Nick Bogardus: Archive

Nick Bogardus

February 2012

1 post

“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

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...

“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.

December 2011

3 posts

Stuff White People Like #2: Religions Their... →

White people will often say they are “spiritual” but not religious. Which usually means that they will believe any religion that doesn’t involve Jesus. Read the rest here.

November 2011

11 posts

daviddmeye asked: Five favorite books?

jasminecrystal asked: Hi Pastor Nick, I was just reading some of your articles! They are very articulate and informative about God and culture. I really enjoyed reading "The Decline of the Nuclear Family" on The Resurgence!

“The mad mob does not ask how it could be better, only that it be different. And...”

– —Martin Luther

austinjwalker asked: love your site! Did you go through the FA program in Little Rock?

“Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to...”

– Martin Luther

October 2011

2 posts

Lady Gaga: People Pleasing as a Maze With No Exit

I’m telling you, Stephen Marche is brilliant. In this article over at Esquire, he just summed up the end results of people pleasing, the fear of man, actual creativity vs. mimicking, and what that reveals about a generation in a few devastating key strokes. Why did we all laugh at Björk when she wore a swan but cheered Gaga when she wore Kermits? Was it because Björk’s radical...

September 2011

4 posts

Being Culturally Relevant

Mars Hill pastor Justin Holcomb, author of Rid of My Disgrace: Hope & Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault, on a Christian being a missionary in culture. ROCK: Do we really have to keep up with the culture just to make our message relevant and easily understood? Justin Holcomb: Any good missionary is going to learn the language and customs of a people group so that they can effectively...

Iranian Christian Pastor Faces Potential Execution

Read the whole story here. Bottom line is that he faces execution by hanging on Wednesday because he apparently converted from Islam to Christianity. When asked to “repent” by the judges, Youcef stated, “Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?” The judges replied , “To the religion of your ancestors, Islam.” To which he...

Christian Smith: "Liberal Whateverism"

Breaking Radio Silence I haven’t posted anything in over a month because, in addition to planting Mars Hill Orange County, I had the opportunity to join a church planting cohort with six other pastors from all corners of the US. It has been brutal in terms of traveling - if anyone has any travel health tips I welcome them! - but it has been a great experience and I’m grateful to be...

August 2011

6 posts

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The...”

– Tim Keller (via dompascarella)

Where Are All the Good Men? The WSJ, New York...

A Massive Culture Shift There is a massive shift happening right now in our culture. The ink and pixels that have spilled on the change are markedly hopeless and without answers. To see the tip of the iceberg, we only need to look at the LA Times from last month. The nuclear family is now the minority of households in California. “New census figures show that the percentage of Californians...

“Most people, if they have really learned to look into their own hearts, would...”

– C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

““I’m shocked by anyone who doesn’t consider Los Angeles to be...”

– -Chuck Klosterman

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and...”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (via mikeanderson)

July 2011

14 posts

“The only people who can ever put ideas into context are people who don’t...”

– -Chuck Klosterman My friend Nate humorously, and accurately, describes people like this as ‘crowd surfers’.

“* Students learn only a small part of what you teach them. They learn what...”

– DA Carson on The Gospel & Social Action.

“The unreservedness of life together makes one person open to another; in the...”

– Diedrich Bonhoeffer 1930, as quoted by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, page 104

Report on the Effects of Multi-tasking on Our...

From the San Francisco Chronicle: There’s growing concern among scientists that indulging in these ceaseless disruptions isn’t good for our brains, in much the way that excessive sugar or fat - other things we evolved to crave when they were in shorter supply - isn’t good for our bodies. A team at UCSF published a study last week that found further evidence that multitasking...

“Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless...”

– Diedrich Bonhoeffer quoted by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, page 85

Celebrity Culture as Religion in Disguise

Stephen Marche is a pop culture critic for Esquire and The National Post. He also writes for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and for the past year or so has become one of my favorite cultural critics. “Celebrity culture is religion in disguise. It pretends to be junk while giving us the sustenance that we need. Celebrities live like gods; they act like gods. They dwell...

From 30 Rock: Kenneth: What’s a back door brag? Jenna: Backdoor bragging is sneaking something wonderful about yourself in everyday conversation. Like when I tell people it’s hard for me to watch American Idol cause I have perfect pitch. You try it. Kenneth: Oh, it’s hard for me to watch American Idol because there’s a water bug on my channel changer. The Wall...

New York Texture

I love this city. jordanbutcher:

jerryaddison asked: Good Morning Nick,

Just wanted to see if there will be opportunities other than Saturday afternoons at 4pm to plug into Mars Hill OC.

Thanks,

Jerry

hannamariepellissier asked: Hey there,

I stumbled across your blog and was interested in the role you play at MH.

I am in college thinking about studying marketing and I was wondering if that was similar to what you do as a PR Director? I really want to get a degree that will allow me to be involved in the church professionally and was wondering if you may have any insight about it :)

June 2011

1 post

May 2011

7 posts

First Mars Hill Church Orange County Pre-Launch...

I wrote a recap of our first Pre-Launch meeting with Pastor Mark over at the Mars Hill Orange County site. We had prayed for 300 people but God blew apart our expectations and nearly 700 showed up to hear about Jesus, the Gospel, and God’s mission. I got to meet a ton of people passionate about people meeting Jesus in Orange County and heard great stories about people bringing Muslim...