Kevin Ezell, the president of the SBC’s North American Mission Board, had a wide-ranging discussion with Albert Mohler in Southern Seminary’s chapel last week. Ezell talks candidly about the challenges he faces at NAMB and about his vision for the future. I thought what was said in this forum was substantive and important, and I hope Southern Baptists will hear it. Watch above, listen below, or download here. [audio: http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/spring2011/20110303ezell.mp3]
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Rob Bell on “Good Morning America”
In case you missed it, here’s the segment from “Good Morning America” this morning about the controversy surrounding Rob Bell’s book (text article here). It includes remarks from Albert Mohler and Serene Jones. It even features a tweet posted by Josh Harris: “There’s nothing loving about preaching a false gospel.” Albert Mohler is of course faithful as ever in standing for the orthodox consensus. He says, “If indeed Rob Bell denies the existence of hell, this is a betrayal of biblical truth that has severe spiritual and evangelistic consequences… Jesus was himself very, very clear about the reality and threat of hell.” Serene Jones, President of Union Theological Seminary, gave…
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Is your worship music too loud?
Someone dubbed in a real-life complaint about worship music into the Dora cartoon above (HT: Tim Challies). After watching the video, I was reminded of an article that John Stackhouse wrote for Christianity Today in 2009, “Memo to Worship Bands: Five sound reasons to lower the volume.” Stackhouse’s central concern is summed up in this sentence: “I find almost every worship band in every church I visit to be too loud—not just a little bit loud, but uncomfortably, even painfully, loud.” He then goes on to give five reasons why worship leaders should turn down the volume.
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NY Times on Rob Bell Dust-up
The “Old Gray Lady” has a report on the controversy surrounding Rob Bell’s forthcoming book. Justin Taylor, Scot McKnight, John Piper, and Albert Mohler are quoted in the article. Erik Eckholm writes the story and has also had an opportunity to read the book. Eckholm says that Bell seems to be advocating universalism while not using the term. He writes, “Judging from an advance copy, the 200-page book is unlikely to assuage Mr. Bell’s critics. In an elliptical style, he throws out probing questions about traditional biblical interpretations, mixing real-life stories with scripture. “Much of the book is a sometimes obscure discussion of the meaning of heaven and hell that…
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Rejoicing in God’s Word
One of the signal moments of my seminary career occurred in a chapel service at Dallas Theological Seminary. A missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators shared her story of translating the Bible into the tongue of a remote tribal people who live halfway around the world. She described how her 20 years of labor culminated with a first ever translation of the Bible into the native language of an unreached people group.
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D.A. becomes an M.C.
Students of Boyce College, if you hear me yelling “Westside” randomly in the hallway, this post explains why. It’s my own jubilant tribute to some lyrical madness that Dr. D. A. Carson laid down on a track for Curtis “Voice” Allen. I don’t know how he did it, but somehow “Voice” got Dr. Carson’s voice in a rap about the Westminster Catechism. Dr. Carson’s big line is “Westside!” (which I suppose corresponds to “Westminster” somehow). Download here or listen below. [audio:http://sgm.edgeboss.net/download/sgm/cjblog/voice-westminster.mp3] Thanks to C. J. Mahaney for posting the audio. This is solid gold! (HT: Justin Taylor)
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Jane Russell (1921-2011)
You have probably heard the news by now that Jane Russell—a legend of the silver screen—has passed away. What you may not have known (at least I didn’t) is that she was a professing Christian. Christianity Today has a fascinating interview with Ms. Russell from 2009 in which she discusses being a Christian in Hollywood, her gospel singing career, and her pro-life advocacy. She even shares a personal story about her own near death experience after having an abortion as a young woman. Here’s an excerpt:
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Another Afghan Christian Faces Execution
Another Afghan convert is facing possible execution for his Christian faith. His name is Shoaib Assadullah, and he is 23 years old. Michael Foust has done some excellent reporting on this story, and I hope and pray that it will help to focus attention on Shoaib’s case. Intense international scrutiny led to the release of Said Musa last week. Let’s pray that the same might happen for brother Shoaib. Michael Foust has printed a translation of the entire text of a letter that was smuggled out of Shoaib’s prison cell. I reprint that letter in full below. After you read the letter, please pray for Shoaib. Pray that he might…
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Al Mohler on the Rob Bell Flap
Mohler calls Bell’s video a “theological striptease” that deserves a response. From Mohler’s website today: “We must await the release of the full book in order to know what Rob Bell is really saying, but his advance promotion for the book is already saying something, and it is not good. The material he has already put forth does demand and deserve attention. “The Emerging Church movement is known for its slick and sophisticated presentation. It wears irony and condescension as normal attire. Regardless of how Rob Bell’s book turns out, its promotion is the sad equivalent of a theological striptease. “The Gospel is too precious and important to be commodified…
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CNN interviews Justin Taylor
Taylor’s response to Rob Bell’s book has received a quarter of a million hits since Saturday, according to a report on CNN’s religion blog. Obviously, this is an unusually enormous response to a blog post. I think it speaks both to the influence of Taylor’s own blog, but also to the wide following that Rob Bell has—which is all the more reason that a pastoral response like Justin’s was needed. No one should relish controversy for controversy’s sake. But that is not what is happening here. On that note, if you haven’t done so yet, you need to read Kevin DeYoung’s follow-up piece on the Rob Bell brouhaha. He argues…