Category: Resources

Your iPhone Might Be Making You Less Religious – A new paper titled “Finding Brands and Losing Your Religion” in the Journal of Experimental Psychology opens with some lines you might not expect to find in a business journal: “What leads individuals to turn their backs on an omnipresent God? Another omnipresent force may be a viable culprit: brand name products.

This Coke’s [Not] For You: Life On The Margins – Coca-Cola printed over two hundred of the most popular names that represent the United States’ diverse population, but what of those whose names were not listed? 

How To REALLY Help Someone Change – You’ve got this person in your life, and they really need to change. What the heck are you supposed to do? Fortunately, the Bible gives us straight forward wisdom on how to really, actually help a person change. And odds are, the Bible’s wisdom probably runs contrary to your own ideas of how to help a person change. It certainly runs contrary to mine!

Bible Ignorance – People who have an excellent understanding of the Scriptures really impress me. If there’s one thing I detest, besides Manchester United, it’s Bible studies or theological discussions where the Scriptures function like the crumbs in a bag of chips: you get to them only if you’re desperate. 

Steve Jobs On Leadership And The Idol Of Approval – Jony Ive is the senior vice president of design at Apple and is known as the great design mind behind the products at Apple. In a rare interview, Jony shares some lessons he learned from working with Steve Jobs. In the interview, he recounts a conversation with Steve where Steve rebukes him for leading to be approved, for wanting approval from his team more than anything else.

Some Uncomfortable Questions – “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Would you like others to remember your failings as long as you remember theirs?

Making Disciples

The Problem With Evangelistic Programs –  In a culture of evangelism, the goal is for everyone to share, pray, and take opportunities as they come – not just the pastor and elders. Our responsibility is to be faithful witnesses—together.

I believe that if members spent half the time they had spent on programs in friendly evangelistic conversations with neighbors, co-workers, or fellow students, they would see a better response to the gospel and reach even more people.

Let Your Dim, Sin-Stained Light Shine Before The World – The gospel is not simply the best self-help news out there, nor the hottest parenting or marriage techniques to transform your kids and your communication. It is the message that God, through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ, has made a way for sinners to be forgiven and transformed. 

What’s The Difference Between Prayer And A Selfie?  – American religious life is, probably more than we realize or wish to acknowledge, self-obsessed. When we pray, for instance, we’re usually thinking about ourselves and those closest to us, according to a new survey from LifeWay Research about the frequency and content of prayer.

Does The Bible Prohibit Revolution? – Interesting read in regards to how certain passages of Scripture were interpreted during the American Revolution.

Two Obstacles Keeping Us From Making Disciples – If we really believe God has called us to this task, if we believe he is with us, if we believe he wants to use us for his mission, then why aren’t we making disciples? 

Successful Ministry – So, as we go about the task of making disciples and bringing the blessing of eternal life to others, Jesus is with us to bring success. It doesn’t mean everyone will respond, but some will. We are not Jeremiahs, faithfully ministering, but with no hope of success. Knowing that, we will be persistent and courageous in the task, whether we feel Jesus’ presence or not. For God will do what he has promised – bring blessing to all peoples.

Sometimes you just want to say Thank You!

The Key To Radical Generosity: God Doesn’t Need You – I spent a lot of my Christian life feeling guilty over what I am not doing in the kingdom of God. It’s not that I am not committed to Jesus, living a sacrificial life, or intensely busy for the kingdom. I am—but there is just always so much more to be done, and sometimes I feel as if the needs of the world are crushing me.

Husbands, Hold Your Wife’s Hand & What We Won’t Regret – R.C. Sproul reflects upon his wife’s death and Kevin DeYoung, prompted by Sproul, shares some reflections of his own. Both of these posts are worth reading.

Pastor Saeed’s Letter To His Daughter Rebekka – Saeed Abedini, the American pastor imprisoned in Iran, writes an encouraging and beautiful letter to his daughter on her eighth birthday.

Sharing The Gospel Is Inconvenient – As I was walking from the restaurant to my car, I had one gospel tract in my pocket. I had purposed to give it to someone in route to my vehicle. Literally, that was my plan. I wanted to place the tract in someone’s hand, continue walking, get in my truck, and leave. That did not happen. When I gave the tract to a man standing in my path, he asked, “What’s this?”

Why a leading professor of new media just banned technology use in class – I teach theory and practice of social media at New York University, and am an advocate and activist for the free culture movement, so I’m a pretty unlikely candidate for Internet censor. But I have just asked the students in my fall seminar to refrain from using laptops, tablets, and phones in class.

Is Your Church Worship More Pagan Than Christian? – There is a great misunderstanding in churches of the purpose of music in Christian worship.

How To Fit Mission Into Your Schedule

Small Groups and the Transformed Life – We don’t take community and relationship-based discipleship seriously enough.

Why We Neglect Our Bibles – Many Christians find it difficult to get into a daily habit of Bible reading.

How The News Makes Us Dumb – If you are going to read just one out of print book with a terrible cover this year read C. John Sommerville’s devastating little book How the News Makes Us Dumb (IVP 1999).

3 Ways To Love Negative Nancy – Negativity comes in many different packages and people; emails and phone calls, early coffee meetings and late night barn-burners — how will you deal with it? I’ve had a man stand in my office, look me in the eyes and say, “I don’t like that you are the pastor of this church.” Thanks for sharing!

Social Media and the Sensation of Missing Out – Social media is both a blessing and curse as we all know and have experienced. One curse is that it facilitates the sensation of missing out.

What Kind of Procrastinator Are You? – Procrastinators waste too much time, but to get over this bad tendency, you need to know why you procrastinate.

What Is The Gospel? – Good words from Tim Keller!

Friendless Millennials In A Digital Age – Whenever someone asks me what the hardest part the transition from college life to real life has been, one answer comes to mind: making friends.

Are We Using The Word “Brokenness” Biblically? – We often hear Christians today talking about “brokenness.” Is it being used correctly? 

How An App Revitalized My Prayer Life – I say it without hyperbole: PrayerMate revitalized my prayer life. It has been at least a couple of years since I made the move from organizing my prayers in a book to organizing my prayers in an app, and, at least for now, I don’t ever see myself going back.

A Pastor’s Reflection On Shyness – I can remember very distinctly how as a teenager I was mortified to meet new people. I was, and still am to a certain extent, a shy person. Give me a choice – stand before one thousand people to speak for an hour or lock me in a room with two people I’ve never met before, and I’ll choose the former.

Re-Creating Campus Ministry – “Our campus access challenges give this generation of students an opportunity to reinvent campus ministry,” said Greg Jao, InterVarsity’s National Field Director. “Even as we use new tools and techniques, we remind students that effective ministry is ultimately relational. It’s about students inviting other students to follow Jesus.”

The Transforming Power of Small Groups – When we preach the gospel to one another in close-knit community, there is spiritual growth that changes us individually and as a whole. We can also begin to position ourselves with an outward focus and encourage gospel transformation in the communities outside the church walls.

Tim Hawkins – Random Jokes