God tells us that his people tend to satisfy their thirst not by drinking from his streams of living water, but instead drinking from man-made toilets (Jer. 2:13). Pastor Mark Driscoll discusses pornography and masturbation candidly in this book.
Organic Discipleship is an understanding of spiritual formation that begins and ends with the gospel. This book provides pastors and church planters with a great tool for developing an organic discipleship process.
The Spirit plays an important role in personal salvation, church formation, and the general spread of the gospel. This free e-book provides an introduction to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Includes discussion questions for each chapter.
Evidence abounds of the emerging church movement—blogs, conferences, seminary classes, doctorate programs, and the birth of an entire class of literature. This ebook offers a thorough critique and evaluation of the preaching of four leaders of the emerging church movement.
Gospel-Centered Discipleship: Forming Fight Clubs of Faith
Jonathan Dodson
If you’ve struggled to follow Jesus by veering away from the gospel into duty-bound legalism or moralistic indifference, then this book is for you! Fight Clubs is a radical call to fight the fight of faith in the strength of the gospel.
I’ve finally gotten over my anxiety about having my Mac or Droid out at church. Sometimes I’m Tweeting of FaceBooking something from the service (rarely) and moreoften I’m using it to take notes on products like Evernote. Recently I’ve been using my YourVersion account more.
YouVersion.com is a tool for reading and studying the Bible. It allows quick access to scriptures where you can make your own notations, find those of your friends or cross reference other versions of the Bible. Additionally it has a Social Networking aspect to it. And I really enjoy the apps for the mobile devices that sync with your online account.
I know this sounds like a commercial (as does the YouTube versions of the introduction), but it really is a useful tool. It creates a new interactive layer to the sermon.
I’ve found a bunch of new Twitter folks at the Virginia Homeschool Conference. It prompted me to put up this Tweetdeck tutorial that I did for work a bit ago. If you’re new to Twitter, than having the right tools makes it a lot easier and more enjoyable!
I am usually not a fan of re-blogging, but occasionally I come across something so funny or creative, that I can’t help myself. I came across Greg Steir’s blog today and found his post about the possibility of Jesus Twittering. I had to share it…
Do you think Jesus would have been on Twitter if it was available while He was on earth? Interesting question with an unknowable answer. But if had been on Twitter I would love to read His “tweets.” I’m sure they would have been much better than the ones I will propose. Actually they would have been perfect. But here is my goofy, hypothetical shot at it:
“Been hanging at the temple for the last 3 days. Mom and dad just found me. They’re ticked.”
“40 days without food. Satan doing a full court temptation press. Does he really think he can win?”
“Made a whip, flipped some tables and drove out a ton of religious rip offs. I love my job.”
“Just healed ten lepers,only one came back to thank me. Nothing worse than ungrateful ex-lepers.”
“5 loaves + 2 fishes x the power of God = Fish and Chips for 5,000! Thanks for your lunch kid!”
“Want to make Pharisees mad? Heal a guy with a withered hand on the Sabbath or just preach truth.”
“Got laughed at because I said a dead girl was sleeping. Guess what? She just woke up!”
“Judas just got upset that a former prostitute ‘wasted’ expensive perfume on me. He doesn’t get it.”
“Revealed my glory to 3 disciples. Moses & Elijah showed. Peter wanted to set up a tent. Crazy Pete!”
“Rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Sure, they’re waving palm branches now. Give them a week.”
“Just rose from the dead. Can’t find my disciples. I heard they all went fishing. Go figure.”
“Showed Thomas my scars. He’s not doubting anymore.”
“Watching my disciples as I ascend to heaven. They look helpless. Will send Holy Spirit soon.”
I’ve had a blip.fm account forever, but just recently found a fondness for it. Initially, I thought "who cares what music I’m listening to". I’ve been surprised to find how great of a tool music can be for "You Engaging Others". Seems lots of people enjoy connecting through music. I’m not one who likes to keep webpages open to use these tools, so I was happy to find Blipster. Blipster is a great tool for your desktop that allows you to use blip.fm easily.
I think we can all agree that there are things that evolve in culture, that we must take the totality of scripture to decipher. The use of Social Media in the Church seems like a natural transition. It’s relational, it’s bilateral, it’s available to the masses. However, there are concerns with the lack of fellowship with the Body. I KNOW that being part of a physical local church body, and submitting to that leadership is critically important to God. There are scriptures that suggest that to not be part of a church is a sin.
I don’t know that anyone can argue the power of the searcher to be able to hear sermons or gain information about Christ in their own home, without the daunting pressure than can exist going into a church for the first time.
Frontline Internet Church of Mcleen, Virginia is one of my favorite such ministries. I don’t think you can argue the ability of the internet to introduce Christ to non-believers. Watch this testimony and let me know your thoughts.
