Rev. Kenneth Miller is a Mennonite minister from Virginia, and he is facing prison. Why? Because he helped a woman named Lisa Miller flee the country with her biological daughter. Why was that a crime? Here’s the story from the Burlington Free Press:
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How to preach the steamy parts of the Song of Solomon
I have a general complaint about the way that some preachers approach preaching on the Song of Solomon. The content of the Song is sometimes cited as the Bible’s permission-slip to deliver salacious sermons about sex. I think this is wrong-headed. The Song of Solomon gives us a poetic depiction of the marital act that is cloaked in symbolic language. Should not preachers exhibit similar discretion when speaking about the marital act? Shouldn’t our speech about sex be more discreet and indirect than it is provocative and explicit? It seems to me that preachers would do well to explain what the Bible says using the same level of discretion that…
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Why the Sovereignty of God Is Important
Tom Schreiner is a dear brother, friend, and colleague, and he and his family are walking a painful road right now. On Friday, Tom’s wife Dianne was in a serious bicycle accident that left her with a brain injury. The Southern Seminary community has been praying fervently for her, and there have been some encouraging signs. Yet the injury is still a very serious one, and the prognosis is still not certain. Please pray for Dianne, Tom, and the rest of the Schreiner family.
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Skip Bayless Censored Defending Tebow?
On Friday, Skip Bayless tweeted that he would be appearing on ESPN’s “First Take” and would be defending Tim Tebow from those who “persecute” him concerning his Christian faith. Twice during Bayless’ remarks, ESPN cut abruptly to commercial. Some are suggesting that ESPN was censoring Bayless’ remarks. I suppose that’s possible, but it seems unlikely to me. Why would they be so obvious if that’s what they were doing? Why would they allow some of his remarks if they wanted to suppress Bayless’ views? To me the censorship charge doesn’t seem to add up, but you can watch above and form your own conclusions. In spite of the interruptions, I…
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Russell Moore Rightly Skewers Pat Robertson
Russell Moore’s take on Pat Robertson’s most recent abomination is a must-read. Moore writes: Let me just say this bluntly. This is not just a statement we ought to disagree with. This is of the devil…
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On the FRC Shooting and “Hate” Groups
I confess that I have been watching with some disgust the lack of coverage in the national media about the shooting this week at the Family Research Council. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you are a walking illustration of my point. If a deranged conservative had shot a security guard at the headquarters of the Human Rights Campaign, I guarantee that the news would have been as big as the Aurora shootings last month in Colorado. But this has not been the case with the FRC shooting. Case in point: The New York Times had the story on page A11.
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Free Song from Andrew Peterson and Desiring God
Andrew Peterson has given Desiring God Ministries permission to give away a free song from his new album. The record won’t be released until August 28, but you can download the song “Rest Easy” right now. Visit the Desiring God blog to download a free MP3 of the song. You can take a listen to the song below. [audio:http://cdn.desiringgod.org/audio/blog/RestEasy.mp3] In the video above, Peterson gives some background to the song. Among other things, he says: “This song is an exhortation to myself to anyone else out there who might be struggling to believe that God can both know them completely and love them completely.”
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How Complementarianism Is a Gospel Issue
Don Carson, Tim Keller, and John Piper had a discussion last April about why the Gospel Coalition is complementarian. Many people have asked why a group that majors on the primary issue of the gospel would put so much emphasis on a secondary issue like complementarianism. That’s a fair question to which these three men give good answers. Keller argues that the gender question is only “indirectly” a gospel issue. The egalitarian hermeneutic has the potential to undermine not only gender roles, but also the gospel itself. There is much more to this discussion, and I encourage you to take it all in from the video above.
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Get Fired in the Interview
When I was in college and aspiring to ministry, I was greatly influenced by a pastor in Denton, Texas named Tommy Nelson. Among the many nuggets of wisdom that I gleaned from him was this: “Get fired in the interview.” What was he talking about? He was telling all of us young aspiring preachers exactly what we should be doing when candidating for a pastorate. It was sage advice for me then, and I reckon it is sage advice for any aspiring pastor who may be reading this now. When the pastor-search committee interviews you, don’t hold anything back in terms of your beliefs or philosophy of ministry. If there’s…
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Reaching-out to a Registered Sex-Offender
My good friend John Thweatt is a pastor in Pell City, Alabama. He recently wrote about his decision to reach out to a registered sex-offender who had moved into his neighborhood. He writes: