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May, 2008:

Mark Driscoll on… Rick Warren

May 31st, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
4 comments

driscoll.jpgA quote from Driscoll’s blog:

“And, I learned a lot watching Rick Warren behind the scenes and over meals. Not being part of the Purpose Driven Network, I was humbled by how eager he was to bring in leaders from many networks and denominations to share ideas and help influence in his Purpose Driven Network pastors for the cause of Jesus Christ. After spending some time with Rick I am convinced for four things. One, a lot of Christians are jealous of his success and they account for a good percentage of his critics. Two, he really loves the Jesus of the Bible. Three, he really loves pastors. Four, he really loves the church of Jesus in all of it’s expressions, even those who are not doing the Purpose Driven methods he extols.

To be honest, Rick has a brilliant mind that shines even when he sits down and simply lectures from a chair for an hour as he did at the conference. But, what really struck me is how much he loves pastors and churches and how much he wants to serve pastors and their churches by giving away resources and encouragement lavishly. And, it is his affection for Jesus, pastors, and churches that has in my observation endeared him to so many Christian leaders. For those who criticize his methods, it would behoove them to also share in his effort to do something to help pastors other than criticize those who are trying to help. I do not agree with him on everything. But, I also find him to be a servant leader who is willing to learn which is rare among those who are very successful and in that I rejoice.”

Celebrity Jesus

May 29th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
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Popularity is overrated, it’s fleeting, and yet in one way or another we all desire it.

Fame is not a ticket to happiness – the body count of young actors and rock stars who found fame and success and ended up taking their own lives is proof of this. And yet many think fame would make their lives easier or somehow more meaningful.

The events of Jesus’ life stood in contrast to the culture of his day and they still stand in contrast today. A number of times he had both the ability and the opportunity to seize a moment and promote his own fame. He had all the right qualities to become rich and famous, but he avoided some of the greatest opportunities.

In John 6 we read that, “Perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” Which of us has not dreamed up a similar scenario: the rush of a crowd whose desire is to crown us as their leader, their champion, their… idol?

But Jesus hadn’t come to lead them in a battle to conquer their oppressors, and when they heard him say the opposite, that they needed instead to love their enemies – well, the crowds got a lot smaller, and the opportunities for worldly fame and popularity vanished to the point where he ended up on a cross, alone and forsaken.

Philip Yancey puts it well in his book The Jesus I Never Knew:

It never ceases to amaze me that Christian hope rests on a man whose message was rejected and whose love was spurned, who was condemned as a criminal and given a sentence of capital punishment.

Is this the Jesus you imagine? A man with a message so radical he was subjected to a cruel beating and infinitely painful death?

His message is no less radical today than it was 2000 years ago. In the words of the recently deceased songwriter Larry Norman: “Why don’t you look into Jesus, he’s got the answers.”

Question and Answer with Mark Driscoll

May 19th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
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driscoll.jpgvia Resurgence featured audio

On Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at the Resurgence National Conference, Pastor Mark Driscoll spent sometime answering questions from audience. Please listen as Mark explains how he structures his schedule in order manage his role has father, husband and preacher including sermon preparation, how his role at Mars Hill has changed over the years, how he interacts with other pastors and staff at Mars Hill, his plans for eventually passing the torch, cultivating a humble response to the pressures in his life and dealing with personal struggle.

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Here’s a rough outline (by time in audio file)

6mins – 16:45 – daily schedule
to 21:00 – Sermon prep
to 27:00 – How many books do you read?
to 36:00 – How does the role of a founding pastor change?
to 43:45 – How do you lead staff that are your best friends?
to 47:45 – How will you pass on the leadership of Mars Hill?
to 51:45 – How do you deal with critics in a biblical and humble way?
to 56:00 – What are some tangible steps to pursuing humility in the pulpit?
to 1:04 – How do you deal with discouragement?
to 1:06 – closing

ESV Study Bible

May 13th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
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From Crossway books:

esvsb-copy.jpgDownload the Introduction to the Gospel of Luke from the ESV Study Bible. This new pre-release PDF file shares information about the author, date, purpose, literary features, and key themes of Luke. It also includes a timeline and an overview map, helping you situate Luke in its historical and geographic context. Finally, a detailed outline of the book lets you see at a glance the structure of Luke’s Gospel.

Every book in the ESV Study Bible has an introduction like this one, providing you essential information to enrich your study of God’s Word.

Learn more about the ESV Study Bible and get a pre-order discount at www.ESVStudyBible.org.
REMINDER: the 35% pre-order discount ends this Wednesday, May 15th.

Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz” (3) – The Things We Want Most Will Kill Us

May 11th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
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“And that’s the tricky thing about life, really, that the things we want most will kill us.” This statement follows 13 illustrated pages of a story about sexy carrots. You really need to look at the book to understand, but this is another good reason I never would have found this book in the Christian bookstores of my youth. Cartoons about sexy carrots?! Way too edgy!

Miller relays a lot of his stories through the eyes and actions of his friends – characters (non-fiction characters but certainly characters) like Tony the Beat Poet and Mark the Cussing Pastor (more on this one later) and Andrew the Protester and other real-life friends whom he calls by their real names like Laura and Penny and Rick.

The point of the sexy carrot episode was that, “Tony the Beat Poet read me this ancient scripture recently that talked about loving either darkness or light, and how hard it is to love light and how easy it is to love darkness. I think that is true. Ultimately, we do what we love to do.”

Miller expands on this, delineating his philosophy of humanity that includes common, if rarely talked about, Christian ideas like sin, self-addiction, and living in the wreckage of “the fall” and saying that because of these “my body, my heart, and my affections are prone to love the things that kill me.”

“Tony says Jesus gives us the ability to love the things we should love, the things of heaven. Tony says that when people who follow Jesus love the right things, they help create God’s kingdom on earth, and that is something beautiful.”

This is the crux of another misconception about Christians: that we are ever increasingly rule-bound automatons, taking orders from our Pastors to tell everyone that we meet to “Turn or Burn!” or wear t-shirts that say things like “Eternity: Smoking or Non-Smoking?” or, to put slogans on out church’s marquee like one I saw recently during a period of very hot weather: “Smile. We know of hotter places.”

You may have been accosted by Christians like that and if you have I’m sorry. But I also want to tell you that there are great changes happening in the Christian community, and that even though we’ll never rid the world of sloganeering salvation warriors I think there is more of a counter-effort to that than there has ever been before.

 

Go to Part 4 

Resourses? You got it!

May 11th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
1 comment

1. Online Bible Resources and Tools for Study
2. Christian Sermon Links

3. 212 Christian Blogs Worth Viewing

(HT: Matt Dabbs )

Book Shopping – Day 1

May 9th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
4 comments

100_1417.jpg

These came from a book sale in a mall

Rob Bell – Velvet Elvis

Dan Kimball – Emerging Worship

Dan Kimball – The Emerging Church

Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones (editors) – An Emergent Manifesto of Hope

David F. Wells – Above All Earthly Powers

100_1415.jpg

And these are from Baker Book House (round one!)

Scott M. Gibson – Preaching the Old Testament

C. J. Mahaney – Humility

Ed Stetzer – Planting Missional Churches

John Stott – Between Two Worlds : The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century

B. B. Warfield – The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible 

Prophets and Pharisees

May 1st, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
1 comment

david_nathan.jpgI started reading the bible from page one in January and I’m coming up on halfway now so I have some fresh thoughts about prophets.

Most seem hesitant to carry out what God tells them to do… probably because at various times they were sawed in half or killed some other way. Half the time they were making the king extremely angry.

This is very different from today’s “prophets” who strut and command as if they ARE kings.. There is a humility in the OT prophets that you don’t see today… they understood how great God is and how depraved their own hearts were.

I think the difference between a prophet and a pharisee is that one hears from the living God and reluctantly – or at least with a proper fear – delivers God’s word to its target. The other, the Pharisee, always lives according to where God was in ages past. He does not want God to speak to him personally, that would be too much of a challenge. He wants everything in black and white so he can have a checklist and by that checklist determine how holy he is.

I certainly bend towards that. I am an organizational freak! I love to know exactly what I’m supposed to and when I accomplish it I want everyone to know that I did. That’s why the last 8 months have been the most challenging for me while also being very hard, not knowing exactly what God has in store for me. But this has grown my faith because I’ve given up a lot of control and everything has worked out for good… just like the Good Book says.