Here’s my weekly round-up of recommended reads from around the web:
- In an excellent paper, introduced here, Tony Merida attempts to answer the question, expressed in the words of Bryan Chapell, “How do I preach the text that is present and preach Christ where he may not seem to be present?”
- A few years ago I had the joy of meeting and sitting under the ministry of Conrad Mbewe who has been described as the African Spurgeon. Clint Archer recently met up with him and asked him a number of questions including ‘What information would be helpful for Evangelicals in the West to know about the state of the African church?’ and ‘What would you want to tell the Evangelical church in America and the UK about how best to be involved in God’s Kingdom work in Africa?‘ The two articles appear here and here.
- Christopher Ash of The Proclamation Trust has written the first of two articles on ‘Why preach?’, based on God’s instruction to Moses to “Assemble the people before me to hear my words’” (Deut 4:10).
- Dave Kraft lists ten critical mistakes that leaders make, as well as some ways to avoid them. Over all of that he affirms, “The triune God is bigger than our mistakes and will work His plan and purpose in spite of them.” Amen to that!
- Ligonier Ministries has filmed an ambitious new 60-hour survey of church history featuring Dr. Robert Godfrey, president of Westminster Theological Seminary, California. The first part, 12 talks on on AD 100-600, is now available in both audio and video. You can also download a free study guide. More details here
- Heading up a new Bible College in Edinburgh, I found this article on ‘What Is the Biggest Change Evangelical Seminaries Need to Make Right Now?’ fascinating and there is much I agree with including the statement, “Theological seminaries are a vital resource to the global church. They will always be necessary. But these schools face a major challenge. For their future, there is a great need for the majority of faculty and decision-makers to accept more fully their crucial role as missionaries and trainers of missionaries.”
- Finally, I haven’t yet had a chance or the time to sit and watch this video right through – it’s a little over an hour long – but I am looking forward to doing so. It’s described as “a mixture of movie and documentary of the life of” Charles Spurgeon
