Saturday Six-Pack (14)

Welcome to the weekend, and thanks for spending some time “Wandering & Wondering”.

This weekend’s Six-Pack features a half-dozen online offerings from the past week.  As usual, these articles are mostly faith-focused or ministry-geared, with a bit of disorderly-pile-of-who-knows-what tossed in!

Today’s edition:

1) Cheap Law
In his latest post for Gospel Coalition, Tullian Tchividjian shares this word: “Jesus shows that because God’s demands are unqualified and undiluted, the grace we desperately need must be unqualified and undiluted.”  He warns that the great problem in the church today is the same problem Jesus addressed in Matthew 5–cheap law, not cheap grace.  He then directs us to a very sharp piece by John Dink.

2) When the Church Lost Its Voice
Scot McKnight summarizes a chapter from Ross Douthat’s recent book, “Bad Religion” that sketches five major shifts that have undermined the faithful witness of the church over the past six decades.

3) The Enemy of Innovation and Creativity
That quest that many of us have toward ever higher levels of efficiency?  Patrick Lencioni has a warning about that.

4) Sectarianism Sucks
Frank Viola’s more proper title opens this piece that includes some powerful text from Watchman Nee on this divisive disease that still damagingly infects Christ’s Body.

5) Five Warning Signs of Declining Church Health
From his archives, Thom Rainer shares these five tip-offs for diagnosing un-health within one’s church before it hits dangerous extents.

6) The Moral Importance of the iPhone
This very brief piece from John Pattison provides a few provocative questions for any of us who depends regularly on technology.

Enjoy your weekend, friends, through renewing yourself and reverencing God.

Saturday Six-Pack (11)

It feels like Saturdays roll around every seven days or so!  And with THIS particular one, I extend a warm welcome to you this realm of “Wandering & Wondering”.

Each weekend, the Six-Pack gathers a half-dozen articles that have informed or inspired over the past week.  Most are faith-focused or ministry-geared; others fall under my “disorderly pile of who-knows-what” catch-all qualifier!

Today’s collection:

1) The Historical Reliability of the New Testament
Craig Blomberg is a world-renowned biblical scholar, and he’s got a dozen reasons why he is confident of the New Testament’s historical reliability.

2) The Art of Being a Jerk Online
If you’ve ever felt that cyber-etiquette had become too refined or you felt a need to make a negative impression, Frank Viola has ten fool-proven methods on how to lose friends and irritate people online.

3) Nine Ways to Fight the Temptation of Pornography
To anyone who’s ever felt the allure of this destructive bait, B.J. Stockman offers nine tips that may help.

4) Why Personal Development is So Hard
Ever wanted to change for the better, then realized how uphill the climb was?  John Richardson sets up for some significant revelation on this front.  (Translation: Reading THIS article will queue you up for reading a few more posts on this blog.)

5) Where People Get Scripture Wrong
Taken as a whole, the Church clearly can’t live without the Bible—but it doesn’t seem to have much idea how to live with it, either.  N.T. Wright points out common “right” and “left” misreadings of the Bible.

6) A Super Efficient Email Process
How much of your time gets swallowed up by cyber-communication?  If you said, “More than I’d like” in any form or phrasing, then Peter Bregman’s piece from the Harvard Business Review might be your prescription for taking back control of your inbox.

Have a great weekend, friends–renew yourself and reverence God.

Saturday Six-Pack (4)

Another week down, another weekend up!  Thanks for returning for some “Wandering & Wondering”.

Having just concluded a fantastic week with Arrow Leadership, my past days have been spent on an island off the West Canadian coast, where internet was spotty at best.  Here are six articles that I’ve enjoyed since my return to the mainland yesterday.

As always, these articles generally are faith-focused or ministry-geared, but I reserve the right to live up to the “disorderly pile of who-knows-what” tagline at the top of this page!

In this edition:

1) Why Facebook is Killing God
This Psychology Today offering by Nigel Barber is an intriguing read, though I confess that it comes across as a fairly weak assessment of “religion”.  Tweaking that comment, perhaps it IS accurate of RELIGION.  But it certainly displays a gaze far too small to grasp even a sliver of who Jesus Christ is.

2) Early Christians Speak of the Spirit
My friend Kirk Ruch has a great blog, where he frequently explores the place of the Holy Spirit within the Christian life and community.  His latest post scans a few sources that reveal some telling views that the early church held, in regard to “gifts of the Spirit”.

3) Christian Kindness Flabbergasts Critic
The Athens Review reported this story from San Antonio.  I cannot be the only reader that thinks, “We could use more of these stories unfolding in our world.”

4) The Homeless God
Blogger Frank Viola tweeted a link to this over-a-year-old this week.  Its point?  God is looking for a place to dwell.  Is He welcome in your church?  Your life?

5) The Irony of Atheism
If you’re reading this in Washington, DC, you have the unique opportunity to attend a local “Atheism Rally” today if you’d like.  Along those lines, Carson Weitnauer contributes this offering from the book “True Reason”, a compilations of some Christian thinkers’ responses to the latest and popular reincarnation of the no-God movement.

6) For Anyone Not Living a Cushy Life
To any who are suffering, Ray Ortlund offers this brief piece toward re-framing the hurt.

Have a great weekend, friends–renew yourself and reverence God.