Good paintings tell stories. Think of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. It tells the story of Jesus and his disciples sitting down for the final meal before the crucifixion. Jesus would drink the Passover cup before being sacrificed as the Passover lamb. The good news of Jesus is more than a story. But it’s not…
A couple of weeks ago, I had two conversations. The first was with my best friend from college, Steve. Steve is my best friend; we have the same sense of humor, the same likes, the same personality (we even look a good bit alike!) and we deeply care about each other in a profound way.…
By all accounts, John Calvin, the great Genevan reformer and systematician of the Reformation age, was an educated man. His early educational endeavors help set a trajectory toward a rigorous pattern of intellectual engagement that will mark his ministry. If pastors would cultivate a robust life of the mind (and they should), then paying attention…
Here are a few things we believe are worth a look. At the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society this year, a paper was presented arguing for the viability of “Transgender Christianity.” This is important because what happens in the academy runs downhill into our churches. Jason K. Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological…
Recently I posted an article arguing for the idea of multiplication. That is, as Christians we are called to make disciples (Matt 28:18–20). We hope the disciples we make will, in turn, make other disciples. In short, multiplication = disciples making more disciples. I’m not going to rehash that argument. If you are interested, you…
Sometimes I joke around about Christians taking over the world. That’s tongue and cheek, but I do believe we want to get as many people on the right side of history as we can. What I mean by that idea, getting “people on the right side of history,” is simply that we desire to persuade…
You can memorize Scripture! One of the deepest, richest spiritual disciplines is memorizing Scripture. Memorization aids our fight against sin, reinforces the soul-stirring beauty of the gospel in our hearts, and, as Don Whitney says, is “like reinforcing steel to a sagging faith.” It allows us to store truth in our hearts to which we…
In recent years there as has been a renewal of interest in the idea of the pastor as scholar and the scholar as pastor. I remember attending an event in 2009 where John Piper and D. A. Carson spoke on this issue for nearly two hours. Piper represented the scholarly pastor while Carson was the…
*Today’s post is by Michelle Meade, our editor and occasional contributor. Remember the old hymn, Count Your Blessings? The chorus sings: Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done; Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.…
A friend of mine recently called with a confession. Though married, he had gratified himself after fixating on a tantalizing visual image he came across while at work. He was broken. He was frustrated. And he was confused about where he was to go from here. Have you ever been there? Have you ever wrestled…
Theology Along the Way 