A little while ago I received an email that, at heart, asked a straightforward question: Can a Christian starve to death? It’s a straightforward question but introduces a fair bit of difficulty. There are many places where the Bible states that the Lord will provide what we need or where Jesus himself says not to…
The Westboro Cult – I’m all for this. It is abundantly clear to most Americans that the “Westboro Baptist Church” is neither “Baptist” nor a “church” according to any commonly accepted meaning of either word. As a Christ follower, and a long time church attender, I enter this plea to stop using the phrase “Westboro…
This morning I posted a review of Shon Hopwood’s new memoir Law Man. After reading the book I tracked down the author and did an interview with him. Give it a read, as I think you’ll enjoy it. If you had to give a short summary of the theme of your book, what would it…
Shon Hopwood robbed five banks before he was apprehended and sentenced to spend twelve years behind bars. Just twenty-three years of age, he was suddenly looking at living out some of his prime years in a federal penitentiary. Yet he somehow managed to find his place, not in sports or in gangs, but in the…
Yesterday I flew out to Prince Edward Island for the Gospel Coalition Atlantic Canada conference, which begins a bit later today. Our gate was moved three times and the flight ended up being well over an hour late, so we didn’t arrive until around 3 AM. Therefore, this is a slightly abbreviated A La Carte!…
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. Here are some of the notable books that I’ve received in the past week or two. The Mission…
This is an article about preaching that is meant to be read by non-preachers. I am an unlikely preacher, a guy who was paralyzingly shy through high school and college and into later life who rather suddenly found himself speaking at conferences and preaching at churches. As someone who is rather new to the pulpit,…
Dear Stay-at-Home Mom – Trevin Wax has a letter to stay-at-home moms. “Dear Stay-at-Home Mom, You are a gift of God to your husband and your kids. But you don’t always feel that way, do you?” Why India Doesn’t Win Medals – Just a couple of days ago a friend remarked that India doesn’t ever…
I have been reading Jeremy Walker’s The Brokenhearted Evangelist and in that book he includes a powerful section dealing with the importance of prayer in the practice of evangelism. After quoting John Sutcliff, who cries out against lukewarmness, Walker asks and answers this question: How do we keep our prayers fiery? How do we keep…
The Courage To Put Away Our Cameras – I give this article a big thumbs up. “The degree to which we are able to be present in the moment, psychologists say, is one of the chief indicators of mental health and security in our personal identity. I can buy that. And I would submit that…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by CBD Reformed and, as they always do, they are giving away five prize packages. Each of five winners will receive the following three books: In addition, CBD Reformed is offering a 4-day sale (August 3 – 6) on the following three products: Giveaway Rules: You may only…
A friend of mine has been leading a class based on my book The Next Story. He emailed me a couple of days ago to say that he was preparing to teach on “Privacy and Visibility,” two areas where the digital world has brought a great transformation to our lives. Right before he went to…
What Happened to My CCM? – “The 1990s saw an unprecedented explosion of Christian rock. Jars of Clay, Sixpence None the Richer, P.O.D., and Switchfoot were hot on Christian radio and on MTV. Christian rock festivals multiplied and expanded. CCM labels sold millions of records. It was a pretty great time to be a Christian…
What makes you angry? We all have triggers, don’t we? We all have certain contexts and situations, certain affronts to our dignity or pride that stoke the anger within. I know a lot about anger, as Aileen can no doubt attest. When she and I talk about God’s grace in our lives, and evidence of…
How to Witness to Mormons – A reader of the site sent along this excellent article after my post yesterday (which dealt with Mormonism). The author tells how and how not to witness to Mormons. Contraceptive-Abortifacient Mandate – Gospel Coalitions The FAQs series provides an updated look at the contraceptive- abortifacient mandate, what it means…
I’ve been at this blogging thing for quite a long time now—it’s coming up on ten years. I’ve been at the daily blogging thing for almost as long. This means that I’ve got an extensive backlist of articles from years gone by. I thought it might be fun to pull out some of the articles…
When on vacation last week I ambled into a wonderful little used book store in Fredericksburg, Virginia. There were hundreds of books that caught my eye there, but I left with only one—Faith and Betrayal, by Sally Denton, a biography that traces the life of Jean Rio, the author’s great-great-grandmother. One of England’s earliest and…
A Father’s Conversion – Randy Alcorn shares the story of his father’s conversion at the age of 84. Prayers of a Worship Leader – I appreciated Matt Boswell’s article on the prayers of a worship leader. Wayfarer – I’m really enjoying this new album by Wayfarer. It includes five re-imagined hymns that seem to have…
This is the eighth installment in a series on theological terms. See previous posts on the terms theology, Trinity, creation, man, Fall, common grace, and sin. First and foremost, righteousness is an attribute of God: “For the LORD is righteous” (Psalm 11:7). The fact that God is righteous means that he “always acts in accordance…
Yesterday I began to look at Michael Pearl’s To Train Up a Child (click here to read it). My interest in this book is based in part on its popularity and in part on the way in which it very clearly highlights how faulty foundational beliefs will lead to faulty actions. In the first part…