tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58753562008-07-26T09:22:40.169+01:00dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comBlogger1797125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-25004613194021044462008-07-25T09:49:00.007+01:002008-07-25T10:38:19.733+01:00

One of Mark Driscoll's penetrating observations of Newfrontiers is that as a movement it needs to nail it's doctrine. He observed that when something is small it can get away with verbal communication and unwritten assuptions of what the doctrine of the movement is, but that if it's to grow beyond 'the founder and his friends and family' then these things have to be written down. This danger

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-16943312518000081022008-07-25T08:04:00.002+01:002008-07-25T13:58:38.657+01:00

After all the hype the lights went down and the noise began. An audio visual assault that provides significantly more than most summer blockbusters. But then this is action film by Chris Nolan with Bale and Ledger. Understandably all the talk has been about Heath Ledger's performance, and on this occasion the talk delivers. I imagine sentiment plus the performance may well equal an Oscar for him

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-75354949968433022622008-07-25T07:45:00.000+01:002008-07-25T18:47:04.042+01:00

PDF booklet of all of Mark Driscoll's notes on Genesis, compiled for his church See Mars Hill Church, Seattle for MP3s

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-28439109885274701012008-07-24T13:30:00.005+01:002008-07-24T14:02:03.136+01:00

Bishop Alan relays some of Brian McLaren's teaching from the Anglican Lambeth Conference (interesting in itself to have the king of emergent on stage with the liberal anglicans): "Most postmodern people don’t relish being far from God, bereft of hope and roots, isolated from loving community, part of the problem rather than the solution. But neither do they want to be religious fanatics, cultists

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-79779865117312159522008-07-24T13:08:00.000+01:002008-07-24T15:06:19.833+01:00

Tim Chester's You Can Change completes my holiday reading list... having greatly appreciated Tim's Good News for the Poor, The Busy Christians Guide to Busyness and Total Church, plus the works of these endorsers this looks like a key read. “A book about Christian growth that is neither quietistic nor moralistic is rare. A book that is truly practical is even rarer. Tim Chester’s new volume

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-42058246434837626392008-07-23T15:32:00.008+01:002008-07-24T09:33:29.454+01:00

So I'm gathering the books I'm going to take on holiday with me. Wesley Owen tells me that the one Christian book I should read this summer is The Shack (at least their Bristol shop is full of copies of it and big 'must read' signs). And Eugene Peterson says it's the new Pilgrems Progress... which is glorious praise if true. And yet Christian fiction usually smells like Contemporary Christian

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-75687391790789447692008-07-23T11:01:00.000+01:002008-07-23T10:59:08.569+01:00

Out of curiosity I'm tempted to get hold of this... How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends. "...in Devon, ...a new welcome pack for Polish migrant workers advises them that a good way to start a conversation is to remark on the weather." Don Gabor suggests... Don't open with a complaint, it sets the toneAvoid politics and religion, they are sensitive subjectsKeep strong opinions to

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-67679453088372675992008-07-23T10:59:00.000+01:002008-07-23T11:02:16.661+01:00

The Dark Knight is almost here after a record breaking opening weekend in the USA. Boxoffice isn't everything - the previous record was held by the woeful Spiderman 3 - but the trailers make this look really good. Refresh your memory of where things were up to with Tom Price's thought-provoking article on Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. Nolan also directed Insomnia and Memento.

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-26732482614928083072008-07-23T10:46:00.007+01:002008-07-23T13:03:24.121+01:00

We, in Christian Unions, started to think of everything we do as missional? (We do already think this way - but for all the positive signs and good outworkings of this I'm convinced that there is a need to go up a gear - Mark Driscoll gave this critique to Newfrontiers, and whilst in some ways I do think UCCF is ahead of Newfrontiers being intentially missional and engaging with culture there is

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-36531063182012998352008-07-23T09:30:00.001+01:002008-07-23T09:30:00.411+01:00

I want to address how this can be done. Our fellowship is based on matters in the closed hand. It is vital that members understand this. Inevitably this means that we need to live with differences on other matters. That’s easy to say when someone else has to live with things not being done the way they’d want, it’s harder when it means things aren’t done the way I want. The turn over of people

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-47446911559647133922008-07-22T18:31:00.007+01:002008-07-23T09:51:27.736+01:00

John Piper probably sowed the seeds of Calvinism for me when I read Let the nations be glad(in 2001) . Probably Christ Wright (whose position on sovereignty I'm not entirely sure of) sealed it with his 'The Message of Ezekiel' (published later that year - and imho one of the best of the BSTs). The helpful thing here is that both of them are into missions. The stereotype persists that Calvinism is

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-27300155743050599542008-07-22T18:25:00.007+01:002008-07-23T15:28:22.237+01:00

What kind of unity are we talking about? Not the kind of unity that creates a local church, but rather a student-led partnership of students who belong to local churches who form a mission team for the collective benefit of the local church. This being the case there is probably some difference in the kind of unity required. A local church by necessity probably has to tie down fairly closely what

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-3074612439432130342008-07-22T11:41:00.000+01:002008-07-22T22:14:28.659+01:00

The band Em used to be in have just released their first album. You can hear an excerpt from the one song I wrote that's on the album: Too Many Hours If I'm honest I don't like the way they've arranged what is meant to be a lonely, dark and depressing song. The arrangement is bright and full of sounds... A bit like preaching Ecclesiastes with a grin. But there you go!! Respect to them for the

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-12206495093931264212008-07-22T09:50:00.001+01:002008-07-22T18:55:09.003+01:00

So, Radovan Karadzic has been impersonating the Archbishop of Canterbury... Karadzic 'worked in Serb clinic'

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-28048213788489282932008-07-21T20:10:00.006+01:002008-07-23T10:20:45.578+01:00

Together on a Mission 2008Main Sessions by Mark Driscoll Session 1 - on Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and the Church and the Holy Spirit. Session 2 - on making everything missional, enagaging with culture. Session 3 - on movements and how to avoid becoming an institution or a museum. Training Tracks by Mark Driscoll - for elders on church planting, ministry, family etc. Training Track 1

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-45230399847102051972008-07-21T19:16:00.007+01:002008-07-21T22:33:12.320+01:00

Jonathan Leeman writes provocatively on Individualism and Community. Leeman says that todays problem isn't individualism but rejection of authority, repentance of which means real belonging to the church: "The Christian life must be lived through the local church because that's what Christ has made us-members of his body. To claim that I belong to the church without belonging to a church is

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-25860527789987125352008-07-20T16:25:00.004+01:002008-07-22T23:41:02.363+01:00

Summer update at BeginningWithMoses.org is now live... information on new resources from John Frame, A.T.B. McGowan, the Preach the Word series and Carson & Beale's Commentary of the New Testament use of the Old...

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-34867563605805944082008-07-20T15:11:00.002+01:002008-07-20T15:14:41.984+01:00

I think this question, asked in reference to David & Goliath illustrates well what a preacher should be aimimg towards... "Are we battle weary drill sergeants briefing the troops from the King's manual, or are we joyful heralds of the King's victory?" The former comes naturally, the latter is much harder work - but is surely what the church needs to be hearing week on week.

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-32188949754500176092008-07-20T08:00:00.000+01:002008-07-20T08:00:01.166+01:00

A guest post by Derek Bish: The controversy over how Christians should or can worship an awesome and glorious God continues and the place of music in all that is still core to what some would describe as "worship wars". Indeed Kauflin does use that phrase in this excellent and inspiring book based on some 30 years experience as both songwriter and worship leader. Bob Kauflin opens his heart and

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-56251665962865524322008-07-20T07:59:00.000+01:002008-07-20T08:41:12.893+01:00

Adrian Warnock posts his top referrers every so often, once more thebluefish.org is number 5 on that list. Fascinating...

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-32179804726177707952008-07-19T11:15:00.004+01:002008-07-19T18:05:51.705+01:00

Over recent years I've read the Chronicles of Narnia books, His Dark Materials and most of the Harry Potter books... (I gave up after five because of the apparently exponential growth in book length). Caleb Woodbridge asks Are C S Lewis, J K Rowling and Philip Pullman overrated? ht: Facebook.

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-17070115341563123622008-07-18T23:39:00.006+01:002008-07-18T23:47:31.915+01:00

This captures a challenge I'm currently facing... Michael Jensen: "I was speaking with a prominent English conservative evangelical not so long ago, and we were talking about preaching. He had a gripe: the phrase 'bible teaching' ...it has crept into the evangelical vocabulary to describe what used to be called 'preaching'. A church is great, we will say, because 'the bible teaching is excellent'

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-91096318816421867102008-07-18T20:12:00.000+01:002008-07-21T21:15:50.148+01:00

There is no more important issue in life than seeing Jesus. Seeing Christ’s self-authenticating glory saves and transforms us. When we see Jesus as he really is, we savor him above all other things as one in whom a diversity of excellencies comes together in beautiful, glorious harmony. This series of six 30-minute messages proclaims the biblical portrait of Jesus Christ, the glorious Lion and

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-85722486081693924882008-07-18T09:20:00.005+01:002008-07-18T16:38:53.907+01:00

When I got married if you'd asked me how I would best love my wife I would probably have said 'by telling her the gospel' - telling her everything I learn at conferences, loading the house up with books... Six years later I'm inclined to think that at least 99% of the way I'll love my wife is by living sacrificially, listening, being patient, being kind, not speaking on so many of those

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5875356.post-37376359358126244682008-07-18T02:00:00.000+01:002008-07-18T02:00:00.905+01:00

At Homegroup this week we watched Louie Giglio's preach 'Indescribable' which looks at the way the universe tells of the glory of God, climaxing with the Cross. During it he displays this 1990 picture from Voyager. Carl Sagan: "We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of,

dave bishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02894433115379089423noreply@blogger.com