Read this bracing, honest interview about his life with back pain, now cancer, hurtful things that Christians say, and walking with Christ.

You Will Call, I Will Answer.

Interesting piece by Prince Raney Rivers. Read the article here.

Excerpt:

Several years ago I visited the Rev. Jason Barr, senior pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I saw firsthand what transition looks like after change has run its course.

When Barr arrived at Macedonia 15 years ago, the church used a pipe organ and primarily sang anthems. When he introduced drums to worship, a church officer removed them from the sanctuary. Barr brought the drums back in and chained them to the floor.

Under his leadership one traditional service at Macedonia became three contemporary services. A few hundred members mushroomed into 2,500. I always assumed the contemporary worship at Macedonia was simply an expression of Barr’s theology or perhaps a sign of pragmatic pastoral savvy. But recently, I heard Macedonia was planning to reintroduce traditional worship to the congregation.

I had to find out why. Read more

Excellent piece by Tim Keller via Redeemer's new City to City division. City to City is led, in part, by Scott Kauffmann, who is an uncommon blend of talent and humility.
 
Check out Keller's blog post about how and why Redeemer does multi-site, and how they are different from many other churches that do multi-site. Read more

Matt Chandler, Pastor of the Village Church

http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/

Prayer requests:

1. Healing

2. Side effects of chemo and radiation

3. Protection from viruses from his children as his immune system is down

4. Village Church, that the Spirit will work powerfully through the preaching of ColossiansRead more

I read an intriguing article in First Things entitled "Secularization or Exodus" by Peter Leithart, and I wanted to see if CGO readers have any thoughts on the article. I think this is the money quote: Read more

I've written a few times on this blog about how Christians deal with sports in our cRead more

At Glenn’s recommendation, I recently read a helpful book entitled Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different by Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin). It’s a good book, and I’m glad I read it.  Tchividjian describes the Church’s mission as extending Christ’s Kingdom in our culture by living as an unfashionable community. To be clear, the author doesn’t use the word “unfashionable” in the sense of dressing funny. Rather, as I understand it, the term “unfashionable” refers to our standards and priorities. For instance, Christians should prioritize service over selfish ambition. I won’t belabor the details of the book because Glenn’s already reviewed it on this website. I just wanted to set the context for a question that this book prompted me to ask.

I've often heard (and repeated) that we shouldn't speculate on the Bible beyond what it says. Lately, I'm questioning that statement. I wonder if speculation is an inescapable and even beneficial aspect of biblical interpretation, provided that it's done with humility.

I'm intrigued by the number of references Paul makes to the Old Testament that would strike me as speculation if I didn't already know that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul's every word. For instance, when discussing Abraham's two sons, Paul says in Galatians 4:24-26:

But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Read more

Almost thirteen years ago, two Alaska joggers were mauled to death by a huge bear.  There are a number of stories similar to theirs:  a jogger is making her daily rounds, earphones in place, when out of the brush comes an angry ursine.  The humans are moving quickly, so a bear thinks they are either challenging them for a fresh moose kill, or trying to separate a sow from her cubs.Read more

 A Preacher and an IRS Agent both had a flight from Denver to DC.Read more