I’ve Moved!
I won’t be updating this blog anymore, at least for now. You can now find me at http://andrewnordine.com and http://thenordines.com.
Seven Keys to Effective Church Planting
There are 7 keys to effective church planting (at least according to the article I read recently). Maybe there are more? But this seemed to be a great starting point.
1. More effective church planters spend more time in prayer. The more time spent in prayer, the more effective the church planter. Regardless of field difficulties, those who prayed more tended to be more effective. The most effective church planters average four hours and 15 minutes more in prayer per week than their less effective colleagues.
2. More effective church planters use more broadly based evangelistic efforts. The most effective church planters had a greater tendency to use outreach methods that provide a large number of contacts in a given community. Those who enter a new cross-cultural situation, and devise a method for sharing the gospel with a large number of people, may then identify from this large group those who appear to be spiritually hungry. They invest productive time in discipling those who are more interested.
Starting the process, finding spiritually interested people, is best accomplished by some form of community-wide evangelistic campaign, with lots of noise, excitement, and activity, using many people. Traditionally, this meant nightly meetings with a well-known speaker. But successful church planters are not limited to that method.
They often use a variety of tools, including films, video, door-to-door witnessing, surveys, public meetings, book tables, singing groups, drama, media campaigns, parades, special services, extended prayer meetings, and so on.
Evangelistic methods aimed at a narrow range of people become wider if carried out by a sufficient number of people. For instance, a home Bible study group is not a broad-based method. But if multiple Bible study groups are started in a target community, then the outreach is extended, leading to greater overall results.
This principle supports the current use of church-planting teams. More people together in ministry are better able to carry out broad-based evangelistic methods.
3. More effective church planters are more flexible in their methods. The most effective church planters demonstrate a high degree of creativity in their outreaches. They identify and use culturally relevant ways to communicate.
Each method has a target audience. Some methods hit one class, educational level, or even sex or age group better than others. Using a variety of methods extends the range of potential successes. The broader pool makes it more likely that people in families, clans, and groups will respond individually and simultaneously to the gospel. This increases the chances for a people movement.
More successful church planters combine flexibility with broadbased efforts. They coordinate multiple, broad-based methods. Evangelizing in multiple ways simultaneously compounds their effectiveness. Each method appeals to and attracts a different cross-section of the population, building up the effort to find those who are interested.
These church planters seek to use numbers of people for bursts of intensive outreach. Nearby church people, fellow missionaries, distant national Christians, international teams, and short-term workers make the contacts for later follow-up.
4. More effective church planters are more committed to a doctrinal position. While creativity and flexibility are beneficial in evangelism, rigidity in doctrinal position, at least initially, produces better results. The most effective church planters appear to be very tight in their theology. The specific position itself is not as important as strict adherence to it.
It seems that in establishing new believers it is best not to get into doctrinal controversies, but better to transmit core beliefs. Possibly by focusing on the major point of reaching additional people, rather than taking the time and energy to thrash out all the pros and cons of various theological debates, churches grow faster.
A “this is what we believe, take it or leave it” attitude, while not the best for developing theological creativity, does allow for concentration on the basics. Greater theological diversity, especially at the beginning, can delay expansion. Energy expended in defining and learning the finer points of theology, and then choosing a doctrinal position, is better used in reproduction.
5. More effective church planters establish greater credibility. There is a high degree of correlation between missionaries who emphasize activities to increase credibility and who plant more churches.
Credibility is established in two ways, but meeting social needs and by building relationships with community leaders. These steps of themselves do not make church planters more effective. But as church planters incorporate social work and building relationships into their total ministries, people respond.
Social work is not the primary focus of effective church planters, but one of many activities done by the more effective ones. They do not say, “First we will fill your stomach and then you will be willing to hear our message.” Rather, they say, “We will proclaim our message. If you want to have your stomach filled, that is possible, too.”
Social activity and gospel witness go on simultaneously. One does not depend on the other. Often national Christians do the social work while others witness. Local people participate as they will. Social ministries, of course, produce additional contacts. Non-Christians get to know Christians and the church building in non-threatening, need-based encounters. They see the church as credible, as part of the community, not an outside agency. They become more open to the gospel.
Building relationships means getting to know the political, religious, government, military, and other community leaders. After getting to know as many of them as possible, effective church planters develop a few deeper friendships. This reduces suspicions and helps alleviate future problems.
For example, new Christians were having a Christmas celebration in a moderately hostile Muslim area of Indonesia. A low-level official came to shut it down. But the national church planter had developed a close relationship with this official’s supervisor. He arrived and asked if there were any problems. The lower-ranking man bowed out and the Christians said everything was fine. What could have been a disaster was avoided because of the care taken to establish a friendship.
6. More effective church planters have a greater ability to identify and then work with people who have a loosely structured religion. Where the religious structure is fairly loose, church planting tends to be more successful. This finding corresponds to the principle that says church planters ought to work among more open people first. As they respond, church planters can build on multiplied contacts provided by new Christians among more resistant people.
Successful church planters in the survey were either finding sectors of society more open to change, or they were using evangelism and making converts in ways that allowed people to become Christians and retain the essence of their culture, while putting a Christian stamp on it. This confirms what Donald McGavran has taught, the “resistance arises primarily from fear that ‘becoming a Christian will separate me from my people.'” (Understanding Church Growth, p. 191).
For example, more people tend to respond to the gospel when they have recently moved. Some of the more effective church planters worked with people who had just migrated into land areas recently opened by the government for settlement.
Other successful church planters find large new housing projects more open to the gospel for the first five years. Once people had settled in and developed new habits, they were no longer as open. They had built a new web of social contacts, so they had more to lose by joining a Christian group than when they first arrived.
7. More effective church planters have a greater ability to incorporate new converts into evangelistic outreach. Consistently, the more effective ones quickly involved new believers in ministry and evangelism, even though they had minimal training. The survey uncovered three positive results from this practice.
First, new convert evangelism takes advantage of natural bridges for sharing the gospel while the new convert still has the greatest number of non-Christian friends. The longer people are Christians, the fewer non-Christian friends they tend to have.
Second, as new believers do evangelism, they develop a stronger commitment to the gospel. They become insiders, part of a new family. Even if forced to cut the ties with their old relationships, they can see new friendships developing.
Third, as they share their faith, new believers immediately are hit with questions about what they believe. Rather than destroying their faith, this forces them to study and learn more about it. As they study the Bible and learn from more experienced Christians, their faith and knowledge grow. Their quest for maturity is need driven.
Check the article for the rest. It’s worth a read.
Keeping My Eyes on the Prize
Just read a great article by Paul Baloche on Ministry, Money, and Motivation. He calls to mind Paul’s words “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3) and applies them to the pursuit of ministry. As I’m finishing seminary and working actively to determine the next step, I am constantly wrestling with the temptation to do what is easiest and makes most financial sense. I am constantly being tempted to seek first my own kingdom. My prayer has to be, “Lord, help me seek first Your kingdom.” And right now, that’s not easy.
Loving the City
An article I read on loving the city the other day is worth a read. It is a helpful exhortation and a critique of many movements currently happening. The author makes 6 basic points:
(1) Fighting for marriage.”The marriage rate for African Americans has been dropping since the 1960s, and today, we have the lowest marriage rate of any racial group in the United States. In 2001, according to the U.S. Census, 43.3 percent of black men and 41.9 percent of black women in America had never been married, in contrast to 27.4 percent and 20.7 percent respectively for whites. African American women are the least likely in our society to marry. In the period between 1970 and 2001, the overall marriage rate in the United States declined by 17 percent; but for blacks, it fell by 34 percent.”
(2) Fighting against abortion, foster care, and for adoption. “In New York, for example, In NYC, Black’s have a 59.8% abortion rate, Hispanics have a 41.3% abortion rate, Asians have a 22.7% abortion rate, and Whites have a 20.4% abortion rate “(prob b/c of the pill). One-third of all kids in foster care are black. There is real race bias in this system.
(3) Working against ethnic violence. “The alarming statistics about violence among African-American boys and men is so oft-cited that they have become cliches: for example, “black men are the leading cause of death among young blacks [male and female]”; “1 in 146 black males are at risk of violent death”; and though comprising only 13 percent of the U.S. population, 43 percent of all murder victims are black, compounded by the fact that 93 percent of them are killed by other blacks.”
(4) Rescuing urban children from substandard education. The Schott Foundation recently reported that only 47 percent of black males graduate from high school on time, compared to 78 percent of white male students.
(5) Helping hurting people to not self-medicate their pain with drugs and alcohol. “The 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that the highest rate of current (past month) illicit drug use was among American Indian/Alaska Natives (13.7%), followed by blacks/African Americans (9.8%), persons reporting two or more races (8.9%), whites (8.5%), Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islanders (7.5%), and Hispanics (6.9%). The lowest rate of current illicit drug use was among Asians (3.6%)”
(6) Working to fight HIV/AIDS proliferation. “Blacks/African Americans accounted for 52% of new HIV diagnoses and 48% of AIDS diagnoses in 2008. Of the total number of people living with HIV in 2007 in the 37 U.S. states and 5 dependent areas, 46% were black/African American; 32% white; 20% Hispanic/Latino; 0.8% multiple races; 0.6% Asian; 0.4% American Indian/Alaska Native; and 0.04% Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.
See the rest of the article for the discussion of these points and the critiques of the “hipster” vision.
Do You Want Freedom and True Joy?
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
This is the simple truth that was overshadowed in Genesis 3. God’s goodness and truth were traded for moral autonomy – the chance for man to be his own god. The serpent undermined Eve’s view of God, leading her to question God’s loving boundaries. The cost of moral autonomy was and is great. Banishment from the garden and the Tree of Life, physical and spiritual death, toil and pain continue to this day.
As Americans, we talk a lot about freedom, but we rarely pause to give any definition to the word itself. What do we mean by freedom? Is freedom the just rule of law, or the lack of all rules?
Adam and Eve had freedom in the Garden to eat of every tree except one. They had the freedom of trusting in a loving God who had created them to enjoy His presence. Instead, they chose freedom from God and His rule – both His sovereign rule and His single command. They wrongly saw freedom in moral autonomy. Instead, they subjected themselves to the serpent – an animal over which Adam had been commanded to rule. The power structures of the world were turned upside-down (God>Man>Serpent became Serpent>Man>God).
This is where we find ourselves today. Our hearts (yours and mine) long for moral autonomy – the right to make our own rules. We want to be like gods. We desperately believe that we will only find true joy when we rid ourselves of the rule makers in our lives, especially if they disagree with our moral vision. This is the very heart of sin. It is a rebellion against God’s right as our Creator to rule our lives. We have declared our own sovereignty within His territory, making us His enemies. And for this, He has every right and obligation to punish us as traitors.
We are traitors and fugitives. There is no freedom for traitors and fugitives. Traitors and fugitives live in the shadows. They don’t show their face in public. They fear being exposed, and often strike out violently against those who threaten to blow their cover. Does this sound like your heart? In your search for freedom, have you found hopelessness instead?
This is where the good news comes in, and it’s free. On the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for our rebellion. He stood in our place, so that we could stand before God in his place. God’s justice and wrath were poured out on Jesus in place of all who give up their rebellion and see that he is their only hope. His resurrection guarantees the verdict, and grants freedom to rebel captives. Do you want freedom and true joy? This is the only place you will find it! Confess your rebellion and look to the Savior! Delight yourself in the Lord!
The Steadfast Love of Yahweh
Because* of the steadfast love (hesed) of Yahweh we have not ceased to exist; his mercies never come to an end. (Lam 3:22)
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible because it is so shocking. I find myself asking, why does Yahweh’s steadfast love run out? If ever there was a time that His love was justified in running out, this was it. The nation of Israel, which Yahweh had redeemed out of Egypt and led into the promised land had rebelled against Him repeatedly for nearly the whole seven centuries they lived in the land. Why does He continue to relent? Why does He continue to pursue them? And what if His love had stopped there?
Have you ever thought about that? What if God’s plan of redemption had been scrapped as the exiles were marched off to captivity? What unspeakable grace and mercy that He did not give up there! Oh how marvelous is His continual pursuit of His wayward people! Behold your God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
(Romans 11:33-36 ESV)
*This translation does not follow most English translations, but is probably more faithful to the Hebrew text
The Word of Jesus and the Laws of Nature
Jesus upholds the universe by the word of his power (Heb 1:3). If he stops speaking, you cease existing. The very laws of nature, are his words in action. Have you thought about that lately? God spoke, and the universe came into existence out of nothing. He breathed life into Adam, and did not destroy him when he fell. Are you in awe yet?
Great Worship Music You Won’t Hear on the Radio: Cities Apart
This is a friend of ours named Josh Smith from Memphis that my wife Kolby knows from high school. He leads worship at Christ United Methodist Church. These are a couple songs from the two CDs he’s released under the name Cities Apart. You can find more info and chord charts at http://citiesapartband.com/ or buy the songs on iTunes.
Good News for Struggling Christians
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
(1 John 2:1-2 ESV)
These verses struck me as I was working through 1 John 2 tonight. John writes, “so that you may not sin.” He sets out with this purpose, but clearly recognizes that Christians still sin. He doesn’t take that opportunity to beat us up for our failure. Rather, he points to our advocate. Jesus stands at the Father’s side, reminding Him, not of our failure to live up to his righteous standard, but of his own righteousness on our behalf. Christ pleads the merits of his blood, shed for us.
The word translated propitiation here, likely refers both to the satisfaction of the Father’s wrath against sin and to the expiation – the wiping away of our sin. The propitiation means that God is no longer angry. We no longer need to fear punishment! Jesus took our punishment! And not only this, but he is continually our righteousness, and every time we sin, he wipes the slate clean!
What good news this is to us as we struggle! Jesus Christ the righteous is our advocate! And so we say with the psalmist “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you!” (Ps 73:25)
For Sale: PRS Starla, Gretsch Country Classic, Fender Tele, 65 Amps Marquee, Boss DD-7
This is not what I normally use my blog for, but it’s my blog, so who’s gonna stop me? The guys at church laugh at me. It’s become a running joke how many guitars and amps I have gone through, but I’m at it again. I love trying new things, so I go through a lot of gear. It’s become a bit of a hobby to shop around and find good stuff and trade with people. And I’ve met some cool people doing it, so it’s a win-win.
Prices are for a local sale in Memphis, TN. Otherwise, I could ship and take Paypal, but that’s on you.
Gretsch Country Classic $1500
It’s in nice shape, with Bigsby. I believe this is a 2002. Strap locks, OHSC.
PRS Starla $1100 SOLD
PRS Humbucking pups hwith coil splitting and a Bigsby. This is an extremely versatile guitar! They started making these in ’07, but I’m not sure the exact year. Dunlop strap locks, OHSC.
Fender American Standard Telecaster $700 SOLD
Blizzard pearl with two single coil Tele pups. Rosewood neck. 2009 model in like new condition. Dunlop strap locks and OHSC.
65 Amps Marquee Head w/2×12″ cab and road case (fits the head and cab together). Has been on tour and has a few signs of wear, but sounds phenomenal.
Would sell the head for $1500 SOLD
Cab for $650 (no pictures of the cab, but the condition is very similar to the head) sOLD
Road case for $300 SOLD
To sell the cab, I have to find another amp, which mean the head has to sell first. Really would prefer to trade for a Morgan.
Boss DD-7 $110 SOLD
It’s a Boss delay pedal. Internal or external tap tempo and looping. In good shape with velcro. It’s sturdy and reliable.
Here are some pictures of everything, including some other stuff I already sold: Album 1 | Album 2
Trades I’m interested in would be a Gibson ES-137 (or something similar), a Morgan amp in head/cab config (prefer EL84s and EF86), or a tube mic in the $1500 and under range (Advanced Audio, Lawson, ADK Custom Shop, Pearlman, Soundelux).
If you’re interested, leave me a comment or Tweet me.
The Story of Our Lives is God’s
This is a great song by a friend of ours called “White Page.” As good as the song is, the video is even better. Check it out.
The Priority and Risk of Community
I hear so many people talk about community in the church. We want to develop community. We want to foster community. We want to use the word as many times as we can so everyone knows we value community. But there is a danger in all this talk of community becoming little more than a buzz word that we use to identify ourselves, especially over and against those other churches, who don’t have such great community as we do (or so we tell ourselves).
I read a book about self-deception for one of my seminary classes called I Told Me So. One of the arguments in it that stuck out to me the most is that the things we value most often become the areas where we are most easily self-deceived and least likely to listen to correction. When we value things more than we should, they become untouchable. We find it nearly impossible to reassess the priorities closest to our hearts. What does this have to do with community?
In the church, it is easy to talk about valuing community without getting into the nitty gritty of putting it into practice. Sure you may say you value community, but do those around you feel like they belong? Are there outsiders in your church? People who don’t quite fit in? When they speak up about their frustrations, do you even hear them? Have you become so enamored with the successes of your community-shaping endeavor, that you don’t understand when someone feels like they aren’t a part of your super awesome close-knit tight community?
In all our talk about community, it’s easy to miss the fact that community is not an end in itself. Community itself is an elusive goal. The goal instead should be love and unity in truth, the natural result of which is community. If you are shooting for community, but not seeking love and truth, you will never find it. If you are not actively loving people, speaking the truth, and hearing people when they speak the truth to you, there can be no community.
So let’s talk about community. But let’s recognize the priority of love and truth. Let’s be open to the truth that our community may not be the best thing since sliced bread. We may just be insiders (and who doesn’t love having a good group of friends?). But the outsiders disagree with our assessment of how super sweet our community is. Are we listening?
Loving the Church While Seeing Her Flaws
There is a tension I wrestle with. I love the church. I’ve spent all my life in churches and serving the church. I’ve given the last four years of my life to studying to serve the church. But I am also intensely aware of the shortcomings of the church in this age that is passing away. I am constantly working through this tension, recognizing that the church is filled with fallen and broken people like me, who do things that fallen and broken people do, while maintaining hope.
Jesus died for his church, for those who were his enemies. He is preparing her “as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). This gives us a great hope. The church is “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15). It is God’s arena for revealing His wisdom to the heavens (Eph 3:10).
But in the meantime, we have this group of people that sometimes leaves us scratching our heads… And sheesh! Have you looked in the mirror lately?! I’m a part of the problem. You’re a part of the problem. We all are.
Is it healthy to look at the church and see her flaws? I believe it is. It can certainly be unhealthy to look at the church and either not see her flaws or see only her flaws. But there is a healthy sense in which, we need to see the flaws of the church. These are the things that drive us to strive for purity and to dig deeper into the Lord and His Word.
The flaws in the church were what led the Reformers. They saw a church in need of washing and purifying, and they fought to do it. In the midst of this tension, there is an opportunity for us to wrestle with the Scriptures and seek the face of God. If the church is His wisdom and part of His plan for the advance of His kingdom, then He certainly is deeply invested in her. She is not a plan B. She is His plan for the redemption of sinners and the restoration of creation. We pray for His will to be done. May His will be done in our churches, as we continually press in to the Word together and seek to love one another more deeply.
Want to Be Rich?
Want to be rich? Our culture is driven by the desire for riches. But what does this desire do to our soul? The Bible does not condemn wealth, but it has some strong words for the pursuit of riches. There are many today who want you to have “Your Best Life Now.” But are they promising the things God has promised? If not, then what has God promised?
The beauty of it all, is that God promises you the greatest treasure of all – Himself. The treasures of this earth are fading away. They are rusting and eaten up by moths. They are quickly spent on fleeting pleasures. God wants to give you a treasure that will last forever. The question is, how much does He have to take from you first? Our tendency is to fall in love with the things of this world. C.S. Lewis puts it this way,
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
Let us confess our half-heartedness and disdain of God and His promises. Christ died for this. And don’t fall for the false hope of the prosperity gospel. See it for what it truly is.
John Piper explains it more fully in this video.
Happy Birthday Adolph Hitler…
Today would have been Adolph Hitler’s 123rd birthday. I have to admit, even putting “Happy Birthday” and “Adolph Hitler” in the same sentence is repulsive to the senses (but it got your attention, didn’t it?!). But what if you arrive in heaven and are greeted by a repentant and redeemed Fuhrer? Could the grace of God be enough for the crimes of Hitler? And what does our response say about our own view of grace? Do we think we deserve it?
Punishing Murder: Justice in a Post-Christian World
What punishment is just for premeditated murder? What about when the perpetrator openly confesses, shows no remorse, and says he would gladly do it again? Now, let’s say this murderer killed more than one person. Should we multiply the penalty by the number of victims? What would you suggest?
The results of abandoning the Christian heritage of a culture are on full display in Norway right now. Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 people recently faces trial for his crimes. The maximum sentence? Twenty-one years in a plush facility where he has all the luxurious accommodations of a modern college campus. Dr. Albert Mohler, president of my seminary argues that this is a worldview issue – one that can be traced to the secularization of one of the worlds most progressive countries. Can there be justice in a post-Christian world?
A Cause Worth Dancing For: A Dosey Doe for the Children of the Congo
My friend Augie grew up in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an African nation torn by wars and ravaged by foreign corporate interests. He came to our church soon after immigrating to the US, and we have watched him work hard to establish himself in his new country. He now has a steady job, is taking night classes at a community college, and has his own apartment. It has been our privilege as a church to get to know Augie, and help him through the process of getting to know his new country.
Augie came here by himself and all his family is still in Congo, including two nephews and a niece whose father – Augie’s brother – is no longer living. Augie has been appointed their guardian, and is working to bring them over from the Congo, because of the dangers they face there. If you have seen any news coming out of central Africa, you have heard about the wars, kidnapping, and child soldiers. Augie’s nephews and niece are in a high risk area, where they could be kidnapped and forced to fight in the army. Additionally, rape and the sexual violence in Congo is some of the worst in the world.
Our church is working with Augie to make sure this does not happen, but we need your help! Sunday April 29th, from 6 to 9 PM we will be hosting a square dance at Middletown United Methodist Church here in Louisville. We are asking for a minimum donation of $5 per person/$15 per family to help cover the paperwork, legal fees, and everything involved with removing these children from harm’s way. Please join us in the cause!
You can view the e-vite online. More details to follow regarding a website, a way to make donations, and t-shirts that are in the works, so check back soon!
The Sound of Music
One of my hopes in starting this blog was to use it as a way to work through song ideas and share them. I have been writing songs since I picked up the guitar nearly 14 years ago, and have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of a worship team at our church over the past four years that is constantly writing songs for worship and singing these new songs to the Lord. I am a firm believer that the music of the church has a profound impact on shaping the church’s culture. Songs that grow out of the life of the church give the church an opportunity to clearly express together a shared identity in Christ and render praise to God for this identity.
Over the course of the last two years, I have bought and sold thousands of dollars worth of musical and recording equipment. It’s sort of an odd hobby I have, and it’s been a chance to meet a lot of people with similar interests and aspirations. But several months ago, I had run out of time and space for my recording equipment, so I sold it all and with some of the money, bought some new guitar gear. After a songwriting event at the seminary recently, I finally decided I wanted at least a basic recording setup for song ideas as they came and making some basic demos. So this week, I bought an Apogee Duet 2 on eBay that I hope to use to capture some of what I’m working on. So hopefully, I’ll be getting some new material here soon. In the meantime, enjoy some music from Needtobreathe.
They teased us last week at the concert. They played the intro 1 chord with the 4 suspended chord over and over and over for like 10 minutes, Bear muttered a bunch of stuff, and then they stopped and went on to another song. Not cool guys. Not cool. Play the song already.
Seeing NEEDTOBREATHE in Concert in Lexington
How awesome is my wife? In January she asked who my favorite band was. I said Needtobreathe was near the top right now, so she bought two tickets to their show in Lexington (about an hour drive) three months out. She told me to keep my night free, but wouldn’t tell me what we were doing.
Ben Rector opened. If you don’t own his CD, you should. I discovered Ben via a free Noise Trade sampler about six months ago. Very fun, lively, and soulful tunes. Ben and his band made for one of the best opening acts I’ve seen.
Then Needtobreathe came on. I’ll have to say, I’ve been to a lot of really loud concerts. I may just be getting old, but I think this may have been the loudest concert I’ve ever been to. My ears felt violated. But in spite of the overwhelming decibel level, it was a great show. I love the way Needtobreathe melds together their gospel music roots with very singable pop/rock melodies and blues rock guitars. A little piano and organ to fill out the sound, and oodles of harmonies. If you aren’t listening to these guys, you should be. You can thank me later.
So here’s a little video Kolby took from her camera at the show. It’s on YouTube, but it’s private. You can only get to it from here. Enjoy!
Pastoral Idolatry
This was an article I bookmarked the other day. If you are in ministry, or in seminary, it is worth reading and filing it away. I know I can definitely feel the allure of these idols in my own heart. Click here for the article.
Rethinking Blue Like Jazz?
I have not read the book or seen the movie and have no intention to do so, but the constant buzz I’ve seen about Blue Like Jazz made me curious. Dr. Mark Coppenger, who was my philosophy professor my first year at Southern gave a review of Blue Like Jazz several years ago at Southern. In it he calls Donald Miller (the author) Schleiermacher with a sol patch (Schleiermacher is widely regarded as the father of modern theological liberalism). Miller’s vision of Christianity, Coppenger argues is no different than the liberalism that infested Southern for years (Coppenger would know-he wears the scars of the battles). So if you’ve read the book or are planning to see the movie, give this critique a listen and careful consideration.
Ideas Have Consequences: Is Genesis 1-11 historical?
There is a new movement among evangelicals to discount the historicity of Genesis 1-11. It’s really nothing new, as this was a beginning stage of liberalism well over a century ago. But there seems to be a rise in the number of scholars and lay persons who accept these views, with little thought for their consequences.
There are really two questions we should ask:
1) Should we continue to read Genesis 1-11 as history?
2) If we reject the historicity of Genesis 1-11, what else goes with it?
The answer to 1) seems self-evidently ‘yes’ to some and ‘no’ to others. But answering 2) is where we find the real weakness of the rejection of historicity. Here’s a list of doctrines negatively impacted by the rejection of the historicity of Genesis 1-11 (feel free to add to this list).
1) Creation
2) Fall
3) Salvation
4) Resurrection/New Creation
5) Incarnation
6) Deity of Christ
7) Inerrancy
8) Inspiration
What is Christianity without these doctrines? Is there even anything left? Is what is left even worth keeping? The first generation usually argues yes, while the second generation and beyond generally follow ideas to their conclusions, seeing no need to continue to embrace the things they don’t believe. We see the results of this born out in many mainline American denominations today.
The picture is sobering, and I’m reminded of the life of Crawford Howell Toy, who was the first professor at my own seminary (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) to move in this direction. Toy’s story is a tragic case of following the conclusions of his own logic. It is a downward spiral from modernism, historical criticism, and the embrace of Darwinism, to liberalism and Unitarianism as a professor at Harvard, finally to a philosophical Pragmatism (You can find Toy’s story in chapter 3 of Gregory Wills’ book on the history of SBTS).
Denying the historical nature of Genesis 1-11 leads to the denial of real doctrines with real consequences. The historicity of Genesis 1-11 may not fit with the current trends of culture or the understanding of modern science, but we cannot so easily reject it without great consequences to our faith. Does it present us with an extremely difficult position to maintain as Christians? Absolutely! Should we expect any less from a race that has declared its hostility toward God?
Reading the Book of Ruth as Christian Scripture
Recently, Dr. Jim Hamilton, a professor of mine brought an article to my attention that I would highly recommend you reading. It is called When Gentile Meets Jew by Peter Leithart. Leithart sees Ruth in the grand narrative of Scripture, and weaves together a number of great insights. Check it out.
Andrew Nordine's Blog 
Nothing is What it Seems: Social Media and Perception Management
Is it just me, or do Facebook and Twitter make it look like other people are having way more fun than you? For all the great things social media has done for us, it presents us with some interesting dilemmas. One is what we share. It is very easy for us to share the best part of our lives online and create the perception that all is well, regardless of reality. We manage our image so those around us know how cool our friends are, who we just hung out with, how great our date was tonight, or how hot our wife is.
We have to be careful on two fronts. First, we can easily create a perception of ourselves that is false. We can convince people that we are someone other than who we are. I’ve literally watched people whose marriages were falling apart, but their Facebook profile picture showed something different. The images and words were joyful, but everything was broken.
The other danger is to look at the public images of others, not realizing that it has been sanitized, whitewashed, and sugarcoated, and then never see the imperfections, the brokenness, the struggles, and the real life situations. As I have been looking at church websites recently, I have noticed how easy it is to judge a church by its online presence – its website, its media, the pastors’ tweets – all contribute to a public image that may or may not have any basis in reality. We say talk is cheap and a picture is worth a thousand words. The reality is, online talk – where there is no one to question our view of reality – and profile pictures – always posed at our peak moments of sheer bliss – create a romanticized version of our lives.
We need to be able to look through these things. We need to see through our own facades and those of others. We desperately need to see the brokenness, the fallen mass of humanity, and our need for hope and a redeemer. Nothing is what it seems.
April 22, 2012 | Categories: Cultural Commentary, The Christian Life | Tags: church, Facebook, media, online presence, perception management, Twitter, website | Leave a comment