The Best of the Best Around the Net (5/16/10)

The Best of the Best Around the Net links you to blog posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Check out the following links you can trust.

Re-Introducing Hymns to a Contemporary Congregation

Great post by James Grant on the Gospel Coalition site about practical suggestions, helpful resources, and theological reasons for re-introducing hymns to a contemporary congregation.

The Church Has a Blindside

Everyone is familiar with the movie The Blindside. Scott Williams at Big Is the New Small talks about the “elephant in the room”—The Church Has a Blindside in that for the most part we’re still segregated on Sunday mornings and in our relationships throughout the week.

Justification and Emotional Health

The Gospel Coalition posted a very important blog about Justification’s Double Liberation. It explores how our justification in Christ applies to our emotional and psychological health.

Supreme Court: Evangelicals Need Not Apply

Patrick O’Callahan, staff writer for the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, writes, “If Elena Kagan – a Jew – replaces Justice John Paul Stevens – a Protestant – on the Supreme Court, the court will consist of six Roman Catholics and three Jews. Protestant-ism, still the nation’s majority religion, will be completely shut out for the first time in American history.” For his interesting analysis of the bias that has led to this situation, continue reading.

Where and Why We Buy Our Books

Tim Challies has a fascinating survey about the book buying attitudes and habits of the “young, restless, and reform.”

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Tags: Best of the Best, Challies, Gospel Coalition

The Best of the Best Around the Net (5/10/10)

The Best of the Best Around the Net links you to blog posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Check out the following links you can trust.

The Testing of Franklin Graham

Al Mohler writes, “Evangelical Christians in the United States had better see a big challenge staring us in the face. Franklin Graham was disinvited by the Pentagon for making statements that are required by faithfulness to the gospel of Christ.” Continue reading.

Historic Biblical Counseling Coalition Meeting

This past week, nearly 40 leaders in the modern biblical counseling movement met in Chicago. Read about the purpose of this historic summit and a report on the activities.

Where the Millennials Find Their Religion

Fox News has a very interesting and somewhat sad report on where young people today are finding their “religion” and meeting their “spiritual needs”: Millennials Increasingly Find Their Religion Online.

It’s Getting Dangerous Out There

While I’ve never before listed the same blogger twice in any one week, this week I make a well-deserved exception. Speaking about the arrest of a preacher in England, Al Mohler writes, “We have seen this coming for some time now. The public space has been closing, especially when it comes to Christian speech — and especially when that speech is about homosexuality.” Continue reading.

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Tags: Al Mohler, Best of the Best, Biblical Counseling Coalition, Fox News

The Best of the Best Around the Net (5/2/10)

The Best of the Best Around the Net links you to blog posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Check out the following links you can trust.

21 Leadership Quotes

Scott Williams at Big Is the New Small has collated 21 Leadership Quotes.

A Gospel-Centric Counseling Book

Mark Tubbs of Discerning Reader has posted a new review of Soul Physicians in his Blog Through of the book. He says, “I’m so convinced of its helpfulness that I urge all pastors and leaders who read this blog entry to invest in a copy and spend the summer reaping its benefits, not only for their counseling ministries but for their church(es) at large. There’s no member, young or mature spiritually, that will fail to take something away that enriches devotion to Christ.”

The Life and Death of An Atheist

Albert Mohler ponders the life and death of the world’s most famous atheist who later in life rejected atheism: The Death of a (Former) Atheist — Antony Flew, 1923-2010. Mohler develops the thesis: “Antony Flew’s rejection of atheism is an encouragement, but his rejection of Christianity is a warning. Rejecting atheism is simply not enough.”

66 Love Letters

The new Gospel Coalition Review site is up and running. They’ve posted my review of Larry Crabb’s latest book 66 Love Letters. Learn more about the Bible as God’s love letter to His people.

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Tags: Best of the Best, Larry Crabb, Lists

The Best of the Best Around the Net (4/25/10)

The Best of the Best Around the Net links you to blog posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Check out the following links you can trust.

The State of the Black Church

The NY Times posted a fascinating article on the past, present, and future state of the Black Church. To learn more about the heroes of the Black Church, check out Beyond the Suffering.

Saving Reading

Will reading books become a thing of the past? New Yorker has an interesting article on the IPad and Publish or Perish. Will Steve Jobs save reading?

The 20-1 Rule

Michael Hyatt has an interesting post on The 20-1 Rule that teaches that for each marketing post on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, you should have twenty non-marketing posts—connecting, giving, relating posts. It’s a great perspective. “Twitter and Facebook are relational tools not transactional tools. You have to make 20 relational deposits for every marketing withdrawal. I have observed that if you just keep asking people to do something—buy your book, come to our conference, sign up for our cause—without making adequate deposits, they will begin ignoring you. Eventually, they will unfollow you and disconnect from your updates. No one wants to be spammed. Not today. There are too many alternative sources of content. If you want to build a social media platform, one where people listen to you, then you have to be a giver not a taker. I think 20-to-1 is about right.”

Young, Restless, and Reformed?

Michael Horton over at the White Horse Inn has written a deep, robust, theological, and practical post about what makes a person a “Reformed Christian.” Using an analogy from C. S. Lewis, his post The Hallway and the Rooms is worth a thorough read.

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Tags: IPad, Michael Horton, Michael Hyatt, Steve Jobs, The Best of the Best

The Best of the Best Around the Net (4/05/10)

One of my passions is bridge-building, connecting, and highlighting other ministries and ministry resources—so that the Body of Christ is built up and Christ is magnified (Ephesians 4:15-16). My weekly post, The Best of the Best Around the Net, links you to blog posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Check out the following links you can trust.

Is Your Church Losing Blood?

Dr. Russell Moore at Moore to the Point pens a timely and insightful blog about how our Christian songs no longer speak of the Blood of Christ. Even more importantly, he explains what is missing theologically and practically when we eliminate or minimize the blood of Christ in our hymns.

Good Friday Hymn

The team at Desiring God posted the words and music to an old hymn with fresh meaning this Easter season. Reflect upon Ah Holy Jesus.

Holy Week: What Happened on Friday?

Justin Taylor, at his Gospel Coalition blog, posts a chronology of events as they occurred on Good Friday.

Calvin Makes a Comeback

Fascinating, well-researched, and well-written article about the comeback of Calvinism among American Evangelicals: Calvin Makes a Comeback.

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Tags: Best of the Best, Calvin, Desiring God, Justin Taylor, Russell Moore

The Best of the Best Around the Net (3/28/10)

One of my passions is bridge-building, connecting, and highlighting other ministries and ministry resources—so that the Body of Christ is built up and Christ is magnified (Ephesians 4:15-16). My weekly post, The Best of the Best Around the Net, links you to blog posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Check out the following links you can trust.

What Does Easter Mean?

With Easter around the corner, Adrian Warnock has an always timely post on Do Your Friends Know What Easter Means?

The Way God Speaks

Pastor James MacDonald, over at his Straight Up blog has a fascinating video post (vlog) on The Way God Speaks. His intro: “I want to talk to you about the ways that we get a word from God, how frequently those different things happen, and how you can test and know that it’s really a word from God. Are you ready? Watch this.”

Christ Conducts His Choir

David Murray, at the Gospel Coalition site, posted a beautiful video Christ Conducts His Choir. As he says, “In this astounding video, American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre spliced together nearly 250 videos of individuals singing individual parts of Lux Arumque. He sent out the music, auditioned the singers, and then chose 250 of the submitted videos, which he spliced together to form this “virtual choir.”

Pastors Training Pastors

Pastor Brian Croft has launched a new blog: Practical Shepherding. One of his passions is helping pastors to train future pastors. Read about What Role a Pastor Should Play in Training Future Pastors.

Really Cool!

Even if you couldn’t care less about book publishing, you have to visit this post. Brian Williams over at Big Is the New Small embedded one of the cleverest videos I’ve ever seen. You’ll find it at Think You Know The Future of Publishing … THINK AGAIN! Be sure to have your volume turned up. Be sure to listen to the entire post. Do not stop half way.

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Of my Best of the Best Around the Net, which post impacted you the most? Why?

What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: Adrian Warnock, Best of the Best, Brian Williams, Gospel Coalition, James MacDonald