Chaplainmike

Look Ma! I Can Wear This Caricature, Too!

Tim Challies recently reprinted an extended quote from Kevin DeYoung’s writing on the emerging/emergent church. I won’t reprint it here, but if the rest of the post is going to make any sense to you, go read it all. When I first read this, it tipped my already leaning inclination to be highly annoyed atContinue reading “Look Ma! I Can Wear This Caricature, Too!”

Internet Monk Radio Podcast #150

This week: Answers to suffering. Do pastors get a break? Discipleship and the Gospel Support the IM sponsors: New Reformation Press. New teaching available. Emmaus Retreat Center. A great place for your next group or individual retreat. E3 Sudan is church planting and training pastors in the Sudan. Marin Foundation Yellow Mountain Imports (code: InternetMonk)Continue reading “Internet Monk Radio Podcast #150”

Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: Gospel Texts Turned Bad (+ My SBE Guest Room Post)

Today’s iMonk Cafe open mic question may pertain more to preachers, but also to those who read sermons, hear them, read blogs, books, etc. Anyone who hears the Word handled. Have you ever heard a text that was meant to proclaim the Gospel- the good news of what GOD has done- turned into LAW? WhatContinue reading “Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: Gospel Texts Turned Bad (+ My SBE Guest Room Post)”

Three items of Interest to IM Readers

1) Many of you have, like me, found Andrew Marin’s ministry to be extremely helpful on the issue of building bridges between evangelicals and the GLBT community. Having met Andrew personally and watched him communicate with seminar audiences, I can only say that we should all do whatever we can to extend the ministry ofContinue reading “Three items of Interest to IM Readers”

The Law/Gospel Rant

NOTE: Despite the fact that this post is law, you should still read it 🙂 I want to talk about a specific problem in preaching and teaching: the problem of preferring law over Gospel. I consider the primary problem with preaching and teaching in my Southern Baptist tradition these days to be an obsession withContinue reading “The Law/Gospel Rant”

Higher Things: A New Model of Youth Ministry/An Interview with Pr. Bill Cwirla

UPDATE: Pr. Cwirla has a follow-up post on worship at Higher Things. I recently became aware of a youth ministry movement in the Lutheran Church: Missouri Synod called “Higher Things.” I was intrigued on several counts. HT takes the best of the Lutheran tradition and makes it the substance of student conferences. Rather than hearContinue reading “Higher Things: A New Model of Youth Ministry/An Interview with Pr. Bill Cwirla”

Is There A Place To Repent? (Or Must I Make This Journey Alone?)

6: 9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—noneContinue reading “Is There A Place To Repent? (Or Must I Make This Journey Alone?)”

Riffs 07:24:09: Checking the Pulse of the Post-Evangelical Conversation in Three Manifestos

I’m going to comment on three documents, and I don’t want to reproduce them here. All are available online. One is “A Post-Evangelical Manifesto” and can be found at Next Wave Magazine’s web site. It is written by Raffi Shahinian. Another is “The Jesus Manifesto” written by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola. It can beContinue reading “Riffs 07:24:09: Checking the Pulse of the Post-Evangelical Conversation in Three Manifestos”

Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: High Ecclesiology/Low Church Planting?

I put forward the following DESCRIPTIVE and DIAGNOSTIC proposition, not to get up in someone’s face or assert superiority, but to understand things that are: “It appears that the HIGHER the view of the church, the clergy and the administration of the sacraments (not the sacraments themselves, but the ADMINISTRATION of them), the LOWER theContinue reading “Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: High Ecclesiology/Low Church Planting?”

iMonk 101: Just Beyond The 100th Time (What Many Of Us Are Looking For)

I wrote this piece in December of last year, and it remains one of my favorite statements of why so many leave and what they are looking for on their journey. I know that for some of you right now, affirming the church is important, but you need to grow to see that every churchContinue reading “iMonk 101: Just Beyond The 100th Time (What Many Of Us Are Looking For)”