Category Archives: Uncategorized

From the Comments: Life in the Church in Jerusalem

Larry Creek asked me in a comment, [1] I have not found many that have expounded upon how those who left Jerusalem to go back home lived the same guidelines for their worship gatherings as have been evidenced in the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Thom Rainer’s Predictions for 2014, Part 2

Continuing to reflect on Thom Rainer’s 14 Predictions for 2014, Part 1 and Part 2. 5. Greater number of churches moving to a unified worship style. For years a noticeable trend was churches offering different worship styles. The most common was the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Paul and the Faithfulness of God: Two Videos

We’ve been considering N. T. Wright’s newly released Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God) — a massive and masterful consideration of Paul’s theology. Well, we were and then I had surgery and then I … Continue reading

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Thom Rainer’s Predictions for 2014, Part 1A (Re the importance of Instrumental Music to Church Growth)

In Part 1, I wrote, The Churches of Christ have very few [megachurches], largely because … [among other reasons] … we have doctrinal barriers that make it difficult for a church to grow large, including our rejection of instrumental music. … Continue reading

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Thom Rainer’s Predictions for 2014, Part 1

I read Thom Rainer’s blog, but I’ve been reading his work since before there were blogs. Rainer is a church growth consultant who has written several influential books. He is one of the few who studies the research and really … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 22 Comments

Elder Training: ElderLink in Atlanta, March 21-22

I’m a longtime advocate for elder training, and one of the few formal training opportunities found in the Churches of Christ is the ElderLink program jointly sponsored by Abilene Christian University and Lipscomb University.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Snow in Tuscaloosa and Jay’s Health Status

What do Tuscaloosans do when it snows enough to build snowmen and have snowball fights? Build snow elephants on the UA Quad!

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments

What Is “Sin”? Even More Conclusions

As reader Charles likes to point out, we have a tendency to abstract our God so that we love his love, love his faithfulness, love his salvation, but don’t love God himself because we don’t know God as a person … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized, What Is Sin? | 6 Comments

What Is “Sin”? Some More Conclusions

I dunno. I’m not that happy with my last post. I mean, it’s right enough, I think, but not as pointed as I meant to be. I blame the drugs and slow recovery from mostly deadness. (I’m better, but it’s … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized, What Is Sin? | 45 Comments

What Is “Sin”? Some Conclusions

So how do we respond when the question is how to conduct the Lord’s Supper? We’ve wrapped this common meal with 2,000 years of tradition — much of it quite bad — and have nearly lost sight entirely of what … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized, What Is Sin? | 17 Comments