A La Carte (5/6)

Consumer Debt Is Not Your Friend [2] - Seth Godin explains why you need to get out of debt (or better yet, not get there in the first place).

Deacons Are Shock Absorbers [3] - Thabiti’s got a roundup of the content from the latest edition of the 9Marks eJournal (which looks particularly helpful this time around).

Why Words Matter in Worship [4] - Stephen Altrogge, who recently shared some ways to write really bad worship songs, responds to this common belief: “What matters most in a worship song is the heart behind the song. If it comes from a person’s heart and is a sincere act of worship, then it’s a good worship song.”

How Expositional Preaching Protects Pastors [5] - “During the second T4G panel discussion Mark Dever and Al Mohler discussed evangelism, preaching, and the hesitancy among some Christians to speak openly on tough subjects like God’s judgment. The conversation moves from evangelism to a discussion of how expositional preaching helps steady the preacher against the temptation to avoid tough topics.” Tony Reinke provides a transcript.

What Happens When You Don’t Obey “Be Fruitful and Multiply” [6] - “Japan had fewer youngsters celebrating Children’s Day for the 29th straight year Wednesday, highlighting concerns that the country may face difficulty finding enough workers and taxpayers to support a rapidly aging population.” (HT:Z [7])

I Can Only Imagine [8] - In this review of the latest album from MercyMe i noticed an interesting fact: Their song “I Can Only Imagine” was recently awarded platinum status in the digital domain for 1 million downloads, a first in Christian music.

The Jesus Cookie [9] - It’s delicious, I’m sure. But what exactly is the purpose of the Jesus Cookie?