I love reading or hearing from Kevin DeYoung on the local church.  From C.J., recapping Kevin DeYoung’s message at Next 2010:

To close out his Next 2010 conference message, “The Church,” Kevin DeYoung gave a list of suggestions for how to be a difference maker in the local church. He said:

• Find a good local church.
• Get involved.
• Become a member.
• Stay there as long as you can.
• Put away thoughts of a revolution for a while.
• Join the plodding visionaries.
• Go to church this Sunday and worship in Spirit and truth.
• Be patient with your leaders.
• Rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed.
• Bear with those who hurt you.
• Give people the benefit of the doubt.
• Say “hi” to the teenager that no one notices.
• Welcome the old ladies with the blue hair and the young men with tattoos.
• Volunteer for the nursery.
• Attend the congregational meeting.
• Bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everybody else.
• Invite a friend.
• Take a new couple out for coffee.
• Give to the Christmas offering.
• Sing like you mean it.
• Be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet for you.
• Enjoy the Sundays that “click.”
• Pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t.
• And in all of this, do not despise the days and weeks and years of small things (Zechariah 4:8–10).
I cannot recommend this message too highly. Please take time to download and listen to “The Church” by visiting the resource page at thisisnext.org.

Good counsel–both Kevin’s list of 20 and C.J.’s recommendation to listen to the sermon.

Kevin DeYoung in Just Do Something (pp. 47, 48):

We obsess about the future and we get anxious, because anxiety, after all, is simply living out the future before it gets here.

We must renounce our sinful desire to know the future and to be in control.  We are not gods.  We walk by faith, not by sight.  We risk because God does not risk.  We walk into the future in God-glorifying confidence, not because the future is known to us but because it is known to God.  And that’s all we need to know.  Worry about the future is not simply a character tic, it is the sin of unbelief, an indication that our hearts are not resting in the promises of God.

That’s wisdom from Kevin DeYoung this morning.  Here’s an excerpt:

I’d like to make a modest proposal for Christians of all theological and political persuasions: don’t use the term “social justice” without explanation.

The term is unassailable to some and arouses suspicion in others. For many Christians, social justice encompasses everything good we should be doing in the world, from hunger relief to serving the poor to combating sex trafficking. But the phrase is also used to support more debatable matters like specific health care legislation, minimum wage increases, or reducing carbon emissions. If something can be included as a “social justice” issue then no one can oppose said issue, because who in their right mind favors social injustice?

Read his entire “modest proposal”.

Kevin DeYoung has a great post today reflecting on the “new” gospel and why it’s chic. Here are the reasons Kevin gives for why this new gospel is so hot among some:

1. It is partially true..
2. It deals with strawmen.
3. The New Gospel leads people to believe wrong things without explicitly stating those wrong things.
4. It is manageable. The New Gospel meets people where they are and leaves them there.
5. The New Gospel is inspirational. This is what makes the message so appealing to young people in particular.
6. The New Gospel has no offense to it. This is why the message is so attractive.

Read the entire post here, including what’s wrong with this new gospel.

Kevin DeYoung at the 9Marks blog:

One of the hardest things for any preacher to learn, especially young preachers, is to simply be yourself. Don’t put on someone else’s passion or humor or learning. And don’t take off your own personality because one of your heroes doesn’t share it exactly. Go ahead and learn from the best. But your congregation needs to hear you on Sunday, not an impression of the preacher you wish you were. Let your person constantly be refined by the Spirit of God, and let the truth of God’s word shine through your own personality. Preach as a dying man to dying men. And don’t forget to be your own man.

Read the entire, typically-Kevin (funny and insightful) post here.

This slipped by me. But visiting the T4G blog again is a treat because they’re posting short interviews with some great guys:

Kevin DeYoung (here and here)
Anthony Carter (here and here)
Mike McKinley (here and here)

My favorite question is #8, “Which of the main T4G speakers could you take to the mat, so to speak?”

I’ve been really appreciating the writing ministry of Kevin DeYoung. He’s a refreshing blend of insightful clarity, historical and theological helpfulness, and winsome style. You might enjoy the 9Marks interview with Kevin on the emergent church and other things, and Kevin and Ted Kluck’s recent book, Why We Love the Church.

Kevin DeYoung links to a brief thought-provoking article in Comment Magazine that outlines four responses/camps to the Gospel and culture discussion. (Link Fixed) It’s an interesting categorization, a couple of which seem to lie close to one another. Take a look and let me know where you think you may fall on this tension between gospel proclamation and engaging the culture.