“My basic answer is probably, and if not, there’s probably some comparable arrangement like that.” - Gavin Ortlund

Read Part 1.

Is it possible to seek to advance and excel in ministry without being caught up in the celebrity syndrome?

How can we make the greatest impact possible for the cause of Christ—without falling into the traps that come with celebrity status? How can a minister remain accountable in ways that are both effective and healthy, as we travel to preach and teach?

“It is to observe quietly and humbly and then, when appropriate, to ask clarifying questions. And more often than not, I have been encouraged and even challenged by these clarifications. ” - Challies

“simultaneously, we are told to ‘rejoice with trembling’ (Psalm 2:11), and to ‘serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing’ (Psalm 100:2). We are to ‘come before His presence with thanksgiving;… [and] shout joyfully to Him with psalms.’ (Psalm 95:2)” - Churches Without Chests

“words in isolation communicate a general broad concept (a semantic range)…. But when that word is placed in a context—voila!—that broad concept suddenly has been narrowed down by the context into a specific meaning that can be translated with a gloss.” - Word by Word

“social media, newsletters, podcasts, YouTube, and more have given consumers the ability to curate their information sources to their exact ideological preferences. And yet, many people report lower trust in the information they get.” - The Dispatch

“The identity of the seminary official who ordered the report destroyed has not been made public. However, Terri Stovall, the seminary’s dean of women, has come forward as the person who wrote the initial report on the 2022 abuse case. Stovall, according to school officials, refused to destroy the report.” - RNS

Read the series.

I’ve mentioned analogies in this series, so let me give one of my own.

Suppose someone made you a promise concerning something of great importance to you. This person then went a step further and, to show his intent to make good his promise, entered in to some solemn ritual involving a self-maledictory oath. You could surely trust the promise right?

“empower the people around you to be respectful, but honest. You’ll never discover your blind spots if you’re surrounded by ‘yes’ men or women.” - Phil Cooke

“We’re no longer trying to argue with ardent atheists but to compel impressionable spiritualists.” - TGC

“ ‘Purity culture’ arose in the 1990s as an evangelical reaction to a broader culture that, in more ways than ever, embraced sexual freedom…. Church leaders responded by promoting virginity before marriage, as the church always has, adding in tactics of pledges, purity rings, and dances with their dads.” - Breakpoint

“Many on the Christian Right continue to remain nervous about surveys suggesting that large numbers of evangelicals may not vote in November.” - Current

Related: Apathy Among Christian Voters Could Be ‘Gamechanger’ in 2024 Election – Arizona Christian University

“The research broke non-practicing Christians into three subcategories and found that ‘practicing Christians’ who attend church services at least once a month identify as Christian and describe their faith as ‘strongly important to them’ score higher than all three groups of ‘nones.’” - CPost

“This trope, known as the ‘conflict thesis,’ was popularized by John William Draper’s 1874 book A History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science. He tells a familiar story: humanity, on its upward trajectory of progress, is continually opposed by a blind-faith peddling, power-hungry church.” - TGC

“politicians have to navigate many competing values among their constituents which means at best we will only get some of what we want. How do we reconcile this with making choices about who we support?” - P&D

“The ‘How Couples Meet and Stay Together’ (HCMST) project tracks trends in American dating and marriage over time….the HCMST project has compiled and analyzed demographic and relationship information from more than 5,000 American couples since 2009.” - Daily Citizen

“The pandemic was brutal on churches, but even the year before, the number of Protestant congregations in the U.S. had gone backward by approximately 1,500.” - Religion Unplugged

“Trust in political and civic institutions highest for local and state governments, lowest for media and Congress” - Gallup

In the last article, we examined the strange vision from Daniel 7. Here, we look at what this vision means.

Daniel is worried about the fourth beast because it’s horrifying. It has iron teeth, bronze claws, and it “crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left” (Dan 7:19). He’s curious “about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully” (Dan 7:20).

I had shoulder replacement surgery on 8/16. I have not been home since.

My shoulder had to be immobilized for 6 weeks. Because I walk with either a walker or crutches, I’ve been unable to walk.

I was basically bedridden from 8/16 until last Friday

I am now at the Courage Center in Golden Valley Minnesota

“[A former Ruckman follower] has sent me a list of places where Peter Ruckman himself was tripped up by false friends in the King James Version.” - Mark Ward

“Some people suppose happiness is uniquely human, unrelated to God’s nature: as He gave us a body and hunger, which He doesn’t have, He gave us a capacity for happiness, which He also doesn’t have. I believe something radically different” - Randy Alcorn

“In my ninth year as lead pastor of my church, a crucial question loomed large. Were believers truly growing spiritually? Despite an influx of people and an air of excitement at my church, the pastoral team grappled with the depth of discipleship.” - GARBC

“In New York and across the country, young people have died or gotten injured doing dangerous TikTok challenges and many more are feeling more sad, anxious and depressed because of TikTok’s addictive features” - Baptist Press

“There is a sense that this talk about cultural Christianity is a refreshing change. Sociologists and educational leaders have been declaring Christianity the scourge of the planet for decades…. The problem is that a return to a cultural, but unbelieving, Christianity is not enough.” - P&D

2 Timothy 3:16 reveals that all of Scripture is God-inspired and instructive. Taken with Romans 15:4, similar verses, and examples of NT use of OT passages, some have concluded that even incidental narrative details are potential sources of doctrine.

Since OT narrative details reference everything from clothing to cooking, tools, weapons, vehicles (carts, chariots), and so much more, there are, of course, references to music. There are even references to specific instruments, moods, and uses of music.

“One of the legal issues raised in both cases was simply the definition of a person. Just what and who is a person? And what rights does this ‘person’ have?” - Imaginative Conservative

“The newest issue of the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal is now available online. The 2024 issue contains six peer-reviewed articles and 68 pages of book reviews.” - DBTS Blog

“The request is part of State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ efforts to require Bibles in public school classrooms, which has been met with resistance by some of Oklahoma’s largest school districts.” - RNS

“Liberty University remains the biggest user of private aircraft. It typically holds that position month in and month out. Liberty University has an aviation program that uses aircraft for training purposes. We do not include these aircraft in this list.” - MinistryWatch