This blog is designed to create connections and start conversations with content, authors and ideas that transform – the church, and our world – for good. In the end we hope the ideas here are both relevant and intelligent – relligent.
One of the realities of experiencing spiritual ‘highs’ in life, is that they can, and often are, followed by emotional ‘lows’ - a pervasive sense of coming down off of the mountain if you will. This happens quite frequently in life in general, but especially so with the celebration of the “Feast of Feasts” in Christianity – Easter – the resurrection of Christ. The beauty of this sacred event and our spiritual emotions are so heightened during Holy Week and they come to a rousing crescendo on Easter morning… and then after the ham, eggs, and candy – Monday morning arrives, another work week – and we begin to feel a sense of ‘let down’ and perhaps even a mourning for the beauty of this feast to somehow continue. We say “What now?” And even though we know theologically that Easter does continue, in the sense that every Sunday in the coming year is liturgically a “little Easter”, for each Lord’s Day is a reminder that Christ is Risen! - there is that gnawing ache that asks “How can I experience Easter everyday?” ”How can I keep the fires of Pascha/Easter burning in my life?
Well the answer to these questions are perfectly answered with a great new book “The Cross is Not Enough”. Enjoy the resource links below to learn how each of us can live daily as a witness to the resurrection every moment of our lives.
Enjoy this great audio interview/podcast with the authors Philip Johnson and Ross Clifford.
Second, read these three great blog posts and interactive reviews on the very essence of our faith, that the resurrection is not only the “linchpin” that holds everything together, but that our day-to-day lives are completely affected by the reality of an empty tomb.
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You Lost Me: Live! is coming to two new cities this spring:
Seattle, WA | May 22 | Northwest University
Denver, CO | June 7 | Denver Community Church
Earlier this year, we had more than 800 leaders join us for two events in Washington DC and Ventura, California.
This half-day of training (from 10am to 3pm) focuses on today’s younger generation of teenagers and twentysomethings. Know the important cultural shifts that are influencing today’s young Christians.
Immerse yourself in our research. Hear from young adults and from local ministry leaders. And learn what you can do to share leadership with this emerging generation.
For more information or to register, click here
If you do not live in one of these markets, stay tuned. We plan to announce fall dates soon! (Hint: Chicago and Las Vegas are some of those cities.)
This generation is of vital importance to the Christian community. They need us and we need them. Thank you for allowing Barna Group to stoke your imagination for working with this generation.
+relligent
Here is a stellar video from David Wells speaking about the aboslute necessity and importance of “conversion” in Christianity. This classic work from Baker Books is now being reissued and updated for a new reading in a new culture and ethos.
Turning to God: Reclaiming Christian Conversion as Unique, Necessary, and Supernatural
From everyone here at Baker Publishing Group; we wish all of you a blessed and Holy Easter. May the announcement of “Christ is Risen!” which will be proclaimed joyfully in churches all over the world this weekend, continue to provide you with joy, peace and hope in these oft trying times in which we live.
Over the weekend as you rest and reflect, enjoy two brand new releases from Baker Books that help all of us remember and celebrate the centrality of this essential teaching of our faith.
We can never be reminded enough of the enormity, and the temporal and eternal blessings of the Cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of Heaven.
Heaven is Now by Andrew Farley The Cross is not Enough by Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson
EARLY PRAISE FOR HEAVEN IS NOW
“If you’ve ever wondered what Jesus might say specifically to you, this is your book and you’re going to love it! Andrew Farley presents the magnificent truth of the gospel in the form of a conversation — as though Jesus were talking directly to you, and you to Jesus. Your heart will open wide to your Savior as you marvel at His love for you. And there’s nothing more life-changing than that!”
—Ralph Harris, author of God’s Astounding Opinion of You
“Here is a gentleness that captures not only the content of Jesus’s message, but His loving heart and warmth as well. Within this invitation to experience heaven in the here and now, Farley offers the encouragement of a good news that’s much better than what Christians are usually taught. God’s tenderness leaps from every page.”
—David Gregory, bestselling author of Dinner With a Perfect Stranger
“What a promise: There is another world, and it can start now, in this one. Read “Heaven is Now” to discover hidden everyday reflections that can awaken your “five spiritual senses” so that you can begin eternity now. This book is heaven-sent.”
—Leonard Sweet, bestselling author, professor, and chief contributor to Sermons.com
Check out this wonderful review for “The Cross is Not Enough”
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2012/04/the-1-book-for-this-easter-the-cross-is-not-enough/
Christ is risen! Truly He is risen! Alleluia!
+relligent
How do you measure success in ministry?
…more important… how do you think God measures it?
In The Measure of Our Success, Shawn Lovejoy beautifully takes us back to the ‘main thing’ about being a pastor – and it’s not about the things that you presently think are important. This is a much-needed and refreshing book for anyone in spiritual leadership today… it’s truly an impassioned plea from a pastor who himself was misguided, crashed, and then dusted himself off, and now wants to share what he’s learned about true success.
How do pastors measure success? Is it through the number of people who fill the pews on Sunday morning? Is it tied to programs, building projects, salary, or book deals? Is it about how much technology they use or what their worship band sounds like? Shawn Lovejoy has seen all of these measures of success lead pastors toward pride, self-reliance, loneliness, isolation, exhaustion, and, in the most extreme cases, self-destruction.
In this honest and encouraging book, he calls pastors back to the “main thing”–the call to love people and make disciples–and to measure their success the way God does.
Using Scripture, personal examples, and case studies, Lovejoy gently leads pastors back to their first love, and in doing so he leads them toward a more effective and joy-filled ministry.
This is an impassioned plea to pastors…
discover the real meaning of success.
Shawn Lovejoy
“I wish I could have gathered this much wisdom in one book when I set out to start my first church seventeen years ago. I would have avoided so many painful mistakes.”
– Chris Seay
author of A Place at the Table and pastor of Ecclesia, Houston, TX
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Baker Book author Andrew Farley makes a strong case that when our senses are fully awakened, alive and unleashed… we can experience a foretaste of the great feast of paradise to come. Drew’s new book, Heaven is Now, the follow-up to his best-selling effort God Without Religion has just released.
With so many books that imagine what heaven must be ”like”, and with people who in their dreams, or through a some near death physical manifestation ‘travel’ to heaven – and then come back to tell the tale – Drew Farlley takes a different approach.
What if we could experience heaven here… right now? What if we were able to awaken our five senses, and truly experience the beauty, grandeur, and blessing of heaven while still on earth?
Certainly, there can be no comparison between this world and the world to come; for in the paradise that awaits us things like, war, poverty, hunger, hatred, violence and mosquitoes that bite will not be part of that blessed reality.
But Drew does offer us a great invitation – here and now: imagine living life here on earth in a heavenly way by awakening our senses to the glory and beauty of God all around us.
If we would just open up our eyes… we might be surprised what we see and experience.
Get a copy today at your favorite bookseller:
or your local Christian book seller – find the nearest one here
I came upon this video interview today that posed the question: “What is the future of the Church in America – is there a growing indifference toward religion?”
What lies in store for people of faith, and more importantly what does culture think about religion and people of faith – and in fact, what do wealthy affluent and intellectual people think about Christianity? And there is probably no one better to ask that David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group, whose research has informed the church and culture for the past 30 years Barna has stacks of data from which to compare and contrast trends and yet – not surprisingly – there was a fairly common idea that was asked in this interview yet again for people today to consider… and it is this:
In countries of “affluence” – places where there is comfort, ease, entertainment and many discretionary distractions – religion and faith are quite often disdained and ignored… but in countries of poverty, want and great need… faith is growing by leaps and bounds.
Hmm? Kind of sounds like the New Testament culture of Christ’s time…for even in that epoch it was not the affluent and powerful people like Herod, and Pontius Pilate that came to faith and followed Christ – but it was the widow, the sick, the poor, and the beggars who found hope and salvation in the message of Jesus of Nazareth. Sometimes modern research just reminds us of what we have always known to be true… and in this case that seems to be the issue.
Why is it that the smarter, more intelligent, and the more academic degrees we achieve – and the more money, possessions, and distractions we obtain… why is it that we then find faith and God to be ‘useless’ and only for weak and ignorant people?
What appears to be perpetually true is Christ’s teaching that it is not the so-called self-proclaimed “healthy” who are in need of a doctor – but rather the sick… and it is for the sick and needy (i.e. the repentant) that Christ came 2,000 years ago, and still, by grace – comes today into the hearts of any and all who will humble themselves and lose everything to gain in Him more than words can describe. Some say that religion is a creation of man, a product invented by our minds, that would make poverty and suffering more bearable. But there are others, and the witness of millions of saints, both rich and poor, who know better. The issue is this: “Who or what is your ‘god’? For what you value most in your life is what you will worship most… One can be rich in the ways of the world, and rich in repentance, faith, hope and love toward God… but the temptation for self-sufficiency and self-reliance (i.e. lack of faith and love for God) are far greater with the more ‘stuff’ we have. In the early church it was often said: “The rich exist to meet the needs of the poor, and the poor exist for the very salvation of the rich…”
Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels…” Mark 8: 34f
For more great insight, and information about the church and culture – take a look at David’s books… You Lost Me provides insights into why next-generation Christians are leaving the Church and rethinking their faith, and unChristian is research that shows what ‘outsiders’ think about Christians and Christianity – both best-sellers and worthy of reading…
