Leadership Training Doesn’t Work:

At best classes convey concepts, but those same concepts are available in books around the world. Small group leaders don’t come from small group leader classes, campus pastors don’t come from campus pastor classes and worship leaders don’t come from worship leader classes. Classes don’t harm leaders, they just don’t produce leaders.

Book covers are important. Take a minute to help Matt Chandler, Eric Geiger, and Josh Patterson choose the cover to their forthcoming book, Creature of the Word.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not merely one thing among a plethora of things in the life of a church. Rather, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the basis of the church’s existence. It is a means by which God creates and sustains the church’s life. Thus, the church is solely a “creature of the word”, or it is no church at all.

John Stott, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien: Why American Evangelicals Love the British

American evangelicals find intellectual and cultural validation in Oxbridge Christians like Tolkien, Lewis and Stott. If these Oxford and Cambridge-trained gentlemen with plummy accents believed that God spoke from a burning bush and Jesus truly rose from the grave, that is proof that one can be an intellectual, a sophisticate, and a Bible-believer too, no matter what the snide mainstream media says. Britain represents high culture and class—but which Britain? Many evangelicals seem to idealize a long lost arcadia where professor-clergymen praise theology as queen of the sciences and manly Livingstonian missionaries conquer Africa in the name of Christendom—rather than Britannia as she truly is, secularist, multi-cultural warts and all.

How to Preach Like a Wheaton College President:

This spring, Phil Ryken and Duane Litfin each gave a seminar on preaching for our pastors and pastoral residents at my church. Both men are seasoned and gifted preachers, in addition to being the current and former presidents of Wheaton College, respectively. Each presentation was filled to brim with pastoral wisdom and preaching insight. Here are the highlights.

The Tablet Really is Killing the e-Reader: (Full disclosure – I love the Kindle DX for how easy it is on the eyes and have no intention of switching!)

E Ink Holdings, the firm behind the allegedly easy-on-the-eye daylight readable electronic paper that once made your Kindle or Nook so great, has just reported its first loss in 10 successive quarters.

Why Men Should Read More Fiction:

Perhaps fiction’s greatest creativity boost is what literary critic Viktor Shklovsky said is the purpose of fiction: to make the familiar strange, so that we look at things in a new light. Fiction allows us to compare how the human experience and ideas work in a made-up world to how they work in real life. From these comparisons, we can begin to think about ideas in profoundly different ways. I like to think that fiction disorients us to reorient us and during that reorientation new ideas spring to our minds.

The Campus Tsunami:

What happened to the newspaper and magazine business is about to happen to higher education: a rescrambling around the Web.

Many of us view the coming change with trepidation. Will online learning diminish the face-to-face community that is the heart of the college experience? Will it elevate functional courses in business and marginalize subjects that are harder to digest in an online format, like philosophy? Will fast online browsing replace deep reading?

The 10 Warning Signs of an Inwardly Obsessed Church:

In my research of churches and consultation with churches, I have kept a checklist of potential signs that a church might be moving toward inward obsession. No church is perfect; indeed most churches will demonstrate one or two of these signs for a season. But the real danger takes place when a church begins to manifest three or more of these warning signs for an extended period of months and even years.

Methodists Uphold Policy that Calls Homosexuality ‘Incompatible with Christian Teaching’

Despite emotional protests and fierce lobbying, United Methodists voted on May 2 to maintain their denomination’s stance that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Two “agree to disagree” proposals were soundly defeated during separate votes by the nearly 1,000 delegates gathered for the United Methodist Church’s General Conference in Tampa, Fla.

The Book That Drove Them Crazy: Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind 25 Years Later

The crisis was​—​is​—​a crisis of confidence in the principle that serves as the premise of liberal education: that reason, informed by learning and experience, can arrive at truth, and that one truth may be truer than another. This loss of faith had consequences and causes far beyond higher ed. Bloom was a believer in intellectual trickle-down theory, and it is the comprehensiveness of his thesis that may have attracted readers to him and his book. The coarsening of public manners, the decline in academic achievement, the general dumbing down of America​—​even Jerry Springer​—​had a long pedigree that Bloom was at pains to describe for a general reader.

8 Reasons Why My Anxiety is Pointless and Foolish

The Value of Sermon Introductions: How to Stop Giving Your Congregation Theological Whiplash

On Sunday morning, we arrive in sixth gear, but our congregation arrives in first (at best), neutral (not great), park (really bad), or reverse (worst). We need to utilize sermon introductions in order to bring our people up to speed so they can join us on our journey of following Jesus.

Why I Am Not a Pacifist:

When it comes to the ethics of war and peace between nations, all that matters to me, or that should matter to anyone else, is how a situation aligns with objective moral reality. And, while human reason is able to analyze this reality, the reality itself is fixed by the Moral Ruler of the Universe who is none other than Jesus Christ himself.

The Gospel According to Disney:

The Disney gospel encourages narcissism. It suggests that our main problem is we don’t celebrate ourselves enough, so others don’t realize how special we are. This positive message is actually cruel, for the poor fellow who follows their advice, “In everything you do, celebrate you!”, won’t be married long. And he won’t have many friends. The Apostle Paul never went to Disney, and he offered a better gospel…

Sometimes It’s So Hard to Go to Church:

God loves to display his power in the midst of messy people. The power of the gospel is on display when different people from different backgrounds come together to worship God and love one another. The power of the gospel is on display when people overlook offenses in the name of love. The power of the gospel is on display when we put our preferences aside for the sake of our unity in the gospel.

Subversive Kingdom:

The subversive action to which I refer is sharing and showing the good news of Jesus. That’s really subversive! King Jesus will come back, and “the kingdoms of this world” will become “the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ” (Rev. 11:15 KJV). In themeantime, we are just doing what Jesus did—announcing the good news and living out its message in incredibly subversive ways.

4 Ways to Ruin a Ministry Monday:

Mondays can be difficult for ministers, especially those who preach and teach on Sunday. The rush and excitement of Sunday is over. The numbers and the stats of the day before are reported. The issues and complications that were brought to light on Sunday have to be processed and diagnosed. And of course another sermon has to be prepared for the relentless return of the Sabbath which is now only six days away. Mondays are crucial. Wasting them are detrimental to the week. Here are some ways  ministers can ruin them.

Odd, Yet Simple Tips for Writers:

1. Starting is often the hardest thing.
2. You have to jump start yourself in the moment of performance.
3. Don’t bury the lead.

Anti-Bullying Speaker Attacks Bible, Christian Teens:

Savage’s counsel of hedonistic sex speaks of hope but leads only to despair. We must counter it with the Gospel truth about love and fidelity. We need to send a message of true hope to the young people of America: When you seek Christ-like virtue, it really does get better.

3 Types of Christian Scholarship:

Our gifts and calling are going to clearly drive us to one more than the others, so I am not saying that one should neglect one to brush up on the others. But I am saying that if the others are neglected, it will make you less proficient in the one. I have seen sloppy theologians. I have been a sloppy theologian. I have seen exegetes who seem to continually miss the obvious. I have seen pastoral types compromise. All I am saying is that you need to be aware of where you stand and remain committed to excellence by being appreciative of all three.

Once an Evangelical…: On Balmer on Douthat

 Some, like Balmer, believe that progressive, revisionist, non- and post-denominational, “updated” Christian start-ups are the way the faith will survive.  Others of us, like Douthat, see such ventures as extending something other than Christianity.  In contrast, we’re betting on something that will seem almost completely counter-intuitive: that the future of Christianity in the United States depends on the revitalization of orthodox institutions–even (gulp),denominations.  Or, to put it otherwise, we’re betting that the future of Christianity in the United States is catholic.

5 Ways to Overcome Nerves Before Speaking in Public:

Most people feel nervous prior to giving a speech.  This is human nature and indeed some degree of nerves is absolutely essential to remain alert and deliver the speech clearly.  However nerves do become a problem if they are debilitating in any way.  Thankfully, there are practical ways to overcome this which are outlined below.

Learning to Delight in Scripture:

So how can we go from having little to no love for God’s word to savoring it even more than we would a big, fat, juicy fillet or a delicious canoli? I want to present just a few points of application that will help you to get a taste for the sweetness and sufficiency of God’s word in your life.

The South, The War, and “Christian Slavery”

Many Southerners, though, came to embrace the interpretation of their history suggested by Elliott and made explicit by the Reverend J.C. Mitchell. “Read the annals of other nations,” the Alabaman admonished, “and see what destroyed them. It was not foreign force, but internal evil.” After the war, then, for countless chastened white Southern Christians, the evil that provoked the Lord to destroy their nation was the myriad wrongs committed against the slaves they had kept. Vanishingly few asked whether their true sin might be claiming to own those whom the Bible called their brothers and sisters in Christ.

The idol you love doesn’t love you back:

Here’s what you need to know about your idol: That idol that you love, it doesn’t love you back. False gods don’t love you. Idols don’t keep their promises. Anything you worship and build your life on other than God will suck the life out of you and destroy you.

Being Biblical More than Logical (Or, Why I Am a Four-Point Calvinist):

Like most Calvinists who hold four of the traditional five points, I have struggled with the L of limited atonement. On the one hand, limited atonement makes perfect logical sense and I like the idea that the cross actually accomplished salvation for me. Further, if the cross is efficacious for salvation, then it must be limited or it leads to universal salvation, which is unquestionably non-biblical. On the other hand, there are a number of verses that I have not been able to reconcile with limited atonement. Placing biblical arguments over logical or theological arguments has led me to affirm a general understanding of the atonement.

Leadership and Entitlement:

 As a leader’s sphere of influence increases, he may feel that certain benefits and perks are due him. She may believe that those in the organization exist for her service and needs. Entitlement is a creeping sickness that often envelops a leader with such deceptive subtlety that the leader is often unaware of its control over him.

Here’s an amazing sermon illustration for you, along with a moving video (see below) that makes the point. The Fragrance of Heaven Rising from the Stench of Death:

The smell of death is everywhere. On billboards. On television. In our jokes and anecdotes. So accustomed to death are we that we might even be frightened by the sweet smell of the freedom of the gospel. But for one who has inhaled deeply what Jesus brings, the effect is intoxicating…

Zach Nielsen points out a variety of cheap eBooks this week, including Sifted, AND, Exponential, For the City, On the Verge, Barefoot Church, and It’s Personal.

Coaching Young Leaders Effectively: Seven Observations

The key to coaching missional leaders is relationship. Young, developing leaders are looking for relationship, and they will receive coaching and mentoring from those with whom they have relationship.

Christian goods and appreciating the best:

To me, the consumption or promotion of goods based on their “Christian-ness” contributes to that false and prevalent mindset of a divide between sacred and secular. We have imbued cultural goods of various kinds with a supernatural value that allows them to be “better” than other “secular” goods whether they are qualitatively so or not. In so doing, we have determined their value based on criteria that aren’t inherent to their respective mediums and have praised work that is qualitatively deficient by the standard of its field.

Carson and Zaspel: Rest in the Gospel or Strive Unto Holiness?

What we need to get rid of is this bifurcation in which God does everything and we sort of sit around and do nothing. Or, on the other hand, we think of God doing so much and we add our bit. They’re both wrong. You want to say a plague on both your houses. Whereas you put them together and see that the things that are mandated to us are precisely the things God empowers us to do by his Spirit, and it seems to me they’re coming a little closer together. Is that fair?

The Exponential conference (largest gathering of church planting leaders in North America) begins today and will be simulcast for the first time. You can watch the backstage conversations (hosted by Geoff Surratt and Philip Nation) for free.

I’m Thankful for Christian Funerals:

Every time I have the privilege of preaching a funeral for a man or woman who has lived for the Savior, I feel incredibly close to the Lord.  There are several reasons I like Christian funerals…

Why Volunteers Don’t Attend Your Meetings:

Have you ever asked yourself why no one ever comes to your training meetings? Have you ever bought 200 bagels and 5 boxes of Joe in preparation for 100% attendance by your volunteer teams? Only to have 185 bagels left over. I see that hand and that hand belongs to me.

What do we do? We blame the people we invited we blame the methods we used to get the people out, and even sometimes the donuts, but rarely do we look at the content of the meeting itself.

The Passing of the Torch? Thoughts on the Passing of Chuck Colson:

For many younger evangelicals, “worldview analysis,” as the task is known, functioned as something of a halfway house between the uncritical anti-intellectualism of our pulpits and the more dialectical approach of the great books world or the more directly scholarly mindset of the academy.  Within the evangelical world, the approach necessarily shifted attention away from questions of politics per se toward those fundamental human questions that lie at the heart of any society. In that sense, Colson’s work opened up the space for a rethinking of the civic order along nonpartisan lines, even if for the most part the worldview crowd caucuses with Republicans.  Which is simply to say, his mission and message all seemed to be of a piece.  And in a fragmented world, that is itself an impressive accomplishment.

Pastors, Keep Your “Gray” Areas Off the Stage:

Don’t raise gray issues to the level of black-and-white. When you do, you’re speaking authoritatively where God has chosen to be silent. Which is not ground on which I want to find myself.

Christianity Today’s coverage on the death of Chuck Colson:

In many ways, Colson’s life encapsulated the eclectic nature of evangelicalism. His example shaped how evangelicals would promote ministry and social justice, evangelism and ecumenicism, cultural and political engagement, radio and writing, and scholarship and discipleship.

The Ultimate Homophobia:

In our secular and pansexual culture, ex-gay Christians are the worst and most vile homophobes in the universe because they announce that Jesus saved them from homosexuality and the Holy Spirit transformed them and empowered them to live a holy life without it. Though society may call them homophobes, I am not ashamed to call them my brother or sister.

America’s Foolish Detour into Shopping Malls:

These land-devouring, car-dependent malls were invented 60 years ago, with Seattle among the pioneers. Now they are in terminal decline. There was a better idea in Kansas City, but unfortunately it was eclipsed by our mania for malls.

Doubting Darwin: Panic in the Suites of Evolution

The sky is falling! Many interest groups and journalists raced to tell that to the public when a modest but important bill became law in Tennessee early in April. The law instructs teachers and administrators to “create an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues.”