randall Patterson, for the New York Times, writes about Ivy League abstinence in, "Students of Virginity."

Patterson mentions secular abstinence, but some of his reporting (about Princeton's Anscombe Society) is about Catholic thought rendered in non-religious terms.

Some of you may know that I love the guys and girl in Caedmon's Call, and I love their music, too. Thus, I was thrilled to receive their email today about their song, Overdressed, being used by the TV show Grey's Anatomy on this Thursday, January 10, 2008.Read more