Christian Songwriting: A Conversation with Greg Cooper

At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Mikey Lynch interviews Greg Cooper in Melbourne.

Many will remember Greg as a member of Garage Hymnal and his beautiful songs such as ‘Hear our Prayer’.

“This extended interview is in two parts. First, Mikey discusses general principles with Greg about congregational songwriting, personal songwriting and the place of art and beauty in the Christian life. Second, Greg breaks down the composition and recording of one song—’The Same God’—in detail, drawing out general songwriting principles along the way.’”

– Listen here.

Preaching to Men

David Cook:

“This year I have been preaching at Mens’ days at churches here in Sydney.

Domestic violence is dominated by men; there is growing focus on ‘toxic’ men’s culture; suicide rates are dominated by men at a rate of 3 to 1; mens’ mental health is an area of growing need. Men and true masculinity are under pressure.

Male models, patterning healthy masculinity are scarce in our schools and single parent families are mostly mothered families.

Two areas needing special attention are:

How can I be a better man?

Where can I find purpose and meaning in life?

In every Gideon’s Bible, the ‘Where to look when..’ page is dominated by references to …”

– At The Expository Preaching Trust, David Cook writes about true manhood, purpose and meaning in life.

Image: A 2024 photo of Armidale’s Bishop Rod Chiswell with David Cook.

Humility and Peace: the relationship between the Bible and science

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“There are understandings/interpretations of the Bible that conflict with the conclusions of modern, empirical research – where science and the Bible are thought to be giving competing explanations of the same event or concept.

One way of reading the Bible leads to the conclusion that the Earth is 6000 years old while your local science department will tell you it is more like 4.5 billion years old.

Were human beings created in an instant from dust, or over billions of years through a gradual, meandering evolutionary process?

Was there a moment in our historical timeline at the curse of God on the sin of Adam and Eve when the physical nature of our universe changed?

Were there no volcanoes or earthquakes or floods or bushfires before the curse, or has the universe operated on the same physical principles since its creation, as the conclusions of mainstream geology and astronomy suggest?

Dr Lewis Jones is an astrophysicist from North Carolina, who moved to Sydney to do post doctoral research. Lewis is now director of the Simeon Network, the postgraduate and academic arm of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students.”

– Watch or listen here.

Thinking about the Occult — Church Society podcast

In the latest Church Society podcast, Tony Cannon asks Kirsten Birkett about the dangers and fascination of the occult, and what the Bible says about it.

Biblical and pastorally helpful.
31 minutes.

The Bible’s guide to time travel

“Time is a funny thing. It goes too fast. Then too slow. We want it to stand still and then wish it didn’t. We love losing track of it but incessantly strive to find it. There are few things more frustrating and difficult than running out of time or wasting it. We just can’t seem to get it right!

Why does time so often feel out of joint? …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Annabel Nixey begins a short series for time travellers.

The Animals — How Genesis helps us get the relationship right.

From Phillip Jensen:

“Humans have always enjoyed living with the animals of God’s creation. But what is our relationship with the animals, and how should we care for them?

Today we move from the abuse of animals to the worship of animals as we think about the Bible’s teaching on animals.”

– Here’s the latest episode of the Two Ways News podcast, where Peter and Phillip Jensen reveal why the lady next door complained.

New mobile game ‘Serpent and the Seed’ is Biblical and beautiful

“Bible-inspired computer games aren’t a new concept. The Christian gaming genre has been around for a long time. But arguably, no game has matched the artistry and narrative brilliance of The Serpent and the Seed, a new mobile game free to download in Apple’s App Store or on Google Play.

The game is the brainchild of London-based developer Andy Geers, who attends Euston Church (an offshoot of Dick Lucas’ St. Helen’s Bishopsgate). I’ve spent time exploring the game, which includes gorgeous animation and original music by Poor Bishop Hooper.

If you’re looking for an edifying, theologically solid new game for your kids (or yourself), this is a solid option. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition, Brett McCracken introduces The Serpent and the Seed – developed by Andy Geers, the man behind PrayerMate.

A Prayer based around Philippians 1:18-2:11

Here’s a prayer based around Philippians 1:18-2:11 –

Our dear loving heavenly Father,

We come to you with much thankfulness today.

In Philippians, we are amazed to hear again of the lengths to which you have gone to secure our salvation – even though it is totally undeserved – in any way – by us.

Your beloved Son, who – from eternity past – enjoyed glorious fellowship with you and the Holy Spirit, stepped down from his place in heaven.

We thank you that he came as a servant – he took upon himself human flesh and became one of us.

Yet – amazing as that was – he did not stop there.

We thank and praise you that he humbled himself in his obedience to you – even to the point of death – death on a cross – so that we could be saved.

Please help us to be like Jesus – living in humility – putting others first, so that they can hear the gospel.

Please unify us in that great cause of seeing men and women come to Christ.

May our manner of life be worthy of the gospel.

After the Lord Jesus died and rose again, you highly exalted him and bestowed on him the Name that is above every name.

We thank you that one day soon – every knee will bow before him and every person will acknowledge that he is Lord, to your honour and glory.

But our heart’s desire is that men and women everywhere would bow the knee to Jesus in this time, before the judgment day, honouring him as Lord and Saviour – for we know that will bring you even greater glory.

In that light today, we pray for the 90 million people of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

We certainly pray for peace – and for wisdom for the world leaders as they make decisions in these days.

Yet, while many are focussed on the international conflict, we know that there is a deeper spiritual battle taking place in Iran, for the eternal destiny of men and women.

And so we pray for the small but growing number of followers of the Lord Jesus in that country – and for the underground house churches.

Please help them – in the midst of danger and uncertainly and much persecution – to lovingly speak of Jesus without fear.

And please give their hearers open ears and hearts.

And right here in Australia, please help us to likewise speak, so that many of our friends and relatives will glorify you as they willingly and joyfully acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord.

And we ask all these things in his mighty name. Amen.

Andrew Heard: The Case for Goal-Driven Churches

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“Andrew Heard says ministries cannot be other than outcome-focused in their work – the question is will those outcomes be good or bad? Conscious or unconscious? Specific or vague?

He addresses critics who confuse having Biblical goals with adopting secular business practices.”

– Watch or listen here.

In praise of catechisms

“No names, no identifying details but in a Sunday School of mostly church kids the teacher asked ‘what is a Christian?’ And answer came there none.

Which got me thinking – maybe we need a catechism.

That’s a fancy word for a teaching document – often in Q and A form. The word Catechism is from the Greek katechein, which means ‘to teach orally or to instruct by word of mouth’…”

– At The Other Cheek, John Sandeman praises the idea of using a catechism in helping young people – and older ones – to know the Scriptures and know what Christians believe.

Of course, he’s not alone:

In 2012, Tim Keller made the case for catechesis –

“…in the evangelical Christian world today the practice of catechesis, particularly among adults, has been almost completely lost. Modern discipleship programs are usually superficial when it comes to doctrine. Even systematic Bible studies can be weak in drawing doctrinal conclusions. In contrast, catechisms take students step by step through the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer – a perfect balance of biblical theology and doctrine, practical ethics, and spiritual experience.

Catechesis is an intense way of doing instruction. The catechetical discipline of memorization drives concepts in deep, encouraging meditation on truth. …”

Our own Mark Earngey wrote in The Australian Church Record 18 months ago –

“Catechesis is the necessary bridge between the baptism of children and their later confirmation in the faith. The Book of Common Prayer baptismal service concludes with the explicit (and lengthy) command to godparents that they would teach the children the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Decalogue. Indeed, that the child would be ‘further instructed in the Church Catechism set forth for that purpose.’ The Church Catechism in the BCP is explicitly subtitled: ‘An instruction to be learned of every person before he be brought to be confirmed by the Bishop.’…

The decline in catechetical emphasis and the disappearance of the traditional catechetical elements (e.g. the Decalogue) would have surprised the theologians of the Reformation. …”

and back in 2010, J I Packer and Gary Parrett spoke with Michael Horton at The White Horse Inn on their book Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way. (The interview is well-worth hearing.)

It’s a very real challenge for churches and all of us as 21st century Christians.

On Preaching

David Cook introduces –

Simon Flinders recently spoke to our preaching club at Abbotsford on preaching.

Simon preached and then spoke about preaching, the following are his thoughts:

“Preaching has many detractors these days. There are many who question its place or its relevance, this is not new, it may be that the detractions come more frequently these days.

The attacks may come from bored and resentful pew sitters; from educators who are moving toward more student directed learning; from learning style advocates who argue for more varied presentation methods; from the social media generation who are not used to sitting and listening unless the content comes in super short grabs, YouTube hits and Insta reels; from those who value God’s voice in another form, like direct words of prophecy or dream revelation; from evangelists who may question preaching which they think may seem unattractive and even alienating to the visitor at church.

Why then should we persist with preaching? …”

– Read it all at The Expository Preaching Trust.

Does it matter how much a pastor preaches?

“The latest edition of the ACR includes the results of a survey we conducted in order to investigate how frequently senior ministers are preaching in relation to the number of full-time staff and adult church attendance.

On the whole, there is a negative correlation between the number of full-time staff and the amount a pastor preaches.

On average, a minister serving as the only full-time staff member of a church (35% of responders) preaches 4.3 weeks out of 5. For those serving in a staff team of two full-time equivalents (50% of responders), that average drops to 3.5 weeks out of 5.

What is notable, however, is that this trend flattens out as the size of the staff team increases, stabilising at about 3 weeks out of 5. For a staff team of three (26% of responders), the average is 3.2 weeks out of 5. For a staff team of four (13% of responders), the average is 3 weeks out of 5. For a staff team of five or more (27% of responders), the average slightly increases back up to 3.1 weeks of out 5. This indicates that pastors have a general preference to preach no less than 3 in every 5 weeks.

This, however, prompts the question: Does it matter how much a pastor preaches? Or more specifically, does it matter to God how much a pastor preaches? …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Charles Cleworth explores the question.

Certainty for Eternity launches YouTube channel

Mark Gilbert at Certainty for Eternity reports they have launched a YouTube channel with the aim of better equipping people to speak about Jesus with their Roman Catholic friends.

In the first video posted, Mark speaks with Leonardo De Chirico on Learning about Roman Catholicism from Pope Francis’ Funeral.

– Watch here.

We neglect it at our peril

“We know that prayer is a crucial discipline for the individual believer, but how often do we consider that it is also a crucial discipline for the assembled church?

The Bible prescribes only a few elements for local church worship, but among them is prayer. …”

– A brief exhortation from Tim Challies.

Gafcon photo.

Reimagining Science Fiction

“In our increasingly secular society, the phrase ‘Christian fiction’ probably elicits more discomfort than it does excitement, even for Christians. Often rightfully criticised as clunky and overly tactless in its messaging, the ability to hammer home biblical truths without altogether breaking a good story seems to be a lost art!

Perhaps this is why the work of C.S. Lewis often stands out in my mind. …”

– Isaac Kwong commends C S Lewis’ first foray into science fiction, Out of the Silent Planet, as an exciting and challenging read. At AP.

Image: The first close up picture of Mars, 15 July 1965.

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