The Gospel Coalition

Dear Dad and Mom,

I’d like to use this space to publicly thank you for being parents that were willing to take the hard road instead of the easy road.

Thank you for limiting my access to computer games and Nintendo when we were growing up.

I realize it would have been much easier for you to let the Nintendo babysit us four kids. But you put our well-being ahead of your own comfort and taught us to read, write, make music, create radio shows, play in the backyard, and make movies. We’re the better for it today.

Thanks for not giving in to our whiny pleas for the newest video games that our neighbors had. Thanks for insisting that we would be better, happier, more well-rounded children by causing us to entertain ourselves instead of sit like zombies in front of Mario and Luigi.

Thanks for not being legalistic about Nintendo. We appreciate the rainy days in which you brought down the Nintendo from the closet top shelf and let us play our hearts out. But thanks even more for putting the Nintendo back up when the sun returned.

Thanks for allowing us to play educational computer games. But thanks also for the thirty-minute timer you set for us each time we played.

Thanks most of all for being involved, for caring about what we were putting into our minds. Thanks for giving us a childhood that some of our friends missed out on – the backyard romps in the clubhouse, the creek Kingdom, all the cassette tapes we made as we created our own sitcoms.

Thanks for the parameters and guidelines you set up for us. We didn’t understand or like them then, but they look like good parameters we want to set for our own kids now.

Love,

Trevin

Originally posted on January 29, 2008

Stan Guthrie on unbelief:

Unbelief is not doubt, however. Unbelief is a calculating, hard-hearted rejection of evidence, whether it be intellectual, physical, historical, or spiritual. It is seeing the clear work of God and turning away.

How your pedometer measures distance

How to be a theologian, by Martin Luther:

Here, I think, we have a sense of theology that translates beautifully into the life of the church – humble and prayerful, responsive, disciplined and patient, realistic and hopeful about the place of suffering, eager to incorporate the Word into the deepest regions of the life together of God’s people.

As a former missionary to Romania who has experience with short-term mission teams, I can only give a hearty “Amen” to this list of Ten Commandments for short-termers. There are teams that obey these laws and have great, effective ministries overseas. Other teams break all the commandments and their ministries suffer for it!

1. Thou shalt always remember that the primary function of a short-term team is to learn, and not to help.

2. Thou shalt always defer to the long-term missionaries, even when thou dost not agree with them.

3. Thou shalt surely leave all they agendas at home before thou arrivest on the mission field.

4. Thou shalt be prepared to spend large amounts of time doing nothing, for thus verily is the way of the mission field.

5. Thou shalt be careful to obey in all details, the security rules and advice of the project which thou visitest.

6. Thou shalt be both attentive and accurate in the communication with the mission base before they visit.

7. Thou shalt be careful to pay for all the expenses of thy visit.

8. Thou shalt take great care in thy giving and spending, lest thou appearest to be filthy rich.

9. Thou shalt be careful to respect the doctrinal and theological views of the project which thou visitest.

10. Thou shalt surely keep thy word in regards to follow-up activities.

(from Paul Cull, leader of Projeto Casa Esperanza in Brazil)

Originally posted November 21, 2006

An interview with Matt Chandler, one year after his cancer diagnosis:

If you could go back and have a conversation with yourself on the evening of November 24, 2009, what would you have said to prepare Matt Chandler for the year ahead?

I think I would hug myself and just say, “He’s prepared you.”

SWBTS recently hosted Michael Lawrence for a student forum on biblical theology in the life of the church. I recommend you check out the audio here.

Darryl Dash interviews Doug Moo about the recently revised NIV (2011). Here’s a sampling of questions:

• How and why did the Committee change their philosophy from the release of the original NIV to the new version?
• Did the controversy over the release of the TNIV modify the translation philosophy in any significant way?
• Where will the NIV fit in relation to the ESV and the HCSB?

Speaking of the recently revised NIV, you can find the text online here.

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind. In the midst of all the activity, our family has closed an important chapter of our life. Yesterday, we bid farewell (or at least “see you less frequently”) to the good people of First Baptist Church in Shelbyville, TN. We will always look back on our four years in Shelbyville with gratefulness.

Today, I begin my new position at LifeWay, where I will be developing a new small group curriculum. Since the news came out that I was going to LifeWay, I’ve received numerous emails encouraging me in this endeavor. I am excited to hear personally from church leaders who desire Sunday School curriculum that is theologically robust, Christ-centered, mission-driven, and focused on the grand narrative of Scripture.

In the years I’ve taught small groups, I’ve always sought to develop lessons that are deep, but not dry. It’s a great privilege (and an awesome responsibility) to think about developing this kind of curriculum on a larger scale.

Please be in prayer for me and my family. We moved into our new home on Saturday. We said goodbye to our church family yesterday. And I am beginning my new job today. So much has taken place in the past two weeks that we have had little time to process the events and the major life change we’ve just made. Pray especially for our kids.

As I settle into the new job, I’m going to rerun some posts this week. (With four years of blogging behind me, it won’t be too hard to find some good material on the proverbial shelf.) I plan to keep up with new “Worth a Look” posts each day. Thanks for reading. And thanks for your prayers for our family during this time of transition.

Dick Staub on Social Network:

Zuckerberg may struggle with relationships, and the origins and practices of his mega website may have been nasty at times, but in this global neighborhood, Facebook means we can stay connected with distant friends. The real challenge for all of us is to make sure we don’t displace face-to-face local friendships with virtual Facebook friendships. The message is simple: Manage technology, don’t let it manage you.

Early Voting – what does its popularity say about the way we view the world?

Mark Galli writes an article that displays the kind of upside-down kingdom thinking we need more of. Check out “Insignificant is Beautiful”:

We should honor any generation that strives for significance, especially if it is a longing to make a difference in the world. Better this than striving to make money and live a comfortable life! But the human heart is desperately wicked and the human soul subject to self-deception, and this colors even our highest aspirations. Even the best of intentions mask the mysterious darkness within, which is why we need to be healed also of our best intentions.

Microsoft is a dying consumer brand (HT):

Consumers have turned their backs on Microsoft. A company that once symbolized the future is now living in the past. Microsoft has been late to the game in crucial modern technologies likemobile, search, media, gaming and tablets. It has even fallen behind inWeb browsing, a market it once ruled with an iron fist.