Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Monthly Archives: September 2016


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

This month marks 18 years since we started as a four-page monthly church newsletter in September, 1998. Much has remained the same – we aim to look at contemporary culture (movies, books, music, news) from a Christian worldview.  We transitioned to a non-church specific blog in late 2013.
Thanks for making us part of your life. Please let us know how we can we better serve you.

recommended-resourcesSermon on the Mount by Sinclair B. FergusonSermon on the Mount

I recently enjoyed listening (for the second time) to Sinclair Ferguson’s excellent 12-part teaching series Sermon on the Mount. Ligonier describes the series as follows:

“In the face of scorn and disbelief, Jesus Christ announced His kingdom. In the face of hatred and death, He demonstrated its power. In this twelve-lecture series, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson explains how the Sermon on the Mount equips us to live a kingdom life in a fallen world. Dr. Ferguson highlights Christ’s exhortations to live counter-culturally, to examine the deeper implications of God’s law, and to rest in the knowledge of God as Father for the cure of all our anxieties.”

You can watch the first message “Life in the Kingdom” and find out how to order the DVD or CD here.

book reviews

every-season-prayersEvery Season Prayers: Gospel-Centered Prayers for the Whole of Life by Scotty Smith. Baker Books. 336 pages. 2016.
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With his first book, 2001’s Objects of His Affection, I was gripped by the honesty, transparency and Gospel-centeredness of Scotty Smith. I told my pastor that my desire was to take a class at Covenant Seminary with Scotty. Much later, I was blessed to have not one, but two wonderful classes with Scotty that I described as small tastes of Heaven, and have since read with joy each of his books. His daily Heavenward prayers come into my email inbox and often times speak directly to something that my wife and I have been dealing with at the time. He has told me that he receives similar feedback from friends all around the world.

His first book of prayers, Everyday Prayers, has been a daily companion of mine since it was published in 2011. I’m so excited about this new volume of prayers, which will be a treasured part of my morning devotional reading.

This new sequel to Everyday Prayers, which had a prayer for each day of the year, is arranged topically, so readers can, as Scotty tells us, find a prayer applicable to a particular need, mood or issue. He states that he wrote most of these new prayers in response to comments asking him for prayers for a particular topic. He also received many suggestion for prayers of different forms, lengths and voices, including many from pastors and worship leaders for prayers of confession and family worship.

Scotty’s intent with this new book, as it was with Everyday Prayers, is to equip God’s people to pray, not to do their praying for them.  To help with that, he has included exercises in the book that will enable the reader to develop their own voice in prayer as well as cultivate a listening heart.

It is with joy that I highly commend this new book of prayers to you. May it be a wonderful daily companion for years to come!

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5 Upcoming Albums I’m Excited About  

Although I have absolutely no musical talent myself, I’ve always loved listening to music. Here are 5 albums I’m looking forward to over the next few months, plus two others that are in the works.

American Prodigal – Crowder The follow-up to 2014’s excellent Neon Steeple, this album will be released September 23.  The Deluxe edition will features 17 songs, including recently released singles “My Victory” and “Run Devil Run”, as well as “All We Sinners” from Passion’s Salvation Tide is Rising album released earlier this year.

Chapter and Verse – Bruce Springsteen This album will be released September 23. It is a companion to his autobiography Born to Run, to be released September 27. The 18-song album will feature five previously unreleased songs that reflect the themes and sections of the book.

Keep Me Singing – Van Morrison  I first became interested in Morrison’s music with 1989’s excellent Avalon Sunset, on which he included songs such as “Whenever God Shines His Light”, “Have I Told You Lately?” and “When Will I Ever Learn to Live in God?” This is his first album of new material since 2012’s Born to Sing: No Plan B, and will be released September 30. The first single “Not Too Late” was recently released.

Never Lose Sight – Chris Tomlin This album will be released October 21. Although I haven’t seen the song list yet, I can assume it will include his recent singles “Good Good Father” and “Jesus”.  This is his first new studio album of all new material since 2014’s excellent Love Ran Red.

Christmas Album (Untitled) – Matt Redman Redman announced on June 14 that he had started work on his first Christmas album, to be produced by Bernie Herms.  I’m really looking forward to this one from the composer of “10,000 Reasons” and so many other wonderful worship songs.

And someday….

Songs of Experience – U2 It’s always fruitless to speculate when U2 will drop a new album. It was five years between 2009’s No Line on the Horizon and the surprise 2014 release of Songs of Innocence.

Untitled – Steve Camp Earlier this year Steve Camp announced that he was working on a new album with producer Tim Miner. Camp’s music meant a lot to me in my early years as a Christian and I was pleased to bring him to our church several years ago. Looking forward to this new release.

These are some albums I’m looking forward to. What about you? Are there some upcoming releases you’re excited about?


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FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP:Third Serving Leader Quote

  • Character Matters in Public Leadership. Denny Burk writes “This morning I was thinking about our current political moment and about the nation’s indiffernce to moral character in public leadership. I was reminded of a short essay that John Piper wrote nearly twenty years ago during the impeachment scandal. The essay was such a beacon of prophetic moral clarity then. I think it still is now. And it is relevant to our current moment.”
  • 10 Prices You Must Be Willing to Pay to Be a Great Leader. Brian Dodd, in writing about Yadier Molina, my favorite baseball player, states that Molina provides a good template for the price needed for successful leadership.
  • 3 Actions of Servant Leaders. Eric Geiger writes “Situational leadership is Christian in nature because it calls the leader to serve each person, not to ask each person to serve the leader.”
  • A Leader’s Critical Skill. Dave Kraft writes “Probably no skill would be more helpful to develop than that of being an excellent communicator.”
  • 7 of the Hardest People to Lead. Ron Edmondson writes “I’ve also learned some people are easier to lead than others. Often personalities, experiences and preferences negatively impact a person’s ability to be led effectively.”
  • How Leaders Accomplish More by Doing Less. Matt Perman writes “One of the most helpful books that I’ve read on leading in an organization is Scott Eblin’s The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success.
  • The Five Marks of Authentic Leadership. In speaking of leadership, Michael Hyatt writes that it “certainly includes influence, but that’s only part of the package. I believe leadership includes at least five characteristics.”
  • 7 Qualities of Good Change Agent Leaders. Ron Edmondson writes “If you want to be in leadership get comfortable with change. It’s part of the experience of every leader. The best leaders get accustomed to leading change.”
  • 10 Ways to Elevate Your Leadership Level. Brad Lomenick writes “It’s the middle of the year, and as such, here are 10 reminders and ways to raising your leadership level. Hopefully these motivate you as well as inspire and challenge your team.”
  • 3 Types of Leaders. Steve Graves writes “The three common leaders are: launch-the-business leader, run-the-business leader, and change-the-business leader.”
  • Wandering Around. You may remember hearing about “Management by Walking Around” years ago. Dan Rockwell has some good thoughts for leaders about wandering around.
  • Biblical Leaders Consistently Say 5 Things. Dave Kraft writes “Leaders use lots of words in carrying out their responsibilities. They are communicators, talkers, vision-casters and exhorters; they should also be above average in listening. Here are 5 things leaders consistently say if they are truly excellent leaders.”
  • Leadership and the Power of Hope. Dr. Alan Zimmerman writes “Never deprive someone of hope. It may be all he has.”

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