Cathy Grossman and USAToday writes about christian accountability groups. You can read the whole article here.

It begins with:

Does the Capitol Hill house on C Street -- home to several congressmen although it eludes property taxes by being listed as a church -- give prayer "accountability" groups a bad name? Should elected officials seek God in secrecy while hiding sins from public scrutiny?

The fact that such a group exists in Washington, D.C., combined with recent news about participants, makes it national news.

She explains what these groups are all about:

But millions of men and women belong to small prayer and accountability groups where they read and discuss Scripture together and hold each other to truthful living in God's name. Remember Promise Keepers, the men's group that hit a popularity peak in the 90's? It stressed accountability groups heavily and even if PK no longer packs stadiums for rallies, many of those small groups continue to enriching lives.

The question that Cathy address deals with secrecy in such groups and the honesty required. I explained, "Accountability groups are only as good as the truthfulness of their participants."

Cathy linked to my blog on accountability groups and questions. That blog is here. The USAToday story is here.

Here is the blog to which the story refers:

I have been serving as the guest host of the USAToday Faith & Reason blog. Cathy Lynn Grossman has written with USA Today for a decade and asked if I would fill in for her on the blog while she is in Europe on assignment.

I chose an easy topic to handle: the issue of exclusivity in terms of obtaining eternal life. You know me; I do not like controversy. No sir. Keeping it nice and light.

I started by discussing some recent research. Here is the wrap-up to my second comment that will give you a flavor of where the discussion is going:

To further the discussion, let's talk about the core issues of exclusivity of beliefs and how that affects culture, religion, and human interaction.
How do you view those who hold such exclusive beliefs? Why do you think that people increasingly seem to hold universalistic and pluralistic beliefs?
Let's make it personal, as well: Many faiths believe there is only one way to God, heaven, righteousness, etc. If you are a person of faith, does your faith teach that? If so, why does it matter?

Be nice. Engage the culture. Listen.

USA TODAY's Tuesday story on young adult dropouts drew interest in the print version (inside the Life section) and online in the News section.

You can see the story here.

At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, a full day after the story posted, it was #2 on most emailed and #7 on most commented on the news tracking at USA TODAY.com. On the home page tracking for the whole paper, it was #5 on most emailed and #9 on most commented.

We all know there is something to be concerned about here... but hopefully we will do more than just bemoan the current reality. I am always amazed by the propensity of Christians to revel in bad news and then do nothing to change the situation. Change is desperately needed.

I was impressed today that we needed to pray for our young adults-- but also our churches so that they can be the kind of churches that Mark Kelly describes here.

Speaking of needed change... tomorrow's guest commentary on the subject will be, "Why Young Adults Drop Out of Church and What Can Be Done to Stem the Tide," by Scott Stevens.

Starting tomorrow, we will shift the discussion here to research. We will have 4 guest bloggers who will comment and interact.

Let me encourage you to watch USA Today for the story and see the Lifeway Research site for the details, graphs, and other info.

Here is the description: Church Dropouts, August 7, 2007

This study is an in-depth look at the percentage of young adults who stay in church vs. drop out between the ages of 18 and 22. Insights will include reasons some leave the church and others stay, as well as what can be done to encourage more to stay in church.

After a week or so of discussion on dropouts, I will begin a series of posts looking at how people are groups use the word "missional" and why it matters.