Blogs

4 Ways to Reach a Child’s Heart by Richard Phillips | Ligonier Ministries Blog
Rick Phillips says a godly father plants four good things in the hearts of his children.

• The seeds of his own faith in Christ.
• A longing for truth and goodness.
• His hopes and dreams for the godly man or woman the child will become.
• His own confidence that the child has all the gifting and capacity needed to serve God faithfully in whatever way God may genuinely call

The Two Words Fathers Should Say to Their Children | Joe Carter
Here are three ways your own spiritual habits can be used as a model for your children:”

Orlando Shooting: Jihadist Terror Blamed on Innocent Christians | National Review
David French: “American Christians are responsible for things they don’t believe. Sharia-observant Muslims, by contrast, aren’t responsible for the things they do believe.”

Seven Deadly Progressive Education Myths – The Federalist
Here are six of them:

• Learning facts interferes with developing understanding
• Teacher-led instruction is passive
• Because of 21st-century changes in technology and in the economy, students must be taught differently
• We should teach “transferable skills” such as critical thinking rather than content knowledge
• Projects and activities are the best way for students to learn;
• Teaching knowledge is indoctrination.

“To Do” vs. “To Be” – Biblical Woman
What does a “To Be” list look like? This article doesn’t really get off first base in terms of application but its core point is an excellent insight that we can all develop further

“It’s Going to be an Issue.” Biola and Religious Liberty
Biola University, located in Southern California and one of the country’s most well-known and prestigious evangelical colleges, now finds itself arguing for its right to be evangelical. The state legislature is seeking to amend a non-discrimination law which would stipulate that the only schools that can be granted religious exemptions to the non-discrimination statutes are schools that exist for the training of pastors and theological educators.

Don’t Get Surprised by Burnout | HBR
Love your work? You’re at much greater risk of burnout. 

Kindle Books

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

Inerrancy and the Gospels by Vern Poythress $2.99.

The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C S Lewis by Alan Jacobs $1.99.

How to Read the Bible Through the Jesus Lens by Michael Williams $2.99.

Video

This Girl With Down Syndrome Just Graduated High School with 3.7 GPA

Brain and Behavior Journal recently published a research paper about anxiety in the adult population which looked at about a thousand other anxiety studies. They defined anxiety disorder as “excess worry, hyperarousal, and fear that is counterproductive and debilitating.” Some of the findings include:

• In America, anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorder, costing the United States $42 billion a year.
• Less attention research, and funding has been devoted to anxiety compared with depression.
• Four out of every 100 people experience anxiety around the world.
• There is a growing link between anxiety disorder and opioid addiction.
• Untreated anxiety has been associated with significant personal and societal costs such as frequent primary and acute care visits, decreased work productivity, unemployment, and impaired social relationships.
• Globally, women and young adults (under 35) are suffering the most with women almost twice as likely as men to experience anxiety.
• Suggested reasons for the gender gap include pregnancy, differences in brain chemistry and hormonal fluctuations, or how men and women tend to cope with stress differently.

Blog Posts

Help Me Teach the Bible: Justin Taylor and Dane Ortlund on a Bible Teacher’s Library
Nancy Guthrie interviews Crossway’s Justin Taylor and Dane Ortlund about the books they believe are essential for the Bible teacher, publishing projects they’re most pleased to have been a part of, as well as what they’re working on now.

Seven Secular Resources I Read Every Week – ThomRainer.com
Thom Rainer lists seven secular resources that he reads at least once a week in order to understand the culture and world in which we live and make him a more effective gospel witness.

10 Thoughts on Speaking (and Not) In a Digital World | Kevin DeYoung
Kevin DeYoung thinks aloud about how he decides what to say (and not to say) in the world of social media.

Singled Out | The Exchange
Do single adults in your church receive the “ministry leftovers.”

How Grandparenting Redeemed Our Family | Her.meneutics | ChristianityToday.com
A new trend in grand-parenting.

How to Keep Your Friends When Life Happens | Her.meneutics | ChristianityToday.com
Interview with Wheaton College communication professor and friendship expert, Emily Langan.

Schools that give away condoms see more teen births, not fewer – Vox
Well who would have guessed?

“Access to condoms in school led to a 10 percent increase in teen births. The effects were concentrated in schools that offered condoms with no required counseling. Those schools also saw that gonorrhea rates for women rose following the condom programs.”

Kindle Books

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance by Tony Dungy $3.99.

The Last Christian on Earth: Discover the Enemy’s Plot to Undermine the Church by Os Guinness $1.99.

The Gospel at Work: How Working for King Jesus Gives Purpose and Meaning to our Jobs by Greg Gilbert

Blogs

9 Types of Bivocational Ministries | ChuckLawless.com
“I’m convinced we will not win North America and the nations to Christ if we don’t affirm and encourage these roles as well as full-time roles. ”

The Gift of Being Limited | Christine Hoover, For The Church
“I was starting to see what God was trying to say to me:

• God = limitless goodness and faithfulness
• Me = limited in every way
• God-designed limits for me = God’s goodness and faithfulness to me”

Christian, Do You Love God’s Law? | Sinclair Ferguson, Ligonier
“Think again of Ben Crane. Why keep the complex rules of golf? Because you love the game. Something similar, but greater, is true of the believer. Love the Lord, and we will love His law—because it is His. All is rooted in this beautiful biblical simplicity.”

The Dangerous Divide Between Theology and Practicality | Ed Stetzer, The Exchange 
“In many corners of the church today, there’s an unhelpful and unhealthy division between theology and practical ministry. This division is damaging to both the discipline of theology and the practice of ministry because one without the other causes an imbalance.”

Religious War and the Martyrs of Orlando | Rod Dreher, The American Conservative
More proof of the LGBT movement using the mainstream media to blame Orlando on Christians.

New York Times Can’t Figure Out Orlando Terrorist’s Motive | Sean Davis, The Federalist
“In the fantasyland of modern progressive politics, if a boy identifies as a girl, then he’s a girl. But if a gay Muslim registered Democrat identifies as a martyr for the Islamic State, he’s still a Republican.”

Research: Sleep-Deprived Leaders Are Less Inspiring | Christopher M. Barnes, Harvard Business Review
“We found evidence that sleep-deprived leaders tend to be less charismatic (meaning they will have a harder time inspiring their teams), and sleep-deprived team members attribute less charisma to their leaders (meaning that they are more difficult to inspire). This is important because many leaders are sleep deprived most of the time.”

New Book

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

The Life We Never Expected: Hopeful Reflections on the Challenges of Parenting Children with Special Needs by Andrew and Rachel Wilson

Kindle Books

Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How They Fight, What They Believe by Malcolm Nance ($1.99)

Comfort the Grieving: Ministering God’s Grace in Times of Loss by Paul Tautges ($3.99)

The Pastor’s Ministry: Biblical Priorities for Faithful Shepherds by Brian Croft ($3.99)

Rediscovering Discipleship: Making Jesus’ Final Words Our First Work by Robby F. Gallaty ($3.99)

His Loving Law, Our Lasting Legacy: Living the Ten Commandments and Giving Them to Our Children by Jani Ortlund ($9.59)

“There’s something about storytelling that really breaks into the core of our beings by bringing various things into focus which ultimately captivates our minds and resonates with us in so many compelling ways.” ~ Darryl Bradford.

I’m delighted to share the news that filmmaker Darryl Bradford Jr. has joined the staff at Puritan Reformed Seminary as our Video Producer and Editor.

Darryl comes to PRTS by way of his own journey and story. He grew up in Detroit and nearby suburbs as a professing Christian with a loving family. Despite being exposed to the Gospel he grew disillusioned to the faith upon graduating from Michigan State University.

However, with his major concentration in Video Production, it was his love for visual media that led him to a series of videos that confronted him with his sin and his need of a Savior.

Now being rescued, an overwhelming desire to share Christ with others burned in his soul and the Lord simultaneously began opening up opportunities in his profession.

His hard work in developing his craft and desire for storytelling resulted in receiving 2 Emmy Awards for his documentary film work.

His passion for God’s Word, people and visual arts has now led him to pursue theological studies and also join the staff as Video Producer/Editor at PRTS where he will be involved in filming lectures, producing educational films tailored for distance learning, telling the story of PRTS to the wider world through film, as well as making short videos that share our Reformed and Puritan heritage with the wider world.

His wife of 8 years and 3 young children are members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and they look forward to this new adventure and the Lord’s leading in Grand Rapids. Here’s Darryl’s demo reel and another sample of his work below that.

Blogs

5 Times to Say No to Yourself to Stay Productive | Time Management Ninja
Here are 5 times that you need to say no in order to get more done.

ARP Synod Approves Report On Race Relations | The Aquila Report
“We, the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, do confess the sinful failings of our church in the past in regard to slavery and racism. We reaffirm that all people are made in the image of God. We also reaffirm our historic stance that the Gospel should be offered freely to all sinners regardless of race or ethnicity through the preaching and teaching of God’s holy, inerrant, and infallible Word.”

Who Pastors the Pastor? | Brent Prentice, For The Church
Here are five ways pastors and churches can work together to care for the pastor.

What Book Shall I Preach On Next? | Adrian Reynolds, The Proclamation Trust
10 questions to ask when choosing a book for consecutive expository preaching.

The Christ-Shaped Pastor | Mark Johnston, Place for Truth
“There is no shortage of handbooks on what it means to be an effective pastor; but none can begin to compare with actually meeting someone who is just that. To have such a man as your pastor, or to cultivate a friendship with someone who embodies the qualities needed for the task, is guaranteed to leave an imprint on your life in the best possible way. The reason being that what shapes a man for this kind of service is nothing less than the imprint of Christ – the true Pastor – upon his life.”

You Won’t Believe How Chick-Fil-A Responded To The Orlando Attack | Bre Payton, The Federalist
In the wake of the Orlando terrorist attack, the worst strike on U.S. soil since 9/11, employees at Chick-Fil-A restaurants in the Orlando area performed a beautiful act of kindness.

Orlando: The Reichstag Fire | Rod Dreher, The American Conservative
Rod Dreher prophesies that Orlando will be turned against Christians:

Orlando is a genuine and appalling atrocity that will lead to the demonization, in law and in custom, of orthodox Christians and any who disagree with whatever LGBTs and their allies want.

For further proof read Scapegoating Of Christians Begins | Rod Dreher, The American Conservative

Kindle Deals

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

The Pastor’s Family: Shepherding Your Family through the Challenges of Pastoral Ministry by Brian and Cara Croft ($2.99)

PROOF: Finding Freedom through the Intoxicating Joy of Irresistible Grace by Daniel Montgomery and Timothy Paul Jones ($3.99)

The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language by Melvyn Bragg ($1.99)

The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson ($1.99)