Jason Isbell on Fresh Air

in

Jason Isbell (2)

The more listens I give to Jason Isbell's remarkable album, Southeastern, the more I love it.

I point you to a lot of music and most of the time I blog on albums when they are on sale. Finding a good album for $5 or cheaper is joy. Southeastern is full price. It's $9.99. And it's worth three times the price. If you wait and spend your money only when albums are on sale, you will miss something remarkable. 

I submit into evidence Jason Isbell's recent appearance on NPR's Fresh Air podcast. Isbell plays a few of his songs live and talks about his own struggles with addiction. It's a great interview. And every song on this album makes me think. I hope you'll check it out.

Lots-o-Links 7.19.13

in , , , , ,

Links

5 Evangelism Tips at We Are Soma

Earlier this year God woke me up from my sleep and asked me questions about evangelism. Questions like, “How many people did you share the gospel with this past year? How many people did you invite to gatherings? Why?” It was one of those gracious conversations that made me realize I was not evangelizing primarily because of my selfishness. I am too selfish to regularly tell people the best news in the world. I felt relieved that this could change and I am growing in evangelism. Here are 5 things God is teaching me about evangelism

Stop Hate-Watching The Church

But these Internet communities too often aren’t about healing. Not really. They funnel all of these triggers into one place, providing an opportunity for us to direct all of our rage, anger, and malice at what we have deemed to be rightful and deserving targets. These places of supposed healing become places of malice and mockery.

A Public Statement Concerning Sexual Abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ

In the hope that a time is coming when Christian leaders respond to all sexual abuse with outrage and courage, we offer this confession and declare the Good News of Jesus on behalf of the abused, ignored and forgotten.

16 Ways I Blew My Marriage | When my wife tells me I should read something like this, I listen. We don't agree with everything, but it's pretty good.

I don’t have marriage advice to give, but I have plenty of “keep your marriage from ending” advice (two equivocally different things), and that might be almost as good.

Thornbury's Mission to Revive Carl F.H. Henry

“I want to make Carl Henry cool again,” Thornbury exclaims in the introduction. Given that we can recognize Henry’s thoughts almost everywhere we look these days, such an aspiration is not terribly ridiculous. I would love to see the book cover in many a coffeehouse in the coming days, and would love even more to see Henry himself return as a staple of theological conversations. He was a giant whose legacy deserves to be recovered. As the new president of the King’s College, Thornbury is well positioned to do just that.

Related articles
Engage The South Conference
Gregory Thornbury Named President of The King's College

New Books On The Shelf

in ,

SchreinerI have a number of exciting new additions to my bookshelves...

Music Monday 7.15.13

in

Streaming free small 470

Music Sale

Burning ipod header small 470 copy

Engage The South Conference

in , ,

EtS_webbanner

"Engage the South" is conference cosponsored by Acts 29, Beeson Divinity School, and the Gospel Coalition. It's September 24th at the Wright Center at Samford University in Birmingham.

The question they are asking is "what kind of churches does the South need?"

Here are the sessions...

  • "Churches that Embrace Theological Clarity" Ray Ortlund
  • "Churches that Plant Churches" Bryan Loritts
  • "Churches that are Marked by Humility and Holiness" Matt Chandler
  • "Churches that are Committed to Ethnic Diversity" Kevin Smith
  • "Churches that are Serious about Evangelism and Conversions" David Platt
That is a rock-solid line up. If I was in the area, I would be there. Early bird pricing runs through July 27th. $49 bucks!
Head over to the conference website to find out more and buy tickets. 

Cheap Kindle Books 7.1.13

in ,

Kindle

Music Monday 7.1.13

in

Music Monday 470The fine folks from Bifrost Arts has a new worship album out. I've liked everything they've done to this point, so this is worthy of our attention.

Music Sale

Burning ipod header small 470 copy

  • Jason Isbell: Southeastern | Getting a remarkable amount of play. A fantastic album.
  • Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City | This is getting the most play. Best album they've made. My kids love it too.

Summer Music

in

You need summer music. Summer music doesn't have to mean listening to something either super poppy or power-fun. You can find fun, power, and thoughtfulness at the same time. You can listen to fun summer music with huge, retro hooks that also is on an album that will stand the test of time.

My favorite album of the year that sounds best on a hot, sunny day with the windows of the car down and the radio turned up is Mikal Cronin's MCII. And it's only $6.99. I think you are gonna love this one.

Cronin

Lots-o-Links 6.12.13

in , , , , ,

The links

10 Reasons To Get Married & Have Kids Young

My list would look a little different than this, but Molly and I got married young, had kids young, and we love to encourage others to do the same. 

Tim Keller On How To Get Into Gospel Conversations

A video, but more importantly a nice outline of what Keller says.

Justin Taylor - On Writing Well

Go read more on Justin's four points:

  1. Read Slowly
  2. Read a lot
  3. Write to think
  4. Write and rewrite

Stephen King on God

in , , ,

King crop

Stephen King wrote one of my favorite books on writing called On Writing. His take on adverbs clearly has stuck with me. He has also written a popular book here or there. Terry Gross' interview of King on Fresh Air yesterday was really good, including a bunch of quotes worth checking out. Here's a great example. You should go listen to the whole thing.

I choose to believe it. ... I mean, there's no downside to that. If you say, 'Well, OK, I don't believe in God. There's no evidence of God,' then you're missing the stars in the sky and you're missing the sunrises and sunsets and you're missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together. Everything is sort of built in a way that to me suggests intelligent design. But, at the same time, there's a lot of things in life where you say to yourself, 'Well, if this is God's plan, it's very peculiar,' and you have to wonder about that guy's personality — the big guy's personality. And the thing is — I may have told you last time that I believe in God — what I'm saying now is I choose to believe in God, but I have serious doubts and I refuse to be pinned down to something that I said 10 or 12 years ago. I'm totally inconsistent.

Pope: Atheists Are Saved

in

Pope 184

Pope Francis said,

The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, what about the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us first class children of God! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, with everyone doing his own part; if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of meeting: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good! We shall meet there.

Here's an attempt by Catholics to defend his remarks. Do you agree? I'd love to hear from my Catholic friends on this. 

Books On The Parables

in ,

Sower

I'm preaching on the parables of Jesus over the summer. Here are some key books I'm using... 

  • Stories With Intent by Klyne Snodgrass | [Amazon | Kindle | WTS] I got a lot of recommendations to pick up this book after a tweet asking for the best resources on the parables. After wading into the first bit, I've already collected a number of insights and quotes. And it's a massive resource. Excited to read more.
  • Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey | [Amazon | Kindle | WTS] Kindle version is 1/2 the price of the paperback. I've read the introduction to the section on the parables. Excellent.
  • Turning Your World Upside Down by Richard Phillips | [Amazon | WTS] I've used this before and it's been helpful.
  • The Challenge of Jesus' Parables edited by Richard Longenecker | [Amazon] Some good stuff from various essays by leading scholars.
  • Preaching the Parables by Craig Blomberg | [Amazon | Kindle | WTS] Haven't read much yet, but heard many good things.
  • Glory Veiled & Unveiled by Gerald Bilkes | [Amazon | Kindle | WTS] I love that this practical, devotional, personal book is there to temper more scholarly books above.

Jerram Barrs | Echoes of Eden

in ,

Echoes eden barrs

Very excited about Jerram Barrs' new book, Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts.

Been looking forward to it for a while, on an important topic that I think Barrs is well-equipped to tackle. Barrs was formerly involved for 18 yeas with Francis Schaeffer and L'Abri. Now he teaches at Covenant Theological Seminary and is Resident Scholar at the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute  

You can get Echoes of Eden now at Amazon (Kindle), WTS, and amazingly for $2 you can get the eBook from Crossway!

New Music Tuesday 5.21.13

in

National

The National: Trouble Will Find Me | 8.4 Pitchfork "Best New Music" 

Delusions of Adequacy: "The National are such a powerfully gifted band, they need no theatrics to deliver an absolutely stone-cold beast of an album. With the music that is on here there is yet another thirteen songs to savor and salivate over until the next batch of songs comes about."

Daft

Daft Punk: Random Access Memories | 8.8 Pitchfork "Best New Music" 

The Telegraph: "Their return should be heralded from on high, because it is the boldest, smartest, most colourful and purely pleasurable dance album of this decade."