“Extreme preppers are prone to two sociological sicknesses. Either they isolate from society and scorn the ignorant herd who simply aren’t paying attention, or they cast themselves as the future saviors of a hapless humanity.” - Ref21

“The Constitution and this great American experiment must not be swayed by movements or personalities, but must hold fast to the time-honored principles that have made America strong and prosperous and free” - Pence

“Walter Kim is president of the National Association of Evangelicals….Glenn Hoburg serves as lead pastor of Grace Downtown Church, senior pastor of the Grace D.C. Network….Joel Woodruff is president of the C.S. Lewis Institute” - Juicy Ecumenism

Read Part 1.

In this short series, I am sharing some of the things that I learned at Via Generosity’s Support Raising Bootcamp, which I attended earlier this month near Austin, TX. The training is centered around the book called The God Ask by Steve Shadrach (Fayetteville, AR: Via Nations, 2023).

“the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies on its face to all unborn children, without limitation.” - TGC

“Our goal in this edition of FrontLine is to provide biblical and theological tools that will help you decide how you will engage a dominant culture that is hostile to Christianity.” - P&D

“even if they don’t misbehave…if we become more associated with them than we are with the gospel, we dilute, if not destroy, our witness” - Michael Brown

Reasons included appointing women as pastors and failure to cooperate with the Credentials Committee in doctrinal and sexual abuse inquiries. - BPNews

“There are varying responses to these excellent questions, and the good ones all require trust that a good, loving, holy, and just God knows what He’s doing.” - Randy Alcorn

Read the series.

The greatest banquet in the history of the world will occur at the beginning of Christ’s 1,000-year kingdom in the Holy Land. The menu was announced 2,700 years ago (Isa. 25:6), and our Lord confirmed that the beverage would be the “fruit of the vine” (Matt. 26:29).

“I pastor a transient church. Seemingly every week, I hear that yet another member plans to move. Many members are here for one-to-three years.” - 9 Marks

“In today’s hectic and competitive world, finding balance and success in our work lives can often be a challenge. As we navigate through our daily tasks, responsibilities, and interactions, it’s important to take a step back and reconnect with God.” - Common Good

“Great leaders are humble, know how to inspire and lead their team, and are prepared to take responsibility—whether it’s their fault or not.” - Phil Cooke

“When a believer in Christ suffers affliction, be it discouragement, hurt, confusion, or even possible imprisonment and death, it’s tempting to doubt God’s goodness.” - Reasons

“ ‘The Abuse Response Commission (ARC) is…. being started by a group of concerned, individual Southern Baptists’ who are current and former members of the ARITF.” - BPNews

It’s often said that the good is the enemy of the best. It’s also often said that the perfect is the enemy of the good. Both observations are true in different contexts, sort of like Proverbs 26:4-5.

In my own life, the perfect vs. good version seems more applicable. In order to finish anything, I often have to force myself to stop improving it, shrug, and say, “It’ll do, I guess.”

So, in the spirit of flawed-but-finished, I’m releasing some music into the wild today.

I’ll go into what this project is, why I’m doing it, and how I’ve done it so far. Then I’ll dig into some details, mostly for music and software nerds.

“In the last installment … we examined the argument (a convincing argument, in my opinion) made by John Hart in Evidence for the Rapture that Matthew 24:29–41 was not intended to portray future events in chronological order.” - DBTS Blog

“We have a gospel mandate that makes the dominion mandate redundant. Our mandate in this age is the Great Commission. Make disciples of Jesus Christ—genuine, deep, self-sacrificing reflections of the character of Christ in personal heart and life.” - P&D

“In his report to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Feb. 19, Bart Barber outlined new efforts to implement what he believes messengers have called on SBC leadership to do as the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting approaches.” - Baptist Paper

A quick, very incomplete sampling…

I had never before been asked for a pastor’s opinion concerning a Superbowl commercial. This year was different. The most talked about Superbowl ad had as its theme “He Gets Us.” It features Christians washing the feet of those with whom they disagree. It ends with the powerful words: “Jesus didn’t teach hate. He washed feet.”

“With his death, the curtain continues to close on the idea that a better Russia is around the corner.” - Persuasion

“I still think about that diagnosis when I find myself in a similar spiritual malaise of both needle-like tingling and numbness at the same time.” - Chuck Lawless

“modern happiness studies demonstrate that wealth, success, power, and popularity are not predictors of happiness. People who choose gratitude and engage in respectful, others-centered relationships are happier than those who are self-focused and driven by feelings of entitlement.” - Randy Alcorn

“This marks the fifth year in a row that the Refresh Conference has broken its attendance record” - GARBC

Fifty days after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit and led by Peter, ignited a gospel movement that spread from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the world. Acts 2 records the riveting historical account of timid followers of Jesus leaving their hiding places and boldly preaching to crowds gathered from across the Roman Empire.

A natural reading of the text would uncover no references to the later practice of infant baptism. Yet, proponents of infant baptism cling to Acts 2:38–39 as biblical warrant for this tradition.

“Every faith deconstruction story is about a person who has unique experiences. While the Bible doesn’t use the word, it does offer significant insights into faith deconstruction.” - TGC

“In the past decade, my church has undergone two changes to our constitution…. As leaders, we did some things well and some things poorly in both changes. I think we did significantly better the second time around.” - 9 Marks

This article was posted on MSN. They tend to post articles from a wide range of opinion. The article was originally posted in USA Today and is by a Baptist Seminary professor. I appreciated his balanced approach.

What is Christian nationalism? Here's what Rob Reiner's new movie gets wrong. (msn.com)

The article provides some important data that puts the subject of Christian nationalism into some important perspective and challenges some of our prejudices on the subject of Christian nationalism.

“if your employer demands you use another’s preferred pronouns, and you cannot in good conscience comply, can your employer fire you? As with many legal questions, the answer is ‘it depends.’” - TGC