TolleLege

Closing Tolle Lege

2011-01-05T10:35:00.000-05:00

Four years and six hundred posts later, Tolle Lege has run it's course. The topics on tolle lege have been pretty broad. Books, music, mission trips, daily life, reflections on Scripture, sports, politics, and more. And therein lies the problem. I was never sure exactly what this blog was about. I once heard Ravi Zacharias say of Hinduism, "She's opened her arms so wide, she swallowed herself." That's how my blogging had been. I wrote about everything, and thus the blog became about nothing in particular.

That said, it's been fun having an avenue to sort through thoughts about all number of things. This was a good first attempt at blogging.

I am starting a new blog with a much more narrow focus. I posted the first entry at "The Divine Nevertheless" yesterday. It will be devoted exclusively to devotional writing - so no politics, sports, etc. I hope you'll check it out.

Hope for moms

2010-12-17T11:27:00.000-05:00

Thabiti Anyabwile has nice post today balancing out the Touchstone article I posted yesterday and the influence of fathers on their children in terms of keeping the faith, continuing in church, etc. Anyabwile writes:

I didn’t think about how a faithful Christian mom married to an unbelieving husband might read the article. Or a faithful single mom. Today, a dear sister whom I love in the Lord, lovingly wrote to say that the article left her feeling discouraged, particularly the insinuation that no matter how much mom does the kids will turn away. Wow. That would be quite disheartening.

He goes on to point out three encouraging things for mothers who may be raising children without a father in the picture, or mothers whose spouses are unbelievers. 1.) Sisters in the church teach us so much. 2.) Every good social scientist ends with a qualifier. The big qualifier in this case is that the power of God to save can overcome any circumstance. 3.) The Bible is full of people who faithfully serve Christ who had unbelieving dads.

Hope is not lost, moms, even if dad has little or no interest in spiritual things. Pray a lot, and continue to show your kids the love of Christ.

Do not let us do more

2010-12-17T10:16:00.001-05:00

Lord, do not let us do more

If in doing less we might do it better.

Do not let us acquire more

If in living with less

We might know Thee better.

We are easily swayed by size,

Equating quantity with quality,

Wealth with security,

And applause with popularity.

Forgive us for spreading ourselves thin

For the sake of appearances.

Permit us to amend our ways

Lest we miss the Baby in the stable,

The Lad in the carpenter's shop,

The Teacher on the hillside,

And the Christ on the Cross. Amen.

-- E. Lee Phillips

The view around New City

2010-12-16T14:18:00.000-05:00

The New York Times has compiled information from the census bureau based on samples from 2005-2009. Each dot equals 50 people, and the colors give basic racial demographics.

Here is the census map for the area around New City Presbyterian Church.

Not surprisingly, the east side of town has diversity when taken as a whole. But individual neighborhoods are not that diverse. For example:
- Oakley is 83-88% white (depending on what tract you look at); 9-13% black
- Hyde Park and Mt Lookout are 88-99% white, depending on the tract
- Madisonville is 72% black, 24% white
- Parts of Pleasant Ridge seemed to be most diverse - 54% white, 42% black

There's not a concentrated Asian or Hispanic population in these neighborhoods. Our hope at New City is to minister in all these neighborhoods. The common need is Jesus Christ. Felt needs, though, may be very different from community to community. It's exciting that we're beginning to start relationships with ministries and churches (doing very different things) ministering in these neighborhoods.

Dad's churchgoing habits a predictor for children

2010-12-16T14:00:00.000-05:00

Robbie Low writes an important article in Touchstone (June 2003). If you didn't think fathers are crucial in passing on the faith to their kids, then you will after reading this article. It's based on a 1994 study in Switzerland. An excerpt:

In short, if a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will become churchgoers (regular and irregular). If a father goes but irregularly to church, regardless of his wife’s devotion, between a half and two-thirds of their offspring will find themselves coming to church regularly or occasionally.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the article for me was that mothers uniquely influence their kids when it comes to intimacy, tenderness, care, and nurture. But when making lifestyle decisions outside the home, adult children are most affected by their fathers.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Sneak Preview: The Man Who Ate New Orleans

2010-11-05T13:15:00.000-04:00

You have to watch this sneak preview (not really a trailer) of the documentary being made about my friend and mentor Ray Cannata. We're planning to have Ray up at New City in Fall of 2011. We're hoping some of Ray's love for New Orleans will rub off on us - and cause us to love Cincinnati more.

The Man Who Ate New Orleans Sizzle Reel HD from Michael Dunaway on Vimeo.

Reflecting on Capetown

2010-11-05T10:19:00.000-04:00

In this video Skye Jethani convenes some young evangelical leaders to reflect on some learnings from the Lausanne Congress in Capetown.

On a personal note, Skye Jethani (sitting furthest to the left) and Bethany Hoang (furthest to the right) are friends of mine from Miami University. Jim Belcher (second to the left) is a PCA pastor in California.

12 Cities | 12 Conversations - Cape Town 2010 from ConversationGatherings on Vimeo.

Challies: 5 great books on prayer

2010-11-01T09:53:00.000-04:00

Tim Challies writes short reviews on 5 great books on prayer. Here are the books he recommends:
1. Bryan Chapell, Praying Backwards
2. Paul Miller, A Praying Life
3. R.C. Sproul, The Prayer of the Lord
4. The Valley of Vision
5. Moleskin journals for writing out your own prayers.

I'd recommend all of these, especially the moleskin journals, which I use for my prayers nearly every day. It's been awhile, but I also remember being greatly helped in college by E.M. Bounds' Complete Works on Prayer and C.S. Lewis' Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer.

Keller on reaching the city

2010-10-28T10:13:00.000-04:00

People are moving into cities faster than churches are. Thus, there is a huge need for planting gospel-centered churches in urban areas. There's probably no better on this topic than Tim Keller.

Here's a 17 minute clip of Keller speaking in Capetown to the Lausanne Congress about how to reach cities. He says we need to plant and renew churches that are contextual to the city, and by establishing city-wide gospel movements.

Tim Keller Argues For Churches In Cities [Lausanne] from Kenny Jahng on Vimeo.

Keller says that churches that are contextualized for the city will have these characteristics:
1. Multi-cultural and knows that there is going to be friction between people from different cultures. Thus, the need to be culturally sensitive.
2. Helps people integrate their faith and their work.
3. Need to be comfortable with urban sensibility, which often involves some element of disorder, edginess, and change.
4. Evangelism - the only way to grow in the city is by evangelism. In cities evangelism is complicated because there are so many different kinds of people. So you will need many kinds of evangelistic approaches.
5. You need to be famous for your care for the poor.
6. Recognize that artists live in the city. To have them in the church, you need to empower them to serve in the church.
7. Relationships are supremely important. It takes years and years to develop these relationships. Look for indigenous leaders and give them theological education on the ground.
8. Cities need movements, not just a couple of churches. You need 4-5 church planting movements going on in different denominations around the city. You need lots of prayer. Outside of individual churches, you need ministries specializing in meeting certain physical needs, reaching college students, etc. And you need some institutions that help people to stay in the city. Leaders in these very networks meeting together regularly.

Reformed blogs dominate top 140 church blogs

2010-10-27T14:58:00.000-04:00

Here's a list of the world's most popular church blogs. Desiring God came in at #1.
What I found interesting is that, though there was some variety in the list, evangelical blogs dominated. That maybe can be explained that evangelicals tend to be more serious about their faith than liberal counterparts (and thus read more about Christianity and ministry, etc).

But even more interesting, a high percentage of the evangelical blogs on this list have a reformed ethos to them. What do you suppose accounts for that? Is this another confirmation that reformed theology has made a major comeback among younger evangelicals? Or is it just that reformed folks tend to read more (and blog more) than other brands of evangelicals? Or some combination of both?

Preaching to head and heart

2010-10-27T09:46:00.000-04:00

Few people (and churches) achieve the balance that Paul spoke about. "I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also" (1 Cor 14:15). This is a good word from Isaac Watts, one of the greatest songwriters and worship leaders in church history.

The Scripture itself was not given us to make the use of our reason needless, but to assist its operations and to render it more successful in our inquiries into the things of our everlasting welfare. Knowledge and feeling should go hand in hand in all the affairs of the spiritual life. The more we know of God and the things of the higher world, the stronger spring we shall have for our holy emotions and the more secure our guard against any excesses and irregularities in the exercise of them.

As it is the business of a preacher to assist the devout emotions, so also it is part of his job to guard his hearers against the abuse of them.

We have granted and maintained that it is the business of every sacred orator to raise the affections of men toward the things of God. Let him therefore manage his divine arguments in such a manner as to awaken the fears, hopes, desires, penitent sorrows and pious joys of the whole assembly in a sublime degree - but in order to secure them from excesses and irregularities of ever kind, let him lay the foundation of their faith in clear ideas of divine things, and in a just and proper explication of the holy Scriptures. (Isaac Watts, Abuse of the Emotions in Spiritual Life, 1746)

Do you minimize your sin?

2010-10-26T10:09:00.000-04:00

In a men's group we've been reading Tim Chester's book, You Can Change. In chapter 7 he poses the question: What stops you from changing? What keeps you from really growing and seeing measurable transformation in your life? He concludes that it really comes down to one of two things: a love of self or a love of sin.

At the end of the chapter, he summarizes six arguments Satan uses in tempting us, together with model responses. He bases this off the Puritan John Flavel's writings on the subject in A Saint Indeed. I thought this was very helpful in understanding the nature of temptation and how we ought to respond to it. In some sense, it reminds me of the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11, and Jesus' use of Scripture in response to Satan's lies and half-truths.

1. The pleasure of sin

Temptation: Look at my smiling face, and listen to my charming voice. Here is pleasure to be enjoyed. Who can stay away from such delights?

The believer: The pleasures of sin are real, but so are the pangs of conscience and the flames of hell. The pleasures of sin are real, but pleasing God is much sweeter.

2. The secrecy of sin

Temptation: This sin will never disgrace you in public because no one will ever find out.

The believer: Can you find somewhere without the presence of God for me to sin?

3. The profit of sin

Temptation: If you just stretch your conscience a little, you'll gain so much. This is your opportunity.

The believer: What do I benefit if I gain the whole world but lose my own soul? I won't risk my soul for all the good in this world.

4. The smallness of sin

Temptation: It's only a little thing, a small matter, a trifle. Who else would worry about such a trivial thing?

The believer: Is the majesty of heaven a small matter too? If I commit this sin, I will offend and wrong a great God. Is there any little hell to torment little sinners? Great wrath awaits those the world thinks are little sinners. The less the sin, the less the reason to commit it! Why should I be unfaithful toward God for such a trifle?

5. The grace of God

Temptation: God will pass over this as a weakness. He won't make a big deal of it.

The believer: Where do I find a promise of mercy to presumptuous sinners? How can I abuse such a good God? Shall I take God's glorious mercy and make it a reason to sin? Shall I wrong him because he's good?

6. The example of others

Temptation: Better people than you have sinned in this way. And plenty of people have been restored after committing this sin.

The believer: God didn't record the examples of good people sinning for me to copy, but to warn me. Am I willing to feel what they felt for sin? I dare not follow their example in case God plunges me into the deeps of horror into which he casts them.

Idolatry is the biggest challenge to world missions

2010-10-25T10:16:00.003-04:00

As many of you know, 4,000 Christian leaders from around the world gathered in Cape Town, South Africa for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization last week. Christopher Wright (theologian and director of Langham Partnerships) is charged with being the main drafter of the Cape Town Commitment - the document that will come out of the weeklong meeting of church leaders.

Wright spoke to the Congress on Saturday, and he said, "Idolatry … is the biggest single obstacle to world mission." He then went on to list three idols that particularly prohibit the church's involvement in mission: power and pride, popularity and success, and wealth and greed.

Children in desperate need of rest

2010-10-24T20:49:00.004-04:00

I thought this post was well worth a read. An excerpt:

My oldest son started high school this fall. At his orientation the counselors took a portion of the program to speak to parents about the greatest challenge they see students face in school. I expected to hear about poor study habits or substance abuse, but to my initial surprise, these were not at the top of the list. Apparently, the greatest challenge presenting itself in the office of the high school guidance counselor is a growing number of kids struggling with anxiety and depression. Can you guess why? A combination of over-scheduling and sleep deprivation, linked to two main contributors: electronics use and extracurricular activities.

I saw this first hand working as a youth pastor for six years. Students (at least suburban students) tend to be overcommitted (not one baseball team, but three). They are over-connected - constantly texting, surfing, and gaming. And they genuinely don't understand how to enjoy leisure. The first time I planned a youth retreat, I left four hours of free time on a Saturday afternoon. As a kid, I would have loved this. But these kids were so bored, and consistently complained this was the worst part of the retreat.

More than anything, they're exhausted, as the blog post suggests. A good reminder for parents:

Christian parents bear the responsibility of teaching our children the value of rest, through our words and through our actions. Children don’t set the calendar in our homes – if they are overscheduled or sleep-deprived, the fault lies with us.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader Trailer

2010-10-24T20:40:00.001-04:00

For Narnia fans, here's the trailer for the new movie.

Book Review: How People Change

2010-06-19T11:35:00.003-04:00

Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2006), 223 pages + endnotes.

What does it take for lasting change to take root in your life? This is the question Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp tackle in the book. Both are biblical counselors and faculty at CCEF (Christian Counseling and Education Foundation - maybe the best biblical counseling group out there). Paul Tripp is also a pastor at Tenth Pres in Philadelphia.

The authors believe that in the lives of many believers (and a whole lot of churches) there is a "gospel gap." Many Christians are ineffective and unproductive because they see the good news of the gospel as the means of cleansing their past sins, and the way to be assured of a future hope. But they forget the power of the gospel to change their life in the hear and now.

Lane and Tripp use Jeremiah 17:5-10 as the source for their dominant metaphor for life change. This passage gives us a view of life that involves four elements.

1. Heat - This is the person's situation in daily life, with difficulties, blessings, and temptations.
2. Thorns - This is the person's ungodly response to the situation. It includes behavior, the heart driving the behavior, and the consequences that result.
3. Cross - This focuses on the presence of God in his redemptive glory and love. Through Christ, he brings comfort, cleansing, and the power to change.
4. Fruit - This is the person's new godly response to the situation resulting from God's power at work in the heart. It includes behavior, the heart renewed by grace, and the harvest of consequences that follow.

Each chapter has large sections of careful explanation of biblical passages. Lane and Tripp also use real life examples from their counseling and church ministry to illustrate the point. It's both theological and practical. It's a great book for those who do counseling, or even just general discipleship. It's a good book for those wanting to better understand the process of sanctification, and how they themselves can grow. I'm looking forward to looking through the curriculum based on the book, and see if we can find a venue to use it in our church.

Highly recommended!

Book Review: The Trellis and The Vine

2010-05-05T07:21:00.003-04:00

Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and The Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything (Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2009), 196 pages.

Color me a skeptic. Normally when I see a subtitle suggesting that the concept in the book "changes everything" I make a pass on the book altogether. Marketers tend to promise a lot, and when they do, I usually assume it's an attempt to pitch a retread idea as something completely innovative, or the latest and greatest formula for how to make life better (or church, or whatever). At any rate, I'm naturally suspicious. Perhaps not the most positive personality trait, but that's where I'm at when scanning book titles these days. So when I read the subtitle to Marshall and Payne's book ("The Ministry Mind-shift That Changes Everything") I wasn't expecting much. However, I heard Mark Dever say, "This is the best book I've read on the nature of church ministry." Matt Chandler agrees: "This is a simple, beautiful book that I plan to have every pastor and elder at [my church] read." So I decided to give it a chance. And I am glad I did.

The book opens with a metaphor. "We have two trellises in our backyard." One is very ornate - obviously handcrafted, painted, and beautiful in its design, placement, and structure. But evidently the handyman who made this trellis worked so hard on it that "if there ever was a vine that laced itself around the beautiful trellis, there is now no trace of it." The other trellis is barely visible beneath an abundant, flowering vine. It's hard to see the condition of the other trellis beneath the vine, but it's clear that it hasn't been painted in years, and that in places it has been pulled away from the fence by the weight of the vine.

As I have sat on my back verandah and observed the two trellises, it has occurred to me more than once that most churches are a mixture of trellis and vine. The basic work of any Christian ministry is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of God's Spirit, and to see people converted, changed and grow to maturity in that gospel. That's the work of planting, watering, fertilizing and tending the vine.

However, just as some sort of framework is needed to help a vine grow, so Christian ministries also need some structure and support...All Christian churches, fellowships or ministries have some kind of trellis that gives shape and support to the work.

But here's the catch. Though trellis work is necessary, it's existence is primarily to support the vine. And yet, trellis work very easily tends to overtake the vine work altogether. "It is very possible for churches, Christian organizations and whole denominations to be given over totally to maintaining their institution." This book is an attempt to challenge church leaders to return to the work of growing the vine, not the trellis.

Marshall and Payne set out to re-evaluate what Christian ministry really is. "We will be arguing that structures don't grow ministry any more than trellises grow vines, and that most churches need to make a conscious shift - away from erecting and maintaining structures, and towards growing people who are disciple-making disciples of Christ." The authors admit that for most churches and ministries, to make this mental shift will be radical, and possibly even painful. In summary, this is what they are suggesting in terms of thinking differently about ministry:

1. From running programs to building people

2. From running events to training people

3. From using people to growing people

4. From filling gaps to training new workers

5. From solving problems to helping people make progress

6. From clinging to ordained ministry to developing team leadership

7. From focusing on church polity to forging ministry partnerships

8. From relying on training institutions to establishing local training

9. From focusing on immediate pressures to aiming at long-term expansion

10. From engaging in management to engaging in ministry

11. From seeking church growth to desiring gospel growth

What I found personally helpful is the idea of creating a culture where people are hungry readers of God's Word. And not just reading God's Word personally, but reading it with others.

We are really talking about a Bible reading movement - in families, in churches, in neighborhoods, in workplaces, everywhere. Imagine if all Christians, as a normal part of their discipleship, were caught up in a web of regular Bible reading - not only digging into the word privately, but reading it with children before bed, with their spouse over breakfast, with a non-Christian colleague at work once a week over lunch, with a new Christian for follow-up once a fortnight for mutual encouragement, and with a mature Christian friend once a month for mutual encouragement.

It would be a chaotic web of personal relationships, prayer, and Bible reading - more of a movement than a program - but at another level it would be profoundly simple and within reach of all.

There's a lot for church leaders to wrestle with throughout the book. And while Marshall and Payne do not offer cookie-cutter solutions to every church's problems, they do provide enough real life examples to spur on the process of making your own local applications. This is a very good book. I highly recommend it.

Read it if you are church or ministry leader. *****

Book Review: Vintage Jesus

2010-04-15T15:51:00.004-04:00

Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007), 233 pages + endnotes.

I'm about two years late to this book. It was a big seller when it first came out and it seemed that everyone in the blogosphere had a review of it. But as is often the case with me, I'm late to the game, so I just picked the book off my shelf as we are in the early chapters of a year-long series in my church on the Gospel of Mark.

This is Driscoll and Breshears' first book together. They are good friends, and the main chapters were written by Driscoll (adapted from his sermons), and edited by Breshears. Breshears also adds helpful Q&A sections at the end of each chapter, engaging in light apologetics aimed at the skeptic.

This is a book aimed at twenty and thirty-somethings, especially those unlikely to pick up any "classic work" of theology. I say that because the book (in substance) is really nothing new. And that's on purpose. As the subtitle suggests, they aim to convey "timeless answers to timely questions." And that's what they do - they present an orthodox evangelical understanding of the person and work of Jesus. The book is heavily footnoted, and rests squarely on explaining Jesus from a Biblical perspective. The newness of the book is in its colloquial language, pop culture references, and humor that Driscoll has become so well known for. The authors aim to present a biblical view of Jesus in culturally meaningful language, accessible to just about anyone. As they say, "this book will be readable, practical, and biblical, so that everyone from Seminary professors and pastors to non-Christians would benefit from our work."

The strength of the book, in my estimation, is the defense of the biblical view of Jesus over and against caricatures that have been adopted by cults, pop culture, feminism, and even groups within Christianity. This passage is typical of Driscoll's presentation:

“Jesus was a dude. Like my drywaller dad, he was a construction worker who swung a hammer for a living. Because Jesus worked in a day when there were no power tools, he likely had calluses on his hands and muscles on his frame, and did not look like so many of the drag-queen Jesus images that portray him with long, flowing, feathered hair, perfect teeth, and soft skin, draped in a comfortable dress accessorized by matching open-toed sandals and handbag. Jesus did not have Elton John or the Spice Girls on his iPod, "The View" on his TiVo, or a lemon-yellow Volkswagen Beetle in his garage. No, Jesus was not the kind of person who, if walking by you on the street, would require you to look for an Adam’s apple to determine the gender.”

I liked a lot of things about the book. I thought the format was excellent. Most every chapter begins with a discussion of how Jesus has been wrongly portrayed, then transitions into a Biblical presentation of Jesus, and concludes with Breshears' couple of pages of apologetic FAQs. I also like the idea of the book - a representation of classical doctrine in contemporary language. I think Driscoll has the right idea here, and I can imagine giving this book out to a several people in the context where we do ministry. However, the strength of the book is also its weakness. The pop culture laden language and examples will be out of date in 5 years, so the book has very little staying power. I supposed they could release a new edition edited by a younger and hipper pastor, pitching it as "The Second Edition: Complete With All New Jokes."

Speaking of jokes, I generally like Driscoll's humor, but there were several times in this book where the humor actually seemed to detract from the message. In other words, it seemed at times that Driscoll was reaching in order to make a joke, rather than to make a point. Small thing, but it got on my nerves as I was reading.

Overall, this is a book I would recommend (at least for the next five years). It is an especially good book to hand out to people looking into Jesus for the first time, or perhaps re-evaluating their view of Him.

New City Blog April 6-9

2010-04-09T17:12:00.002-04:00

Here's some links to posts over at the New City blog:

This World Matters - N.T. Wright on the resurrection's significance for the present world.
Reflecting on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 - Questions for discussion or personal reflection based on last week's sermon text.
Pastor's Reading Log - What I've read so far in 2010.

Packing the trains

2010-04-08T21:19:00.001-04:00

I told a story a few weeks ago during a sermon about packing into trains in Japan. This is what I was talking about.

The Rage Against God

2010-03-17T14:22:00.002-04:00

Christopher Hitchens is one of the most well known "new atheists." His brother, Peter Hitchens, has written a new book called The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith. Below is a video preview.

HT: Doug Wilson

Advertising

2010-03-17T12:16:00.002-04:00

Last week I read an article in the paper that said the average American encounters three thousand commercial messages each day. It went on to discuss how advertising causes us to think in wish-fulfillment dynamics. The article was printed on a page across from a Best Buy ad announcing a sale on remote controls, including one that had a touch screen like an iPhone. The ad said the remote control could command all the electronics in your home. I had trouble finishing the article about the effects of advertising because I kept pressing my finger against the picture of the remote, imagining my television turning off and on.

Before I started writing for a living, I had a job as a marketing guy at a start-up company that sold textbooks to the education market. In learning about my job, I had to read all kinds of other books about how to sell people stuff they didn't need. As near as I could tell from reading those books, marketing is a three-step process. The first step is to convince people they are miserable. The second step is to convince people they will be happy if they buy your product, and the third step is to include a half-naked woman in your pitch. I read so many of these ideas I actually considered creating a magazine ad showing a teacher in a bikini draped seductively over a pile of geometry books. (Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, 122-123)

That sounds about right. There is a good way to do advertising (i.e. I have a good product and let me show you why it's good), but much of it works this way, I am afraid. And given the power of advertising to affect the way we think, dream, hope, and set our affections, all the more reason to make sure we take in God's Word every day. We need a grid through which to filter this stuff.

Miracle Hockey Speech

2010-02-24T09:50:00.000-05:00

How great is this?

The Treasure Principle

2010-02-17T10:46:00.004-05:00

Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2001).

Grade (out of 5): *****

I think I've read this book two or three times before. And I find Alcorn's treatment of biblical stewardship in The Treasure Principle to be helpful and motivating, and thus it's a book worth re-visiting on a regular basis. Alcorn begins the book, "All your life, you've been on a treasure hunt. You've been searching for a perfect person and a perfect place. Jesus is that person; heaven is that place." Alcorn then goes on to explain how stewardship in your life now can affect eternity.

"Some books try to motivate out of guilt. This isn't one of them." That proves to be true as Alcorn motivates more from the promises God makes to those who live for Him. Alcorn lays out what he calls the treasure principle: "You can't take it with you - but you can send it on ahead." The rest of the book is a further explanation of this principle from Scripture, replete with examples both from history and from Alcorn's own life. The explanations of the treasure principle fall under six themes (or keys).

1. God owns everything. I'm His money manager.

2. My heart always goes where I put God's money.

3. Heaven, not earth is my home.

4. I should live not for the dot but for the line.

5. Giving is the only antidote to materialism.

6. God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.

I highly recommend this short, readable book to individuals or study groups looking to grow in giving generously.

Book Review: On Being Presbyterian

2010-02-11T08:25:00.005-05:00

Sean Lucas, On Being Presbyterian: Our Beliefs, Practices, and Stories (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2006), 251 pages + end notes.

Grade (out of 5 stars): ***

Sean Lucas was a fundamentalist baptist who became an evangelical Presbyterian. This, as he admits, is a pretty common story for folks in the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America - both Lucas' and my denomination), especially in the south. This book is an attempt to make that transition a little easier. Lucas was a professor at Covenant Seminary and now is a pastor in Mississippi.

Lucas does a good job of laying out what he calls "vanilla Presbyterianism" and does so by looking at basic Presbyterian theology, some practices (especially church practices) that differentiate evangelical Presbyterians from other evangelicals, and lastly some history - both of the reformation and reformed churches in America.

I think Lucas believed he was writing a book for anyone coming to a Presbyterian church that doesn't come from a Presbyterian background. The book works very well for someone who may be moving from a fundamentalist background to the PCA (like Lucas did). But in my context, this is not the normal means by which someone comes into the PCA. Far more common in my city is someone coming to the PCA via the parachurch (choosing an evangelical church for the first time), or someone leaving a non-denominational or vineyard church longing for more historical emphases in the worship service, or exegetical teaching from the pulpit. Given those groups of people, I'm not sure this is the first book I would hand them. Rather than being rah-rah Presbyterian, I'm much more inclined to linger over the basics of the gospel, evangelical Christian orthodoxy, and finally Reformed theology in broad strokes. I could see using this book for officer training, or even more for candidates boning up for ordination exams, but not so much for people seeking membership in my church.

I suppose there is room for a similar book with these other groups of people in mind. Maybe I'll get around to writing one someday.

Book Review: Why We Love the Church

2010-01-22T15:16:00.005-05:00

Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, Why We Love The Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion (Chicago: Moody, 2009), 234 pages.

Grade: ****

Spirituality is in. Church is out. This is certainly the case in the culture at large. And it's become trendy among Christians as well. DeYoung and Kluck set out make the case for the church's indispensability to the Christian life.

DeYoung is a pastor and theologian, Kluck a layman and sports writer. They first teamed up for Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be (which won Christianity Today's 2009 book award) , and this book is in a similar vein. DeYoung tackles the theological and biblical side. Kluck writes more from personal experience as a regular church-goer. They trade chapters rather successfully, as both are excellent writers, and the variety of styles makes for a pretty entertaining read.

But they write this book to educate and persuade, rather than to entertain. Both DeYoung and Kluck have read the extensive literature churned out in the last 15 years from the "church sucks" crowd. At times, Why We Love The Church is a point by point refutation of the statistical claims and predictions of the likes of George Barna, and the theological and biblical assertions of men like Tony Jones and Dan Kimball.

This book, they say, is written for a whole spectrum of people: the committed, the disgruntled, the waffling, and the disconnected. My sense is that it will appeal to the first three, more than the last. The smack down on the "church sucks" crowd will largely fire up the base of those already committed to church. J.I. Packer said this book made him want to stand up and cheer (and he's really old), so younger committed church goers may even throw in a hip swivel and a "boo-yah!" for good measure. It also may be a good book for the waffling - those perhaps hurt by the church, but interested in really investigating God's plan for redemptive history (and the place of the church in it). The disgruntled may even get into the book because DeYoung and Kluck speak the snarky language of the emergent crowd, even in their rebuffs of emergent theology. My suspicion is that this group is the one DeYoung and Kluck have most in mind in writing this book. These folks may not be persuaded by the arguments, but they might be challenged. But alas, the disconnected probably won't pick the book up, largely because it has words like "church," "institutions," and "organized religion" in the title (w/o making fun of it). The subject matter of this book is likely not even on the radar for most who fit into the "disconnected" category.

Overall, I liked the book. It's a little more scathing in its criticisms than I would be, but that may reflect my own sheepishness. It's certainly worth a read, and I could even imagine using it as a supplementary text in leadership training in a church.

Thoughts on Haiti

2010-01-15T14:41:00.002-05:00

Over at the New City blog I posted some thoughts on how Christians ought to think and act in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti. See the post here.

Book Review: Stop Dating the Church

2010-01-12T10:32:00.002-05:00

Joshua Harris, Stop Dating the Church (Sisters, Orgeon: Multnomah), 2004; 129 pages.

This is a different kind of book for Joshua Harris. Most who have heard of him know Harris primarily as a speaker to junior high and high school students, challenging them to reject our culture's notions of casual dating and pursue different, more intentional kinds of relationships. His book I Kissed Dating Goodbye was born out of his many conferences and speaking tours along these lines.

I'll admit some skepticism about reading Harris. His previous books were excellent resources for teenagers, but less applicable to college students and adults. But some took his principles and tried to make them applicable across ever stage of life, suggesting that dating is always a bad idea - even for adults. Some defended the concept of "courting," but in practice were doing nothing distinct from dating (other than giving it a Christian name, and probably getting too serious too quickly). This was not Harris' fault, but I still approached this book with skepticism because of the devotees (and detractors) of his previous books.

Stop Dating the Church is a completely different book (despite the title's attempt to capitalize on previous book sales). Harris no longer works with youth - he's the senior pastor at a large and growing reformed evangelical church. This book is aimed at adults and, while presented in relational terms, is an effort to grow people's love for the church.

Harris believes that many in our culture "date the church" rather than make a commitment to a local body. He believes (correctly) that this noncommittal attitude cheats individual believers, cheats the church, and ultimately cheats the world. He labors in this book to show that the church is not an optional "add-on" to the Christian life, but is essential to growth as a Christian, and to pleasing the Lord. Harris approaches this exegetically, showing from Scripture that the church is God's idea, and that (warts and all) God loves the church, and plans to use the church in accomplishing His purposes in the world. And when Christians opt out of church commitment, they don't just miss out, they actually sin by rejecting a significant part of God's plan for their life.

Harris also shows that New Testament references to the "church" do not refer just to the broad concept of the body of Christ, encompassing all believers. Rather, "church" as a term, most often refers to a specific local body in the New Testament. The implications of this idea are that Christians are not just called to have fellowship with some other Christians, but that they are called to commit to a local worshipping body - one with leadership, polity, mission, worship, and Bible teaching.

There's nothing in this book that hasn't been said elsewhere (and perhaps even more eloquently). But the strength of this book is its brevity and accessibility. This is a book about the church that people will actually pick up and read. I highly recommend it.

Raising Infants

2010-01-08T10:01:00.004-05:00

That's not something we know much about. So we've done some reading, a lot of asking around, and finally Paige and I both spent some good time reading Let the Children Come Along the Infant Way by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo.

More than anything else, this book seems to reflect our general philosophy of life, which then seems will also be our parenting philosophy. The basic premise - don't let your child or a schedule run your home. Parents need to set guidelines and patterns for children early on, as the the God-given care givers, teachers, and disciplers for their children (even at the earliest stages of life). Contra child-directed homes (attachment parenting) or clock-directed (hyperscheduling), the onus is on parents to create a routine for their children, and then also teach and model flexibility.

Proof is in the pudding, I suppose. So I'll reserve judgment until we go through this phase of life. But the principles are solid, and the book is very practical and worth a read for any new (or expecting) parents.

Book Review: You Shall Know Our Velocity!

2009-12-28T09:20:00.004-05:00

You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers

Grade: *** (3 out of 5) - In other words, I liked it, but it wasn't amazing.

My thoughts: I was lent this book by a friend, and to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. I think Dave Eggers is brilliant. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is not just a clever title, it's one of the most entertaining and profound memoirs I've ever read. I also liked the movie Away We Go (written by Eggers), and I've heard his screenplay for Where the Wild Things Are is quite good as well. So my opinion of Eggers' writing is quite high.

However, I also have read enough about him to have mixed feelings. He's a self-promoter, which is not bad in and of itself, but it's very clear that he knows he's a good writer and wants to make sure you know it too. That gets annoying. And beyond that, he seems to be regularly pulling stunts for publicity rather than letting his writing speak for itself. To be honest, part of me thinks this is playful and cool, and another part of me swears Eggers is so pretentious that I'll never read another book by him. But I know I will. Because he's a really good writer. (See this review by Mitch Pugh for a similar reaction to Eggers).

As for Velocity, here's the storyline. The protagonists of the novel, Hand and Will, have recently suffered a demoralizing loss: their best friend, Jack, has just died in a theatrically described car accident (in which his sedan is run over by a giant truck). Will has recently collected eighty thousand dollars from a light bulb company for the rights to his fortuitously selected silhouette. Desperate to find meaning and to unload the powerful eighty thousand dollar burden, Will and Hand begin planning a trip on which they will visit impoverished countries from Rwanda to Russia, and give away thirty eight thousand dollars.

They do all sorts of things to try and get rid of the money - they bury some cash in the woods, attaching a treasure map to a nearby swing; take tiny trips in taxis and overtip, and engage in reverse haggling with shopkeepers. Their adventures are not limited to getting rid of the money - they also swing from the branches of trees like stuntmen, try to jump from cars on to carts, and drive with only their tongues in contact with the steering wheel.

Though Eggers, as always, is entertaining, I found myself wondering what this book was about. In some ways, it seems to be a satire on American ignorance of the rest of the world (Will and Hand are clueless about the countries they visit, though they think they know much more than they do). One British reviewer said Will and Hand make Huck Finn look like Socrates.

The book might also be a comment about the value of charity (does throwing money at something actually mean you care, how do you know someone is "worthy" to receive it, does charity motivated by guilt actually count as charity).

But more than anything, I thought the novel was about moving as fast as you can to escape your own thoughts. This is certainly suggested by Will's trouble sleeping, the constant dialogue of the characters about "the need to move," and the bizarre story of the made-up South American "Jumping People" whose motto gives the book its title.

And then again, maybe this is just Eggers' attempt to write an interesting travelogue.

In typical Eggers fashion, in some editions of the book (including the one I read), there is an additional 50 page section added where Hand (instead of Will) is the narrator. He calls into question the truthfulness of the whole plot, even telling us that Will made up the character of Jack to symbolize the grief he felt at losing his mother. Interesting...There's no closure and the reader never knows which narrator is giving a truthful account of the events.

All in all, it's good...but not great. Comparisons are made to Jack Kerouac's On the Road. I actually liked Velocity better, but that's not saying much because I've always thought On the Road was severely overrated. It's worth a read, but if you have to pick, definitely read Heartbreaking Work - a much better introduction to Eggers.

I Believe in Father Christmas by U2

2009-12-23T19:06:00.000-05:00

Enjoy the video. Merry Christmas!

life goes on

2009-12-17T22:07:00.002-05:00

Pretty good day. My wife had her last day working as a nanny. She loves the boys she watches, but I think she's pretty pumped to focus now on the holidays, and get ready to have this baby. I spent most of the day trying to get into the sermon for this week, but was mostly sidetracked into grading Presbytery exams.

Slow, restful evening at home. Paige is watching Julie and Julia while I write Christmas cards to our supporters - a great reminder of how many partners we have in planting this church in Oakley. Grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. Snacking now on a piece of colby jack cheese and Sam Adams' Old Fezziwig Ale. You have to write about food when watching Julie and Julia.

It's been a good night. And I'm ready for Christmas. Even more, I'm ready for this baby to come.

Goodbye Party at NCCC

2009-12-11T09:31:00.001-05:00

Goodbye video at the NCCC going-away party back in June 2009.

Get thicker skin!

2009-12-07T10:28:00.001-05:00

If you're sick of everyone being offended at Christmastime, check out this funny satirization of the PC Christmas push by the folks at South Park. (Warning: some potentially offensive language)

Blogging at New City Church

2009-11-17T11:42:00.002-05:00

I'm afraid the run at Tollelege may be nearing an end. I now will be blogging weekly at New City Church's blog (newcitycincy.org/resources/blog). Most of what I would be writing here will be there, so I encourage you to check out the New City blog (and add the rss feed to whatever reader you use). I'm not pulling Tollelege down as of yet, but we'll see if there seems to be good reason to keep two blogs rolling. Thanks for your readership and I hope you check out the New City blog.

U2 Atlanta

2009-10-08T09:04:00.003-04:00

Saw U2 in Atlanta on Tuesday - as good as ever. No time to write as I'm headed back out of town today for Presbytery meetings , but here is the setlist.

Set List: Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment, No Line On The Horizon, Magnificent, Elevation, Until the End of the World, The Unforgettable Fire, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (rework), Sunday Bloody Sunday - People Get Ready snippet, MLK, Walk On

Encore: One, Amazing Grace, Where the Streets Have No Name,

Encore #2: Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender

U2 set list in Chicago

2009-09-18T15:44:00.003-04:00

My friend Matt went to see U2 in Chicago last week. My wife and I are going next month in Atlanta. Here was the set list from the show. I'm giddy with excitement.

1. "Breathe"

2. "No Line on the Horizon"

3. "Get On Your Boots"

4. "Magnificent"

5. "Beautiful Day"/"Blackbird" (Beatles snippet)

6. "Elevation"

7. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"/"Stand By Me" (Ben E. King snippet)

8. "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of"

9. "Unknown Caller"

10. "The Unforgettable Fire"

11. "City of Blinding Lights"

12. "Vertigo"

13. "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"

14. "Sunday Bloody Sunday"/"Oliver's Army"

( Elvis Costello snippet)

15. "Pride" (In the Name of Love)

16. "MLK"

17. "Walk On"/"You'll Never Walk Alone" (snippet)

18. "Where the Streets Have No Name"

Encore

19. "One"

20. "Bad"/"40" (snippet)

Second encore

21. "Ultra Violet (Light My Way)"

22. "With or Without You"

23. "Moment of Surrender"

Reasons not to Tweet?

2009-09-18T15:07:00.004-04:00

Skye Jethani has an interesting post for why he does not use Twitter. He doesn't believe it's wrong or immoral, but just not for him. Here's a summary of his reasons:

1. My life really isn't that interesting
2. I don't like the taste of my own foot
3. You cannot delete a tweet
4. I don't want to become a phantom
5. I respect the written word too much to mutilate it.
6. I don't need another commitment in my life
7. I'm tired of obeying marketers
8. Ashton Kutcher -- Any community in which he is the most popular person probably isn't for me.
9. I suffer from "terminal unqiueness."
10. I already have a witness.

Read the whole thing.
Good stuff, and very valid reasons. You do really have to be careful with Twitter, both because of what you say (and the consequences of it being "out there"), and also because it can become obsessive (both in the "need" you feel to update, and the narcissistic feelings it can encourage).

I do tweet, mostly for fun, sometimes to pass on news, and often to make a joke (often not very funny ones).

Tecmo Bowl rendition of Bengals v. Broncos

2009-09-18T11:52:00.001-04:00

Can't believe I'm posting this, but it's too awesome not too. Hate the way the game ended up, but:
a.) I love Tecmo Bowl, and
b.) Gus Johnson is the most exciting play by play guy out there.

Total Church - Short Review

2009-09-16T10:19:00.002-04:00

#23 - Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community, by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis (2008, 207 pages + end notes)

Grade: A-

Why: In Total Church, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis use the Crowded House (a church planting initiative in England) as a jumping off point for discussing the nature and purpose of the church. The book is divided into two parts. In Part 1 the authors lay out there thesis -- the church ultimately ought to be about two things: gospel and community. The gospel is the content of the church's message and purpose, and community is the context in which this is lived out.

The second part of the book is working out the thesis (gospel and community) as it applies to different ways/aspects of "doing church." Eleven different areas are given chapter-long treatment: evangelism, social involvement, church planting, world mission, discipleship and training, pastoral care, spirituality, theology, apologetics, and children/young people.

I really liked the book, and though I didn't agree with the authors in every jot and tittle, I found their argument compelling and their framework immensely useful in thinking about philosophy of ministry and planning for the future. Too often we can think of "doing church" as administrative work and meetings. Chester and Timmis bring us back to looking at ministry through the lens of "gospel word" and "gospel community."

Fan involvement at the Jungle

2009-09-16T09:14:00.003-04:00

The Bengals play the Packers this Sunday. The last time they played, we all thought it would be Brett Favre's last season (how silly we were). The Bengals won and intercepted Favre 5 times. But the most memorable play of the game was a fan running onto the field and taking the ball away from Favre. Whatever happened to that guy (the fan, I know what happened to Favre)?

Christianity and Hollywood

2009-09-15T13:16:00.001-04:00

Books and Culture has a really nice interview with Phil Vischer, the creator of Big Idea Productions (Veggie Tales). They talk about the culture of Hollywood, how receptivity to spiritual content has changed since the release of The Passion, and how to do good art faithfully.
An excerpt:

What do success stories like Passion, the first Narnia film, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy tell evangelicals about making successful films?

I've learned the hard way that movies are not a great teaching medium. If you want to engage people emotionally, great—but you can't ever turn to the camera and say, "Now I have three points I want to make about parenting." You can do that on TV. Sesame Street does that. Dora the Explorer does that every day and nobody says, "That's not filmmaking! That's didactic!" The difference is that people do not go to the movies to be preached at. That's the bottom line. The more you preach, the fewer you reach. What frustrates me with the film business is how much time, energy, and money you have to spend to have the opportunity for two sentences of real transparent meaning.

The Passion was such an anomaly; you really can't use it to learn much of anything about the nature of film. You had the most popular film actor in the world making a deeply personal work of art about a religious story. What are the odds of that happening again?

The movies inspired by the Narnia stories and the Lord of the Rings are also tough test cases. How many Narnias are there? How easy is it to come up with another Lord of the Rings? It's not.There's Tolkien and Lewis and then everybody else. Besides, Narnia had a 50-year history of engagement with fans—and a grandfather-clause evangelical exception for the use of fantasy and magic. You can't get away with that today. Now, if we go to another fantasy world, we need to find Jesus there—literally.

That is why for some evangelicals, the Harry Potter books are seen as being straight from the pit. Even if Rowling says she's employing Christian themes, forget it. How do you write a Christian fantasy today? I have no idea. I don't know that you can. I think we've killed it. I think we are so concerned with how oppressed our worldview is and so defensive that we've painted ourselves into a corner. And thus, we can't tell the kind of stories that Lewis or Chesterton would have told to share the gospel. It's kind of depressing, frankly.

Read the whole thing.

Public Transit in Cincinnati

2009-09-11T16:50:00.004-04:00

I have no idea how we can afford this, and I know there are some good reasons to oppose it, but I have to admit it makes me excited to think of the possibility of good public transit in Cincinnati. In particular, I think it will make the city a more desireable place to live.

That said, some of my good friends (for whom I have much respect) oppose it (at least in its proposed form). I'll admit I am pretty ignorant of the issues, but looking at this map, I get excited about the possibilities for Cincinnati. What say you?

Comparing Obama and Clinton on Health Care

2009-09-11T10:54:00.002-04:00

Interesting post from Rod Dreher about Obama's health plan. He's been writing about health care reform for the Dallas Morning News and decided to go back and look at Clinton's speech on health care reform back in 1993. Pretty similar. And then he began to do some research on analysis of why Clintoncare never came to fruition. Dreher wonders if Obamacare is not primed for the same fate. Look at this analysis of Clintoncare's political demise:

Bob Blendon, a public opinion scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health, said of the Administration: "They misread the mandate, read it much too broadly. Since people are very cynical about government and the President only had 43 percent of the vote, they wanted reform, but they wanted something easy to understand, something that did not look as threatening as the Clinton plan. The Clinton White House read it as much too broad in terms of trust in President and Mrs. Clinton."

Read the whole thing.
What do you think? Will Obama's plan succeed where Clinton's failed? And if so, what differentiates Obama from Clinton? Is it the plan, the political climate, the state of the GOP???

Text of the President's speech

2009-09-08T08:46:00.003-04:00

The text of the President's speech to schools was released yesterday. You can read it, here. I think folks would be hard-pressed to find anything controversial in the remarks.

John Piper liked it. Here are his favorite excerpts from the speech:

* I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
* I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
* But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world - and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities.
* Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
* And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.
* Maybe you could be a good writer - maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper - but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class.
* Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor - maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine - but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class.
* Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
* And no matter what you want to do with your life - I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it.
* You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
* And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country.
* What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
* You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment.
* You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free.
* You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
* If you don’t do that - if you quit on school - you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
* I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life.
* But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams.
* Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around.
* Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
* But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home - that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude.
* That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
* Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
* Today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education - and to do everything you can to meet them.
* Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book.
* I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
* But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
* That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures.
* If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
* Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new.
* So find an adult you trust - a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor - and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
* And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you - don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
* But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you.
* So don’t let us down - don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
* Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America

The President speaking to school children is a good thing

2009-09-07T14:58:00.002-04:00

Or so says, John Piper. And he hopes his daughter hears the speech.

And I agree with him. The "outrage" over the President "bypassing parents" seems pretty silly to me. If you send your kids to a government-run school, then the President of that government ought to be able to speak to them. In fact, every President should speak to the children at the beginning of the school year.

Anyway, you should read Piper's post about this. Piper hopes it's an answer to a prayer he has been praying for Obama (and the country):

Father, the condition of our schools and families is so broken that nothing seems to be working, especially for the poor in our urban centers. Help our president to have the courage to use his amazing place of influence to speak into this situation in such a way that boys and girls would take their studies seriously and put school above sport and homework above hiphop and graduation above gangs.

O, Lord, create a culture where it is not cool to fail. Give our President the courage to call all children, especially ones who feel hopeless about academic work, to fight for knowledge the way gangs fight for turf.

And as the President plans his speech, help him to feel as helpless as he really is to meet the greatest needs of the children, so that he turns to Jesus who alone has the answer for the ruin and the wrongs of our cities. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Shack -- again

2009-09-07T11:20:00.003-04:00

About a year ago, I gave my take on William Young's The Shack. I didn't like it very much (maybe an understatement). I just saw Trevin Wax's review of the book, and thought it was worth recommending, especially this bit.

When you deal with non-fictional characters, you inevitably open yourself up to criticism.

Let’s say you meet an author who wants to use your grandparents as the main characters in a novel. The author tells you that the narrative will be fictional, but that your grandparents will have the starring roles. Sounds great! you think.

But when the manuscript arrives in your hands, you discover that the story does not accurately represent the personalities of your grandparents. The relationship between them is all wrong too. Grandma berates Grandpa. Early on, they run off and elope (which is totally out of character). At one point, they contemplate divorce.

When you complain, the author responds, “Remember? I told you it would be fictional.”

“Yes,” you say, somewhat exasperated, “I knew the story would be fictional, but I thought you would get my grandparents right. The grandparents in your story aren’t anything like my grandparents.”

“Who cares?” the author responds. “It’s a work of fiction.”

“Well, I care,” you say, “because people will put down this book thinking that my grandparents were like the way you portrayed them.”

My biggest problem with The Shack is its portrayal of God. I understand that the book is a work of fiction, not a theological treatise, and therefore should be treated as fiction. But the main characters are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These are actual Persons. To portray God in a manner inconsistent with his revelation to us in Scripture (and primarily in Jesus) is to misrepresent living Persons.

When people put down The Shack, they will not have a better understanding of the Trinity (despite the glowing blurbs on the back cover). They will probably have a more distorted view of God in three Persons.

Right on. Read the whole thing.

HT: Justin Taylor

Buckeye facts for opening weekend

2009-09-03T17:59:00.002-04:00

Eleven Warriors has posted some Buckeye facts you can impress your friends with this Tailgate weekend.

Ohio State is entering their 120th year of football, compiling a 808-307-53 record.
Ohio State hasn’t lost a home opener since 1978 (Woody’s last season), when JoePa’s Nittany Lions beat OSU 19-0.
The Buckeyes have an all-time record in Ohio Stadium of 385-106-20, a winning clip of 77.4 percent.
Tressel, entering his 9th season is 83-19 at OSU, with 9 of those losses coming over 2 seasons.
Ohio State has won 15 straight Big Ten road games, with the last loss coming at Penn State in the 2005 season.
Since 1950, only Oklahoma (75.8) has a better winning percentage than OSU (75.5).
Since 2006, Ohio State leads the FBS in games holding opponents under 21 points, with 40. They are 38-2 in those games.
The Buckeyes have not posted back-to-back losing seasons since 1922-24, a span of 84 seasons. They are second behind Tennessee, which is at 97 seasons, but posted a 5-7 record last year and very well could end the streak this year.

Short Review: The Poisonwood Bible

2009-09-03T10:29:00.005-04:00

I'm far behind in my goal to read 40 books in 2009. Starting to look like I might not make it. At any rate, this is probably the best novel I have read this year. A very brief review (it deserves a longer treatment, but it's a busy day).

#22 -- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998, 546 pages).

Grade: A

Why: As I said, this was the best novel I've read all year. I really, really liked it. But I know a lot of Christians hated it, so let me explain why I thought it was so good, and why I also think it's instructive for Christians to read.

First, the story. This is a book about events in the Congo in the middle of the twentieth century, told from the perspective of a Baptist missionary family. More specifically, it is told from the perspective of the four Price daughters. Each chapter shifts to a first person narration from a different daughter. The book starts with the Price family moving from Georgia to the Congo (against the recommendation from their missionary society -- partly because of the political unrest, and partly because Nathan Price was considered a bit of a kook, even amongst his fundamentalist brethren). The eldest daughter, Rachel, turns 16 shortly after they arrive, and she's the vain one in the family, scandalized by the conditions and by what she's being asked to endure, living in central Africa. Leah and Adah are twins, with Leah being the more dominant of the two. Leah longs to impress and please her father, that is until she falls in love with Africa (and an African) and changes her ideas, not only of Africa, but also of the West, Christianity, and their family's mission in the Congo. Adah suffers from a neurological problem which renders her reluctant to speak, but with incredible intelligence, and a unique perspective. The chapters written from Adah's viewpoint are fantastic, and one of the true highlights of the book. And then there is Ruth May, barely five when the Prices move to Africa. Again, Kingsolver uses Ruth May to give a totally unique picture of the goings-on in Africa and the Price family.

Many Christians didn't like the book because Nathan Price was clearly the novel's villain. Over-bearing, verbally abusive, and generally mean, Nathan is a charicature of not only the "ugly American," but every excess and abuse of colonialism wed with Christianization. He's missiologically awful, never learning about the local culture, traditions, or people. And he preaches a gospel of moralism combined with Euro-American cultural values. He's also kind of stupid. He has no capacity to learn from his mistakes and serves to alienate himself from the whole village (and ultimately, from his family).

While Nathan Price is the whipping boy, the story really is about the tumultous colonial and post-colonial years in the Congo. The West's utilitarian view of Africa (and Africans) is the real "evil" in Kingsolver's novel. Price really isn't much more than a pawn in a much bigger game. I think most Christians react negatively because of the charicature of Christians and missionaries in the person of Nathan. The Poisonwood Bible does make mention of other more thoughtful missionaries, and the benefits that came to the Congo through their schools and hospitals. But those are tertiary figures in the story, and thus it would be easy for someone to read the book and associate Nathan Price with all the missionary activity in Africa (and even all the world). This is a shame.

Even so, Christians (especially those interested in missions) should read this book. Nathan Price makes for an excellent tutorial of what NOT to do. And thus, he's a useful character for Christians in thinking about their cross-cultural approach, and how they may be perceived by others. He's such an unsympathetic character that you cannot read the story without forming your own opinions about what he is doing wrong. Some may conclude the whole missionary enterprise is wrong. But the discerning Christian reader will think through missionary activity ought to be done, both so that Christ is honored and non-Western peoples can learn about Him.

This is great writing. Kingsolver excels in telling the story through different sets of eyes, fleshing out a rich story of religion, culture, politics, and family. Well worth your time.

Loving Luther lately

2009-09-01T13:03:00.003-04:00

I've been reading Luther a lot in preparation for a sermon I preached last Sunday on Galatians 2. Anyway, Tom Wood emailed this quote yesterday from Luther's Commentary on Galatians. Well worth sharing:

“We comfort the afflicted sinner in this manner; Brother you can never be perfect in this life, but you can be holy. He will say, ‘How can I be holy when I feel my sins?’ I answer, ‘You feel sin? That is a good sign. To realize that one is ill is a step and a very necessary step, toward recovery.’ ‘But how will I get rid of my sin?’ he will ask. I answer: See the heavenly Physician, Christ, who heals the broken-hearted. Do not consult the Quackdoctor, Reason. Believe in Christ and your sins will be pardoned. His righteousness will become your righteousness, and your sins will become His sins.” Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, 1538

1971 Ted Kennedy on abortion

2009-08-27T18:05:00.001-04:00

I'm pulling a lot from Rod Dreher this week. You have to read this, though. Dreher quotes from a letter from Ted Kennedy to a Mr. Thomas Donnelly, dated August 3, 1971.

Dear Mr. Donnelly:

I appreciate your letter containing your views on abortion. There are many moral and legal aspects arising from this complex issue which is gaining the acceptance of large numbers of women faced with unwanted pregnancies, while disturbing the consciences of a great many other Americans.

Opponents maintain that abortion is wrong from every theological, moral and medical aspect. Proponents are firmly convinced that the woman, alone, has the right to decide.

While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized -- the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.

On the question of the individual's freedom of choice there are easily available birth control methods and information which women may employ to prevent or postpone pregnancy. But once life has begun, no matter at what stage of growth, it is my belief that termination should not be decided merely by desire.

I share the confidence of those who feel that America is willing to care for its unwanted as well as wanted children, protecting particularly those who cannot protect themselves. i also share the opinions of those who do not accept abortion as a response to our society's problems -- an inadequate welfare system, unsatisfactory job training programs, and insufficient financial support for all its citizens.

When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.

Sincerely,
Edward M. Kennedy

Hmmm...Would you vote for a Catholic Democrat who talked like this? I think even a lot of evangelicals would.

HT: Rod Dreher (Crunchy Con)

Make Health Care Cheaper - Lose Some Weight

2009-08-26T12:12:00.001-04:00

From Rod Dreher:

We are a nation in which no small number of people smoke. We are a nation in which shocking numbers of people are not just overweight, but obese. Here are the most recent CDC statistics. Only one state -- Colorado -- has under 20 percent of its people classified as obese. Six states have 30 percent or more of its people as obese. Obesity is connected to all kinds of serious -- and costly -- diseases. Take a look at this:

Overall, obesity accounts for nearly 10 percent of health-care costs. A new report finds that spending for people with obesity averages $1,400 more a year compared to someone who is normal weight. The majority of this excess spending is for prescription drugs that are required to manage obesity-related conditions.

Ten years ago, the CDC reported that half the medical costs of the obesity epidemic were born by the government under Medicaid and Medicare. This is going to get worse in the near term, not better. The obesity rate for kids has almost tripled in the last 30 years -- and studies show that 80 percent of obese kids will be obese adults. You can hem and haw about unfair value judgments all you like, but obesity-related diseases are no respecter of feelings. We are all going to be bearing higher health care costs over the decades to come as a result of our individual failures to take better care of ourselves.

Two things. First, it seems to me that all of us have to take responsibility for the way we live, and act to cut our own health care costs by eating more sensibly and exercising more often. Second, if we are going to depend on society, in the form of the government, to pay more of our individual ways via Medicare, Medicaid and whatever kind of health care program comes out of the reform process, then we have a moral obligation to do our part to get healthier -- chiefly by quitting cigarettes, and losing weight. It has not escaped my notice that the fattest states in the nation are among the most reliably conservative. What kind of individual responsibility are we red-state conservatives taking for ourselves by living like gluttons and sluggards -- especially if we're expecting the government to pick up our healthcare tab?

Read the whole thing.

Dreher: We need health care reform

2009-08-18T12:45:00.003-04:00

Conservative blogger, Rod Dreher (the Crunchy Con), writes about why he favors some kind of health reform.

Let me stipulate up front that I don't know what kind of health care reform I favor. I'm researching it this week and next as an assignment from my boss at work. Like most of you, I'm sure, I find this a massively complicated problem, and it's easy to get overwhelmed by the minutiae. In the great new book "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture," Ellen Ruppel Shell explains how psychological research has proved that "as a rule humans tend to push aside difficult questions in favor of simpler questions that they can answer easily." We're all like this; it's in our nature. She also talks about how research shows that both logic and emotion are necessary to decision-making, but that emotion is by far the more powerful deciding factor.... [skip]

Rep. Bart Stupak's House committee investigated insurance company "recissions" -- the practice of yanking coverage from people for having provided false information to insurers, or other reasons -- and found that the practice is widespread, and for the most spurious reasons. Stupak lists some of the outrageous findings here. This stuff is absolutely indefensible -- and yet, when Stupak put the top insurance execs in the spotlight, and asked them to commit not to kicking people off unfairly (e.g., the cancer-ridden Kentucky woman who was forced to wait for a double mastectomy because her insurance company decided acne on her breast was reason to yank her coverage), every one of them refused, saying that state law let them do it.

This rang a bell with me. Back in 1995, I took a new job. In the confusion of the move, I forgot to file a certain document with the group health insurance provider. Admittedly, this was entirely my error. And yet, when my boss went to the company's health insurance provider as soon as I discovered my mistake, the company refused to insure me. I had no pre-existing conditions, and was a healthy 28 year old man. But they refused, simply because they could. Because they wouldn't budge for anything, I went three years without health insurance. Thank God I didn't get sick during that time (except for the flu once, which I treated with a trip to a doc in the box). Still, it amazed me that because of my oversight, the insurance company denied me health insurance. Again, they were totally within their rights, but that experience taught me something about how insurance companies operate. Not even my company, which spent tens of millions every year with this insurance giant, could make them budge....[skip]

To be fair, I've had nothing but good experiences with insurance companies over the past 10 years or so. I don't think it's fair to paint them all as devils. But I really do fear that my family and I are just one corporate bureaucrat's decision away from being left to face catastrophic bills on our own, if something went wrong. I believe that people like me, who are covered by adequate insurance, try not to think about how fragile our coverage really is; part of the knee-jerk response against the prospect of reform is the understandable fear that we who are covered will lose what we have. But what about those who have lost it already, or who never had it? And how sure are we that what happened to Froma's husband, and to the innocent people who testified before Stupak's committee, won't happen to us? As Froma points out, we already have "death panels" in the insurance companies.

Like I said, I really don't know where I come down on health care reform. Perhaps what we need is insurance reform. I don't know (yet); I'm reading and thinking about it. But I am certain that we can't keep going like this, and stories like Froma's, and my own minor run-in with a hostile insurance company (which could have been major had I fallen ill), are the more powerful narrative to me. I am hostile to the effect of insurance company lobbyists on the process.

Read the whole thing.

I'm no expert in this field, and the complexities seem dizzying. But based on personal experience, it does seem to me that we need reform in health care of some kind. Your thoughts? Keep it civil.

Maybe you should shop at Whole Foods

2009-08-18T12:21:00.003-04:00

Some lefties are ticked at Whole Foods CEO John Mackay because he wrote an op-ed in the NY Times criticizing the health reform plans proposed by the White House. Whole Foods had been thought of by folks on the left as a model of corporate responsibility with its high wages for workers, generous health benefits, emphasis on local, organic foods, and charitable support for community projects. By Mackay's "heretical" views on health care (he's a libertarian after all) have caused some to organize a boycott of Whole Foods.

I tend to agree with Radley Balko, that this is poor form for lefties. Excerpt:

Let me see if I have the logic correct here: Whole Foods is consistently ranked among the most employee-friendly places to work in the service industry. In fact, Whole Foods treats employees a hell of a lot better than most liberal activist groups do. The company has strict environmental and humane animal treatment standards about how its food is grown and raised. The company buys local. The store near me is hosting a local tasting event for its regional vendors. Last I saw, the company's lowest wage earners make $13.15 per hour. They also get to vote on what type of health insurance they want. And they all get health insurance. The company is also constantly raising money for various philanthropic causes. When I was there today, they were taking donations for a school lunch program. In short, Whole Foods is everything leftists talk about when they talk about "corporate responsibility."

And from another post:

3) That's the crux of why I think the boycott is ill-considered, reactionary, and foolish. You're saying, "These opinions are so horrifyingly offensive, they outweigh all the good your company does, and therefore, I'm going to punish you, your employees, and all of your suppliers." See, I find that offensive. And yes, that's in part because I happen to agree with most of Mackey's recommendations.

4) I say in part because I also think the general premise is ridiculous. I shop at Costco. A lot. If the CEO of Costco wrote an op-ed calling for a single payer health care system, I'd shrug, maybe write a blog post about why I think he's wrong, and then I'd probably go to Costco this weekend to buy some dog food, some meat, and to try to eat my membership dues in free samples. Now, if the CEO of Costco wrote an op-ed calling for genocide against redheads, then yeah, I'd stop shopping there. But calling for a boycott of a conscientious company over its CEO endorsing proven ideas like HSAs and mainstream policies like tort reform is an attempt to push good ideas you disagree with to the fringe. It's a way of zoning your opponents best arguments out of the realm of civilized debate. In other words, it's a way to marginalize your opponents without actually having to debate them.

5) Some commenters say they're boycotting Whole Foods because it's too expensive. Okay. So. You want a company that pays its employees well, gives them great benefits, demands high environmental and humane treatment standards from its suppliers, caters to a variety of dietary restrictions, offers organic produce, and manages to keep its prices low so working class people can shop there. Oh, and it can't be part of the "industrial supply chain," either, whatever that means. Good luck! Of course, you all hate Walmart because it does keep prices low, but does so by paying its employees less and pressuring its suppliers for lower wholesale prices.

I guess we could just have the government grow, process, and distribute all the food. That seems to have worked really well in North Korea. But then if the government is the only food supplier, how could you wage a boycott when the government doesn't let the food workers unionize?

Hey, just asking!

I tend to agree with Balko. It's one thing to disagree (even fundamentally) with Mackay's ideas. But it seems strange to think his rather mainstream ideas worthy of a boycott. I'm all for boycotts to enforce corporate responsibility and as a weapon to ensure accountability, but by almost anyone's estimation, Whole Foods has been an exemplary company. It makes me want to go spend some money at Whole Foods.

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

2009-08-12T10:05:00.003-04:00

#21 -- Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (1980, 219 pages).

Grade: B

Why: I first became acquainted with Robinson with her novel Gilead, which I absolutely loved. I had been wanting to read more of her work, but there isn't much of it. Gilead was her second novel, coming nearly 25 years after her first, Housekeeping. Housekeeping won the PEN/Hemingway Award for best novel in 1980 and it was nominated for a Pulitzer (which Robinson later won for Gilead). Guardian Unlimited called Housekeeping one of the 100 greatest novels of all time and TIME included it in its Top 100 English-language novels 1923-2005 (odd year markers).

At any rate, Housekeeping is about two young girls (Ruth and Lucille) who are cared for their two nutty great-aunts, and eventually their eccentric aunt Sylvie. They lived in the small far west town of Fingerbone, which sits on a giant lake -- a lake which their grandfather's body resides after a tragic train wreck, and where her mother drove off a cliff to her death.

I'm glad I read Gilead first, because I don't think I would have given this book much of a chance. It's slow, dark, and to be honest, nothing much happens. The plot line is very thin, and really the action exists to serve as an occasion for Robinson to write about several themes which undergird the book -- impermanence, death, family, and "keeping house."

For me, the book was good, but not great. I tend to like weird characters (and weird people), and every major in figure in this book fits the bill. But I think it was a bit overwritten. When Robinson gets critiqued, it's because her sentences are so long and complicated. And you get the sense that she's a walking thesaurus. This made for a sloooowww read, which was frustrating at points, but I suppose also part of the charm. As one reviewer said, "I found myself reading slowly, then more slowly -- this is not a novel to be hurried through, for every sentence is a delight." I imagine this book would be near impossible to hurry through, both because Robinson's thoughts are so complex, and because the action is so slow moving. Good, thoughtful, and reflective. But not a beach read.

Dostoevsky to Vick -- It's a theological problem

2009-08-12T09:42:00.003-04:00

Michael Vick's in the news, of course, because he likely will be signing with an NFL Team this week. That's a good thing, in my opinion. He served his time. He ought to be allowed to return to his livelihood.

I also am excited that he is being mentored by Tony Dungy. I'm hoping that Dungy will help him see the deeper side of the whole dog fighting issue. You hear in the news about dog fighting as a moral issue (which it is), and certainly as a legal issue (Vick has prison time to prove that). But it's also a theological issue. I hope Vick is truly contrite for what he has done. But I also hope Dungy helps him see why it was wrong.

Vick would do well to pray regularly this prayer penned by Fyodor Dostoevsky:

Lord, may we love all your creation, all the earth and every grain of sand in it. May we love every leaf, every ray of your light.

May we love the animals: you have given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Let us not trouble it; let us not harass them, let us not deprive them of their happiness. Let us not work against your intent.

For we acknowledge unto you that all is like an ocean, all is flowing and bending, and that to withold any measure of love from anything in your universe is to withold that same measure from you. Amen.

Religion and the Gospel

2009-08-11T15:30:00.000-04:00

“Religion is, ‘I obey, therefore I’m accepted’. The Gospel is, ‘I’m accepted through what Jesus Christ has done for me, therefore I obey’. Religion gives you control, that’s why its so popular…If I am saved by what I can do, then there’s a limit to what God can ask of me. I still have some control. But if I am saved by sheer grace, then there’s nothing He cannot ask of me”. - Tim Keller

HT: Tom Wood

Hype for Football Season

2009-07-31T09:36:00.003-04:00

With the Reds tanking, I'm even more excited than normal for the Buckeyes to start football practice in about ten days.

The Plague

2009-07-30T09:38:00.003-04:00

#20 -- The Plague by Albert Camus (1948, 308 pages)

Grade: B+

Why: I feel kind of weird grading a Nobel Prize winner below an A, and I originally had it at A-, but while it was interesting, it wasn't a page turner for me. To make it to an A, I have to always be looking forward to getting back into it. The Plague didn't quite do that for me, though I recognize that it's acclaim is well-merited. It's a good book.

Camus sets the story in the North African town of Oran. Camus introduces us to the town, and some central characters in the first few pages, but the action picks up pretty quick as a variety of townspeople become ill, and more than a few die. The main character, Dr. Rieux, is the first to suspect plague, and after a number of attempts persuades the local magistrates that this is indeed the case. The rest of the book traces the lives of the townspeople while Oran is in quarantine, and the plague ravages through the city.

I don't know much more of what to say other than it's a compelling plot line. Death, suffering, and being cooped up make for very good character development, and Camus uses these themes to analyze the human psyche in various manifestations. Well worth reading if you get the chance. But like I said, it's not a page turner.

DeYoung: Why I Baptize Babies

2009-07-30T09:10:00.002-04:00

Excellent post by Kevin DeYoung explaining the practice of paedobaptism. He explains the basic the theological, biblical, and historical rationale behind the baptism of infants. He also gives some verbage that he uses at his church when explaining the sacrament.

Here's an excerpt:

Although not conclusive all by themselves, there are several other arguments that corroborate a paedobaptist reading of the New Testament.

One, the burden of proof rests on those who would deny children a sign they had received for thousands of years. If children were suddenly outside the covenant, and were disallowed from receiving any “sacramental” sign, surely such a massive change, and the controversy that would have ensued, would been recorded in the New Testament. Moreover, it would be strange for children to be excluded from the covenant, when everything else moves in the direction of more inclusion from the Old Covenant to the New.

Two, the existence of household baptisms is evidence that God still deals with households as a unit and welcomes whole families into the church to come under the Lordship of Christ together (Acts 16:13-15; 32-34; 1 Cor. 1:16; cf. Joshua 24:15).

Three, children are told to obey their parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1). Children in the church are not treated as little pagans to be evangelized, but members of the covenant who owe their allegiance to Christ.

Four, within two centuries of the Apostles we have clear evidence that the church was practicing infant baptism. If this had been a change to long-standing tradition, we would have some record of the church arguing over this new practice. It wasn't until the 16th century that Christians began to question the legitimacy of infant baptism.

I like Kevin DeYoung because he's thoughtful, but also charitable. He presents the case for infant baptism without bashing his credobaptist brethren. Good show, Kevin, good show.

He also lists some helpful resources on the subject of baptism:

The best short defense of infant baptism I've read is from Dennis Johnson (Westminster West). We use this paper in our new member's class. You can read it here. See also:

John Murray. Christian Baptism.
The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, edited by Gregg Strawbridge.
Joachim Jeremias. Infant Baptism in the First Four Centuries and The Origins of Infant Baptism.
I haven't read Understanding Four Views on Baptism but I imagine it is also helpful.

Both gospel and community centered

2009-07-28T11:42:00.004-04:00

Tim Chester and Steve Timmis (founders of Crowded House) offer a good stab at what a church might look like if it had the proper emphasis on both gospel and community (truth and relationships).

Being both gospel-centered and community-centered might mean:

seeing church as an identity instead of a responsibility to be juggled alongside other commitments
celebrating ordinary life as the context in which the word of God is proclaimed with ‘God-talk’ a normal feature of everyday conversation
running fewer evangelistic events, youth clubs and social projects, and spending more time sharing our lives with unbelievers
starting new congregations instead of growing existing ones
preparing Bible talks with other people instead of just studying alone at a desk
adopting a 24-7 approach to mission and pastoral care instead of starting ministry programs
switching the emphasis from Bible teaching to Bible learning and action
spending more time with people on the margins of society
learning to disciple one another – and be discipled – day by day
having churches that are messy instead of churches that pretend.

Is this appealing to you? Would you go to a church like this?

From Total Church.

More on Tim Keller

2009-07-24T17:07:00.003-04:00

Since I just posted on The Prodigal God and told you Keller is my favorite contemporary preacher, here's a little follow up and bio. Tim Stafford writes an excellent cover story for Christianity Today about both Tim and Kathy Keller and how they came to plant Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.

I came into the Presbyterian Church in America in New Jersey, in the NY Metro Presbytery, which is saturated with Keller's influence (and the churches which Redeemer has planted). Much of my thinking about the gospel, preaching, and church planting has been shaped by some of the same things Stafford mentions in the article. It's 7 pages long, but well worth the read.

The Prodigal God

2009-07-24T15:21:00.003-04:00

#19 -- The Prodigal God by Tim Keller (2008, 133 pages+notes)

Grade: A

Why: You should know that Tim Keller is one of my favorite thinkers, and I've heard him preach on Luke 15 more than once. So I wasn't in a rush to read the book. But now that I've gotten around to it, I'm so glad I did.

Keller offers a book-length treatment of the Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15. Traditionally understood as a story warning against the waywardness of the the younger son, Keller recasts the story as being about two lost sons. Yes, there is the younger son who asks for his inheritance from the father and takes off. But Keller believes the scandal of the parable is found in the lost older son who, like his brother, self-servingly balks at the father's love in favor of the father's things. The younger son rebels and runs away with the inheritance. The older son tries to merit the inheritance by his good deeds. Both are lost because they reject the grace and love of the father -- one with his sins, and the other with his good deeds.

This is a great book to read devotionally, but also tremendously useful as primer for how to think about discipleship (and really as a refresher on how real life change occurs). For a limited time, Keller's 7 week sermon series on Luke 15 is being offered for free at Redeemer NYC's online store. Check it out.

The study guide for the book is available here.

Jon Stewart and the sarcastic generation

2009-07-23T16:06:00.003-04:00

Excellent, excellent post by Skye Jethani, commenting on the results of a recent poll that found The Daily Show's Jon Stewart to be "the most trusted newscaster in America." While Jethani admits he himself is a fan of the Daily Show (and Stewart), he wonders about what this says about our generation. "Still, the popularity of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Onion reveals something about my generation. We love sarcasm. It is our native tongue. Listen to a group of under 40s engaging in casual conversation. It’s hard for us to talk for 30 seconds without a quip, a dig, or dose of eye-rolling hyperbole."

Skye goes on to take a stab at why our generation is so conversant in sarcasm.

But where does this deep reservoir of sarcasm come from? Why does it saturate my generation the way a strong work ethic once saturated the Greatest Generation or the way free-thinking saturated the Boomers? Here’s my best guess: I think our sarcasm is a socially acceptable way for us to vent the mountain of anger we feel.

We are the first generation born after the passage of no-fault-divorce. We come from broken homes.

We are the first generation born after Vietnam and Watergate. We live with a broken government.

We are the first generation raised on cable television and 24 hour advertising. We are suspicious of marketing and spin.

We are the first generation to fight a war on drugs. We are over-medicated and under-achieving.

You really should read the whole thing. What do you think? Is this a fair analysis? And if so, is it a problem?

Books on marriage

2009-07-21T09:59:00.002-04:00

I'm doing lots of weddings this summer (and fall), and thus have had the occassion to rework some of the premarital counseling we do for couples. I've gotten the chance to re-read a couple of books on the subject.

#17 -- Each for the Other: Marriage As It's Meant to Be by Bryan Chapell (1998, 202 pages).

Grade: B+

Why: As always, Chapell is solid with his Biblical exegesis as he walks the reader through relevant Scripture concerning the nature and purpose of marriage. He divides the book into thirds -- section 1 dealing with what it means to be a sacrificial husband, section 2 focusing on the role of the sacrificial wife, and section 3 expands the scope of the discussion to the purpose of marriage for family and society.

The strengths of this book are in Chapell's close reading of the Biblical text and his constant emphasis on Christ as both our model and our Savior for when we fail in our high calling as husbands and wives. Helpful illustrations are imbedded throughout the book. Chapell (rightly, I believe) defends the complementarian view of gender roles, but does so in a winsome manner. No doubt some will be offended, and I suppose Chapell would say, "Oh, well."

I've heard that the newer addition has helpful side comments from the author's wife. My only critique is that Parts 1 and 2 are often repetitive.

#18 -- Before You Say "I Do": A Marriage Preparation Manual for Couples by H. Norman Wright and Wes Roberts (1977, 91 pages).

Grade: A-

Why: If you can get past the ridiculously cheesy cover, this is a great resource for engaged couples. This is a workbook style course designed to get couples talking about issues that may not naturally come up as they prepare for marriage. It's tremendously practical and my experience in counseling is that it leads to some great (and often very revealing) conversations between couples.

Chapter 5 really stinks (and I would skip it all together), but every other chapter asks great questions for couples to consider (individually and together). Everything from a philosophy about marriage to decision-making to communication to family to conflict to money to sex is covered pretty thoroughly.

This manual is less prescriptive and designed more to get couples talking about asumptions and expectations concerning marriage and family. It works well as a companion to a more theological book about marriage (like Chapell's above).

Screwtape Letters and Bookends of the Christian Life

2009-07-18T14:42:00.003-04:00

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know I have been trying to be more disciplined with my reading this year and have been working toward reading 40 books in 2009 (a significant step up from previous years). I've finished a few more than I have posted about, so I'll try and catch up over the next few days.

Book #15 -- The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (1942, 208 pages).

Grade: A

Why: I've read this book 3 or 4 times now and I never cease to learn from it. I especially benefited this go-around by reading it in the context of a small group of guys. If you don't know anything about the book, it's a fictional set of letters from an elder devil (Screwtape) to his nephew (a young tempter named Wormwood). The setting is WWII London and Wormwood has his first "patient," a young man whom Wormwood is to tempt, distract, confuse, and pretty much do anything he can to make sure this man ends up as far away from God as possible, and ultimately in hell.

This is great stuff, and one of Lewis' most acclaimed books. Originally written as a serial, the chapters are short, funny, and entertaining to read. But more than anything, this book proves Lewis had a unique grasp of the human condition. Screwtape is great to read for fun, but also is a great devotional work as Lewis gives us a window into the darker parts of our mind and soul. Highly recommended for individuals or groups.

Book #16 -- The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington (2009, 160 pages).

Grade: B

Why: This is a short, helpful little book on discipleship (Bridges' specialty). I thought the practical theology in here was great, modeled a lot on Jack Miller's 'Gospel Transformation' concepts. The authors throughout invite us to think of our life as a long bookshelf. "The books on it represent all the things you do -- both spiritual and temporal." The bookshelf is an active place as we take books on and off each day. "Without adequate bookends," they argue, "even if we succeed in getting all our books to remain upright, their stability is precarious at best."

Bridges and Bevington maintain that there are two bookends that we need to have in place in order for the books of our life to remain upright and in balance. One bookend is the righteousness of Christ and the other is the power of the Holy Spirit. About half of Bookends is devoted to each.

This is good and helpful information concerning discipleship. For content alone, I would give it a B+. But I found the bookends metaphor distracting, and they found the need to mention it at every turn. So I mark it down a bit for that, but perhaps that's just my preference.

Tim Challies liked it better than I did.

NCCC Mexico Mission Trip

2009-07-17T09:01:00.005-04:00

Pictures from our June mission trip to Monterrey and El Limon with Back2Back Ministries.

UPDATE: For some reason my sidebar is cutting off the edge of the video. To see it better, double click the video and watch it at youtube.

Kingdom Living in the 2nd Century

2009-07-15T09:49:00.003-04:00

Here's a great (and challenging) description of 2nd century Christians and their role in the world. This is an excerpt from the Epistle to Diognetus (c. 200 AD). Something for the church in our day and age to aspire to.

CHAPTER 5
5:1 For Christians are not distinguished from the
rest of mankind either in locality or in speech or in
customs.
5:2 For they dwell not somewhere in cities of their
own, neither do they use some different language, nor
practise an extraordinary kind of life.
5:3 Nor again do they possess any invention
discovered by any intelligence or study of ingenious
men, nor are they masters of any human dogma as some
are.
5:4 But while they dwell in cities of Greeks and
barbarians as the lot of each is cast, and follow the
native customs in dress and food and the other
arrangements of life, yet the constitution of their
own citizenship, which they set forth, is marvellous,
and confessedly contradicts expectation.
5:5 They dwell in their own countries, but only as
sojourners; they bear their share in all things as
citizens, and they endure all hardships as strangers.
Every foreign country is a fatherland to them, and
every fatherland is foreign.
5:6 They marry like all other men and they beget
children; but they do not cast away their offspring.
5:7 They have their meals in common, but not their
wives.
5:8 They find themselves in the flesh, and yet they
live not after the flesh.
5:9 Their existence is on earth, but their
citizenship is in heaven.
5:10 They obey the established laws, and they
surpass the laws in their own lives.
5:11 They love all men, and they are persecuted by
all.
5:12 They are ignored, and yet they are condemned.
They are put to death, and yet they are endued with
life.
5:13 They are in beggary, and yet they make many
rich. They are in want of all things, and yet they
abound in all things.
5:14 They are dishonoured, and yet they are
glorified in their dishonour. They are evil spoken of,
and yet they are vindicated.
5:15 They are reviled, and they bless; they are
insulted, and they respect.
5:16 Doing good they are punished as evil-doers;
being punished they rejoice, as if they were thereby
quickened by life.
5:17 War is waged against them as aliens by the
Jews, and persecution is carried on against them by
the Greeks, and yet those that hate them cannot tell
the reason of their hostility.

CHAPTER 6
6:1 In a word, what the soul is in a body, this the
Christians are in the world.
6:2 The soul is spread through all the members of
the body, and Christians through the divers cities of
the world.
6:3 The soul hath its abode in the body, and yet it
is not of the body. So Christians have their abode in
the world, and yet they are not of the world.
6:4 The soul which is invisible is guarded in the
body which is visible: so Christians are recognised as
being in the world, and yet their religion remaineth
invisible.
6:5 The flesh hateth the soul and wageth war with
it, though it receiveth no wrong, because it is
forbidden to indulge in pleasures; so the world hateth
Christians, though it receiveth no wrong from them,
because they set themselves against its pleasures.
6:6 The soul loveth the flesh which hateth it, and
the members: so Christians love those that hate them.
6:7 The soul is enclosed in the body, and yet itself
holdeth the body together; so Christians are kept in
the world as in a prison-house, and yet they
themselves hold the world together.
6:8 The soul though itself immortal dwelleth in a
mortal tabernacle; so Christians sojourn amidst
perishable things, while they look for the
imperishability which is in the heavens.
6:9 The soul when hardly treated in the matter of
meats and drinks is improved; and so Christians when
punished increase more and more daily.
6:10 So great is the office for which God hath
appointed them, and which it is not lawful for them to
decline.

House Resolution 216

2009-07-14T12:53:00.002-04:00

This just seems like common sense to me. I agree with Justin Taylor when he says "It's hard to think of even one legitimate reason that this resolution should not be passed immediately." Basically, the resolution states that House members need to be given a reasonable amount of time (10 days) to read legislation before a vote is called.

From the proposed resolution:

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to ensure that Members have a reasonable amount of time to read legislation that will be voted upon.

Resolved, That (a) the Rules of the House of Representatives are amended by redesignating rule XXIX as rule XXX and by inserting after rule XXVIII the following new rule:

`RULE XXIX

`Time to Read Legislation Before Voting

`1. Notwithstanding any provision of these rules, no bill, joint resolution, conference report, or amendment between the Houses shall be voted on by the House unless the text of that measure has been available to all Members and their staffs in both printed and electronic format for at least 10 days and any manager's amendment or other amendment which makes substantive changes to the legislation has been made available in both printed and electronic versions for at least 72 hours before the scheduled vote on such legislation.

`2. Clause 1 shall not apply to--

`(1) the intelligence authorization bill, appropriations, or other legislation containing classified information, or conference report thereon, if Members have at least 7 days to study the contents of such measure; and

`(2) congressional declarations of war or authorization of military force to respond to attacks on the United States.

`3. Notwithstanding any provision of these rules, any citizen who is eligible to vote and who is not an employee of the executive or judicial branch of the Government may petition the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate allegations that a Member voted for any measure that violated this rule.'.

(b) Clause 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by inserting before the period at the end thereof the following: `, or a rule or order that would waive the provisions of rule XXIX'.

#14 -- Big Fish

2009-06-19T08:59:00.003-04:00

Book #14 -- Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace (1959, 180 pages).

Grade: B+

Why: This is one of the rare times I watched the movie before reading the book. Indeed, the movie led me to the book (that, and the Country Inn and Suites that let me have it for free). Overall, I thought the story was very strong -- funny and enjoyable. Daniel Wallace is known mostly for his short stories, and this book reads like a collection of short stories about the same character. Big Fish is about Edward Bloom -- the most intriguing man to ever come from Ashland, Alabama.

The tales about Bloom are woven together with scenes of Bloom's last days, dying as an old man in his home. His son William tries to get to know his father in these final hours, realizing that, up to this point, he knows more of his father's wild stories than the man himself. The vignettes are told by William as the great myths (or fish stories) passed on by his father over the years.

Wallace admits that Big Fish is directly inspired by Greek mythology. Indeed, much of Greek myth portrays the father/son relationship as openly hostile. In Big Fish, it's not quite that bad. They struggle to communicate as William wants to know his father and Edward yearns for approval from his son. William wants the truth, but Edward hides behind jokes and tall tales, the language with which he is most comfortable. Though this is a little of a "daddy issues" book, it's far from depressing. It's really quite colorful and fun, and also explores the nature of truth. A myth has been described as a "true story that never happened." William is unsatisfied with this understanding of truth, longing for real facts and insight from his father, while Edward believes some truths are best communicated through fictional stories and humorous tales.

Many reviewers give special attention to the chapter "The Day He Left Ashland," in which Edward finds an underworld-like version of his hometown "populated by should-have-beens trapped forever in a miserable place." I found this chapter compelling as well. Rising stars somehow got off track and found themselves stuck in this grey town, guarded by a vicious dog who bites off the fingers of those who try to leave. In an interview about the book, Wallace says the dog was inspired by Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the gates of Hades in mythology. "Every mythic hero needs a trip through the underworld," Wallace says. This chapter is a great example of how myth (or parable) can tell us something true -- many become so paralyzed by the fear of failure that they find themselves "stuck" underachieving.

Most of the other stories don't have the same communicative value as "The Day He Left Ashland," but the book as a whole is enjoyable. Wallace leaves the reader with an unresolved tension -- sympathy for Edward and his great stories, and also a sense of sorrow that he never let his son know him better. Stories are great for entertainment, and even to teach an idea or value. But they are no substitute for honesty and vulnerability, which is what William longs for in his father. Edward, it seems, would prefer to teach or entertain his son rather than really get to know him.

#13 -- Reckless Faith

2009-06-18T13:35:00.004-04:00

Book #13 -- Reckless Faith: Let Go and Be Led, by Beth Guckenberger (Zondervan, 2008. 212 pages).

Grade: A

Why: I first met Beth and her husband Todd seven years ago on a mission trip to Mexico. This was six years after they founded their orphan care ministry (Back2Back Ministries) in Monterrey. Upon first hearing them share their heart for the ministry, I was hooked. I've been back 5 to Monterrey five times since. The Guckenberger's passion for children is coupled with a deep understanding of God's care for the least and the lost, and it has spilled over into a ministry much bigger than themselves, with over 30 staff in four countries. Really exciting stuff.

I just returned from a Back2Back trip, and so I am likely not the most objective reviewer of the book. Nevertheless, I'll give it a go. Reckless Faith isn't a memoir so much, as a collection of stories (or vignettes) from the Guckenberger's experiences in orphan care ministry. Though personal stories, they are accessible to those who have no experience with their ministry or Mexico. Having heard Beth speak before, I went into the book knowing it would be a good read with gripping stories. But I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful and poignant her prescriptive statements were. Every short story is coupled with a reflection and an application. Though challenging in every way, Guckenberger manages to avoid the trap that many books written by missionaries fall into -- offering applications unattainable by the average working person. Beth's thoughts are inspiring, but also doable, whether you are caring for oprhans in Mexico or sitting behind a desk in Cincinnati.

I highly recommend this book. It's a short, quick read, and would make a great gift. It also would read well on a beach chair during your vacation.

Edwards -- "Don't slack off seeking, striving, and praying"

2009-06-15T11:41:00.001-04:00

“Don’t slack off seeking, striving, and praying for the very same things that we exhort unconverted people to strive for, and a degree of which you have had in conversion. Thus pray that your eyes may be opened, that you may receive sight, that you may know your self and be brought to God’s feet, and that you may see the glory of God and Christ, may be raised from the dead, and have the love of Christ shed abroad in your heart. Those that have most of these things still need to pray for them; for there is so much blindness and hardness and pride and death remaining that they still need to have that work of God upon them, further to enlighten and enliven them. This will be a further bringing out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, and a kind of new conversion…” Jonathan Edwards, "Advice to Young Converts".

HT: Tom Wood

Put Me in Coach

2009-06-01T22:25:00.004-04:00

North Cincinnati Community Church, where I have been a pastor for the last 5+ years, threw a going away party for me and two other staff members. It was a great evening, and we felt very appreciated. A highlight were some "tribute" songs our senior pastor put together to commemorate our going. They parodied "Put Me in Coach" by John Fogerty for me, and the Beatles' "I Saw [Him] Standing There" to welcome my replacement.

And they did parodies of "Pinball Wizard" for our departing Children's Ministry Director and "Sweet Home Alabama" for William Plott, who is leaving to plant a church in Huntsville.

Twitter and worship

2009-05-30T13:48:00.003-04:00

I have seen lots of people are twittering (or tweeting, or whatever) during the message at some church services (I haven't noticed it yet at ours). Some staff do it at some of my friends' churches as a way of summarizing the main points of the message. I have to admit, it seems pretty lame to me. And also distracting. Here is what John Piper has to say on the practice:

. . . [W]e think you should use Twitter before and after corporate worship to say what you take in and take out. But when you are in corporate worship, Worship! There is a difference between communion with God and commenting on communion with God.

Don’t tweet while having sex. Don’t tweet while praying with the dying. Don’t tweet when your wife is telling you about the kids. There’s a season for everything. Multitasking only makes sense when none of the tasks requires heart-engaged, loving attention.

I couldn't agree more.

HT: Justin Taylor

#12 -- Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective

2009-05-28T09:32:00.003-04:00

I'm starting to get back on track with my reading plan. It's easier to do, I must admit, with books about baseball and rock and roll.

#12 -- Robert Vagacs, Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective (2005, 95 pages).

Grade: C

Why: I have the same feelings about this book that I have for the movie "Million Dollar Hotel" that Bono wrote and Wim Wenders directed. Great idea. Great setup. Not so hot with the execution.

Robert Vagacs is a theological student at the University of Toronto, and a huge U2 fan. This is true of his mentor, Brian Walsh as well. In the foreword, Walsh narrates his own experience of encountering God at a U2 concert. Walsh almost didn't go to the show, as the daughter of close friends lay in a hospital bed on the brink of death. But at the suggestion of one of his students, Walsh and friends decided to go to the concert anyway, feeling a little guilty at the prospect of enjoying such a spectacle of entertainment while their friends suffered just down the road at the hospital. What Walsh found at the concert, however, was not mere entertainment, but a worship experience. As U2 sang about life and love and death and pain, Walsh was intermittently transported to a place of lament and then prayer and ultimately to a place of joy and hope. This was no mere concert. It was a worship experience.

Unfortunately, Vagacs' writing cannot match that of Walsh, and thus the book goes down hill from there. Vagacs does an admirable job, however, of applying Walter Brueggeman's hermenuetical framework to the U2 catalog. Brueggeman (in Psalms and the Life of Faith) argues that one can see the Psalms through the lens of "orientation - disorientation - reorientation." "Psalms of orientation would include wisdom psalms where everything in creation is in order. God is sovereign, the righteous are blessed, and the wicked are dealt with according to their crimes (e.g., Psalms 104, 127, 128, 131, 133, 145)." Psalms of disorientation include psalms of lament (Psalms 88, 42, 44 among others). These psalms cry out in pain for the present circumstances and long for another time and place. And lastly there are psalms of reorientation. These picture not just a return to the "good old days," but picture a new, hopeful, and imaginative reality. What once was impossible is now possible: "Grace makes beauty out of ugly things."

This idea is not just a way to classify the psalms, but also a way to understand spiritual journey. For example, one can read the great Pilgrim's Progress through the lens of orientation - disorientation - reorientation. And, so argues Vagacs, you can understand U2's poetry through this lens as well.

Vagacs makes mention of U2's early work, but he really begins with The Joshua Tree. This is an album of orientation. This is protest poetry, giving the listener a clear picture of the world as U2 sees it -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Songs like "Bullet the Blue Sky," "In God's Country," and "Mothers of the Disappeared" are both descriptive and offer critiques of Western culture (and particularly the United States). But there is also a longing for something more in the record, an eschatological quality. Bono sings about a longing for the kingdom of God to come in its fullness. This is something they have yet to see ("I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For") but expect to come ("Where the Streets Have No Name").

The 1990's were U2's period of disorientation. The trilogy of albums Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop are much darker than U2's earlier work. The songs are filled with doom, gloom, irony and satire. Vagacs argues that in these albums U2 is describing the "Babylonian state of Zooropa." "Zooropa is the anti-matter of 'Where the Streets Have No Name'... [It] offers no fulfillment, no certainty, no hope, no compass, no map, no religion. Zooropa is hell on earth." "Love is Blindness" is a funeral procession, depicting the hopelessness of a loveless world. "The Wanderer" might serve as the archetypal song for all three albums. Bono sings of "a city without a soul, under an atomic sky, where the ground won't turn, and the rain it burns...Love is clockworks and cold steel." Vagacs explains, "This city robs its citizens of any semblance of community. Identity is comprised of slogans. This city is the opposite of 'Where the Streets Have No Name.' Instead of hope, there is consumerism. Instead of shalom, there is conformity. Instead of life, there is only numbness. Welcome to the new and improved Babylon...Welcome to the wasteland called Zooropa."

Zooropa leaves The Wanderer feeling less than human, as in "Numb" and "Lemon." And since there is little purpose or destination to his travels, self-indulgence seems to be the way to go in "Playboy Mansion" and "Mofo." But this ultimately leads to dissatisfaction and despair, questioning if God exists or, if He does, whether He cares in "Wake Up Dead Man."

Vagacs misses a great chance here to elaborate on this period of disorientation by analyzing the Zoo TV and Discoteque tours. He mentions them briefly, but a chapter talking about the gluttony of Zoo TV and the long hangover of Discoteque would have been appropriate. After all, the irony and humor of Bono singing "Desire" to himself in a mirror while wearing a gold suit, and dressing as MacPhisto and throwing copies of The Screwtape Letters into the crowd, and playing the part of Judas while singing "Until the End of the World" would really have bolstered Vagacs' argument.

Lastly, Vagacs places U2's next two albums, All That You Can't Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in the category of reorientation. (The book came out before U2's most recent release, No Line on the Horizon). Vagacs cites Salmon Rushdie "recalling a meal in Bono's home in Killiney, south Dublin, when German film director Wim Wenders 'announced that artists must no longer use irony. Plain speaking, he argued, was necesary now. Communication should be direct, and anything that might create confusion should be eschewed.'" This is exactly what U2 did with their next two albums.

Bono himself has said that the theme of All That You Can't Leave Behind is "joy." And on the Elevation tour he shouts "It's all about soul!" What a contrast to move from "Wake Up Dead Man" to "Beautiful Day." The lyrics also intimate a move from "the wanderer" to "the sojourner." Now there is a destination. The cover art suggests this as the band stands at an airport in front of gate J33-3, a reference to Jeremiah 33:3 -- "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know." Bono has referred to this verse as "God's telephone number."

"Walk On" speaks of the journey to a better place and "In a Little While" seems to answer the timing questions to songs like "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "40". "Vertigo" consciously juxtaposes the trials of Christ in the wilderness with the disorientation of life in this time, but both records ultimately are hopeful in God's providence and the coming of His kingdom ("All Because of You" and "Yahweh" are most obvious in making this point).

It's hard for me to admit that I didn't really like this book. Especially because I agree with Vagacs' premise, and I LOVE U2. But the book didn't do much for me. I found the book wanting because, after the first chapter, Vagacs mainly strings together U2 lyrics that seem to support his point. I was hoping for more than that. More reflection, more biographical sketches and anecdotes about the band, more engagement with their performances as well as their lyrics.

In some ways, this book suffers from the same deficiency as Mark Pinsky's The Gospel According to the Simpsons. The premise is good, but it is workman-like from thereon out. A book about The Simpsons ought to be more than descriptive. It ought to be funny. And Pinsky's book wasn't. And a book about U2's poetry ought to be more than insightful. It ought to be beautiful. And this book wasn't.

Cleveland Tourism

2009-05-26T16:24:00.001-04:00

Very funny. "At least we're not Detroit." That's good stuff.

HT: Jay Silverman

Thinking theologically about singleness

2009-05-19T14:16:00.002-04:00

I preached this past Sunday from 1 Corinthians 7 about a Biblical perspective on singleness. I thought I'd take some time this week to post a few excerpts from resources I found helpful in preparation, as well as a few things that didn't make it into the sermon.

I highly suggest you check out Paige Benton Brown's excellent little essay about being single. She correctly roots our questions about singleness in God, rather than attributing a lot of human-centered reasons to why some are single and some are not.

An excerpt:

John Calvin’s secret to sanctification is the interaction of the knowledge of God and knowledge of self. Singles, like all other sinners, typically dismiss the first element of the formula, and therein lies the root of all identity crises. It is not that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but that life has no tragedy like our God ignored. Every problem is a theological problem, and the habitual discontent of us singles is no exception.

Can God be any less good to me on the average Tuesday morning than he was on that monumental Friday afternoon when he hung on a cross in my place? The answer is a resounding NO. God will not be less good to me tomorrow either, because God cannot be less good to me. His goodness is not the effect of his disposition but the essence of his person—not an attitude but an attribute.

I long to be married. My younger sister got married two months ago. She now has an adoring husband, a beautiful home, a whirlpool bathtub, and all-new Corningware. Is God being any less good to me than he is to her? The answer is a resounding NO. God will not be less good to me because God cannot be less good to me. It is a cosmic impossibility for God to shortchange any of his children...

Warped theology is at the heart of attempts to "explain" singleness:

* "As soon as you’re satisfied with God alone, he’ll bring someone special into your life”—as though God’s blessings are ever earned by our contentment.
* "You’re too picky”—as though God is frustrated by our fickle whims and needs broader parameters in which to work.
* "As a single you can commit yourself wholeheartedly to the Lord’s work”—as though God requires emotional martyrs to do his work, of which marriage must be no part.
* "Before you can marry someone wonderful, the Lord has to make you someone wonderful"—as though God grants marriage as a second blessing to the satisfactorily sanctified.

Accepting singleness, whether temporary or permanent, does not hinge on speculation about answers God has not given to our list of whys, but rather on celebration of the life he has given. I am not single because I am too spiritually unstable to possibly deserve a husband, nor because I am too spiritually mature to possibly need one. I am single because God is so abundantly good to me, because this is his best for me. It is a cosmic impossibility that anything could be better for me right now than being single, The psalmists confirm that I should not want, I shall not want, because no good thing will God withhold from me.

Read the whole thing.

HT: Josh Carmichael

#11 -- Baseball and Philosophy

2009-05-19T11:36:00.002-04:00

I'm so far behind in my reading goals. April and May have been killing me. Here's a short "review" for book #11.

#11 -- Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box, edited by Eric Bronson (2004, 350 pages).

Grade -- C+

Why -- C+ is an average grade. And I thought it was an average book. As is the case with any collection of essays, it was uneven. A few chapters I thought were very good. Some were terribly uninteresting. But mostly, I was dissapointed that some seemed really good on baseball and only peripherally connected to philosophy. Others had some interesting philosophical arguments, but the connections to baseball were more loosely tied together. Overall, it was entertaining, but certainly not at the top of my recommendation list for summer reading. Rather than a more formal review, I'll give you a rundown of the themes addressed throughout. Stars (and bold) will indicate my favorite chapters.

1 - Our underdstanding of "home" affects the way we interpet and understand other information. (Ties to baseball here are loose at best)
*2 - Legal utilitarianism and Minnesota's successful case against contraction of the Twins (very good treatment of baseball's unique place in American culture, and law)
*3 - Is it illogical to be a Cubs fan? (interesting discussion of when it's still rational to have faith)
4 - Aristotle versus Seneca and the idea of the sacrifice bunt (and why Hegel would have loved the Big Red Machine)
*5 - Contradictions in the rules of baseball
6 - Does an umpire's call actually make it a ball or a strike (performative utterance), or do they simply act as an authoritative witness?
7 - Why a corked bat is cheating and the hidden ball trick is acceptable deception
8 - The evils of the double squeeze and other immoralities in deceiving the umpires
9 - The 1977 Yankees teach us how dysfuntion is actually good for democracy
10 - Baseball is America's game because of moral precepts inherent to it, rather than the capital it can attract
11 - The history of social darwinism as a rationale from excluding blacks from the Major Leagues
*12 -- Philosophies of resistance and the Negro Leagues
13 - Zen and the art of hitting
*14 - Japanese baseball through the lens of ancient martial arts training
*15 -- Statistical theory and why it may be better to be lucky than good
16 - Feminist philosophy asks if the existence of softball perpetuates gender stereotypes and actually keeps women from playing baseball
*17 - The Ethics of the intentional walk (and why baseball is inherently superior over all time-bound games)
18 - Baseball and Socrates' examined life (very much a stretch)

The book concludes with a few short debates, with respondents on either side of the issue.

*19 - Should Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame?
20 - Does A-Rod deserve so much money?
21 - Does superstition help performance?
22 - Should steroids be banned?
*23 - What's the best baseball movie? (One argues for The Natural while another argues for the 1949 film It Happens Every Spring)
24 - Were baseball players better role models then or now?

I don't recommend buying it, but you could always get it from the library and skim it, or just read what appear to be the most interesting chapters. Or you can borrow my copy.

Norway could teach the U.S. a thing or two

2009-05-16T17:52:00.004-04:00

Rod Dreher links to this article in the NY Times about Norwegian guilt and fiscal responsibility. Excerpt:

Norway is a relatively small country with a largely homogeneous population of 4.6 million and the advantages of being a major oil exporter. It counted $68 billion in oil revenue last year as prices soared to record levels. Even though prices have sharply declined, the government is not particularly worried. That is because Norway avoided the usual trap that plagues many energy-rich countries.

Instead of spending its riches lavishly, it passed legislation ensuring that oil revenue went straight into its sovereign wealth fund, state money that is used to make investments around the world. Now its sovereign wealth fund is close to being the largest in the world, despite losing 23 percent last year because of investments that declined.

Norway's relative frugality stands in stark contrast to Britain, which spent most of its North Sea oil revenue -- and more -- during the boom years. Government spending rose to 47 percent of G.D.P., from 42 percent in 2003. By comparison, public spending in Norway fell to 40 percent from 48 percent of G.D.P.

"The U.S. and the U.K. have no sense of guilt," said Anders Aslund, an expert on Scandinavia at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "But in Norway, there is instead a sense of virtue. If you are given a lot, you have a responsibility."

Eirik Wekre, an economist who writes thrillers in his spare time, describes Norwegians' feelings about debt this way: "We cannot spend this money now; it would be stealing from future generations."

Dreher goes on to say, tongue-in-cheek, "Stewardship? Self-restraint? Clearly, these people must be crazy."

Seriously, can you even imagine a coalition of American politicians (of either party) pushing for legislation like this. Yes, one or two will give us rhetoric like this. But I can't imagine a significant group from either party rallying around this kind of fiscal policy.

Gallup: Most Americans are pro-life

2009-05-15T13:27:00.004-04:00

While we're on the subject of abortion:

A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.

I think this is pretty significant, given the fact that Republicans are getting creamed in every election under the sun. Apparently it's not this issue that has them losing.

It's also significant given President Obama's stated desire to be a centrist and pragmatist when it comes to governing. Will this affect his thoughts on Supreme Court appointments?

HT: Drudge

Piper's response to President Obama on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade

2009-05-14T16:10:00.001-04:00

Very powerful, and well done.

HT: Justin Taylor

Want to feel better? You gotta feel worse first, or so says the New Calvinism

2009-05-13T14:06:00.003-04:00

Kevin DeYoung writes about the resurgence of Calvinism among young people for the Christian Research Journal. Pretty good stuff. Here's an excerpt.

Here are the two most important things you need to know about the rise of the New Calvinism: it’s not new and it’s not about Calvin. Of course, some of the conferences are new. The John Piper–packed iPods are new. The neo-reformed blog blitz is new. The ideas, however, are not. “Please God, don’t let the young, restless, and reformed movement be another historically ignorant, self-absorbed, cooler-than-thou fad."

And while I’m praying: “Please God, don’t let the New Calvinism ever, ever be about the New Calvinism.” Don’t get me wrong. I’m not afraid to be called a Calvinist. I’ve read the Institutes multiple times, most of Calvin’s commentaries, and was voted “Calvin Clone” by my peers at seminary. I thank God for Calvin. But if the New Calvinism is to continue as a work of God, which I think it has been, it must continue to be about God. Young Christians have been drawn to Calvinism not because they were looking for Calvin or an “ism,” but because they were drawn to a vision of a massive, glorious, fall-down-before-Him-as-though-dead kind of God who loves us because He wants to.

The influence of Calvinism is growing because its God is transcendent and its theology is true. In a day when “be better” moralism passes for preaching, self-help banality passes for counseling, and “Jesus is my boyfriend” music passes for worship in some churches, more and more people are finding comfort in a God who is anything but comfortable. The paradox of Calvinism is that we feel better by feeling worse about ourselves, we do more for God by seeing how He’s done everything for us, and we give love away more freely when we discover that we have been saved by free grace.

I think that's right. A lot of people get into Reformed theology without knowing it's Reformed theology. They just know it's different, and it has a big view of God and a big view of grace. And in a world of self-helpism, that's both distinctive and refreshing.

Jethani on the Divine Commodity

2009-05-12T13:19:00.002-04:00

Here's a short video of Skye Jethani talking about his book The Divine Commodity.

Skye Jethani on The Divine Commodity from Anne Jackson on Vimeo.

I blogged about the book here.

Five Guys coming to Cincinnati

2009-05-10T17:20:00.003-04:00

Urban Cincy reports that Five Guys Burgers is coming to Clifton. Good news for hungry college students. And good news for me. I LOVE their burgers.

New Sandra and Derek

2009-04-15T10:51:00.002-04:00

For Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb fans, Music City Unsigned has a new DVD of a house show Sandra and Derek did in their home a few months ago. You can watch preview videos of "Lose You" and "Halfway" by clicking those links. Good stuff. They are also releasing a live CD of this show called "Live Under Lights and Wires" in June. Derek Webb also has a new album in the works called "Stockholm Syndrome" set to release sometime in May/June 2009.

Ross Douthat on Moralistic Therapuetic Deism

2009-04-14T13:41:00.002-04:00

Via Mike Brown (not the Bengals owner):

Ross Douthat on the Damon Linker argument:

"Whether you share this optimism about the "salutary" advance of moralistic therapeutic deism ultimately depends on whether you share Linker's sense that the biggest problem facing America in the Bush years was the "siege" of secular America by orthodox Christians. The more you fear the theocon menace, the more you'll welcome the Oprahfication of Christianity - since the steady spread of a mushy, muddle-headed theology is as good a way as any of inoculating the country and its politics against, say, Richard John Neuhaus's views on natural law.

But let's say you think that the biggest problems facing America in the Bush years were, I dunno, the botched handling of the Iraq occupation and a massive and an unsustainable housing and financial bubble. In that case, you don't have to look terribly hard to see a connection between the kind of self-centered, sentimental, and panglossian religion described above and the spirit of unwarranted optimism and metaphysical self-regard that animated some of Bush's worst hours as President (his second inaugural address could have been subtitled: "Moral Therapeutic Deism Goes to War") and some of his fellow Americans' worst hours as homeowners and investors. In the wake of two consecutive bubble economies, it takes an inordinate fear of culture war, I think, to immerse yourself in the literature of Oprahfied religion - from nominal Christians like Joel Osteen to New Age gurus like Eckhart Tolle and Rhonda Byrne - and come away convinced that this theological turn has been "salutary" for the country overall."

I think he's got it just about right. In other words, if you blame an inflated and militant sense of morality for the problems of the last 8 years, then MTD is a welcome change. If you think the debacles of the last decade come from moral depravity, or a misguided moral center, then MTD can only exacerbate those same issues (or similar ones) in the future. Sounds a little like Cornelius Van Til. Your presuppositions predict where you'll end up.

Thank God Dr King wasn't a Moralistic Therapeutic Deist

2009-04-10T16:04:00.004-04:00

Rod Dreher has a good post responding to Damon Linker's claim that a watered down form of Christianity is good for a pluralistic country like the United States. Christian Smith called this kind of faith "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."

Linker: Theologically speaking, this watered-down, anemic, insipid form of Judeo-Christianity is pretty repulsive. But politically speaking, it's perfect: thoroughly anodyne, inoffensive, tolerant. And that makes it perfectly suited to serve as the civil religion of the highly differentiated twenty-first century United States.

Dreher: OK. But Linker ought to thank God, or whatever, that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and those who marched and stood with him, were actual Christians drawing on the full strength of the Christian tradition, instead of Moralistic Therapeutic Deists who professed a "thoroughly anodyne, inoffensive" form of the Christian faith. Nobody finds the courage to face down police dogs and Klansmen in the vapid mewlings of MTD. MTD Christians don't sing "We Shall Overcome"; they trill "We Shall Accomodate."

Read the whole thing.

#10 -- I Isaac Take Thee Rebekah

2009-04-10T09:24:00.003-04:00

#10 -- I, Isaac, take Thee, Rebekah: Moving From Romance to Lasting Love by Ravi Zacharias (p. 156)

Grade: B

Why: I like Ravi Zacharias an awful lot. I've heard him speak on a number of occasions and I've always found him both compelling and helpful. However, in this book, he was more helpful than compelling. Let me explain.

I, Isaac, take Thee Rebekah is based on a message Zacharias has been giving on dating and marriage for a number of years. It's always a difficult thing to take a fantastic lecture or sermon-length message and make it into an entire book. Everything in here is solid, and perhaps even helpful, but I couldn't stop thinking all the way through that this book could have been much shorter. The original message is neater, cleaner, and more powerful.

This doesn't mean the book isn't valuable in its own right, however. Zacharias walks through the story of Isaac and Rebekah from the book of Genesis and expounds upon seven principles he sees in their relationship. 1.) Isaac and Rebekah's parents were significantly involved in their lives, and in the selection of their mates. Zacharias is not promoting an eastern view of arranged marriage (though he doesn't decry it either), but he does advocate heeding the counsel of parents, and involving a number of people in the selection of our mate, hoping to mitigate the emotionalism and infatuation that can often lead to bad decisions. The more people you have speaking into your life, the better.

2.) They willed to love one another. This is counter to much of the prevailing wisdom of our day where people fall in and out of love with regularity. 3.) Even when they disagreed, they showed each other kindness and indeed willingly sacrificed for one another and for the good of the marriage. 4.) Isaac and Rebekah were committed to sexual purity before marriage. This made things (emotionally and otherwise) much easier once they got married. Zacharias speaks of the forgiveness offered in Jesus to those who have made mistakes in this area, but also speaks to the lasting wounds and complications impurity can leave behind.

5.) Isaac and Rebekah left the home of their parents and entered into a new family structure (leave and cleave). And they also prepared well for this transition. 6.) They both recognized their need for daily prayer and Bible study in order to be spiritually fit for their marriage. 7.) And they remained committed to one another, even in the most difficult times.

Good things to think about for those preparing to marry and good reminders for those who are married. However, there are a number of books on this subject and I still prefer Bryan Chapell's Each for the Other and the workbook Before You Say I Do by Wright and Roberts. I've also heard good things about R.C. Sproul's The Intimate Marriage, though I have not read it.

I do think this is an excellent book for parents of teens to read in trying to prepare their children for adulthood, and eventually for marriage.

That's my King

2009-04-09T07:43:00.002-04:00

Dr. Lockridge preached a sermon in 1976 called "Seven Way King." I've used some clips from this around Easter a time or two. Here's a particularly powerful part of the sermon, with some visuals from the folks at Highway Video (I think).

Mayor Mallory's First Pitch

2009-04-06T11:12:00.000-04:00

From two years ago. Awful, simply awful.

Reds Preview -- Fresh New Faces

2009-04-05T13:10:00.004-04:00

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know I'm a big Reds fan. With Opening Day tomorrow, I thought it good to devote some space to the 2009 Reds. This will be the first Opening Day without Adam Dunn or Ken Griffey Jr. on the roster (everyone shout Hallelujah!) and the Enquirer did a nice piece today on the young new Reds likely to be the face of the organization for years to come. You should check it out.

- Edinson Volquez -- Edinson Volquez would take another year like 2008. Volquez went 17-6 with a 3.21 ERA in his first season with the Reds. "I'd like to win 17 games," he said. "That's the idea I have right now: Do the same job like last year."

- Jay Bruce -- Bruce is the current Red most likely to be the long-term face of the franchise. He turned 22 Friday. The Reds control him contractually for five more years. If the projections are right, he'll develop into a star in that time. His May debut was one of the highlights of last season. He ended his first week with three home runs and 15 hits. Only one player in 80 years had a better first week. (Mitchell Paige of Oakland had 16 hits and three homers in 1980.)

- Brandon Phillips -- In 2007, he had a breakout year. He hit .288 with 30 home runs, 32 steals and 94 RBI. He was named the club's MVP. His numbers dipped a bit last year: .261 with 21 home runs, 78 RBI and 23 steals. But he won his first Gold Glove.

- Johnny Cueto -- Johnny Cueto made the team last year by virtue of his stuff. His 95 mph fastball, sharp slider and solid changeup were the talk of spring training.

- Joey Votto -- Votto hit very well last season: . He hit .297 with 24 home runs and 84 RBI. Baker also has heard rave reviews about Votto from other players. “They were really impressed,” Baker said. “When you start to impress players, you’re impressing people. Players aren’t easily impressed.”

- Yonder Alonso -- Yonder Alonso's last act before he was optioned to Double-A Carolina was to hit a home run to straightaway center field in Clearwater, Fla. It was the kind of home run that gets people's attention - a line drive that went 410 feet.

- Juan Duran and Yorman Rodriguez -- Duran, a 17-year-old Dominican, and Rodriguez, a 16-year-old Venezuelan, represent the Reds' first foray into high-dollar bonuses to Latin American teenagers. The Reds paid Duran a club-record $2 million signing bonus on Feb. 27, 2008. The record lasted until Rodriguez signed for $2.5 million six months later.

- Todd Frazier -- As a 12-year-old, Todd Frazier proved he was pretty good in the spotlight. He went 4-for-4 with a home run to lift Toms River, N.J., over Japan in the 1998 Little League World Series. He's risen to No. 2 on Baseball America's Reds prospect list, and there's pretty much no question Frazier will make it to the big leagues - possibly sometime this year. The only question is, where will he play?

- Juan Francisco -- It's one of those legendary shots that probably will grow longer as the story is retold. Juan Francisco hit a home run on Field 3 at the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota, Fla. The ball ended up in the visitors' bullpen. It's 498 feet from the plate to the bullpen fence, and the fence is 8 feet high.

It's spring. And hope springs eternal.

Stewart and Colbert -- America's best newsmen?

2009-04-04T21:04:00.002-04:00

Eric Alterman makes a pretty good argument.

The Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer confrontation on The Daily Show is being widely compared to that between Edward R. Murrow and Joe McCarthy over alleged Communist subversion in the Army. The analogy is considerably less crazy than it first appears. Sure, Murrow was Murrow, but there was a shlocky side to the Great Man. On Person to Person he would visit the homes of stars and suck up to them with a cloying mien that might impress Barbara Walters. And while the celebrity-stroking aspect of Murrow's career does not comport in our minds with the brave, tough-minded reporter who covered war, famine and the like, it probably helped build much of his audience and garner the trust of those who did not follow national affairs closely.

Ditto Mr. Stewart. Yes, he makes funny faces and starred in Death to Smoochy, but, along with Stephen Colbert, his ability to entertain is what lends him his authority in the first place. Think about it. Why should we care who this or that newspaper publisher endorses for president? Answer: we only care because we care about the editorial influence on the audience. Presidential candidates don't go seeking the endorsement of high school newspapers because, well, dude, kids don't vote. Stewart and Colbert have the audience that powerful people want to reach; yet at the same time, these two men do not participate in a pack mentality, and that's what makes them politically invaluable (and at this point, irreplaceable).

Their "we're just comedians" protestations notwithstanding, both men appear to take this part of their job no less seriously than they do the funny parts. It cannot be mere coincidence that they are responsible for three of the most important/cathartic media moments of the past decade. Stewart pretty much ended Crossfire all by himself and retired the foolish notion that a left/right food fight leads one any closer to truth. Next, Colbert shamed and exposed the pathetic performance of the White House press corps with his brilliant after-dinner speech at the correspondents' dinner. And now Stewart, first by eviscerating the coverage of CNBC and second by forcing Jim Cramer to own up to his on-air hucksterism, has revealed the lie at the center of most business coverage (and just about all cable news).

If you haven't seen Stewart take down Tucker Carlson on Crossfire, it's a delight. Here is Colbert's speech at the Press Correspondent's Dinner (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). And you really have to see Jon Stewart absolutely obliterate Mad Money's Jim Kramer. I wrote about it here.

I salute Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for what they do. But how said is it that they the mainstream press is so bad that Comedy Central programs often ask tougher questions. I agree with Alterman as he laments "It's a sad--almost terrifying--comment on the state of the American media that we have come to rely on these two funnymen to tell us the truth about our country in the same way we relied on Murrow in the '50s and Walter Cronkite in the '60s."

Any chance these guys were joking when they made this?

2009-04-03T15:53:00.003-04:00

Here are possibly three of the worst worship songs of all time:

I almost feel bad making fun, but that's the risk you run when you put it on youtube.

HT: Gayle Ertel and Mike Woods

toon

2009-04-02T20:32:00.001-04:00

#9 - Simple Church

2009-04-02T08:37:00.004-04:00

#9 -- Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger (2006; 256 pages).

Grade: B+

Why: "Simple is in. Simple works. People respond to simple."

This is the thesis behind Rainer and Geiger's book about a different kind of church model. The authors performed an intensive study (in two parts) comparing growing and vibrant churches with stagnant and struggling ones. They concluded (overwhelmingly) that the growing churches had adopted simple processes for discipleship and programming. Leaner is meaner. Less is more. And complexity is out.

Rainer and Geiger make a lot of comparisons to the world of marketing and business, where they find this concept also to be true. Google, Papa John's, Apple, and GE all have adopted simple processes and had the courage to say "no" to a lot of other good ideas for products and new business ventures. Whatever didn't fit their clearly-defined business focus, they rejected. And by having less, they were better at what they did undertake, and thus were more successful.

Simple Church argues that churches are not altogether different. Many churches craft and develop all kinds of vision and mission statements that rarely get used, and oftentimes every ministry and sub-ministry has its own statements. Very often programs have little unity, don't work together, and actually serve to compete against each other. Complexity in program-driven churches also serves to confuse church members (how do they grow, what things should they be involved in), and frustrates leaders (there's so much on the calendar that leaders burn out quickly and recruiting volunteers becomes a competitive nightmare).

Simple churches define a very narrow focus. They do less, but emphasize the things they specialize in, and get as many people involved as possible. All church ministries and initiatives are aligned around a clear and straightforward process, and every ministry has a clearly articulated place in the process. And here is the key, Simple Church leaders say "no" to programs and ideas (however creative and exciting) that fall outside of the church's discipleship process. These leaders understand that there are infinite options for church ministry, but any single church can only do a few things well.

Strengths -- The research process was very impressive and detailed throughout the early chapters and in an Appendix. The authors very clearly show that the book is not based on personal preferences, but on research they have gathered in their study.

The book's thesis really resonated with me. I know what it is to be exhausted from meetings, and I have contributed to this problem in years past by inventing programs to meet needs. I love the emphasis on designing a ministry process with a few components, and then figuring out how to streamline the things you feel called to do through these few, simple programs. Using a simple structure to accomplish lots of things seems both enticing and effective to me. I also appreciated the focus on creating space for people in their calendar to work out the things God is teaching them. For example, if you have been teaching about loving your neighbors, that's really hard to do if you are booked 3 nights per week in church activities.

Weaknesses -- Rainer and Geiger could have said everything that needed to be said in about 100 pages. A simple thesis lends itself to a simpler book. I also struggled with some of the application of Biblical texts to their arguments. There was some hermenuetic liberties taken. While not contrary to the meaning of the texts, it seemed there were a number of "stretches" to support their points.

And lastly, I'm always afraid of adopting principles solely based on practicality or "faddishness." At the end of the day, I don't think this is what the authors intend, but there is an awful lot of emphasis on pragmatics throughout the book. Because of this, Simple Church could easily could be adopted as the "hot new thing" in church organization, only to to be replaced by the next slick book promoting a different model.

What Gillespie has to do with pastoral ministry

2009-03-30T17:09:00.003-04:00

The Internet Monk has an interesting post comparing the Gillespie firing to the treatment some pastors receive. Or, at least, the ambiguity of the complaints against Gillespie sound like complaints some people have about their pastor.

Excerpt:

Gillispie was encountering something many pastors know about rather well. The church hires you with a list of tasks in their hands: preach, evangelize, grow the church, administer the programs, increase missions giving and involvement, supervise staff, go to the hospitals, be available for funerals.

Three or four years later, you’re out for reasons as follows (former pastors: prepare for deja vu.)

-You didn’t visit someone’s distant relative who was not only not a member or prospect, but was hospitalized two hours away.
-You were always at the church.
-You studied too much.
-You didn’t spend enough time hanging out at members’ homes, drinking tea and talking.
-You spent too much time at your home.
-You didn’t recognize Mrs. Smith for her large donation to the nursery fund.
-Your children weren’t in every program the church put on.
-Your wife occasionally missed services.
-Your wife had a job. (Apparently the salary we’re paying you isn’t enough.)
-You bought a new car that was too expensive.
-You bought a used car that was too shabby.
-You didn’t come to very many high school football games.
-You canceled the monthly gospel sing at the church.
-The Clark girl got pregnant. When was the last time you preached against premarital sex?
-Your wife didn’t have a Christmas reception for the ladies of the church like the previous pastor’s wife always did.
-We don’t like the worship guy.
-You moved the American flag out of the sanctuary.
-You didn’t wear a suit and tie during the week.
-You were seen at a restaurant that served alcohol. (By a member who was eating there. This really happened to me.)
-You played drums in some kind of rock band.
-Your last sermon seemed to be talking about our congregation.
-I don’t see why you keep telling us we need to fund missionaries in Africa when we’ve got people right next door who don’t go to church.
-I wish you’d stop telling us to bother our neighbors about where they go to church. That’s their business.
-You said some critical things about having a full worship service on Sunday nights.
-You don’t go to the hospitals every day.
-The picture of you and your wife on the web site looks too romantic.
-You’re always trying to start something new. What’s wrong with what we have?
-You don’t smile enough. (No people, I’m not bitter.)
-You don’t ask Kathy Brown to sing very often.
-You ask Kathy Brown to sing all the time.
-If you don’t preach on money this place is going bankrupt.
-All you ever preach about is money.
-Your children dress like everyone else’s kids.
-You are eating out almost every day. Where are you getting that money?
-You didn’t speak to Mr. Samuels. Well, you spoke, but you didn’t seem friendly. Yes, you asked about his gout, but there was just something wrong with the way you said it.
-You pay too much attention to visitors and new members.

Pretty funny. I suppose job descriptions in ministry can be pretty ambiguous, and people's expectations can be diverse (and often mutually exclusive).

The Internet Monk is riled up because UK said it fired Gillespie because he wasn't doing the job of "being an ambassador for the program" -- a truly ambiguous expectation. However, I think it's a lot more simple -- he didn't win games. And for that reason, I can understand his ousting.

Gillespie fired

2009-03-27T18:03:00.002-04:00

I think everyone in this part of the country knew it was coming. Kentucky fired Billy Gillespie today.

Here's the AP account.

Does style divide more than doctrine?

2009-03-26T10:52:00.003-04:00

Kevin DeYoung has an interesting post explaining two different cultural ideals present in evangelical churches today -- the hip and the hearty. He believes that oftentimes, these two ideals divide evangelicals more than the finer points of doctrine.

On the one hand, there is hip culture. Hip people like films, go to coffee shops, and wear scarves. They listen to Sufjian Stevens and NPR and shop at Trader Joe's. They rent movies that make you think and cry. They like to walk around in nature. They value diversity. They are concerned about the environment and social justice. They are into the arts. The problem with the world, in the eyes of the hip, is lack of love and understanding. Hip people are urban, or aspire to be. Hip people are ironic and sometimes cynical. They get their news from Jon Stewart. They probably voted for Obama.

Then there are the hearty folks. Hearty people eat fast food, aren't into organic food, and don't know what fair trade coffee is. They listen to pop, country, and talk radio, and shop at Wal-Mart. They rent movies where you laugh and stuff gets blown up. They like nature because you can farm it or hunt things in it. They are concerned about abortion, the family, and honoring our soldiers. They are into sports. The problem with the world, in the eyes of the hearty, is that some people are bad and our morals are getting worse. Hearty people are straightforward and sometimes insensitive. They get their news from Fox. They probably voted for George W. Bush.

DeYoung says he's hearty, and a lot of his friends are hip.

So what's the point? I'm not arguing that hip and hearty are mutually exclusive. I'm not arguing that everyone fits neatly into one category or the other. I'm not saying hip and hearty are only about styles. I'm not saying they aren't sometimes just about styles. I'm not arguing for a moral relativism that ignores the strong and weak points of each. I'm not claiming to have somehow risen above hip and hearty myself and reached some transcendent cultural ideal.

The point is that the church needs to reach out to both cultural categories without selling out to either one.

So, two questions:
1.) Is he right? Do these two styles show up in most expressions of evangelicalism? And do they tend to talk past one another?
2.) Do you fit into either of these categories?

Church Planting in the Wall Street Journal

2009-03-21T09:16:00.004-04:00

Fred Barnes discusses his involvement in a new church plant in Virginia. Barnes had been going to The Falls Church, but his pastor, John Yates, encouraged he and his wife to go along with a group planting a church near his home. Yates is hoping to plant up to 20 churches out of The Falls Church before he retires. And he's not alone. Church planting is a growing initiative among orthodox evangelicals.

Mr. Yates was strongly influenced by the Rev. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan. Mr. Keller has led in creating new churches -- Redeemer has planted more than 100 churches in New York and other cities around the world. Innovative new churches, he has written, are "the research and development department" for Christianity, attract "venturesome people" as fresh leaders, and have the spillover effect of challenging existing churches to revitalize their ministry.

Leaving the Episcopal denomination (while remaining in the Anglican Communion) has given Mr. Yates the freedom to plant churches in urban areas amid many Episcopal churches. (One is next door to Christ the King.) His goal is to plant 20 churches in northern Virginia before retiring. Christ the King was the third, and a fourth was recently planted in Arlington. Mr. Kurcina, 33, who is my son-in-law, is preparing to plant a fifth in Fairfax County.

For a growing number of young preachers like Christ the King's Mr. Glade, planting and then leading a new church is an ideal option. As orthodox Anglicans, they didn't feel welcome in the Episcopal church. And they felt a strong calling to lead their own parish. Mr. Glade grew up as an Episcopalian in Jacksonville, Fla. After graduation from Florida State, he came to The Falls Church as an intern and spent four years as a youth leader before attending Trinity Seminary outside Pittsburgh. He returned to The Falls Church eager to lead a theologically conservative Anglican congregation. "In order to do that, you had to go out and do it yourself," he told me.

"Every new church has an awkward phase, figuring out who they are and getting to know each other," Mr. Glade says. That phase is over. Christ the King has also become financially self-sufficient. It aims to be a "healthy church," like its parent. "A healthy church reproduces itself," Mr. Glade says. Christ the King may soon do just that. Its assistant rector wants to plant his own church.

Nice to see church planting getting a positive mention in the mainstream media, seeing as that's what I spend all my time thinking about these days. I've been to The Falls Church, and went to school with John Yates' daughter. I'm very excited about what they are doing in the D.C area, and especially that members of their congregation seem to have caught the vision for it as well.

HT: Scott Lamb

Perhaps the worst movie ever?

2009-03-20T19:07:00.001-04:00

Dennis Quaid and Lou Gossett Jr. at their finest.