Reflecting on the Reformed Resurgence: Band of Bloggers 2012

Last updated on: February 21, 2012 at 2:17 pm By Owen Strachan

Timmy Brister, the mastermind/head/visionary behind Band of Bloggers, recently made this announcement: We are excited about this year’s Band of Bloggers (on April 10, 2012, just before Together for the Gospel starts). Each panelist has played a pivotal role with Band of Bloggers and the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement. At our first Band of Bloggers (April 2006), we were thrilled to have Tim Challies, Justin Taylor, Albert Mohler, and Russell Moore as panel speakers, and six years later we... Read more

Linsanity! Part 4: An Essay on Why David Brooks Is Wrong on Jeremy Lin

Last updated on: February 20, 2012 at 3:34 pm By Owen Strachan

David Brooks just suggested in the New York Times that athletic success and humility necessarily conflict and cannot coexist in a person. He wrote his piece, “The Jeremy Lin Problem,” on New York Knicks star (I love writing that) Jeremy Lin, who led the Knicks to their eighth win in nine games yesterday against NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Here’s what Brooks said about the conflict between “greatness” and “humility”: Ascent in the sports universe is a straight shot. You set... Read more

Why Guys and Girls Can’t Be Friends (Hilarious)

Last updated on: February 18, 2012 at 3:44 pm By Owen Strachan

I think there’s truth here. I don’t agree with the comments about “hooking up” and don’t endorse that line of thinking, but I do think this very funny video shows something about the essential–and eternal!–differences between men and women. My favorite moment comes at about the 0:48 mark when a tall guy eating a sandwich responds to the question by going “NNAAAAAAHHHH.” I think that kind of sums it up for many men. A second very funny moment hits around... Read more

Doing Ministry with a Shelby Cobra Mustang Engine (Like Piper & Carson)

Last updated on: February 17, 2012 at 2:01 pm By Owen Strachan

I just did an interview with Christ the Center, a podcast produced by the Reformed Forum, which is associated with Westminster Theological Seminary. This is a high-powered theological podcast that has hosted such important discussions as the recent debate among Presbyterian theologians over justification and union with Christ (with Michael Horton and Lane Tipton) and the ongoing conversation about the gospel and sanctification (with Rick Phillips and Kevin DeYoung). Camden Bucey, Jared Oliphint, and Nick Batzig hosted the conversation. The... Read more

Linsanity and Asian American Christian Identity: Carl Park of TEDS Reflects

Last updated on: February 16, 2012 at 2:29 pm By Owen Strachan

My friend Carl Park (PhD student in New Testament at TEDS) just wrote a piece on Jeremy Lin (who led the Knicks to win number seven in a row last night) and Asian-American Christian identity at the Gospel Coalition. It’s a thoughtful and elegant essay, and I commend it to you: “Linsanity and Asian American Christianity.” Here’s a snatch: Asian American evangelicals also have a different history than white evangelicals. We have, by and large, never been a part of... Read more

How Coffee Caused the Enlightenment

Last updated on: February 15, 2012 at 2:54 pm By Owen Strachan

I am taking a break from my new role as Jeremy Lin’s unpaid PR assistant (can you believe last night’s victory?!) to blog on two topics I enjoy: the Enlightenment and coffee. That’s right. Steven Berlin Johnson, a popular scientist and author of The Invention of Air (Riverhead, 2008), suggested a few years back that the eighteenth-century Enlightenment was fueled or driven by coffee. I’m sure that I would disagree with Johnson on many fronts, but I found his presentation... Read more

Jeremy Lin, The Basketball Star Nobody Wanted: A Gospel Coalition Essay

Last updated on: February 14, 2012 at 2:56 pm By Owen Strachan

Just had a new theological essay posted over at the Gospel Coalition. It’s entitled “The Basketball Star No One Wanted: Jeremy Lin’s Unlikely Triumph.” In it, I weave in my own experience with the game as I talk about what Lin’s success means for many. In the end, I try to show that in Lin’s unusual story, there’s a hint of a far greater triumph, the victory of Jesus Christ over the forces of darkness. He was not esteemed, no... Read more

Linsanity! Part 3: Jeremy’s Workout, Life in the NBA D-League & the Curious Case of Steve Novak

Last updated on: February 13, 2012 at 3:37 pm By Owen Strachan

Yes, I admit it. I am basically giving this blog over to Jeremy Lin. Having said that, some great stuff to follow. First, a video of his summer workout back when he was with the Warriors. No wonder the dude is destroying the NBA at present… Second, a fun excerpt from an in-depth story about Lin’s background: Even during his short Knicks tenure, which began due to a depleted backcourt, he was given a reminder of how tenuous his roster... Read more

Linsanity! Part 2: Ex-Ruff Ryders Rapping & Asian-American Christianity

Last updated on: February 11, 2012 at 4:20 pm By Owen Strachan

More Linsanity! Last night Jeremy Lin led the Knicks to a stunning victory over the Lakers–featuring the NBA’s second-best player, Kobe Bryant–and Lin scored 38 points (!). I don’t know if you care about sports, but that is truly astonishing. This is a player who was just about to be waived two weeks ago. That would have been his third cut of the year. Instead, he is igniting Madison Square Garden, dropping unreal numbers on the vaunted Lakers, and inspiring people all... Read more

Preaching: Conversational Stand-up or Serious Gospel Exposition?

Last updated on: February 10, 2012 at 3:04 pm By Owen Strachan

A typically provocative word from Carl Trueman on the legacy of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the “Doctor” (HT: JT): We have leaders with a lot of swagger and `street cred’; Lloyd-Jones had gravitas and did not care to be cool. Lloyd-Jones may have been less than clear on what he wanted in 1966, but he always had complete clarity about the gospel and little time for trendy diversions. We have leaders whose politeness too often creates an atmosphere of ambiguity and uncertainty;... Read more