May 2012
12 posts
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Watch
If you haven’t checked out Citizens yet, you need to.
• Worship band from the Mars Hill Church at the Univ. of Washington.
• $200 album that was #3 on iTunes Christian albums last week.
Stream it in the player above and then grab it for $4 on iTunes.
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April 2012
11 posts
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Are You Called or Codependant? →
Great post on Harvard Business Review:
If the work becomes more about satisfying a pathology than actually making progress, that’s going to affect our progress. Thomas Merton, the Christian Mystic, wrote, “There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by non-violent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork.” Merton was...
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Jesus is Our Advocate
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1
Everyone wants justice. The reality is, though, we want justice for other people and mercy for ourselves. We want “an eye for an eye” when we are wronged or when someone does something we deem horrible, but when it...
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Most Highlighted Passage of All Time on Kindle?
What is the most highlighted passage of all time in a Kindle book?
“Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.”
from the Hunger Games.
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“If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an...”
– D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (via dompascarella)
March 2012
10 posts
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What makes a good preacher?
Robert Capon on good preachers: “I think good preachers should be like bad kids. They ought to be naughty enough to tiptoe up on dozing congregations, steal their bottles of religion pills, spirituality pills, and morality pills, and flush them all down the drain. The church, by and large, has drugged itself into thinking that proper human behavior is the key to its relationship with God. What...
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Matt Chandler on Success
Matt Chandler has a great post over at the Resurgence today: “Success is a Hollow Goal”. Here’s an excerpt:
Here are a few men who loved our great God and King and were obedient beyond the norm:
Moses spends his whole life with grumbling whiners and dies without getting to walk into the promised land.
Samson suicide bombs the Philistines, and when the dust settles, he is dead...
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Some Preach From Envy or Rivalry
This is part 2 of a series. Read part 1 here.
Land of Disenchantment
Our culture is becoming more polarized. The right and left of almost any issue are drifting ever farther apart, and the church is not immune.
In The Courage to Be Protestant, David Wells broke down the evangelical world into three streams: marketers, emergents, and traditional Protestants. A couple years ago, I asked Dr....
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“We have had a rapid emergency of an all-instant society: instant therapy,...”
–
Neil Postman, Teaching as a Conserving Activity (1979), p. 76 (via dompascarella)
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How Can You Believe Anybody When Everybody is...
This is part 1 of a series. You can read part 2 here.
Advertising has fundamentally changed the way we communicate information.
The millennial generation has been called “Generation Sell” by the New York Times. This generation has grown up under such an onslaught of individualism and advertising messages that entrepreneurship is second nature.
“
But where does the individual end...
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February 2012
13 posts
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“Since we are victims and not really sinners, what we need is affirmation and...”
– Gerhard Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross
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The New York Times, Single Mothers, & Men
The New York Times did a sobering story this week on the milestone that now over 50% of births to women under 30 are born to women who aren’t married.
First thing I want to point out in the story is the debunking of the myth that living together before you get married is a good idea.
Almost all of the rise in nonmarital births has occurred among couples living together. While in some...
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“When a woman marries a man, she’s trusting that for the rest of her life...”
– Mark Driscoll
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Pictures of Life at Mars Hill Church Orange County →
Check out some recent pictures of life around Mars Hill Church Orange County.
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Pictures of Life at Mars Hill Church Orange County →
Check out some recent pictures of life around Mars Hill Church Orange County.
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Pictures of Life at Mars Hill Church Orange County →
Check out some recent pictures of life around Mars Hill Church Orange County.
benwaltert asked: Nick, What have been some of the joys and struggles of planting Mars Hill Orange County?
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Being Spirit-Filled is all about Jesus
There are two usual errors people make in regards to the Holy Spirit: they either elevate him over the other two members of the Trinity, or they ignore him altogether. On one extreme it becomes hyper-individualized, experience-driven charismatic chaos. The latter is as warm and welcoming as North Korea in December. I pastor in the part of the country that birthed some of the largest ...
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The Difference Between Bogeymen & Real Danger →
Great post from Ed Stetzer. Here’s my favorite paragraph:
I do see many self-identified Calvinists who are constantly discussing the 18th century as the golden age of theology and praxis in Baptist life. So, I don’t want them to get over Calvinism, but it would be nice if they got into the Third Millennium. At times, I am convinced some “nostalgic Calvinists” have forgotten our mandate...
“That God should play the tyrant over man is a dismal story of unrelieved...”
– Dorothy Sayers, Letters to a Diminished Church, 6-7 (via lifeinthestory)
January 2012
5 posts
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3 Things You Need to Know About Sin
After reading some recent reports in the news, these 3 big ideas came to mind about sin.
1. Confront Sin
Sin can be in word, thought, and deed (sins of commission) or by not doing what you should do (sins of omission). Sin is not neutral; it ultimately destroys and never leads to life (Gen. 4:7;Rom 8:1-8; 1 Peter 5:8). As John Owen famously said, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing...
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“The cross, that is, is not quiescent or dead. The cross is itself in the first...”
–
Gerhard Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross
schmuelnieto asked: Hi, my name is Sam and I'm currently a college student and I was just wondering if you had any recommendations for books to read. I've been in the faith since I've been born, but honestly, I've felt lukewarm at times. I guess I just need something to revive my perception of things. Anyway, thanks.