Tag Archive - John Piper

Let's Freak out about Rob Bell!

March 3, 2011 in Rob Bell with 7 Comments

Run for the hills! Rob Bell is heretical! Ahhhhh!!!

If you have not followed the story, famed pastor, speaker, author, and Nooma guru has a new book coming out entitled, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. A few chapters were released to a few bloggers and writers.

Those who have read the incomplete manuscript resolve that Rob Bell is a heretic  and his career is over. The claims have ranged from he is an Universalist or he is the devil.

Here is the video that is causing the stir

Let’s all freak out about Rob Bell!

Folks, Bell has always been on the edge of Christianity and that is a good thing.  More on that later. I have not read the book or seen the pre-released chapters, but let’s not jump to conclusions like some other big time Christian figures, authors, and pastors.  Check out their comments: Continue Reading…

Why You Should be Upset with John Piper

August 26, 2009 in John Piper with 16 Comments

ORIGINAL POST: Last week in Minneapolis, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) made waves with their new progressive policies concerning homosexuals and now allow:

  1. Non-celibate gays to become clergy
  2. congregations to choose to do to recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same gender relationships.
  3. people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church

The ELCA is not the first mainline denomination to change their policies on such controversial issues.  The United Christ of Christ and Episcopal Church have made similar policies.  Every mainline denomination is struggling with how to take a stand for or against homosexuality in the church.

What should have made just as much news was well known Reform Baptist pastor and author, John Piper‘s statement concerning the tornado that hit during the ECLA’s meeting:

Continue Reading…

I'm Not Sold on "Twitter Worship"

July 6, 2009 in twitter with 8 Comments

A variety of news outlets  have commented on the growing trend in churches: Twitter Worship.  Time, New York Times, and Switched have covered the movement.  If you do not know about this trend, I’ll try to explain it in two sentences.  Using the social networking site, Twitter, worship attendees interact with the sermon, worship, and music.  Some churches even display “tweets” on their projection screens and the pastor interacts with the micro comments during the sermon.  The UMC Board of Discipleship has a good overview of the pros and cons of using twitter and other technology in worship.   Even Josh Harris questions the use of Twitter during worship.  Despite the popularity of Twittering, many have asked the question, “Is Twittering during worship really worshipful?“  I am a pretty technology dependent person, but I’m not sold on Twitter worship.

This is a difficult question to answer because there are some things to consider:

  • Twittering in worship attracts younger worshippers.  A segment of the population that is greatly prized by churches.
  • A Twitter worship service can attract the unchurched or non-Christians.
  • Using Twitter creates more of an interactive worship experience, which is something that people want need.
  • People are quickly becoming more connected through technology, thus connecting through technology can be a way to reach people for Christ
  • Twittering during worship is encouraging people to be reflective about God.

Continue Reading…