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Help Crossway - Urgent Need!

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I got an email from my friends at Crossway on a great opportunity to get a massive grant. Please help, give, spread the word! From the email..

As you may know, Crossway is a not-for-profit ministry that relies in part on gifts from people like you to accomplish major ministry projects worldwide.
 
We’ve recently been presented with an extraordinary opportunity. Generous donors have offered an all-or-nothing matching grant if we are able to raise $270,000 by May 31st—just days from now.
 
This grant could not have come at a better time. In God’s kindness, we currently have unprecedented opportunities for creating, translating, and delivering ESV Bible resources for Christians in great need—especially in China, India, and multiple countries in Africa.
 
Will you help us toward meeting this matching grant before the end of May? ...a gift of any amount will help Crossway provide significantly more Bibles and Bible study resources to the church worldwide.
 
We would be grateful for your generous response to this urgent opportunity.

Give here or view the progress toward our goal.

Please support Crossway. Their books have been such a blessing to many and the ESV is my favorite translation.

Joe Thorn on the ESV Journaling Bible

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Joe has been pestering me with multiple emails, insisting I get an ESV Journaling Bible. Now he's gone public with his love for it in his new post, "How I'm Using the ESV Journaling Bible." I'm ordering this one today. Here's a few words on how he uses the lined, wide margins...

1. Summation, Connection, and Implication.

I often write out a summation of certain truths, arguments, or passages that make things clear for me. 

2. Cross references.

Some people won’t like that the ESV Journaling Bible doesn’t have cross refernces, but I like that I get to add my own. 

3. Quotes.

I’m even throwing helpful quotes from other writers/theologians when helpful to me or those I may wind up teaching.

Check out the rest of his post. And check out the ESV Journaling Bible (also in black calfskin, natural brown leather, and other editions).

Lots-o-Links 9.22.11

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Been a while since I did a links post. Some you need to check out...

ESV Student Study Bible Giveaway

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Thanks to the fine folks at Crossway, I have an ESV Student Study Bible to giveaway to one of the readers of Reformissionary. If you are reading this, that means it could be you.

If you haven't seen or heard about it yet, here's what Crossway says about the ESV Student Study Bible...

The ESV Student Study Bible is ideally suited for students who are serious about God’s Word—who want to learn more about what the Bible teaches and how the Bible applies to all of life. 

With 12,000 clear, concise study notes, the ESV Student Study Bible provides numerous new features—including nearly 900 “Did You Know?” facts, 120 new Bible character profiles, and 15 new topical articles. It also features a new glossary of key terms, more than 80 full-color maps and illustrations, an extensive concordance, and 80,000 cross-references. These and many other features make it the most comprehensive, colorful, and content-rich student Bible available today. Suited to high school and college students, the ESV Student Study Bible is also a versatile resource for anyone engaged in serious study of God’s Word.

Created by an outstanding team of more than 100 evangelical Christian scholars, teachers, and pastors, the ESV Student Study Bible is adapted from the highly acclaimed and best-selling ESV Study Bible. With numerous new features, the ESV Student Study Bible is an invaluable resource.  For high school and college students, but equally for all students of the Bible—for everyone who loves to read and learn more about God’s Word.

You can buy it in Hardcover, Trutone Taupe, Trutone Navy, or (coming soon) Trutone Brown/Blue Arrow. I have the hardback and I just bought Sarah (14) the Trutone Taupe. We've started using it to read & discuss Esther together. I really like it so far, and glad to have this resource for my kids.

Here's how you can win a copy...

STEP 1: Copy & share the following without the quote marks on Twitter (if you aren't on Twitter, use Facebook, or do BOTH!): "The ESV Student Study Bible for FREE! RT this & comment at Reformissionary for a chance to win: http://bit.ly/q4LWTN "

STEP 2: Leave a comment below (so I can verify you did step 1). Include your full name and real email address (kept private) so I can contact the winners. For fun, also comment on your favorite, guilty-pleasure snack.

I will randomly choose ONE winner in the late afternoon/early evening on Friday (16th).

Go!

ESV GreekTools

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If you are like me, you use the ESV Online a lot. I'm always referencing it and using the ESV Study Bible notes. Now you can for $10 get lifetime access to ESV GreekTools...

ESV GreekTools puts the original language of the New Testament into the hands of beginning and advanced students, as well as seasoned pastors, scholars, and laymen looking for an affordable and accessible Greek reference tool. Intuitive, easy-to-use, and fully customizable, ESV GreekTools is an online application available through the ESVBible.org platform. Now you can do serious work with the Greek text, at home or on the go, no matter your level of proficiency.

Features:

  • Complete NA27 Greek text
  • ESV interlinear and reverse-interlinear renderings of the text
  • Complete data set for each word, including lexical data, contextual and morphological information (including parsings), and Strong’s number.
  • Powerful search tool that lets users search by Greek word, transliterated Greek word, Strong’s number, English word, or any combination of those values
  • Complete English and Greek concordances
  • Customizable interface that works seamlessly with other ESVBible.org features, including study resources and notes. 

I already bought my ESV GreekTools. Go get it.

Family Worship & Bible Reading

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I'm learning & growing to be the pastor of my family I've been called to be, and I'm enjoying leading them better in family worship and Bible reading. The recent Desiring God Pastor's Conference message by Joel Beeke on family worship was convicting and encouraging. You should check it out.

Right now we have five main resouces for family worship &/or Bible reading (singing resources aren't listed). For the most part our kids read Scripture in the morning and we use the other resouces at night. Let me know what resources you have found helpful in the comments below.

1. The Bible | Each of our kids has their own ESV Bible (compact Bible for my boys, my daughter has a prettier one). They are reading James every day in the mornings, sometimes on their own and sometimes with me and/or Molly.

2. ESV Study Bible | Same text with notes that help the family when we need a few interpretive helps on a passage. We have a copy permanently stationed in our living room for the kids to open if they need to check notes on their own. They don't do this much yet, but will get the hang of it.

3. The Story of God for Kids | Created by the good folks at Soma Communities in Tacoma, Washington. My family LOVES this. Well written and helpful notes for using it well, good questions to help it sink in. I have been reading it off my Kindle to them. Last night Elijah was peppering me with questions as he is piecing together the larger "Story of God" from the lessons blending together. Wonderful resource. Check out their other resources for adults and small groups.

Operation World

4. Operation World: A Prayer Guide to the Nations | Eye-opening for our kids as they learn about the world and the needs of the world from a missionary perspective. They love to thumb through the pages and learn about a new country. We are putting little biographies of missionaries in their hands and they want to learn about those countries today. We want to teach them to pray BIG prayers to our BIG God for our BIG world. UPDATE: Commenter reminded me of Window on the World, an Operation World of sorts for younger kids. We have that and the kids like it a lot.

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5. Four Holy Gospels | Just got this in the mail yesterday. It's the most beautiful Bible I've ever seen, with artwork by NYC artist Makoto Fujimura. Our family was able to meet Mako and attend the Crossway Books release event for the project. We now plan on using the Bible at least once a week (Sundays) to take turns reading aloud from a Gospel together before we leave the house to gather with our local church. It's nice to add a substantial piece like this into our family worship & Bible reading that will last through the years as a family treasure.

Four Holy Gospels & Makoto Fujimura

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I was invited to Crossway Books in Wheaton for the release of the Four Holy Gospels project featuring the ESV version of the four Gospels in a giant book format illuminated through the artwork of Makoto Fujimura.

The whole family got to attend and I really enjoyed it. Upon arrival the crowd was abuzz, the sugar water was flowing, appetizers were being served, and within a few minutes my wife and four kids found and "cornered" Mako. I was busy talking with Collin Hansen who introduced me to Stan Guthrie, an editor at large at Christianity Today. Then I noticed Molly talking to Mako and looking for me. That's a good woman. So I ditched Collin and Stan, who (I think) understood my abrupt departure, and went to talk to Mako.

Mako Four He was kind and humble. We talked about his church, Redeemer in NYC, and his time at Resurrection Presbyterian during their time as a plant. I mentioned how much I have enjoyed his book, Refractions, which really is a great book on faith, art, and culture. So glad I got a chance to interact with one of my favorite artists of any stripe. Then the presentation got formal as Mako and others spoke.

The Four Holy Gospels really is beautiful. I'd love a copy, but can't afford one just now. It's $130 (cloth) through Crossway (or $350 leather, wow), but you can get cloth on Amazon for $73.40. I can imagine sitting down with my family every night and reading through the Gospels illuminated by this great artwork. 

Crossway's post after the event explains the art...

Mako Letters

The Four Holy Gospels incorporates five large-scale paintings, including the frontispiece, “Charis-Kairos (The Tears of Christ)” and four opening plates (one for each of the Gospels); plus eighty-nine initial letters (each painted, and many adorned with gold flecks and foil) specifically created for each chapter opening; as well as more than seventy individually-painted reflections and embellishments complementing the Gospels.

I do hope many will take advantage of the opportunity to own this unique piece of art. I'm grateful to Crossway for the invite, and grateful for the chance to look through this beautiful book and meet Makoto Fujimura. Visit Mako's website, read some of his writings, and follow him on Twitter @iamfujimura.

Mako Tree

Things I Use

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Productivity & Analog Tools - Everyday Carry

UPDATED January 2017

Pencils

Music

Computer

Apple & Kindle & Tech

Bibles & Devotional

Photography

Poetry

  • Field Notes | I am using a subscription-only version of their reporter's notebook for poetry writing
  • Notes | I write some on-the-go in my Notes app

Apps & Tools

  • Apple Music | Family subscription
  • Squarespace | personal blog & church website
  • Tweetbot | for Twitter
  • Pocket | articles and posts archive
  • iTunes | for music & iPod sync
  • Amazon Prime | mostly for shipping, also for music
  • Vimeo & YouTube | family & church videos
  • Feedly | Use infrequently to see some blogs
  • Trello | Quickly becoming the greatest app ever in my eyes
  • Google Docs | So much done here