Archive for the 'Faith' Category
Need to Own…
So maybe someone will get this for me for Christmas. I love Grudem and this is very intriguing. For a synopsis on Grudem’s position, check out Justin Taylor’s blog post.
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No commentsBook Review – Church Planter by Darrin Patrick
As I’ve said previously, I’m in the beginning stages of planting a church in Nashville Tennessee. That being the case, I’ve been reading everything about the subject that I can get my hands on as I prayerfully formulate the vision for the church. Deep Church by Jim Belcher was helpful. Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll is a wonderful book. Francis Chan’s Forgotten God provided a needed reminder that I must (and frankly long to) operate out the of the power that only the Holy Spirit provides. And my latest read, Church Planter by Darrin Patrick, has been a much needed encouragement and reminder about what it is I’m supposed to be doing.
Patrick lays out the book in three sections: The Man, The Message, and The Mission. I immediately connected with the first section. Personally speaking, I needed to be reminded and encouraged about my call to ministry and my call to church planting. Patrick helped me to do this. Section two of the book, the Message, was a good reminder of what the gospel is and how it needs to be preached. I was less moved by this section of the book, but simply because most of its content is material that I’ve been swimming in for quite some time. Section three was my second favorite part of the book (after section one). I grew up hearing only a 50% gospel message. I mean, I grew up hearing how Jesus died and rose again and how that should transform me morally, but I heard very little about how that message is supposed to send us on mission into our cities and communities. The mission I mainly heard was, “tell people how to get saved.” But the culture-transforming, missional-lifestyle aspects of the gospel were rarely touched upon. And yet the Bible calls it the “gospel of the kingdom.” It’s a message about how to be saved yes, but the saved are sent on mission to not only preach salvation but transform cultures and communities and families. I don’t want to say that I never heard anything of this sort growing up, but it definitely wasn’t a key feature of the Christianity that I was accustomed to. Men like Driscoll and Keller and Patrick continue to add clarity to my thinking in this area.
This is a great book, and honestly it’s usefulness goes way beyond church planting. If church members read this book and embraced its words, Godly pastors would rejoice at the wave of momentum that would occur.
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No commentsSermon: Your Time is Currency – by Andy Adkison
This is the latest sermon from my brother Andy. He’s preaching about “the currency of time” and how we should leverage our time wisely for the Kingdom of God. I’m listening to it now as I type this post.
Check it out!
Your Time is Currency – by Andy Adkison – 8/26/10 – download
To hear more of Andy’s sermons, click here…
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No comments(sola)s Hattiesburg Promo Video
(sola)s Hattiesburg from (sola)s on Vimeo.
I love my brother Andy. And I love the things that God is doing with him down in Hattiesburg, MS as a college minister. This is a recent promo video that describes Andy’s ministry and what’s going on. (Take time to notice the nifty posters in the background. I helped design them).
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No commentsRecent Sermon: Approaching God in the Midst of Trouble – Heb 4:14-16
This is a recent sermon I preached at 24church. I had intentions of posting a manuscript as well, but I haven’t had the time to tidy it up enough to post.
Approaching God in the Midst of Trouble – by Ben Adkison – 8/15/10 – download
My brother, Andy, preached a sermon on the same day at Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS, and I would’ve posted it as well, but it’s not available yet.
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No commentsAaron Gillespie formerly of Underoath
I Am Living: Aaron Gillespie from Come&Live! on Vimeo.
If you’ve been wondering why he left the band and what God’s doing in his life, this is apparently a big part of the story. The more I check out Come&Live!, the more I love what they’re doing.
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No commentsDeep Church by Jim Belcher – Quick Thoughts
I’m in the midst of a God thing right now, whereby I think I’m being led – with the help of others – to plant a church near downtown Nashville. It’s all very preliminary, but I’m in the process of reading a lot about church planting and trying to cinch down some ideas. So you, the reader, should not be surprised to see a lot of references to books on ecclesiology on this blog in the near future. My most recent foray into church planting has been Deep Church by Jim Belcher.
Deep Church is Belcher’s attempt to plot a course for a “third way” of ecclesiology between the emerging church and the traditional church. He wants to take the best aspects of both camps: the orthodox beliefs of the traditionalists, and the cultural concerns of the emerging churches and combine them into a new movement.
I listened to this book via audio and now I want to get my hands on a physical copy so that I can go back and underline / rethink many of Belcher’s insights.
But here are a few quick thoughts
1. Belcher is truly kind to both traditionalists and emerging folks.
2. He truly understands the ideas and complaints of both sides.
3. Belcher is an evangelical and his suggestions for a deep church are extremely well stated.
4. Personally, I think he’s a little too soft on McLaren, Jones, and Pagitt. I wonder if his tone might be slightly sterner now that McLaren’s most recent book, A New Kind of Christianity, has been released, because frankly it is pure heresy.
5. Belcher helped me gain a key insight into postmodernity. Different people define the movement differently. I’ve been well aware for quite some time that some think postmodernity is good for Christianity and some think it is evil, but Belcher helped me to understand that often these two sides talk right past each other because they define the movement differently. Some see postmodernity as ultra-modernity, while others see postmodernity as contra-modernity. This is probably why there seems to be so much confusion about postmodernism and why it seems so elusive to define.
6. I think the church that I’m helping to plant may gain important insights from thinking through some of Belcher’s ideas.
7. In the end, I’m not sure that Belcher’s Deep Church is really a “third way.” For me, it’s more or less “the way” that I’ve been striving after for quite some time. And, I don’t think I’m alone. However, Belcher’s ideas have helped me to add clarity to many of my thoughts and for that I am grateful.
For a more in depth review, check out DeYoung
Also, after I get a physical copy of this book and rescan it, I may post some helpful insights here in the comments.
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No commentsToday’s Meditation. Sunday’s Content.
Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Caedmon’s Call – The Emptiest Day
and I am looking for the well that won’t run dry
the rest the weary thoughts cannot deny
when You wrap Your arms around me
I can walk away or face the emptiest day
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No commentsSmall Group Curriculum Review – Lifeway’s Platform Series – Stand Against the Wind by Erwin McManus
As a discipleship pastor at a church that is driven by small groups, I’m constantly on the lookout for good, new curriculum, and especially of the video-driven variety (because they seem to work really well in our situation). So, I excitedly picked up the new Stand Against the Wind curriculum by Erwin McManus which was developed by Lifeway. Here are my thoughts…
Packaging
Despite the image on the front cover, which is a bit cheesy, the material came in a self-contained, durable, and unique case. It felt up to date. I was drawn to it. It’s a well executed design from the outside looking in. It contains one leader / participant book and one dvd (containing six messages), all for $25. Perfect! Relevant-feeling. Affordable.
Video
It’s a dvd, not a blueray, but the quality was lower than I expected. The lighting on Erwin (from Mosaic church services) was adequate, but somehow not appealing to the eye on the video. The video appeared grainy. The dvd menu screen was created in such a way that it didn’t seem to fit on my tv screen well. It was almost like I had an overscan issue, but I don’t. The menu designer failed to leave enough space between the content on the menu and the edge of the screen of the tv. Overall it does work, you can read the words on the menu screen, but it feels cheap rather than well executed.
Content
The curriculum is marketed as a composition of six, 20 minute video talks. But to be honest, most of them were more like 10 minute talks. This is not a deal breaker if the content is laid out well, but it’s not. A concise video portion could be advantageous for your small group if it leaves more time for discussion, but I wouldn’t call the Stand Against the Wind videos concise. They were more like endless meanderings. They leave the viewer wondering what the heck Erwin is exactly talking about, and how he got that content from the Scripture passages that he’s reading. And I’m not sure this is completely Erwin’s fault either, Lifeway (or someone) seems to have cut out portions of the sermons (that I guess they deemed unimportant – I’m honestly not sure why there are breaks in the video), that leave a dizzying effect in the overall structure of the message. And, this isn’t really six different sermons, it’s three sermons chopped in half (and really chopped in even more pieces apparently because there are all these breaks in the video).
Having watched all the video portions of this curriculum, I’m still not completely sure what the study is about. I know it’s about living a different sort of life, a life out of step with how the average person in our culture lives, but that wasn’t made very clear on the front end. In fact there is no introduction on the video about the content of the curriculum. The participant book sets up the content a little bit, but overall it’s still confusing.
Erwin’s a great communicator. In fact he’s an unbelievable communicator, but this fact is clouded by the structure of the curriculum.
Participant Book
Good size. Laid out well. Good questions considering the video. They’re probing questions, but because they follow the video, and the video is kind of weak, the questions are kind of weak too. In my opinion the participant book is weakened by the content of the curriculum itself. But this is not the question writer’s fault per se.
Gospel
Suffice it to say, that one could go through this curriculum and have never heard a clear gospel explanation. They would know some things about how God wanted them to live, but I’m not sure they would understand that this sort of living is grounded completely in the cross of Jesus and empowered only by Holy Spirit. Is this an intentional oversight? I don’t think so. Jesus is not ignored to be sure, but I’m not sure he’s lifted up the way he should be in a curriculum that is supposed to be talking about “standing against the wind” and living a life out-of-step with typical America. Any small group leader could supplement the material with some additional gospel truth, but it’s not clearly included in the curriculum itself.
Overall
Love the price. Love the packaging (minus the cheesy, motivation poster image on the front). However, the quality of the video on the dvd and the menu screen execution makes this feel cheap. The content, whether Erwin’s fault or Lifeway’s (I’m not sure), is confusing. The overall message of the curriculum is clouded. The gospel is ignored a little bit (this feels more like a motivational talk than true Christianity). Erwin is engaging, as always, but the choppiness of the messages because of how the video is split up, makes him less engaging than he would be otherwise. Worthwhile for your small group? Probably not. You might have some pretty good discussion from this curriculum, but I’m not sure it would clearly point you towards Jesus. Memorable? I really kind of doubt that it would be. I can picture most people finishing this study and not really understanding what they just studied for six weeks. The Platform series by Lifeway – of which Stand Against the Wind is a part – is certainly promising, but it needs some work before it’s worth the consideration of your small group or small group ministry.
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No commentsBrief Book Review – Forgotten God by Francis Chan
Here’s the skinny on Forgotten God…
It’s good, but only in a certain kind of way. This is not the type of book that you’re going to walk away from having gained tremendous amounts of spiritual knowledge. In fact, if you’re mature in your faith, you may not really “learn” anything. However, it would be nearly impossible to walk away from this book and not be challenged to a deeper relationship with God. The simple truth is that nearly all of us fail to consistently be led by the Holy Spirit. My experience is that oftentimes I’m more pragmatic in my spiritual walk than Spirit-led. This is an issue, and it’s the exact issue that Chan is trying to address. My recommendation is that this book should be used in a small group setting or as a devotional guide to be read in little chunks. The material needs to be chewed on, meditated upon, discussed, and applied, not simply consumed. Forgotten God along with Chan’s previous book, Crazy Love, are both extremely valuable small group resources.
