4 Books from Piper’s Writing Leave

John Piper writes about four upcoming books from his writing leave:

Thank you for praying for me on my four week writing leave. It’s over today. It was more productive than I thought it would be. Hence my heartfelt thanks. Four projects were more or less completed.

This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence – A book on marriage that exults mainly in its meaning not its emotion. But I do hope it helps people keep their covenant and be happier and make much of Christ. There is no marriage in the resurrection, hence “This Momentary Marriage.” And marriage mainly means: Christ keeps covenant with his church, hence “The Parable of Permanence.”

Finally Alive: What Happens When We are Born Again – A book about the miracle of sovereign, regenerating grace, and how God makes the gospel of Christ the means of raising the spiritually dead. I hope that showing that the new birth is not in our control helps make pastors and other Christians desperate for the supernatural in their ministries.

Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing Christ to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, John Paton, and Adoniram Judson. (This will be the 5th book in the Swans Are Not Silent series.) I was sobered again by the price of proclaiming Christ to the nations. To finish what Christ has given us to do will require martyrdom. There are about 3,000 peoples where the church is not self-sustainingly planted. Most of these do not want us to come. Since even so-called evangelicals today have lost their nerve, it will be a work of white hot allegiance to Jesus, not public opinion, that listens to love and takes the gospel where it is not wanted.

Velvet Steel: The Joy of Being Married to You, a little gift book to supplement the marriage book. This Momentary Marriage is hard on romance and high on covenant-keeping. So to dispel the notion that I might not believe in romance, and to awaken affections in no-nonsense spouses, I thought I should perhaps publish some overflow from forty years of love poems. We’ll see.

Those were the main outcomes of the leave. So thanks again for your prayers. I am very eager to be back behind the pastoral plow this weekend.

Please Be in Prayer for the Chapman Family

Tennessean:

Steven Curtis Chapman’s youngest child died Wednesday evening after being struck by a car driven by her teenage brother in the driveway of the family’s Williamson County home.

Maria, one of the Christian singer’s six children, was taken by LifeFlight to Vanderbilt Hospital, which confirmed the death, according to Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The 5-year-old was hit by an SUV driven by her teenage brother, she said. Police did not give the driver’s name.

The teen was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser down the driveway of the rural home at about 5:30 p.m. and several children were playing in the area, McPherson said. He did not see Maria in the driveway before the vehicle struck her, she said.

“It appears to be a terrible accident,’’ McPherson said.

 

The Chapman’s founded the Shaohannah’s Hope in 2000.  Below is there mission statement:

To care for orphans by engaging the church and helping Christian families reduce the financial barrier to adoption.

We are dedicated to helping prospective adoptive parents overcome the financial barriers associated with adoption. We accomplish this by awarding financial grants to qualified families already in the process of adopting. The size of the grant awarded is determined by several factors, the most important being need.

To donate to Shaohanah’s Hope click here.  There is also a site in memory of Maria.  Click here to be directed.

 

Warnock and Piper (Part 4)

Piper on preachers he listens to, how he became pastor, and the stability of church ministry.