Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 73

Weekend reading (8/12)

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The New/Old Way Our Culture Pressures Us To Conform

Tim Challies:

Every culture has certain standards that distinguish good and respectable people from the bad and disreputable people. Every culture has ways of compelling people to adhere to its standards. Some force adherence through guilt, some through fear, and some through shame.

Children’s Ministry is NOT a Game!

Juan Sanchez:

Since children’s ministry is a serious endeavor, we must carefully consider how to minister to and reach childr...

Five of my favorite quotes from The Imperfect Disciple

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One of the best spiritual formation books I’ve read in ages is The Imperfect Disciple. This book did my soul so much good, largely because Jared Wilson wrote for normal Christians. Unradical people living their average life now, and feel like they’re generally messing everything up. Y’know, people like me.

Today, rather than offer a detailed review of this book, I want to share just a few of my favorite quotes from the book. Some of them are quotes that I just love the way they’re phrased. O...

Links I like (8/10)

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Seeing and Preaching the Gospel of Jesus in Jonah

Ian Conrey:

Several years ago I heard a sermon series through Jonah and the main point was a typical, principle-seeking approach, and its main focus was why we should not be like Jonah. The argument was that Jonah’s life would have been better if he had just obeyed. If Jonah only listened, the sailors would not have been put in danger, and he would not have been swallowed up by a fish, and so on. This is a common way the Old Testament is prea...

Jesus prayed for us

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There’s this one passage in John’s gospel that always blows my mind. Okay, there are lots of them that do that, but there’s one in particular that does it in a completely different way than all the others. In John 17, Jesus prayer for his disciples. He prayed that those who were with him in the upper room would be protected from the evil one as they remain in the world but not of it. That they would be sanctified in and by the truth, which is God’s Word.

And then, in John 17:20-23, Jesus shi...

Links I like (8/08)

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What Every Pastor Wishes His Worship Leader Knew

JD Greear:

A few weeks ago, one of our leaders asked me to come speak to a group of worship interns, telling them “everything I thought pastors wanted worship leaders to know.” When I agreed to do it, I thought it would be a stretch to come up with three or four things. That was a bit naïve. By the time I was done, it grew to a list of 14!

Announcing: LifeWay Social

Chris Martin introduces a new project he and Jonathan Howe have been working o...

52 weeks of communion

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In the last year, I’ve taken communion more times than I had in the prior eleven. The churches I attended back in Canada participated in communion, of course. It’s just that they offered it on a different rhythm.1 When we first moved, one of the things I was concerned about was whether or not it would begin to feel unimportant, even as I was looking forward to it feeling normal.

Since then, I’ve taken communion 50-ish times since then. And every time it feels as important as the last. Here’s...

No need for fronts

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One thing I always walk away from the Scriptures with is the reminder that character really, really matters. I don’t pretend to be a perfect man, of course. Not even close. But something that scares me the most is how easy it is to put on a good show in public.

We see this all the time at work and church, don’t we, sometimes in innocent ways (and other times not so innocent)? Like when asked how we’re doing and we usually say, “Fine,” even when the morning has been a complete and utter disas...

Weekend reading (8/05)

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8 tips to help you disciple your kids

Great stuff from Brian:

I think that is how many parents feel when it comes to discipling our kids. We know that we should disciple our kids—it is one of our primary ministries as parents (Deut. 6:4-9)—and we want to, but when it comes to actually doing it, we feel lost. Where do we begin? What do we say? Do I really know enough myself? And so, because of our overwhelming feeling of inadequacy, we tell our kids to listen to their leaders at church and do...

Awaiting a Savior: now available in Spanish

Back in 2011, my very first book, Awaiting a Savior: The Gospel, the New Creation, and the End of Poverty, was released. It was an ambitious one: exploring how we should understand and respond to the issue of where poverty really comes from, and what God has to say about it.

Rooted in the story of redemption, Awaiting a Savior is a reminder that we’re not responsible for ending poverty, but for loving those who are trapped in it. With a message you don’t typically read in most books on the su...

Links I like (8/03)

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Texting and Driving is Not Loving Your Neighbor. It Could Kill Them.

Kevin Halloran:

Hopefully the danger of texting and driving will cause more drivers to put down the phone, but obviously, there is no silver-bullet answer. We each must do our part and focus on the road. As Christians, putting the phone down and focusing on the road follows the gospel imperative to love your neighbor as yourself. Every car on the road is operated by a man or woman created in God’s image who has an eternal d...