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A La Carte (3/8)
- 03/08/10
- 7
Brothers, We Are Not Figure Skaters - A good moment from Phil Johnson at last week’s Shepherds’ Conference.
C.H. Spurgeon: The People’s Preacher - A few days ago I watched this docu-drama on the life of Charles Spurgeon. It is quite well done and provides a solid, hour-long overview of the life of the Prince of Preachers. It’s a great item to add to your church library.
Hologram Preachers - It is sometimes difficult to know what is fact and what is fiction. “Holographic preachers are stirring another technology-gone-too-far debate among Christians. While the dust over beaming preachers on a video screen on multi-site campuses has somewhat settled, the new 3D tool is raising more questions and concerns among some believers.”
Climbing - This is an amazing photograph (or series of photographs stitched together).
The Decline of Vocational Evangelism - Trevin Wax asks why the number of vocational evangelists has declined, especially in the context of the SBC.
The Pastor’s Worst Day? - David Murray: “What’s the worst day of the week for pastors? Probably Monday. For the previous seven days we’ve poured ourselves into sermon preparation, pastoral visitation, counseling, evangelism, problem solving, prayer, etc. The Sunday climax (anti-climax?) has come and gone. We may have been discouraged by low attendances, limited or negative feedback, etc. Our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual reserves are in the red. Yet we have to climb the mountain all over again. Monday "blues" can very quickly become Monday ‘blacks.’ However, without ignoring the real difficulties, let us also remember the joys of pastoral ministry. Here are seven I try to keep before me, especially on Monday mornings.”
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (7)
I find it amusing that there is so much discussion about “video” pastors in multi-campus churches. My churh, North Point, uses video at the SAME campus in a second auditorium along with our other Atlanta area campus locations.
Re: Hologram Preachers
The preacher suddenly appears at the pulpit, looking a lot like Robert Picardo, and proclaims “Please state the nature of your theological emergency.”
@RobertW I was thinking the same thing!
Every time I hear Phil Johnson speak, I find him more and more distasteful. To highlight a few quotes:
“the typical evangelical church of this generation has become weak and womanly”
News flash: womanly != weak.
“churchgoers demand that their preachers be soft and dainty”
Huh? Really? I really don’t know any churches, or any believers, who have that requirement, either consciously or subconsciously. If anything its the opposite. Evangelicals, at least those of Johnson’s ilk, demand that their pastors be “manly men” in the most rudimentary stereotypical sense.
”..today’s evangelicals favor feminine themes. You know, let’s talk about our emotional hurts, our personal relationships, our felt needs. (mocking) ‘We’re hurting people!’”
Great Phil. Mock people who are hurting. And while you’re at it, minimize the importance of personal relationships.
“We are told relentlessly that we have to be always agreeable no matter what, you know? Seeker sensitive. Gender neutral. Effervescent. Transparent. Sentimental. And delicate in everything we say and do. Those sound like rules for figure skaters.”
We should be always agreeable, and seeker sensitive, depending on what you mean by “agreeable” and “seeker sensitive”. The alternative is to be disagreeable and seeker insensitive. Ditto for transparency.
Clearly we need not be unnecessarily delicate in what we say or do, but neither should we be unnecessarily indelicate as Johnson seems wont to do.
I don’t know if Phil was having a good moment. I commend him for calling attention to safety-based teaching and the devastation caused by not proclaiming the gospel, but I don’t think that doing so requires a denigration of femininity. True Biblical Femininity is not represented in his talk. True Biblical Femininity embraces truth, even difficult truth with courage and wisdom (see proverbs 31). I DO agree however, with the idea that wussified, mamby-pamby feeling orientated reactions to men who speak the truth in love need to leave the church, we should not say so at the expense of true femininity.
That last link really got me thinking about how I can encourage my Sunday school teacher and the two elders in my church that put a lot of time into and deliver the Sunday sermon in my church…while my church is in the process of finding a new pastor. Thanks!
I was thinking the samething!