Alex Chediak | Thoughtful, biblical cultural engagement

Crossway Needs Immediate Help

If you’ve benefited from Crossway resources over the years, please take a moment to listen to this urgent message from Crossway’s President, Lane Dennis:

A flood recently swept through Crossway’s headquarters. About two feet of water poured into our 32 first-floor offices due to unrelenting rains. The damage was extensive and repairs and rebuilding will take five or six months. More important, however, is the impact this could have on major ministry projects that we have planned.

As a not-for-profit ministry, Crossway is not only committed to publishing the ESV Bible and gospel-centered content, but also to providing God’s Word to hundreds of thousands of people overseas, either free or at a substantially reduced cost. Because of the recent flood, however, some of these international ministry efforts are now at risk. Continue Reading…

May 8, 2013 in Practical Ministry, Theology | Comment

The Autistic Brain – Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin is a hero in the autism community, and for good reason. At 65 years of age, she is one of the world’s most accomplished and well-known adults with autism. She grew up in an era when children with autism were shunned while their mothers were blamed. But Temple’s mother would have none of it; she fought to get her daughter help, which often meant pioneering new forms of treatment for the mostly unknown disorder.

Thanks to the efforts of many, including caring, dedicated, and creative teachers, Temple came out of her shell. Today Dr. Grandin is a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University and has designed equipment used in nearly half of all cattle processing facilities in North America, leading to significant improvements in the treatment of animals. This and other aspects of Temple’s life story were beautifully portrayed in an HBO movie starring Claire Danes that received seven Emmy awards.

May 6, 2013 in Culture, Personal | 1 Comment

Justification and Adoption

These are excellent messages on justification and adoption, and what these truths mean for us:

Union with Christ:

May 5, 2013 in Practical Ministry, Theology | Comment

Truth For Life ‘Staff Picks’ For College Student Reading

I was deeply honored to see that Thriving at College once again made the list of Truth For Life’s ‘Staff Picks’ for College Student Reading. They write:

Do you have a young adult, college student or prospective college student in your life? The new series, Lessons For Life, features Alistair Begg teaching university students the pitfalls of real-world dangers, namely jealousy, laziness and temptation. Alistair uses humor and relevant examples to navigate a young audience through the value of friendships, generosity, and a sustained devotion to Christ.

Lessons For Life Volume 1 and Volume 2 can be downloaded free of charge by the busy young person in your family, or can be heard anytime, anywhere, throughout May on our app for mobile phones.

To supplement this essential series, the staff at Truth For Life recommends the following practical books any college student will find pertinent and readily useful.

Check out the full list.

May 5, 2013 in Practical Ministry, Thriving at College | Comment

5 Tools Needed to Reach Today’s Teens

Cameron Cole, Director of Youth Ministries at Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, and the chairman of Rooted: Advancing Grace-Driven Youth Ministry, articulates five tools needed to reach today’s teens:

1. Knowledge about the canonization of Scripture.

2. Developed theology of sexuality, particularly homosexuality.

3. Ability to teach the Bible in the greater context of redemptive history.

4. Theological, not only moral, understanding of sin.

5. Understand adoption as an element of salvation.

See his post for an explanation of why each of these is vital in our day, along with recommended reading.

May 3, 2013 in Culture, Practical Ministry, Thriving at College | Comment

Is the Unemployment Rate Falling?

Not really, writes Binyamin Appelbaum of the NY Times: ”The American economy continues to add jobs in proportion to population growth. Nothing less, nothing more.” The percentage of adults in the US with jobs is relatively unchanged over the last three years:

“The share of adults looking for work peaked at 6.4 percent of the population in 2010. It fell to 4.7 percent in April (2013). But recall that over the same period, the share of adults with jobs did not change. What grew instead is the share of adults no longer counted as part of the labor force.”

Read the whole thing.

May 3, 2013 in Culture | Comment

Can a Practicing Homosexual Be a Christian?

ESPN reporter Chris Broussard is taking tremendous flack simply for answering a specific question from a Christian perspective. Note that Broussard did not volunteer this information. He was asked. Broussard goes on to make an outstanding point about what “true tolerance” is and why it is important not to throw around names like “bigot.”

He refers to LZ, a fellow ESPN sportwriter who is openly gay. Broussard has now gone on Twitter to defend his remarks, saying:

“Today on OTL, as part of a larger, wide-ranging discussion on today’s news, I offered my personal opinion as it relates to Christianity, a point of view that I have expressed publicly before. I realize that some people disagree with my opinion and I accept and respect that. As has been the case in the past, my beliefs have not and will not impact my ability to report on the NBA. I believe Jason Collins displayed bravery with his announcement today and I have no objection to him or anyone else playing in the NBA.”

April 30, 2013 in Culture, Practical Ministry | Comment

Average Net Worth for 93% of familes decreased from 2009-2011

Update: My previous title, “93% of U.S. Households Got Poorer from 2009-2011,” was misleading. It isn’t true that all households in the lower 93% lost wealth from 2009 to 2011. Rather, the gains of those who went up in net worth were more than overcome by the losses of those who went down, the result being that, on average, this population had a 4% loss in net worth. My apologies.

***

It’d be one thing if everyone were getting richer, but the super-rich (with more assets invested) were simply getting richer at a faster rate. What’s devastating is that the inequality gap is increasing precipitously with the vast majority of Americans actually losing ground, on an absolute scale (rather than just a relative scale). This is happening while 90 million Americans ages 16 or older are not working, or looking for work, and while one in six is living below the povery line.

April 27, 2013 in Culture | Comment

Christian Colleges and Student Debt

Leigh Jones, writing for World magazine, highlights the rising student loan default rates for graduates of Christian colleges. The good news is that many of these institutions are taking steps to promote financial literacy among incoming students and to help graduates stay on top of their payments. Read the whole thing (may require login).

April 27, 2013 in Culture, Thriving at College | Comment

John Piper and Mark Noll on the Life of the Mind

Jonathan Parnell:

Last fall Mark Noll and John Piper converged to discuss this topic. In an event hosted by Bethlehem College and Seminary and the MacLaurin Institute, Noll and Piper, authors of Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind and Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God respectively, each presented a lecture and interacted with questions related to the mind and Christian scholarship.