The Holy Spirit: Does What We Know About Him Actually Matter? (Part 1)

May 25, 2010 in Holy Spirit by jls | 7 comments

DoveXPThe importance, nature and work of the Holy Spirit is not well understood by many Christians today. And in that category, I definitely include myself.

Since my college days, I have belonged to an independent church that emphasizes textual Bible study, prayer and evangelism. Over the years, we have constantly spoken of God and Jesus, and in passing we have often mentioned the Holy Spirit. We formally uphold the doctrine of the Trinity. But in-depth discussion of the Holy Spirit has been rare. As far as I can tell, this experience is common among evangelical Christians, especially those of the non-Pentecostal variety. The implicit message seems to be: If you believe that Christ died for your sins, that is enough to make you a real Christian. But is it enough?

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A Church in Denial and Infatuated with Itself

May 21, 2010 in Commentary by jls | 1 comment

iStock_000012122130XSmallI recently ran across this presentation by Gary Hamel, an author and management consultant who has been called “the world’s most influential business thinker” by The Wall Street Journal.  Hamel advises Fortune 500 companies and writes for Harvard Business Review. He is also a deeply committed Christian. In 2009, he was invited to speak at the Global Leadership Summit, an annual gathering of pastors and church leaders organized by Willow Creek Community Church. Hamel spoke with thoughtfulness and passion about the need for churches and ministries to change. Some of his basic arguments are found in this WSJ blog post. But if you can do so, please watch the full 57-minute video presentation; you won’t be disappointed.

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Pentecost: The Most Underrated Day in the Church Calendar?

May 19, 2010 in Holy Spirit by jls | 4 comments

This Sunday, Christians will ”celebrate” Pentecost Sunday. I put “celebrate” in quotes because, if you attend an evangelical church in the United States, there’s a high probability that Pentecost will not mentioned at all.

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Greatest Story Ever Told

May 18, 2010 in Videos by Andrew | 1 comment

Hey! I’m going to be posting lots of YouTube content on here to keep the blog updated. Great YouTube videos are in abundance and don’t really require much introduction or analysis from me (laziness? haha).

Anyways, here’s Shai Linne’s retelling of the greatest story ever told:

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The Social Costs of Pornography

April 1, 2010 in Sexuality by jls | 1 comment

An excerpt from an article written by Anonymous which appeared yesterday in National Review Online:

Imagine a drug so powerful it can destroy a family simply by distorting a man’s perception of his wife. Picture an addiction so lethal it has the potential to render an entire generation incapable of forming lasting marriages and so widespread that it produces more annual revenue — $97 billion worldwide in 2006 — than all of the leading technology companies combined. Consider a narcotic so insidious that it evades serious scientific study and legislative action for decades, thriving instead under the ever-expanding banner of the First Amendment.

According to an online statistics firm, an estimated 40 million people use this drug on a regular basis. It doesn’t come in pill form. It can’t be smoked, injected, or snorted. And yet neurological data suggest its effects on the brain are strikingly similar to those of synthetic drugs. Indeed, two authorities on the neurochemistry of addiction, Harvey Milkman and Stanley Sunderwirth, claim it is the ability of this drug to influence all three pleasure systems in the brain — arousal, satiation, and fantasy — that makes it “the pièce de résistance among the addictions.”

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Why Church Unity is So Important (Part 2)

March 27, 2010 in Unity by jls | 2 comments

Reforming the Social Security program has often been called “the third rail of American politics” because if you touch it, you will get burned. The issues involved are so divisive, affecting individuals and families at such a personal level, that most national political leaders will avoid this subject at all costs.

Similarly, there is an electrified third rail in discussions about Christian unity.  Being the naïve/pompous/foolish person that I am, I will now climb down onto the subway tracks, bend over, reach out, and grab this third rail with both hands.

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Faith in His Plan

March 25, 2010 in Personal Experience by Greg | 1 comment

As my and your friend from SEED, Ruthie, and I sat in the Atlanta Airport for 46 hours trying to get home from our spring break mission trip, we wondered how this struggle of dashed hopes and confusion would affect the memories of our trip. We had just experienced the most amazing week of serving and being served by the community of Harmons, Jamaica. Would we dwell on the torments of a two day layover? Would we curse Delta Airlines, the funny little man who kept giving us misinformation, or the whole city of Atlanta?

Each evening of the trip, all 26 participants would sit in a circle for a time for reflection. The final evening, the reflections were dominated by questions of whether or not we could really take the lessons we learned back to our normal lives. I know I’ve previously felt similar spiritual ‘highs’ after a great retreat or trip. They always seemed to fade to some degree though when faced with entrance back into a lukewarm Christian American society. This might have been the case, given my travel woes, had I not received the most inspiring faith I’ve heard in a long time on this very trip.

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Why Church Unity is So Important (Part 1)

March 23, 2010 in Unity by jls | 1 comment

images100318John Armstrong’s new book Your Church is Too Small is a plea for unity in the Body of Christ.  Unity is not the same thing as uniformity.  Christians have always disagreed among themselves on countless issues of faith and practice. Of course, there are certain basic things that must be believed in order for one to be welcomed into the Body of Christ. But as I read what the New Testament says about the Church, I have to conclude that diversity within the Body is normal, healthy and absolutely necessary.

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A New Book by John Armstrong

March 20, 2010 in Unity by jls | 6 comments

johnaA new book by John H. Armstrong, Your Church is Too Small, has just been released by Zondervan. John is a first-rate Christian scholar, a provocative and prolific writer, and a dynamic speaker.  He teaches apologetics at Wheaton Graduate School, but he spends the bulk of his time writing, speaking and personally ministering to pastors and Christian leaders whom he has identified as sharing his vision for reformation and revival .He is the founder and president of ACT3, a ministry designed to allow him to use his unique spritual gifts in the service of Christ.

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Random thoughts about pornography

March 4, 2010 in Sexuality by jls | No comments

porn-nationHere at Seed, we have been thinking a lot about sex, and in the process, we have become frustrated. Why?  Because discussions about sex veer off in so many directions, too many to cover in one evening or even one semester.  Pornography.  Dating and courtship.  Modesty in dress and behavior. Dealing with sexual temptation. Premarital sex, hooking up and live-in relationships. Homosexuality. The list goes on and on.

As the semester marches forward, it is becoming very difficult to make sense of it all.  Realistically, there is no way that we are going to synthesize everything into a series of articles on well-defined topics.  The time has come to just put some words down and launch them into cyberspace. Let me begin this process by sharing a few random thoughts, arranged in no particular order.  These first random thoughts are about pornography.

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