Darryl Dash's Blog, page 78
April 13, 2019
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
How the Lord’s Supper Reminds Me of the Lord’s Grip
Singing, praying, standing to read Scripture, observing the Lord’s Supper, listening to sermons, giving tithes and offerings, are all ordinary acts of worship. These acts, however, don’t just train our hearts to hold on when doubt, disease, and discouragement move in; they hold us when our grip begins to fail.
How the Church Can Help with Mental Illness
Churches can help in many ways. A few of the simp...
April 9, 2019
Serving People in a Mass Market World
When I ordered books in December, I received an email from the author (slightly edited):
hi darryl!
i just wanted to say thank you for ordering all the books a few week ago!! i’m honored! and i hope they’re of help!
congrats to you on all the good work you’re doing for the world!
if there’s anything i can do for you from out in ann arbor, by all means let know!
take good care
I didn’t respond. I figured the email was automated. I couldn’t imagine that the author, who’s busy running a community of...
April 6, 2019
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
As life progresses, I more and more find the Lord’s Day not just as the starting point of a new week, but the centre point of my existence. I cannot, will not, could not make it through life without it.
The Strategic Friendship of Financial Supporters
Many of the amazing moments in church history were made possible by generous friends behind the scenes.
5 Mistakes to Avoid in Ministering to the Sexually Abused
inistering to men an...
April 2, 2019
Three Challenges in Apologetics
When I started as a church planter in a secular city, I thought I’d face a sophisticated set of questions about Christianity. I was surprised to discover that many people don’t have questions about Christianity: that would assume that they’ve thought about Christianity. I had my arguments lined up, and discovered that I was trying to answer questions that most weren’t asking.
I also discovered that many people believe in the supernatural. I’ve encountered some atheists, but not many. Generall...
March 30, 2019
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Discipleship and the Sacraments
When Jesus commanded his church to make disciples he didn’t leave us to our own imaginations and programs. He also gave us a process.
Don’t Preach Microwaved Leftover Sermons
Schedule your weekly ministry around your sermon prep, not the other way around.
More significant than the Lord’s apparent work week-by-week is the imperceptible work that God is doing by his Spirit over the long-term.
March 26, 2019
Pillage the Past
In his book Managing Ourselves, Ari Weinzweig describes three types of creativity:
Creativity that moves forward — new innovationsCreativity that shifts sideways — introducing something from one territory to another, or putting together two already well-accepted ideasCreativity in reverse — rediscovering old waysSpeaking of the last type of creativity, Weinzweig writes:
This is what we do at Zingerman’s with so much of our food — we don’t “invent,” we just go back and find the old ways. Our...
March 23, 2019
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Pastor, Why Do You Want a Big Church?
In this post I hope to explore the pastor’s desire for a big church.
Three Ways We Impede Gospel Ministry in Deprived Communities
I am delighted more people are talking about church in deprived communities. This is long overdue. But there are still several ways we continue view and treat deprived communities that are not serving the cause of gospel ministry.
Matthew 18 is Not Instructive for Book Reviews, But Much o...
March 19, 2019
The Gospel-Driven Church
When I say I like Jared Wilson’s new book The Gospel-Driven Church, I mean it. It’s a book written for the kind of pastor I used to be.
Some ten years ago I knew, believed, and preached the facts of the gospel. Through reading Jack Miller, though, something changed within me. The gospel ceased to be something I just believed. It’s hard to describe exactly what happened. Something shifted within me. I felt a new sense of freedom, motivation, and joy. I’d stumbled across the reality of what Tim...
March 16, 2019
Saturday Links
Links for your weekend reading:
We Really Are Stronger Together
Sending off a gifted young pastor and forty members to strengthen a church in need is no small matter. It’s too bad that it seems remarkable.
Good Church Planters Are Historians
If we fail to rightly understand such history, our churches risk doing more harm than good.
Although a livestream can be a great tool to serve people unable to attend, it can’t replace the experience of actually going to church...
March 12, 2019
The Lost Art of Pastoring
I occasionally enjoy reading quirky books. For instance, I recently read (and loved) Maynard: Adventures of a Bacon Curer, the homespun memoir of a man who goes only by his first name, can’t read or write much, and who does work that no longer fits in today’s world.
[image error]Maynard became a bacon curer just as that profession died. “Gradually the work became less and people started to shop on price not on quality, which marked the beginning of the decline of a wonderful industry.” A large company bo...
