Blessed Voices (even among the voiceless)

Doctoral work has kept me pretty silent on the blogosphere lately. No matter. Other excellent voices have been hard at work. Some of my favorites....

All of us who practice the awkward act of dunking a new believer beneath the waters in baptism (and then trying to figure out how to get them back up) will be blessed by Lee Hull Moses's post "Newness of Life Or: How I Gave up the Waders and Learned to Love the Water."

All of us who've preached till we are hoarse can learn from Charlie Johnson's post over at Ethicsdaily.com, "What a Preacher Learned When He Stopped Preaching."

Would love to hear what you've been reading in the comments section.

Lenten Resources

Here are some Lenten resources that I've found helpful.

• Journey to the Cross - this online devotional is from the folks over at d365.org. The devotionals are simple and yet stirring. It's worth stopping by for the the Ken Medema music alone.

• Lent for Everyone - This is a Lenten devotional by one of my favorite writers, N.T. Wright. I can only find this on the YouVersion website / app. I don't think you have to sign-up in order to use it, but you might. It's free, and the YouVersion app is a great way to read the Bible on your phone or tablet. 

• Lenten Blog by the Huffington Post - As strange as this one is, two days in I've been pleasantly surprised by this Huffington Post Lenten blog. I'll say up front, I have no idea who all the contributors will be and so I don't vouch for any of them. That being said, o far they've had piece from the late Henri Nouwen and from Walter Brueggemann two of my favorite authors.

Friday Links: What is good preaching?

Amy Butler, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., asks the question: What is good preaching?  I like her answer. You can find more from Amy at her blog Talk With the Preacher.

CBF Oklahoma had their Fall Gathering back on October 15, 2011, but the videos from that day have just made the web (thanks to Bruce Prescott).  Preston Clegg, Meredith Stone, Kyndall Renfro, and Lavonn Brown preached on the four freedoms (Church, Bible, Religious, and Soul). The sound on the video isn't great, so you'll need to be in a quiet spot to listen, but the sermons are good.

Preston's sermon is especially inspiring for the the preacher working in a local church. His opening illustration, "The corner of Benton and Plumb," did everything an opening illustration should do. It hooked me into the sermon and had me contemplating the truth of his main point without even realizing that he had gotten me to do some deep thinking. Preston and I were at Truett Seminary at the same time, it's no surprise to see him doing so well. I've included his sermon below. The actual sermon starts around the 4:30 mark.

Preston Clegg on Church Freedom from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Links of the week

Over at the Pangea Blog guest blogger Rachel Blom asks an important question for all preachers: Do you preach to your whole church? How do your sermons and illustrations within those sermons sound to singles, teenagers, etc.? Excellent post to get you thinking about who sits in your congregation.

On Leadershipjournal.net David Slagle shares three irrational beliefs that too many ministers buy into.  He identifies the reasons and provides healthier alternatives.  A good article that might serve as a good discussion for church staff.  One of the better lines, "Expecting messed up human beings to treat us nicely at all times is, well, messed up."

Mark Roberts, director and scholar in residence of Laity Lodge looks at how the web empowers gossipers. He concludes that while the web probably doesn't make us meaner - he thinks we're pretty mean already - the web does allow us to get away with more meanness. Read more.

Five Things Church Members Wish Their Staffs Knew

A good blog post over at Faith Village by Jason Boyett:  Five Things Church Members Wish Their Staffs Knew