It Ought To Be A Parable. It’s That Good.

chada.jpgUPDATE: Here’s My Review of End of the Spear”

Chad Allen is a homosexual activist, and an actor playing a martyred missionary and his son. Some people can’t stand it. Sounds like the outrage of the Gospel to me.

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice… Philippians 1:15-18Continue reading “It Ought To Be A Parable. It’s That Good.”

What’s Wrong With The Sermon?: It’s Too Long

sleeperchurch.jpgA new Internet Monk series examining the basics of good preaching by listening to common criticisms.

I’ve been preaching for…well…longer than a lot of you have been on earth. Thirty-four years ago next month I preached my first sermon, and I’ve been at it ever since. I currently preach sixteen times a month, and I love it. I figured out a long time ago that preaching was probably the one thing I do competently enough that God keeps me around.

I also listen to a lot of preaching. Part of that is a consequence of my vocation as chaplain at a Christian school with daily chapel and lots of visiting groups. Some of it is simply my own interest in preaching. I listen to everyone from Osteen to Piper to Keller to Driscoll regularly. I try to pay attention to good communicators in the pulpit from various traditions.Continue reading “What’s Wrong With The Sermon?: It’s Too Long”

McCoy’s Open Letter To Seminarians

stevem.jpgReaders of the Boar’s Head Tavern or SBC blogs are aware that the SBC’s International Mission Board has recently decided to draw several inexplicable, extrabiblical, lines in the sand:

-Banning anyone who ever spoke in tongues from serving as a missionary.
-Making baptism in an SBC church the only recognizable form of baptism for missionary candidates.
-Attempting to remove Wade Burleson as a trustee for the crime of blogging his opinion of these actions.

I have recently blogged about the future of the SBC. I believe that the convention’s younger leaders are its only hope. The current conservative leadership is pursuing a kind of “spiritually cleansed,” elitist vision of the SBC that returns to issues- like landmarkism- the SBC had left behind almost a century ago. The common sense of men like Tom Ascol is being ignored, and the standard wise men of the new leadership are strangely silent.

SBC pastor and blogger Steve McCoy is one of the most eloquent voices among these younger leaders. Read his open letter to Southern Baptist seminarians. Read it and pass it on. McCoy is dead on target: legalism and the quelling of dissent to enforce a too-narrow vision of the denomination is a crisis that must be named and responded to.

Steve McCoy’s Letter To SBC Seminarians.

Walls That Won’t Fall: Basics For the Local Church

watford_church.jpgIn April of last year, a well known Reformed Baptist-apologist-debater-cruise promoter announced to the world that I was “emergent.” The word was often repeated about me and the Boar’s Head Tavern fellows in general. Rumors must spread fast, because a few weeks ago an emailer in New Zealand quite familiar with the emergent church movement said that my name was frequently mentioned as a promoter of “emergent” Christianity.

Huh?

I find this fascinating for a number of reasons. First, I have little or no idea what it means to be emergent. Second, I have never been to an emergent church. Third, I have no desire to promote this thing I do not understand and have never experienced. Fourth, and most importantly, I think my views on the church would raise considerable horror among some (many?) in the circles of current ecclesiastical innovators, as my positions on “What is a real church?” put me safely in the paleo-conservative classification.Continue reading “Walls That Won’t Fall: Basics For the Local Church”

The Gospel for Appalachia III: Four Christian Responses

People with answers for Appalachia arouse considerable suspicion from those who know the region well. A multi-millionaire standing at a microphone, explaining how his money and ideas will turn the tide, may get his picture in the paper, but I assure you the applause is less than adoring. Experience has taught Appalachians and those who know them that these hills bury idealists right beside the feudists of old.

I don’t want to even come close to such shallow egoism. I have no answers. I do have some conclusions and suggestions based on my own experiences and observations, and I offer them with every possible exception and difficulty noted. Four of them particularly excite me, and perhaps may stir your thinking and prayers as well.Continue reading “The Gospel for Appalachia III: Four Christian Responses”

The Gospel For Appalachia II: Can The Culture Change?

I want to talk about the Gospel, but first I’m going to tell some stories. Why I am telling these stories should become plain as we go along, but for those of you who might need a clue at the beginning, these stories are about the difficulty of change here in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky.

Just a few years ago, we graduated twin brothers. They were local students, and had been with us for several years. Local students often reflect the best and the worst of local culture, and these boys generally reflected the best (though they were always ready to fight over the smallest matters of perceived honor, a characteristic of mountain people.) I taught both and found both to be excellent, popular, hard-working students, making almost all “A’s.” Their mother and step-father were very involved in their educations, which is very rare in this part of the world. Both said they wanted to go on to college, and both were certainly capable.Continue reading “The Gospel For Appalachia II: Can The Culture Change?”

The Gospel for Appalachia I

I have 2 or 3 posts about The Gospel for Appalachia that I want to share. This first one introduces the unique aspects of this region and the reasons I am here.

The past few days, most of America has been watching–or at least aware of–the tragedy of the 12 perished coal miners in the Sago coal mine in West Virginia. In the coverage, with its constant scenes of the Sago Baptist Church, interviews with pastors, friends and family members, the world has caught one of its very, very rare glimpses of the world where I live and work: the mountains of Appalachia.Continue reading “The Gospel for Appalachia I”

Theology In Fazoli's

Theology In Fazoli’s: Second Rate Italian Food With Pictures of American Christianity

7:22 p.m. Wednesday, December 28. Quite possibly the longest day of my life.

I am sitting in Fazoli’s (Italian Food…Fast) in Lexington, Kentucky. I’ve just delivered a U-Haul full of furniture to my daughter’s storage facility, and now my wife, my mom, myself and a car full of what’s left of my mom’s possessions are on their way to my home, two hours away in eastern Kentucky. We’ve been in mom’s apartment for two days, cleaning out, throwing away, giving away my mother’s earthly possessions. One of the inevitable tasks of the middle-aged, only child. I’ve done the best I can, and the job is near completion.Continue reading “Theology In Fazoli's”

Our First Christmas With Grandma

The writer in the family is my wife, Denise. She’s a professional editor, heads our school publications operation and writes a bookful of creative ministry material every year. I can’t get her to blog, but if I could, this is the kind of gold you’d be reading.

You can write denise at denisespencer@mail.com

Our First Christmas With Grandma by Denise Day Spencer

It is our first Christmas with Grandma.

She came to live with us two months ago. Eighty-three years old, increasingly frail, almost completely blind, she needs us now. She’s a great Grandma. She’s a great mother-in-law. I love her dearly.

And I’m still adjusting.

The day after Christmas, we must return to our hometown to move Grandma out of her apartment. We have a plan. We’ve rented a truck. We’ve told her countless times how it will all go down.Continue reading “Our First Christmas With Grandma”