Twitter and the Process of Worship

I honestly thought this was a joke when I first saw it but I suppose it is a very real thing happening, not to different than sending text messages during a sermon. Joshua Harris and John Piper both contributed to the question: Should we use Twitter during sermons. You can read their individual thoughts by clicking there names.

No, Mr. President: John Piper's Response to President Obama on Abortion

This is what Barack Obama said that caused this response from John Piper.

Clayton's Story

Saw this on Between Two World's Blog. I liked it. Enjoy.

What's Next for The Gospel Coalition

Christianity Today interviewed D.A. Carson about The Gospel Coalition and its future. On the second page of the interview he noted our regional conference coming up on May 30th. 

I wanted to do something fun and useful with all of my blog reading. Each week (or so) I will share my favorite blog entries from the past week (or s0). Enjoy!

1. There are two conferences that I have enjoyed paying attention to over the past couple of years for pastors and theologians. The first is the Gospel Coalition which I was able to attend this past month. The second is Together for the Gospel which I have not attended but hope to next year. Pastor Duncan who is a part of both describes their differences and similarities on his blog post this week.

2. If you are concerned about abortion issues, which you should be, read this article about a pastor from Oakland that put it all on this line in a Christ honoring way in this blog post.

3. I liked this idea from The Resurgence blog post on not getting caught up in our own Christian worlds.

4. John Piper explains his methodology in Bible Study in this blog post.

5. 3000 year old homework assignment! Check this blog post out if you want to see some serious old school homework.

Compete and Complete

Yesterday I competed and completed an Olympic marathon with five of my friends and another seven friends that came for support and coaching. I had no idea when I started this process about nine months ago how intense the process would be. It was at challenge learning how to swim and bike and run in such a way as to do them back to back to back. It was challenging to watch friends have to back out because life demands were too much to prepare sufficiently. It was exciting to see the support and care from family and friends.

In the end it was a real joy to compete and complete. It was different for me because the competition was not really me against another person. One of my coaches just kept telling me don't pay attention to everyone passing me focus instead on my own pace and what I needed to do to complete the race. Wise words that probably saved my life in the water, but also allowed me to finish the race.

This week I am preparing a message on discipleship, how fitting given the process I just under took. If I attacked this race the same what I go after everything else competitively in my life I never would have finished. I had to admit to myself my weaknesses and live with them. I had to accept the 55 year old woman passing me on the run up the hill that I was walking (one day I will catch you lady).

Our lives as Christians is the same kind of journey. We want to be super strong and powerful, but in the end there is always someone passing us, more mature than us, but in the end we all strive to be like the one who achieved the prize perfectly.

Biologos

Francis Collins, the director of the Human Genome Project, wrote the book 'The Language of God' in the summer of 2007. Collins offered a detailed perspective of his discoveries about DNA and how he viewed DNA as the fingerprint of God. His results and conclusions left me confused, excited, and wanting more answers.

Now he has launched a website called "biologos". This is a word he coined that combines his understanding of God through the Bible and his understandings from science. On the front page they have a list of questions that people most frequently ask them ... 

1. If God created the universe, what created God?

2. How are the ages of the Earth and the universe calculated? How accurate are those figures?

3. How was the Genesis creation story interpreted before Darwin?

4. What does the fossil record show? 

If you would like to read an interview with Dr. Collins about this new site you can so here.