Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Monthly Archives: April 2015


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Music News and Reviews

Postcards from Paradise by Ringo StarrPostcards from Paradise – Ringo Starr
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From the time I was eight years old I’ve loved the Beatles’ music, both as a band, and as solo artists. Ringo was the Beatles drummer from 1962 to 1970. This is his eighteenth solo studio album, along with several live albums and compilations. Last year I finally got to see Ringo and His All Starr Band in concert. It was a great evening as Ringo and the band really seemed to enjoy each other and performing for their fans.

This album features eleven new songs, and arrives just a few months before Ringo turns 75 years old on July 7. Ringo will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 18, appropriately by Paul McCartney, the only other surviving Beatle.

The album was produced by Ringo, engineered by longtime collaborator Bruce Sugar, and recorded at his home studio in Los Angeles. As on his previous albums, he is joined by a number of guest stars, such as Joe Walsh, Benmont Tench, Dave Stewart, Richard Marx, Peter Frampton, Nathan East and Glen Ballard. The album features the first song that Ringo has written and recorded with the members of his All Starr Band “Islands in the Sun” – Steve Lukather, Todd Rundgren, Gregg Rolie, Richard Page, Warren Ham and Gregg Bissonette, who plays percussion, trumpet and steel drums on the song.

Below are a few comments about each song:

“Rory and the Hurricanes” – another of Ringo’s songs about the past, which I particularly enjoy. Those songs actually date way back to “Early 1970”, the b-side of an early single. This song, co-written with Dave Stewart, pays tribute to the band Ringo was in prior to joining the Beatles in 1962 when he replaced Pete Best on drums. It is a rocker featuring a pounding piano and doo-wop girl-group backing vocals. The song begins in Liverpool and takes in an early visit to Soho’s Denmark Street with the band he refers to as “you know who”.

We were sleeping on the floor living on bread and jam
Because we thought we’d hit the big time
We didn’t give a d***
We were Rory and the Hurricanes

 “You Bring the Party Down” – co-written with Toto’s Steve Lukather. In this song, which includes a sitar, Ringo goes back and forth between a reggae-like feel and a driving rock beat. This has an uncharacteristically dark streak to it. It makes you wonder who he is singing about.

Still living off your memories of when you were in the band
When you’re around you bring the party down

 “Bridges” – features brother-in-law Joe Walsh on a guitar solo.
Down every road we come to bridges.
Crossing bridges is the best way to grow.

“Postcards from Paradise” – co-written with Todd Rundgren, this song creatively uses Beatle and solo song titles in the song lyrics with a George Harrison sound-alike guitar solo thrown in for good measure. Ringo also plays keyboards on this song. Here’s an example, with the song title in italics:

 It’s all too much my little child.
If you would be my honey pie
Eight days a week you will be mine
And getting better all the time

“Right Side of the Road” – is a positive, upbeat, feel-good song. Features guitar work from Ringo and Peter Frampton. Ringo encourages the listener to choose another direction and “try it on the right side on the right side of the road. “

“Not Looking Back” – a loving tribute to Barbara, his wife of nearly 34 years. Features violin work from Ann Marie Simpson.

“Bamboula” – co-written with Van Dyke Parks. Ringo has said that they were trying to create the impression of a marching band, so he played every drum that he had in the studio, including three huge, hundred-year-old drums that Joe Walsh sent him from Africa. The title comes from the bamboula, a drum that Africans were playing 200 years ago. Ringo plays a syncopated New Orleans–inspired snare/tom rhythm, and the song includes some horns and background vocals.

“Island in the Sun” – the first song written by the entire All-Starr Band. Features some good sax work and background vocals with a Caribbean groove.

Don’t worry about the future
Don’t forget about the past
Don’t really matter where I’ve been or what I’ve done
I keep searching for the island in the sun

“Touch and Go” – the closest to an early Beatles sound on the album. Ringo wrote the song with his longtime collaborator Gary Burr. The song is an upbeat song with an effective guitar solo, in which Ringo sings about new love:

I knew from the moment we said hello
It had to be more than touch and go.

“Confirmation” – features guitar work by Steve Dudas, who has been contributing to Ringo’s albums for several years. It’s a positive song that features a laid-back Motown groove, with an effective use of horns and background vocals. This could be another song about wife Barbara.

If I knew then what I know now
I do it all again with you anyhow

“Let Love Lead” – features Frampton and Gary Nicolson on guitars. Was reportedly considered as the title song for album. A strong closing song with the simple positive message of “let love lead”.

Ringo’s effective drumming is mixed prominently throughout this release and his vocals sound as good as ever. Several of these songs will sound good live. I thoroughly enjoyed this album.

 Van Morrison DuetsDuets: Reworking the Catalogue – Van Morrison
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I was first attracted to the now 69 year-old Van Morrison’s music when I heard his song “Whenever God Shines His Light” with Cliff Richard on Christian radio in 1989. That song, as well as “When Will I Learn to Live in God”? were included on Morrison’s excellent album Avalon Sunset. Although his later albums haven’t had the same spiritual flavor, I’ve enjoyed each of his albums since, and have seen him perform in one of his rare U.S. concerts.

In general, I’m not a fan of duet albums, live albums or “Greatest Hits” albums, instead preferring all new music from the artists I like. As a result, I wasn’t overly excited when I first heard about this new album. But it is a very good album which reminds me of John Fogerty’s 2013 I Wrote a Song for Everyone in concept, though Fogerty tended to focus on his most popular songs, while Morrison’s album focuses on some of his lesser known songs.

The 16 song album got its start when Morrison, the late Bobby Womack (whose appearance on “Some Peace of Mind” is one of his final studio recordings), Mavis Staples and Natalie Cole played the BluesFest at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2013. Morrison recorded songs with each of them, and completed songs with the other guests over the next year. The album is produced by Morrison, Don Was and Bob Rock. In some cases Morrison had songs in mind for the guest artists and in other cases, such as Michael Buble with “Real, Real Gone”, the album’s first single, the artist had a particular song they wanted to record from the 360 songs in his catalog.

The songs date from 1970’s “If I Ever Needed Someone” with Mavis Staples to 2012’s Born to Sing” with Chris Farlowe. Most of the songs come from Morrison’s 1980’s and 1990’s albums. He has said that the project was about both the fun of singing with artists he admires and also going back to songs that aren’t so well known.

Other artists who joined Morrison for the project include Stevie Winwood, Mark Knopfler, Georgie Fame, Morrison’s daughter Shana Morrison, Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall, Taj Mahal, Clare Teal, PJ Proby (who joins Morrison for “Whatever Happened to PJ Proby”), Gregory Porter, George Benson (who Morrison recorded “Higher Than the World” live with Bensons’ band) and Joss Stone. Some of the artists I was very familiar with and a few I had not heard of before this album.

The album features the superb vocals of Morrison and his hand-picked guests, is well produced and the musicianship stellar. Since this album has come out I’ve been going back to listen to a lot of Morrison’s earlier music. I hope the new album results in others doing the same.

MUSIC NEWS:

  • “Ima Just Do It” from KB. Listen to KB’s new song from his upcoming album, featuring two times Masters champion golfer Bubba Watson. KB’s new album Tomorrow We Live will be released April 21. You can listen to it in its entirety this week on iTunes Radio First Play. Check it out!
  • Matt Redman Unbroken PraiseNew Matt Redman Album. Unbroken Praise, which was recently recorded live in the Abbey Road studios in London, will be released June 16.
  • Famous Irish Sons Pay Tribute to Their Amazing Dads. U2’s Bono is among the men who have paid tribute to their fathers for the Irish Hospice Foundation. They have all contributed a photo of themselves with their dads, and a piece of writing about their relationship, for the Irish Hospice Foundation book, Sons and Fathers.
  • Paul’s Letter to the Romans Set to Music. Trevin Wax interviews Cody Curtis, a composer and the Worship Arts Director at Union University. Curtis has completed a new album based on Paul’s letter to the Romans.
  • Millennials and Reconciliation. Here is the video of Trip Lee’s talk from the ERLC Summit on the Gospel and Racial Reconciliation. The transcript from the message is also included.
  • Lecrae on GMA. Did you see Lecrae perform “All I Need is You” recently on Good Morning America?
  • “Welcome to America” Video. Here’s Lecrae’s video for “Welcome to America” from his Anomaly album.
  • Before This World - James TaylorNew James Taylor Album. James Taylor returns with Before This World on June 16. This is first album of new songs since October Road, released in 2002 – yes, 13 years ago! Recorded primarily at The Barn in Western Massachusetts, the 10-track album will feature James’s legendary Band: Jimmy Johnson, Steve Gadd, Michael Landau, Larry Goldings, Luis Conte, Andrea Zonn, Arnold McCuller, David Lasley and Kate Markowitz, as well as special guests Yo-Yo Ma and Sting. If you pre-order the album, you get the download for the first single “Today, Today, Today”. Taylor played that song, as well as three others from the new album when we saw him in a June 27, 2014 concert at the Ravinia Festival. Can’t wait for the new album.
  • Rory and the Hurricanes Ringo Starr talks about the new song from his album Postcards from Paradise in which he sings about the band he was in before he joined the Beatles.
  • Ethan Hawke and Jimmy Fallon do Bob Dylan Lullabies. Did you see this recently on The Tonight Show?

  QUOTES:

  • You can try to kill my hope and place it in a grave but it won’t stay there. Jesus lives. Lecrae
  • The resurrection doesn’t just give us hope because it’s a nice story. It gives us life because it really happened. Trip Lee
  • Sometimes racism may be more subtle than it used to be, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less sinful. Trip Lee


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Book Reviews and News

Book Reviews

Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxas. HarperOne. 320 pages. 2007. Audiobook read by Johnny Heller.
****

Amazing Grace - Eric MetaxasEric Metaxas is one of my favorite authors. Of the four books of his that I have read, three have been biographies. His 2013 book Seven Men: And Their Secrets of Greatness features a much shorter biography of Wilberforce than provided here. This book was the official tie-in book to the 2006 film Amazing Grace, which was made to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Parliament’s anti-slave trade legislation.

This book tells the amazing story of the man who was responsible for first the abolition of the slave trade in Britain and ultimately the abolishment of slavery there altogether. Metaxas tells Wilberforce’s story weaving in a number of characters such as John Newton (who would see him as a son), John Wesley, Henry Thornton (his cousin and closest friend), William Pitt (who would become the youngest Prime Minister at 24 years of age), Granville Sharp, Charles Middleton, Thomas Clarkson, Hannah Moore (a popular writer), and many, many more.

Wilberforce changed history, but is largely forgotten today. Metaxas gives us a detailed look at the life of who he refers to as perhaps the greatest social reformer the world has known. At the height of his political career, God would get ahold of Wilberforce and change his life.

Wilberforce began his political career in 1780 when he was elected to Parliament at age 21. His social standing improved, resulting in him being invited to many social clubs, where he would show off his excellent singing voice and enjoy drinking and dancing. Wilberforce would later look at these years as years he wasted. He would use his powerful voice to become a great orator.

Wilberforce went through a gradual conversion experience, much like Augustine, rather than the sudden conversion of the Apostle Paul. Thinking that he needed to go into full-time Christian ministry, Wilberforce felt he would need to leave politics. But John Newton and William Pitt would encourage him to stay in Parliament and use his influence to do good, which he agreed to do.

After being born again, he would have new attitudes about money and time. He resigned from all five of the social clubs he belonged to. He returned to Methodism to the chagrin of his mother.

Wilberforce’s focus would become twofold: the suppression of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners (habits or attitudes). British society at that time was vulgar and violent. Twenty-five percent of the unmarried women were involved in prostitution. Wilberforce wished to bring self-respect and civility into the society.

Wilberforce would come to the point where he felt that abolition was the cause God was calling him to devote his life to. His work to abolish the slave trade would take 26 years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. During this time he would receive many death threats.

In 1797 Wilberforce would publish a book on the Christian faith and the state of what it was in British society. The 37 year old Wilberforce would meet 20 year old Barbara Spooner, 20 and newly serious about religion. They were married less than a month after meeting and would go on to have six children.

Wilberforce stood only 5’3”, and suffered from lifelong stomach problems, resulting in him using opium much of his adult life.  His deteriorating health (eyesight, curvature of the spine, etc.), would lead him to appoint Thomas Buxton to take the lead in the emancipation fight. Wilberforce announced his retirement in 1825.

Among Wilberforce’s many other accomplishments was leading the crusade against cruelty to animals, British missionary work in India and the creation of a free colony in Sierra Leone. Wilberforce would give away much money over his lifetime – to help the poor, etc. At the end of his life he was nearly destitute. He and Barbara would end his life without a home of his own, living with their sons, both ministers.

Emancipation was finally approved just three days before Wilberforce’s death with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. A year later 800,000 slaves would be freed as a result.

I encourage you to read this well-written book about the little man who has made such a big difference in history.

BOOK NEWS:

  • New Rosaria Butterfield Book. Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ will be released July 1. You can pre-order now.
  • A Martyn Lloyd-Jones Reading Guide. Jeff Robinson provides a helpful guide to reading various collections of Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermons and other books about his life and ministry.
  • Galatians: Selections from Martin Luther. R.J. Grunewald announces the launch of a new eBook that he’s been designing and editing in order to share for free with the world – Galatians: Selections from Martin Luther.
  • 125 Free Christian e-books. Check out this excellent selection of free e-books, including several from John Piper and R.C. Sproul.

 Reading Together Week 6

Counter Culture by David PlattCounter Culture: A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture in a World of Poverty, Same-Sex Marriage, Racism, Sex Slavery, Immigration, Abortion, Persecution, Orphans and Pornography by David Platt.

David Platt, author of Radical, has written an important new book. So important, I believe, that rather than doing one book review, I’m reviewing the content chapter by chapter. Note, all of Platt’s royalties from this book will go toward promoting the glory of Christ in all nations.

Each chapter concludes by offering some initial suggestions for practical requests you can pray in light of these issues, potential ways you might engage culture with the gospel, and biblical truths we must proclaim regarding every one of these issues. These suggestions will also direct you to a website www.counterculturebook.com/resources, where you can explore more specific steps you might take.

This week we look at Chapter 6: A Profound Mystery: The Gospel and Marriage

  • Census figures project that nearly half of all first marriages will end in divorce and that’s if men and women even decide to marry. The number of cohabiting couples in our culture has nearly quadrupled over the last thirty years as more and more singles postpone or put aside marriage altogether.
  • Behold the beauty of God’s design for man, woman, and marriage. Two dignified people, both molded in the image of their Maker.
  • Two diverse people, uniquely designed to complement each other. A male and a female fashioned by God to form one flesh, a physical bond between two bodies where the deepest point of union is found at the greatest point of difference. A matrimony marked by unity in diversity, equality with variety, and personal satisfaction through shared consummation.
  • God created the marriage relationship to point to a greater reality. From the moment marriage was instituted, God aimed to give the world an illustration of the gospel.
  • Marriage, according to Ephesians 5, pictures Christ and the church.
  • God designs husbands to be a reflection of Christ’s love for the church in the way they relate to their wives, and God designs wives to be a reflection of the church’s love for Christ in the way they relate to their husbands.
  • One of the effects of sin in Genesis 3 is the tendency for a man to rule his wife in a forceful and oppressive way that denigrates woman’s equal dignity with him.
  • One of the primary reasons why submission and headship are such unpopular and uncomfortable terms for us today—because we’ve seen the dangerous ways these ideas have been exploited.
  • Husbands, love your wives not because of who they are, but because of who Christ is. He loves them deeply, and our responsibility is to reflect his love.
  • Husbands, realize what is at stake here: you and I are representing Christ to a watching world in the way we love our wives.
  • What pictures are our marriages giving to our culture about Christ’s relationship with his church?
  • God’s Word is subtly yet clearly pointing out that God has created women with a unique need to be loved and men with a unique need to be respected.
  • Wives, see yourselves in a complementary, not competitive, relationship with your husband. Yield to leadership in love, knowing that you are representing the church’s relationship to Christ. If you disrespect your husband, you show the world that the church has no respect for Christ.
  • If you are single, for the sake of the gospel, don’t sleep around with any man or woman who is not your husband or wife.
  • All of this is good for us. It is good for husbands to lay down their lives for their wives, and in losing their lives, to find them, just as Jesus promised (see Matthew 10:38-39). Moreover, it is good for wives to receive this love and respect their husbands. I have yet to meet a wife who didn’t want to follow a husband who was sacrificially loving and serving her. Finally, it is good for a single man and a single woman to join together in a supernatural union that God designed to satisfy them both. Yet as long as they remain single (which may be their entire lives, as it was for Christ and has been for many Christians throughout history), it is good to maximize such singleness through purity before God and with a passion to spread the gospel.
  • For these reasons, it is altogether right to be grieved about the redefinition of marriage in our culture. So-called “same-sex marriage” is now recognized as a legitimate entity in the eyes of our government. Such a designation by a government, however, does not change the definition God has established. The only true marriage in God’s eyes remains the exclusive, permanent union of a man and a woman, even as our Supreme Court and state legislatures deliberately defy this reality. Without question, we are living in momentous days—momentous in devastating ways.
  • Ultimately, we do not look to any court or government to define marriage. God has already done that, and his definition cannot be eradicated by a vote of legislators or the opinions of Supreme Court justices. The Supreme Judge of creation has already defined this term once and for all.

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This & That and Favorite Quotes

This and That

IN THE NEWS ~ CURRENT EVENTS:Kenya

  • The FAQs: Terrorist Attack in Kenya Targets Christians. Joe Carter provides an overview of the tragic terrorist attack in Kenya
  • Rolling Stone and the Culture of Lying. Russell Moore writes “Behind this scandal is a larger point. In our society, it’s become acceptable to lie about people and ideas, as long as the crisis created is in line with a perceived social good.”
  • President Obama Hints at Disappointment With Christians at Easter Breakfast. The President stated ““On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love. And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less than loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned,” President Obama said, before theatrically stopping himself. “But that’s a topic for another day.”
  • Interview With a Christian. Ross Douthat, author of Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, writes in the New York Times “After watching the debate about religious freedom unfold over the past week, I decided to subject myself to an interview by an imaginary — but representative — member of the press.”
  • Why Obama isn’t on Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders list. Fortune Magazine’s list of the World’s Greatest Leaders, for the second year in a row, excludes the current President.
  • This is How Religious Liberty Dies — The New Rules of the Secular Left. Albert Mohler writes “The real issue here is not the RFRA in Indiana, or Arkansas, or another state. The real issue is the fact that the secular Left has decided that religious liberty must now be reduced, redefined or relegated to a back seat in the culture.”
  • Gospel. Life. Ministry. Free Online Event. On May 11, The Gospel Project will be sponsoring a free online event with more than a dozen pastors, teachers, and church leaders exploring the gospel and its implications in our lives and ministries. Speakers include John Piper, Matt Chandler, David Platt and Trip Lee.
  • Why do Reports Conceal Radicalism of the Pro-Choice Side? Denny Burk writes “What The New York Times report and The Washington Post blog fail to understand is that abortion-on-demand is legal in this country through all nine months of pregnancy. That is what Roe v. Wade and its companion decision Doe v. Bolton establish.”
  • Shocking Research Claims Wisdom Comes with Age. Eric Metaxas writes “The elderly may not have the quickest minds or understand the latest gadgets, but they do have something young minds sorely need: it’s called wisdom.”
  • Hugh Jackman Signed to Portray the Apostle Paul. Jackman has been signed for the leading role in the film Apostle Paul. Jackman will work as a producer on the project too, a position he will share with both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
World Magazine Cartoon

COURTESY OF WORLD MAGAZINE

SEXUAL ETHICS:

To love is to give yourself to another. To lust is to want to take from another. Love gives, lust takes. Burk Parsons‘

Under every behavioral sin is the sin of idolatry. Martin Luther

  • Why is a Wedding Any Different? Kevin DeYoung writes “As painful as it may be for us and for those we love, celebrating and supporting homosexual unions is not something God or his word will allow us to do.”
  • On the Ethics of Sexual Attraction (Same-Sex and Otherwise). Denny Burk writes “My contention is that the Bible speaks a clear word about our experience of sexual attraction be it heterosexual, homosexual, or otherwise. Whenever we desire something that God forbids, we are experiencing an “attraction” that is sinful and that God would have us to repent of.”
  • Obama Calls for End to ‘Conversion’ Therapies for Gay and Transgender Youth. Michael D. Shear of the New York Times writes “President Obama is calling for an end to such therapies aimed at “repairing” gay, lesbian and transgender youth. His decision on the issue is the latest example of his continuing embrace of gay rights.”
  • Sometimes Flight Is the Best Fight. Jon Bloom writes “Don’t try to reason with your sin-infected appetites. An aroused appetite is almost always unreasonable. When a desire is awakened in you to indulge in some sin, your best defense is often escape.”

Quote: The big issue for Christians is not “conversion therapy” but conversion theology–in which we have an infinite investment. Albert Mohler

SPORTS:

CHRISTIAN LIVING:

  • Yes, You Can Please Your Father. Kevin DeYoung writes “Sometimes Christians can give the impression that pleasing God is a sub-biblical motivation.” He goes on to state “One of the principal motivations for holiness is the pleasure of God.”
  • Resurrection and Justification. R.C. Sproul looks at how the resurrection of Christ linked to the idea of justification in the New Testament.
  • The Fall-Out of Failed Marriages. John Mac Arthur writes “The best way to defend and uphold God’s design for marriage and family is not through political or legal action—it’s through the living testimony of a faithful, righteous adherence to God’s design. The watching world needs to see the necessity of God’s design lived out in our daily lives.”
  •  7 Ways to Grow in the Art of Communication. Joel Beeke writes “We need to understand that communication is an art that we all must learn better. It does not come naturally. Here are seven principles to help you to grow in this art, that you might teach your children.”
  • Your Brain on Multitasking. Our brains on multitasking aren’t nearly as good as we think they are.

PRAYER:

  • The A-Z of Prayer. David Murray writes “What is prayer? Here’s a unique answer found in the papers of the puritan Philip Henry, father of the Bible Commentator, Matthew Henry.”
  • Marriage and the Supreme Court: A Call to Prayer. Russell Moore writes “Let’s pray that the Court gets this right and stays within the limits of its authority—recognizing that the state did not create the family, and cannot recreate it. And at the same time let’s pray with confidence in the knowing that regardless of how the Court decides, on the other side of our culture wars there is a sexual counter-revolution waiting to be born—again.”

COURAGE IN THE FACE OF FEAR:

  • Quiet the Fear, Do the Work. Jon Bloom writes “To do “the work” requires courage. And courage is doing what we know needs to be done despite the fact that we are afraid to do it. Courage does not allow fear to fill the post of General-in-Chief in our minds and hearts, in our belief and behavior.”
  • Freed from the Fear of Death. Larry Hoop writes “The enslavement is not to death itself, but to the fear. It is the anticipation of death that enslaves.”

CHURCH LIFE:

  • Nine Traits of Church Bullies. Thom Rainer writes “Church bullies have always been around. But they seem to be doing their work more furiously today than in recent history. Perhaps this look at nine traits of church bullies can help us recognize them before they do too much damage.”
  • Who the Unchurched Really Are. Gene Veith writes “As Robert Putnam reminds us, the demographic that is the most unchurched is the working class, the lower income non-college-educated folks.  A big segment of these blue-collar workers has just stopped going to church.
  • Why You Need to Sing Loudly in Church. Keith Getty shares five reasons you have no choice but to sing in church on Sunday.
  • What is the Sabbath? Randy Alcorn asks “What is the Sabbath and what does it mean for Christians today?” He offers some helpful resources related to the question.
As seen in CT Entertainment. Seriously?

As seen in CT Entertainment. Seriously?

 FFavorite Quotesavorite Quotes of the Week ~ 4.12.2015

R.C. Sproul and R.C. Sproul, Jr.:

Now that Hillary Clinton is officially running for President I am officially not going to vote for her. It’s official. R.C. Sproul Jr.

No matter what obeisance the state may demand, we who serve the King are free indeed. R.C. Sproul Jr.

  • If you don’t know you’re in a state of grace, then you’re vulnerable to the paralysis of the accusations of the enemy. R.C. Sproul
  • Why do those who keep insisting Jesus hung out with sinners also keep insisting there’s no such thing as sin? R.C. Sproul
  • The resurrection was God the Father’s way of authenticating all of the truths that were declared by Jesus. R.C. Sproul
  • We have to find in Christ, not a mask that conceals our face, but an entire wardrobe of clothing, which is His righteousness. R.C. Sproul

Kevin DeYoung:

  • Blue Devils may have won today. Devil gonna lose tomorrow. Kevin DeYoung (after Duke won on the night before Easter)
  • We do not truly know what love is unless we know Christ. Kevin DeYoung
  • When “everything is awesome” we may miss what (and Who) is truly deserving of awe. Kevin DeYoung
  • God is still here, God is still real, and God has not gone anywhere, even if you have. Kevin DeYoung
  • Sanctification will be drudgery unless we believe that holiness is possible and that it is pleasing to God. Kevin DeYoung

Tim Keller:

  • Do you realize that it is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you get the verdict before the performance? Tim Keller
  •  Jesus as only an example will crush you; you will never be able to live up to it. But Jesus as the Lamb will save you. Tim Keller
  • The gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves and secure our identity through work. Tim Keller

Tullian Tchividjian:

  • When Martin Luther was asked what we contribute to our salvation, he said, “Sin and resistance.” Tullian Tchividjian
  • What kind of person should you be to someone who has fallen? The kind of person you will run to when you fall. Tullian Tchividjian

Scotty Smith:

  • If we do nothing “more,” with the rest of our lives, than love Jesus and point people to him, it will have been a life well lived. Scotty Smith
  • Listen a little deeper and linger a little longer. Overlook as much as possible and encourage as often as you can. Scotty Smith

Spurgy:

  • Let gratitude be awakened; let humility be deepened; let love be quickened. Charles Spurgeon
  • I am certain that the safest way to defend your character is never to say a word about it. Charles Spurgeon

Others:

  • When people praise you, don’t let it go to your head. When they criticize you, don’t let it go to your heart. C.J. Rhodes
  • We can tell if we’re growing in theology if we’re growing more childlike in our faith, not more arrogant and self-righteous. Burk Parsons
  • There is a vast difference between merely knowing about Christ and actually knowing Him–the difference between heaven and hell. Steven Lawson
  • Faith is a refusal to panic, come what may. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
  • That sorrow for sin that keeps the soul from looking towards the mercy seat is a sinful sorrow. Thomas Brooks
  • To know the will of God we need an open Bible and an open map. William Carey
  • The reason the universe is vastly disproportionate to man’s size is that it is telling the glory of God, not the glory of man. John Piper
  • We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. C.S. Lewis
  • Your life as a Christian should make nonbelievers question their disbelief in God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  • The Bible comes both to warn and to encourage and always to turn us again to the Lord Jesus Christ. Alistair Begg
  • Only what God has commanded in his word should be regarded as binding; in all else there may be liberty of actions. John Owen
  • Life is about Jesus. We are not here to tell our story, but His. We are here to live His story, not ours. Francis Chan
  • The gospel tells a story about a good God who created and rules over all, bringing salvation out of the misery we have brought on ourselves. Michael Horton
  • The hardest part of the day is all the stuff after I open my eyes in the morning. Jim Gaffigan
Beyond the Ark by Doug Michael

Beyond the Ark by Doug Michael


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Integrating Faith and Work: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith-and-Work

  • Duke’s Coach K’s Secret to Leadership Success. Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) recently won his fifth NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, second only to the legendary John Wooden. He discussed the importance of trust in leadership success.
  • Compromise and Character in the Workplace. Art Lindsley writes “There are also inevitable consequences to building your house on the sand either in this life or the next. The career you build will only be as solid as the kind of foundation you establish. That invests each choice with real significance.”
  • The Rhythm of Life. Edward Welch writes “Sometimes work seems futile and miserable; sometimes we might not have work; and sometimes we might not want work. In other words, there are times when there is no rhythm to our vocational life but only monotonous and persistent dreariness.
  • Entitlement: Whose Problem is It? C Patton writes “We are all spoiled and, to some degree, guilty of entitlement ourselves. Forget the employees or coworkers that frustrate us with this behavior. There is more than enough opportunity for improvement right here in the mirror to last for a while.”
  • Three Lies I Have Believed. Dave Kraft writes “There are truths I believe that enable me to move forward in trust and confidence and there are lies I believe that hold me down and hold me back. Here are three lies I have believed.”
  • 3 Ways Leaders Handle the Pain of Leadership. Alan Zimmerman shares three additional characteristics of effective leaders.
  • How God Defines Success. Nathan Busenitz writes “if success is defined from God’s perspective, where faith in Christ and faithfulness to Him is what matters most, then the men and women of Hebrews 11 not only understood what true success is, they applied that understanding to every aspect of their lives.”
  • When Faith Meets Work. Matt Smethurst writes “We don’t have enough understanding of our faith, and we don’t have enough understanding of our work. So suggests Katherine Alsdorf in a new roundtable video with Carolyn McCulley and Bethany Jenkins.”
  • Bring Back Childhood Chores: How Hard Work Cultivates Character. Joseph Sunde writes “We as parents and citizens have a responsibility and opportunity to raise up children who understand work and economic exchange for what it really is: not a mere means for material gain and elevated status, but service to others and thus to God.”
  • The Most Important Step to Finding Your Calling. Dan Cumberland writes “Finding your life’s calling begins with making space. Before you choose a specific way to make your impact —before finding your passion —you may need to create the space for possibilities.”
  • Servant Leadership and Strategic Thinking. Eric Geiger writes “Martin Luther said, “a Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.” We are servants first because He first served us. But we don’t serve well if we enable unnecessary chaos.”
  • Is Driving School Buses Kingdom Business? Bethany Jenkins writes “We need more people like Margaret—Christians who aren’t desperately trying to change the world, but who are excited to change their world—whether that’s driving school buses in northern Alabama or closing deals on Wall Street. We need people who are faithfully present in their work, listening to the needs of their neighbors, and working distinctively to change their culture—especially when that change is imperceptible. These are the culture makers who are changing the world. And this, indeed, is kingdom business.”
  • 11 Key Ways a Younger Leader can Gain Credibility. Brad Lomenick discusses the Credibility Theory. He writes that it “Starts with an equation, since I was a math minor in college….. Ultimately, credibility is this: C = T x (E + E). Credibility = Time (multiplied) by Experience + Expertise.”
  • Leadership Lessons from Ruth. John Maxwell continues with the rest of the lessons we can learn from Ruth (from his new book Wisdom from Women in the Bible). This time, he focuses on leadership.
  • 21 Irrefutable Reasons Why Jesus is the Greatest Leader of All Time. Paul Sohn, in the spirit of John Maxwell’s classic book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, offers these 21 reasons.
  • John Maxwell on Talent. In this “Minute with Maxwell”, John Maxwell looks at the word talent.
  • 4 Root Idols that Corrupt Leaders. This article from Eric Geiger hits too close to home as two of my idols are comfort and control, two of the four he writes about here. Ouch.
  • A Minute Can Change Everything. On May 5, The New One Minute Manager, a new book based on the 1982 business classic, written by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson will be released.
  • Permission to Fail. Megan Pacheco writes “Fear of failure is a huge factor in the way we lead and follow. There is this notion that all failure is bad. In reality, unless we are willing to overcome the fears and be okay with failure, we will never know the opportunities set before us.”
  • Low Cost People Development. Mark Miller shares a few ideas on how to develop people with a small budget for development. I appreciated this from Dan Rockwell, the “Leadership Freak”:

 LEADERSHIP QUOTES

  • In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved. Coach K  (Mike Krzyzewski)
  • I believe God gave us crises for some reason—and it certainly wasn’t for us to say that everything about them is bad. A crisis can be a momentous time for a team to grow—if a leader handles it properly. Coach K
  • Aspire for progress, hunger for success, and strive for greatness. Coach K
  • Diligence is Excellence over Time. Super successful people are Excellent in the Ordinary Every Day. Dave Ramsey
  • Is there something in your life you’re tempted to give up on? Persist without exception! Andy Andrews
  • The more I read the Bible, the more evident it becomes that everything I have ever taught or written about effective leadership over the past 25 years, Jesus did to perfection. He is simply the greatest leadership role model of all time. Ken Blanchard
  • Employees will forgive and forget a leader’s errors in judgment, but they will never forget his lack of integrity. Dr. Alan Zimmerman

 Faith and Work Book Clubs – Won’t you read along with us? The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler

The Conviction to Lead Book Club

The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters by Albert Mohler

We’re reading this excellent book from Albert Mohler, one of the best that I’ve read on leadership. It is broken down into 25 relatively short chapters. Won’t you read along with us? This week we look at

Chapter 11 Leaders Are Communicators:

  • Leadership doesn’t happen until communication happens.
  • To be human is to communicate, but to be a leader is to communicate constantly, skillfully, intentionally, and strategically.
  • If a leader has to look for a message, his leadership is doomed.
  • The most powerful leaders are those whose beliefs function like an engine of meaning—pushing out words and messages and compelling communication.
  • If you don’t have a message, don’t try to lead. If you do have a message, your task is to communicate it effectively.
  • Communication is a form of warfare. The leader is always fighting apathy, confusion, lack of direction, and competing voices. The wise leader understands this warfare and enters it eagerly.
  • The effective leader aims for three essential hallmarks of powerful communication. The first is clarity. The goal of communication is not to impress but to convey meaning and purpose.
  • The second hallmark is consistency.
  • The third hallmark of powerful communication, courage. Communication requires courage for the very simple reason that, if your convictions mean anything at all, someone will oppose you. If opposition to your ideas and beliefs offends you, do not attempt to lead.
  • The effective leader understands that the message has to be communicated again and again and again.


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What, or Who, are You Not Noticing?

NoticingIn Andy Andrews’ book The Noticer I was introduced to a character named Jones. Jones is a mysterious individual. Nobody knows where he lives. He never takes people up on their offers to spend the night at their home and he doesn’t even know when he was born. Who is this guy? Jones is a unique soul.  Communicating what he calls “a little perspective,” he explains that he has been given a gift of noticing things that others miss.  “Your time on this earth is a gift to be used wisely,” he says.  “Don’t squander your words or your thoughts. Consider even the simplest action you take, for your lives matter beyond measure…and they matter forever.”

That got me to thinking about what we notice…..and don’t notice each day. For example, I pretty much travel to and from work the same way each day. A lot of the time I kind of feel like I’m on “auto pilot” as I make the short commute in the morning and afternoon. Before I know it, I’m at my destination. I’ve gone by much but haven’t really noticed much at all.

Some years back I remember that we were looking for a new mailbox cover. Normally, each day I would drive past any number of mailbox covers but never notice them. However, when we were looking for mailbox covers I noticed them in all their shapes and sizes. Same thing happened with cars – I drive a Subaru Forester. In the past, I didn’t pay any attention to the model of cars on the road. Now though, I pick out all the Subaru Foresters on the road.

One more example. When the gas prices started to drop a few months ago I stared noticing the price each morning on the way into work and then again on the way home, something I continue to do. The prices would never be the same from morning to evening. Prior to this I never paid any attention to the prices. It’s nothing I can control after all – we’re going to pay whatever the price happens to be. Each day the prices creep down a penny or two per gallon and then out of nowhere they jump up twenty cents or more. Amongst all of the other things I could be noticing, I now notice the price of gas.

Jones says that what you focus on increases, and that many of life’s treasures remain hidden because we never search for them. What are you not focusing on in your life? Perhaps a better question is who are you not focusing on? Here’s a few things we might want to notice:

  • God’s creation all around us – birds singing, flowers and trees blooming…that beautiful sunset or the full moon
  • The person walking in the rain or cold who may need a ride
  • Your neighbor that might need assistance with their yardwork
  • The singles in your church
  • The widows/widowers in your church
  • The elderly in your church
  • The person standing in the foyer at church all alone – perhaps they are a first time visitor?
  • Where you parked your car at the mall (if not, you’ll wander around with your key fob in the air trying to honk your horn)

What would you add to this list?


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Movie Review ~ Danny Collins

Danny CollinsDanny Collins, rated R

3 out of 4 stars

In this film, which we are told is “kind of based on a true story, a little bit”, the soon to be 75 year-old Al Pacino (truly one of our great actors) stars as Danny Collins. Back in 1971 Collins had an acclaimed debut album that some were comparing to John Lennon (whose music is featured throughout the film). We see Danny being interviewed by Chime (think Rolling Stone) magazine, a well-known rock magazine. When asked who his top influence was, he mentions John Lennon.

The next time we see him he is an overweight, cocaine snorting aging rock star, who may remind you a bit of Tom Jones or Neil Diamond on stage. He no longer sings his own songs, but instead sings the oldies that have been written by others, such as “Baby Doll”, for an adoring (and aging) crowd. He has been divorced from three wives, and is currently engaged to a 20-something Sophie (Katarina Cas).

Christopher Plummer is Danny’s long-time manager and best friend Frank, in a part that was originally going to be played by Michael Caine. At Danny’s not so surprise birthday party, Frank presents him with a framed letter that John Lennon had sent Danny 40 years ago after reading the interview in Chime. The hand-written letter tells Danny to be true to his art and never compromise his talent. The letter had been sent to the magazine and they had held on to it, never giving it to Danny. (Note: Lennon did actually send such a letter to English folk singer Steve Tilston).

The letter has a major impact on Danny and he decides to make changes, recognizing that he has wasted his life. He flies to New Jersey, checks into a Hilton hotel, has a piano brought into his room and starts writing a new song, his first in many, many years.

At the Hilton he meets the hotel manager Mary, played well by Annette Bening. The two have chemistry on the screen and eventually develop a friendship, with Danny continually asking her out to dinner, but Mary playing hard to get.

Danny chose New Jersey because that is where Tom lives (played by Bobby Cannavale), the son he has never met from a one night stand decades earlier. Tom is married to the pregnant Samantha (Jennifer Garner) and they have a young child Hope (Giselle Eisenberg) who is adorable and has ADHD. As Danny longs to make changes in his life, forming relationships with the son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter he has never known is at the top of his list. But as you can expect, Tom has no interest in a relationship with Danny.

The film is written and directed by screenwriter Dan Fogelman (Last Vegas, The Guilt Trip, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Cars, Tangled), directing for the first time. It is rated “R” for a significant amount of adult language, the abuse of God’s and Jesus’ names, and an unnecessary scene of nudity early in the film. For discerning viewers who want to avert their eyes, the scene comes early in the film as Danny walks into his bedroom, where Sophie is taking a shower.

It’s billed as a comedy, but consider it a drama with a few laughs thrown in. One reviewer from The Detroit News said, “Danny Collins is the cinematic equivalent of a well-sung easy rock tune, enjoyably light and bouncy, with some darker notes hidden within the chords.” It’s a redemptive story of a flawed man reaching a water-shed moment in his life. What will he do? You have to watch the movie to find out. There’s no spoilers here! Though there are certainly objectionable elements to this film, we really enjoyed it due to the strong acting performances, primarily from Pacino, Bening, Plummer and Cannavale.


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Mercy, Not Justice

Mercy is better than strict justice abraham lincolnAs I was driving to church yesterday I passed a policeman. When I looked in the rearview mirror and saw him turn around I knew I was toast. He soon turned on his red lights and I pulled over.

As he came to the window and asked for my license and registration he asked if I knew how fast I was going. I didn’t, but told him that we were running late for church. The policeman indicated that I was going 10 miles over the speed limit. Tammy asked if we could have mercy. But, much like we are without Christ, I was guilty and deserved justice.

As the policeman went back to his car to check my license, I felt shame. After all, Tammy often would tell me in that very spot on Sunday mornings to slow down. I pulled the window shade down as far as it would go to try to make myself invisible from the eyes of those driving by and looking to see who had been pulled over. I felt shame from my guilt.

When the policeman came back he said he would be giving me a warning ticket. I had received mercy, just as I received when Christ died for my sins. I deserved a speeding ticket. I deserved justice, but was given mercy. What a wonderful picture of the gospel!

Song of the Week

We introduce a new feature this week, the song of the week. Our first song is….

Thy Mercy, My God

Text:  John Stocker 1776/New Melody: Sandra McCracken
1. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

2. Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

3. Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’’ve found.

4. Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

Sing along!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRux8NlvEYo&safe=active


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Movie Reviews ~ Woman in Gold and Alive Inside

Woman in Gold movieWoman in Gold, rated PG-13
****

This film is based on a true events and will remind you of George Clooney’s 2014 film The Monuments Men, in that it revolves around valuable artwork that was stolen by the Nazis. Academy Award winner Helen Mirren (Best Actress for 2007’s The Queen), stars as Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who with her husband, left her family for the United States in 1938.

The film opens in 1998, with Maria living in Los Angeles. Her sister has just died. After her death, Maria becomes aware of the family’s artwork (her father was a talented musician and a collector of art), that had been stolen by the Nazi’s during the invasion of Austria sixty years prior, including paintings from famed Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The paintings include one of Maria’s aunt Adele, who was like a second mother to her; Adele and her husband did not have any children and lived with Maria’s family. The painting (now known as “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer”) entitled the “Woman in Gold” is hanging in an Austrian gallery and is considered to be the “Mona Lisa of Austria”.

Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) is a family friend, grandson of famous Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, and a young attorney who has just failed in his attempt to run his own law firm; as a result he has taken a position with a large Los Angeles law firm. Katie Holmes portrays Randol’s wife in a small role.

Maria contacts Randol to assist her in reclaiming the artwork that rightfully belongs to her family. Although initially reluctant to assist, Randol changes his mind when he reads online that the “Woman in Gold” is valued at in excess of $100 million. For Maria, the quest to return the paintings to her family is about justice, not money.Gustav Klimt Woman in Gold

Randol and Maria will face the task of travelling to Vienna to ask the Austrians to return the “Woman in Gold”, now a treasured piece of Austrian art. This is very difficult for Maria as she never planned to return to a place that caused her and her family such pain.

The young Schoenberg seems to be under-qualified for such a task.   Maria and Randol are assisted in Austria by Hubertus Czernin, a young Austrian journalist likeably played by Daniel Bruhl. The battle to reclaim the paintings goes back and forth between Vienna (where we see beautiful scenery and architecture) and America.

The film is directed by Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn). Curtis’s wife Elizabeth McGovern, Lady Grantham from the popular television series Downton Abbey, appears in a cameo as a federal judge. Jonathan Pryce is excellent in his brief portrayal of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Much of the film is told in flashbacks, with Tatiana Maslany starring as the young Maria and Max Irons as her husband Fritz. The film strangely never tells us what happens to Fritz or that the couple had four children.   It actually could have been rated PG if not for a brief scene in which an angry Randol uses profanity. There are also a few unfortunate instances of the abuse of God’s name.

I thoroughly enjoyed this well acted film, which was much better than Clooney’s disappointing The Monument’s Men.

Alive Inside movieAlive Inside, unrated
****

This documentary introduces us to social worker Dan Cohen and his nonprofit Music and Memory organization. The film is directed by first time director Michael Rossato-Bennett.

The film shows how iPods loaded with personalized playlists of songs that dementia/Alzheimer’s patients (and others in nursing homes) loved from their past have an amazingly positive effect on them. The film tells us that there are currently five million Americans who suffer from dementia and the number is expected to double in the next ten years. Cohen’s goal is to get his iPod program into each of the 16,000 nursing homes in the United States. Currently, the program is in about 650 of them. The film shows examples of the resistance he encounters in trying to do so. For example, a rheumatologist said that it’s no problem getting approval for a medication that costs $1,000/month, but difficult to get approval for a $50 iPod.

We are introduced to John, an Army vet who comes alive to the music of the Andrews Sisters. Denise is a bipolar schizophrenic who pushes away the walker she’s been using for two years and begins to dance as she hears Beatles music. Henry is a 92 year old who isn’t able to communicate with his children. He loves Cab Calloway’s music and we see him come alive and begin singing his favorite song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. We also see a multiple sclerosis patient come alive when the headphones are placed on his head. The film made us laugh when it showed a 3 year old up on a pedestal conducting classical music.

The film portrayed the various ways that music impacts every culture, and the connection between music, the brain and memory. It includes interviews with neurologist Oliver Sacks and others who talk about how music affects the human brain. The film does not tell us what percentage of patients this music therapy helps, but the examples we do see are nothing short of incredible and may bring you to tears as you see them.

The movie does its fair share of criticizing nursing homes as they are today (who wouldn’t like to see nursing homes improved?), but overall it makes the case for Cohen’s Music and Memory project. At the end of the film we are given information on how to contribute to the project at www.musicandmemory.org

We saw the film via Amazon’s Instant Video for just $3.95. Here’s Amazon’s description: “Alive Inside is a joyous cinematic exploration of music’s capability to reawaken our souls and uncover the deepest parts of our humanity. Filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett chronicles the astonishing experiences of individuals around the country whose minds have been revitalized and awakened by the simple act of listening to the music of their youth.


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INTEGRATING FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith-and-Work

Books and Videos:

  • Wisdom from Women of the Bible - John MaxwellWisdom from Women in the Bible. John Maxwell releases his latest book, Wisdom from Women in the Bible. Like his two other Giants of the Bible books, it’s written in a narrative form, but it’s still filled with the things that he’s learned from each featured Biblical character. This time, he focused on female leaders in the Bible, imagining what it would be like to meet these inspiring women.
  • God, the Gospel, and Getting Things Done. Check out this one-hour video of a discussion panel with Matt Perman (author of the excellent What’s Best Next), Charles Smith Jr., and Dr. Jason K. Allen.

 Favorite QuotesQuotes on FAITH AND WORK:

It’s amazing to me to see how many people expect to end up in a certain place and yet they will not lead and they refuse to be led. Andy Andrews

Life is special when you reach out beyond yourself to be a true servant leader for others. Ken Blanchard

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. John Maxwell

Education without motivation serves no useful purpose. Dr. Alan Zimmerman

If you think you’re leading and look behind and no one is following, you’re just out for a week. Dr. Alan Zimmerman

Great leaders find their own approach to learning, but they all do whatever it takes to keep learning. Mark Miller

Book Reviews

CChess Not Checkers by Mark Millerhess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game by Mark Miller. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 144 pages. 2015
****

The latest book from Mark Miller helps leaders elevate their leadership, looking at leadership as chess, rather than checkers. I have previously enjoyed Miller’s The Secret (with Ken Blanchard) and his previous book The Heart of Leadership. See my review of The Heart of Leadership here

This book is written as a story or parable, much like the books of Ken Blanchard, Patrick Lencioni or Miller’s previous books. We meet Blake who leaves his position at Dynastar to take on his first CEO assignment at a small organization that has a good product, but is not being led well. In fact, Blake is the fifth CEO in the past ten years. On his first day he is stunned at the culture he walks into. He knows he has a lot of work ahead of him if he is going to be successful. He needs help so he reaches out to his long-time mentor Debbie, who herself had been mentored by Blake’s late father. As much as Debbie has helped him in the past she feels that he needs mentoring from someone who has been a CEO in the past, and was very good at leading large and complex organization. So Debbie connects Blake with Jack.

Blake begins a mentoring relationship with Jack, who uses the games of chess and checkers to help Blake elevate his leadership game and try to turn his new company into a high performance organization. Jack share four leadership moves, applied from the game of chess, with Blake. Blake then takes what he has learned back to his leadership team. He meets some resistance and realizes that as Jim Collins has written in Good to Great that he not only needs to get the right people on the bus, but he needs to get the wrong people off the bus as well. Not all of Blake’s current leadership team buys into his vision for the future and thus they have to go.

I really enjoyed following Blake’s leadership journey in this story, but much more so the valuable lessons Miller brings out in this short book. Although you can read the book in just a few hours, I recommend that you take a different approach. Read and discuss the book with your current leaders or mentees, taking time to discuss in depth each of the moves and principles Jack shares with Blake.

Miller currently serves as Vice President for Leadership Development for Chick-fil-A, an organization I very much admire. I’m very excited that a new Chick-fil-A restaurant is being built at this time in my community. Don’t forget to check out Mark Miller’s website at www.greatleadersserve.org

 Faith and Work Book Clubs – Won’t you read along with us?

The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler The Conviction to Lead Book Club

The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters by Albert Mohler

We’re reading this excellent book from Albert Mohler, one of the best that I’ve read on leadership. It is broken down into 25 relatively short chapters. Won’t you read along with us?

Chapter 10: Leadership and Credibility Happens When Character and Competence are Combined

  • A good leader stands out when character is matched by competence and the central virtue of knowing what to do.
  • True credibility rests in the ability of others to trust what the leader can do.
  • When you enter the room, trust and confidence had better enter with you. If not, leadership is not happening.
  • No leader is competent to fill every leadership position in every organization.
  • You must be competent in the skills and abilities of the leadership role to which you have been called.
  • Some positions of leadership require specific educational preparation and academic credentials. Other positions of leadership require the credibility that comes through experience.
  • Credibility can be earned. As a matter of fact, that is the only way you can get it. The good news is that credibility can be earned. The bad news is that it can also be lost.
  • The effective leader cannot afford to lose credibility—in fact, he needs to stockpile it and build it in reserve.


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Won’t you read along with us?

generous justiceThe Generous Justice Book Club

Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just by Tim Keller

This book, which I had read when it was first published, was listed under recommended reading in Matt Perman’s fine book What’s Best Next. Tammy and I are reading it and being challenged on every page. Won’t you read along with us?

This week we look at Chapter 5: Why Should We Do Justice?

  • You could make a good argument that our problem in society today is not that people don’t know they should share with others and help the poor. Most people do know and believe this. The real problem is that, while knowing it, they are insufficiently motivated to actually do it. Therefore, there is no greater question than how to motivate people to do what they ought for the hungry and poor of the world.
  • The Bible gives believers two basic motivations—joyful awe before the goodness of God’s creation, and the experience of God’s grace in redemption.
  • Human beings are not accidents, but creations. Without a belief in creation, we are forced to face the implication that ultimately there is no good reason to treat human beings as having dignity.
  • What is it about us that resembles or reflects God? Over the years thinkers have pointed to human rationality, personality, and creativity, or to our moral and aesthetic sense and our deep need for and ability to give love in relationships.
  • Every human life is sacred and every human being has dignity.
  • The image of God carries with it the right to not be mistreated or harmed. All human beings have this right, this worth, according to the Bible.
  • Regardless of their record or character, all human beings have an irreducible glory and significance to them. So we must treasure each and every human being as a way of showing due respect for the majesty of their owner and Creator.
  • The image of God, then, is the first great motivation for living lives of generous justice, serving the needs and guarding the rights of those around us.
  • There is another important way in which the doctrine of creation motivates Christians toward sharing their resources with others. If God is the Creator and author of all things that means everything we have in life belongs to God.
  • Therefore, just men and women see their money as belonging in some ways to the entire human community around them, while the unjust or unrighteous see their money as strictly theirs and no one else’s.
  • When you are harvesting your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back and get it. It is for the immigrant, the fatherless, and the widow. . . . Deuteronomy 24:14, 17, 19.
  • If the owner did not limit his profits and provide the poor with an opportunity to work for their own benefit in the fields, he did not simply deprive the poor of charity but of justice, of their right. Why? A lack of generosity refuses to acknowledge that your assets are not really yours, but God’s.
  • Therefore, if you have been assigned the goods of this world by God and you don’t share them with others, it isn’t just stinginess, and it is injustice.
  • The most frequently cited Biblical motivation for doing justice is the grace of God in redemption.
  • The Israelites had been poor, racial outsiders in Egypt. How then, Moses asks, could they be callous to the poor, racial outsiders in their own midst?
  • “Israel, you were liberated by me. You did not accomplish it—I performed it for you, by my grace. Now do the same for others. Untie the yoke, unlock the shackles, feed and clothe them, as I did for you.”
  • If a person has grasped the meaning of God’s grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn’t live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God’s grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn’t care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn’t understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just.
  • Fasting should be a symbol of a pervasive change across the whole face of one’s life. People changed by grace should go, as it were, on a permanent fast. Self-indulgence and materialism should be given up and replaced by a sacrificial lifestyle of giving to those in need. They should spend not only their money but “themselves” (verse 10) on others. What is this permanent fasting? It is to work against injustice, to share food, clothing, and home with the hungry and the homeless. That is the real proof that you believe your sins have been atoned for, and that you have truly been humbled by that knowledge and are now living a life submitted to God and shaped by knowledge of him.
  • If you look down at the poor and stay aloof from their suffering, you have not really understood or experienced God’s grace.
  • Many religions teach that if you live as you ought, then God will accept and bless you. But Paul taught that if you receive God’s acceptance and blessing as a free gift through Jesus Christ, then you can and will live as you ought.
  • He is saying that a life poured out in deeds of service to the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true, justifying, gospel-faith. Grace makes you just. If you are not just, you’ve not truly been justified by faith.
  • My experience as a pastor has been that those who are middle-class in spirit tend to be indifferent to the poor, but people who come to grasp the gospel of grace and become spiritually poor find their hearts gravitating toward the materially poor.
  • To the degree that the gospel shapes your self-image, you will identify with those in need.
  • When Christians who understand the gospel see a poor person, they realize they are looking into a mirror. Their hearts must go out to him or her without an ounce of superiority or indifference.
  • The doctrine of justification by grace contains untapped resources for healing.
  • In a thousand ways society tells you every day that you are worthless because you have no achievement.
  • But the gospel tells you that you are not defined by outside forces. It tells you that you count; even more that you are loved unconditionally and infinitely, irrespective of anything you have achieved or failed to achieve.
  • Justified by sheer grace, it seeks to “justify” by grace those declared “unjust” by a society’s implacable law of achievement.
  • I believe, however, when justice for the poor is connected not to guilt but to grace and to the gospel, this “pushes the button” down deep in believers’ souls, and they begin to wake up.
  • Be like Christ: give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving.

Counter Culture by David PlattReading Together Week 5

Counter Culture: A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture in a World of Poverty, Same-Sex Marriage, Racism, Sex Slavery, Immigration, Abortion, Persecution, Orphans and Pornography by David Platt

David Platt, author of Radical, has written an important new book. So important, I believe, that rather than doing one book review, I’m going to review the content chapter by chapter. Note, all of Platt’s royalties from this book will go toward promoting the glory of Christ in all nations.

Each chapter concludes by offering some initial suggestions for practical requests you can pray in light of these issues, potential ways you might engage culture with the gospel, and biblical truths we must proclaim regarding every one of these issues. These suggestions will also direct you to a website www.counterculturebook.com/resources, where you can explore more specific steps you might take.

This week we look at Chapter 5 ~ A War on Women: The Gospel and Sex Slavery.

  • I never could have imagined that there are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the transatlantic slave trade.[38] I never could have comprehended that twenty-seven million people live in slavery today—more than at any other time in history.[39] I never could have fathomed that many of these millions are being bought, sold, and exploited for sex in what has become one of the fastest-growing industries on earth.
  • I landed in Atlanta and drove to my home in Birmingham. On Interstate 20. I have grown up going up and down this interstate that spans all the way to west Texas, and I had no idea that it is the “sex trafficking superhighway” of the United States. This same road that represents freedom for ten million travelers every year reflects the reality of slavery for countless girls every night.
  • Surveys consistently show that over half of men and increasing numbers of women in churches are actively viewing pornography. Remarkably (but when you think about it, not necessarily surprisingly), statistics are similar for the pastors who lead these churches.
  • Research continually demonstrates a clear link between sex trafficking and the production of pornography.
  • Every time a man or woman views pornography online, we are contributing to a cycle of sex slavery from the privacy of our own computers. We are fueling an industry that enslaves people for sex in order to satisfy selfish pleasure in our living rooms, our offices, and on our mobile phones.
  • Any and every time we indulge in pornography, we deny the precious gospel truth that every man and woman possesses inherent dignity, not to be solicited and sold for sex, but to be valued and treasured as excellent in the eyes of God.
  • In Scripture, God takes slavery, a clear product of sin in the world, and turns it into a powerful image of his salvation for the world.
  • Quite literally, the Bible says, Jesus became a slave of humanity in order to save humanity.
  • The climax of the Christian message is that the Master over the world has become a servant for the world.