Church, Evangelism, Religion
John Beeson
How to Get a VIP Pass (for Church)

In 2023-24, popstar Taylor Swift played 149 concerts in 21 countries in her “The Eras Tour.” She sold over ten million tickets and grossed over $2 billion! To get a VIP package some paid upwards of $20,000 a ticket.  K-pop sensation BTS begins their 79 stadium tour in a month and might challenge the secondary market cost for a VIP ticket.

Why do we pay such exorbitant prices? Because our favorite musician’s art and persona move us. Because we want to wring everything we can out of the experience. Because we want to get as close as we can to our heroes. Because we don’t want to miss out on any of the excitement. Because we want to take in every detail.

How to Get a VIP Pass (for Church)
Death, Politics, Suffering
John Beeson
Staring Death in the Eye

We do not do death well.

We avoid it. We deny it. We even pretend we can control it.

Last week, the French National Assembly advanced what many observers have called  “the most extreme euthanasia law in Europe since Nazi regulations in the 1930s.” French President Emmanuel Macron supported legislation framed as “medical aid in dying” but the proposal goes much further than many existing “death with dignity” laws.

The bill would legalize both assisted suicide—where a person receives a prescribed poison to end their own life—and euthanasia, where a doctor administers the deadly dose.

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Staring Death in the Eye
Recommendations, Christian Living, Counseling, Culture, Suffering, Wisdom
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Bearing the sorrows of the world: A timely piece by Brianna Lambert, “In-between funny reels and crock-pot recipes my feeds shake me with tragedy. Another bomb dropped, another missile fired. Another leader declares war, another group of Christians brutally murdered. My weather app might tell me about a mudslide that kills hundreds while the local news reports on a newly discovered grave of dozens of victims. Sorrow never ends.”

  2. Ozempic Christianity: Christopher Cook says, “In a culture increasingly shaped by immediacy and optimization, even our spiritual hunger has been co-opted by the language of quick returns. 

This Week's Recommendations
Christian Living, Family, Parenting
John Beeson
My Son Can’t Ride a Bike: Failures in Parenting

Our son Soren is twenty years old. And he doesn’t know how to ride his bike.

I share this as a confession. Soren, on the other hand, is totally comfortable with this reality.

As parents, we feel responsible for equipping our kids for the world. But what does it mean to prepare our children for life? What does it mean to be a successful parent?

The demands of parenting can feel overwhelming. We want to teach our children to be thoughtful stewards by caring for their things and cleaning the house. We want them to learn how to make meals and do their own laundry.

My Son Can’t Ride a Bike: Failures in Parenting
Christian Living, Counseling, Identity, Spiritual Growth, Suffering, Wisdom
John Beeson
The Thing Under the Thing

I have the opportunity of sharing this space with my friend and mentor, Glen Elliott (you find out more about Glen here). I’m sure you will be blessed by his wealth of wisdom. –John

Last winter I learned something from a dying tree.

There’s a tree outside our bedroom window that provides beautiful shade in the summer. A while back I noticed the leaves were dying—brown, brittle, hanging lifelessly from the branches. So I did what most of us do when something looks unhealthy: I trimmed the visible problems.

I cut off dead branches. Then more branches. I fertilized. I watered. Nothing worked.

The Thing Under the Thing

worship

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How to Get a VIP Pass (for Church)

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How to Get a VIP Pass (for Church)

In 2023-24, popstar Taylor Swift played 149 concerts in 21 countries in her “The Eras Tour.” She sold over ten million tickets and grossed over $2 billion! To get a VIP package some paid upwards of $20,000 a ticket.  K-pop sensation BTS begins their 79 stadium tour in a month and might challenge the secondary market cost for a VIP ticket.

Why do we pay such exorbitant prices? Because our favorite musician’s art and persona move us. Because we want to wring everything we can out of the experience. Because we want to get as close as we can to our heroes. Because we don’t want to miss out on any of the excitement. Because we want to take in every detail.

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How to Battle Lust

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How to Battle Lust

Sexuality saturates our culture. The human heart, already an engine inclined toward  malformed desires, has plenty of fuel available via the internet alone to propel it toward disaster. How can we remain pure in a world bent on dragging us into impurity?   

 

Indeed, the world is partial. The battle against lust is a three-pronged battle against our flesh, the world, and Satan. Paul warns us to “not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16) by later specifying some of those desires: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality” (Galatians 5:19). Our flesh lures us into believing that we can take a shortcut to joy and intimacy.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Are we the idols? Andrew Noble says, “It is strange to become an idol, isn’t it? It’s hard to wrap your mind around. Yet every day, people are morphing into something like mud. Instead of functioning as images of God, they worship idols and turn into lifeless dust. Life goes wrong when we don’t worship right.”

  2. Weakness in God’s economy: Kirsten shares, “As I consider my heart, my struggle does not come in whether or not I believe that God is able to heal; I believe that God is able to do all that pleases him. Rather, my struggle comes in believing whether or not God is willing; at least in the timeframe I am hoping and praying.”

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The wilderness was never meant to last forever: Christopher Cook says, “The wilderness was never meant to be your home. For many of us, however, it has become one (a dysfunctionally comfortable one at that). Not because God’s promises changed, and not because your story was disqualified, but rather, because somewhere along the way, you might have stopped listening to the voice of the Lord and trusting His nature and His ways.”

  2. The great friendship collapse: In this video, Derek Thompson explains why we spend more time than ever and what the impact that has had on us.

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Worshiping Through Our Service

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Worshiping Through Our Service

Most Sundays, like most churches, New Life Bible Fellowship gathers to sing, pray, and hear the Word of God preached. This is a beautiful, biblical rhythm (Acts 2:42). But what if, on occasion, the most faithful way to worship is not inside the walls of the church but outside, serving our community? Once a year, we gather to Love Tucson. Before we worship, pray, and hear God’s Word together, we serve at a partner school.

Love Tucson is one of my favorite Sundays of the year.

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Off the Beaten Path Christian Music

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Off the Beaten Path Christian Music

One of the things I love about having two musical young adults in my home is that they are a funnel for new music. Combined with my own curiosity and some great resources. I have found a great off-the-beaten path collection of Christian artists from a lot of different genres.  

So, are you interested in some new music? Perhaps some of these artists might whet your appetite for further exploration. Who are some of your favorite non-mainstream Christian artists? Let me know!

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The Dust Mite and the Spider

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The Dust Mite and the Spider

One afternoon, the spider and the dust mite met in the cool underside of a misshapen pillow.

Greetings and pleasantries concluded, an awkward silence grew. Intimidated by the size of the spider, the dust mite boasted, “Have you ever noticed how similar I am to an eagle?”

“You? Like an eagle?” the spider questioned scornfully.

“Oh yes,” the dust mite responded, gaining confidence. “I am like an eagle. Like an eagle, I have a head and legs and lay eggs.”

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In Defense of the Love Song to God

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In Defense of the Love Song to God

“God isn’t your boyfriend!” You’ve likely heard a well-meaning critic skewering intimate love songs inappropriately parading as worship. “He is the almighty God, not your lover,” the criticism goes. “Don’t trivialize our holy, incomprehensible God.”

Is it really appropriate to sing, “I could sing of your love forever” or reprise again and again, “your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me”? Or how about “Revelation Song” where we sing, “You are my everything and I will adore you”?

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In Defense of Hymns

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In Defense of Hymns

It was probably because of my background that hymns never felt boring or old or stodgy to me. I grew up in a megachurch where we sang the popular fare of choruses of the day, not hymns. “Awesome God,” “As the Deer,” and “Shout to the Lord” were the songs of my childhood.

It was in college, then, that I really experienced hymns for the first time. They felt so fresh and different from what I grew up with. I attended an historic Congregational church replete with eighteenth century pews, an organ, and a hymn board (some of you knew exactly what hymns were being sung just by their numbers, didn’t you?). It was there that I began to learn of the rich treasure trove of hymns the church had been blessed with by centuries of saints.

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Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

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Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

While I grew up in a gospel-preaching church that formed the lifelong foundation for my faith, my theological awakening occurred in college. As I grew up in theology, I began to turn my nose up on some of the worship of my youth. I had outgrown Precious Moments Christianity and left behind worship that felt like nothing more than love songs to Jesus. I’m thinking of sentimental songs like “Above All” where the song awkwardly announces, “So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest.”

I looked down on these theologically thin offerings and rolled my eyes. Jesus isn’t our boyfriend…

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