Psalms

Rarely does the church go through the psalms (at least not in my denomination).  Over at Doxologist you'll find a video series online going through each of the Psalms.  Studying along with Tim Smith (worship pastor at Mars Hill Church Seattle) will be a great way for consistent personal bible study, as well as learning how to pour your heart out to God in worship (like David did).

For a preview, check out the video below.

Doxologist Psalm Preview from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.

This is just too cool...

Using Wordle, you can take large texts and randomize them where the most common words are the largest, and every other word is laid out in a pretty cool design.

Here is the manuscript I'm preaching from Ruth 2:1-17 this Sunday, entitled "Faith and Grace".

Go to Wordle and create your own.

GC08 Forums on Holiness

Tune into some solid teaching and debate on holiness in all of its forms...

Personal Holiness - Dr. Chris Bounds with Dr. Keith Drury

Corporate holiness - Dr. Jim Garlow with Dr. Bob Black

Missional holiness - Rev. Christy Lipscomb and Dr. Jo Anne Lyon

Click here.

Justice & Mercy

The Wesleyan Church has a long history of doing justice and showing mercy to the world.  One of the major reasons the Wesleyan Church began was due to the fact that we opposed slavery and played a major role in the Underground Railroad during the mid-nineteenth century. Today, we continue to speak and act on global and domestic issues that face our society.

During our denomination's General Conference this month, four new position statements were passed declaring our stance on today's most important issues.  I encourage you to click on the links below and read them through.  Then seek to live out the love of Christ by meeting the needs of those who cannot help themselves.

Position Statement on Immigration

Position Statement on Global Poverty

Position Statement on Global Human-Sex Trafficking

Position Statement on Domestic Violence

Preaching Quote

Since most of my job is spent focusing on the Scriptures in order to preach/teach/model them, I often need reminders that surge my passion to a deeper level.  This quote was helpful to me, and should be helpful for those who preach/teach/parent/lead/disciple/etc...

Taken from the June 2008 issue of The Briefing magazine.

"God's purpose is not merely that believers be well taught; he wants them to be well taught in order that they may know that they are well loved, and that they may rejoice in His love, respond to it, live in it, and overflow with his love both to one another and to a world that does not yet know him." - William Philip

Gospel-Centered Parenting

Here are some gems you can listen to on "Gospel-Centered Parenting" from C.J. Mahaney over at Sovereign Grace Ministries...

1. Gospel-Centered Parenting + Young Children (9:27)

2. The Gospel + Parental Sins (2:39)

Also, here is a great article on Fatherly leadership + Family Vacations.

"Corporate Conviction" changes at GC '08

This morning, much of the debate surrounded editorial issues on our Special Directions of our church.  These Special Directions are corporate convictions that explain in great detail the position of The Wesleyan Church on a number of social issues.

Some of the changes that were made:

1. Social dancing was removed.

2. Prohibition of merchandising on the Sabbath Day was removed and now allows for this matter to be according to "personal conviction" since Scripture specifies it in Romans 14:5-6.

3. Prohibition of the the cinema theatre was removed.

Also, specific language was used in a more general sense to refrain from legalism.  This is a positive step forward for the Wesleyan Church, I believe.  

You can read a great post by Ken Schenck about the matters at this session, here.

General Conference 2008

JoAnne Lyons, founder and president of World Hope International, was elected today as the first female General Superintendent of The Wesleyan Church.  She gave a fantastic speech that was filled with great vision to help the poor and carry on the vision of Christ around the world.  There was much excitement and acceptance surrounding her election here at GC '08.

For live results on the memorials and elections, check out Keith Drury's blog.

The "Spock" Church

This is for real.

The Gospel in All its Forms

Here's a great article worth checking out over at LeadershipJournal.net

"The Gospel in All its Forms" - by Tim Keller