August 11th, 2009
Let us avoid the temptations of doing the “quick and easy” witnessing where, like a rapist, we quickly jump an unsuspecting person and leave them feeling violated. We do it without an actual care or concern for the person, but only out to quick get one thing. Converts. Although Bavinck’s words are dated, we ought to take his words to heart today. Viewing our world as our mission field, constantly on mission, constantly loving people. And through genuine, unconditional love (love which is not based on the condition of conversion), we may be Christ to people.
I must feel a community or a fellowship with this man; I must know myself to be one with him. As long as I laugh at his foolish superstitions, I look down upon him; I have not yet found the key to his soul. As soon as I understand that what he does in a noticdeably naive and childish manner, I also do and continue to do again and again, although in a different form; as soon as I actually stand next to him, I can in the name of Christ stand in opposition to him and convince him of sin, as Christ did with me and still does each day.
J.H. Bavinck, An Introduction to the Science of Missions
August 1st, 2009
The following quote is from J.H. Bavinck’s book “An Introduction to the Science of Missions.” Before reading the quote, it would be beneficial for you to know the word “elenctic” in it’s basic definition is: the conviction of sin through guilt from the Holy Spirit working on the heart of an individual which leads to repentance. It is a crucial, and foundational, element of the salvation process
It is characteristic of the science of missions that in it the “world” appears in a different aspect than in the other departments of theology. In all the other departments, the “world” is the area out of which temptations arise; it is the sphere of confusion, seduction, the sphere of heterodox ideas and conceptions. In the science of missions the “world” appears as the domain where God discloses his wonderful power, where Christ celebrates his triumph. And it is in this series of triumphs of the living Christ that elengchein, the conviction of sin, so essential to elenctics is to be found. And it is for this reason that we prefer to list elenctics with the department of missions. The missionary motive which controls it will then not be obscured.
July 27th, 2009
“To them [people in today's culture], Christianity isn’t normal. This is really important to realize, and if you aren’t sensing this in our emerging culture, you might be too enclosed in your Christian network and subculture to fully see what’s happening.
If you are a baby boomer or of an older generation and were born into a Christian home, you probably have relationships with people who still share values and beliefs that are more in line with a Judeo-Christian world, and you might not see the change in emerging generations. If you are younger, were raised in a church, and surround yourself socially only with Christians, then you might not notice this as strongly either. And so it’s important that we think like missionaries. Instead of viewing our towns and cities as Judeo-Christian and feeling that everyone needs to automatically adhere to what we believe, we need to act like missionaries do when they enter a different culture. When missionaries enter another culture, they listen, learn, study the spiritual beliefs of the culture, and get a sense of what the culture’s values are. Then may try to discover what experiences this culture has had with Christians and what the people of the culture think of Christianity. Missionaries in a foreign culture don’t practice the faiths or embrace the spiritual beliefs of that culture, but they do respect them, since the missionaries are on the other culture’s turf.“
They Like Jesus but Not the Church by Dan Kimball
July 2nd, 2009
I read an article from the newest “Christian Research Journal” yesterday titled “Why I Am a Calvinist” by Kevin DeYoung. It’s one of those articles that if you were to highlight it, you’d end up highlighting the whole page. Here’s a specific excerpt that resonated with me:
I’d like to think that we are Calvinists because of what we see in the Bible. We see a God who is holy, independent, and unlike us. We glory in God’s goodness, that He should save miserable offenders, bent toward evil in all our faculties, objects of His just wrath. We rejoice in God’s electing love, which He purposed for us before the ages began. We are grateful for God’s power by which He caused us, without our cooperation, to be born again and enabled us to believe His promises. We take comfort in God’s all-encompassing providence, whereby nothing happens according to chance, but all things–prosperity or poverty, health or sickness, giving or taking away–are sent to us by our loving heavenly Father.
May 26th, 2009
Giving It All To You | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Come Thou Fount | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Be Thou My Vision | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
You Amaze Me | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Holy Is The Lord | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Cue Sheet
May 17th, 2009
I Will Boast | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
God Moves In A Mysterious Way | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Not All The Blood of Beasts | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Cue Sheet
April 3rd, 2009
Stay tuned. Life is crazy. I’m finishing up my senior year at MBU. Exciting time, but (obviously) I have needed to decrease my attention on this blog. Thanks for sticking with me.
March 22nd, 2009
Who would have thought a forward in a book would stand out to me so much. Here’s Sally Morgenthaler in the forward to Dan Kimball’s book, “Emerging Worship:”
When it comes to irony, worship in late twentieth century evangelicalism takes the prize. Just as the world was reenchanting the universe (think Deepak Chopra, The X-Files, candle-and-teddy-bear grief vigils, Final Fantasy video games, and Lord of the Rings), user-friendly Christianity was practicing religious reductionism: shrinking the divine to the size of a three-point outline and four songs in the key of perpetual happy.
March 13th, 2009
Time magazine lists their top 10 Ideas that are changing the world right now. Coming in at number 3 is “New Calvinism.” Check out Pastor Mark Driscoll, he has some great thoughts on Time Magazine’s article on New Calvinism:
