The local paper in Austin interviewed my friends Jeremy and Christina Gabrysch about his recent trip to Haiti and his ongoing ministry in Sudan with our church. The article represented them well. The article especially reflected that demonstrating the gospel of Jesus Christ is why they go. I was really pleased to see this kind of article in the Statesman.
Read article here.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Verge Reflections
The last two posts are the highlights from my notes on the Verge Conference.
Above all the notes, I appreciated the heart of worship and the centrality of the gospel in the conference. There wasn't a watering down of the gospel of Jesus, but rather an intentional focus on letting mission be the identity of the church.
Sometimes it is easier for me to think about how to apply this in our church, but I want to make sure that I think about how to apply it to my life first. I have always thought of myself as a missionary to Austin so the identity is clear but some of the practical outworkings are missing. I feel that I often leave my neighborhood to go serve on mission in another part of town where the need is more pronounced. I recognize that the needs in my neighborhood may be "imbedded" as Hugh Halter said, but I need to be intentional in seeking them out. I spend my life pastoring, but how often do I think about pastoring our community? This conference was a great reminder that mission is discipleship and living missionally is the call of Jesus.
Above all the notes, I appreciated the heart of worship and the centrality of the gospel in the conference. There wasn't a watering down of the gospel of Jesus, but rather an intentional focus on letting mission be the identity of the church.
Sometimes it is easier for me to think about how to apply this in our church, but I want to make sure that I think about how to apply it to my life first. I have always thought of myself as a missionary to Austin so the identity is clear but some of the practical outworkings are missing. I feel that I often leave my neighborhood to go serve on mission in another part of town where the need is more pronounced. I recognize that the needs in my neighborhood may be "imbedded" as Hugh Halter said, but I need to be intentional in seeking them out. I spend my life pastoring, but how often do I think about pastoring our community? This conference was a great reminder that mission is discipleship and living missionally is the call of Jesus.
Verge Highlights 2 - Missional Communities
Here are some more Verge highlights.
Dave Ferguson discussed how to get the church excited and motivated toward the mission of God? This is how he establishes apostolic cultures or entrepreneurial environment.
1. Ordain every Christ follower. Who are you called to impact or reach?
2. Lead with a yes. Ask how later on. Be comfortable with mistakes and failures.
3. Teach people to “go” and not just “bring.”
4. Plant the gospel before planting a church.
5. Incarnational and apostolic/reproducible – deepening and sending. Reproduction must be a part of it.
Saturday Morning – Missional impulses
Hugh Halter defined "incarnational" as being an "advocate for non-Christians.” He used the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. This is a great picture of how we do more than pastor our churches, but pastor our communities and truly be an advocate.
Jeff Vanderseldt encouraged us to “equip the church to be worship leaders," which is to do anything where Jesus is exalted. He also suggested that missional people are highly connected to the rhythms of culture. He defined them as: 1. Story. We must know the redemptive story and how each person’s story fits into that redemptive story. 2. Celebration. We engage in cultural celebrations and bring the “best wine” like Jesus did. We bring the best wine because we bring freedom, redemption, etc. 3. Eat. Hunger pains show our created desperate need for God at all times which reminds us of the gospel. 4. Recreate. This includes both rest and taking risks to restore beauty.
Dave Gibbons kept it real simple and said that the mission is to Love God and Love Neighbor. Who is our neighbor? From Luke 10, our neighbor is someone not like us, someone that it isn’t easy to love. He asked 3 questions that every church leader should ask: 1. What is in your hand? Your strengths, your passions, etc. Most important is the realization that the Holy Spirit is in your hand. 2. What is your pain? Pain is the platform to humanity. Transform it and let it be used. 3. What is outside your hand? Who are the fringe, marginalized, the rahabs of the city?
Communitas – Saturday Afternoon
Alan Hirsch said, aim at mission and you also get community. Middle class living can be a hindrance to missional community because it is so often obsessed with comfort, security and safety. We let the gospel affirm our lifestyle.
Hugh Halter – Mission in the burbs.
Hugh Halter talked about how to engage culture. Become friends of non-Christians and learn the stories of your neighborhood rather than just the demographics. He knows that he is a friend when they invite him to hang out with their friends. Mission in the burbs also involves “leaving” just like a traditional missionary. Leaving comfort, leaving what you like to do by yourself. Assess how much time you spend with lost people.
Dave Ferguson discussed how to get the church excited and motivated toward the mission of God? This is how he establishes apostolic cultures or entrepreneurial environment.
1. Ordain every Christ follower. Who are you called to impact or reach?
2. Lead with a yes. Ask how later on. Be comfortable with mistakes and failures.
3. Teach people to “go” and not just “bring.”
4. Plant the gospel before planting a church.
5. Incarnational and apostolic/reproducible – deepening and sending. Reproduction must be a part of it.
Saturday Morning – Missional impulses
Hugh Halter defined "incarnational" as being an "advocate for non-Christians.” He used the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. This is a great picture of how we do more than pastor our churches, but pastor our communities and truly be an advocate.
Jeff Vanderseldt encouraged us to “equip the church to be worship leaders," which is to do anything where Jesus is exalted. He also suggested that missional people are highly connected to the rhythms of culture. He defined them as: 1. Story. We must know the redemptive story and how each person’s story fits into that redemptive story. 2. Celebration. We engage in cultural celebrations and bring the “best wine” like Jesus did. We bring the best wine because we bring freedom, redemption, etc. 3. Eat. Hunger pains show our created desperate need for God at all times which reminds us of the gospel. 4. Recreate. This includes both rest and taking risks to restore beauty.
Dave Gibbons kept it real simple and said that the mission is to Love God and Love Neighbor. Who is our neighbor? From Luke 10, our neighbor is someone not like us, someone that it isn’t easy to love. He asked 3 questions that every church leader should ask: 1. What is in your hand? Your strengths, your passions, etc. Most important is the realization that the Holy Spirit is in your hand. 2. What is your pain? Pain is the platform to humanity. Transform it and let it be used. 3. What is outside your hand? Who are the fringe, marginalized, the rahabs of the city?
Communitas – Saturday Afternoon
Alan Hirsch said, aim at mission and you also get community. Middle class living can be a hindrance to missional community because it is so often obsessed with comfort, security and safety. We let the gospel affirm our lifestyle.
Hugh Halter – Mission in the burbs.
Hugh Halter talked about how to engage culture. Become friends of non-Christians and learn the stories of your neighborhood rather than just the demographics. He knows that he is a friend when they invite him to hang out with their friends. Mission in the burbs also involves “leaving” just like a traditional missionary. Leaving comfort, leaving what you like to do by yourself. Assess how much time you spend with lost people.
Verge Highlights - Everyone Gets to Play
The Verge conference was designed to rally churches and church planters around missional communities. Missional communities are simply communities of Christians that are committed to each other and are committed to being connected to the mission of God. Mission is not a service project or an event, but an identity, a critical part of discipleship and a lifestyle. I found the conference really helpful and practical. It seems much easier to start and maintain missional communities in organic churches, new churches or church plants. It is more complex in a large church setting, but well worth the effort. Here are some of my highlights broken down by the different speakers. Hopefully you will find them helpful in transforming your community to a missional community.
Thursday Night – Jesus is Lord
Matt Carter, pastor of Austin Stone, encouraged the leaders to never love the mission more than loving Jesus, our first love.
Francis Chan talked about the community on mission that needs each other so that we don’t get distracted from the mission. The early church saw a man rise from the dead so they got together and sung some songs, ate some bread and some gave 10%. No, they gave their whole life to the mission. If you saw someone rise from the dead, you would give everything.
Friday Morning – Organic Systems
Neil Cole said plant Jesus, plant the gospel and then let the church grow. Jesus' parable of the seed and the sower implies that most of the work is done in the sowing and harvesting. There is little work when it comes to growth, yet that is where so much of our time is spent.
Jeff Vanderseldt reiterated the idea that in missional church, everyone gets to play. Everyone is a full time minister and God is routing his money to you through Dell, AMD, Freescale, etc to you. Equipping is not just informing. Equipping is life. Lets not extract people from life, lets equip them for life and call them to mission.
Friday Afternoon – Apostolic Mission
Alan Hirsch compared the movement of the gospel to viruses. Apostolic mission plus the people of God gives everyone a role to play. If we want to reproduce, we have to create things that are reproducible. If the concept of the church is not reproducible then it will not spread like a virus. If concept of leadership is not reproducible, then leaders will not be developed. Your baptism is your commission!
Hugh Halter talked very practically about misisonal communities including three elements: mission (being a blessing), communion (prayer, scripture, great commandment, etc), and inclusive communities. He believes that that the error most churches make is focusing on only one of these aspects of Spiritual Formation rather than all three. There are three barriers to these kinds of communities: individualism, materialism, consumerism.
Thursday Night – Jesus is Lord
Matt Carter, pastor of Austin Stone, encouraged the leaders to never love the mission more than loving Jesus, our first love.
Francis Chan talked about the community on mission that needs each other so that we don’t get distracted from the mission. The early church saw a man rise from the dead so they got together and sung some songs, ate some bread and some gave 10%. No, they gave their whole life to the mission. If you saw someone rise from the dead, you would give everything.
Friday Morning – Organic Systems
Neil Cole said plant Jesus, plant the gospel and then let the church grow. Jesus' parable of the seed and the sower implies that most of the work is done in the sowing and harvesting. There is little work when it comes to growth, yet that is where so much of our time is spent.
Jeff Vanderseldt reiterated the idea that in missional church, everyone gets to play. Everyone is a full time minister and God is routing his money to you through Dell, AMD, Freescale, etc to you. Equipping is not just informing. Equipping is life. Lets not extract people from life, lets equip them for life and call them to mission.
Friday Afternoon – Apostolic Mission
Alan Hirsch compared the movement of the gospel to viruses. Apostolic mission plus the people of God gives everyone a role to play. If we want to reproduce, we have to create things that are reproducible. If the concept of the church is not reproducible then it will not spread like a virus. If concept of leadership is not reproducible, then leaders will not be developed. Your baptism is your commission!
Hugh Halter talked very practically about misisonal communities including three elements: mission (being a blessing), communion (prayer, scripture, great commandment, etc), and inclusive communities. He believes that that the error most churches make is focusing on only one of these aspects of Spiritual Formation rather than all three. There are three barriers to these kinds of communities: individualism, materialism, consumerism.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Haiti
My friend, Jeremy, just returned from Haiti. Great perspective for all of us. Read the whole post here.
"One last thought. If you or I learned that a friend or family member was losing a limb or had passed away, we would be grief- stricken. When I read that the number of dead in Haiti may be near 200,000, the numbers are overwhelming. And in the numbers, you lose sight of the fact that each tragedy is it's own story. As we interviewed patients, we heard stories of loss over and over - children, spouses, parents. Those who are still living are facing life with new disabilities even amputations. In this next generation of Haitians, there will be very few who have not been touched by this tragedy. I hope that we will pray for this next generation and consider what we might do to help them through what will be years of healing."
"One last thought. If you or I learned that a friend or family member was losing a limb or had passed away, we would be grief- stricken. When I read that the number of dead in Haiti may be near 200,000, the numbers are overwhelming. And in the numbers, you lose sight of the fact that each tragedy is it's own story. As we interviewed patients, we heard stories of loss over and over - children, spouses, parents. Those who are still living are facing life with new disabilities even amputations. In this next generation of Haitians, there will be very few who have not been touched by this tragedy. I hope that we will pray for this next generation and consider what we might do to help them through what will be years of healing."
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Father's Day
Mark Driscoll just distributed a free online book on scriptural insights on fatherhood. It is called Pastor Dad. Below is a quote from the preface.
"This book is a simple attempt to help God’s men be a “poppa daddy,” as my kids call me. Some day when my children are older, I hope to, by God’s grace, write a more thorough book on fatherhood, since I expect to learn from my mistakes and gather more wisdom on fathering in the ensuing years. Until then, I hope this book can be of some service to the men to whom God has entrusted children, for God’s glory, the children’s good, mom’s gratefulness, and dad’s gladness."
Friday, June 19, 2009
Leadership and Identity
I recently reread one of my favorite books on leadership called Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. It is written as a story exposing convicting leadership principles from King Saul, David and Absalom. It is great to be reminded of the upside down paradigm of leadership and identity in the Kingdom of God.
“The clearest memory I have of my King, when we lived in the caves, is that his was a life of submission. Yes David showed me submission, not authority. He taught me not the quick cure of rules and laws, but the art of patience. That is what changed my life. Legalism is nothing but a leaders’ way of avoiding suffering... Men who speak endlessly on authority only prove they have none. And kings who make speeches about submission only betray twin fears in their hearts: they are not certain they are really true leaders, sent of God. And they live in mortal fear of a rebellion... David taught me losing, not winning. Giving, not taking. He showed me that the leader, not the follower, is inconvenienced... Authority from God is not afraid of challengers, makes no defense, and cares not one whit if it must be dethroned.”
“The clearest memory I have of my King, when we lived in the caves, is that his was a life of submission. Yes David showed me submission, not authority. He taught me not the quick cure of rules and laws, but the art of patience. That is what changed my life. Legalism is nothing but a leaders’ way of avoiding suffering... Men who speak endlessly on authority only prove they have none. And kings who make speeches about submission only betray twin fears in their hearts: they are not certain they are really true leaders, sent of God. And they live in mortal fear of a rebellion... David taught me losing, not winning. Giving, not taking. He showed me that the leader, not the follower, is inconvenienced... Authority from God is not afraid of challengers, makes no defense, and cares not one whit if it must be dethroned.”
Friday, April 10, 2009
..but not crushed
Pauls speaks of the reality of the Christian life," We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." How can we know for sure? Only because Jesus experienced all of this for us so that we wouldn’t have to.
Jesus was crushed for our iniqities.
Jesus' sweat turned into blood in despair.
Jesus was forsaken on the cross.
Jesus was destroyed in death.
All for His glory and on our behalf.
Jesus was crushed for our iniqities.
Jesus' sweat turned into blood in despair.
Jesus was forsaken on the cross.
Jesus was destroyed in death.
All for His glory and on our behalf.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Holy Week
Anticipation! Preparation! Celebration!
Every Jewish family was busier than usual this week preparing their home, their family, and their hearts for Passover. Passover was the annual celebration of God’s redemption of His people out of slavery from Egypt. The Rabbis taught that each generation must regard itself as having been personally delivered and redeemed. Therefore, the preparation was spiritual as well as practical. Each family was to eliminate even the smallest morsel of yeast (a symbol of impurity) from their home. And they were to carefully choose a sacrificial lamb without blemish. The celebration begins with the youngest child asking the question, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Then the father would recount God’s marvelous works on behalf of His people.
Though many were too busy to notice, this particular Passover week God was unfolding a new layer of redemption. While lambs were chosen for the feast, Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Passover lamb who would die for the redemption of mankind. While people were purging every last piece of impurity, the chief priests were seeking how to betray Jesus and put Him to death. We see Jesus willing to be humble, broken, and betrayed because He knew that He was the ultimate Passover lamb whose sacrifice would redeem us.
As you reflect on this week, spend some time preparing your heart through personal confession of impurity. Anticipate meeting with God again as you retell the story of Jesus. Celebrate the freedom, forgiveness and redemption that we possess because Jesus was our perfect Passover lamb. This week is different from all other weeks because of God’s marvelous work on our behalf.
Every Jewish family was busier than usual this week preparing their home, their family, and their hearts for Passover. Passover was the annual celebration of God’s redemption of His people out of slavery from Egypt. The Rabbis taught that each generation must regard itself as having been personally delivered and redeemed. Therefore, the preparation was spiritual as well as practical. Each family was to eliminate even the smallest morsel of yeast (a symbol of impurity) from their home. And they were to carefully choose a sacrificial lamb without blemish. The celebration begins with the youngest child asking the question, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Then the father would recount God’s marvelous works on behalf of His people.
Though many were too busy to notice, this particular Passover week God was unfolding a new layer of redemption. While lambs were chosen for the feast, Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Passover lamb who would die for the redemption of mankind. While people were purging every last piece of impurity, the chief priests were seeking how to betray Jesus and put Him to death. We see Jesus willing to be humble, broken, and betrayed because He knew that He was the ultimate Passover lamb whose sacrifice would redeem us.
As you reflect on this week, spend some time preparing your heart through personal confession of impurity. Anticipate meeting with God again as you retell the story of Jesus. Celebrate the freedom, forgiveness and redemption that we possess because Jesus was our perfect Passover lamb. This week is different from all other weeks because of God’s marvelous work on our behalf.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Passion?
This last week I preached on the letter to Laodicea in the churches of Revelation. The problem with that church was their lukewarm response to the gospel. They were not uninfluenced by God, but it was so moderate that it actually disgusted Jesus (Revelation 3:14-22). Jesus says it makes him want to literally "vomit." Yikes. This is not what you want Jesus to say to your church. I was really struck by verse 19 which says, "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent." First of all we can be encouraged that conviction and discipline is a sign that God loves us enough to convict us out of our lethargy. And Jesus, even in his disgust, is graciously pursuing and lovingly rebuking those whom He loves.
But I found the last half of that verse very interesting. He says, be zealous and repent. What is the call for the lukewarm? Be zealous again. But how do you do that? We can't simply conjure up passion or zeal for the Lord. We can't expect a Passion Conference every quarter to manufacture more passion for Jesus. Jesus says, simply repent. True passion comes out of repentance. Unfortunately far too often repentance breeds guilt and self-deprication rather than passion. Therefore we start to think that we should repent less and less as we grow, but indeed the opposite is true. See Tim Keller's article on repentance. Repentance is necessary because it reminds us daily of our need for Him and the truth of what God has done for us. The church at Laodicea had lost their passion because they had lost their need for Jesus. Repentance reminds us of our deep need for Jesus. In our desperate need, God became man to redeem us, to renew creation, to forgive us, to change our identity for His glory and our benefit. The only reasonable response to the truth of the gospel is passionately surrendering everything to Him. We can't be lukewarm or moderate to the gospel! The response is not simply emotionalism, but true passion that is based in gratitude for Jesus. We wouldn't naturally think this way, but true repentance actually breeds passion.
But I found the last half of that verse very interesting. He says, be zealous and repent. What is the call for the lukewarm? Be zealous again. But how do you do that? We can't simply conjure up passion or zeal for the Lord. We can't expect a Passion Conference every quarter to manufacture more passion for Jesus. Jesus says, simply repent. True passion comes out of repentance. Unfortunately far too often repentance breeds guilt and self-deprication rather than passion. Therefore we start to think that we should repent less and less as we grow, but indeed the opposite is true. See Tim Keller's article on repentance. Repentance is necessary because it reminds us daily of our need for Him and the truth of what God has done for us. The church at Laodicea had lost their passion because they had lost their need for Jesus. Repentance reminds us of our deep need for Jesus. In our desperate need, God became man to redeem us, to renew creation, to forgive us, to change our identity for His glory and our benefit. The only reasonable response to the truth of the gospel is passionately surrendering everything to Him. We can't be lukewarm or moderate to the gospel! The response is not simply emotionalism, but true passion that is based in gratitude for Jesus. We wouldn't naturally think this way, but true repentance actually breeds passion.
Monday, February 16, 2009
U2
In the last two months, I have added a new baby and have added another job at the church. Needless to say, blogging has been down on the priority list. What better way to kick it back up than to talk about U2's new album. I know you are shocked that a pastor likes U2. At the risk of being cliche, I admit that I like U2. This review makes me pretty excited about the new album. Below is an excerpt from it.
"The new U2 album, 'No Line On The Horizon' will be released on March 2nd. It is a great record, and greatness is what rock and roll and the world needs right now. From the grittily urgent yet ethereal title track all the way to the philosophically ruminative, spacey coda of 'Cedars Of Lebanon' it conjures an extraordinary journey through sound and ideas, a search for soul in a brutal, confusing world, all bound together in narcotic melody and space age pop songs."
I have always appreciated how U2 seems to be in touch with the cultural climate and you see that in each album. And it is interesting how culturally we often look to music or entertainment to find soul in a brutal and confusing world. That is alot of pressure to put on an album. He goes on to say that U2 is "making music that bounces off the inside of a listeners skull, charged with ideas and emotions, groovy enough to want to dance to, melodic enough to make you sing along, soulful enough to cherish, philosophical enough to inspire, and with so many killer tracks it might as well be a latterday greatest hits. It is, at the very least, an album to speak of in the same breath as their best and what other band of their longevity can boast of that?"
Saturday, November 22, 2008
respect
In my study on 1 Timothy 5:1-2, I was struck by the little phrase "with all purity." Purity in this passage is in the context of respect and mutual submission. And the question is what does purity have to do with respect? Often times purity is talked about in terms of what we don't do. Obviously that is a part of purity, but pursuing purity from this passage is a proactive way to give respect to one another.
Paul invites this church to treat women as sisters with all purity. Impurity actually denigrates our relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ. Sexual impurity is taking people created in the image of God and denigrating them to objects of lust or desire. Impurity not only disrespects people, but it disrespects God’s created order. To pursue purity is to see each other as brothers and sisters. Instead of lust, we seek to see people as sisters in need of dignity and grieve when they are not respected. Therefore, one reason we pursue purity is so that we can show more respect to one another.
Also, I would recommend an online book that I read as a part of my preparation. It is specifically about the issues of lust and pornography written specifically for men. You can find it here.
Paul invites this church to treat women as sisters with all purity. Impurity actually denigrates our relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ. Sexual impurity is taking people created in the image of God and denigrating them to objects of lust or desire. Impurity not only disrespects people, but it disrespects God’s created order. To pursue purity is to see each other as brothers and sisters. Instead of lust, we seek to see people as sisters in need of dignity and grieve when they are not respected. Therefore, one reason we pursue purity is so that we can show more respect to one another.
Also, I would recommend an online book that I read as a part of my preparation. It is specifically about the issues of lust and pornography written specifically for men. You can find it here.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
election day
Here is an excellent post by John Piper on how Christians should view government and our call to prayer. Check it out.
Friday, October 24, 2008
txt messaging and culture
I really appreciate the recent work on Christians in culture. I believe that our call as Christians should involve interpreting our culture as well as interpreting scripture. That is the good work of each of us as missionaries. Too often we either throw darts at culture or simply let it wash over us instead of asking how we can be involved in the redemption of culture.
On Andy Crouch's blog, he takes a "cultural artifact" and asks 5 questions to help us in the process. I think this is a great exercise to get us thinking about our culture. For example he took the cultural artifact of text messaging here. Here are the questions that he asks about each cultural artifact.
1. What does text messaging assume about the way the world is?
2. What does text messaging assume about the way the world should be?
3. What does text messaging make possible?
4. What does text messaging make impossible (or at least a lot more difficult)?
5. What new culture is created in response?
It is interesting to see people's responses. Other examples: the weather channel, presidential debates and backpacks.
On Andy Crouch's blog, he takes a "cultural artifact" and asks 5 questions to help us in the process. I think this is a great exercise to get us thinking about our culture. For example he took the cultural artifact of text messaging here. Here are the questions that he asks about each cultural artifact.
1. What does text messaging assume about the way the world is?
2. What does text messaging assume about the way the world should be?
3. What does text messaging make possible?
4. What does text messaging make impossible (or at least a lot more difficult)?
5. What new culture is created in response?
It is interesting to see people's responses. Other examples: the weather channel, presidential debates and backpacks.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Mystery Shopper?
A Wall Street Journal article came out today about the newish phenomena of mystery worshipers visiting churches to evaluate them. It is much like secret shoppers who evaluate their experience at restaurants and stores. This particular consultant charges $1500 for a visit and a written evaluation. The article said that some pastors "say that church shopping has become necessary for churches seeking to compete in an increasingly mobile and consumer-oriented society."
It is sad that often churches aren't very welcoming as seen by this article. I think that it is important to know what newcomers think about your church, but this article concerns me. My concern is the fundamental assertion that church is another cog in the consumer driven wheel. Should churches "compete" with each other? Should a church's biggest concern be meeting peoples' needs? What are the metrics that should evaluate a church?
It is sad that often churches aren't very welcoming as seen by this article. I think that it is important to know what newcomers think about your church, but this article concerns me. My concern is the fundamental assertion that church is another cog in the consumer driven wheel. Should churches "compete" with each other? Should a church's biggest concern be meeting peoples' needs? What are the metrics that should evaluate a church?
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Prodigal God
Tim Keller has a new book coming out this month called "Prodigal God." It will discuss how the famous story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 shows the heart of the gospel. This is one of my favorite stories in all of the Bible. I can't wait. Below he talks about the sermon that gave him inspiration for this book from crossway:
"Many excellent studies have been written on this Biblical text over the last several years, but the foundation for my understanding of it was a sermon I heard preached over thirty years ago by Dr. Edmund P. Clowney. Listening to that sermon changed the way I understood Christianity. I almost felt I had discovered the secret heart of Christianity. Over the years I have often returned to teach and counsel from the parable. I have seen more people encouraged, enlightened, and helped by this passage, when I explained the true meaning of it, than by any other text (pp. xii-xiii)."
Religulous
I read a good post by Dan Kimball today on Bill Maher's movie: Religulous. I have not seen it, but Dan has and gives thoughts on the documentary/commentary. I also appreciated some of the dialogue in the comments below.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Old News or Good News
Christians would never say it, but sometimes they act like the gospel is "old news." Most of you guys know that is one of my biggest frustrations with the church in America today. When that happens much of Christianity simply becomes moralism. Michael Horton's new book addresses this issue: Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church. You can read more on Justin Taylor's Blog.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Faith and Politics
This Saturday night at 7pm Rick Warren will be interviewing Barack Obama and John McCain on CNN and online. This is the first time in history where both candidates will meet with a pastor to talk about faith's role in politics. This should be very interesting. There is more information here: Saddleback Civil Forum
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Article about our denomination
Christianity Today wrote an article about the changes that the EFCA made to its doctrinal statement. I was very happy to see the inclusion of "God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed..." Check out the article and the changes here.
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