Holidays Rule is $3.99

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I've been reading about Holidays Rule for several weeks. It includes tracks by Fun., The Civil Wars, Punch Brothers, The Head & The Heart, The Shins, Andrew Bird & others. One of my favorites is by Rufus Wainwright & Sharon Van Etten, "Baby It's Cold Outside." It's mostly a cultural Christmas album, or a "holidays" album (exceptions like Punch Brothers with "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"). But it's fun and includes some really solid stuff. And it's only $3.99.Holidaysrule_20121012_105455

Sojourn Live | Come Ye Sinners

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Our friends at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY who have put out some of the great, new, creative worship music of the last several years now have released Come Ye Sinners, a live album. Along with that, you can get all other Sojourn albums for $5. So it's a good time to fill in what's missing in your Sojourn Music catalog as well as to pick up their new offering.Sojourn live

Tame Impala | "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards"

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One of the bands I'd love for people to discover this year is Tame Impala. Their sophomore album, Lonerism, is compelling psychedelic rock. If John Lennon was alive and young today, he would sound something like Tame Impala. Plus, the reviews are crazy-good. Check out "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards."

Sovereign Grace | Pastors' Conference 2012

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Audio is up for free download from the Sovereign Grace Pastors' Conference 2012. I've downloaded a handful. Go grab some. Here's the list of the speakers and talks. Go to the site to download them.

The general-session messages from our 2012 Pastors Conference are now online:

  • Dave Harvey, “Forgiveness: Debtor No More” (Mt 18:21-35)
  • Jeff Purswell, “A Call to Arms” (Eph 6:10-20)
  • Ligon Duncan, “God and Your Ministerial Discouragement” (Dt 34, 1Ki 19, 2Ti 4)
  • Ian McConnell, “Gospel Men on Gospel Mission” (Mt 16:13-21)

The breakout-session messages are also now available: 

  • Nancy Guthrie, "Pain that Can't be Prayed Away"
  • Nancy Guthrie, "Learning to Walk with Each Other Through Loss"
  • Jon Payne, "Union with Christ and Everyday Pastoring: Reinforcing an Important Doctrine" 
  • Paul Buckley, "Godly Speech - The Power of the Words We Speak, Write and Read"
  • Matthew Wassink, "What Polity Can, Can't and Shouldn't Do For Us"
  • John Loftness, "Evaluating Pastors: Common Mistakes, What We've Learned, and What Scripture Calls Us To" 
  • Craig Cabaniss, "Leading through Change: How to Address Sin, Mistakes and Growth in the Church"
  • Phil Sasser, "Effective Elderships: Fostering Clear Roles, Healthy Function, and Strong Leadership"
  • Dave Harvey, "What’s Our Role? Elders and the Global Mission"
  • Mickey Connolly, "Discerning Holiness: Legalism, License and the Principle/Practice Distinction"
  • Mark Prater, "Loving and Leading Those Who Criticize"
  • Bob Kauflin, "Parenting and the Grace of God: Has Our Understanding Changed?

Keeping Pastors From Isolation

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Another helpful list from Paul David Tripp's tremendous book, Dangerous Calling. We haven't had a day pass without at least one significant conversation between me and my wife, Molly, since we started reading this book. We talked about a few things from this list today (from pages 79-82 in the printed edition). This is for pastors and those who care for them, and it's about a better, more healthy way to keep Pastors from isolation.

  1. Require your Pastor to attend a small group he doesn't lead
  2. Pastor, seek out a spiritually mature person to mentor you at all times
  3. Establish a Pastor's wives' small group
  4. Pastor, be committed to appropriate self-disclosure in your preaching
  5. Be sure that your Pastor and his family are regularly invited into the homes of families in your church
  6. Make sure there is someone who is regularly mentoring your Pastor's wife
  7. Make sure your Pastor and his wife have the means to be regularly out of the house and away for weekends with one another
  8. Make sure counseling help is always available to the Pastor, his wife, and their family

A lot of helpful explanation of these points are in the book, so you should get it and read it. My wife read it in 1 1/2 days (she has her own copy) and God is using it mightily in our marriage. I can't recommend Dangerous Calling (Kindle) enough. 

Lots-o-Links 11.14.12

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How To Create A Disciple-Making Culture In Your Church | Justin Buzzard

Six months ago, when our church plant was eight months old, I realized I had made a big mistake in church planting. I kept talking about discipleship and I was coaching others in how to make disciples, but I hadn’t done enough face-to-face modeling of what I meant when I told our church to make disciples. Thus, our church didn’t yet have the discipleship culture I wanted it to have.

So, I confessed my mistake and then prayerfully selected twelve men to disciple for six months in order to inject a strong disciple-making culture into our church. I created a discipleship process and then spent the last six months investing in these twelve men. It wasn’t perfect, but it was my best. I gave these men my heart, my best training, my time, my love, my prayers, my energy, etc.

12 Social Media Tips for Church Leaders

I'd like to tweak a few of Steve Fogg's points, but a lot of good stuff to think about as we engage in social media. 

When Biography Shapes Theology | Greg Thornbury

This is at the very heart of faith, to marvel at that great cloud of witnesses who "were stoned, sawn in two, and killed with the sword...who went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated...of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth" (Heb. 11:37-38).

Grace Filled Parenting | 3 Videos with Jeff Vanderstelt

Sufjan Stevens | Silver & Gold

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Stream Sufjan Stevens new Christmas album, Silver & Gold, free. Buy it, FIVE albums (58 tracks), for $13.98. Grab the first 5 albums while you are at it (Songs for Christmas, $15.49) and you'll have his 100 song collection of Christmas music.

GIVEAWAY! | Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller

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WINNER: Kevin Chen. Congrats! His guess of what water I was drinking was Costco brand, Kirkland. That was wrong. But Todd Gragg & Nate Downey were correct with "Nestle Pure Life." Good work guys! Thanks for your participation all! Hope you pick up the book. My copy came in the mail today and I ordered two more today to give away.

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UPDATE: WTS has Every Good Endeavor listed for 70% off today!

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TODAY ONLY, I'm giving away one copy of Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller. It's brand new, out today! From Dr. Keller's website...

In a work world that is increasingly competitive and insecure, people often have nagging questions: Why am I doing this work? Why is it so hard? And is there anything I can do about it? 



Tim Keller, pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times bestselling author of The Reason for God, has taught and counseled students, young professionals, and senior leaders on the subject of work and calling for more than twenty years. Now he puts his insights into a book for readers everywhere, giving biblical perspectives on such pressing questions as:


• What is the purpose of work?

• How can I find meaning and serve customers in a cutthroat, bottom-line-oriented workplace?

• How can I use my skills in a vocation that has meaning and purpose?

• Can I stay true to my values and still advance in my field?

• How do I make the difficult choices that must be made in the course of a successful career?



With deep insight and often surprising advice, Keller shows readers that biblical wisdom is immensely relevant to our questions about our work. In fact, the Christian view of work—that we work to serve others, not ourselves—can provide the foundation of a thriving professional and balanced personal life. Keller shows how excellence, integrity, discipline, creativity, and passion in the workplace can help others and even be considered acts of worship—not just of self-interest.

Another great resource from Tim Keller. Glad I have a copy (thanks to the good folks at Dutton) to give away to one of my readers here at Reformissionary. Here's how to enter for your chance to win.

1. Tweet (or post to Facebook if you aren't on Twitter, or do both!) without the quote marks: " GIVEAWAY of Tim Keller's new book, Every Good Endeavor. RT & comment at Reformissionary to enter: http://bit.ly/egeTK "

2. Comment below (so I can confirm you did step 1) with your real name and real email (kept private) and For Fun guess what brand of bottled water I just consumed before bed last night.

*I'll use random.org to pick the ONE winner sometime after 5pm today. I'll announce the winner on the blog & send out an email. May the odds be ever in your favor! And whether you win or not, this will be a great book to give away in our churches as our congregation needs gospel words on our work. So get a couple copies (Amazon | Kindle). I will be.

Dangerous Calling | Signs of a Pastor Losing His Way

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In Paul David Tripp's new, and excellent, and devastating, and grace-giving book, Dangerous Calling, the author lists 9 signs of a pastor losing his way. They are based on one particular pastor he talked to (which is why they are listed as referring to one person), but they are listed in order to help all pastors. Tripp goes into great detail to explain each in chapter 2, and I urge you to not only get this book, but read it carefully and prayerfully as a pastor (or maybe to better understand your pastor). These were hard to read for me personally, and will make for painful yet fruitful conversation with my wife later today. I'll list the 9 signs concerning Tripp's assessment of one pastor, but please go read more about them in Dangerous Calling with the authors application to us all. Also check out the DVD's.

  1. He ignored the clear evidence of problems
  2. He was blind to the issue of his own heart
  3. His ministry lacked devotion
  4. He wasn't preaching the gospel to himself
  5. He wasn't listening to the people closest to him
  6. His ministry became burdensome
  7. He began to live in silence
  8. He began to question his calling
  9. He gave way to fantasies of another life

Pastors: Where Is Your Identity?

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Another quote from Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp. This one on pastors and our identity, where it might be and should be...

Blind to what was going on in my heart, I was proud, unapproachable, defensive, and all too comfortable. I was a pastor; I didn’t need what other people need. Now, I want to say again that at the conceptual, theological level, I would have argued that all of this was bunk. Being a pastor was my calling, not my identity. Child of the Most High God was my cross-purchased identity. Member of the body of Christ was my identity. Man in the middle of his own sanctification was my identity. Sinner and still in need of rescuing, transforming, empowering, and delivering grace was my identity. I didn’t realize that I looked horizontally for what I had already been given in Christ and that it was producing a harvest of bad fruit in my heart, in my ministry, and in my relationships. I had let my ministry become something that it should never be (my identity); I looked to it to give me what it never could (my inner sense of well-being).

Paul David Tripp in Dangerous Calling (p. 25)

Pastors: Find A Deeper Hope in the Gospel

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Here's a good reason for pastors to buy and read Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp. I'd also recommend church members read this. It will open your eyes to what your pastor is going through, much of it you don't know.

This is a diagnostic book. It is written to help you take an honest look at yourself in the heart- and life-exposing mirror of the Word of God—to see things that are wrong and need correcting and to help you place yourself once again under the healing and transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of the books that I have written, I found this one the hardest to write, not because of the writing process itself but because its pages expose the ugliness of my own heart and display how desperate my need for grace continues to be. It is not an exaggeration to say that I wept my way through writing some of the chapters. There were moments when I would go upstairs to share what I had written with Luella, the tears of conviction would come, and I would be unable to continue. But as I did my writing, it did not leave me feeling discouraged or hopeless but, rather, with a deeper hope in the gospel and a greater joy in ministry than I think I have ever known.

Paul David Tripp in Dangerous Calling  (p. 11) - still 80% with coupon code: PASTORS

Sarah's Sweet Sixteen

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Sixteen years ago today Bob Dole was trying to defeat Bill Clinton and become President of the United States. He failed. And I didn't vote. Why?

Sixteen years ago today my wife succeeded in giving birth to our firstborn, a sweet little girl. We named her Sarah Elizabeth McCoy. We were living in Lakewood, Colorado, a western suburb of Denver, right along the foothills. When Molly went into labor on the night of November 4th, we knew it would be a long night. She went through more than a half a day of labor before our little Sarah was born.

That little doll of a daughter is now sixteen, getting her driver's license, stressing over grades, making works of art, and bringing her parents great joy. We are very proud of her. She is a great gift from God.