I finally found an Easter gift for my children. The video below is from the Jesus Storybook Bible. I ordered the Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition
I was turned on to this resource from reading the blog of an old college friend Tim Brister, you can view his blog at http://www.timmybrister.com
I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was at the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans a few years ago. A good friend of mine (who was more excited about the conservative resurgence than I was) had convinced me to tag along and soak in the atmosphere. He had a contact with Judge Pressler and several others in the movement and we were invited to sit in and hear about the lives of these men, the battles they had fought, and absorb the atmosphere.
To be honest, I went for the bookstore. The Alabama Baptist Convention used to have a fantastic bookstore at each of its meetings with great deals on books. I was hoping for some of the same kind of interaction on national level. However, I was quickly disappointed to learn it was just a Lifeway store set out on tables.
The Highlight of the trip came however when we had the opportunity to tag along on a trip with Judge Pressler to Cafe Dumonde. We sat in on the conversation, asked our best questions, bought Cafe Dumonde mugs (to remember the occasion) and consumed beignets and hot chocolate.
We were blessed to be able to interact with Judge Pressler that night and throughout the convention. I was amazed at the character and grace of a man who was both very loving and very kind to most everyone he encountered. He talked with grace about the years of the conservative resurgence and I was surprised to later hear all the things he was accused of saying or doing. Quite simply the accusations didn’t line up with the man I had met.
His book A Hill on Which to Die: One Southern Baptist’s Journey
I picked up my copy several years ago when Pressler came to speak at UM and I got a copy autographed. Recently I had the opportunity to pick it up again and actually read it. I wish I had read it much sooner.
Last month I wrote a brief book review of Dug Down Deep, a new book written by Joshua Harris. This month I have decided to give away a copy on the blog. To enter for a chance to win all you need to do to briefly (100 words or less) share your story on how you became a follower of Jesus Christ or a defining moment when you began to grow deeper in your relationship with God. You can see my examples below. Then on Monday (February 15th, 2010) I’ll draw a name by random and announce the winner in the comments section here.
My father was a pastor. When I was 14 my dad had a stroke and his church fired him. I hated God and the church and soon started action out in rebellion. My dad confronted my rebellion. I tried to be good enough to make up for the bad things I had done, but I still felt guilty. When I was 24 I finally trusted in Jesus Christ to remove my sin and my shame. Knowing Jesus has changed me and I want others to know about Him. He is indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
If you win I will also contact you via e-mail so I can make arrangements to get you the book (so make sure you fill that part out when leaving a comment).
If you are interested you can find out more about my story by clicking here which will take you to the “my story” section of this page. You can also click here to begin with the first of five posts on how I became a follower of Jesus Christ. I look forward to reading your story! It always amazes me how God works in our lives.
If you have any questions, I have answered some of those on an earlier post and you can find it here.
Smart Faith: Loving God With All Your Mind by J.P. Moreland and Mark Matlock is a great book geared towards students. I really wish the book had been around when I was a teenager. The aim of the book is to challenge young men and women to think about the Christian Faith and not just live off their parents faith or emotion. The book is full of keen insights and practical challenges to help teens grow deeper in their capacity to think about the things of God.
The book is a great blend of Philosophy, Theology, and application. The later chapters in the book are especially relevent as the authors move the reader from the realm of deliberate thought to the realm of living a fully integrated life. This book is a great read for any teenager with a desire to grow or for adults with teenagers in their life. I just wish it had been around when I was fifteen.
This is a very well written book that challenges the reader to dig deeper every step of the way. The retail price is $12.99 (Paperback). It is also available at places like Amazon.com for $10.39. I give it 5 stars.
Disclaimer: This book was provided for review by NavPress. There was no requirement to give it a positive review, just for me to call it like I see it.
Tea With Hezbollah: Sitting at The Enemies’ Table, Our Journey Through The Middle East by Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis is by far one of the best books I have ever read. The authors take the reader on a thrilling real life adventure through the Middle East to have tea and discuss what it means to love your neighbor with many of America’s greatest assumed enemies. This book is full of eye-opening encounters that show a softer side of the Middle East not often portrayed in the West.
The interviews and introspection provided in this book are key in understanding the life experiences and mindset of those who live in the Middle East. The book is faithful to seek varied perspectives along the way. The insight gained from this book is key and has helped me personally understand and gain an interest in Middle Eastern affairs. I would highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in Middle Eastern issues.
This is a very timely and well written book that engages the reader every step of the way. Tea With Hezbollah is a must read for 2010. The retail price is $22.99 (Hardcover) and is worth twice that. It is also available at places like Amazon.com for $15.51. I give it 5 Stars and would give it more. It truly is a great book.
Disclaimer: This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. There was no requirement to give it a positive review, just for me to call it like I see it.
Early on in my ministry I had the privilege of being mentored. It all started when I told my old youth pastor that I was going to college to become a student pastor. He told me to find someone doing student ministry that I could sit in with and learn the ropes. I quickly found an old friend who had been a counselor at camp and started helping him do student ministry. At the time I didn’t realize that I was being mentored. I would stop in his office for about 4 hours each Monday afternoon and talk to him (like he didn’t have anything better to do). He graciously poured into me and helped me grow in my walk with God and as a pastor. Here are 3 things I learned from having a mentor and I hope to pass on to those I mentor…
1. The Importance of Shepherding and Not Just Planning Events.
Lots of times young student pastors will fall in the rut of planning events with no real end game in sight. It’s easy to plan what is cool or what will get kids motivated, but difficult to sit through strategy and scrap cool ideas for ones that will help you bring kids closer to God. I was given pretty free rein, but the questions that came out of those mentoring sessions really helped me gain a shepherding perspective early.
2. To Remember that Parents are Still the Number One Influence in a Students Life
I had several great ideas that would have made most parents sweat. Lots of young student pastors make mistakes with parents early on. They either take the kids off and forget to tell parents, talk bad about parents, or simply forget to include parents in the information process. Parents are a vital part of genuine students ministry. At the end of the day the students in my ministry aren’t coming home to my house for a Thanksgiving feast, they are coming their home. Parents for good or for bad are primary disciplers in a students life.
3. Doctrine is Important
I was 18 when I started as a student pastor and while my doctrine was sounder than most 18 year-olds I knew, it wasn’t always completely sound. It was important to have a mentor who could easily spot holes in my teaching method or in my thoughts about God. I was often confronted gently with scripture and reminded that true thoughts about God have their origin in the Scriptures.
The video above is from a friend of mine. He has a different version out now. Its a great call for followers of Jesus to wake up and realize some of the contradictions in their lives. We claim to know Jesus and want to demonstrate love toward others, but how often does that stop at the window of Social Media (Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)?
I am constantly disappointed by people who claim to follow Jesus but consistently live like they do not know him in how they interact on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. For example… I consistently see a “Christian” teenager type up a rant about someone else or even a “Christian” adult make an ambiguous jab at someone in their status update only to have a nosy friend ask, “what happened?” and they spill the beans about how selfish they really are and how wronged they feel about something or someone. This is the kind of thing that should be done in private (Matthew 18) between the offended and the offender… not all over Facebook.
What are some ways that you have seen Social Media (facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.) be used to proclaim the message of Jesus?
What are some ways that you have seen “Christians” act in unappealing ways on Social Media?
What are some basic guidelines you would recommend for living your faith out on the internet as well as in person?
Don’t forget to view the video above and listen to the song.
Theology. A brief defanition is, “The Study of God.” A simple explanation is that theology answers the question, “What is God like?”
The key to any relationship is knowing something about the other person. Fathers try to spend time with their children. Spouses try to find time away from the children. Young couples go on a series of dates before they settle into a marriage.
Usually at the beginning of a relationship we tell ourselves all kind of lies about what the other one is like. To put it milder, you may say we have differing expectations. We paint a picture of what the other one is like, but we don’t really know what they are like until we get to know them. Sometimes our expectations are exceeded by the character of another, sometimes we are let down. That is why we need to spend time getting to know people.
New dad’s dream about what their kids will be. However, they soon realize that children have a will of their own. It is the same way with the young couple that have fallen deeply in love. They don’t really know anything about each other, but they “love” each other. Then months or years down the road they realize the real nature of the other person (for good or for bad) and accept that for months they were in “love” with their version of this person and now they must decide if they truly do “love” this other person. That’s why it is a good idea to take the whole courting thing a little slow and know what you are getting into. (You can check out how I dated my wife and married the most wonderful woman in the world… here).
The point is that at the beginning of relationships we fill in missing information about the other person with what we want to put there. I think many people have false ideas about God simply because they don’t know Him and have filled in false information about Him. Many of us have created a picture of God based upon what we want Him to be rather than what He is really like.
Some of us picture God like a Santa Claus type figure. Others have pictured him as an angry judge. To be honest, some people don’t think He exists at all. Still others think of him as a passive grandfather who lets everything go.
The challenge is to really know God. To put all of our preconceived notions on the table and read what God has revealed about Himself in the Bible. Feeling are a good thing, but I’ve been mislead by feelings. Isn’t it better to know God? That happens by learning about Him. The way you learn about God is by spending time reading the Bible and talking to him.
Theology is answering the question, “What is God like?” Do your answers come from the Bible, where God had revealed things about Himself or do they come from how you picture Him in your mind based mostly off your feelings?
What tools have helped you dig into the Bible and learn more about who God really is? Here are a few that have helped me along the way.
The author’s have taken careful pains to maintain a rigorous order of steps for each day’s reading. Making each devotional similar in style, but unique in substance. Overall the book is very readable, very organized, and authentically sports oriented.
I especially enjoyed reading this book as a devotional in the morning. It took only a few minutes to read and provided real insights with great questions. I can see it being used as a stand-alone devotional or used by a group of men for accountability purposes. My over all impression was that it was a great book. The only reservation that I have is that the scripture section at times can seem a bit light due to the topical nature of the book.
This is a very practical and readable devotional book for men. Living Life in the Zone is an excellent resource. The retail price is $14.99 (Paperback), and is available at places like Amazon.com for $10.19. I gave it four stars.
Disclaimer: As a blogger I received a free review copy from the Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program (http://brb.thomasnelson.com/ ). There was no requirement to give it a positive review, just for the reviewer to call it like they see it.
3. Mary and Joseph knew that their son would be hated and rejected (Matthew 2:1-18).
Among other things the passage referenced above mentions the wholesale slaughter of all the children born in Bethlehem under the age of 2. In the wake of this magnificent birth, angels singing on a hillside, and a visit from the magi comes a horrific massacre. It is only through a dream that Joseph knows to flee with his family and misses the impending destruction.
I am sure that the reality of caring for a wanted child set in as they traveled to Egypt. Everyday they awaited the news that Herod had died and it would be safe to return to their beloved homeland. Even when that news came, they made their way to Galilee to avoid Herod’s vicious son.
Now there may not be a king or president intent on killing my children, but I have no doubt that there are sinister forces in this world that would seek to destroy the lives of my children. The forces of darkness were not silent at the birth of Christ and they are not silent today. There are too many who die needlessly. There are too many who are abused or injured. In my line of work we used to see and counsel the statistic that one out of four girls are raped or molested by the time they are the age 18. Sadly that number has increased to one out of three.
All around the world children are starving while we gorge ourselves on Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts. Darkness covers our globe and we pretend in merriment that our houses provide protection. We pretend that we even have the power to protect our kids.
What if we saw the darkness and instead of running from it, we asked God to send us into the midst of it? What if we were willing to get our hands dirty and aim our children strategically into the darkness so that by the time our grandchildren arrive, the world is a little less dark and the brilliant light of Christ can be seen more clearly.
The truth is that Jesus came into the world to destroy the darkness. That same darkness destroyed the lives of many children in the town of Bethlehem. But it could not keep them. He would one day go to the cross and bear our sins, die a horrible death, and be resurrected 3 days later. He promised to return. His resurrection gives us hope that we will one day be raised too. The darkness can not win.
The Hill House 