A La Carte (January 28)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you on this fine day.

There is quite a variety of Kindle deals to browse through today. Marriage, parenting, pastoring—there’s a bit of everything.

Reaching the Lost Young Men

Samuel James has begun what promises to be an interesting series of articles about reaching lost young men. The first part expresses the need for holistic depornification.

Kirsten recounts speaking to a Christian doctor and goes on to write about the painful parts of prayer. “I remember talking with him one day and he shared that it was difficult for him to pray for healing for his patients. He said he could easily pray that God would be near. He could pray that God would sustain. But having faith to believe that God would heal? That was difficult for him. He had seen and experienced far too much loss, both in his personal life and in his line of work, to pray with faith that God might heal.”

An UnChristian Response to the Fall of Our Enemies

You can learn a lot about yourself by your response to the fall of your enemies. “I have seen, in the name of Christ, delight in the face of tragedy. I have seen people cheer the deaths of their political enemies. Men and women are glad to see people die, so long as it’s people they disagree with. I have seen churches invaded and disrupted in the name of Christ. This is something to be expected from the world that lacks the Spirit of God, but not Christians.”

Doom-Scrolling Mozart

There is a good challenge in this article. “The internet gives us a false omniscience, presenting everything from everywhere to everyone at any time. But we are not God. We were not designed for omniscience. Not even the digital imitation. Yet here it is. Everything. All the time.”

Why Pastors Should Read Fiction

I resist the word “should” in an article like this since it seems to apply some level of moral oughtness, but I think the point stands just as well if we say “why pastors may be wise to read fiction.” “I suspect most of my readers won’t need convincing that ‘leaders are readers’ and that Pastors, whether paid or not, should be devoting some of their time to reading books that encourage their souls and to books that sharpen their minds.”

5 Characteristics of a Great Small Group Leader

I think at one time or another we have all benefited from a really good small group leader and struggled with a not-so-good one. Here are some characteristics of the good ones!