Weekly Wrap (17/03)

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

Francis Chan - a Pastor and well-known Christian Author - talks about the importance of remaining courageous in walking as a Christian in the world today. A great three minute video to check out!

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The Only Foundation For Youth Ministry - "I want students to be won to Jesus, not jokes and games. I must trust in the Spirit, not my amazing programs, to work in my midst." Josh Cousineau writes a great piece for the Gospel Coalition on developing a biblical foundation for Youth Ministry focussed on Jesus.

The Next Bible - "Scripture? There’s an app for that." Joshua Dubois - President Obama's former faith advisor - writes on the increasing market for Bible Applications on technology devices. Well worth a read.

Don't Just Pray - Become a Praying Church - Brady Boyd from Churchleaders.com provides 5 tips to make your church a praying church.

A-La-Carte - Tim Challies always comes up with some great articles from the blogosphere. This one has many interesting articles that are well worth looking at.

Clarifying My Words About Roman Catholic “Heresy” - John Piper's clarification around his assertion that the Catholic Church is promoting heresy through their teaching. It's a good read.
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Thought for the day...

"A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green."

— Francis Bacon

Rob Bell - No Hell & Same Sex Marriage

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

The internet is abuzz today with news that Rob Bell has officially come out in support of Same-Sex Marriage. The controversial Christian author, thinker and pastor has previously received a lot of flack for his book Love Wins, which questions the very existence of Hell.

There are many good Christian responses already out there in the blogosphere to Rob's latest controversial stance - Christian News covers the event in detail here and Christian Post cover it here, whilst Greg Carey from the Huffington Post reports this news as well. Ostrachan from the Patheos blog writes a good summary and provides ideas around what a Christian response to Rob Bell's latest stance should be.

I'll write a post in the next few days once I've had time to process this news and read some opinions from prominent Christian bloggers. Like I suggest in my article on Steve Schalke, the best thing we can be doing as Christians at this time is to pray that Rob comes back to Biblical truth on this issue. After all, the bible is very clear about what will happen to leaders who lead their followers astray (Matthew 18:6). Let's be lifting up Rob Bell in prayer; he needs it.

Weekly Wrap (10/03)

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

Greg Laurie - a Pastor and well-known Christian Author - talks with Colleen Swindoll-Thompson about a topic that does not get a lot of airplay in mainstream Christian circles: how to deal with grief and loss in life. This is quite a long video but is worth checking out.

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Shot of Glory: Tear-jerking Story of Honour - Okay. So when I saw this I cried like a baby. Just warning you. This is simply a beautiful video that is well worth a look. Have the tissues ready!

Are You Making This Mistake in Your Prayer Life? - "Many times we feel so overwhelmed with our life’s circumstances that we become paralyzed... At that point we become so fixated on our problem and on ourselves, that it becomes super hard to be thankful or to have a Biblical perspective on life." Check out this great article from Not Ashamed of the Gospel.

Forgiveness - "If you want to see God change your family, it has to start here: Word #1 is Forgiveness." James McDonald writes a fantastic devotional on the importance of practising the value of forgiveness.

How Will They Know Jesus? - A very challenging video excerpt from one of Steve Furtick's messages. Well worth a look.

What Kind of Leader Was Jesus? - Dan Guy provides some great insights into the type of leader that Jesus Christ was during His earthly ministry. Another fantastic article from Churchleaders.com.

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Thought for the day...

"The most loving thing we can do is tell the truth so people can be reconciled to God."

— Mark Driscoll

Weekly Wrap (03/03)

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

Christian Rapper LeCrae explains what Biblical Manhood is. Well worth a look! Check out more great video, audio & print resources at www.desiringgod.org.

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Community As Sacrament - "Are Christ’s characteristics and heart for the world reflected in the way we live as a community?  Do we love selflessly?  Do we care for the underserved?  Do we steward the land out of reverence for God’s Creation?" John Huckins writes an interesting article for Red Letter Christians on how Christians should be living in community with purpose.

The Cost of Compromise - "The appearance of unity, no matter how enticing, is not worth sacrificing the clarity of the gospel." John MacArthur urges all Christians in this piece to "...contend and not compromise." Well worth a read.

Five Signs of an Arrogant Pastor - "Arrogance stifles mission. It redirects the focus of our ministry to us instead of to a kingdom focus. And if left unchecked, our ministry will begin to exist for its purpose, not God's purposes." Ed Stetzer writes yet another thought provoking article on Arrogance.

How to be Mentored Without a Mentor - Jodi Ware writes a great piece exploring the issue of mentoring for Christians, and offers alternatives to the traditional one-on-one mentor relationship. Well worth a look.

Who Does What? 5 Observations on Clarifying Leadership Roles - This is a process that we have been going through recently at our church. Tony Morgan provides some great points on the importance of clarifying leadership roles in the church.

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Thought for the day...

"Compromised truth has no hope of rescuing the eternal souls of men and women..."

— John MacArthur

Farewell Steve Chalke

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

Now that I've got your attention with my John Piper-esque title, I'll clarify what I'm talking about. For those of you who are unaware, Steve Chalke is regarded as one of the United Kingdom's most prominent and respected preachers. He is now also very well known throughout the world for coming out in support of committed, faithful, same-sex relationships. You can read his statement here and can read an article by his good friend Tony Campolo (who is opposed to his viewpoint) here.

So what do I think? Firstly I want to start by saying that I want to make it clear that I am all for extending the love of Jesus to all people, regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. That is a given. That is our biblical mandate as followers of Christ. We are to love all people equally regardless of lifestyle. I think most Christians would agree with my view. What concerns me however, is when we as leaders compromise clear biblical truths in order to be culturally relevant in our times.

This is clearly what Steve Chalke has done in making this announcement. Steve argues that the bible condemns only non-committed same-sex erotic behaviour, and says nothing about 'same-sex Christian couples' living together in committed, exclusive relationships with one another. Unfortunately, Steve has made the choice to attempt to be culturally relevant at the expense of holding to clear biblical teaching. Steve Addison in his article accessible here, argues the point well:

"For thousands of years, God’s people have affirmed this teaching (heterosexual marriage). Steve and others have fallen into line with the current social trends, and walked away from God’s intention for marriage."

Steve Addison continues:

"Discipleship means teaching people to obey Christ’s commands. Movements are counter cultural. They follow Christ, not social trends... Disciple making movements always raise the tension with the surrounding culture. They are both radically engaged, and radically different. Fundamentalists are radically different, but radically disconnected. Progressives, like Steve, are connected with the culture, but not radically different."

Quite right. That is the tension that we battle with each day as Christians. Engaging with and living in worldly cultures, but not submitting to and 'becoming like' the worldly culture around us. Jesus was always counter cultural and he did not concede in any way from His message or from the truth of the Word of God. He stood firm in his beliefs whilst extending love, compassion and concern to all people everywhere.

The beauty of the Christian message is that it is different. It is radical. It is counter-cultural. It is salt to season an otherwise bland world. Matthew 5:13 says:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

We need to remain salty in our world. Yes, we need to extend love to Same Sex attracted people. But they key is this: the love we extend to them or anyone else for that matter,  needs to be based on the truth of the Word of God. That is true love. We are to remain salty regardless of what culture tells us is right and wrong. Let's be praying that Steve Chalke returns to a biblical view of marriage, becoming salty once again.

Vice Verses

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

I love the band Switchfoot. They have been a band that have been a part of my Christian journey throughout my teen and now mid-twenties years. I was introduced to one of their more recent songs called 'Vice Verses' by my Bible College lecturer this term. If you didn't know Switchfoot and only heard Vice Verses, you could very easily view Switchfoot as being a very negative, depressive, and even pessimistic band. However, they are anything but. They are arguably one of the most talented and creative Christian bands and have been for years now, writing positive and passionate songs about living life to the full for God's glory.

Jon Foreman - lead singer of Switchfoot - offers insight into what the song Vice Verses is about in his interview with Scott Firestone:

"I mean, your weakness is your strength and your strength is your weakness. You know, a kid grows up in a family with a lot of cash, and suddenly that becomes his curse as well as his blessing. Another kid, maybe across the border in Tijuana, has nothing and he has everything. [Some of those kids] have a hope and a joy that a spoiled rich kid north of the border can't possess, you know? That analogy plays out in other ways—a girl who's incredibly good-looking will be cursed with that all her life unless she learns there's more to her life."

"When I look at culture, I see we have so many gifts given to us that allow us to be lazy. I've heard it said that any culture that makes ease its goal has already begun its demise—I can't think of any nation where this would more relevant that my own. The United States has become the culture of comfort—growth, strength, and beauty are not things that come from comfort. They are refined qualities that are brought to the surface often by pain or trial."

Chad Butler - Switchfoot's Drummer - in a video accessible here, explains his view of Vice Verses:

"Vice Verses has become, rolling down the window and looking around and noticing the highs and the lows... this life is short and there are so many things that we miss along the way. There's joy, there's pain, there's good and bad happening around us all the time and... coming to grips with that and living in the tension... to me that's Vice Verses."

Jon Foreman sums up their intent in penning their thoughts on the song Vice Verses:

"It's not meant to be a dark morbid thought; it's more of a thought that, while we're here, while we still have breathe, I want to make it count."

Amen to that. Let's live and experience life - throughout the many mountain-top experiences and the valley troughs - living with Jesus. While we have breathe let's live life and make it count for God.

Weekly Wrap (24/02)

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

For those of you who have never before heard the story of Ian and Larissa, prepare to be challenged and encouraged by their inspirational story. Check out their video, hosted by www.desiringgod.org below.

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My Coming Out As A Friend of Dan Kelly & Chick-fil-A - A very interesting article written by Shane L. Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride in the USA, exploring his interactions with Dan Kelly, President of Chick-fil-A and opponent of Same-Sex Marriage. It is well worth a read.

Food for Thought: Essendon's 'Whatever It Takes' Slogan Depends on Values - Most of us in Australia would be familiar with the recent controversy around professional athletes taking performance enhancing drugs. This article by David Wilson provides some Christian food for thought on the issue.

God Uses Intentionality To Grow Us Spiritually - "The point of seeking God is not that He is hard to find. Rather He desires we constantly invest in this relationship and seek to follow Him in every area of life. This requires intentionality and ultimate priority in a disciple's life." Ed Stetzer provides some interesting statistics and research on "Seeking God" today.

Don't Drink The Dirty Water - "We're drinking from water that will never satisfy if we're not drinking from the Living Water (John 4:7-30)." Lore Ferguson writes a beautiful piece on the importance of getting our water from Jesus and Jesus alone.

7 Strategies To Empower Leaders - "It does no good to invite leaders to be a part of your team if you’re not going to let them lead." Tony Morgan provides some great points on empowering leaders within a church context.
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Thought for the day...

"Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart and soul to God."
— John Bunyon