March 2008 Archive
Quote - You Might Be Emergent If... (03/31/08 - 45 Comments)
Have you ever wondered if you are emergent? I know I have! Here is Kevin DeYoung, co-author of Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) on how you might know if you are emergent… After reading nearly five thousand pages of emerging-church literature, I have no doubt that the emerging church, while loosely defined and far from uniform, can be described and critiqued as a diverse, but recognizable, movement. You might be...
Book Review - Young, Restless, Reformed (03/31/08 - 13 Comments)
Though it is the emerging church that seems to have received so much attention in the past few years, just under the radar there has also been a quiet and steady growth of interest in far more traditional Reformed theology. All across North America (and perhaps beyond) Christians, and young Christians in particular, have been rediscovering the church’s historic theology. These disparate movements seem to have grown from a common source—a reaction against the kind...
O Little Child of Salem (03/30/08 - 10 Comments)
Some time ago my mother made me aware of a poem her grandfather had written many years ago. My great grandfather was an Anglican minister somewhere in Quebec’s Eastern Townships and, to be honest, beyond that I know very little about him. But I really enjoyed this poem (which would have been ideal to post a week ago, perhaps on the Saturday before Easter). O little child of Salem Why weep ye so today? I...
Together for the Gospel (in Canada!) - A Reminder (03/29/08 - 4 Comments)
We are just a couple of weeks away from Together for the Gospel—undoubtedly one of the most highly anticipated conferences of the year. I first mentioned a few weeks ago that at the conference there will be a small gathering geared specifically to Canadians and to people with an interest in ministry to Canada. This is a ministry of Grace Fellowship Church of Toronto and there are no expenses involved. It will be lead, at...
Friday Miscellania (03/28/08 - 15 Comments)
It’s Friday and there are a few things I’ve been saving in my Favorites folder that I’d like to mention today. The Internet Effect on News I say, without any hyperbole, that this article from TIME may be the most important you read today. In it Michael Scherer explains how news has become commoditized through the internet. Here is a basic shift that has occurred in the news business: Because of the Internet, you, the...
Just Stop It! (03/27/08 - 56 Comments)
You’ve probably seen this video. If not, you’ll want to take six minutes of your life and give it a look. It’s Bob Newhart at his best, really. If you’ve heard his old bits about the discovery of tobacco or the invention of baseball you’ll see that not much has changed over the years. He’s as funny as ever. His stuttering, his naivete—it’s the same as it ever was. It’s brilliant. In the case of...
Book Review - Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) (03/26/08 - 11 Comments)
“What is this emerging church I keep hearing about?” If I had a dime for every time I have been asked that question or one like it, well, I’d be several dollars richer at least. Emerging is one of the buzzwords in the church these days and one that begs for greater explanation. Unfortunately it is not an easy term to define. To borrow a tired cliche, defining the emerging church is much like trying...
Book Review - "Walking with God" by John Eldredge (03/25/08 - 75 Comments)
If you have been in a Christian bookstore in the past six or seven years, you are undoubtedly family with John Eldredge. Beginning with The Sacred Romance (co-authored with the late Brent Curtis) and continuing with Wild at Heart, Captivating, The Way of the Wild Heart, and others, his books have been constant features on the Christian bestseller lists. His latest effort, Walking with God is poised to be another big seller. In this book...
They Went to Their Own (03/24/08 - 15 Comments)
Do you know those times where you have a word or phrase bouncing around your mind for days or weeks at a time? I’ve had one of those recently and I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about it. The phrase is this: “Give your best to your local church.” It is easy, I know, to offer our best to believers other than those in our local churches. There is often affirmation and excitement...
The Rival Churches of St. Asaph and St. Osoph (03/23/08 - 7 Comments)
Yesterday I posted a short story by Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock. Well, I thought it would be fun to post one more thing by him before turning to more important matters. The story by Leacock that is usually considered his most humorous is entitled “Arcadian Adventures With the Idle Rich.” As one commenter (who happens to be my mother) posted yesterday, some of the book is “devoted to contrasting an Anglican [Episcopalian] and Presbyterian church—and...
My Financial Career (03/22/08 - 9 Comments)
As I was writing yesterday’s article I kept thinking of a rather popular short story by Stephen Leacock, a Canadian writer who lived from 1869 to 1944. His most famous book is probably Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, though if you aren’t Canadian you probably haven’t heard of it. You should. Leacock was downright hilarious as evidenced by a few favorite quotes: “Many a man in love with a dimple makes a mistake of...
Becoming a Better Apologizer (03/21/08 - 28 Comments)
I was in a bad mood yesterday. For weeks now I’ve been trying to figure out something simple with a nearby bank—or something that should be simple. It has been a comedy of errors, really. Every time I try to do something (anything!), it seems that their incompetence or ignorance is working against me. I’ll receive a phone call telling me to come in and sign papers, but when I get there I’m told that...
Guest Blog: The Crowd Was NOT Fickle! (03/20/08 - 26 Comments)
Today I am posting something rare--a guest post. This article was written by John Ensor, whom you may know as the author of The Great Work of the Gospel and Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart. In this article he takes on what he considers a popular Palm Sunday myth. Read it and let me know what you think. Is he right? Were the crowds really as fickle as we often think? Or...
Hymns & Worship (03/19/08 - 28 Comments)
I wanted to draw your attention to a few albums that I’ve been enjoying recently. Each of these albums features music that is appropriate for corporate worship and each features selections of modern or ancient hymns. Each of them is worth buying and listening to. All of the albums are available through iTunes (where I generally purchase my music these days) but they should also be available elsewhere. In Christ Alone: Modern Hymns Of Worship...
Book Review - "God's Problem" by Bart Ehrman (03/18/08 - 45 Comments)
Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar who chairs the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has both an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied under the renowned scholar Bruce Metzger. Though he formerly considered himself a Christian and even pastored a church, he is now an avowed agnostic. Much of Ehrman’s career has been dedicated to attempting to prove that history has...
Loving the Sinner More than the Sinner Loves His Sin (03/17/08 - 27 Comments)
In the book Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Al Mohler has written a chapter entitled “Homosexual Marriage as a Challenge to the Church: Biblical and Cultural Reflections.” He provides seven useful principles that can serve as a framework for a Christian response to the issue of homosexual marriage. They are: We, as Christians, must be the people who cannot start a conversation about homosexual marriage by talking about homosexual marriage. We must be the...
Tax Benefits of Tithing (03/16/08 - 48 Comments)
I’m going to keep it simple today. I just want to ask you a question and to hear your responses to it. This is a question that has been running through my mind for some time and one that arose after emailing back and forth with a friend. The question has to do with giving money to charities or to ministries or to other organizations. Though the laws of Canada and the United States are...
Ligonier Conference - Over Already? (03/15/08 - 7 Comments)
My conference has come to a bit of an early end. Because there are so many Canadians heading home from Florida this week, we were not able to find me a flight that left after the conference. Instead I’m having to duck out a few hours before it all wraps up. I’ll be heading home through Montreal and, if all goes well, should be home on time to sleep in my own bed tonight. It...
Ligonier Conference (II) (03/14/08 - 7 Comments)
This morning began with John MacArthur’s second and final sermon. His topic was “Simultaneously Righteous and a Sinner” (or, to use the latin theological term, simul iustus et peccator). He turned first to the well-known story of the raising of Lazarus and on that basis titled his message (rather creatively, I might add), “We Have Been Raised but We Stink.” He looked to the story of Lazarus and remarked on the fact that, even after...
Ligonier Conference (I) (03/13/08 - 4 Comments)
Well, I made it. It is good to feel a hot sun for the first time in many months! It was an early start this morning—the alarm rang at 2:44 AM and I was out the door just a very short time after that. After having some very bad flights in the past few months, I was blessed to have two good ones today. So thanks to United Airlines for good and on-time service (insert...
It's a Travel Day (03/13/08 - 4 Comments)
The Ligonier Ministries 2008 National Conference kicks off later today and I’m on my way to Orlando to take it all in. Unfortunately I waited a little too late to book my flight, so I would up with a flight that necessitates leaving my home at 3:15 AM (just imagine when that means I need to wake up!). That has to be a new record for me. But, Lord willing, I should be in Florida...
Together for the Gospel (in Canada!) (03/12/08 - 17 Comments)
Some time ago I was talking with a friend who pastors a church in this area and we discussed how much we enjoy what is being accomplished and modeled through Together for the Gospel. We talked about how we wish something like that could happen in Canada. And from there we realized that maybe, just maybe, it can happen. There are going to be plenty of Canadians attending Together for the Gospel and it seemed...
Book Review - "A Tale of Two Sons" by John MacArthur (03/11/08 - 17 Comments)
The story of the Prodigal Son is undoubtedly among the best-known and most highly-favored tales of all time. Even those who do not know the story itself are familiar with its outline or some of the words and phrases that arose from its King James translation. A powerful and heart-rending story, it is unforgettable to all who hear it. John MacArthur, with no hyperbole, says it is “hands down, the greatest five minutes of storytelling...
The Progressive Nature of Revelation (03/10/08 - 38 Comments)
I am about to spiritualize (and very possibly even trivialize) one of the great laws of physics. As you no doubt remember from your days in school, Newton’s Third Law of Motion states, in its simplest form, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Take a look around and you will see this law in action every day. Have you ever seen a slow-motion replay of a big boxing match where...
Sin Does Not Provoke Our Own Wrath (03/09/08 - 19 Comments)
As I mentioned last week, I’ve decided to read John Stott’s The Cross of Christ before Easter this year. I’ve been reading it a bit slower than I might like, but have been enjoying it immensely. To this point the chapter entitled “The Problem of Forgiveness” has been my favorite. This is a quote that stood out to me. This is Stott’s exhortation to hold fast to the biblical revelation “of the living God who...
"The Case for Civility" by Os Guinness (03/08/08 - 3 Comments)
“It would be a safe but sad bet that someone, somewhere in the world, is killing someone else at this very moment in the name of religion or ideology.” Thus begins The Case for Civility by Os Guinness. Every day the media brings us stories of death and mayhem and often religion and ideology are to blame. The bookshelves at your local bookstore are groaning under the weight of books by atheists—Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins—who blame...
Chuck Colson Blog Tour (03/07/08 - 15 Comments)
Chuck Colson has begun a blog tour to support his new book, The Faith (and interestingly, this blog tour is actually modeled on the one I put together with the publicity team at Crossway after the release of my book). I was asked to participate in this tour and agreed to do so because I wanted to ask a question that would really get to the heart of this book. And while I had Colson’s...
Driscoll, Piper, & Mahaney (03/06/08 - 33 Comments)
Last Sunday, at Mars Hill Church, Mark Driscoll preached a sermon on the Regulative Principle. For a few minutes, just at the end of the sermon, he discussed some "behind-the-scenes" time he has spent with both C.J. Mahaney and John Piper. In this brief audio excerpt, posted below, he explains to his congregation some of the ways he has failed to serve them and how he hopes to grow in and by God's grace. This...
Book Review - American Fascists (03/06/08 - 5 Comments)
I’ve read the books of today’s leading atheists—Hitchens, Harris and Dawkins. I’ve read their books and know all about their reasons for hating Christianity and despising the very idea of God. They’ve all sold millions of books and have all traveled the world with their message that God and His followers are what’s most wrong with the world. But I don’t know that anyone of them ever sounded so irrational and so ignorant as Chris...
The Public Nuisance (03/05/08 - 42 Comments)
Elizabeth is a public nuisance. Her status is not official yet, but it will be soon. The local police have encouraged the families in this neighborhood to fill out the paperwork that will fulfill the legal requirements. It’s probably the best thing to do. When that paperwork is complete the police will no longer be forced to respond to her every call. And she calls a lot. When a car parks a little too far...
Book Review - Get Married (03/04/08 - 26 Comments)
Candice Watters’ professor just about blew her mind. “I was sitting in class learning about all the ways our country was slipping from its constitutional foundations. And in a moment of exasperation, I raised my hand and called out, ‘So what’s the solution?’” It wasn’t what she expected. Her professor told her to get married, to have babies, and to do government (and in that order, too). Here she was, in grad school pursuing a...
Five Books to Read Before Easter (03/03/08 - 12 Comments)
Easter is fast approaching and is now less than three weeks away. As Christians begin to turn their gaze towards the death and resurrection of the Savior, it seems appropriate that we should look for resources that will help us meditate on the cross and that will help prepare our hearts. To that end I’d like to suggest five books you may wish to read as Easter approaches. Each of these titles deals with the...
An Interview with Ben Zobrist (03/02/08 - 7 Comments)
I met Ben Zobrist while in was in Nashville speaking at the Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology. The conference was hosted by Community Bible Church, the church he and his wife, Julianna, call home (Julianna is a professional singer and musician. You can visit her MySpace). Ben was pointed out to me as the shortstop for the Tampa Bay Rays (apparently they are no longer the Tampa Bay Devil Rays). I know the...
Saturday Miscellania (03/01/08 - 9 Comments)
Our church is hosting its first ever conference today, and I was supposed to help out. I was looking forward to serving there and just doing whatever needed to be done. But it wasn’t mean to be. Just around the stroke of midnight, both Aileen and Michaela came down with some awful strain of the flu and both were up pretty well all night. I didn’t fare much better, what with changing bedding, rinsing out...
