The Gospel Coalition

Kindle Deal of the Day: The Incredible Shrinking Church by Frank Page and John Perry. $2.99.

Who can save the incredible shrinking church? Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) president Frank Page enters the booming church growth book market from a fresh angle, writing from his own experience in leadership positions at several houses of worship that soon turned around on what had looked like a path of irreversible decline.

Patrick Schreiner writes of his mother’s bike accident - Trusting Christ Through Trauma:

Trying to cope with the big questions of life in a tragedy like this without The Sovereign Solid Rock beneath my feet, seems to me like attemping to fly with no wings. But this did not make us, or those who prayed with us, cold hardened accepters of fate.

Rather the earnest prayers of the saints were made in faith and hope that prayer can throw mountains in the sea. Joshua lifted his arms and the sun stood still, and we cried out to God to do the miraculous. We all truly believe that our prayers can change the course of history.

The Shelf Life on Preaching the Gospel to Yourself:

Without relentless reorienting on the gospel, our study of the Scriptures quickly veers off course. And without keeping ourselves freshly filled with the Scriptures, our gospel self-preaching soon runs on empty.

Ben Witherington takes on anti-ecclesial rhetoric, particularly in its Emerging manifestation. But this is a good word for any young Christians tempted to dismiss their church backgrounds:

It is my hope that when the Emerging Church stops Emerging from wherever it has been previously hidden and starts merging with other groups of Christians who are willing to partner with them, that it will be realized that it was after all unprofitable and unhelpful to sass your Mother, to repudiate the womb from which you emerged, by which I mean the ekklesia, the body of Christ, the people of God, which will always need structures and organizations. Think on these things.

Millennials Buy More Books than Anyone Else:

According to the 2012 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and Buying Behaviors Annual Review, if you were born between 1979 and 1989, you spent more money on books in 2011 than older Americans. The survey found that millennials now buy 30 percent of books. In comparison, baby boomers, who have far more disposable income than most millennials, only made 24 percent of book purchases.