BreedingFerrets.net

Periodically I find it helpful to alert you to some guys and gals working to promote the gospel in our world.  The web can be an endless maze of mental drudgery, so when I come across things that are profitable for the furtherance of the gospel I will attempt to highlight them.  Here are a few examples from this past week:

1.    North Wake Church in Wake Forest, North Carolina is doing an incredible series on the atonement.  Sarah and I attended North Wake during my time at seminary and were amazed by the depth of teaching the elders consistently brought to the table.  Larry Trotter, the senior pastor of North Wake, is one of the most excellent communicators that I know and I am confident that you will find the teaching both challenging and convicting.  If you want to understand the truths of the gospel check out their teaching series online.  As a supplement, “In My Place He Stood Condemned” by JI Packer and Mark Dever is a must for any library. 

2.   Last night I finished the book “Sacred Marriage” by Gary Thomas.  The premise of the book is that God’s design for marriage is not to make you happy, but to make you holy.  Needless to say, the challenge for growth and maturity is explicit throughout and the book is a fantastic resource for anyone at any stage in the marriage journey.  Particularly engaged couples and those in the early years of marriage can find great benefit from establishing marriage on the truths of this fine, gospel-centered, resource. 

3.   Get it on your radar now.  Restore Conference 2009 is coming to the Clemson area.  February 19-21 the campus of Clemson University will be inundated with a conference on marriage and family issues.  Living in a world in which issues like marriage, family, sex, and dating have been distorted beyond recognition, it is important that we restore a Biblical picture of these critical concepts.  Mark Liederbach, professor of ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary will be our keynote speaker with topics including: dating as worship, marriage as worship, parenting as worship, and sex as worship.  You can find out more details online at http://www.restoreconference.org/over the coming weeks. 

4.   Deeper Devotion is an online source for students to interact with the gospel.  My friend, Glenn Ansley posts regular devotions for students, along with music reviews and articles. 

5.   Two of my good buddies, Justin Perry and Drew Tucker and their families are heading to Tampa, FL to plant a church.  These guys have been groomed to plant for several years and will do an excellent job.  You can keep up with their journey on Drew’s blog.  It is always encouraging to see the church on the move.

If you know of other churches, bloggers, or individuals who are making much of the gospel, let me know.  My next blog, “Has the church lost its mind?” should be out by Friday. 

Worship Well,

One of the roles of a pastor in Scripture is that he would equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4: 11-12).  I see the role of this simple blog and others like it as being a conduit for equipping men and women throughout our world for the work that God has called them to do.  One of the best methods for such equipping is to redeem the web.   While the web can be used for endless amounts of wasted time, effort, and energy or for outright sin, it can also be utilized to further enhance the cause of furthering the gospel.  While I am far from the most technologically fluent or well networked individuals around, I will try to use this platform to expose you to some folks in our world that are getting it done:

1.  Anyone interested in the church and theology should consistently and intentionally read two blogs:  Justin Taylor’s blog entitled Between Two Worlds and Tim Challies blog Challies.com.  If you are looking for more of the endless stream of banter about how to attract more people to your church building, then this stuff is not for you, but if you care about thinking rightly about the church, it doesn’t get any better than these guys.  Find you a good blog reader, download their rss feeds, and enjoy a steady diet of the gospel. 

2. Steve Wright is the student pastor at Providence Church in Raleigh, NC, where he has been for several decades.  Steve is a regular blogger at Lasting Divergence and his thoughts are insightful, wise, and timely to anyone attempting to raise kids in our time.  His book, ReThink, is in my opinion the best book written on rethinking the model of ministry to children and youth typically done in the church.

3.  For any teenagers and college students, I encourage you to check out the work of Alex and Brent Harris.  Their blog, the Rebelution, is written to encourage young adults to rebel from societies low expectations and live boldly for Jesus.  “Do Hard Things“, a book I am working through with some of my friends, provided a huge challenge for the modern student.

4.  As we at Crosspoint Clemson gear up for students to come back to the University this weekend, it is helpful for us to remember that there are other churches doing great work on other colleges and universities around the world.  In our geographic region one such church is Midtown Fellowship in Columbia.  Dustin Willis is the pastor of Midtown and I encourage you to read his stuff and pray for the church has students begin class in the Columbia area.  These guys have a heart for their campus and do a fabulous job of permeating their community with the gospel.

5.  My good friend, Austin Poster and his wife leave this weekend to head to Shelby, North Carolina to begin planting a church there.  Austin is a young stud and is going to make a fabulous pastor.  I encourage you to pray for he and his wife as they begin.  

I pray that these guys will help you and your family get rid of gospel substitutes in your life.  If you have any suggestions for future “Ferret Killers” please comment below.

Worship Well,

Matt