Cold orthodoxy and Emotionalism

"Cold orthodoxy is the result of absorbing doctrine without gratitude.
Emotionalism is the result of gratitude without doctrine. We need both.
the former tendency leads to an obsession with intellectual data with-
out expression  in love, humility, charity, goodworks, and genuine wor-
ship. The latter is like saying “Thank You“ 142 time without knowing
exactly why."    
(Michael Horton)

Teaching as a Short-Term Missions Strategy (by Bill Walsh)

Day four in our series on short-term missions. David Livermore has written a book on this topic that we highly recommend, Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence.
In "American or American’t: A Critical Analysis of Western Training to the World," he addresses a  particular application of the short-term missions strategy: Teaching.
Some say that globally 85% of pastors have had little to no theological training whatsoever. Here at DG International Outreach, we are partnering with an increasing number of ministries using an informal, short-term approach for training pastors in developing nations.
David has some provocative analysis aimed to make us more aware of our cultural blind sides. This longer article is essential reading if you are focused on theological training of church leaders in developing countries.

Indigenous expressions of Christ’s Church exist in every geopolitical nation of the world. The entrepreneurial drive of American culture infiltrates our missions endeavors and therefore spills over into our cross-cultural leadership development initiatives. When we hear about the relentless growth of the global church, we’re inspired to bring our value-added contributions. But while the North American pastors consistently talked about urgency, the nationals consistently talked about the importance of process and of taking time to grow in relationship before developing a strategy for the kinds of collaborative exchanges that are truly needed for mutual benefit.

Absolutely. Teaching AND of course keeping a learning heart as you do so. Just because someone is not theologically trained doesn't mean he's stupid. SPK

What Did You Think of The Shack by William Young?

Interview with William Young
You can listen to The Shack author William Young giving an interview. In it he flatly denies the substitutionary atonement (which was one of the questions many people had as they read the book).

Tim Challies

John Calvin? Who's that?

2009 is the 500th birthday of John Calvin. What's cool is that he's a French dude and we're still talking about him 500 years later. Cooler still is the fact that he was a Christian and coolest of all is that this guy wrote amazing Christ-centered books of theology, in French. It takes a Frenchman to understand how cool that last statement was.

So on my To Read list for 2009 is a landmark book, The Institutes of Christian Religion. I hear so much about Calvin and by my protestant roots deeply indebted to the work of the man, but I realize I don't know him yet. I intend to remedy that before the year is over.

If you want to know more about a dead guy that is still famous (500 years later), you can start here.