Great Pursuit

Tim Keller speaking at Google video | TheResurgence

2008-09-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

Tim Keller speaking at Google video TheResurgence

Dick Staub: Staublog - Palin & The Power of the Small Ones

2008-09-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

Dick Staub: Staublog - Palin & The Power of the Small Ones

Serving Christ

2008-09-01T23:09:00.001-07:00

What is serving? To serve means to be a slave according to Merriam-Webster dictionary etymology from Latin. As an intransitive verb, it means to be a servant, to do military or naval service, and to be of use to name a few. As a transitive verb, it means to attend, give respect to, gratify and to work through to name a few choices of definitions.

Just reflecting on various dictionary definitions reveals the sheer lack of service to Christ in everyday living. Not many people enjoy being told what to do. Servants in history and the non-professional service sector employees in contemporary service industry have this reality in common, serving or attending to their master or customer.

Because we are so used to the pattern and the principles of the market economy in everyday life, we often fail to detect how subconsciously or unconsciously we fail to submit to the authority and follow the priority of Christ. We say that we live for Christ, but living life according to the motivations of the Spirit and the matters of spiritual well being seems far removed from what we actually experience.

I need God's Word everyday because I discover my identity and roles as I listen, read, hear, remember, and meditate on the story of God who knows me. Through this knowledge of personally being known and loved, do I find a reason for desires, decisions, and deliberations in word and deed.

I need God's Spirit everyday because the Holy Spirit comforts, counsels, and coaches me to keep in step with Him so that I may follow Christ and be like him.

I need spiritual disciplines such as W.O.R.S.H.I.P. to follow through or to establish the coherence between God's Word and God's world.

W – Worship (corporate worship)

O – Open myself to God

R – Relinquish the false self

S – Share my life with others

H – Hear God's word

I – Incarnate the love of Christ

P – Pray

Come, Holy Spirit.

Wendell Berry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2008-09-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Wendell Berry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Little-Known Palin May Be Benefit or Bust for McCain's Campaign - Yahoo! News

2008-08-30T00:40:00.000-07:00

Little-Known Palin May Be Benefit or Bust for McCain's Campaign - Yahoo! News

This will be a very interesting election year.

Perfect delivery: Korea golden vs. Cuba | MLB.com: News

2008-08-24T02:16:00.000-07:00

Perfect delivery: Korea golden vs. Cuba MLB.com: News

World Mission through Mission to America

2008-08-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

1 "The 21st Century World Mission through Mission to America"
2008 KWMC, Wheaton, IL
Rev. I. Henry Koh
(Translated by Grace Song)
July 29, 2008
Introduction:
When the first KWMC was held at Wheaton in1988, the number of Korean missionaries was no more than a several hundred. However, twenty years later today, Korea became a nation that sends out almost 20,000 (18,650) missionaries to 168 countries throughout the world. It has been already several years since Korea ranked the second in world mission. Furthermore, an article that Korea will rank the top in world mission was featured as the cover story in March 2006 issue of Christianity Today. Would Korea, a small country in the east, be able to surpass America, the world’s most powerful nation and take the first place in world mission? However, whether Korea becomes the first or second in world mission is not an important issue that requires our attention. I believe the subject matter to which we must pay attention is the mission strategy God is mapping out through the Korean people.
Christianity in Korea has a relatively short history – no more than 120 years. God has disciplined the Korean people and Korean church through the 35 years of Japanese oppression, the pains and turmoil of the division of the Korean peninsula and Communist oppression of church since World War II, and through the 3-year Korean War which sacrificed over 2 million lives. God used these hardships to train and use the Korean church for world mission in the 21st century. At the time Korea was in ruins and was the poorest nation in the world with the annual per capita income of less than $100. However, God uplifted such country and made it into a leading nation in world mission.
Toward the end of the 20th century, God began to send Koreans to America, the most powerful nation in the world, in order to carry on world mission through the Korean people in the 21st century. God sent 2 million Koreans to America in relatively short 35 years and enabled them to plant as many as 4,000 churches in America during the last 30-40 years, thus making Korea into a 2
nation that planted the largest number of churches per population in American immigration history. Then what is God’s will in doing so? Did God plant Korean churches in America so that Koreans may build large churches, worship in Korean language, and indulge in nostalgic thoughts of homeland with fellow Koreans? No. God planted such a large number of Korean Churches in America with a much more far-reaching and grand dream, that is, as part of His strategy for world mission.
From the beginning, God has been sending Koreans to America with a vision and strategy for world mission, because America is the key nation in God’s strategy for world mission. What is important is not whether Korea ranks first or second in the number of missionaries it sends out. Rather, what is important is to know God’s strategy for the world mission and being used in His plan in Great Commission. Then why would God want to map the 21st century strategy for world mission through America? We must look for answers from the Bible to see how God used nations and people to carry out the mission.
I.
America is the 21st century Rome. History reveals the centrality of Rome in the 1st century strategy for world mission drawn by God. God had prepared Rome before the foundation of the world and mapped out strategies for world mission in which Rome was to place a central role. In the 1st century strategy for the world mission Rome was the key nation. That is why God evangelized Rome by sending the two giants of faith in the 1st century – Paul and Peter -- to Rome and through their martyrdom. Why Rome then? Rome was the most powerful nation in the 1st century, and therefore the Christianization of Rome would open up the evangelistic road to extensive civilizations under Roman rule and influence much more readily and quickly. In fact, when the Roman Emperor Constantine professed Christ in 313 AD, the evangelization of countries in Europe and Northern Africa under Roman influence strode on Roman roads. Historians have said "Every road leads to Rome." In fact, the gospel spread to the world, traveling on Roman roads. 21st century America is like 1st century Rome. Every road leads to and passes through America.
21st century America is the most powerful nation in the history of the world. Every road in the 21st century indeed passes through America. Every air route in the world passes through America. Every airline in the world is present at JFK International Airport in New York. Why is that? It evidences the fact that America holds the central power in the world. In other words, the present day 3
America is the center of politics, military, economy, science, industry and commerce, scholarship and culture of the world in the 21st century. The United Nations Headquarters is in the United States. The vast majority of headquarters of the world’s international bodies are in America. Not only every air route in the world leads to America, but every vessel of commerce leads to and leaves from America.
The present era is referred to as the era of globalization. However, economic circles often say, Americanization is Globalization. America is the nation that fed and sustained the world that fell into ruins post World War II. It is hard to name a nation that did not receive American aid. America helped postwar Europe lying in ruins by launching Marshall Plan, and assisted Germany and Japan – the two defeated nations – to become nations with the 2nd and 3rd economic power in the world. Korea too was able to rise to economic power due to enormous amounts of American aid. Even China is experiencing such phenomenal economic growth today through its trade with America.
Furthermore, the whole world acknowledges America as the best country to live in the world. America has become the object of envy and many in the world want to come and live in America. In fact, it is said that even Muslims who are antagonistic toward America want to live in America. Thus there are 180 ethnic groups with their own language currently living in America. It was likewise in 1st century Rome. Rome was the nation of multiethnic society in the 1st century. 21st century America is the most multiethnic nation that has ever existed in the history of the world. Thus, to evangelize America is to evangelize the world. If we proclaim the gospel to the 180 language groups residing in America, they will eventually share the gospel with their relatives and friends living in their home country as they travel back and forth. Thus the gospel spreads to the world in and through America. That is what had happened in the 1st century when Rome was evangelized.
Moreover, there are more than1 million foreign students from all over the world studying in American colleges and universities. America is the only "mission field" where one does not have to go overseas to engage in world mission. In American colleges and universities, there are students from countries and regions unreachable with the Gospel by us. When those students finish their studies and return to their own countries, they will become influential leaders in their respective countries. Proclaiming the gospel to such students studying in America is God’s strategy for world mission. Rather 4
than spending tens of thousands of dollars for proclaiming the gospel message to various people groups by going to remote countries and towns scattered throughout the world, sharing the gospel with each foreign student from the four corners of the world studying in America would be much more efficient and effective way to use our resources and multiply results a hundredfold and a thousand-fold more. When such foreign students believe in the Lord Jesus and return to their own country, they may even be able to change their national law that prohibits Christianity.
The collapse of the New York World Trade Center’s Twin Towers on September 11, 2002 at the hands of Muslim terrorists opened a new era in world history. The problem of the world in the 20th century had been the seemingly endless cold war with Communism. But communism finally collapsed with the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Now historians say that world war in the 21st century will be the cultural war between Christianity and Islam. Can Christianity win? Many scholars have a pessimistic outlook. Thus, the chief challenge of world mission in the 21st century confronting us is that of sharing the gospel with Muslims. Missionary endeavor is illegal in most Islamic nations, and missionaries are prohibited from those nations. Thus missionaries who had entered secretly are either deported or put to death when found out.
However, we are free to share the gospel with over 6 million Muslims in America who either emigrated from Islamic nations or are here to study. America is a nation that guarantees freedom of speech.
Therefore, America is the world’s most important "mission field". To evangelize America is to evangelize the world. We must penetrate into American colleges and universities and proclaim the gospel. There, students from all parts of the world are being trained and educated to become world leaders. We must share the gospel with Muslims residing in America. And we must proclaim the gospel to 180 ethnic groups in America. Here is an example. There are about 40,000 Chinese immigrants living in South Philadelphia. Every summer 2nd generation Korean-Americans go there, rent a church building and hold the gospel-based summer school for 5 weeks and share the gospel with the children of Chinese immigrants. Among them are children from Indonesia and Vietnam. When the gospel is shared with the children, even the parents come to faith in Christ. Such ministry is referred to as "Urban Mission." 5
In West Philadelphia 2nd generation Korean-Americans from Emmanuel Church planted a multicultural church with over 500 members in the vicinity of the University of Pennsylvania. Not only that, they have been sharing the gospel with black children in the area for the last ten years or so through the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project. The hope of the world is found in sharing the gospel with children – for sooner or later, it is those children who will be leading and carrying on the world. And it is for such work as these that God has been persistently sending Koreans to America during the last 30-40 years and enabling them to plant 4000 churches.
II.
At first, perhaps because Paul had not realized the importance of evangelizing Rome, he had poured out his evangelistic passion to Asia and Bithynia. However, Paul’s epistle written to the church in Rome reveals vast missiological interest Paul had for Rome. At first, Paul appears as if he is not interested in mission to Rome. Why should he proclaim the gospel to an enemy country? And we can understand Paul’s heart from a human perspective. Paul seems to have tried very hard to go east. However, it is written in the Bible that God did not allow it. It is written in Acts 16:6-7, "Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to."
Had Paul gone east with the gospel, Korea may have been evangelized before Rome. But such was not God’s strategy for world mission. God’s strategy for world mission was for Rome to receive the gospel first. Europe was next and Korea was to receive the gospel toward the end of the 19th century.
God stopped Paul from going east and showed him a vision of going west. It is written Acts 16:8-10, "So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them." In God’s strategy and order of world mission, Asia did not come first but Europe. 6
From then on, the gospel moved on westward through Paul from Philippi to Thessalonica, then to Berea to Athens, and to Corinth. God led Paul westward with the gospel because Rome was in West and God’s strategy for mission required Rome to be evangelized. Eventually Paul’s eyes were opened to God’s strategy for mission and His purpose for Rome. Paul wrote the epistle to Romans from Corinth and made clear his intention to visit Rome in15:23-24. The Bible records that although Paul made efforts to visit Rome several times, the road had been blocked. When Governor Festus asked Paul during his imprisonment in Caesarea, whether he is willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand there for a trial, Paul answered, "I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried." (Acts 25:9-10) Apostle Paul preferred to go to Rome because he wanted to open a door for the gospel by proclaiming the gospel to the household of Caesar. Thus God sent Paul albeit as a prisoner to Rome.
God sent Koreans to America, that is, to the 21st century Rome. We Koreans say that we came to America to seek a better life and to give our children a better education. However, in reality, it is God who has brought Koreans to America from 35 years ago so that they may be used for proclaiming the gospel to the 180 multiethnic groups currently living in America and engage in world mission in and through America.
III.
Now the issue before us is how 1st generation Koreans who planted Korean-American churches will evangelize America. It is hard to even conceive the idea that a small nation like Korea will evangelize a large powerful nation like America. Until now we have thought that mission involves rich countries with civilized culture proclaiming the gospel to poor countries with uncivilized culture. And that is how mission has been thought of and done during the past 200 years. However, that is not biblical mission. From the book of Acts, we see Paul from a small and weak colony Judea evangelizing Rome, the world’s most powerful nation at the time. That was God’s strategy for mission. If God sent people from a small country like Korea to America in order to evangelize America, the world’s most powerful nation as Rome was in the 1st century with purpose of evangelization of the world, then what we need to do is to understand God’s strategy and obey God’s mission strategy as Paul did. It is not 7
us but God who carries on world mission. All we have to do is simply obey with the readiness and spirit of martyrdom as Paul did.
Then how can 1st generation Koreans enter American college campuses and share the gospel with180 ethnic groups? Isn’t it impossible because of language barriers? Mission involves overcoming language and cultural barriers in order to share the gospel with people who are different from us. Surely there are some 1st generation Koreans who speak fluent English, and therefore can share the gospel by overcoming language and cultural barriers. However, we can expect much greater works for world mission from 1.5 and 2nd generation Korean-Americans who grew up in America and therefore are both linguistically and culturally fluent. I believe God’s will in sending 2 million Koreans to America during the past 35 years and enabling them to plant 4000 churches in this land was to bring up 1.5 and 2nd generation Korean-Americans who can engage in world mission by evangelizing America. It can be compared to how God had led Paul to Rome for world mission in the 1st century. Most of 1st generation Koreans were able to plant only Korean churches and share the gospel with only Koreans, but 1.5 and 2nd generation Korean-Americans with no language or cultural barriers have access to much wider audience.
English has become the world language today. Greek was the world language in the 1st century. US citizenship is like the 1st century Roman citizenship. Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy -- all of whom God used mightily in world mission were Roman citizens and spoke fluent Greek. God used such people in mighty ways in the 1st century. God’s purpose in sending Koreans to America in the 21st century and enabling them to plant 4000 churches was to bring up 2nd generation Korean-Americans who hold US citizenship and are fluent in English, and therefore can evangelize America and the world. 2nd generations Korean-Americans are US citizens from their birth. Paul said that he is a Roman citizen by birth. 2nd generation Koreans are unconstrained in their use of English language. Paul was also uninhibited in his use of Greek language and thus wrote all his New Testament epistles in Greek. 2nd generation Korean-Americans can share the gospel with both American students and foreign students from all parts of the world studying in American colleges. 2nd generation Korean-Americans can share the gospel with both blacks and Caucasians as well as with people from 180 ethnic groups.
Whichever of the world’s international city we may be in, we can get by speaking English for we can find English speakers everywhere these days. 8
Thus 2nd generation Korean-Americans are not limited to America. They can share the gospel wherever they are in the world. Presently there are 2nd generation Korean-American pastors proclaiming the gospel to hundreds and thousands of people in multicultural settings and serving at large multicultural city churches. Among them are Chae An, David Gibbons, Min Chung, and Stephen Um. There are countless examples of 2nd generation Korean-American pastors who planted multicultural churches, whether large or small, and are faithfully proclaiming the gospel. Furthermore, there are 2nd generation pastors who have penetrated into American college campuses and planted multiethnic churches for college students. Min Chung is the most representative of them. Now over 1,000 people worship at the multiethnic church (which constitutes about 40% 2nd generation Korean-Americans and 60% other ethnic groups) Min Chung planted in Urbana, IL where the University of Illinois is located. This year, the church is commissioning one of its pastoral staffs, Paul Chi, to plant a new multiethnic church in Madison, WI where the University of Wisconsin is located. In addition, there are Paul Kim, Steve Kim, Young C. Kim, and Robert Kim in Philadelphia who have successfully planted multiethnic churches either in college campuses or in the city; Victor Kim and Brian Lee in New York; John Cha in Washington, Matthew Ro in Atlanta; Joshua Kang, Seesun Yoo, Peter Kim, Steve Kang in Chicago; and Sam Park, Sam Yoo, Owen Lee, Iron Kim, Paul Kim, Harold Kim, and James Han in Southern California. And God continues to plant myriads of multiethnic churches in America’s largest cities and college campuses through 2nd generation Korean-American pastors. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 2nd generation Korean-Americans can plant English-speaking multiethnic churches not only in America, but also in any other international cities in the world whether it be London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Manila, and Jakarta. Nowadays, young people fluent in English are swarming into the world’s international cities, including Seoul.
The life of Korean-American churches lies in nurturing and raising up 2nd generation Korean-Americans. Why did God all of a sudden plant 4000 Korean Diaspora churches in America toward the end of the 20th century? The reason was to bring up 2nd generation Korean-Americans who can evangelize America and thereby engage in world mission. Unless Korean-American churches realize this fact, Korean-American churches will forfeit the purpose and reason for their existence. The task of bringing up 2nd generation Korean-Americans precedes overseas mission for Korean-American churches. The most important and prior task of mission for Korean-American churches is 9
raising up 2nd generation Korean-Americans. The demise of 2nd generation Korean-Americans will be the demise of Korean-American churches. No matter how much Korean-American churches grow numerically, build great buildings, and help countless missionaries, churches that fail to bring up 2nd generation Korean-Americans will die away with 1st generation Koreans. In other words, large church buildings, great mission enterprises will not outlive 1st generation Koreans but will perish with them. 19th century England had ranked the top in world mission, but it failed to raise the next generation to take over its mission endeavor. Thus, England’s mission enterprise has attenuated to the point of obliteration today and its church buildings are being sold to Muslims and turning into mosques. Raising up 2nd generation Korean-Americans is Korean-American churches’ first and foremost task of mission. It will not be an exaggeration to say that if Korean-American churches gain 2nd generation Korean-Americans, they will gain everything. However, on the other hand, if they lose their 2nd generation Korean-Americans, they will lose everything.
I am afraid that Korean-American churches are forgetting the purpose and reason for their existence and are thinking only of 1st generation ministries. If we immigrated to America for our children, then the purpose of Korean-American churches ought to be to bring up our children well and commit them to God’s will. If we believe that 2nd generation can engage in mission more effectively than 1st generation, then 1st generation should prioritize and commit themselves to the work of brining up 2nd generation.
We must nurture 2nd generation to perceive and engage with the world more broadly. We must pray God will raise up not only pastors who will transform America but also evangelists like Billy Graham out of 2nd generation Korean-Americans. And outstanding theology professors who wield vast influence in theological mainstreams should be produced from 2nd generation Korean-Americans. Already there are worldly renowned Bible scholars from 1st generation Koreans like Dr. Se Yoon Kim who teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary. Yet even more distinguished figures should come forth from 2nd generation Korean-Americans. Great missionaries like Hudson Taylor and William Carey should also come forth from 2nd generation Korean-Americans. However, evangelism is not the only way to carry on mission. Christian literary figures such as C.S. Lewis must be produced to engage in cultural mission. Prominent Christian writers, playwrights, and musicians should come forth and engage in cultural mission to Christianize not only the culture of America but 10
the cultures of the world as well. Furthermore, there should be 2nd generation Korean-Americans who penetrate into the political and legal world of America like Dr. Harold Koh who served as Assistant Secretary of State during the Clinton years. In such ways godly Christian men and women who can exert Christ’s influence in every area of life throughout America and the world should come forth.
Then what must Korean-American churches specifically do? Without a question, they must bring up 2nd generation Korean-Americans. That is our mission. Then how are we to bring up our 2nd generation?
1. 2nd generation Korean-Americans are our children growing up in America, and we are to bring up our children and dedicate them to Christ. Therefore, bringing up 2nd generation Korean-Americans begins at home and at our Sunday schools. After they have grown up it is already too late. We must begin with little children. When our Sunday schools are fortified, the faith of our children can take firm root, and they can find their identity in Christ and their calling in world mission as 2nd generation Korean-Americans. Then their faith and sense of identity in Christ, and the awareness of their calling will continue to grow well into youth group to college group, and on. Young men and women who have been called by God should be generated. Great lay men and women, pastors and missionaries should come out of them. When I attended Westminster Theological Seminary’s 2007 Graduation Ceremony in Philadelphia, I was shocked that there were only two 2nd generation Korean-Americans in the graduating class. I can’t help but point out that this is a grave problem. Where did the problem begin? Unless we seriously investigate the matter and make necessary rectifications, the hope of Korean-American churches will be severed.

2. One reason that the number of 2nd generation Korean-American seminary students is decreasing is that they have no places to go after they graduate from seminaries and thus feel forlorn. Although 1st-generation pastors need and look for 2nd generation pastors for their ministries, they have neither effective measures nor visions to raise up 2nd generation pastors. 1st generation pastors are busy hiring 2nd generation Korean-American pastors to take charge of Sunday schools, youth groups, and etc., but have no vision of nurturing 2nd generation Korean-American pastors beyond that. 1st generation pastors must engage in conversation
11
with 2nd generation pastors, listen to them, and be able to mentor and coach them.
3. Korean-American churches ought to provide financial support to 2nd generation Korean-American pastors when they plant churches or go overseas as missionaries. Many Korean-American churches are giving financial support to missionaries sent out by churches in Korea. But Korean churches in Korea can easily support their missionaries and do not need financial assistance from Korean-American churches. However, 2nd generation Korean-American pastors and missionaries need the support of 1st generation Korean-American churches. There are many 2nd generation pastors who want to plant churches or go overseas as missionaries and yet are despairing due to lack of funds.
4. Churches planted by 2nd generation pastors soon become multiethnic churches. Most 2nd generation multiethnic churches I visited were composed of less than 40% 2nd generation Korean-Americans and of 60% or higher other ethnic groups. That is indeed world mission in the land of America. However, these multiethnic churches need financial support for the first 3 years, and unless 1st generation Korean-American churches provide them financial assistance; the hope of multiethnic churches will perish. In 2007, Sarang Community Church in Southern California decided to set aside $50,000 in their annual budget for 2nd generation Korean-American multiethnic church planters and give each multiethnic church planter $500 per month for 3 years. I pray that Korean-American churches will follow the example of Sarang Community Church and give financial assistance to 2nd generation Korean-American pastors to plant multiethnic churches.
If this is indeed the mission God has given to Korean-American churches, we must humbly prostrate ourselves and begin by praying the prayer of obedience to God’s will. May God bless our churches that we may continuously pray for and obey the noble privilege and task given to us. Amen.

Saddleback Civil Forum

2008-08-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

I will be attending this event tomorrow.
Thanks to my cousin who gave me the ticket...

Saddleback Civil Forum

Thoughts on Hermeneutics by Peter Leithart

2008-08-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

Anthony Thiselton (New Horizons in Hermeneutics) notes that “It may readily be granted, without any difficulty that some (or even in principle many) biblical texts do function in ways which invite a reader-oriented hermeneutic.”

A very wise statement, that. Wise, first, in acknowledging the strength of reader-oriented modes of interpretation; wise, second, in recognizing that text differs from text, and that imposing a single hermeneutical grid or method on all is ideology not interpretation.

Hence: Joyce and many modernists produce texts that are radically underdetermined. Readers don’t merely discern the coherence, but actually do provide whatever coherence the text has. And that’s by authorial design.

Hence also: If the short ending of Mark is right, that’s a classic example: The gospel leaves the reader hanging, forces a decision upon him.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 1:23 pm

WORLD Magazine | Today's News, Christian Views

2008-08-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

WORLD Magazine Today's News, Christian Views

I don't have mine yet, but have plenty of screens at home (TV and laptops).

How about touching your loved ones and looking at their faces more...

Eric Lidddell

2008-08-08T06:00:00.001-07:00

As the Olympic Games open in Beijing, my thoughts go back to Eric Liddell, a former champion immortalized for his surprising gold medal victory in the 400 meters during the 1924 Games in Paris. A year after his triumph, Liddell went to China, where he spent the last 20 years of his life as a missionary teacher and rural pastor. There he ran the greatest race of his life against opponents we all know—difficult circumstances, war, uncertainty, and disease.

Crowded into a Japanese internment camp with 1,500 other people, Eric lived out the words he had paraphrased from 1 Corinthians 13:6-8— "Love is never glad when others go wrong. Love finds no pleasure in injustice, but rejoices in the truth. Love is always slow to expose, it knows how to be silent. Love is always eager to believe the best about a person. Love is full of hope, full of patient endurance; love never fails."

Eric served the others in camp, whether carrying water for the elderly or refereeing games for the teens. When he died of a brain tumor in February 1945, one internee described him as a man "who lived better than he preached."

In life's most difficult race, Eric Liddell crossed the finish line victorious through love. — David C. McCasland

"Love enables us to walk fearlessly, to run confidently, and to live victoriously."

Living a life that is better than the one preached…

Greyfriar’s Hall Reading List

2008-08-07T22:24:00.001-07:00

Alpha Year Reading List

English Bible 2X
English Bible (AV)
New Testament in Greek
Craigie, Deuteronomy
Bloch & Bloch, Song of Solomon
Muller, Dict. Of Latin & Greek Theo.
Luther, Commentary on Galatians
Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation
Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics
Letis, The Ecclesiastical Text
Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students
Dabney, Evangelical Eloquence
Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers
Poythress, Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses
Spurgeon, Commenting on Commentaries
Merrill, Kingdom
of Priests
Bruce
, NT
History
Gower & Wight, New Manners and Customs of Bible Times
Bridges, The Christian Ministry
Cunningham, Historical Theology, v. 1
Cunningham, Historical Theology, v. 2
Irenaeus, Against Heresies
Augustine, Confessions
Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
Athanasius, On the Incarnation
Epistle of Barnabas
Clement of Rome , 1st Epistle to the Corinthians
Josephus, Wars of the Jews
Polycarp
Didache
Thielicke, A Little Exercise For Young Theologians
Wagner, Tongues Aflame
Strunk & White, The Elements of Style

Beta Year Reading List

English Bible
Romans, in Greek 10X
John, in Greek 10X
Genesis 1-11, in Hebrew, 3X
Ruth, in Hebrew, 3X
John Calvin, Genesis
Morris, John
Haldane, Romans
Henry, A Method for Prayer
A. A. Hodge, The Confession of Faith
Reformed Confessions Harmonized
Baxter, The Reformed Pastor
Ryle, Holiness
Lewis, The Four Loves
Wilson , Reforming Marriage
Wilson , Standing on the Promises
Wilson , Her Hand in Marriage
Wilson, Federal Husband
Wilson , Fruit of Her Hands
Wilson , Praise Her in the Gates
Wilson , Fidelity
Wilson, Future Men
Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, selections
Vincent, Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture
Adams , Christian Counselors' Manual,
Adams , How to Help People Change
Adams , Handbook of Church Discipline
Adams , Marriage Divorce, and Remarriage
Letham, Holy Trinity
Tyndale, Obedience of a Christian Man
Calvin, Necessity of Reforming the Church
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
Owen, Death of Death
Bridges, The Discipline of Grace
Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life
Welch, Blame it on the Brain?
Piper, Desiring God
Adams , From Forgiven to Forgiving
Zinsser, On Writing Well

Gamma Year Reading List

English Bible
Ephesians, in Greek, 20X
1 Peter, in Greek, 20X
Jonah, in Hebrew, 10X
Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression
A. Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience
Daniel B. Wallace, The Basics of New Testament Syntax,
Anglo/Saxon Poet, Beowulf (Chickering)
Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion
Old, Worship,
Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics
Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God
Veith, Postmodern Times
Hagopian ed., Back to Basics, (Jones' section only)
Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Milton , Paradise
Lost
Bunyan, Holy War
Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon
Austen, Sense & Sensibility
Lewis, The Discarded Image
Mencken, A Mencken Chrestomathy
Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet
Erasmus, In Praise of Folly
Herbert, English Poems
D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in England , v. 1
D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in England , v. 2
Van Til, Defense of the Faith
Wodehouse, Leave it to Psmith
R. L. Dabney, Discussions, Select Essays
Murray, Revival & Revivalism
Meyers, The Lord's Service
Wilson, Mother Kirk
Finney, Autobiography of C.G. Finney, (Unabridged)
Abingdon Clergy Income Tax Guide
Zondervan 2005 Minister's Tax & Financial Guide
Lewis, The Space Trilogy
Choose between:
Mitchell, Less Than Words Can Say
Franklin , Writing for Story

Apologetics & Evangelism Reading List

John Stott, Basic Christianity
G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Douglas Wilson, Clean Water, Red Wine, Broken Bread
Walter Chantry, Today's Gospel
G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Ken Gentry, The Greatness of the Great Commission
James Sire, The Universe Next Door
Gene Veith, Postmodern Times
David Hagopian, Back to Basics
J.I. Packer, Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God
Francis Schaeffer, Escape from Reason
Francis Schaeffer, The God Who is There
Wilson and Jones, Angels in the Architecture
Cornelius Van Til, Defense of the Faith
Greg Bahnsen, Always Ready
John Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God
Sproul, et al., Classical Apologetics
C.S. Lewis, Christian Reflections
Jim Wilson, Principles of War
Ernest Reisinger, Today's Evangelism
C.S. Lewis, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe
Paul E. Little, How to Give Away Your Faith
Douglas Wilson, Persuasions
Douglas Wilson, Greyfriars Covenant
Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students
Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia (Bible Difficulties
W.G.T. Shedd, The Doctrine of Endless Punishment
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Henry Morris, The Long War Against God
Michael Behe, Darwin's Black Box
Phillip Johnson, Darwin on Trial
Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution
Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language
Douglas Wilson, Mother Kirk
J.C. Ryle, Light From Old Times
Douglas Wilson, Beyond Stateliest Marble
Ronald Knox, Enthusiasm
Paul Johnson, Intellectuals
E. Michael Jones, Degenerate Moderns
William Webster, The Church of Rome at the Bar of History
Walter Martin, Kingdom of the Cults
C.S. Lewis, The Pilgrim's Regress

“Reformed Is Not Enough”

2008-08-07T16:08:00.001-07:00

Recovering the Objectivity of the Covenant

Douglas Wilson, Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2002

"The Church today is in dire need of reformation. One of the great reformational needs in the Church today is the need for us to understand the objectivity of the covenant, and so that is the thrust of this book." (p. 13)

Instances of the use of the word "Christian": three times

Acts 11:26 believers in Antioch called by outsiders
Acts 26:24-29 presentation of the gospel to King Agrippa
1 Peter 4:14-17 use within the body of Christ

"The phrase "becoming a Christian" is strongly entrenched in our evangelical traditions and is an essential part of evangelical "systematics." It is a matter of systematic and biblical theology and not a question of exegesis. Invariably, it is used to refer to the moment of regeneration." (p. 17)

Internal and external covenant and their signs

How Christian are you? Do you struggle with the covenant membership or church attendance and covenant faithfulness or Christlikeness?

Sacraments for the Christian Life by Ellen T. Charry

2008-08-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

Ellen T. Charry is Margaret W. Harmon Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. This article is from the Christian Century, November 15, 1995, pp. 1076-1079. Used by permission.

Christians are people who acknowledge that they belong neither to themselves nor to the age, but to God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. They are out of step with a society that prizes individuality and autonomy. They are at odds with a culture in which power over persons and property gauges success and garners respect. Unlike their secular friends, Christians do not aim to be self-created or self-directed. Instead, they are directed by God, whose call to live a holy life dedicated to the rescue of others is laid bare in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Christian life is lived in freedom from the norms and expectations of the world because Christians live by divine standards; it is lived in celebration because they claim to live in the reign of God. Christians learn the dimension of that reign by following Jesus around Galilee as he healed, fed, forgave, confronted and taught. Then they dedicate themselves to honoring it.
Reclaiming a vigorous Christian identity is a countercultural act in a culture that no longer grasps the beauty of a disciplined, centered and divinely directed life. A Christian chooses a life that scrutinizes self and society through the Christian filters of the triune God who became incarnate, died on a cross and remains present to a community gathered for holy living. What could make less sense to a world torn by dissension and strife? A decision for Christ and the Christian life becomes a courageous, perhaps even an irrational act.

Yet Christians are as weak and forgetful as anyone else. They become distracted and confused by the call of the world and need to specify and focus their Christian identity. Christians need to be re-Christianized, to have their true identity in Christ made palpable so that they can take it with them when they venture into the marketplace, into the public arena and into the private struggles of their lives.

Most are not up to living the Christian life alone. They need the company of others who aim for a distinctively Christian way of life in a broken world. They need to taste and touch together. Fortunately, the church has the means of focusing Christian minds and upbuilding the community: the sacraments.

Sacraments are concrete actions by which Christians may be marked, fed and touched by the Holy Spirit so that the reality of God and the work of Christ become embedded in the body and psyche. Sacraments recall God’s promises and presence to the worshiping community, binding it together ever more tightly and to clearer purpose. The Holy Spirit is the specific agent of Christianization in the sacraments, binding Christians into the trinitarian life in baptism, and feeding them on the dramatic reenactment of redemption played out through the death and resurrection of Christ in the Eucharist. As Basil the Great put it, the Holy Spirit reaches down from the divine majesty to graft believers into the Holy Trinity by dwelling in them.
Being grafted into the Trinity may be stated christologically without denying the trinitarian implication spelled out in later Christian theology: I am defined by the wisdom and power of God revealed in the death of Christ. I am sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever. I die and rise with Christ to new life. I am clothed with Christ to fight the powers of sin and death.

These different formulations all share the view that grace is not simply divine graciousness upon which one throws oneself, seeking mercy rather than judgment, but also divine power that illumines the believer with the divine dignity that directs personal life. The grace conveyed to the believer in sacraments is the presence of God symbolized by water, oil or food, from which the believer takes strength and comfort.

On the occasion of my baptism, a friend wrote: "Try to remember deliberately once a day that you were and are baptized, that your life is underwritten by God and that in a sense this grandest position in life has already been achieved. You can never go higher than simple baptism. In a sense, this is a release from striving. What was sought for long and hard has not been found, it has found you."

Baptism centers a Christian’s life. First, this sacred washing purifies the baptized for a new life dominated by belonging to God. Forgiveness of sin demarcates the past life from a new life of freedom and joy.

Second, the baptized are always in the presence of God and carry the seal of the Holy Spirit around with them. They are ennobled and dignified by the presence of God, and live as signs of God’s self-communication through Jesus. The baptized know that they have been blessed by the divine presence. Their baptism has inaugurated a life of thanks to God.

Third, the baptized are empowered. No matter in which direction they turn, the dignity of God impels them to be agents of reconciliation and empowers them for self-control. They must be alert every time they touch another person’s body, mind or spirit because God now resides in them.

Churches that practice infant baptism are in the anomalous situation of having to catechize the baptized who may have little understanding that they participate in the trinitarian life. I grieve for a lost opportunity whenever I attend a baptism in which the preacher fails to preach on the meaning of the event. Those who were baptized as infants have a right to know what happened theologically: they were "glued" to the maker of heaven and earth by the Holy Spirit.
Participation in the Eucharist revivifies the power of baptism for daily strength and comfort. I once met a woman who told me she became a Christian because she needed a God she could eat, take into herself and be continuously transformed by. Daily strengthening in the Christian life begins with being reminded that through dying and rising with Christ, we belong to God. In re-enacting the Last Supper we participate again in that dying and rising first undertaken in baptism, when we were washed to begin life afresh. In the Eucharist we are fed and sustained in that life, even though our heads turn back to the world and we fall into sin and death.
The gift of the Eucharist concretizes the mutual indwelling of Christ in the disciples and of Christ with the Father, and therefore the indwelling of the Father and Son in the faithful. "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them" (John 14:23). The bread of life is truly manna in our wilderness, reminding us of God’s love for us and rekindling our gratitude so that we return to God.

Luther put it strongly in his 1527 treatise, This Is My Body: "To give a simple illustration of what takes place in this eating: it is as if a wolf devoured a sheep and the sheep were so powerful a food that it transformed the wolf and turned him into a sheep. So, when we eat Christ’s flesh physically and spiritually, the food is so powerful that it transforms us into itself and out of fleshly, sinful mortal[s] makes spiritual, holy, living [persons]."
Christians are bound together by feasting at the Lord’s table. True, they are bound together by sharing in potluck suppers too, but there is a difference. In the parish hall, they share themselves, the work of their hands, their hospitality at a table set for one another. But the Lord’s table is set by God.

In this shared meal, Christians become sisters and brothers in Christ. In this moment, they venture out from behind the screens of privacy and solitude, out of the fragmentation that characterizes their lives. The Eucharist is the great Christian equalizer. All come hungry, yearning to be fed of God; all leave filled, fed on God’s love. Whatever divides them from one another dies away. No one’s need is greater than another’s. No one’s pain is deeper than another’s. No one’s sin is fiercer than another’s. Issues of race, gender and inequalities of wealth and power cease to exist at the Lord’s table. Here Christians are knit together by their hunger for God and God’s satisfying that need for each and all. Such unity, fleeting though it may be, is a taste of the Christian hope for the time when, as Julian of Norwich put it, all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.

A third sacrament that belongs with baptism and Eucharist for the continuous strengthening in Christian identification with God is penance. This was eliminated by Protestants during the Reformation, and Protestants thereby lost individual opportunities for self-examination, reassessment and recommitment in a sacramental context. Group confession of general sinfulness lacks the edge that confession of specific sins offers. Perhaps the deletion of marriage as a sacrament has also diverted Christians from seeing marriage as life in God.

Christians who are bound together sacramentally understand that they are responsible for one another and for one another’s sins, more than a few of which have corporate dimensions. The admonition to the church in Ephesus still serves well: "So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another." Christians’ solidarity and mutual responsibility are made plain in the pastoral offices of baptism, marriage and ordination. In some liturgies the whole congregation places itself at the disposal of those being baptized, confirmed, married and ordained by taking vows to support these persons in their new life and ministry. Perhaps during Lent Christians should volunteer for peer review to see how well they have carried out those vows.

Conversely, being under vows suggests that Christians submit themselves to correction and discipline by the church. The Christian life also directs how treasure and power are to be used. Can we talk about eucharistic living in corporate boardrooms, in Hollywood, on Madison Avenue? There is no absolute privacy in the Christian life.
Christians must work out knowledge of God as the source of direction for their lives and their various circumstances. What means of livelihood are appropriate for Christians? What entertainments befit those who live in the shadow of the cross of Christ? How should they handle failure and rejection, or power over property and persons? A strong sacramental life will call them back to make God their starting place. The dignity and graciousness of God will influence their mind and behavior.

The drama of sacraments as occasions in which the power of God comes to dwell in the believer can become obscured when a church takes its rites for granted or forgets the radical nature of Christian identity. In order to overcome that complacency, Christians must understand the radical nature of the Christian life. Theirs is a daring undertaking; they need an active sacramental life.

Life of Cross-

2008-08-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

As I pray and prepare for a church planting project in the Puget Sound area, what I realize is that the centrality and the missional thrust of the gospel is the key in seeing the church of all nations. I prefer to use the term cross-cultural and cross-ethnic over multi-cultural or multi-ethnic.
Cross-cultural/ethnic/church experiences confirm the depravity that is pervasive in human hearts and habits. Even within the same cultural/ethnic/church environment, people face generational/economic/educational/theological differences that are often overlooked.
It's amazing to see how even within Protestant circle of churches, theological commitments divide, exclude, withdraw, and expel in the name of purity and orthodoxy.
I believe that when each one of us in the context of community (family, church, or work) God has placed us obey the Great Commandments (Loving God and loving one's neighbor: parents, spouse, children, co-worker, employer, employee, dogs, cats, and trees) and the Great Commission (Going and making disciples, which means learning to follow Jesus and carrying out the implications of Christ's Lordship in all areas of life), we will witness the transforming power of God and manifestation of His glory and our joy in everything.

Purpose-Directed Theology

2008-08-06T15:04:00.001-07:00

Getting Our Priorities Right in Evangelical Controversies

Darrel L. Bock, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2002

Padgett questions whether we should speak of "postmodernism," for in his view it is not a coherent enough articulated system to be an ism. He prefers to speak of a postmodern attitude or the postmodern, which "celebrates the demise of King Reason (including linear, 'scientific' thinking), the Independent Ego, Absolute Truth and any unifying (or 'totalizing') metanarratives (16-17).

Padgett, "Christianity and Postmodernity," Christian Scholar's Review 26, no. 2 (1996): 129

The Apprentice

2008-08-06T14:00:00.001-07:00

"A person who is not willing to follow is not prepared to lead."

I think that in many ways churches lack the art of apprenticeship among their leaders with respect to organizational structures and management of businesses. I am persuaded that this is a result of not taking ownership or having a share in the community and its life. First, people need to identify what they live for, where they are going, and how they are getting there. After wrestling with these issues and have resolved them, just as people invest and diversify their future retirement plans for themselves and families, people need to do the same in the context of a local church community, then ensuing result and quality of community life of a local church and its mission will be felt by many.

Who Defines "Reformed"?

2008-08-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

The socio-political aspect of struggles within the reformed circles...

Leithart.com Who Defines "Reformed"?

Rockefeller family, the most powerful family in the world?

2008-08-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

Rockefeller family - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"In his memoirs, dated 2002, David Rockefeller is quoted, 'For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it'."

Globalization sounds like an apocalypic progression to the end of humanity...

United Methodist Churches call for missional churches for their young generaion.

2008-08-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

The observations by UMC can be shared by all denominations and churches.

DMYP_4

What Is a Gospel-Centered Missional Church and Why Do We Need One?

2008-08-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

The Journey > Articles > What Is a Gospel-Centered Missional Church and Why Do We Need One?

Westminster Seminary California clark

2008-08-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

Thesis on Covenant Theology...

Great introduction that requires the formulation of its implications in the 21st century in which many are seeking answers to their questions...

Westminster Seminary California clark

Covenantalism

2008-08-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

J.I. Packer on Covenant Theology
Covenantalism

$5 for church planting

2008-08-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Acts 29 >

$5 from a boy inspires church planting network...

Mars Hill Church PTP Group Pic

2008-08-02T22:47:00.001-07:00

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

By God's grace and mercy, we have gathered as a team of church planters who desire to respond to the call of our Lord Jesus.

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"