Blogs

When the job you love hurts you: exploring burnout in the workplace
“According to Merv Gilbert, an adjunct professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University, workplace burnout has three components. “You’re just wiped out. You don’t have any energy. The second thing is de-personalization or detachment. You just feel disconnected from what you’re doing. “The third thing is a sense of failure. You’re really not getting a sense of achievement or accomplishment from what you’re doing anymore,” he said. While Gilbert said it’s unclear whether burnout is becoming more prevalent, people are beginning to open up about their experiences. ”

Life Is Short
“Numbering our days is not an excuse for irresponsibility. It’s an invitation to think more seriously about eternity. It’s a call to work for the things that will keep working when we can’t.”

Dear Extended Families of Expats
Yesterday we said goodbye to my 79-year-old father and my 75-year-old mother who were visiting us from Scotland, probably for the last time.

“If you’re a close friend or family of someone who has moved far away to serve the Lord, you may feel saddened by their absence, or even abandoned. I want to tell you, on behalf of all of us expatriates (“expats”), that we love you. We really do. Whether we’ve moved away to serve as occupational missionaries or follow God’s leading to start a business, work in education, or study at a school, we miss you. Hopefully this letter will explain our situation and encourage you. ”

Introducing ‘Exploring the Bible’
“Reading the Bible is like taking a trip through God’s story, setting out to explore and experience the beautiful views found within. But without a map, it’s easy to get lost. Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids leads children ages 6–12 through the Bible one day at a time over the course of a year. Designed for use alongside any Bible, this workbook will help kids see the overarching story of Scripture and lay the foundation for a lifetime of discovering truths about God, humanity, and the gospel.”

Six Ways to Inspire Confident, Contagious Faith in Your Kids
“How do we help children and teens contend with the big questions? An apologist offers her take.”

Only Love Prevents Adultery
“Dear Friend, Although we haven’t met, I know at least one thing about you. I know you didn’t enter your marriage thinking, “How can I ruin this? How can I bring pain to this man, and our families, and our friends?” You began your marriage hoping it would become a life-long love story, filled with deep joy and satisfaction. And yet here you are today, thinking about things you never thought possible.”

The Half-Way Covenant & Whole-Hearted Youth Ministry
“Baptists and Presbyterians can agree regarding one application of child baptism in church history. What was known as the Half-way Covenant was a bad idea. Yet from it we can gain a valuable lesson regarding the church’s gospel duty to young people.” 

Why do we take our individual, personality, character, gifts, or calling and make that the sum total of godliness for everyone else?

The introvert equates godliness with quietness.

The extrovert equates godliness with activity.

The generous person equates godliness with giving.

The social person equates godliness with hospitality.

The workaholic equates godliness with hard-work.

The pastor equates godliness with preaching gifts.

The counselor equates godliness with discipling gifts.

The home-educator equates godliness with home-schooling.

The missionary equates godliness with mission support.

The evangelist equates godliness with outreach.

The reader equates godliness with a large library.

The happy person equates godliness with cheerfulness.

The melancholy person equates godliness with guilt.

The courageous person equates godliness with public witness.

The political person equates godliness with social action.

The practical person equates godliness with doing.

The intellectual person equates godliness with thinking.

The emotional person equates godliness with feelings.

The friendly person equates godliness with having lots of friends.

The artsy person equated godliness with “cultural engagement.”

Godliness should be measured not so much by what comes easiest to us but by the progress we’re making in areas we’re weakest in.

In The Disciple-Making Parent, Chap Betis says that “the years of twelve to twenty-one are absolutely crucial years in our children’s walk with the Lord.” Up to age 12, they have learned the faith of their parents, but about age 12 or 13 onwards they begin the process of either making that faith their own or of walking away from it.

It’s in the early teen years that they often start asking more challenging questions, they compare what they’ve been taught with what they see in the lives of Christians, and temptation grows more frequent and powerful.

At this point Chap Betis has seen parents fall into one of two extremes: disengagement or tighten control.

Disengagement: “One group of parents backs off. They throw up their hands, looking for the youth leader to keep their kids in the kingdom.”

OR

Tighten Control: “They still seek to make the smaller decisions for their young person just like when their child was five or six. Rather than asking questions to understand the thoughts their child is having, they’re still inclined to lecture. They do not recognize the changes that have occurred in their children.”

How then do we engage our children without controlling them? Betis answers:

Rather than employing command and control, we must become a persuading and inquiring coach. While obedience is still required, we must influence with our words, giving the reasons for what we say. This is the season of life when our emphasis should move to principles. As parents, this role change means that we are simultaneously an authority and a fellow disciple, an instructor and a fellow learner…The goal in discipleship is to move from command to persuasion, from discipline to discernment, from external controls to internal controls, and from parent control to Spirit control (1 Thessalonians 2:7, 11-12).

Blogs

Nabeel Qureshi (1983-2017)
This is a beautiful tribute to the muslim convert turned Christian apologist.

On Saturday, September 16, 2017, Nabeel Qureshi, age 34, entered into the joy of his master, Jesus Christ, after enduring a yearlong battle with cancer.

Five Consequences of a Life Out of Balance
Michael Hyatt explains “5 very important assets you are potentially putting at risk if you don’t keep your normal workload under 55 hours a week.” I’d simply add that habitually working 55+ hours per week is a recipe for disaster.

For Pastors: How to Vet Potential Counseling Referral Sources
“As a pastor, it will serve you well to get to know the mental health professionals in your community and identify several who have a strong faith commitment that can be a part of a trusted referral network. This post is meant to help you think through how to vet counselors in your community; whether (a) you are new to a community and building an initial referral network, or (b) a new counselor contacts your church and wants to become a referral resource.”

Boy or Girl? How do we relate to Transgender People?
“How should we respond to people who experience what is now called ‘gender dysphoria’ – someone who is deeply distressed by the disconnect between their sex and their sense of gender. How should we respond? We should do as Jesus commands and love our neighbour. That’s what we called to do no matter who we’re engaging with. But what does it look like to love your transgender neighbour in particular? Let me suggest several things…”

Kaine Is Simply Not Able to Speak Up Rightly for the “Least of These”
Ed Stetzer exposes Tim Kaine’s hypocrisy. As Ed says, the “least of these” includes the unborn.

When a Hurricane Destroys Your Distractions
This is a fascinating article about the social benefits of Hurricane Irma.

When my entire neighborhood was thrust out of our air conditioning, we discovered the gifts of community—good conversation, sharing stories, knowing that people are concerned for our welfare, s’mores. It was beautiful.

The Truth about the Rapture
Danny Hyde has produced a short eBook to present the Reformed view of the rapture. ”

Feeding on Christ When Jesus Read the Bible
“Here are 14 ways that Jesus would have understood the Old Testament to have been written both to and about Himself.”

Kindle Books

Manhood Restored: How the Gospel Makes Men Whole by Eric Mason $2.99.

Beating the College Debt Trap: Getting a Degree Without Going Broke by Alex Chediack $5.99.

The Autobiography of George Müller $0.99.

New Book

Making All Things New: Restoring Joy to the Sexually Broken by David Powlison.

Westminster Bookstore have published an interview with me about Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. They also have some great discounts for the next week with up to 50% off. Details here.

Here’s the first question and answer:

1) So far you’ve only written books for adults. Why write a book for kids and why did you choose this particular project?

To be honest, I didn’t set out to write a book for kids. A number of years ago, I started preparing a daily Bible reading plan for my own kids. It was usually 3-5 verses with either a simple question to answer or a verse to write out. Doing that, we worked our way through many different books of the Bible.

At some point I started posting the weekly plans online as I thought other parents might want to use them, and I was amazed at the positive response. There seemed to be a real demand for a simple daily Bible reading plan for kids. Crossway approached me a couple of years ago and we started talking about how we could adapt this into a book format that would take kids through the Bible in a year, resulting in Exploring the Bible.

Click through for answers to further questions such as:

2) Often Bible reading plans and devotionals for kids are either too ambitious or too watered down. How did you strike that balance to make this a substantive yet doable plan for kids (and their parents)?

3) What makes the 8-12 age range such an important time to read through the whole Bible? 

4) As a pastor, what is your hope for the kids in your own church who use this book?

You can access sample pages here.

Blogs

Four Types of Questions NOT to Ask in Your Small Group Bible Study
Melissa Kruger on the importance of asking the right questions in education:

The more years I taught, the more I realized students learned as much from my questions as my explanations. While lecture may offer knowledge, comprehension and even some application, questions force students deeper into Bloom’s taxonomy–analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Questions allow students to verbalize their understanding and learn as they share their answers. The mind focuses and engages in a different way when asked something than when told something.

Get Up, Stand Up!
The New York Times on the dangers of sitting

The scientists then found strong statistical correlations between sitting and mortality. The men and women who sat for the most hours every day, according to their accelerometer data, had the highest risk for early death, especially if this sitting often continued for longer than 30 minutes at a stretch. The risk was unaffected by age, race, gender or body mass. It also was barely lowered if people exercised regularly. But interestingly, the risk of early death did drop if sitting time was frequently interrupted. People whose time spent sitting usually lasted for less than 30 minutes at a stretch were less likely to have died than those whose sitting was more prolonged, even if the total hours of sitting time were the same.

Suggested Steps for Going from Text to Sermon
Great checklist, and not just for beginning preachers.

Why Relaxing Vacations Should Be at Least Eight Days Long
“Sometimes a quick vacation is better than nothing, but if you can swing it, try for at least eight days. Research suggests you need at least that much time to truly unwind and feel refreshed.

Pastoring Singles in a Sex-Crazed, Gender-Confused World
“Christian singles must pursue holiness in a world of friends with benefits, genderless children, and polyamory. They’ll be tested as to what they believe about sexuality, gender, and marriage. We all will. If we’re to shepherd singles faithfully in this sex-crazed, gender-confused world, we need to ground them in what the Bible teaches about being a Christian and being single. Here are six truths the Bible affirms about singleness.”

How to Journal through the Psalms
Journal your way through each psalm under three subheads: Prepare, Personalize, and Pray. Let’s give it a try with Psalm 3.

Kindle Books

Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission by Amy Simpson $4.99. Wonderful book. Cannot commend it enough.

Anxious: Choosing Faith in a World of Worry by Amy Simpson $3.99. A real eye-opener into the complex nature of anxiety and the need for a holistic approach.

Forgotten Songs by Ray Van Neste $2.99.