It has to be one of the most unexpected phenomena in the church today–that white middle-aged pastors are talking about rap music and, even more strangely, actually listening to it and recommending it. I don’t know that anyone would have or could have predicted it. I certainly wouldn’t have predicted that I would be one…
It’s February 4 today, and though it’s a couple of days later than usual, I’ve got a few awesome desktop wallpapers for you to download. For the next few months at least I’ve decided to change things up a bit. Instead of putting out a public call for wallpapers, I am asking just one designer…
It was several months ago that Bible Study Magazine (a publication from Logos) asked if they could interview me for a future cover story. The March/April issue of the magazine has just been released and, well, there I am. I asked if there was any way that we could offer the magazine to the readers…
I’ve been at this blogging thing for quite a long time now—a bit over 9 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 I…
It was one hundred and twenty years ago today that Charles Haddon Spurgeon finished his earthly race. He was 57 years old. The life and legacy of Spurgeon is well known. He was London’s most popular preacher during the second half of the 19th century. He was passionately and thoroughly biblical and unusually gifted in…
Today we celebrate the 100th birthday of Francis Schaeffer, the 20th century American pastor, theologian, and philosopher. Udo Middleman, President of The Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation, describes him as one who “communicated the truth of historic Biblical Christianity in a way that combined intellectual integrity, artistic sensitivity and a practical loving care. With a sharpened…
I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I’ve decided to put together some occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Here are a few notable links I’ve collected over the past few weeks. The Biblical Counseling Movement…
Stemming from the controversy over Mark and Grace Driscoll’s new book Real Marriage—especially the chapter about what Christians are allowed to do sexually—Doug Wilson has written a few posts on what nature teaches us about sex. I wanted to attempt to distill these right down to their essence because I think he has given a…
There is a lot of debate over how to take the command in Ephesians 5:18-21 to “Be filled with the Spirit … submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” How you interpret this text is, for many, the dividing line between being egalitarian or complementarian in their view of the roles of men…
Many great Christian resources are available on the topics of sexuality and marriage. In light of so much discussion about sex and marriage in the blogosphere these days, I wanted to highlight a few of the ones I’ve come across that seem to be particularly helpful. People are in different places: some need to learn…
Sunday was the 56th anniversary of the deaths of the missionary martyrs to Ecuador: Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian. As I pondered that event, I began to think about the impact of their deaths and how the Lord has used it both in the short-term and in the long-term.…
Did you make any resolutions this new year? If you didn’t, Burk Parsons’ Tabletalk article from a few years ago may persuade you to think again. Burk argues that the Bible gives us good reasons for making resolutions, as long as we make them sensibly, dependently, humbly, and for Christ’s sake. The beginning of a…
When it comes to Christians and the question of abortion, nearly all of us probably fall into one of three categories. 1) To some degree we are active in the pro-life cause. 2) We sometimes wonder whether we should be. 3) We are aware that abortion is a serious issue, but we have never taken…
I’ve been at this blogging thing for quite a long time now–a bit over 9 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 I…
It’s January 1 today, and that means that I’ve got a desktop wallpaper for you to download. For the next few months at least I’ve decided to change things up a bit. Instead of putting out a public call for wallpapers, I am asking just one designer to create a fantastic design. A few notes:…
Lots of 2011 “best of” or “top ten” lists are coming out these days; it’s kind of a year-end tradition in the Internet age. I’ve already posted my top books of the year, but I thought it would be helpful or at least interesting to list some of these other lists—a top ten of top…
2011 was a great year for books. While I did not read as many books in 2011 as I have in previous years, I still read quite a few. Today I want to share some of my top picks from the year that was. Let me offer the usual caveats that these are almost certainly…
Last week I asked if you are interested in taking The 3650 Challenge with me–to read or listen to 3,650 chapters of the Bible in 2012. A lot of you said that you are interested, so today I want to launch this plan in earnest. Through 2012 I plan to use Professor Horner’s Bible Reading…
It has been just over a year now since Cruciform Press released its first book–my very own Sexual Detox. I can’t deny that I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished since then. We have now published 14 great books (1 a month) and have many more in the works. We wanted to thank you, the people…
I have never been much of a fan of audio books. For many years I worked from home and found that it was far easier to read than to listen. However, since I became a pastor I have spent endless hours commuting and have looked for ways to redeem that time. I use it to…