P.O.D. | MySpace Music Videos

It’s good to hear that my boys are finally working on some new material!  I can’t wait.  New site too. http://www.payableondeath.com

really cool colab.  P.O.D. is one of my fav bands of all time & Lecrae is awesome.

click to listen

If you haven’t read any of Robert Ludlum’s work, then you’re seriously missing out on some quality entertainment.  The truth is, you’ve probably watched an adaptation of one of his books to film, but you may not realize it.  Ludlum is the author of The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum, all of which have been made into movies starring Matt Damon.  I’ll be honest, I actually haven’t read those books yet, but I have read Ludlum’s The Janson Directive and The Ambler Warning.  Both are highly enjoyable books, especially via audio, which is my preferred reading method for most modern fiction.

The Amber Warning follows Harrison Ambler, an ex-consoler operations operative from the political stabilization unit of the U.S. government.  The book begins with Ambler’s escape from a highly secure psychiatric hospital named Parrish Island; he’s been incarcerated there for several years and swears, despite his doctor’s statements to the contrary, that he is not crazy.  Ambler is unsure of how he came to be in the hospital and upon escaping, discovers that no one from his old life seems to recognize him.  The book follows his personal self-discovery and the unfolding plot of how he came to be in his current predicament.

One of the more interesting aspects of this book is Harrison Ambler’s ability to read people.  Other characters in the book often refer to him as a “human lie detector.”  If you’re a fan of the Fox show Lie to Me, parts of this book will be right up your alley.  And of course, if you enjoy the Bourne Movies, then this one is worth your read.  I found this book highly enjoyable reading for:  mowing the grass, commutes to and from work, and longer road trips.  My one caveat:  it’s not as good as Ludlum’s The Janson Directive, but still worth the entertainment.

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.

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

http://solashattiesburg.com/wp-content/sermons/invest%20week%202.mp3

To hear more of Andy’s sermons, click here…

(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).

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

http://www.24church.com/podcast/approachinggodintrouble.mp3

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.

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.

I just started reading Church Planter:  The Man, The Message, The Mission by Darrin Patrick.  It’s really good so far.  I love this statement about a call to ministry:

All three of these confirmations – heart, head, and skill – must be present in a genuine call.  The Pentacostal/charismatic camp tends to focus on heart and the supernatural calling from God.  The Reformed/evangelical camp tends to focus on the head.  The mainline churches often focus on skills.  But in a genuine call all three  are present (40).

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.