Taylor’s response to Rob Bell’s book has received a quarter of a million hits since Saturday, according to a report on CNN’s religion blog. Obviously, this is an unusually enormous response to a blog post. I think it speaks both to the influence of Taylor’s own blog, but also to the wide following that Rob Bell has—which is all the more reason that a pastoral response like Justin’s was needed. No one should relish controversy for controversy’s sake. But that is not what is happening here. On that note, if you haven’t done so yet, you need to read Kevin DeYoung’s follow-up piece on the Rob Bell brouhaha. He argues…

International Christian Concern (ICC) is reporting that Said Musa has been released from his captivity in Kabul, Afghanistan. He had been imprisoned for converting to Christianity from Islam, a crime punishable by execution. Thankfully, aggressive international diplomacy behind the scenes paid-off, and I could not be more grateful to receive this news. Thank you, Lord, for answering our prayers. From the ICC report:

Bob Smietana of The Nashville Tennessean reports that things are looking up for Said Musa, a Christian imprisoned in Kabul, Afghanistan who is under threat of execution for his conversion to Christianity (read my earlier post). Smietana says that Said’s wife and children have already fled the country, that Said has been moved to a safer prison, and that the Afghan authorities are feeling the pressure from American officials to release Said himself. Smietana’s report appears in this morning’s edition, and here’s the latest on Said’s situation:

If you haven’t done so already, please pray for Said Musa who awaits execution in a prison in Kabul, Afghanistan. His crime? Converting to Christianity from Islam. Said Musa is married and the father of six young children. He has been a Christian for eight years. Compass Direct News reports: “In the two-page letter, a copy of which Compass received in late October, Musa addressed Obama as ‘brother’ and pleaded with the international community: ‘For [the] sake [of the] Lord Jesus Christ please pray for me and rescue me from this jail otherwise they will kill me because I know they [have] very very very cruel and hard hearts.’

I just read the sad news that Dr. Catherine Clark Kroeger passed away on Monday. Dr. Kroeger was a noted egalitarian scholar and author who founded the organization Christians for Biblical Equality. She is preceded in death by her husband Richard Clark Kroeger, and she is survived by her five children and ten grandchildren. Memorials have already appeared at several places online: The Boston Globe, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Mimi Haddad (for CBE). RIP.