LeaderLines: Update on Our Youth Minister Search

We just sent the following update to our middle school and high school students and their parents. As a Hillcrest leader and supporter, we wanted you to have this information, too.

Dear Students and Parents,

I wanted to give you another quick update on the status of our search for a Minister to Students. In the 4 months since the search began, we have received 61 resumes. We’ve asked for more information from 25 candidates, and we’ve set up phone interviews with 8 candidates. We’ve also had 3 follow-up interviews by phone when we felt a candidate had real potential. We flew a young man and his wife in from Arkansas a couple of weeks ago to meet with some key leadership. God closed the door on that candidacy, but we immediately began to deal with some other resumes that we were waiting to act on.

In fact, one of those resumes has really interested us and we are flying the candidate and his wife in to Austin for a visit with a few leaders and youth representatives. Please pray for God to make his will clear in this important meeting.

I gave this update to our students Wednesday evening, but I wanted to pass it along to you, too. Please forward it to anyone you think should also know the news, and enlist them to join you in prayer for this very important search process.

As the interim time continues, please go out of your way to encourage other parents, other students, and the volunteer youth workers! An interim time is a real challenge for a youth group, but we grow spiritually and emotionally through challenges!

Don’t hesitate to call me or email me if you have any questions or comments about our youth ministry and our search!

Tom

___________________

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.

“A cross between an urbane conversation piece and a knock-down-drag-out debate over the existence of God”

Oh please, oh please take this show on the road--and bring it to Austin. For the WSJ, Terry Teachout reviews "Freud's Last Session," Mark St. Germain's two-man play about an imaginary meeting between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis:

In "Freud's Last Session," Prof. Lewis (Christopher Oden), the bluff Oxford don turned Christian apologist, pays a visit to the office of Dr. Freud (Dennis Creaghan), the religion-hating inventor of psychoanalysis, who has fled to London to escape Nazi persecution. What ensues is a cross between an urbane conversation piece and a knock-down-drag-out debate over the existence of God.

...

[Freud] is puzzled by Lewis's conversion. He cannot understand how so palpably intelligent a man "could suddenly abandon truth and embrace an insidious lie," and now that Freud's own death is mere days away, he feels an irresistible compulsion to probe that paradox. Lewis, in turn, is challenged by Freud's atheism, and longs to penetrate his formidable defenses and open him up to the possibility of belief.

The Real Reason for Hope During Illness

Richard Sloan:

The belief that a fighting spirit helps us to recover from injury or illness…reflects the persistent view that personality or a way of thinking can raise or reduce the likelihood of illness….But there’s no evidence to back up the idea that an upbeat attitude can prevent any illness or help someone recover from one more readily.

…

Such beliefs have implications for how we regard people who are ill. If people are insufficiently upbeat after a cancer diagnosis or inadequately “spiritual” after a diagnosis of AIDS, are we to assume they have willfully placed their health at risk? And if they fail to recover, is it really their fault? The incessant pressure to be positive imposes an enormous burden on patients whose course of treatment doesn’t go as planned.

True. You know, it’s almost as if the reason to be confident in in the midst of illness should have another basis than the mere hope of getting better…

Winning Ways: A Useful Word about the Useful Word

In the film Castaway, Tom Hanks played the lone survivor of a FedEx jet crash marooned on a deserted island in the south Pacific. A few packages from the jet washed up on the shore with the castaway, and he opened them in hopes of finding something that would help him survive. When he came to the last package, though, he chose to keep it intact. His determination to eventually deliver that package to its owner was his thin connection to the hope of rescue. In fact, the film ended with the delivered castaway delivering that package to its recipient five years later.

During Super Bowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie. In the send-up, after the FedEx employee delivered the package he had protected for so long, curiosity got the best of him. “Excuse me,” he asked the recipient, “what was in that package after all?”

She opened it and showed him the contents, saying, “Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds.”

No doubt, those items would have been useful to a man stranded on a deserted island! In the same way, God has provided many practical things in the Bible, but many of us discover the value of its contents only after years of trying to make life work on our own terms. If you want to benefit from the Bible’s practical content, there are three things you should do.

Read it. As you consistently read Scripture your understanding will grow.

Think about it. God will help us understand Scripture as we engage in meditation, reflection, and study.

Live it. We profit from the Bible’s practical content by putting it into practice.

This Sunday we’ll examine these actions in more detail. According to Acts 17, the Apostle Paul encountered two groups of people. In Thessalonica, the people didn’t want to hear his Bible teaching and ran him out of town. But in Berea, according to verse 11, “the people were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.”

Join us @ 10 this Sunday as we study the reactions from these two towns and commit to be “open-minded” and to “search the Scriptures” like the Bereans!

________________________

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 January 25

The Top 10 Most Searched Bible Verses: What The List Reveals—And What the List is Missing

 

Snowbound, pastor preaches via web

 

“When you're out to dinner, does your BlackBerry occupy a seat at the table? Does your spouse ever check email before saying "good morning" to the kids? Does your son sleep with his laptop? It may be time for a technology cleanse.” The WSJ explains why and how.

 

Tell me again why it’s called higher education: “A study of more than 2,300 undergraduates found 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing by the end of their sophomore years.

 

Statesman: Doctor faces murder charges after grisly abortion clinic deaths. It’s comforting to know that society is safe from those “back-alley abortions,” though. And tell me how partial-birth abortions are any different from these murders?

 

Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:

The Theology of Calvin and Hobbes

 

“As if the pro-lifer were talking about a mere preference”

 

Winning Ways: Worth Ship

The Theology of Calvin and Hobbes

I’ve been reading through The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, one of my Christmas presents—a 22-pound collection of the greatest comic strip in history.

So, I’m glad Joe Carter introduced me to The Theology of Calvin and Hobbes, an online resource by Abilene Christian University professor Richard Beck. Carter, quoting Beck:

Let me give an apologia for attempting The Theology of Calvin and Hobbes.

First, Watterson has stated that he’s never attended any church. And yet Watterson clearly has theological sensibilities. He has described some of his strips as “little sermons” and he uses the Christmas strips for “Calvin to wrestle with good and evil.” Calvin’s school teacher, Miss Wormwood was named after the character in C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters. Further, many strips themselves bring up theological questions.

And, finally, we can note the obvious: Watterson explicitly named his lead character after “a sixteenth-century theologian who believed in predestination.”

And yet, it must be stated stated that Calvin and Hobbes does not present an overt and systematic theological worldview. Rather, Calvin and Hobbes is best read as posing theological questions rather than providing answers. One of the themes of Calvin and Hobbes is Calvin’s continual confrontation with epistemic horizons. He is often attempting to forecast the future while rushing, with Hobbes, headlong down a hillside in a wagon. He is continually terrorized by what lives under his bed. These are not theological propositions but they speak to our theological situation.

Find the table of contents for Beck’s online project here.

“As if the pro-lifer were talking about a mere preference”

Scott Klusendorf:

Consider the popular bumper sticker: “Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one!” Notice what’s going on here. The pro-life advocate makes a moral claim that he believes is objectively true—namely, that elective abortion is unjust killing. The abortion-choice advocate responds by changing that objective truth claim into one about likes and dislikes, as if the pro-lifer were talking about a mere preference. But this misses the point entirely. Pro-life advocates don’t oppose abortion because they find it distasteful; they oppose it because it violates rational moral principles. Imagine if I said, “Don’t like spousal abuse? Don’t beat your wife!”

On this anniversary of Roe v. Wade, review his post, in which he outlines four ways Christian leaders can help the next generation think clearly about the most pressing moral issue of our day:

1.) Clarify the nature of moral reasoning.

2.) Clarify the one question that really matters

3.) Clarify the scientific and philosophic case for life

4.) Clarify the path to forgiveness.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Winning Ways: Worth Ship

In Argentina, soccer star Diego Maradona has fans so passionate that they began a church in his name and mark their calendars by his birth: this year is 44 D.D., which stands for a Spanish phrase meaning “the 44th year after Diego’s birth.” Annually, the “Church of Maradona” gathers to celebrate his birth: Ornaments celebrating soccer exploits hang from a Christmas tree and soccer cleats hang from a cross. According to news accounts one 49-year-old fan said, “In Diego, I think, I feel and I exist.”

No doubt, the whole thing is just some rabid soccer fans having fun. My question is, when was the last time you were ever so over-the-top in your passion for God?

Do you live a God-oriented life? This kind of life is more than just thinking about God from time to time. Most people they wonder what he’s like, what he expects, whether he’s happy with their lives, and how to get him to meet their needs. Almost everyone thinks about these things.

But the God-oriented life is very different. Someone who lives a God-oriented life is someone who is . . .

. . . stirred by the greatness of God

. . . moved by the grace of God

. . . expectant for the activity of God

. . . hungry for the word of God

. . . passionate for the glory of God

. . . hopeful for an experience with God

In Psalm 84:2, King David said, “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Inwardly and even bodily he ached to experience the presence of the living God. King David lived a God-oriented life. He honored God with his worship.

In Acts 16, God dramatically honored some men who honored him. Paul and Silas had been thrown into a Philippian jail. Some enemies of Paul had stirred the whole town against Paul and his companion, Silas. Things were on the verge of a mob riot. The magistrates had the two believers stripped and beaten. Then they were put in an inner cell of the town prison, chaining their feet to the wall.

But the prison could not confine their praise. Deep into the night the prison corridors echoed with songs of faith. And God got involved in that place where these men praised him.

This Sunday we’ll look at how that jailhouse rocked, and we’ll learn some lessons to apply to our own lives. Join us at 10am!

_______________________

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 January 18

Neuroscience defends the conviction that a couple can be madly in love beyond 20 years of marriage.

 

Teens are enlisted for programs to teach tech to seniors. But, oh, the eye-rolling.

 

Readeo gives grandparents a chance to read picture books to their grandkids over the internet.

 

Horrifying: “A couple in Australia — already parents of three sons —have announced they have aborted twin boys in their quest to replace their baby daughter, who died soon after birth.” (Time)

 

Give to Street People? Ron Sider says, “Don’t.” It’s part of 3 articles Christianity Today has posted with varying answers to the question.

 

Why this was the NFL’s best season in terms of viewers—and why the NFL may never see such numbers again.

 

Italian man shot in head sneezes out bullet

 

Jeb Bush, who insists he’s not a candidate for the presidency, looks like a good one.

 

Have you stopped being able to identify familiar smells? Then you may be about to die, according to a new study. (Report)

 

Love it! Calvin and Hobbes’ Fight Club:

 

Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:

“A backlash against the 25% of American adults with diagnosable mental illness”

LeaderLines: Too Busy Not to Pray

"Residue, residue, residue is in this house. It has to come out"

Austin the Most Popular Draw for Young Adults

Reaction to Over-Reaction

Fast Company Covers Willow Creek

Review of Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken"

Competing With Horses

Winning Ways: Making Sunday Nights Count

“A backlash against the 25% of American adults with diagnosable mental illness”

Jared Loughner deserves no sympathy. The same cannot be said about the 2.4 million adult schizophrenics in America or the roughly 55 million other adults with mental illness. In the wake of mass killings there is always the danger of a fear-fueled backlash against the innocent—remember the Sikhs attacked after 9/11? Amid generalizations and misstatements of fact, there is now a danger of such a backlash against the 25% of American adults with diagnosable mental illness.

Massimo Calabresi, “Fear-Mongering and the Mentally Ill”

LeaderLines: Too Busy Not to Pray

Are you “reviewing the dailies” with God? It’s one of the most important things not being done by many of those who serve in church.

John Ortberg was struck by a passionate article written by a cinematographer, Bob Fisher, about the need for movie crews to spend some time every day reviewing the film that was shot the day before. Before rushing into the next day’s production, reviewing the previous day’s work enables filmmakers to spot little mistakes while they can still be corrected, and they can celebrate what is going right. In Fisher's words, “Watching film dailies is uplifting. It energizes everyone.”

Ortberg recommends that we take a few moments to “review the dailies” with God.

How are you doing in that important work? Do you have a daily Bible reading routine? A place and time to pray and briefly reflect?

I was reminded of how important this routine is in Tim Keller’s most-read blog post for 2010. The pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City explained his daily routine of prayer and Bible reading. For example, he follows a centuries-old contemplative method recommended by Martin Luther:

The basic method is this - to take a Scriptural truth and ask three questions of it. How does this show me something about God to praise? How does this show me something about myself to confess? How does this show me something I need to ask God for? Adoration, confession, and supplication. Luther proposes that we keep meditating like this until our hearts begin to warm and melt under a sense of the reality of God.

Something like that would only add about 20 minutes to your morning routine, but what a difference it would make to your spiritual growth! As this new year opens up before you, why not apply those three simple questions to a daily Bible reading plan? Here’s one, or ask Herb to send you our Daily Cup by email. The Daily Cup is a daily devotional thought that Herb builds from the sermon material the previous Sunday.

I have a love-hate relationship with the writings of Anne Lamott, but Andree Seu alerted me to an absolutely beautiful Lamott story of a friend whose two-year-old inadvertently locked himself in his room while they were on vacation. It illustrates why we need that regular time of prayer and Bible study. As Seu recounts it:

The Mom struggled vainly to get the door unlocked — trying a few keys she knew weren’t the right ones, phoning around to get the landlord. Finally someone was reached and on the way, but there was still a frightened little boy to deal with as they waited for rescue, and his reasoning and verbal skills being minimal, he would not understand the nearness of his deliverance.

So Mom got the bright idea to get down on her knees on her side of the door and slip her fingers underneath in the inch or so gap between door and floor, and she asked the unconsolable child to do the same. He would not be able to see his mother’s face until the savior bearing keys arrived, but the feel of her presence through her fingertips while they waited provided some comfort and sense that everything would be alright.

This is like our relationship with God. For now we are bereft of his full presence, for reasons not entirely clear. But he holds out his fingers and I hold out mine, as we touch through his Word and his Spirit every morning. Like Anne says, “It isn’t enough. And it is.”

Let’s start 2011 right and return to a daily routine of reaching under the locked door of this life to connect with our Father.

_____________________

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.

"Residue, residue, residue is in this house. It has to come out"

Some hire witches to get rid of the bad vibes of the foreclosed home they buy. Hoo-Boy:

WSJ:

There's a certain look and feel to a foreclosed home, and 31 Arbella St. has it: fraying carpet, missing appliances, foam insulation poking through cracked walls.

That doesn't faze buyer Tony Barletta since he plans a gut renovation anyway. It's the bad vibes that bother him.

So two weeks before closing, Mr. Barletta followed witch Lori Bruno and warlock Christian Day through the three-story home. They clanged bells and sprayed holy water, poured kosher salt on doorways and raised iron swords at windows.

"Residue, residue, residue is in this house. It has to come out," shouted Ms. Bruno, a 70-year-old who claims to be a descendant of 16th-century Italian witches. "Lord of fire, lord flame, blessed be thy holy name...All negativity must be gone!"

The foreclosure crisis has helped resurrect an ancient tradition: the house cleansing. Buyers such as Mr. Barletta are turning to witches, psychics, priests and feng shui consultants, among others, to bless or exorcise dwellings.

Sellers, too, are adopting the trend to help move a property stuck on the market.

Austin the Most Popular Draw for Young Adults

“Austin drew the largest numbers of young Americans from 2007 through 2009, according to an analysis by a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, replacing Riverside, Calif., which was the most popular destination for young people in the middle of the past decade.”

Today’s Statesman

Reaction to Over-Reaction

Superb post by Eileen Flynn reacting to reactions to Sarah Palin’s reactions to the Left’s reactions to her reactions….

“I’m not a Palin fan,” she writes, “I just get sick of the hypocrisy on the left.”

Read the whole thing.

Fast Company Covers Willow Creek

“If you ask organizers and attendees why corporate types, especially non-Christians, have any business telling church folks how to run their organizations, they repeatedly cite a popular paraphrase of John Calvin – ‘all truth is God's truth.’ (Reading Calvin's actual words in his seminal Institutes, you can see why they paraphrase: ‘If we believe the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we shall neither reject nor despise the truth itself wherever it shall appear, unless we wish to insult the Spirit of God.’).”

Fast Company has an interesting article about Willow Creek’s Global Leadership Summit and their use of secular business leaders as speakers: “How Willow Creek Is Leading Evangelicals by Learning From the Business World.”

Review of Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken"

After “Seabiscuit,” Laura Hillenbrand didn't think she would find another worthy subject to write about.

She changed her mind when she began to research the life of Louis Zamperini. The result: Her 2010 book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption.
 
Zamperini, a bombardier, and pilot Russell Allen Phillips spent 47 days in rafts, sharks circling them the entire time, on the Pacific Ocean after their B-24 went down. They drifted over 2,000 miles without a supply of food or fresh water.


If only that had been the worst of their wartime experiences. Instead, nearly 2 months at sea were followed by over 2 years of mental and physical torture as a POW of the Japanese.
 
But the story doesn't end in a POW camp or even with the camp's liberation. There's a reason the word "redemption" is in the title. I'll say no more in case you don't know Zamperini's story and want to find out for yourself.
 
Read the book. At the very least, it will make you feel like a wimp for complaining about whatever life is throwing at you at present. More, it will stir within you a determination to deal with whatever life is throwing at you at present.
 

Competing With Horses

Benedict Carey for the NYT:

New research suggests that resilience may have at least as much to do with how often people have faced adversity in past as it does with who they are — their personality, their genes, for example — or what they’re facing now. That is, the number of life blows a person has taken may affect his or her mental toughness more than any other factor.

“Frequency makes a difference: that is the message,” said Roxane Cohen Silver, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine. “Each negative event a person faces leads to an attempt to cope, which forces people to learn about their own capabilities, about their support networks — to learn who their real friends are. That kind of learning, we think, is extremely valuable for subsequent coping,” up to a point.

…

In short, the findings suggest that mental toughness is something like the physical strength: It cannot develop without exercise, and it breaks down when overworked.

It reminds me of what God told Jeremiah when the inexperienced young prophet complained about his hardships (12:5)--

“If you have raced with men on foot
   and they have worn you out,
   how can you compete with horses?”

In other words, “Jerry, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Learn to trust me in these smaller hardships so you’ll be ready to trust me when the going really gets tough.”

I remember running across this verse for the first time in my 20s, whining to God like Jeremiah about some unfairness. Diane had decorated my home office with an art piece of horses in full gallop, and when I arrived at Jeremiah 12:5 in my daily Bible reading I looked up at that framed artwork, wondering what “horses” I’d have to compete with in the future. I resolved to excel at my current “race” with these “men on foot” so I would be prepared to “compete with horses” in the future.

A little Wednesday morning encouragement: Learn to trust God in whatever you’re facing now.  It will get you through the current hardship, but it will train you to face the inevitable difficulties that come.

Winning Ways: Making Sunday Nights Count

I hope you’ll join the action on Sunday nights. Here are some one-hour classes that you can join at 5:30 p.m. this Sunday:

Game Plan for Life with Coach Joe Gibbs: As a Super Bowl winner and NASCAR champion, Joe Gibbs has experienced success in life, But is quick to give the credit to God. Gibbs identified the most important issues facing men today and assembled a team of experts to address them. Hillcrester Marlon Bright is doing graduate studies in Aerospace Engineering at UT and was just last year a starter with the Florida International University Basketball Team. Join Joe, Marlon, and Herb as they lead men to think about a Game Plan for Life! (Cost: $9.00 per book.)

The Disciple’s Cross: One of the most comprehensive courses available dealing with the five disiplines of the Christian walk. A required course for the Base Camp Diploma of the Hillcrest Institute of Lifelong Learning Diploma Plan. Led by Lance Karm. (Cost: $10.00 for materials.)

Pursuing More of Jesus: If you want more than the bare minimum God has to offer you, if you want more than to be a nominal Christian. . . Spend time in the upper room with the disciples, receiving the teaching that Jesus poured into them on the night before His crucifixion. This study leads right up to Easter and you will understand and celebrate it as never before. Led by Jacque Ogilvie. (Cost: $12.)

The Questions Christians Hope No One will Ask: “Why would God allow evil and suffering? . . . Why trust the Bible when it’s full of mistakes? . . . How could God send people to hell? . . . Why are Christians judgmental?” Some questions can stop a conversation. Based on a new Barna survey of 1,000 Christians, Mark Mittelberg presents compelling, easy-to-grasp answers to ten troubling questions facing Christians today. The discussion will cover one question each week for ten weeks. Led by Tom Goodman. (Cost: $10.00 for materials.)

PraiseHill is a traditional Sunday night gathering. This lay led service includes traditional hymn singing, special music, guest musicians, and strong Bible teaching in a powerful Christian fellowship. If you miss the feel of ‘Sunday Night Church’ you will be excited about being a part of PraiseHill!! Everyone is invited. Led by David Miller & Jim Sessions. (Cost: None)

Children’s activities and youth studies are happening at the same time as these classes. Come join us!

________________________________

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 January 11

Why Amish Men Grow Beards But Not Mustaches

 

Apple Claims New iPhone Only Visible To Most Loyal Of Customers

 

It’s the Hands-Free Sandwich Holder. (But in the time you take to load your sandwich in the holder to save time, you could have just eaten it.)

 

“There's a verse in the Bible, in 1 Peter 5:6, that says, Humble yourself, and under God's mighty hand He will exalt you in due time. And that's what happened today.’” (Texas Christian University quarterback Andy Dalton in a post-game interview following TCU's 21-19 win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl Jan. 1.)

 

Lottery numbers from 'Lost' score $150 in Mega Millions jackpot

 

Which backyard insects are best to eat?

 

Tobacco products "are the only mass-consumed products in which users don't know what they're consuming." Lawrence Deyton, director of FDA's Center for Tobacco Products.

 

“Why jump to conclude that [the Tucson shooting] is a “Tragedy of Mental Illness”? To be sure, mental illness is real but it does not honor those who endure it to rush a diagnosis and start naming disorders every time an anti-social, nihilistic, solipsistic young man with guns and grudges sins in the worst possible ways.” (Kevin DeYoung. Read the whole thing.)

 

I want my afternoon coffee in front of this aquarium every day:

 

Books Read 2010

In 2009 a friend and I challenged each other to a sort of “reading contest.” I posted the results here.

The contest didn’t continue into 2010, but here’s my reading list anyway. A clickable link will take you to comments or reviews.

Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ by Robert Bowman Jr.  and J. Ed Komoszewski

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

God on Mute: Engaging The Silence of Unanswered Prayer by Pete Greig

Preaching on Your Feet, by Fred Lybrand

Attitude 101 by John Maxwell (audiobook)

The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas

The God I Don't Understand by Christopher JH Wright

Religion Saves by Mark Driscoll (audiobook)

Forgotten God by Francis Chan

Culture Shift by Albert Mohler

The Master Plan of Discipleship by Robert Coleman

Those Other Religions In Your Neighborhood by Terry Muck

The Thrill of the Chaste by Dawn Eden

The Time Traveler's Wife (audiobook)

Muslims, Christians, and Jesus by Carl Medearis

Religious Literacy by Stephen Prothero (audiobook)

Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

A Tapestry of Faiths by Winfried Corduan

God is Not One by Stephen Prothero

Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff (audiobook)

Fables for Our Time by James Thurber

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine by Peter Thuesen (link to review)

Ministries of Mercy by Tim Keller (audiobook)

The Hole in Our Gospel by Rich Stearns (I didn’t review this book myself, but the praise—and cautions—in this review match my own reaction)

Everything That Rises Must Converge, by Flannery C'Connor

The Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler

Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss (audiobook)

The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons (Winning Ways post and book review)

The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer (audiobook)

Blind Descent by James Tabor (link to my review)

Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott (audiobook)

The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne

Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

Darkness is My Only Companion by Kathryn Greene-McCreight

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller (audiobook)

Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders (audiobook)

The Deep Things of God by Fred Sanders

The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson (audiobook)

The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask by Mark Mittelberg (ebook)

Weird City by Joshua Long (ebook)

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who's Already There by Leonard Sweet

Tithing: Test Me in This by Douglas LeBlanc (ebook)

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper (audiobook)

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (ebook)

My Man Jeeves by PG Wodehouse (ebook)

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper and Justin Taylor (ebook)

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (ebook)

Angry at a God Who Doesn’t Exist

“In studies on college students, atheists and agnostics reported more anger at God during their lifetimes than believers.”

CNN Belief Blog

Reminds me of the C.S. Lewis definition of an atheist as someone who doesn’t believe in the existence of God and is mad at God for not exisiting.

If you’re angry at a God you don’t believe in, follow that emotion for a while and see what you can find.

LeaderLines: Six Questions for Your Small Group

Many of the leaders who receive this e-newsletter lead a Sunday School class or a Common Ground group. I want to share six questions that you and your group can use to evaluate whether your group is a “beachhead” or a “bunker.”

You’ve heard me use these phrases before. A bunker is a defensive position while a beachhead is a position from which soldiers can take the offensive.

Some Christians prefer life in the bunker, hiding away from what they perceive as the overwhelming forces of unbelief in their culture. But faithful believers know they are called to influence, to persuade, to win hearts and minds. They know their own lives are to be kingdom beachheads in God’s gracious invasion of a fallen world.

Another word for the beachhead mentality is “missional.” It simply means to live with the keen awareness that you are supposed to be participating in God’s redemptive mission.

The following questions are adapted from an article by one of my favorite church leaders, Tim Keller. Take a moment to review them yourself, and try to build in some time in your next small-group meeting to help others reflect on them:

• Do your group’s members love and talk positively about the city and neighborhood? Ask your group to name ten things they love about Austin. Can they get to ten?

• Do they avoid language that is filled with pious tribal or technical religious terms and phrases? Do they use disdainful and embattled language when speaking of the surrounding culture?

• In their Bible study, do they apply the gospel to the core concerns and stories of the people of the culture?

• Are they interested in and engaged with the literature and art and music and thought of the surrounding culture and can they discuss it both appreciatively and yet critically?

• Do they exhibit deep concern for the poor and are they generous with their money? Do they approach the opposite sex with purity and respect? Do they show humility toward people of other races and cultures?

• Do they speak respectfully of other Christians and churches?

Keller says that if our church’s small groups bear these characteristics, “then seekers and non-believing people from the city (A) will be invited and (B) will come and will stay as they explore spiritual issues. If these marks are not there it will only be able to include believers or traditional, ‘Christianized’ people.”

Convicting stuff! So, how does your small group measure up? Is your group a beachhead for God’s gracious invasion of our neighborhoods, or is your group a bunker?

Tom

HT: Tim Chester

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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: Get Anchored Sunday Mornings!

We all operate out of a set of assumptions about the way the world is. Assumptions such as:

“If I do good things, then good things will happen to me.”

“The only person you can count on is yourself.”

“Life is a dressing room for eternity.”

“God likes me.”

“God hates me.”

We make our decisions and respond to circumstances out of the suppositions we hold. And maybe its time you examined the beliefs that drive you.

That’s where the Anchor Course can help, and it’s coming to our Sunday morning program starting December 16.

The Anchor Course is an 8-week course designed for seekers who want to discover the Christian faith and for believers who want to develop in their faith. The study is ideal if...

you’re a spiritual seeker who wants to learn more about the life and teaching of Jesus, but you don’t know where to start; or

you’ve become curious about the Christian convictions of your friends; or

you’re married to a believer, and you want to learn more about your partner’s Christian faith; or

you’re a parent who’s wondered how to explain Christianity to your kids; or

you’re a believer who wants a better grasp of the main points of your faith.

The Anchor Course is a place to build friendships and faith around a weekly discussion.

I’ve led the course on Wednesday evenings for years, but we’ll offer it on Sunday mornings starting January 16. On that day, join me for a one-hour introduction following the 10 a.m. worship service.

By coming to the one hour introduction, you’re under no obligation to sign up for the full study. But if you decide to register, you’ll receive a copy of my book, The Anchor Course: Exploring Christianity Together. We’ll then meet eight weeks for coffee and discussion starting Sunday, January 23. The class meets at the same time as our small group ministry, so your family can participate in our children and youth programs while you’re with me.

There is no cost for course, but we need your registration. Contact my assistant, Jami (345-3771 or jami@hbcaustin.org).

Spread the word about this Sunday morning opportunity! It’s easy to invite someone. Just forward this e-mail to them!

Tom

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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 January 4

“‘Come By Here,’ a song deeply rooted in black Christianity’s vision of a God who intercedes to deliver both solace and justice, by the 1960s became the pallid pop-folk sing-along ‘Kumbaya.’ And ‘Kumbaya,’ in turn, has lately been transformed into snarky shorthand for ridiculing a certain kind of idealism, a quest for common ground.” The NYT explores the history of “Kumbaya.”

 

E-Mail From Aunt Accidentally Opened

 

Slate observes that a woman’s chances of winning an Oscar increase when she’s playing a morally-loose character.

 

Dad’s churchgoing habits, much more than Mom’s practice, can predict whether a child will grow up to be a churchgoer: “If a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will become churchgoers (regular and irregular). If a father goes but irregularly to church, regardless of his wife’s devotion, between a half and two-thirds of their offspring will find themselves coming to church regularly or occasionally. A non-practicing mother with a regular father will see a minimum of two-thirds of her children ending up at church. In contrast, a non-practicing father with a regular mother will see two-thirds of his children never darken the church door. If his wife is similarly negligent that figure rises to 80 percent!”

 

“There once was a woman named Behar. And she almost deserved it.”

 

Older entrepreneurs are more common than younger ones, though the focus is on the under-30 set. I wonder if church planting networks and conferences could learn from this article, since the focus of said networks and conferences is exclusively on those entering adulthood.

 

"When we learn to tolerate boredom, we find out who we really are." From a speaker at a conference promoting dullness, called Boring 2011.

 

Apparently “We’re Not In Kansas Anymore” is a favorite phrase--

 

I Am the God of the Impossible

Bob Kauflin’s “spontaneous song,” “I Am the God of the Impossible.” Beautiful thought as you begin 2011.

Listen here.

I am the God of the impossible

I make rivers flow through deserts of sand

I am working in your situation

In ways you would not understand

I am the God of the immeasurable

The riches of my grace you can’t conceive

I’ve poured them on you through Jesus, my Son

They’re yours if you only believe

‘Cause there is nothing

There is nothing

That’s too hard for me

I am the God of the unsearchable

You cannot know the mystery of my ways

But with perfect wisdom and perfect mercy

I work them out for my praise

I am the God of the impossible

And although you can’t see a way through

I’m using your circumstances

To do my work in you

For there is nothing

There is nothing

Too hard for me to do

‘Cause I’m working in you

And I will have my way

For the glory of my name

‘Cause there is nothing,

There is nothing that’s too hard for me to do

And you will see one day

That I did this for you

So that you might know

I am the God of the impossible

So that you might know I am

The God of the immeasurable

What you cannot conceive now

What you can’t believe now

I’ve assured you

Through the giving of my Son

For you, for you

Is there nothing good that I wouldn’t do

For you?

I am the God of the impossible

Just look at where you are tonight

I brought you near to myself

And I will always do,

I will always do

What’s right.

More on the song at this website.

Write in Your Books

Jonathan Liu for Wired:

I like the idea of leaving a trail behind me when I make my way through a book. It’s like dropping a few bread crumbs or pebbles so that I can follow them on my next journey, or leaving a message for the next person to read the book. I like the idea that my library could be more than just a collection of books on shelves, but that they could actually tell a story about who I am, in my own words.

So that brings me to my New Year’s Resolution for 2011. This year, I’m going to try to get over my reluctance to mark in my books.

Read the rest.