A La Carte (11/5)

  • Tim Challies
  • 11/05/09
  • 5
Multiple Perspectives on Multi-Site Churches
A panel at Southern Seminary discussed this topic. The participants are R. Albert Mohler Jr., Gregg Allison, Kevin Ezell, Greg Gilbert, and Daniel Montgomery.
The Day I Went to Church
I enjoyed this article simply for the perspective it offers on a person's first strange and perhaps terrifying attempt at going to church. It is good to remember how foreign church is to people who are not accustomed to it.
Stand By Me
This is a cool little video. The producers went around the world and recorded the song as performed by an international contingent of people.
Guardian Angels
Randy Alcorn addresses this question: Do you believe in guardian angels? He answers in the affirmative.
The Case for Modesty
This article in TIME has a few good things to say about modesty and humility. "Virtues, like viruses, have their seasons of contagion. When catastrophe strikes, generosity spikes like a fever. Courage spreads in the face of tyranny. But some virtues go dormant for generations, as we've seen with thrift, making its comeback after 40 years in cold storage. I'm hoping for a sudden outbreak of modesty, a virtue whose time has surely come.

Comments (5)

1
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Doc B • 11/05 @ 12:23pm

I knew as soon as I saw the "Time" header that the article wouldn't be what its title claimed, and I was right.

It was all about appearing modest as a form of advanced narcissism. Saying The One is modest is like saying Mother Theresa was bombastic. Unbelievable.

Now I remember why I gave up reading the nonsense printed in popular news magazines.

2
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Ray Fowler • 11/05 @ 12:50pm
› visit my web site.

The "Day I Went to Church" article has some remarkable similarities to a poem on an old Larry Norman album, right down to the structure and identical wording in parts. The poem was called "First Day in Church" and appeared on Larry's 1970 Street Level album. The poem clearly had an Australian background, and Larry even spoke it with an Australian accent in the recording.

I am guessing that the article is based on the poem and is not intended as an actual firsthand account of attending church. Either way, the article and poem both serve as good reminders that attending church for the first time can be an intimidating experience, and we should work to remove any unnecessary barriers to the gospel.

3
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Ken Davis • 11/06 @ 9:10am

"The Day I Went to Church" cannot be real. Not even the worst church would say that the Bible reading was going to be from Obadiah chapter 2.

4
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Van • 11/06 @ 9:36am

"The Day I Went to Church" may not be real, but it does remind me of a guy I used to work with. This man had never been in a church, and when he saw me leave early every Wed. night to go to Bible study he started asking questions. I asked plenty of my own along the way, and it seemed his vision of church was of a really wild charismatic church... snakes, tongues, swinging on the chandeliers, etc. I started asking why we did things the way we did after that, and have been surprised by how few around me are capable of explaining why parts of worship are done the way they are. Like the (fictional?) guy going to church, I also asked about the pastor wearing a robe. No one in the congregation knew, only the pastor could tell me. The pastor took for granted that the people knew, and the people just accepted the tradition blindly.

5
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Kate K • 11/06 @ 8:57pm

James MacDonald blogged in 3 parts on the topic of multi-site church-ing. Very insightful and wise. Scroll down.http://blog.harvestbiblefellowship.org/