The Kings of Israel – This infographic “illustrates the rulers of Israel, the years of their reign, how well they reigned and the passages in the Bible where their stories are told. The graphic also forms a subtle cross which is a picture of the earthy kingdom foreshadowing the coming King.” Here is another infographic…
We spent Wednesday night aboard a train that took us from New Delhi to Lucknow. We woke up in a very different part of the country. We were greeted at the station by a friend—a local pastor—who promptly took us to his apartment for breakfast. The city here is smaller, a little less noisy and…
Here is a pastoral conundrum for you to think about. In 1412 the pre-Reformation preacher John Huss found himself facing a difficult decision. The Roman Catholic Church had excommunicated him for his refusal to burn his copies of John Wycliffe’s writings and now the Church had also leveled an interdict against the city of Prague…
Fixing the TSA – “Air travel would be safer if we allowed knives, lighters and liquids and focused on disrupting new terror plots. A former head of the Transportation Security Administration, Kip Hawley, on embracing risk.” Represent! – “What an awesome thought – Christ represents us in heaven! The perfect, spotless, Lamb of God pleads…
Podcast Pastor – “When I am talking to young evangelicals, often who are in ministry, and I say, “Who has been really influential upon you in ministry and on learning to preach and to do the things of ministry?” ten years ago, most people would have given me the name of a local pastor who…
Pastors Who Write Books – Here is some good advice from Barnabas Piper for pastors who want to write books of the sermon series. “When I receive proposals for books or book ideas from pastors I often get something like this as an accompanying comment: “I am the pastor of a X,000-person church, and based…
Here is something worth meditating on for those who are in pastoral ministry. In his contribution to the book Reforming Pastoral Ministry, Art Azurdia shares some of the temptations that are particularly strong in the ministry of the gospel. To be sure, the minister of the Gospel is vulnerable to trials and temptations distinct to…
Of all the books I receive, there is a certain category I find myself filing away and holding on to. Sometimes I read them right away but more often than not I save them for when I’ll need them. These are the books targeted at pastors and dealing with niche areas of the ministry. I…
Ministering the Master’s Way is a unique little series published by DayOne. It is a series that knows exactly the audience it is trying to reach–the pastor or elder of the local church. Each of the books looks to a different practical aspect of the Christian ministry. Many of the titles deal with very niche…
On Friday evening I’ll be speaking at the 8th Letter Conference here in town. My task is to prepare a letter to the church in North America; this letter is to bring what I think is the message the church needs to hear. It is going to be a wide and diverse audience, I think,…
This was one of the busiest weeks on record, I think. I am coming up fast on the deadline for my next book, am about to spend a couple of days recording the audio book of Sexual Detox and have to preach twice this Sunday. So all-in-all a bit of a crazy week. I’m glad…
Mystery WorshipersAn article at the Seattle Times deals with mystery worshipers and online church ratings. Jim Henderson, a Seattle evangelical Christian, came up with the idea to launch ChurchRater, a site that allows people to rate the churches they have visited. In some instances they pay people to rate churches and in other instances they…
As with the first Together for the Gospel Conference, the final session of T4G ‘08 went to C.J. Mahaney. He opted to speak from Philippians 1:3 and preached a message that was pastoral in tone—a pastoral message seeking to tend to the souls of pastors. There is no true pastoral ministry apart from proclaiming the…
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…
Wednesday November 14, 2007 Sellings Books in the ChurchGuest blogging at Gazing at Glory, J. A. Ingold, a deacon at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, recently provided a series about selling books in the church. There is good information here for any church! When Nougat is More Meaningful Than GodProdigal Jon writes about advertising and meaning.…
Tuesday October 30, 2007 Joel Osteen & Mac & CheeseProdigal Jon has a good article about Joel Osteen. After reading that, I read through more of Jon’s site and really enjoyed it. So take a look and be sure to read “This is what $3 gets you.” Reformation Day SymposiumHere’s a final reminder about tomorrow’s…
Thursday September 27, 2007 Reformation21The new edition of Reformation21 is now available. Live from MongoliaA local pastor is in Mongolia (of all places) teaching pastors there. At his blog you’ll find a fascinating journal of his travels. (HT:PM) What Piper SaidJohn Piper shares what he said at his granddaughter’s funeral yesterday. Continue to pray for…
I once heard a Senior Pastor say, “This is a church that is primarily for the unchurched and for new believers. If you want to listen to deep sermons and really grow as a Christian you’ll probably have to go elsewhere.” At least he was honest. Not surprisingly, members who had been Christians for a…
Those who had the privilege of attending the Together for the Gospel Conference, or who listened to the audio recordings (available here in MP3 or CD format), no doubt remember C.J. Mahaney’s plenary session which was entitled “Watch Your Life and Doctrine.” He took as his text 1 Timothy 4:16 which reads: “Keep a close…
The first job I ever had was delivering the Markham Economist & Sun, a small newspaper headquartered in a suburb of Toronto. I received no training, nor did I need any. On the day I began the job I was given a canvas bag, a large stack of newspapers and a list of houses that…