If you are just joining the discussion (that as of yet has not been much of a discussion) then please check out the foreword, intro, and chapter one.  You can catch up pretty easily.  If you have yet to buy the book I would suggest buying it for a paltry 9 bucks, here. 

Quick Summary:

This chapter gives us instructions for beginning the work.  The most important thing to do early on is to clarify the gospel.  In the previous chapter we were urged to be patient.  In this chapter that statement is qualified: “…the one thing you don’t want to be slow about is preaching the Gospel.” (44)  The Gospel is the most important aspect of our ministry.  Perhaps one of the most important principles in this book is contained in this sentence: “What you win them with is what you win them to.” 

So, how do you go about clarifying the gospel?  Dever gives a few tips.  1) Put yourself in the background, and preach Christ crucified.  2) Let the content of the gospel do the work.  Rather than working on attracting people to you work on attracting them to the Gospel.  3) Let Jesus do the talking as much as possible.  It would be wise to begin preaching through one of the Gospel accounts.  Dever closes this section with this: “The more your congregation is clear on the Gospel, the less likely it is either tepid nominalism or carnal divisiveness will find air to breathe…”  (45)

Alongside clarifying the Gospel another important beginning work is to cultivate trust; because “people have to trust you if they’re going to follow you”.  We are then given three ways to cultivate trust.  1) Expositional preaching.  This will show people that you stand upon the Word of God and not your own ideas.  2) Personal relationships.  This is simple, people will trust you if they know you.  Dever did not mention it but the old adage is fitting here: people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.  3) Humility.  If you pursue accountability and correction it will go a long way in bringing trust.  Not only that the accountability and correction will serve for your own personal growth.

Another beginning work is to clean the rolls.  (This may be the most difficult and controversial).  Rotary clubs clear members so why doesn’t the church?  Church membership should mean more than membership to a Rotary club.  There are biblical, pastoral, and evangelistic reasons for cleaning the rolls.  Dever will discuss this in more detail in a later chapter.  A good way to begin this work is to “contact negligent members in order to instruct them and notify them of your intentions, and remove them.”  (48)

The last thing suggested as a beginning work is to conduct reverse membership interviews.  Dever suggests going through the church membership, start with the most recent members, and begin interviewing them.  This helps to clarify the Gospel, to look for genuine conversion, and to build relationships. 

Quotables:

“…when we assume the Gospel instead of clarifying it, people who profess Christianity but don’t understand or obey the Gospel are cordially allowed to presume their own conversion without examining themselves for evidence of it—which may amount to nothing more than a blissful damnation.”  (43)

“The Gospel of Christ has never needed the gimmicks of man to effect conversion in the soul.”  (44)

“…leaders usually have more opportunities to do things wrongly!”  (46)

“If membership is the church’s public affirmation of a person’s conversion, then to leave a nonattender on the rolls could very well be damningly deceptive.”  (48)

Questions:

• What do you think of a pastor that insist on keeping a “professional distance” between he and his congregation? 
• What are you preliminary thoughts on “cleaning the membership rolls”?
• What is your opinion of reverse membership interviews?
• Are there other ways to cultivate trust than those mentioned?

If you are just now joining us you can catch up by reading our discussion on the foreword and the introduction.  Again I want to encourage you to comment so that we can discuss some of the very important issues raised by this book.  If you still need a copy of the book you can buy one here for only $8.99. 

Quick Summary:

Dever begins this chapter reminiscing about his call to be pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church.  When someone asked him if he had a plan for a program to implement, Dever responded with a no and an explanation of the Four P’s that govern his ministry.  Those 4 P’s frame this chapter. 

The first P is the preaching of the Word.  It is the authors conviction that this is the vital aspect to a ministry.  Dever even goes so far as to say that every other aspect of his public ministry could fail so long as he was faithful in preaching the Word.  His reason?  Dever is firmly convinced that God is always in the business of using His Word to “create, convict, convert, and conform His people”.  (34)  His reason for such a conviction is well grounded, and that truth is displayed in the fact of everything the Bible says about the Word of God.  The Word of God: sustains us, grows and fights, builds us up, preserves us, is the effective power for salvation, creates faith, performs God’s work in believers, convicts, brings about the new birth, saves us, and furthermore the Word is made flesh in Jesus incarnate.  “There is creating, conforming, life-giving power in God’s Word…that’s why we need to be teaching our congregations to value God’s Word over programs” (35). 

The second P is prayer.  Prayer is a wonderful display of our dependence upon God.  But what should we be praying?  Dever gives 5 suggestions: 1) the prayers recorded in the biblical record 2) pray for the preaching of the Gospel 3) pray for increased maturity and faithful testimony of your body of believers 4) pray for sinners to be converted 5) pray for opportunities for evangelism.  Dever also suggests one practical way of praying; assemble a church membership directory and pray for your fellow believers. 

The third P is personal discipling relationships.  This is an especially fitting “P” for pastors, but I think it can extend beyond that.  The concern here is to build intentional relationships with people in your congregation.  Discipling is simply another channel through which God’s Word can flow into another persons life.  Furthermore, as a pastor you ought to be encouraging these type of relationships with others.  Also, such relationships with people will break down some of the “defensive resistance to your pastoral leadership”.  This one is simple and needs to be heeded by pastor and congregation alike: build meaningful relationships.

The fourth P is patience.  When Dever first came to Capitol Hill he waited three months before preaching his first sermon.  He wanted to get to know the people and what they were accustomed to.  This also communicated patience.  In this section Dever reminds us that God is very patient; “[He] is working for eternity, and He has been working from eternity.  He’s not in a hurry and we shouldn’t be either.” (39)  How do you cultivate such a perspective?  We are given three areas to have a right perspective on: time, eternity, success. 

Patience in the pastoral “requires thinking in terms of twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty years of ministry”.  This is a call to commit to the church that you are called to pastor.  And I suppose this same thing should be said to non-pastors and members of any church.  Furthermore, we must have a proper view of eternity.  This is a call to “shepherd the flock in a way that you won’t be ashamed of on the Day of Accounting”.  Finally, we must define success in terms of faithfulness.  Otherwise, we will become frustrated and burn out.  This is a call to "stake your ministry on the power of the Gospel.” 

Quotables:

“Prayer shows our dependence on God.”  (35)

“Your prayers for people don’t have to be long—just biblical.”  (36)

“The best way to lose your place of influence as a pastor is to be in a hurry, forcing radical (even if biblical) change before people are ready to follow you and own it.  It would be wise for many of us to lower our expectations and extend our time horizons”.  (38-39)

“As you work for change, work also to extend genuine, Christian goodwill toward people.”  (39)

“If you define success in terms of size, your desire for numerical growth will probably outrun your patience with the congregation, and perhaps even your fidelity to biblical methods…But if you define success in terms of faithfulness, then you are in a position to persevere, because you are released from the demand of immediately observable results, freeing you for faithfulness to the Gospel’s message and methods, leaving numbers to the Lord.”  (40)

“Stake your ministry on the power of the Gospel.”  (41)

Questions:

Do you agree that “there is only one thing biblically necessary for building the church, and that’s the preached Word of God”? 

In this chapter Dever calls for patience in change.  Should we be patient with sin and with sinful structures?  If the church in unbiblical why should we go slow in change?  (I’m not saying I agree with the assertion behind my question—just wanting to think through this). 

These are Dever’s questions: 

What three Bible passages will you memorize for the purpose of praying for your church?

Could your ideas of time, eternity, and success be cultivating a spirit of impatience with the congregation you serve?  If so, how?  How might those ideas need to be re-formed? 

We are also given an assignment.  Pick one person in your church to get together with for spiritual good, and pick a book or booklet to read and discuss with him/her. 

Any questions you have?  Don’t forget to discuss.

A few days ago I was listening to a Christian radio station.  During one of the breaks between songs the DJ read something about building relationships with people.  One of the things he mentioned was that people are by nature selfish.  Therefore, if we want to build a good relationship with them then we need to appeal to their desires and interests; we must center the conversation around them.  He continued reading the list naming several good qualities as long as vices and how we must respond to them.  At the very end he said by doing these things we will have influenced them for God. 

Are we really influencing people for God if we cater to their sinfulness and “build a relationship” based upon this premise?  This question extends far beyond the assertions of this Christian DJ.  This question is crucial to our methodology of outreach.  We know that people like sex and violence…so should the church have an MMA night or send fliers heralding “Learn Great Sex”? 

Consider Jim.  Jim is ridiculously selfish (like most of us).  We send a team from our church to canvas our neighborhood.  A team stops at Jim’s house.  We ask Jim why he does not come to church and we ask what it would take to get him to church.  We find that Jim is not the only one that has these problems with the church.  His suggestions seem to resonate with many of the unbelievers in our area.  Here are his suggestions:

1. I hate long sermons; give me 20 minutes maximum.
2. I don’t like boring songs but I also don’t like repetitious cheesy love song either.
3. Never ask me for money; I can stay home and listen to TV preacher’s do that.
4. I want people to be friendly but not overly desperate and acknowledging me in front of everyone else.  Notice me but not too much.
5. If I have to walk too far or park in a cramped space just forget me coming.  I face traffic to get to work on Monday, I don’t want to do the same on Sunday.

These are his suggestions.  So, what is the church to do with them?  Do we say, “well he’s a lost guy and lost people are not to dictate what we do in the church”?  Or, do we say, “he’s a lost guy and if we want to reach him then we need to reach him where he is at”? 

What did Jesus do?  What did the New Testament church do?  If you assume this is an easy answer then you probably have not thought it out well enough.  If you are a “lost people don’t dictate the church” then try arguing from the other side.  Same thing if your not that guy.  

Thoughts?

It is worth noting that in Ephesians 4 Paul focuses on unity within the body before he focuses on our relationship with those outside the body. Ephesians 4:1 serves as the introduction to the rest of the letter. Everything Paul says after this statement flows out of “living lives worthy of the calling by which we have been called.” The call of Ephesians 4:1 is to live in such a way that you accurately represent what God has done in your life. What he has done in principle we are to live in practice. 4:2-6:20 is what that statement looks like in practice.

In 4:2-16 Paul focuses on walking in unity. In 4:17-24 he focuses on walking differently than we once walked (or even in the present to walk differently than those outside the body). I do not think it is an accident that Paul focuses on relationships within before he focuses on our relationship with the outside world.

In other words, if you look different from the world but you aren’t in unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ then you aren’t really walking in a manner worthy of the calling. Jesus died to redeem our relationship with him but also to redeem our relationship with one another. Relationships and unity within the body is not an option.

By our uncritical pursuit of relevance we have actually courted irrelevance; by our breathless chase after relevance without a matching commitment to faithfulness, we have become not only unfaithful but irrelevant; by our determined efforts to redefine ourselves in ways that are more compelling to the modern world than are faithful to Christ, we have lost not only our identity but our authority and our relevance. Our crying need is to be faithful as well as relevant.

"It may sound uncharitable, but we do not mean it to be so. But...many will say that theses shifts, and a book like this, do not matter. They are convinced if you just 'preach the gospel' and perhaps 'love people' that your church will reach people. They are wrong, and their ideas hurt the mission of the church. Communities across North America are filled with churches led by loving gospel preachers--most of whom, if statistics are true, are not reaching people."

Last night was a significant milestone in the '08 Election process. The winners of the Iowa caucuses were Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama. I could easily link to numerous articles on this. I particularly am interested in Thabiti's response (he has an interesting take on the decline of African-American Theology and the election). A wonderful statement of summation was provided by Dr. Mohler: The rhetoric of the race -- and the rhetoric of many evangelicals -- is disturbing. This race is important and necessarily so. We are talking about the next President of the United States, after all. But evangelicals have invested far too much hope in the political process. No government can make people good, transform humanity, or eliminate sin. The political sphere is important, but never ultimate. Jesus Christ is Lord -- and He will be Lord regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. If you are interested in following this story closely a great place for updates is Justin Taylor's blog.

John Piper encourages us to Pray Global Prayers. He also points us to Operation World to assist in our prayers. (It would be helpful if OW had an RSS Feed so we could add it to our Google Reader's).

When Nikki and I bought our last car (a state-of-the-art 1993 Grand Prix) I could not help but notice that the world is populated with many similar cars. Was it that people suddenly decided to buy '93 Grand Prix's en masse? I doubt it. Maybe my eyes were more aware of the red beasts. I say all of that to ask a question...is it just me or are we seeing a massive resurgence of John Newton stuff? Within the last couple days there have been new posts on Newton. Founders points us to Newton on zeal blended with humility. Of First Importance quotes Newton as saying We cannot think too highly of Christ.

Stephen Moore has a very interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal. He is concerned that because of video games his sons are turning into Teenage Zombies. It might sound a little strong but more says, "I am persuaded that video games are the new crack cocaine". While I would not go that far, I have found that many of our teenagers are so obsessed with video games that they have little time to go deep theologically. Some barely crack the cover of their Bibles "b/c they hate reading". Yet these same students read hours of e-mails, text messages and television screens. Some might say we should find a way to "get the gospel" in all these things. Maybe we should come up with some cool Christian video games. My solution--would be to man up and be parents. Unplug your television, pry the control out of the hand of your 5 year old, and go play catch. Then, of course, come back and have a riveting game of Madden together. (HT: Tim Ellsworth)

Brian Thornton has asks, what is central in looking for a church home? Is it good worship music? Fun events? A relevant youth ministry? A nursery without cockroaches and broken glass? A hip pastor? Good solid expositional preaching? Friendly people?

Said at Southern has a wonderful roundup on evangelism. I have yet to check out all of the articles but I am awaiting the time to do so.

And finally Borrowed Light is honored to be part of the SBCVoices. It is an excellent resource that puts together all of the blogs from folks that are part of the SBC.

I think my fellow bloggers have taken off early for the Christmas season. Today is another slow day.

John Piper reminds us that today is the 200th anniversary of John Newton's death. If you want to read Piper's biography on Newton you can do so here, or you can buy Josiah Bull's excellent work The Life of John Newton, or if you are feeling really saucy you can buy his Complete Works for only $127. You can read his letters for free at Grace Gems and his Olney Hymns for free at CCEL. Ever minute and every dollar you spend getting to know this man of God is well spent.

Old Truth sounds like John Piper today: Worship, Not Evangelism, The Most Important Task. Piper says that Missions exists because worship does not. This article echoes that sentiment as it points us to a quote from Robert Reymond's New Systematic Theology. His central thesis is this: For decades now evangelical churches have been conducting their services for the sake of unbelievers. Both the revivalistic service of a previous generation and the "seeker service" of today are shaped by the same concern--appeal to the unchurched. Not surprisingly, in neither case does much that might be called worship by Christians occur. As a result, many evangelicals who have been sitting for years in such worship services are finding their souls drying up, and they have begun to long for something else.

Yesterday it was announced that Alex and Bret Harris will be releasing their new book, Do Hard Things, in April. Right now it is retailing for 16.99. I am hoping it is discounted quickly, I would love to do a small group on this book in youth group! (HT: JT)

Today seems to be a little slow in blogworld.

Of all the books I have read one of the most frustrating has to be Frank Page's Trouble with the Tulip. Of all the articles I have read one of the most encouraging has been Frank's Page's recent article in the Baptist Press: Calvinism and Southern Baptists. (HT: Founders) Page will be the first to admit that he is not a Calvinist. In fact he believes it is a manmade doctrine. He is cited in his Tulip book as saying, "It is also important to remember that man-made doctrines always hurt God's work" (74). Also he believes that, "manmade doctrines always give way to God's Word" (75). Yet in all of this Page also says, "Most everyone who knows me knows that I am not a Calvinist. However, I have made it clear that I would be fair to those who are Calvinists in appointments in our convention. I have been true to my word. I believe that the issue of Calvinism is one that can be discussed within the family of Southern Baptists. I believe we need to have honest, open dialogue." Although I must question why a man, convinced that Calvinists hinder God's work and give way to God's Word, would appoint them to important posts in the Convention. I still respect his willingness to be open and to dialogue. I praise God for this and pray along with Page that we might have a Christ-like spirit and be diligent in our studies.

Do you ever wonder what the answer to church-wide immorality is? Brian Thornton offers a suggestion. His answer? Simple. Regeneration. Thornton also gives 9 suggestions for combating church-wide-immorality. Of his 9 suggestions one I especially like is #4, "Teach kids the same things as the adults". One that I might have worded differently is #7, where he suggest making the center of our worship the Word and Sacraments. I know that by making Word capital he is pointing us to Jesus, but I would have worded it a little differently. My suggestion: "make the Triune God as revealed in the Scriptures and displayed in the Sacraments the center of our worship".

Also today, Josh Harris continues his study on Affluenza, we are now on Part 4.

That's it so far today.

The Shepherd's Scrapbook has released its Top 30 books of 2007. Topping the list this year is the ESV Literary Bible and Waltke's OT Theology. As I scroll through this list I see about 5 or 6 that are on my wish list. Looks like I need to update my list.

Dan Philipps has an excellent post at Pyromaniacs; where he considers the Danger of Confessions. Philipps central contention is this: "while I find much help, encouragement, and instruction in the great confessions, I have to remember: Satan may sift the body of which I am a part. I may find myself alone. Will I be able to say "I believe, and I have come to know"? This is a great question to ask ourselves. I have great fellowship with many of my Reformed brothers, but if they go south on matters of ecclesiology am I am able to stand up for what I believe?

Why do so many men not write like this anymore: "And as often as we muse on Christ the fire burns with us also. And the longer we muse on Him, and the deeper our musing goes, the more the fire burns. And this fire never sinks low, far less ever dies out, as long as we so muse. Think enough, meditating enough, musing enough on Christ, will do it. Thinking that always ends in prayer, and in praise, and in repentance unto life, and in ever new obedience, that will do it. Think you see Christ all through the Four Gospels. Think you see Him die at the end of the Four Gospels. Think you see Him rise again. Think you see Him ascend up into heaven. Think that it is the day of judgment. And think you see the books opened, - till you cry to Him continually day and night, Rock of Ages, cleft for me!" The words are from Alexander Whyte and come to us via The Vossed World. Now it seems like many have abandoned "musing" for "doing". Could it be possible that deep musing creates deep doing? Could it be that the reason we often only see superficial change is because we spend a vast majority of our time thinking and doing that which is superficial?

Brian at Voice of the Sheep has a great article on the visible church. He wonders how often does the world see the church gathering in a public setting. Even on Wednesday's and Sunday's all the world sees are our cars. Therefore, his suggestion is this: Do more things in public with your church body so that the world will see you together with one another. (HT: Challies)

The title of this post sickens me. I love 9Marks. I love Mark Dever. I am in awe of everything the Lord is doing through 9Marks and those like it to restore the church to a more biblical position. I love their love for the Bride of Christ. I love their love for the Bridegroom. 9Marks is a GREAT gift to the church. Fads stink. Fads are counter-productive. Fads are often marked by unbiblical practice. Fads carry with them a trail of those with false hope. Fads break hearts. Fads cause the church to dwindle. Fads I despise. Therefore, to ask "Is 9Marks the next fad" is appalling to me.

Before we begin to ask this question it would be wise to summarize what I mean by 9Marks. I am not specifically talking about 9Marks Ministries. What I am talking about is the mindset that 9Marks is promoting throughout the body of Christ: the notion that we need to return to biblically based ministries and methods. It aims to restore for us expositional preaching; biblical theology; a biblical view of the gospel, conversion, and evangelism; it aims to put back into practice biblical church discipline, a concern for discipleship and growth, and biblical church leadership. The ones in particular that are being embraced (especially throughout the SBC) are expositional preaching and church discipline. Many are hoping to see all 9 Marks flourish in the SBC and all throughout Christianity; I am one of them. I whole-heartedly believe that we need to see these 9 Marks throughout our churches; simply because these 9 Marks are what the Bible calls the church to bear.

Well then, can we put the nail in the coffin and say that 9 Marks is not a fad? Unfortunately, no. My position is that 9 Marks in and of itself is not a fad. The leaders of 9 Marks are not passionate about promoting another concept, another idea for successful growth, etc. This is not a church growth strategy. It is different than all of the other church growth books. In fact on the back of the 9 Marks book it clearly states, "this is not an instruction manual for church growth". Contrast this with the Purpose Driven Church. While Rick Warren says, "The issue is church health, not church growth" only a few paragraphs down we are encouraged to "learn the secret behind the fastest-growing Baptist Church in American history." We see the "5-part strategy that will enable our church to grow." 9 Marks is not about church growth! It's about being biblical.

How then could we possibly say that 9Marks is a fad? It becomes a fad when it gets in the hands of those who come from the consumerist fad-mentality that evangelicalism of the last 100 years has fostered. When we forget that 9 Marks is NOT ABOUT CHURCH GROWTH and hope to apply the principles so as to get our churches to grow then it becomes a fad. If we think that shuffling through our rolls will bring down God's blessing, then we miss it. If we think that redefining church membership will help our churches grow, then we miss it. When we think that expositional preaching will bring about a massive revival, we miss it. Will clearing the rolls please God? Probably. Will redefining church membership bring about growth in the future? Probably. Is it possible that expositional preaching will lead to revival? Quite possibly. Are any of these the goal?

Why do we do expositional preaching? Because it is biblical. Why do we clear our church rolls? Because it is biblical. Why are we careful to preserve the unashamedly God-centeredness of the gospel? Because it is biblical. Why do we exercise church discipline? Because it is biblical. My "fear" is that we will make 9 Marks into another fad and whenever it doesn't "work" for growing massive churches and getting all kinds of people saved we will then move on to the next great thing. My "fear" is that if revival does not come through "us doing our part" we will move on to something else and forget the reason we do everything--to glorify God!

So, if you want your church to get on board with 9 Marks then I urge you do not do it for the sake of church growth. Do not do it because you think expositional preaching might bring that revival you so long for. Do not start exercising church discipline because you think God will smile on you and that because you have purged your church of sin He will bring His revival. Do not lead your church through church membership classes in the hope that it will grow your church and that they will become more faithful members. Do all of these things because it is biblical. Remember, dear friends, our goal is not revival for the sake of revival. Our goal is Jesus for the sake of Jesus!