UPDATE: What if the TR watchbloggers fisked this post for orthodoxy? It might look like this.

I am frequently challenged in comments around here to come up with some kind of a book list. I’ve published a list of authors before, but never a list of books that I would recommend. The reasons became evident as I worked on this post: I’m clearly out of control. Still, it was fun to make the effort. [Continue reading]

Back in the day, Hollywood used to occasionally make a movie about the early Christians. Central to those films was a sense that the old world, the Roman world, the world of the old gods, was on the verge of collapse, while the new world shaped by the Christian vision was being born.

Hollywood now makes apocalyptic movies with environmental judgment days dawning on us, appealing to us to unite around the United Nations or Al Gore’s gospel of scientifically-dictated politics to save the planet. When conservative evangelicals make movies, they say that apocalypse is happening as secularists take over the Christian west and remove the Christian moral code or as the dispensensational last days plan unfolds…right down to the video game. The rumblings of population and demographic apocalypse are beginning to be heard, but few of us can contemplate what happens when England becomes a Muslim country and the southwest United States declares its independence. No films of these scenarios yet. Meanwhile, the childless apocalypse of Children of Men isn’t showing anywhere, and the most successful evangelical film of the year is about turning around a football team. [Continue reading]

A great Andrew Peterson/Michael Card song. Words about ministry in response to suicide. The Christian-Industrial complex. A BCP based Bible reading resource.

The Internet Monk Radio Podcast is available at iTunes. A glowing review will cause God to give you your best life next Tuesday at 3:36 p.m.

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A good friend mailed me a note the other day, asking my opinion of a book that was all the rage in his megachurch. It’s not the first time we’ve had that conversation. We’ve covered this ground many times because his church, like most of American megachurch evangelicalism, often behaves like a group of consumerist sheep looking for a shepherd. Such shepherds are supplied these days by Joel Osteen products, Rick Warren products, Jabez prayers and products, Left Behind books and games, Beth Moore products, Joyce Meyer products, Thomas Kincaid products, Max Lucado books and products, and so on and so on and so on. [Continue reading]

OK, you’re going to say that I’ve deserted last year’s list. I haven’t. I still love those sites, but I want this list to move on a bit. So here’s my “Top Ten” list of web sites that have really helped me this year. Feel free to add your own list in the comments.

10. I have a new appreciation for Relevant Magazine and its ever evolving website. It’s the place this 50 year old gets a dose of what’s hip. I’ll forgive some occasionally naive theological banter because they are committed Christians exploring the intersection of God and culture without being tied to one of the dominant teams in theological UFC. Always worth some time in your week. [Continue reading]

It is traditional for me to post something about Christmas. The following is adapted from a sermon preached at a local Baptist Church, December 24, 11:00 a.m. 2006. A Christ-filled, joyous Christmas to all my Internet Monk readers..

A World Just Beyond Our Grasp. (Luke 1:46-55; Hebrews 10:4-10)

At the Spencer household, Christmas traditions are important. And the enforcer- my daughter, Noel- is watching your every move.

Woe unto him who attempts to NOT watch Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas…or who questions the relevance of the film to Christmas. [Continue reading]

Brant Hanson and family are done with the church.

You could have seen it coming.

Further reading in the comment threads will reveal a switch to the kind of Christian community that many are exploring in house groups, stripped down and simplified fellowships, and informal networks of like-minded, de-megachurched families and individuals.

I don’t read Brant’s blog enough to know all that much about his journey, but I will tell you a few things I do know: [Continue reading]

Every so often, Hollywood surprises you.

Imagine that a major studio is making a movie starring a marquee quality African-American actor. The story is set in the Reagan-era 80’s, with an African-American protagonist who, despite being the top of his class and the class of his navy unit, is still on the verge of economic ruin, living one paycheck away from disaster. He’s surrounded by wealthy, corporate white people while, without a car and abandoned by his wife, he tries to make a living as a salesman. Eventually, forced to live on the streets with his son, he pursues the dream of being a stock broker, but is so hassled by creditors and the IRS that he can barely compete alongside other potential brokers – all white and Asian- and is always the one called upon to fetch coffee and donuts.

Given what you know about Hollywood- and frankly, about America, these days- what should this picture be about? What would be its tone? How would it deal with the portrayal of black Americans, corporate America, the disadvantages of being a minority and poor? What would be its point of view on homelessness? Who would be the villains? How would redemption come to its hero? [Continue reading]

Brilliant. That’s all I can say. Absolutely brilliant. This parody of the “Slice o Bot” needs all you to blogroll it, pass it on and appreciate its wholesome goodness. The Onion has nothing on this site. Of course, it’s hard to top the original, no matter how hard you try.

On the personal side, I want to thank the folks at “The Catholic Guy” radio program on “The Catholic Channel” for a fun interview today on the heavy topic of Egg Nog addiction. The secret suffering needs to come out of the closet.

BHT Fellow Jim Nicholson is developing a Boar’s Head Tavern widget for Dashboard. My beta is awesome. Keep your ear to the ground for more information if and when it becomes available.

Andrew Sandlin has a new book that I haven’t read, but intend to. Its entire premise looks outstanding. Check it out.

This is a sermon written for the third week of Advent. It’s expanded from a talk I gave at soli deo, Tuesday, January 19th.

For a complete and substantial response to Sam Harris’s book, Letters to a Christian Nation, see Douglas Wilson’s excellent series “Letters To Mr. Harris.” (Archived here, earliest one at the end of the page.) [Continue reading]

This is what we send out to our friends all around the country. It’s two PDFs, one pretty big. If you have any interest in praying for us or just keeping up with our family, we’d be honored if you read it.

Page 1 of the Spencer Holiday Newsletter
Page 2 of the Spencer Holiday Newsletter

One of the greatest untold stories among Southern Baptists is the life, mission and ministry of Clarence Jordan.(pronounced Jerden) Now, thanks to PBS, Jordan’s story has been made into a documentary that can communicate this overlooked history to a generation eager to see the true message of Jesus at work in the world. [Continue reading]

I’m not feeling particularly spiritual these days. Of course, even that sentence is a symptom of how much revivalistic ways of thinking are still running around in my brain. The Gospel is good news for the unspiritual, am that is good news indeed as far as I am concerned.

Anyway, the BHT’s Bill Mackinnon penned this IM classic essay several years ago: I‘m Not Spiritual. As we say around here, this dawg will hunt. It’s a goodun.

Read: I’m Not Spiritual by Bill Mackinnon.

I’m back. Upcoming Interview. TR watchblog news. A question about Muslim evangelism.

The Internet Monk Radio Podcast is available at iTunes. A glowing review will get your name entered in our contest to give away two tickets to a future iMonk Radio taping.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Dan Edelen is on one of the best bloggers I know of, and his post We Need A Gospel That Speaks To Failure is outa the park, center field.

Your church is looking for new elders. Which of these two 40-year old men has a better chance of becoming an elder, the self-made man who runs his own company OR the fellow who works the night shift as a convenience store clerk? In the split second (Blink!) you thought about that pair, did class distinction enter into your assessment? Has anything been said about the spiritual maturity of those men? Don’t we assume that one is more spiritually mature simply because he runs a successful business, while the other only makes $8/hr.?

Did Jesus ever think that way? He summons the less esteemed to the head of the table, while one who believes he belongs in the place of honor is sent down. The beggar Lazarus, whose sores were licked by dogs, winds up in heaven, while the rich man suffers in torment. Jesus said nothing about Lazarus’ spiritual maturity, did He? But Lazarus is the one in Abraham’s bosom. Obviously, failure and poverty have nothing to do with one’s eternal destiny and spiritual depth. [Continue reading]