Beware of the Summer Drift

I’ve seen it on many occasions, and the consequences might be eternal.

Are Campus Ministries “Church”?

Russell Moore, Dean of the School of Theology Southern Theological Seminary (and Mike Wittmer’s man-crush) posted a blog titled “Jesus Didn’t Die for a Campus Ministry: The Spiritual Danger of Unchurched Spirituality” (full-text provided below).  I think it is an interesting post that has a lot to say about the church (ecclesiology) and spiritual formation.  I’d love some of you to take a look and let me know what you think.  I’ll post some of my thoughts on Tuesday.

The Meltdown (3)

I have noted in a few posts (here and here) that the current economic situation may aid the mission of the church.  However, there is some debate about whether or not people are truly turning to the church in these trying economic times.  Since there seems to be no statistical evidence that is conclusive one way or the other – read the entire article to see that quite clearly! – I’m curious to know what anyone else thinks about it. 

My original post still holds, though:  whether or not there is solid evidence for people turning to God due to their situations, it’s clearly an opportunity for us to get the message out!

The Meltdown (2)

In November, I wrote that the current economic meltdown “actually aids the gospel.”  Now, it seems the New York Times has noticed a possible trend (although their research is anecdotal, not data-driven).  This is what they said:

The Meltdown

Like everyone else, I’ve been watching the financial meltdown with a lot of conflicting emotions:  revenge (watching greedy people get what they have coming); fear (after all, while they get what they have coming, it’s my 403b that’s dropping like a stone); interest (my undergrad degree was in economics, and I have always followed business news); and even pragmatism (how is it going to affect me?).  But I’ve yet to put into words how I think about it theologically.  This article helped.

Total Church

Desiring God Blog highlights a book I plan on reading: Total Church by Tim Chester. On first glance, I like

how he portrays church as identity and not an event:

“Total church” is our way of capturing the idea that church is not one activity in our lives. Church isn’t a meeting you attend or a building your enter. It’s our identity, our community, our family. It’s the context for the totality of the Christian life.

The Lord’s Prayer (2)

Another nugget from my time at Family Bible camp with Dr. Tim Dwyer.  He was speaking about the Lord’s Prayer, as I mentioned before, and specifically mentioned what it meant when we pray to “Our Father.”  Do you get a warm fuzzy feeling when you hear that?  Perhaps when we think about what it meant to a person in that context, we wouldn’t.

The Lord’s Prayer

I was at a Family Bible camp last week in Findley Lake, NY.  The morning speaker was Dr. Tim Dwyer from Roberts Weselyan College (my wife’s alma mater, BTW), who spoke for six days on the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.  Sound boring?  It was anything but boring.  In fact, he made a point so obvious I was shocked that I had missed it before.  I’ll bet you’ve missed it, too.

The Challenge of Discipleship

My co-pastors and I are preparing to spend a year talking about discipleship in our church.  That task is not without difficulties, and as I am beginning to study discipleship a problem emerges:  Discipleship is easy and hard at the same time.  Luke 14 makes the point very clear by taking a shocking turn.

Jesus In China

Frontline World did an excellent piece on the church in China called Jesus In China. I watched it last night and it is now available online. I would highly recommend it. They’ve broken it up into 5 parts for easier viewing.