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.
I love this clip. If you ever need to work on your business card envy, here's how. (WARNING: A little colorful language. This clip is for Mommies and Daddies only.)
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!
This really is the mission of the church: to mobilize believers to engage every domain of society; to set in motion the radical transformation that the gospel brings to every person and sphere of life.
Saw Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! with the fam today. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Worth watching and discussing. Jonathan Dodson weighs in.
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.
Don Carson, commenting on Jesus praying in Gethsemane in Matthew 26:42-44...
In the first garden "Not your will but mine" changed Paradise to desert and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane. Now "Not my will but yours" brings anguish to the man who prays it but transforms the desert into the kingdom and brings man from Gethsemane to the gates of glory.
As a couple trying to relate to neighbors and unchurched friends, we have found that even our home is not the first place to begin a relationship. If we invite new people over, it is usually for a cookout in the back yard, not for a dinner inside our home. The initial place is often a local restaurant that is neutral ground. Our church is not neutral ground for the unchurched. Planning evangelistic activities on campus creates and unnecessary barrier for many we are trying to reach. Our strategy needs to include locations that are neutral, common, and natural to the unchurched. We need to ask, "Where would the unchurched feel comfortable?" Rather than our own comfort being primary, we need to apply the attitude of a servant and missionary and remove unnecessary barriers to sharing the message.
Ron Bennett, "Authentic Church-Based Evangelism in a Relational Age" in Telling the Truth, Ed. Don Carson.
I did not make it to Keller's talk last night because I was at the Doctor trying to figure out what is wrong with me. He thinks I may have a touch of pneumonia. Exciting. I'm not going tonight either, unfortunately. If anyone makes it to a Chicago event, I'd love to hear/read how things go.
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)
I've been taking camera phone photos of The Reason for God as I find it out and about. I'm encouraging you to find Keller in your context so when you recommend the book you know who has it on the shelf.
Only if you [believers] struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive....But even as believers should learn to look for reasons behind their faith, skeptics must learn to look for a type of faith hidden within their reasoning. All doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs....Every doubt...is based on a leap of faith. - p. xvii
The only way to doubt Christianity rightly and fairly is to discern the alternate belief under each of your doubts and then to ask yourself what reasons you have for believing it. How do you know your belief is true? It would be inconsistent to require more justification for Christian belief than you do for your own, but that is frequently what happens. In fairness you must doubt your doubts. My thesis is that if you come to recognize the beliefs on which your doubts about Christianity are based, and if you seek as much proof for those beliefs as you seek from Christians for theirs--you will discover that your doubts are not as solid as they first appeared. - p. xviii
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?
I have to say I'm really appreciating what I've read and reread from Jerram Barrs' The Heart of Evangelism. I think it's one of the most important books on evangelism in print. It's both comprehensive and insightful. Here's a great section on asking questions...
We need to learn to ask questions that will help us understand what is in a person's heart and mind. That is what Jesus did with this man (expert in the law in the Good Samaritan story), and we find Him taking this approach repeatedly in His discussions with people. Francis Schaeffer used to say that if he had only one hour with someone, he would spend fifty-five minutes asking questions and five minutes trying to say something that would speak to his or her situation, once he understood a little more about what was going in in his or her heart and mind. What is needed is genuine love and concern for the person we are meeting, a readiness to ask questions because we truly desire to know the person, and prayer for the discernment of the Holy Spirit about what to say.
Sorry for the lack of suburbia links. I have many to file through and some will be on the way soon. I'm halfway through The End of Suburbia, which is disturbia-ing. Ok, not really, but I wanted to try a new word. It's interesting, to say the least. Worth watching, no question.
Is Al Mohler the best choice for SBC President this year? Many think so. Some don't. My question is: Should we have the most recognized face and voice of cultural criticism among SBC'rs be the most recognized face and voice of the Convention as a whole? As much as I love and respect Mohler, I think the answer is clearly no. What do you think?
If I never won souls, I would sigh till I did. I would break my heart over them if I could not break their hearts. Though I can understand the possibility of an earnest sower never reaping, I cannot understand the possibility of an earnest sower being content not to reap. I cannot comprehend any one of you Christian people trying to win souls and not having results, and being satisfied without results.
Charles Spurgeon, quoted in Don Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p113)
p56 - "Evangelism is best done out of the context of a gospel community whose corporate life demonstrates the reality of the word that gave her life."
"People need to encounter the church as a network of relationships rather than a meeting you attend or a place you enter. Mission must involve not only contact between unbelievers and individual Christians, but between unbelievers and the Christian community."
p61 - "Most gospel ministry involves ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality."
p74 - "...we are failing to reach the working class with the gospel. Evangelicalism has become a largely middle-class, professional phenomenon. When we invite people to our dinners and our churches, we invite our friends, our relatives and our rich neighbors. We do not invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. What is at stake is the grace of God."
p76 - "Social action without proclamation is like a signpost to nowhere."
"...evangelism cannot be separated from social action because mission takes place through relationships and relationships are multi-faceted."
...there will be no Bibles available in those hotel
rooms when travelers need them, and that is a tragedy by any measure.
A "tragedy?" 9/11 was a tragedy. Pearl Harbor was a tragedy (the awful event we remember today AND the movie). Abortion is a tragedy. The Bears are a tragedy. Some hotels not carrying Bibles? Not so much. Sure it means culture is changing. Sure it means that some travelers who may have picked it up won't have it readily available. But where was that ever the main ministry to people staying in hotels anyway? It was a bonus that a few people are now eliminating. People are the front line of ministry, not books.
I've spent some time with the Literary Study Bible and am really enjoying it and highly recommend it.
I generally don't enjoy study Bibles. I think they can distract Christians from reading and discovering the meaning of Scripture for themselves by encouraging people to read Scripture in a choppy way: verse or two, check the study notes, verse, cross-references, study notes, another verse, etc. Study notes can be very helpful if used correctly, but I've never seen a Christian use them in a way that I've found very helpful.
The ESV-LSB removes those bold section headings and cross-references and instead gives a shaded box with brief guidance before each chapter or two, or section or pericope of Scripture. So you start with some guidance concerning the genre, literary structure, techniques, symbolism, whatever. Then you read the passage (single-column) without distraction. That means the emphasis isn't on finding your favorite verse or cheating to get
the meaning through headers or notes. The emphasis is to read it yourself and focus on getting the gist of larger sections of Scripture.
The ESV-LSB provides notes before each book of Scripture, which is in pretty much every study Bible. These are really well done. What I liked the most was the section in each book introduction describing how the book fits into the larger "story of the Bible." Brilliant. So you aren't just getting the understanding of larger sections of Scripture, or even whole books. You are also gaining understanding of how the books work together in the storyline of Scripture.
This Bible also has wider margins for your own notes and their own Bible reading plan at the end. It's easily my favorite study Bible and I hope many of you pick it up. And by the way, one of the editors of the ESV-LSB is Dr. Leland Ryken who has produced many great books including two favorites of mine: The Christian Imagination and The Liberated Imagination. Even more reason to love this study Bible.
It wouldn't work for me, but Sprint's new HTC Touch might be a nice phone for those who can't afford an iPhone.
As the father of an autistic son, I take notice when pediatricians urge autism screening for all children. We know our son would have been diagnosed sooner (he was diagnosed at just about 3 years old) because the symptoms were there. The article says they urge screening because "early therapy can lessen its severity." We can testify that therapy greatly helped our son, and we urge parents of autistic children to find similar therapy all the time.
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