A potpourri of links (consider it a special Super Bowl gift from me to you):

• What is the Emerging Church? Good question. So many folks are confused about it. A lot of folks have told me that they came away from meetings with leaders in the EC even more confused.

Scot McKnight to the rescue. McKnight is a noted theologian and academician - and he's old (like me), but seems to really get (or, more importantly, resonate) with this EC thing.

Many leaders in the Emerging Church highly recommend the speech ("What Is the Emerging Church?" - PDF) delivered by McKnight at Westminster Theological Seminary last fall. And a shorter version of that, with a few new points, was recently published in Christianity Today.

• Can We Dialogue with Islam? What 38 Muslim scholars said to the pope in a little-known open letter.

• Top 5 Consumer Trends for 2007: This may seem like a strange thing to post here at TC, but it's actually full of keen insights on where today's culture is and where it's heading. Some of it may scare you a bit, as our consumerist society expands and deepens to just about every aspect of US life. This should also be helpful to church leaders, as they seek effective ways to reach out to our culture.