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A La Carte (November 2)

Today’s Kindle deals include quite a few good books.

Also, check this week’s deals from Westminster Books for a good price on a solid new biography.

Free G3

I’d love to see you at next year’s G3 Conference in Atlanta. Maybe some free tickets (buy one get one free, that is) will help.

How To Have a Pastoral Conversation

Richard Sweatman writes: “Most growth group leaders know how helpful it is to meet up one-to-one with their group members. This can be a regular time of Bible reading and prayer; sometimes it’s just a low-key catch up. At other times, however, group leaders realize they need to speak with someone about a particular concern or problem. Let’s call this a ‘pastoral conversation’. It can be a pretty big deal, so I want to give some guidance for how growth group leaders could go about having a pastoral conversation.”

How 16th-Century European Mapmakers Described the World’s Oceans

According to medieval mapmakers, the world was made up of three continents ringed by narrow bodies of water. When the voyages of Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Ferdinand Magellan uncovered continents previously unknown to Europeans, this posed a major problem for those cartographers. But these explorers did not just stumble upon uncharted land—they also became aware of expansive stretches of ocean around the world.”

A Radical College’s Public Meltdown

Here’s the crazy story of “how a season of racial protests turned Evergreen State College’s self-examination into a national spectacle.” Warning: there is some coarse language in here.

Must Every Christian Be a Member of a Local Church? (Video)

In this video Brian Davis argues that it is completely foreign to the Bible for a Christian not to want to be a part of a local church.

Five Steps For Getting Unstuck With Difficult Bible Passages

“There are times when we just don’t know what to do with certain passages or topics in the Bible. What’s the best way to proceed when you feel like you don’t know where to go? In his really helpful little book ‘The Story of Scripture’, Professor Rob Plummer gives several recommendations for dealing with difficult passages in the Bible.”

Immaculate Innings Are a Rare and Wonderful Baseball Treat

One for the baseball fans. “The immaculate inning is pretty simple: three batters each retired on three strikes and three strikes only. It’s also rarer than a no-hitter, and for long stretches of baseball history, we barely saw them. But the immaculate inning’s made something of a comeback recently.”

Flashback: The Most Terrifying Thing God Can Do

I see the horror of sin pictured in the decaying face of the addict. Her drug is both alluring and punishing. It promises joy and delivers bondage. Meth is its own punishment. It takes captive. It rots. It destroys. And in that way it is a particularly vivid illustration of every other sin.

The cross is the ultimate evidence that there is no length the love of God will refuse to go in effecting reconciliation.

—Kent Hughes

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (June 21)

    A La Carte: More barbaric than the Incas / Honoring those we’ve fallen out with / Is seminary worth the cost? / The young and the sexless / The seasons of anxiety / and more.

  • Free Stuff Fridays (Cornerstone Conference)

    This week, the blog and this giveaway are sponsored by Cornerstone Conference. Living For Christ in a Post-Christian World September 5-6, 2025, in Daytona Beach, FL Down through the centuries, the people of God have faced numerous pressures and attacks that have sought to undermine the gospel message and threaten the church. In our ever-changing…

  • The idol of popularity

    The Idol of Popularity

    I can speak with first-hand experience to this because it is an idol I once had to fight. I had to take radical action against it.

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (June 20)

    A La Carte: Marriage advice / Supreme Court protects parental rights / Be (and don’t be) a man-pleaser / You don’t owe the mob a meeting / Massive Logos sale / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (June 19)

    A La Carte: The quiet griever / The end times explains / Is marriage eternal? / A murderer and a liar / Talking to kids about gender / God’s good design for marriage / Commentary sale / and more.