"You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching!"

About a year ago our church adopted a mission statement to make it clear who we are and what we are about. It goes like this... "Memorial Baptist Church seeks to be a family who glorifies Christ through living and proclaiming God's Word." This coming year we will begina four year process teaching and implementing what we'll call the Four Pillars of our church- 1) Linking in Fellowship; 2) Learning the Bible; 3) Leading in Ministry; and 4) Living out the Gospel. These four pillars sum up what is expected of every member if we are to consistently carry out our mission statement.

When I think of a church's specific and clarified mission or vision it is hard not to think about the Apostles in Acts 5. They were boldly preaching the gospel and getting a lot of opposition for it by the Jewish leaders. The Sanhedrin by and large tragically rejected Jesus as Messiah and Lord. The Apostles were brought before the High Priest to face charges of preaching the good news of Jesus Christ after they were told not to. The High Priest said in Acts 5:28, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching." Now how's that for a mission or vision statement?? How about... our vision is to fill our city with the teaching of God's Word!? Can you imagine a city filled in every dark corner with Biblical teaching? That's pretty impressive and should be the goal of every church. Our church is in Port Arthur, Texas and my prayer is that Port Arthur would become filled with the teaching of Biblical truth!

Inside Planned Parenthood

This is Mike Huckabee's interview of Abby Johnson who recently left Planned Parenthood to join the pro-Life cause. May others open their eyes to the horror of all the tiny men and women that are heinously murdered every day.



HT: JT

Bible Alphabet Soup- NASB, ESV, HCSB, NIV, KJV...

If you want to read a helpful interview to understand the differences between Bible translations and the kinds of decicions a translation team makes HERE is a great article. The interview is with Dr. Ed Blum the general editor of the Holman Christian Standard Bible. The main English translation I use is the New American Standard Version but I do really like the English Standard Version (after all it is the one all the "cool kids" are using these days- inside joke) and have especially found the ESV Study Bible to be an excellent tool. Some English translations are better than others and some are more readable. The ESV and HCSB have attempted to be in the company of the better word-for-word translations (like the NASB) while being more readable like the NIV. With all that said, check out the interview with Dr. Blum. Below are two more articles I'd recommend on English translations of the Bible.

John Piper on why his church uses the ESV

Daniel Wallace on why not the KJV

Longing for Community

As I've been teaching through Nehemiah over the past several weeks in our Sunday night "Nightlight" service the parallels with the Old Covenant community and the New Covenant community are undeniable. Nehemiah set out to rebuild a city and in 52 days amazingly the wall around Jerusalem was completed. Of course the bigger job was rebuilding or re-covenanting the community. It was the community of God's people bound in covenant that served as a witness to the world of God's glory.

This communal witness is also the church's charge to keep. The way we worship, the way we serve one another, and the way we live and speak bears witness to the world of God rule over and in our lives. Our witness is not in a wall and it is not in programs, buildings, but in our community built on the Word of God. I long for this community fleshed out in genuine relationships. I'm so thankful for friendships in my church family but there are still so many who are strictly event-attenders (morning worship, Sunday School, etc) and not invested in each other's lives. I long to see the kind of authentic community throughout our membership that is not built around attending programs and events but is reflective of what Luke described in Acts 2 or Paul in Romans 12. Of course this only happens as we are constantly nourished on Scripture. I love what John Piper said of his call to ministry, "I am enthralled by the reality of God and the power of His Word to create authentic people." Amen.

Happy Reformation Day... polka style!

Are women better off today than 40 years ago?

Time Magazine has just released their latest issue which argues that women are more powerful today than 40 years ago. There is no doubt that women have more access to resources that will offer them financial independence and wealth. There is no doubt women have access to job fields that were unavailable 40 years ago. However, what's the trade-off? One would have a difficult time arguing that women are not more objectified today than 40 years ago. Sexual harassment and the objectification of women certainly existed 40 years ago but was it splashed across magazines and prime-time television?

Sadly, many Christians assume that the worldly standards and expectations of womanhood are the accepted norm. The Bible presents a radically different worldview and model for both manhood and womanhood than our culture presents. We should take the Scriptures seriously and honor the genders for their uniqueness. Men and women were not created to be interchangeable parts- to assume so diminishes value. It doesn't magnify it. Similarly women were not given their unique form to be forced to exploit it for monetary gain and power jockeying in the workplace. Below is a video by the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood which is a response to the article and the anti-Biblical movement of secular feminism.

CBMW Responds to TIME (Full Version) from CBMW on Vimeo.

HT: Jim Hamilton

"Free-wheeling Conversation" with Mark Dever

Over at Boyce College, Dr. Denny Burk interviewed Pastor Mark Dever from Capitol Hill Baptist Church. This is a great interview in a casual setting among college students that covers a lot of issues concerning the church and theology.

Go HERE to listen to the interview or to download it.

Making Disciples of Young Adults

When I became the pastor at Memorial after ten years in youth ministry and six days before my 31st birthday the expectations from more than a few were that I'd "bring in the young adults". If only I had a magic flute! Of course my goal was never and will never be to function as the Minister of Marketing. Mostly we have seen young adults come but not really stick. This is discouraging in part because of a prideful desire to see a "growing" church, but there is a genuine grief because we want to obey the Great Commission to "make disciples".

Ultimately God draws people to Himself. He does so through the Church's obedience to share and live out the gospel. We've got to be serious about this as a church. It calls for sacrifice. It calls for diligence. It calls for investing time and money. It calls for a willingness to invest our lives into the lives of others. Kevin DeYoung offers five suggestions for reaching young adults- and not reaching them in a superficial way. It isn't by a program or a music style or by adding a staff member. Here are the five key things...

1. Grab them with passion.
2. Win them with love.
3. Hold them with holiness
4. Challenge them with truth
5. Amaze them with God.

Go HERE to read the whole piece by Kevin DeYoung.

Not Your Average Day at the Beach

This is perhaps the coolest thing I've ever posted and I'm sure there's a sermon illustration in this somewhere. On St. Martin Island in the Caribbean the Princess Juliana International Airport sports one of the shortest runways for a major airport at just under 8000 feet. This allows for some great plane-spotting by tourists and locals on the beach as some massive jets land. Here are some pics and video below.





HT: The Herd

30 years of faithful, enduring ministry...

Thirty years ago today one of the pastoral heros of my life, John Piper obeyed God's calling on his life into the pastoral ministry. Months after pursuing this call he was installed as the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church. On the night Piper felt the strongest urging of the Lord to answer the call he wrote in his journal,

"I am closer tonight to actually deciding to resign at Bethel (Seminary) and take a pastorate than I have ever been... The urge is almost overwhelming. It takes this form: I am enthralled by the reality of God and the power of his Word to create authentic people."

He was 29 years old. The ministry of Desiring God and of Bethlehem Baptist Church is mighty not because John Piper is mighty but because he faithfully followed our mighty God. Read the whole story HERE from Justin Taylor.

HT: Justin Taylor (especially for the 'old school' Piper pic)