Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (10/21)

A La Carte Collection cover image

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 – Randy Alcorn shares some heart-stirring words from a daughter of North Korea (and a daughter of God). “On the second night of the Third Lausanne Congress taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, an 18 year-old girl from North Korea shared her story.”

Rowand Taylor, Protestant Martyr – “This month, on October 6, it was 500 years since the birth of the Protestant martyr, Rowland Taylor, in 1510.” Sandy Grant at The Sola Panel tells a little bit about the man’s life and death.

Praying Better in Public and Private – Tim Keller looks back to Thomas Cramner and learns some lessons on how to pray better in both public and private settings.

Money Pollution in the Gulf – Gene Edward Veith dug up an interesting story about all that money BP has pumped into the Gulf region. “The oil company has already paid out $965 million and set aside $20 billion in a separate compensation fund. The money has been welcomed as a lifeline. But it has made the coast feel like an open-air economic experiment: Some hardworking fishermen think it’s in their best interest to be idle, losing market share they will need next year. And those who haven’t been paid are looking for legal and illegal ways to work the system.”

Leading Your Church in Church Planting – J.D. Payne is writing a series about how to lead a church in becoming a planting church. First he discusses how churches grow, then he looks at 7 reasons your church ought to plant, and in the most recent article he offers a list of useful resources.

Apologizing (HT:R59):

Comic

Speech is…only good when it is better than silence.

—Richard Sibbes

  • The Pursuit of Virtue

    God’s character is the essence of virtue. The heart of virtue is to know the Lord and to become like him, as a child resembles her father. That is the goal, privilege, and destiny of the redeemed. #Sponsored

  • When God Plants an Acorn

    When God Plants an Acorn, He Means an Oak

    We stood together on the crest of a hill, a gentle breeze rustling the meadow around our feet. The fields ran gently downward until they met a creek that gurgled happily in its course. A few years prior, an acorn had somehow made its way to the highest point of this hill, carelessly dropped there…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 28)

    A La Carte: Protestantism’s Catholic converts / How healthy is your pursuit of health? / God’s special calling on your life / Considering a Christian university? / Testing the teachings of Catholicism / Kindle deals / and more.

  • New and Notable

    New and Notable Christian Books for April 2025

    It is surprisingly difficult to find a list of Christian books that have been released in any given month—especially if you want that list to be filtered by books released through particular publishers. That’s one of the reasons why I close each month by coming up with my list of New and Notable books. I…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (April 26)

    A La Carte: Every pinch of pain has purpose / China closed Christian bookstores / Watch for the thing after the thing / For everything there is a time / Showers of blessing / What Pope Francis can teach us about preaching / and more.