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Showing posts from May 21, 2017

"Urban Hinterlands" by Sean Benesh. A Review

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Urban Hinterlands: Planting the Gospel in Uncool Places by Sean Benesh My rating: 4 of 5 stars In this teeny 94 page paperback, Sean Benesh, developer of Urban Strategy and Training for TEAM, Church planter, and accomplished author, gently challenges a modern trend in church planting. Instead of automatically going into the sexy city and mod midtown, the author writes "about church planting in seemingly unlivable places" (44); "in cities or neighborhoods that many have written off. Uncool. Unappealing. Unlivable. Sketchy" (77); "to begin shifting our attention toward uncool neighborhoods and cities" (79). That's the book in a nutshell, yet the shelves and chiffoniers of this essay are filled in with personal stories, facts, figures and rationale. Though Benesh is primarily focusing on church planters rethinking where they are called to go, nevertheless this little manual is a valuable re-assessment for those pastoring and ministering in estab

"The People's Book" ed. Jennifer Powell McNutt and David Lauber. A Review

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The People’s Book : The Reformation and the Bible Ed. Jennifer Powell McNutt and David Lauber IVP Academic ISBN: 978-0-8308-5163-8; April 2017; $25.00 The 500 th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation is upon us, and one of the rousing slogans attributed to the early Reformers was “ Scripture alone ”. It is very fitting, then, that “The People’s Book: The Reformation and the Bible” has recently rolled off the presses. This 250 page paperback is the compilation of work presented at the Wheaton Theology Conference in 2016, and is edited by Jennifer Powell McNutt, associate professor of theology and history of Christianity at Wheaton College, and David Lauber, associate professor of theology at Wheaton. This readable volume “examines many of the facets of the Bible as the people’s book during the Reformation by reflecting on matters pertaining to access, readership, media, culture, diffusion, and authority as well as its place in the worship context, as the arbiter of th

"O LORD, My Strength" - 21 May 2017

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“ I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation ” (Psalm 18.1-3, 46). Holy God, we pray for all nations and countries, these United States of America, and for the leaders of the world, such as Governor General of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sir Tapley Seaton; Governor General of Saint Lucia, Dame Pearlette Louisy; and Governor General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sir Frederick Ballantyne; as well as our Oklahoma State Representatives, to include Mike Sanders; Earl Sears; Shane Stone; and Chuck Strohm . O God be gracious to us and bless us and make your face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God