Jim Elliff contributed an excellent article in Baptist Press yesterday. Many churches style their worship services like a rock concert followed by a stand up comedian. If that’s what you think church should look like, you should ponder the points made in A Funny Gospel?
Category Archives: Cultural Engagement
When God Is Small People Are Too
My friend Denny Burk’s post on whether embryonic stem cell research is murder prompted me to ponder this situation. Why should we be concerned about the destruction of these embryonic stem cells? After all, don’t women miscarry fertilized eggs all the time? They do: often fertilized eggs do not implant in the lining of the …
Al Mohler Used to Be An Egalitarian
Read how and why his mind changed here.
Rob Bell Has Women Elders
A friend of mine sent me the link to this fascinating account of how Mars Hill Bible Church, led by their pastor, Rob Bell, voted to overturn the section of their original constitution that limited the office of elder to men. According to the article, two of their eight elders are women. You can read …
Mark Driscoll
The Lord has used Mark Driscoll in my life over the past few weeks to be more conscious of how many lost and unchurched people there are in this country. According to Barna, between 1991 and 2004 there was a 92% increase in the number of unchurched Americans. If all the unchurched folks in this …
Rob Bell’s Houston Appearance
Here’s an article in the Houston Chronicle about Rob Bell’s “Everything Is Spiritual” tour. The reporter spoke with me about Bell. I don’t know a lot about him, and I didn’t make it to his Houston appearance. I’m glad that people are taking the faith to the kinds of people that Jesus got criticized for …
What Works or What the Bible Says?
In an insightful review of Chris Seay’s Faith of My Fathers, Bruce Keisling analyzes, exposes, and cautions against the pragmatism that can be seen in both the “Revivalistic Baptist” church methods of yesteryear and the “Emerging” methods that might prove to be this generation’s fad. I commend to you this review. May it be another …
Naming the Sin of Liberal Christianity
Wow! This article by Charlotte Allen is so forthright it almost feels like a slap in the face. I can’t believe this piece, called “Liberal Christianity Is Paying for Its Sins,” got published in the Los Angeles Times. I hope that all the evangelical scholars, teachers, and Ph.D. students who are so excited about flirting …
What Is Church 3.0?
Check out Mark Driscoll’s blog to find out.
David Wells on Evangelical Pastors
As he describes one of the chapters of No Place for Truth, David Wells writes, . . .the pastorate has become proffessionalized, . . . the central function of the pastor has changed from that of truth broker to manager of the small enterprises we call churches. To the extent that this tendency has taken …
History, Pastors, and Ministry Philosophy
In his brilliant book, Democratic Religion, Prof. Dr. Greg Wills details the way that Baptists in the South used to do church discipline and gives an account of why things changed. One of the main reasons that discipline declined among Southern Baptists was that they shifted from focusing on Bible and theology to focusing on …
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Baptism, Baptist History, and Church Membership
Both Dr. Mohler and Justin Taylor have posted today on the direction John Piper has led Bethlehem Baptist Church on the issue of Baptism and Church Membership. Mohler mentions that some allege that Calvinism may lead Baptists away from believer’s baptism. Baptist history can help us here. Tom Nettles (The Baptists, 138–42) describes how the …
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How to Share the Gospel with a Muslim
There are, of course, many ways, but Thabiti Anyabwile posted a great letter in the comments section of the last post. You can view it here (scroll down to “Thabiti says”).
Mohler on the SBC
I've been eagerly anticipating this since I heard whispers of it at Together for the Gospel. Dr. Mohler has begun a new blog that will discuss issues facing the Southern Baptist Convention: Conventional Thinking. Let's pray that God will give him strong eyesight and insight to lead us well for many years to come. HT: …
The Blogosphere Gains a Bock!
Some people clearly do not respect the blogosphere. For them, blogs are operated by dropouts who are unable to get themselves published in “legitimate” arenas. When these people refer to “bloggers,” the word is spoken with the same scorn with which they dismiss the “punk kids” or the “ignorant malcontents” who are simply not worth …
Holding the Rope: the Words of Andrew Fuller according to John Ryland Jr.
From Tom Nettles, The Baptists: Key People Involved in Forming a Baptist Identity (Beginnings in Britain): Our undertaking to India really appeared to me, on its commencement, to be somewhat like a few men, who were deliberating about the importance of penetrating into a deep mine, which had never before been explored. We had no …
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Just for the fun of being encouraged
You should go read this letter by John Piper, inviting people to the DGM National Conference this fall.
Promises Made . . . Promises Kept
What if there was a strong church right in the middle of the nation’s capitol? What if it was pastored by a humble man of God of profound spiritual insight, impeccable academic credentials, and a dynamic personal presence? What if this pastor was absolutely convinced that his own abilities and giftings were not the point, …
Darfur: Will We Act to Stop the Genocide?
Everyone should see Hotel Rwanda. I checked it out from the public library, so if there's a library near you it won't cost you financially. I hope it will cost you some peace of mind, however, and we should all lift our voices to decry what is now apparently taking place in Darfur. World Magazine …
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Gospel of Judas Radio Interview
I am very grateful to the many of you who communicated to me that you prayed for me during the interview last Friday. My friend Denny Burk has posted the show. I'm on with Denny for about the last ten minutes or so discussing the Gospel of Judas.