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A La Carte (January 27)

Today’s Kindle deals include The Faith of Christopher Hitchens, an interesting and excellent book. There are also a number of titles related to abortion.

Logos has put together a list of their most popular products for 2016. Quite a lot of them are for sale, so it’s worth giving the list a look.

The Awkward 17th-Century Dating Practice

If you’ve ever read about Jonathan Edwards, you’ve read about the bizarre practice of bundling. Atlas Obscura has just written a great article on a dumb practice.

A Plea for Pastoral Prayer

“Pastoral prayer—the part of the worship service where a pastor stands before the congregation and leads them in prayer as part of the worship service—seems to have fallen on hard times.” Indeed. It’s increasingly rare to find any substantial prayer in a church service.

2016: The Year in Language

Google has done a neat job in putting together a display of 2016’s top rising words. “These 10 words led the pack: Triggered, Shook, Juju, Broccoli, Woke, Holosexual, Shill, Gaslighting, Bigly, and SJW.”

Make America Unified Again

Bruce Ashford highlights 3 social divisions that America will need to overcome to become a unified nation.

Only 1 in 7 Senior Pastors Is Under 40

Here’s an interesting and important report from Christianity Today. “As clergy live longer and stay in ministry longer, the average age of Protestant senior pastors has risen to 54—a decade older than 25 years before, when the average age was 44.” There’s lots more to chew on in the report.

This Day in 1839. 178 years ago today famed English authority on hymns, John Julian, was born. His undoubted masterpiece is the monumental “Dictionary of Hymnology” which was published in 1892. *

The Surprising Ingenuity Behind “Goodnight Moon”

Here’s the sad, surprisingly story behind that book you probably memorized when your children were tiny. I think I can still recite most of it.

The Early Symptoms of Spiritual Danger

This is an important pastoral word from Sinclair Ferguson. Is it possible that you are showing some of the early symptoms of spiritual danger?

Pray With Your Spouse 31 Day Challenge

Couples may be interested in participating in Mike Leake’s 31-day challenge to pray with your spouse.

Flashback: 13 Ways You Waste Your Money

Money has many ways of disappearing. Here are a few of them.

Sin is not superficial to us, a mere flesh wound. It is a deep distortion, a twisted hostility toward God and his reign over us.

—Sinclair Ferguson

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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…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 25)

    A La Carte: John Piper and ChatGPT / Who’s praying for your wife and kids? / When your dreams include sin / Are you called to ministry? / Our feet shall tread this place again / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 24)

    A La Carte: He cares for us / Will the pope to go heaven? / An easy Christian faith / The good we cannot see / Chickens, elephants, and freedom / When we skip the prophets / Kindle and book deals / and more.

  • Francis

    Did Francis Prove To Be “The Humble Pope?”

    Francis’ time as pope has come to an end and already many are attempting to define his legacy. Was he a reformer? Was he a progressive? Was he an apostate? Perspectives are wildly varied with some honoring him as the greatest pope of modern times and some dishonoring him as a disgrace to the office.