Riffing On Me: Jared Wilson’s “The Hard Stuff of Real Lives.”

compguy.jpegI don’t usually link people who riff on my work, but I have tremendous respect for Jared at Gospel Driven Church, and his use of one of my better pieces “To Know We’re Not Alone,” is a real honor. Take a moment and read “The Hard Stuff of Real Lives.”

I want you to read Jared and consider what he’s saying and what we are saying together. There’s a real battle going on here, and it’s not a battle about calling people out and making fun of your adversaries. It’s about whether you can sit in front of a real person and HEAR THEIR LIFE SPEAKING TO YOU.Continue reading “Riffing On Me: Jared Wilson’s “The Hard Stuff of Real Lives.””

The Eugene Peterson Book That Turned My World Upside Down

epeterson.jpgI’d read Eugene Peterson for a while in his IVP Old Testament books when I purchased and read a book on pastoral ministry called Working the Angles. Wow.

No book in my library is more underlined. This is what I needed to hear in seminary. It’s what I needed to hear from older men in my denomination. If you are like me as a young minister with dreams of success, this is the cold cup of water that will wake you up.

Working the Angles is still in print, but you won’t find it recommended by many of the pastors you hear at conferences. Here’s why:Continue reading “The Eugene Peterson Book That Turned My World Upside Down”

iMonk 101: A Parable for our Church-Growth, Seeker-Sensitive Friends

clown1.jpgiMonk 101 reruns posts from the IM archives.

This is the first “parable” post I ever did at IM. (I actually wrote it back when I was on michaelspencer.us.) “A Parable for Our Church-Growth, Seeker-Sensitive Friends.”

This kind of story illustrates what happens to us when “boredom” becomes the big problem, and we take the pragmatic road to solve the problem.

Perhaps, combined with some of my other recent posts, this parable can provoke some discussion among evangelicals who are interested in taking a second look at the methods that so many are taking for granted.

Use this at your next staff meeting. Blame me if you need to.

Read: A Parable for Our Church-Growth, Seeker-Sensitive Friends.

Christmas Program Resources for Your Church

My wife Denise is an excellent dramatic writer, and every year she creates wonderful Christmas programs that any church could use to put together something really classy. She’s posted a free creative ministries Christmas program, since now is the time some of you may be in the market for a similar program. It’s a grouping of several dramatic monologues around a common theme, with suggestions for music that can be done by an adult choir, children’s choir, solos, or any other option or combination.

Stop in at her web site and help yourself.

Riffs: 08:20:07: The White Horse Inn on Dying With Unconfessed Sin

logo1.gifThe August 19th edition of the White Horse Inn contains a large segment of interviews asking people at a Christian conference what happens to a person if they died with unconfessed sin.

Whatever you do, get this podcast/mp3, listen to it and keep it around. The answers may or may not shock you, depending on your experience with and perception of evangelicalism. In my experience, this is how the majority of the evangelicals that I know think of salvation, right down to the overt appeals to good works. When Rod says that 75% of Lutherans turned out to be functioning Roman Catholics on soteriology, I find myself wondering if the numbers would be any different among my Southern Baptist friends.

logo-wi.gifA few years ago I was showing an R.C. Sproul series on justification, and one man who had been studying the Bible with me for about 5 years got so angry he stormed out. Why? A standard explanation of the reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone. This brother- a fine Christian man with a real servant’s heart- was determined that repentance and good works were necessary to be declared right with God. When R.C. set down that we are justified by grace alone, with repentance and confession in vital, but non-saving relation to that declaration, he couldn’t deal with it. Where was our part? Where was what we did to keep salvation? Where were the works we did- like confession and repentance- that God would look at and say we were “worthy” to be Christians? (I hear that prayer all the time.)Continue reading “Riffs: 08:20:07: The White Horse Inn on Dying With Unconfessed Sin”

Can You Give a TULIP to the Hurting?

phl192white-tulip-posters.jpgI love the word “juxtaposition.” If you don’t know it, it means the placing of two things side by side. Often, the connotation refers to two things that are not usually put in proximity to one another.

Because of the way I live my life, I seem to have many experiences of unusual juxtapositioning. I am, by nature, an eclectic person who often finds myself partaking of several different worlds. This has its advantages, but it also creates certain dilemmas.

For example, this Thursday was the day our school formally opened the new school year. The first thing we do together is have a worship service for all our 150 staff members, and in that meeting we remind ourselves of our calling and mission to the students who will come to us in the next few days.

In our mission to students, we consciously take many students who have suffered from losses and abuse, dysfunctional and incompetent parents (and other adults) as well as students who have made poor choices. All need an opportunity to begin again, and as Christ’s ambassadors and God’s Kingdom people, we offer mercy and compassion to these students.Continue reading “Can You Give a TULIP to the Hurting?”

What Is The Prosperity Gospel?

prosperity0909.jpgI’ve mentioned the “Prosperity Gospel” in some presentations recently, and I’ve had some questions about what I mean when I use the term. I’m going to outline some very basic responses- and have a little to say about them- so that I can refer others to them as a more complete answer than I can give in a cafeteria line.

I believe it is critical that every pastor take this subject on directly, and that we speak clearly about it. The prosperity message is not the Biblical gospel and is a distorted, spiritually dangerous muddle at the very least, and a damning spiritual cyanide at the worst. This is an error that is consuming millions of evangelicals around the world as it is propagated by way of TBN and so forth. Clarity and Biblical faithfulness are important at this moment.

[As is true so often, John Piper is to the point and on target with what’s wrong with the Prosperity message.]

What is the Prosperity Gospel?Continue reading “What Is The Prosperity Gospel?”

Recommendation: Can We Trust The Gospels? by Mark D. Roberts

9781581348668.jpgThis recommendation will be short for three reasons: 1) Mark Roberts is a fantastic pastor/apologist/scholar, and if you don’t already know that, what blogosphere are you living in? 2) Much of this book has already appeared on Roberts’ outstanding web site. 3) If you need this book to answer your questions, someone is probably going to give it to you soon, so pretend to be a curious unbeliever and you might see one appear inexplicably.

Can We Trust The Gospels? is worth your money because it handles a difficult and controversial subject in a cogent, interesting and persuasive manner. Roberts is a Harvard Ph.d, but he’s not hung up on showing you how much he knows. As in all his writing, he’s focused on helpful communication for people asking the questions that matter.Continue reading “Recommendation: Can We Trust The Gospels? by Mark D. Roberts”