A New Blog

Just an update on a new blog that I am part of. Myself and some of my C4C staff friends have started a book review blog.

You can find it here.

O-week begins

Today was the first day of Orientation week. I'm pooped. A day of handing out Real Life Kits and Sno-Cones. But it was good. We got a lot of people to follow-up who showed interest in our club. Lots to do on that front.
On Sunday night it was the pep rally. It was amazing sitting across from all the first years as they were cheering and chanting and doing all their dances. There had to be a 4000-5000 of them, and we are asking God that 80 would be involved in our movement. It seems so small when you are thinking of only 80 out of a couple thousand. But anyways, things are good and I'm happy to be on campus full-time again for a full year!

Desiring God now updated!

Great new everyone! www.desiringgod.org has been updated! Take a look for yourself! It is easier to navagate, and now all of Piper's sermons from the past 25 years are availible on the site! Also, you can watch his current sermons on a video player right on the site! So cool! Now there is no reason to ever leave the site! :)

Mark Dever on Evangelism

Mark Dever is Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and Executive Director of 9Marks. On the Together for the Gospel Blog, he wrote this:

"One part of clarity sometimes missed by earnest evangelists, however, is
the willingness to offend. Clarity with the claims of Christ certainly
will include the translation of the Gospel into words that our hearer
understands, but it doesn’t necessarily mean translating it into words that our
hearer will like. Too often advocates of relevant evangelism verge over
into being advocates of irrelevant non-evangelism. A gospel which in no
way offends the sinner has not been understood.

Look at Peter at Pentecost in Acts 2. He wanted to be
relevant. But that relevance gave his words more bite, not less. How
did Peter witness to those he wished to see saved? He said to them, among
other things, “let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ,” (Acts 2:36).

Relevant? Yes. Pleasing? No. Clear? Undoubtedly.

Be clear about the fact of sin (Isa. 59:1-2; Hab. 1:13; Rom. 3:22-23; 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; I John 1:5-6). Be clear about the meaning of the cross (Matt.
26:28; Gal. 3:10-13; I Tim. 1:15; I Peter 2:24; 3:18). Be clear about our
need to repent of our sins and to trust in Christ (Matt. 11:28-30; Mark 1:15;
8:34; John 1:12; 3:16; 6:37; Acts 20:21). What would it mean to evangelize
without being clear about what the Bible says about these issues?"

This is a great quote. I think this is a message that needs to be heard by all who wish to be earnest evangelists. The Gospel is offensive, and we don't do anyone any favours by attempting to take the sting out. If you take the sting out, you take the saving power out!

Thoughts on Mark Driscoll's "Missional Ministry"

Tonight I listened to a sermon my Mark Driscoll called "Missional Ministry". This sermon addressed how to reach different groups of people with the gospel. One of the things I took away from this is that we don't need to reject making the gospel culturally relevant. We don't change the gospel, but we can change the way we present it. For example, if a person going to minister in China got dressed up in a traditional Chinese outfit, and sang a Chinese song to share the gospel, no one would have a problem with that. However, there seems to be a trepidation in the church about becoming relevant to postmoderns. In many ways, I am one of them. I am scared that in trying to reach postmoderns, we will may compromise the purity of the gospel. But is it any worse compromise the gospel, than it is to completely ignore them by not sharing it at all? By the grace of God we need to find a way to reach ever increasing new groups of people with the True gospel of the Bible.