Resolve to Read Your Bible

Justin Taylor has posted an array of Bible reading plans to help you work through the entire Bible in 2009.  My advice: pick one and set your aim at working through it with a spouse/friend/sibling/someone.
Here are the plans (courtesy of JT):
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The ESV Bible Reading Plans can be accessed in multiple ways:

web (a new [...]

Random Nerd 12.26.08 – Christmas Lights

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I thought a Random Nerd post on Christmas lights might be appropriate as you begin to contemplate taking your lights down.
According to Brian Dipert’s post titled Oh Christmas Light, So Green And White (And Bright)… you can save yourself about $100 in electric bills next Christmas season by [...]

Merry Christmas B.C.

This past Saturday, the fam and I headed down to Old Town St. Charles (think: knick-knacky, crafty shops) to do some Christmas shopping for the grandmas.  That might not sound like the most exciting way for a dude to spend his Saturday morning which is why you should read on.  While standing in line at [...]

Best Albums of 2008

I’ve become a habitual in-taker of Steve McCoy’s Music Monday posts and have received many, many great recommendations via them.  Yesterday Steve posted his Best Albums of  2008.  You do good to check out the list for yourself.
Topping his list was Bon Iver’s For Emma Forever Ago which I’ve raved on numerous times here.  I [...]

Convincing vs. Confirming: The Role of the Media

I’ve been reading Quentin Schultze’s Communicating for Life: Christian Stewardship in Community and Media and while the title is horrible and awkward, the content itself has been somewhat helpful.
In chapter 9, Schultze takes up the topic of the role of media. Drawing on some previous work from Jean Shepherd, Schultze purports that “In a [...]

Skinny Love on Letterman

(HT: Steve)

Cardboard Testimonies

I’m up late tonight.  Just finished a final exam for seminary and checked some emails when I came across this – forwarded by a friend.  Maybe it’s because it’s late, but I wept with joy and praise watching this.

Keller on Successful Mercy Ministries

“In the best churches, most of the mercy ministry is not done through official programs or by the officers. Rather, sensitive individuals watch for needs and meet them out of their own schedules, out of their own pockets, and out of their own hearts.”
–Tim Keller, Ministries of Mercy (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing), p [...]

Reflections on Ancient and Medieval Church History

This week I wrap up a seminary course on Ancient and Medieval Church History at Covenant Theological Seminary.  If you follow the blog regularly, this was one of the two courses I wrote about back when I started these courses in August.
The course covered the breadth of church history beginning with the apostles and carrying [...]

The Effects of Grace

“The grace of God makes Christ precious to us, so that our possessions, our money, our time all become eternally and utterly expendable. They used to be crucial to our happiness. They are not so now.”
–Tim Keller, Ministries of Mercy (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing), p 63.

Random Nerd 12.05.08: Voltree Power

An interesting video documenting some new research at MIT.  Researchers there are using the voltage produced with the pH difference between the soil and a tree to power a wireless network.
Watch the video at EngineeringTV.com.

20 Books to Read In Your 20s

Justin Buzzard’s list of 20 Books to Read in Your 20s.  If you’re now in your 30s…don’t worry, you can cheat and use the list too.

Contextualization: Driven to Prayer

As we try to understand our culture that we might better commend Christ in it, we are not doing a worldly intellectual exercise but the work of God.  Therefore we need to draw on divine powers to equip us.  If wrestling with this battle of persuasion in seriousness does not drive us to prayer, perhaps [...]

Steeping In James 3:13-18

Continuing the Steeping in James Series, this week we’re looking at James 3:13-18 and wisdom in particular.  The The corresponding pages from Douglas Moo’s TNTC Commentary on James are 131-137.  It’s been a while since I’ve posted in this series so if you’re new here or would like a refresher on the basis for this [...]

Gospel-Centered Evangelism

Yesterday was a crazy day.  I left home at 11am, drove 4.5 hours to Joplin, Missouri, preached the 5:30pm service at A Church Called Mystery, and then got in my truck and drove 4.5 hours back to St. Louis.  Yikes.  I got back a little after 1am – somehow I stayed awake (thank you caffeine).
A [...]