Eternal Perspectives

Absence extinguishes small passions and increases great ones, as a wind will blow out a candle, and blow in a fire.” - Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680

The dry times in the lives of Christians are enlightening and revealing. Those who, like a candle, have but a casual and comfortable relationship with Jesus Christ tend to flame out once the winds of adversity come.

In contrast, those whose passions are fueled by an unquenchable fire deep within are driven by the same winds to seek the face of God and pursue him even though it seems futile. Though the winds may blind us, God remains faithful to give us sufficient vision for the next necessary step.

Rabbi Zusya said that on the Day of Judgment, God would ask him, not why he had not been Moses, but why he had not been Zusya.” - Walter Kaufmann

We know, as Christians, that God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of Christ, but in our quest to facilitate that we often focus on an esteemed believer and try to be like him or her. Some of us may even create a visual image of what we imagine Jesus must have been like and pattern ourselves after it.

But this is not what God desires. Each of us is to be a unique display of what God originally intended a person to be; that is, as Christ is formed in us we begin to reveal Christ in a manner impossible for anyone else. It is not that Christians should be the same but that each of us should be reflecting who we might have been had sin never been a part of our lives.

Let advertisers spend the same amount of money improving their product that they do on advertising and they wouldn’t have to advertise.” - Will Rogers

There’s a message here for local churches. If we were to spend as much energy - and even money - on doing church as Scripture tells us to do church, we wouldn’t have to advertise or have special programs or promotions to get the attention of the lost. We would be so attractive that they would be drawn to us without us having to go out of our way to make them notice us.

The church needs to go to the lost, but she needs to go in ministry and mission, not with marketing and machinations. We need to show them our love for God, one another, and them, not just talk about it.

Bad artists always admire each other’s work.”
- Oscar Wilde

It is tempting, of course, to think of Hollywood and their fawning all over one another’s work, but this mirror works for Christians, too. How often are we guilty of blindly praising or defending pastors, teachers, or theologians of our own denominational or doctrinal ilk? Not only would the world hold us in higher regard if we were graciously honest in disagreeing with our friends, but our theological opponents would also take us more seriously.

Sometimes our heroes are just wrong, even about important things. Ryrie, Piper, Calvin, Wesley, Stanley, Swindoll - you name someone and they’ve had their errors. Why pretend otherwise?

No Comment:

We talk about the American Dream, and we want to tell the world about the American Dream, but what is that dream, in most cases, but the dream of material things? I sometimes think the United States for this reason is the greatest failure the world has ever seen.” - Eugene O’Neill

The control man has secured over nature has far outrun his control over himself.” - Ernest Jones

It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being.” - John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

The real danger is not that computers may begin to think like men, but that men may begin to think like computers.” - Sydney J. Harris

This blog, along with Lord of the Kingdom, has been quiet for the last several months. Given that silence, I thought I’d let the few of you who might stop by or still have me on an RSS feed know what I’ve been up to.

There are basically two things that have occupied my time and energy during this time; I’ll tell you about the more temporal and frivolous first before moving on to the (ahem) spiritual and godly thing I’ve been about.

It all started with this one. One of my good friends - also a colleague - has a Harley- Davidson Fat Boy and has been after me to get one so we could ride. Early February of this year I found this ‘96 Vulcan 800 Classic for $3150 (4400 miles) and decided to go for it. I hadn’t ridden in 35+ years so I took a basic motorcycle safety class that was worth every penny I paid for it. I was licensed shortly after that and took off. That, happily, led to this:

My wife absolutely loves to ride with me on the motorcycle. It’s nothing for us to put three or four hundred miles on the bike during a good weekend (weather permitting, of course). We’ve discovered a lot of excellent country roads here in south central Texas - or wherever we are - and my wife, who is a very good photographer, has me stop whenever there’s a picture to be taken. In our 28 years of marriage there has never been anything we’ve so thoroughly enjoyed doing together - well, you know what I mean. We’ve also discovered some great places to eat, like:

Being Yankees ourselves, we love the idea of going to a biker bar in the heart of Texas named “Yankees Tavern.” Now, I’m no longer stupid enough* to drink, let alone drink and hop on a motorcycle. But the food at these kind of places is usually remarkably good, although it may just be that after swallowing bugs for the last 100 miles anything taste better. It was a little daunting, I must confess, to roll into one of these places with so many bikers: I’ve seen the shows documenting all the violence associated with biker gangs. After awhile, though, I came to realize that most of the riders there were just like me: fathers and professionals. There are no “gangs” at the places we frequent: if there were, we wouldn’t be there!

Inevitably (I suppose), the Vulcan 800 gave way to this:

I got this last Friday. It’s a 2006 Vulcan 1600 Classic; I was able to buy it (with just 1680 miles) for $7K. I didn’t feel completely safe when my wife and I were on the 800 and had to accelerate rapidly at higher speeds, so I knew I had to get a bigger bike. I never anticipated anything like this, though, and am still getting use to it. It’s all the bike I’ll ever need and is far safer than the other. Plus, it’s black. All motorcycles should be solid colors and dark. Pretty motorcycles are an oxymoron. I’m surprised at how differently it handles - especially at slow speeds - than the 800 and am also surprised at how much heavier it feels, although it’s only 150 pounds more. It weighs in at about 700 without passengers; with passengers it’s . . . more.

Here’s a couple of other views:

That’s another of my good friends - a local physician and former tennis adversary - on the back. I took him and his wife for rides - not at the same time! - last Sunday. Not being totally adjusted to the bike, I’m sure I scared the crap out of them, which was OK in his case but completely unintentional in hers. I’ll take them again in a few weeks when I’m better on the 1600.

This photo was taken in Montgomery, TX, last weekend. This time of year is great for riding.

I’m going to Ruidoso, NM, at the end of May: four of us are going to make the 650-mile trip and stay at one of the guys’ summer home in the mountains nearby. We’re planning on taking two days each way and then taking some day trips while we’re there. Sadly, my wife won’t be able to go; happily, I will! But I’d rather have her go, too.

Oh, the other thing? I’ll post about it very soon.

*I drank enough before I was a believer to last me until the age 78 years, 7 months, and 18 days.

A brief excerpt from the book:

In 1989, Piper was heading home from a Baptist conference when he hit a truck head on. ‘A light enveloped me, with a brilliance beyond earthly comprehension or description.’ 90 minutes later, Piper returned to life.”

OK, so it’s Don Piper instead of John, but Christianity Today’s series of articles on heaven, hell, and the afterlife provide a wealth of information - some funny, some sad, all worthwhile.

The lead story is “Travel Writing from the Afterlife,” Rob Moll’s wry and sardonic look at the claims of Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven and Bill Wiese’s 23 Minutes in Hell. Worth your time, too, are the many links to additional, related articles. I’ll provide snippets to whet your appetites for some of the writings.

Travel Writing from the Afterlife

Regarding Wiese’s time in hell:

Hell, Wiese says, ‘was hot—far beyond any possibility of sustaining life.’ (Thankfully, it being hell, everyone but Wiese had already died.) ‘My flesh should disintegrate from off my body at any moment. The reality was that it didn’t.’ Lots of other things happen in hell, says Wiese, which don’t normally happen on earth.

“‘I was extremely nauseous from the terrible, foul stench coming from these creatures. It was absolutely disgusting, foul, and rotten. It was, by far, the most putrid smells I have ever encountered. … The odor was extremely toxic, and that alone should have killed me.’ Somehow it didn’t.

“Wiese was also given information that he ordinarily wouldn’t have known. The creatures in his cell were speaking in a blasphemous language, Wiese says which he was supernaturally able to understand. Then, ‘one of the creatures picked me up. The strength of the beast was amazing. I was comparable to the weight of a water glass in its hand. … Instinctively, I knew that the creature holding me had strength approximately one thousand times greater than a man.’

“Jesus told Wiese to tell people that hell is real. Wiese says he was brought to hell in order to warn others about its torment. Twenty-three minutes after first being catapulted from his bed, Wiese woke up. He was lying on the floor of his living room, screaming in horror. His wife, hearing his screams, woke up and brought Wiese a glass of water.”

Of Piper’s time in heaven, Moll reports,

For those considering the comforts of heaven, Don Piper, a Texas pastor, tells his story. In 1989, Piper was heading home from a Baptist conference when he hit a truck head on. ‘A light enveloped me, with a brilliance beyond earthly comprehension or description.’ 90 minutes later, Piper returned to life . . .

“Interestingly, Piper’s vision corresponds to American Christians’ view of heaven. ‘Nearly all Christians think that union with God, peace, and tranquility, and reunion with relatives are likely to await them,’ writes Alan F. Segal in Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion.

“So, either Piper proved American views of the afterlife correct, or he saw what he expected to see, because he expected to see it.”

What Will Heaven Be Like?
Thirty-five frequently asked questions about eternity.

Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College, tackles the FAQs of heaven. A sampling from his article:

3. Will we recognize our loved ones in Heaven?

George Macdonald answers this question with a counterquestion: ‘Will we be greater fools there than here?’ Of course we will know our loved ones. This is a divinely designed, essential part of our joy. We are not designed to be solitary mystics, lovers of God alone, but to be, like God himself, lovers of men and women as well.”

9. What happens in hell?

Nothing.

10. What happens in Heaven?

Everything.”

14. Do differences include sexual differences? Is there sex in Heaven?

Of course. Sex is part of our divinely designed humanity. It is transformed, not removed, in Heaven. We will be ‘like the angels’ in ‘neither marrying nor being given in marriage,’ according to Christ’s answer to the Sadducees (Matt. 22:30), but not in being neutered. Sex is first of all something we are, not something we do. I do not think we will be “doing” copulation in Heaven, but we will be busy being ourselves, and that includes being men and women, not genderless geldings. Vive la difference!”

Harleys in Heaven

John G. Stackhouse Jr. begins his article,

According to a recent snippet in Harper’s magazine, the reach of American entrepreneurship has exceeded that of the builders of the Tower of Babel and extends into heaven itself. Afterlife Telegrams offers to deliver messages to the dead for a price of $10 a word (with a five-word minimum) by way of terminally ill patients who promise to deliver the messages upon ‘passing into the afterlife.’

In the fine print of the agreement, however, it warns customers that it cannot guarantee the message will get through. ‘The truth is,’ Afterlife Telegrams solemnly warns, ‘no one knows what happens when someone dies.’”

Additional articles:

What’s a Heaven For? - by Philip Yancey

The Believer’s Final Bliss - by John Murray

The Eternal Weight of Glory - by Harry Blamires

Afraid of Heaven - by Kenneth Kantzer

Plus many more. Scroll to the bottom of this page for a full listing.

And, thank you Christianity Today!

Since Aug 19th of this year, I have been an emotional outsider among Godbloggers. I have wandered and read widely, commented infrequently, but for the most part remained an interested but quiet onlooker. My own posts have been few, especially since the death of my mother in early October.

Now, as I begin to re-enter the community of online believers, I thought I would pass along some observations and realizations that have come to me during my brief (all-too-brief, some might suggest) hiatus or sabbatical. I have no one particular in mind - for the most part - as I comment; many of the conclusions apply to me as well. When the latter is the case, the heading is bold and italicized; where I do not see myself, the heading is simply bold. Feel free to suggest my inclusion in other categories, even as I will feel free to totally ignore your input.

Here, then, in no particular order, are some of the things I’ve learned and concluded over the past five months or so of “lurking, sneaking, and spying” on y’all.

Doctrinal Divisiveness: So many people seem to be far too interested in distancing themselves from others by focusing on the issues and doctrines that divide us rather than accepting the differences and enjoying the diversity in the cyber-Body of Christ. This seems to be more prevelant among Reformed and charismatic bloggers, although in neither case do these island-dwellers constitute the majority. You’re Reformed and I’m not (at least by your definition); you’re charismatic and I’m not: so what? If you want to explain why you believe what you believe, defending it exegetically or at least theologically, I’ll read it happily. If you just want to make dogmatic statements and attack those who disagree, shut up: by keeping your mouth shut, we won’t know that you’re a fool.

It should go without saying that I refer only to non-essential articles of our common faith: it should go without saying but, given the pugnacious nature of some militant jihadists, I have to dumb down to rule out ridiculous comments and accusations.

Sports, Politics, & Hollywood: From an eternal perspective, does it really matter who wins the World Series, what politician D said about politician R, or who’s having whose baby? Now, if any of these topics are tied to a biblical principle or text and used to illustrate a point, that’s great; far too often, however, some blogs are little more than sport, political, or entertainment gossip columns. Sports and entertainment are diversions, drawing our attention away from more important things. Politics, on the other hand, are near-idols for some people: they seem to have more hope and faith in a Republican candidate than they do in the God who controls history. We are told to pray for those in authority over us, not to attempt to disparage or demean them. I’ve lived long enough to know that this country goes in cycles or, if you prefer, that it swings like a pendulum. Relax. Pray. Work on being a citizen of the Kingdom first and foremost. Christianity does not depend on the United States for its survival or well-being - although the converse is certainly true.

Confession vs. Catharsis: There is a difference between confessing a wrong-doing and spilling your guts just for the sake of feeling better for having said something. Note the italics: I have been guilty of this in the past. Confession is biblical and necessary for growth; catharsis is whining with no intent of changing. I’ll listen to confessions but I’d just as soon not have someone vomit their emotional bile all over me. If you’re struggling, that’s fine: I’ll listen and try to encourage. If all you’re doing is complaining about how miserably life and God have treated you and how underappreciated and misunderstood you are, then (a) do something about it or (b) get over yourself. Don’t expect me to join your pity party: I can throw one for myself just fine and don’t need to attend yours.

Psychology Drives Theology: Long ago I heard Bill Gothard say (when he wasn’t idolizing mommy and daddy) that “your morality determines your theology.” Sounds profound, but I don’t think it’s true. What is closer to the truth - although I wouldn’t die on this hill - is that your psychology influences and chooses your theology more than you might realize. Are you narcissistic? Then a church that trumpets and reveres your knowledge and wisdom - even to the point of allowing you to pass judgment on the Bible - is likely where you’ll wind up. Insecure and rigid? Find a church that nails everything down and leaves no room for antinomies or mystery. Flamboyant and histrionic? Join a church where being out-of-control is evidence of spirituality. Psychology-driven theology is apparent when people are a little too passionate about one or more of the non-essentials of our faith. It is not that their response is necessarily inappropriate; it is that their response is inordinate: questioning cessationism and continuationism evoke more passion than the Deity of Christ or the infallibility of the Bible. Something’s going on there and it’s not about theology.

Polemics: This is related to doctrinal divisiveness but gets a separate heading simply because I want to give it one. There is a strong tendency on the part of some to become more and more extreme as their views are questioned or challenged. Sadly, the exchange often devolves into a two-way street: both parties become more and more radical in their positions and wind up defending things that are perhaps logical but not biblical. Emotions overwhelm the debate and the platform - originally intended to be used for an edifying exchange of information - is transformed into an octagon of ultimate fighting.

Narcissistic Posts: Or, in some cases, narcissistic blogs. It’s all about me and what I think and feel and endure and suffer. Other people’s problems are insignificant compared to mine. People lost everything in a hurricane? Yeah, well, I don’t like my job and that’s all I want to talk about or focus on right now. Someone has said nasty or untrue things about me? Well, I’m coming after them with guns blazing. Ready! Fire! Aim! I am above reproach, not to be questioned, never to be confronted. Agree or pay the price. When I die, surely all wisdom will die with me.

Democracy Is Dangerous, Especially with Blogs: Bill Gnade, quoting Prof. Demos, wrote:

According to Plato there is a true right and wrong, which is a universal principle for all times . . . He objected to democracy, because a democratic society has no standards; the test is merely self-expression. The democratic life is one without a pattern, in which every desire is gratified because it is there, not because it is right.”

Mr. Gnade goes on to argue - rightly - that democracy leads many to believe that their own opinion is as valuable and viable as any one else’s, despite how ignorant, untrained, or inexperienced the original blogger might be. It is evident when, for example, someone theologically and psychologically trained (like me) takes it upon himself to pontificate about the nuances and problems with the Christian music industry. I know nothing about Christian music - I don’t buy it, listen to it, or even like 99% of it - but in my democratic dementia, I think my opinion should be valued just as much as someone who has been in the industry for years and years. This is not just stupidity; this is hubris. I need to defer to the experts and learn for a long time before believing I have something to say. Ask questions? Sure. Make declarative statements? Zip it.

Good People Are Among Us: This is one of the wonderful things I discovered as I wrestled through my difficult period. Some good men and women stuck by me, encouraged me, and prayed for me - even though I’ve met none of them face-to-face. These are people of integrity, whose word means something, and who understands love and patience. “Many a person proclaims their own loyalty,” Solomon said, “but a trustworthy person, who can find?” I found more than a few: Tim, Milton, Matt, William, Rey, Funky, and many other women and men who left comments and sent emails encouraging me during this time. When you’re deep in a hole, it’s nice to hear voices of people at the top calling down to you, letting you know you’ve not been forgotten.

Struggling is not leprosy, although in our sanitized churches we tend to treat it as such at times. Doubts can be contagious, it must be admitted, but it is better to go through them with someone rather than face them alone or abandon someone else until they’re “over it.”

Nice but not Necessary: I enjoy blogging most of the time and enjoy reading much of what others have to say. I’ve learned that some of the popular, controversial blogs hurt my relationship with God more than they help, so I’ve deleted them from my reading list. Plus, it makes it very hard to love my brothers in Christ when they act like spoiled brats.

Most importantly, though, I’ve learned that blogs and blogging are nice but not necessary. I really didn’t miss it when I stopped; I’m starting again only because of a sense of “calling” (although I don’t believe in “callings” as popularly imagined). If it all shut down tomorrow, that would be OK. I lived 55 years without blogs, the church survived c. 2K years without them, and I’m sure God can accomplish His purposes with or without blogs.

So I’ll enjoy it when I can, ignore it when I need to, and try to keep the whole thing in perspective. Maybe it will go better for me if I approach it in this way.

414. The only thing that consoles us for our miseries is diversion. And yet it is the greatest of our miseries. For it is that above all which prevents us thinking about ourselves and leads us imperceptibly to destruction. But for that we should be bored, and boredom would drive us to seek some more solid means of escape, but diversion passes our time and brings us imperceptibly to our death.

417. Not only do we only know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot know the meaning of our life or our death, of God or of ourselves.

Thus without Scripture, whose only object is Christ, we know nothing, and can see nothing but obscurity and confusion in the nature of God and in nature itself.

Since leaving Blogspot a couple of months ago - at the time it seemed like a really good idea - I have been virtually invisible to just about all the aggregators. At best, I am picked up once or twice a month by most or once a week - at most - by a few others.

Given the extremely limited audience I’m able to reach, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify the time I spend on most of my posts. I usually try to be careful with what I put up, especially when I’m dealing with Scripture or theology, and it requires no small amount of study. The time I spend studying is easily four times that spent writing.

I very much enjoy blogging but it comes down to a matter of stewardship: is this the best use of my time? The answer seems pretty obvious.

So I’m going to spend some time switching my template and seeing if I can’t get picked up once again by the aggregators. I actually paid someone to help me with it but even they were not able to figure it out. It doesn’t look promising. If the switch doesn’t help, I’m going to have to make a hard decision.

Posting is likely to continue to be sparse while I work on the site. Whenever I make a decision, I’ll post it here.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Adrian has selected me to be the most recent recipient of his “Warnie Award,” an honor he bestows periodically on those blogs that he (and his readers) believe to be representative of what Godblogging can be in its better moments.

He denies that my having previously begged him for one had anything to do with my inclusion in the FWOTWA (Former Winners Of The Warnie Award - pronounced “phhffwhhaetttwwhffueh”) .

The support and encouragement is much appreciated, but I must disagree with one comment made about my win :

This one may be the most worthy yet. Outstanding choice, Adrian. - [Name withheld - although you can go here to find out the identity of this witness-protection-program blogger.]

“Yet”? What is it with the “yet”? Like somebody more deserving is going to come along!?! Oh, puh-leeeeze!!!

Seriously, though, I do appreciate the inclusion in the group of FWOTWA. This is an excellent group of bloggers and I am honored to be listed with them. Hopefully, I can live up to the hype in future posts!

And I would be remiss if I did not especially thank those who have kept me on the radar the past couple of months (I am invisible to the aggregators for some reason): David at Jollyblogger, Andy at SmartChristian, Tim at Challies, John of Blogotional, Chad at The Minor Prophet, and others whose names escape me at the present. No one, however, has been better at linking to me and supporting me than Milton at Transforming Sermons. More than I deserved, he repeatedly linked to me in his roundups of posts he felt were noteworthy. He exemplifies all that is good and right about Godblogs, and not just because he’s nice to me: Milton is nice to everyone! And, as a FWOTWA, his blog is outstanding.

Now, since Milton linked to me again today (!), I need to go finish my commentary on Jonah: Chapter Four awaits!

I had a couple of people express an interest in being interviewed by me: Stacy at MediaSoul and Rob at Mind and Soul. Here are your respective questions.

Stacy:

In 8,000,000 words or less, how would you describe your spiritual journey?

Rob:

1. Your website usually shows pictures of you frolicking on the beach in various states of undress. Does your mother know about this?
2. Similar to Stacy’s second question: why did you decide to become a psychiatrist?
3. The best thing about living in England is _____; the worst thing is _____. (For the sakes of us Yanks, please explain.)
4. Describe your spiritual journey and present relationship with God (e.g., are you and He on speaking terms?).
5. Other than family members, what individual has had the biggest spiritual influence on your life? How or why?

Remember to post your answers on your website and to interview others. Drop me a comment when you’ve posted.

Thanks and have fun!

Over in the sidebar, under “Fun Inventories,” are some fun inventories. Not to be taken seriously, but fun in a narcissistic, time-killing sort of way.

Somehow, I’ve gotten myself into this game of “interview tag” that’s going around (actually, I volunteered for it). Tod Bolsinger of IT TAKES A CHURCH . . . has provided five questions, so now it’s my job to provide my answers.

1. What’s the best thing you learned in seminary?

There are a lot of things I could mention here, but I’ll limit myself to two “best” things. First, thanks to Dr. Bruce Demarest, I discovered that no system of theology - not even my own - could do justice to all of the material in the Bible. My carefully exegeted and well-reasoned papers came back covered with red ink, and the flaws and holes in my theology were exposed regularly. I came out of seminary with the same theology I had going in, but I held it less dogmatically and was more willing to allow others to have their own convictions. Godly Christian scholars look at the same data and come to different conclusions. Different presuppositions and hermeneutics yield different results. And that’s OK on the non-essentials of the faith.

Second, I somehow realized early on that the real education to be had in seminary was not in the material or the lectures: it was in studying the lives of my professors. I got to know them, picked their brains on matters that had nothing to do with the class, made friends with more than a few, and was privileged to see the hearts of some. I appreciate their knowledge but I really grew to admire their commitments to Christ. I saw glimpses of Jesus Christ in them. My favorite “subjects” were: Haddon Robinson, Vernon Grounds, James Beck, Bruce Demarest, Tim Weber, Bob Hubbard, and Donald Burdick.

2. Respond to this quote from Mark Twain: “I never let schooling get in the way of my education.”

Love it and lived it: I missed graduating with honors by .05 because I didn’t read the textbooks; I read original sources. I figured that, rather than reading a book about various theologies or psychologies, I would read the theologians and psychologists first-hand. I spent a lot of money (I’m sure The Tattered Cover in Denver laid people off after I moved) but I learned more than I would have if I had stuck to the core curriculum. Schooling did do this much for me: it taught me how to study the Scriptures and think theologically. And, as I said above, my real education came from studying my profs.

3. What does a “consultant” really do?

I listed consultant as my profession because Blogger didn’t give “counseling” as an option. There are times, though, when I do consult rather than counsel: when I counsel, I facilitate growth and try to help the client discover things for him/herself. When I consult, I give instructions and information to help resolve problems for people. I do a fair amount of consulting with parents of teenagers that I work with: the home environment often has to change if the teen is going to improve.

4. If you weren’t in Christian work what would you being doing?

I think anything any believer does is Christian work, whether it’s preaching on Sundays, teaching school on Mondays, handing out baskets at WalMart, or driving a beer truck. So, if I weren’t in Christian work, I wouldn’t be a Christian; if I weren’t a Christian, I’d either be doing time, drugs, or both.

5. Describe the church you’ve always wanted to belong to?

Actually, I’ve been to the church I’ve always wanted to belong to, and I think the one I’m at now is headed in that direction. The latter is Grace Bible Church in College Station, TX, pastored by Brian Fisher; the former is Blackhawk Evangelical Free Church in Madison, WI, pastored by Chris Dolson.

What makes Blackhawk so appealing to me is its balance: the people are grounded in sound doctrine, evangelistic, and seek to make a social difference in their community. The fellowship is genuine and the people seem to enjoy one another. (Plus, they have an annual dance that is just for fun!) The preaching is excellent, a blend of the cerebral and the visceral: Chris teaches doctrine and the Bible but combines it with an emotional hook that makes it memorable.

Here’s how you can play the interview game

1. Leave me a comment saying “interview me.” The first five respondents will be the participants.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions.
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some.)

Trying to decide who to include and who to exclude on the “Theology Blogs” aggregator was just too hard. I actually lost a couple minutes of sleep over it - OK, it was only a couple of seconds, but I was thinking about it. So I decide to remedy the situation.

And I have good news and bad news.

The good news is this: if you look to my sidebar on the right (if you’re reading in Hebrew, is it on your left?) you’ll see not one but THREE new links to aggregators. They are:

Theology Blogs (which are mostly by theological types on theological subjects)
Christian Stew (which is a mix of everything Christian bloggers are blogging about)
Christian “-Tics” (which is a grouping of Christian apologetics and politics)

Now the bad news: I can’t edit or add because server.com didn’t send me a confirmation email. So there are three autonomous aggregators running just as a set them up, and I can’t do anything to change them.

I emailed server.com and they will hopefully get me out of this hole I’ve dug. If not, I’ll recreate them all - after first making sure my account is confirmed! - and let you know.

But for now, there it is.