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Good Resources on Biblical Worship: Over at his blog, Between Two Worlds, my friend Justin Taylor has posted links to a number of messages on worship that were given at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Speakers include David Peterson, John Frame, Kevin Twit, Harold Best, Keith and Kristyn Getty, Michael Card, Jason Harms, and yours truly. Over 50 messages, all with links. Check out the lectures here. see also www.disciplemaking.net

You will not be able to extemporize good thinking unless you have been in the habit of thinking and feeding your mind with abundant and nourishing food. Work hard at every available moment. Store your minds very richly, and then, like merchants with crowded warehouses, you will have goods ready for your customers, and having arranged your good things upon the shelves of your mind, you will be able to hand them down at any time without the laborious process of going to market, sorting, folding, and preparing. . . . Take it as a rule without exception, that to

Here is a good article that demonstrate why formulas don’t work in ministry.  It replaces form for function. It trades purpose for a vehicle which one is unable to adapt to ministry changes.  Here are some questions I think we all need to ponder: How have we left the Gospel when require a certain formula in our evangelism because it brings about some results that we want? Is having a ‘common language,’ a ‘common experience’, a “common ritual,’ necessary or should it be a desired result of our evangelism? Where is our tradition anti-scriptural or anti-Christ? Do we trust in our ritualistic services

Gospel Polemics, Part 1 – The Gospel Coalition Blog: Archibald Alexander, the first faculty member at Princeton Theological Seminary, was given the title “professor of didactic and polemic theology.” That seems a bit startling to us, because the term polemical in our day has an almost purely negative connotation. However, in the original plan of Princeton seminary, polemical theology was seen as a discipline separate from the positive exposition of systematic theology. Alexander taught this as a distinct course that distinguished orthodoxy from all opposing views. If you look at the list of the subjects he covers, it is striking

Gospel Centric Quote of the Day: “ On what this generation is looking for that has been missing in church: Transcendence. My generation was raised on a religion of moral control. Do this. Don’t do that. And a lot of self-help religion. Feel better. Get out of debt. Six ways to overcome your fears. Seven ways not to lust. Ultimately that message didn’t work. It was empty. There was no transcendence. The omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful God of the universe wasn’t the focus. I think that’s why we are seeing the resurgence of Reformed theology.- Matt Chandler What the church needs

I have always said that what you measure drives your behavior. I have found more conformation fo this in an article from Vanguard Church by Bob Robinson. He says: What is your church measuring? What does that say about your mission?: “ Edgar Schein, Professor of Management at MIT, says that whatever an organization measures becomes its de facto culture. Churches and ministry organizations write mission statements that are great, but they are only wishful thinking if they have put in place mechanisms to measure their success that are contrary to those lofty mission statements. For instance,a random mission statement

Here is a great post on how we should view a church if we are going to multiply or plant other churches called: Planting a Church? Plant a Teaching Hospital by Brandon Cox. See if this kind of multiplication resonates with you. Brandon Cox writes: That phrase – “teaching hospital” – jumped out at me during a recent conversation with Geoff Surratt, Pastor of Church Planting at Saddleback Church. As we discussed the vision of Grace Hills Church over lunch, Geoff helped me put words to the burden I kept feeling to plant more than a church – to plant

Here is a good article on managing yourself and getting out from the clutter that we all deal with. Four reasons you may be missing deadlines and how to fix these problems | Unclutterer see also www.disciplemaking.net

The Promise and Peril of Being ‘Gospel-Centered’ – A Conversation with Mitch Chase see also www.disciplemaking.net

What Is Wrong with NON-Lordship Salvation? – Part 5: “By Justin Edwards Had it been possible for you to have had salvation without sanctification, it would have been a curse to you instead of a blessing. If such a thing were possible, I cannot conceive of a more lamentable condition than for a man to have the happiness of salvation without the holiness of it; happily, it is not possible. – C.H. Spurgeon Lordship salvation is one of the most hotly debated topics in the evangelical church today. The dividing line is generally made along the lines of monergism and