Church, Culture, Book Reviews
John Beeson
The Long Journey of Self-Knowledge in a Culture ...

“We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history. It is greater than the First and Second Great Awakening and every revival in our country combined...but in the opposite direction.” This is the conclusion of the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America by sociologists Ryan Burge and Paul Djupe. In The Great DeChurching, pastors Jim Davis and Michael Graham unpack why and how over the past twenty-five years, forty million of those who formerly attended church no longer do so.

The Long Journey of Self-Knowledge in a Culture of Confusion
Christian Living, Prayer
John Beeson
The Air Raid Siren

Jerusalem, Israel

3:15 am, April 13

 

I sat up in bed to a wailing sound I had never heard before, but knew immediately: an air raid siren. Our building rattled to the booms of interceptors from Israel’s missile defense system hitting their inbound targets. I pulled back the curtains and watched as sprays of light streaked the sky.

 Iran launched 170 drones, 20 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s purported attack on an Iranian embassy in Syria.

The Air Raid Siren
Christian Living, Nature
John Beeson
The Ground Where Saguaros Thrive

Nothing is more iconic to the Tucson landscape than the saguaro. The emblematic cactus is to the Sonoran Desert what the palm tree is to Miami: hard to imagine without it. Saguaros typically live between one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five years, not sprouting its trademark arms until around thirty to seventy years of its life and growing to around fifty feet tall.

For those Sonoran Desert natives, we intuitively know where saguaros thrive. They love the rocky (both granite and volcanic) soil at the foothills of the five beautiful mountain ranges that surround Tucson.

The Ground Where Saguaros Thrive
Leadership, Wisdom, Vocation
John Beeson
Anger, Retaliation, and My Scion xB

I drove a little manual 2005 Scion xB for about eight years. It finally gave out after 230,000 miles. I loved that little car. It was fuel-efficient and required minimal maintenance. But it is undeniably close to the least powerful car on the road. I’m pretty sure that on its specs, next to 0-60mph, it says, “Eventually!”

Unless I was lined up against someone from a nearby retirement community, I was the last car to reach the speed limit coming off a stoplight. Unsurprisingly, more aggressive drivers with more powerful vehicles tended to treat my little Scion like a safety cone on the road, more like an obstacle than a fellow traveler.

Anger, Retaliation, and My Scion xB
Family, Leadership, Parenting, Marriage
John Beeson
The Top Ten Ways to Lead in Your Home (and ...

In the past post we considered the biblical priority of leading in our homes before stepping into leadership callings outside of our home.

When I was asked to speak to our Mom’s Matter group on leading well in the home I was a bit intimidated. I felt far from equipped to speak as a man to women on the topic of leadership. And so, I did the only thing I could think of: I asked wise, godly women who were also great leaders. Starting with my wife, I began to listen to the advice my female friends offered on leadership in the home and beyond.

The Top Ten Ways to Lead in Your Home (and Organization, Too!)

Abortion

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. How I Would Explain a Christian View of Trans-Genderism to a Non-Christian: Samuel James takes on this loaded topic. He says, “Our broken, sinful world facilitates the deepest kind of frustration and shame toward our own bodies.”

  2. An Open Letter to a Young Woman Contemplating an Abortion: Leah Savas’s article is a must-read. She says, “You’re not an accident, and neither is that baby inside of you. A Creator formed you and formed your baby with the same intentionality that your grandma has when she knits a pair of mittens.”

  3. Four Guidelines for Dating Without Regrets: Simple wisdom from Tim Challies. “Stop acting like you’re married when you’re not. We tend to see exclusive dating relationships as quasi-marriages in which couples quickly become strongly entangled emotionally, romantically, and even physically.”

  4. What Does “Heap Burning Coals On His Head” Mean? Interesting stuff from Steve Cornell. He considers five possible interpretations of this verse.

  5. Before You Pack Up and Leave: Tim Challies offers counsel to someone considering leaving a church. He asks, “[W]hat should you do when you begin feeling discontent at your church? What should you do when you feel that yearning to pick up and move on? What should you do when you find yourself eager to slip out of one church and into another? I’d like to offer just a few suggestions that I hope you’ll consider and put into practice.”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

A Church of Suspicious Minds: Trevin Wax’s post on the devastating impact on the seeds of suspicion is important. He says, “Once suspicion pervades a society, the slightest disagreements—even among people who generally share the same beliefs—get interpreted as signs of betrayal. Seeds of doubt are sown into every interaction, and often it’s the people closest to you who become the subject of your suspicions.”

  1. Hope Has to Be Learned: I love this post from TM Suffield. He begins, “Hope is not an emotion, as though we summon it up and have a bright day looking at the future. We can certainly feel hopeful, but that is not the hope the Bible is talking about.”

  2. 7 Practical Ways to Counter the Wave of Deconstruction: There are a lot of wisdom in Carey Nieuwhof’s post on how leaders (and everyone else, I would add) can speak to those deconstructing their faith. For instance, “Be forewarned: Being more open to people’s doubts and questions may lead you into unfamiliar territory. And that’s okay. You may need to become more comfortable with saying, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘That’s a great question I’ve never considered.’ But never view humility or empathy as a weakness—it’s an undeniable strength.”

  3. Shame is a Cruel Taskmaster: Brianna Lambert reflects on her relationship with her body. She says, “I realized the years of shame I inflicted hadn’t done anything but crush me. Shame may have felt like a good idea at the time to get my body in line, but its roots were too weak to sustain any real fruit in my life.”

  4. Is ‘Woke Church’ a Stepping Stone to Theological Compromise: The second in The Gospel Coalition’s series of debates, both Sean DeMars and Rebecca McLaughlin make important points.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. How to Lose the Abortion Debate While Winning It: Russell Moore says, “What the world needs most from evangelical America is that we be a people who really believe what we say. Whether the world agrees or disagrees with us on abortion, or any other matter, they need to see us love vulnerable children—whether in the womb, in abusive homes, in foster care, or in our own pews.”

  2. Jesus, Friend of Sinners: Adriel Sanchez begins, “’How many prostitutes do you know?’ I once sat with a theologian who recommended asking that question to gauge a pastoral candidate’s qualification for ministry. Our conversation took place shortly before my ordination exam. Of all the questions I’d anticipated, this wasn’t one of them. He didn’t mean, ‘Have you ever visited a prostitute?’ He meant, ‘Are sinners drawn to you like they were drawn to Jesus?’ His point was that if we’re going to ordain men to represent Jesus as ministers of the word, they should know and love sinners as Jesus did.”

  3. Christ Conquered Death. He Didn’t Cancel It: Jennifer Rosner considers how Jewish traditions link death and life and what that means about the cross and the resurrection. She says, “Death, in all its insidious forms, still pervades our daily lives. Even after Jesus’ glorious resurrection, we continue to wrestle with the disquieting dimensions of our humanity: the traumas we relive, the losses we endure, the disappointments we amass, the anxieties we are paralyzed by.”

  4. The Ten Minutes After Church Ends: Andy Huette offers simple but impactful advice. The first is, “Don’t talk to your besties…Don’t miss that opportunity to experience the fullness of the body of Christ by getting to know those who are unlike you or from different life stages and interests.”

  5. How Should Christians Think About Gun Control: Excellent debate between Bob Thune and Andrew Wilson.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Jesus Versus the Trade-In Society: Samuel James begins his excellent article, “It seems to me that if there’s one thing that our current version of advertising-based capitalism teaches us all, it’s that everything is replaceable: everything can be reproduced, or traded in for a new and improved model. And that applies to coaches, to churches, to spouses. We live in a trade-in society.”

  2. 9 Myths About Abortion Rights and Roe v. Wade: Kevin DeYoung considers some misconceptions. For instance, “Myth #6: Our abortion laws are mainstream compared with the rest of the world. Truth: The United States is one of only 10 nations that allow abortion after 14 weeks of gestation. Only four countries allow abortion for any reason after viability: Canada, North Korea, China, and the United States

  3. The Ukelele and the Cross: J.A. Medders says, “Theologians have wrestled with the various angles that describe what Jesus did for us on the cross. Some will even argue that there is only one way to describe and define what Jesus did for us on the cross. Rather than pick sides on the theological playground, I want to propose a harmony of notes that are played at the cross of Christ.”

  4. How Not to Pray with a Hurting Loved One: Blake Glosson’s post is helpful to all of us. He says, “There’s certainly a time to give advice, but prayer isn’t the place for it. Prayer is not a free pass to share your opinions with the other person while pretending to talk to God (this is manipulative and the other person will feel it).”

  5. Constructing the Roman Road: A short video on what became a significant cause for the spread of the gospel.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

Americans’ Not-So Warm Feelings Toward Evangelicals: I think the biggest news here is that 20% of Americans say that they don’t know an evangelical. That is fairly significant news regarding our cultural retreat.

Types of Honor and Shame Cultures: This interesting article breaks down the earth into five basic types of honor-shame cultures.

Foolish and Slow of Heart: Chris Bruno asks: How does your life fit with God’s mission? “[T]heir stupidity was not rooted in a lack of intelligence. It was rooted in their inability to see how their lives fit with the story of the Bible.

9 Myths about Abortion: Kevin DeYoung on abortion myths, including myths about the availability of abortion historically, the number of deaths from back-alley abortions, and how mainstream our abortion laws are.

Visiting Famous Sites Via Google Earth: Thanks to Tim Challies for sharing this fun video.

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