Revival Video

With all the news about revivals happening in Florida, I thought I'd check it out. I discovered this video of a worship service that had an "outpouring":



Okay, just foolin'. But I do believe that if you watch the whole thing you will certainly be moved!
Enjoy!

Note the picture of Snow White hanging on the wall in the background (could this get any more bizarre?). And the guys in suits dancing is priceless!

And now that I watch it again- you tell me if that isn't the Napoleon Dynamite dance! There is no way that they didn't use this as a choreographic guide. Awesome!

Wells on Emergent

So I've been working on a presentation on the emerging church for a leadership conference coming up next month- hence the lack of blog posts. I have several begun, but I must prioritize!

Today, I came across this video which is very helpful in understanding the emerging church and gives you a taste of what Wells talks about in his latest book "The Courage to Be Protestant" which is a great read.

The first lines are worth the price of admission alone. The emerging church calls themselves a "conversation" which is just another way of saying that they don't want to be a target. Wells has a way of nailing it!

Listen and then pass this on to any thinking Christians who are tempted to listen to emergent voices.

Preach On Brother!

Don't know whether to laugh or cry. The sad thing is that many would call this "a move of the Spirit" and, sadder still, this is better than some sermons I've heard from adults. If you are wondering, I think he is saying "one God!" over and over again based upon the coaching you hear from an adult later in the video. ht: 9Marks blog

Gotta hear this- it will make you cheer

So my family watched "Facing the Giants" last night. They had seen it before, it was my first time. I didn't expect much and was, thus, unprepared for how emotionally charged the movie was. Despite the bad acting, I found it to be a good movie. Now, I don't know how much of my assessment of it is due to being able to directly relate to a number of situations described in the movie so it may not have quite the same effect on you as it did me, but I'd recommend you at least give it a shot.

Anyhow, the movie put me in mind of a real-life "Facing the Giants" situation that occurred last year and which can be listened to and seen here.

Here is the description of what you will hear from the LA Times: "In the football-crazed Santa Clarita Valley, they will be talking for years about the wild, improbable ending Friday night that saw a golfer, Johnny MacArthur, playing his first year of football, kick a 43-yard field goal with no time left to lift Newhall Hart to a 31-28 victory over Canyon Country Canyon in a Foothill League thriller at Canyon High."

Read the brief notes on the web page, listen to the events unfold to the end- the announcer's commentary about God's providence is amazingly insightful for a non-Christian morning show radio host- and then watch the video.

It will make you cheer. I promise.

You Are Not Safe From Adultery

Very brief yet very powerful. This must be read and meditated upon and taken seriously.

The Fad Driven Church

Check out this fantastic blog post from the pyromaniacs on "The Fad Driven Church." It nails a major (if not THE major) problem that faces Christian church in America and a problem which I addressed in an earlier post. While I love my seminary and while I received excellent theological education, the tendency to teach future pastors to be "fad driven" could be found even there in a seminary representing a people who claim to be "people of the Book" (and lest we think that Baptists are more prone to this than others, a local PCA pastor told me that Presbyterians are every bit as beholden to church marketing fads as the Baptists are). I encountered this marketing mentality not only taught in church growth classes, but also by example in who they chose to speak in chapel. We attended chapel three days a week and the typical speaker was someone who pastored a church of, at least, 1,000 members and who was put before us as an example of "what we too could accomplish if we only try hard enough." It wasn't said that way, but it was clearly implied. There were glorious exceptions of course such as Steve Lawson, and others like him (the Anglican minister who led us through a three-day lecture series on 2 Cor. 4 during chapel times was especially good).

Anyway, read the post. And scan through the comments too. I love this quote from William Still that someone put in the comments section:

"We are called to feed the Lord's sheep; we are not called to entertain goats. let the goats find their entertainment in goatland. You cannot turn a goat into a sheep by pandering to its goatishness".