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    Book Review – Preaching the Cross

    You may experience a sense of deja vu when reading Preaching the Cross since this book is the product of last year’s Together for the Gospel conference. Several thousand men were in attendance and many have since read summaries of the sessions or have listened to the audio recordings. While the chapters are not mere…

  • Twin Lakes (II)

    Ligon Duncan kicked things off with an explanation of this fellowship (they do not refer to it as a conference), the reason it exists and what they mean by continually referring to “the ordinary means of grace.” The Twin Lakes Fellowship is a ministerial fraternal committed to connecting gospel ministers and elders with one another.…

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    The Expository Genius of John Calvin

    Steven Lawson’s series called A Long Line of Godly Men has made me awfully excited. I love Reformed theology and am thrilled to see the effort Lawson is expending in proving that this theology, seen as so new and so radical by such a large number of Christians, has been consistently taught by courageous and…

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    Book Review – The Faithful Preacher

    The Faithful Preacher is a book full of surprises and in the Foreword John Piper says this book serves as a blow against chronological snobbery and ethnocentricity. I would tend to agree. Despite having read a fair amount of church history and many biographies I had no idea that there were many “black puritans.” I…

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    John Calvin: His Life and Influence

    Depending on the perspective of the individual Christian, John Calvin may either be one of the greatest theologians or the worst charlatans who ever lived. For those who feel Calvin’s teachings accurately interpreted the Bible, he is a great teacher and one who rediscovered doctrines of grace that had lay largely dormant for centuries. For…

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    Veneration Gap

    A week ago Suzanne Sataline published an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Veneration Gap: A Popular Strategy For Church Growth Splits Congregants.” The article examines several examples of churches that have experienced great trial and turmoil as a result of attempting to become Purpose Driven. The article does not seem to be an…

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    The Gospel Ministry

    Last year I had the great privilege of attending the Shepherd’s Conference held at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. I was blessed to be able to sit under the teaching of such well known teachers as John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Al Mohler, J. Ligon Duncan and Mark Dever. I benefitted greatly from being…

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    Book Review – Contending For Our All

    Each year at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors, hosted by Bethlehem Baptist Church of Minneapolis, John Piper delivers a biographical address dealing with a notable Christian figure from the history of the church. Every few years, several of these addresses are compiled into a book as part of “The Swans are Not Silent” series. The…

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    The Benefits of Ignorance (Part 2)

    Yesterday I wrote about my inflamed duoduwhatzit and the untrained doctor who is going to be removing it for me. This was only a parable, of course, and likely not a very good one at that. Yet it stimulated some good discussion for which I am grateful. I thought I would take the opportunity this…

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    Feminine Appeal

    I do not always choose the books I review. Sometimes I am able to request specific titles from publishers but other times titles arrive unannounced. This provides me with the opportunity to review books that I would not, under most other circumstances, read. Such is the case with Feminine Appeal, written by Carolyn Mahaney. I…

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    Book Review – Women’s Ministry in the Local Church

    Women’s Ministry in the Local Church, authored by J. Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt, is a practical book that seeks to provide guidance on how and why a church can and should have an effective women’s ministry. It is a timely book, arriving at a point when the church is in need of this type…

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    Book Review – The Deliberate Church

    As I closed the cover on this book, having read it over the course of several days, I felt a strange disappointment. This book has no 10-step path to success! It has no baseball diamond model for ministry and no acronym-driven program planning guidebook. Nope. It’s just old-fashioned Bible-driven, Spirit-led Christianity. And somehow I let…

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    Book Review – Famine in the Land

    Famine in the Land opens with a quote from the great preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones. “The most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and most urgent need in the Church, it is the greatest need of the world also.” Author Steven Lawson continues, “If the doctor’s…

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    Book Review – 9 Marks of a Healthy Church

    Truth be told, I was a little disappointed with 9 Marks of a Healthy Church. The problem is not that it is a poor book but more that I had unrealistic expectations of it. I was hoping this book would be everything the church growth manuals are not; that it would be a knockout punch…

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    Book Review – Rediscovering Expository Preaching

    Though I am not a preacher, I decided to read Rediscovering Expository Preaching in an attempt to discover exactly what expository preaching is and compare it to the type of teaching practiced in most modern churches. That this book was written by John MacArthur and the faculty of Master’s seminary is a strong endorsement of…

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    Book Review – 20 Controversies That Almost Killed A Church

    Richard Ganz is pastor of a vibrant, growing church in Ottawa, Canada. I have had the privilege of attending that church many times over the years and have always been blessed by Richard’s exposition of Scripture. He truly is a very gifted teacher. While he is primarily a pastor, he has also written several books,…

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    Book Review – Ashamed of the Gospel

    It was just over one hundred years ago that the great preacher Charles Spurgeon began the long battle that would ultimately cost him his life. He saw in the church of that era a trend away from the preaching of the gospel and towards entertainment. The church began to focus on pleasing people rather than…

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    Book Review – Outgrowing The Ingrown Church

    I finished this book almost ten days ago and have not yet been able to write a satisfactory review of it. I began several times, but each time found I was missing some important aspect of it. I believe the source of my trouble is that I read this book only after reading many others…

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    Book Review – The Upside Down Church

    Before I began to read The Upside Down Church I had already decided I was not going to like it. I’m not sure if it was the picture of Greg Laurie sitting on his Harley that turned me off (to my shame) or if it was that I had just read The Purpose Driven Church…