In case you hadn’t heard, here is a great resource called The Bible Project. These guys create short 4–5 minute videos that beautifully summarize biblical books and themes. The art is very well done. The narration is thorough and engaging. Below, I’ve embedded a sample of their work. It provides an overview of the first half of Exodus. Find them on Twitter @JoinBibleProj Keep up with them on Facebook via www.facebook.com/jointhebibleproject Read more
It’s great to see a few early reviews of “One Gospel for All Nations.” If you are interested in hearing what others are saying, check them out. 1. Werner Mischke, Vice-President of Mission ONE, has written a generous and thorough review over at his blog. 2. Tabor Laughlin, who serves Chinese in East Asia, has written kind review of as well. I’m so thankful for their earnest engagement with the ideas in the book. If you ever write a review... Read more
Last week, I celebrated my move to Patheos by giving away books. I’ll announce the winner soon. It’s so fun to give stuff away that I want to keep doing it. However, this week, I want to celebrate the release of my new book One Gospel for All Nations. Ways to enter the drawing 3 entries Follow the Blog or sign up for emails 2 entries Follow me on Twitter or Facebook 2 entries Write a review of One Gospel for... Read more
The kind folks at EMQ (Evangelical Missions Quarterly) have just made available for free my article “How Would Jesus Tell It? Crafting Stories from an Honor-Shame Perspective”! So, if you don’t already have a subscription to EMQ and are interested in subjects like honor-shame and story crafting, then here’s an opportunity to check out that article. While you’re there, you will want to survey what other EMQ articles might interest you. Read more
Today, I want to better illustrate what it means to “frame” the gospel. This is a major aspect of the model of contextualization suggested in One Gospel for All Nations. I will prepare you to see why Paul says that the Abrahamic covenant is equivalent to the gospel (Gal 3:8), which will be the subject of an upcoming post. In Galatians 3:8, Paul says, And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand... Read more
In the July/August issue of Relevant magazine, N. T. Wright says, The Gospel is news about news. Ironically, many Western churches think of the Christian message as a system for how you do something—namely how you get saved, or how you behave, or some combination of the two. They conceive of faith as a system that is timelessly true, rather than news about an event that happened in history. There has been a tendency to flatten down the uniqueness of... Read more
Joann Pittman always has great posts with insights into Chinese culture. Here are a few recent ones that may interest you. Golden Rules of Working in China 1. Everything is possible. 2. Nothing is easy. 3. Western business logic does not apply. 4. It is a fun project if there is no deadline. 5. You must persist—things will come your way eventually. 6. Patience is the essence of success. 7. “You don’t know China” means they disagree. 8. “New regulation”... Read more
To celebrate my move to Patheos, I’m giving away books!! After a week, I’ll draw a name of the winner. They will win the “Patheos package”, a selection of books written by various bloggers on Patheos. The winner will choose to receive THREE of the following books. One Gospel for All Nations: A Practical Approach to Biblical Contextualization (my most recent book) Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor (by Ben Witherington) Charis: God’s Scandalous Grace for Us (by Preston Sprinkle)... Read more
The biblical writers’ view of the gospel is shaped by God’s covenants announced to Israel in the Old Testament, especially those established with Abraham and David. This purpose of this post is simple. I want to highlight the frequency with which God’s covenants frame the New Testament’s gospel presentations. The Davidic Covenant The gospel is summarized with reference to the Davidic covenant. For instance, in 2 Timothy 2:8, we read, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring... Read more
The video below was posted on “WeChat” (微信) by someone who was about 2 km away from the explosion this past week in Tianjin, China. Warning: The video contains language that some people may find offensive or objectionable. I hope this video will have a few effects: 1. May it humble us, for we are dust and life is shorter than we imagine. 2. May it remind us of the urgent task to share the gospel with others. 3.... Read more
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