Here is a link to a great 5 minute video that records some of the experiences of 2 photographers that followed George W. Bush for 8 years. It includes some great photos and a narration from these men with commentary on their perception of the president.
What Books does President Bush Read?
Here is an interesting write up on what the president reads. A challenge to anyone who wants to grow as a thinker and a reader.
A Great Interview With a Man From Arica
I found this interview with Oscar Muriu who is a church planting guy in Kenya. We obviously come from different perspectives, still I was amazed by the great vision the man has for reaching the lost, training leaders and planting churches. I was also amazed by his simple but pentrating insights into the Western mindset. The article is lengthy by worth the read. I am planning on reading it to my kids tonight and discussing it for family devotions.
A Book to Set the Heart on Fire
I have been re-reading this precious book, “Words to Winners of Souls” little by little, using it to fire my soul, especially on days of prayer and fasting. Horatius Bonar was a Scottish minister from the past who had a zeal to see pastors awake and alive to the issues of eternity and the need to win souls. This book is aimed at pastors, but beneficial to others. My copy was given to me over 1o years ago by Pastor Michael Crawford, and I can remember reading it together and praying in his study. You can get it at amazon.com or a discount version at Chapel Library.
I read some of it yesterday and it lead me to pray and seek God with earnestness. He is one of the “old boys” that lays it down straight. Bonar (1808-1889) was not a puritan, but quoted them extensively. It is interesting to me that of all the interest in puritanism and the theology of the past that has been reborn in the last 50 years, there are precious few that have sought to emulate their lives when it comes to soul-winning. Bonar says some remarkable things:
- Having good theology and a cold heart can be worse than having bad theology or an open life of sin. ” Even when sound in the faith, through unbelief, lukewarmness and slothful formality, they [ministers] may do irreparable injury to the cause of christ, freezing and withering up all spiritual life around them. The lukewarm ministry of one who is theoretically orthodox is often more extensively and fatally ruinous to souls than that of one grossly inconsistent or flagrantly heretical.” (p. 1-2)
- “The object of the Christian ministry is to convert sinners and to edify the body of Christ.” That sounds like part 1 and 2 of the great commission to me. Sadly many people who are “concerned” about too much evangelism in the church, and strong evangelistic preaching to the lost attempt to justify this stance from a posture of “respect” for the preachers of the past. They seem to think that the pastor should only be concerned with part 2 of the Great Commission– tending the sheep. Nothing could be further from the truth. Bonar quotes the famous Puritan John Owen: “Ministers are seldom honored with success unless they are continually aiming at the conversion of sinners.” (p. 5)
- The most important aspect of being a soul-winner is a close and lively walk with God. By this Bonar means a life of complete consecration to prayer and the word. We fire our souls during time alone with God. He quotes John Berridge, “It is much to be feared that we are weak in the pulpit because we are weak in the closet.” (p.11) He says with great skill that we should study the lives of great men of the past more than their sermons, because the power of their closeness to Christ is was brought blessing.
I was struck while looking through a hymnal that Bonar thought about this a lot. He also wrote this hymn which is a poetic expression of these ideas. I just printed a copy of this and taped it above my desk to stir me to this kind of zeal.
Go, labor on: spend, and be spent,
Thy joy to do the Father’s will:
It is the way the Master went;
Should not the servant tread it still?
Go, labor on! ’tis not for naught
Thine earthly loss is heavenly gain;
Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not;
The Master praises: what are men?
Go, labor on! enough, while here,
If He shall praise thee, if He deign
The willing heart to mark and cheer:
No toil for Him shall be in vain.
Go, labor on! Your hands are weak,
Your knees are faint, your soul cast down;
Yet falter not; the prize you seek
Is near—a kingdom and a crown.
Go, labor on while it is day:
The world’s dark night is hastening on;
Speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away;
It is not thus that souls are won.
Men die in darkness at thy side,
Without a hope to cheer the tomb;
Take up the torch and wave it wide,
The torch that lights time’s thickest gloom.
Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray,
Be wise the erring soul to win;
Go forth into the world’s highway,
Compel the wanderer to come in.
Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice!
For toil comes rest, for exile home;
Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
The midnight peal, “Behold, I come!”
Some Highlights from a Good Book
I have been reading this book recently and it has really fed my soul. Sooo….in order to convince my pastor friends and aspiring preachers and church planters to buy this book, I decided to read a few excerpts to give you a flavor. There are about 7 minutes of highlights here, I hope you enjoy!
Conrad Mbewe’s Website
I recently had the privilege of attending the Heritage Baptist Church Missions Conference. One of the speakers was Conrad Mbewe of Zambia. We were well fed by the word of God when he spoke. You can listen to the sessions at their website.
I learned today that Conrad now has a blog, and their church has a very cool website with lots of good information.
Teddy Roosevelt Lays it Down
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt
In my life I have too often sat in the peanut gallery, slinging criticisms at others from my position of idleness. I am ashamed of that, and don’t ever want to be that way again!
Safety, Risk, and Purpose
“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”
Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (1906 – 1992)
No Wimps: the Law of the Yukon
Robert Service was a Scottish man with grit. He also had a flair for verse. He is known as the Canadian Kipling. This is the first paragraph of his famous poem the Law of the Yukon. He lived in the icy region, and the danger and adventure provided grist for his poems. This one is about sending your best men. I can’t help but see a call to view the good fight of missions as an appropriate parallel.
The Law of the Yukon
This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:
“Send not your foolish and feeble;
send me your strong and your sane —
Strong for the red rage of battle; sane for I harry them sore;
Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;
Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat,
Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat.
Send me the best of your breeding, lend me your chosen ones;
Them will I take to my bosom, them will I call my sons;
Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat;
But the others — the misfits, the failures — I trample under my feet.
Dissolute, damned and despairful, crippled and palsied and slain,
Ye would send me the spawn of your gutters — Go! take back your spawn again.
Thoughts on Goals
“If a man does not know to which port he is sailing, no wind is favorable.” -Seneca
Here is a good guide for evaluating and creating goals. NO, I did not arrange this acronym. But there must be some great minds in the world that love them more than I do 🙂
There are a few different versions of this idea, this one is from the University of Arizona.
S: Specific– an observable action, behavior or achievement, linked to a rate, number, % or frequency;
M: Measurable- a way to track and record the behavior or action;
A: Achievable– learners will be able to reach the objective in time allowed. [me-others suggest that the goal should also be challenging].
R: Relevant– objective is something the learner can impact on and change; they need the necessary knowledge, authority and skill required. [I would add, related to your mission and purpose].
T: Time-based – There must be a clear start and finish time or date.
MattTroupe.net 