This from Zack Eswine's excellent book: Preaching to a Post-Everything World.

"When preachers encounter challenges and feel they face what no other preacher has faced, we sometimes think of God as if he is an old man out of touch with "these young people today." This feeling is understandable. Preachers encounter cultural realities previously unknown to them. Bioethics, postmodernism, AIDS, child prostitution, or digital technology seem beyond God's experience...

[Yet], it was God who taught Daniel the literature and language of Babylon (Dan. 1:4). Likewise, it was God who taught Jonah about Nineveh and not the other way around. God is omnilingual and omnipresent. God is an expert in the writings of Plato and Confucius. He is thoroughly acquainted with postmodern thought and Eastern mysticism. He understands the political theory and economic indicators of each nation. God has seen The Matrix; he knows how to use an iPod. God can discuss pluralism and lecture on agriculture. God kows the names of every national leader and the ways and locations of every rebel force." (Eswine, 102-103)

I needed to hear this today.

First of all don't forget to vote for Borrowed Light at the SBC Blog Madness.

Haven't listened to these yet but Tony tells us about a free album of hymns put to indie rock.

C.J. Mahaney introduces us to David Powlison. (As a side note I have only recently stumbled across Powlison's material--and have been tremendously blessed. Expect a review of Seeing with New Eyes in the near future). Also in regards to Powlison check out this discussion with Justin Taylor about homosexuality.

It is unbelievable that Time has listed The New Calvinism as #3 on it's 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now. I like Driscoll's take on it here and here. JT also points us to an article from 1947.

Jared lists 10 people in church that you should not trust.

I wonder if this one will get as many comments: Part 3 of Stetzer's inteview with Andy Stanley.

Everyone, even if they had to create a blog just to link to it, has linked to this article by Michael Spencer (iMonk): The Coming Evangelical Collapse.

Phil Johnson on Preachin' Dirty. If my students read that title they would be cracking up since a few months ago (actually while shooting our fan movie) I got my pants very dirty. They enjoyed my rap song--"gonna catch me preachin' dirty". It's funny because I am very white and had actually never heard the song. Read the article it has nothing to do with preaching with dirty pants on.

Last week I linked to Piper's discussion about wrasslin' girls. Dan Phillips has some interesting points here; he's for it, well sort of.

Can an elder be divorced? Mounce weighs in.

I know that you have already heard about the murder of Pastor Fred Winters. As a follow up I really like these suggestions by Mark Driscoll concerning church safety.

Alex and Brett Harris are writing another book and they need our help.

This is convicting: Prayerlessness is a sign of self-sufficiency.

I really like Ray LaMontagne's music. I thought he did a great job on SNL:

#16 seeds never win in the NCAA tournament. It's always cute to watch them try against the powerhouse schools. There are two major things that separate the big schools from the little schools that get a #16 seed: Recruitment and Talent.

I am a #16 seed in the SBC Blog Madness. (Be sure to vote) I have little chance to get past the first round. I am just being honest. I am in the same division as Ed Stetzer and Tom Ascol. They will easily make it to the next round. And in order to get one of the two remaining spots I would have to beat out Peter Lumpkins, Joe Thorn/Steve McCoy's subtext blog, Alan Cross, B21, amongst a host of others. No chance.

You know what separates me from the "big blogs"? Yep, you guessed it-- Recruitment and Talent. I have never been good at recruitment. It feels contrary to the gospel. It seems self-indulgent and prideful. Or does it? From the time I began blogging I have struggled with whether or not I should engage in a blog-promotion. Of course my intent would not be to promote myself (or secretly is it?). I have kind of had the Field of Dreams approach to blogging. If you blog it they will come. I have had about 15,000 hits in the last couple of years. I only have 8 google reader subscribers. And I think a few from other feed readers. Some people do read this blog. But I have yet to see Shoeless Joe Jackson as a visitor or in the comments.

Here is my question for all 8 of you: Is blog promotion wrong?

• More readers means better discussion. But better discussion means more time spent sifting through comments.
• In order to promote the blog it means being more involved in online discussions. This can be helpful but it can also be distracting from hands on ministry. But, is blogging a "ministry"?
• In promoting the blog am I promoting Jesus or trying to make a name for myself? (I realize you cannot answer this one).
• Am I even decent enough at blogging? I know that the more the blog is known the more my faults will be known--like when to use a comma, semi-colon, etc. I've seen these online discussions--they get ugly. People are nasty. People take your ideas and make them something they are not. Do I really want that to be a part of my life? Is it realistic to not expect that to be? Am I wasting my talents out of fear?

I think as I have been thinking through this it comes down to one key question--am I blogging for Jesus or am I blogging for myself? If I am blogging for myself then blog-promotion is stupid and prideful. If I am blogging for Jesus then blog-promotion is merely proclaiming the gospel. Paul did come in fear and trembling and he did preach Christ and Him crucified. But in order to do that he had to stand up in busy synagogues and start preaching. He had to believe that he had something to say.

I am interested to hear your comments.

Yesterday morning at the beginning of our worship service I was struck with an emptiness in my soul. Maybe "emptiness" is not the right word. Perhaps a deep unrest would be a better way to describe it. The center of my conviction is my lack of being gripped by the glorious things of God. How can I hear, read, and share such glorious truths as if they are commonplace. The cross of Christ should never be commonplace. Under conviction I wrote this desperate prayer:

"Purge from my heart passionless truth and truthless passion."

My prayer is simple. I pray that if it is true that God might grip my heart with the truth of it. I want to believe with every fiber of my being the reality of hell. And more than that I want to believe with every fiber of my being the reality of eternity with God Himself. I want to as Piper often says, "see and savor" Jesus Christ. I want to feel the truths of Scripture deeply. Rather than reciting John 3:16 from rote I want to be burdened by it--and burdened deeply. I am tired of passionless Christianity and I am tired of knowing facts but not being gripped by them.

On the other hand I also do not want passion for the sake of passion. That is why I pray that God might purge from my heart truthless passion. There are many lies that run through my heart. I do not want to be passionate about those. I only want to be passionate about Truth.

What does this have to do with ministry? Everything. I do not want to preach a text that does not grip me. Because if I am just "preaching a text' then I am probably not preaching (at least in the correct way) anyways. I want the Christ that the text reveals to grip me and I want to preach Him with the passion which He deserves.

Hunter Beaumont (on the Resurgence blog) thinks that "AND" might be the most important theological word. Read why he thanks that, here.

Ed Stetzer posts a discussion with Andy Stanley on communication. Be sure to read part one and part two. Jared Wilson interacts. Be sure to read what Jared has to say I think it is important.

John Piper confronts pansy dads that let their sons wrestle girls. Great interaction with a hot topic--this is about much more than wrestling.

CJ Mahaney interviews Jerry Bridges. Good stuff here.

Jay Adams discusses the emotions of God...or well, lack theirof. I have a question about this. If what Adams is saying is true--then can we really talk about God being happy and joyous?

Wow, you have to read this. It is the Eulogy that Erik Raymond's 13 year old, Bryce, wrote for him. (Note it was a school project the Irish Calvinist is still alive and well). All I can say is this 13 year old gets the gospel. Wow!

James MacDonald preaches a very needed message. I think some of those "discernment" blogs need to forward this around. I'm sure that he'll get "flamed" for this one...but great stuff: The Gift of Discernment Used in the Flesh

Hopefully I did not miss Part 2, but Alvin Reid and Nathan Finn have written a piece together about Calvinism and the SBC.

Even though this is a tad embarassing here is a video that I worked on with a few of our students last Fall. And it really is true--until I was married I really thought Bing Crosby was a black guy:

In the February ‘09 edition of “The Briefing” (Matthias Media), Andrew Barry examines Job from the perspective of theology, our relationship with God and prayer.

Job treats God as someone with whom he has a relationship....his
friends treat God as a theological debate. They may score good
theological points, but it’s Job who trusts God. Rather than being
just a book about the problem of evil, the book of Job contains a sharp
and scary message for would-be theologians. These people actually
infuriate God with their endless discussions if they are not men and
women of prayer (Job 42:7).

Far too often I find myself so enraptured with the study of God’s Word that I neglect to apply it to my life. I wonder if, at times, I am more concerned about my relationship with the Bible than I am my relationship with God. As I seek to dive deeper into God’s Word may I not become so enmeshed in the pursuit of spiritual knowledge that I fail to give equal importance to spiritual wisdom and spiritual practice.