Archive for July, 2008
A Change Of Plans (Retreat!)
July 19, 2008 3:28 pmI have good news and bad news.
Bad news first.
I announced a while back that Eric Hughes was coming as a guest speaker at the five15 Retreat. Note the past tense: he was. Now he isn’t. Change of plans. (Please don’t worry - all good things.)
Now the good news.
The Lord has provided Mike McKinley to come speak to us instead. Mike is the pastor of Guilford Baptist Church in Sterling and a contributor to 9 Marks, a website dedicated to helping pastors and churches gain clarity about the 9 marks of a healthy church. I think you’ll really enjoy meeting him and hearing him preach God’s Word to us.
Please be praying for all the speakers on the retreat: Mike, Mark, Vince, and me. Thanks!
ESV Study Bible
July 18, 2008 9:01 pm
If you haven’t heard of it yet, I am happy to inform you that the ESV Study Bible is coming. Scheduled for release in October, the ESV Study Bible is going to be an amazing resource for students of the Bible everywhere. Here’s how the website describes its value:
The ESV Study Bible was created to help people understand the Bible in a deeper way—to understand the timeless truth of God’s Word as a powerful, compelling, life-changing reality. To accomplish this, the ESV Study Bible combines the best and most recent evangelical Christian scholarship with the highly regarded ESV Bible text. The result is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published—with 2,752 pages of extensive, accessible Bible resources.
That gets me excited. Why do we need this? I own about 10 ESV Bibles in a variety of formats. What does this study Bible have to offer? Why drop some coin on yet another Bible? Here’s why, I think: the words of the Bible itself are the best words you will ever read. Anything that helps you understand those words better is priceless. And it may be that there is no single resource that will help you understand the Bible better than this one. It appears to be great maps and illustrations, and the scholarship is top-notch (you can sample pages from Luke, Revelation, and Psalms). It will be worth it. Get it.
Special bonus:
35% Pre-Order Discount
From now until July 31, friends of Sovereign Grace Ministries are invited to pre-order the Study Bible at a 35 percent discount. Simultaneously, Crossway will donate five percent of these purchases to Sovereign Grace Ministries. These donations will be used to support families who are training at the Pastors College. The Pastors College exists to train men to serve, lead, and plant Sovereign Grace Ministries churches and to support men currently serving as pastors within Sovereign Grace.
To receive the discount—and support men in the PC—simply click on the following link. You will be directed to a customized webpage where you can see an overview of the Study Bible and place your order.
Click here for more: www.crossway.org/8sbsg
(Note: This offer does not apply to other Crossway products.)
“Iron-Man”
11:34 am
I only follow a handful of blogs, because there is only so much that I can absorb in a given day. But one blog that I read regularly is Manspeak, “a daily dose of manliness” from some guys at our sister church in Knoxville, TN. These guys are working hard to preserve biblical masculinity among the men in their church - they put the “men” in complementarian.
Recently these boys posted some interesting statistics from the Knoxville News Sentinel about ironing:
Rowenta surveyed more than 3,000 people in 15 cities to find out about their ironing habits.
Among the findings:
- 72.1 percent iron jeans.
- 55 percent iron T-shirts.
- 27.3 percent iron gym clothes.
- 23.2 percent iron boxer shorts.
- 2.8 percent iron bathing suits.
One of the most interesting discoveries: About 24 percent iron their clothes while wearing them.
Also, according to another survey, young British men are more comfortable ironing than tinkering under the hood.
Ticketbox.net polled about 1,300 guys, and 62 percent preferred the ironing board to the car. Only 10 percent didn’t mind getting in touch with their inner grease monkey.
How about 24% ironing their clothes while wearing them? Weird.
five15 Announcements
July 15, 2008 3:43 pmfive15 Playlist
July 13, 2008 7:08 pm
Here are some of the questions we discussed this morning, and some we didn’t get to:
CHAPTER 7: THE POWER OF COLLABORATION
- “American popular lore tries to persuade us that our destiny was won only by rugged individuals…†(p.110) Give some examples. How many stories from American history, movies, or books can you think of where groups of people got the job done?
- Do you think it’s true that “you are who you hang out with� (p. 120). How can friends make it easier or harder to Do Hard Things?
- #5 – Treasure Constructive Criticism. (124) Why is it sometimes a Hard Thing to receive criticism. How can the Bible change the way we think about that?
- What do you think Alex and Brett’s dad means when he says, “The church runs on regular.� (126)
From the OFFICIAL STUDY GUIDE:
- Have you ever cared a lot about a project only to drop it because you couldn’t do it alone? If so, talk about that. What might have happened differently if you’d had a team around you to help accomplish that goal?
- Have you ever experienced the extra energy or impact a team can generate—in sports, drama, or some other setting? If so, what was it like?
- Alex and Brett talk about how important it is for teens to “walk with the wise.†What do they mean by this principle, and why does it matter?
- All of us have been on some kind of team: sports, academic, community, church, or work. What, in your experience, makes the good ones terrific and the bad ones miserable?
- As you were reading this chapter, did a “too big for just me†but important goal come to mind? How could you act on that thought or desire? (Hint: Begin with the first thing the authors learned about teams: “Start with questions.â€)
Retreat Countdown: 40 Days
July 12, 2008 11:21 amHappy Birthday, John Calvin
July 10, 2008 10:48 pm
Props to Seita for alerting me to John Calvin’s 499th birthday today. I would hate to have missed it: we are heavily indebted to this great theologian. I’m getting to know him through his massive book, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, and here is a quote I like:
“For who even of slight intelligence does not understand that, as nurses commonly do with infants, God is wont in a measure to ‘lisp’ in speaking to us? Thus such forms of speaking do not so much express clearly what God is like as accommodate the knowledge of him to our slight capacity.” Institutes, I.xiii
Get it? Here’s my paraphrase:
“Even a dummy knows that God is so great that unless he uses babytalk to get down to our level, we’ll never understand anything about him.”
Bonus: the dude has a great goatee.
UPDATE: Don’t miss John Piper’s comments on the occasion.
Out With The Old, In With The New [Logo]
July 9, 2008 8:23 pmI recently read that Wal-Mart has updated to a new logo. Turns out it’s true: you can see the new design on the Wal-Mart website:
I’m happy to announce that the five15 Logo Contest is over and we have selected a new logo. Eager to find out what it is? I bet you are. Can’t wait for the unveiling at the five15 Retreat in 43 days!
