Fool Moon Rising

This looks like a great new book for kids:



C.J. Mahaney writes:

As a grandpa, I treasure books I can share with my grandchildren, books that are both theologically informed and beautifully illustrated. Unfortunately, these can be scarce. Fool Moon Rising is a rare find: a children's book that describes how understanding the greatness of God transforms proud hearts into humble ones--something that can happen only in the shadow of the cross. I'm looking forward to reading it with my grandkids.

Justin Taylor writes:

My kids love this book, and I love that they love it. When I was read it I was struck by two things: (1) the profundity of the metaphor (about the boasting of the moon boasting in pride until he realizes that his glory is only that of reflecting the True Light of the Sun); and (2) the beauty of Tom's illustrations. (Tom has illustrated for Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Weekly Standard, Mad Magazine, Focus on the Family, etc.) Both the message and the illustrations are great gifts to the church.

You can purchase it here.

Don't Avoid The Abortion Issue

@STRtweets:

By avoiding the issue of abortion, we don’t spare post-abortion women the guilt (they already have that), we spare them the healing.

On seeking 'a better God'

Interesting post here in the Washington Times about how the questions that unbelievers are asking are changing in our current day.

Skye Jethani has a good breakdown of it that you can read here.

The Bread of Life

Yesterday, one of our pastors gave a message on fasting and then we challenged our people to do a water-only fast for two weeks in September. Not a food fast, but water-only, meaning if you go to Starbucks everyday, fast from it for two weeks and drink only tap water instead. With the money you save, give it to a project in Guatemala where our church is trying to finance the building of a well so that a people group that we work with there can have clean drinking water.

Along those lines I read this quote yesterday from John Piper's, Hunger For God (p. 21):

One of the reasons food has this amazing power is that it is so basic to our existence. Why is this? I mean, why did God create bread and design human beings to need it for life? He could have created life that has no need of food. He is God. He could have done it any way he pleased. Why bread? And why hunger and thirst? My answer is very simple: He created bread so that we would have some idea of what the Son of God is like when he says, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). And he created the rhythm of thirst and satisfaction so that we would have some idea of what faith in Christ is like when Jesus said, “He who believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). God did not have to create beings who need food and water and who have capacities for pleasant tastes.

But man is not the center of the universe, God is. And everything, as Paul says, is “from him and through him and to him” (Romans 11:36). “To him” means everything exists to call attention to him and to bring admiration to him. In Colossians 1:16, Paul says more specifically that “all things were created by [Christ] and for [Christ].” Therefore bread was created for the glory of Christ. Hunger and thirst were created for the glory of Christ.

Which means that bread magnifies Christ in two ways: by being eaten with gratitude for his goodness, and by being forfeited out of hunger for God himself. When we eat, we taste the emblem of our heavenly food—the Bread of Life. And when we fast we say, “I love the Reality above the emblem.” In the heart of the saint both eating and fasting are worship. Both magnify Christ. Both send the heart—grateful and yearning—to the Giver. Each has its appointed place, and each has its danger. The danger of eating is that we fall in love with the gift; the danger of fasting is that we belittle the gift and glory in our willpower.

Just Something To Get Your Smiling On This Monday Morning

(HT: Pure Church)

On Men and Church Singing

The money line = "We need to make sure things are water tight scripturally and also culturally they mean what we think they mean".

- Matt Redman



(HT: Ray Ortlund)

What Is So Attractive About New Atheism?

iMonk has an interesting reflection on what he takes to be a changing atmosphere when it comes to pop-atheism. It's a provocative read (like most of his posts). Here is his conclusion:

But I don’t believe the new atheists are making converts because they have a better argument. I think they are making converts because the fruit is ripe to fall from the tree, and we have little or no idea it’s happening. We’re setting up for the great ideological debate and the kids have found that it’s just more fun to have a drink with the non-religious crew.

Keller is still great. C.S.Lewis is still helpful. Craig is still impressive. But I’m not sure their arguments are on the right channel. Vast numbers of people aren’t asking for philosophy. They are asking what will let them live a life uncomplicated by lies, manipulation and constant calls to prefer ignorance to what seems obvious.

What we’ve said and written is fine. What we’ve lived in our homes, private lives, churches, workplaces and friendships has spoken louder.

We are the ones who appear to not believe in the God we say is real. We are the ones who seem to be forcing ourselves to believe with bigger shows, bigger celebrities and bigger methods of manipulation.

You can’t understand why some people just say atheism has about it the beauty of simplicity? You don’t see why Occam’s Razor is so powerful, even among students who have no idea what it means?

Pay closer attention. The game has changed.

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The 99 Most Essential Pieces of the Romantic Era
by Various Artists

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Silence and Suffering

Chris Brauns posts a helpful quote that is wise in light of the previous post.

Os Guinness:

But again, the one thing is clear: if we do not know the answers, it is better not to say...

It is Job’s friends with whom God is angry. Speaking piously when they were ignorant, they became self-righteous and cruel as well as quite wrong. False accounting for evil always ends in falsely accusing someone, whether someone else, ourselves, or God. When we are with anyone who is suffering, we should never give words without love, and we should never give answers without knowledge.

Silence itself is eloquent sympathy.

(Unspeakable, 204, 205).

Choosing Thomas

Watch this video.

Denny Burk:

Twenty weeks into their pregnancy, T. K. and Deidrea Laux found out that their son had Trisomy 13—a rare DNA abnormality. After being counseled that “terminating the pregnancy” would be an option, they chose life. In Deidrea’s own words:

“We didn’t not terminate because we were hanging on to some sort of hope that there was a medical mistake or there was gonna be some sort of medical miracle. We didn’t terminate because he’s our son.”

The Dallas Morning News has produced this video chronicling the birth and home-going of Thomas. The Laux’s are members of Paul Lindquist’s church (one of my former Criswell College students), and Paul is the one who alerted me to “Choosing Thomas.” This is an amazing story of love and life, and you need to watch it.

Praise God for this sweet family. What a testimony to the precious value of life.

Winners of The Case For Life!

Here are the three winners of The Case For Life by Scott Klusendorf!

• Adam Turnbull
• Genevieve Thul
• Eddie Smith

Thanks to all who participated and look for the Sept. book giveaway coming soon from Crossway Books.

No Net? No Problem

If you are scared of heights you probably won't want to check out this profile. (But you'll miss some really cool pictures).

The Present Reign of Christ?

For me, to believe that Jesus is reigning means that when I reflect on the news of the world - with all the unpredictable complexities of international life, the claim and counterclaims, and the posturing and arrogance of military power and economic dominance - I must constantly ask how and where do I see the signs of the reign of God in Christ in the midst of it all

But isn't that far too difficult in our mad and topsy-turvy world? Probably no more difficult than it would have been in the days of the prophets when Assyria, then Babylon, and then Persia seemed to rule the world. Or in the days of Jesus and the apostels, when the Roman Empire dominated their world as the single superpower, imposing its will by an ambigious mixture of ruthless military superiority, economic self-interest, and positive achievements. Not a lot has changed. But in the midst of all that ambiguitiy, we are called to afirm, "our God reigns; Jesus is Lord! (and not Caesar or Caesar's successors)." In that I rest my confidence and hope.

- Dr. Christopher Wright, The God I Don't Understand, p. 178

Video of MuteMath on Letterman Last Night

Get the record here for $7.99:

A Report on Snow Leopard

This is from one of the Mac blogs I read:

So I’ve just installed Snow Leopard on my near-new 13″ Macbook Pro. It’s fast, very fast. Faster than Leopard. The new Quicktime is nice, “stacks” are much improved. Excellent!

It releases today.

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MuteMath on Letterman Tonight

From their website:

MUTEMATH on The Late Show with David Letterman

MUTEMATH will be appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman TONIGHT, Thursday August 27, 2009 at 11:35ET on CBS.

Check your local listings for more information.

The Social Media Revolution

Obviously there are exceptions, but based on the data in the video we are moving from using the internet to worship naked bodies to using the internet to worship ourselves!


(HT: @TimSmith)

New Olympic Sport?

This is pretty wild.

J Knap Comeback?

Artistically speaking, Jennifer Knapp was always one the bright spots in CCM. I hope this is certainly true.

The Scanner reports:

Jennifer Knapp, whose career in Christian music we lovingly eulogized a few months ago, has come out of hiding at last. Her official website, which has been down for years now, was updated with a new design, and her three-month old MySpace profile got a new a look as well. But best of all, she has listed a show: she's playing September 24 with the recently-returned Phillip LaRue at Hotel Cafe, a well-known acoustic venue Los Angeles. Her website lists information for new management and booking agents, so we know she is planning to go back into music on some scale.

So this is completely unexpected, but we couldn't be more excited to hear it. And most of all to hear where Jen has been, what she's been doing, and why she's back. All when she's ready to talk about it, of course.

The National Debt Road Trip

Very interesting...



(HT: Matt Perman)

Addressing Questions Regarding Gender Roles

Rick White has a helpful post on dealing with the communication of the complimentarian view point for church and family. He think we need to be more clear on three different fronts:

1. The Biblical Front. “What does the Bible say on this matter? What are the most basic and elemental texts that speak to gender roles?”
   
   
2. The Theological/Philosophical Front. “What are the doctrinal implications of not holding to a complementarian positions? What key doctrines will need to be adjusted to make way for an egalitarian view?”
   
   
3. The Personal Front. “How do you live out the tension of co-equal, yet different roles? How does your behavior and attitude speak to a successfully sanctified out-working of scriptural gender roles? How does your life fight against the notion that male headship necessitates a low view of women?”

Read the whole piece here or get the pdf here.

(HT: Acts29 Blog)

A Primer on "Free Will"

Andy Naselli has a good article on Ref 21 dealing with this issue. I think it's important for all Christians to think through this topic Biblically. He begins his piece with this:

Non-Christians and Christians alike often give the same answer to difficult questions like these: Why did God allow sin in the first place? Why does God save some people and not others? Why does God send people to hell? Why can living like a Christian be so frustrating? The immediate solution often suggested is simple: "free will." To many people, it's a satisfying answer: "Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, God does x because he has to preserve my free will. Yeah, OK. Next question." I'd like to suggest that we re-think this important issue.

Read the whole thing.

Quote of the Day from the Dave Ramsey Show

"As long as Americans are comfortable with debt, we will elect officials/politicians who are too."

— Ray McCollum

Matthew West in Bogota, Colombia

Matthew West is currently on a mission trip to Bogota, Columbia. You can read some of his reflections on his blog and the video below will give you an idea of what it's all about.

God's Anger or God's Love - Or Both?

Miroslav Volf is a Christian theologian from Croatia. He says that he used to hold to the fashionable view that dismissed the wrath of God, that the idea of an angry God was somehow incompatible with the love of God. But then war came to his country. Terrible atrocities were done. He found himself exceedingly and justifiably angry. Then he thought - if God is not angry at such injustice and cruelty, then he is not a God worth worshiping. Only if God is angry against such evil is he worth loving, or being loved by us.

I used to think that wrath was unworthy of God. Isn't God love? Shouldn't divine love be beyond wrath? God is love, and God loves every person and every creature. That's exactly why God is wrathful against some of them. My last resistance to the idea of God's wrath was a casualty of the war in the form Yugoslavia, the region from which I come. According to some estimates, 200,000 people were killed and over 3,000,000 were displaced. My villages and cities were destroyed, my people shelled day in and day out, some of them brutalized beyond imagination, and I could not imagine God not being angry.

Or think of Rwanda in the last decade of the past century, where 800,000 people were hacked to death in one hundred days! How did God react to the carnage? By doting on the perpetrators in a grandfatherly fashion? By refusing to condemn the bloodbath but instead affirming the perpetrators' basic goodness? Wasn't God fiercely angry with them? Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God's wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who wasn't wrathful at the sight of the world's evil. God isn't wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love.

- Dr. Christopher Wright, The God I Don't Understand, p. 131

Spurgeon The Comedian

Darryl Dash:

I’ve been meaning to read Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students for years, and I’m finally reading it now. I’ve read lots of books on pastoring, but I have never read a better one yet. Not only that, but it’s by far the funniest book on pastoring I’ve read.

A sample that made me laugh out loud last night:

I heard one say the other day that a certain preacher had no more gifts for the ministry than an oyster, and in my own judgment this was a slander on the oyster, for that worthy bivalve shows great discretion in his openings, and knows when to close. If some men were sentenced to hear their own sermons it would be a righteous judgment upon them, and they would cry out with Cain, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” Let us not fall under the same condemnation.

Spurgeon has much more encouraging things to say, but he also knows how to cut someone down to size when necessary.

If you’ve been meaning to read this book but haven’t yet, don’t put it off. I don’t know why I waited so long. Definitely worth a read or a re-read.

Doug Wilson on Brian McLaren Saying He Will Participate in Ramadan

Doug Wilson is a great writer and thinker. He has a snarky edge, but I light of the topic of his piece today I think it is deserved. His post today deals is the news that Brian McLaren has made public that he will participate in Ramadan with Muslim friends. Doug has some insightful thoughts in response.

James Braddock - A Profile

To this day, Cinderella Man is one of my top 5 movies ever. The Art of Manliness blog has an interesting profile of James Braddock, the person who the movie is based on. They call it: Lessons in Manliness - James Braddock. It's a good read.

Healing and Holiness

Collision Avaliable for Pre-Order

Tony Reinke:

The documentary, Collision, filmed during the debates between Douglas Wilson (Christian; right) and Christopher Hitchens (atheist; left) is now available for pre-order from Amazon ($13.99). The film will be released at the end of October. I’ve watched the film and was impressed with both the aesthetic qualities and the amount of substantive debate captured in the 90 minutes. The debates between the two—which spill over into the train depot, the limo rides, the dinners and lunches—is quite engaging. The DVD is a nice compliment to the book and the full debates, but it will not satisfy the viewer who wants to understand all the arguments on either side. All that said, I recommend the DVD.

The Gospel for Busy People

Justin Taylor:

Kevin DeYoung's post here is worth reading carefully. If you--like me--sometimes walk around with a foggy feeling of guilt that you're not doing more for the Kingdom, then what Kevin says here will likely be a fresh breeze of gospel air.

It is loaded with risk, of course, to say what Kevin is saying, because some will interpret it as a license to coast. But it shouldn't prevent us from offering this nuanced message, for some in the church truly need to hear it.

Here's the conclusion:

No doubt some Christians need to be shaken out of their lethargy. I try to do that every Sunday morning and evening. But there are also a whole bunch of Christians who need to be set free from their performance-minded, law-keeping, world-changing, participate-with-God-in-recreating-the-cosmos shackles. I promise you, some of the best people in your churches are getting tired. They don’t need another rah-rah pep talk. They don’t need to hear more statistics and more stories Sunday after Sunday about how bad everything is in the world. They need to hear about Christ’s death and resurrection. They need to hear how we are justified by faith apart from works of the law. They need to hear the old, old story once more. Because the secret of the gospel is that we actually do more when we hear less about all we need to do for God and hear more about all that God has already done for us.

Z comment:

Reminds me that a focus on the Gospel will fuel right motivation to actually act and will also free us from the self-condemnation of not doing enough!

This also speaks to the importance of knowing your audience. I would contend that especially in the culture of ease that we live in in America, way more people need to be thinking about the implications of the Gospel (meaning how they should live in light of it) than those who are riddled with guilt for not doing enough. But certainly this message above needs to be heard and preached to those who are struggling under the weight of guilt.

Like the final scene of Schindler's List where Schindler laments the fact that he didn't do more, having that sense of wanting to do more might be a good sign that you are in the right place! Certainly the Gospel has to speak to that sadness and free one from it, but how much better that than not having any sense of needing to do anything at all!

Faith Trumps Feelings

Helpful post here from Michael Kelley:

Many times I think we have the tendency to avoid personal discipline in our lives because we see it as a kind of legalism. And it’s true, in a ideal situation, we would always wake up in the morning hungry to read the Word of God. We would excitedly thumb through our Scripture memory cards in anticipation of adding a new Scripture to our minds. We would happily order our lives, and we would do so because we “feel” like it.

After all, aren’t we supposed to love God? And isn’t the emotive quality of love very important? The answer is yes to that question, but we don’t live in a world if ideals.

The truth is that most mornings, I don’t feel like getting out of bed, so I don’t. I don’t feel like memorizing Scripture so I don’t. I feel I’d like to indulge in sin so I do. If I waited to feel like doing all this stuff. I’d never do anything, or I’d always do everything.

But how do you do those things without becoming a legalist? We know we need to do them, regardless of how we feel, but it’s so easy to slip into the pattern where we hold up our personal discipline as a score card for God.

Enter faith.

Faith is how you choose good and discipline without becoming a legalist. We must choose for faith to trump our feelings. We read even when we don’t feel like because we choose to believe God will speak to us. We obey even when we don’t feel like it because we believe that the pleasures of God are better than the pleasures of earth. We believe that God, in His faithfulness, will bring along our feelings. So we act in faith.

When we act in faith, we are trusting rather than achieving. We are humble rather than proud. We are acknowledging our weakness and trusting our feelings to follow. In this, we make little of ourselves and much of God.

So maybe – just maybe – I will get out of bed in the morning. Not because I feel like it, cause I won’t. But I’ll swing out my legs in faith, trusting that God will bring along what I lack in time.

Uniting The Destruction of the Canaanites With The Cross

Here is the conclusion to Dr. Wrights section in The God I Don't Understand that deals with the destruction of the Canaanites in the book of Joshua:

But at some point I have to stand back from my questions, criticism, or complaint and receive the Bible's own word on the matter. What the Bible unequivocally tells me is that this was an act of God that took place within an overarching narrative through which the only hope for the world's salvation was constituted.

Within that overall biblical perspective, the road to Canaan was one small stretch along the road to Calvary. From that point of view, I cannot do other than include it among the mighty acts of God for which all his people are called to praise him. I have to read the conquest in the light of the cross.

And when I do set it in that light of the cross, I see one more perspective. For the cross too involved the most horrific and evil human violence, which, at the same time, also constituted the outpouring of God's judgment on human sin. The crucial difference, of course, is that whereas at the conquest, God pour out his judgment on a wicked society who deserved it, at the cross, God bore on himself the judgment of God on human wickedness, through the person of his own sinless Son - who deserved it not one bit.

...note once again that humble submission to the biblical teaching on the sovereignty of God on the one hand, along with robust reflection on the mystery of the cross of Christ on the other, combine to strengthen our faith in the midst of things we do not understand.

- Dr. Christopher Wright, The God I Don't Understand, p. 107

Evangelical Lutheran Church backs away from Christian chastity

Another sad report from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Again, I am deeply grieved by this as the ELCA was the denomination I was raised in. From the report:

Minneapolis, Minn., Aug 21, 2009 / 07:41 pm (CNA).- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on Wednesday approved a new policy that no longer declares marriage as “the appropriate place” for sexual relations, but rather calls for “social trust” in associations that are “loving” and “committed.”

Wow. Those terms could be defined as pretty much anything. I can't believe such a statement that undermines the value and sacredness of sex and completely diminishes the depth of our depravity could be approved by any denomination that claims to take the Bible seriously. This is mind boggling to me.

Do We Still Really Believe That Presidents Can't Do Anything About Abortion?

Piggybacking off yesterdays post about abortion and health care reform, the bi-partisan site, FactCheck.org has an interesting post that lays out the issues involved. Here is the subtitle to their post that can give you an idea about where it is headed:

Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans.

It grieves me greatly that people kept telling me before the election that presidents really can't do anything about abortion.

Imogen Heap - New Record Avaliable

One of my favorite artists. She is amazing.

Ellipse
by Imogen Heap

Price:

$9.99

Abortion and Health Care Reform

Time Magazine writes a brief story on how abortion will factor into the proposed health care reform.

Apple’s Five Worst Products, Ever

These days, Mac products are about as cool as they can get. But even they have had some stinkers in the past. This article brings back the memories.

One of the Best Sesame Street Clips Ever

Oh how many times I have wanted to slam my head onto the keys like this guy:



(HT: Steve McCoy)

Is There No Wrath of God in the New Testament?

It is fallacious to regard this as essentially an Old Testament problem, and to set the "bloodthirsty" Old Testament over against the "gentle" New Testament. Possibly the phenomenon is more crude in the Old Testament than in the New, but of the two the New Testament is the more terrible, for the Old Testament seldom speaks of anything beyond temporal judgments.... whereas the Son of Man in the Gospels pronounces eternal punishment.

- John W. Wenham, The Goodness of God

Quoted in Dr. Christopher Wright's, The God I Don't Understand, p. 81


Many people see the New Testament as the more gentle of the two Testaments. In the Old, we have many scenes of blood, carnage and the justice of God is a frequent refrain. But consider the wrath of God that we see in the New Testament:

Romans 1:18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

God is said to have killed people because they did not observe The Lord's Supper correctly:

1 Cor. 11:27 - 32: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

In Acts 5 we see the immediate justice of God poured out against the sin of Ananias and Sapphira:

Acts 5:1-11: But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

The book of Revelation is full of the wrath of God. Revelation 14 is one the scariest passages in all the Bible:

Revelation 14: 14-20: Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

But the most poignant picture of God wrath in all the New Testament is of course the cross of Christ. Most of us think of the cross as only showing us the picture of God's love for us (which is gloriously true - Romans 5:8) but we HAVE to see the wrath of God poured out as well or we will minimize our sin and defame the justice of God that is essential to his nature.

Romans 3:25
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Hebrews 2:17
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

1 John 2:2
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:10
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

(Click here if you are unfamiliar with the word, propitiation)

The NT is full of evidence of the wrath of God (there is many more passages that could have been cited). This is central to the gospel and never must be diminished. Don't let people continue in the belief that the OT = wrath and the NT = grace and mercy. Both Testaments are unified in their expressions of wrath and grace. It's one story with Jesus' righteous life and sin bearing death and resurrection as the centerpiece.

Snow Leopard - Coming This Friday

Ships out on Friday. Read all about it here.

Innovation Vs. Accessibility - Some Initial Reflections for The Church

At the recent Worship God 09 conference, this question was posed to C.J. Mahaney:

What role should creativity or excellence play? Should it be a goal? A priority? Proportionally, what kind of role should creativity play?

His response:

I like the word you used, “proportion”. Creativity should play a proportional role. The priority must be congregational singing. That must be the priority. The priority must be congregations singing gospel centered sound doctrine and being transformed by what they sing. Congregational singing must be the priority. Creativity, if employed, must serve that purpose and must not distract from the purpose and if it does not enhance that purpose...

Creativity should not be assumed. It is not primarily what we are about. We are not primarily about creativity. We are about content and we are about congregational singing.

Creativity must be handled very carefully or else creativity can easily distract from content and congregational singing. “What we win people with, is what we win them to”. We are not trying to win people to creativity. We are trying to win people with the content of the gospel. We are trying to win people to congregations passionately singing and freshly affected by the gospel.

So it doesn’t mean creativity doesn’t have a place or role, I am not arguing for predictability, but creativity must be handled carefully because it has been assigned, from my limited observation, exaggerated significance in the average modern American evangelical church.

I think this should bring great peace to the soul of the worship leader. Your role during the week is not... (I mean this should release all from the pressure...) to be more creative than you were last week. You role is to find your way, again and again and again to the content of the gospel. Your role is to promote and provoke congregational singing. That is your primary role and purpose, not the introduction of creativity that exceeds last week’s creativity.

I greatly appreciate C.J.’s comments here. I know for a fact (in spite of what you might think from the quote above) that C.J. loves creativity. He leads a ministry that is one of the most prolific I know of in producing new and fresh songs for congregational use. This is a huge creative endeavor. But again, the focal point of their creativity is to draw attention to the content of the gospel.

I have been reflecting recently on the tension that most church musicians live in between creative innovation and congregational accessibility. I think we are called to both and should reflect on how we are doing in each area. Most church leaders err on one side or another. Too much innovation can lead to a focus on the art itself and potentially (not always) away from the cross. Too much accessible singing that is rote or exactly the same week after week can (but not always) lead to sterile and unreflective participation.

The question is not IF you are creative, but HOW? For what purpose?

I would submit that we need to promote creativity and gospel-centeredness in all that we do as it pertains to the church gathering. Our gatherings certainly should not be a showcase of our creative abilities, but also not divorced from them. The aim and goal of our creativity should be to draw people’s attention to the gospel. Can we do both well? I think we can, but it will take much intentionality and hard work. If we can, I think God will be glorified and our people will be well served.

UT athletic director tells how he and his wife were called to adopt

This is a great story.

"I can't define it except to say it's God-inspired. If you're not a Christian, it might be tough to understand, but that's where we are."

- UT athletic director Mike Hamilton

From the story:

They thought they were set, with two older children, a demanding career and the busy-ness of life. But God tugged on their hearts and turned them inside out, they said. After months of discussion and a yearlong process, and moved by the plight of orphans 7,500 miles away, University of Tennessee Athletic Director Mike Hamilton and his wife, Beth, have become parents to three children from the East African nation of Ethiopia.

Nate, 7, known as Papy, Kiya Isaiah, 4, and McKinley Kalu, 9 months, join the Hamiltons' two other children, Madison, 13, and Matthew, 10.

"The thing that drives me crazy is people say we are amazing people," said Beth Hamilton, who often wears a silver necklace shaped like the African continent. "No, we serve an amazing God."

Read the rest.

(HT: Doug Wolter)

AmazonMP3 Daily Deal - Coldplay and MuteMath

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Viva La Vida - Prospekt's March Edition
by Coldplay

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Cheap Alternative to Blackberry Servers and Mobile Me

Scott Sterner:

It's pretty easy to use Google calendar, email, and contacts in such a way as to instantly sync between your phone and computer. An impressive alternative to the more costly Blackberry exchange services and mobile me membership fees. Read more here.

I should add, that there are some pretty affordable third party software packages out there that sync your standard computer calendars like iCal and Outlook with Google Calendar. Once you've got these systems in place, keeping your personal contacts updated wherever you are is a breeze.

On The Hope That We Have

This is our great hope and joyful expectation. In the midst of all our struggles now, as we confront evils we cannot understand and as we cry out to the God we cannot fully understand, we are urged by Jesus himself to pray, "deliver us from evil". More than merely a prayer for daily protection, that is a cosmic request that will one day be cosmically answered. God will answer that prayer! It will be fully answered at the moment when God answers two other phrases in the Lord's Prayer: "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10).

When the reign of God extends over every corner of the universe, when the earth is filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea, when the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, when heaven and earth are renewed and united under the righteous rule of Christ, when the dwelling place of God is again with humanity, when the city of God is the center of all redeemed reality - then we will have been delivered from all evil forever.

The cross and the resurrection of Christ accomplished it in history and guarantee it for all eternity. In such hope we can rejoice with incomparable joy and total confidence.

- Dr. Christopher Wright, The God I Don't Understand, p. 71

Watch Mark Driscoll at the Crystal Cathedral

Watch here.

Landmark Decision In The Largest Lutheran Denomination

Read about it here. The ELCA is the church I was raised in. I am very grieved by this decision. May God have mercy on us.

August Book Giveaway! The Case For Life by Scott Klusendorf

For a simple, but not shallow defense of the pro-life position, The Case for Life is the book to get. I interviewed Scott on this book a few months back. You can read that interview here.

I'll be giving away three copies to three different readers. To enter, all you have to do it email me (zachnielsen7ATgmailDOTcom) and tell me that you would like to be on the list! I'll randomly draw three winners next Friday.

Book Review - Sticky Church - Chapter 19

I was asked to review Chapter 19 of Sticky Church by Larry Osborne (pastor of North Coast Church in San Diego) for today's Sticky Church blog tour.

Sticky Church looks to be a great book that focuses on making your church strong through small groups. I am a firm believer in the need for a culture of small groups in most churches. People need a context for fleshing out the “one anothers” of the Bible and a small group is one of best places that can happen.

In Chapter 19, of Sticky Church, Larry Osborne lays out five essential questions that need to be asked before launching a thriving small group ministry. I’ll briefly comment on each question.

Who are you trying to reach?

Another way to ask this question would be, who are you willing to leave out? We all know that every structure for ministry that we select will likely leave someone out. This is inevitable. Being able to identify this will help you be more effective in creating a small group culture that works.

What do you plan to do in your meetings?

These options are endless, but we should keep in mind that what we do in our meetings should reflect who we feel called to reach. Which leads to the third question...

How well does who you want to reach match up with what you plan to do?

Who you want to reach and what you plan to do need to be aligned or there will be a detrimental disconnect between the two. You will basically let your content define who you reach. This may be ok, but just be aware of it.

How do you think people are best trained to live out the Christian life and best prepared for leadership?

He lists three ways: 1)Mentoring, 2)Education, and 3)Apprenticeship. He gives some helpful pros and cons of each. The important thing he notes is that you need to be aware of which one best suits your style as a church. If you don’t, your small group ministry could suffer greatly.

Who already does what we want to do well - and does it in a church we would go to if we lived in the area?

Why reinvent the wheel? Learn from the mistakes of others. You don’t have time to make your own. Humble yourself and learn from those who have gone before you. Just make sure that you are seeking programmatic wisdom from like minded people with a similar ministry style. If you are a hard-core Willow Creek style church you probably are not going to want to go to a PCA church to learn about small groups.

It seems that Sticky Church could be a very helpful book for pastors and lay leaders to consider. I was only assigned Chapter 19, so I can’t comment on the whole of the book, but from what I have read I certainly plan to read more as I think through making small groups one of the programmatic centerpieces of our church plant in 2010.

Click here to read reviews of the other chapters.

Sex God - A Review

Tim Chester reviews Rob Bell's book, Sex God.

I appreciated Tim's thoughtful writing. He is not a guy who is your usual Bell basher, (he doesn't demonize him) but certainly has some concerns with some sections.

Perspective on Suffering in Africa

Africa suffers roughly the equivalent of the 2004 tsunami every month through HIV-AIDS related deaths.

- Dr. Christopher Wright, The God I Don't Understand, p. 45


This should awaken us to the need for orphan care! May the church rise up!

Tears and the Table

Kevin DeYoung with a good reflection on The Lord's Supper.

Repsonse To The Kardashian Pregnancy

Denny Burk responds to the Kourtney Kardashian story about her choosing to keep her baby. If you have not read about this yet, you can do so here. Denny writes:

What I like about this testimony is not its rigorous pro-life logic. In fact, I don’t think Kardashian’s thinking reflects a consistent pro-life view at all. She still thinks women should have the right to choose. What’s beautiful about this story is that Kardashian’s pro-choice logic got overridden by her pro-life, motherly instincts. The bankrupt pro-abortion worldview was no match for the human treasure she came to see growing inside of her. She’s one step away from seeing that all the unborn are human treasures, just like her own baby. I hope and pray that she and so many others like her in our culture will be able to embrace that truth very soon.

Al Mohler responds as well:

As she thought about her decision, Kardashian concluded that "all the reasons why I wouldn't keep the baby were so selfish." She also received encouragement from her doctor. "My doctor told me there is nothing you will ever regret about having the baby, but he was like, 'You may regret not having the baby.' And I was like: That is so true."

The Culture of Death looms as a massive threat, but its foundations are crumbling. Unexpected witnesses such as Sarah Kliff and Kourtney Kardashian help us to see how moral insight can emerge from unexpected experiences, reflections, and witnesses. Some of the most profound witnesses to the horror of abortion and the sanctity of human life do not even know that they are so. The evil of abortion cannot be hidden once it is seen, and a voice for life cannot be forgotten once it is heard.

Senior Pastor Model?

STR.org:

This is sad. Another pastor taken down by sin. Now, I think these cases are the exception. Our churches are largely filled with good men and women who lead. But the fall of pastors is still too prevalent and it has me thinking about the "Senior Pastor" model. The liabilities are many:

#1 - The senior pastor is looked to primarily for leadership that reflects charisma rather than character. When there’s a single primary pastor, whether consciously or unconsciously, he alone is relied upon to be the “face” of the ministry. And in our culture, it’s charisma not character that makes a lasting first impression on people. Therefore, many churches depend upon his celebrity status to represent their ministry. New attenders, enamored by a personality, choose to join a church primarily on that basis. Indeed, in many cases a senior pastor’s character is an afterthought.

#2 - The body of believers is much more susceptible to the development of an unhealthy co-dependence on the senior pastor. The “Senior Pastor” model, when combined with the widespread dysfunction found in American culture, encourages a co-dependent relationship between pastor and parishoner that is detrimental to the spiritual health of the body. Thus, the typical believer experiences an unhealthy need to connect with the senior pastor on some level before he or she can connect to that particular church.

# 3 - The personality of the senior pastor begins to dominate church life. When there is so much dependence placed upon a single leader, his strengths and weaknesses tend to shape the body life of the church. His strengths become the emphasis of the church, no matter how unbalanced. In addition, his weaknesses, unable to be counter-balanced by other leaders, are likely to become the weaknesses of the church.

#4 - The senior pastor model encourages the body of believers to become spectators. Since the senior pastor is the “professional” minister who is paid to do the work of the ministry, the body is enabled to sit back and watch him and his staff do their job. Thus, the large majority of significant ministry is carried out by the paid staff of a particular church.

#5 - When a senior pastor falls, the damage is immense. When there is so much dependence upon a single leader, the effects of his sin and shortcomings are multiplied exponentially. In contrast to the elevated status of the senior pastor, the lesser roles of associate pastor or support staff do little to mitigate against the damage to the body.

Could it be these liabilities are the result of an unbiblical model of church leadership? A biblical model should provide us with a structure that mitigates against these weaknesses. I'm sure that church in Compton is going to be reeling for some time.

Is It Even About The Games Anymore?

Jason Whitlock:

The games are an afterthought. They're vehicles to promote fame and the leverage to negotiate a contract for more money and less responsibility.

You blame the players and their agents. I blame the rules makers, the owners, the grown men with billions who should've seen this coming and implemented rules to safeguard the integrity of their games.

Too much of the money in pro sports is tied to individual fame, and not nearly enough cash is tied to the win-loss record. When fans care more about winning and losing than the players in the locker room do, it's impossible to deny the foundation of the games have been damaged.

The LeBron James reality show will focus all next season on whether he'll dash for New York cash rather than will the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals. We've all been a witness to money and fame's transformation of King James into Drama Queen James, the sore loser, the dunk-video thief.

Brett Favre used to be king of the NFL, known for his childlike passion for the game. Now he's Britney Favre. And oops, he's unretired again.

An Interview with Randy Alcorn

Randy Alcorn was recently interviewed by Jason Kovacs concerning topics of adoption, the gospel and being pro-life. You can read part 1 of the interview here. I found this exchange to be particularly insightful:

Jason: Would you agree that being pro-life or pro-adoption are two sides of the same coin?

Randy: Sure. There should essentially be no distinction between them because you cannot be pro-life without being pro-adoption, and the reason you would be pro-adoption is because you’re pro-life. Now there are people who open their homes, who work in the area of adoption, who are nonetheless pro-choice, meaning they defend legalized abortion. That is, to me, inconsistent in a very dramatic way. Nonetheless, among Christians who are involved in adoption, I would think you would have nearly a universal pro-life position. Even among many unbelievers there would be a sense of pro-life as well as pro-adoption, but certainly you cannot be pro-life without being pro-adoption. I mean, how could you? It would be unthinkable.

The Boy with the Board in His Eye

Michael Kelley has written a very good children's story that he recently published at his blog. You can read the three parts here and then read it to your children!

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III

Obama, Abortion, and Health Care

Justin Taylor:

President Obama said on a conference call yesterday that it was "untrue," a "fabrication," that legislation backed by the White House would result in "government funding of abortion."

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), responds:

Emboldened by the recently demonstrated superficiality of some organs of the news media, President Obama today brazenly misrepresented the abortion-related component of the health care legislation that his congressional allies and staff have crafted. As amended by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on July 30 (the Capps-Waxman Amendment), the bill backed by the White House (H.R. 3200) explicitly authorizes the government plan to cover all elective abortions. Obama apparently seeks to hide behind a technical distinction between tax funds and government-collected premiums. But these are merely two types of public funds, collected and spent by government agencies. The Obama-backed legislation makes it explicitly clear that no citizen would be allowed to enroll in the government plan unless he or she is willing to give the federal agency an extra amount calculated to cover the cost of all elective abortions — this would not be optional. The abortionists would bill the federal government and would be paid by the federal government. These are public funds, and this is government funding of abortion.

In 2007 Obama explicitly pledged to Planned Parenthood that the public plan will cover abortions (see the video clip here). Some journalists have reported that Obama "backed off" of this commitment in an interview with Katie Couric of CBS News, broadcast July 21, but Obama actually carefully avoided stating his intentions — instead, he simply made an artful observation that "we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care."

It is true that there is such a tradition — which Obama has always opposed, and which the Obama-backed bill would shatter.

On August 13, NRLC released a detailed memo explaining the provisions of the pending bills that would affect abortion policy, with citations to primary sources. Many of the "factcheck" articles that have appeared in the news media in recent weeks reflect, at best, unsophisticated understandings of the provisions they purport to be explaining, and also give evidence of a weak understanding of Obama's history on the policy issues involved.

Cravings and Conflict

I have yet to meet a couple locked in hostility (and the accompanying fear, self-pity, hurt, self-righteousness) who really understood and reckoned with their motives. James 4:1–3 teaches that cravings underlie conflicts. Why do you fight? It’s not “because of my wife/husband…”—it’s because of something about you. Couples who see what rules them—cravings for affection, attention, power, vindication, control, comfort, a hassle-free life—can repent and find God’s grace made real to them, and then learn how to make peace.

- David Powlison, Seeing with New Eyes (P&R, 2003), p. 151.

(HT: C.J. Mahaney)

Tranquilized With The Trivial

Os Guiness:

One reason people live unexamined lives is because of what Blaise Pascal, a seventeenth-century French scientist called “diversions.” We are reluctant, even afraid, to admit that we all, without exception, will die. We surround ourselves with entertaining distractions so we don’t have to think about death. We tranquilize ourselves with the trivial. Has any generation ever been able to divert itself so happily for so long and with so many fascinating toys as ours? With our BlackBerries, iPhones, iPods, and TiVos, we can lose ourselves in virtual reality and be entertained and distracted forever– “amusing ourselves to death,” as best-selling author Neil Postman puts it.

. . . The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy told the story of a peasant who worked furiously to acquire more and more land—all for good and worthy reasons—until he finally dropped dead in the process. Tolstoy called the story “How much land does a man need?” and he answered his own question at the end: “Six feet from his head to his heels.”

(HT: Chris Brauns)

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Wrecking Ball
by Emmylou Harris

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