PreachingNow

There's a new book out that insists poor Queen Jezebel has been misunderstood all along. As a news release from Fortress Press notes, "The Jezebel Letters combines top-notch biblical scholarship with a fictionalized first-person account of the biblical character. (Author Eleanor Ferris) Beach transforms the stereotype of the notorious biblical queen into a more historically based portrayal of a powerful, literate royal woman."

If Jezebel can be redeemed by an imaginative dumping of the biblical record, just imagine some of the other book possibilities there might be:

Got ideas for other titles? Send them along to titles@preaching.com and we'll share them in an upcoming issue.

If you missed this year’s National Conference on Preaching, you can still obtain audio tapes and CDs; Click here to learn more. And be sure to mark your calendar for April 24-26, 2006, for the next NCP in Dallas, with the theme "Preaching Creatively," where you'll hear great speakers like Haddon Robinson, Jack Graham, Calvin Miller, Dieter Zander, Doug Pagitt, Brian Carter and many more. (Click here for information on NCP 2006.)

In the new book Preaching God's Word (Zondervan), the authors (Terry Carter, J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays) write, "I had a conversation once with a former navy diver about diving deep, really deep. He told me that he had been in situations so deep and dark that it was almost impossible to keep from becoming disoriented and confused. What a terrifying feeling -- being under water, unable to see your hands in front of your face, not knowing which way is up, panic engulfing you. I immediately interrupted my friend, 'So what did you do?' . . .

"Feel the bubbles," he said. . . . When it's pitch black and you have no idea which way to go, you reach up with your hand and feel the bubbles. The bubbles always drift to the surface. When you can't trust your feelings or judgment, you can always trust the bubbles to get you back to the top.'

"Apart from the experience of scuba diving, we need a way to determine what is real and true. Sometimes in life we get disoriented and desperate. At other times, we find ourselves drifting aimlessly. God knew that we would need advice and instructions about how to live. In the sixty-six books of the Bible we have a reality library -- stories, letters, guidelines, and examples from God that tell us what is true and real. In a world that is changing faster than we can imagine, we have something stable, true, and real. . . .

"People who gather faithfully to hear a sermon need something more than noise generated by the surrounding culture; they need a word from God." (Click here to learn more about the book Preaching God's Word.)

In his new book Leadership Next (InterVarsity Press), Eddie Gibbs writes, "Under modernity, humankind believed that it was in control and that it was able to bring order out of chaos. Our transition into a culture of postmodernity has arisen partly out of the sobering realization that chaos is beyond our control. The chaotic nature of postmodernity requires movement away from compartmentalization to the acceptance of a world of complexity and interaction.

"The problem with so much of our ministry training is that it is still based on the assumptions of modernity. In seminaries and other ministry-training schools, knowledge is compartmentalized into a range of specializations. Methods are taught with the expectation that they can (and will) deliver predictable outcomes. From this perspective leadership is about 'following the road map,' that is, defining the problem and developing a series of steps by which it might be solved. Unfortunately, real life is far messier. Harlan Cleveland observes: 'The world of human relationships is always untidy.' Those of us who insist on tidiness and control are prone to ignore relevant facts that do not fit our theories. Indeed, the clues needed to address a challenge effectively may lie precisely in those 'bits of messiness that interfere with our neat picture.'" (Click here to learn more about the book Leadership Next)

The October 10 edition of Slate contains a feature (slide show and accompanying commentary) on the architecture of contemporary American megachurches, written by Slate architecture critic Witold Rybczynski. Two of the five highlighted facilities are Willow Creek Community Church and Houston's Lakewood Church. Among Rybczynski's observations:

"The desire of congregations to make their place of worship a part of everyday life rather than a place apart is admirable, and one can sympathize with the wish to avoid the traditional ecclesiastical symbols that have been pretty much co-opted by mainstream religions. But having turned their backs on tradition, megachurches need to find appropriate architectural alternatives. Just putting up a sign and a fountain is not enough."

Discussing Willow Creek, he notes the architects, "did not include any traditional religious symbols on the exterior: no steeples or spires, no bell towers, no pointed arches, not even a crucifix. It doesn't look like a place of worship, but what does it look like? A performing-arts center, a community college, a corporate headquarters? . . . Paul Goldberger once observed, 'The Gothic cathedral was designed to inspire awe and thoughts of transcendence. Megachurches celebrate comfort, ease and the very idea of contemporary suburban life.' Since many Early American garden suburbs had beautiful Episcopalian churches, I don't see any contradiction between transcendence and suburban life, but it's true that most contemporary megachurches are resolutely secular in design. The 4,550-seat sanctuary -- it's actually called the Main Auditorium -- of Willow Creek appears to have good sightlines, excellent audiovisual facilities, and comfortably wide aisles for moving around in. But inspiring it's not." (To see the slide show and read the full commentary, visit http://www.slate.com/id/2127615/)

In a recent edition of Dallas Seminary's Daily Devotional (9-28-05), Chuck Swindoll writes, "There are 1,130 frostbitten miles, mountain ranges, blizzards, hungry beasts, and frozen seas between Anchorage and Nome. This awful trek is the scene of the ultimate endurance test known as the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, where twelve huskies pull a sled and its driver through the most grueling, inhuman conditions one can fathom. The most frequent champion of recent years is a woman named Susan Butcher, whose tough-minded fixation on winning earned her the nickname Ayatollah Butcher.

"The secret, she will tell you, is her own mind-set and the training of those dogs, which gives new meaning to the word 'serious.' Her 150-dog kennel is a thing to behold. Shortly after each pup's birth, while it is still blind, she holds it in her hands and breathes her breath into its nose. That way, she claims, each one will associate her smell with comfort and encouragement. The rapport begins with that breathing-into-the-nose routine. She personally feeds, trains, massages, and -- on a rotation basis -- sleeps with each dog. She personally nurses them to health when they are injured. She is infinitely patient with them, talks to them, believes in them, even sings to them (old folk songs by Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, plus a few Irish lullabies). The objective? To bond with them. It pays. They have saved her life on the trail more than once. Back in 1979, she led her dog team to the 20,320-foot summit of Mount McKinley. It took forty-four days.

"What a woman! One reporter described her as having 'a stiff spine . . . a stubborn mind-set,' which is what is needed to endure moose attacks, blizzards so severe that one time for five hours she couldn't see the lead dog, and a sudden plunge into icy water (Granite and Maddie, the mushers, pulled her out).

"The Christian life isn't an eleven-day race. It's a lifetime journey full of more dangers and pitfalls than a hundred Iditarods. So it's foolish to think we can enter it half-heartedly or sustain it easily. To survive it calls for help from above and toughness from within. If Susan Butcher is willing to give that kind of effort to win a race that is incredible in the eyes of the world, seems to me we should be capable of conquering the marathon from earth to heaven."

Hundreds of pastors have already been part of one of our "Preaching Truth in a Whatever World" one-day conferences. Plan now to be part of one of the upcoming events scheduled for 2005. Location information is available on our website at www.preaching.com/truth.

Using the theme "Preaching Truth in a Whatever World," each event will feature presentations by Dr. Michael Duduit, editor of Preaching magazine and PreachingNow, and an array of outstanding guest speakers.

Here are dates and areas for fall conferences (exact church location/address is at our website, www.preaching.com/truth):

Here's a comment by a pastor who attended the Cleveland conference in September: "I found the conference to be very insightful in explaining the shift in thinking related to worldview, the media and other influences. The emphasis on strong Biblical preaching was also an encouragement." (Clyde Davis, Pastor, Girard Alliance Church, Girard, PA)

These conferences will offer insights into the unique preaching challenges of today, and will offer a toolbox of strategies and ideas for effective biblical preaching in today's "whatever" culture. Visit our information page (www.preaching.com/truth) for more information or to register.

Marguerite Shuster writes, "Elie Wiesel begins his book Souls on Fire, a retelling of old Hasidic stories, with a particularly moving tale of the great rabbi, the Baal Shem Tov. Impatient with the ordeal of the Diaspora, the exile of his day that continues to ours, the Baal Shem longed to force the Creator's hand, as the Jews believed was possible, that he might send the Messiah whom they had awaited so long. He had tried many times and failed, but this time he seemed to be close to achieving success. Close, but not close enough. He failed once again.

"For his impudence, for his premature gesture, he and his faithful scribe were deported to a distant, uncharted island, where they were promptly taken prisoners by a band of pirates. Never before had the great Master been so submissive and resigned. His scribe pleaded with him to do something, say something. But he replied that he could not; his powers were gone. "What about your secret knowledge, your divine gifts? What happened to them?" asked the scribe.

"'Forgotten,' said the Master. 'Disappeared, vanished. All my knowledge has been taken away; I remember nothing.' Part of his punishment was the loss of his memory. He was in despair, for in our ability to remember is hidden our ability to hope. Without a memory, without a past, without a history with which we identify, we lack all ability to look forward or to shape a future." (from "Recollection" by Marguerite Shuster)

David Jeremiah tells about the NCAA cross-country track championship held in Riverside, California. The runners came to a turn that was not well-marked. Mike Delcavo knew the way and waved frantically for the other runners to follow him. Only four did. One hundred twenty-three out of the 128 runners took the wrong turn and lost their opportunity to win the race. Delcavo later said his competitors were laughing as he chose to take what he knew was the right way.

Jeremiah says, "In the spiritual race we are running, the crowd following Jesus may be small or it may be large. But the size of the crowd is not how we determine the right path. Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6). Whichever way He goes is the way we want to go. Our usefulness to God decreases the farther from Jesus we get and increases the closer we get. We know that by abiding in and with Him, we will remain pure. And we know that by remaining pure, we become vessels God's Spirit can fill and empower to accomplish God's purposes. If you are in the spiritual race, it's important to look ahead and make sure the footsteps you are following are Jesus'.

"There is no way to win the spiritual race of life if you are following a crowd that is not following Jesus." (Turning Point Daily Devotional, 9-29-05)

"A young man, 13 years old at the time, read about Dr. Albert Schweitzer's missionary work in Africa. He wanted to help. He had enough money to buy one bottle of aspirin. He wrote to the Air Force and asked if they could fly over Dr. Schweitzer's hospital and drop the bottle down to him. A radio station broadcast the story about this young fellow's concern for helping others. Others responded as well. Eventually, he was flown by the government to Schweitzer's hospital along with 4 1/2 tons of medical supplies worth $400,000 freely given by thousands of people. This, of course, would be the equivalent of millions of dollars today. When Dr. Schweitzer heard the story, he said, "I never thought one child could do so much."

"Our story from scripture [the boy with loaves and fishes] is about a young man who didn't have much. But what he did have, he offered to Christ. And thousands of hungry people were fed." (King Duncan, "You Feed Them!," www.Sermons.com)

Illustration: Aging

A group of Americans was traveling by tour bus through Holland. As they stopped at a cheese farm, a young guide led them through the process of cheese making, explaining that goat's milk was used. She showed the group a lovely hillside where many goats were grazing.

She explained,"These are the older goats put out to pasture when they no longer produce." She then asked, "What do you do in America with your old goats?"

One old gentleman answered, "They send us on bus tours!" (from CleanLaugh list; Cybersalt digest)

"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems." (John Gardner)

Illustration: Mistakes

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my professional career and have lost over 300 games. 27 times my team trusted me to make the game winning shot -- and I missed."

"I have lost count of all the mistakes I've made on a basketball court."

Who made those statements? None other than the greatest basketball player who ever lived -- Michael Jordan.

Everybody makes mistakes. (Vital Speeches, October 2005, p. 761.)

"Remember, it's always darkest before things go completely black." (John McCain)

You know you grew up in the 80's when . . .

You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off."

You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer".

You can sing the McDonald's Big Mac, Filet-o-fish, quarter pounder, and French fry song.

You know who Mr. T is. You also know who Fat Albert is. And who was the boy in the pink mask?

You ever wore fluorescent, neon clothing.

You could breakdance, or wish you could.

You wanted to be The Hulk for Halloween.

You believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"

Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away.

You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.

You wanted to be on Star Search.

You remember the garbage pail kids, and owned some.

You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout."

You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game system.

You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.

You remember and/or owned any of the Care Bear Glass collection from Pizza Hut or the Muppets glasses from McDonalds.

You knew who Ben Stein was before you could win his money -- "Bueller?"

You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins, ET, Dukes of Hazzard, Knight Rider, Strawberry Shortcake or A-Team lunch box.

You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.

You wore your Izod shirt with the collar up.

You had Wonder Woman or Superman underoos.

You had to come in the house when the street lights came on.

You owned, or knew somebody with a Commodore 64.

You hated Scrappy Doo.

You recorded songs off the radio with your boom box.

You have ever said, "Gag me with a spoon."

You remember the first time you went into a video store to rent a movie.

You still cannot go in to the water because of that movie, Jaws.

You remember life before minivans and SUVs.

And finally . . .

Buster has been busted from the South Yorkshire Police force, but he's not barking about it.

Buster is a two-year-old German Shepherd who was destined for a career as a British crime-fighting dog, except for one little flaw: he's apparently uninterested in fighting crime.

According to an Oct. 17 Associated Press story, "The canine cop took early retirement after bosses at South Yorkshire Police noted his poor motivation -- and a fondness for making friends with rowdy drunkards, his former handler said Monday.

"He has a lack of drive and motivation when asked to do operational work," Officer Stephenson told The AP. "He's just a lovely pet."

Police note that one night, Buster walked straight past a suspected criminal hiding in a garden, while he went off in search of a fire hydrant.

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