As the 2007 year comes to a close, I thought I’d provide a little year-in-review. For the next six days, I am going to post annotated links to the top 30 posts of this year (determined by comments, backtracks, and personal recollection) as well as some other things to note.
The Protos Fellowship is a evangelistic community of 3rd shifters that exists to fuel gospel-centered living and missional lifestyle. In this post, I share a conversation while training new hires at UPS regarding their need for Christ. What was really encouraging for me was how this post held traction in the blogosphere, making me realize that posts on evangelism and sharing the gospel should occur more often.
9. On Hitting Homiletical Homeruns
The issue of pastoral plagiarism has been nicely covered in the blogosphere, but I added a twist to the discussion when Dr. Hershael York encouraged SBC pastor James Merritt to “hit it out of the park” in his address at the SBC annual meeting. It just so happened that Merritt began his message encouraging pastors to abdicate the pastor study and buy his sermons and preach them “word for word.” Capitalism plus plagiarism equals home run preaching, or does it? That’s what I sought to address.
8. Why Are You Reformed? Your Top 5 Reasons
While doing some research for myself and some friends, I asked everyone who considers themselves Reformed to give their top five reasons that contributed to their “come to” regarding the doctrines of grace. There were many excellent responses worth checking out.
7. Inclusivism: The Answer to the Emerging Question?
Scot McKnight, a leading NT scholar and sympathetic theologian of the emerging church movement, recommended Terry Tiessen’s book on inclusivism accessiblism. Shortly after the post, Dr. Tiessen himself commented on the post, leading to a three-week debate with over twelve rounds. Although Tiessen and myself have fundamental disagreements regarding the fate of the unevangelized, the discussion (I thought) was constructive and cordial.
6. “‘I Found Jesus”: Exegeting a Popular Confession in a Popular Culture
After having been charged with dog-fighting, football superstar Michael Vick made the public confession, “I Found Jesus.” The following week Vick was the most famous professing Christian in the world through the influence of pop culture and magnification of media. In this post I sought to understand just what people mean when they say that they have “found Jesus”.
*** Top 5 Resource-Related Blogs ***
5. Reforming My Mind – Paul Schafer
4. Andy Naselli
3. ColossiansThreeSixteen (Brent Thomas)
2. In Light of the Gospel (James Grant)
1. Between Two Worlds (Justin Taylor)
Thanks Timmy!