Ministry and Blogging
Internet for Christians newsletter reports, "Blogs have become an established online medium for expressing personal ideas and opinions, combining features of the old-school "personal information website" and an online forum. We've all seen blogs used to talk about current events, rant about politics and religion, and generally interact with the online public - but can you use a blog to do actual ministry? That's the question Michelle Johnston is asking at Dialog: Breaking the Bubble, a relatively new blog devoted to the topic of weblog ministry.

Bible Resource Center: Kid's Resources
ChristianWebsite.Com recommends tools and games to help children read and learn about the Bible.

Services at the First Church of Cyberspace
The New York Times' Barnaby J. Feder reports, "People separated by vast distances routinely play in imaginary 3-D worlds and sometimes work in them. A new experiment aims to explore whether they can also regularly worship in them."

Toppling Tyrants with IT Power - Today Online
Francis Chin, the techonology editor for Today Online, has some thoughts on how information technology has been used to trigger revolutions and topple tyrants.

Vietnam Adopts New Policies for Net Users
AP reports, "Web surfers in Vietnam must abide by a number of new policies and restrictions, which come following a crackdown on cyber dissidents who used the Internet to speak out against the communist government, state-controlled media reported...Personal identification information must now be presented before logging on and will be stored for 30 days on computer servers, and all Internet activity will be tracked, according to the An Ninh The Gioi (World's Security) newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Public Security."

Spiritual Journals - Christian Website
Site seeks to challenge other persons to develop journals related to their own lives.

Google's Blog Feature Made Easier
AP reports, "Internet search engine leader Google Inc. on Monday introduced a simpler way to publish the online personal journals known as "blogs," continuing a flurry of improvements that has coincided with stiffer competition from its former ally, Yahoo! Inc. The revisions to Google's Blogger.com are designed to make it easier for computer neophytes to create and update their own personal journals for free."

Christian Jobs - Christian Website.Com
Allows Christian employers to list their open employment opportunities. Christian jobseekers may also submit their resumes for listing in a database. Also has articles related to online job searching.

'Left Behind' finale is The End, literally - Washington Times
The Second Coming, with a cast of billions of angels, millions of soldiers fighting the battle of Armageddon and one son of God on a white stallion in the heavens arrives in the nation's bookstores today. "Glorious Appearing: The End of Days" is the final installment in a 12-part "Left Behind" series on the end of the world by evangelical Christian authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The "Left Behind" product line, which includes children's and audio versions, will reach 62 million units in print with this latest volume. The authors' success reveals an American culture fascinated with the end times, religious prophecy, Bible codes, heaven and the age-old battle between good and evil.

Eastern Temple Mount Wall In Danger of Collapse
The Jerusalem Post reports, "The eastern wall of Jerusalem's Temple Mount is in danger of immediate collapse because of damaged caused by a freak winter earthquake that rattled the region."

Interview With God Gets 20 Million Visits - IFC
"Interview with God", created by a Methodist Sunday School teacher, has attracted millions of visitors. Reata Strickland's imaginary conversation with God is an animated combination of landscape photography and inspiring texts. Each interview has a single theme such as love, self-esteem or relationships, and includes hope for future generations... Two and a half years later, the number of visitors had reached 20 million, presently increasing at 15,000 each day. Volunteers have translated the texts into 13 languages.

Church Websites for Outreach - Christian Hosting
A very clear paper explains how churches can be seeker-sensitive, both online and beyond. If you are planning a church website, or wish to reposition your site for outreach, print this PDF for group discussion.

Church of England Creates Virtual Parish - AP
The Church of England on Friday announced the creation of its first 'virtual parish' and invited applicants for the position of 'Web pastor.' The purpose of the Internet church, or 'i-church,' according to the Web site, 'is to provide a Christian community for those who wish to explore Christian discipleship but who are not able, or do not wish, to join a local congregation.'"

Arafat resolved to reach Temple Mount - alive or dead
Jerusalem Newsire reports, "Blood-soaked PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat is reportedly determined to get control over God's holy hill, the Temple Mount, even if it has to be after and through his death. But the self-styled champion of the quest to secure incontestable Islamic control over Israel's holiest site faces growing opposition to his hopes of being buried on the Temple Mount from among his fellow faithful."

Report: Chinese Police Detain Church Head - AP
Police beat a leader of an underground Christian church and his wife during a campaign to stifle dissent during the annual meeting of China's legislature, a human rights group alleged Saturday.

Israeli Police Storm Jerusalem Shrine
AP reports, "Israeli police stormed the compound of one of Jerusalem's holiest sites on Friday after hundreds of Palestinian worshippers threw stones at security forces, police said...The compound - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif - is one of the most sensitive spots in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The shrine, site of the biblical Jewish temples, holds the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques."

Companies Work on E-Mail Identity System - AP
"With a simple adjustment in your e-mail software, you can pretend to be anyone...To close that loophole, Microsoft and Yahoo! Inc. are each developing systems aimed at authenticating senders of e-mail. America Online Inc. is testing a third...Issues to be worked out for all three systems include how to properly send e-mail from cybercafes, hotels and public Wi-Fi hotspots and how to preserve privacy when using anonymous re-mailers, which are used by whistleblowers and others to intentionally mask the origin of messages..."Some of the things people are used to doing, they won't be able to do it in quite the same way."

China Indicts 2 Unofficial Church Leaders
AP/Yahoo News reports, "China has indicted two leaders of the unofficial Protestant church for allegedly obtaining state secrets amid a deepening crackdown on worship outside government controls, an overseas monitoring group said Wednesday."

Company mulls bringing 'Passion' to Israel - Jerusalem Newsire
Today, 2000 years later, nearly two billion people on earth classify themselves as Christians - followers of Jesus Christ.

Programmer Sets Up Mask for File-Sharers - AP
Wyatt Wasicek was so outraged by the recording industry's legal assault on users of free music-downloading sites that he decided to ride to the rescue. He created a program called AnonX that masks the Internet address of people who use file-sharing programs such as Kazaa.