TED is a conference on Technology, Entertainment and Design. I’ve had several friends recommend the TED website over the past few years. I’ve even watched bits of some of the talks that are posted there, but I never really dug into what was available until a few weeks ago.

Oops. I’ve been missing out.

I subscribed to the TED podcast to start working through some of the old talks. The variety of subject matter helps stir my thinking in different areas. But, what I like best is that most of the talks are around 15 minutes or less. It is easy to work through an entire talk while running a few errands or going to the coffee shop.

And it all reminds me why we preachers feel like we need 30-45 minutes (or more) to say something worthwhile. Each of these TED talks has had something valuable to say that has stirred further thinking in about a third of the time of most sermons. Okay…I’m off my pulpit, er, soapbox now.

While meandering through iTunes tonight, I disovered that Rob Bell and Mars Hill actually have an official podcast up and running. There is even a link at the bottom of their sermon download page. Who knew? Is this some kind of grand conspiracy that has been hidden from me for all this time?

Conrad Gempf emailed me to let me know that, with Zondervan’s permission, he is making Jesus Asked available for free in the form of a audio book/podcast. I’m subscribing.

I’ve said it before, but I appreciate Conrad’s writing, because he brings his scholarly study of Jesus to us in a package that is readable by all. I’ve also recommended this book many times to others in different trainings I’ve done for those who lead in small groups or other discussion settings because of the insights Conrad gives about Jesus’ conversational style.

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