Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 75
July 23, 2017
When you’re feeling frustrated with your growth in holiness, remember this
[image error]
When I was a young boy, I was often frustrated when I couldn’t figure out how to do something right the first time. Doesn’t matter if it was drawing, writing, or creating something delicious in my kitchen, I always wanted it to be right from day one. However, it rarely went that well. Instead, I would try something and fail. Then fail again. And again. And so on. Eventually, I started to learn that developing skills requires that. It takes time. Failing forward, as some might say.
But when I...
July 22, 2017
Weekend reading (7/22)
[image error]
Why Our Church Only Has a $300 Advertising Budget and I Celebrate ThatMike Leake:
I continue to be amazed at the growth in our children’s and youth ministry. We shattered our churches previous records for VBS this year with 185 unique children coming through our doors. (Take that word “unique” however you want). We continue to see around 150 kids on Wednesday evenings as well. One of the reasons I am amazed to see this is that we do zero advertising for our children’s and youth ministry. An...
July 21, 2017
Three new books I should never write
[image error]
Part of my creative process for writing, well, anything involves coming up with ridiculous ideas. The kinds of things that no one in their right minds would ever want me to write. (Including me. And Emily. And any publisher.) Sometimes these things turn into April Fool’s gags. Other times, they’re random concepts that I share here (which I did a while back). Today, I’m sharing a few of those:
We’re All Visionaries Now. What does it mean to stand out as a leader—and what is a visionary leade...July 20, 2017
Links I like (7/20)
[image error]
Doers and DelegatorsTim Challies:
Successful Christian churches, ministries, businesses, and organizations are dependent upon people who are willing to serve. They thrive when people humble themselves to carry out whatever tasks need to be done. The high-powered lawyer and the struggling small business owner unite when they step into the church and serve shoulder-to-shoulder to brew the coffee and mop the floors. Their actions prove them to be leaders in godly character.
We need this kind o...
July 19, 2017
Five quick personal/professional updates
[image error]
The last few weeks have been kind of hectic. I’ve been traveling a lot, working on big plans at work (big plans, I say!), and attempt to take a day off here and there this summer. There are a lot of irons so today, I wanted to give just a few personal and professional updates:
Seminary: Yesterday, I applied to a seminary affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Lord willing, I’ll be starting again in the Fall or Winter, which would be pretty great. I would love to get back to continu...
July 18, 2017
Links I like (7/18)
[image error]
In case y’all need the reminder, Links I Like is a round-up of the interesting, thought-provoking, and/or goofy things I find online.
Why Didn’t the Planned Parenthood Videos Change the Abortion Debate?Joe Carter:
Two years ago yesterday, a group that almost no one had ever heard of before released an undercover video. The video produced by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) showed a national-level executive of Planned Parenthood admitting that the abortion provider sells intact fetal bo...
July 17, 2017
Theology is (not) for the proud
[image error]
One of the common straw man arguments I’ve seen come up again and again is about the arrogance of theology. That to try to understand God is to put him in a box. To which I typically say… ‘kay.
That’s probably pretty arrogant of me, but there it is.
On Sunday night, I was at our church’s theology discussion group, where we’re going through Frame’s Systematic Theology. Every time I read a page from this book (which is so dense I can’t even keep up with David’s fairly easy reading schedule), f...
July 16, 2017
Emotion, emotionalism, and glorifying God
[image error]
A few years back, I read a book trying to share a vision of a God-focused, “vertically-oriented” church. Its author described this sort of church as one “where people line up at the doors long before the service starts and rush to the front to get the best seats for passionate, expressive worship where the voices are loud, hands are raised, tears are flowing, minds are expanded, and hearts are moved as Christ is adored by every one in every corner of the room, from the very first note.”1
One...
July 15, 2017
Weekend reading (7/15)
[image error]
How Can Pastors Have a “Gospel-Centered” Ministry?Owen Strachan: “But what does it mean, precisely, for a pastor to minister in a ‘gospel-centered’ way? Here are three quick thoughts.”
3 Simple Steps to Self-DestructionEric Geiger:
We get the term narcissism from the Greek mythological figure Narcissus, who fell in love with himself, with his own image. He was a hunter and was well known for his beauty. His arch-nemesis was named, well, he was named Nemesis, and he attracted Narcissus to a...
July 14, 2017
Three benefits of writing bite-sized reviews
[image error]
I used to write a TON of long books reviews. By that, I mean, I wrote at least one a week, every week, for about five years. I don’t do that anymore. Actually, I probably write more reviews now than I did then.
How? I write a bite-sized review of every book I read, every month. That’s the big idea behind my “what I read in…” series that I run, where I share a thought on the books I’ve been reading, and it’s a lot of fun. Here’s what I see as the benefits to me as a book reviewer:
It drives m...
