Since I posted on my James paper this week, I’ve had so many emails come in requesting the paper that I decided to post the textual part of it on this blog so that all can read it. Note that the following texts reflect the key theme of James, being the uncovering and recovering of the double-minded man, and that this is in no way an exhaustive summary of relevant texts but is merely a quick walkthrough of several key... Read more
Do you care about the world? Honestly? I can truthfully say that I personally do not care about people around the globe. I naturally care about my own country, about people who look and talk like me, and that I do not naturally have a great concern for others in foreign lands. This is a problem. It is a problem, for example, that when I get a newspaper, I am far more drawn to the sports or arts section than... Read more
These are serious time for your friendly neighborhood seminary students. We’re in “reading week,” and next week is finals week. I have just written my last seminary paper, and let me tell you, it feels incredible. Fellow seminarians, if you’re wondering if finishing seminary really is all cracked up to be, consider this a news flash from me to you: it is. Riotous celebrating aside, here is an excerpt from my last seminary paper, an exegetical and theological look at... Read more
1. There is only one link this week, and it is to Disney chief Michael Eisner’s memoir Camp. Eisner has been a controversial figure in the recent past, and I have little to no knowledge about his controversies and thus can say little about his personal character. What I can say, though, is that his remembrance of his summer camp experiences at Camp Keewaydin in Vermont connected with me on a profound and moving level. If you have been to... Read more
My lovely mother-in-law emailed me a link to a recent piece written by John Piper about the phenomenon of extended adolescence. The piece is helpful and represents a good pastor-centered perspective of this problem in American society. I am glad that Piper is not simply sidestepping this cultural event, as too many pastors do, but that he is addressing it. His thoughts got me thinking on one cause of the “adultolescence” phenomenon: a lack of vision. What do I mean... Read more
From Truett Cathy’s book It’s Better to Build Boys Than to Mend Men: “I was thirteen years old when God worked through Theo Abby, my Sunday school teacher, to change my life. In a real sense, I had been “fatherless.” My father was alive. In fact, he was home every night, and I never knew him to gamble or drink or cheat on my mother. But he never told me, “I love you.” And when I needed help, like the... Read more
I recently had the opportunity to be on a fresh new podcast, Christ and Pop Culture. This podcast is hosted by my fellow church members Rich Brooks and David Dunham. Rich (his group blog) and David (his blog) are talented, fun guys (with well-done blogs), and I would encourage you to regularly listen to their show. If you desire to know what is going on in American pop culture, and you want that knowledge filtered through a reformed lens, I... Read more
The new 9Marks issue is online at the 9Marks website, and I encourage you to check it out. This issue, the November/December edition, deals with the church’s role relative to culture. Various authors address this matter, men like Michael Horton, David Wells, and John Frame. There is much good material to be read and digested, and I hope to do so myself. I have an article in this issue. It is on the problem of congregational ageism. I’ll leave it... Read more
1. A tear-your-hair-out piece from Men’s Vogue by the former New York Times reporter Charlie LeDuff. Apparently LeDuff, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, decided to stay at home following his daughter’s birth. His wife went to work. Writes LeDuff: I am sad for those fathers I had the pleasure to know during the years I was a correspondent. I remember the soldier in Iraq who was not there for the birth of his child. The journalist who came back from the... Read more
This last part of the “Preaching We Need” mini-series comes from one of Southern Seminary’s finest preachers, Dr. Jimmy Scroggins. The dean of Boyce College, the undergraduate school of the seminary, Scroggins is a born preacher and a personal friend. He possesses the winsomeness, the sharp mind, and the masculine force necessary to construct and deliver a powerful sermon. Without fail, he makes good on his abilities. I find that his sermons usually drive a single point, though from different... Read more
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