I was just in our little hometown, independent bookstore and they not only have Keller's The Reason for God, but they've sold copies and already ordered more at my request. When I mentioned the title they knew it immediately and were a buzz with interest. I know the local outspoken Unitarian guy picked up a copy today. Great to see local interest.
The Reason for God website is now up. There's a video of Keller there and some sermon links. I'm most excited about the four page "Reader's Guide" PDF. And how awesome is this, Keller on tour, including 2 Chicago locations...
NORTHWESTERN VERITAS
March 6 | 6:00PM - 7:30PM
Ryan Auditorium
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO VERITAS
March 7 | 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Kent Chemical Laboratory
1020 East 58th St.
Two quick prayer requests.
1. Pray for R. Albert Mohler, who is having surgery because of a pre-cancerous tumor in his colon.
2. Pray for Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, IL (where I considered planting a church at one time) that is suffering because of a campus shooting. Joe Thorn lives almost in Dekalb.
I have two orders pending (Amazon and Westminster) for Tim Keller's The Reason for God. I have a book and audio copy coming for me, and several copies to give away. Amazon's is on the way!
The WGA writer's strike is over. I've been following the strike online and through some podcasts, and was hoping the writer's would get a fair shake. It appears they are content, and now we can get back to watching some well-written new TV and movies.
Al Hsu has enjoyed Juno and reflects on the movie's suburban flair.
I recently rented The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, a documentary of one man's effort to beat the high score of Donkey Kong from a guy who you want to see lose it. It's a very entertaining movie that I highly recommend. Rent it and then tell me what you think. Here's the trailer...
I met Jonathan Dodson, an Acts 29 church planter, at the Chicago boot camp. Good guy. Check out two recent articles he has online on Community and Missional Discipleship.
Pitchers and catchers reporting today for the Cubs. Very good news. I've briefly visited HoHoKam Stadium, where the Cubs have spring training, in Phoenix a few winters ago when on a golf trip with my dad and uncles. My rabid-sports-nut-7-year-old, Elijah, reported as a pitcher last Sunday here in Woodstock. They have a handful of pitcher's and catcher's training sessions at our local rec center. He's shorter than most kids his age, but has an arm on him. AND he is accurate. I often have to encourage him to throw harder because he's afraid the kid across from him will not catch it and get hurt, or something. And since I'm helping to coach his team this year, I'm considering trading him to another team for a case of Schlitz!
Some of you know I have an autistic son. My wife enjoyed this video recently, so I thought it was worth sharing...
From page 10 of Tim Keller's Redeemer Church Planters Manual, on Keller's call to plant in NYC...
A great darkness descended on me, because I knew I had no good reason not to [plant in NYC], but I felt totally inadequate for the job. I know that everyone feels inadequate for any ministry, but this was different. I knew that I was as humanly well-equipped as anyone to try this ministry, but I also knew this was well beyond the human abilities of anyone at all. That meant only one thing: it would not be my talent, but my love for, and dependence on, God that would be the critical factor in the project. I felt that my spirituality would be laid bare for all (worst of all, for me) to see. But the opportunity was too ripe and I also knew it was a door that might not be open for even a few more weeks...
I prayed and was reading Gurnall's A Christian in Complete Armour one day and came upon a passage: "It requires more prowess and greatness of spirit to obey God faithfully than to command an army of men; more greatness to be a Christian than a captain." I realized that if was an illusion to imagine that I would have to start being brave if I took this job; I should have been living bravely all along. Even if I turned the NYC church down, I could not go back to being a coward. So I might as well go to New York! On July 1, [1988], I gave Westminster Seminary a year's notice. Immediately, my prayer life broke open like never before. I did not wonder why.
I haven't posted much on evangelism lately, but that should change soon. The main reason is that I'm doing a ton of work on some strategic planning for the next two years (and beyond) at our church. I've had some extra meetings and lots of sketchy ideas and plans that are starting to gel. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll have some things nailed down and can share more about my evangelism plans for the rest of 2008. Some of them are directly tied to our church's plans.
Here are a few books I'm currently reading, rereading, perusing, etc
Promoting the Gospel by John Dickson (info here): To be fair, I haven't gotten past the table of contents. But that's because I just got it in the mail today from Lisa at Narwee Baptist Church in Australia. Thanks Lisa!
unChristian by Kinnaman and Lyons: Used some stats in last Sunday's sermon. Good resource.
Love Walked Among Us by Paul Miller: A book I reread or reskim at least yearly on the compassion of Jesus. You can get it used for about $4 at Amazon. Well worth it.
Redeemer Church Planting Manual by The Godfather (Tim Keller): How can you NOT own this? It's simply outstanding. Been using it a lot for church strategy and planning, but also pulling much on evangelism, ethnographic interviews, etc. I'll be blogging on a few things from the book soon.
Also worthy to note is the short New Church Initiatives (NCI) paper on "The Work of an Evangelist." Check out NCI and their other resources.
I'm curious about the Mulit-Site Exposed Conferences. I'm not a video venue kind of guy, but I'm very open to thinking multi-site if we are growing and it makes sense for our area. Keller's approach is my favorite, with live preaching at all locations.
I've been having a hard time locating some good CD's at my local stores. But last week I was able to pick up a few new ones and I'm enjoying all of them so far. Let me point to two of them that have gotten the most play.
Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation's Dark (MySpace, Metacritic). Had to pick this up after liking their previous album, A Blessing and a Curse, and seeing such a great buzz about this album. This is provocative southern rock for folks who can appreciate the drawl and the open discussion of sin. Eye-opening explanations of the problems (and pleasures) of sin.
Pitchfork...
What at first blush might sound like unhealthy entrenchment turns out to be a brilliant study in duality, as Cooley and Hood-- seemingly in conversation with one another-- weigh the respective pulls of decadence and dependability.
Paste...
The band expands its familiar rock sound with forays into soul..., Southern boogie, and AM-gold country—all in service to tales of hard-drinking fathers, vengeful ghosts, weird Harolds and director John Ford.
(...)
Brighter Than Creation’s Dark belongs to Mike Cooley, who contributes seven of his best, most rousing songs about hard-luck characters—the kind you know and probably avoid—proving the Truckers are at their best singing about people at their worst.
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend (MySpace, Metacritic). Quirky, fun, happy pop.
Paste...
...this cosmopolitan quartet has streamlined ska, post-punk, chamber music and Afropop into a glorious ultramodern groove.
Pitchfork...
Bring any baggage you want to this record, and it still returns nothing but warm, airy, low-gimmick pop, peppy, clever, and yes, unpretentious-- four guys who listened to some Afro-pop records, picked up a few nice ideas, and then set about making one of the most refreshing and replayable indie records in recent years.
There will always be a new band that just comes in and knocks your socks off with a great album. Usually it takes a while before you find it but it almost always happens once a year. I just didn’t think it would be here so soon in 2008 with Vampire Weekend. This is a magnificent debut, filled with endless melodies, memorable hooks and plenty of toe-tapping moments.
I'm not a big fan of Animal Collective. But I'm always eager to hear them out and give them a chance. Their Take Away Shows are quite interesting, so I offer them here for you.
Update: Anyone concerned about Keller the evolutionist (see last paragraph of the article below), please check out Ed Stetzer's blog where he makes public Tim Keller's response to the article with a few minor corrections. Ahh, everyone can breathe again.
Tim Keller is in Newsweek and the article is online for your enjoyment: "The Smart Shepherd: A New York pastor who says he thinks too much wants to bring his Christian message to the world. (via Stet)
Stetzer adds some response at his blog...
Last time I was in Manhattan I attended the church and spent some time with Tim on Monday.
I was most impressed with how, well, non-"hip" the service was. (The giveaway was the note in the program reminding you to not applaud.)
The "band" was four men in suits who played wind instruments accompanied by an organ.
Yet, most of the crowd was young and engaged... a reminder that contemporary is not always contextual.
Man, this is funny. I need to go KJV because it's way funnier than all the Bibles translated by dudes who sit and pee. (via Trevin)
Great opportunity guys! Especially if you are in seminary or need some supplemental income. If you...
-love Jesus
-know your Bible
-consider yourself "missional"
-are Baptist & reformed in theology
-love the lost & enjoy thinking how culture intersects with Scripture
...then please email me and I'll pass on to you some info on a very cool opportunity.
UPDATE...Lots of folks expressing interest. Thanks so much. But the folks involved need to narrow down the field. Here's extra criteria...
- excellent academic ability and transcript + professor references to prove it
- seminary education a must, first year must be already completed
- swims in popular culture, loves it, knows it, yet resists and critiques aspects of it
On the Redeemer site are free sermons related to Tim Keller's book The Reason for God. Enjoy! And go look at the rest of my Tim Keller Resources. (via)
The Trouble with Christianity: Why it's so Hard to Believe it
Exclusivity: How an there be just one true religion?
Suffering: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?
Absolutism: Don't we all have to find truth for ourselves
Injustice: Hasn't Christianity been an instrument for oppression?
Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an angry Judge?
Doubt: What should I do with my doubts?
Literalism: Isn't the Bible historically unreliable and regressive?
I got an email today from a girl working at HotNewz.TV asking about contact info for Union folks. I passed the email on to others, and eventually they connected (through very little effort of my own) to make this video...
From my friend Scott Lamb...
Just got a call about my nephew, a freshman at Union University. Notsure if it was a tornado or severe wind, but he was in a dorm building that had its roof lifted off and some sheet rock walls fell on he and the other students. I haven't found any "official news" on the Jackson-area storms yet, but word on the ground is that there were funnels. As you probably know, Jackson is a magnet for such storms.
Please be in prayer for the students (Katie, David) parents who live away and are very concerned (Mohlers, Clays) and administration (Dockery, Thornbury, Kahler, Ellsworth, Van Neste, many other friends).
I have some good friends and acquaintances at Union including the Thornburys, Tim Ellsworth and family, Ray Van Neste and family, I just had an email exchange with musician Joe Garner last week, a handful of students, and more. My wife and I are stopping to pray for Union and the Jackson area. If you can find a minute, I ask you to as well.
Getting the most play on my iPod right now are Burial: Untrue, Joe Garner (more on Joe's music in a week or two), Blitzen Trapper: Wild Mountain Nation, Feist: The Reminder, and the Juno Soundtrack.
New artists on the radar: Utah Carol & Akron/Family (MySpace).
I don't remember mentioning Kevin Cawley's top 30 of 2007 list. There, I mentioned it.
Vampire Weekend is getting a lot of buzz. You have to at least give it a taste. Catchy...
New video from The Mountain Goats...
Our family woke up before 6am this morning for the celebration of Groundhog Day. It may not seem like a good reason to wake up early on a Saturday (and at 5:45 this morning it didn't feel like a good reason either), but we were all excited to enjoy the morning festivities together.
The movie Groundhog Day, which was filmed in my city (Woodstock, IL), sparked Woodstock's own week of Groundhog Days. Lots of stuff to do. It all peaked today at 7:07am when hundreds of people gathered to see Woodstock Willie, "the prognosticator of prognosticators," reveal the news about our fate.
Will it be a longer winter or an early spring? For the answer we turn to a large rat who bases his infallible answer on, of all things, whether or not he sees his shadow. Rather than telling you his answer I felt it was only right for you to experience the event for yourself. Thanks to the McCoy "shakycam" (as well as a few photos) you can hear it straight from the rat's (Bill Murray's term, not mine) lips. Here's how it went down. If you want to hear what the other rat said (the slightly more historic one), go here.
For all you lovers of the movie Groundhog Day (and the rest of you who should be), here's a video with Quinn Keefe from the Woodstock (IL) Chamber of Commerce. Quinn leads you on a tour of my city, Woodstock, IL, as it was experienced in Groundhog Day. We watch the DVD often in my house. It's a great family movie that also makes you think...BING!
Anyone care to add a favorite quote or moment from the movie?
Doug Wilson on how friendship evangelism is really about your money and material possessions...
Friendship evangelism rests upon generosity, sacrifice, kindness,openness, hospitality, goodness, and open-handedness. That is to be the texture of your life, and non-believers are welcome to come along with you. In short, is your evangelism giving or taking? Are you a benefactor or a salesman?
Alex Chediak is working through a pre-publication copy of Tim Keller's new book, The Reason for God. (Amazon)
Steve Ogne on mobilizing leaders (from GCA conference).
Whiteboard Sessions website is up.
Mike Cosper is Worship and Arts Pastor at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY. In 2006 Mike gave Acts 29 talks on "Missional Strategies for the Arts." Both messages are here.
Mark Batterson - Four Dimensions of Courage.
Timmy Brister interviews Mark Dever on Richard Sibbs.
I've been looking forward to Son of Rambow for over a year now. It's finally coming out in May. Here's the trailer...
Finished day 1 of the Acts 29 boot camp in Chicago. Great stuff from Darrin Patrick, Mark Driscoll, and Ed Stetzer. I particularly liked Driscoll's message on preaching. Much of it wasn't new to me as someone who has preached nearly every week for 4 years, but a few of the things he said were really helpful. If the audio gets released I will try to link it.
I noticed that Alex Chediak is now blogging the Global Church Advancement conference. You can keep up at AlexChediak.com or the new GCA blog. Of interest to me are Alex's notes on Daniel Montgomery's "Theology-Driven Churches" workshop and Tom Nebel's talk on "Evangelism Entropy." There are several other GCA posts from Alex you should check out.
iMonk was on Steve Brown Etc. I haven't heard it, but I will. Two guys I always enjoy listening to.
