Counting the Cost of a Church Website Hello again from Church Plant Media! In our Web Stuff Wednesdays Introduction we asked you, the readers of Challies Dot Com, to comment on that post with your church website questions. Carl asked the following: If I understand correctly, there are two kinds of web sites: sites you…
We are handing power tools to children and acting surprised when they get badly hurt. If I had any doubt about the potential evils of the Internet, they were permanently erased when I wrote a book about pornography, and followed it with one on life and faith after the digital explosion. In the aftermath I received…
Do I Have to Know the Date? – “Pastor John, I was greatly troubled in a service recently when the preacher said that unless each person could identify the specific day that they prayed ‘the sinner’s prayer’ they were not converted. … I feel sure I am converted but this preacher has unsettled me enormously.…
Jefferson Bethke is a YouTube sensation who exploded onto the scene in January 2012 when he released a spoken word poem titled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” Within three days it had been viewed 6 million times and as of today it has been viewed 25 million times. He went from unknown to…
The Reformation and the Press – “This article is the first of two that will consider the importance of Johann Gutenberg’s movable type printing technology for the Protestant Reformation and how the new technology was employed effectively by Martin Luther in Germany.” Your Pastor Needs You – Since I have become a pastor, articles like…
I am typically pretty disciplined in avoiding memes as they make their way around the Internet. Today, though, I made an exception when I saw the hashtag #AddaWordRuinaChristianBook showing up all over my Twitter feed. (After all, it’s my day off.) It’s simple: you add one word to a book and see how badly you…
In some Christian traditions they are emphasized to the point of exhaustion; in others they are so diminished as to barely exist at all. Whatever we believe about the spiritual gifts, we at least need to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit gives a great range of gifts to his people and that they are given…
Life & Laundry – Lindsey tells what a P.O.W. taught her about life and laundry. The Only Intoxication The Bible Advises – “The Song of Solomon appropriately celebrates the only kind of intoxication that the Bible advises, which is that we should be drunk on the love of our wives and husbands, but it celebrates…
As we saw last week in the first article in this series on Christian Philanthropists, Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, lived from 1707–1791. This week, we are considering the life and giving of one of her contemporaries, John Thornton, who lived from 1720–1790. Thornton’s family was from Yorkshire, England. His father, Robert, directed the Bank…
Years of Love – We love stories like this, don’t we? “Last week, after 63 years of marriage, Bob Cousy said goodbye to his bride. His loved ones say he’s bereft, inconsolable. And they’re surprised that he agreed to an interview, because Cousy is a private man who cared for Missie alone for more than…
I am in the unique and enjoyable position of receiving copies of most of the latest and greatest Christian books and I like to provide regular roundups of some of the best and brightest of the bunch. Of all the books I have received recently, here are the ones that appear most noteworthy. The Poverty…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by Frontline Missions. This is an amazing ministry that produces the Dispatches from the Front DVD series—a series I love. Here is what the ministry is all about: Frontline’s key objective is to advance the Gospel, forming vibrant, Word-centered, disciple-making churches, especially in those regions of the world…
How Are You Doing? – R.C. Sproul Jr. answers this question: How are you doing on the anniversary of your daughter’s passing? “It is never a good thing when the phone rings in the middle of the night. Neither is it a good thing when my phone rings in the middle of class, especially when…
Over the past few weeks Dr. Joel Beeke and I have been teaming up to work our way through a portion of his massive new work A Puritan Theology. We have not been reading the whole book, but just the final eight chapters which deal with practical theology, the “so what?” of systematic theology. This…
Sometimes I wish we were all just a little simpler, a little bit closer to the extremes of black and white. It would be a lot easier if there were only good guys and bad guys, the fully orthodox and the outright heretic, with no overlap, no shades of gray, nothing in between. But we…
Casualties of the Revolution – This is sobering: “In contemporary America,” says Anthony Esolen, “condemnation of pedophilia rests on sentiment and not on moral reasoning. Nobody can simultaneously explain why pedophilia is so vile and uphold the first commandment of the sexual revolution: Fulfill thy desires.” Pouring Your Life Into Others – “Most jobs require…
Last week I had the opportunity to participate with a group of pastors in a round-table discussion. The topic was corporate prayer (i.e. prayer meetings), and each of the pastors spoke of his church’s practice of prayer. It was a fascinating discussion and I thought it might be helpful to share a few of my…
Am I Still Crazy Busy? – Kevin DeYoung shares some of the ways he has responded to what he learned in writing his book on busyness. There are some helpful practical tips here! Free Logos Book – Logos users may want to grab this month’s free book, Paul, the Interpreter of Christ by Archibald Robertson.…
I knew Aileen was a keeper from the first day we met (in high school) and from the first words she ever spoke to me (“I’m going to kill you!”). I can’t quite say it was love at first sight, but it wasn’t too far from it. I appreciated that she was feisty and not…
Is Public Schooling an Option? – Answers magazine asked Al Mohler to answer this question: Should Christian parents send their children to the public schools? He provides a careful and helpful answer that looks to past, present and future. A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards – This month’s free audiobook from ChristianAudio is George Marsden’s…