Thursday July 13, 2006

Technology: The most recent version of Movabletype (3.31) has just been released. While the versioning would make it appear to be a small release, it actually adds some new and exciting features which will be of interest to many bloggers. Not the least of these features is native support for tagging. You can read about it and download if for free here.

Books: Phil Johnson has a long and interesting post on how he turns John MacArthur sermons into books. “It’s a long and exacting process, much more labor-intensive than simply writing a book from scratch would be. But if I wrote my own book, it would be nowhere as good.”

Sports: Matt Hall has a good reflection on the gross misconduct of Zinedine Zidane at the close of the World Cup. “There is little in American sports lore to compare with what happened on Sunday in a matter of seconds. Zidane, a legend in worldwide football, had just finished what was perhaps his best Cup showing of a prodigious career.”

Wednesday July 12, 2006

Theology: Agape Press discusses the PCUSA proposal regarding renaming the members of the Trinity. One pastor says, “You might as well put in Huey, Dewey, and Louie.”

People: I assume most people who read my blog also read Justin Taylor’s. But hey, if you don’t, be sure to read a couple of anecdotes he collected this week while hanging out with J.I. Packer. Packer also has some tips for prospective writers.

Reviews: I just did my weekly update of Discerning Reader. While several of the new reviews have already been posted on this site, there are also several written by other authors.

Life: Our next door neighbors, who only just recently moved in and we are really beginning to enjoy, are being featured in the near future in a program called Walls of Hope. It appears to be like a smaller, less radical version of “Extreme Makeover Home Edition.” You can read about the family here. “All three boys have been diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) - specifically Aspergers. At the same time as this diagnosis was made, the youngest and oldest sons…were also diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. Testing also confirmed…that [the] boys also suffered from Celiac Disease.”

Tuesday July 11, 2006

Emergent: Gary Gilley continues his series of articles examining the Emerging Church. In this one he tries to figure out what “missional” is all about.

Music: The music of Jamie Soles, who primarily records music for children, is now available online. My kids have a couple of his albums and enjoy them a lot. From his bio: “Jamie Soles is a Christian singer/songwriter from Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada with several albums to his credit. He is married to Valerie, and they have only eight children.”

Charity: Stephanie is participating in a Blogathon to raise money to support African Leadership. I’ve never heard of African Leadership. Does anyone know anything about this organization?

Audio: Covenant Seminary is offering a wide variety of free courses. They provide audio and study guides. There look to be some really good courses available!

Monday July 10, 2006

People: Justin Taylor mentions a chat with J.I. Packer and explains why Packer was never destined to be an athlete.

Interview: Everyone else is linking it, so I guess I will too. Christianity Today has an interview with Mark Driscoll. Here’s a choice quote: “The two hot theologies today are Reformed and emerging. Reformed theology offers certainty, with a masculine God who names our sin, crushes Jesus on the Cross for it, and sends us to hell if we fail to repent. Emerging theology offers obscurity, with a neutered God who would not say an unkind word to us, did not crush Jesus for our sins, and would not send anyone to hell.”

Blogging: Author Alex Chediak, who seems to take blogging very formally (which is probably a good thing), has posted an overview of the topics he’ll be covering in the days ahead.

Yuck: Have you seen the talking Jesus who welcomes you to Cross Rev Connect? He even follows your cursor around the screen. Maybe I should integrate this into my site. “Hi, this is Jesus. Welcome to Challies Dot Com…” Maybe not.

Friday July 7, 2006

Blog: “Word to the Wise” is a new blog that will make its way through the book of Proverbs (my favorite book!).

Interview: Justin Taylor has posted an interview he conducted with Voice, a Reformed Christian rap artist connected to Sovereign Grace Ministries.

News: At long last, thousands of documents relating to the Columbine shootings have been released. That tragedy, which in many ways changed America, still seems fresh in people’s minds. You can read here what has now been revealed, though truthfully I don’t think there is anything that surprising.

Music: Bob Kauflin recently mentioned a new CD by Keith and Kristyn Getty that features songs based on the Apostles Creed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there are MP3s available.

Thursday July 7, 2006

Creation: Snopes has a beautiful picture of a phenomenon known as “circumhorizon(tal) arc” (and apparently also by the less technical name of “fire rainbow”). “A circumhorizontal arc (or ‘fire rainbow’) appears when the sun is high in the sky (i.e., higher than 58” above the horizon), and its light passes through diaphanous, high-altitude cirrus clouds made up of hexagonal plate crystals.”

Theology: Mark Driscoll posted a lengthy article answering common questions about creation. While I merely skimmed the article, it looks like it contains plenty of good information.

Weird: Three employees of Coca-Cola have been arrested for attempting to sell confidential trade secrets to Pepsi. The three “are charged with wire fraud and unlawfully stealing and selling Coke trade secrets, federal prosecutors said.” You can read about it here.

Church: Alex Chediak reports that City Church of San Francisco has decided to leave the PCA over the issue of women in leadership. “An affiliate of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, NY, the leadership of City Church sought to reach out to San Francisco with similar theological convictions and methodological winsomeness.”

Blogspotting: Glenn of Unite Later has a category called Challies Watch, in which he is reviewing my book reviews.

Wednesday July 5, 2006

Conference: Adrian Warnock is providing ongoing updates from the Newfrontiers conference.

Du Jour: Carolyn McCulley has headed back to New Orleans with a camera crew to document the work of the members of Lakeview Christian Center. She reports on the state of the city here.

Preaching: Mark Dever shares some things he learned from reading John MacArthur’s “Fool’s Gold.” “John M strongly reminded me of the importance of expositional preaching. He does so in this article by listing negative effects of the superficial brand of preaching that is so rife in modern evangelicalism.”

Theology: Bob Kauflin meditates on the precious blood of Jesus Christ. “Our culture can tend to talk about the cross in a way that magnifies our worth to God rather than our sin against Him.”

Tuesday July 4, 2006

Humor: The Sacred Sandwich presents “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs: 2006 American Edition.” “Read this modern version of a Reformation classic and see why Christianity Today calls it ‘a thin book perfect for rolling up and using to smack whiny Christian brats up side the head!’”

Blog: The Reformed Evangelist is a new blog that seeks to “1) join the discussion of reformation theology that already existed in the blogosphere, 2) share witnessing encounters and matters of practical evangelism, and 3) affirm that Calvinists make good evangelists (afterall, we’re living proof).”

Politics: The New York Division of Human Rights has clamped down on a rollerstating rink that had the audacity to declare one night a Christian night. This is, of course, discriminatory. Read more here. But wait! Now it has dropped the investigation.

Weird: AZCentral reports on a couple that has created a matchmaking website that matches people to churches.

Friday June 30, 2006

Humor: Danny Carlton/Jack Lewis writes about a nefarious illicit Amish “raw milk” cartel in Ohio. “‘You can’t just give milk away to someone other than yourself. It’s a violation of the law,’ said LeeAnne Mizer, spokeswoman for the department.”

Sexuality: Byron Harvey discusses the marketing of sexuality. “So we’re in Columbus the other day for the Christian Home Educators of Ohio convention (our first as home-schoolers), a convention overrun with Mennonite-types (not that there’s anything wrong with that—and it was certainly Nirvana for bearded-without-the-mustache types), and it just so happens that the CHEO convention is taking place on the very Saturday as the annual Columbus Gay Pride parade.”

Blogspotting: Darren Booker appends to my articles about discernment a great quote by Horatius Bonar. You don’t come across too many kids named “Horatius,” do you?

Audio: Capitol Hill Baptist Church has posted the MP3s of Mark Dever’s Old Testament and New Testament sermon series. You can get the Old Testament here and the New Testament here.

Thursday June 29, 2006

Commentary: Al Mohler has some good commentary dealing with Anne Lamott. “She has become something of a literary icon among mainline Protestants and leftward evangelicals. Now, however, she appears to be launching out into previously uncharted territory.”

Review: Alex Chediak (what a nice web site he’s got!) has a review of Alex Strauch’s new book “Leading with Love.”

Family: My son “graduated” from kindergarten yesterday. Seems it was just yesterday that we walked him over to his school for the first time, and already he has graduated up to the first grade. Sometimes I wish we could slow life down a little bit.

Church: Here’s one I meant to post a few days ago. Mark Driscoll said his bit about the Episcopalians and their election of both gay and female bishops. Commenting on Gene Robinson, and in true Driscoll fashion he says, “He was the obvious choice because he is just like Jesus with the minor exceptions of his beliefs and life.”