Books Read 2009

I kept a list of the books I completed in 2009 (see the post, "Book Challenge"). If there's a hyperlink, you can find the post where I discussed it:

In Search of a Confident Faith by JP Moreland and Klaus Issler

Next, by Michael Crichton

What We Can't Not Know by J. Budziszewski

A. Lincoln by Ronald White

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

Worship by the Book, DA Carson, ed.

Reclaiming the Center, ed. Millard Erickson, Paul Kjoss Helseth, Justin Taylor

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions by Craig L. Blomberg

Recapture the Wonder by Ravi Zacharias

Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions by John Piper

The Next Christendom by Philip Jenkins

Hood by Stephen Lawhead

Reason for the Hope Within, ed. Michael Murray

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

The Legacy of Sovereign Joy by John Piper

The Hidden Smile of God by John Piper

The Roots of Endurance by John Piper

Contending for Our All by John Piper

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

The Big Idea by Dave Ferguson

Counsel from the Cross by Elyse Fitzpatrick

A Praying Life by Paul Miller

The Third Man Factor by John Geiger

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Just Courage by Gary Haugen

Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller

The Diversity Culture by Matthew Raley

Organic Outreach for Ordinary People by Kevin Harney

God's Battalions by Rodney Stark

Desiring God by John Piper (audiobook)

A Tapestry of Faiths by Winfried Corduan

Review of Winfried Corduan's "A Tapestry of Faiths"

Since I tend to have 3 to 6 books going at a time, to complete one book inside a week usually means it wouldn't let go of my attention. Winfried Corduan's book, A Tapestry of Faiths, goes on a short list of books with that distinction.

I bought it to prepare for a special emphasis we're planning at our church this spring.  The working title of the emphasis is "The Neighboring Faiths Interviews." I'm in conversation with an imam, a rabbi, a Hindu priest, and a Buddhist monk, with plans to have each of them join me for a 60-90 minute interview on a series of Sunday evenings. 

Corduan is an "exclusivist" in the the interfaith conversation (as any evangelical must be). That is, God can only be known through Jesus Christ. But Corduan argues that we should not be surprised to find a measure of truth in other religions. While there are things that can be known only through the "special revelation" of God's inspired Word and illuminating Spirit, there are things that can be known through the "general revelation" of nature and the human condition. This includes a sense of holiness (what Rudoph Otto called the "numinous") and the recurrent themes in the mythology and symbolism of people in various times and cultures (what Carl Jung referred to as "archetypes").  Since God made us for himself, Corduan argues, we would be surprised if this was not the case.

When it comes to interaction with those from other faiths, Corduan wants the Christian reader to be aware of two strands that can mutually strengthen and reinforce each other: "the assurance that Christians have in their hope" and "the ways in which they interact with the world of other religions." He says: "Hope grows in the process of interaction, and the interaction becomes more meaningful as the hope is firmer."

This is not an easy book to work through, since it deals with the kind of complex issues that interfaith conversations raise. But Corduan's writing style helps the reader work through the complexity.

I am in contact with Dr. Corduan and plan on a couple of phone interviews as I get ready for my "Neighboring Faiths Interviews."  (The working title for my project comes from another Corduan book I'm reading, Neighboring Faiths: A Christian Introduction of World Religions). 

Check out his website.

Friend and King

Americans who described God as "Friend" in 1984: 29 percent;

Americans who did so in 2008: 18 percent

 

Americans who described God as "King" in 1984: 18 percent;

Americans who did so in 2008: 23 percent

 

Do these facts have any impact on the music we select for Sunday worship?

 

Source: Ted Olsen, "Go Figure," Christianity Today magazine (December 2009), p. 16

Links to Your World, Tuesday December 29

John Tierney explains the science behind our procrastination when it comes to doing things we’d like to do. Read to the end for one of the best movie lines ever.


Boston mom calls 911 after son won't quit playing video games.


In Time magazine, a doctor writes about the rush for end-of-year surgeries: “They are signing up to "get it fixed" a lot more often than a year ago — an unintended and ironic "stimulus package" to my surgical practice from folks whose incomes have been seriously hurt this year. I'm grown accustomed to the year-end push for elective surgery from patients who have met their deductibles for the year, but many now are anticipating the end of health benefits altogether. No one I know is behaving as though they expect truly better health coverage by governmental guarantee.


“Meet Yussuf Khoury, a 23-year old Palestinian refugee living in the West Bank. Unlike those descendents of refugees born in United Nations camps, Mr. Khoury fled his birthplace just two years ago. And he wasn't running away from Israelis, but from his Palestinian brethren in Gaza. Mr. Khoury's crime in that Hamas-ruled territory was to be a Christian…In 2007, one year after the Hamas takeover, the owner of Gaza's only Christian bookstore was abducted and murdered. Christian shops and schools have been firebombed. Little wonder that most of Mr. Khoury's Christian friends have also left Gaza.” (The WSJ covers the persecution of Christians in the little town of Bethlehem)


As the number of Messianic Jews has risen in Israel, persecution of believers in Israel come from ultra-Orthodox Jews, not just Muslims. Story.

So...Was It More Bethlehem or the North Pole for You?

"Most Americans say they want Bethlehem and the North Pole, but the truth is that they invest more time, energy and money at the North Pole."

Terry Mattingly, in his review of Hank Stuever's new book Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present.

Is Donald Duck Part of Your Christmas Family Traditions?

Benefitting from my friendships from folks around the world, I've enjoyed hearing about different Christmas traditions. But I didn't know about the Swedish routine of watching Donald Duck at 3 p.m. every Christmas Eve. From Jeremy Stahl at Slate:

Every year on Dec. 24 at 3 p.m., half of Sweden sits down in front of the television for a family viewing of the 1958 Walt Disney Presents Christmas special, "From All of Us to All of You." Or as it is known in Sverige, Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul: "Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas."...The show's cultural significance cannot be understated. You do not tape or DVR Kalle Anka for later viewing. You do not eat or prepare dinner while watching Kalle Anka. Age does not matter—every member of the family is expected to sit quietly together and watch a program that generations of Swedes have been watching for 50 years. Most families plan their entire Christmas around Kalle Anka, from the Smörgåsbord at lunch to the post-Kalle visit from Jultomten. "At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, you can't to do anything else, because Sweden is closed," Lena Kättström Höök, a curator at the Nordic Museum who manages the "Traditions" exhibit, told me. "So even if you don't want to watch it yourself, you can't call anyone else or do anything else, because no one will do it with you."

Un-Christmas Angels

I always finish a post or article by Andree Seu convicted. Here's part of one (but honor her by going to the website for the full piece):

Humpty Dumpty, sporting a cravat he received from the King and Queen for his unbirthday, has little Alice calculate the number of unbirthdays in a year (Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass). This is a far better deal—by 364 to 1—than merely celebrating on one’s birthday.

Heretofore, most of us have celebrated angels only once a year, at Christmas, which makes me suspicious....My hunch is that the frequency of mention of a particular Bible doctrine is an indicator of the credulity with which it is held. That is, we believe enough in angels for the holidays but not enough to make them a practical part of our lives.

The author of Hebrews says angels are a practical part of our lives: They are “ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (1:14). How do they serve us? I suppose, in the usual ways—they put a hedge of protection around us (2 Kings 6:16); they block our paths (Numbers 22:23); they are dispatched with messages in answer to prayer (Daniel 10:12) when they are not occupied fighting unclean spirits, principalities, and powers elsewhere (Daniel 10:13).

Like Humpty's celebration of "un-birthdays," I'd like to go into 2010 with a commitment to have a year-long reflection of God's ministering spirits.

Younger Evangelicals: Earnest and Contradictory

You should read Matthew Lee Anderson’s "The New Evangelical Scandal" in Houston Baptist University’s celebrated new periodical, Civitate:

Even though the sociology has not yet caught up, the narrative of a new breed of evangelicalism has taken hold among the media and political elites. The narrative is doubtlessly popular in part due to wishful thinking by Democrats and their media-savvy friends; yet as a young evangelical myself, it is impossible to discount entirely. Even if the outline of our theology is broadly the same as our parents, as it is for an increasing number of conservative evangelicals, our ethos is different. And the differences are not strictly political—the political trends among young evangelicals that have received so much attention are grounded in different concerns and emphases that undergird younger evangelicals’ approach to culture and spirituality as well. This new ethos is largely a reaction to the abuses, failures, and excesses of our parents’ generation and contains significant clues as to the future of evangelicalism in America.

It’s a thoughtful critique from a young evangelical about young evangelicals’ contradictory politics (both libertarian and paternal), social mores (“faith-soaked libertines”), eschatology (we don’t wait for Christ to bring the kingdom; it must be brought in by our actions), and faith struggles (“they are about questioning, not necessarily answering”). “Fundamentally,” he writes, “young evangelicals want an evangelicalism that is respectable—and more often than not, that means distancing themselves from it when it isn’t….Young evangelicals frequently care more about being ostracized than they do being correct.”

Among younger evangelicals at the church I serve I see the potential, the earnestness, and the contradictions that Anderson describes.

Winning Ways: Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

Wallace Purling was nine that year, and only in second grade.

Most people in town knew that he had difficulty keeping up. He was big and clumsy, slow in movement and mind. Still, Wally was well-liked by the other children in his class, though the boys had trouble hiding their irritation when Wally asked to play ball with them.

Most often, they’d find a way to keep him out, but Wally would hang around anyway, just hoping. He was a helpful boy, willing and smiling, and the natural protector of the underdog. When the older boys chased the younger ones away, it was always Wally who said, “Can’t they stay? They’re no bother.”

Wally fancied the idea of being a shepherd with a flute in the Christmas pageant that year, but the play’s director assigned him a more important role. The innkeeper did not have many lines, and Wally’s size would make his refusal of lodging to Joseph more forceful.

The usual large audience gathered for the town’s yearly extravaganza. Wallace Purling stood in the wings, watching with fascination.

Then Joseph appeared--slowly, tenderly guiding Mary--and knocked hard on the wooden door set into the painted back drop.

“What do you want?” Wally the innkeeper said brusquely, swinging the door open.

“We seek lodging,” Joseph answered.

“Seek it elsewhere.” Wally looked straight ahead but spoke vigorously. “The inn is filled.”

“Sir, we have asked everywhere in vain. We have traveled far and are weary.”

“There is no room in this inn for you.” Wally looked properly stern.

“Please, good Innkeeper, this is my wife, Mary. She is heavy with child. Surely you must have some small corner for her to rest.”

Now, for the first time, the innkeeper looked down at Mary. There was a long pause, long enough to make the audience tense with embarrassment.

“No! Begone!” the prompter whispered from the wings.

“No!” Wally repeated. “Begone!”

Joseph sadly placed his arm around Mary. Mary laid her head upon her husband’s shoulder and the two of them started to move away. Wally stood in the doorway, watching the forlorn couple. His mouth was open, his brow creased with concern, his eyes filling unmistakably with tears.

And suddenly this Christmas pageant became different from all others.

“Don’t go, Joseph,” Wally called out. “Bring Mary back.” Wallace Purling broke into a bright smile. “You can have my room.”

A few people thought the pageant had been ruined. Most considered it the best Christmas pageant they had ever seen.

Merry Christmas!

Tom

(This legendary story has circulated for years. The edition above appeared in Dynamic Preaching magazine on December 1986; the earliest version has been traced back to a 1966 edition of Reader’s Digest.)

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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday December 22

“I give up. Rather than fighting to keep my Facebook profile private, I plan to open it up to the public – removing the fiction of intimacy and friendship. But I will also remove the vestiges of my private life from Facebook and make sure I never post anything that I wouldn't want my parents, employer, next-door neighbor or future employer to see. You'd be smart to do the same. We'll need to treat this increasingly public version of Facebook with the same hard-headedness that we treat Twitter: as a place to broadcast, but not a place for vulnerability. A place to carefully calibrate, sanitize and bowdlerize our words for every possible audience, now and forever. Not a place for intimacy with friends.” (Julia Angwin at WSJ)


Interesting: I still don’t know whether to consider yoga as a secular exercise program or a wedge for the Hindu worldview to enter. But now that some yoga classes may be taxed, their organizers are saying yoga is a religious activity and thus should not be taxed. Hmm….


College Student Stops Kissing Dating Good-bye.


How to live happily on 75% less.


Mona Lisa, recreated with 3,604 cups of coffee and 564 pints of milk. Story and more pics. (HT: Maedel Hearn):



“While Muslim leaders criticized the Nov. 29 vote in Switzerland that banned construction of minarets, the distinctive spires on mosques that are used for the call to prayer, they don’t support Christians who want to build churches in some Islamic countries.” (Kudos to Daniel Williams and the NYT for this piece.)


Related: Read “Worship at Your Own Risk,” the story on the new Pew Forum revealing that 64 of the 198 nations studied -- about one-third of the countries in the world -- have “high or very high restrictions on religion.”


“Ibrahim* wasn’t ready to die. He wasn’t ready to back down either. For months, Islamic authorities had ignored the tiny house church he started with a handful of former Muslims in a dusty, desolate village on the outskirts of town. But the 26-year-old Arab farmer’s brazen evangelism had become a problem. The church was growing, and it was now turning too many heads and winning too many souls for authorities to overlook. Today, they’d come to end it.” (complete the story here)


Evangelicals who are winning minds, not just hearts.


Proof that it’s never too late to make your mark: Read about Carmen Herrera at the NYT: “At 94, She’s the Hot New Thing in Painting.”


“Queer or straight here, there's no hate here.” That’s the pastor’s weekly welcome at the worship service of Highlands Church in Denver. Weekly welcome. As in, “We’re defining ourselves by this single issue.” The AP bills the church as “evangelical” as a way to highlight that evangelicals are becoming more open to non-celibate homosexuality. Um, simply calling a church “evangelical” doesn’t make it so, and I can’t find anything in the story that indicates the church still bears the marks of an evangelical church: e.g., exclusive salvation in Jesus, the need to communicate this to others so they can benefit from it, the authority of the Bible as the infallible word of God. Perhaps they do, but it's not sufficient just to label the church "evangelical" and then hold it up as a sign that "evangelicals" are opening up to non-celibate homosexuality.


A majority of Americans have told pollsters their country is on the wrong track. Peggy Noonan says its more than the economy; she calls it “the Adam Lambert Problem.”


Some Christmas stories for your week:

10 ways to cope with loss during a season of celebration

USA Today: Hospice Santa volunteers face grief, kids' hard questions. Sweet story; sweet pics.

Read about the Advent Conspiracy, which started in Houston and now has over 5,000 churches participating nation-wide. It’s a four-pronged approach to redeeming Christmas from the malls: “Worship fully, not just a quick trip to an overcrowded sanctuary on Christmas Eve. Spend less, not avoiding gift-giving but rolling back the extent of it. Give more, both of your time and your resources to help others. And love all, with a special consideration for those in the humblest of circumstances.”

Read “Merry Jewish Christmas” and think about whether Christmas celebration in the West (and America in general) has lost even the loosest connection to the birth of the Messiah.

Avatar: Eye-Popping or Eye-Rolling?

The trailers for Avatar have me looking forward to the special effects and dreading the storyline. Early reviews tell me I have good reason for both feelings:

Russell Moore says its “Rambo in Reverse.” Takeaway line: “If you can get a theater full of people in Kentucky to stand and applaud the defeat of their country in war, then you’ve got some amazing special effects.”

Ross Douthat says it’s yet another chapter in Hollywood pantheism. This is really an excellent article worth your while, even if you don’t plan on watching Avatar.

This blogger says it’s about “white guilt” and white people need to quit making film after film after film about it.

Reynolds on Senator Nelson's Vote

John Mark Reynolds at First Things on Senator Ben Nelson:

Senator Ben Nelson, if all turns out as he wishes, will be able to celebrate Christmas this year knowing that he gained graft for his state, passed a bill his constituents did not want, all the while standing at the center of the media spot light. This is the job a Democratic senator is elected to do and he did it.

Some will mock him, others misunderstand him, but Mr. Nelson is merely celebrating Christmas in his own way: the season when a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed and an order went out from Herod for the government slaughter of innocents.

Song of the Week: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night

In my Sunday "Song of the Week" feature I've been introducing you to Andrew Peterson's Christmas project, Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ. Here's "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night"--

LeaderLines: We Want Your Input

Mark your calendar for January 10 and spread the word about this important day.

I’m sure your mind is on Christmas right now, but the moment you turn the calendar page to January, we want you focused on what’s going to happen on the 10^th.

That is the day we’re going to have a Hillcrest Family discussion about campus renovation. The special event includes a BBQ lunch, and the youth will host a party for elementary school children at the Summit (the third floor youth room). Preschool care will be provided in the preschool rooms. Here’s the schedule:

10:00 a.m. Worship Service in the Auditorium

11:00 a.m. Ten-Minute Break. At this time, parents can bring their children to the right spots.

11:10 a.m. All adults will reconvene in the auditorium with Ben Heimsath and some people from his architectural firm. Ben will lead us through a presentation of the renovation process.

12:30 p.m. We will dismiss for a BBQ lunch in the Multi-Purpose Center.

1:00 p.m. Ben will lead us in a project designed to get your feedback on what needs to be addressed in the renovation process.

2:00 p.m. We’ll serve dessert and hear that feedback.

3:00 p.m. Dismiss. There will be no evening activities.

I encourage you to participate. And, as leaders, I encourage you make sure others participate as well. The process will give us a chance to look ahead, to look around, and to look above.

First, we have a chance to look ahead. Someone once said that you know you’re at the end when you have fewer dreams than you do memories. That’s true for churches, too. A planning process gives us a chance to think afresh about the future God is calling us into. I look forward to hearing your hopes and dreams for our church!

Second, we have a chance to look around. When done right, plans to renovate a facility turn our eyes outward to the community God has called us to reach. It helps us become more sensitive to the impressions we’re making upon others.

Third, we have a chance to look above. In Haggai 1:1-9, the living Lord of the universe actually said we should pay attention to the building where he is worshipped “so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored.” God says we honor him by paying attention to the place where we praise his Name and study his Word! God goes on to say he was dishonored by those who paid more attention to their houses and businesses than to their place of worship. We don’t want to make that mistake.

So, be an active participant in this chance to look ahead, around, and above!

Tom

P.S., Maybe you’ve been wondering why you haven’t been receiving LeaderLines in the last 3 weeks. Most of you know that Diane has had a series of surgeries for breast cancer and I lightened my work load during that time. This is the last LeaderLines you will receive for 2009 since the next two Thursdays are Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Watch for your next edition of LeaderLines on January 7, 2010.

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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.

Winning Ways: Preparing Preparers

We don’t really think about John the Baptist at Christmas. But someone reading the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke for the very first time would think it’s as much about John as it is about Jesus.

For the first 80 verses of Luke’s Gospel, he goes into great detail about the birth of John: Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah, Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the naming of the baby, and even Zechariah’s song of celebration.

Here's what I learn from Luke's first chapter: God didn’t just send his Son; God prepared a preparer. God considered it an essential part of that first Christmas to put a man in the world whose only job was to build expectancy for Jesus.

Even today, if you listen to the story of how someone came to Christ you will always hear about a preparer:

• Before Jesus comes into a child’s life, God involves a children’s worker with that child to prepare the way.

• Before Jesus comes into a teen’s life, God places a friend or a youth worker in that life to prepare the way.

• Before Jesus comes into a man’s life, God stirs the heart of that man’s Christian co-worker to prepare the way—building friendship with him, answering his questions, helping him break down his misconceptions about Christ.

God still prepares preparers today, just as he did that first Christmas. It’s exciting to see people at Hillcrest waking up to the fact that they are to be preparers for the Messiah. With the friendships they build and the needs they meet and the interest they show and the kindness they extend, they are building curiosity toward our Lord in the hearts of others. Just yesterday in my Common Ground group, I got another glimpse of that missionary spirit as someone talked about the burden she had for her unconverted friends.

Thomas Kelly once said that God “plucks the world out of our hearts” and then “he hurls the world into our hearts, where we and He together carry it in infinitely tender love.” I like that.

I wonder if you’ve only grasped the first part of Kelly’s words but not the second. John was born to turn attention to Jesus, and that’s your job, too.

This Sunday, December 20, we’re going to camp out in the first chapter of Luke and discover that God has made us “preparers” like John. Join us at 10!

______________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday December 15

For most married Americans, the Great Recession seems to be solidifying, not eroding, the marital bond. Brad Wilcox at the WSJ explains why.


This man makes his living scrounging for gambling tickets that others have discarded but actually have value. It's called "stooping," and the featured stooper in the story is named Jesus. If you're preaching/teaching/writing about Philippians 2 and can't find a way to use this, turn in your ordination papers....


Get The Nativity Story for $4.99 for a limited time.


Emily Bazelon in Slate explains why kids self-destruct with cell phones and online. Good warnings here for parents of middle school and high school kids.


"Precisely because the gospel stands athwart all ethnic claims, the church cannot erect a new racial boundary," N. T. Wright argues in The Climax of the Covenant against this so-called two-covenant theology. "The irony of this is that the late twentieth century, in order to avoid anti-Semitism, has advocated a position (the non-evangelization of Jews) which Paul regards precisely as anti-Semitic." (CT's "All Israel Will Be Saved")


Holy Cow! “A calf with a white marking on its forehead in the approximate shape of a cross was born last week at a dairy farm in Sterling, a small rustic town on the Rhode Island border. Owner Brad Davis tells WFSB-TV he thinks the marking may be a message from above, though he's still trying to figure out what that message might be.” Yeah, get back to me when you’ve figured out what that message might be. Yeesh.


“I wonder what people are thinking of me right now?” said Matt Marquess, an employee at a public relations firm in San Francisco whose Twitter account was recently hijacked, showering his followers with messages that appeared to offer a $500 gift card to Victoria’s Secret. Mr. Marquess was clueless about the offers until a professional acquaintance asked him about them via e-mail. Confused, he logged in to his account and noticed he had been promoting lingerie for five days.” (NYT piece about malicious viruses invading Facebook and Twitter accounts with weak passwords. If you get some strange status updates from me, let me know!)


Having connection problems with your iPhone? (I have an iPhone.) This guy at the NYT says its more Apple's fault than ATT.


“When we examine the iPhone users’ arguments defending the iPhone, it reminds us of the famous Stockholm Syndrome - a term that was invented by psychologists after a hostage drama in Stockholm. Here hostages reacted to the psychological pressure they were experiencing, by defending the people that had held them hostage for 6 days.” (Interesting. The authors give the answers that iPhone fans give to 20 objections about the technological weaknesses of the iPhone.)


Austin came in 7th on the list for best tap water, but how Waco escaped the top ten list for WORST tap water I'll never know...


Art in My Coffee


Cool video of a motorcycle assembling itself:

"We Try to Make Everyone We Meet A Sharer in Our Peace"

" 'For as we know not who belongs to the number of the predestined or who does not belong, we ought to be so minded as to wish that all men be saved.' So shall it come about that we try to make everyone we meet a sharer in our peace."

Calvin, quoting Augustine, Institutes, Chapter XXXIII, p. 964

Song of the Week: Labor of Love

Each Sunday I've been posting selected songs from Andrew Peterson's project, Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ. Here's "Labor of Love"--

Taxpayer-Funded Abortion

It comes as no surprise but it does break the heart: The Statesman reports that Travis County residents will continue to be forced to fund abortions.

Half a million dollars of taxpayers' property taxes will be available to abortion providers after Thursday's vote by the board of Central Health, formerly called the Travis County Healthcare District. 

According to the Statesman, most of the communication to the Board was in opposition to using property taxes to pay for abortion, and most of those in attendance at the meeting were in opposition as well.  No matter.  The Board required that the same number speak for it as against it, and then the Board--unelected by taxpayers--voted unanimously to keep using taxpayers' property taxes for abortions.

"This is a hard issue for the community ... and for me personally," one board member told the Statesman. "In my view and in most instances, abortion is wrong." But, he said, abortions are legal and "we're not a church."

I am genuinely grateful that the member's personal view is that abortion is wrong. In terms of setting public policy, however, he says he based his decision on the fact that abortions are legal and there's a difference between church and state.

Let's break that down.

"Abortions are legal"

Does the bare legality of abortion serve as a stable foundation for government-funding of abortion? Not in any other government entity in Texas, and not nationally thanks to the Hyde Amendment prohibiting federal funding of abortion (a provision that may go away during current debates about health care in the U.S. Senate).  In fact, refusing to provide government funding in no way denies accessibility to abortion.  On the other hand, taking money from residents through tax law and using it to fund abortions makes residents complicit in a procedure the majority of them find objectionable.

In short, the Board's vote on Thursday was not on whether abortion would be legal in Travis County. The vote was whether taxpayers would be forced to pay for it.

This was obscured by Austin Democrats Sen. Kirk Watson and Rep. Elliott Naishtat.  "We know from history that when you remove a safe and legal option," they wrote to the Board, "you can create an environment of desperation that leads to choices that can put a woman's health and safety in danger."

Their letter incorrectly assumes that this was a debate over whether to "remove a safe and legal option."  We can have a conversation about that another day. Thursday's Board vote was whether to make Travis County residents pay for this "safe and legal option." The Board decided residents should be made to do so.

"We're not a church"

The board member quoted in the Statesman said another reason the Board proceeded in favor of the contracts with abortion providers is because "we're not a church." 

Indeed. And yet no one was asking his Board to perform the church's job. The church's job is evangelism and discipleship; the state's job is order and justice.  When we speak to state officials on the topic of abortion, we're not asking them to do the church's job. We're asking them to do their job. 

Let's look for the day when that job is dutifully performed.

The Essential Ingredient for Communicating the Gospel: "Congregations That Believe It"

"How can this strange story of God made man, of a crucified savior, of resurrection and new creation become credible for those whose entire mental training has conditioned them to believe that the real world is the world that can be satisfactorily explained and managed without the hypothesis of God? I know of only one clue to the answering of that question, only one real hermeneutic of the gospel: congregations that believe it."

Lesslie Newbigin, Word in Season.

Upon the 100th anniversary of Newbigin's birthday yesterday, I read several posts and articles about him online. You should read the CT piece on Newbigin from 13 years ago (Part 1, Part 2). Newbigin was a missionary to India who, upon returning to his home in Great Britain, discovered that the West needed to be evangelized anew.  I've read his book The Gospel in a Pluralist Society and have Foolishness to the Greeks on my "to read" list.

Winning Ways: Welcome the Creasters

Some call them “Creasters,” and with sarcasm.

I first ran across the term a couple of years ago, and it was in reference to persons who only seem to show up for church services at the seasons of Christmas and Easter. Throughout my ministry years I’ve heard the criticisms of such shallow interest in God.

But here’s one pastor hoping to start a friendship with a few Creasters this Advent season.

Is it sufficient to worship with God’s Family only once or twice a year? Of course not. Christ expects us to connect with a congregation and invest ourselves in the fellowship and ministry offered there. A local church isn’t like a restaurant that you occasionally patronize when you’re in the mood for its cuisine.

So, why do I have room in my heart for Creasters—and why should you? Tony Woodlief hit the nail on the head in an article for World magazine:

It’s easy for me to go to my church, but perhaps not for the Creaster. Sometimes — too often — I come out of habit or duty, but sometimes I come out of the deepest yearning. I wonder if the Creasters feel this, if it is why they come during this season and at Easter. I wonder if they, in their alien state, don’t come closer to a true heart than I carry most Sundays. They come, though it doesn’t fit their routine. They come, in spite of the discomfort in not belonging. They come because something draws them — a faint sense of holiness evoked by the season, or because we are more inviting, or for the music, or maybe because the baby Christ [at Christmas] and the murdered Christ [at Easter] are images they can relate to best in their fear and need. They come, with their doubts and their poor attendance records, and somewhere, most importantly, the hope that it isn’t all just a myth, that the baby was and is Immanuel, God with us.

In other words, we welcome Creasters because we believe we should start with people wherever they are spiritually and then encourage them to move up to where they need to be.

To that end, this holiday season I hope you’ll invite your Creaster friends to a Sunday morning service at 10, where the meaning of Christmas will be explained and celebrated. Or invite them to our evening of Christmas music December 13 or our annual Christmas Eve service, both at 6 pm.

Wise men seek him still!

____________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Link to Your World, Tuesday December 8

Researchers at UT-Austin say that Facebook status updates reveal our real personalities rather than idealized ones.


One-Third of Youths Engage in Sexting


Russell More: “Jesus Has AIDS”


If you add up the total cost of all the items mentioned in the classic song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” then the total price tag this year would be $87,403. (blog post)


Is there an evangelical revival building in France? Pray for our missionaries in France, especially Daniel and Tiffany Kilcoyne who moved from our church to serve with the IMB.


More people than ever doubt that anyone has a corner on truth. So why do Christians keep insisting on the incomparable uniqueness of Christ? In CT’s “Still the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” John R. Franke explains.


“When Jesus told the disciples to let the children come to him, we have no record of him adding ‘only if they can keep quiet.’” (WSJ piece on children and church services)


“The average person reading accounts of the East Anglia emails [exposing the political agenda behind those controlling the climate change science] will conclude that hard science has become just another faction, as politicized and ‘messy’ as, say, gender studies” (WSJ).


Funny stuff: Ten Reasons for Calvinists to Be Cheerful This Christmas.


It’s more than the media that hunts Tiger Woods. Good devotional for us all.


Related: The Church of Tiger Woods is closing.


“Bless the Mother of Jesus, but Mainly Be the Mother of Jesus”: John Piper explains how we should consider Mary.


The CS Monitor asked Kevin DeYoung to explain the practical importance of the academic debate on how one is “justified” before God: “Christians should care because it is ultimately a matter of life and death. Others should care because it's a doctrine that defines – or at least should define – the core belief of 600 million people globally, shaping how they engage with the world around them. As justification goes, so goes the church. A muddied view of justification could muddy the Protestant fountainhead, limiting its effort to quench the thirst for acceptance that we all feel deep down.”


“It's not just mothers, but all women, who are quickly roused from sleep by the sound of a crying infant. For men, however, a wailing baby is far less likely to penetrate slumber. While car alarms, buzzing flies and strong wind were all able to interrupt men's sleep, of the broad range of sounds tested during the study, crying babies didn't even fall in the top 10 noises likely to disturb male slumber.” (Time)


“What Johnny Needs to Learn About Islam”: A Weekly Standard article about what public schools expect students to know about Islam—and the lead Texas is taking on this process.


Forbes explains "five key characteristics that help introverted leaders build on their quiet strength and succeed."


A Claymation Carol of the Bells:

Song of the Week: Andrew Peterson's "It Came to Pass"

As I mentioned in last Sunday's installment of the "Song of the Week," I'm using the "Song of the Week" feature on this blog throughout Advent to feature Andrew Peterson's project, Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ."

Here is "It Came to Pass"--



By the way, I found out this week that there's a new edition of the project available. The 10th Anniversary edition includes a live version as well as the recorded version, and at $8.99 at Amazon, it’s a good deal.

In a foreword to a forthcoming Advent book Peterson explains what he was hoping to accomplish as he wrote the album:

At its core, it was to present the story of Christmas in a new way. I wanted to reach deep into the Old Testament and sing about the Passover, and King David, and Isaiah’s prophecies. I wanted to capture with song the same thrill that captured me in Bible college when the epic scope of the Gospel story first bowled me over. But I didn’t just want to dwell on what came before Jesus’ birth. I wanted to sing about what came after. His crucifixion and resurrection were the reasons he was born in the first place. You can’t have Christmas without Easter.

Elsewhere he’s written:

What makes this bunch of songs unique is that I wanted to remind (or teach) the audience that the story of Christmas doesn’t begin with the birth of Jesus. Many people tend to forget or have never even learned that the entire Bible is about Jesus, not just the New Testament.

So the musical begins with Moses and the symbolic story of the Passover (Passover Us) and works its way through the kings and the prophets with their many prophecies about the coming Messiah (So Long, Moses) to the awful four hundred years of silence before God told Mary she’d be having a baby (Deliver Us). After the song called Matthew’s Begats, which lists the genealogy of Jesus, the story picks up in more familiar territory with Mary and Joseph and the actual birth (It Came To Pass, Labor of Love). The final song is called Behold, the Lamb of God, which ties together the Passover and the beauty and scope of the story.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Book Glut

Some battle weight gain; I battle book gain. (Okay, and weight gain, but don't change the subject.)

Though I try to keep my current reading projects to no more than 3 at a time, sometimes I binge. Currently:

* The remaining 40% (about 550 pages) of Calvin's Institutes.

* Rodney Stark's provocative new one, "God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades"

* David Brooks' 2000 book, "Bobos in Paradise."

* "Putting Jesus in His Place"--a defense of the divinity of Jesus, using the acrostic H.A.N.D.S. as a memory device.

* "Theodore Rex," the second book of what will end up as a trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt.

* GK Beale's "The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism."

Is there an Adkins Plan for book lovers?

Winning Ways: "Five Reasons Sharing Your Faith Strengthens Your Faith"

Sharing our faith makes us sure-footed in our battles against temptation.

That’s what we discover in Ephesians 6. There Paul lists six pieces of armor that a Christian ought to wear at all times: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit—and we are to make sure our feet are fitted with “the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” In other words, be ready to communicate our faith whenever the opportunity arises.

Most of us think that communicating the gospel is for the benefit of others, but it benefits us, as well. Sharing our faith makes us sure-footed in our battles against temptation.

But some of us have an Achilles’ heel at this point.

Why do we call someone’s weakness their “Achilles’ heel”? From my college days studying Greek and Roman mythology, I remember the legend of Achilles, who fought so fiercely against the Trojans. His mother, the sea nymph, Thetis, made a request of Vulcan, the armor-maker and blacksmith of the gods. She asked Vulcan to make divine armor for Achilles. The next day, when Thetis brought it to her son, he received it with joy and went out to fight. In his special armor, he won battles with Hector and then with Prince Memnon against Troy.

But then one well-placed arrow did him in. Paris shot an arrow at Achilles from the wall of Troy and the god Apollo guided it so that the arrow struck the one unprotected place on Achilles's body: his heel. That is why we call someone's weak spot his "Achilles heel."

When those in recovery from addiction reach the final step of the Twelve Steps, they learn to carry the message of victory to others. In other words, one of the best ways to maintain your recovery is to communicate to others what God has done for you.

This Sunday @ 10, we’ll look at five reasons why sharing your faith strengthens your faith:

• It publicly identifies you with the kingdom of God.
• It reinforces the decision to belong to Christ.
• It clarifies and solidifies your beliefs.
• It reassures us of the presence of God
• It gives you an immediate and visible reason to set an example of righteousness.

Join us this Sunday at 10 a.m. for this important study. And return at 6 p.m. for “The Christmas Country Spelling Bee” performed by our Kids Music Theater team!

___________________________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday December 1

Justin Taylor explains what’s wrong with Focus on the Family’s latest project to evaluate major retailers on their level of “Christmas-friendliness.”


Terry Mattingly wonders when Hollywood will quit getting “blind sided” by the popularity of films like The Blind Side.


“The two children chosen to front Richard Dawkins’s latest assault on God could not look more free of the misery he associates with religious baggage. With the slogan ‘Please don’t label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself’, the youngsters with broad grins seem to be the perfect advertisement for the new atheism being promoted by Professor Dawkins and the British Humanist Association. Except that they are…from one of the country’s most devout Christian families.” From the London Times article about the children featured in new atheist ads. Their father, Brad Mason, said, “It is quite funny, because obviously they were searching for images of children that looked happy and free. They happened to choose children who are Christian.’”


Such a contrast: In “Obama's Brilliant First Year” in Newsweek, Jacob Weisberg wrote, “By January, he will have accomplished more than any first-year president since Franklin Roosevelt. On the other hand, in “He Can’t Take Another Bow” in the WSJ, Peggy Noonan says that Obama’s first year has exposed him as “amateurish.”


This is hilarious:

Song of the Week: "Gather Round Ye Children Come"

Across the next few editions of my Sunday feature, "Song of the Week," I want to introduce you to one of my favorite Christmas music projects. It's Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ. When the first song that follows the opener is "Passover Us," you know you're not in for a traditional Christmas CD. In fact, the 5 songs after the opener are all focused on the Old Testament longing for a Redeemer ("Passover Us," "So Long Moses," "Deliver Us," and "O Come O Come Emmanuel." Even the clever "Matthew's Begats" is a recap of the Old Testament salvation history that led to the Messiah).

About the closest Peterson will get to Austin for his annual Christmas tour of this project is Cleburne on December 12, but make the trip if you can.

Here's the opener, "Gather Round Ye Children Come."



Watch it here:

Thanksgiving Weekend Project

Every man needs a Thanksgiving Weekend project...and a couple of sons to help him with it. Here's Michael and Stephen helping build and level the foundation for a new garden shed. And no dad's going to pass up the opportunity to talk about taking the time to build the right foundation for life when he's with his sons building the right foundation for a shed.



Here's the finished product:

Now, does anyone have a copy of the deed restrictions for my neighborhood? Why that occured to me only after I got it built I can't fathom....

"A Boon We Do Not Expect"

"It is amazing," wrote John Calvin, "how much our lack of trust provokes God if we request of him a boon that we do not expect."

It was one of four "rules" he taught on prayer in his magisterial work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion.

But having confidence in God did not mean to Calvin a trouble-free (or troubled-free) existence.  Note the wisdom in this gem:

But "assurance" I do not understand to mean that which soothes our mind with sweet and perfect repose, releasing it from every anxiety. For to repose so peacefully is the part of those who, when all affairs are flowing to their liking, are touched by no care, burn with no desire, toss with no fear. But for the saints the occasion that best stimulates them to call upon God is when, distressed by their own need, they are troubled by the greatest unrest, and are almost driven out of their senses, until faith opportunely comes to their relief. For among such tribulations God's goodness so shines upon them that even when they groan with weariness under the weight of present ills, and also are troubled and tormented by the fear of greater ones, yet, relying upon his goodness, they are relieved of the difficulty of bearing them, and are solaced and hope for escape and deliverance. It is fitting therefore that the godly man's prayer arise from these two emotions, that it also contain and represent both. That is, that he groan under present ills and anxiously fear those to come, yet at the same time take refuge in God, not at all doubting he is ready to extend his helping hand. It is amazing how much our lack of trust provokes God if we request of him a boon that we do not expect.

Calvin's Institutes is one of my reading projects for 2009, the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth.  60% complete....

Winning Ways: "Thanks"

Rudyard Kipling was being interviewed by a somewhat cynical reporter. “I understand that the money you make from your writings amounts to over one hundred dollars a word.”

Mr.Kipling responded with surprise. “Really, I had no idea.”

“Here’s a one hundred dollar bill,” the newspaperman retorted, “Give me one of your hundred dollar words.”

Kipling took the hundred dollar bill, quietly folded it up, said, “Thanks,” and walked away.

Yep, gratitude is precious. This Thursday is a good time to remember that.

In this chapter of our family story, as Diane recovers from surgery, we give thanks for friends and extended family members for praying for us, checking on us, and assisting us. Looking above, we are grateful for God’s faithfulness, demonstrated new every morning (Lam. 3:22-23).

What a different a heart of gratitude can make, not only for your life but the lives of those around you. Ellen Vaughn recalls an incident on the Washington subway system in which a crowded train stalled on an underground track. Groans and outbursts from the stressed commuters began immediately. Accusations were hurled against anyone and everyone they could blame for this added hassle to their already-harried lives.

And then something changed. Somewhere in that crowd a woman dropped one of her bulky packages, and a bottle of perfume shattered. As the luxurious fragrance wafted throughout the car, people smiled, relaxed, and started laughing with each other. Vaughn wrote:

Followers of Jesus have the opportunity, in life’s crowded moments when people feel stuck, to be the fragrance of Christ. We don’t need to be annoying Pollyannas (who would be thrown right off the Metro anyway), but free spirits who can lead and turn the tide, rather than follow along on the lazy downward spiral of negativity. What it takes is a purposeful, daily decision on our part to be the one. Then follows the creative question in the bad situation, a smile, compassion, a little humor that suggests that we need not take our small selves so seriously—a look upward and outward, where the vistas of God’s great love call us to come and enjoy him, now and forever.

This week, let the day of Thanksgiving return you to a life of thanksgiving. It makes all the difference in your heart and your witness.

_________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday November 24

Why Exercise Helps You Deal with Stress: Scientists have discovered that exercise creates new brain cells that are designed to weather stress better than brain cells created in periods of sloth.


“I believe we are facing an inevitable and culture-determining decision on the three issues centrally identified in this statement. I also believe that we will experience a significant loss of Christian churches, denominations, and institutions in this process. There is every good reason to believe that the freedom to conduct Christian ministry according to Christian conviction is being subverted and denied before our eyes. I believe that the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage, and religious liberty are very much in danger at this very moment.” (Albert Mohler, “Why I Signed the Manhattan Declaration”)


This is in my “to-read” stack: In God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades, Baylor’s respected historian Rodney Stark reminds us that—contrary to popular notions—the Crusades were provoked by Muslim invasions of Christian lands.


GeekDad lists the top 10 bad messages from some of our favorite family-friendly flicks. See if you agree.


“Uninvolved fathers have long been accused of lacking motivation. But research shows that many societal obstacles conspire against them. Even as more fathers are changing diapers, dropping the children off at school and coaching soccer, they are often pushed aside in ways large and small.” (NYT, on new research that suggests that women are unintentionally blocking men from greater participation in child-raising because they insist that men do it their way)


Related: The Guardian reports on a study that shows that “working women who claim partners don't pull their weight do so to feel more feminine and in charge in the home.”


“There is now a new revolution under way, one aimed at rolling back the almost comical overprotectiveness and overinvestment of moms and dads. The insurgency goes by many names — slow parenting, simplicity parenting, free-range parenting — but the message is the same: Less is more; hovering is dangerous; failure is fruitful” (Time, introducing a belated reaction against “helicopter parenting”).


“A trove of e-mails stolen from a leading climate-research group in Britain has sparked an online debate over global warming data. Bloggers claim the e-mails reveal that scientists colluded and manipulated data to support global warming theories.” (Wired)


“Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery — essentially a ban on blasphemy that would put them on a collision course with free speech laws in the West.” (AP Story)


“We're intensely attracted only to lovers who are hidden versions of Dad's and Mom's worst and most hurtful traits. We all have 100 percent unfailing radar systems that draw us to the people who are so wrong for us that they're right for us. It's nature's way. It's the true meaning of love” (Mark E. Smith in “The Mind-Blowing Purpose of Marriage” at MarriagePartnership.com)


“Could it be we've lost our capacity for gratitude? A successful harvest occasioned thanks back when it was all that stood between us and a long, cold, hungry winter. But now we're divorced from the seasonal rhythms of the farm, where the harvest is celebrated as the payoff of all the year's labors. Even in the midst of this Great Repression we enjoy perpetual plenty. What resonance does a cornucopia have to people who have come to expect ripe blackberries in February? If anything, we should be more grateful, but that's not our nature. Anything we struggle for, we hold dear; anything that comes easy, we take for granted” (from a WSJ article on why our culture skips right from Halloween to Christmas without much thought of Thanksgiving)


“More than just an annual turkey fest, the Puritans gave America a pedagogy of work and an attitude toward life that upsets the modern notion that a person's occupation equals his value. A man's worth, the Puritans might advise the unemployed Steve Lee, lay in his service to God and to his fellow man, not in titles or financial portfolios. Rather than seeing life as a series of random events, the Puritan's belief in Providence imputed a profound sense of a loving God's purpose for him, a purpose that left very little room for despair.” (“Some Puritan Advice for the Unemployed,” WSJ)


Catholic Mass: The Video Game. I expect this will be the must-have toy this Christmas--Not:

Song of the Week: Jars of Clay's Cover of "It is Well"

The tragedy that led to one of the most beloved hymns took place 136 years ago this past Friday. You may be aware of the story behind “It is Well (With My Soul).” After the great Chicago Fire of October 1871 ruined him financially, Horatio Spafford lost all four of his daughters when the ship they were in collided with another. Spafford’s wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone.” Several weeks later, as Spafford’s own ship passed near the spot where his daughters died, Spafford wrote the song.

Here’s an image of the handwritten lyrics (source: http://spaffordhymn.com/):



And here’s a great video of Spafford’s biography from Mars Hill Church:



There are over 600 renditions of "It is Well" at lala.com. The following rendition is from the Jars of Clay project, Redemption Songs. It has a sort of ‘George Harrison’ feel to it, huh?



When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though the devil will ruin, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And He shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well, with my soul

My sin--oh, the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin--not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well, with my soul

It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well, with my soul

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well with my soul
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

(HT on the image of the handwritten lyrics and the Mars Hill video: Justin Taylor)

"It is Better to Transmit Our Possessions Thither"

John Calvin, Institutes:

If what Christ says is true--"Where our treasure is, there resides our heart" [Matt. 6:21]--as the children of this age are wont to be intent upon getting things that make for delight in the present life, so believers ought to see to it that, after they have learned that this life will soon vanish like a dream, they transfer the things they want truly to enjoy to a place where they will have life unceasing.

We ought, then, to imitate what people do who determine to migrate to another place, where they have chosen a lasting abode. They send before them all their resources and do not grieve over lacking them for a time, for they deem themselves the happier the more goods they have where they will be for a long time. But if we believe heaven is our country, it is better to transmit our possessions thither than to keep them here where upon our sudden migration they would be lost to us.

Two Ways Christians Should Respond to the Threat of Radical Islam

Jim Dennison:

Whatever the motives behind the Fort Hood tragedy, it is clear that radical Islam is the challenge of our lifetime. How should Christians respond?

First, pray for Muslims to turn to Jesus as their Lord. More Muslims are becoming Christians today than at any time in Islamic history. The Quran teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, ascended to heaven and will return at the end of history. Now thousands of Muslims are seeing visions and dreams of Jesus and trusting him as their Savior. Pray for millions more to follow him as their Lord.

Second, support Muslim-background believers (MBBs) in prayer and personal encouragement. Muslim converts to Christianity frequently face intense persecution for their new faith. At the same time, they are often our best missionaries to the Islamic world. Look for ways to help MBBs in your community and around the globe.

Winning Ways: Hillcrest at Prayer

As a pastor, I’m usually the one promising prayer. Now I’m the recipient of the promise of prayers from others. Since we announced the news of Diane’s cancer, we’re grateful for so many notes letting us know you’re praying for us.

Hillcrest is a congregation that knows the importance of prayer, and I hope you will take advantage of all the ways we pray for each other. Let me mention three:

First, the most important place to pray for each other is in our small-group settings. We don’t tend to lift up specific, intimate items by name in our Sunday morning services. Instead, we lift people up by name in our Common Ground groups and Sunday School classes. If you haven’t plugged in to a small group yet, I encourage you to spend an extra hour after this Sunday’s worship service and start making some new friends in one of our groups. You’ll hear them praying for each other by name, and they’ll be glad to include your concerns in their prayers as well.

Second, we send out prayer alerts via email. If you want to receive these alerts, contact my assistant, Jami Dismukes, at the church office. These email blasts go out every day, sometimes several times a day, to keep our members informed about prayer needs. You can submit items for the prayer alerts by contacting Jami or completing a Connection Card on Sundays.

Third, prayer is an important part of what we do in our midweek service. We encourage you to make this a part of your routine, 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

Paul’s command to the early church was, “Be constant in prayer” and “Pray without ceasing” (Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:15). You can help us make sure Hillcrest remains that kind of church.

“Think of the prayer warriors in our midst,” wrote Tony Snow in the midst of his fight with cancer. “They change things, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it. It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up—to speak of us!”

Thanks to you, I know what he’s talking about.

____________________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday November 17

Want someone to watch your pet post-rapture? This guy says since he’s going to be “left behind” he’ll do it for $110. Sigh….


“We stopped buying all the stuff we didn't need that was supposed to make us happier, and we seem to be happier for it. And who would have expected that?” (Nancy Gibbs of Time asks, given the current economic woes, why do polls show Americans so cheery?)


“Once the abortion procedure began, [Abby] Johnson saw the child ‘crumple’ under the pressure of the vacuum and then in an instant the child was gone. The reality of seeing the baby moving struck her as she stood in shock and dropped the ultrasound probe, she recalled: ‘My heart was racing. I kept thinking about my daughter.’” (Coverage of the Planned Parenthood director who quit after assisting in an abortion)


Interesting WSJ piece on conducting business overseas as a part of a Christian missionary strategy.


An Italian inventor has devised an electronic holy-water dispenser to reduce exposure to the H1N1 virus in Catholic churches.


“Long dismissed by researchers as trivial and fleeting, teen romance is emerging as a powerful factor in kids' development—one in which parents have a major role to play, new studies show. The romantic ties kids form between middle school and college are important markers of progress toward adulthood; their choice of partners as early as middle school actually shapes their development to a surprising degree. And while parents' dating advice may seem about as welcomed by teens as the swine flu, the research suggests the opposite—that young people not only value parental input, but tend to have healthier relationships when they receive parental advice” (Story).


“Words that previously were rarely heard on television suddenly turn up everywhere, while once unspeakable slurs become passé from overuse” (NYT).


Reaction to the Fort Hood Shooting:

From the National Association of Evangelicals: “A tragedy caused by the act of one individual should not be compounded by generalizing actions to a culture, ethnicity or religion. The NAE calls on all Americans to build stronger relationships of understanding and reconciliation with their neighbors of different faiths and backgrounds. Chaplain Paul Vicalvi, Executive Director of the NAE Chaplains Commission, said, ‘We should be clear: The actions of this one man do not reflect the beliefs or values of the vast majority of American Muslims.’”

John Mark Reynolds says that we should not object to those who say that they are Muslims first and Americans second. We are, in fact, Christians first and Americans second. Reynolds says what we must object to is a virulent version of Islam that poses itself against the social contract that is at the heart of the American Experiment.

Terry Mattingly reports on his conversation with a Muslim who cautions that making a sweeping defense of any and all Muslims is just as irresponsible as making a sweeping accusation of any and all: “Understanding requires analyzing, not sanitizing. I’m not interested in hysteria. It’s clear that we have to be careful not to reduce this story to Islam but the corrective to that is not to whitewash Islam from public discussion of the story altogether. It’s to put the role of religious conviction in its proper perspective. And by the way, we won’t know what that proper perspective is until all the details have come in. But in and among those details has to be the detail that Major Hasan visited radical Islamist web sites, that he had email exchanges with an extremist preacher, that he reportedly shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before he opened fire on comrades, that he told fellow community members that he did not wish to fight fellow Muslims. So my point simply is that this is a complex case but complexity is not served by, you know, excising certain factors out of the equation merely because you’re uncomfortable with them.”

“The tragedy at Fort Hood last week raised many fears among Christian political advocacy groups. For some groups the shooting provoked a fear of a Muslim "fifth column" in the military. For others groups it provoked a fear of anti-Muslim backlash in the American populace.” (Read the varying reactions from evangelicals collected by Christianity Today)

“The admonition not to rush to judgment or jump to conclusions might sound fair and prudent enough, perhaps even statesmanlike when uttered by the president, as long it's borne in mind that such advice is itself a judgment that is more than halfway to a conclusion. What it plainly implies in the present case is that the actions of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan should not be assumed in any meaningful way to be related to his Muslim faith….In order to demonstrate the absence of a connection, however, the following facts would have to be regarded as relatively random or secondary.” Christopher Hitchens proceeds to list “seven salient facts” about Major Hasan’s radical Isalmic affinity.

I’ve already posted comments that grabbed my attention from James Taranto and Tunku Varadarajan.

Song of the Week: "Sweet Pea" by Amos Lee

Here's a fun one from a few years back--"Sweet Pea" by Amos Lee:

Four Ways to Identify Your Idols

In his latest book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller suggests four ways to identify your idols:

I am not asking whether or not you have rival gods. I assume that we all do; they are hidden in every one of us. The question is: What do we do about them? ...How can we discern our idols?

One way requires that we look at our imagination. Archbishop William Temple once said, "Your religion is what you do with your solitude." In other words, the true god of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention. What do you enjoy daydreaming about? What occupies your mind when you have nothing else to think about? Do you develop potential scenarios about career advancement? Or material goods such as a dream home? Or a relationship with a particular person? One or two daydreams are no an indication of idolatry. Ask rather, what do you habitually think about to get joy and comfort in the privacy of your heart?

Another way to discern your heart's true love is to look at how you spend your money Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there is your heart also" (Matthew 6:21). Your money flows most effortlessly toward your heart's greatest love. In fact, the mark of an idol is that you spend too much money on it, and you must try to exercise self-control constantly. As Saint Paul has written, if God and his grace is the thing in the world you love most, you will give your money away to ministry, charity, and the poor in astonishing amounts (2 Corinthians 8:7-9). Most of us, however, tend to overspend on clothing, or on our children, or on status symbols such as homes and cars. Our patterns of spending reveal our idols.

A third way to discern idols works best for those who have professed a faith in God. You may regularly go to a place of worship. You may have a full, devout set of doctrinal beliefs. You may be trying very hard to believe and obey God. However, what is your real, daily functional salvation? What are you really living for, what is your real—not your professed—god? A good way to discern this is how you respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes. If you ask for something that you don't get, you may become sad and disappointed. Then you go on. Hey, life's not over. Those are not your functional masters. But when you pray and work for something and you don't get it and you respond with explosive anger or deep despair, then may have found your real god. Like Jonah, you become angry enough to die.

A final test works for everyone. Look at your most uncontrollable emotions. Just as a fisherman looking for fish knows to go where the water is roiling, look for your idols at the bottom of your most painful emotions, especially those that never seem to lift and that drive you to do things you know are wrong. If you are angry, ask, "Is there something here too important to me, something I must have at all costs?" Do the same thing with strong fear or despair and guilt. Ask yourself, "Am I so scared, because something in my life is being threatened that I think is a necessity when it is not? Am I so down on myself because I have lost or failed at something that I think is a necessity when it is not?" If you are overworking, driving yourself into the ground with frantic activity, ask yourself, "Do I feel that I must have this thing to be fulfilled and significant?" When you ask questions like that, when you "pull your emotions up by the roots," as it were, you will often find your idols clinging to them.

(Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller, pp. 168-70)

Hope that whets your appetite enough to go out and buy it or check it out of a library. 

"A PC-free zone"

Tunku Varadarajan at Forbes:

A short time after the shootings at Fort Hood, President Obama asked us not to jump to conclusions. To many Americans, this was a grating request, of a piece with the political correctness that was responsible--it has emerged--for the hands-off treatment by the Army of Maj. Hasan. How else could he have been left in the position of treating U.S. troops, given the stories we've now heard about his incendiary statements and apparent incompetence?

This is the same mindset that led the FBI to deny the possibility that the Fort Hood massacre was linked to terrorism even before they could have had any idea that was the case. We don't have to be paranoid about Arab males; we just have to avoid the opposite: Being fearful of coming across as Islamophobic, and thereby failing to look straight at a situation.

...

The Army had a self-identified Islamic fundamentalist in its midst, blogging about suicide bombings and telling everyone he hated the Army's mission; and yet, they did, or could do, nothing about it. In effect, the "don't-jump-to-conclusions" mentality was underway long before this man killed his colleagues....

Let the first lesson of the Hasan atrocity be this: The U.S. Army has to be a PC-free zone. Our democracy and our way of life depend on it.

If you're making a Top Ten list of the must-read assessments of the Fort Hood tragedy, add Varadarajan's to the list.