October 2014 – jtcochran.com

Monthly Archives: October 2014

Alliance Defending Freedom Dinner Party in South Elgin

South Elgin, IL — On Thursday evening, October 30th, Grady and Lora Hauser hosted a dinner party for Alliance Defending Freedom in their S. Elgin home. Following dinner Matthew Rawlings, MidEast Leadership Development Director, and Matthew Bowman, Senior Legal Counsel, presented updates on progress Alliance Defending Freedom has made during the last year of defending liberties and rights for unborn children, Christian businesses, and the family. Rawlings reported that 80% of cases are won by Alliance Defending Freedom. Bowman presented on the injunction he placed on behalf of Tyndale House Publishing. A film clip , Houston subpoenas pastors to turn over sermons, from the Hannity show played. In the clip, host, Sean Hannity, offers to bail out Houston Pastor Steve Riggle of Grace Church, if necessary. One of Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior counsel’s, Erik Stanley represented Pastor Steve Riggle and interviewed with Hannity as well. Following the presentation Mark Taylor, President of Tyndale House Publishing, read a moving essay entitled, “What’s a Christian Business Owner Supposed to Do?”, which may be read in its entirety at World Magazine here . Learn more about the ministry of Alliance Defending Freedom here .

Social Media, Pessimist in Progressive Age, Economic Inequality, Haunting Theology.

Amy Whitefield. Social Media, Civil Discourse, and the Fear of Missing Out. (CT)

This is a lesson I return to time and again, particularly in a new day where conversation happens in a form I never imagined. Social media has changed everything—it is a two-sided coin, capable of beauty and horror.

Three Free Books from Ligonier — John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology; The Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther; The Expository Genius of John Calvin.

Ed. Christopher Morgan & Kendell Easley. The Community of Jesus. Reviewed by Andy Nasselli. (9M)

Matthew Lee Anderson. The Media, Evangelicals, and Me: On Being a Pessimist in a Progressive Age. (MereO)

The conservative evangelical world has confronted stories over the past two weeks of defectors and would-be defectors to the traditional view of marriage. Hillsong, the mega-mega church from Australia who are re-colonizing the West with their church plants, found themselves under the spotlight precisely by trying to avoid it . Conservatives denounced them, led by one-time Mere-O writer Andrew Walker , and they promptly came out and said that Saint Paul was right, guys, and everything is A-OK. Then Jonathan Merritt wrote a story on David Gushee’s change of heart that was sent around with trumpets and fanfare.

I was mildly critical of both Andrew and Jonathan’s pieces for related but slightly different reasons.

Joseph Sunde. When Should We Be Worried About Economic Inequality? (ACTON)

The topic of economic inequality continues to be at the forefront of our current political discussions, thanks in no small part by a president who calls it “the defining challenge of our time.”

Geoffrey Reiter. Haunting Theology: How the Gothic Mode Can Speak to Christians. (CaPC)

‘Tis the season for monsters, mad scientists, and dark and stormy nights. The history of horror and its association with All Hallows’ Eve is a fascinating topic in itself, but one of the most pertinent branches to this spooky old tree is the strand of fiction we now call the Gothic. More than just a moniker for black-garbed teenagers, the Gothic is an enduring strand woven throughout literature, art, and film over the past two and a half centuries. And despite a reputation (not wholly unearned) for being too bleak for innocent evangelical eyes, the Gothic often brings out some valuable points that remain relevant to Christians, whether we like to face them or not.

1 Timothy 4:13 “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”

“Public worship will not excuse us from secret worship.” Matthew Henry

Manhood & Theology: Exegesis (CBMW Guest Article)

I had the pleasure of contributing to CBMW’s series on Manhood and Theology. I wrote on exegesis, talking about how every man needs to read the Book, his church, his family, and his world.

Men are leaders. As leaders they need to be exceptional exegetes, because exegesis is at the heart of leadership. According to the Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible , exegesis means both “to lead” or “to explain” (203). The dictionary clearly points out: “In biblical literature it is always used in the sense ‘to explain, interpret, or describe’” (203). But let’s not forget this term’s full field of meaning.

Solid leaders are extraordinary readers. Albert Mohler writes in The Conviction to Lead , “When you find a leader, you have found a reader” (Kindle location 1188). Would you describe yourself as an extraordinary reader? I’m not just talking about an extraordinary reader of the Wall Street Journal or biographies, like George Washington and Winston Churchill. I’m talking about an extraordinary reader of the Book and your context.

You see, exegesis starts with the Book, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, but it doesn’t stop there. Extraordinary exegetes read the Scripture and explain it in the context of their church, family, and world. After all, what good is reading, if you don’t explain it?

Leaders are explainers, and explainers are leaders.

READ THE REST AT THE COUNCIL ON BIBLICAL MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD

Adoption, What Edwards Preached to Kids, Reformation Day, Butcher/Baker/Biotech Maker.

Sara Hagerty. All My Children Are ‘My Own’. (CT)

Editor’s note: In honor of the upcoming Orphan Sunday , author and mother Sara Hagerty shares with us the following essay about how the language we use around adoption reflects our understanding of our adoption into the family of God.

“We prefer not to refer to our children as ‘adopted children’ as we see adoption as having been a one-time event. We just call them our children,” Hagerty said.

A God-Sized Vision by Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge $2.99

Tom Nettles. Living by Revealed Truth. Reviewed by Joe B. Kim. (Themelios)

Gloria Furman. What Did Edwards Preach to Kids?

“Mommy and Daddy and your siblings love you so much. But guess who loves you m-o-o-o-ost of all?” This is a question we’ve asked our children since they were tiny, prompted by the excellent children’s book by Noel Piper, “ Most of All Jesus Loves You ” (illustrated by the talented Debby Anderson). Our response to Christ’s love is to love him with our everything. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). This is what Jonathan Edwards preached to children in his congregation. In a sermon preached to children, Edwards gives many reasons “why children ought to love Jesus Christ above things in the world.”* A few of his reasons are excerpted below…

Robert Rothwell. What Is Reformation Day All About? (Ligonier)

On Friday, much of the culture will be focused on candy and things that go bump in the night. Protestants, however, have something far more significant to celebrate on October 31. Friday is Reformation day, which commemorates what was perhaps the greatest move of God’s Spirit since the days of the Apostles. But what is the significance of Reformation Day, and how should we consider the events it commemorates?

Jim Mullins. The Butcher, the Baker, and the Biotech Maker. (TGC)

Over a cup of coffee, Wendell—an entrepreneur with a PhD in biomedical engineering—told me that he was thinking about making a career change. “I don’t want to waste my life,” he said. “I want to do something that has real significance, where I can glorify God and actually love people.” He went on to ask me if I thought he should become a pastor, a missionary, or a nonprofit leader—jobs he thought really mattered in God’s economy.

1 Samuel 26:23 “The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness.”

“The first foundation of righteousness undoubtedly is the worship of God.” John Calvin

As the Logos 6 release continues to make the circuit in the Christian Blogosphere, I want to take this moment to say that I am extremely happy with this product and the new release of Logos 6. You might know that about a month ago I happily switched from Accordance to Logos. I wrote about it here .

And like I said before, the Logos 6 release is making its way around the internet. Check out these posts here:

Joe Thorn’s Article: Logos 6 – BOOM!

Aaron Armstrong’s Article: A Look at Logos 6

Jeremy Walker (Ref21): Logos 6 Arrives

Andy Naselli: Logos 6 Releases Today

What I Like About Logos 6

First, I appreciated the seamless transition. Like I said, I’m just getting used to the Logos product. There is nothing worse than when you just learn a product and then they overhaul it and you have to learn the whole thing again.

The Logos 6 release intuitively transitions users to new functionality. It’s not like a whole new product, yet at the same time, you get all sorts of new options in that product you’ve loved.

I’m really excited about the new Atlas features and all the additions to the Lexham study sources. These I’ve made great use of over the last month.

Check Out this What’s New video for Logos 6

If you don’t have Logos 6, you can get it now with a 15% discount. Use the link below to make the most of your bible study!

Pugilistic Pastors, Penal Substitution, 7 Figures, Healing Handlers of Mud.

Mark Moring. Pugilistic Pastors. (CT)

I find it a fascinating coincidence that Fight Church , a new documentary about preachers who hold “fight clubs” at their houses of worship, was released on Netflix less than 24 hours after controversial pastor Mark Driscoll resigned from Mars Hill Church.

Gospel-Centered Teaching by Trevin Wax $2.99

H B Charles Jr. On Preaching. Reviewed by Garrett Kell. (9M)

Derek Rishmawy. The Beauty of the Cross: 19 Objections and Answers on Penal Substitution.

That said, I do want to engage some of the broadly theological objections against it, as well as correct popular caricatures of the doctrine along the way. I have to say that a number of the issues that people have with penal substitution are quite understandable when you consider some of the silliness that passes for biblical preaching on the subject in popular contexts. Those who affirm the doctrine as true and beautiful do our hearers no benefit when we defend misshapen, caricatured versions of the doctrine. I’ll try to do my best to avoid that in what follows.

Joe Carter. 7 Figures: Family Structure and Economic Success. (ACTON)

Family structure is one of the most significant, though oft-overlooked, factors that affect the economic fortunes of Americans. A new study from AEI titled “ For Richer or Poorer ” documents the relationships between family patterns and economic well-being in America and shows how radically it can affect income.

Lore Ferguson. Healing Handlers of Mud.

It can be tempting when we speak about polarizing subjects to use mud as a weapon instead of a healing agent. To use rhetoric and lost trust to increase the divide instead of close it. But Christ is a reconciling agent and nothing is beyond his ability to change and heal.

Let us be healing handlers of mud.

Philippians 3:3 “For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

“To worship God in spirit is to worship from the inside out.” Donald S. Whitney

Featured Articles / Trunk Club

What Trunk Club Knows about the World’s Values: Style, Part One

The other day I got curious. Why? Because of well placed social media advertising. It has a high success rate. The reach and frequency of it plants messages necessary to arouse consumer curiosity — and all the other stuff I learned in my marketing undergrad.

Needless to say, I clicked through on a Trunk Club ad, and I learned a lot about myself. What’s Trunk Club? It’s kind of fascinating. It’s a program that pairs men with stylists who help them pick their wardrobe. Men, or wife/girlfriend, interact with a personal stylist who learns the wants and preferences of a fellow.

Guys fill out a brief survey requiring self identification. Is his current style level clueless, confident, or aficionado? What looks does he find most appealing? What brands does he gravitate to most frequently?

The stylist sends a trunk that includes a whole outfit or two or more. If you like what you receive, you keep it, and are billed for it. But you can ship back everything for free, if you wish.

This business concept got me thinking about what this program says about our values. There are a number of values in our world that Trunk Club taps into. This is the first part in a series that will explore these values.

“He is the dapperest dressed man in all Christendom.”

That is the tongue-in-cheek introduction I heard applied to Gregory Alan Thornbury at a recent conference. No doubt, it is an apt introduction. Only Paul David Tripp contends against Thornbury for this claim. You know this is true if you navigate the evangelical conference subculture I sojourn.

You also might recognize other finely styled Christian influencers. Dr. Anthony Bradley, another King’s College man, and Albert Mohler both come to mind. Mohler emphasizes publicly the importance of dressing professionally. These men have fine tastes in clothing and classy style.

I will not fault them for this. Please keep in mind that this is not a critique; it’s an observation. I’m not judging this value as either morally wrong or good. The dapper yuppie look is similar to the flannels, military lapels, or pearl-snap urban outfitters of the A29 ilk. This style value is a matter of contextualization.

The world values a well put together style. Certain assumptions come with this: success, productivity, and prestige are a few. It’s also been shown through studies that those who dress well perform better at work, school, and are happier people. Or at least that’s what my seminary student dean told me when we discussed the business professional dress code of my alma mater.

Trunk Club taps into this perception of style’s importance, the penchant for having a polished look. It can be casual or professional, but it’s a look. It’s intended to catch the eye and attract.

Does Scripture make observations about fashion swagger?

Scripture says that a woman’s outward adornment should be modest (1 Tim. 2:9). This is clear. But I would like to juxtapose this observation to the remarkable description about how our world responds to style in 2 Chronicles 9. When the queen of Sheba visits and talks to Solomon, she sizes him up. After listening to his wisdom, she sees how the Lord prospers him.

And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing , his cupbearers, and their clothing , and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her. And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the reports that I heard. (2 Chr. 9:3-6)

One metric the Queen of Sheba uses to measure Solomon’s prosperity and wisdom includes the fine garments of his servants. Solomon had the luxury to dress his servants well. Note no mention is given of Solomon’s garments; it can be assumed kings have fashion swagger.

Scripture records that fine garments elicit a response from people. They are a sign of success, prosperity, and blessing from God. This is the world in which the Queen of Sheba lives and Trunk Club knows that this value withstands the test of time. We’re not in one piece neo-prene Star Trek suits yet.

The Lord doesn’t look at outward appearances, he looks to the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). But the world sure does look at outward appearances and forms judgments based on style.

How should Christians respond to this as we engage the world? Should Christians embrace fashion swagger to be conversant with the world? Should we ascetically suppress it? How do we do this and be modest? What do you think?

Freedom as Authority, Secular Sex Ethics, Visit Their Workplace, Criticize w/out Being Mean.

David Koyzis. Freedom as Authority. (First Things)

M ore than half a century ago, Roman Catholic philosopher Yves René Simon observed that authority has come to have a bad reputation in the modern world. Our western societies value personal freedom so highly that any intervention by an authority outside our own wills is deemed an imposition at best and outright oppression at worst. The French Revolution of 1789, perhaps more than any other event in recent history, has implanted in western consciousness the myth of the heroic popular revolt against oppressive authority. So thoroughly did the Revolution succeed in this that the default position for many of us today is to be suspicious of authority’s claims from the outset, whatever their content.

Conduct Gospel-Centered Funerals by Brian Croft and Phil Newton $2.99

Chris Bruno and Matt Dirks. Churches Partnering Together. Reviewed by Matthew Spandler-Davison. (TGC)

Aaron Armstrong. The Preposterous Inconsistency of Secular Sexual Ethics.

“Sexual preference is a human right.”

I read these words Sunday afternoon as CBC radio personality Jian Ghomeshi, best known as the host of Q, announced that he had been fired from theCanadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) because of his sexual preferences, and would be suing the taxpayer-funded broadcasting company for a hefty sum.

Greg Forster. Pastor, Why Not Visit Their Workplace? (TGC)

If you’re a pastor, every week congregants visit you in your workplace and watch you do your job. Part of your job is to prepare them to take what they learn from you in your workplace and carry it back to their own workplaces. Wherever they do their work—on the job or in the home—they need your support to persevere in honesty, diligence, self-control, and generosity, in the midst of terrible brokenness.

One of the most important things you can do for them is return the favor. They visit you in your workplace regularly. Why not visit them in theirs?

Matt Smethurst. How to Criticize Other Christians without Being Mean. (Christianity.com)

At various times in my Christian life I’ve been startled by the ease with which I can jump to conclusions, assume the worst, and demonize those with whom I disagree. In these moments the Lord has often reminded me, sometimes painfully, of a simple truth: don’t let your zeal for principle eclipse your love for people.

Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

“In every part of our worship we must present Christ to God in the arms of faith.” Thomas Watson

Kevin Vanhoozer on the logoscentricity of Christ and Christianity

Kevin Vanhoozer’s Is There a Meaning in This Text? is a critical work in the study of exegesis. His key dialogue partner with whom he interacts and critiques is Jacque Derrida and his system of Deconstructionism. What I’ve enjoyed most about this book is reading about how these philosophical and theoretical systems on exegesis work and then connecting this to how I’ve seen people in real life articulate these same ideas.

The following are a series of quotes from the end of Chapter two :

Not only is Jesus the sign of the presence of God, but he is the originator of creation and salvation. Jesus’ supreme authority follows from his authorship. Moreover, the Bible virtually defines life and death, heaven and hell, in terms of God’s presence and absence. The story of salvation is the story of how humanity regains the presence of God through God’s gracious gift of Christ.

Either Christ is the “home” or locus of God’s presence, truth, light, and the fullness of being and grace, or he is not. Jesus himself certainly appeared to have a logocentric understanding: “I am the light of the world”; “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 8:12; 14:6). Christology here appears wholly logos-centric: Jesus Christ is the source and center, not only of meaning and truth, but of joy, freedom, and abundant life as well.

There is some warrant, therefore, in calling Christianity logocentric. Against Derrida, however, this emphasis on God’s presence in Christ does not lead to a diminished regard for the written word. That divine revelation is mediated through Word and Spirit — that is, through Scripture read in faith — was a constant theme of the Reformers, for instance. And, precisely because the written word is accompanied by the Spirit, the Christian need not choose between logocentrism and writing (as defined by Derrida). On the contrary, the authenticity of the written text is guaranteed by a “real presence.” In the Christian tradition, then, written words may mediate personal presence, just as Christ mediates the presence of God.

Brothers We Are Not Professionals by John Piper

This review first appeared at Lifeway’s Pastors Today web blog.

John Piper. Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry . Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Books, 2013. 320 pp. $14.99

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals is the culmination of ministry lessons learned by one of the most respected pastoral leaders in the 20 th -21 st century, John Piper. Piper shares thirty-six lessons that cover subjects such as ministry philosophy, theology, purpose, function, and the study habits of a pastor. Each chapter offers pastors piercing insights from Piper’s thirty years of ministry at Bethlehem Baptist Church. You will find summations of his many other works imbedded in these poignant chapters.

This edition of Brothers, We Are Not Professionals is recently updated and expanded, including six new chapters: 4, God Does Make Much of Us; 6, God is the Gospel; 13, Be Bible-Oriented – Not Entertainment-Oriented – Preachers; 18, Pursue the Tone of the Text; 22, Help Them Act the Miracle; and 27, Bodily Training is of Some Value.

Rather than focusing on business, technology, systems and processes – as many pastoral handbooks do these days – Brothers, We Are Not Professionals makes its ballast heart matters. Piper kicks off the book with these words from chapter one, “We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry” (1). This concern of Piper’s, that the church is becoming increasingly professional and decreasingly inspectional on heart matters, is a driving force behind each of the book’s talking points. After all, the pastor who has a healthy heart, filled with affections for Christ, will shepherd the church well.

Benefit for Pastoral Ministry

I cannot think of a better book for a pastor to walk through in order to warm his heart to Christ and the Church. Young pastors need to read this book and reread it; veteran pastors should keep returning to this book.

Reading Brothers, We Are Not Professionals is like sitting with Piper and drawing from the well of wisdom he would offer in an hour long conversation, while also heeding the prophetical warnings concerning temptations that will assuredly seek a pastor.

Brother, We Are Not Professionals caused me to reflect on subjects I otherwise would not have considered. Many of Piper’s exhortations were novel considerations for me. He encouraged me to read biography (Chapter 16), pursue the tone of the text (Chapter 18), and bodily train myself (Chapter 27).

Other concepts I knew to be functions of the pastorate took on deeper meanings. An instance of this is the chapter on Magnifying the Meaning of Baptism (Chapter 23). This chapter arrested my attention and reinforced a fierce conviction to defend a credo-baptistic view.

Furthermore, Piper helped me think through matters of ethics like abortion (Chapter 33), racism (Chapter 32) and how to handle calamitous events like 9/11, Columbine, or hurricane Katrina (Chapter 30).

Above all, this book prompted me to be passionate and serious in all areas of life. Piper writes – echoing Spurgeon’s exhortation to earnestness in Lectures to My Students : “Brothers, we must let the river run deep. This is a plea for passion in the pulpit, passion in prayer, passion in conversation” (172).

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals is a library essential. I know I already said this, but it is worth restating: buy this book; read it; read it again every few years. If a young pastor asked me: “What should be my first read on the pastorate as a pastor?” I would suggest this one. This book will help some through a spiritual desert and rescue others from a dangerous or deadly path towards destruction.

Will you, pastor, carve out time to enrich and enliven your soul rather than look for the next fix to your most recent ministry problem or the next silver bullet trick to enter mega-church land? Listen to this fitting point from Piper:

For you own soul and for the life of your church, fight for time to feed your soul with rich reading…If you want to stay alive to what is great and glorious and beautiful and eternal, you will have to fight for time to look through the eyes of others who were in touch with God. (80)

Essential Recommended Helpful Pass It By

If Scripture is a map and prayer a compass pointing to God, then Brothers, We Are Not Professionals is a travel guide worth consulting.

Oliver Crisp Interview, Don’t be that Parent on Halloween, Wrong Reason to Join a Church, Stop Apologizing for God.

Kevin P Emmert. The Softer Face of Calvinism. (CT)

Few figures in church history have been so much loved or hated, admired or despised as John Calvin. Calvinism—the theological orientation bearing the French theologian’s name—has also had mixed reception. Reformed theologian Oliver Crisp, professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, says Calvinism and the Reformed tradition is more diverse and amiable than is often thought. CT assistant online editor Kevin P. Emmert talked with Crisp about his new book, Deviant Calvinism: Broadening Reformed Theology (Fortress Press), and the landscape of Reformed theology.

The Lost Art of Disciple Making by LeRoy Eims $2.99

Ed. Jason Sexton. Two View on the Doctrine of the Trinity. Reviewed by Jennifer Guo. (Grace4Sinners)

Dan Darling. On Halloween, Don’t Be That Parent.

So it’s Halloween and parents everywhere are finalizing their plans for next week. Candy is purchased and placed in the requisite pumpkin bucket near the front door. Costumes are selected and purchased. And evangelical car trunks stand ready to be decorated for the church parking lot. It’s go time.

But before you venture out at the end of this week, make sure you are ready, as a parent, for the holiday. To get you ready I’m here with some important things not to do.

Nick Batzig. 7 Wrong Reasons to Join a Church. (Reformed Forum)

Committing yourself and your family to a local church is one of the most important decisions you will ever make this side of eternity; and yet, for all the weightiness of it, it is a decision to which the larger part of church attenders have given little to no thought. Over the past three decades, I have witnessed multitudes of individuals and families choose to join churches for the wrong reason(s). While there is a plethora of helpful resources out there to help people understand the right reasons to join a church , the right reasons to leave a church and the right way to leave a church , there is very little that speaks directly to wrong reasons to join a church. While more could be added to them, here are 7 common wrong reasons for which people join churches…

Tony Reinke. Stop Apologizing for God. (DG)

Putting God behind the cage of politically correctness isn’t going to happen. The attempt itself will prove to be the death of our worship, our gospel, our mission, and our holiness. In the end we make ourselves trivial.

God is not a kitten. He’s a tiger. He’s good, but he’s not tame. He is the God we find in Ezekiel. If we chose to live in denial, our worship will weaken, our standards of purity will diminish, our mission will skid to a halt, our message will be hollowed out, and our part in God’s global work will become more and more trivial.

Cultural irrelevance may not be the worst consequence of yawning at God, but it’s certainly one of them.

John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

“To worship God in truth is to worship him as he commands.” R C Sproul

Age of Ultron, Heaven and Previews that Oversell or Undersell

Recently, the trailer to the latest installment of the Avengers serial: Age of Ultron released. Anytime a preview to a highly anticipated movie releases there is always a wave of response from the populace. That response can be read on Twitter, overheard in cafes, and felt weighty in the air of light-hearted conversation. People become passionate about their expectation on entertainment. I mean, if we’re gonna dish out $10-15 for an evening at the theater, that preview better not oversell, right? So conversations wage over prediction, projections: Will this preview let me down or will it fulfill my need for catharsis?

Previews and Sunday Worship

I’m not gonna Jesus Juke a punchline at the end of this article. I’m going to show you my cards right here. The reality is movie previews are similar and dissimilar to Sunday Worship. Movie trailers preview movies and they often oversell; Sunday worship previews heaven and it cannot oversell.

The correlation of the two, movie previews and Sunday worship, really depends on where you go on Sunday. Some churches try desperately to emulate the elements of affective movie trailers: climactic music, punchy one-line tweetables, whimsical, humorous, passionate, suspenseful moments. Why do they do this? Well, the Sunday preview is said elsewhere to offer a glimpse of heaven and lead you to wonder and long for its mystery. At least that is a common cliche I’ve heard. Have you? No doubt, those churches want people to want heaven, and you can’t fault them for that; it’s a genuine motivation.

But wouldn’t you agree that you’ve entered many churches for a Sunday preview and left knowing it dramatically undersold, even misrepresented the astonishing wonder and magisterial splendor that is heaven? I have. I’ve left embarrassed that I was caught in those places, just like I felt after walking out 30 minutes into the first The Avengers movie.

Walking out of The Avengers, you think I’m nuts. Don’t you? Blockbuster cast, amazing effects, all the one-liners you could ever want. Why would I walk out of that? Well, I’m not talking about the more recent The Avengers (2012) with Robert Downy Jr. and Scarlett Johansson. I’m talking about The Avengers (1998) with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman. I’m talking about the shameful one with Sean Connery in a bunny suit, holding the world ransom by mastering the weather. It doesn’t get more shameful than that. How did I find myself viewing that odious film in the Palace 9 theatre on Ft. Worth’s Sundance Square as a Junior in High School?

I got oversold on a hyped preview.

As much as we conjecture what heaven will be like, we really don’t have much idea. Whether it’s Randy Alcorn’s Heaven or the C. S. Lewis portrayal in T he Great Divorce , I think we’re going to stagger and shudder in wonder and exultation of the Heaven which is for real. Thankfully, I can’t get oversold on something that is such a mystery.

Friends, whatever happens on Sunday morning is really a meager morsel of heaven. It’s the dregs of coffee or the crumbs of a Fig Newton, which is a cookie folks, not a cake! It’s the navel lint to the perfection we’ll behold. It’s a minute foretaste of heaven indeed.

We need to be careful what we present on Sunday mornings because people will leave, not oversold, but scoffingly undersold, because pyrotechnics were leveraged rather than providence proclaimed.

I firmly believe the key to properly previewing heaven isn’t wowing people with contemporvant antics but proclaiming the God who is. When people witness others astonished by the gospel paradox, lapping up delight in Christ, and sitting under the preached Word, they will not scoff, be put-off, be undersold or oversold. They will taste the goodness of God breaking into the world of men; they will trade the secular universe for the created cosmos.

Irrational Atheism, Self-Promotion, Waiting on God, Pastor’s Swagger.

Crispin Sartwell. Irrational Atheism. (The Atlantic) HT David Murray

I’m an atheist because I think of the universe as a natural, material system. I think of it, on the basis of my own extremely limited experience, as an infinitely replete but morally indifferent thing. It isn’t bent on saving me, or damning me: It just is. I find comfort in that, as well as pain; wonder as well as loathing. That’s my experience, and my atheism is a reflection of that experience. But it’s not an argument; it’s an interpretation.

I have taken a leap of atheist faith.

Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis $0.99

Eric Mason. Beat God to the Punch. Reviewed by Mathew Sims. (CBMW)

Joseph Tenney. Self-Promotion and Our Fear of Obscurity. (DG)

We all love to be praised and celebrated. We want a name for ourselves. We crave a platform of respect. We desire to be important to other people. We want our work to be appreciated. In some shape or form, this is true for all of us — perhaps especially for pastors and Christian leaders.

Christina Fox. Five Ways to Glorify God While You Wait. (True Woman)

Whatever our in-betweens are, how do we live while we wait? How do we wait for God to act, to answer prayer, to move in the desperation of our lives? How do we live by faith while we wait to hear if we need another test, for the long hoped for engagement ring, for the entrance exam scores, or for our house to sell? This is where the rubber meets the road in our daily lives.

Peter Chin. When Pastors Lose Swagger. (CT)

Yes, believe it or not, pastors have swagger, and/or mojo. Though we usually spiritualize it and call it “anointing”, and/or “gifting”. In essence, it is that confidence that a pastor has in his or her skills and abilities, which allows them to minister more effectively, and inspire others to greater faith. Never was my swagger more evident and more utilized than when I planted my own church almost exactly five years ago.

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

“Worship is the adoring contemplation of God as he has revealed himself in Christ and in his Word.” J. Oswald Sanders

Quotes from Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper

One of the pivotal reads in my pastoral calling has been Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper. This book has been an ongoing comfort and sharpening to me when I’ve become pastorally dull-minded, which all pastors experience.

In 2013 B&H Publishers released an updated and expanded edition of this present-day classic. This new edition includes six additional chapters: 4, 6, 13, 18, 22, and 27. These are welcomed additions to this book.

If you’ve never read Brothers, We Are Not Professionals , I heartily commend it to you. John Piper’s passion for the pastorate and the building of heathy churches brims throughout this book.

1. “We Pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry” (1).

2. “Many people are willing to be God-centered as long as they feel that God is man-centered” (6).

3. “An appeal to God’s righteousness is at root an appeal to His unswerving allegiance to the value of His own holy name” (13).

4. “The aim has been to help people relocate that bottom of their joy — the decisive foundation of their joy — from self to God” (17).

5. “The ultimate end of the gospel is coming home to God” (48).

6. “God is not looking for people to work for Him but people who let Him work mightily in and through them” (56).

7. “God was the workman in our justification and he will be the workman in our sanctification” (58).

8. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him…My life is devoted to helping people make God their God, by wakening in them the greatest pleasures in Him” (61).

9. “A cry for help form the heart of a childlike pastor is a sweet praise in the ears of God” (70).

10. “The importance of prayer rises in proportion to the importance of the things we should give up in order to pray” (77).

11. “Brothers, beware of sacred substitutes. Devote yourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (78).

12. “The domestication of God is a curse on preaching in our day” (87).

13. “The difference between an entertainment-oriented preacher and a Bible-oriented preacher is whether there is a manifest connection between the preacher’s words and the Bible as what authorizes what he says” (90).

14. “One of the greatest tragedies in the church today is the depreciation of the pastoral office” (101).

15. “If you feel dependent on God to help you see the meaning of a text, then you will cry to Him for help” (115).

16. “Pursue the tone of the text. But let it be informed, not muted, by the tonal balance of Jesus and the apostles and by the gospel of grace” (121).

17. “The eternal life of the elect hangs on the effectiveness of pastoral labors” (127).

18. “When the heart no longer feels the truth of hell, the gospel passes from good news to simply news” (134).

19. “The first spiritual step on the Calvary road of radical obedience to Jesus is repentance” (138).

20. “So preaching that aims to produce true evangelical remorse and contrition must devote itself to making God and His holiness look alluring attractive and satisfying, so that, by the grace of regeneration and illumination, people will come to love it so much that they feel intense remorse over falling short of it” (143).

Archbishop Ditches Mansion, Seeing God in Suffering, God in the Grocery Aisle, Justin Buzzard and Sabbath Rest.

Daniel Burke. New Chicago ArchBishop Ditches $14 Million Mansion. (CNN)

Chicago’s new archbishop does not plan to live in the $14 million mansion that housed many of his predecessors but was seen by some Catholics as out of touch with Pope Francis’ emphasis on simplicity.

Instead, Archbishop Blase Cupich, a moderate in the mold of Francis, will live in the rectory of Holy Name Cathedral, the archdiocese of Chicago announced Wednesday .

Church Elders by Jeramie Rinne $0.99

Peter Enns. The Bible Tells Me So. Reviewed by Michael Kruger. (TGC)

Eric McKiddie. 3 Ways to See God in Your Suffering. (Christianity.com)

Horatio Spafford didn’t know it, but he was about to face incredible suffering. He planned a family vacation to Europe for the fall of 1873, but a business emergency kept him from traveling with his family. Intending to join his family after he attended to the situation, he sent his wife, Anna, and their four daughters ahead of him. During his family’s voyage their ship collided with another vessel. Although Anna survived, their four daughters drowned.

Lindsey Carlson. God Is in the Grocery Aisle. (DG)

Should we write-off healthy eating? Of course not! But neither do we need to anxiously obsess over every morsel on our plates, lest our fixation with our food consume us. Jesus tells us we shouldn’t worry about what we eat or drink ( Matthew 6:25 ). “Is not life more than food?” Our heavenly Father is sovereign over our health, our bodies, and the number of our days, so we’re free to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ( Matthew 6:33 ), not our meal plan. When worries about food cause me to shrink back in fear and forget God’s kingdom, I need the gospel to remind me time and again: Jesus is the one who makes me clean, not my food.

Gavin Ortlund. Our Neglected Practice: An Interview with Justin Buzzard on Sabbath Rest. (TGC)

Do you know what its like to experience a “deep reservoir of refreshment that continually rejuvenates you”? Or (like me) do you too often feel hurried and distracted? Could it be that our frequent neglect of Sabbath rest reflects a gap in our trust in the gospel?

To learn more about Sabbath rest, and its roots in the gospel, I corresponded with Justin Buzzard, lead pastor at Garden City Church in Silicon Valley, California, and author of books like The Big Story , Date Your Wife , and Why Cities Matter .

2 Samuel 22:50 “For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name.”

“Worship is the adoration of a redeemed people, occupied with God himself.” A. W. Pink

Five New Testament Introductions

Finding the best books to read on a subject of theology can be a challenge. This series provides suggested resources for topics of Theology. Each title is linked to Amazon, if available. If you have another title to suggest for this area of study, please comment. I’m always happy to add another work to my library.

Here are 5 books that will launch you into studies on an introduction to the New Testament.

1. An Introduction to the New Testament by D A Carson and Doug Moo

2. An Introduction to the New Testament by Raymond Brown

3. An Introduction to the New Testament by David deSilva

4. The New Testament A Historical and Theological Introduction by Donald Hagner

5. The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament by Kostenberger, Kellum, and Quarles

School Prayer, Begrudgingly Affirming God’s Word, Real Friendship, Pastoral Ministry Slump.

Caryn Rivadeneira. School Prayer Doesn’t Need a Comeback. (CT)

This conception of God, though, is not one that I can get behind. I object to any mission to bring prayer “back” to school because I can’t support the faulty theology—downright heresy — of implying God is only around to hear our prayers when the building sanctions his presence.

Prayer never left schools. And God never did either. To suggest otherwise should make us shudder. And yet, that’s what campaigns full of good God-fearing folks seem to be saying

What Is a Healthy Church Member? by Thabiti Anyabwile $0.99

Mike Cosper. The Stories We Tell. Reviewed by Kevin Halloran.

Aaron Armstrong. Christian, Don’t Begrudgingly Affirm God’s Word.

Public personalities like these aren’t alone in doing the dance. At some point or another we all do it. And as I’ve watched it happen (and occasionally been caught in it myself) time and again, one of the inevitable pieces of fallout is we wind up just having to come out and say what we were trying to not say.

This almost begrudging acceptance of the truth—we really do have to say what the Bible says.

Jen Thorn. 6 Costs of Real Friendship. (Christianity.com)

While doing a study on accountability I came across a few articles about the seriousness of friendship, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

We tend to use the word “friend” quite carelessly. Any person we have a few conversations with, work with, or “like” on Facebook we call “friend.” This is not necessarily bad, but through it, I believe, we are losing the real meaning of Biblical friendship.

Thom Rainer. Eight Causes of Pastoral Ministry Slump.

Sure, the pastoral ministry slump is subjective if not vague. But it’s real. And every pastor experiences it. So I asked several pastors what they viewed to be the causes of slumps they experienced. Here are their top responses in the form of direct quotes.

1 John 5:2 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”

“The beginning and perfection of lawful worship is readiness to obey.” John Calvin

John Calvin on the Snares of Worldly Success

Godly men must not only seek God’s blessing alone but must credit him for all blessings. We’re all tempted to strive and make our own fortunes. In fact, this has been the popular narrative of our culture since the Industrial Revolution. Unfortunately, self-made men cannot be God’s men, because they take credit where no credit is ever due. Even the self-made man has what he has from God’s mercy and grace alone. This is a healthy reminder to each of us, regardless of what and how success finds us or we find it. Any success comes only by the blessed hand of the Lord’s. And all chastisement is made for our discipline, to make us godly men, not self-made men.

This excerpt is taken from Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion . This quotation is from the end of section 8 and the beginning of section 9 in Book 3, Chapter 7.

In order not to be caught in such snares, godly men must hold to this path. First of all, let them neither desire nor hope for, nor contemplate, any other way of prospering than by the Lord’s blessing. Upon this, then, let them safely and confidently throw themselves and rest. For however beautifully the flesh may seem to suffice unto itself, while it either strives by its own effort for honors and riches or relies upon its diligence, or is aided by the favor of men, yet it is certain that all these things are nothing; nor will we benefit at all, either by skill or by labor, except in so far as the Lord prospers them both. On the contrary, however, his blessing alone finds a way, even through all hindrances, to bring all things to a happy and favorable outcome for us; again, though entirely without it, to enable us to obtain some glory and opulence for ourselves (as we daily see impious men amassing great honors and riches), yet, inasmuch as those upon whom the curse of God rests taste not even the least particle of happiness, without this blessing we shall obtain nothing but what turns to our misfortune. For we ought by no means to desire what makes men more miserable.

Therefore, suppose we believe that every means toward a prosperous and desirable outcome rests upon the blessing of God alone; and that, when this is absent, all sorts of misery and calamity dog us. It remains for us not greedily to strive after riches and honors — whether relying upon our own dexterity of wit or our own diligence, or depending upon the favor of men, or having confidence in vainly imagined torture — but for us always to look to the Lord so that by his guidance we may be led to whatever lot he has provided for us.

Driscoll’s Board, Pastor’s Wife Effect, Redemption and Rap, Reasons to Attend Worship.

Morgan Lee. Was Driscoll’s Board a Problem? (CT)

A deeper question raised by the Mars Hill saga asks if nondenominational churches can better govern their congregation and disciple their pastors with elders drawn from within the church body, or if they should seek outside expertise.

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever $1.99

Oliver Crisp. Deviant Calvinism. Reviewed by Paul Helm. (Ref21)

Joanna Breault. The Pastor’s Wife Effect. (CT)

I n a recent interview in Rolling Stone , Taylor Swift recounts a conversation with her brother about a man he’d seen walking around with a cat on his head. She was torn between wanting to respect the man’s privacy and wishing she had a photo. After all, she said, “That guy is asking for it – he’s got a cat on his head!”

So here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: Being a pastor’s wife is a little like having a cat on your head. Are we really asking for it? We have our private, everyday lives just like everyone else, yet we happen to be married to men whose jobs—whose ministries—are public.

Dan DeWitt. My Journey in Rhythm, Rhyme, and Redemption. (TGC)

I spent the summer of 1992, or at least a good portion of it, on a school bus. The drive from my small town in central Illinois to a small town in central Ohio seemed to take forever. It was a blistering summer day, and there was no air conditioning. We had been on the road since early in the morning, and the sun had finally risen to the perfect angle where it was directly cooking me through the window. I felt like a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. I wasn’t sure what would melt first, my skin or the vinyl seat it was stuck to.

I put my headphones on and stuck a cassette tape into my Walkman (the old school equivalent of an iPod—kind of).

I wanted to escape: The bus. The youth group. The world.

Matthew Westerholm. Three Reasons to Attend Corporate Worship. (DG)

“Why do we have to go to church again ?”

Children ask this question on a semi-regular basis. I know my three boys have given me many opportunities to answer it. As a worship pastor, I am embarrassed to admit that I have found myself facing another service and asking the same question: Why again ? Did we fail last week, or do it wrong? Was last week’s service not enough?

2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

“Devotion is not an activity; it is an attitude toward God.” Jerry Bridges

Basil of Caesarea: His Life and Impact by Marvin Jones

Marvin Jones. Basil of Caesarea: His Life and Impact . Fearn: Christian Focus, 2014. 166 pp. $11.99.

“The Church Fathers are a forgotten heirloom from the past.”

Your response to that statement reveals what you will think about Basil of Caesarea: His Life and Work . Too few have read the Church Fathers or about them. Often, pastors do not know where to start.

This is why I highly anticipate the Early Church Fathers series edited by Michael A. G. Haykin. This series recovers yesterday’s treasures for today’s readers. So far two books have released: St. Patrick of Ireland by Haykin and this work by Jones. Forthcoming titles include: Athanasius by Carl Trueman, Cyril of Alexander by Steve McKinion, Augustine by Brad Green, Irenaeus of Lyons by Ligon Duncan, and Tertullian by David Robinson. What a line up!

Jones’s book, Basil of Caesarea , alongside Haykin’s, prove to be pacesetters for this series. Marvin Jones is an Assistant Professor of Church History and Theology at Louisiana College and chairs the Christian Studies department.

Basil of Caesarea first sets the contextual political and theological setting along with a biographical overview of Basil’s life in chapter one. Chapter two delves into his conversion and a broadly sweeping understanding of Basil’s theology. In chapters three through seven Jones scrutinizes critical contexts that incite Basil’s pivotal works. Chapter three discusses the monastic movement, Basil’s contribution of the Moral Rules , and his favor towards a communal (coenobitic) structure for monastic living. Chapter four sets up chapter five. Jones sets the scene that leads Basil to write his magnum opus , On the Holy Spirit , which chapter five considers in detail. Chapter six explores Basil’s homiletical leanings, centering on his unexpected literal interpretation of Genesis 1 in the Hexaemeron , a move contrary to the allegorical method popularized by Origen and prevalent for the time. Chapter seven summarily concludes Basil of Caesarea by bringing together and refreshing many uncannily applicable points for which pastors and leaders profit from Basil’s life.

Jones’s work, Basil of Caesarea , is no dessicated biography; his expressive energy imbues this book. From the opening anecdote of Basil’s defiance against Modestus (19-21) to his unlikely conversion tale kindled by his beloved sister, Macrina’s, witness (41-42), the narrative of Basil’s life will entrance readers.

Yet, don’t presume that Basil of Caesarea is mere arresting biography. This book amplifies your understanding of pastoral ministry and theology.

For instance, Jones draws us into the political context with which Basil found himself embroiled. This is instructive for pastors. When tensions mount between young Basil and his overseer Eusebius, Basil diffidently withdraws into monastic life. Jones comments:

Regardless of the specific reason, Basil left Caesarea in order to prevent further division that would overflow into the church. He honored the pastor, Eusebius, by not being a continual source of contention, thereby showing great respect for the Lord’s church and the Lord’s pastor at Caesarea. (67)

What a first-rate example for young leaders!

Meanwhile, Basil of Caesarea reacquaints you with subjects such as the Arian Heresy, the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the ripening of Trinitarian doctrine. These discussions leave you grateful that Basil contended for precise theological language.

Callouts define terms like ousia, hypostases, tropikoi, andthe filioque clause , which clarify orthodox articulation. Distantly past heresies, like Sabbelianism, keep you weary of permitting similar, present day, expressions from hooking their claws into the church.

Jones does not leave us with a flawless, rose-tinted, presentation of Basil. He presents a realistic and relatable portrait. We recognize Basil’s brash attempt to enlist Athanasius’s political support for what it is: sensational and misrepresentative. Basil wishing to see Meletius installed as Bishop of Antioch instead of Marcellus, misconstrued Marcellus’s theological views beyond orthodoxy. Basil’s six letters to Athanasius – convincing him of these views – warrant no reply.

Despite the brouhaha with Athanasius, Basil’s writing possesses a classy mettle. There is a thing or two to learn from him about blogging, email, and public address. Read this excerpt from Basil’s, Against Eunomius , a work going toe to toe against Arianism: “So, on account of Your Charity, who enjoins us to do this, and for the sake of our own well being, it is necessary for us to accept the responsibility of allying ourselves with the truth and refuting this falsehood” (50). Basil imbibes social grace, excels in rhetoric, and champions sound doctrine with stoic conviction, even when the cause against Ariansim looks bleak.

There is a lot more to be said about this excellent primer on Basil. May this review put you on a trajectory, not just to read Basil of Caesarea , but to study his other writings as well.

Basil of Caesarea is a strategic biographical and theological reconnoiter of a remarkable figure and thinker in the early church.

Hillsong’s Brian Houston, Church in Exile, Help Someone Change, This Coke, Sexuality and Silence.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey and Jonathan Merritt. Brian Houston Defends Handling of Abuse Case, Sidesteps Questions on Gay Marriage. (RNS)

The founder of Hillsong, one of the most influential religious brands across the globe, on Thursday (Oct. 16) denied allegations that he had tried to cover up his father’s sexual abuse, saying the victim asked him not to go to the police.

Accidental Pharisees by Larry Osborne $3.79

Todd Wilson. Real Christian. Reviewed by Matt Perman.

Andrew Walker. A Church in Exile. (First Things)

R eligion, and maybe Ebola, owned the news this week. From the confusion and public relations nightmare at the Vatican over the Synod’s Relatio , to the Caesarism of Annise Parker and the City of Houston subpoenaing sermons from pastors, it has been a busy week for the religion beat.

Then yesterday, coverage about a Hillsong press conference came out, indicating that the global evangelical enterprise is triangulating on homosexuality, particularly about whether it should publicly hold what the Bible teaches in light of culture’s rapid change on the subject.

Stephen Altrogge. How To REALLY Help Someone Change.

You’ve got this person in your life, and they really need to change. For years your husband has struggled with anger. For years your wife has struggled with self-control. For years your son has struggled with laziness. For years your daughter has struggled with body image issues. At this point, you don’t know h0w to help them move forward. You don’t know how to help them overcome the sin that has beset them for so long. You’re fed up, worn out, and pretty much hopeless. You’ve resigned yourself to things always being the way they are.

What the heck are you supposed to do? Fortunately, the Bible gives us straight forward wisdom on how to really, actually help a person change. And odds are, the Bible’s wisdom probably runs contrary to your own ideas of how to help a person change. It certainly runs contrary to mine!

So how can you help a person change?

Tyler Glodjo. This Cokes [Not] For You: Life on the Margins. (CaPC)

A few weeks ago my wife sent me a picture of a Coke bottle with my name on it. “Even when away, you’re with me,” I could hear her say. There is a unique simplicity in encountering a product with your name on it. It’s a simple, short-lived experience of validation. Did Coca-Cola have me in mind when printing “Tyler” on their labels? Surely not. But when my wife came across it in the grocery store, lonely from a summer without her husband while I was away at school, those five letters represented me. The name “Tyler” on the Coke bottle flooded her memory with a love she had been missing. Five simple letters represented not a word, but a name; and not a name shared by many, but the name of one. My name. What a beautifully simple phenomenon—outside the fact that such feelings originated from a massive marketing ploy.

Andrew Wilson. Sexuality and Silence. (9M)

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, and we are most satisfied in him in worship.” John Piper

Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Three Things to Remember When Visiting Christian Websites

Every day I pilfer numerous articles and scope out what the Christian community says on the internet. Like anyone else, I gravitate to particular websites, ones that have my interest and loyalty.

These websites are marked by quality journalism and literary writing. Their editors are qualified, usually not just as writers or editors, but as scholars and pastors. Typically, these sites are loosely connected or aligned to a pastoral figure, a church, denomination, or are a collection of the aforementioned.

And every day, as I read these Christian websites, I give myself a subtle reminder. I rehearse it quietly to myself. Here is what I say: “This is not the Word, not my local church, not an ordinance.”

Why do I give myself these reminders? I remind myself because I am prone to wander from priorities and authorities. What follows are reasons for these cautions.

Sure enough, the Word of God is frequently the base of Christian articles. Yet, just like other forms of journalism, even the best Christian websites veer towards sensational op-eds. You have to carefully read and categorize every article. Ask yourself: “Is this exegetically driven? Or opinion driven?” This helps you determine what authority level you permit an article to have. Still, even if it is exegetically driven, you have to ask: “Does this interpretation or reading of the Word hold true?”

The Word is authoritative over your life. As the psalmist confesses, “Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true” (Ps. 119:142). Measure every article read against God’s truth. Likewise, don’t allow websites or articles to supplant time in the Word. They are no substitute for pulling out the Scripture and hearing directly from God.

Though they may bring you to the Word, Christian websites are not the Word.

This is Not Your Local Church

Community develops around Christian websites. You’ll connect with others that enjoy the same websites. Likewise, you’re bound to cross the same people in comment threads and develop friendships. These interactions, though genuine, are displaced by space. They are no substitute for your local church.

An aspect of local church community is that your local church sees you for who you are. In turn, you see them and submit to them, because the Scripture calls you to this, saying: “Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21).

Too often, you have the freedom to project what you wish to others on Christian websites. Substituting digital community for local church community creates a vacuous space that lacks accountability. Furthermore, digital space caters to individuality. You visit what sites you wish and are not a holden to anyone for your behavior. This individualism is dangerous.

Jonathan Leeman in The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love , reminds us that the dangers of individualism are not countered by community, digital or otherwise. He says, “The solution to individualism is not community. The solution — one fears to say it without pages of qualification — is to reintroduce a conception of submission to God’s revealed will as it’s located in the local church.” The local church requires you to submit to elders, other members, and to Christ when a Christian website cannot.

Likewise, though many websites have pastors writing and editing, none of them argue that they function as pastors in this role. These men do not have the capacity to cover you with authority nor the ability to do so because of the digital space that lies between you two.

Though Christian websites are a great place to learn about the church and fellowship with the wider church community, they are not your local church.

This one is a surprising reminder. If you’re like me, you like to create laws for yourself. You like routine and gravitate towards it. But Jesus never said, “Thou shalt log in and read Christian articles daily.” This isn’t something you have to do; this is a freeing realization.

Though you enjoy checking out what’s being said by the Christian community on the internet, you have to remind yourself that it’s not part of your identity. Being adopted into sonship with Christ, calls you to baptism, the Lord’s supper, prayer, the Word, and the local church community. It doesn’t call you to keep up with what is being said on the web.

At times you may feel out of place because other Christians know what’s going on in the blogosphere and you don’t. But that knowledge doesn’t shape you like the ordinances Christ gave you. You’re shaped by taking in bites of the Lord’s body, not bytes of data from Christian websites. You’re washed in the stream of Christ’s blood through the waters of baptism, not by the stream of your twitter feed.

Though Christian websites are a great place to learn what Christ ordained, you’re not ordained to go to them.

Sia v. Swift, Mars Hill Postmortem, Pain in Christian Marriage, Young Blacks Leaving Church?

Steve McCoy. Sia vs. Swift: A Pop Battle for Our Hearts. (CaPC)

I recently expressed my love for pop music despite being a bit of an indie music snob. I must also confess that I regularly listen to pop radio. You know, that thing with knobs on the dash of the car that deciphers audio waves rather than a wifi signal. Lately two voices familiar to most of us who enjoy pop music have been competing for radio time–and their messages couldn’t be more different.

Forever: Why You Can’t Live Without It by Paul David Tripp

Hunter Baker. The System Has a Soul. Reviewed by Douglas Wilson.

Trevin Wax. The Mars Hill Postmortem.

The news of Mark Driscoll’s resignation closes a painful chapter in the life of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. This is a time to pray for the Driscoll family, Mars Hill Church, and those who have suffered through various forms of spiritual abuse.

What can we learn from this situation? We should consider four lessons to take away, but I want to preface these remarks with two caveats.

Jason Helopoulos. Pain in Christian Marriage. (Christward Collective)

Marriage can be painful–and Christian marriage is no exception. When two sinners are in a relationship as intimate as marriage, there is bound to be some measure of hurt. Our flesh will balk at the demands of self-sacrifice, service, and humility affecting one another for ill. There will be sins committed, wounds aggravated, and injuries inflicted. The extent will vary with each relationship. Some will be more challenging than others, but every Christian marriage experiences some pain.

Anthony Carter. Why Are Young Black Leaving the Church? (9M)

Are “black millennials” leaving the church? Is this something about which we should be alarmed? In recent times much has been written on this subject seeking to interpret and analyze what some are saying is a disturbing trend. Some of the discussion has taken place on the website The Front Porch (see here and here ), and some has taken place at other online outlets.

One article in particular, Six Reasons Young Black People are Leaving Church , has raised the question and offered reasons why young black men and women are either leaving or not going to church.

Psalm 99:5 “Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!”

“If we want to know God and to be blessed by God, we must start by worshipping him.” D Martyn Lloyd-Jones

15 Quotes from Am I Called by Dave Harvey

Pastoral calling is a critical but often misunderstood component of ministry. There are a number of contributing factors to this. I don’t wish to get into that here. But I will say this, the Church has provided a number of helpful resources during the past few years to address this confusion. One of those resources is Dave Harvey’s book, Am I Called . Aeons ago I reviewed this book here . Today, enjoy these 15 quotes from a book more helpful than an umbrella on a rainy day.

1. “Regardless of the situation, a summons is a call away from one thing and into another. This book is about a particular kind of summons, and I believe it’s one of the most glorious and strategic a Christian man can experience: the call to pastoral ministry” (18).

2. “In an infinitely more profound way, our call to ministry, just like our call to salvation, ultimately says little about us and a great deal about the Caller” (35).

3. “A man truly called to pastoral ministry will pulse with a legitimate, God-ordained aspiration” (54).

4. “The church is not a career path. It’s the place you go to give your life away. God’s people can’t be mere stepping stones to larger opportunities” (58).

5. “Men don’t become pastors because of potential. They become pastors because God’s grace is already at work in them…God’s grace produces a godly life — and that godly life helps confirm God’s call” (75).

6. “The call to godliness protects pastors and moves them toward humility…To be a pastor is to be a self-acknowledged sinner representing a holy God” (79).

7. “Among all the biblical requirements for the called man, gospel-empowered character seems to be most prominent. A man’s character is the overarching scriptural qualification for leadership in the church — and this will be revealed in everything from the nuance of his word choices to the cravings behind his big decisions” (81).

8. “You will lead from who you are in private” (93).

9. “If you’re going to minister the gospel faithfully in the church, you’ve got to minister it at home. And that means it needs to penetrate your heart and life most of all. If you’re able to help your wife and kids understand and appropriate the gospel, God may indeed be calling you to care for the church” (97).

10. “The gospel isn’t content alone. It’s content that reveals Jesus Christ. If we can preach gospel truths in a way that leaves people indifferent to the Savior who fills the gospel with meaning, we’re not preaching the gospel” (119).

11. “For a man being summoned to ministry, this internal sense of call must be compelling and enduring, lasting for as long as he’s in ministry” (166).

12. “External confirmation is the process of evaluation whereby the church affirms God’s call to the man. Think of it this way. A personal sense is never enough to propel a man into ministry. The subjective sense of calling must be objectively validated. External assessment is an essential cord that tethers you, and your church, to safety” (167).

13. “You see, God never gives a summons (or withholds one!) without having a good plan behind it. Because he’s a good God, all his plans are good. All calls have limits — limits of gifting and sphere and opportunity and time” (187).

14. “A man listening for a call is never a man sitting still. A key sign of the summons is godly ambition that’s being channeled into action” (187).

15. “The ultimate test of a called man is whether he desires the advancement of the gospel more than the advancement of his own ministry” (199).

Driscoll Resigns, Male Body Image, Progressive Evangelical Package, Manhood and Theology: Work.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey. Mark Driscoll Resigns from Mars Hill Church. (RNS)

Mark Driscoll, the larger-than-life megachurch pastor who has been accused of plagiarism, bullying and an unhealthy ego that alienated his most devoted followers, resigned from his Seattle church Tuesday (Oct. 14), according to a document obtained by RNS.

The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur $3.79

Michael Horton. Ordinary. Reviewed by Owen Strachan.

Paul Maxwell. The Epidemic of Male Body Hatred. (DG)

“If I could look like that guy who played Thor, I would be happy.”

It’s a common belief among men of our age. Put more honestly, “If I can’t appear confident, sexy, intimidating, competent, and super-human, I’m worthless.”

We compare ourselves to others in the gym. We come away from movies wanting to exercise for eight hours. We would rather jump in front of a truck than take our shirts off at the pool. We feel pathetic and small. We look at ourselves in almost every mirror we pass. When alone, we flex — not because we like what we see, but because we don’t. We have spent hundreds of dollars on pre-workout, weight loss, and weight gain supplements. We research the best way to bulk, shred, diet, and binge.

Derek Rishmawy. The Progressive Evangelical Package. (MereO)

The progressive Evangelicals now have their own wing, though, ostensibly with an emphasis on diversity and a marked aversion to foreclosing conversations or policing boundaries. The idea that there is a strict standard, a party line you have to toe in order to be a part of the club, is supposed to be foreign to the Progressive internet’s ethos. That’s for the heresy-hunting, conservative builders of Evangelical empire, after all, rather than the “radically inclusive” prophets of a more Christ-like faith. Unlike their conservative counterparts, Progressives follow a Jesus who came to tear down the walls that divide, not put new doctrinal ones back up.

Nick Abraham. Manhood and Theology: Work. (CBMW)

As Christians, we can so easily compartmentalize our lives and divide things into categories like church, work, and family. Instead of our faith in Christ being sovereign over and seeping into those categories, we attempt to delegate them to their own category. This often results in our faith absent in our work lives. This compartmentalization does not follow the biblical model of the Christian life and it operates against the biblical truth that Christ is Lord of our lives. The Apostle Paul reminds us, “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together,” (Col. 1:17). So what then is the biblical model to follow as we approach our work as Christians? It is helpful to begin at the beginning in answering that question.

Psalm 95:6 “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!”

“If worship does not change us it has not been worship.” John MacArthur

011: Cochrans4Chicago Update

Yet again, it has been too long since I wrote last. I am sorry for that. There are very good reasons for this as I will explain below in the ministry update. The Lord’s kindness continues to shower down upon us during the last few months. Kendall joined me in the world of 30 somethings in August. We celebrated both Asher (3) and Adalie’s (1) birthdays in June. Even now, we are preparing for Chloe’s 6th birthday this Saturday. Asher began preschool this Fall. He’s going to public pre-K and enjoys it very much. Chloe started Kindergarten and loves it. Asher and Chloe have made many friends at our apartment complex and go on regular play dates at the park right by our home. In turn, Kendall and I have fostered new friendships with parents of our childrens’ friends. Adalie is walking, babbling, and being altogether funny every day as she learns how to play with her big brother and sister. Our home is filled with lots of pretend play, reading, crafts, and storytelling every day. MINISTRY UPDATE Pray that the Lord would continue to train and equip our family for gospel ministry and give us plentiful gospel conversations to build his Church here in the Fox Valley area. Likewise, please pray for a clarified vision of our church planting site. I am about three-fourths through my internship at Redeemer Fellowship. This has been an incredible learning time for me as I serve on a team of outstanding shepherds, who encourage me in my gifting each week. Lord willing, I am preparing for the residency stage of planting. Please pray that I am accepted as a resident for 2015 with the North American Mission Board. During the last quarter of this year and into the residency stage we will solidify our church planting plans. Here’s where we stand right now. For some time, I have shared about desiring to plant in Aurora. After a number of meetings with our elder leadership about starting a campus in Aurora, our leadership concluded that, at this time, we do not wish to commit to being the kind of church that has campuses. Redeemer Fellowship is neither ready for this step, nor convinced that it is the appropriate ministry philosophy for our church. Likewise, I have wondered if our family is the best family to minister to the Aurora demographic. Finally, strategically this location is both too close to our Naperville Church Plant and Redeemer Fellowship. Thus, the elders invited me to continue forward with church planting an autonomous church in the Chicago Suburbs. I’ve started prayerfully looking further North because the SBC has very few churches North of I-90. We started praying about two areas: Crystal Lake and its surroundings and Libertyville and its surroundings. Ironically, Libertyville had been a location that we had been praying about since we arrived to Chicago. On the other hand, Crystal Lake had newly drawn our attention because we recently started having new members commuting from this area to Redeemer, a 30-45 minute commute. During July and August I started making trips to both areas scouting them out and praying about whether the Lord was giving me a burden for these areas. Right now, I am still in the process of prayerfully seeking the Lord about these potential church planting sites. At this time, Libertyville draws more of my attention. I am visiting this location weekly, meeting with people, and interviewing them about the area. I am also connecting with Pastors of churches in that area to learn more about the context and community. Meanwhile, I have enjoyed my responsibilities of coordinating Welcome, Offering, and Announcements, Leadership Lab, and Theology Pub for Redeemer Fellowship. The discussion guides I create weekly from the sermon have been well received by our Community Groups. Most leaders are taking advantage of these resources and have given me positive feedback on them. This year Redeemer successfully multiplied community groups. A Batavia, West Chicago, and Naperville community group all started this year. I continue to facilitate discussions for our Community Group in Aurora on Thursdays. I had the pleasure of preaching twice during August. Once at Doxa Fellowship, which was my third time with the people there, and once at Embassy Church, my second time with them. WORK UPDATE Pray that the Lord would provide part-time employment and freelance employment in editing and writing that would help me to provide for my family. After I sent my last newsletter, in July, something surprising happened. I had reached out to the area publishing companies about freelance, contractual, editing work. One of them, Moody Publishers, contacted me about a full-time position. They asked me to interview for an Acquisition Editor role. During late July and August I went through two in-person interviews. Moody was looking for someone who would make a career out of publishing and one of their concerns was whether I was called to or would be content with making a shift away from pastoral ministry. The whole experience caused me to step back and reconsider my calling for church planting. I admit, the primary driver for this was my desire to provide for my family, combined with the opportunity to play a crucial role in producing 8-12 books a year for Moody Publishers. On Oct 3, the one year anniversary of our move to Chicago, Moody Publishers let me know that they were going to go in a different direction. As the editorial director at Crossway told me, it is a really high honor to have been considered for this position. Yet, I believe that this is still another confirmation that what the Lord brought me to Chicago to do is what I should do: plant a church. Right now, I am pursuing a part-time position at the Starbucks by our apartment. This will provide health benefits for our family and some pay. Kendall is applying to work at Aldi. PARTNERING UPDATE Pray that the Lord will provide partners with both churches and individuals, so we may continue forward with Church Planting. The Lord continues to graciously provide abundantly for us, and he has provided only exactly what we need. We’re thankful for this because it demonstrates his faithfulness. We have been fully funded since we’ve moved to Chicago. This is partly because of our savings and the generosity of friends. We are very thankful for you all. Right now we have funding through November. Kendall and I are looking at part-time work because we believe that this is the responsible thing to do, while we make plans for church planting in either Crystal Lake or Libertyville. If you would like to make a one-time gift or join in partnering us, please let us know. We need ministry partners now more than ever. Here’s a brief outline of our need: 1. We will need to raise $4,000 for the month of December. 2. If accepted as a Resident with NAMB for 2015, then we will receive $3000/month from NAMB. For 2015 we only need to enlist $2000/month in partnerships. Right now if all our current partners give through 2015, then we are already at 25%.

All funding may be securely given through the North American Mission Board. Gifts may be given through Electronic Funds Transfer, or AutoPay with your Debit or Credit Card. To set up automatic giving on-line go to our NAMB Webpage, http://msc.kintera.org/cochranfamily2005 .

If you wish to mail in an Electronic Funds Transfer request, you may do so. Fill out the form below and mail it to the address for NAMB below. When you fill out the form indicate my name JOEY COCHRAN and Account 10138 on the form. EFT Request Form .

Here is a helpful document about giving online with the North American Mission Board. Q&A Sheet for Partnering with NAMB Missionaries .

If you wish to send a monthly check, you may still do so. Please be sure to memo JOEY COCHRAN ACCT 10138 on your check.

The Cochran Family cochranfamily2005@gmail.com

Joey Cochran e: jc@redeemerfellowship.org t: @joeycochran w: www.jtcochran.com View-Worthy

Houston Subpoenas Sermons, Can Preachers Get Better?, Leading Your Wife, Back to the Ancient Church.

Joe Carter. City of Houston to Pastors: Show Us Your Sermons. (ACTON)

This summer Houston Mayor Annise Parker championed a so-called Equal Rights Ordinance which, among other changes, would force businesses to allow transgender residents’ to use whatever restroom they want, regardless of their biological sex.

In response, a citizen initiative was launched to have the council either repeal the bill or place it on the ballot for voters to decide. The mayor and city attorney defied the law and rejected the certification, so the initiative filed a lawsuit. In return, the city’s attorneys subpoenaed a number of area pastors.

According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the city demanded to see what these pastors were preaching from the pulpit and wanted to examine their communications with their church members and others concerning the city council’s actions.

Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God by Paul Copan

Barry Cooper. Can I Really Trust The Bible? Reviewed by Mike Bowling. (SoG)

Hershael York. Four Reasons Why Some Preachers Get Better and Others Don’t. (TGC)

No one denies that a preaching class and some coaching can help anyone become better. What we question is the possibility that someone with no natural giftedness and ability can be taught well enough that he can become really good.

David Murray. Five Ways to Lead Your Wife.

Husbands tend to fall into one of two errors. Some are too passive, others are too domineering or controlling. In Ephesians 5, Paul addresses both extremes. To the passive abdicator of responsibility, he says, “Lead your wife.” To the aggressive tyrant, he says, “Love your wife.”

Let’s focus on Mr Passive today and see if we can help him step up to the plate and start leading. Before we do so, though, let’s just deal with some objections that may already be rising about this idea of the husband being the leader.

Nathan Busenitz. Getting Back to the Ancient Church.

How much is your church like the ancient church?

That’s a popular question these days—especially if you read guys like Robert Webber , Brian McLaren , Wolfgang Simson , or Frank Viola and George Barna .

Luke 12:29 “And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.”

“Half our miseries are caused by things that we think are coming upon us.” J C Ryle

Reading the Classics for New Testament Studies

Every serious student of the New Testament will pursue studies in the classics. This will sharpen that New Testament student’s understanding of Greek or Latin, both very helpful for New Testament studies. Reading these texts will be invaluable for learning the cultural context of the Grecco-Roman world in which the New Testament was written.

The best way to access these classics is by building a library of those little red and green back pocket books from the Loeb Classic Library. These pocket books are diglots. A diglot has the text of the classic in its original language on one page and the english translation of the text on the opposite page. In addition, these pocket books include textual critical data about the original manuscripts from which the original text is drawn.

As of right now, there are over 500 volumes in the Loeb Classic Library. This is some of the richest reading for any person to read. But, what volumes are the best to read for New Testament Students? How does one choose? One does not want to randomly select volumes hither and thither for studies.

This next year I plan on reading one volume each month from the greenback series. The greenbacks are Greek classics.

I scoured the Internet to find guidance on which volumes to read to no avail. I couldn’t find any help. So, I decided to reach out to my favorite New Testament scholars for guidance.

N T Wright, Scot McKnight, David deSilva, Darrell Bock, Ben Witherington III, Ray Van Neste, and Craig Evans .

I asked each one to suggest a few sources that they found seminal for New Testament studies. There was always a consensus on a handful of the sources. Yet, it was also remarkable to see how each scholar picked distinctive volumes, which differentiated them self from the others. I’ll also add that I asked for suggestions that might be particularly helpful for studying the Pastoral Epistles, as I have special interest in those New Testament letters.

Below are the most critical volumes for which these scholars shared a consensus. Following this, I’ve listed each scholar with his personal recommendations. I list the author first followed by all the volumes of suggested reading for that author. Here’s what I learned about what Loeb classics to read for New Testament studies.

Consensus on the Most Important Volumes:

The below is the list of authors that have primary importance. Each of these authors have multi-volumes in the Loeb Library. Reading them in their entirety is of first importance.

N T Wright’s Suggestions:

Plato, The Timaeus; Plutarch , Moralia.

Scot McKnight’s Suggestions:

Plato, Apology; Aristotle, Ethics ; Suetonius, Augustus ; Tacitus, Annals ; Aeschylus, Volume I, II, III; Homer, Illiad ; Homer, Odyssey ; Virgil, Aeneid .

David deSilva’s Suggestions:

Aristotle, Virtues & Vices ; Xenophon, Oeconomicus ; Isocrates, Volume I; Epictetus, Discourses: Book 1-2 ; Epictetus, Discourses: Books 3-4 . The Enceiridion .

Darrell Bock’s Suggestions:

Plato, Republic ; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics .

Ben Witherington III’s Suggestions:

Ray Van Neste’s Suggestions:

Theophrastus, Characters ; Lucian, Volume IV: How To Write History; Select Papyri: Volume I; Select Papyri: Volume II.

Craig Evans’ Suggestions:

AP Changes, Insecurity, What Your Church Needs From You, Completing Not Competing.

Michelle Van Loon. The History We’d Prefer to Forget. (CT)

The new College Board framework includes instruction about the colonial-era conflicts between Native Americans and European settlers (a view that also comes up each year around Columbus Day and Thanksgiving) and an exploration of hot-button issues shaping current events. The conservative majority in charge of the Jefferson County School Board joined a handful of other districts around the country in expressing concern at the shift in content and tone of the new curriculum.

Those opposing the new guidelines insist schools should help develop good citizens by giving their students a strong sense of American exceptionalism .

One with Christ: An Evangelical Theology of Salvation by Marcus Peter Johnson

David G Peterson. Encountering God Together. Reviewed by Matt Damico.

Tim Briggs. Battling the Idolatry of Insecurity. (GCD)

What was your middle school experience like?

To most people, that question will make them cringe. It conjures up all sorts of awkwardness and feelings of insecurity. As someone who consistently struggles with insecurity, many of my days are spent feeling like a frail middle schooler: perpetually in a state of crippling self-doubt and anxiety.

You may not struggle with insecurity as much as I do, but we all have it. I’m assuming most of us would not consider it a virtue. So, how should we fight it?

Tim Challies. 7 Things Your Church Needs From You.

Not too long ago I had the opportunity to speak to a gathering of young adults from several churches across our city. I chose to speak about how any Christian (not only young adults) can make a church better and stronger. Here are some of the things I came up with: 7 things your church needs from you.

Your church needs you to…

David Murray. Completing Not Competing.

God made men and women different in order that they would complement each other, work better together than apart. They don’t compete with each other, they complete each other.

Isaiah 35:4 “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.'”

“Worry and worship are mutually exclusive.” John Blanchard

Featured Articles / Quotes

Word and Words Conference and William Zinsser on Writing is Not a Contest

I had the pleasure of visiting Louisville this past weekend with my friend and fellow writer Kevin Halloran. The purpose of our visit was to participate in the Word and Words conference hosted by Sojourn Community Church. We had the pleasure of listening and learning from Mike Cosper, Gregory Alan Thornbury, David Dark, Gregory Wolfe, Karen Swallow Prior, and Bret Lott among others in breakout sessions. This conference provided an impressive team of speakers, who entrusted attendants with quality instruction.

Daniel Montgomery shared with me after the conference that it looks like they’ll be hosting this one again next year. If you’re an artist, I highly encourage you to prioritize going next year.

During this writing retreat, I spent free time late Friday finishing On Writing Well by William Zinsser. This and also a brief Twitter conversation with friends last night — lamenting those who complain about the writing process — led me to share this excerpt on writing is not a contest.

Writing is a difficult but enriching task because it is one where you work with your mind and at times against its limitations. Likewise, like any activity, there is the risk of corrupting the endeavor by turning it into something it is not. Writing is art, first. That was a key takeaway from the conference. Fruit from writing may include influence, success, financial gain, and other fringe benefits. But that is not the motive for writing. Writing is a gift to share. It is a love language for artists to pass onto others to enjoy. As Mike Cosper shared in his address, “We don’t make things because we want the approval of an audience but to give the gift of creativity.” Unfortunately, these are observations that, in many ways, need to be rediscovered by culture and culture-shapers.

Every writer is starting from a different point and is bound for a different destination. Yet many writers are paralyzed by the thought that they are competing with everybody else who is trying to write and presumably doing it better. This can often happen in a writing class. Inexperienced students are chilled to find themselves in the same class with students whose byline has appeared in the college newspaper. But writing for the college paper is no great credential; I’ve often found that the hares who write for the paper are overtaken by the tortoises who move studiously toward the goal of mastering the craft. The same fear hobbles freelance writers, who see the work of other writers appearing in magazines while their own keeps returning in the mail. Forget the competition and go at your own pace. Your only contest is with yourself.

Writing is not a contest where you compete against others to rise to the top for recognitions, success, book deals, and so forth. Writing is primarily a contest against yourself. Will you wrestle with your limitations? Will you strive to shape art from your mind in word form? Will you remove the clutter — business and competition — from your world and place yourself in the empty, white room of your mind with nothing but pen and paper for sculpting upon the pedestal?

How (Not) To Be Secular by James K A Smith

James K. A. Smith. How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014. 161 pp. $16.00.

Christians navigate a world dominated by secularism. Christendom has seen an end, but is that the final end? What do we mean by secularism? How did we get here? Do Christians embrace this environment? Combat it? How? Why? Why not? What are the implications of secularism in everyday life? How do Christians navigate a secular world?

For a pastor to ignore these questions would be foolish. He can’t just sweep the Church under a sacred rug and hide it in the secular room it occupies. But how does a pastor address these questions? Where does he start? To whom does he turn for counsel?

An excellent conversational partner is James K. A. Smith’s recent book, How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor . This 150-pager is an accessible commentary of Charles Taylor’s seminal work on post-modernity. Smith, a philosophy professor at Calvin College, distills Charles Taylor’s, A Secular Age, to one-tenth its size, helping readers to interact with and process Taylor’s observations.

Who is Charles Taylor? Taylor is a Catholic philosopher who has made significant contributions to interpreting post-modernity. Taylor’s 900 page tome, A Secular Age , explores the rise of secularism during the last 500 years. It studies the shift from a worldview of transcendence, humanity looking beyond to a supernatural realm, to a worldview of immanence, humanity locating itself in a natural realm devoid of supernaturalism. As focus shifts from one to the other, we see the decline of sacred and the rise of secular, the decline of superstition and the rise of science, the decline of corporate structures and the rise of individualism. It’s a story of reform, leading to deism, leading to secular humanism, leaving secularists with what Taylor calls lives under cross-pressure – “expressions of doubt and longing, faith and questioning” (14).

Smith interacts with Taylor’s work, corresponding each chapter to each successive part of Taylor’s, A Secular Age . Smith does not just tell you what Taylor says, he explains the significance of it, commenting on what he agrees or disagrees with, and adding nuances or implications of Taylor’s reading of secularism. Smith’s work is not just Cliff Notes; it’s critical interaction with Taylor.

Smith contextualizes Taylor’s observations with pictures we can relate to, such as examples from Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire, Seinfeld, and a smattering of other pop-culture references. These references are punchy. He is not detailed in explaining them. Rather, they’re like solid one-liners that, if we know the context, end up being powerful connections for readers.

If you’re going to read this book, do so with dictionary at side, and consult Smith’s glossary of Taylor’s verbiage. It follows the conclusion. I’m not saying How (Not) To Be Secular is a difficult read. You’ll simply want help along the way.

Every pastor is a theologian who must engage rigorous reads. Though this one is not extremely heady, it will press you. Yet, it is practical. As you read, you’ll find yourself muttering, “So that’s what’s going on!” or “That’s why that person walked away from the Faith!” or “That’s why it is so difficult to defend Christianity against anti-theists!”

For me, How (Not) To Be Secular , helped process my story from conversion to today. It caused reflection on why I am enamored by pietism (the historical period, people, and movement). I saw chinks in secular humanism’s armor. It trained me to point those flaws out and interact confidently with secular humanists. How (Not) To Be Secular , synthesized history, philosophy, sociology, and theology as if I were the blind man in the gospel seeing blurry trees and then blinking to take in humanity for the first time.

Four critical contributions that I found in How (Not) To Be Secular include Taylor’s three definitions of secular, his sense of social imaginary, the significance that reform plays in the secular story, and his discussion on subtraction stories.

Though you may not parade as an intellectual theorist, it does not mean you are not pondering meaning, purpose, and transcendence. It does not mean you are not seeking God or coping in light of the supposed “death of God”, which secularism presumably conceived. This is not just true of pastors; it’s true of congregations. Therefore, equip yourself to give an informed response by reading How (Not) To Be Secular by James K. A. Smith.

How (Not) To Be Secular negotiates the post-modern narrative, makes sense of the secular malaise, and gives a fresh take, which dispels the myth of secular spin.

Vatican Debate, Women’s Ministry, Joy Arrived in Christ, Contextualization, Biblical Manhood.

Josephine McKenna. Vatican Debate on Gays Provokes Strong Reaction From All Corners. (RNS)

From questions of welcoming a gay son home for Christmas to denying the sacraments for the children of gay and lesbian parents, an ongoing debate on the Catholic Church’s approach to homosexuality has raised the hopes of some LGBT advocates and provoked the ire of the church’s right wing.

At the two-week Synod on the Family convened by Pope Francis here, the issue of homosexuality is competing for air time with similar questions of denying Communion to divorced and remarried Catholics or how to respond to couples that live together outside of marriage.

Confessions by St. Augustine

Hans Madueme and Michael Reeves, eds. Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin. Reviewed by Andrew Wilson. (TGC)

Kathleen Nielson, Jen Wilkin, and Gloria Furman. When You Think About “Women’s Ministry”. HT Gloria Furman

Tony Reinke. Seven Proofs That Joy Has Arrived in Christ. (DG)

Jesus was almost euphoric.

The most joy-filled outburst recorded in the life of Christ comes in Luke 10.

Jesus sends out 72 of his followers to preach and heal, to serve sinners in word and deed. As they hustle off in every direction, Jesus turns to lament the unbelief of so many sinners who refused to trust in him. In stark contrast, the 72 go out and see magnificent spectacles unfold before their eyes as they wield the power of Christ over demons. They soon return to Jesus, breathless, amazed by their power over evil.

Ed Stetzer. What Is Contextualization? Presenting the Gospel in Culturally Relevant Ways. (CT)

The topic of contextualization arises frequently in contemporary discussions on missiology and ecclesiology. Although it is sometimes controversial, contextualization remains a critical component of effective Gospel communication. [1] The New Testament models the importance of healthy contextualization, and the history of Christian missions displays the need for contextualization.

In this research brief, I will discuss the process of contextualization. [2] I will explain the nature of human culture, the definition of contextualization, contextualization’s final goal, and cautions that we should consider before we start contextualization.

Greg Gibson. The 12 Marks of a Biblical Man. (CBMW)

As an exclamation point to our series, Manhood 101 , I want to list out what I think are the 12 Marks of healthy and true manhood. As men, the application of these 12 Marks are critical to our understanding and pursuit of what it means to be a biblical man.

Matthew 10:38 “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

“He that is in the love with the world will be out of love with the cross.” Thomas Watson

Left Behind Movie, Introvertive Evangelists, Dads w/4 Kids, Pastoral Advice that Stuck.

Stephen Burnett. The Left Behind I Wish I’d Seen. (CaPC)

B efore I read advance reviews of Left Behind or saw the movie, I hoped to title this article “ Left Behind Can’t Save Souls, and It Shouldn’t Have To.” I wanted to say that the film is at least decently made and reflects the source material’s thrills and spiritual themes.

But the soulless film I saw this past weekend broke my heart.

I didn’t want to write that. Since first reading Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ series, I thought they’d make fine apocalyptic-thriller films while sticking to the novel’s spirit and message. As I’ve said before, the Left Behind novels are actually-awesome .

Any adaptation of the novels could have been sincere about the series’ evangelical themes and its chosen genre, an accessible potboiler thriller. But the Left Behind movie had another aim: to sell itself. And not even as a movie, but as rapture-insurance. To this end, the film forsook the novel’s plot and characters, rejected actual evangelism and any inspired vision of storytelling as mimicking God’s creative act, and sold its own soul for a bowl of cinematic pottage.

Discovering the God Who Is by R C Sproul

R C Sproul. Everyone’s a Theologian. Reviewed by Mike Bowling. (SoG)

Gloria Furman. How Can I Evangelize When I Am an Introvert? (Christianity.com)

This video is thoughtful, sincere, and instructive to people like me (introverts).

Don’t Say These Four Things To Dads With Four Kids. (CT)

I have been unemployed for nearly a third of the past three years, which means that I have been a part of more than a few pastoral searches, and know what’s involved. And I’m fairly certain they weren’t supposed to involve two people slinging subtle insults at one another.

Jared Wilson. 5 Good Words of Pastoral Advice That Stuck.

I took my first vocational ministry position the summer I graduated high school (1994), becoming the youth minister for Zion Chinese Baptist Church. (You read that right.) In the twenty years since, I’ve heard a lot of good words on ministry and ministry life, and while a lot has been good, a few choice bits of wisdom have stuck with me since I heard them and have proven truer and truer over the years. Here are just five.

John 8:23 “He said to them, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”

“The only ultimate disaster that can befall us is to feel ourselves at home on this earth.” Malcolm Muggeridge

Sibbes book Josiah’s Reformation guides us through 2 Chronicles 34:26-28, where the Lord discloses that Josiah’s tender heart, humility, and grief over sin spared him and his rule from the coming judgment that the Lord has prepared for Judah. Here’s the Scripture of 2 Chronicles 34:26-28:

26 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 27 because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. 28 Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.’ ” And they brought back word to the king.

This passage is from the third of the four sermons that Richard Sibbes preached on this passage. Here Sibbes talks about the sin of pride, God’s spite for it, and our proclivity towards it.

Let us take notice, I say, of our proneness to this sin of pride; for the best are prone to it. Consider, it is a wonderful hateful sin, a sin of sins, that God most hates. It was this sin that made him thrust Adam out of paradise. It was this sin which made him thrust the evil angels out of heaven, who shall never come there again. Yea, it is a sin that God cures with other sins, so far he hateth it; as Paul, vein subject to be proud through the abundance of revelations, was cured of it by a prick in the flesh: being exercised with some dangerous, noisome, and strange cure. Indeed, it is profitable for some men to fall, that so by their humiliation for infirmities, they may be cured of this great, this sacrilegious sin. And why is it called a sacrilegious sin? Because it robs God of his glory. For God hath said, ‘My glory I will not give to another’ (Isa. 42:8). Is not the grace, goodness, and mercy of God sufficient for us, but we must enter into his prerogatives, and exalt ourselves? We are both idols and idol-worshippers, when we think highly of ourselves, for we make ourselves idols. Now God hates idolatry; but pride is a sacrilege, therefore God hates pride.

Idolatry is Alive, Out of (Evangelism) Shape, What We Won’t Regret, Correcting Other Christians.

Ed Stetzer. Idolatry Is Alive Today: Why Modern Church Leaders Still Fight an Old Battle.

Some readers likely saw the headline on this blog and decided they didn’t need to read an article about the Old Testament, perhaps opting to read a blog on leadership instead.

After all, you probably don’t have a carved stone statue in your house, and you’ve never traveled to Asia and purchased a totem or some other representation of a false god. So why would a conversation about idolatry be of any importance to you, right?

Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn’t Give Up by Ian and Larissa Murphy $2.99

Bryan Loritts. Right Color, Wrong Culture. Reviewed by J D Greear and Chris Pappalardo.

Erik Raymond. Are You Out of (Evangelism) Shape?

Christians approach evangelism a lot like dieting. We are comfortable doing what we are comfortable with. Occasionally, someone will say something that unsettles us.

In terms of our physical health, we go on a diet, join a gym, or pledge to be more fit. I think of this analogy whenever I see a guy getting abused by a trainer. They look like they are going to die. It’s obvious they won’t continue.

Kevin DeYoung. What We Won’t Regret.

After writing yesterday’s post on God’s “regret” and then reading R.C. Sproul Jr. write poignantly about how he regrets not holding his wife’s hand more, I got to thinking about all the things we are likely not to regret when we get to the end of our days.

Aaron Menikoff. When Should You Correct Another Christian?

We live in an age hostile to correction. “No” has become a four-letter word in the modern vernacular. Our non-Christian friends don’t want to be told their unbelief warrants God’s judgment. That’s to be expected. But often our Christian friends don’t want to be corrected, either. And that’s sad, because a rebuke can be good for the soul. “The wise of heart,” says Solomon, “will receive correction” ( Prov 10:8 ).

So how do you know when to correct a brother or sister in Christ? “To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!” ( Prov. 15:23 ). How do we know when to give that word? Thankfully, Scripture provides a trustworthy answer. It tells us when to correct and when to overlook.

Matthew 4:8 “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.”

“If I walk with the world, I can’t walk with God.” D L Moody

Five Introductions to the Old Testament

Here are 5 books that will launch you into studies on an introduction to the Old Testament.

1. An Introduction to the Old Testament: Second Edition Tremper Longman III and Raymond Dillard

2. The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament edited by Eugene Merrill et al.

3. A Survey of the Old Testament by Andrew Hill and John Walton

4. An Introduction to the Old Testament by R K Harrison (not available)

5. Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture by Brevard Childs

Successful Successors, Trevin and Knapp, Political Engagement and Kingdom, Reasons to (not) Blog, Pastor/Theologians.

Barnabas Piper. Ensuring a Successful Successor. (WORLD)

We expect to hear these words from a waitress or a customer service rep. They are a polite offer of service to those who deserve it or have paid for it. We don’t expect to hear them uttered by someone relinquishing their job to another, but that’s exactly what happened when Josh McCown of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hurt his thumb and handed over his starting quarterback job to Mike Glennon.

Galatians: Gospel-rooted Living by Todd Wilson $0.99

Jennifer Knapp. Facing the Music. Reviewed by Trevin Wax.

Russell Moore. Political Engagement and the Kingdom of God. (Gospel Project)

The Kingdom of God is an explosively veiled inbreaking into the present world order of the reign of Jesus himself as emperor of the cosmos. This being the case, it ought to change the way we see ourselves, and our place in this age and in the one to come.

And yet, there’s a great danger in the evangelical world among some who—as the world seems to secularize more and more—think we should withdraw from the public square and simply “focus on the gospel” in the life of our own congregations. There’s only one problem with that.

The gospel doesn’t give us that option.

Hannah Anderson. 4 Reasons to Blog (and 4 Reasons NOT to Blog).

I started blogging in July 2011. At the time, my husband and I were in a period of underemployment, using food stamps, and living in a 950 sq. ft. apartment with three young children. Not exactly the most prodigious setting to launch a writing career. Looking back, I realize that God used this time to provide direction for me. Because of financial constraints, I needed a marketable skill; this meant either returning to school for a technical degree or pursing writing. So I made a deal with God: I would commit 2 years to learning the industry and developing my skills if He would confirm that this was His leading in my life. Since then, He has. But it started with small steps of faith like setting up a blog and pushing “publish.” In fact, the process of blogging was invaluable because it gave me…

Nick Batzig. The Importance of Being a Pastor/Theologian.

I have a theory about why God seems to use pastor/theologians in the ways in which He does in the world. I have come to believe that God blesses the labors of pastor/theologians who give themselves to him and the work of the church in a way that He often does not do so with other believers actively engaged in helpful para-church ministries.

Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

“A carnal Christian is the carcase of a true Christian.” Thomas Manton

Redeeming the Time (CBMW Guest Article)

Squandering time is an everyday affair for most men. Quite honestly we obsess over distraction. We’ll get lost in Reddit, YouTube, and Twitter. Sports statistics at ESPN, crazy car factoids from Top Gear, and random Duck Commander trivia fills our brains. Many of us go dark right about now due to fantasy football. And I might even gander that some homes have fathers attached to a headset and a game system for a daily dose of time.

These are all diversions. And what you want to hear from me right now is, “It’s okay bro. Divert yourself. You need that.” But the reality is you’ve got too much diversion. So instead, I’m going to slather a thick spread of conviction through the direct words of Jonathan Edwards in his Miscellanies “The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth.” He says:

“Some diversion is doubtless lawful, but Christians spend so much of their time, so many long evenings, in no other conversation than that which tends to divert and amuse, if nothing worse, is a sinful way of spending time, and tends to poverty of soul at least, if not to outward poverty.

So substitute “conversation” for everything else in that first paragraph, even fill in the blank with that thing I didn’t cover that most diverts you. What are you to do? What am I to do? I mean that list didn’t come haphazard. I too am guilty of diversion.

You and I have life-long habits and interests that we’ve fostered, and we can’t just undo our interests overnight or in one article and replace them with others. But there is a better way forward that will rescue us from frittering off our minuscule lives on worthless diversions.

Let’s move forward with a positive focus on redeeming our time by looking at how we foster our affections. When we foster the right affections, we redeem our time towards the right focus.

READ MORE AT THE COUNCIL ON BIBLICAL MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD…

Moore on SCOTUS, Know It All Christians, Christians & Cussing, Discernment.

Elizabeth Bristow. ERLC’s Russell Moore Comments on SCOTUS Decision to Deny Same-Sex Marriage Petitions. (ERLC)

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, commented on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny review of seven petitions involving disputes over the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.

Exploring Grace Together: 40 Devotionals for the Family by Jessica Thompson $0.99

Jared C Wilson. The Wonder-Working God. Reviewed by Nate Claiborne.

Eric McKiddie. Why You Can’t Base Your Spiritual Maturity Just on How Much You Know. (Christianity.com)

There are few things more exciting to witness than a new Christian who is enthusiastic about their faith. They suck in Bible teaching like a Shop Vac.

But a problem often arises during this early season of their spiritual journey. When your initial spiritual growth spurt coincides with learning a lot about the Bible and the Christian faith , it’s easy to equate spiritual growth primarily with knowledge growth.

Clint Archer. Bleep! Why Christians Shouldn’t Cuss.

The determining standard of what is “intrinsically objectionable or offends good taste” has proven quite the moveable feast. Words that were respectable vernacular in the Elizabethan era would get a kid’s mouth washed out with soap today, and diction that would never escape the censor’s “intrinsically objectionable” razor as recently as 1939 are now heard on every silver screen in the Western world, and even occasionally on the news (at least in Anchorage).

While as Christians we acknowledge that God’s standards of holiness are immovable a thinking linguist must acknowledge that what different cultures and periods consider to be taboo is a perplexing field of study.

Sinclair Ferguson. What is Discernment? (Ligonier)

Someone I know recently expressed an opinion that surprised and in some ways disappointed me. I said to myself, “I thought he would have more discernment than that.”

The experience caused me to reflect on the importance of discernment and the lack of it in our world. We know that people often do not see issues clearly and are easily misled because they do not think biblically. But, sadly, one cannot help reflecting on how true this is of the church community, too.

1 Timothy 6:7 “For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”

“Worldings make gold their god; saints make God their gold.” Matthew Henry

4 Ways to Make Small Talk a Big Deal (ChurchPastorDOTcom Guest Post)

Most people bristle at the idea of making small talk after church. But let’s face it: church guests learn a lot about the heartbeat and the culture of a church from small talk. To a newcomer, a five-minute conversation after a church service can tell them far more than hours spent surfing the church website. Simply put, church guests will meet your staff, church members, and regular attenders. These people are the face of your church. They are your first-string varsity team.

Fortunately, small talk is something that can be taught. It’s a very simple way for a church to express the kind of warmth and generosity that the gospel creates. No better time is available for small talk than right after a church service. Church guests who bounce straight out the door are still scoping the church, but guests who linger are looking to connect. Will they?

Small talk can be done for God’s glory. Nothing is insignificant or beyond the reach of being leveraged for God’s glory, including small talk. Besides, small talk often turns to gospel conversations, especially in a church context. Every conversation moves from superficial to profound, and if it starts the other way, don’t you usually feel a little intimidated? We don’t want to do that with church guests. So start small and aim big!

Here are 4 ways to make small talk a big deal…

READ THE REST OVER AT CHURCHPASTORdotCOM…

What’s Best Next by Matt Perman

This review first appeared on Lifeway’s Pastors Today web-blog.

Matt Perman. What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014. 327 pp. $19.99

Pastor, you slog through every day working heartily for the Lord (Col. 3:23), but you never have enough hours to do it all. The ghastly reality is that something has to give. Will it be administration or relationships? You want to be effective and efficient at both because you want to be productive. So how do you do it and for what reason?

Matt Perman, formerly the senior director at Desiring God Ministries, doesn’t just want you to be productive; he wants you to let your light shine so that others will see your work and give glory to God (Matt. 5:16). In his book, What’s Best Next , he calls this Gospel-Driven Productivity. This is how he describes it: “The essence of GDP is this: We are to use all that we have, in all areas of life, for the good of others, to the glory of God – and that this is the most exciting life” (28). Perman asserts that this is the overarching principle behind productivity – not being productive to get ahead of the competition or get the good life but for God’s glory and other’s good. Synergizing common grace from the best business thinkers with his own theologically grounded reflection, Perman presents his model of Gospel Driven Productivity.

In part one of What’s Best Next we discover how the principles of effectiveness and God-centeredness rescue us from three villains: ambiguity, overload, and lack of fulfillment. In part two Perman frames his argument for Gospel-Driven Productivity by explaining the guiding principle of love, how the gospel fits into productivity, the problem of turning our completed tasks into the source of peace, and the role of scripture and prayer in productivity. All this sets us up for Perman’s method for achieving Gospel-Driven Productivity.

According to Perman, Gospel-Driven Productivity is built on a four-step process around the acronym DARE: define, architect, reduce, and execute. Parts three through six of What’s Best Next respectively cover these steps. This is the kernel of What’s Best Next . Part seven closes the book by presenting a soaring vision for productivity. You see, when each person is productive, organizations become productive, and society and the world benefit.

No review sufficiently covers all the benefits of What’s Best Next ; there are just too many nuggets to treasure. Here is a trifle smattering of them.

Perman’s distinction between efficiency and effectiveness is perceptive. In chapter two he explains, “More important than efficiency is effectiveness – getting the right things done. In other words, productivity is not first about getting more things done faster. It’s about getting the right things done” (43). This resonates with me. How about you? I’ve devoted too much time getting wrong things done faster rather than doing the right thing. That’s why the first step of the DARE process, defining, is critical.

Chapter three’s discussion on lack of fulfillment is penetrating. This third villain vacuously sucks away life. “We feel unfulfilled when there is a gap between what is more important to us (the realm of personal leadership) and what we are actually doing with our time (the realm of personal management),” Perman laments. “You are satisfied with your day when there is a match between what you value and how you spent your time” (52). Perman traces four generations of business thinkers who attempted to thwart the lack of fulfillment menace to no success. This history of time management methods is fascinating. Perman’s offer of a fifth generation, God-centeredness, is the only viable solution. He says: “To be God-centered, then, is to make God the source of your guidance, security, and meaning” (54). This is the only way to dispatch that petulant lack of fulfillment.

Part three’s tactic for guiding us through definition is imperative for productivity. We must discern what big things to attend to and then prioritize them. Thus, we need a God-centered mission, a personal life vision to aim for, and an understanding of our role(s). I loved Perman’s exemplar, William Wilberforce. As he shared Wilberforce’s story, we learn not just about definition but how one person’s defined vision changed a nation.

Perman’s suggestion to architect a flexible schedule unfetters us. Instead of being ruled by tasks we live by routines. You will relate all too well to Perman’s frustration with the “Get Things Done” method to completing tasks. His intuitive nuance to this strategy by creating a schedule of routines for managing rhythms, workflows, and relationships is liberating (see example on pp. 200-201).

There are a number of other mentionables in What’s Best Next . Perman supplies tips from people like Al Mohler, John Piper, and Tim Challies. He recommends the occasional sixteen-hour work day for major projects. His technique for reducing work by delegating, eliminating, automating, and deferring tasks is worthy of returning to frequently (chapter 17).

What I appreciate most about What’s Best Next is Perman’s continual refreshing of Gospel-Driven Productivity in every segment of the book. Some books state a thesis, and leave it behind in chapter one. What’s Best Next’s thesis pervades the book to the climactic final part where Gospel-Driven Productivity has global effect.

What’s Best Next promotes a peerless model for productivity that is gospel-driven for the Glory of God, the good of others, and your own

Left Behind, Hold Your Wife’s Hand, Pastor’s Family, Reducing Stress.

Brett McCracken. The Rapture Keeps Coming Back. (CT)

A re Americans more enraptured with the Rapture than ever? Seth Rogen’s 2013 apocalypse comedy, This Is the End, poked fun at the concept, while the cinematic “reboot” of Left Behind , starring Nicolas Cage, takes it seriously. The bleak HBO drama The Leftovers , developed by Damon Lindelof (co-creator of Lost ), explores what life would be like for those left behind after a Rapture-esque event.

The Rapture is a relatively recent idea in church history, as well as a minor theme in Scripture: Many Bible scholars argue that it’s not there at all, while descendants of 19th-century dispensationalists see it in passages like 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17; 1 Corinthians 15:51–55; and John 14:2–3. But it has become a fixture in U.S. pop culture, showing up unexpectedly like a thief in the night.

A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community, and Mission around the Table (Re:Lit) by Tim Chester $0.99

William Farley. Gospel-Powered Humility. Reviewed by David Steele.

R C Sproul Jr. Husbands, Hold Your Wife’s Hand.

It is both awkward and encouraging the feedback I have received over the past few years for the writing I have done during my beloved’s illness, homegoing, and absence. I especially rejoice when I hear that the things I have written have served another in a time of hardship. It remains my intention to use what I have written in a book in the future. That said, I still believe that the most vulnerable, most insightful, most helpful thing I wrote all along this journey was this brief tweet …I wish I had held her hand more.

Thom Rainer. Seven Ways the Pastor’s Family Comes Under Attack.

If I were to devise a scheme to destroy churches, I would find ways to attack the pastor. And as I found ways to attack the pastor, I would see his family as the area of greatest vulnerability.

Attack the church by attacking the pastor. Attack the pastor by attacking his family.

Michael Hyatt. 7 Sure-Fire Ways to Reduce Stress and Restore Your Sanity.

T he Wall Street Journal recently ran a story on the trend in slow reading. The idea is that intentional time in a book can improve our minds and reduce our stress.

If you’re a book person like me, this is no surprise. It doesn’t matter if it’s paper or digital, just taking thirty minutes out of a busy day brings me a sense of calm. A good book gives me a moment to myself in a world of racing and rushing and lets me collect my thoughts—or even escape them for a while.

We all have favorite things we do to deal with the stress in our lives. These are things that take our minds off our difficulties, help us reframe them, or reenergize us to face them. Here are my top-seven stress reducers.

Psalm 118:24 “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

“Nothing is more contrary to a heavenly hope than an earthly heart.” William Gurnall

The First Court of Controversy

I’ll never forget my first speeding ticket.

It was in my hometown: Mansfield, Texas. In the 90’s Mansfield was transitioning from fields of cattle grazing to blocks of suburbia. What is now the 2014 Money Magazines number 17 of the best 50 cities in America was then just a solitary 5A high-school, one Wal-Mart, and no hospital town. Quaint and quiet, nothing happened in Mansfield until that cadet shooting launched the town from anonymity.

I was speeding my way to the high school girls basketball game. Our varsity girls team was legendary — state-champ repeats all four years of my high school career. A sixteen year old cruising down Country Club drive in a 1986 dull, maroon Mercury Lynx hatchback; the Lynx was the luxury Escort, hah! I was a fly about to collide with a web. Easy pickings. The police officer said I was going 38 in a 25. It was a construction zone, just like every other asphalt single-lane in Mansfield, turning into a two-lane cement paradise for suburban affluents.

Like any other teen who recently received his license, I penitently presented the ticket to my parents. They were flummoxed. They agreed with me . You see, I thought I was going 3 over. After all, it was a construction zone, when workers present, reducing the limit from 35 to 25. There were no workers present at 7pm as I was running late to the girls game.

My dad was annoyed and decided to represent me in court. He told me to plead not-guilty. That was a proud moment. Dad and I against the court, a Mercer Mayer Critter book in the works.

Courts are a hotbed of controversy. This can be the case in even the most trivial courtroom.

Mansfield’s small claims court was in my 6th grade intermediate school. I once played youth basketball where I was on trial. There was a line of folks. Mostly parents with teens, arms crossed, brow furrowed, going one by one to plead their case, uptight and upset about being on a basketball court in front of a black gown behind a fold up table in a school chair on a school night.

It’s some sort of racket. There’s a system to it. Say you were sober and in right judgment. Plea not guilty before a black gown on a Tuesday night. Go see a clerk and get your ticket reduced by 75% and get deferred judification for 90 days — even when you weren’t guilty in your own eyes — which is how everyone felt, right? I’m disgruntled, out $50 bucks, and driving like an old lady for 90 days. I guess Dad and I won. No, no we didn’t.

You never win in court unless you’re really not-guilty. And who in court is? Really, we’re all guilty of something. It just may not be what we’re actually on trial for. You’ll get what I’m getting at soon enough.

Mansfield’s a lot like Eden; it has all the makings of controversy: disagreement, differing perspectives, and someone wins. The black gown always wins. Though this was my first ticket, it wasn’t my first trial. Despite what you might think.

I was on trial before. It was a pretty controversial trial. Angels were present, all creation watched on, a man and woman stood naked — they just found out too — the serpent, who pretended to be their counsel, ended up being both accused and the man and woman’s accuser too, a perpetual one at that. He offered poor representation and got fined himself. Lawyers are such snakes.

I wasn’t even there, but I was judged too. The Judge knew me before I was knit in my mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13). I sat condemned and justly so. My dad Adam sat before my Father God. That’s not confusing. Father, dad, and I: what a bizarre Critter book that would be.

Still, there I was in a federal court, represented by my federal head, being rightly judged for something I did. I distrusted not just the black gown, I distrusted the personal God who created me and wore it. How you ask?

The Father made my dad Adam, gave him a charge, and told him how to execute it. Our Father gave him his boundaries, and told him to trust them. Then my dad did the unthinkable. He ate what he should not eat and fractured the boundary. All boundaries were unbound and sin knew no bound. Since I was bound in Adam’s bowel before I was bound in my mother’s womb, I was now bound by the law that loomed over my dad and I. The law that our Father set upon us. I was also bound for death. There was too much bound stuff going down with deathly consequences. Controversy is a killer.

If you disagree, read these verses:

“And to Adam he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ … by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:17, 19).

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).

“For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners…” (Rom. 5:19)

“For as by a man came death…” (1 Cor. 15:21)

“For as in Adam all die…” (1 Cor. 15:22)

What this means is that it wasn’t just me there on trial. You were on trial, too. We all were; all humanity stood condemned in this controversy of controversies.

Controversies Are Settled in Court

What’s interesting about controversy is that it’s always settled in court, if it has to go that far. Most don’t go that far, but the most important controversies do. They are settled by one who judiciously makes a decision between two parties.

In the first court of controversy, Satan pretended to be our counsel and then turned on us as our accuser. He didn’t even have to say a thing to the judge, he just needed to whisper false counsel in an ear, deceive, and let temptation run its course.

And there we stood — blaming poor representation, one another, the judge — blaming everyone, as most people caught in controversy do.

Many try to distance them self from the first court of controversy and its judge. They think he’s just a black gown. He doesn’t really exist. He’s not personal. That trial: it’s a myth. One day those people will find out otherwise, when they stand at the final court of controversy.

They’ll understand that all the fingerprints and shadows of controversy in life are mere emanations of the first one. That cosmic controversy in the garden, the first court of controversy.

Jobless Americans, When God Speaks to You, Lost Virtue of Modesty, Benefits of Christian History.

Elise Hilton. 5 Reasons Americans Still Can’t Find A Job (And It’s Probably Not What You Think). (ACTON)

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, unemployment across the country is at about 6.1 percent ( here in Michigan, it’s at 7.4 percent , which puts us in the bottom 10 states.) That means a lot of folks are still struggling to find a job, or a job where they are not underemployed.

Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland give 5 reasons for this.

Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp FREE

Ed. Christopher Morgan and Robert Peterson. Fallen: A Theology of Sin. Reviewed by Chris Bruno.

Jonathan Parnell. When God Himself Speaks to You. (DG)

John Piper says that good news is so dense and so constant in Romans 8 — and so vastly superior to all earthly good news — that we scarcely feel the force of it until we take every verse of Romans 8 and restate it as the miracle it means for our lives.

Kevin DeYoung. The Lost Virtue of Modesty.

I don’t know if modest is hottest, but I do know that modesty is biblical.

It is one of the marks of the confusion of our age that so many teenagers and young adults are more ashamed to dress with modest reserve than to very nearly undress entirely.

Matt Smethurst. 7 Ways Christian History Benefits You. (Christianity.com)

Christian history. Some of you already may be tempted to stop reading. History, after all, is a subject that can often feel distant, boring, irrelevant.

But I’m convinced you should care about the history of the church. In fact, I believe it’s essential. And for your good.

“The world is our passage and not our portion.” Matthew Henry

20 Quotes from A Praying Life by Paul Miller

Prayer is a critical discipline and a joy to partake. God made us for prayer to bring praise and honor to him and to lean into him when life gets tough. Paul Miller’s book, A Praying Life , is one of the best books I’ve seen or read on prayer during the past few years. I have found myself returning to it from time to time to remind myself of my need to commune with God and depend upon him through prayer.

If you’d like to learn more about this book, I reviewed it some time ago here .

Here are twenty quotes from A Praying Life by Paul Miller:

1. “People often talk about prayer as if it is disconnected from what God is doing in their lives. But we are actors in his drama, listening for our lines, quieting our hearts so we can hear the voice of the Playwright” (l. 404).

2. “When we slow down to pray, we are immediately confronted with how unspiritual we are, with how difficult it is to concentrate on God. We don’t know how bad we are until we try to be good. Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer” (l. 490).

3. “You don’t create intimacy; you make room for it. This is true whether you are talking about your spouse, your friend, or God. You need space to be together. Efficiency, multitasking, and busyness all kill intimacy. In short, you can’t get to know God on the fly” (l. 694).

4. “Prayer is bringing your helplessness to Jesus” (l. 786).

5. “A praying life isn’t simply a morning prayer time; it is about slipping into prayer at odd hours of the day, not because we are disciplined but because we are in touch with our own poverty of spirit, realizing that we can’t even walk through a mall of our neighborhood without the help of the Spirit of Jesus” (l. 969).

6. “Instead of fighting anxiety, we can use it as a springboard to bending our hearts to God. Instead of trying to suppress anxiety, manage it, or smother it with pleasure, we can turn our anxiety toward God” (l. 978).

7. “We are to combine a robust trust in the Good Shepherd with a vigilance about the presence of evil in our own hearts and in the hearts of others. The feel of a praying life is cautious optimism — caution because of the Fall, optimism because of redemption” (l. 1130).

8. “Majesty and humility are such an odd fit. This is one reason we struggle with prayer. We just don’t think God could be concerned with the puny details of our lives. We either believe he’s too big or that we’re not that important. No wonder Jesus told us to be like little children! Little children are not daunted by the size of their parents … We desperately want intimacy, but when it comes, we pull back, fearful of a God who is too personal, too pure” (ll. 1539, 1551).

9. “If we separate our mundane needs (doing) from God’s best gift, his loving presence (being), then we are overspiritualizing prayer” (l. 1613).

10. “If you are going to enter this divine dance we call prayer, you have to surrender your desire to be in control, to figure out how prayer works” (l. 1710).

11. “All of Jesus teaching on prayer in the Gospels can be summarized with one word: ask. His greatest concern is that our failure or reluctance to ask keeps us distant from God” (l. 1782).

12. “The name of Jesus gives my prayers royal access” (l. 1803).

13. “He wants our material needs to draw us into our soul needs. This is what it means to abide — to include him in every aspect of our lives” (l. 1886).

14. “The great struggle of my life is not trying to discern God’s will; it is trying to discern and then disown my own…Either I see all of life as a gift, or I demand that life have a certain look to it” (l. 2069).

15. “Thanksgiving helps us to be grace-centered, seeing all of life as a gift” (l. 2422).

16. “When God seems silent and our prayers go unanswered , the overwhelming temptation is to leave the story — to walk out of the desert and attempt to create a normal life. But when we persist in a spiritual vacuum, when we hang in there during ambiguity, we get to know God. In fact, that is how intimacy grows in all close relationships” (l. 2471).

17. “Most of our prayers are answered in the context of the larger story that God is weaving” (l. 2585).

18. “When we remove our false selves, repentance creates integrity” (l. 2778).

19. “Prayer is asking God to incarnate, to get dirty in your life” (l. 2959).

20. “Journaling allows us to discover the story that God is writing in our lives. Instead of rushing through life, it allows us to pause and reflect” (l. 3232).

Christian Publishing Jobs, Selah Interview, Mult-Site Churches, Practical Theology.

Marvin Olasky. Want a Job In Christian Publishing? (WORLD)

At a low point in ancient Israel, “There was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, ‘Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears.’ But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle” ( 1 Samuel 13:19–20 , ESV).

Are we almost at that point in Christian book publishing today? What’s missing from the following notice on the Publishers Weekly Job Zone?

How to Argue like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communicator by Joe Carter and John Coleman

James M Hamilton Jr.. With the Clouds of Heaven. Reviewed by Denny Burk.

Trevin Wax. Good Theology, Good Lyrics, Good Melody: An Interview with Selah.

Since 1997, Selah has been a mainstay in Christian music. The original trio was comprised of brother and sister Todd and Nicol Smith, and their friend Allan Hall. Nicol married and left the group in 2004, and Amy Perry joined a few years later.

The trio has sold more than 4 million albums and singles, and garnered seven Dove Awards. Despite their previous accomplishments, their most recent album, You Amaze Us , has achieved unprecedented success.

Recently, I sat down with Todd, Allan and Amy to ask them about their history, their songs, and why theology is such an important aspect of music.

Jonathan Leeman. Twenty-Two Problems with Multi-Site Churches. (9M)

I love my gospel-loving friends in multi-site churches—both leaders and members! But as Christians we work continually to reform our churches in light of Scripture. So I trust a little push back on the multi-site structure serves everyone, assuming my concerns turn out to be valid. Below are 22 misgivings I have about the multi-site model. All of these apply to churches that use a video preacher. Over half apply to churches who employ a preacher on every campus.* Some of these are grounded in biblical or theological principles; some are matters of prudence.

Marc Cortez. 4 Ways Theology Is Practical for Everyday Life. (Christianity.com)

Teach theology long enough and you’ll face countless forms of the same basic question: What does this have to do with real life? Will it affect the way we do ministry, how we share the gospel, or what we do every day? How is it relevant to the problems and challenges the average person faces? You know, is it practical ?

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”

“Man was made to work, because the God who made him was a ‘working God’.” Sinclair Ferguson

Five Books on the New Testament and Its Context

Here are 5 books that will launch you into studies on an introduction to biblical exegesis.

1. Backgrounds of Early Christianity by Everett Ferguson

2. Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus by Joachim Jeremias

3. Among the Gentiles: Greco-Roman Religion and Christianity (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library) by Luke Timothy Johnson

4. The Jewish World around the New Testament by Richard Bauckham

5. Jesus & the Rise of Early Christianity by Paul Barnett

Lecrae’s Mainstream Success, Labor Pain & Redemption, Abstinence Programs, News Makes Us Dumb, Heretical Coffee.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey. How Lecrae Mixed Rap and Theology to Find Huge, Mainstream Success. (RNS)

He’s been crowned the “new hip-hop king” and his newest album, “Anomaly,” topped iTunes and Amazon charts the day of its Sept. 9 release. He’s been invited to birthday parties for both Billy Graham and Michael Jordan and riffed on NBC’s “Tonight Show” with host Jimmy Fallon.

It’s the kind of mainstream success that has eluded most Christian rappers. Then again, some people are still trying to decide if hip-hop star Lecrae is a Christian rapper, or a rapper who happens to be Christian.

It depends who you ask, including Lecrae himself.

Liberating Black Theology: The Bible and the Black Experience in America by Anthony Bradley $0.99

Matt Perman. What’s Best Next? The Gospel and Getting Things Done. Reviewed by Mez McConnell. (20Schemes)

Gloria Furman. On Labor Pain and Redemption.

References to childbirth in the Bible always make me pause when I’m reading them. My personal experiences and those of the women I’ve served as a doula are brought to my mind. Childbirth in the Bible—whether it is spoken of as an event or used as a metaphor—conjures up multi-sensory memories for me. I think it would be an edifying study to compile a biblical theology of this subject from the garden to the garden-city… “be fruitful and multiply,” “in pain you shall bring forth children,” “we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind,” “desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin,” “you must be born again,” “my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,” “yet she will be saved through childbearing,” “the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth”…

Luke T. Harrington. D.A.R.E., True Love Waits, and the Way Forward after Abstinence.

E vangelicals are nothing if not susceptible to fads, so it’s no surprise that in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when we were all reeling from the Sexual Revolution of the ‘60s, we launched a slate of programs to discourage teens from having sex, including True Love Waits and the Silver Ring Thing. Teens were told that if they signed an abstinence pledge and followed the Biblical model of abstinence until marriage, their sex lives would be better and their marriages would be stronger.

To many eyes, True Love Waits and similar programs seem like a good idea. Teen sex is a problem, so why not promote abstinence with a “cool” program that speaks their language and encourages them to commit to a Christian sexual ethic?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.

Kevin DeYoung. How the News Makes Us Dumb.

Christians talk a lot about having a world and life view whereby we can discern the news from a biblical perspective. That’s a wonderful goal, so long as we are discerning about all the subtle ways the nature of news itself distorts our view of reality.

Andrew Stephen Damick. Coffeedoxy and Heterodoxy.

This is an entertaining post on why your coffee might be heretical. HT Ken Keathley

“Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.” T S Eliot

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

New Translation of Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion from Banner of Truth

Banner of Truth has published a new translation of Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion . This fresh translation from the original French is translated by Robert White.

Throughout Calvin’s life the Institutes underwent a number of editions. Here is Banner of Truth’s description of this edition of Institutes of Christian Religion , why it was selected from other editions, and why you might want to have it in your library:

The Institutes of the Christian Religion are Calvin’s single most important work, and one of the key texts to emerge from the Reformation of the sixteenth century. The book accompanied the Reformer throughout his life, growing in size from what was essentially an expanded catechism in 1536 to a full-scale work of biblical theology in 1559/1560.

Among the intermediate editions of the Institutes , none deserves to be better known than the first French edition of 1541. Avoiding the technical details and much of the polemics of the final work, the Institutes of 1541 offer a clear and comprehensive account of the work of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in creation, revelation and redemption, in the life of the individual Christian and in the worship and witness of the church.

Not doctrine only but its practical use is Calvin’s abiding concern. The author of the Institutes invites us both to know and to live the truth, and thus allow God’s Spirit to transform us.

The present translation is newly made from the French of 1541. It has been designed and annotated with the needs of a wide readership in mind.

This 920 page edition focuses on the essentials of Calvin’s Institutes. This hard-cover edition has a beautiful typeset with clean columns format, leaving ample space for marginal notes. This set would be great for doing family devotions with your family!

Westminster Bookstore Introductory Offer

Westminster Bookstore is offering a special bundle package of this new edition of Institutes of Christian Religion and A Guide to Christian Living . You will receive a bundle of the two books for only $35 . That’s a great value! You’re getting A Guide to Christian Living for free and about $15 off of Institutes of Christian Religion .

CLICK HERE TO BUY THIS SET!