Justin Taylor's Blog, page 242

Is This the Nastiest Election Campaign Ever?

Not by a long shot:

HT: Joe Carter

One Life: Share It

Trip Lee teaching at a Campus Outreach conference on the joy and privilege of evangelism, from 2 Corinthians 5:18-21:

Trip's new blog can be found here.

Pastoral Interruptions

John Newton, the blasphemous slave-trader turned tenderhearted pastor, knew what it was like to live in a state of constant interruption:

I have seldom one-hour free from interruption. Letters, that must be answered, visitants that must be received, business that must be attended to. I have a good many sheep and lambs to look after, sick and afflicted souls dear to the Lord; and therefore, whatever stands still, these must not be neglected.

And he also knew that interruptions are not threats to peace but opportunities for ministry:

When I hear a knock at my study door, I hear a message from God. It may be a lesson of instruction; perhaps a lesson of patience: but, since it is his message, it must be interesting.

Quoted in Richard Cecil, John Newton, ed. by Marylynn Rousse (Christian Focus, 2000), p. 139 (first quote), p. 76 (second quote).

HT: JP

Modern Reformation & Horton Library Winners

Congratulations to Tim Crummett, who won the Horton Library grand prize in the random drawing of comments.

And congratulations to the following who won a free one-year subscription to Modern Reformation:

Daniel Kim
Todd B
Michael Brinker
Cory Wilson
Matthew
Alicia
Heather Dreith
Bin Xia
Alex Leung
Will Robinson

The White Horse Inn folks will email you with further details.

If you didn't win here but entered at the WHI site, check their blog later today for a list of their winners.

For those who didn't win, remember that on this 20th anniversary year they are offering one-year subscriptions for just $20. Go here to subscribe.

MR does offer digital-only subscriptions, but the anniversary special (print + digital) is actually cheaper. And note that print subscribers receive complete access to the 20-year digital archive.

Here's how they describe the benefits of their print subscription:

Digital access on your smart phone and tablet devices, or download as a PDF.
Online access to 20 years of archived articles—searchable by author, chronology, or subject matter.
License to print up to 500 copies of any article for your church members, Bible study leaders, friends, and family.
Satisfaction knowing that your subscription support enables others to discover the great truths of Scripture.

Sex, Marriage, and Fairytales

After his viral video hit almost 17 million views in 2 weeks, Jefferson Bethke follows up with a spoken-word poem on sex, marriage, and fairytales:

Help a Young Man Go to "Man Up"

A lot of us have been encouraged by the way in which the Man Up Conference and materials are intending to help young discover and embody true biblical masculinity.

Here's a way you can help some young guys in under-resourced areas go to the conference and concert.

http://www.manupcampaign.com/

For more info on the conference, go here and see below:

THE PROBLEM

There's an ongoing war within urban culture. Confusion over what manhood is has plagued our cities, families and lives. The concept of a biblical man has been lost in our generation. Unfortunately, many churches struggle to provide its urban members, much less those beyond their walls, with a tangible definition of a real man.

THE CAMPAIGN

ReachLife Ministries in partnership with Reach Records, Man Up is a new campaign, calling men in the hip-hop culture to true biblical manhood through repentance and faith in Christ. It is our call for men in urban culture to repent for their failure to become the men that God has created them to be and for believers to live as who they truly are in Christ.

Last year, this campaign included a Man Up CD, a movie, and curriculum. This year, we are adding a new element to the campaign – a two-day conference event!

THE CONFERENCE

The conference will consist of 3 General Sessions and 4 workshops – each covering one of the issues that we believe are the biggest needs to be addressed in manhood today. This will be an opportunity to take what has been heard from the album, seen from the movie, and learned from the curriculum, to an even higher level.

Why Apologetics?

Oak Hill's Dan Strange:

An Interview on the Life and Theology of John Stott

Alister Chapman, associate professor of history at Westmont College, has spent the last year studying the life and teaching of John Stott. Tim Keller calls his new book, Godly Ambition: John Stott and the Evangelical Movement (Oxford University Press), "a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand contemporary world evangelicalism." Peter Sanlon recently sat down with him for a 20-minute interview at Oak Hill College:

HT: Carl Trueman

Do You Believe in the Reality of the Resurrection

A Spoken Word piece written by Odd Thomas:

For more on the Spoken Word genre, see this TGC interview with Shai and Blair Linne.

Worship and Your Books

B. B. Warfield:

Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books.

What! Than ten hours over your books on your knees?

C. S. Lewis:

For my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await others.

I believe that many who find that 'nothing happens' when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.