If you haven't already, go read Wes McAdams' article entitled "Christian Men Should Wear Suits and Ties to Worship." Below is my response. 

It was the Summer of 1996. I had only been baptized for a month. I had been on fire as a Christian, reading everything I could get my hands on and going to every youth activity that was scheduled. 

I was sitting about 15 minutes before services talking with one of my friends when one of our deacons came and asked if I'd like to serve on the Lord's Table. 

I was so excited. Me? On the Lord's Table? So soon? I was thrilled that they would ask. 

The people who were serving in the service met back in a back room before heading out to worship. I walked with confidence and excitement down the long hallway to the back. 

And then, before I even got through the door good, a gruff man said, "He can't serve. He's not wearing a tie." 

I was fifteen. A brand-new Christian. On fire for the Lord. And you could have knocked me over with a feather. The one Sunday I don't wear a tie. 

I could have been bitter. I could have taken it personally, whether it was meant to be personal or not. I could have left that church. 

But I didn't do any of those things. I'll tell you what I did do: I remembered it, even 18 years later. 

So bravo, Wes McAdams, for speaking up and addressing an issue that I have felt strongly about for a long time. 

Our judgmental attitude that we wear to worship to look down our nose at people who aren't dressed as nicely as some is a far more serious issue than what we are actually wearing to worship. 

I have always worn a tie to Sunday morning worship, and being a minister, I probably will never stop doing so. Why? Because I think it's professional and respectful. 

But how can we judge others based upon what they are wearing? How can we impose tradition as doctrine when there is no such thing? 

I am not saying that our dress shouldn't be respectful, because it should. We should take the worship of our God seriously and not just throw something on and come to church. 

But for us to pass judgement on others? I think the Bible has stuff to say about that. 

Ask yourselves this question: are you pushing people away or bringing people to God with your comments about dress? Have your comments ever left a sting that lasted 18 years like mine did?

Squarespace today introduced their new version of their content management system. I'm composing this new post in it, and while different, I must say that it is fantastic. I manage lots of sites on Squarespace and this will help me a lot.

From Squarespace themselves:

Squarespace 7 is the result of a year-long effort to refine the simplicity of our platform while retaining its power. The biggest change you’ll notice is in our interface; you can now make live edits in your website without switching back and forth between preview mode and your Website Manager, and we've annotated every editable element on your site to make everything easier than ever. We've also reorganized our menus to create a more intuitive experience overall.

We’ve made great efforts to solve some real pain points for anyone that’s building a website. Often, a great website relies on great imagery – with our new Getty Images integration, you now have access to tens of millions of premium creative and editorial images, all starting at $10 per image. For those of you who want personalized email, you can sign up for Gmail for Work and other Google Apps features right within Squarespace (starting at just $5/user per month). When you don’t necessarily need a full-fledged website for your idea, you can use our Cover Pages tool to create a beautiful landing page.

The new platform will be available to groups of existing Squarespace customers starting today in a controlled public beta format.

For more information, including how to gain access to Squarespace 7, please visit our launch site at www.squarespace.com/seven. For specific questions, see our Squarespace 7 FAQ www.squarespace.com/seven/faq.

To find SS7, just look for 'Squarespace 7' under your Settings tab and enable it. Squarespace promises that you can go back if you don't like it, but I doubt you won't. 

If you're looking for a great website building, I can't recommend Squarespace enough. It's less than $100 a year for a great website that will function on anything and look great on mobile devices. And as you can see, they keep making their platform better and better. 

Email me at chad.landman@gmail.com and ask any questions about it you want. I would love to help you find a web solution for your church, business, or organization. 

An NFL player knocks his wife unconscious in an elevator and drags her body out of said elevator and when this comes to light, he is given a 2-game suspension. Then when the video surfaced five months later of him actually hitting her and went viral, the NFL finally acted and suspended him indefinitely. 

The star Quarterback of the #1 football team in college football did not play a few weeks ago because he shouted an obscenity across campus at a female student while standing on top of a table. 

Why does it take something so public to come out for us to stand up and do something about such an injustice? 

Domestic violence is not a new thing, it's just been in the headlines recently with several high-profile athletes. So why is it being exposed for what it is just recently?

As Christians, we are called to expose darkness in any form (Ephesians 5.11-12) and not participate in that darkness. So how does one expose darkness? With light. 

The tour at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky will lead you down in the dark depths of the earth. At one point, the tour guide tells everyone to shut off their lights. It's pitch black dark - you can't see your hand in front of your face. Exposure to that darkness for a prolonged period (only 3-4 days) can cause you to lose your eyesight permanently. 

Then the tour guide takes out one match and lights it. It is amazing - it illuminates the entire cavern. Just that one speck of light can pierce the deepest darkness. 

Odds are that you know someone who has suffered from domestic violence. You may have yourself. Domestic violence is a darkness that has gone unexposed for far too long. So my question is: how long are we willing to leave it that way? How will we be a light to pierce the darkness of domestic violence? 

People suffering with domestic violence feel trapped. They may feel like they can't ever report it because they would get a loved one in trouble. They may feel like if they do that people will look at them differently. 

But just like any other sin, domestic violence lives in the shroud of darkness, and we must expose it to the light. We must not fear the wrath of a loved one, the consequences of a child losing their father or mother, or any other public repercussions. We must stand up against it and report it, whether we are the victim or an innocent bystander. We must do what's right. 

If you know someone in a domestic violence situation, don't keep it to yourself. Stand up. Report it. Be heard. Expose the darkness with light. 

This post was part of The Light Network's Campaign Against Domestic Violence for the month of October. To read more from the blog hop, head over to their website at thelightnetwork.tv/stopviolence. 

This, from Matt Walsh:

Our nation wants a shallow Gospel that doesn’t challenge us to make sacrifices and be righteous, and Joel Osteen has come to give us exactly that.

He distorts Scripture and offers up a hollow, empty message, but he is adored because he does it with a smile, he doesn’t offend, and he gives off the general vibe of a man who probably chuckles at Family Circus cartoons. In other words, he is exactly what our society believes a Christian should be: nice, non-threatening, non-Biblical, and superficial.

So I'm sure we have beat this dead horse enough, but every story I read about this, including both excellent articles by Matt Walsh and Albert Mohler, it just makes me more confused and angry. 

Confused that thousands in Joel Osteen's "church" could be duped to follow his message, and angered that thousands if not millions more Americans and those around the world buy into his doctrine. 

I'm not angry at Joel Osteen, nor his wife who made the ridiculous comments in their service a week or two ago. I'm angry at the millions who have bought into this shallow and shameful doctrine that does not include, in any form or fashion, Jesus Christ. 

I, like so many of you, have seen Osteen on television while flipping through the TV on Sunday morning. He has great little stories mixed with a message that God wants us to be happy. Unfortunately, it's a message completely devoid of Jesus Christ. 

Why? Because Jesus suffered. Because Jesus was persecuted. Because Jesus said hard things. 

You can't take Christ out of Christianity, or the Bible for that matter. It defeats the whole purpose. It's like taking penalties out of football completely - eventually people would come up with their own versions of football and we would have lots of different versions floating around...

Wait. That's precisely what the Osteen "church" is doing. They're taking Christ out of the Biblical equation and making worship all about ourselves. 

The entire Bible is about God's one and only Son. The entire purpose of the Gospel is to tell the story of Jesus and how He lived His live and died to save us from our sins. 

But Osteen won't tell you that. He won't talk about sin, obedience, or consequences. He won't because it's designed that way. They've come up with their own version of the Bible, and it's all about peace, harmony, and prosperity. It may have glimpses of truth, but it's mostly false doctrine. 

The base of the problem is that people see what they want to see. And when they don't see what they want they turn to something else - even if it isn't correct. We want to be reassured. We want to have hope. But we don't want to have to deal with difficulty. 

Joel Osteen needs to get rid of his writing team and open his Bible. And so do you and I. We need to open the Word every day to see what it says to us. If we learn from the source, then we don't have to worry about what anyone else says. 

I'll readily admit that I was very skeptical about the Ministering 2 Youth Conference in Orlando, Florida. I didn't know who had thought up the idea, who put it into motion, but I did know some of the players and a few members of the board. I was ready to give the conference the benefit of the doubt, and my congregation was gracious enough to sponsor me to go. 

I made the decision with my wife that I would not bring our family. Even though Disney was mere miles away, our boys were too small (a 3 year old and a 5 month old) to even remember it, and our second child was being difficult by not sleeping well at night. In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't, because I would have wanted to be with them more than be sitting in sessions and my mind would not have been on what I was trying to learn. 

So what was I trying to learn? What did I want this conference to help me with?

I wanted a few things:

• Ideas about how to make our ministry more God-centered
• Ideas about how to make our  ministry more vibrant (i.e. more involving, engaging)
• Lesson/cirriculum ideas
• Fun activity and game ideas
• Encouragement

So what did I find?

Looking at the schedule of talks and keynotes, you may not see a youth-centered cirriculum, but that could be deceptive. EVERYTHING was about kids. EVERYTHING was about focusing on young people. Keynotes by David Shannon and Kirk Brothers were focused on how we can impact young people and get them back in the Bible and back to God. Classes - most were open to discussion - focused on everything from handling crises in youth ministry to ethical and legal concerns. 

For the first year of a conference, I was impressed with the quality of speakers and teachers as well as the content. There were over 150 in attendance, which was also impressive for the first year. Childcare was provided (noted by myself even if I didn't use it), and two wonderful meals were provided on Friday and Saturday for lunch. 

Thursday morning, registration began at noon and the first session at 1:30. On Friday and Saturday, the sessions began a 8:30. Each session was an hour with a half-hour break in between, and a two hour break for lunch. The last session ended at 4PM to let people have the evening to themselves or with their families. 

Sessions I attended:

• Building Faith in Youth - David Shannon (Keynote)
• Maintaining Faith in Youth - David Shannon (Keynote)
• Apologetics - Kyle Butt
• Developing a Family Ministry - Tim Frizzel
• Equipping Parents as Spiritual Leaders - Tim Frizzel
• Developing A Vision In Youth Ministry - Craig Evans
• Dealing with Crisis In Youth Ministry - Jerry Elder
• Youth Minister Care for Elders - Jerry Elder
• Exposing Darkness & Evil - Kirk Brothers (Keynote)
• Developing Teens that Shine - Kirk Brothers (Keynote)

Overall, it was an outstanding conference, especially for the first year. The only negative factors were the location - although I think for bringing a family along it was great, and a good start for the conference. The hotel was marvelous and centrally located to all attractions and food. The conference fee was very modest for the quality of speakers and teachers that were there. 

I do not say this lightly or for dramatic flair either - but speaking just for myself, the ideas and concepts taught have and will change my ministry and how I minister to teens. 

I will definitely be going back to M2Y next year in Chattanooga, and I will be inviting as many people as I can to go with me. What a great start for a much-needed conference. 

Audio and notes will be posted to my blog here in the coming days of nearly every session at M2Y, and also at their website. Be sure to check back soon!