From Reformation to Revival
Lee Gatiss has been speaking in Cambridge at the ‘Saturday School of Theology’ on the theme ‘From Reformation to Revival’.
The audio of the first two sessions is now available, with the third to come. Below are the descriptions of each session: Read more
David Jones on Church Planting
Here’s a challenging talk on evangelism and church planting – from David Jones, church planter, pastor, and Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. He spoke recently in Adelaide.
The audio quality is not great, but the video file is very much worth watching. (Image: Pilgrim Hill.)
Questions for Mark Dever
Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC was recently asked a series of short questions by christianity.com.
Questions include: What should I look for in a local church?
What books would you recommend on the topic of Church history?
Is heaven going to be a renewal of this earth?
Find them here.
Richard Bewes and Alec Motyer in conversation
Recently Richard Bewes and Alec Motyer were in Inverness, where they were interviewed by David Meredith, Minister of the Free Church of Scotland.
The video interview runs for 47 minutes, and covers their friendship, Keswick, preaching, Christ in all the Scriptures, and much more. (h/t Reformation21.) See also interviews with John Blanchard, Sinclair Ferguson and Helen Roseveare.
Themelios — November 2011
Issue 3 of Volume 36 of Themelios is now available as a free download from The Gospel Coalition website.
Contributions include an editorial on Spiritual Disciplines by Don Carson, and An Evaluation of the 2011 Edition of the NIV, by Rodney Decker. There’s also a host of book reviews. Worth taking the time to read.
Marriage Petition to the 2011 ALP National Conference
Resolutions calling on the Australian Government to retain the current definition of marriage have been passed by –
- the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia in September 2010
- the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney in October 2011
- and the Standing Committee of the Provincial Synod of New South Wales in November 2011.
Members of churches are being urged add their voices through a petition being circulated by the Australian Christian Lobby. It affirms the current definition of marriage as “the union of a man and a women to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life”.
The hope is to have 100,000 people sign the petition before the ALP’s National Conference in December. Read more
Is God a Delusion?
Three weeks ago, at the invitation of the Oxford University Christian Union, William Lane Craig addressed the challenges of Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. See his lecture at BeThinking.org, run by the UCCF.
(Dawkins had been invited to debate Craig, but declined to take part.)
Planning a Christmas sermon series
At the 9Marks Blog, Michael McKinley has some suggestions on planning sermons for Christmas.
Might come in handy!
The Columbo plan — Do you mind if I ask you a question?
A few years ago we pointed to an interview with Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason ministries in the US. Now Justin Taylor has links to a video presentation where Koukl explains his approach to apologetics. Entertaining and encouraging.
Jesus and Richard Dawkins
In a recent lunchtime gathering at St Helen’s Bishopsgate, William Taylor addressed the challenge of the ‘new atheists’. This is a six minute video clip from a longer message.
Big Porn Inc
At The Centre for Public Christianity, Justine Toh interviews Melinda Tankard Reist on her new book (‘Big Porn Inc’) exposing the destructive forces of the Mega porn industry. See the interview here.
(She’s also speaking in Sydney on 21 November. For more information and to register, see the Centre for Christian Living at Moore College.)
And Steve Kryger at Communicate Jesus has a list of online safety resources.
A sweet and bitter providence
This album, inspired by John Piper’s book A Sweet & Bitter Providence, is worth checking out:
“Big truth and beautiful sounds are a powerful combination. The Joy Eternal has touched me both ways. One of my biblical sieves for what is real is the apostolic word ‘sorrowful yet always rejoicing’. I hear that in these songs, and they ring true. Beautifully true. May God give them wings.” – John Piper.
Get it here. (And you can leave a tip.)
9Marks eJournal — Revitalize
The latest 9Marks eJournal is on the theme of “Revitalize: Why We Must Reclaim Dying Churches – and How”. Editor Jonathan Leeman writes:
“Church planting is a great thing, and there’s no need to take anything away from it. But there should also be a default setting in a Christian’s heart that always longs to see dying churches revitalized.”
See it at the 9Marks website.
New Church Army website
The Church Army in Australia has relaunched its website – here.
Includes a link to the National Director Martin Morgan’s recommendations of good books on Evangelism.
The Barber Who Wanted to Pray
The Barber Who Wanted to Pray is a new book for children by R C Sproul. It tells the story of Martin Luther’s barber and his question about prayer. Beautifully illustrated with an outline of Luther’s advice on prayer.
You can read the entire book at the Crossway website (scroll down to ‘Preview the Book’), and it’s available locally from Reformers bookshop.