This week we have been attending the All Church Ministries Convention and what a conference is has been. Betty got to teach two workshops about Financial Peace University and Tommy Barnett knocked it out of the park. Ever thought of yourself as a molting eagle? The workshop presenters have done a stellar job. Some of our people from church have been attending. I am looking forward to hearing about their experiences.
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I wanted to share something with you about the "molting eagle" comment. I was intrigued about this when I heard Tommy Barnett preach it at a Pastor's conference a few years ago (I listened to it on a CD). So, I decided to check the internet for any further information of the actual "molting process" of an eagle, rather than the metaphorical sense for which it is currently used in sermons of this type. I was surprised to find that there is virtually no information on the internet that supports the idea that an eagle goes through this sort of a process.
So, I decided to contact several eagle-related wildlife organizations to find more information (I think the Raptor Center was one of them). I received about 7 responses, and without exception, every single one of them told me that the "molting process" typically referred to by Christian ministries is a MYTH. Eagles in fact molt their feathers exactly the same as all other birds... a few at a time over the course of their entire life. They do not go through a period where other eagles help them out by feeding them, and they certainly don't ever lose their beak... if they did, they would not be able to eat. One of the responses was from an eagle trainer who takes his work very seriously, and he was very angry that this MYTH is being presented as fact...
http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/eaglerebirth.asp
http://www.birdchick.com/2007/12/rebirth-of-eagle-aka-false-load-of-crap.html
Nothing against Tommy Barnett, you understand. He certainly has done more for the gospel than I have. However, I find it interesting that the source of this metaphor is false, according to wildlife experts.