From an interview done with Christianity Today: “I’ll probably have 5- to 10-minute messages throughout the program, but it won’t be sitting down with three points and a poem. Chris Wyatt resigned a month before I left the Cathedral because his investors told him they wanted to take God out of GodTube. Chris discovered through GodTube that nobody listened to preaching. People are interested in other ways to communicate the message, such as interviews as opposed to a talking head.”... Read more
1. Mark Driscoll and Rick Melson discuss the new Resurgence training center. Cool training model. Some of the profs featured in it are to the right (in case you couldn’t tell). 2. W. Bradford Wilcox of National Review has a great article up on “Five Myths of Manhood”. Interesting stat: for all the talk about “stay-at-home” dads, just one percent of married families with children had one. And a 2007 Pew study found that only 20% of women with children... Read more
I really have resisted posting photos of my family on this blog. This is a blog about ideas, and purposefully so. I don’t want to make a private matter–the life of my family–a public one. However, I am forced to break my own rule on special occasions. Recently, at a book signing by my father-in-law, theologian Bruce Ware, for his new book Big Truths for Young Hearts (Crossway, 2009), my daughter, Ella Rose, grabbed a copy of the fast-selling book... Read more
William Henry Harrison Murray, writing over 125 years ago from the pulpit of Park Street Church in Boston: “The administration of a prominent city church demands that the pastor possess the rare powers of tact, judgment, general ability; the qualities that make a preacher, plus those that make a statesman–the ability to both anticipate and provide for future contingencies.” –H. Crosby Englizian, Brimstone Corner, 229, quoting Murray, Park Street Pulpit, 16. The comment is succinct but worth pondering, particularly in... Read more
The Director of the Henry Center, Doug Sweeney, a friend and mentor, has authored an important text entitled Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word (InterVarsity, July 2009). The book covers the life and Word-centered ministry of the colonial pastor-theologian, a subject area in which Sweeney has already produced numerous important works, including Volume Twenty-Three of the prestigious Yale Works of Edwards series. The text’s 200 pages stretch over seven chapters that each address an aspect of Edwards’s biblically... Read more
On the heels of my post from last week, I offer this link to a Chicago Tribune story that raises serious questions about the ranking of twelve-year-old athletes. Here’s a sampling: “Shaon Berry believes he has seen the future of football, and to demonstrate, he clicks a key on his computer. Up pops a video showing a 14-year-old receiver so large that he dwarfs his fellow players, so fast that he leaves a swarm of smaller boys in his wake.... Read more
1. My TEDS buddy Andrew Lisi recently wrote a thoughtful blog on a report by NPR about how sex is, for the younger generation, almost completely separated from any lasting connection or bond. (Photo: H. Armstrong Roberts, NPR) 2. A Wheaton PhD student and friend of mine, Jeremy Treat, shares a stirring story about one inner-city Chicago high school’s transformation. 3. Newsweek has an audio slideshow up featuring a book on Patrick Henry College students by Jona Frank called Right. ... Read more
Theology is alive. It should be felt, not merely taught. It should reach into all areas of our lives, bringing light and health to them. The heft of God’s teaching transforms both the way we think and the way we live. Theologians who embody this kind of approach are rare (though increasing in number, I think). One who stands out is Russ Moore of Southern Seminary of Louisville, KY. A systematician, Moore has a capacious mind, a gift for wit... Read more
This one goes in the “Things That Are Obvious to People Who Prize Common Sense” file: “If you’ve ever fantasized about scaling Mount Everest, think again. A new study of professional mountain climbers shows that high-altitude climbing causes a subtle loss of brain cells and motor function.” And here’s more: “The scientists, who published their findings in the October issue of the European Journal of Neurology, compared the climbers’ M.R.I. brain scans with 19 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects.... Read more
There is no way to make adolescence injury-proof. Competition and sports can be very good things (Photo: GettysburgFlag site). But when you see stats like this in a NYT article, you have to wonder about whether the harmful side effects of high-contact sports are worth it: “High school athletes in nine primary sports sustained an estimated 137,000 concussions in the 2007-8 school year, according to a study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital... Read more
Thought Life
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