Month: December 2013

An excellent piece by Ted Haggard. Yep. Ted Haggard …

“Joel Hunter, pastor of Northland Church, and Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, both had sons take their own lives this year. I know of five other wonderful Christian families that also had sons who took their own lives. Some researchers are reporting that the suicide rate among Evangelicals is the same as that of the non-Christian community. How sad.

“Back in my NAE days, I knew Joel and Rick. They are both sincere, wonderful believers with ministries that are admired. I also knew some of the parents of the kids who took their lives here in Colorado Springs. Good families.

“The news about Pastor Isaac Hunter breaks my heart. Great speaker, lover of God, and my guess is he loved the church. But he, like all of us, fell short. In the midst of divorce with accusations swirling, he resigned from the church he founded. He gave it his best shot, and his heart was broken. This makes me sick to my stomach. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sick that he fell short, that’s a given for everyone except Christ Himself, I’m sick that our message did not …

Read the full article here: Suicide, Evangelicalism, and Sorrow.

Received this from a fellow pastor today. So good!

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you” (Hosea 10:12).

“The fallow field is smug, contented, protected from the shock of the plow and the agitation of the harrow…. But it is paying a terrible price for its tranquility: Never does it see the miracle of growth; never does it feel the motions of mounting life nor see the wonders of bursting seed nor the beauty of ripening grain. Fruit it can never know because it is afraid of the plow and the harrow.

“In direct opposite to this, the cultivated field has yielded itself to the adventure of living. The protecting fence has opened to admit the plow, and the plow has come as plows always come, practical, cruel, business-like and in a hurry. Peace has been shattered by the shouting farmer and the rattle of machinery. The field has felt the travail of change; it has been upset, turned over, bruised and broken, but its rewards come hard upon its labors. The seed shoots up into the daylight its miracle of life, curious, exploring the new world above it. All over the field the hand of God is at work in the age-old and ever renewed service of creation. New things are born, to grow, mature, and consummate the grand prophecy latent in the seed when it entered the ground. Nature’s wonders follow the plow.”

A.W. Tozer Paths to Power, 31-32.

“Lord, make me a cultivated field. I suspect the price will be high, but I long to bear fruit for Your glory. Do the hard work of the farmer in my life today. Amen.”

These guys are gonna rock the house at Youth Winter Fest in just one month! If you’re 7-12th grade, make sure you’re coming! If you want to bring a group we still have some room, so feel free to contact me.

Sweet video of French drummer Julien Audigier playing drums using nothing for amplification except for echoes off of a the environments in which he plays. He stresses that there is no artificial reverb added.

I recently re-read the book Willow in the Wind, the story of Ivan Spencer, founder of Elim Bible Institute. My copy was so worn that it literally broke into pieces as I read it.

The book chronicles his upbringing, his formative spiritual encounters, his faith journey in starting Elim Bible Institute, and first few decades of the school devoted to raising up Spirit-filled workers for Christ. It is especially significant to me, because it is the story of my spiritual heritage. My Grandma and Grandpa Larkin both attended Elim in the 1950s, both of my grandfathers worked at Elim during the 1970s, my parents met each other as “campus kids”, my father taught there while I was growing up, Adriana and I met at, and are both graduates of Elim, and my Larkin grandparents are still missionaries for Elim Fellowship.

Reading the book was a glimpse into the early years of Pentecostalism. It reveals the challenges of bridge-building within the body of Christ during those initial decades; the human mistakes and excesses of well-intentioned, passionate seekers of God that He is patient with and willing to work through in order to reveal His glory; and the struggles of those within the body of Christ who were convinced that God is still in the business of speaking to His Church. Most of all, the book was one which inspired hope and faith as it followed one man’s journey of seeking to obediently follow God. It was a powerful reminder of the faithfulness of God to those who venture forth in faith.

With the advantage of hindsight, and the lessons learned in the decades since the stories in the book took place, it is easy to spot areas of questionable theology, ego, excess, and irony. Nonetheless, overwhelmingly I.Q. Spencer was a man motivated by a deep passion for Jesus and a conviction to be led by the Holy Spirit, and for that he is worthy of honor. We will all make mistakes in our lives, but let us make them in the way of grace and forgiveness, with a passionate desire to see the cause of Jesus advanced and His kingdom established on earth as it is in heaven.

Yep. Excellent.

Lead singer Jon Foreman was asked if Switchfoot is a “Christian” band. His response … Why Switchfoot won’t sing Christian songs.