Archive for the 'Quotes and Comments' Category

“The Only Christian Work is Good Work Well Done”

Not long ago, when I was being awakened to my calling as a Pastor, I was so excited by this awakening that I sometimes mistakenly saw the same thing in others. Because of this, when I would see similar qualities in a friend or co-worker, I would often interpret it as a sign that they [...]

“That’s what she said…”

Jesus speaks of the words and ideas we accumulate in our hearts as treasures. Whichever treasure is dominant in our hearts, be it evil or good, will make its way out of our hearts, through our mouths and into the world revealing exactly what kind of treasure we’re accumulating.
Without the active intervention of my will, [...]

John Stott Endorses Twitter (kind of…)

Consider this quote from his masterpiece on preaching, “Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today“:
“Consider the time and trouble we give to composing a message we want to send by cable [read: "Twitter"]: because the number of words is severely limited, we go over it again and again, changing a word here, adding or [...]

Michael Spencer: “The Big Worship Goof”

Michael Spencer, who is a Protestant but blogs under the name The Internet Monk, wrote an excellent piece on worship a few days ago. I will print some of the highlights here followed by a few personal comments. If you want to see the entire article and read the comments on his blog (of which [...]

Francis Schaeffer: “Aping the world’s wisdom…”

From a recent Crossway Books blog post:
Schaeffer’s following summary paragraph has been especially important (and convicting) to me — and something that I pray will always be foundational to the work we do at Crossway.
“Is it not amazing,” Schaeffer writes, “though we know the power of the Holy Spirit can be ours, we still ape [...]

Our Destiny is Certain and Secure

“There is nothing that is so calculated to promote holiness as the realization that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, that our destiny is certain and secure, that nothing can prevent it. Realizing that, we purify ourselves even as He is pure, and we feel that there is no time to [...]

Rob Bell – “Jesus Wants to Save Christians”

To be honest, I have tried to like Rob Bell’s work many times without much luck.  That’s probably a bad way to start a review.
I’m not a Bell-basher, but I’m not a fan either; I understand his appeal, but it doesn’t appeal to me; I have been to his church, I know some people there, [...]

Rick McKinley’s “Reflections on Ministry”

Rick McKinley (Imago Dei – Portland) doesn’t blog much, but if this post is any indication he should make an effort more often. A summary of his six points in this post:
1. The subversiveness of love is the primary work of the pastor.
2. There is disaster awaiting the one who gets bogged down with doing [...]

Ryan Adams on Songwriting

What I do and what all musicians do is easy. All we have to do is sit down for a couple hours a week and write a song or two. That simple task is all the world asks of me, so I do it. The other musicians who don’t are just lazy, because again, we [...]

Good to Great (Author: Jim Collins)

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t begins like this: “Good is the enemy of great.” And I heartily agree, but it’s quite a paradox to be reading this book at this time in my life.
The Search for Meaning (P208)
Collins writes about “the search for meaning, or more precisely, the [...]