A Few Good Reads

“I Overlooked the Rural Poor– Then Donald Trump Came Along“

2016 will be remembered for many things, but the most interesting trend I have seen is a refocus on rural America. J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy highlighted the struggles and chaos facing many in these forgotten regions of our nation. The church’s attention has been refocused on these areas as well, thanks to books like Donnie Griggs’ Small Town Jesus and Aaron Morrow’s Small Town Mission. Here, Tish Harrison Warren shares how the rise of Donald Trump helped her better understand rural America. “Many evangelical leaders have publicly grappled with Trump’s popularity. As America clusters in cities and suburbs—now home to a record 80 percent of the population—our church planting, poverty relief, and outreach ministry have shifted accordingly. For many, rural communities and small towns are faceless places we road-trip through on our way somewhere else.”

“How Trigger Warnings Silence Religious Students“
While many conservatives mock the idea of safe spaces and trigger warnings in university settings, we underestimate the effect they can have on students. Writing in The Atlantic, Alan Levinovitz explains how religious students become more hesitant to talk about their faith in class discussions because of this environment. “Students should be free to argue their beliefs without fear of being labeled intolerant or disrespectful, whether they think certain sexual orientations are forbidden by God, life occurs at the moment of conception, or Islam is the exclusive path to salvation; and conversely, the same freedom should apply to those who believe God doesn’t care about who we have sex with, abortion is a fundamental right, or Islam is based on nothing more than superstitious nonsense. As it stands, that freedom does not exist in most academic settings, except when students’ opinions line up with what can be broadly understood as progressive political values.”

“Why Marriage is Better Than Cohabitation“
As the number of couples cohabitating instead of marrying rises, we need to think about the consequences of this shift. Tim Challies, drawing on Christopher Ash’s book Married for God, argues that the benefits of marriage vastly outweigh those of cohabitation. “Though Christians continue to affirm the uniqueness, the goodness, and the necessity of marriage, our society continues to legitimize cohabitation as either a common precursor to marriage or a complete alternative. This slide is troubling, for marriage offers a number of important benefits that are absent from cohabitation—benefits that extend to couples, to their children, to their families, and to society as a whole.”

“7 Ways to Let God’s Word Shape Your Corporate Worship“
I wrote this for Radical, and in it I explain ways the Bible should saturate our corporate worship gatherings. “The world force-feeds lies and falsehoods to believers all week long. Our enemy, who is the father of these lies, also disguises these pseudo-truths as wisdom that leads us down the path to life and joy. The only antidote to believing lies and the false promises they promote is to hear, know, and believe the truth. How are the believers in our churches going to know the truth of God’s Word if we are not saturating them with it every time we gather? We need more Bible in our worship gatherings and it is imperative that we labor to make sure every element of our worship bleeds Bible.”

“Small Towns Need Jesus Too“
This is my review of Donnie Griggs’ Small Town Jesus, which is posted at The Gospel Coalition. With the emphasis on church planting on cities, I thought Donnie’s book was a great reminder to strategically engage rural areas with the Gospel. “People in small towns tend to reject having big city models of ministry imposed on them. This becomes even more evident when the pastor disengages from the people around him and seeks to do ministry in a purely attractional manner. Small towns are still driven by relationships, and the pastor who understands this has the potential for building a ministry that will touch many with the gospel and grow them into mature disciples.”