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A La Carte (4/19)
- 04/19/10
- 9
Why You Should Come to Toronto Pastor’s Conference - Paul explains why you should come to Toronto Pastor’s Conference (which just so happens to be sponsored by my church).
Michael Hyatt on the iPad - I’ll have more to say about the iPad in days to come (as I put it through its paces). But I do like what Michael Hyatt says. “Do you want an iPad? Probably. Do you need an iPad? Probably not. The iPhone is sufficient for making calls, checking email, stock quotes, and the weather, or listening to podcasts or audiobooks. In my experience, the iPad doesn’t offer a big enough improvement to warrant the additional investment.”
The Objectification of Jennifer Knapp - I appreciate the warning sounded in this post. “The first step toward a good dialogue is recognizing that there’s a real person, with a real will, a real mind, and real problems at the other end of the line. And in this case, from what I can tell, Jennifer Knapp the real person would rather not be in the thick of things. I simply think respecting that would be a good start to whatever happens next.”
Seven Characteristics of Highly Evangelistic Christians - Thom Rainer shares seven characteristics of Christians who love to evangelize. “The secret is really no secret at all. Ultimately, evangelistic churches see more persons become Christians through the passionate efforts of highly evangelistic Christians. More than any programs. More than any church events. More than anything else, we are the instruments God has chosen to use.”
Seven Sure-Fire Ways to Blow Up a Church - Chuck Lawless: “I served as a church pastor for 14 years, have now served for 12 years as a church consultant and have watched hundreds of students begin their local church ministries during my 14 years as a seminary professor. Based on my observations from these various vantage points, here’s what I would do if I wanted to ‘blow up’ a church.”
Call to the Ministry? - I’m hearing good things about this presentation, though I haven’t had time to watch it myself. It comes from Dr. Tony Curto at the OPC Timothy Conference held on the campus of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Note that it is in seven parts, so you’ll want to go looking for the rest.
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 (9)
Looking forward to hearing the audio of the conference (I’m out of the country that week). You going to TGC in Hamilton this weekend, Tim?
Funnily enough about the iPad, we hear hardly anything about it here in the UK. I am not sure anyone is really looking forward to it, and fewer people have iPhones too.
It is interesting that there is a perhaps a different culture towards gadgets here. Either the non-techie Americans’ voices do not make it as far as blogs (which must distort perception somewhat), or there is genuinely less hype and dependence on new pieces of kit. Certainly no teenagers or young adults I know have e-books, and few smart phones. It feels culturally distinctive just for blogs to even mention the iPad.
Hard to be sympathetic for Knapp. She hasn’t had a job in 8 years (how did she support herself?), got someone to advance her money to record an album, and is now coming out just when she needs to promote the album to resurrect her career. I can’t see much honesty in this. It’s like the celebrity wife who tells all about her husband’s affairs…to sell a new book, or the baseball player who tells all about steroids…as he starts a new job in baseball. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s a publicity stunt.
like Scott@FB I’m not so happy with the Knapp article. it seems to be another article that is almost embarrassed that “we” say homosexuality is sinful.
and if she’s uncomfortable being in the center of things why did she voluntarily tell the world she’s a lesbian? she chose, by her admission, to make herself the center of a huge wave of publicity. pretty hard to blame those who are publicizing that decision when she is the one who opted to create the publicity in the first place … perhaps to sell records. for her to say “don’t objectify me in all of this” is just sad. people who buy that are even sadder.
Exactly, Mark. Actually, it makes some sense that someone would want to make her sexual orientation clear — you either have to do that, put up with rumors, or hide it (that is, if you’re not willing to repent.) Simpler just to get the facts on the table.
BUT, if it is to be an essentially private matter for her, then she could have made a simple statement and said she didn’t wish to discuss it further. She is the one who made it a topic of discussion, rather than merely a fact about herself.
I won’t assume it’s a stunt, but she can’t have it both ways. For all we know, she might be facepalming herself, saying, “I should just have shut up about all that stuff about being real and acceptance in the church. Now people are running with it.” But what’s done is done, and it’s not other people’s fault now that it’s being talked about, and analyzed in terms of what her own words tell us about her, and so forth.
Matthew Lee Anderson’s article on First Things is EXACTLY the point I was trying to make. We’re called to be different than the world in our responses and communications, I’m pleased to see this concept getting further exposure…hopefully he’s not going to be accused of being a sinner with an agenda for his article.
Thanks, Tim, for the link and kind words.
To Scott,
To be clear, being “sympathetic” toward Knapp is Mark’s words, not mine. I didn’t argue for anything like that—I simply pointed out that if Knapp doesn’t want to be an object lesson, we should respect that.
It may be a publicity stunt. I don’t know. I based my comments off of the Christianity Today interview. My way of reading is always to strive to give people the benefit of the doubt, and when she said that she didn’t want to be politicized, I take her at her word.
To Mark,
The problem with that post is that it’s separate from my entire body of work on the internet. So while I understand how you read the post as suggesting we should be ‘embarrassed’ to call homosexuality sinful, I’d encourage you to search the archives at my blog, MereOrthodoxy.com, where I have consistently argued against the licitness of homosexual activity and the legal recognition of gay “marriage.”
Best,
Matthew Lee Anderson
While I have asked similar questions about how the publicity of this story on JK’s ‘coming out’ has unfolded, I personally find it extraordinarily difficult to objectify her. In fact, to me, this has been incredibly personal. I have found myself in tears several times over this.
About two years after I was saved and came out of a homosexual lifestyle, I was introduced to Jennifer Knapp’s music. Of all the musicians’ lyrics that I’d heard or listened to at that point, there were two who really connected and understood the depths of my soul - David in the Psalms and Jennifer Knapp. The fact that someone who had such an incredible grasp on sin, human nature, mercy, grace, and the glory of God has fallen so far is very, very, very sad to me. And personal too.
I’ve met her before and briefly spoke with her (1999), so to me she is a real person, who I would have a hard time not counting as one of the elect. However, from reading the interviews with her, it seems that she is really deceived and walking in darkness. Her reasons for giving in do not match up with her previous testimony of faith. I’ve been there. The deception of the world, the flesh and the devil is seductive. I guess some of us just have to find out the hard way.
I pray that God is not done with her and that the Lord will bring her back into the fold and profoundly glorify Himself in a way that He is setting up for Himself right now.Thanks.
Looking forward to hearing the audio of the conference (I’m out of the country that week). You going to TGC in Hamilton this weekend, Tim?
No, I’m not planning on it…