This wise practical advice from C. J. Mahaney served me well:
It’s the final message from a one-day conference that occurred on August 23, 2012 at Southern Seminary: “Strengthening Your Marriage in Ministry.”
CJ’s message is so helpful that I’ve listened to it three times and watched it once with my wife.
Here are some notes I took: [Read more…] about 3 Ways to Nourish and Cherish Your Wife: Practical Advice C. J. Mahaney Would Give You If He Met with You at Starbucks
Thabiti M. Anyabwile, The Life of God in the Soul of the Church: The Root and Fruit of Spiritual Fellowship (9Marks; Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2012), 239–41:
When I first arrived at First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands), I found a gentle, humble, eager-to-be-taught congregation of saints. From our arrival, greeted by a couple of dozen members of the congregation, my family and I have received nothing but warmth and love from the church.
However, a few weeks into our service here, we noticed a couple of things that struck us as odd. First, everyone we invited to our home for Sunday dinner turned us down. They were polite, and perhaps a little embarrassed. But everyone we welcomed to our home met us with the same reply. ‘Thanks for the invitation. But we already have plans.’ [Read more…] about The Joy of Spiritual Fellowship
Our family loves John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed four book versions of it, and we’ve added a fifth:
John Bunyan. The Pilgrim’s Progress. Edited by Lee Tung and Johnny Wong. Illustrated by Creator Art Studio. 2 vols. Leesburg, FL: Kingstone Comics, 2011. 304 pp. [volume 1 | volume 2]
The story changes several characters from boys to girls (e.g., Help is a leggy fairy, and Hopeful is a petite young lady!), but it hits the highlights and follows Bunyan’s basic storyline. (Some of the illustrations of women seem to cross the line by being too revealing, especially for a children’s book.) [Read more…] about The Pilgrim’s Progress: A Graphic Novel
In 2010, P&R published Timothy Witmer’s The Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding in Your Church.
He’s written a corresponding volume for husbands and fathers:
Timothy Z. Witmer. The Shepherd Leader at Home: Knowing, Leading, Protecting, and Providing for Your Family. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 
Witmer shares practical advice for husbands and fathers using the shepherd-model as the governing metaphor. It’s a good reminder and motivator.
(The galley I read doesn’t include all the indexes, hence the question marks in the TOC below.) [Read more…] about The Shepherd Leader at Home: Knowing, Leading, Protecting, and Providing for Your Family
This booklet is (apparently) a sermon on 1 Cor 3:21–4:7:
Timothy Keller. The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy. Chorley, England: 10 Publishing, 2012. 46 pp.
(The 24-page sample PDF includes half the booklet.)
Why do people do the bad things they do?
Keller argues that Paul’s “approach to self-regard” utterly differs from both the traditional and contemporary answers (p. 12). [Read more…] about Keller on the Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness
This book is as good as advertised:
Kevin DeYoung. The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 159 pp. | 20 pp. sample PDF
DeYoung emphasizes what some who hold a Reformed view of sanctification tend not to emphasize: effort (i.e., Spirit-powered, gospel-driven, faith-fueled effort). And it helps that he can flat-out write.
I ordered the audiobook for my wife (who found Kevin’s T4G sermon so helpful that she listened to it three times). [Read more…] about Kevin DeYoung’s “The Hole in Our Holiness”
This book comes out early next month:
Timothy Keller. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.
It’s large (9.4 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches) and long (400 pp.).
The book is a strategic manual for developing a church’s theological vision. I read the introduction carefully and read the rest more quickly. It’s obvious that Keller has thought deeply about theological vision for a long time.
This graphic shows how important theological vision is (p. 19):
(Tim Keller drafted TGC’s theological vision for ministry.) [Read more…] about Tim Keller’s “Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City”
Two excerpts from C. J. Mahaney on humble athletes:
C. J. Mahaney, “Appendix,” in Game Day for the Glory of God: A Guide for Athletes, Fans, and Wannabes (by Stephen Altrogge; Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 108:
When Chad and I watch a game together, I am on the lookout for ways to teach him. I want to equip him to discern true greatness in the eyes of God. [Read more…] about Humble Athletes
