Wednesday September 6, 2006

Music: Jars of Clay just released a new album and AOL is offering the full version for free via streaming audio. You can get it here or here (the second seems to work best for Firefox).

Music Bonus: And while we are on the subject of music, don’t forget that Derek Webb has begun offering his latest album (Mockingbird) for free. It’s a great album and well worth owning. You can get it at freederekwebb.com.

Blog: “Pulpit Magazine,” the online magazine of the Shepherd’s Fellowship, has just moved. It looks like it will be updated daily and will be well worth reading.

Book: The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is giving away John Piper’s book “Don’t Waste Your Life.” You can’t beat free!

Tuesday September 5, 2006

Site: Things are still a little unstable around here as I attempt to upgrade the server. Please bear with me!

Bible: ESV Bible Blog has announced the “ESV Outreach New Testament,” a New Testament selling for only fifty cents.

Media: The “L.A. Times” has an interesting report on what seems to be a growing rift between Chuck Smith Jr. and Chuck Smith Sr.. “For Pastor Chuck Smith, the big issues are undebatable. For Chuck Smith Jr., also a pastor, it’s not so crystal clear. Something had to give.”

Conferences: The Directory of Reformed Conferences (link) has been updated with quite a few new conferences.

Friday September 1, 2006

Church: Paul writes about the value of a local church where God is (isn’t it considered wrong to end a sentence in “is?” Oh wait, I just did it.). “I am proposing that there may come a point in a Christian’s life where it is obvious ‘the Lord has left the building’ and it is time to find out with whom He is meeting so you can be there.”

Conferences: Anthony Carter looked at the list of Reformed conferences I compiled and noticed something. “The missing element is the presence of Reformed African-American preachers at these conferences.”

Quotes: Tony Reinke, who seems to have quite a library, suggests ways of “keeping your quotes in order.”

Blogging: “Boundless” recently interviewed Justin Taylor and Carolyn McCulley about blogging responsibly. Be sure to also read Bob Kauflin’s article “Blogging to Worship God.”

Thursday August 31, 2006

Devotions: Erik Raymond, aka Irish Calvinist, has posted a helpful article with suggestions about how to have a meaningful time of family devotions. “Many men struggle in the area of family devotions. It is kind of like evangelism, we know we have to do it but it is the doing it that is the problem.”

Prayer: Amy’s daughter Rachel could use our prayers! “Rebekah, was taken to the hospital today at 2 p.m. Her symptoms include excessive vomiting, chills, hallucinations, and a fever of 105.4 (taken under her arm).”

Weird: I don’t recall if I posted this already: “Escaped Labrador dies after pastor fends off attack.” The dog was beaten off (i.e. stabbed) by none other than Ron Gleason who used to guest blog here.

Blogspotting: “Light Along the Journey” has an embarrasingly kind “review” of my web site.

Wednesday August 30, 2006

Conference: The Desiring God conference blog is reporting that registration for the Desiring God conference is at 90% capacity. It is going to be a good one. If you are thinking of signing up, you’d better do so in the next couple of days. Even if you don’t go, you can poach your ticket outside and make some money!

Blog: The Rebelution boys have updated their site and have done a great job of it. If you’re a teen, this is a blog you’ll want to bookmark.

Da Vinci: Here’s an interesting headline: “Da Vinci coders vandalise church.” “Treasure hunters trying to crack the Da Vinci Code are believed to be behind criminal damage at a village church with links to the Holy Grail.” Sigh.

Humor: Ian shares an oldie but a goodie. It’s a video showing Al Mohler pitting his wits against an inferior opponent.

Tuesday August 29, 2006

Blogging: Randy writes about the Christian Law Association and their proposed rules for student websites. “Any student who decides to operate a personal online website or contributes to a blog must register the website/blog with the pastoral staff.”

Technology: Jon the Baptist links to an article showing that “TiVo is spreading the word to religious leaders about its parental controls.” Is this TiVo seeking to help pastors and parents? Or is this using the church for marketing purposes?

Race: “This Lamp” shares a shocking story. “The ironically named Fellowship Baptist Church in Saltillo, Mississippi, held revival services. During those revival services, 12-year-old Joe, a boy of biracial descent ‘accepted Jesus into his heart.’ On August 6, at the church’s business meeting, the all-white congregation voted to exclude blacks from its services, including Joe because they did not want him to bring his family members to worship services.

Audio: Capitol Hill Baptist Church (home of Mark Dever) has begun a new podcast. If this is successful, they will also do a IX Marks podcast.

Monday August 28, 2006

Theology: Tom Ascol of the Founders organization is one of many bloggers to comment on the recent issue of Christianity Today which featured an article on Calvinism. I really ought to try to find a copy of that one…

Abortion: A woman in China has caused a ruckus by having her baby aborted at six months because of a cleft palate. It seems to me that a day is coming when only Christians will continue to give birth to “flawed” babies.

Emergent: Justin Taylor has a roundup of articles from the latest issue of the IX Marks newsletter which deals with the emerging church.

Weird: Mark has dug up information about a new cowboy church in North Carolina. “Instead of suits, ties and wing tipped shoes, they will be wearing blue jeans, big belt buckles and cowboy boots and instead of a fancy baptism pool, the Cowboy Church will baptize their converts in a horse trough!”

Saturday August 26, 2006

This is a special weekend edition of A La Carte to announce the birth of my nephew, Micah Nathaniel Rose. He was born in Atlanta yesterday morning. Congratulations to Susanna and Rick! I now have two nephews and a niece (with another niece due around Christmas).

These are the first photos of him (courtesy of Pat, my other brother-in-law).

Friday August 25, 2006

Interview: On the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina Cindy Swanson has an interview with Don Elbourne, pastor of Lakewood Baptist Church in Lakeshore, Mississippi. He speaks about God’s grace in what has been an incredible year of ministry.

Humor: Mr. Dawn Treader has an funny series of posts about “Rule Changes That Would Improve Sports.”

Sports: On the subject of sports, have you ever wondered just how long the ball is actually in play in a game of baseball? Ask Yahoo tracks down an answer.

Weird: An Austrian girl who was abducted eight years ago, has been found alive. “In the quiet, small-town street where a kidnapped Austrian girl is believed to have been held for more than eight years, police searched on Thursday for clues about her captivity, her dramatic escape and the man who allegedly imprisoned her and has now killed himself.”

Thursday August 24, 2006

Theology: Nathan Busenitz quotes John MacArthur who says that everyone is a dispensationalist. “Everybody is a dispensationalist, everybody. I dont care who they are in theology, theyre dispensational. It’s only a question of how many you have. Let me show you why.”

Feminism: I remember wannabe feminists in my high school trumpeting the annual “Take Back The Night” marches. Well, now apparently these marches are being geared for men as well since men are even more likely to be victimes of nighttime violence. Fox reports.

Children: “Christianity Today” has a list of suggestions for helping children sit through a church service. Some of them are quite good and are surely better than the oft-used tactic of brute force.

Church: And speaking of CT, it has an article about America’s youngest megachurch pastor. “With a Matt Damon smile, short-sleeve button-up shirts — no tie — and an aw-shucks demeanor, Platt seems to put an audience at ease, then stuns them with his apparent near-memorization of the New Testament.”