Joel Osteen is coming to Louisville, Kentucky, this Sunday to “preach” at Freedom Hall.  The event is being promoted as, ”The Night of Hope.”   Osteen says the service will center on “our core message that God is a good God, he’s on our side.”  But his critics say he’s missing something profoundly important.

“The first problem with Joel Osteen’s message is not what is present but what is absent.  There is simply no clear declaration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (quoted in the Courier Journal today).

But Osteen says he’s heard these criticisms before and replies, “Most people know what they’re doing wrong, and need a message that encourages them to forgive others and build strong family relationships.”

• Read more on Osteen’s coming to KY here
• Read Brent’s post on Why Joel Osteen Should Stop Calling Himself a Pastor

If you’re looking for a resource to teach your kids about heaven you need to get Heaven for Kids by Randy Alcorn.  It’s based on the best-selling book for adults (called Heaven) but written in a way that kids will understand.  Kids have always asked questions about heaven and now parents can give answers that are biblical and applicable for their kids.  I actually learned some things from the book as well!

As a father of three little children, the following story made me sick to my stomach:

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While shopping at Sam’s Club today a mother was leaning over looking for meat and turned around to find her 4 yr. old daughter was missing. I was standing there right beside her, and she was calling her daughter with no luck.

I asked a man who worked at Sam’s to announce it over the loud speaker for Katie. He did, and let me say he immediately walked right past me when I asked and went to a pole where there was a phone. He made an announcement for all the doors and gates to be locked, a code something.

So they locked all the doors at once. This took all of 3 minutes after I asked the guy to do this. They found the little girl 5 minutes later in a bathroom stall. Her head was half shaved, and she was dressed in her underwear with a bag of clothes, a razor, and wig sitting on the floor beside her to make her look different.

Whoever this person was, took the little girl, brought her into the bathroom, shaved half her head, and undressed her in a matter of less than 10 minutes. This makes me shake to no end. Please keep a close eye on your kids when in big places where it’s easy for you to get separated.

It only took a few minutes to do all of that-another 5 minutes and she would have been out the door. I am still in shock that some sick person could do this, let alone in a matter of minutes. The days are over when our little ones could run rampant all over the place and nothing would happen to them.

The little girl is fine. Thank God for fast workers who didn’t take any chances.

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*UPDATE: After doing more research I found out that this story is most likely a hoax.  However, it did wake me up to the reality of watching my kids more closely.  If interested here is a more detailed description of the real “code” (called a Code Adam) that is mentioned in the story used at places such as Wal-Mart.

John Piper was asked this question recently and here is his response:

1. Things that relate to the passions of your life
2. Recommendations from people that are responsible and that you respect
3. Time-proven, classic, deep works on various issues

Currently I’m reading (and re-reading) the following books:

• Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis
• Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges
• Fusion by Nelson Searcy
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Total Church and Fusion are two books I’m reading with others (fellow pastors and friends).  I highly recommend Total Church for a paradigm-shifting discussion on gospel and community in the local church.  And I highly recommend Fusion for those who are looking for a practical resource on assimilation. 

What have you been reading lately?  Any book recommendations?

Ahh … T-Shirt Evangelism.  There was a time (try highschool in the early 90’s) where I was on board.  Fifteen years later I pray that my life would speak louder than some shirt in promoting the gospel to “the LOST.”

(HT: Z)

I love stories about children.  It amazes me how perceptive they are.  Take for instance this little story below:

Seven-year-old Matthew was watching his father David, a pastor, write his sermon for Sunday. “How do you know what to say, Dad?” Matthew asked. David replied, “Well, God tells me what to say and I just write it down.” Matthew nodded and then asked, “Then how come you’re crossing things out?”

(HT: JH)

Jonathan Dodson with some good words on prayer:

So often our prayers and prayer requests remain generic and superficial: God help so and so, bless this, heal that, and so on. Generic, superficial prayers are heard by God, but we have to wonder if we are really “praying in the Spirit” when we maintain a generic, superficial course in prayer. He’s not a healing or blessing genie. God is set on changing us, making us into his likeness, confronting our sin, renewing our souls, strengthening our faith, deepening our joy. 

(Read the rest here …)

A friend of mine pointed me to some thoughts by Walt Mueller on Redemptive Parenting.  The most helpful part of the article for me focused on what to do when your children screw up.  In other words, how do you respond in a redemptive way?  Here’s a few of Walt’s thoughts:

• Think of your children first.  Your first priority is to see the situation and your child redeemed.
• Don’t worry about what other people think
• Be a person of grace.  Remember John White’s great advice: ”As Christ is to me, so must I be to my children.”
• Respond.  Don’t react.
• Shoot for heart change, not behavioral conformity.
• Let them suffer the consequences of their behavior.
• Be free to lament.  Embrace the opportunity.
• It’s never too late.  No situation is irredeemable.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  ~ Albert Einstein

Check out Big Think.  It’s a website that provides videos of big ideas thrown around by prominent people and pollsters in our culture–including athiests and ministers. Their tagline is “We are what you think.”  Here’s a few of the listed topics:

• Faith and Beliefs
• Identity
• Inspiration
• Life and Death
• Arts and Culture