Like you, I was horrified to hear of yesterday’s violence at Virginia Tech. And like you, I had immediate flashbacks to the Columbine shootings which, though they happened eight years ago, seem fresh in my mind. It was awful to see the pictures of bleeding students being carried from the campus and to see the…
Tuesday April 17, 2007 Books: Al Mohler recommends ten great biographies. I have read (or am reading) many of them and agree with his recommendations. Conference: Reformed Virginian reflects on the recent Twin Lakes Fellowship. Books: All of this year’s Pulitzer Prize winners have been announced. Looks like I’ve got some more reading to do!…
One of the most destructive forces that has faced the church in recent years is the teaching that God gives Christians faith so they can exercise it to their own benefit. This gospel of health and wealth teaches that our faith allows us to demand from God whatever we desire and that He is beholden…
King for a Week is an honor I bestow on blogs that I feel are making a valuable contribution to my faith and the faith of other believers. It is a way of introducing my readers to blogs that they may also find interesting and edifying. Every two weeks (or so) I select a blog,…
I recently began reading Laura Sessions Stepp’s Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both, a book I am really only reading because of the final three words of the title. That young women are pursuing sex and delaying love is common knowledge, but it’s rare to find someone who is…
This quote comes from R.L. Dabney and is drawn from his Discussions. It deals with the always-difficult subject of unity among Christians. Dabney writes realistically about the implausibility of Christians, mere men, agreeing on disputable issues such as church government. I find this quote timely as I think about associations like Together for the Gospel…
You may experience a sense of deja vu when reading Preaching the Cross since this book is the product of last year’s Together for the Gospel conference. Several thousand men were in attendance and many have since read summaries of the sessions or have listened to the audio recordings. While the chapters are not mere…
I had a long and deep sleep last night and then headed to the dining hall for breakfast with a Reformed Virginian and an American Swede. After munching down some crispy bacon (seems to be how they eat it in Mississippi) and french toast, we gathered again for the conference’s final worship service, this one…
This afternoon we enjoyed a panel discussion in which Ligon Duncan spoke with several African American pastors. He asked about how they were saved, how they came to embrace the doctrines of grace, and how they feel the church can best address issues of race. He also spoke briefly on the phone with Mark Dever…
The day began with David Robertson speaking to us about Robert Murray McCheyne. Robertson, who currently pastors St. Peter’s Free Church, the very church of McCheyne, wrote a biography (Awakening: The Life & Ministry of Robert Murray McCheyne) of McCheyne in 1994 and shared with us some of the lessons we can learn from the…
This afternoon Carl Robbins invited different pastors, church planters and heads of ministries to provide brief updates on what has happened in their ministries over the past year. This was really an amazing time as we were able to see the diversity of Reformed ministries. We heard from missionaries raising support to head to other…
Ligon Duncan kicked things off with an explanation of this fellowship (they do not refer to it as a conference), the reason it exists and what they mean by continually referring to “the ordinary means of grace.” The Twin Lakes Fellowship is a ministerial fraternal committed to connecting gospel ministers and elders with one another.…
I’m sitting in a lodge of sorts, way down south in Mississippi. Jackson, Mississippi, to be exact. I shamefully admit that I had to look up both Jackson and Mississippi on a map yesterday before I set out just to figure out where I was going to be spending my week. I am here for…
The country of Rwanda has seen some of the worst violence and bloodshed the world has witnessed this side of the Holocaust. If ever a nation has been in need of God’s grace and favor, this is it. In 1994 the nation was devastated by a genocidal civil war that pitted the Hutus against the…
Monday April 9, 2007 Church: Here is a church for men only. I guess the seeker friendly low effort church as you want it trend isn’t dead yet. Audio: This site has audio recordings corresponding to some of the chapters in Iain Murray’s “A Scottish Christian Heritage.” Sports: This commercial for the Blue Jays has…
“Mary.” Of all the sentences in the Bible, this is one of my favorites. Mary Magdalene has come to Jesus’ tomb and is distressed to see that his body is gone. Convinced that someone has taken away His body, she stands outside the tomb weeping. Two angels appear and ask simply “Woman, why are you…
At a recent conference I met a gentleman who happens to edit one of those airline magazines that always competes with your legroom in an airplane. A short time ago he sent me an email and asked if I had heard of a book called Same Kind of Different as Me and recommended that I…
Suppose you were facing the darkest hour of your life. You had been accused of false charges but there was no doubt that you would be found guilty. The punishment for your crime would be a long, brutal, torturous death. But suppose that for just a few moments you were allowed a visit from another…
Friday April 6, 2006 Technology: Google Maps allows interesting new personalization capabilities with their maps. The applications for this must be endless. Emergent: Phil Johnson has even more to say about the emerging church. Conference: This looks like a worthwhile conference for those in the vicinity of Coventry, Connecticut. Sports: Here are some photos of…
Robert Moffat was a Scottish missionary to South Africa and this quote is drawn from a letter he wrote to his wife Mary. In the mid 1850’s he completed the great work of translating the entire Bible into Sechuana and subsequently revised the translation several times. Despite this work he provides an assessment of the…