I find myself reading through Judges 19 this morning and my heart absolutely breaking. The story is one of the inhospitality and wickedness of the men of Gibeah. Just as in the story of Sodom the men of the city desire to have sexual relations with a male visitor of the city. Instead of allowing them to devour his guest, the Levite, the hospitable sojourner throws out the Levites concubine and “they knew her and abused her all night until the morning”. The story ends with dead concubine grasping at the threshold of her masters door. Actually, though her life ends there her story does … [Read more...] about Where is Jesus in Judges 19?
SBC Cooperative Program Curmudgeons (Part 2)
Yesterday morning I reflected on a sad picture that Jon Acuff posted. I closed by promising to answer this question: If an entity no longer serves the local church should they continue giving to that entity? That is admittedly, a sticky question, and one that I believe hinges on the meaning of the word “serves”. It seems to me that the chief purpose of the entities is to serve the kingdom of Christ through serving and strengthening the local church. We give to the CP to build the kingdom. The beneficiaries of that giving then go about doing the work of the kingdom through this … [Read more...] about SBC Cooperative Program Curmudgeons (Part 2)
SBC Cooperative Program Giving Curmudgeons (Part 1)
Recently Jon Acuff, of Stuff Christians Like, posted this sad picture on his site: That is a photo of a voided check for $75.00. It looks as if this curmudgeon was going to give 75 bucks to the church but decided that he’d void the check and keep his money because the drums were way too loud. This might be a reasonable response at a movie theater or some other form of entertainment, but this is absolutely unacceptable for a church. You do not give money to your church to reward them for entertaining you, helping you, or pleasing you. You give money to your church so that as a … [Read more...] about SBC Cooperative Program Giving Curmudgeons (Part 1)
In Defense of a Christ-Centered Hermeneutic OR A Reply to Dr. Eric Hankins
Yesterday, Dr. Eric Hankins wrote a piece for SBC Today concerning The Gospel Project (TGP) and Christ-centered homiletics. Hankins, recently read the dissertation of Dr. Jason Allen. Allen, is the new president of MBTS. Hankins was intrigued because Allen’s dissertation was on contrasting human author-centered hermeneutics of Walter Kaiser with that of the Christ-centered homiletics of Edmund Clowney and Sidney Greidanus. Hankins was actually surprised that Allen sided with Kaiser and “is calling into question the conventional wisdom of ‘Christ-centered’ hermeneutics”. The point of the … [Read more...] about In Defense of a Christ-Centered Hermeneutic OR A Reply to Dr. Eric Hankins
What are “GRACE Cards”?
One of our evangelism strategies as a church is to use “GRACE” cards. “What is a GRACE card”, you ask? I’m glad you asked. Let me explain. The concept behind a GRACE card is to bless our community. Really the concept is to put words behind random acts of kindness. Our church family is encouraged to take a GRACE card and to bless somebody throughout the week. It can be as simple as buying a book of stamps or leaving quarters in a laundry machine. Some like to purchase meals for the people behind them at a fast-food chain. When you do this you simply leave a GRACE card. A GRACE … [Read more...] about What are “GRACE Cards”?
Does Jesus Cry Over Spilled Milk?
He wept over distresses which He intended to relieve. -John Newton On hot evenings little boys really need a cold drink. After an intense day of playing I took my son out for a late night Chicken McNugget Happy Meal with a nice cold chocolate milk. Poor little guy was so parched that on this occasion he was more passionate about the milk than his super cool toy. He got two sips. As we began our journey back home I heard a distraught little boy in the back seat. He had set his milk next to his leg and began reaching into his jolly bag of goodness to retrieve a Nugget (or more likely … [Read more...] about Does Jesus Cry Over Spilled Milk?
Review of “Pursuing Peace” by Robert D. Jones
Call me a nerd but I was very ecstatic about what was going down on Tuesday evening in my little church in Northeast, Missouri. I had been saved for a few months now and beginning to get acclimated into the church. I could not seem to get enough of this life with other believers. So it was only fitting that when there was something on Tuesday night that I would attend. That something in this instance was the quarterly church business meeting. Boy, was I pumped! I figured that this was were we all got together to talk about our evangelism strategies, to share about how the church was … [Read more...] about Review of “Pursuing Peace” by Robert D. Jones
One Thing That Disturbs Me About Propaganda’s Song “Precious Puritans”
I have been listening to Propaganda’s new album and also reflecting on the recent online dust-up concerning his song “Precious Puritans”. If you aren’t hip to the discussion, a little debate has been going on about whether or not Prop went too far in his critique of the Puritans as slave owners. First watch the clip: Now, if you desire to get you caught up (though I’ll warn you it could take a good hour) then you need to check out these articles. First read these two from Joe Thorn: Precious Puritans Part 1 and Part 2. Then go readOwen Strachan’s rebuttal. (Be sure to also read … [Read more...] about One Thing That Disturbs Me About Propaganda’s Song “Precious Puritans”
Lessons on Chicken and Waiting
I have a confession to make. Sometimes I hope that Chick-Fil-A gets my order out to me really slowly and botch their service. Why? Because I know if they do then I’ll get a card that entitles me to free awesomeness in the form of a Chick-fil-a sandwich. They screw up and I get rewarded. So, sometimes I secretly hope they jack something up. I won’t complain. I won’t even look disappointed. I’ll just humbly hold out my hand and allow them to appease me with a free sandwich. I’m not always that giddy about waiting though. A few weeks ago I was waiting for about 10 minutes in the … [Read more...] about Lessons on Chicken and Waiting
Are You Prone to the Prosperity “Gospel”?
David W. Jones and Russell S. Woodbridge have served the church well by writing Health, Wealth & Happiness. It is probably no secret to my readers and those within my church community that I absolutely abhor the prosperity “gospel”. It’s not just some little error to be trifled with, it’s dangerous heresy that breaks people and churches. I was even more convinced of this after reading the work of Jones and Woodbridge. One of the most helpful things in their book is in the conclusion they give five questions to diagnose our openness to the prosperity gospel: Why does God exist and … [Read more...] about Are You Prone to the Prosperity “Gospel”?