“In this video Gavin Ortlund explains why Paul’s teaching that the church is ‘the pillar and buttress of the truth’ (I Tim. 3:15) supports a Protestant view of the church rather than ecclesial infallibility.” - YouTube

“I’ve seen it a lot — church members who get angry at someone and then stay that way. I’ve seen people refuse to talk to each other at church, as if their silence is a godly adult reaction to disagreement. My heart breaks when I see such reactions because I’ve seen bitterness consume people for years.” - Chuck Lawless

“There is such a thing as an intersex person—and it’s a biological condition, not a mental one. In addressing the transgender issue, we also must be aware that the intersex condition exists and it is not the same thing.” - P&D

Editor’s note: This article is part of Dean’s Pathway to Pastoral Ministry series, aimed at young men considering pastoral ministry. I believe there’s plenty here also for “not-young” men, already in ministry, perhaps as a reminder (2 Pet. 3:1).

Has anyone ever made a massive purge of their library, assuming you've even had a library of books in the first place? I used to go to auctions and buy 5 or 10 boxes of books for a dollar. I'd sort through the ones I wanted to keep and send the rest to Half Price Books. They'd give me a pittance for the ones they could resell and recycle the rest. So I've had about 9 bookcases of books in my basement.

“Jesus is fully human, and as a human, he slept soundly during an attack, demonstrating perfect trust in his Father. This is the deepest sleep anyone has ever enjoyed.” - TGC

We must not judge of the number of the rioters from the noise they make, especially when their sweet voices are assisted by barrel-organs and by trumpets of titanic dimensions. Even the opponents of the innovations in worship, notwithstanding their zeal, have arrived at a solution of the difficulty which is timid, and not likely to be pacific. Had they condemned the innovations, they might have crushed a perilous movement in the bud, for the champions of such things rarely have courage to defend them at much risk of purse or person. They have declared that a congregation may innovate to any extent within we know not what bounds, provided the presbytery do not interpose its veto.

“The Biden administration on Tuesday approved more than $20 billion major arms sales to Israel, including new F-15 fighter jets and tens of thousands of tank and mortar shells.” - Axios

“Out of 160 covenant members, more than half live within a couple miles of the church building. Here are three reasons why I would encourage every pastor to teach his congregation the value of proximity.” - 9 Marks

“Sapir says this is the ‘first big fracture’ in ‘the U.S. consensus’ about treatment for minors with sexual identity confusion.” - Daily Citizen

“Moore serves as pastor of churches in Sarasota, Florida, and Branson, Missouri. Most of his flights are between these cities…. For the $10 million Moore’s ministry was raising, they could purchase 26,178 airplane tickets.” - CPost

I have learned from many different models in ministry.

These would include my own pastors, as well as all types of other Christian leaders.

“Sean McGever’s Ownership: The Evangelical Legacy of Slavery in Edwards, Wesley, and Whitefield seeks to shed light on this complex subject, focusing on three of American evangelicalism’s three most influential figures” - Providence

“Increasingly, governments are promoting both misinformation and disinformation through campaigns targeting religious communities and by denying the existence of official policies targeting such groups” - Baptist Press

The 2024 National Conference for the Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics will be hosted at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary in Ankeny, IA.

More information: https://dispensationalcouncil.org/2024-conference-info/

“Perhaps this signals an opportunity to recommit and rebuild after the ‘Great De-Churching,’ evangelizing a society that has moved from consciously rejecting Christianity to just not thinking much about it. But to do that…. we need to understand when and why the ‘nones’ left.” - Breakpoint

“Is there just one proper gospel-centered rationale for holiness? Should we, in speaking about sanctification, avoid threats and warnings and coming judgment and focus simply on our acceptance in Christ? How many motivations does the Bible have for godliness?” - Kevin DeYoung

“Young adults aged 18 to 34 are leading the charge to drink less for better health.” - Gallup

A while back I lost hearing in one ear. I made an appointment with my doctor and suggested the problem might be sinus pressure. He corrected me: my problem was earwax. After the physician removed the blockage, my hearing instantly returned.

But a strange thing happened: I was now hearing all sorts of things. When I walked, I could hear the fabric of my pants rubbing. I heard birds and trucks and high frequency noises that I didn’t remember hearing before. After a few days, my experience returned to normal and I heard just as I had before.

What happened? The answer is that my mind selectively targeted what to focus upon and what to blot out. It did this by habit.

Let me share two major advantages of habits, routines, and unwritten rules.

“In The Widening of God’s Mercy, the father and son team now offer a call for the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the Church and its ministry…. a book released almost 30 years ago by the elder Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament, is one of the most-cited works of New Testament scholarship that presents a clear argument that the Bible condemns homosexual behaviors.” - World

“One important skill that married couples develop over time is the ability to Jointly Negotiate Conflict Resolution Strategies (JNCRS) to their mutual benefit…. Only a few small studies have looked at what goes right in marriages over the long-term in conflict resolution.” - IFS

“There are surprisingly few men who exist at that point where willingness meets qualification. There are almost always some who are willing but not qualified and some who are qualified but not willing. What the church needs so badly is men who are both.” - Challies

“I would argue that…. every additional service a church holds could be a new congregation that the church multiplies.” - 9 Marks

“The state recorded eight deaths among infants who survived abortion attempts during Tim Walz’s tenure as governor.” - The Dispatch

“Tim Keller writes, ‘A job is a vocation only if someone else calls you to do it and you do it for them rather than for yourself.’ Vocational calling isn’t found within; we receive it from another.” - TGC

“Admitting that something is no longer ‘business critical or smart’ means acknowledging that customers have rejected the bold, in-your-face social agendas that permeate so many corporations.” - Breakpoint

“Once I realized that our final destination is not going up to heaven, but that a heavenly city would come down to a renewed creation (see Rev 21:10), I began to wonder what other tools, machines, and devices might be in that new city.” - Word by Word

“I’m not saying that you should… purposefully inconvenience yourself just so you can say you’re suffering. Rather, simply beware that the blessings that God provides with the many creature comforts we enjoy can become an idol.” - Credo

“Christianity, at least in its earliest centuries, had a reputation for being pro-woman, to the point of being disparaged as an effeminate, even emasculating, religious association.” - Word by Word

Read the series.

We’ve looked at the need for you be an active part of your local assembly. We’ve toyed with some ideas, based on your gifts and abilities. Now we could use some help in thinking of things we haven’t thought of yet, and in evaluating the thoroughness of what we’re doing.