The first day at LTTG-07 here at Vineyard Church, Boise Idaho was full of great fellowship, worship, workshops and discussions among evangelical and secular environmental leaders. Day Two is just getting underway.

For you folks new to LTTG, this is the second annual gathering of Christian leadership from across the United States (and beyond?) to honor the Creator and diligently seek ways to be better stewards of creation. The idea for the conference was hatched by VB’s pastor Tri Robinson. My post from last year’s conference is here, including audio links from a couple of the sessions.

Will be updating this post at the end of the day so check back. Here’s a copy of the schedule on-line if you want to follow along. I’ll be embedding audio links at my home blog as soon as the crack Vineyard team records and posts them online. And PLEASE – wherever you are reading this – PRAY for all of us here this week that God will be glorified in everything that goes on here.

LOTS MORE – READ ON…..

[UPDATE: Fixed the formatting now...]

Read more on Let’s Tend the Garden Conference 2007, Boise ID…

The PowerBlog’s own Don Bosch is attending the Let’s Tend the Garden evangelical environmental conference this week. He’s liveblogging at his own habitat, and will cross-post and update us here as opportunity permits.

Read more on DB at Let’s Tend the Garden…

I did a brief interview yesterday with Greg Allen of The Right Balance and have a couple more scheduled for next week. It’s kept me thinking about some of the issues surrounding the debate about Christianity, democracy, and Iraq.

Read more on OT Israel: Constitutional Monarchy?…

The US State Department issued its annual religious freedom report late last week (HT).

And earlier this month, Paul Marshall of the Hudson Institute discussed the forthcoming book, Religious Freedom in the World 2007. He had this to say about economic and religious freedom:

Read more on Reports on Religious and Economic Freedom…

In what is shaping up to appear like court imposed taxation, Microsoft lost its appeal in a major anti-trust case at Europe’s second highest court yesterday. The European Union’s Court of First Instance backed the European Commission’s 2004 decision to fine Microsoft and order the software giant to change its Windows operating system to make it more compatible with rival systems. The 2004 verdict imposed a record fine on Microsoft in the amount of $497 million.

Read more on The Euro-Punishment of Microsoft…

Related to last week’s commentary and blog post, check out this WSJ piece, “Gates Crafts Long-Term Iraq Plan, With Limited Role for U.S. Forces,” in which Defense Secretary Robert Gates says, “My view is that whatever works economically ought to be tried.”

Read more on On Democratic and Economic Pragmatism…

“Is American higher education doing its duty to prepare the next generation to keep America free?” Apparently not, according to researchers at the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy (UConnDPP), in a study commissioned by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s (ISI) National Civic Literacy Program.

Read more on Colleges and Universities Fail at Teaching American Civics…

In his recent and fascinating book Five Minds for the Future, Harvard professor Howard Gardner outlines the 5 basic types of intelligence people have:

1. The Disciplinary Mind: the mastery of major schools of thought, including science, mathematics, and history, and of at least one professional craft;

Read more on Minds that Matter…

In an attempt to oppose legislative action on tort reform, Nebraska Democratic State Senator Ernie Chambers “filed a lawsuit against God in Douglas County Court.”

“The Constitution requires that the courthouse doors be open, so you cannot prohibit the filing of suits,” Chambers says. “Anyone can sue anyone they choose, even God.”

Read more on This Guy Has No Standing…

In college I wrote a paper for a Latin American Politics class titled, Barnum & Bailey Circus bailouts. The paper took the position that another financial bailout of Mexico would be a huge mistake and would not be money well spent. The paper was probably a little flippant because I interwove within the framework of the paper some characters with top hats, traveling bands of political circuses, and other outlandish theatrical symbolism. I was trying to make light of what I thought was a circus-like proposal, as well as rely on smoke and mirrors to downplay my lack of reading for the course.

Read more on Circus Bailouts vs. Market Correction…