The Big 5: Books on Church History

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I have been asked by a friend about my favorite books on church history, so I thought I would throw it out for everyone. Try to limit to the most expansive books on church history, at least for your first few. If you want to add a couple of faves from certain time periods (reformation, early church, baptist, puritan, etc), feel free to do that as well. But make sure they are books about the history of that time, not books from that time. And do your best to stay to 5.

So, what are your big 5 books on church history?

Together for Adoption 2012

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If you haven't been to Together for Adoption, it's a great experience. We loved it, even though we haven't adopted a child. It fed our soul, showed us the love of our adopting God, while also revealing to us the need great need to encourage Christians to consider adopting. Here's info on the conference in Atlanta in September...

The primary objective of our September 14-15 national conference is to take Christians deeper into God’s story of Adoption to give hope and practical tools to walk with deep joy through “the sufferings of this present time” (Romans 8:18-23) for God’s glory and the good of orphans around the world. God’s work of adoption within the world is a story that encompasses all of human history, from its pre-temporal beginnings when God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to the renewal of the heavens and the earth. From the Apostle Paul’s perspective, Adoption is the story that makes sense of the universe, that makes sense of our broken lives and gives the existence of all creation ultimate meaning.

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Join us September 14-15 in Atlanta for Together for Adoption National Conference 2012. Over 1,000 people will gather together at Cross Pointe Church to explore God’s Story of Adoption for a Broken World.

Register now. Follow on Twitter.

Underprogram Your Church

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Jared Wilson shares ten reasons to underprogram your church. Here are a few that resonated most with me, though they are all good reminders of what's most important. (By the way, Jared's new book, Gospel Deeps, is coming in September. Pre-order it.)

1. You can do a lot of things in a mediocre (or poor) way, or you can do a few things extremely well. 

2. Over-programming creates an illusion of fruitfulness that may just be busy-ness. A bustling crowd may not be spiritually changed or engaged in mission at all. And as our flesh cries out for works, many times filling our programs with eager, even servant-minded people is a way to appeal to self-righteousness.

7. Over-programming creates satisfaction in an illusion of success; meanwhile mission suffers. If a church looks like it's doing lots of things, we tend to think it's doing great things for God. When really it may just be providing lots of religious goods and services. 

8. Over-programming reduces margin in the lives of church members. It's a fast track to burnout for both volunteers and attendees, and it implicitly stifles sabbath.

Read Jared's post, "Ten Reasons To Underprogram Your Church."

Tim Keller | How The Gospel Changes Our Apologetics

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How do we do apologetics? Tim Keller weighs in...

Apologetics is an answer to the “why” question after you’ve already given people an answer to the “what” question. The what question, of course, is “What is the gospel?” But when you call people to believe in the gospel and they ask, “Why should I believe that?” —then you need apologetics.

I’ve heard plenty of Christians try to answer the why question by going back to the what. “You have to believe because Jesus is the Son of God.” But that’s answering the why with more what. Increasingly we live in a time in which you can’t avoid the why question. Just giving the what (for example, a vivid gospel presentation) worked in the days when the cultural institutions created an environment in which Christianity just felt true or at least honorable. But in a post-Christendom society, in the marketplace of ideas, you have to explain why this is true, or people will just dismiss it.

Go read Dr. Keller's entire post and visit my Tim Keller Resources page for much more from Tim Keller.

Music Monday 7.9.12

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MUSIC WEBSITES (you might wanna check out)

STREAMING FREE

 CHEAP

BURNING UP MY iPOD

J.D. McPherson: Signs & Signifiers ($4.99)

VIDEO

From the earlier mentioned Dead Rat Orchestra, you probably haven't seen something quite like this. So cool.

Tim Keller: Dealing With Evil

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Tim Keller on how liberals and conservatives deal with the reality of evil in his sermon on Spiritual Warfare...

The Gospel is the only approach that truly is not simplistic, that looks at the messed up families, looks at messed up hearts, looks at messed up neighborhoods and says, "There's biological problems, there's sociological problems, there's psychological problems, there's moral problems, there's spiritual problems, there's demonological problems...we're going to look at all of those things, we're going to deal with all of them. All of them!" ... Until you embrace the Christian understanding of evil, you are reductionistic, you are simplistic. You'll either make the liberal mistake of underestimating cosmic evil, or the conservative mistake, frankly sometimes of just saying we can't do a thing.

David Murray On Evangelistic Preaching

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David Murray begins some posts on evangelistic preaching. A blurb...

What do I mean, then, by evangelistic preaching? Let me put it positively:Evangelistic preaching expounds God’s Word (it is expository) with the primary aim of the salvation of lost souls (rather than the instruction of God’s people). Stuart Olyott says it is to “preach from the Bible with the immediate aim of the immediate conversion of every soul in front of us.”

So, what really distinguishes evangelistic preaching from all other kinds of preaching is its obvious and unmistakable aim – conversion. Its target is unconverted hearers. And its conscious and deliberate aim is to call, invite, and command needy souls to repent and believe the Gospel.

Why has this kind of preaching become increasingly rare in many Reformed Churches? I’ll give you my answer next week, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on it first.

Go read the whole post and comment.

July 2012 $5 Albums

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Headphones460Some great $5 albums...

$2.99 Albums | 6.28.12

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6a00d83451e0d569e200e54f9e17928834-800wiSome great albums for $2.99...

Fireside Chat: Tim Keller & Eric Metaxas

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If you missed it, you should check out this interesting discussion for the New Canaan Society between Eric Metaxas (twitter) and Tim Keller. The discussion is in large part about science, creation, evolution, hell, and Rob Bell.

Eric Metaxas and Tim Keller "Fireside Chat" from Brian McGee on Vimeo.

Introverted Church Moves On

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Adam McHugh, author of Introverts in the Church (my review), says this over at his Introverted Church blog...

I leave this blog today, not because my convictions have faded, but because I know that the message is out there now. Believe it or not, last month tallied the highest number of visitors in Introverted Church history, coming in at almost 25,000 people. Some people will think I am crazy to step off this platform now, but in my mind, last month gave me the permission that I needed to stop. People are talking about introverts and church, and I have accomplished what I set out to do.  It was never my intention to become The Voice for introverts. It was always my intention to help my fellow introverts find their voices.

Read the entire post "A Moment of Silence". I'm thankful for Adam's book, blog, and ministry. Looking forward to his new book, The Listening Life, coming out next year.