3 Ways to Stay Christian During This Election Season. Jared Wilson shares three ways we can wisely engage in the upcoming election cycle without losing perspective on what matters more than who wins or loses.
Christianity Continues Rapid Decline in U.S. as Number of “Nones” Swells: Pew. Adam Ford writes “The percentage of Americans who identify as Christians continues to decline rapidly while the portion of Americans who claim no religious affiliation rises, according to new data from the Pew Research Center derived from telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019.”
Francis Chan Leaving US to be International Missionary in Hong Kong. Caleb Parke writes “Francis Chan, former megachurch pastor and best-selling author, is leaving the United States to become a full-time missionary to “bring relief, share the gospel, and plant churches among” the “ultra-poor” in Asia.”
Midway is a well-made, fast-paced war film about the naval battle that is considered to be the turning point in World War II’s Pacific Theater. The film, released on Veteran’s Day weekend, is directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) and written by Wes Tooke. The two hour and eighteen-minute film sticks to the historical details (no unnecessary fictional love stories etc. added), and had a budget of approximately $100 million.
The film takes us through the events in the first months of the war in the Pacific beginning with Pearl Harbor and culminating in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor and the resulting devastation is powerfully and soberly depicted. Continue reading →
Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles
Where is God When I’ve Been Fired. Russell Gehrlein writes “There are no easy answers when a person loses their job. However, knowing and trusting that God will provide for his children and that he will work all things out for good can give us hope, peace, and rest as we navigate the rough waters ahead.”
When Has My Career Become My Idol? On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question “At what point does vocational diligence become corrupting idolatry?”
Your Daily Commute is One Way God Transforms You. Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker write “When you commute to work, you likely take a similar route each day. To implement a liturgy of commute, you can use the landmarks and cross streets of your route as a trigger for engaging with God.”
Bearing Fruit in Every Good Work. Clay Randall writes “Tom Nelson suggests that there are three types of fruit: the fruit of intimacy, the fruit of character, and the fruit of contribution. I believe these categories are helpful and logically flow from one to the next.”
How to Read Your Job Well. Steve Lindsey writes “Have you ever considered reading your work? This type of reading requires discovering wisdom about what practices and principles best apply to your unique job.”
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More links to interesting articles
The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
My Review of Called to Lead: 26 Leadership Lessons from the Life of the Apostle Paul by John MacArthur
Snippets from Os Guinness’ book “The Call: Finding and Fulfilling God’s Purpose For Your Life”
Jesus is King is the highly anticipated and publicized new album, and the first gospel music album, from the controversial Kanye West. I’ll admit that I’ve not previously heard any music from West, who has won an amazing 21 Grammy Awards.
This year, West began attending Placerita Bible Church in Newhall, California. The church is a non-denominational congregation, led by senior pastor, Adam Tyson, a graduate of the respected Master’s Seminary, which was founded by John MacArthur. Tyson has been instrumental in guiding Kanye West’s spiritual journey, including consulting on the lyrics of this album.
West uses a lot of collaborators on the writing and producing of these songs. This album, his ninth studio project, clocks in at only 27 minutes, and topped the charts upon release.
My overall assessment is that while inconsistent, this is a solid effort and worth consideration from those who enjoy Christian hip-hop/rap music. Here are a few comments about each song:
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More of this review and reviews of~
Three Cords & The Truth – Van Morrison
Western Stars – Songs from the Film – Bruce Springsteen
Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson. B&H Books. 224 pages. 2019 ****
Andrew Peterson is a talented singer, songwriter and author. I heard parts of this book, which I couldn’t put down, and to which he refers to as a “barrage of thoughts and anecdotes” at his breakout sessions at the 2018 and 2019 Sing! Getty Worship Conference in Nashville. He writes that the book is a glimpse into his own faltering journey as a songwriter, storyteller, and Christian. He calls it a love song about the life that God has given him, and it’s one of my favorite books of the year.
As you read this book you feel like a friend is casually talking to you. The book includes biography – he refers a lot to failure, being a poor student and not applying himself, reading fantasy and science fiction, attending Bible College, being dropped by his record label, and getting a break by opening for the band Caedmon’s Call. He writes about the influence of Rich Mullins, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, the Rabbit Room community he is a part of, researching his family ancestry, the now 20 year Behold the Lamb of God tour, moving to a woodsy corner of Nashville with his wife and three children and they refer to as “the Warren” and where he built a stone wall, gardening, beekeeping, as well as the creative (songwriting, book writing, painting) process.
He tells us that we are all creative and that there is a lot of similarity in process no matter what our discipline is. He references a number of books and includes them (and others), on a helpful “Reading List” included at the end of the book.
I highlighted a number of passages as I read this book. Below are 15 of my favorite quotes:
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BOOK REVIEWS ~ More of this review and reviews of:
Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell
The Last Stand of Payne Stewart: The Year Golf Changed Forever by Kevin Robbins
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur
I’M CURRENTLY READING…. Continue reading →
Harriet is a well-made and acted film about Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and her work with the Underground Railroad. The film is directed by Kasi Lemmons. Lemmons co-wrote the film with Gregory Allen Howard (Remember the Titans). Lemmons has indicated that she wanted to make a freedom film, not a slavery film. As such, there are no beatings or lynchings depicted in the film.
The story is told chronologically, beginning in Maryland in 1849. Araminta “Minty” Ross, played by Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple), is married to the freeman John Tubman, played by Zackary Momoh. Tubman has obtained legal documentation to verify that under the terms of a will left behind by the great-grandfather of Maryland plantation owner Edward Brodess, played by Michael Marunde, Minty, her siblings and their mother should have been freed more than a decade ago. But Minty is denied the freedom that she’d been promised, and when she is to be sold to slave owners from the deep South, she escapes and runs away, landing in Philadelphia after a treacherous 100-mile journey. Continue reading →
Beto O’Rourke’s Plan to Destroy Churches. Joe Carter writes “Are supporters of same-sex marriage—including many misguided Christians—willing to let Christian high schools, colleges, seminaries, and churches be put out of business simply for holding a biblical view of marriage?”
Has Science Buried God? In this May, 2019 interview hosted by the Colson Center in Washington D.C., Eric Metaxas and Oxford professor John Lennox explore the question, “Has science buried God?”
Midway, rated PG-13
Jesus is King – Kanye West
Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson. B&H Books. 224 pages. 2019 
Harriet, rated PG-13
