Books
Ben Arment sent me a Whiteboard box this week. It included a nice quality Reston Town Center book, Rob Bell's Everything is Spiritual DVD (best use of a whiteboard), a 2 disc TED dvd set (if you haven't yet, go check out the TED website), Lashey and Joyner's wonderful Hymns CD, and a nice note on Whiteboard stationary. Lot's of good stuff.
The early bird registration for the cheapest rate, $99, ends on the 29th of February. Sign up for the Whiteboard Sessions.
From the introduction of The Reason for God by Timothy Keller...
Only if you [believers] struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive....But even as believers should learn to look for reasons behind their faith, skeptics must learn to look for a type of faith hidden within their reasoning. All doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs....Every doubt...is based on a leap of faith.
- p. xviiThe only way to doubt Christianity rightly and fairly is to discern the alternate belief under each of your doubts and then to ask yourself what reasons you have for believing it. How do you know your belief is true? It would be inconsistent to require more justification for Christian belief than you do for your own, but that is frequently what happens. In fairness you must doubt your doubts. My thesis is that if you come to recognize the beliefs on which your doubts about Christianity are based, and if you seek as much proof for those beliefs as you seek from Christians for theirs--you will discover that your doubts are not as solid as they first appeared.
- p. xviii
The Reason for God website is now up. There's a video of Keller there and some sermon links. I'm most excited about the four page "Reader's Guide" PDF. And how awesome is this, Keller on tour, including 2 Chicago locations...
NORTHWESTERN VERITAS
March 6 | 6:00PM - 7:30PM
Ryan Auditorium
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO VERITAS
March 7 | 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Kent Chemical Laboratory
1020 East 58th St.
Doug Wilson on how friendship evangelism is really about your money and material possessions...
Friendship evangelism rests upon generosity, sacrifice, kindness,openness, hospitality, goodness, and open-handedness. That is to be the texture of your life, and non-believers are welcome to come along with you. In short, is your evangelism giving or taking? Are you a benefactor or a salesman?
Alex Chediak is working through a pre-publication copy of Tim Keller's new book, The Reason for God. (Amazon)
Steve Ogne on mobilizing leaders (from GCA conference).
Whiteboard Sessions website is up.
Mike Cosper is Worship and Arts Pastor at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY. In 2006 Mike gave Acts 29 talks on "Missional Strategies for the Arts." Both messages are here.
Mark Batterson - Four Dimensions of Courage.
Timmy Brister interviews Mark Dever on Richard Sibbs.
I've been looking forward to Son of Rambow for over a year now. It's finally coming out in May. Here's the trailer...
Justin Taylor has an interview with Tim Keller about his new book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. I think this book will be a great resource for skeptical friends, due in February
OnMovements (first posted by Sam Metcalf) let's us know How to Kill a Movement.
Nelson Searcy's assimilation book is now out: Fusion: Turning First Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church. Get some free resources from the Fusion Site.
More free Jerram Barrs' resources (audio, pdf) from Monergism. Covenant Seminary stuff.
People are talking about Neil Cole's Organic Church (which just came from Amazon today). Tim Chester has a thought-provoking post, Seven Principles for Planting Organic Churches. Chester has another great quote on making new believers evangelists and church planters. Church Planting Novice explains How to Grow a Missional Church.
SUBURBIA: Watch some James Howard Kunstler on YouTube. He is often very helpful on issues of suburbia.
I have to say I'm really appreciating what I've read and reread from Jerram Barrs' The Heart of Evangelism. I think it's one of the most important books on evangelism in print. It's both comprehensive and insightful. Here's a great section on asking questions...
We need to learn to ask questions that will help us understand what is in a person's heart and mind. That is what Jesus did with this man (expert in the law in the Good Samaritan story), and we find Him taking this approach repeatedly in His discussions with people. Francis Schaeffer used to say that if he had only one hour with someone, he would spend fifty-five minutes asking questions and five minutes trying to say something that would speak to his or her situation, once he understood a little more about what was going in in his or her heart and mind. What is needed is genuine love and concern for the person we are meeting, a readiness to ask questions because we truly desire to know the person, and prayer for the discernment of the Holy Spirit about what to say.
I'm also starting into Barrs' lectures from the Covenant Seminary class on Apologetics and Outreach. It's available in audio or transcript and includes a study guide as well. Very helpful.
Sorry for the lack of suburbia links. I have many to file through and some will be on the way soon. I'm halfway through The End of Suburbia, which is disturbia-ing. Ok, not really, but I wanted to try a new word. It's interesting, to say the least. Worth watching, no question.
This is why my best friend is better than your honor student.
You need some good business books, via Fast Company.
Brian Hedgeson elder training.
David Fitch: Confessions of a Missional Pastor (Wannabe?)
Carl Trueman: What Can Miserable Christians Sing?
Is Al Mohler the best choice for SBC President this year? Many think so. Some don't. My question is: Should we have the most recognized face and voice of cultural criticism among SBC'rs be the most recognized face and voice of the Convention as a whole? As much as I love and respect Mohler, I think the answer is clearly no. What do you think?
2008 is the year of evangelism for me. It's the year of discipleship for others.
"The Tyrannus Effect" is a good example of how to get me thinking on issues of evangelism, discipleship and ecclesiology.
Speaking of evangelism...
Roger Carswell's site, author of And Some Evangelists
BeThinking.org - Engage with Culture
Tim Chester PDF: "The Kingdom of God is at Hand: Eschatology and Mission"
(Chester's blog is one of my favorites.)
Evangelism 2008 books I've picked up...
Questioning Evangelism and Corner Conversations
If I never won souls, I would sigh till I did. I would break my heart over them if I could not break their hearts. Though I can understand the possibility of an earnest sower never reaping, I cannot understand the possibility of an earnest sower being content not to reap. I cannot comprehend any one of you Christian people trying to win souls and not having results, and being satisfied without results.
Charles Spurgeon, quoted in Don Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p113)
p56 - "Evangelism is best done out of the context of a gospel community whose corporate life demonstrates the reality of the word that gave her life."
"People need to encounter the church as a network of relationships rather than a meeting you attend or a place you enter. Mission must involve not only contact between unbelievers and individual Christians, but between unbelievers and the Christian community."
p61 - "Most gospel ministry involves ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality."
p74 - "...we are failing to reach the working class with the gospel. Evangelicalism has become a largely middle-class, professional phenomenon. When we invite people to our dinners and our churches, we invite our friends, our relatives and our rich neighbors. We do not invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. What is at stake is the grace of God."
p76 - "Social action without proclamation is like a signpost to nowhere."
"...evangelism cannot be separated from social action because mission takes place through relationships and relationships are multi-faceted."
Trevin Wax has done some excellent work on N.T. Wright. Here's an interview with Wright, and a list of links to Trevin's 18 part review of John Piper's critique of Wright.
There's a new book coming out called Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be). It seems from the sample chapter I read and blurbs on the back of the book that this book is going into the pile of folks who miss the point and encourage others to do the same. I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like I'm not. Look for yourself.
Satan fears small churches more than megachurches.
Looking forward to some new Schreiner: New Testament Theology.
M'Cheyne Bible reading plan with resources. Don't forget the ESV online Bible reading plans with Scripture, including M'Cheyne. The Crossway folks have also provided a way to read the Bible/devotions/reading plan on your mobile phone. Great resource.
New Keller audio from City Life Boston: "A Broken Spirit" & "Encounter With God".
Time Magazine: Rob Bell is "The Hipper-Than-Thou Pastor."
A Missouri Baptist Acts 29'r talks "View and Brew." He (Kevin Larson) has also been interviewed by Tom Ascol.
Angela Booth's top writing blogs of 2007.
Scott Hodge talks about "Fuel," leadership training at The Orchard.
Joe Thorn has found the secret to a better prayer life, and it's probably not what you think.
The curse of knowledge is only one great reason to read Made to Stick.
Al Mohler is writing about how more and more hotels are not putting Gideon's Bibles in their drawers (BP picked it up). While I like the idea of knowing that it's there for those who need it, I think Mohler overstates his case...
...there will be no Bibles available in those hotelrooms when travelers need them, and that is a tragedy by any measure.
A "tragedy?" 9/11 was a tragedy. Pearl Harbor was a tragedy (the awful event we remember today AND the movie). Abortion is a tragedy. The Bears are a tragedy. Some hotels not carrying Bibles? Not so much. Sure it means culture is changing. Sure it means that some travelers who may have picked it up won't have it readily available. But where was that ever the main ministry to people staying in hotels anyway? It was a bonus that a few people are now eliminating. People are the front line of ministry, not books.
Ben Arment is encouraging us to strip. He's also continuing to reveal a killer conference line-up for the Whiteboard Sessions.
Dever and Ferguson lectures on preaching.
CNN interview with Gabe Lyons...
Ariel Vanderhorst interviews church planter Hunter Beaumont (dude I met at Reform & Resurge Conference in Seattle).
Publishers Weekly reviews Tim Keller's The Reason for God.
Joe Thorn on Leadership Development, Suburban Evangelism, and his new laptop.
I've spent some time with the Literary Study Bible and am really enjoying it and highly recommend it.
I generally don't enjoy study Bibles. I think they can distract Christians from reading and discovering the meaning of Scripture for themselves by encouraging people to read Scripture in a choppy way: verse or two, check the study notes, verse, cross-references, study notes, another verse, etc. Study notes can be very helpful if used correctly, but I've never seen a Christian use them in a way that I've found very helpful.
The ESV-LSB removes those bold section headings and cross-references and instead gives a shaded box with brief guidance before each chapter or two, or section or pericope of Scripture. So you start with some guidance concerning the genre, literary structure, techniques, symbolism, whatever. Then you read the passage (single-column) without distraction. That means the emphasis isn't on finding your favorite verse or cheating to get the meaning through headers or notes. The emphasis is to read it yourself and focus on getting the gist of larger sections of Scripture.
The ESV-LSB provides notes before each book of Scripture, which is in pretty much every study Bible. These are really well done. What I liked the most was the section in each book introduction describing how the book fits into the larger "story of the Bible." Brilliant. So you aren't just getting the understanding of larger sections of Scripture, or even whole books. You are also gaining understanding of how the books work together in the storyline of Scripture.
This Bible also has wider margins for your own notes and their own Bible reading plan at the end. It's easily my favorite study Bible and I hope many of you pick it up. And by the way, one of the editors of the ESV-LSB is Dr. Leland Ryken who has produced many great books including two favorites of mine: The Christian Imagination and The Liberated Imagination. Even more reason to love this study Bible.
To see it for yourself, check it out for free online for 30 days. Very helpful.
Other stuff to check out...
Literary ESV is Unapologetically Complementarian
Interview with Dr. Leland Ryken
Internet Monk's Glowing Review
It wouldn't work for me, but Sprint's new HTC Touch might be a nice phone for those who can't afford an iPhone.
As the father of an autistic son, I take notice when pediatricians urge autism screening for all children. We know our son would have been diagnosed sooner (he was diagnosed at just about 3 years old) because the symptoms were there. The article says they urge screening because "early therapy can lessen its severity." We can testify that therapy greatly helped our son, and we urge parents of autistic children to find similar therapy all the time.
Check out SBTS lectures from philosopher Alvin Plantinga.
Gary Rohrmayer is talking "Evangelistic Entropy."
Dave Zimmerman at IVP has some advice for writing books.
Five Reasons Why Churches Cannot Ignore Branding
A 9 Marks Workshop is online for free
Seattle P-I: Mars Hill makes faith cool for 20-somethings
I'm going to see Gone Baby Gone this week. It's getting great reviews.
Great slideshow about what it's like being a Cubs fan. When you are a Cubs fan you are more than a fan of a team or a sport. Love this slideshow. By the way, if you make some stupid comment about the Cubs or your particular team, I will ban you as a commenter for life. Deal with it. :)
Spiritual Warfare 101 & Satanic Stratagems
Hearing John Piper do QnA is always a good time, and very encouraging. This one was at Wheaton. Here are the rest of his Wheaton messages.
Bryan Chapell on Expository Preaching
ETS papers
Cawley talks Nation of Rebels
Christian Bale is one of my favorite living actors.
Artist and IAM founder, Makoto Fujimura: "Creating into the Void"
Chicago's literary all-stars reflect on their city
Get outta bed you lazy bum
How a writer uses GTD (What's GTD?)
Al Mohler has some good thoughts on reading books. Here are the main points, but go read the whole thing.
1. Maintain regular reading projects. I strategize my reading in six main categories: Theology, Biblical Studies, Church Life, History, Cultural Studies, and Literature. I have some project from each of these categories going at all times. I collect and gather books for each project, and read them over a determined period of time. This helps to discipline my reading, and also keeps me working across several disciplines.
2. Work through major sections of Scripture. I am just completing an expository series, preaching verse by verse through the book of Romans. I have preached and taught several books of the Bible in recent years, and I plan my reading to stay ahead. I am turning next to Matthew, so I am gathering and reading ahead -- not yet planning specific messages, but reading to gain as much as possible from worthy works on the first gospel. I am constantly reading works in biblical theology as well as exegetical studies.
3. Read all the titles written by some authors. Choose carefully here, but identify some authors whose books demand your attention. Read all they have written and watch their minds at work and their thought in development. No author can complete his thoughts in one book, no matter how large.
4. Get some big sets and read them through. Yes, invest in the works of Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and others. Set a project for yourself to read through the entire set, and give yourself time. You will be surprised how far you will get in less time than you think.
5. Allow yourself some fun reading, and learn how to enjoy reading by reading enjoyable books. I like books across the fields of literature, but I really love to read historical biographies and historical works in general. In addition, I really enjoy quality fiction and worthy works of literature. As a boy, I probably discovered my love for reading in these categories of books. I allow some time each day, when possible, to such reading. It doesn't have to be much. Stay in touch with the thrill.
6. Write in your books; mark them up and make them yours. Books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled. [Make an exception here for those rare antiquarian books that are treasured for their antiquity. Mark not thy pen on the ancient page, and highlight not upon the manuscript.] Invent your own system or borrow from another, but learn to have a conversation with the book, pen in hand.
I 've finished Seth Godin's little book The Dip. It's profoundly-simple stuff. I encourage you to pick it up, or at least read Seth's blog. Here's another quote from the book. And when it says "quit" it can mean your job, but it could be projects or programs or whatever.
Here's an assignment for you: Write it down. Write down under what circumstances you're willing to quit. And when. And then stick with it.
Here's a quote from ultramarathoner Dick Collins:
Decide before the race the conditions that will cause you to stop and drop out. You don't want to be out there saying, "Well gee, my leg hurts, I'm a little dehydrated, I'm sleepy, I'm tired, and it's cold and windy." And talk yourself into quitting. If you are making a decision based on how you feel at that moment, you will probably make the wrong decision.
...you should outline your quitting strategy before the discomfort sets in.
Seth Godin in The Dip, pages 71-72 (emphasis is the author's).
Justin Taylor interviews one of my favorite people in the world, Steve Wellum on baptism and the covenants. Wellum's chapter in Believer's Baptism is "Baptism and the Relationship Between the Covenants." Wellum was one of my best profs at SBTS. We were at the same church, spent time in his home, and still occasionally have lunch when I get to Louisville. Great guy.
