The Five Myths of Being Single
March 7, 2012This is a guest post by my good friend, Renee Johnson Fisher. Renee is a spirited speaker and writer to twenty-somethings. She graduated from Biola University and worked with nationally known Christian speakers and writers at Outreach Events. She is the author of several books, including Faithbook of Jesus. This month she released a terrific new book with Harvest House Publishers entitled Not Another Dating Book. Recently married, she shares the myths of the single life in a way that is refreshing and free of cliques. Her book is a terrific new resource for singles in the church, so I asked her to write…
Continue ReadingBook Review: Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal
March 6, 2012As a pastor I have to counsel many who suffer. Often I’m at a loss as to what to say. I know the right Scriptures to present. I can reassure them that our people love them and are standing with them. But unless I’ve undergone a smilar trial, what do I say? What do I tell the parent whose child has cancer? What do I tell the wife who grieves the breakup of her marriage? What do I tell my own wife who recently buried her mother at a too-young age? There are great, theological books on suffering. Books I’ve…
Continue ReadingFriday Five: Amy Black
March 2, 2012Dr. Amy Black is Associate Professor of Political Science and chair of the department of Politics & International Relations at Wheaton College (IL). Amy is a specialist in American Government, her research interests include religion and politics and Congress. Her latest books include Beyond Left and Right: Helping Christians Make Sense of American Politics and her forthcoming release: Honoring God in Red and Blue, Approaching Politics with Humility, Grace, and Reason. In Beyond Left and Right, you sought to transcend the back and forth partisanship we experience in our political system. But critics might say that partisanship is an essential part of…
Continue Reading5 Pitfalls for Young Church Leaders
February 29, 2012I’m a young guy new at leadership, leading my church as Senior Pastor, leading my family as a husband and father of four, and leading (in some ways) as an author/writer/blogger. The world gets excited about young leadership, but quite often young leaders make mistakes because we lack the wisdom of our elders. Here are five common pitfalls I’m finding my for myself and I suspect other young leaders: 1) The Pitfall of Pride The Scriptures both encourage and warn about young leadership. The encouragement is for the young to not let their youth get in the way of leading…
Continue ReadingBook Review: Gospel Wakefulness
February 28, 2012If you’re a longtime Christian, you’ll notice and experience times of profound spiritual dryness, seasons when it seems you are numbly walking through the motions. Or perhaps you’re a believer who has at one time believed the gospel, but have not seen it’s life-changing implications bear fruit. Some might say you’re seeming spiritual deadness is because you never had the gospel at all. And that could be true. But it’s likely that you’ve got the gospel, but you’ve never been “awakened” by it. This is the crux of a new book by Jared C. Wilson, a prolific blogger, author, and…
Continue ReadingCan We Build the Church By Being Against the Church?
February 28, 2012It’s hard to read a Christian book or blog post or to hear a sermon without hearing some overt or implied criticism of some part of the evangelical Church as a whole. That’s not even counting the Twitter feeds of Christians. I’m reading a terrific book right on the centrality of the gospel by one of my favorite author/preacher/bloggers. It’s a book that is both challenging me and inspiring me. But even this favorite author can’t resist the easy stereotype of “most churches” or “most Christians” or “The Church is . . . .” It seems nearly impossible for us to build…
Continue ReadingFriday Five: Matt K. Lewis
February 24, 2012Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) is a conservative journalist, blogger, and political pundit whose work appears at The Daily Caller. He has also appeared in publications like Politico, The Guardian, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, and New York Magazine. He is a sought-after guest on television, making regular appearances on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC NEWS, and others. Recently, Business Insider named Matt one of the 50 “Pundits You Need To Pay Attention To Between Now And The Election.” He is also the author of The Quotable Rogue. Matt also hosts his own podcast where he interviews leaders from across the cultural spectrum.…
Continue Reading5 Ways to Pray for Your Community
February 22, 2012Last week Dan commented on my post: Nice post. Good points. But one that needs to be added is that church members pray to be burdened for the lost. That is the one thing I have found most lacking in the 2 established churches where I have served. Dan is right on the money. I presume Dan is a pastor and so he, like most pastors, see the need for churches to continually stoke the fire of evangelism. Dan’s post inspired another set of “fives”: Five Ways to Pray for Your Community: 1) Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict…
Continue ReadingSatan’s Hidden Tax
February 21, 2012I wrote this for my weekly devotional (published at Crosswalk.com and also Clash Entertainment): It was almost midnight and I was nearly finished filing my income taxes. I had finished my federal return and was now almost done with my state return. I live in Illinois and typically the state portion of my taxes is a snap. But the one thing you have to know about living in Illinois is that our fine Land of Lincoln loves to tax things. And sure enough, as I was nearly to the end of the Illinois return, up pops up a new tax,…
Continue ReadingMini-Reviews #10
February 20, 2012Another batch of mini-reviews, this time the American History version: Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith I was born in 1978, well after the era of Dwight David Eisenhower. So prior to this book he was only known to me from history books and a cursory knowledge of WWII. But I have always been interested in this man whose life and leadership impacted much of 20th century American life. Jean Edward Smith delivers a fair, honest portrayal of perhaps the last genuine American hero, a man cut from the cloth of a different era. What is so…
Continue ReadingFriday Five: Jim Rodgers
February 17, 2012Perhaps nothing challenges church leadership more than the use of their facilities, specifically knowing how, when, and where to allocate resources toward expansion. That is why I appreciate so greatly the ministry of my friend, Jim Rodgers. Jim is an “architectural pastor”, consulting churches on the use, expansion, and renovation of their facilities. He spent nearly 20 years in the pastorate and before that was a licensed architect. So he brings both practical and theological experience to bear on church facility usage. Jim works for Church Building Consultants in Wheaton, IL, a firm that provides churches, Christian schools, and ministries…
Continue Reading5 Ways to Pray for Your Church
February 15, 2012A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog, How to Help Your Church. It was one of the most popular posts of this year so far, perhaps because it struck a chord with pastors and church leaders working hard to serve God’s people. Interestingly, I wrote a similar post a few years ago. However it occurred to me that neither of those posts mentioned perhaps the best way to help your church: prayer. Perhaps this speaks to my woefully inconsistent prayer life or the tendency among leaders in my generation to rely on our own strength to do God’s work.…
Continue ReadingGreat message on Melchizidek
February 10, 2012At Gages Lake, we are in the midst of a study of Abraham. This coming Sunday we encounter a man named Melchizidek. One of the best sermons I’ve ever heard on this mysterious man in the Bible was preached by Don Carson at the 2011 Gospel Coalition Conference. I’ve posted the video below: Getting Excited About Melchizedek – Don Carson – TGC 2011 from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.
Continue ReadingFriday Five: Calvin Miller
February 10, 2012Calvin Miller is a best-selling author with nearly four million books in print. He is one of the most poetic and gifted writers in the evangelical world. He is also a long-time pastor. Miller speaks all over the world and is professor of preaching and pastoral ministry at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. His latest books include Letters to a Young Pastor and Letters to Heaven. He was kind enough to answer questions for today’s Friday Five: In your recent book, Letters to a Young Pastor you wrote a series of candid letters to young pastors. You really attacked the cult of celebrity…
Continue ReadingFive Lessons I Learned From Eisenhower
February 7, 2012I’m nearly finished with a lengthy biography of our 34th President, Dwight David Eisenhower entitled, Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith. I chose this book to review for Amazon Vine for a few reasons. First, I needed some variety in my recent reading. Secondly, I’m fascinated by history of the World War 11 era. Third, I knew little of Eisenhower other than from history in school. He died in 1969, 9 years before I was born. Fourth, I’m a sucker for biography. It’s a terrific read. What I’m gaining most from Eisenhower’s life story are lessons of leadership. Perhaps…
Continue ReadingDad and the Value of Hard Work
February 6, 2012In my weekly Crosswalk devotional, I wrote about how my Dad’s insistence on making me work helped mold me into a man: It was 6 am and while the rest of my friends were sleeping in, dreaming of two weeks filled with Nintendo, cookies, and hanging out, I was putting on every layer of clothes I could find. I was getting up and getting dressed against my will, forced to face a frigid environment with no bathrooms, no Christmas cookies, and hard, dirty labor. I didn’t like it one bit. But I was doing it because my father made me…
Continue ReadingWriting for Children Is Harder than It Seems
February 6, 2012Sally Lloyd Jones is one of my favorite children’s book authors, mainly because she wrote the Jesus Storybook Bible, which creatively tells the big stories of the Bible while pointing each to Jesus. I highly recommended it an review here and I had the opportunity to interview Sally here. Recently she shared a guest-post on Ed Stetzer’s blog where she wrote about the challenge of writing for children. I thought it was keen insight on what many think is an easy thing to do: People have approached me, holding up one of my children’s books, flicking through it backwards–awful for…
Continue Reading5 Ways You Can Help Your Church
February 2, 2012So, yes, your church is imperfect. After a few weeks there you have realized this, I hope. You’re pastor is either a bit boring or too over the top. You wish for a bit more depth in his messages or perhaps a bit more practical application. The music has too much drum or too much organ. The youth ministry needs more teaching or more pizza. And maybe you’ve read one of the rash of books telling us how the church has gotten it all wrong for all these years, why the youth are heading for the exists. So you’re convinced…
Continue ReadingDalrymple on Capitalism and the Poor
February 2, 2012I’ve often lamented the inability of conservatives and Republicans to articulate how capitalism is really the best system to help lift the poor out of poverty. Liberals rightly raise the issue of the poor, but their solutions seem to keep poor entrapped. Conservatives often rightly decry these programs but don’t often articulately explain why capitalism and free markets (combined with robust social institutions) are the best vehicle (in an imperfect, fallen world) to more permanently raise the poor from poverty. My friend Timothy Dalrymple is a rare exception. A gifted wordsmith, he’s an eloquent defender of capitalism. In an article…
Continue ReadingA Better Way to Discern
January 30, 2012I come from a very conservative theological background and I maintain many of those same convictions. But one thing that has changed in my heart over the years is my attitude toward people from different ministry contexts and denominations. I used to think that if their bullet points didn’t line up with mine, then I was right and they were wrong. I no longer think this way. That’s not to be confused with doctrinal slippage. I feel very strongly that doctrine is vital for the life of the church and that the attempts to weaken orthodoxy by some will hurt…
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