Glorious Mud

I just got a news release this morning announcing that the ESV Study Bible was selected as the Christian Book of the Year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Crossway is offering a great sale to accompany the announcement (35% off all editions of the Study Bible). I haven't pulled the trigger and bought one yet, but I think this will be my cue. To see the sale, click here . Here is the announcement: "On Thursday, March 19, 2009, The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced the winners of the 2009 Christian Book Awards during the Christian Book Expo in Dallas. The ESV Study Bible, which has sold more than 180,000 units within five months of release, won both its category for best Bible as well as the overall Christian Book of the Year award. This is the first time in the award's 30-year history that a study Bible was named Christian Book of the Year. Read more about the Christian Book Awards and past winners here . Crossway Pres...

I was listening to a report on NPR about Army recruitment. They are having difficulty keeping recruitment up. I know. No Duh. The reasons they cited, though, were not the ones I expected. I figured that the 100% chance of going to war might put a dent in their efforts. But the reason the Army recruiter cited was (are you ready for this) obesity. Too many of the young men coming and inquiring about becoming part of The One were too fat to be able to handle the physical rigors of the army life. Now I know some of these guys are the victims of bad genes - but not all of them. In fact, not most of them. One of the guys interviewed said he knew he was overweight when he applied. He was 5'10" and 280 pounds. The army has somewhat lenient rules concerning obesity, but he was still over the limit by 70 pounds. Why was he overweight? In his own words: beer and the X-Box. He said that he worked all day in a sedentary job, then came home and consumed two six-packs and played vi...

OK, just when I thought this thing could not get any weirder - it does. I read this morning that Ted and Gayle Haggard are planning an appearance on Divorce Court to discuss how their marriage has survived the recent craziness (for an undisclosed amount of money). They say their marriage is better than ever and that they want to communicate to America that divorce is not the answer. And this even as it is coming to light that he had a long term sexual affair with a young man who served in his church in addition to his meth-enhanced trysts with a male escort in Colorado. Since this strange story broke in 2006, I haven't been paying much attention. I was surprised to read that this appearance is being coordinated with a full-on Haggard publicity blitz, as he is also appearing on Oprah and Larry King Live, in order to promote his new documentary that follows his time "in exile." This is just crazy. Time in exile? It's only been three years since the original alleg...

Each of the Journey campuses has started teaching a gospel class - a class that answers basic questions about following Christ and being a member in our church. This class has attracted a large number of people who are "peaking over the fence" - checking this whole Christianity thing out. That is both exciting and challenging. It gives us the chance to share the Bible with people who don't necessarily come to it with faith - as well as challenge those who do trust the Bible to get on mission with us. Our first lesson was on the story arc of the Bible - what is referred to as the diachronic view of scripture. Simply put, it is a way of looking at scripture as a complete story - with one major primary theme: God in Jesus reconciling the world to himself. Teaching a diachronic view of scripture to postmodern culture, though, presents some unique challenges. In prepping to teach, I wrote out the following thoughts. I would be glad to get any thoughts you have on this to...

A good friend sent me a link a blog post by Tullian Tchividjian about the importance of a tri-perspectival approach to preaching (you can read the original post here ). Essentially, he is arguing that those of us who preach the Word are obligated to not simply exegete the text, but our culture and ourselves at the same time. The goal isn't simply to bring out the meaning of the text, but to expose the cultural idols as well as the idols of our heart. I fully agree with him. But this made me reflect a bit on my own journey in preaching. After I became a follower of Christ, I landed in a small Plymouth Brethren (PB) assembly where I discovered my gifts and started teaching in the church. The PB have a number of strengths as a movement - one of which is their emphasis on exegetical teaching. I was on a teaching team that took that strength to a whole new level. We would choose a book of the Bible and then teach our way through it from beginning to end. No pansy topical preaching...

If you haven't checked out the new ESV study Bible, you are missing out. The ESV has quickly become my favorite translation (I used to be a NAS guy - and later a rNAS guy). I haven't purchased the new ESV study Bible yet ... saving up my pennies, so I was excited to find out that Crossway has made the online version free during the month of March. So, if you are interested, check it out here: http://www.esvstudybible.org/online