subscribe to my RSS feed“In the broadest possible sense, writing well means to communicate clearly and interestingly and in a way that feels alive to the reader. Where there’s some kind of relationship between the writer and the reader — even though it’s mediated by a kind of text — there’s an electricity about it"
David Foster Wallace, Quack This Way, 25-26
Though I have become increasingly disappointed with the content in recent years, I have found the Association of Vineyard Churches Cutting Edge magazine to be a great resource for church planters. Examples of helpful articles would be the Tim Keller interview in The Big City issue and David Allen's excellent contribution in The Effective Pastor
For this reason I wanted to link the recently published, Ten Years: A Collection.
Here is the product description from Vineyard Resources:
Vineyard’s own “Cutting Edge” church planting magazine has just published it’s 2nd Book! Featuring 136 beautiful large color pages, with 9 outstanding chapters titled: Foundations, Mission, Praise, Preaching, Praxis, Teams, Life, Stability, and World.
Jeff Bailey says in the Forward…
“Over the last few months, I have been reading scores of old issues of Cutting Edge. I have been amazed, to be honest, by the sheer volume of articles and interviews. The thick book you are now holding in your hands represents the barest fraction of the total number of pages in Cutting Edge over the past ten years…In what follows you’ll find a lot of old favorites, including interviews with Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Tim Keller, John and Carol Wimber, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, Will Willimon, Jim Wallis, Henry Townsend, Rodney Clapp, Steve Nicholson, Rich Nathan, and a host of others. Topics range from mission to preaching to spirituality, and the sorts of models explored include everything from urban mega churches to rural community fellowships. A lot of ground was covered over the last decade…Perhaps what is most important about this retrospective, however, is that it reminds us of the most important thing that Cutting Edge has always been about: God’s mission being carried out by ordinary men and women captured by a vision of what church might be. That is what Cutting Edge was designed to celebrate and support. And in some small way, that is what this retrospective celebrates, as well.”
Those interested in the magazine but not sure about buying the book should check out the last several years of Cutting Edge that can be downloaded as free pdf here.
This weekend at Redeemer we celebrate the second week of Advent by looking at the origin of all our longing: Genesis 3.
For those that are looking for ways to cultivate longing during this season, I highly recommend the new collection of Advent reflections edited by Nancy Guthrie, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas.
Additionally, if you haven't read Sinclair Ferguson's phenomenal collection of essays, In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel Centered Life, I strongly encourage that you check out his essay Santa Christ.
Finally, just because they've been playing Christmas music in stores since midnight on Halloween doesn't mean that it's good. Obviously I love Sufjan's Christmas albums, but I'm also a huge fan of Duvall's Christmas album, O Holy Night. But as far as real Advent music goes, I don't think it gets any better than Sojourn's Advent songs. Find out how to get it free below...
Have a great weekend!
I proudly patronize local businesses whenever possible-- especially when it comes to brick and mortar book shops. I love amazon, but there is something special about browsing *real titles on the *real shelves of a *real bookstore where you can talk with *real people. I find books I never knew existed when I do this.
Christian bookstores, on the other hand, are places that I go out of my way not to patronize-- because everyone knows they don't sell books. They sell creepy Jesus junk (which we have in abundance in this 100 year old church building we have inherited).
In response to Justin Taylor's observations regarding John's Christian Bookstore going out of business, Frank Turk posts his thoughts on Christian retail:
Let's face it: the Christian bookstore is dying. Christian retail is, frankly, a sort of quaint and old-fashioned idea. I didn't grow up Christian, but the CBA indie store in my hometown looked like a flea market and nobody could answer questions for me; I have visited worse -- stores in locations arsonists wouldn't bother to burn down. And at one time, it was at least a novelty to have someplace that would put your name on your Bible and had exotic items like "anointing oil" and those plastic fish the really-devout put on their cars.
Turk offers some great insights by comparing Christian Bookstores to Barnes and Noble. It is well worth the read.
Recent Comments