The offensive of the Gospel

Driscoll is right that our style shouldn't be offensive, but of course the Gospel itself, it's substance is offensive. Driscoll has a unique context in Seattle, and Big Creek Church has a unique context in North Atlanta. The challenge for me is to properly understand the culture that we are reaching and it's challenges. But that is easier than it sounds, because I live in the culture. So I need to see the culture with fresh eyes. These are questions that I am asking myself. Certainly one aspect that I have been thinking of, is the drivenness and busyness of the North Atlanta area. How do we cut through the busynesss and the noise? How does God people allow God to speak to them through the noise, chatter and static of their hectic days? Right now I am asking more questions than delivering answers. Any thoughts?

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I wonder if I can get the day off for this...?

Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19

No kidding and shiver me timbers!

And if you want to learn how to talk Pirate, go to the translator

English to Pirate translator

enjoy matety!

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Free Friday

This is a bit self serving, but my church has just launched their Podcast through iTunes.

You can click on the podcast link in the column.

Currently we are going through the book of Judges.

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Flying Car

Flying Car - World First "Transition" Vehicle Almost Ready for Production

YES! Deliverance from Atlanta gridlock! Where do I get mine?

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When the story doesn't match

Seth's Blog: When the story doesn't match

"Most people feel pretty virtuous at Starbucks. It's not really fast food, at least that's what we tell ourselves. Today's Times reports otherwise. It seems that the Large Java Frappuccino has 29 packets of sugar and the equivalent of 11 creamers in it. In one, not in a dozen. If you watched them mix it up, you'd feel different about it, no doubt.

Humans are funny. If something is 'baked in', apparently it doesn't count as much."

Yikes, that is a bigger eye openner than the coffee itself, I guess I am back to a simple black coffee at the BP.

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RTS Reading List

RTS Reading List

This list came from my RTS newsletter, in addition Justin Taylor's blog. A good reading list whether or not you are going to seminary.

Reformed Theological Seminary has posted a list of books--in addition to the Bible--that are helpful to read in preparation for seminary.

Also you can view their extended list here.

(from JT) Jim Hamilton provides a list of books he thinks every seminary graduate should have read."

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Does God Want You To Be Rich?

TIME.com -- Does God Want You To Be Rich?:

"Sunday, Sep. 10, 2006
Does God Want You To Be Rich?
A growing number of Protestant evangelists raise a joyful Yes! But the idea is poison to other, more mainstream pastors
By DAVID VAN BIEMA, JEFF CHU

When George Adams lost his job at an Ohio tile factory last October, the most practical thing he did, he thinks, was go to a new church, even though he had to move his wife and four preteen boys to Conroe, a suburb of Houston, to do it. Conroe, you see, is not far from Lakewood, the home church of megapastor and best-selling author Joel Osteen.

Osteen's relentlessly upbeat television sermons had helped Adams, 49, get through the hard times, and now Adams was expecting the smiling, Texas-twanged 43-year-old to help boost him back toward success. And Osteen did. Inspired by the preacher's insistence that one of God's top priorities is to shower blessings on Christians in this lifetime--and by the corollary assumption that one of the worst things a person can do is to expect anything less--Adams marched into Gullo Ford in Conroe looking for work. He didn't have entry-level aspirations: 'God has showed me that he doesn't want me to be a run-of-the-mill person,' he explains. He demanded to know what the dealership's top salesmen made--and got the job. Banishing all doubt..."

Read more at: Time.com

I am going to refrain from comment on this for now, but rather I would have you tell me what you think.

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Free Friday

Not as generous as Derek Webb, but this will do..

Free Jars of Clay song download for you

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Great Sermon from Last Week

Jon delivered a great sermon on Ehud from the book of Judges last Sunday. If you haven't had a chance to hear it, you can listen to it here:


powered by ODEO

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Which World is Bigger?

Love this quote from Eugene Peterson, "Tell-tale phrases give us away. We talk of “making the Bible relevant to the world,” as if the world is the fundamental reality and the Bible something that is going to fix it. We talk of “fitting the Bible into our lives” or “making room in our day for the Bible,” as if the Bible is something we can add on or squeeze into our already full lives…

As we personally participate in the Scripture-revealed world of the emphatically personal God, we not only have to be willing to accept the strangeness of this world – that it doesn’t fit our preconceptions or tastes – but also the staggering largeness of it. We find ourselves in a truly expanding universe that exceeds anything we learned in our geography or astronomy books.

Our imaginations have to be revamped to take in this large, immense world of God’s revelation in contrast to the small, cramped world of human “figuring out.” "(from Eugene Peterson's book, "Eat This Book")

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Humble Orthodoxy

Just picked up the latest issue of Christianity Today. Great issue, and actually I thought the cover article would be a great, simple overview of the Reformed movment and Calvinistic theology. I have already had conversations with people wrestling through honest questions about Reformed Theology, so I will be giving them a copy of that article in helping process those questions. P.S. I couldn't find this issue at any local Christian bookstore, I had to go to Borders Books in order to grab a copy, GO FIGURE? 

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MIDDLESCHOOL FUN!

Going to have fun teaching the middle school kids this evening...going to teach from James 3:3-12 and show the BIG HONKING fire portion of Rob Bell's Nooma video called "Flame". If you have seen this video, you will that the rest of the video wouldn't "work" for middleschool age kids.

Middleschoolers are a ton of FUN!

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Who said that there is nothing free in this world?

FreeDerekWebb.com

Music from Derek Webb. And yes, it is really Free!

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What Bloggers Need to Know About the Law

Tubetorial

Some great information and video tutorials about blogging and your web presence. Worth checking out if you are considering blogging, or currently on the web now.

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