Trashing Politicians: The New Spectator Sport
September 14, 2011Politicians may be the most despised people on the planet today. It’s quite fashionable to trash them and it is socially acceptable. But is it right for a Christian? I get a ton of grief on Facebook when I ever defend someone with whom the majority of evangelicals disagree. For instance, even posting “Pray for the President” elicits angry comments from normally very nice Christian people. Or at times I’ve defended politicians over what I considered cheap shots. I’ve been called liberal, soft. Even a few friends have said, “Dan you’ve really become liberal.” What’s funny is that my personal…
Continue ReadingWhy Pastors Don’t Often “Speak Up”
September 13, 2011A few years go I had the opportunity to volunteer for a dear friend of mine who was running for Congress in the district in which I live. I was heavily involved–my job was to rally evangelical leaders to support the candidate, whose views lined up with evangelicals, especially on the social issues like abortion, marriage, etc. Among the things I did was to set up special prayer breakfasts, individual meetings with pastors, and to have my candidate visit churches on Sundays, arranging to have my candidate introduced publicly. We found that a candidate’s mere visit to a church, low-key with…
Continue ReadingWhy Christians Shouldn’t Be Jerks
September 12, 2011We’ve been studying the book of James on Sunday Mornings at Gages Lake. We just finished the third chapter on Sunday. The last section of this chapter gives a very specific definition of spiritual maturity. James tells us what it isn’t and what it is. I found it interesting that James was very specific in saying that someone who is always controversial, whose life is followed continually with strife–this is not a spiritual man. Now, of course, the gospel is inherently controversial. And even the most winsome Christians will encounter opposition at sometime in their lives. But a man or woman…
Continue ReadingFriday Five Interview: Scott Phelps
September 9, 2011Scott Phelps is a leading author of a critically acclaimed abstinence curriculum used around the country, including A.C Green’s Gameplan and Navigator. He is the founder and executive director of the Abstinence & Marriage Education Partnership. Scott has worked with youth in San Francisco and Chicago and each year speaks to thousands of teens around the country on the benefits of abstinence until marriage. He provides training seminars nationally to help educators and parents effectively communicate the message of abstinence to teens. I highly recommend his materials for use in schools, youth groups, and homes. Scott was kind enough to…
Continue ReadingThe Leadership Lessons of 9/11
September 8, 2011This week is a sober one as we look back on the tragedy of 9/11. I’m amazed at how many of the memories come flooding back as I read the article and watch some of the clips. I recently read through my copy of World Magazine, who did a fantastic job with some original reporting and retrospectives. 9/11 offered some powerful lessons in leadership. Most everyone, outside of the leftwing fever swamps, agrees that President Bush and Mayor Rudy Guliani were exemplary in their leadership after 9/11. You may not agree with all of their politics or perhaps decisions made…
Continue ReadingHow Should We Remember 9/11?
September 7, 2011I’ve been thinking, the last few days, about how we should commemorate 9/11. It was such a pivotal time in history, especially for my generation. I was twenty-three when the Towers fell. I remember it being the moment we no longer felt isolated and safe in America. All the bad news had always happened overseas. Our wars were fought across a big ocean. But on 9/11 the enemy pierced that bubble and attacked us at the heart of our financial district. I remember reading, over and over again, Psalm 46: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help…
Continue ReadingYankee Stadium after 9/11
September 7, 2011One of the most iconic moments in the days after 9/11 was when President Bush strode out to the mound at Yankee Stadium during the World Series and threw a perfect strike. I remember that moment like it was yesterday, the exuberance of the crowd, the sense of national unity. I have a picture in my office of President Bush throwing this first pitch. Here it is:
Continue ReadingMini-Reviews #4
September 6, 2011Here is another batch of reviews for books I’ve recently read. Not all are recently published. Some are a few years. Still, I think they are good and relevant today: Just As I Am by Billy Graham I’ve always wanted to read this book. I’m intrigued by the biographies of well-known evangelical leaders. A couple of months ago I was in our newly reorganized church library and saw this on the shelf. I pulled it down and began reading. What a treasure it was. I have always known Billy Graham as, well, Billy Graham, famous evangelist. The zenith of his…
Continue ReadingWhy We Work
September 5, 2011When I think of Labor Day, I think first of my father, a union plumber who has spent nearly every day of his adult life working with his hands. I’m a bit biased, but I happen to think he’s the best at what he does. Every job he does to near-perfection, not satisfied until he has done the best he can do. Over the years he’s developed a reputation as someone who want to hire if you need to do a major plumbing job at your home or business. The older I get, the more I appreciate Dad’s faithfulness in…
Continue ReadingTaming the Tongue
September 2, 2011We’re going through James at Gages Lake Bible Church in a series we’re calling Authentic Faith. Currently we’re in the middle of chapter three, which gives perhaps the most specific, biting description of the tongue in all of Scripture and perhaps all of literature. It begins with a warning, in James 3:1-2 about the importance for spiritual leaders to master their speech, that this is a key sign of spiritual maturity. But how? Well in the next ten verses, James offers us a three revealing insights about our speech. It’s interesting. We often look at these verses in James singularly, cherry-picking them…
Continue ReadingFriday Five: Vanessa Van Petten
September 2, 2011Vanessa Van Petten is one of the nation’s youngest experts, or ‘youthologists’ on parenting and adolescents. She now runs her popular parenting website, RadicalParenting.com, which she writes with 120 other teenage writers to answer questions from parents and adults. Her approach has been featured by CNN, Fox News, and Wall Street Journal. Her next book, Do I Get My Allowance Before or After I’m Grounded? is being released in September 2011 with Plume Books of Penguin USA. Vanessa was kind enough to stop by and chat for today’s Friday Five:
Continue ReadingBooks I’m Reading (8/30/2011)
August 30, 2011I’m always reading books. Here are some I’m working on right now: The Beginning and End of Wisdom – Preaching Christ from the First and Last Chapters of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. Douglas Sean O’Donnell Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me – Ian Morgan Cron Jonathan Edwards, A Life – George Marsden
Continue ReadingWhy Words Matter
August 29, 2011Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. James 3:1-2 (ESV) We may be the most talkative generation in history. I have no way of measuring that, really. But consider the ways we can communicate with words: text, Tweets, Facebook posts, Google Plus, email, blog, comments, cell phones. That’s not even counting this really old-fashioned way of…
Continue ReadingWhat a Pastor Says
August 24, 2011At Gages Lake Bible Church, we’re going through the book of James, in a series we’ve entitled, Authentic Faith. (You can listen/download the sermons here.) James is a section of Scripture that really makes you sit up and listen. And it’s written specifically to Christians in the church. There is no way to dance around it and maybe pass off James words as something not applicable to our culture or something we can ignore because it was written to the Israelites. We’re going to start chapter three on Sunday, which is a chapter that deals with the tongue. Now most…
Continue ReadingThe Ethics of a Church Protest Blog
August 22, 2011It’s become more and more popular: a group of disgruntled church members set up a website to “protest” the church leadership of a big and established congregation. In the last two years, there have been protest sites set up against prominent megachurches like Bellevue Baptist Church in Tennessee (Adrian Roger’s old church), Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (once pastored by the late Dr. James Kennedy and now pastored by Tullian Tchivigian), The Crystal Cathedral (Robert Schuler), and Covenant Life Church (Josh Harris/CJ. Mahaney). I’m sure there are other situations that I’m not aware of. My question is this. Is it biblically…
Continue ReadingFriday Five: Collin Hansen
August 19, 2011Today I’m pleased to chat with Collin Hansen, the editorial director of The Gospel Coalition. Prior to his work with TGC, Collin was a journalist with Christianity Today. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of Young, Restless, and Reformed and most recently co-author of a terrific history of revival, A God-Sized Vision. (See my review of that book here). Collin was kind enough to answer my questions about the a new gospel-centered movement, revival, and church history:
Continue ReadingWhy Hobbies are Better When They are Not Idols
August 18, 2011John Calvin famous said our hearts are great “idol-making factories.” A good, wholesome, beneficial pursuit can quickly become an idol. For me, I find that my pleasurable hobbies can often lead to idolatry. Sports is perhaps the biggest threat. I’m a big time fan of team sports. I love the NFL, the NBA, and Major League Baseball (when our Chicago teams are competitive.). Sports is a terrific way to enjoy leisure time, great way to occupy creative and emotional parts of our minds and to find common ground with others. But it can also become an obsessive pursuit. Let me…
Continue ReadingChristians, Fear, and the Truth about Muslims
August 16, 2011Since 9/11, the West has been skeptical and downright fearful of the Muslim faith. And rightfully so, given the attacks on 9/11 in the name of Islam. The American Church has, at times, led the skepticism, especially conservative evangelicals like myself. You don’t have to look far to see documentaries and books and other media that serve to warn us about the growing Muslim presence in the world. As a believer–how should a Christian respond to Islam? I’ve thought about this quite a bit in the last year. Should we cower in fear? Should we spread fear? What should we…
Continue ReadingWhy Campaigning is Easy, but Governing is Hard
August 15, 2011I’ve been watching, with interest, the emerging campaign for Presidency of the United States. I gave up involvement in politics a few years ago to devote full-time attention to ministry, but I am still keenly interested. I watched clips of the GOP Presidential debate last Thursday night. I’ve always enjoyed the debates and give the candidates credit. We give our candidates grief, joking about politicians, etc. But consider what an act of courage it is to stand up on a stage and subject yourself to the public grilling. In a sense, campaigning for President is difficult–giving up two years of…
Continue ReadingFriday Five: Michael Hyatt
August 12, 2011Today it’s a privilege to welcome Michael Hyatt to the Friday Five. Michael Hyatt is Chairman of Thomas Nelson, the seventh largest trade book publishing company in the world. A respected leader in the Christian publishing community, he is a sought-after speaker on the topics of leadership, time management, and the integration of faith and technology. He has served as a literary agent, CEO, and business owner. His blog, Intentional Leadership, is one of the most highly trafficked blogs on the Internet. Today Mike answers my questions about the future of Christian publishing, the essentials of good leadership, and his use…
Continue Reading