For What it’s Worth…

This is not a book review, as much as a notice of intended reviewing!

Voddie Baucham’s new book What He Must Be: if he wants to marry my daughter doesn’t seem to be available in Australia yet since it was only published 3 weeks ago.  With the poor state of the Australian dollar I’m reluctant to buy too many books online at the moment, so I’m keeping it to the bare necessities from Amazon, B & N, ChristianBook.com & Monergism Books!

Anyway, being that I’m a father of a daughter, the title of this book grabbed my attention instantly. (OK, so Heidi is only 3, but I like to be prepared!).  I’ve listened to a talk by Vodide Baucham about this topic (in fact, with this same title) and his assessment of what’s wrong with much of how relationships are established today is very sharp.  He doesn’t shy away from pointing out the dangers and pitfalls in common relationship patterns and behaviours, likening the exclusive intimate relationships between teenagers and young adults to going shopping without any money – “either you’re going to leave frustrated or take something that doesn’t belong to you!”  I’m pretty sure I’m going to like the book!

No doubt you’ve seen the comments in the media about the advertising campaign supported by the British Humanist Association and others, announcing “There’s probably no God.”

I think one of the wisest reflections on these attempts to deceive the public comes from the British theology thinktank Theos.  Their spokesman said, “Telling someone ‘there’s probably no God’ is a bit like telling them they’ve probably remembered to lock their door! It creates the doubt that they might not have. “

Anyway, if you want to have a go at making your own mock bus ads to combat the efforts of the Humanist Association, you can now do it on this site, just for fun!

Hi there – I thought that again the more silent partner should speak…

I would like to recommend two books that have helped me in recent times.  

The first is Atheism Remix by Albert Mohler Jnr.  Mohler is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the US of A and is a theologian who likes to mix it with issues raised by the intersection and clash of Bible and culture.  In this little book [only a bit more than 100 pages, and small ones at that] Mohler goes head to head with the New Atheists – guys like Richard Dawkins [The God Delusion] and Christopher Hitchens.  He looks at the emergence of the New Atheists and why they are different [and more of a threat] to the older variety.  He looks at their arguments and two notable critiques of their ideas.  This is a very helpful little book as it lays out the debate in a simple, understandable manner.  Recommended for those rub shoulders with those who have read [or seen - "The Root of All Evil" showed as a documentary] Dawkin’s especially.

Registration forms available now!  Download.

Who are you?  Really?  Come on a journey through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and get to the bottom of your real identity!
Basement Camp 09 is for students in years 8 – 12 at school and costs  $140 per person.
Please make sure your registration form is returned with your money by Sunday April 12.
See you at Encounters Conference Centre, Victor Harbor at 1:30 PM on April 20th!

If you’re learning our memory verses with us, you might like to use the computer desktop images we’re producing to help keep the Bible passages in front of you
Our first passage is Philippians 4:8.  Download the desktop image for your computer below.

Download: 1024 x 768,  1280 x 800,  1600 x 1200,  1680 x 1050,  1920 x 1200.

If you don’t know how to change your desktop background go here for Windows and here for Mac.

My copy of Ancient-Future Time was given to me by Lyndon Sulzberger, Rector of Christ Church, North Adelaide.  I think  Lyndon was politely trying to suggest my education in matters such as the ecclesiastical calendar is somewhat lacking!

Robert E. Webber (who died in 2007) was Emeritus Professor of Theology at Wheaton College and seems to have been motivated in his writing by the conviction that contemporary Evangelicalism is impoverished due to its insufficient rooting in early Christian traditions.  Indeed, it was this conviction that led him to take part in issuing “The Chicago Call” in 1977 stating that evangelicals had lost touch with church’s liturgical roots.  Here he seeks to take Christian spirituality back to its origins in Jewish spirituality which he feels will enrich the life of the modern Christian; “For the Jew to commemorate the past is not merely to recall it as a past event but to commemorate it in such a way that it gives the present new meaning.”  The book is therefore a call to what Webber calls “Christian-year” spirituality, where God’s saving action is presented to us time and time again through the practices of the Christian year celebrated by the church in its first centuries; in Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost.  The discussion of each of these historical events concludes with a prayer from one of the Church Fathers or the Book of Common Prayer.

This picture is really just a way of directing you to our friend Nathan Tasker’s blog.  He posted this picture last month, but his blog is actually quite serious!

Nathan is a singer songwriter based in Nashville, but has lots of friends at Trinity Hills.  He’s helped us celebrate lots of great occasions; Christmas services, special public events and the launch of a new gathering.

Head over to http://nathantasker.typepad.com/like_you_blog_me/ and check out Nathan’s reflections on music, life, American experiences (and chick flicks!).

If we are actually speaking truth … why isn’t anyone listening?

I’ve been reading Branding Faith by Phil Cooke.  To some in the church, the idea of branding is anathema,  but I suspect this is mostly due to misunderstanding the concept.  Branding is part of the reality within the church exists.  Cooke quotes a study which found that one in four babies, speaks a brand name as their first word!  This study, by British Market Research Bureau  is also quoted in a slightly alarming 2003 article in the SMH.

At the heart of the challenge laid out in the book is Cooke’s distillation of the definition of marketing: The art of surrounding a product, organisation or person with a powerful and compelling story.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is a powerful and compelling story, we don’t need to find it, or create it, just tell it!  The task seems to me to be local churches finding answers to the question, “how do we tell the powerful and compelling story of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our communities?”