What Gets Said in an Ordination Exam?

This exchange occurred during my oral exams last week:

Me: So my faith was genuine, but there was also a big cultural component to it– I wore Christian t-shirts, I listened to Christian music, and all that jazz…

Committee member #1: You listened to Christian music and jazz?

(laughter)

Committee member #2: There is Christian jazz.

Committee member #1: Christian jazz? Really?

Me: Yeah, you know, it’s about 80% as good as real jazz.

On the Cutting Edge of the Early 1990’s

There were some really good developments at the Southern Baptist Convention last week (here is a quick summary). I wanted to listen to a couple of speeches in particular, so I took to the Web, confident that the largest Protestant denomination in the world would have the audio up a few days later.

Imagine my delight to discover SBCTapes.com, which is apparently My Source for S.B.C. & SBC Pastors’ Conference Presentations. Yes indeedy, to get a recording of Danny Akin’s and Al Mohler’s speeches, I just have to download and print out the PDF of the order form. Then I can use a fax machine (which apparently people still have) to send in the order form, or I can mail it to them. They will then send me a CD in the mail.

The best part is that each CD is only $9.00! (Plus $2 shipping & handling for the first CD and $1 for each subsequent one.) So for a mere $21, I can have both the messages I wanted within about 6 weeks.

In the meantime, I guess I can keep busy with thousands of hours of free downloadable audio from Desiring God. Or Mars Hill Church. Or Monergism. Or Sovereign Grace. Or the Gospel Coalition. Or any of the many, many churches and organizations who’ve figured out it’s not very hard to put audio online.

(I should also point out that my own denomination, the PCA, is apparently behind even our Baptist brothers, as there doesn’t seem to be any way to get ahold of MP3’s from our General Assembly.)

Why Mark Sanford Should Resign

1. By essentially going AWOL (nobody knowing where he was, no phone contact, etc) in order to pursue contact with his (former?) mistress, he demonstrated that his private failures are affecting his ability to do his job.
2. His deceptions, evasions, bad decisions and immoral behavior, which by all accounts are out of character for him, demonstrate that his judgment has been impaired by (at least) his attraction to his mistress.
3. Most importantly, his top priority right now should be reconciliation with his wife and children, not attempting to salvage his political career. The fact that he’s a professing Christian makes this all the more true. Thankfully, his wife has indicated she’s willing to reconcile if he continues in repentance. He can demonstrate his commitment to that process by removing himself from his very stressful– and very public– job. That would also spare his family a good deal of the publicity they’re having to suffer through.

Sanford was right to call for President Clinton’s resignation in 1998, and to applaud Bob Livingston’s resignation as Speaker of the House designate the same year. He would do well to heed his own advice, resign for the sake of his reputation and his family, and let the political chips fall where they may.

Slow News Week

At least I didn’t flake out & quit blogging on the same week that North Korea tried to nuke us, the conservative movement’s best hope went down in flames, and the King of Pop (apparently) dropped dead.

What Are You Supposed to Do for God?

J. D. Greear:

You go into a progressive church… and what you walk away with is “You gotta recycle, you gotta feed the poor, you gotta take care of the earth.” You go into a conservative church and it’s more about “You gotta do missions, you gotta do your quiet time, you gotta do True Love Waits.” You go into seeker churches, and you walk out with… “5 Ways to Fix Your Life”. You go into a traditional church and you walk out with “This is what a real Christian looks like.”

Is there anything wrong with most of these? No. But anytime we preach a gospel that leaves people thinking about what they are supposed to do for God and not what God has done for them, we have preached a false gospel.

Sermon Audio

Last week I preached at Overbrook Pres in Gaffney, SC, where my college/seminary friend David Weber is the pastor. You can listen to or download the sermon at their web site.

(It’s the same sermon I preached in Atlanta in January, so if you downloaded that one I wouldn’t bother with this one. Unless you just enjoy the sultry sound of my voice. Which would be weird.)

They’re Just Not That Into Us

Andy McCarthy on The Corner:

Yesterday, President Obama said the foundation of his engagement policy with Iran is that “we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect.”

Does there ever come a point, say, after about 30 years of hostage-taking, terror-mongering, bombing American Air Force personnel, killing American troops in Iraq, harboring al-Qaeda, abetting the Taliban, underwriting Hezbollah and Hamas, threatening to wipe Israel off the map, and chanting “Death to America,” when we entertain the possibility that maybe, just maybe, there’s a teensy-weensy chance that the “respect” here isn’t exactly “mutual”?

Why is Facebook taunting me?

My word verification for a link I posted just now:

So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance.

Anybody else ever notice that when the President says, “Now I have no interest in…” the next phrase always describes exactly what he’s doing?

And I went to public school.

I’ve done lots of stupid things that involve a lack of foresight, or general absentmindedness. (See Black Crowes Tickets, Loss Of.)

But here’s one smart thing I did: When I moved out of my office at RTS, I boxed up my books so that they’d be ready for moving to Prague, and stored them in the attic. But I also labeled each box by category, according to how they were arranged on the shelf, so that if I needed a book in the interim, I’d only have to open one box.

I thought that was just me being anal about books, but I’ve probably gone to the attic for a book about a half-dozen times, and I’ve never had any trouble finding what I was looking for.