A Tour of my DG Conference SWAG Bag – Part 2

Cover via Amazon

Yesterday I posted the first part of a series of posts annotating the contents of my ‘nifty gifties’ that I picked up at last week’s Desiring God Conference for Pastors. Here are a few of the books that were included in my bag.

Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World

This little book edited by C.J. Mahaney contains six reflections on keeping a God-centered heart in a self-centered world. The contributors include Mahaney, Craig Cabaniss, Bob Kauflin, Dave Harvey, and Jeff Purswell. This work also includes a helpful set of discussion questions so that that the book can be read and discussed in a group setting. [Published by Crossway Books]

Contagious Christian Living

This book and study guide takes the reader into an examination of the lives of four Biblical characters including Jepthah’s Daughter (Judges 11:29-40), Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), Jacob (Genesis 32:22-32), and Daniel (Daniel 1). In this study, the author, Joel R. Beeke address the question of what does it mean to live “contagiously” as a Christian.

Note: I couldn’t find this book when I searched amazon.com so I’m glad that DG has introduced me to a book I might not otherwise have stumbled on. It makes me wonder what other treasures might be out there that aren’t as widely known. [Published by Reformation Heritage Books]

Teaching Romans Volume 1: Unlocking Romans 1 - 8 for the Bible Teacher

Christopher Ash has written a helpful volume designed to help preachers and Bible teachers do exactly what the title suggests—teach Romans. This first volume covering the first eight chapters of Romans is divided into three sections covering introductory material, Romans 1-4, and Romans 5-8). Volume 2 in the series, covering Romans 9-16 is also available as a companion to this work. [Published by Christian Focus Publications]

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A Tour of my DG Conference SWAG Bag – Part 1

Last week I was up in Minneapolis, MN for the 2010 Desiring God Conference for Pastors. Now, I’m one of those people who goes crazy for free stuff (really, who doesn’t like getting stuff for free), so I was overjoyed that upon checking in I was handed a bag of freebies or what I like to call ‘SWAG’.

For those who didn’t attend or for those interested in what was handed out, here are the contents of my SWAG bag courtesy of Desiring God Ministries and their conference sponsors and partners.

Journibles The 17:18 Series: Proverbs

What’s a Journible you ask? I’d never heard of it either, but by the end of the conference I not only had my free copy on Proverbs, I had also purchased the one for Galatians-2 Thessalonians. If you have ever wanted to slow down and really focus on the words of Scripture this might be the tool for you. This journal allows you to write out a whole book of the Bible in your own handwriting and leaves room on the facing page for your own reflections. For more information visit the 17:18 Series website.

Tabletalk – February, 2010

Tabletalk is a monthly devotional magazine published by Ligonier Ministries. In my bag I received the February, 2010 issue which in addition to the daily devotional readings also includes a series of short, well written articles by a variety of evangelical scholars. In this issue the topic at hand is the doctrine of justification by faith and in particular the understanding of this doctrine as presented by Bishop N.T. Wright.

A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards (Unabridged Audio CD)

I’ve been a big fan of christianaudio.com for some time (full disclosure: I am also a participant in their Reviewers Program). This actually is the first of their audiobooks that I have owned on CD. Usually I just download my audiobooks in mp3 format and dump them on my iPod. This particular audiobook, written by George M. Marsden and read by Grover Gardner, is on 4 CDs and has a running time of about 5 hours. I look forward to listening and to learning more about Edwards and his ministry.

With 11 more items in my bag I think I it is best to divide this post up this week. Follow these links and take a look for yourself at these resources. Leave your comments if you have read or listened to any of these; I would love to hear your thoughts.

Here’s To Being “Ordinary”

Cover via Amazon

“Most pastors will not regularly preach to thousands, let alone tens of thousands. They will not write influential books, they will not supervise large staffs, and they will never see more than modest growth. They will plug away at their care for the aged, at their visitation, at their counseling, at their Bible studies and preaching. Some will work with so little support that they will prepare their own bulletins. They cannot possibly discern whether the constraints of their own sphere of service owe more to the specific challenges of the local situation or to their own shortcomings. Once in a while they will cast a wistful eye on “successful” ministries. Many of them will attend the conferences sponsored by the revered masters and come away with a slightly discordant combination of, on the one hand, gratitude and encouragement and, on the other, jealousy, feelings of inadequacy, and guilt.

Most of us—let us be frank—are ordinary pastors.”

D.A. Carson, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson, p. 9.

Back to The Shack

Tim Keller has posted a review of the book The Shack by William P. Young at The Gospel Coalition Blog. Not to spoil it for those who haven’t read it yet, but Keller says,

“Here is my main problem with the book. Anyone who is strongly influenced by the imaginative world of The Shack will be totally unprepared for the far more multi-dimensional and complex God that you actually meet when you read the Bible.”

About a year ago Tim Challies wrote his review about The Shack at his blog saying,

“Because of the sheer volume of error and because of the importance of the doctrines reinvented by the author, I would encourage Christians, and especially young Christians, to decline this invitation to meet with God in The Shack. It is not worth reading for the story and certainly not worth reading for the theology.”

What about you? Did you read The Shack? What did you like about it? Did you have any concerns as you read it?

The State of Evangelicalism?

 

D.A. Carson: Evangelicalism’s E.F. Hutton

With cup of coffee in hand this morning I treated myself to watching a video of D.A. Carson’s recent lecture at ETS entitled The Changing (Changeless?) Face of Evangelicalism. I don’t exaggerate, it truly is a treat to listen to Dr. Carson speak and to read his books. I had the privilege of sitting under his teaching for one class while I was a seminary student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Dr. Carson’s lecture, as you can discern from the title, was on the current state of evangelicalism. What does it mean to call oneself an “evangelical”? Is it a label tied to history? Does it define a set of doctrines or convictions? Does it refer to a certain kind of Christian lifestyle? Is it synonymous with “Conservative Christian”?

The video can be viewed or downloaded from The Gospel Coalition website courtesy of Crossway Books. In the meantime I am looking forward to the release of Dr. Carson’s book Evangelicalism: What Is It and Is It Worth Keeping? this September. I imagine this book will do much to further the conversation.

What’s in a name?

I wonder if the term “evangelical” (and its related cognates such as “evangelism”, “evangelist”, etc.) is indeed losing its intended meaning similar to the way the term “fundamentalism” and terms related to it have changed over the years.

Our church was forced to consider this not long before I came to serve as their pastor. For many years the name of our church was “Fundamental Gospel Church”, in fact many in town still refer to it by that name. Today, in large part due to our adoption in to the EFCA denomination, our church is now know as Cornerstone EFC. Our leadership realized that the once positive name “Fundamental” did not communicate the same positive sense that at the time of its founding 50 years prior.

I would encourage you to watch the video and consider what Dr. Carson is saying. What do you think? What is the state of evangelicalism, particularly in America? What do you think the term conveys today; is it positive or negative? I’m looking forward to hearing your comments.

Book Review: Primal by Mark Batterson

The name Mark Batterson is one that I have been hearing more and more come up within the evangelical universe. So, when I received word that I could receive a copy of Mark’s new book Primal through WaterBrook Multnomah’s Blogging for Books program I naturally jumped at the chance.
Batterson is the lead pastor at National Community Church in Washington D.C. and he blogs at Evotional.com.
In this his third book, Mark identifies his purpose right up front in the subtitle, “A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity”. I understand that catchy titles help move books, but honestly those words troubled me at first. It sounds a lot like the kind of book that promises to reveal the ‘real secrets of Christianity,’ secrets that you won’t find anywhere else. But it is always good to read on and not judge a book by it’s cover (or by it’s subtitle for that matter).
Without giving too much away (because I would recommend that you read this book yourself), the author identifies the ‘Lost Soul of Christianity’ as what is often referred to as the ‘Great Commandment’. God’s people are to love Him will all of their heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5).
Mark does an excellent job demonstrating that love of God goes far beyond attitude; love of God is to be lived out in actions. He has clearly meditated deeply on these things and has taken concrete steps in his own life and ministry to enflesh the Lord’s commandment. For example, here is a statement that jumped off the page for me:

“I think it’s easy to talk about things like faith and obedience and compassion in abstract terms. The more abstract, the less convicting the truth is. So let me get concrete. Faith equals God-ordained risks in the face of fear. Obedience equals God-honoring decisions in the face of temptation. And compassion equals Spirit-prompted generosity in the face of greed.” (p. 32)

I do have one major concern with this book. I am troubled that the gospel is largely absent from this book. I am not suggesting that Batterson denies the gospel, rather that he seems to assume the gospel. That is something I believe to be too dangerous in an age when even among self-professed Christians the gospel is largely misunderstood.
What I mean is that apart from the gospel or with a distorted gospel, the ‘Christian’ will find what Batterson challenges the reader to do (love God wholly) to be virtually impossible. Much of what was said in this book could just as easily been rooted in Deuteronomy 6:5 rather than it’s New Testament counterpart. That’s not to suggest that the Old Testament command is somehow less authoritative. What I was hoping the author would have brought out more clearly was to identify what about the Great Commandment is distinctly ‘Christian’.
My concern should not prevent the reader from picking up a copy of Primal and seeking to be challenged by it. There is much within these pages that can be mined for the reader’s benefit. Primal is on bookstore shelves today and is available for order directly from WaterBrook Multnomah or from your favorite online book retailer.
This book was provided by WaterBrook Multnomah.

Win 10 Books from Kingdom People

Trevin Wax is giving away 10 of his favorite books from this year at his blog Kingdom People. Details about entering the drawing can be found here. If you win, don’t forget that my birthday is Friday and that Christmas is just around the corner (hint, hint).

Chance to win a FREE copy of Proclaiming A Cross-Centered Theology.

Visit Pastoral Musings for your chance to win this new book from Crossway.

Free is Good!

Who doesn’t like to get things for free? With so much good content out there it is wonderful when groups like Desiring God make their stuff available at no cost. Visit their website sometime and click on the Resource Library tab and you will see what I mean. So why do they just give their stuff away? I’m glad you asked.

Matt Perman suggests three reasons. 1) It reduces ‘friction’ (i.e. it removes the obstacles to spreading the message, 2) The gospel is free (cf. Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 9:18), and 3) We exist first to serve, not be served (cf. Mark 10:45).

Coincidently, I recently have been reading a book entitled Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson (which by the way I acquired for FREE courtesy of @MichaelHyatt). Anderson’s book is about why companies like Google and bands like Radiohead are ‘reducing friction’ (to use Perman’s term) in order to better market their product.

I have yet to finish reading and hope to post a more complete review in the near future.

HT: Justin Taylor

Don't Worry, Be Happy

The other night (October 14, 2009) on The Daily Show, John Stewart interviewed Barbara Ehrenreich about her book Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.

In this clip from the interview, Stewart tries to get at the intent behind the 'power of positive thinking' message, made popular in books such as The Secret, especially as it relates to suffering and disease (in this case breast cancer). He suggests that while the encouragement offered to Ms. Ehrenreich to 'think positive' might not have been helpful in her experience, perhaps for others it would be "in the same way that if Jesus makes you stop drinking, isn't that okay...isn't it the result that matters?"

Is the answer to dealing with suffering something that is ultimately subjective? Is any solution as viable as the next as long as it gets results?

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Win This Book

Want to win a copy of Larry Osborne's recent book Sticky Church? Here are a few hoops you will need to jump through; the more hoops, the better you're chances to win.

1) Let me know the you are a subscriber to Returned Sheep (existing subscribers - 1 entry; new subscribers - 2 entries)

2) Read and comment on my August 20, 2009 post on Chapter 16: Finding and Developing Leaders of Osborne's book. (2 entries)

3) Share you're own tip on finding and developing leaders in ministry (not limited to small group ministry). (2 entries)

4) Bonus: Tweet about my post on Twitter (@eric_nygren)

Be sure and check out the rest of the Sticky Church blog tour while you're at it.

Contest ends Monday, August 24, 2009 at 9:00 am (CDT). Winner will be contacted for shipping info sometime early next week.

p.s. - You can read my earlier review on Sticky Church posted here last October.

Between Two Worlds: Matthew/Mark Cornerstone Commentary: Free

If you use Libronix Bible Study software (or if you don't you should) you'll want to check this out. Between Two Worlds: Matthew/Mark Cornerstone Commentary: Free In case you missed it, the key word here is FREE!!!