Ministry

Thumbnail image for The Five Best Things About Unemployment (or Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice)

The Five Best Things About Unemployment (or Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice)

30 July 2009 Ministry

If you want to talk about a situation that really puts you in touch with yourself and with God, try unemployment. As a married American male, there is probably no circumstance that is more trying. However, unemployment has its benefits. If you can put yourself in the right attitude, joblessness can be a blessing. Allow me to enumerate.

Tagged as: spiritual practices, unemployment

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Thumbnail image for Withering Figs: A Figgy Perspective

Withering Figs: A Figgy Perspective

30 July 2009 Ministry

The story from the Synoptic gospels (e.g., Matthew 21:19ff.) shows Jesus withering a fig in a passage that often feels out of place. This anger of Jesus, this cursing, is not something that we’re totally comfortable with. After all, Jesus is supposed to be that emasculated European beauty that lets people walk all over him, right?

Tagged as: genesis, james, matthew

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The King’s Rhetoric

28 July 2009 Ministry

We say we serve a King who speaks truth and not circumspect, who causes light to shine over darkness, who raises people to life. We say that we serve the only King to ever offer real change. Surely we wait with bated breath for the words of our King, right? We, with hearts that long to see things change and His Kingdom expand, pour over the wisdom of His words, right?

Tagged as: social commentary

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Multiplex God

28 July 2009 Ministry

The Bible is a group of texts written by many different authors over the course of 1,000+ years. Each author added a patch (or patches) to the quilt by the inspiration of the divine one himself. If we take seriously that God inspired these men (and women?) to write, then we are putting a great deal of validity in the Truth that is contained in this document. Why try to superimpose our understanding on top of it? In the name of what? Harmony and evangelism?

Tagged as: god

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Where’s the Steeple?

27 July 2009 Ministry

Rolling Hills Baptist Church may not be that megachurch, and Frank Mercer may not be a high profile pastor like Hiam Shatir, but there is definitely something beautiful going on over there. On October 5, 2008, the members voted “overwhelmingly” to sell the church’s buildings and property and use the proceeds to better their community.

Tagged as: church, sacrifice

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The Default Position is Inertia

23 July 2009 Ministry

The default position must be inertia. If we’re not moving forward, seeking God, seeking Christ, asking him to abide in us, and actively considering what it means to abide in him, then we are moving backward, moving further from him, coming to know him less, perhaps even misunderstanding him.

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7 Jul 2009: John 6:44

7 July 2009 Biblical Studies

As Christians we often put the onus of God’s power on our shoulders without realizing it. We think that it is our job to go out and save the world from all of its evils. I’ve got two things to tell you: (1) We are part of the world’s evil, so good luck saving ourselves, and (2) That’s just not our job.

Tagged as: gospel of john

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Thumbnail image for 5 Jul 2009: John 6:27-33: Bread and Freedom

5 Jul 2009: John 6:27-33: Bread and Freedom

5 July 2009 Biblical Studies

Today, John 6:27–33 was my charge. This is not an obvious text to be reading on the 4th of July, but it’s the text that came up, and it served admirably as a backdrop for some of the thoughts I’ve been having lately about freedom, democracy, the United States, and Christianity.

Tagged as: gospel of john

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Hearne Summit I

9 March 2009 Biblical Studies

This past weekend, a group of people descended upon a chunk of property owned by Jack & Diana Wisdom, elders at Ecclesia in Houston, in order to talk about the very broad topic of “Christ & Culture” — we narrowed that down to a look at 1 John.

Tagged as: 1 john, ku klux klan

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Why I Hate Church Buildings

26 July 2007 Ministry

Bottom Line (confusing, because it’s at the top): The building I go to most Sundays cost $2 million to build. Now, that’s not an exact figure, but you get the idea. That is a heck of a lot of money, even in the affluent community in which I dwell. That’s 2 million McDonald’s double cheeseburgers [...]

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