I have admit that I am somewhat of a closet comic book fan and I’ve always wondered what it would take to be a real life Batman (not that I’m suited for the job). I know this post is a little out of category but you’ve got to admit this is pretty interesting… Here’s another article you might want to check out.
Just wanted to let you know that I’m still here…. I told myself when I initially started this blog that I would not let it get in the way of school and ministry and I’ve been quite busy more so with school. I should be back to posting on a regular schedule in the near future. It could be up to three weeks though. Thanks for checking back!
Most of you have already heard of the tragic event that happened at FBC Maryville. Please continue to pray for the Winters family…
(HT: Chris Brauns)
9Marks has posted there March/April 2009 e-journal also available in a pdf formt. This edition is centered on practical advice for the young pastor. Below is the Editor’s Note and the table of contents.
“Clear vision but little depth perception.” That’s how I’ve heard Mark Dever characterize young pastors.
Young pastors see their doctrine with utter clarity. They know exactly what a church should look like. But they don’t know how to assess what’s important, what’s really important, and what can be overlooked. Their gauges haven’t developed.
Probably, the best solution for this is plain old experience. Yet a little battle wisdom from older men can’t hurt, either. So we turned to several pastors who have walked a few miles down ministry’s road, asking them to pass on a morsel or two of counsel.
Bob Johnson and Ken Swetland talk about getting started. Matt Schmucker, Mark Dever, and Phillip Jensen offer their thoughts on making changes. Philip Ryken and Robert Norris help us persevere to the end. And a couple of younger guys, like Aaron, Greg, and me, throw in our two cents.
One word of caution about an eJournal full of practical advice: Wisdom can be found in principles of the sort you’ll find here. But wisdom always begins with a posture of heart—a heart the trusts and fears the Lord. Only this heart finds the wisdom to know which principles apply when: “Is now the time not to answer the fool according to his folly (Prov. 26:4)? Or is now the time to answer him according to his folly (Prov. 26:5)?”
Only the Lord will make your paths straight.
That means that we cannot tell you exactly how to pastor your church, unless the matter is plainly Scriptural. You’re God’s man for that job. So take what’s offered here. Consider how it might apply in your context. But above all else, guard your heart, that it would fear only him.
We’re praying for your pastoral work, reader. Pray, too, for us.
YOUNG PASTORS: WHERE DO YOU BEGIN?
A Pastor’s Priorities For Day One
So you’re a brand new pastor. What do you do when you show up at the office on Monday?
By Bob Johnson
The Goals and Benefits of an Installation Service
More than a formality, an installation service gives you a chance to set the tone for your pastorate and begin the work of shepherding.
By Aaron Menikoff
YOUNG PASTORS: WHAT DID YOU INHERIT?
8 Steps for Dealing with Difficult Leaders
What do you do when influential members of your church are—shall we say—less than helpful?
By Ken Swetland
Dealing with Bad Documents
You’re the pastor now, but the church constitution is clunky and the statement of faith is almost heretical. What do you do?
By Greg Gilbert
YOUNG PASTORS: HOW DO YOU LEAD CHANGE?
Is This a Hill Worth Dying On?
Some pastors make every dispute a hill to die on; others wouldn’t fight to save their grandmother’s life. Schmucker offers some guidance.
By Matt Schmucker
What I CAN and CANNOT Live With as a Pastor
What issues are worth fighting—or leaving—over? Are there any criteria?
By Mark Dever
Love the Church More than its Health
Pastors need to love the people in their church more than their dream of a healthy church.
By Jonathan Leeman
Should Pastors Change Anything in the First Year?
An old maxim says, “If you don’t change something in the first year you never will; and whatever you change in the first year will be a mistake.” Is that right?
By Phillip Jensen
One from the Vault: Mark Dever’s classic article from 2000, How to Change Your Church
YOUNG PASTORS: HOW TO PERSEVERE!
WWJD—What Would Jim Do?
James Montgomery Boice’s successor shares a few lessons he learned from watching a master.
By Philip Graham Ryken
Shepherding and Trust
A church doesn’t learn to trust its pastors overnight; he better be in it for the long haul.
By Robert Norris
A Pastor For Now
Why Mark loves the pastorate, but will be happy to proceed to what’s next.
By Mark Dever
MISCELLANEOUS BOOK REVIEWS
Book Review: Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace, by Harvie M. Conn
Reviewed by Greg Gilbert
Book Review: Jesus the Evangelist, by Richard D. Phillips
Reviewed by Byron Straughn
Book Review: The Heart of Evangelism, by Jerram Barrs
Reviewed by Geoff Chang
Book Review: Vibrant Church, by Thom S. Rainer & Daniel L. Akin
Reviewed by Jonathan Leeman
Book Review: Simple Church, by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger
Reviewed by Graham Shearer
AUDIO—LEADERSHIP INTERVIEWS
On Books with D.A. Carson
Posted on February 25th, 2008
Mark Dever asks D.A. Carson for a tour of how he writes and what he’s written.
Christian Discipleship and Growth with Donald Whitney
Posted on January 25th, 2008
Don Whitney discusses busyness, praying through Scripture, the disciplines, mysticism, and more.
Thabiti Anyabwhile gives seven reasons why the hype and attention over TIME magazine’s listing of the New Calvinism may not be a good thing. In this list he includes the potential for christian celebrity(ism) and making biblical truth a fad. Anyabwile brings up some serious concerns. I’ve listed one of the seven below. Read his whole post here.
3. The media attention forces some superficial attempts at self-definition, and the inevitable result are “camps” of Reformed types. Add a little carnality, and then you’ll hear folks saying they’re of Paul, or Appolos, or Peter, or Dever, or C.J., or MacArthur, or Driscoll, or the really, really Reformed, etc when those men weren’t even looking for groupies. We need a strong confessional center with the charity that celebrates secondary and tertiary distinctives. Which is why I am so encouraged by this group and the work of these friends and this growing fellowship.
I had mixed emotions about this Christian satire. One, the dude used a name close to my last name and had to use one of the great church fathers in Christian history. Two, I started to have flash backs of my time at Liberty University (I won’t go any further than that…). While watching this video I found the message to be uncomfortably true and an accurate reflection of what is going on in some of our churches today.
What!? Never would I have thought of Calvinism being on the same list as “Survival Stores” yet TIME Magazines cover story puts the “New Calvinism” as being one of the 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now. David Van Biema’s article is short but overall is a fair and pretty accurate analysis of the movement. Some figures he has mentioned are: Mark Driscoll, Al Mohler, John Piper. He even mentions the ESV Study Bible and Justin Taylor’s Between Two Worlds blog. Although I don’t think that the “New Calvinism” should be on the list it is still pretty cool that it’s on there. The new calvinism may be on the rise but it is hardly changing the face of evangelicalism much less the world.
(HT: JT)
Apologetics 315 has pointed out a sweet resource on critical thinking. A discipline many of us such as myself would do well to sharpen in light of today’s many worldviews. This site has over 100 different tutorials such as recognizing falacies, exploring logic, and analyzing arguments to name a few. There are also pdfs available such as this mini critical thinking guide and to top it off it is all FREE!
I’m looking forward to this documentary. Be sure to check out the official site. I have posted some “Abortion Conversation” videos below. In these videos Stephen Wagner, a bio-ethics speaker and a pro-life advocate interviews and interacts with students at Arizona State University on the topic of abortion. For more on Stephen Wagner click here and here. He also has his own blog as well.
What is the Unborn?
The Right to Choose
In the second part of 059 of the Boundless Podcast Dr. Al Mohler discusses the topic of social media. It starts on 24:48 and ends around 45:30.
(HT: JT)
David Wilkerson, founder of World Challenge has prophesied of a catastrophic event soon to come. I first read about Wilkerson’s prediction at World Net Daily. As believers we are called to test any so called prophecies. Piper conludes…
So my take on this prophetic word is that the scare will probably do good for a lot of people. The Bible is a scary book. And the future that is coming on unbelievers is scary beyond anything any preacher could conjure up.
But my own effort to be discerning says: Stick with the Bible, David. It is scary enough. And it is absolutely true. And your credibility will never fall.
This just blows my mind. Okay, to give you a head start the picture below is one million dollars which I would never come close to making in a lifetime. Click here to find out what $1 Trillion Dollars.
(HT: Josh Harris)
(HT: Christians in Context)
I wish I could afford to go to this conference. Here are the list of speakers.
World Net Daily reports:
Ray Comfort, author of the new book, “You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can’t Make Him Think,” is challenging celebrity atheist Richard Dawkins to a debate – and sweetening the offer by offering him $10,000, win, lose or draw.
(HT: Ray Comfort)
Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, TX gives his thoughts on going to seminary.
I have been asked recently about what my thoughts are concerning seminary and why I never finished. I have found this to be a very polarizing subject where people put me in the camp of those who think that seminary is unnecessary or put me into the other camp that thinks scholarship isn’t important for the pastorate. The truth is I think most men need to go to seminary and scholarship is extremely important. I want to address it as a Pastor, though, and talk to Pastors about seminary. If you are looking to become a professor or scholar these thoughts wouldn’t apply to you.
(HT: Purgatorio)
Deductive Logic, by George William Joseph Stock by Lit2Go on iTunes
(the ebook can be found here)
Basic Sentential Logic and Informal Fallacies
Audio with PDFs. by Rick Grush, UCSD – podcast on iTunes
LOGIC MP3 Audio by John Robbins
1. Introduction to Logic
2. Definition of Terms
3. Logic and Theology: The Westminster Confession
4. Informal Fallacies, Part 1
5. Informal Fallacies, Part 2
6. Logic and Theology: Christ’s Use of Logic
7. Definitions
8. Formal Logic
9. Logic and Theology: Paul’s Use of Logic
10. Categorical Forms
11. Immediate Inference, Validity, Euler Circles
12. Logic and Theology: Empirical Apologetics
13. Homework Review
14. The Syllogism
15. Logic and Theology: Why Science Is Always False
16. Homework Review
17. Conclusion
18. Logic and Theology: Vantillian Apologetics
Bradley Cochran has started posting a podcast series on academics and the local church with Gerald Hiestand. An timely and relevant discussion that many training in/for the ministry (like myself) would benefit from. Click here to listen to the first part.
Is the academic theology of the seminary classroom insufficient for the daily pastoral grind? In this podcast, Gerald Hiestand, the President of the Society for the Advancement of Ecclesial Theology, talks about his vision for this newly founded society and how the Pastor-Scholar model helps meet a desperate need in the local church.
Here are six “non-sexual” ways to show love and care for your wife:
1. Touch her arm or knee when you talk with her. Your gentle touch communicates, “I’m here. You’re not alone. I enjoy you. I’ll take care of you.”
2. Make an effort to spend time alone together – go out for dinner, for a walk, or out for coffee. Show her (and others) that you enjoy the intimacy of being alone with her.
3. Grab her hand and hold it when you’re out in public.
4. Give her a kiss and a hug when you leave and return home.
5. Don’t see every complaint as an attack. Women think as long as they feel the marriage is working, they can talk about it. On the other hand, most men feel the relationship isn’t working if they have to talk about it. Allow her to express what’s on her mind.
6. Recognize her strong emotions as exclamation marks. When she is upset, angry, or frustrated, realize that these emotions are her way of letting you know how much the issue at hand matters to her.
(HT: titus2talk)
You can download each talk by clicking on the Desiring God link.
A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep
“I Will Not Be a Velvet-Mouthed Preacher!”
Valentines Day is soon approaching and I am curious to know what kind of “love themed” songs you enjoy or would recommend. I’m hoping to add some songs to my romantic arsenal or lack thereof. Seriously though…I’d really like to know some of the songs that you used to love or are currently listening to. I think others like myself could use the help.
I personally love some of the old school R&B from back in the day (i.e. Motown). I loved R&B so much that I would used to listen to it constantly when I was single but then again I’m strange like that. Drop me a comment 
Funny how Dr. Mohler puts up a post on social networking right after I delete my Facebook account. Yesterday was the fifth year anniversary of Facebook. If my memory serves me correctly I jumped in the Facebook community just after its one year mark. Dr. Mohler gives some counsel on the online community experience. Number 1 is especially important as Christians in the church.
Here are a few suggestions for safeguarding the social networking experience:
1. Never allow social networking to replace or rival personal contact and communication. God made us to be social creatures that crave community. We cannot permit ourselves to substitute social networking for the harder work of building and maintaining personal relationships that are face to face.
2. Set clear parameters for the time devoted to social networking. These services can be seductive and time consuming. Social networking (and the Internet in general) can become obsessive and destructive of other relationships and higher priorities for the Christian.
3. Never write or post anything on a social networking site that you would not want the world to see, or anything that would compromise your Christian witness. There are plenty of young people (perhaps older persons now, too) who are ruining future job prospects and opportunities by social networking misbehavior. The cost to Christian witness is often far greater.
4. Never allow children and teenagers to have independent social networking access (or Internet access, for that matter). Parents should monitor, manage, supervise, and control the Internet access of their children and teens. Watch what your child posts and what their friends post.
5. Do not allow children and teens to accept any “friend” unknown to you. The social networking world can be a dangerous place, and parental protection here is vital.
6. Encourage older friends and relatives to sign up and use the technology. Grandparents can enjoy keeping up with grandchildren and with friends and loved ones separated by distance or mobility.
7. Use the social networking technology to bear witness to the Gospel, but never think that this can replace the centrality of face-to-face evangelism, witness, and discipleship.
8. Do all things to the glory of God, and do not allow social networking to become an idol or a display of narcissism.
The fifth anniversary of Facebook is a milestone in American culture — and a good time for a reality check. We were made by our Creator to be social creatures, but made for far more than mere social media.
Guy Davies over at Exiled Preacher recently interviewed Tony Reinke on blogging. Many of you may know him as C.J. Mahaney’s right hand man. Below is an excerpt from the interview. The last part of this particular question has an insightful confession by Mr. Reinke. He blogs to learn!
GD: What are the strengths and weaknesses of blogging as a medium for theological reflection?
TR: For theological reflection, blogging can prove too restrictive. I hate to say it but good theological writing takes much time to develop, often much more time than the rapid blog cycle allows. I think for blogs to provide an adequate place for theological reflection, a blogger needs to pace himself or to team-blog with like minded friends. The impulse is to post too quickly, which can bring along weaknesses of too little reflection, and breed loose and misdirected conversations.
However, if a blogger can zoom in on bite-sized topics I think blogging is very useful, uniting communities of people that may be joined by a very narrow interest.
What I love about blogging is the accountability. If you post errors, or (in my case) when you post errors, others are quick to ask for clarity, challenge you, or just slap your arguments silly. Having an error pointed out to a large audience is a humbling experience (I know the feeling well) but this experience also is a means of grace, growing the blogger in humility and training him to research and write more carefully. Augustine said he wrote to learn. I blog to learn.
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