Open Source Theology
Christmas Letter
Thursday, December 13th, 2007This is the of time giving and receiving, but looking back over the past year, this brief page cannot contain all the gifts (material and otherwise) that we’ve been given. I’m not quite sure how we ended up with all these blessings and gifts. We certainly did not earn them or deserve them.
It […]
Common Grace: Budgets, Schedules, and Weight Watchers
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007I am a terrible money manager, am even worse at time management, and have zero discipline when it comes to eating. Contrast this with the fact that I am blessed with a good income, have very flexible time commitments, and access to any and all food I could want.
Not a good combination.
The end result […]
Christianity Today Poll - Should Churches Teach Cultural Literacy
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007Christianity Today has posted an interesting poll today asking: “Should churches teach Christians ‘cultural literacy’ as well as biblical literacy?”
The choices are as follows:
Yes. No, Cultural literacy is not important to Christian life. No, Christians should learn about culture, but not necessarily from the church.
69% of people who have responded so far say “yes” 4% Say No, it’s […]
Cheap Worship
Sunday, September 30th, 2007Kathy feels we need to unplug… to turn it down. I don’t disagree. (In fact, I do agree.)
We need more quiet reflection, and deeper study of God’s word. We need shared meals, more prayer, more confession (to one another). We need more proclamation of God’s amazing grace and righteous judgment (maybe […]
God Spoke To Me Last Night
Friday, September 21st, 2007You who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting […]
The Church
Thursday, September 20th, 2007Church - Greek ekklesia (ek-klay-see’-ah) - “A gathering of people”
Is built by Jesus. The Gates Of Hell will not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18) Multiplies when it walks in fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31) Is cared for by pastors who are appointed by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28) Sometimes […]
Another Reason to Buy A Mac: iWork ‘08
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007Apple has an Office killer.
I can open your Word documents, make them prettier, and save them as Word documents, or export them to PDF…
I can open your Excel files, with all of your formulas, and save them as Excel files…
I can open your PowerPoint presentations, make them cooler, and save them as PowerPoint presentations…
I can […]
Why we target young
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007Noel Heikkinen has an excellent observation on why Riverview Church targets the young. Stonebrook doesn’t have an age range that we target, but this is where my heart is. This article sums up half the reason my heart is there as well.
I talked about the rest of the reasons here.
Catholic Town Opens in Fla.
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007This is extremely odd.
ABC News: City of God: Catholic Town Opens in Fla.
Monaghan has said his goal is to help as many people as possible get to Heaven. And he hopes these homeowners will have a head start.
How are you going to help people get to heaven if you only allow Catholics into […]
ABC News: ‘Heretic’ Minister: Nobody Goes to Hell
Sunday, July 15th, 2007ABC News recently posted an article about Carlton Pearson renouncing historical Christianity, stating that no one goes to hell.
The article seems to applaud him for sticking to his conscience, and makes believers out to be lunatics; removing him from the pulpit “he built” for this heresy. It’s a rather sad story (the part about […]
Purity of heart…
Monday, June 11th, 2007Was watching a fascinating interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates where they held a QA session. Mr. Gates made an interesting comment in while answering a question.
“I was smart enough to wait to get married because [software was my passion, my life].”
Essentially, it was his singular focus, which is a big […]
Party Theology
Monday, June 4th, 2007Read this: Party Theology
Not knowing any better, after becoming a follower of Jesus, Levi decided to throw a big party, he invited all of his friends who happened to be tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners. Upon the invitation, Jesus went. In turn, Jesus had a horrible reputation, because He went to this party; He […]
Is Our Church Already Too Youth Focused?
Sunday, June 3rd, 2007This morning after our church gathering, we held a special lunch so that the pastors could share the vision and ideas behind some major internal restructuring that is happening in our church; restructuring that will help to strengthen and multiply our efforts to reach Ames and the ISU campus.
After the vision was shared (which I […]
enCOURAGEd
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007Overused word of the day: encourage.
en·cour·age (ĕn-kûr’ĭj, -kŭr’-) tr.v., -aged, -ag·ing, -ag·es.
To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; hearten.
To give support to; foster: policies designed to encourage private investment.
To stimulate; spur: […]
Mark Driscoll, 9 minutes on church planting.
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007I have two purposes in posting this link:
It’s a great example of an excellent video. The type of thing that could be accomplished with the right people operating the equipment we are proposing for our video team at Stonebrook. It’s a great message. A three point sermon by one of the longest-winded preachers I […]
Seven Ways Christians Can Fall Victim to the Devil and Demons
Friday, April 13th, 2007In my studies for my message this week I came across seven ways the New Testament says believers can fall victim to the devil and to demons.
Remaining angry with someone. (Ephesians 4:27) Not forgiving someone. (2 Corinthians 2:10-11) Being prideful. (Thinking more highly of yourself than you should.) (1 Timothy 3:6, Being put in a public […]
To The Christians - Who Do You Hang Out With?
Saturday, March 31st, 2007“Watch out! Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Jesus of Nazareth, The Christ. (As recorded by John Mark, Peter’s companion)
Who do you spend your time with?
Why is it, when we talk about ways of “meeting ‘the lost’” do we always conceive of awkward, […]
A Parent’s Love as an Image of God’s Love
Thursday, March 29th, 2007This post is exceptionally long, and you probably won’t read it all. But it’s from my heart, and I hope you’ll take time to consider reading it.
Tonight as I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner (something I do only once in a blue moon) and keeping an eye on Elena while Nancy was […]
Joshua Blankenship on Christian Art, Parody, and Creativity
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007Preach it, brother!!!!
When a church (or Christian organization, or Christian designer) takes existing art and media, makes poor parodies of it (that they probably made in a few days because refuse to plan well), and then distributes it under the guise of creativity it completely devalues the work and skills of the artists […]
No, They Did Not Find Jesus Christ’s Bones
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007Just so you all know, this hype (nonsense) that is being paraded all over television about Jesus bones having been found is National Enquirer style tripe.
I might not have a lot of credibility when it comes to this topic, if you are a skeptic, but Michael Spencer has an excellent writeup and links to resources […]
