How to be shallow

On to a Good Thing

Your weekly filter of news and interesting stuff from the internet.

Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

The Proc Trust have made this article by Sinclair Ferguson freely available. It's on faithful Old Testament preaching without ignoring history. If this is of interest, you might want to check out The Gospel Coalition's site packed full of similar resources that we mentioned a few weeks ago.

For anyone who watched the BBC's documentaries The Bible's Buried Secrets, there's an interesting article about what it actually uncovered (or you could complain to the BBC).

Neil Powell has written 13 questions to help churches think through how to support women with regard to work.

Justin Taylor followed up his If...then post on 1 John with a Whoeever post along the same lines.

And finally, here's a story from SydneyAnglicans speaking about a video that we're definitely NOT going to post but everyone should know about.

On to a Good Thing

Your weekly filter of news and interesting stuff from the internet.

More Easter resources
The Aussie-run site, Jesus All About Life, has made some Easter Story Animations for both schools work and church ministries complete with lesson plans and activity sheets. Focusing on Jesus' death and resurrection, they're perfect for Easter services.
http://www.jesusallaboutlife.com.au or download the videos. The intro video posted at the bottom of this post.

Reading the Bible
Crossway have released one of their excellent articles available in the ESV Study Bible as a PDF to download. Written by Packer, Piper and others, it's all about Reading the Bible.
http://www.esvstudybible.org/images/excerpt-reading.pdf

Good Preaching?
Archie Poulos, over at SydneyAnglicans, briefly discusses why one person can think preaching is good while others don't.
http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/ministry/churchlife/what_makes_good_preaching/

If...then...
Justin Taylor posts a very simple but helpful table analysing 1 John's if...then... structure. If you read this post then you will be encouraged...
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/03/31/if-then-in-1-john/

On to a Good Thing

Your weekly filter of news and interesting stuff from the internet.

Fervr: Quality Christian website for teenagers
If you've not heard of Fervr yet, then chances are you're not in youthwork! This really well designed website, run by a group of Australians, is a great place to direct any teenager to. Articles, videos, Q&A, film reviews all from a thoroughly biblical point of view. For example, check out their latest article on How Girls Bully.
http://fervr.net/

A couple of musical links for you now:

Sovereign Grace has released a new album - Risen - celebrating the resurrection
USD$5 from their website, or USD$10 from iTunes.

Watch a behind-the-scenes video with Bob Kauflin about the album.

Also, Keith and Kristyn Getty, celebtrating St Patrick's Day this week, have made three songs available for free download on their website; MP3 links here Behold the Lamb, The Power of the Cross and Come, People of the Risen King (see a Youtube clip of them performing).

And finally, just to flag it up even more, the Video of the Week. St Helen's Bishopsgate produced this clear presentation of the gospel for Easter a couple of years ago now, but it's still brilliant. Perhaps it's worth suggesting for your Easter services?

On to a Good Thing

Your weekly filter of news and interesting stuff from the internet.

Just a brief note on the picture to the right. A number of my colleagues have asked me what on earth it is, so to clear up any confusion, it's a colander. Something often used with vegetables...


Promoting Easter
Those guys in Sydney have gathered together some ideas about how to market Easter at church this year. Now is the time to be thinking about how we're promoting our services. How are you going to reach out?
http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/ministry/technology/hows_your_church_promoting_its_services_this_easter/

Should a pastor preach or clean toilets?
I think the title says it all. Article from US blog Practical Shepherding.
http://practicalshepherding.com/2011/03/14/should-a-pastor-preach-or-clean-toliets/

Google your body
Christ Church down in Kingston-Upon-Thames points us to the new body search of the human anatomy which Google are working on. As their minister says, 'discover more of how well God has made you'.
http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com

Reverse thinking
The Resurgence have posted a link to a video by Deo Volente Media which is a great little word play. Make sure you get to at least 1min 15.

On to a Good Thing

Your weekly filter of news and interesting stuff from the internet.

How the Bible is like The Sun
Tony Payne of Matthias Media writes an interesting article about why the Bible is like a newspaper in the way we should approach, read and react to it.
http://solapanel.org/article/why_the_bible_is_like_a_newspaper

10 Myths about Evangelism
Jeff Keeney's blog has a list of 10 myths we tell ourselves about evangelism. With lots of missions being run at the moment in the lead up to Easter, it's useful to be reminded of these.
http://gospelcentric.org/2011/03/07/top-ten-myths-about-evangelism/

Who built the ark?
The BBC reports on a survey in which a local church asked shoppers five questions about the Bible, lamenting the lack of Bible knowledge in the community. Made me wonder which 5 questions I'd ask. Would they be the same five?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/tyne/hi/front_page/newsid_9418000/9418151.stm

Video games
Here's a four minute excerpt from a Mark Driscoll sermon on Luke 14 in which he touches on video gaming. With his usual helpful directness, he shows why they're not sinful, but just stupid and gives a great alternative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ctQOmzsvisQ

On to a Good Thing

Your weekly filter of news and interesting stuff from the internet.

Foster carers
One of the bigger stories of this week was the report that a Christian couple had been banned from becoming foster carers; as it turned out the ruling wasn't quite as straightforward as that. John Richardson wrote this piece for The Times which helpfully takes us through the issues and points out the concerns we should still have for Christian freedom of belief.
http://ugleyvicar.blogspot.com/2011/03/christian-foster-carers-still-cause-for.html

John Dickson on the Third Way
John Dickson has written a thought-provoking piece on the place of homosexuality and religion in today's society and, in particular, the possiblity of a third way, where you can be neither pro-gay or a religious bigot.
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/44682.html

Parachurch
The latest 9Marks ejournal is out now. This edition is on the relationship between church and parachurch (roughly defined as organisations that work outside the traditional church in social welfare or evangelism). Are they a good thing? Useful thoughts in these articles.
http://www.9marks.org/ejournal/church-and-parachurch-friends-or-foes

Don Carson raps!
Last week we linked to The Voice rapping the Heidleburg Catechism. Well, this week, he's gone one step further and managed to record a rap about the Westminster Catechism featuring Don Carson.
http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/blogs/cj-mahaney/post/Westminster-Catechism-Rap.aspx

Know anyone going to Bible college?
Kevin DeYoung has a few useful questions to ask guys considering college or seminary. Can we suggest you take a moment to forward these helpful reflections on to anyone you know considering this path?
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/03/03/questions-for-future-and-present-seminarians/


And finally, our thoughts are with Greg Cushing, the Cambridge scrum-half who we blogged on yesterday. We understand that the score was rather one-sided...

On to a Good Thing

Your weekly filter of news and interesting stuff from the internet.

New blog on the Old Testament
The chaps over at the Gospel Coalition have launched a new blog called Preaching Christ in the Old Testament. "Whether you preach regularly, lead a small group, or simply want to learn more about the Bible, you’ll find resources here that will unveil the beauty of this story [the OT]." Definitely one to add to the list of "check regularly".
http://thegospelcoalition.org/preaching-christ/

How to give a rubbish sermon
Following up from last week's "How not to do church", London pastor Richard Perkins shows us how not to give a sermon. As he says, it's helpful to know what we're trying to avoid!
http://theurbanpastor.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/seven-things-that-make-a-sermon-rubbish/

Let's go viral?
Sydney Anglicans have a thought-provoking article about using viral internet videos for evangelism - using a Portugese video about the Nativity as an example.
http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/ministry/technology/9_million_views_of_the_christmas_story/

Rapping the catechism
A bit old now (as we measure time on the interweb), but Curt "Voice" Allen wins his bet with Kevin DeYoung that he couldn't rap on DeYoung's book about the Heidelburg Catechism. Even if you're not into rap (or catechisms!), give this a listen. Lyrics here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXpAoIZPzOA&feature=related