Blog (Page 75)
Shallow Small Groups!!
I love this and I want one in Niddrie (I may even have one!) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMyTMTmJU6E&feature=player_embedded#at=58]
Thirsting for God!
I am reading a new book – Thirsting for God – by Gary L Thomas. The subtext is ‘Spiritual refreshment for the sacred journey’. It sounds painfully emergent and uber cool and comes with a big fat recommendation from one Mark Driscoll. The problem is that it seems to have elicited a very caustic response from within the ‘conservative…
10 Marks of Effective Church Plants (1)
BEING UNASHAMEDLY SPIRITUAL According to Ed Stetzer in ‘Planting Missional Churches‘, people in our postmodern culture are open to all sorts of ‘spirituality’. We certainly see this in Niddrie, particularly in our community cafe. People talk about all sorts of things: horoscopes, Ouija boards, tarot cards, spiritists, mediums (still trying to work…
Rob Bell in hell!
I saw this and it made me chuckle…
Dawkins v Lennox
Worth a look if you have a few hours spare. http://www.fixed-point.org/index.php/video/35-full-length/164-the-dawkins-lennox-debate
Watch with Joy!
I came across this via a missionary friend and I found it extremely moving. The part where the tribal pastor receives the Bible for the first time and the power of his prayer to God is very emotional. The simplicity of their faith and the gratitude for the word made me feel a little ashamed of how I take my library of Christian books for granted. [vimeo…
Respectable Sins!
I have been reading this book as a devotional aid for some time now. It is written by Jerry Bridges and you can buy it here from Amazon. The subtext is ‘Confronting The Sins We Tolerate’. It is 21 ‘easy to read’ chapters long and Jerry deals with issues such as: ungodliness, anxiety, frustration, anger, unthankfulness, pride, lack of self control,…
Parenting 101
My Thanks to my mate Steve Utley (my second favourite charismatic after CJ Mahaney – all he needs to do is send me 21 books and he will go back up the pecking order!) for posting this on Facebook. I suppose I better mention Andy Constable for sending me half of it in an email in an attempt to make himself appear more humorous and cutting edge than he really is! As…
Is it our job to make the gospel less offensive?
Consider this quote from Tim Keller: ‘ The church has got to become such that every part of its life is hospitable to people who are not believers or don’t know what they believe. So they can come into the groups and into worship, into virtually everything we do and not feel confused or…
Do we need worship leaders?
Many may argue against it (and do) but for me the rise of this ‘ministry’ is a very modern and ‘large church’ phenomenon. Interestingly, in Ed Stetzer’s book, he says that church plants should not consider opening their doors without having recruited a worship leader. Sorry to disagree Ed, but I just can’t see it as a necessity in the…