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Reading Biographies Together – Spurgeon (IV)

Written on August 5, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

I’m a wee bit under the weather today and am calling this a sick day. Everyone in the family has had some sort of flu and/or some sort of strep in the past couple of weeks and to this point I’ve managed to avoid it. It may now have caught up with me. The timing is terribly inconvenient with that book deadline looming. Nevertheless, I trust this won’t last long. Because of all of that, there is no A La Carte today and this Reading Classics Together post is going to be somewhat abbreviated. You understand, I’m sure.

This week we read three chapters of Arnold Dallimore’s life of Charles Spurgeon, each of dealt with a single aspect of Spurgeon’s ministry. In the first chapter Dallimore discussed the building of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. This represented a huge building project and one that came at considerable cost (and a cost that grew substantially over time, which always seems to be the way of it). Spurgeon was opposed to borrowing money for the Lord’s work so insisted that the project be carried out debt-free. He did more than his fair share of the work in fundraising and the church opened in March of 1861. Dallimore points out that there was some significance in the building as it established Spurgeon as a permanent presence in London. The building told the whole world that Spurgeon was here to stay.

The second chapter dealt with Spurgeon’s Pastors’ College. Not surprisingly, Spurgeon found himself much in demand as a teacher and mentor and he decided to formalize his role in the lives of young men by establishing this Pastors’ College. Though it added a significant measure of work to his life, it is clear that he loved the college and loved the opportunity it afforded him to train up a whole new generation of pastors. One of the outgrowths of the college was his Lectures To My Students, a book that is still treasured today.

The third chapter turned to the growth of other Spurgeonic enterprises. As if he did not already have enough to do, Spurgeon oversaw many other ministries. Some of these were a natural outgrowth of a big and thriving church, but others were started and maintained by the man himself. Among these was the Colporteurs’ Association through which men distributed Bibles, tracts and other literature and sought to do other evangelistic work. There was little Spurgeon would not commit to if he felt that it would further the Lord’s work.

All of this labor had its effect on Spurgeon. He began to weaken, even early in life. He dealt with ongoing illnesses and generally allowing his health to suffer because of the sheer scope and volume of his labor. It is amazing to pause and consider how young Spurgeon was when carrying on so much of this ministry. And yet this same ministry caused him to age prematurely. Like so many other great theologians, he worked himself to the nub and would live a relatively short life.

Next Week

For next Thursday, please read chapters 12, 13 and 14. We will do three again since the chapters are quite short (25 pages or so for all three together).

Your Turn

The purpose of this program is to read biographies together. So if there are things that stood out to you in this chapter, if there are questions you had, this is the time and place to have your say. Feel free to post a comment below or to link to your blog if you’ve chosen to write about this on your own site.

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The Next Charles Spurgeon

Written on July 29, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

When reading about Charles Spurgeon you will be drawn to the unavoidable conclusion that he was a unique individual. He was uniquely gifted by God and then raised up to a unique ministry. There can never be another Charles Spurgeon.

I spent some time this morning pondering what is unique in Spurgeon’s background that would keep another Spurgeon from arising in our day. And I started to think about our media-saturated world. And i started to think about the character qualities exemplified by the Prince of Preachers. And I started to think about a lot of other things. And then I started writing and rambling.

From his earliest days Spurgeon was drawn to great writing by great authors. Even when he was just barely old enough to read, he was reading some of the greatest theological tomes ever written. Even in the youngest days of his ministry, when most pastors today are finishing up high school, he was able to quote widely and quote deeply from these great writers of days gone by, relying on a photographic memory (or a near-photographic memory) to recall what they had said. But he did not rely on mere recall; he had not just read these authors, but he had applied their words to his own life. From the day of his conversion he was exceptionally godly and almost unbelievably mature.

By the time Spurgeon was in his mid-teens he was already successfully pastoring a church. Already he was becoming known as the boy preacher and his fame was beginning to spread. Yet God had gifted him with an extraordinary humility and a profound sense of his utter dependence upon God. He would pray earnestly before he preached, throwing himself on God’s mercy and begging for God to be present with him and to give power to his words—power to change the hearts of his hearers. Though he was the Prince of Preachers, easily one of the greatest preachers the world has ever known, still he relied entirely upon God rather than upon his own skill. More rightly, his utter reliance was the root and the cause of the power in his words.

If Spurgeon arose today, I wonder if we would ruin him. If we saw a young boy, just old enough to read, who was spending his time studying the Puritans, I think we would grab some footage of it and put it out on YouTube. We would want all the world to know, to ooh and ah just as we do today when we see a three-year old reciting Scripture. Grab the video camera! By the time that boy was seventeen and preaching in local churches—and not just preaching but preaching powerfully—we would be hoping for his videos to go viral, to be the talk of Twitter and to be linked on all the Christian blogs. We would beg for him to speak at conferences, to write forewords to our books, to start his own radio program. We’d commoditize him, turning him into something more, or something less, then he really was. And we might just ruin him along the way. Certainly we’d cheapen him.

Or maybe we wouldn’t. Maybe God would so gift the man, as he did with Spurgeon, that he could hold up even under such pressure.

I wonder sometimes what the Bible would read like if Jesus had come to earth 2010 years later than he did. Can you imagine the media frenzy that would follow Jesus today as he drove the dusty highways of the middle east, with all the networks following in their vans, cameras rolling? Can you imagine the skepticism regarding his miracles as we watched them unfold on his very own YouTube channel? Wouldn’t you want to hear him guest on the radio shows and watch him on Larry King? Can you imagine what the gossip blogs would say about him, what they’d accuse him of, how they’d have paparazzi staked out on every hill and in every garden in all the land?

I digress, I think. Except to say that God chooses his men and he chooses their context. I think there is a sense in which Jesus had to be born when he was born. Obviously God isn’t bound by circumstances and by technology. Yet the context of Jesus’ day was just as it needed to be. And i suppose the context for Charles Spurgeon was just as it needed to be. God shaped a specific man to a specific purpose. He gifted a man, placed him in just the right context to maximize those gifts, and gained so much glory through it all. There can never be another Spurgeon because there can never be another time and another set of circumstances that would necessitate or that would even allow such a man. There will be other great men, to be sure. But there will never be another Charles Spurgeon.

Next Week

For next Thursday, please read chapters 9, 10 and 11. We will do three since the chapters are quite short.

Your Turn

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Reading Biographies Together – Spurgeon (II)

Written on July 22, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

Today we continue reading Arnold Dallimore’s Spurgeon: A New Biography. Two weeks ago we read the first couple of chapters and, after a one-week vacation, we’re back today to look at chapters 3-6.

The four chapters we read for today covered a lot of ground (which is both a benefit and a drawback of a relatively short biography). We began in the days immediately following Spurgeon’s conversion, progressed to the days where he began his very first efforts to share the gospel with others and ended with marriage. Along the way he felt God’s call to preach, he became the Boy Preacher who accepted his first pastorate at just seventeen years of age, he was called to New Park Street Baptist Church and he fell in love with and soon married Susannah Thompson.

Let me mention just a few of the things that stood out to me.

I loved reading of Spurgeon’s immediate desire to live out his new faith. No sooner was he converted than he became active in sharing that faith with others. And while it seems that he had always been bold, it was not until his baptism that God destroyed his shyness and his fear of man. His obedience in baptism was richly rewarded by God who made it the occasion of a remarkable transformation. As a Baptist I was glad to read of his decision to be baptized as a believer, and I enjoyed at his short reply to his mother when she wrote “Ah Charles, I often prayed the Lord to make you a Christian, but never asked that you might become a Baptist.” His reply? “Ah, Mother, the Lord has answered your prayer with His usual bounty, and has given you exceedingly abundantly above what you asked or thought.” That made me laugh out loud.

As I continued to read I was struck by the way that God shapes men for a specific purpose. Here he created Charles Spurgeon and gave him a unique set of gifts and opportunities. And, of course, Spurgeon was faithful to use them to the best of his ability. He used his gifts and God continued to open doors, to give him times and places to fulfill his ministry. When you hear people say, “There can never be another Spurgeon” you realize that this is right. God so obviously raised him up to a specific purpose. Having accomplished that purpose, we should not expect to see another man quite like him. And what an amazingly talented person he was. And this gives me yet another reason to love biographies; they help me see how God is the one who raises up people for his own glory.

The character trait that most stood out to me in this portion of the book was humility. Humility is a rare trait at the best of times. But in a young preacher, and one so greatly lauded, it is almost unheard of. It is rare that anyone, least of all a man in his teens and early twenties, could bear up under the kind of praise and attention Spurgeon received. Yet he fought pride and successfully put it to death. God gave him a profound sense of his own unworthiness and through such self-assessment Spurgeon had no place for pride to take root. From Spurgeon we can learn the value of a life marked by humility. Little wonder that God so greatly used this humble man.

Allow me one critical note. In his description of the marriage of Charles to Susannah, Dallimore seemed to transition from biographer to fan. I suppose no biographer is entirely objective, but here it seemed that he simply could not contain his enthusiasm for this marriage, that he stepped from description to personal reflection. And somehow it seemed to me that this was just a little bit out of character or a little bit inappropriate. That’s a strange reaction, I suppose, but I felt as if in the narrative of the biography he should have maintained more objectivity. Of course he is right—Susannah was a near-perfect fit for her husband. And yet certain statements seem to go just a little bit too far: “It is impossible to imagine anyone who would have been so suitable a wife for Charles Spurgeon as was this extraordinary woman.”

Nevertheless, it was good to read of the young Charles Spurgeon and good to read of the way God shaped his man for his purpose. Generations of Christians have been the happy beneficiaries of Spurgeon’s gifts and talents.

Next Week

For next Thursday, please read the next two chapers, chapters 7 and 8.

Your Turn

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Glorious Conversion

Written on July 18, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

Though I’ve read it often, I never tire of reading Charles Spurgeon’s account of his conversion. Spurgeon had been raised in a Christian home, had heard so much of God’s truth and had even begun to live in a moral and upright way. And yet he knew that he was not saved and, though he sought and sought, he could not find. Here is how God eventually found him.

*****

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Church. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved….

The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now it is well that preachers be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was—“LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH” (Isa. 45:22)

He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimmer of hope for me in that text.

The preacher began thus: “This is a very simple text indeed. It says ‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pain. It aint liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just ‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look.

“But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Ay!” he said in broad Essex, “many on ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some say look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some on ye say ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin.’ You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ ”

Then the good man followed up his text in this way: “Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me, I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sitting at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!”

When he had … managed to spin out about ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger.

Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, “Young man, you look very miserable.” Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, “And you will always be miserable—miserable in life and miserable in death—if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.” Then lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but look and live!”

I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said—I did not take much notice of it—I was so possessed with that one thought … I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, “Look!” what a charming word it seemed to me. Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away.

There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, “Trust Christ, and you shall be saved.” Yet it was, no doubt, all wisely ordered, and now I can say—

“E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die. . .”

That happy day when I found the Saviour, and learned to cling to His dear feet, was a day never to be forgotten by me … I listened to the Word of God and that precious text led me to the cross of Christ. I can testify that the joy of that day was utterly indescribable. I could have leaped, I could have danced; there was no expression, however fanatical, which would have been out of keeping with the joy of that hour. Many days of Christian experience have passed since then, but there has never been one which has had the full exhilaration, the sparkling delight which that first day had.

I thought I could have sprung from the seat in which I sat, and have called out with the wildest of those Methodist brethren … “I am forgiven! I am forgiven! A monument of grace! A sinner saved by blood!”

My spirit saw its chains broken to pieces, I felt that I was an emancipated soul, an heir of heaven, a forgiven one, accepted in Jesus Christ, plucked out of the miry clay and out of the horrible pit, with my feet set upon a rock and my goings established … .

Between half-past ten o’clock, when I entered that chapel, and half-past twelve o’clock, when I was back again at home, what a change had taken place in me! Simply by looking to Jesus I had been delivered from despair, and I was brought into such a joyous state of mind that, when they saw me at home, they said to me, “Something wonderful has happened to you,” and I was eager to tell them all about it. Oh! there was joy in the household that day, when all heard that the eldest son had found the Saviour and knew himself to be forgiven.

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Reading Biographies Together – Spurgeon

Written on July 8, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

You are familiar, I think, with the Reading Classics Together program. Over the past few years, I and many of the readers of this site have read a series of classics of the Christian faith. We’ve read them concurrently, a chapter or two at a time, and then have met up here at the blog once a week to discuss what we’ve read. After we finished the most recent version of this program (which saw us read The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes) I thought it would be fun to try something new. And thus I proposed that we read a biography together. Today we begin.

The biography we are reading together is Arnold Dallimore’s Spurgeon: A New Biography. Of course it’s not that new anymore, having been first printed in 1985. Nevertheless, it is a good biography and one that is thorough enough without being too long or too dense. Dallimore was a Canadian pastor and biographer who ministered not too far from where I live. He is best-known for his work on George Whitefield, a massive two-volume set that is still regarded as the definitive biography of the great evangelist. Tomorrow I’ll share a guest article written by Dallimore’s granddaughter and will allow her to introduce you to her her grandfather.

As we turn from classics of the faith to biographies, I am not entirely sure what I ought to maintain as a format as I try to share just a few thoughts on the week’s reading. So I may mix things up a little bit week-by-week as I attempt to find a workable format.

This week we were to read the first two chapters of the book along with Dallimore’s brief Preface. In the Preface Dallimore defends his decision to write yet another biography of Spurgeon, saying that many other biographies had been flawed, either by neglecting some aspects of Spurgeon’s ministry or by neglecting some aspects of his character. Dallimore has sought to provide a view of Spurgeon that is more rounded and more accurate. He has tried to give us a glimpse of the essential Spurgeon.

In the first two chapters he writes about Spurgeon’s family background, his home life and his eventual conversion. And I must say that no matter how many times I read it, I never grow weary of Spurgeon’s account of his conversion. I love the contrast of the smart, educated and capable Spurgeon sitting in a pew and the “really stupid” man who climbs into the pulpit one day to exhort him to be saved. It never fails to encourage me to see how God works through the humble to shame, or in this case to humble, the wise.

But moving back in time just a little bit, I enjoyed reading how Spurgeon attributed so much of his spiritual growth and development to his mother. I have been reading a lot of biography lately and this has been a recurring theme. Just last week I read of Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln, both of whom said without shame that whatever they were, whatever they had become, they owed to their mothers and especially to their mothers’ fervent prayer. And as Spurgeon’s brother said of their mother, “She was the starting point of all the greatness and goodness any of us, by the grace of God, have ever enjoyed.” While I would always wish to affirm that dad is the spiritual leader within the home, none of us should neglect the importance of mom and her ministry to her children. Many great men of the faith owe who and what they are to the teaching and the prayers of their mothers.

Finally, I see a challenge for me in this chapter. I am the father of three children who, like Spurgeon, are being raised in a Christian home. And yet I cannot allow myself to assume their salvation. I must continually remind myself that, like Spurgeon and, indeed, like myself, it may take them many years and much wrestling before they find salvation. It will take a work of the Holy Spirit to draw them to himself and this is a work that will take place in his good timing.

Next Week

I will not be near a computer next Thursday, so we will actually take a one-week break and be back on the 22nd of July. For that date, please read the next four chapters (which keeps us at our regular pace of two chapters per week). That will take you to the end of the chapter titled “Spurgeon’s Marriage.”

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Reading Biographies Together – A Reminder

Written on June 26, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

A couple of weeks ago I announced that we’d be taking a slight diversion in reading classic books together and would instead be reading a biography. That project will begin in less than 2 weeks, so I wanted to offer a final reminder about it.

In order to make this program work, I set about looking for just the right biography. I wanted it to cover a person whose life is exemplary and a person who had a remarkable impact on the church. I also wanted to find a biography that was reasonably inexpensive and one that was not too long. And, of course, it had to be written by a superior biographer. All those factors combined to lead me to Arnold Dallimore’s life of Charles Spurgeon. It is 240 pages over 21 chapters, meaning we can quite easily read it in somewhere between 7 and 10 weeks. It is available for around $12 at many online retailers, ensuring that it will not break the bank.

So why don’t you read along with me? Spurgeon led a fascinating life and one I know too little about. Though I’ve read this book before, that was many years ago and I’ve been eager to find a reason to read it again.

We will begin reading on July 8. For that day, please read the first two chapters (just 20 pages!). There is still plenty of time to find a copy of the book, have it shipped your way, and read that first section. You should not have a lot of trouble finding it. It is available at Westminster Books and at most other Christian bookstores online (I had Westminster order in extra copies so they won’t run out!). For some reason it is not available directly through Amazon, though you can find it both new and used through various Amazon partners.

Already quite a lot of you have indicated interest in reading along and I hope that more will do so before we actually begin. I’m really looking forward to beginning this project with you.

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Reading Biographies(?) Together

Written on June 17, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

The Reading Classics Together program has proven quite a success over the past couple of years. The impetus for this project was the simple realization that, though many Christians want to read through the classics of the faith, few of us have the motivation to actually make it happen. I know this was long the case for me. This program allows us to read such classic works together, providing both a level of accountability and the added interest of comparing notes as we read in community.

Those who have participated since the beginning (has anyone actually done that?) will now have read Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen, The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross by A.W. Pink, The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, Real Christianity by William Wilberforce, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs, Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray and The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes. That’s quite a list of profoundly important books!

Just recently we finished up The Bruised Reed and already some of you are wondering what the next book will be. I thought it might be fun to do something just a little bit different. Instead of reading a classic book together this time around, why don’t we read a really good biography? This will make for a nice change of pace and it will introduce us to the life of an important person in the history of the church. We can look at one of the men behind the classics. I think biographies can be like classics in that there are many of them we would love to read, but we just don’t find the time to do so.

I set about looking for just the right biography. I wanted it to cover a person whose life is exemplary and a person who had a remarkable impact on the church. I also wanted to find a biography that was reasonably inexpensive and one that was not too long. And, of course, it had to be written by a superior biographer. All those factors combined to lead me to Arnold Dallimore’s life of Charles Spurgeon. It is 240 pages over 21 chapters, meaning we can quite easily read it in somewhere between 7 and 10 weeks. It is available for around $12 at many online retailers, ensuring that it will not break the bank.

And now I am hoping that some of you will read along with me. Spurgeon led a fascinating life and one I know too little about. Though I’ve read this book before, that was many years ago and I’ve been eager to find a reason to read it again. Why don’t you do the same?

We will begin reading on July 8, two weeks from now. For that day, please read the first two chapters (just 20 pages!). That ought to be lots of time to find a copy of the book, have it shipped your way, and read that first section. You should not have a lot of trouble finding it. It is available at Westminster Books and at most other Christian bookstores online (I had Westminster order in extra copies so hopefully they won’t run out!). For some reason it is not available directly through Amazon, though you can find it both new and used through various Amazon partners.

And do let me know if you are interested in reading along—just leave a comment in the comments section below.

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Its Own Evangelist

Written on April 17, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

Here is a quote I found this morning when re-reading Max McLean’s Unleashing the Word. It comes under a section titled “The Bible Is its Own Evangelist.”

The Bible is its own evangelist. I came to faith because I was deeply affected by the words of the Bible. The famous British preacher Charles Spurgeon was once asked how he responded to criticisms of the Bible. “Very easy,” he responded. “I defend the Bible the same way I defend a lion. I simply let it out of its cage.” That quote captures our vision for this book and for the growth of ministries that are committed to the passionate, articulate, and powerful reading of Scripture. Isn’t it time to let the Bible out of the cage, or (to borrow from the title of this book) to unleash God’s Word?

When I tell a Bible story, I have a quiet confidence that God is going to do a mighty work by the very act of reading his Word. Therefore, my objective is to engage hearers and draw them into the Word of God. My role is to use my skills and abilities, as best I can, to draw them into an experience with the Word.

There is something to ponder before we head to church tomorrow morning. “The Bible is its own evangelist.” Consider that for a while!

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A Dying Savior

Written on March 13, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

Rooting around through some old files today I found a great quote by Charles Spurgeon just doing what Spurgeon did so well–exposing the heart. Here is what he had to say about weeping for Jesus as we picture him hanging upon the cross, suffering for our sake.

You need not weep because Christ died one-tenth so much as because your sins rendered it necessary that He should die. You need not weep over the crucifixion, but weep over your transgression, for your sins nailed the Redeemer to the accursed tree. To weep over a dying Saviour is to lament the remedy; it were wiser to bewail the disease. To weep over the dying Saviour is to wet the surgeon’s knife with tears; it were better to bewail the spreading polyps which that knife must cut away. To weep over the Lord Jesus as He goes to the cross is to weep over that which is the subject of the highest joy that ever heaven and earth have known; your tears are scarcely needed there; they are unnatural, but a deeper wisdom will make you brush them all away and chant with joy His victory over death and the grave. If we must continue our sad emotions, let us lament that we should have broken the law which He thus painfully vindicated; let us mourn that we should have incurred the penalty which He even to the death was made to endure … O brethren and sisters, this is the reason why we souls weep: because we have broken the divine law and rendered it impossible that we should be saved except Jesus Christ should die.

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A La Carte (3/8)

Written on March 8, 2010 by Tim in Uncategorized

Brothers, We Are Not Figure Skaters – A good moment from Phil Johnson at last week’s Shepherds’ Conference.

C.H. Spurgeon: The People’s Preacher – A few days ago I watched this docu-drama on the life of Charles Spurgeon. It is quite well done and provides a solid, hour-long overview of the life of the Prince of Preachers. It’s a great item to add to your church library.

Hologram Preachers – It is sometimes difficult to know what is fact and what is fiction. “Holographic preachers are stirring another technology-gone-too-far debate among Christians. While the dust over beaming preachers on a video screen on multi-site campuses has somewhat settled, the new 3D tool is raising more questions and concerns among some believers.”

Climbing - This is an amazing photograph (or series of photographs stitched together).

The Decline of Vocational Evangelism – Trevin Wax asks why the number of vocational evangelists has declined, especially in the context of the SBC.

The Pastor’s Worst Day? – David Murray: “What’s the worst day of the week for pastors? Probably Monday. For the previous seven days we’ve poured ourselves into sermon preparation, pastoral visitation, counseling, evangelism, problem solving, prayer, etc. The Sunday climax (anti-climax?) has come and gone. We may have been discouraged by low attendances, limited or negative feedback, etc. Our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual reserves are in the red. Yet we have to climb the mountain all over again. Monday “blues” can very quickly become Monday ‘blacks.’ However, without ignoring the real difficulties, let us also remember the joys of pastoral ministry. Here are seven I try to keep before me, especially on Monday mornings.”

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