I enjoyed this dialogue between Doug Wilson and Mark Driscoll, two controversial pastors who I happen to appreciate. Please, rather than commenting about why you don’t like either of them, just listen to what they’re saying here and judge it on its own merit. THEN I welcome your comments. :)
I recently read an interesting book by Philip D. Kenneson: Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999).
Here is an excerpt:
This [the church as a body] is only one important lesson that reflecting on the metaphor of the church as the body of Christ might teach us. Given the rampant individualism that pervades much congregational life, the contemporary church in this country would do well to reflect seriously on this metaphor. For example:
I tire of the incessant church-bashing and endless tales of people disillusioned with their churches. Yes, Christians can be jerks, and we’ve all had rough times in churches, largely because they consist of people too much like us: sinner-jerks in need of grace and truth and growth.
The problem is, Jesus calls the church his bride. He died for her, and says that ultimately the gates of hell won’t prevail against her. So if you give up on the church, you give up on God’s plan.
This weekend at my home church, Good Shepherd Community, three good friends and I brought a group message from Romans 14. As you can see, we were having a good time. And hopefully we helped open up the passage. Different people bring different insights to a passage, and this passage is about differentness.
In his excellent (though unlikely titled) book Hot Tub Religion, J. I. Packer asks “What would a work of divine reformation in our churches today look like?” Great question, and I loved the six answers Packer—one of my all- time favorite people—offers.
What does it mean to be a Protestant? These are five of the major teachings of the reformers by which they distinguished their beliefs from those of the Roman Catholic church of their day.
Francis Schaeffer was one of three writers (the others being Lewis and Tozer) who influenced me most profoundly when I was a new believer in the early 1970’s. I remember like it was yesterday reading his The Church Before the Watching World, where he said the following.
The recent report of Billy Graham being taken to the hospital with the possibility of pneumonia prompted me to think of one of Billy’s closest friends, who is ten years older.
Twenty-three years ago when I was going to jail for civil disobedience, a pastor told me he believed Christians shouldn’t go to jail. I told him I thought the day would come when he would go to jail, not for refusing to go along with abortion, but for refusing to go along with homosexuality.
The following are my answers to some questions on leadership I gave to Crawford Loritts for his new book called Leadership as an Identity: The Four Traits of Those Who Wield Lasting Influence. The book includes contributions from various Christian leaders, including Bill Bright, D. A. Carson, Clyde Cook, Steve Douglass, Robert Lewis, Bill McCartney, Robertson McQuilken, Gary Rosberg and Joseph Stowell.
A number of my answers are in Crawford's book, some are abridged, but I thought I'd share my full original answers with you here.
I'm the author of over 40 books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. I love Jesus, my wife Nanci, and our daughters, sons and five grandsons!
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