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A La Carte (October 4)

friday

There are some pretty good Kindle deals on offer today.

Westminster Books also has some good deals this week, focused on books related to sexuality.

Learning to Dream Again

Basically, if Heidi Tai writes it, I’m going to read it.

7 Ways You Can Contribute to Better Public Discourse

“Here are their seven encouragements for individuals and families to be healthier contributors for the common good.” And that’s something that benefits us all.

Why Pornography Is Affecting This Generation More Than Any Other (Video)

“This generation has been more affected by pornography than any other generation in history. I believe there are four major reasons for this. They are acceptability, accessibility, affordability, and anonymity.” This is worth thinking about.

Greater Works and the Ordinary Christian Life

I enjoyed Eleazar’s reflections on growing contended in living an ordinary life.

Book Review: Letters to the Church, by Francis Chan

Sometimes a critical review can be an excellent teaching tool, and that’s exactly the case here. “Something is wrong with the American Evangelical church. You’ve thought that. You’ve voiced this concern. But have you ever been so discouraged by the state of the church today that you would walk away from it? That’s what Francis Chan did.”

Apologetics in Africa: An Introduction

“African Christianity is growing. Missiologists have noted the shifting of the Christian centre to the global South, to the effect that more churches are to be found in Africa, Asia and Latin America than Europe and North America. This shift has resulted in the concept of ‘reverse missions’ where currently people from the ‘Majority World’ are now taking the gospel back to lands that birthed exemplary missionaries such as Hudson Taylor, William Carrey and David Livingstone.”

The Shallowair Waste

Read, ponder, and enjoy this poem.

Flashback: How Can You Balance Life and Ministry and Your Passions and Hobbies?

At a recent event in India I was asked two interesting questions on a common theme: “How should a pastor balance his life outside of the church with his calling to ministry?” and “How should a pastor think about passions and hobbies outside of ministry?”

The fear of God promotes spiritual joy; it is the morning star which ushers in the sunlight of comfort.

—Thomas Watson

  • 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…

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    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…

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    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.

  • What Makes You Beautiful

    What Makes You Beautiful

    I have often thought of a conversation that took place when my girls were little. Abby was perhaps 5 or 6 at the time and Michaela just working her way through the “terrible twos” (which for our kids always happened when they were three or four). A stranger saw me interacting with them one day…