Andy Naselli

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CrossWay Milwaukee

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Yesterday my family visited CrossWay Community Church in Milwaukee for second time since our church planted it a little over a year ago. If you or people you know live near the high school building where they’re meeting, I’d commend this gospel-centered assembly to you.

The preaching pastor, Jason Dahlman, is a good friend. (The picture below is old; he and his wife now have three children!) Jason and I first met in Dr. Carson’s Advanced Greek Grammar class in spring 2007, and Jason is now finishing his PhD dissertation under Doug Sweeney at TEDS on Puritan preaching. Jason is unusually humble and gifted—a dynamic combination. He’s probably the finest young preacher I’ve ever heard. (Sermons are available here.)

They are still a young, small church (if I remember correctly, their assembly started off around 40 people, and about one year later they are running about 90-120). More information about them is available here, including a 4.5-minute video that they prepared last year.

Meatatarian Prooftext

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Proverbs 15:17

  • NET: Better a meal of vegetables where there is love
    than a fattened ox where there is hatred.
  • NASB: Better is a dish of vegetables where love is
    Than a fattened ox served with hatred.
  • ESV: Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
    than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
  • NIV: Better a meal of vegetables where there is love
    than a fattened calf with hatred.
  • TNIV: Better a small serving of vegetables with love
    than a fattened calf with hatred.
  • NLT: A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better
    than steak with someone you hate.

T4G Live

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My soul has feasted on the Together for the Gospel Live CD many times in the last couple of months. It features the rich hymns that over 5,000 of us sang at T4G in April 2008.

This CD is on sale this month for only $6 with free shipping in the continental US. (Sovereign Grace Ministries is also selling other books and CDs at reduced prices this month.)

Related:

No Anonymous or Pseudonymous Comments, Please

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I haven’t laid out guidelines for leaving comments on this blog. Perhaps I should. But here is one request I’d like to underscore: When you submit a comment, please use your full real name and one of your active email addresses. The real name is for the benefit of everyone (including yourself!), and the active email address is for me (i.e., it is not viewable to others) in case I’d like to contact you privately.

Thanks.

A Quibble with John Piper

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On December 17, 2008, John Piper warmly recommended Leif Enger’s novel Peace Like a River. Jenni and I read it together over the last month and finished it last night.

Enger is a gifted writer who crafts words like an artist, and his novel has several redeeming qualities. The problem, however, is that the story’s plot is far too thin. It starts well but then fizzles. We kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. Perhaps this says more about us than it does about Enger—sort of like how the only thing being evaluated at fancy art museums is the people looking at the paintings, not the paintings themselves!

Should you read Peace Like a River? A cheeky side of me wants to answer, “No, don’t waste your life.” :-)

Themelios 33:3

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The latest issue of Themelios was released today, and it is outstanding! (It is available as a 129-page PDF or in HTML.)

  1. Editorial | D. A. Carson
  2. Minority Report: The Way of the Christian Academic | Carl Trueman
  3. The Gospel and the Poor | Tim Keller
  4. Shared Intentions? Reflections on Inspiration and Interpretation in Light of Scripture’s Dual Authorship | Jared M. Compton
  5. The Center of Biblical Theology in Acts: Deliverance and Damnation Display the Divine | James M. Hamilton Jr.
  6. Salvation History, Chronology, and Crisis: A Problem with Inclusivist Theology of Religions, Part 2 of 2 | Adam Sparks
  7. Ezra, According to the Gospel: Ezra 7:10 | Philip Graham Ryken
  8. Book Reviews | 32 reviews
    1. Old Testament | 4 reviews
    2. New Testament | 6 reviews
    3. history and historical theology | 3 reviews
    4. systematic theology and bioethics | 15 reviews, 2 book notes
    5. ethics and pastoralia | 1 review
    6. missions and culture | 2 reviews