Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Patton Family!

Christmas @ Biltmore

Lesa and I spend a day at the Biltmore in Ashville just before Christmas. We'd never been, and it was beautiful. One of the highlights of our Christmas season! Not a bad looking couple don't you think.

The Media and Jesus

Darrell Bock has insight on how Christians should respond to the next "blockbuster" book, movie, or whatever.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/december/22.40.html

In my own classes in NT and the church I pastor, I am attempting to cover some of these issues. I think it is more than necessary; it is essential.

Which "Emergent?"

You have heard of the Emerging Church. Which of the following "emergents" are you?

• The Mergent Church--when two or more struggling congregations decide to get together and struggle in a larger setting.
• The So-urgent Church--when the congregation is in a really big hurrty to finish the worship service because kickoff is at noon.
• The Re-emergent Church--when an Emerging Church congregation decides it is not emerged enough, so they get new, more comfortable couches for worship and replace their previous praise music with something more trendy.
• The Submergent Church--when a congregation tries all the latest trends and their people keep leaving to attend the popular mega-church down the street.
• The Unmergent Church--when a congregation splits and becomes two churches.
• The Dis-emergent Church--when a congregation gets tired of sitting on couces and drinking Starbucks and decides to go back to the boring old worship services they grew up with.

[Michael Duduit, Preaching].

The Preacher's Pledge

I ran across this in the recent Preaching.

I PLEDGE TO MAKE THE BIBLE

My primary resource in sermon preparation and preaching.

I may use other resources such as commentaries and websites
to enhance, not replace, my personal interaction with Scripture.

As I study I will strive to accurately understand and honestly
apply God's Word, allowing Him to uniquely proclaim His truth
in a relevant way through me.

May we all take this pledge!!

Wikipedia

Mark Goodacre has a recent blog entry on Wikipedia...

http://ntgateway.com/weblog/2007/12/students-should-use-wikipedia-says-its.html

Just as Goodacre, I have encouraged my students to not allow Wikipedia to be their primary source, but I think it is o.k. to use it secondarily. Students should always check Wikipedia against other sources. In other words, it is always 'Researcher Beware.'

Gospel of Judas

A recent blog by Al Mohler called my attention to an article recently written by Greg Tomlin of BP. In it, a Rice University professor has declared that the Gospel of Judas does not declare Judas a hero but a demon. You can read the article for youself.

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=26763

As usual, you should always be skeptical of "new findings" that will "shake" Christianity's foundations. National Geographic, as all the others, excelled in hyperbole but was short on reality.

[By the way Greg did his Ph.D. work at Southwestern at the same time I did; I appreciate the work he does with BP. He is an excellent journalist.]