Blog Note: Please read the rules to each thread. These lists are most helpful when we all keep our lists "tight."
What are your big 5 systematic theology books?
Please, no debate on systematic or other theological methods. And limit it to systematic theology, not just any theology book you like. Obviously multi-volume systematics can be
listed as one book. Go!
What are your big 5 books on church/biblical leadership?
Resist the urge to put in books on general, secular or business leadership. I know those are very helpful, but we will have a separate list for those at some point. If they are books written by church leaders that could be used beyond church leadership, that's fine. And please don't list character books unless they are specific to leaders. This list might include books on elders, training future church leaders, leadership passages in Scripture, etc. I'll give you all a head start. Go!
Once again my favorite film podcast has introduced me to great music. This time it's David Ford. After hearing a few cuts from his album I decided to peruse many of his YouTube videos. I was hooked. The next day Joe Thorn called me, not knowing and asked if I knew anymore about the music from the film podcast since he really liked it. Listen, when Joe and I agree on music it's pretty much a guarantee that vast amounts of awesomeness are on the way. Check out David Ford's one-take studio video for "Go To Hell"...
Ford is not only a talented singer/song-writer, he's prolific at doing covers. Often they are quite fun. How about that song from Titanic...
The Avett Brothers new EP in The Gleam series (The Gleam II) comes out in late July. One song on that EP will be "Murder in the City," a really beautiful song. Listen to this studio recording, or watch a decent concert video...
Listen to some new The Twilight Sad (right side, "track list). New Okkervil River album coming in September. The new Sigur Ros song "Gobbledigook" is free for us all. Pitchfork has wisely interviewed Bon Iver. Listen to some new Shearwater. Their new album is out tomorrow.
How about one last video, this time a cover from Christian artist Phil Wickham. Wowwy. (HT: Living Forward)
List 5 books you would recommend on preaching? Think of a seminary student or newbie...what would help him? Think of a seasoned preacher...what would spice things up after years of the same process? Please no books of preaching or transcribed sermons. This should be a list of books on the art and science of preaching, on the preparation and delivery of sermons. In this post I'm thinking of preaching as the weekly public proclamation to a local church and visitors. I'm going to let you make your suggestions first before I give my list.
Nice to see the NYC Dwell Conference audio, including Keller, Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, and more, is now up (Thanks Dash).
Tim Keller's article, "The Gospel in All its Forms" from the newest issue of Leadership Journal, is now online.
Which 5 books would you recommend on the topic of personal evangelism? Please stick to evangelism, not apologetics or missional church. They can be books on theology and theory or practice. I'm going to choose less obvious ones (mostly) and leave those for you all.
The Heart of Evangelism by Jerram Barrs (can't not mention this one)
Words to Winners of Souls by Horatius Bonar
Promoting the Gospel by John Dickson
The Pastor-Evangelist by Roger Greenway
The Art of Manfishing by Thomas Boston
Please watch Weezer's new video, "Pork and Beans." Awesomely fun.
Really love the Band of Horses song "No One's Gonna Love You." Great to see a new video out...
Need some power instrumentals? Got it with some Pelican...
And since Elijah and I will be dressing in our Little League uniforms today for the Memorial Day parade, this is some old school baseball goodness. Enjoy John Fogerty's "Centerfield"...
We were talking to our kids about the Gospels at dinner tonight. You know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Really great conversation.
Danny, our 5 year old, asked, "Daddy, is 'Luke' the same as 'Luke' in Star Wars?" Awesome!
Hated not making it to Whiteboard, but whaddaya gonna do? I know what you are going to do. You are going to the Conference Channel to experience some video, Twitter, chat with folks, view some pics and more. Should also mention Tony Morgan is blogging through the conference. Hurry up! It's already going!
I'm highly anticipating Andy Crouch's new book, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. You can read the introduction and first two chapters online. I heard about this book months ago and I'm eager to get my hands on it.
Go ahead, pre-order it on Amazon right now. Due out in July.
Starting a series of posts called The Big 5. They will be seeking your input on the books you would recommend on various topics, or for various reasons. For the first post: What 5 books would you recommend for a church's book table?
Your 5 should be somewhat diverse. In other words, don't give me 5 books on theology only. Mix it up. And I know you want to list more than 5, but no cheating! Don't necessarily suggest your best 5. Get creative. Mention some others won't mention.
Here are my 5, foundational-ish ones...
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
Desiring God by John Piper
Putting Amazing Back Into Grace by Michael Horton
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
Your turn. No need to add links unless you want to.
Chicago has once again been praised for being awesome, this time by Fast Company magazine. When we thought things couldn't get any better, the Chicago Bulls gets the top NBA pick. There was only a 1.7% chance of that. And to top it off, and this is an unbelievable achievement, Chicago also has the best gas prices (highest is best, right?).
Michael Foster: What do WE Mean by Missional Communities.
Jonathan Dodson: Living in the Tension of Mission & Community.
David Fitch: 10 Ways to Engage Mission in the Suburbs. Some great thoughts.
If you are like me and can't be at Whiteboard, there are options.
Alvin Reid has a love-hate relationship with the American Evangelical Church.
It's an all video Music Monday. I think you will enjoy these.
First, Coldplay's new Sigur Ros-ish video to "Violet Hill"...
Justice's Cross album is often fun and full of cool vibe. The song "Stress" is full of stress (go figure). This video illustrates the intent of the song in stunning fashion. WARNING: Not for young, impressionable future ruffians or people who don't appreciate an occasional middle finger.
Portishead's "The Rip" is a great song, and this is thoroughly interesting video. Take Dramamine first.
...and "Machine Gun"...
American Music Club's "All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco"...
UPDATE: Congratulations to the Thorns on the birth of Madeline Ember Thorn, a 5.4 lb hottie born this afternoon. My wife is known for her huge babies, nearly doubling the size of Madeline with all of them. We always wanted to hold one of our own this small. Wonderful. Congrats Jen and Joe. More at Joe's blog, Twitter, and Flickr.
Originial post...
Jen Thorn is in labor! Joe Thorn is at her side. It's a beautiful thing. As she has contractions Joe is reading books about running marathons, sending me text messages, Twittering, and taking photos. I hope as Jen is doing the hard work of bringing a new life into the world you will pray for them with me.
Good to hang for a couple of hours with Darryl Dash of DashHouse last night. He is in a city just north of me for a conference and decided to look me up, so we found some time for coffee. Great guy.
Care to buy Scott Lamb's 6,000 book library?
Jonathan Dodson isn't starting new ministries.
Learn how worship teams practice at Sojourn Church in Louisville, KY. They use The Planning Center.
Scott Hodge describes The Orchard's critiquing culture.
Joe Thorn pointed me to this video: "From Russia With Hate." Wow. Awful.
JD Greear is describing the missions strategy of Summit Church: Part 1, Part 2.
Resurgence interviews Matt Chandler.
Important values for Christian artists as summarized by Justin Taylor. The whole PDF.
Jeremy Pryor continues his explanation of The Story-Formed Life discipleship class...
Molly and I saw The Avett Brothers on Saturday night. What an amazing show! High energy. We were bouncing and dancing and screaming and singing. I was fortunate to have a voice on Sunday morning. And though we were in Milwaukee for the concert we were still in bed by 12:30am, which is a typical time for me to get to sleep before preaching.
If you don't know The Avett Brothers, shame on you. Seriously. I've worked hard to introduce them to you on this blog. For all you who are slow to catch on, here...
By the way, the opening act was Jessica Lea Mayfield (MySpace). Outstanding. Blew us away. (That was her in an above Avett video.) Her only recording is her White Lies EP that seems impossible to find apart from going to the concert or ordering from her website. It's not on iTunes. I picked it up at the concert. Her stuff is alt/country, her recordings are very acoustic, her concert added a deep level of power and mystery. Holy cow. Also check out David Mayfield's stuff, Jessica's brother, who was her bassist and a fun stage presence.
This is the best video I could find of Jessica. It's cluttered at the beginning with crap, but get through it and you will be rewarded. By the way, this is the song from the second Avett video above. They covered her song.
WARNING: Some unbaptistlike content to come. Some of you won't like this.
Jessica sings a song called "Bible Days" which was outstanding in concert. Here is a stripped down version and a pretty good recording. I love when the world helps me know how they think. Listening is such a great tool.
