In a recent article released by Forbes, Austin ranked #1 among the hardest drinking cities in the U.S. Here are some interesting stats from the article:

• The CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey last year found that 61.5 percent of residents said they had had at least one drink in the past 30 days
• Nearly 9 percent of people surveyed said they drank daily. For men, two drinks a day was considered daily alcohol consumption in the survey. For women, it was one.
• In the CDC survey, about 20 percent of adults in Austin admitted to binge drinking, or having at least five drinks in one sitting.

Here’s an award-winning short done by a friend, David Avila. It was winner of “Audience Favorite” at the 2008 Austin 48hr. Film Festival, and also received Best Graphics & Editing awards. They were given 48 hours to script, shoot, act, edit, write music, do sound effects and edit.

The film is about a former Cold War agent who’s stuck in the 70′s, reminisces about some ‘bad’ Cold War agent chicks. His memory is a little shaky, probably due to too much drug use.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5VCiuTr7O0]

Jacob Vanhorn shares his reflections from Richard Dawkins’ visit to Austin.

Read about it here.

I am very encouraged by the grassroots formation of an Austin Church Planters Network. Ben Overby recently compiled a directory and asked me to write an introductory blurb (below). If planters in all cities could come together across denominational lines to seek the good of the city and the glory of God, Christ-centered movements of social and spiritual renewal could spread quickly!

Church planters are often their own best resource. Just as anecdotal information is critical in our attempts to understand culture, so also shared Austin church planting stories can serve to strengthen and refine our church plants. This community of church planters has formed and is forming with a common understanding that we need each other, not only for our individual ministries but also to catalyze a citywide movement of churches planting churches. Though far from formalized, the Austin Area Church Planters Network is attempting to network, resource, and encourage church planters in the Austin area in order to facilitate a Christ-centered, context sensitive church planting movement for social and spiritual renewal of Austin and beyond.