Resources

Resources for Learning Your Catechisms

I mentioned recently that part of the joy of being Reformed is entering into an existing, defined stream of theology. (See Use Your Catechism, Silly.) As Reformed believers, we have a well-defined reference library of creeds, confessions, and catechisms, and it is wise to ground ourselves in this established body of truth. To that end, here are a few resources that may prove helpful as you explore them for your own purposes or teach them to your children. Training Hearts, …

A Quiz on the Doctrine of Salvation

At the heart of the Christian faith is this statement: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Christians are those who have been saved. How well do you know know the doctrine of salvation? This quiz is designed to help you find out. If you would like to take this quiz in a paper format or to share it with a group, I have made it and the other …

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How I Use Mind Mapping Software

Much of life is an attempt to bring order from chaos. The pastor who sets out to prepare a sermon fills his mind with information and then needs to arrange it according to a unified theme. The author who sets out to write a book collects information from a hundred sources and then needs to lay it out in a logical manner. Ministries, marketing campaigns, fundraising drives, and even family vacations begin as chaos and eventually come to a state …

How Well Do You Know Your Hymns? (A Quiz)

As Christians, we are blessed with a long legacy of great hymns. As contemporary Christians, we are blessed with many modern-day hymn writers who are carrying on the art. So how well do you know your hymns and their authors? This little quiz is designed to find out!

2016: A Year in Review

It’s the time of year for blogs and other sites to provide their annual round-up of the year’s most popular articles. I don’t know why we do this, but it seems to be a tradition. On that basis, let me tell you who visited and what they read in 2016. The site served up well over 15,000,000 pageviews this year from somewhere around 6,000,000 people. These people visited from 237 different countries with 74% of them representing the United States. The top …

How I Use Trello as an Editorial Calendar

Over the years I’ve found that one of the trickier parts of blogging, or any regular writing for that matter, is maintaining an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a means of organizing current and future writing projects to take them from conception to publication. It organizes the process of progressing from vague ideas to completed, edited, final products. After spinning my wheels for years, I eventually found an excellent solution in a software package called Trello. In what follows …

Do More Better in 2017

With a new year approaching, many of us are considering how we can make the most of the opportunities it will bring. Many of us are considering how we can actually generate opportunities that will help us make the most of 2017. I have invested a lot of effort into defining and pursuing productivity through a Christian lens and want to offer a couple of options that may help you. I believe you will find them helpful whether you are …

My Top 10 Bloggers of 2016

I love blogs. I followed hundreds of them this year, scanned tens of thousands of their headlines, and read thousands of their articles. They were a great blessing to me and today I want to pause to honor a few. I want to share my top 10 blogs and bloggers of 2016 and also tell you about my favorite 2016 debut. My 10 Favorite Blogs of 2016 First, here are my ten favorite blogs of 2016, the ones I most …

My Favorite Bible-Reading Plan for 2017

In general, there are two approaches to daily Bible-reading: intimacy and familiarity. Intimacy with the Bible comes through slow, meditative reading that focuses on small portions—deep study of key books, chapters, and verses. Familiarity with the Bible comes through faster reading of much larger portions—the entire sweep of the biblical narrative. Both are wonderful approaches to the Bible and Christians thrive on a healthy mixture of the two. There is great benefit in knowing the Bible as a whole (familiarity) …