On Vacation

SharperIron

SI article section is on vacation today, so please enjoy yesterday’s post for another day… or maybe browse the archive. We return Monday to regularly scheduled writing. Thanks!

(But aren’t you glad you saw this puppy?)

Discussion

Happy Independence Day!

SharperIron

Happy Fourth of July from SharperIron.org

Grill some brats; have some apple pie and ice cream; get sun burned and mosquito-bit; enjoy some fireworks.

Image: Washington Post.

Discussion

Free Kindle Books at SharperIron

Jay

From time to time, Sharperiron has provided links to free e-book resources via the Filings sidebar. One of the issues that the site ran into was that Filing links tended to get buried quickly as new stories were aggregated and that it became difficult to maintain a centralized location of all the available resources. Several site readers asked if there was a better way to keep track.

Well, your requests were heard.

Discussion

Remembering Old Times

Matthew Eastland

Hello again everyone!

I haven’t had much of a presence on SI in the last 4 years or so, so many of you may not know me or might have forgotten me.

Do y’all still go back and look at the old posts in the archives?

Discussion

Church in Stockholm?

Jay

I’ve got a friend at church who will be traveling to Sweden for business; he told me today that he’ll be gone for four or five Sundays and it sounds like he’ll be leaving there soon. He’ll be working in Stockholm and was hoping that I might be able to find a church there that preaches in English and is doctrinally sound, rather than (as he put it) ‘finding 4 or 5 really bad churches over a few weeks’. Does anyone know of a place there or a missionary that he could worship with while he’s there?

Discussion

Technical issues Sunday night 5/12

SharperIron

Some updates Sunday PM didn’t work out, so the database had to be rolled back about an hour. If you posted anything between 9:50 and 10:45 or so it’s probably gone.

Sorry about that.

Discussion

Does your church have a statement on marriage in your constitution/by laws?

Greg Long

We are considering adding a statement on marriage in our church based by laws, based on the template from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Questions for you wonderful SI folks:

  • Does your church have a statement on marriage in your constitution or by laws?
  • If so, what is it?
  • When you introduced it to your congregation, what questions or concerns were raised?

Discussion

Changes

Aaron Blumer

Heraclitus is credited with observing that the only constant is change. He was almost right. The only constant is God. Perfect and immutable, He is the one fixed reality behind (and in) a universe where all is in continual motion, down to the smallest bits we can detect. “I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (ESV, Mal. 3:6).

In creation, the only constant is change.

Change in my life

About a month ago, I turned in my resignation at Grace Baptist Church, and for the time being, I am taking a break from pastoral ministry altogether.

People are often unsure what to think when they encounter a man who was a pastor but is no longer in ministry of that kind at all. I always used to wonder what happened. Did he have a really bad experience? Did he just run out of money (Acts 18:3 comes to mind, and maybe John 21:3)? Was he disciplined? Was there some scandal?

I don’t think there’s any wickedness in that kind of curiosity. And depending on what sort of view of “the call” someone has been taught, he can be forgiven for seeing “former pastor” as an inherently negative thing.

Discussion

Life update - PhD candidate

Charlie

Hey SI friends,

Some of you who have known me for a while now may be interested to hear that I received an admission offer to PhD studies in church history at Princeton Theological Seminary. There is about a 99% chance I will be going. I just wanted to share this happy news. As always I appreciate your prayers. You can ask questions here or, if it’s sensitive, through PM.

Discussion