CHICAGO, IL (March 27, 2015) — Many Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos with one another that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.

Silicon Valley to Millennials: Drop Dead
The headline is a bit over the top, but this is a sobering article, though some might contend that the same arguments were being made during the industrial revolutions. Even though I’m almost always suspicious of statistics, the ones provided here seem at least generally true.

Why Activists Are Giving Thank-You Cards to Police
New York activists were frustrated by the disintegrating relationships between civilians and police—so they came up with a creative solution. The video of young people passing out thank-you cards to police officers is compelling.

The Most Disturbing Trend Happening in Your Church
A lot of folks could probably confess to being guilty of perpetuating this trend. The author suggests three possible responses—which leaves plenty of room to agree or disagree.

Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, Industries and Occupations
This is the text and accompanying documentation of testimony given Thursday to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs by Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Research Center. As we continue to discuss the controversial issues surrounding immigration, we have a responsibility to hear from the truly non-partisan voices. A lot—I mean a lot—of information here in the text as well as the accompanying documents.

The Real Costs of Self-Publishing Book
The article identifies various costs of self-publishing—it’s a lot more expensive than you might think, at least if the project is going to be good. The reason most self-published books wind up being little more than vanity projects is because people skip steps 1 and 2. Step 1 alludes to what is pretty much a law of nature: The worst writers are the ones who think they don’t need editing.