February 2012
2 posts
3 tags
“I see the Church spending 20% of its energy on the things that make 80% of its...”
– Nathan Peterson, “Church is Not Cool.”
2 tags
December 2011
6 posts
3 tags
November 2011
2 posts
2 tags
Is Mormonism a Cult? →
A well reasoned and in-depth look at Mormonism, and how it lines up with what the Bible teaches.
October 2011
2 posts
1 tag
“Art is our opportunity to to make an invisible God visible.”
– Gary Molander, Pursuing Christ. Creating Art.
3 tags
God as artist...
“A Mirror Up To Nothing” by Howard Jacobson, originally published in Harper’s (link).
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. —Genesis 1:31
It won’t get much better for God or for his creations than it is on the evening and the morning of the sixth day. Genesis 2 ends on a high romantic note,...
September 2011
1 post
August 2011
2 posts
Step One is Showing Up. →
“Unless you can honestly say you’ve completed step one, step two is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter what writing technique you use, if you never sit down in front of a blank page.”
July 2011
7 posts
2 tags
The Difference Between a Lead Musician and a... →
3 tags
Is gender a socially constructed reality or a... →
1 tag
“He who lives without prayer, he who lives with little prayer, he who seldom...”
– Charles Spurgeon
June 2011
7 posts
2 tags
“Perhaps more than ever before, our world is devoted to treating the body as a...”
– Matthew Lee Anderson, author of Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter to Our Faith.
5 tags
So, I listened to this NPR podcast today
and it has me been asking myself this question: in all of our marketing efforts, church growth strategies and leadership seminars… are we actually doing anything to grow the church?
It came up from NPR’s Planet Money. They had a completely unrelated broadcast that asked the question, “How do politicians create jobs?”
The short answer they arrived at is that they don’t. They simply work to...
“The primary responsibility for teaching your children about God is yours, dear...”
– Dr. Tom Ascol, via cbmw.org
2 tags
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Malcolm Gladwell: the Revolution will not be... →
“The marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the past—even a sense that communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of television and the Internet.” But there is something else at work here, in the outsized enthusiasm for social media. Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social...
May 2011
3 posts
2 tags
Lovely.
Today is Rachel’s birthday.
The past few months have been moving faster than at any other time in our marriage; rather than winter slowly giving way to spring, it feels more like we’ve experienced Christmavalentanniverthday. So today I’m intentionally pausing to reflect on what a remarkable and inspiring woman she is.
I tend crash into most situations like a half-blind...
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Watch“The Water And The Blood” from Sojourn Community Church.
April 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Would you die for doctrine? →
“Lord, open the king of England’s eyes!” These were the last words of William Tyndale (1494-1536) on Friday, October 6, 1536, just before he was strangled and burned at the stake. One might think that Tyndale was burned at the stake for being a Christian, professing belief in Jesus Christ. However, you would be mistaken.
3 tags
“Improvement occurs through doing, through practice, through the day-to-day...”
– Joshua Blankenship, Creative director at NewSpring Church (via Method & Craft)
“Conviction, Confession, Relapse, over and over and over, like a man jumping off...”
– My Above-Average Stroke via MensHealth.com
March 2011
1 post
Navigating the Emerging Church →
A helpful and in-depth look at the history and theological stance of the Emergent Church, and it’s three primary spokesmen: Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt & Rob Bell.
February 2011
4 posts
2 tags
“Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are...”
– Charles Spurgeon, from his sermon, “David Dancing before the Ark because of His Election,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 35.
(via C.J. Mahaney’s blog)
3 tags
My life in 250 words.
Born naked and unable to feed himself, Isaac eventually overcame these handicaps to lead a productive adult life. But this journey was not without its hardships. Born to humble parents in rural Iowa, his parents soon moved to Central Illinois for new employment. His father was always a hard worker. Although they were a decidedly middle-class family, they made sacrifices to provide all six children...
3 tags
Getting a Bigger Vision.
Last September, I had the chance to sit in on a World Vision presentation about a new outreach they were putting together for churches. I had already heard about their other church-related outreaches, like the Experience: AIDS exhibit (a huge interactive display, recreating an entire village and walking people through a guided tour of a young woman’s life as she’s affected by HIV).
...
2 tags
Show love to your wife (outside of the bedroom).
For all the husbands out there wondering how to show love to your wife – it doesn’t have to cost a ton of money. I (and most guys I talk to) tend to gravitate toward the mindset of “showing love” as over-the-top, like scheduling a vacation in the Bahamas or buying her a set of diamond earrings. And since I can’t afford those things, it’s tempting to just give up...
January 2011
1 post
2 tags
December 2010
3 posts
3 tags
“If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I...”
– Daniel Webster (via DesiringGod.org/blog)
What we can learn from procrastination : The New... →
“Lack of confidence, sometimes alternating with unrealistic dreams of heroic success, often leads to procrastination, and many studies suggest that procrastinators are self-handicappers: rather than risk failure, they prefer to create conditions that make success impossible, a reflex that of course creates a vicious cycle…”
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“The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise,...”
– John C. Maxwell, via the99percent.com
November 2010
1 post
3 tags
The Art of Non-Conformity: Who You Are and What...
If you are confident, they will say you are arrogant.
If you are deliberate, they will say you are too sure of yourself.
If you have a sense of purpose, they will say you are self-absorbed.
If you know who you are, they will ask, “Who are you, anyway?”
If you believe in kindness and compassion, they will say you are naïve.
If you are a dreamer, they will say join the real world.
...
October 2010
1 post
September 2010
5 posts
3 tags
WatchShould we plant churches or video campuses? Prior to watching this conversation betwen Mark Dever (Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington), James MacDonald (Harvest Bible Chapel, Chicago) & Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church, Seattle), I was definitely against the idea of video campuses. It always seemed arrogant to put one pastor in so many places rather than actually doing the work to raise up...
Blaine Hogan | Domestic God →
I had a moment of worship while reading a blog post this morning. Blaine Hogan, a creative on staff at Willow Creek Church, states what is so obvious and so often completely overlooked or, more often in my case, taken for granted on a near-constant basis.
…
I often find myself searching so hard for God.
I scurry around hunting waist deep in books, scripture, quiet times, meditation. By...
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