* Douglas Groothuis passes on the word that all his lectures from 2004 on apologetics is available online for download. Go ahead and fill up your iPod with these lectures. You know you want to (everybody’s doing it). You might also want to download this message also by Groothuis on the exclusivity of Jesus Christ.
* Tullian Tchividjian shares that Tim Keller is close to finishing two books, one entitled In Defense of God: Doubting Your Doubts which looks to be a great apologetic for the Christian faith. I recently listened to some audio of Keller giving an apologetic for Christianity and found it really good.
* Drew Goodmanson announces the start of the Tentmaker Group which “exists for God’s glory to create self-sustaining, gospel-centered movements to change cities.” If you are church planter or thinking about church planting, be sure to check out this site.
* A good discussion has been going on about what color Jesus should be. John Piper kicks it off with this audio clip, Joe Carter disagrees, and Abraham Piper shares some nice reflections to round things out. Being olive skinned and all, I admit I am a little bit biased. 🙂
* Carl Trueman shares why he thinks that the external call, not the internal call, should discern the call to ministry. He writes, “Nine times out of ten, I believe that the church should first discern who should be considering the Christian ministry, not simply act as a rubber-stamp for a putative internal call which an individual may think he has.”
* Got a Facebook account? Here’s 12 suggestions on how to use it “professionally.”
* James Grant shares that a joint Federal Vision Statement has been released and provides a list of the ministers behind the statement on his blog.
* John Piper recently spoke at the Billy Graham Center’s The Cove on “The Mercies of God and the Transformed Christian Mind.” Go to the link for all the audio as well as notes from the conference.
* Paul Helm analyzes the question, “Are revealed truths timeless?” Helm is a first-rate philosopher theologian whose writings I have found helpful in both the study of divine providence and theology proper. The issue of divine timelessness is an important topic when dealing with various issues like Open Theism (divine foreknowledge) and predestination. In this case, Helm analyzes revealed truths.
* Thabiti Anyabwile shares his thoughts on his first year as pastor of First Baptist Grand Cayman.
* A neat little tool I hope to experiment with is Google Translate. I tried a free translation website in an attempt to communicate with missionaries in South America, and needless to say, they enjoyed the whacky translations that website turned out. Perhaps this will be more precise.
* Steve McCoy brings up the “3 by 5 rule” which goes like this: “If leaders are going to be serious about connecting with people they need to uncover at least 5 new contacts a day, equaling about 35 a week, which will lead to 3 ‘sit-downs’ for a meaningful conversation.” How many gospel conversations have you had with unbelievers lately?
* Nathan White brings up some of the common problems when debating Calvinism and solicits suggestions on overcoming them.
* Showing some love for the U.K. and biblical theology. Bunches of downloads and great stuff. Check it out.
* Dan Wallace recommends Dan Kimball’s newest book, They Like Jesus, but not the Church, concluding, “I know this sounds like an ad (and I sincerely do hope that Kimball sells a boatload of these books because this message is that important to get out), but if you could read only five books this year, They Like Jesus, but not the Church should be one of them.” Frank Turk and others engage in good discussion in the meta as well.
* John Divito recently finished his eight-part series on the doctrine of limited atonement. To view the rest of his series, check out the introduction, purpose, nature, result, contrasting views, objections part one, and objections part two.
* Andrew Lindsey shares why he is grateful to be at SBTS and not the seminary across the street (part one and part two). Andrew has also been interacting with some of Nelson Price’s treatment of Calvinism over at Strange BaptistFire (see part one, two, and three).
* Collin Hansen recently interviewed Richard Land over at Christianity Today about “The Divided States of America.”
* Steve Camp remembers his friend Keith Green on the 25th anniversary of his death. Green’s passion for missions and devotion to the Lord has been very encouraging and convicting in my life.
* John Sampson clarifies some confusion about “free will” over at Reformation Theology blog.
* Last but not least, Tim Challies directs us to this shirt. Think I should buy one?
They say that if Frank Turk is involved, by definition the conversation cannot be good.
That’s what “they” say. I dunno who “they” are. I’m sure I have offended “them”.
Ad as to your olive complexion, Timmy, I am sure Jesus looks a lot more like you than me.
🙂