The world gasped Sunday as the news hit the airwaves and spread across the Internet. Kobe Bryant was dead, killed in a tragic helicopter crash along with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others.

You didn’t have to be a sports fan to feel the impact. TV networks suspended regular programming that evening to share the news and offer tribute. A throng amassed outside the Staples Center, “the house that Kobe built,” to mourn his passing while performers and producers from the nation’s music industry gathered inside for the annual Grammy Awards. The packed house paused to remember Kobe while spotlights shone on his jerseys framed above the arena.

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Maybe you’ve seen a circle of vultures hovering above the carcass of a dead animal. Once they’ve identified their prey, they pluck at it till it’s picked clean. A couple of weeks ago I drove past a dead deer on the side of the road, with the ugly black birds perched on its flank. Two days later the remains weren’t recognizable. The vultures had completely destroyed it.

This started me thinking about the fact that too many churches harbor a small flock of vultures, those who find a fault or a weakness and pick at it till the damage they inflict is complete. Their number may not be large, but their harm can be huge in a relatively short amount of time. If left unchecked, they can pick a pastor clean till he just decides to give up and walk away.

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Last year I read at 77 books, and as you can see from the following reviews, they certainly do not all fit in the same category.  But I highly recommend each of these 10 titles (plus a bonus book at the end). All of them will contribute to your outlook on life, each in a different way.

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“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” As interesting as that question has been to some, my concern is more personal: If a pastor posts a blog entry and no one reads it, does it make any difference? Thankfully, due to 16,900 unique visitors to this blog this year, I haven’t yet posted something no one has read. But several of this year’s posts were more popular than all the rest, and I want to list them here. Maybe you missed one of these. Maybe you’d like to look at one of them again.

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