Jesus Manifesto: Review May 31, 2010

Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola have thoughtfully written their newest book, Jesus Manifesto, in an “ancient devotional tone,” seeking to “show the difference between invoking the name of Jesus in vain and using His name in a way that reveals His beauty and honors His person” (introduction, p. xx). They explained that the purpose of [...]

Jesus Manifesto: Introduction May 31, 2010

I’ve been working my way through Leonard Sweet and Paul Viola’s book Jesus Manifesto. So far, I’ve read a lot of great insight calling the church back to seeing and savoring the sovereignty and supremacy of Jesus Christ. I’ll be posting some of my favorite quotes as I continue. From the introduction, pages xix-xx, Sweet [...]

LOST in the Gospel May 24, 2010

Fair warning: SPOILERS! The finale of LOST is clearly a big topic of interest to the millions of faithful fans who have been following it since 2004, or who have picked it up sometime along the way. The show has always represented the concept of a journey by faith into an unknown world, and many [...]

What is a conversation? May 20, 2010

Recently I have been thinking a lot about what it means to have an ongoing conversation. I am not talking about someone giving a monologue and shoving a philosophy or a theology down your throat, but I am talking about where people willingly engage each other honestly. Let me be quick to say that I [...]

Piper Video on inviting Rick Warren to DG Conference March 31, 2010

Maybe some commentary later, but here’s a link to Piper’s words: Feel free to comment, but please avoid being a jerk. This includes typing in all caps. Ad: The PROVERBS-Driven Life (Westminster Bookstore) Here are some blog posts that I respect. If you want me to review yours and possibly link to it, email me [...]

Grace — just “amazing”? January 12, 2010

I suppose words just can’t do grace justice.  Yes, it’s certainly amazing.  But a lot of things are “amazing”, today, just like a lot of things (that probably don’t merit the title) are “awesome”. Every once in a while, when I can see for an instant above the haze of my utter failure and sinfulness, [...]

Transformers 2: Not worth it. June 25, 2009

Quite frankly, I thought it was terrible.  Especially since I saw it a few days after I saw Star Trek. What did I hate about it? 1.   The glorification of sexuality, superficial romantic ‘relationship’, the profuse usage of crude joking and cussing. 2.  The lack of a good storyline, the lack of substantial characters. 3.  [...]

Half of Christian men admit to struggling with pornography. June 11, 2009

I came across a news story of a pastor who was caught in the act and was made to leave his ministry.  How many more pastors and Christian men struggle with it?  If half of Christian men will admit it, it begs the question of how many Christian men are lying about their struggles with [...]

How hard should we fight against porn and other sexual immorality? June 11, 2009

“I take the TV out of my hotel room at night and deposit it with a co-worker. I bring home the receipts from my trips and ask my wife to verify that no pornographic movies were purchased. I put a filter on my notebook computer, which would send an email to my wife if I [...]

There is hope for the porn addict. June 10, 2009

I was planning on jumping right into discussing the things that I’m struggling with right now, but I realized that doing so would not do justice to God and the work that He has been doing in me over the past five years, and so I’m going to share a little bit about what the [...]