Why Pastors Must Talk About Race: Derwin Gray reminds us, “Our ethnicity is a gift from God reflecting his multifaceted wisdom. Biblical characters are not colorless or cultureless. They were people situated in real places, with real, image-bearing ethnicities, in particular cultures and times—just as we are.
An Open Letter to a Distressed Sufferer: Mike Emlet offers gentle word to those who are hurting. He concludes, “I’ll close for now. Please know that your burden is my burden and I am privileged to walk alongside you. That’s another way in which you are not alone, embedded as you are in the body of Christ.”
How the Gospel is Good News for Every Story: Scott McConnell with an insightful article on how the gospel speaks to every cultural worldview. He begins, “Missiologists often describe three worldviews different cultures exhibit: innocence-guilt, power-fear, and honor-shame. The innocence-guilt worldview believes being and doing right is what matters most. Much of what is considered right in these cultures has been codified in law, so following the law is very important. The power-fear worldview says overcoming fear by tapping into power matters most. Typically, that power is believed to be accessed from the spirit world. The honor-shame worldview says the honor and wellbeing of your group, tribe, or extended family matters most.
Sing Your Heart Out at Church (Even if You Hate the Music): Brett McCracken begins, “I love church pipe organs and classical music. I prefer Victorian hymns and Stuart Townend songs over Hillsong and Bethel. I dislike “modern renditions” of old hymns, where the melody is slightly tweaked or a new chorus is added in between original verses. A simple piano, organ, or acoustic guitar accompaniment to “Be Thou My Vision” will do just fine.”
Does God Love Me Just the Way I Am? Ligon Duncan answers the question.

Want a Happy Relationship? Go to Church Together: New research by the Institute of Family Studies. Aaron Earls reports, “More than 3 in 4 regular church-attending couples (78 percent) say they are “very happy” or “extremely happy” in their relationship.”
12 Ways to Help a Pastor Stay in Ministry: I appreciated this article from Scott McConnell, which highlights ways both pastors and congregants can keep pastors in ministry. For instance, speaking to the need for a pastor to be humble, McConnell notes that, “In [a] study of pastors, a one unit increase in level of agreement (from somewhat agree to strongly agree, for instance) that “the church would not have achieved the progress it has without me” corresponds to being over three times less likely to remain in pastorate.”
Stop Eating Spiritual Candy: Amy Gannett warns, “Christians frequently exchange the nourishing truths of God’s Word for “sweeter” substitutes. Particularly when life wears us thin, we can lean on half-truths about our own resilience rather than on reminders of God’s sovereignty and sufficiency.”
Death Comes in Slow Drips: Chrys Jones speaks of the danger of allowing sin to drip into our lives, “Then it happened. He fell “in love with this present world” and deserted Paul (2 Tim. 4:10). While there is some debate as to whether Demas was an apostate or not, the fact remains: Demas chose sin instead of supporting Paul in the work of the ministry. Falling in love doesn’t happen in an instant. Demas chose to dwell on the world day by day, drip by drip, until he made the decision to walk away.”
What Animals Kill the Most Humans Each Year? I found this article from World Atlas interesting. I’ll give you a preview: #4 at 25,000 deaths is the dog, #5 at 10,000 deaths is the Tsetse fly.

This Week's Recommendations

This Week's Recommendations