#giving

Who Gives What: Should the Pastor Know?

This is a question every pastor and his church needs to think about: Should pastors know if their congregants are faithful in tithing? Here is my answer. Transcript Today’s question comes from Trent. And he’s asking this: should pastors know if their congregants are faithful in tithing? Now that’s a good question, it’s one I’ve thought about quite a bit, one we’ve had to ask ourselves at Grace Fellowship Church. I’ve got an answer for you. I’ll give it to …

New & Notable Books

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 new books that I’ve received: Galatians for You by Tim Keller. This is the first release in the new God’s Word For You series. “Galatians For You walks you through the book of Galatians, showing how the …

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The Joy of a Visit

A couple of weeks ago I was able to dedicate quite a lot of time to studying Zechariah’s song. This is the song Zechariah sang at the birth of his son John (who would, of course, soon be known as John the Baptist), the song he sang after nine months of being mute. At the heart of the song is his joy and wonder that God will visit his people. This was my big takeaway–the wonder of the visitation. There …

Modern Parables

Modern Parables is a Bible study series that uses short films to teach the parables of Jesus. The idea behind it all was to use film to recapture or recreate the kinds of emotions that Jesus’ 1st-century audience would have felt when first hearing those parables. It is remarkably successful. These are high-quality films that have merit both artistic and theological. The films are geared towards use for youth groups, small groups, evangelism or even home schooling curriculum and the set features …

That Pesky Rooster

You might have noticed when reading through the Gospels that, when it comes to Jesus predicting Peter’s denial, Mark records Jesus telling Peter that he will deny him three times “before the rooster crows twice” (Mark 14:30). Matthew, Luke and John, on the other hand, don’t mention a specific number of crows. They just record Jesus saying that Peter will deny him before the rooster crows, presumably at all (Matthew 26:34; Luke 22:34; John 13:38). But how did it actually …

A Meal With Jesus

I didn’t mean to read A Meal with Jesus. I receive enough books to review that I cannot possibly read them all. Last week I decided I would grab a selection of them and spend half an hour with each–not enough to read them through, but enough to get a bit of a feel for each. It didn’t work too well. A Meal with Jesus was the first book I picked up and once I began reading it I couldn’t …

Giving to Those in Need

Over the weekend I read an advanced reading copy of Crazy Love by Francis Chan (a book that is due for publication in May). You may not know the name, but you may well have seen his “Just Stop and Think” movie where he walks along a beach with a surfboard while sharing the gospel. This is Chan’s first book and I really enjoyed reading it. I’ll post a review in the near future, but for now, here is a …

Modern Parables: Living in the Kingdom of God (DVD)

Modern Parables: Living in the Kingdom of God is an original Bible study curriculum designed for people who like movies and is just the first in a planned series of film-driven studies on the parables of Jesus. The films are geared towards use for youth groups, small groups, evangelism or even home schooling curriculum. Volume 1 features six of Jesus’ parables, told anew through film and set in a contemporary context. The 12-lesson study combines cinema and theology in short …