Jeff Harlow, the senior pastor at Crossroads Community Church, broke his wrist when he lost control of the motorcycle at the start of Sunday's second service, driving off a 5-foot platform and into the vacant first row of seats. He underwent surgery on the wrist Monday. "Jeff has already laughed a lot, so he's OK. I think his pride was bruised," said his wife, Becky.

Becky Harlow said her husband had recently attended a motorcycle race in Buchanan, Michigan. "He had this idea that he would bring this bike out onstage and show people how the rider would become one with the bike," she told the Kokomo Tribune. "He was going to just sit on it and drive it out. He was just walking the dirt bike out onstage and somehow it got away from him. It was not intended."

No one else was hurt. Jeff Harlow had performed the demonstration at earlier services Saturday night and Sunday morning without incident. Ouch, and prayers.

And further you can even be inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame as was Joel Hemphill in 2007. In his 2007 book To God Be The Glory: Exalting the Bible View of God Hemphill clearly denies the Deity of Christ, a cardinal doctrine of the historic orthodox Christian faith. Just so there’s no mistake about his heresy and blasphemy concerning Jesus Christ in his response to criticism Hemphill says: The focus of my book isn't what Jesus is not, but rather who God the Father is. God is immortal - Jesus was not. Hebrews teaches, and I believe that Jesus did not come in the God family (there is only one God), or the angel family, but in the human family (Heb. 2:7, 9). He is perfect, sinless man, but man nevertheless! Apprising News

Abraham didn't exist? The Exodus didn't happen? The Bible's Buried Secrets, a new PBS documentary, is likely to cause a furor. "It challenges the Bible's stories if you want to read them literally, and that will disturb many people," says archaeologist William Dever, who specializes in Israel's history. "But it explains how and why these stories ever came to be told in the first place, and how and why they were written down." The Nova program will premiere Nov. 18. PBS presented a clip and a panel discussion at the summer tour of the Television Critics Association. Orlando Sentinel

I see a valuable role for the Lakewoods and Seconds and Fellowships of the world (those churches with 3,000-plus in worship each week). I like to think of them as "front door churches" - churches that provide an opportunity for people with or no experience of the Christian faith to enter for the first time and find something positive. There may not be much intimacy or depth of teaching, but it may at least be a good introduction to something deeper. My assumption is that if people walk through these very large "front door churches," they would be intrigued by the faith, take responsibility for it and either get more involved or join a smaller church down the road. Houston Chronicle

A $10 billion bond measure for a state-spanning, high-speed rail line could revolutionize transportation in California, but 78 percent of likely voters haven't heard of Proposition 1 on the November ballot, a new Field Poll reports. While Prop. 8, a measure to ban same-sex marriage, already is a hot topic across the state, November ballot measures that haven't been in the headlines remain virtually invisible to voters, according to the poll. San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury .

Californians interested in protecting Bay Area wildlife, open space and outdoor recreational opportunities soon might be able to wear their interests on their bumper. The state Coastal Conservancy and a range of partners will unveil a vanity license plate today featuring an image of the Golden Gate Bridge. The money raised will benefit wildlife habitat, parks, farmland, trails and other public recreation in the nine-county region. San Francisco Chronicle Why don’t we raise money with Golden Gate plates for the suicide barriers on the bridge? Humans over animal wildlife.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Monday to give neglected and abused children the right to participate in court hearings that will decide their future. Assembly Bill 3051, by Democratic Assemblyman Dave Jones of Sacramento, targeted a system in which judges routinely make life-changing placement decisions for children they haven't met. Sacramento Bee and San Jose Mercury .

Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren will interview each candidate separately, with a few minutes of overlap. Los Angeles Times . A little more definition of the format and the presentation with Rick Warren at Saddleback.

Coming just a week after the state Board of Education toughened math requirements for eighth- graders, California's new dropout statistics are even more sobering than they would be otherwise. Sacramento Bee .

With gasoline and oil costing once-unthinkable barrels of cash, the notion that things in our petroleum-addicted world soon will get worse - maybe much, much worse - is spreading fast. Los Angeles Times . BTW, are our finances as Christians inflation, depression and economically protected? Is that a promise from God? I’m watching many TV preachers saying that the economy has no bearing on Christians and their finances; that God has promised we will live above the fear and the recession. Hmm?

Worries that Tropical Storm Dolly could become a hurricane that might threaten the Gulf of Mexico sent crude oil prices past $131 a barrel Monday after big losses last week. Meanwhile, gasoline prices retreated nationally and in California, the Energy Department said. Analysts attributed the decline primarily to lower demand. Los Angeles Times .

State auto-repair watchdogs on Monday accused the owner of 22 Northern California Midas auto-repair shops, 13 of them in the Bay Area, of making unnecessary repairs, misleading customers and trying to lure them into more expensive services than their cars needed. The state Bureau of Automotive Repair, after a three-year undercover investigation, is seeking to suspend or revoke the operating licenses for a string of Midas franchises owned by All Glad Inc. of Modesto. San Francisco Chronicle . This one area where the church can really help - establish ‘car repair’ garages within the church, for ‘mechanically inept’ citizens to get a fair, honest deal. What a great ministry to the city!

I stumbled across an old Dept of Ed article called “ Manual to Combat Truancy .” This line in particular jumped out at me “I’ve never seen a gang member who wasn’t a truant first,” says California District Attorney Kim Menninger. Based on the crime stats in Natomas and ongoing problems as the economy sinks around the nation, we’re obviously not doing enough to keep kids in school. The article has a few ideas of programs that have worked but none seem to focus on the real problem at hand: Why should kids care about staying in school? Joe Sacramento Blog