Featured Posts
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What Is Biblical Literacy?
We complain about it, write about it, claim it’s important or even critical, design programs to create it, but what is it? I don’t mean that none of us know what we mean when we say “biblically literate” or “biblically illiterate,” but do we all mean the same thing? I don’t think we do, and…
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Fences: Mending or Rending
The following is a sermon I presented at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Pensacola on September 11,2005 and originally posted here on September 13, 2005. I’m reposting it because when I went to look for it, I found that the original post had somehow been truncated, and also because there is a one word at a…
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Experiencing the (Baptism of the) Holy Spirit
This is a topic where I tend to make just about everyone uncomfortable. Long time readers may recall a previous discussion of speaking in tongues, and my own experience of it. Those who expect me to be intellectually oriented and rational are uncomfortable with mystical experiences, and many who are comfortable with the mystical experiences…
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Christian Carnival CCLXXXIII Posted
… at The Limitless. Check it out!
Abundance of English Translations but …
… others not so much. On his blog today, Eddie Arthur laments the lack of comment in the blogosphere about the need for Bible translation for language groups that do not have any portion of scripture translated. While many of us discuss with some vigor the merits of various approaches to translation and of renderings…
Who Does the Calling (9B, 2 Sam. 5:1-5
This is a seemingly simple story. The elders of Israel finally recognize David as king after a long time of rebellion and civil war. All come together and make a covenant with David and he becomes their king. But if you think back in the story, you may recall that in 1 Samuel 16, the…
Grace Through the Desert
I contributed a post taken from 2 Corinthians today, but you really ought to subscribe to Grace Through the Desert–inspirational.
Is this YOUR Worship CD?
I was tempted to title this “What we REALLY mean when we sing those praise songs.” HT: Peter Kirk.
Best Movie Review Ever
… though not of the best movie–by far. (HT: The Agitator)
All Tangled Up in Solutions
Imagine being on a ministry committee with the responsibility for examining the plan for Jesus and his congregation (the disciples) going to Jerusalem that final week. What would you consider? What would you recommend? From my observations of the various decision making bodies in churches, I suspect there would have been a few people who…
Exegesis of Stop Signs
I’d seen this some time ago, and it’s really good. Hermeneutics in Everyday Life.
Bible Arcing
Via Pursuing Holiness.
The Privilege of Being a Father
On previous Father’s Days I have blogged about my own father or about the experience of becoming a stepfather after 40. But yesterday and today as I received cards, phone calls, e-mails, and text messages I was thinking about what a privilege it is to be a father and to have some part of guiding…
Christian Carnival CCLXXXI Posted
… at Evangelical Ecologist. Looks like a good collection!
Choosing Bible Reading
I was reading an excellent post by Martin LaBar (Sun and Shield) today about our reading choices. He’s commenting on a study that shows that we tend to select reading that confirms our already existing views. Now I suspect there’s nothing terribly surprising about that. At least most of us assume that other people only…
Dave Black on Christians and Nationalism
He posted an excellent article on his web site titled A Lesson from Ethiopia. Further comment at Mt. Tirzah Baptist Church.
Ministry Mistakes (or not)
The Internet Monk has a list of his most bone-headed ministry mistakes. It’s worth a read. Some of them aren’t really mistakes, in my view. For example, #4: 4. Two of my deacons made a big deal about me taking the a.m. service ten minutes too long two weeks in a row, and they humiliated…
Mistakes, Love, and Parenting
… or any other human relationship, for that matter. I got back yesterday from displaying books at Methodist annual conference for Alabama/Northwest Florida. We had the joy of having our daughter Janet join us there to help out, and we got to chat a bit. We were talking about raising children–she has two–and I mentioned…
A Thought on Leviticus 16:13
I was struck by the wording of Leviticus 16:13 tody. There is a long list of instructions, followed by the clause “that he may not die.” It’s just 2 words in Hebrew. It seems to me that the Israelites approached the issue of God’s judgment against them very differently than we do. Rather than seeing…
New Methodist Blogger – Rev. Geoffrey Lentz
I’ve been meaning to post this for a few days, but it’s been busy, as you can tell from my low level of blogging. Geoffrey Lentz is the associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Pensacola, and a former student of mine. In fact, I met Geoffrey in the first class I taught for…
Christian Carnival CCLXIX – Summer Vacation Edition
I planned to get this posted early this morning, but my job–you know, my paying work–intervened. Advance copies of one book arrived from the printer yesterday, and then the first release copies of two more showed up today. For a small publisher, that’s a heavy couple of days! In any case, even though it’s not…
Way to Go Omaha 1st UMC
I really like this: Why do I like it? Because besides collecting some help for folks in need, this gives kids a taste of the experience of others. Hopefully it will stimulate their thinking and result in many new ideas as the years go by. We need to harness the imagination and energy of the…
Christian Carnival #CCLXXIX Coming Here
I will be posting Christian Carnival #CCLXXIX some time tomorrow. In the meantime you have some time yet to submit your best work from the past week. If you are new to the carnival, Jeremy Pierce has an excellent plug for it here.
Advance/Review Copies of The Jesus Paradigm
My company, Energion Publications, is about to send out free advance copies of The Jesus Paradigm, a new book from Dr. David Alan Black. If you’re interested in reviewing an advance copy and are a blogger or write for a print publication, please see this post and let me know.
Chris Smith has a Suggestion for California
… the legislators, that is. He makes it here. I’m also wondering how many voters who won’t finance education feel they have a right to it anyhow. There’s probably a subset of the voters who voted “no” on funding, would be horrified at Chris’s suggestion, and think education will happen magically anyhow.
Christian Carnival #CCLXXVII Posted
… at Boston Bible Geeks. No how cool is that as a blog name? Go check it out!
There ought to be a law …
A few days ago I wrote on my business blog about embracing Web 2.0 as a publisher. Today I read this op-ed from the Washington Post, in which Bruce Sanford and Bruce Brown think there ought to be a law–or bunches of them, to protect print journalists from the pernicious arrival of the future. His…