John Piper and D. A. Carson teamed up on April 23, 2009 to address “The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor.”
(I live-blogged the event, and audio, video, and manuscripts are available.)
Now it’s been updated as a 124-page book:
John Piper and D. A. Carson. The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry. Edited by Owen Strachan and David Mathis. Wheaton: Crossway, 2011. 
Last year my wife blogged about Gospel Meditations for Women by Chris Anderson and Joe Tyrpak.
Chris and Joe wrote a corresponding booklet for men that’s available starting today (in time for Father’s Day if you order soon).
Applying the gospel never gets old because we always need it. These fresh meditations serve men well.
More info:
Mat Stribling, an elder at my church, served us well with his talk entitled “Rescuing Leisure from the American Dream.”
Here’s the outline:
I. Definition: What is Leisure?A. Work-Play Continuum
B. Three-part Definition
- Time: discretionary
- Activity: intentionality
- Purpose: enrichment
A. Axis of Error
B. Five Problems in Leisure [Read more…] about Leisure
Randy Alcorn, Managing God’s Money: A Biblical Guide (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2011), 47–56:
Beyond the examples in Scripture of many people who are warped and destroyed by greed, and its warnings against idolatry, the Bible also lists various dangers of becoming centered on money and possessions. Warning: Don’t dismiss this as negativism. On the contrary, if we understand the dangers of materialism, it will help liberate us to experience the joys of Christ-centered stewardship.
- Materialism hinders or destroys our spiritual lives. . . .
- Materialism is a broken cistern that can’t hold water. . . .
- Materialism blinds us to the curses of wealth. . . .
- Materialism brings us unhappiness and anxiety. . . .
- Materialism ends in futility. . . .
- Materialism obscures many of life’s greatest blessings. . . .
- Materialism spawns independence and self-sufficiency. . . .
- Materialism leads to pride and elitism. . . .
- Materialism promotes injustice and exploitation. . . .
- Materialism fosters immorality and the deterioration of the family.
Related: What We Should Do with Our Money (esp. the resources at the bottom of the post)
This hymnal should be available by early next week:
Fred R. Coleman, ed. Hymns: Modern and Ancient. Milwaukee: Heart, 2011.
“These 134 songs from both present day and past hymn writers have been arranged in four-part harmony for local church, congregational singing. This songbook is intended to be a supplement to traditional hymnals.”
Each song also includes guitar chords.
You can view the list of the 134 songs here. It includes some of my favorites:
Fred writes in the acknowledgments that his wife, Ruth Coleman, “did the majority of the harmonization of the tunes and all of the Finale typesetting. The concept and the song content were my only contributions; she did all the work and made it a reality.”
Our understanding of God and the gospel affects the quality of our worship through singing, and the quality of what we regularly sing affects our understanding of God and the gospel. These rich hymns engage our affections for the Triune God, and I thank God for them.
Keith Getty, “Leading Corporate Worship Music,” a workshop at The Gospel Coalition’s national conference on April 13, 2011, 56:30–59:03:
If our musical understanding is built out of only contemporary music, we are to a large degree foolish people for three main reasons:
- We have such a rich history to tap into. The history of hymnody is dominated by some of the greatest composers in history. It is dominated by some of the greatest poets in history. It is dominated by some of the most brilliant theologians crafting liturgy over hundreds of years. It is dominated by some of the most dramatic conversions and historical moments that shaped countries and nations and cultures. For us to turn out backs to that and say that we here in Illinois today in our room know better and don’t need to learn from them is silly. So there is a richness for us to learn from.
(Tim Keller mentions it in his article on worship in Worship by the Book
- I think it’s just good to do some of it sometimes. It’s just good stuff. It’s good to use. . . . There is no way to satisfy everybody’s musical tastes. But we do have a job to feed our congregations. So we start from there and not from musical tastes and know that we’re part of a rich history.
Related: Don Carson’s introductory essay in the above book is available for free as a PDF:
D. A. Carson, “Worship under the Word.” Page 11–63 in Worship by the Book. Edited by D. A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.
Over the past few years, Jenni and I have been deeply moved, encouraged, and challenged by four DVDs produced by Frontline Missions:
For nearly 20 years Frontline Missions International has worked among people in areas of war, persecution, and poverty, primarily in restricted-access countries, seeking to strengthen the Church, give voice to persecuted Christians, and preach and publish the Good News.
Are you afraid to open your eyes and see death and destruction in the world? Dispatches from the Front will open your eyes to the great needs of the lost, enflame your heart to go to the nations, and give you the courage to carry on the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God. This is a bold call to action.
–Burk Parsons, pastor, author, editor of Tabletalk magazine [Read more…] about Frontline Missions: Dispatches from the Front
Here’s another recent book on the Sabbath:
Tom Wells. The Christian and the Sabbath. West Chester, OH: Tom Wells, 2010. 141 pp.
It lines up with Craig Blomberg’s view in Perspectives on the Sabbath: 4 Views and argues primarily against the Reformed view that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath.
Wells suggests that “this controversy has dogged Reformed churches” for two reasons (pp. 109–16):
Compare chapters 13–14 in Tom Wells and Fred G. Zaspel, New Covenant Theology: Description, Definition, Defense (Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media, 2002).
Doug Moo writes the book’s foreword, and D. A. Carson and Tom Nettles endorse it.
(Fred Zaspel authored the recent book on B. B. Warfield’s theology.)