Saturday Links

Deep Preaching

1. Did I sink? Did I go deep enough to find the treasure?
2. Did I surface? Did I bring the treasure to the surface with illustration, application, and the force of imagination?
3. Did I shine? Since the truth is beautiful, did I show its beauty or lazily offer it unpolished?

The Relationship between “The Gospel of the Kingdom” and “The Gospel of the Cross”

Carson insists that these are not two gospels but one gospel in two perspectives…

Inconvenienced by Inconvenience

I’ve seen many Christians display an attitude that tacitly suggests that their home is their domain and that others do not have a right to presume upon it. But that is simply not a biblical-informed attitude. Your house, your time and your home are not yours. They belong to God and need to be fully surrendered to him and to his better, higher purposes.

To what do I aspire? Be a megachurch pastor or a missionary?

I believe seminarians entering ministry in N. America today must answer the question: To what do I aspire? Be a megachurch pastor or a missionary? I believe it is essential for a new pastor’s spiritual formation and long term spiritual health. The church landscape has changed so drastically in the United States and Canada that the pastoral candidate is forced to face these two choices. Let me explain.

Why Pushing Right is Harder than Pushing Left

When I’m trying to nudge people to their left on an issue … I feel radical, creative, daring, exciting, and somewhat impish. But when I’m trying to nudge people to their right about something … I feel conservative, stern, unpopular, staid, and even somewhat apologetic … But why?

17 Leadership Laws

1. Tough decisions only get tougher.
2. Negativity is cancer.  Kill it or it will kill you.
3. No Margin = No Vision…

5 Ways to Help the Church When You Struggle to Support the Pastor

1. Don’t talk behind his back
2. Be honest to his face
3. Find other voices to invest in you
4. Find a place to vent
5. Leave when you can’t respect the leadership (tell him first)

5 Reasons You Should Write

1. Writing allows the reader to digest the information on their time, at their pace.
2. The average book is read by more than two different people as it is passed on or left to be picked up by someone else.
3. Since leaders are readers, books tend to move among and be digested by people of influence.
4. Influence through writing transcends time and place.
5. Writing forces you to “polish” the articulation of your best thoughts for others.

Death by Meeting: Are Your Meetings Killing You?

A visual summary of the teachings of Patrick Lencioni