After some thought and research, I've realized that Wordpress is the best place to continue forward with this blog. It has more features and a cleaner layout, and also makes it easier to actually write, which was the whole reason I started blogging in the first place. Everything from this blog has been imported onto that blog, and is pretty much the same with a better look and better features. Please keep on visiting!
Monday, July 21, 2008
This Site has Moved
After some thought and research, I've realized that Wordpress is the best place to continue forward with this blog. It has more features and a cleaner layout, and also makes it easier to actually write, which was the whole reason I started blogging in the first place. Everything from this blog has been imported onto that blog, and is pretty much the same with a better look and better features. Please keep on visiting!
Time for a Switch?
Any bloggers out there have preferences of one vs. the other?
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Considering Seminary?
Who am I? That's a silly question to be asking! But I'm writing the preface to my book on discipleship so the topic has come up, at least in my own mind. Am I a conservative or a liberal, right-wing or left? Though my theology is conservative, I've learned much from my brothers and sisters on both ends of the evangelical spectrum. Some of my friends think only about Israel, others only about Palestine. Some complain about the 3,000 unborn who are killed every day in America, while others focus almost exclusively on the 30,000 children who die of starvation every day in the world. I see no need reason to establish boundaries of love. If we mourn the loss of 4,000 U.S. service personnel in Iraq (as we should), we must also mourn with the same outrage and passion the life of every innocent Iraqi civilian who was lost. Some evangelicals believe that right-wing politics hangs the moon; others support the liberal left. I pledge my allegiance to neither. Folks, I just want to be a Christian -- a simple, radical, marginal, downwardly-mobile follower of Jesus. There's nothing unique or spectacular about being a Jesus-follower. You just remember that God's love is borderless. You just declare the Good News to the poor, as He taught us to do. And it all happens through relationships, not programs or organizations. And here's something strange: I am learning to fall in love with people and not just ideas. And I love ideas! Crazy people like Jim Elliott are finally beginning to make sense to me. I'm learning how to reprioritize my values and resources. Just think -- the average American consumes as much as 520 Ethiopians do. Can we do anything about it? You bet! Because of our website Becky and I receive gifts for reading glasses and protein bars and pre-natal vitamins Bibles and meeting houses and evangelists' salaries and equipment to show the Jesus Film with and food to feed hungry prisoners and on and on the list goes. No fancy organization, no 501 c(3), no overhead, no bureaucracy, no HQ. Just Jesus-people connecting with Jesus-people.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Mark Driscoll on the nature of a church
"The local church is a community of confessing believers in Jesus Christ who obey Scripture by organizing under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, and scatter to evangelize and care for people everywhere. They observe the Biblical sacraments of baptism and
communion, are unified by the Spirit for mission in the world, and discipled to live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission to the glory of God."
By the way, the Mars Hill podcast now has a great message about preaching from Mark Driscoll, and when I can find the link I will post it here.
What's Wrong with Preaching Today? (A.N. Martin)
Monday, July 14, 2008
A New Direction
This blog is heading into a revised direction. Our subject material is expanding from biblical theology to include church planting, and the necessary ingredient that unites the two– gospel proclamation. To be clear, the intention here concerns a limited audience. I realize that the review posts are long and probably unfit for the blog genre. What I hope to see happen is
conversation between men who are passionate about these subjects (even if its just Bryan and me). I want to learn more about them, see them working together… to gain deeper knowledge theologically, and proactive wisdom that puts feet to doctrine.The conviction is drawn straight from the Scriptures. When I think about Luke-Acts, the two themes that come to mind are Jesus’ hermeneutics and the rise of the church. Biblical theology and church planting are so intimately connected in the Word that I don’t want to conceive of one without the other.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Avoiding Extremes when Preaching
For example, while preaching yesterday in Acts 1 about keeping the main thing the main thing, I discussed that in vv. 7-8 Jesus points out to the disciples that they are not to know about the end times but instead called to be His witnesses. Trying to make the point that the church often gets sidetracked by non-essential issues, I took a few minutes to discuss some of the theological labels that we sometimes give to ourselves to identify who we are in Christ, when really it should be Christ who defines us.
I made a comment that I would take back now when discussing titles like, "Arminian," "reformed," "pre-trib," "post-mil," etc. I said, "if you don't know what those titles mean, God bless you." Thinking back on it, that was really stupid. I went to the extreme there to try and make a point. I think it's a good thing to know what those titles mean since being theologically literate is never a bad thing. It's only a bad thing when it becomes more important to us than Jesus and impedes our mission for Him (as seen in Acts 1:8).
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Oregon is always doing it differently
Back in 2005, Oregon coaches enlisted students to design custom comic books for the Ducks' top 20 recruiting targets. Each comic portrayed the recruit as a hero who leads the Ducks to a national title. Oregon sent each prospect one page per week during the recruiting period. Here is the entire comic made for running back Jonathan Stewart, one of the nation's top recruits at the time.
Here's a few pictures - what a unique way of recruiting:
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Men Rejecting Passivity & Accepting Responsibility
"She was screaming, "He can't breathe, he can't breathe,"' Gonzalez said by phone from California, where he lives in the offseason. "The whole restaurant was quiet. Nobody was doing anything."Colin Cowherd made a comment today that this quote by Gonzalez gives a picture of the current state of manhood in America. Fifty years ago there would have been men fighting one another to help. Now, there is a room full of passivity. What has happened to our society that we will watch another person die without feeling any responsibility to help?
As Robert Lewis, founder of Men's Fraternity writes, a real man rejects passivity and accepts responsibility. Thank goodness Tony Gonzalez did that last night.