This is now week 2 of this project in which we are reading together through R.C. Sproul’s The Holiness of God. Before we discuss this week’s chapter, I wanted to make you aware of an interesting interview with Sproul on this very subject. It comes from a 1990 issue of Tabletalk magazine and, if you…
As we began our evening service last Sunday, we asked the congregation this question and just had them call out answers: “What is something you read about God this week that encouraged or strengthened you?” So how about you? What have you read about God this week that has encouraged or strengthened you? Heart-Stirring Words…
I have a soft spot for series of short books that address issues in a straightforward, condensed way (see Little Black Books and Living in a Fallen World for others). There are times to read a 500-page tome on a subject and there are times when it is great to read something much shorter and…
Moms in Touch is a ministry I’m very, very excited about. And I want you to be excited about it too. In fact, I want to encourage you to read to the end of this post and then to take action. I first encountered Moms in Touch at the 2008 True Woman conference. I did…
Last night my wife and I were reminiscing about this web site, about my growing career as a writer (at least I hope it’s growing) and about the church contexts that produced me, that produced this blog. As we spoke I realized that I’ve never really discussed the genesis of this site and, by extension,…
I’m doing a one-day trip to Grand Rapids on Friday in order to spend some time with the good people at Zondervan. Since I’ll be Grand Rapids through the evening, I figured I’d drop in at the Young & Reformed conference where Kevin DeYoung and Mike Wittmer will be speaking. Is anyone else planning on…
As I was looking through J.D. Payne’s book Discovering Church Planting: An Introduction to the Whats, Whys, and Hows of Global Church Planting I came across a sidebar which lists “some benefits of being a mother church.” Though this is by no means an exhaustive list, it does draw out some important benefits of being…
Last week I wrote about Sex & Assurance of Salvation, using that post to bring together two ideas that had been floating around my brain. Today I want to do that one more time–I want to use a post to smash two ideas together. Many Christians talk about seekers, those who are in the midst…
Is anyone else watching playoff baseball using the MLB iPad app? I have to say, it’s pretty disappointing. Boasting that you can choose your camera angle is great, but not when you realize that the camera angles are pretty rough and will never show replays. Boasting that you can watch multiple camera angles at once…
Little Black Books is a new series of short volumes written by Scott Petty and published by Matthias Media. This is “a new series of books that get straight to the point on the topics that Christians always have questions about. Not too big, not too fancy, and not at all boring. LBBs are ideal…
Home. I love home. I love my home and I love the very idea, the concept, of home. God is good to give us home, to give us a place where we can just be, a place where we can center our lives. Think about your home, think about how good it is to have…
It is always good to be away at a conference. But, of course, it’s always just a little bit better to be home. And I’m home again now and for the next few weeks (except for a brief day-long trip to Grand Rapids this weekend). Getty Blog – I’m not sure how I missed that…
I came across this bit of writing on Facebook today and quite enjoyed it. It stands as a good challenge at any age, but perhaps particularly in an age of Christian celebrity. It was written by George D. Watson, a Wesleyan minister who did the bulk of his ministry in the early 20th century. If…
The True Woman conference is drawing to an end today. Several of the speakers are currently participating in a panel (kind of like The View but with actual morals) and in just a little while Nancy Leigh DeMoss will provide a final message. And that will be that. And then what? What’s really been accomplished…
What is a true woman? How does a woman earn that one-word descriptor of true? It occurs to me today that as a culture we really have no hope of answering the question. After all, we have trouble defining a woman, not to mention a true woman. In today’s A La Carte post I shared…
Men, this may hurt a little bit. Pastors, I think it should hurt a little bit. But here is something I’ve observed after being to a handful of womens’ conferences and quite a few pastors’ conferences. Care to guess which one has a more obvious reliance on prayer? Care to guess which kind of conference…
Yesterday was the closest I’ve come to not being allowed into the US of A. The trouble I have is that the rules keep changing, and when I attempt to find out what the new rules are, I am regarded with suspicion as if I’m trying to game the system. So I try to come…
At long last I’ve made it to Texas. I’m not quite sure why, but I’ve always wanted to visit Texas and have long said that I’d go the first time I got invited. That invitation came a few months ago in the form of a request to blog the True Woman Conference down here in…
At long last it is time to read another classic work of the Christian faith, and to read it together. This time around we are reading R.C. Sproul’s book The Holiness of God. Of all the books we’ve read in this Reading Classics program, this is the one that has been written most recently (1985).…
I’m on my way to Fort Worth for the True Woman conference (I know, I know; it’s a conference for women…). Stay tuned over the next couple of days as I try to find some interesting stories to tell from my time there. Camera Reunions – Here’s a great idea–a web site that tries to…