Grace for Sandusky???

I have watched the revelations surrounding Penn's State's football program with horror and sadness.  This week, Jerry Sandusky, a former coach at Penn State and founder of Second Mile, a charity for underprivileged boys, was charged with 40 counts of criminal sexual assault. Over the last few days, Penn State's President (Graham Spanier), Athletic Director (Tim Curley), Sr. VP of Business (Gary Schultz), and legendary football coach Joe Paterno have either resigned or been terminated. I believe that this is just the beginning, and could lead to the resignation of the governor of Pennsylvania.

What is your authority for "Truth"

This article, originally posted on the church leaders.com website, is a great example of why Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids scares me. My comments follow the article.

David Wisen: Investment Manager

I alway struggle answering the simple question: "What do you do"? I have worn several different hats and been involved in several businesses, and over the past 20 years the answer to that question has included analyst, stock/commodity trader, real estate developer, baker, and president of the Van Kampen Group. Add to that husband, father, coach, elder...and now Pastor. For the past five years, my business card has simply listed my title as "Bondslave of Jesus Christ". This created a platform for my testimony in the business community. Now that I am a pastor, I think I am going to use reverse logic and refer to myself as an "Investment Manager". I am beginning to realize that the roles of managing money and pastoring are similar in many ways.  For instance;

"He Changed My Life"

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important." Steve Jobs, 2005.

The Law and Grace

One of the things that makes me smile as the pastor of a new church is the diversity of people and the different backgrounds they bring to our church. This past Sunday night our church had a fall picnic - about 300 people attended. We had an inflatable obstacle course for the kids, the adults played soccer and bag-toss, and we cooked up burgers and brats. On Monday morning, I received a call from a man questioning if this was a proper activity for a Sunday.

Four Reasons not to fight with the Pen

One of my favorite websites is The Gospel Coalition. It has a wonderful collection of sermons (40,000+) sortable by topic, preacher, or Scripture reference. It also has a blog that can be a wonderful resource. This Spring, when Rob Bell's book Love Wins was released, the Gospel Coalition published several worthwhile  reviews/responses/critiques to Rob's position. Reviews to note: Justin Taylor. and Al Mohler.

However, when their isn't a major topic to discuss, the blogs can begin to create infighting. Case in point: the debate over multi-site churches. Today's post by Thabiti Anyabwile: Multi-Site Churches Are from the Devil (http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/2011/09/27/multi-site-churches-are-from-the-devil/) is not constructive in settling this issue or leading to open discussion on the matter. Reading through this post, I was reminded why I don't like to respond to people through e-mail - I would much rather settle disagreements face to face.

Great Sources of Spiritual food

In all of human history, there has never been a time when so much good preaching is available and making such little difference.

If you are someone who struggles to be in the Word consistently, let me recommend some of the places I lean on for strong Biblical insight. The pastors listed below are usually strong on Biblical interpretation, and the websites listed contain good content. I have tried to arrange the pastors by style, depending on what you are looking for.