Some more links

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• If you want an example of how the church should respond to #Metoo or #Churchtoo, the select SBC leaders in this write-up will do. Russell Moore’s full response is here and you must read it.

• Looking for the best theology books of 2018? Jonathan Ogden’s best albums of 2018? NPR’s best albums of 2018? (They have an… unexpected taste). The Times’s best books, fiction and non-fiction, of 2018? How about Obama’s favorite books, movies, and music of 2018?

• The Democrats lost the Senate in 2018, despite a ‘blue wave,’ due to a brutally unfair election map. Now, the tables are turning in 2020.

• Things my marriage and family counseling class didn’t prepare me for: DNA testing customer service. Things a DNA testing customer service class doesn’t prepare you for: marriage and family counseling.

• T.K. Coleman: Be a coach, not a cult leader:

When you get your kicks from being seen as the great and glorious guru, you become the kind of leader who instructs people in a way that makes them more dependent on your guidance. After people meet with you, they mostly feel in awe of how phenomenal you are. They see you as a rock star.

When you get your kicks from helping people wake up to the possibility of their own brilliance, you become the kind of leader who inspires people in a way that makes them less reliant on you, more trusting of their inner judgment, and always open to learning from new people. After people meet with you, they mostly feel appreciation for the increased sense of clarity and confidence they have. They see you as an ally.

This is the fundamental difference between a coach and a cult leader.

• The Lifesized Embroidered Figures of Liisa Hietanen:

• YES, THIS: Trevin Wax: You Don’t Have to Have a Well-Formed Opinion on Everything:

In order to de-escalate tensions in our society and lower the temperature of our civil discourse, we can demonstrate the humility that says: “I haven’t really studied that issue,” or “I’m not an expert on the most important facts and considerations in that debate,” or “I don’t think I’ve weighed the different sides and looked into all the relevant points yet, and so I don’t have a strong opinion.”

• “Progressives are emulating Trump and reality is leaking from American life.”

• 9 Artists on How to Make a Living From Your Art

• Data Maps the Impact of Where a Child Grows Up. Lifetime success rates of children raised in certain areas, geo-located and you can sort by race, gender, legal status, income, and so on. Social Mobility is declining; this data is unusually open source; solutions are localized.

• This week only: see the Oscar nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening on PBS online. Only 76 minutes.