Ninety-Nine Balloons

http://www.ninetynineballoons.com/

HT: Between Two Worlds

Read Full Post »

What is a Family-Integrated-Church?

James Hamilton of SWBTS is interviewed on his Family Integrated Church, Baptist Church of the Redeemer:

3. Define family integrated church and would you define your church as one?

I would define “family integrated church” as a church that is committed to keeping families together and not breaking them up at an institutional level. Within this broad definition, there is, of course a spectrum. At the strictest end of the spectrum would be a church whose mission statement would be along the lines of “discipling dads to disciple families.” Such a church might not have Sunday School classes divided by ages–so the children and the teens and the adults might all be in the same Sunday School class together. Churches on this stricter end might lean toward having fathers leading their own families in taking communion as families.

Read Full Post »

Tattle-Telling and the Gospel, or, Gossip at Home

Rob Wilkerson has an excellent post at his blog, Miscellanies on the Gospel.  Here is an excerpt:

The lesson here is this: the motivation in telling is telling. In other words, perceiving one’s motivation for telling one someone else is 99% of the story they are telling. If they are telling to get someone in trouble, that’s sinful. If they are telling to help or protect, that’s serving. The tricky part is to be able to tell how much of each is in our depraved hearts at any given time. My tendency is to believe that more often than not, my motivation is probably to want to see someone get what I think is coming to them. So in caution against my heart, I try to pray long and hard before I ever talk about someone else’s problems.

Conclusion:

Read Full Post »

Coach Gundy of Oklahoma State and Criticism

As expected, traditional news outlets have not been very kind to Coach Gundy for his postgame outburst, but I for one and grateful for at least a few things he vocalized. Jump to the middle with 2 minutes left if you’re short on time, and listen to a coach who cares for his players.

Read Full Post »

Games for the Family: Blokus, Settlers, etc.

Some of my fondest memories as a child include playing Monopoly, Risk, Yahtzee, Stratego, Chess, and the list goes on. Sadly, board games are on the decline. I had overlooked the trend until recently when it was brought to my attention. Perhaps video games and some other forms of entertainment have taken their place, but still there are wonderful opportunities for families to build memories, interact, and get to know each other by playing board games together.

If you’re interested in something new with your kids or family, some of the more recent games that I’ve played and heartily recommend are Blokus for four players (or travel edition for one-on-one) and Settlers of Catan (for up to four players, six with expansion). One of the reasons I mention them tonight is that ironically I’ve been introduced to Settlers online either here for the basic game or here with all expansions.

Read Full Post »

Advice for Seminary Students with Families

Over at the Resurgence blog, and linked through by Said at Southern, here is some helpful advice:

1. Breathe. In and out, slowly. Once you get the rhythm, slowly let your body take it over for you. This helps tremendously when you need to stay alive.

Ok, here we go:

Read Full Post »

Missionary Dating / Conjugal Evangelism

The Opinion Journal, by the Wall Street Journal no less, has an article about interfaith dating that is worth reading. It includes some thoughtful reflection from personal experience:

Ms. Nagib says that she has no regrets about the relationship [with an atheist]. “God brought me into his life for a reason.” But she also offers advice for anyone going into such a situation. “You should know what your nonnegotiables are. You should talk about faith soon.” And she also suggests that if you find yourself “becoming defensive about it with your friends, there’s probably a problem.”

As well as evangelical response:

Read Full Post »

Joni Eareckson Tada on Down Syndrome Dangers

Joni has a touching new article at World Magazine, crosslinked by Desiring God, regarding a recent recommendation by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for broader prenatal testing:

Up until this year, they recommended that only older women who were pregnant be tested. But now, all mothers-to-be are routinely tested. The results? Over 90 percent of pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis choose to have an abortion.

Her conclusion:

That new ruling by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is a sad reflection of the growing premise in our society that a person is “better off dead than disabled.” Human beings are no longer being treated as people, but as things that can be dispensed with, altered, aborted, or euthanized. The medically fragile—whether the elderly, the unborn, or the children Doug serves—are left exposed and vulnerable in a society that has lost its moral bearings, its heart.

Read Full Post »

Babies: not so innocent after all

For your consideration, there was an article in the Telegraph entitled Babies not as innocent as they pretend.  I suppose this is only a confirmation by secular sources of what we would expect from a sin nature, albeit within adorable babies.  Here is a good quote:

Following studies of more than 50 children and interviews with parents, Dr Vasudevi Reddy, of the University of Portsmouth’s psychology department, says she has identified seven categories of deception used between six months and three-years-old.

Infants quickly learnt that using tactics such as fake crying and pretend laughing could win them attention. By eight months, more difficult deceptions became apparent, such as concealing forbidden activities or trying to distract parents’ attention.

You can find the full text here.

Read Full Post »

Dr. John Street on Shepherding

This morning in Chapel, Dr. John Street (Director, Masters of Arts in Biblical Counseling, The Master’s College) delivered a clear message to the men about their responsibilities and qualifications as seminary students, and a way to discern the type of shepherd that they will become. After all, wouldn’t we all like to know? His proposition was that we can know the type of shepherd we will be by the way we shepherd our wives, and proceeded to cover the most prominent passages on husband/wife relationships.

Mark this day – Thursday, Sept 13 – and make sure to download the mp3 as it becomes available. It will change your life.

Some notes:

Read Full Post »