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:
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Calling-out Michael Jordan
Thomas Lake of Sports Illustrated has written a column like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s an open letter to Michael Jordan rebuking Jordan for slandering his high school coach and for not being there for his old coach in a time of need. This is one of the most hard-hitting things I’ve ever read. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide whether or not Lake has a point.
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Should Mormonism Be a Factor in Evaluating Romney?
Christianity Today is hosting a discussion on whether or not Mitt Romney’s Mormonism should be a factor in our evaluation of his candidacy for President. Judd Birdsall says “yes,”and Owen Strachan says “not so much.” Strachan argues that a candidate’s faith is not necessarily by itself a deal-breaker. He writes:
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President Obama and the Rhetoric of the Gay Marriage Debate
One of the main rhetorical strategies of gay marriage supporters has been to frame the issue as the next phase in the struggle for civil rights in America. As a consequence, they brand traditional marriage supporters as “bigots” who support “discrimination” equivalent to that of Jim Crow. For the most part, that rhetorical strategy seems to be working. This means that if you are a Christian who believes the Bible, there are many who simply believe you to be a morally retrograde bigot.
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Is it crazy and hateful to suggest that gays can change?
Last week, Albert Mohler appeared on the CNN program “Out Front” with Erin Burnett to talk about Chick-fil-a and the gay marriage debate (see video below). In the course of the discussion, Mohler explained briefly what the Bible teaches about moral renewal in the life of a Christian. In short, he argued that the same Christ that redeems sinners also helps them to “change”—i.e., to put aside those things the Bible defines as sin.
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Paul Ryan on Marriage and Abortion
NBC News is reporting that Rep. Paul Ryan will be announced as Mitt Romney’s VP pick tomorrow. I suppose this could be a head-fake, but NBC says that it has confirmed it. For now, I’m going with NBC’s report. Most people who know Paul Ryan for his wonkish mastery of economic policy. He put forth a serious and controversial plan to balance the federal budget and rein-in entitlement spending. It eventually passed in the house but died in the Senate. Although the plan was controversial, many conservatives loved it and admired him for his boldness. He looks like a boy, but he’s the man with the plan when it comes…
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ESPN’s Emotional Interview with Bobby Petrino
Bobby Petrino talks to ESPN and takes full responsibility for the affair that got him fired as the head football of the Arkansas Razorbacks. He says that he is now working on the most important thing—trying to salvage his marriage. This is gut-wrenching to watch. But I think it’s a helpful, cautionary tale for anyone with ears to hear.