Mike Frantz is an elder with me at Kenwood Baptist Church, and he’s a student at Southern Seminary. Mike has also served as a fireman in our fair city for the last twelve years. He’s a devoted follower of Christ and a close friend. Yesteday morning, Mike and two of his fellow firefighters had a really close call with a fire at an apartment complex. Monica Markin was on her third floor balcony screaming when Mike and his partners arrived. Mike’s partners climbed the ladder first to rescue the woman, and Mike was about 20 seconds behind them. When the first two men reached the top, a fireball engulfed the…
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Why Does Tebow Succeed?
Tim Tebow’s extraordinary season with the Broncos is the most remarkable storyline in sports this year. I have never seen anything like it. He has captured the attention of the nation, and everyone seems to have an opinion about how to explain the improbable run that he is having right now. The most fascinating thing to me is to see self-avowed secularists trying to sort this out. Yet another such writer with very little appreciation for the faith of Tim Tebow weighs-in on the phenome in the New York Times. Frank Bruni writes:
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Can Christians Afford To Be Associated with Gingrich?
Pro-life and pro-marriage voters have a slate of flawed front-runners to choose from in the GOP primary. Ross Douthat argues that this presents a unique problem to Christians, especially with respect to the rise of Newt Gingrich. He writes: The real issue for religious conservatives isn’t whether they can trust Gingrich. It’s whether they can afford to be associated with him.
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The Son of God Came Down
Barry Joslin is a professor at Boyce College who also serves as worship pastor at Ninth & O Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his worship team got permission from Sovereign Grace ministries to record the song “The Son of God Came Down” and to give it away as a gift to their congregation. Barry sings and plays guitar himself on this one. It’s a great recording, and it’s certainly a great song. You can download it here or listen to it below. The lyrics are below. [audio:http://aspen.nowsprouting.com/ninthandobaptistchurch/podcast_item/5/201/01+The+Son+of+God+Came+Down.mp3]
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A Secular Writer Puzzles over Tebow
I thought this piece from Chuck Klosterman was really fascinating. He is puzzling over how to understand Tebow, his faith, and how it appears that God is rewarding Tebow with unlikely victories. Here’s his conclusion:
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Correcting MSNBC about SBC Name Change
I just saw a report on MSNBC.com about the Southern Baptist Convention’s internal deliberations about a possible name-change. The reporter suggests several negative associations in connection with the SBC. The last example that he cites is an egregious error on his part and needs to be corrected immediately. He writes: “Just this month, a Southern Baptist church in Kentucky voted to ban interracial couples, a controversial decision the pastor later overturned.” Here’s the correction. It was not an SBC church that banned interracial marriage; it was a Free Will Baptist Church. Not only is this story incorrect, but the story that it links to does not corroborate his claim. In…
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A Christmas Song for the Ages
As a Christian, I am astonished that the world still sings our songs—especially ones like the Hallelujah chorus. The song proclaims the kingdom of Christ and the absolute sovereignty of God over all creation. Yet every year the world sings this song at Christmas time, and wherever it is played people stand to their feet in reverence. Can you believe that? There are few songs that lift my heart up to heaven like the Hallelujah chorus. I can hardly make it through to the end without weeping. Of all the pieces of human culture that I hope to make it through the fires of God’s judgment to the new heavens…
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Text of Tom Schreiner’s ETS Address
Last week I posted the audio of Tom Schreiner’s devotional at the B&H breakfast at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. I am happy to see that The Gospel Coalition now has the text of the address posted on their website. You can read it here. I will link the audio again below. Dr. Thomas Schreiner – Living Like Jesus is the Only Way – ETS 2011 [audio:http://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/28607162-bhpublishinggroup-dr-tom-schriner-ets2011.mp3]
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Tom Schreiner’s Word to Christian Scholars at ETS
I attended the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society a couple of weeks ago, and the highlight of the week for me was Tom Schreiner’s devotional at the B&H breakfast. Tom is the new chair of the HSCB translation oversight committee, and his remarks at the breakfast were prophetic for the scholarly set. He called on scholars to do their work as if Jesus is the only way. He called on us not to trim our sails to accommodate the prevailing winds of scholarship but to set our course for faithfulness to Christ no matter what the cost. He called on us to abandon the desire to win the…
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Do you know about Rick Santorum’s daughter?
At the Las Vegas GOP debate last October, Rick Santorum introduced himself in an unusual way. He mentioned that he was eager to catch the red-eye immediately after the debate so that he could get back home to see his 3-year old little girl Bella who was recovering from a “procedure.” The Santorums had been keeping Bella’s daily difficulties private, but after that remark Santorum received a flood of inquiries from concerned supporters. As a result of this outpouring of support, they produced the video above to introduce Bella.