Pastoral Picks (10/11)

Depression and schizophrenia
Could your depression be caused by inflammation in your gut? Some recent research on the gut/brain axis in depression. And The Wall Street Journal reports research on a hormone that may help treat “people with schizophrenia, autism and certain other psychiatric disorders related to social interaction.”

Encouraging the unemployed
Timely and helpful 4-part series from Paul Tautges (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Overcoming Temptation
Tim Challies has been doing a great job summarizing and simplifying John Owen on Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Part 1, and Part 2).

How to love your Pastor
How to love your pastor was written by Paul Tautges’ co-pastor, a man with 50 years pastoral experience! And this post by Brian Croft adds a further way to love your pastor: Ensure he takes a day off each week.

Consecutive Expository Preaching on Numbers
How do you divide up the book of Numbers for a preaching series? Doing the Numbers is Adrian Reynolds great answer at the Proclamation Trust.

The Christian Pundit
Here’s one you may want to add to your RSS reader or simply visit regularly. My Church History colleague at PRTS, Dr. William Vandoodewaard has started The Christian Pundit,  a tag-tem blog with his wife, Rebecca, both of whom are fine and stimulating writers. You’ll find an interview with Bill about his book on The Marrow Controversy here.

Reading
How do you decide what books to read? Tony Reinke lists six priorities he uses to make this decision. And you’ll definitely want to get his new book Lit! A Christian guide to reading books.

Traffic jams
Thankfully not a problem in my leisurely 8 minute drive to work each day. However, if you are afflicted with a long commute or regularly stuck in traffic, Trevin Wax has Five ways to redeem your ride to work.