Good Song, Great Video

Tim Keller on Characteristics of a Missional Church

Tim Keller on Church Growth American Style

“Isn’t evangelical Christianity growing—at least in North America? Look at all the megachurches spouting up! But we must remember that the new situation Lloyd-Jones was describing has spread in stages. It was in Europe before North America. It was in cities before it was in the rest of the society. In the United States it has strengthened in the Northeast and the West Coast first. In many places, especially in the South and Midwest, there is still a residue of more conservative society where people maintain traditional values.

Many of these people are therefore still reachable with the fairly superficial, older evangelism programs of the past. And if we are honest, we should admit that many churches are growing large without any evangelism at all. If a church can present unusually good preaching and family ministries and programming, it can easily attract the remaining traditional people and siphon off Christians from all the other churches in a thirty-mile radius. This is easier now than ever because people are very mobile, less tied into their local communities, and less loyal to institutions that don’t meet their immediate needs. But despite the growth of megachurches through these dynamics, there is no evidence that the number of churchgoers in the United States is significantly increasing.”

Tim Keller, The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

Dude Perfect

Check out this video made by some students at Texas A&M. I don't know how much time they spend studying but this video is amazing!

Francis Chan on Lukewarm and Loving It

N.T. Wright on Postmodernity

Book You Must Read on the Church

O.K. so it took a little longer than a month. For the two of you who actually read this blog - thanks for the patience. Here is the book list on the church. I put these in order from easiest to read to the slightly more difficult.

Vintage Church - Driscoll

9 Marks of a Healthy Church - Dever

Total Church - Chester and Timmis

Emerging Churches - Gibbs

The Tangible Kingdom - Halter and Smay

The Church - Clowney

The Church Between Gospel and Culture - Hunsberger

Beware, these books will probably make you dissatisfied with church as usual. Read at your own risk!

Angels and Demons

Dan Brown, the writer of the Davinci Code, is also the author of Angels and Demons, which is now a major motion picture starting Tom Hanks. The theme of the movie is the on going battle between faith and science. Is such a battle warranted? The church has not always been a big supporter of science. When Galileo claimed that the earth was not the center of the universe and in fact revolved around the sun, he was branded a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church in 1633 and was sentenced to the equivalent of house arrest by the Inquisition. It wasn't until 1979, nearly 350 years later, that John Paul II offered an apology to Galileo. Why is it that so many Christians fear science? Could it be that we believe it has an anti-faith bias? Could it be that we fear a scientific discovery that will contradict our beliefs? Could it be that that we are anti-intellectual? The history of science shows that many of the early scientist were followers of Christ. As Christians we are lovers of truth, therefore we should never fear true scientific research and discovery. Yes, we should make sure that science operates within an ethical framework, but we should not fear science since we believe that God created all that is. there is no contradiction between faith and true, provable scientific data. The problems are found in theories. If we hope to express our faith in today's world authentically, we have to be willing to apply our faith to the tough questions of science. By doing so we make our faith credible and we become the conscience for scientific advancement.

For a helpful website on the questions raised in the movie, Angels and Demons visit http://www.truthaboutangelsanddemons.com/

Books You Must Read

I mentioned recently some authors that you should read in order to develop great thoughts about God. Here is that list:

Desiring God by John Piper
The Pleasures of God by John Piper
(In fact, just read everything by John Piper!!!)
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul
The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll

Next month I will post books you must read on the church.

Are You A People Pleaser?

People Pleasing Inventory

RATING SCALE POINTS
Never (or Hardly ever) 5
Seldom 4
Sometimes 3
Frequently 2
Always 9or Almost Always) 1

1. I listen with anxious attentiveness when others discuss that which

pleases or displeases. _____

2. I strive to be politically correct more than biblically correct. _____

3. I like to go “fishing” for compliments. _____

4. I gossip about others to people whom I believe
will be pleased with me for giving them such luscious
tidbits of information. _____

5. My desire for a good reputation is predominantly
based on how such a reputation will benefit me rather than

how that reputation will serve as a greater end, such as

the glory of God, or the good of others. _____

6. I value the approval of certain individuals from whom

I expect to receive certain honors more than the approval

of those from whom I do not
expect to receive such honors. _____

7. I worry about what people think of me. _____

8. I am willing to sin rather than face the rejection of certain individuals. _____

9. I struggle with being a respecter of persons and showing favoritism. _____

10. I believe that being rejected is one of the worst

things that a person could possibly experience _____

11. I avoid conflicts rather than trying to resolve them. _____

12. I take unnecessary precautions to protect my good name. _____

13. I become angry when i am contradicted by others, especially when
being publicly contradicted. _____

14. When meeting new people, I spend more time thinking about how
to impress them than how to minister to them. _____

15. My fear of being rejected paralyzes me to the

extent that it keeps me from getting close to others. _____

16. I forget that being rejected by others is part of the "suffering for
righteousness' sake" that is my reasonable service to God and part of
my calling as a Christian. _____

17. I long to be noticed more than i long to be godly. _____

18. I give in to peer pressure rather than standing up for what I know is right. _____

19. I do not witness to others as I should because I fear

being criticized or rejected. _____

20. I overreact to criticism by dwelling on it too long or

unnecessarily allowing it to depress me. _____


If you scored between 96 and 100, you do not have a problem with people-pleasing, (You may have a problem with being insensitive, callous, or even hard hearted, but you're definitely not a people-pleaser.) If your total points fall between 90 and 95, you're probably free from the love of approval. If your total was between 80 and 89, you're probably a bit too concerned with the approval of others. If you scored between 70 and 79, you may, in fact, be a bona fide people pleaser. If your was less than 69, you may very well be an approval addict.

Taken from Lou Priolo, People Pleasing, P&R Publishing, New Jersey, 2007, 20-22.

You Gotta Serve Somebody

Dylan was right when he sang, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody.” In the church, we often talk about the importance of servanthood. But when you think about, everybody is a servant. We all have to serve somebody. The question is - who or what are you serving? The Bible says we are either servants of sin or servants of righteousness. We are either serving our sinful appetites or serving the Lord. When we are serving our sin nature we will do whatever we can to bring satisfaction and pleasure to those appetites. It may be gossip, lust, greed or whatever it is that we think we must have to be happy. When we serve the Lord, we believe that Jesus is our source of satisfaction and happiness. Therefore we can worship, sacrifice and even suffer because we know that he alone is our means of joy. So, when we serve our neighbors in practical ways, we are demonstrating where our happiness comes from. Yes, we find joy in serving others. But mostly, our joy is in serving the Lord that is being displayed in serving others. In other words, we serve others because we love Jesus supremely. I believe that if we are not involved in helping eliminate suffering in some capacity we are eliminating joy from our lives. So, look through the eyes of God at your community. Find a person in need. Ask how you can help. And let your joy flow!