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What is the Gospel?
To say that we, as a church, are centered on the gospel, or Gospel-Driven, is realtively easy. It is quite another thing for the typical church member to know what such phrases actually mean. The following post, by C.J. Mahaney, was originally published on the Together for the Gospel blog. I include it here in…
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Infection of Complacency
Here is a thought from J.C. Ryle that transcends the gulf between 19th Century Britain to speak to 21st Century American Evangelicals: The times require distinct and decided views of Christian doctrine. I cannot withhold my conviction that the professing Church is as much damaged by laxity and indistinctness about matters of doctrine within, as…
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Pastor Dad: E-book by Mark Driscoll
Father’s Day has passed, but I just read a resource I thought I’d pass along to Dads and aspiring dads-to-be. It is another e-book by Mark Driscoll of Resurgence and Mars Hill Church, this one titled Pastor Dad: Scriptural Insights on Fatherhood. The premise behind this free 48 page book is: Every dad is a…
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Glory Story: The Joel Osteen Phenomena
I’ve never quite understood the attraction. His words melt like cotton candy. Yet he has amassed the largest church and largest television audience in the United States. Sure, he may be a nice guy, but what is the allure of Joel Osteen? Like him or loathe him, Osteen’s influence is pervasive. I am frequently asked…
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In Constant Prayer
Here is a challenging insight from Robert Benson, taken from his book In Constant Prayer: Our modern church has some distinct advantages over the early church. Or at least I suspect it does. We have better youth programs and better acoustics and finer buildings. We have better literature that is more easily available to…
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Jeremiah: The Blogging Prophet
I’ve been reading through the book of Jeremiah this past week. One of the “tricks” I have found helpful in maintaining a sense of orientation as I navigate the sea of prophecies of judgement the Lord gives to Jeremiah in chapters 2-26, is to view each of the prophecies as separate blog posts. Without this mental practice…
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Core Values of Walnut Hill Church
I recently finished a series unveiling the Core Values of Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church. The Elders of our church worked on these for several months, as we tried to discern the characteristics that define and drive our church. Leadership expert Aubrey Malphurs calls Core Values “the qualities that make up and establish an organizations character,…
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Gospel in Context
The gospel is always conveyed through the medium of culture. It becomes good news to lost and broken humanity as it is incarnated in the world through God’s sent people, the church. To be faithful to its calling, the church must be contextual, that is, it must be culturally relevant within a specific setting. The…
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Taking Notes From the Pop News
It seems like it has been a long, long time since I sat down to write a new post. In reality it has only been a week that has gone by since I last posted. But it has been a few weeks since I have been able to take the time to sit down and write with any real…
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Qualities in Evangelism
How should a Christian approach an unbelieving friend or neighbor? Magician-Entertainer Penn Jillette offers his perspective in this video. Most astounding is that Jillette is a self-professed athiest. But the qualities he lists about the man who, one night, gave him a Bible after a show ought to be kept in mind and emulated by…
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A Call to Prayer
With today being National Day of Prayer, I thought I would post a wonderful and challenging message from one of my favorite writers from the 19th Century, J.C. Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool in England. The message is titled: A Call To Prayer One of the great things about Ryle is that his style is not…
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Rapture Ready
OUCH! Yesterday I started reading Daniel Radosh’s Rapture Ready!: Adventures In The Parallel Universe Of Christian Pop-Culture. It is an outsiders observations of the Christian subculture. And the author really nails his intended target. Back in my younger, athletic playing, days from time to time I would take a hit right on a muscle that would somehow simultaneously make me…
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Global Missions is Not For SuperChristians
Missions is not just for Super Christians. The Great Commission will be accomplished by ordinary people, who posess a heartfelt faith in Jesus Christ, and who are faithful to follow Jesus’ instruction to go into all the world to make discples. Simple, right? Well, the concept is simple. Even the decision to oby or not obey is…
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Overcoming Evil Leadership
Reggie McNeal, in his book Practicing Greatness, makes this audacious statement: “Bad leaders are a form of evil.” When I first read that statement I thought “Woe! That’s a bit strong.” But as I read further I came to understand his thinking… and agreed. Consider his whole point: Bad leaders are a form of evil.…
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