UPDATE: You did it! I made the final four of the contest I mentioned below. The final four voting is already underway until Monday night. This is the very last contest, and I need your vote! The two contests can result in a total of $100 in books for seekers and skeptics. Please go vote!!!
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Original Post from earlier tonight...
There is another blog contest (east division, vote Reformissionary). This one is much the same as the first and the round ends tonight! I'm 20 votes down and need many very quick votes to possibly receive ANOTHER $50 gift certificate!!! All this begging will be over soon, I promise. But for now, GOOOOOO!!! VOTE!!!
Please continue to VOTE for my blog. I NEED your vote, if you haven't voted yet. The Southern Seminary students seem to be rallying and trying to team up to beat this blog. You, my wonderful readers, cannot let that happen. You can, with two clicks, put this game away today. SO PLEASE GO VOTE!
My campaign promises...
1. I promise that your vote for me will cause Joe Thorn to grow hair again. A vote for me is a vote for a handsomer Thorn. A very large promise indeed, but it's now the main thrust of my campaign. (You can pretty much take this one as my "lie." Every real campaign lies and this one is no different. But it would be a beautiful thing, eh?)
2. As I said before, I promise to use the winnings, a $50 gift certificate, to buy Tim Keller books for skeptics and seekers in my neck of the woods. This promise is slightly more realistic than the hair thing, and maybe even more significant.
3. I promise, if you vote for me, to put up a victory video that will shock the world. Suggestions about what should be in the video can go in the comments of this post. I will take them under advisement. Email submissions are also acceptable, and will be sure to keep your great and funny ideas a secret.
As one last incentive to get out the vote, please enjoy the official Reformissionary campaign song...
After a decisive vote last week, I NEED YOUR VOTE AGAIN! I need more votes than before! Go to the Said at Southern blog, scroll down a bit and vote for Reformissionary.
Please, everyone vote! It will result in a $50 gift certificate to Westminster Seminary Bookstore where I promise to use the money to buy copies of Keller's The Reason for God to give away to seekers and skeptics. A vote for me will help someone who doesn't know Jesus to know Him for the first time. Vote now!
Ok, so I told you I don't care to be the winning blog over at the Said at Southern NCAA tournament-like thingy. Now I want to win. If my blog gets the most votes then I get a $50 gift certificate to Westminster Bookstore online. That means I NEED YOUR VOTES! I'm currently last in the Midwest division, and wasn't planning to even mention it again here. But free books takes this to another level. Please go vote for me so I can get some free books. C'mon! The Reformissionary needs you, it will only take a moment, and there's no registration or anything to vote. Go HERE now and vote for Reformissionary in the Midwest division.
I'm trying to make time to blog on the changes coming in my local church, and especially focus on some evangelism stuff I'm working to begin soon. Sorry it's taking so long, but it's been a nutty last few weeks. Maybe I'll blog on the nuttiness as well. Might be therapeutic for me.
"Alcohol, Acts 29 and the Missouri Baptist Convention" is a bunch of information put out by some Missouri Baptists that has finally proven, without question, that some people will never get it because they spend all their time trying to get worked up over extra-biblical issues. It's actually a very funny read for those of us who see how ridiculous it all is.
Quick God Story: My family is still sick, sick, sick. Unbelievable virus we are dealing with. We were all feeling better and now most of us are getting symptoms back. Our youngest now has 103+ temp again. Ugh. But all praise to God for this story. Saturday afternoon my debilitating fever and aches stopped and I had tons of energy Saturday night and plenty for the task this morning. I mean I went from the worst day so far on Saturday morning, and then full of energy and vigor Saturday evening. Then soon after gathered worship today my fever came back as did my aches and terrible cough (I didn't cough once during the sermon). There may be some medical explanation for why I had such a dramatic health hiccup, but I know WHO is getting the credit. I was truly singing this morning, "How Great is Our God."
Speaking of how sick I am, it would really help me turn this frown upside-down if someone would present me something this awesome with Joe Thorn's likeness on it. It would make my year! (HT)
PastorHacks is into Jott (and Pinger). I've been using Jott for a while now with great success and productivity. I think Joe Thorn told me about Jott (I had to say that because he will speak harshly to me this week if I don't mention it. I don't like it when Hobbits get mean, especially when I'm sick.).
Here's Eugene Peterson at the 2007 Writer's Symposium by the Sea (isn't that where George McFly first kissed that chick from Howard the Duck?). The story he tells about Bono is worth the whole thing. (HT)
Reformissionary Update: For some time I've wanted to add to my web presence by grabbing a "reformissionary" specific domain or two. Reformissionary.com has been taken for some time by someone who doesn't seem to be associated with the term. But I have now purchased reformissionary.org and reformissionary.net, both of which forward you to stevekmccoy.com. Enjoy.
A handful of things that you need to know, hear, see, or read...
- Tonight I will probably put up a single post that I will update throughout Molly's surgery and hospital stay. I will try to keep updates at the top of the page with time stamps on the page so you can read what has happened as they happened. The hospital says it has wifi throughout, so being online and live-blogging the next few days shouldn't be much of a problem.
- Please start immediately downloading Stereogum's tribute to Radiohead's OK Comupter. It's free and includes some great bands like Dave Bazan's Black Cloud, Cold War Kids, and Twilight Sad. It's not Radiohead, but it's still fun. By the way, they aren't going to leave these free mp3's up forever so grab them asap. Couldn't wait for Music Monday on this one.
Ourintended audience, as with most of 9Marks material, is pastors, church
leaders, and seminarians. At the same time, we hope that all Christians
become more interested in church matters, because we believe the local
church is the focal point of God’s plan for displaying his glory to the
nations. That includes all of us who profess faith in Christ.
Blog
contributors will consist of Mark Dever, Matt Schmucker, Jonathan
Leeman, and the 9Marks lead writers, as well as several like-minded
pastors and occasional guests. For the time being, we thought we’d try
opening the blog to public comments. Hopefully it can be used as a
place of honest inquiry and discussion regarding pastoring and leading
local church life.
Allelon - "a movement of missional leaders" -- They have a website which has a number of resources, but I'm really loving Alan Roxburgh's netcast (especially the audio podcast) the most. There are things said that I don't like or agree with, but in general this is a great podcast for seeing the emerging missional church for what it is and what it claims to be in different locations. The interview with Steve Taylor is really great.
Theology Unplugged (TUP) is a podcast by some Dallas Seminary profs. They say, "The uniqueness of
TUP is that we speak on theological issues of the day with clarity,
honesty, and openness. TUP allows the listener to make informed
judgments on the most important theological issues today." Their seven part series on the emerging church is a great example of that. I'm through the first three episodes and I'm pretty shocked at how well they do in trying to understand the emerging church. Well worth hearing. (HT: Internet Monk Radio)
One of my recurring frustrations with recent debates in the Reformed
world is a widespread failure of theological imagination. Too many seem
to operate on the assumption that we have everything already figured
out; we have all possible categories and positions ready to hand. All
we need do is deploy these categories on whatever happens our way.
It'll fit, Procrustes says.
Thus, it is seriously proposed that someone is either on the road to
Rome or the Road to Geneva - with no possibility of a third (or fourth,
or fifth) destination, with no possibility that there might be
something in between (though in between is where much of the Christian
world lives). And if I suggest that we Reformed might still have
something to learn from the Bible about justification, then I must be
Rabbinic or Roman Catholic - there simply is no other alternative.
Geez, yesterday was a nightmare with this blog. It was down all day and I did nothing that could have caused it. I was emailing both Typepad and GoDaddy (for domain issues) about it and they were both pointing the finger at the other one. Ugh. Finally at 1:30am this morning the GoDaddy people were able to do something to fix it, though I'm still not convinced it was their problem in the first place.
UPDATE: You did it! I made the final four of the contest I mentioned below. The final four voting is already underway until Monday night. This is the very last contest, and I need your vote! The two contests can result in a total of $100 in books for seekers and skeptics. Please go vote!!!
