Category Archives: church

SBC in the last thirty years

Nathan Finn is doing a series of 3 posts on 15 things that have changed in the SBC since 1979. the first five are here. interesting stuff. looking forward to seeing the next ten. here is number 5 5. Changing … Continue reading

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a bold move

the Episcopalian church in the U.S. has made a bold move and declared itself to be committed to the full normalization of non-celibate homosexuals within the leadership of its communion. here is the New York Times write up and here … Continue reading

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Terminal Generation?

Dr. Mohler is wondering if we are at the terminal generation of evangelicalism. It is a very fair thing about which to wonder. We should be very concerned about certain trends in contemporary evangelicalism that threaten this integrity. The first … Continue reading

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Leadership

continuing his spiritual gift series, Mark Driscoll has posted on the gift of leadership. Spiritual Gift of Leadership Defined The spiritual gift of leadership is found in people who have a clear, significant vision from God and are able to … Continue reading

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suffering as a tool to edify the church

Challies has another great post today. This one discussing Ligon Duncan’s exposition of how God uses suffering in our lives to build up the church. Go read the whole thing. So I guess this is something we ought to keep … Continue reading

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The recent SBC convention

I didn’t attend the recent SBC convention in Louisville, Kentucky, but it has been interesting reading various perspectives on the event. Timmy Brister attended his first convention this year. Afterward, he posted ten highlights of the week and ten lowlights. … Continue reading

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the church through history

Ed Marcelle on the Resurgence Blog is doing a quick series on how people have “done church” over time in different eras. The fourth installment is about the church during the Industrial Revolution period that is ending. then there is … Continue reading

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calvinism and holiness today

courtesy of Iain campbell here is a different take than one would expect on the state of calvinism and holiness these days. here is how it starts: When I was a youngster and newly saved, it seemed as if the … Continue reading

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mega church research

Catalyst has posted some research findings related to the attenders of mega churches. Go to the their post for links to the source material, but here are the findings that Catalyst posted. fascinating: Nearly two-thirds of megachurch attenders are under … Continue reading

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Piper's journey

Here is a sermon where John Piper talks about his journey as a scholar and pastor. Fascinating. Here is a small snippet, but the whole thing is very interesting indeed. The synthesis of mind and heart was embodied in C. … Continue reading

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mysticism

Kevin DeYoung takes a look at mysticism. What it is, where it can lead and why it is dangerous. go read the whole thing, but this is how he ends it: The pattern has been repeated many times. People start … Continue reading

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speaking of music

The contemporary christian music business is suffering. An extraordinary number of things have worked against the Christian music in recent years, even before the recession—starting with illegal downloads. (Yes, even Christians steal music.) There was some relief when Christian music … Continue reading

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fascinating statistics

Vitamin z has posted some bits from Mark Noll’s new book, The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith here are two of them (out of five that z posted): This past Sunday more Anglicans attended … Continue reading

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revitalizing a local church

JD Greear is posting a series on The Resurgence blog about revitalizing a local church. the introduction: I’ve been asked to speak on church revitalization at the Advance Conference this year. Six years ago when I was called as a … Continue reading

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biblical illiteracy

Randy Alcorn is concerned about the level of Biblical illiteracy in the church today, even among its leaders. It is a very real concern. Biblical illiteracy among Christians is arguably at an all time high, with chilling implications that can … Continue reading

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piper on driscoll

Here is a blog post containing six minutes of audio of John Piper discussing the controversy between John MacArthur and Mark Driscoll. Very interesting indeed. If you want a more complete narrative of the fuss, Jonathan Christman has a nine … Continue reading

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why American believers don't give

one thing we have noticed in visiting churches this year is that budgets are in deep trouble. It is to be expected in a recession like this that church receipts would be down significantly, but we have seen several churches … Continue reading

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Zach is thankful for Mark Driscoll

Zach of Vitamin Z is thankful for Mark Driscoll. Most people know that Mark is known for his strong push for men to act like Biblical men. Sometimes I feel that this crosses the line and could give people the … Continue reading

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R.C. Sproul on the dangers the church faces

R.C. Sproul has written an article about the dangers that the modern evangelical church faces. The first two are pretty obvious and are obviously true: Among what I see as the three most critical perils the church faces today are, … Continue reading

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Horton on the Prosperity Gospel

Michael S. Horton confronts the modern iteration of the prosperity gospel here with a particular emphasis on Joel Osteen. Oh my goodness, it is magnificent. here are some clips, but go check it out in full when you have some … Continue reading

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Emerging Church: RIP?

C. Michael Patton has written an obituary for the emerging church after 15 years. It got some cries out, made some very good points, called for changed [sic], and then died. Its leaders are disappearing or have disassociated themselves from … Continue reading

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God's love

Todd Burus is reading a book by David Powlison called Seeing with New Eyes. Following this Powlison argues for how God’s love in better than unconditional, how it embraces and yet goes further than some aspects of unconditionality, and how … Continue reading

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truth in love

Paul reminded the Ephesian church that only with truth would there be mature Christian unity and only if truth was spoken in love. Truth cannot be ducked or minimized in any way, but it must be softened with compassion. It … Continue reading

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secret agent man

Kevin Roose, raised a liberal Quaker, from Brown University enrolls at Liberty University in order to write a book. Hilarity ensues. Bryan P emailed me this story last night and it is kind of intriguing. two bits in particular struck … Continue reading

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relevant church?

Here is R.C. Sproul Jr.’s take on making our churches culturally relevant. Tell me if you understand the point he is trying to make. I may be too sleepy to get it, but I don’t. It starts well enough: There … Continue reading

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