Christ Church and East White Oak Bible Church are pleased to host respected singer/songwriter, Bible teacher and author Michael Card for the Biblical Imagination Conference Matthew: The Gospel of Identity on April 25-26, and concert on April 27. The conference will be held at Christ Church in Normal, and the concert at East White Oak Bible Church in Carlock.

The short promotional video linked below will give you and your church an idea of what to expect at the conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GafOGsbbz88

More details about the conference, including the schedule, are available at the conference site at: http://biblicalimagination.com/#/conferences/normal-il-425-27

Tickets for the conference (which includes the concert) are $58 and can be purchased at:  http://store.michaelcard.com/conference.aspx

Tickets for the concert only are $18 and can be purchased at: http://store.michaelcard.com/concerttickets.aspx

Please share this on your personal Facebook sites and encourage your friends to attend.  If you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact Bill Pence at (309) 452-5438 or bntpence@msn.com

~ UPDATED PAGES ON THE BLOG ~

As I near my graduation from Covenant Seminary, I am revisiting a few of my assignments (papers, etc.) that I completed. Below is a paper I wrote on B.B. Warfield 2010 for Carl Trueman’s course on Warfield.  http://coramdeotheblog.com/warfield-paper/ 

Leadership Library – From Ken Blanchard to John Wooden, from being a Quiet introvert to being a StandOut and everything in between, we have lots of new leadership book reviews for you to peruse and enjoy.

• Books by Andy Stanley
• Books by Dave Kraft
• Books by Jim Collins
• Books by John Maxwell
• Books by Kerry Patterson et al
• Books by Malcolm Gladwell
• Books by Patrick Lencioni
• Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success by John Wooden
• EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey
• Every Good Endeavor  by Timothy Keller
• It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
• StandOut by Marcus Buckingham
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler
• The Mentor Leader by Tony Dungy
• Trust Works! Four Keys to Building Lasting Relationships by Ken Blanchard

New Leadership Book Review – The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow by John Maxwell

Movie Reviews – 3 Days to Kill and Grace Unplugged
 

~ THIS AND THAT ~

• My good friend Dr. Neil Skaggs will be presenting “Prelude to Wilberforce: Christian Men & Women that Changed Britain” Friday, March 7 at the Ithaka Fellowship. Please do not hesitate to RSVP. Space is limited to the first sixty people. Coffee and dessert will be served at 7 PM. For directions or more information go to www.IthakaFellowship.org or contact Duane at duaneotto@mac.com.
• Read this interesting article “The Christian Leader in the Digital Age” by Dr. Albert Mohler – http://www.albertmohler.com/2014/02/19/the-christian-leader-in-the-digital-age-2/. If you are interested in more from Mohler, check out his book The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership that Matters.
• Do you count the cost before mentioning Christ in a work environment where policy forbids it? – this article from World Magazine is right up your alley. http://www.worldmag.com/2014/02/pink_slip_speech
• Tim Challies linked to this infographic on multi-tasking, something we all do and think we are doing good at it. Think again on that. Read more here: http://dailyinfographic.com/the-high-cost-of-multitasking-infographic
• Check out this four minute video from John Piper as he explains how the Spirit within and the word of God without work together to make us new – http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/believer-become-what-you-are
• Here’s a lengthy Huffington Post profile of Christian hip-hop/rap artist Lecrae, and one of my favorite artists: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/20/lecrae-moore-rap-christian_n_4784064.html?1392952192
• Ligonier Ministries recently introduced the Ligonier Interview Archives, a new podcast. The weekly podcast highlights interviews from the archives on a variety of products. You can subscribe in iTunes.
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is one of my favorite books of the past few years. Here’s the trailer for the film version, which will open Christmas Day: Unbroken
• Justin Taylor recently interviewed David Wells, who has written some of the most significant books of the past 20 years, about his new book God in the Whirlwind: How the Holy Love of God Reorients Our World. Check it out here:  http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2014/02/19/an-interview-with-david-wells/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+between2worlds+%28Between+Two+Worlds%29
• Dr. Ben Carson’s new book is One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future, and it will be published May 20.
• Eric Metaxas, an excellent biographer, has filmed a Four-part Small Group Video Curriculum on Bonhoeffer! It was shot it on location, mostly in Germany, but in Poland too. Metaxas talks about Bonhoeffer while sitting at his desk in the very bedroom in Berlin where he lived and was arrested, and in the backyard of that home where the gas cannisters were buried, which contained his famous Letters and Papers from Prison. He visits the site of Finkenwalde, now just over the border in Poland, and visits the gorgeous Igel Fraternity in Tübingen where he and his father were members. He even goes inside Tegel prison, which is still operating as a prison, virtually unchanged from Bonhoeffer’s time there. It will be demolished later this year. Here is a link to the first video, which you can watch in its entirety, to get a taste of the whole. And here’s a short trailer. To purchase the DVDs & Study Guide from CBD.com, click here. To purchase from Amazon, click here. To purchase from BN.com, click here.
• Did you see the season finale of Downton Abbey? If so, what did you think? It’s one of our favorite shows, but as I think about it, it’s a show that is almost completely devoid of evidence of faith in the life of any of the characters.
• The new film Son of God will open nationwide on Friday, February 28.
• Neon Steeple, the first solo album from David Crowder, now known as Crowder, will be released May 27.
• NEEDTOBREATHE has announced dates for the first leg of the “Rivers in the Wasteland World Tour. Frecently announced tour dates. They will be at the Pageant in St. Louis June 13 and the House of Blues in St. Louis June 14 and 15. For more information, go to www.NEEDTOBREATHE.com
• Peter Furler, the talented former lead singer of the Newboys, will release Sun and Shield on March 11.
• In case you missed it, here’s the video of U2 playing “Invisible” on the top of the Rockefeller Center and an acoustic version of “Ordinary Love” on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show debut Monday:  http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/02/watch-u2-on-the-tonight-show-starring-jimmy-fallon/
• Speaking of U2, check out this profile The State of U2 from The Hollywood Reporter: http://www.u2.com/news/title/the-state-of-u2
• And while we’re on the subject of my favorite bands making the rounds, check out Switchfoot performing “When We Come Alive” from their #1 album Fading West on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on February 19. Watch the video here: http://landofbrokenhearts.org/archive/2014/02/video-switchfoot-on-jimmy-kimmel/

Here’s something submitted by my friend Clay Johnson:

Time is like a river. You cannot touch the water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of life.
As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the Nova Scotia back country.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn’t stop for directions.
I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.
I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.  The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played “Amazing Grace”, the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head was hung low, my heart was full.
As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothing like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”
Apparently I’m still lost….it’s a man thing.