Rob Bell Preaches on Hell

Great post today over at Fishing the Abyss. Chris digs into one of Rob Bell's recent sermons from Mars Hill Church, his latest in the series "Jesus Wants to Save Christians". Audio is availabe online here; you will need to provide a valid email address and agree to their terms. I've not read them yet, but I doubt you'll be sacrificing your firstborn for this. I'm planning to give this a good listen tomorrow, and I'm eager to find out what else Rob Bell has to say on the subject.

Purpose Driven Split?

There is a lot of chatter in church circles these days about Rick Warren's best selling book The Purpose Driven Life, and the 40 Days of Purpose campaigns it has spawned. There is also a lot of talk about the division it is coming to create in churches all across the country that have adopted Rev. Warren's methods. Ingrid at Slice of Laodicea posted a link to this article at EthicsDaily.com dealing with the aftermath of PDL at the well-known Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. This Southern Baptist congregation of nearly 30,000 is in an uproar, all because of the PDL.

Why have I posted this? Well, my church (Brookfield Assembly of God) went through the 40 Days of Purpose some time ago, and while I wouldn't say the church has split yet, there are quite a few people (many long-time members of the church) who have left in the time since we completed the campaign. I myself haven't yet made it through the book, and now I'm not so sure I want to. Stories such as this are becoming all too common, it seems. I'd like to think that I haven't seen the telltale signs of my church slipping away from true Christianity. Part of me thinks that maybe I haven't seen these signs because I don't want to; another part of me tells me I need to keep reading, keep researching, and above all, get into the Scriptures to find out what God has to say about the matter. Which, of course, is what I intend to do.

Your comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Unity in the Body

Rev. Ken Silva, a regular contributor at Slice of Laodicea, has posted a short missive on the site about unity in the body of Christ, with thoughts from A. W. Tozer on the subject as well. Put simply, we want the Holy Spirit to come to bring unity to the church, but we've got the whole thing backwards. We need to come to unity in order to allow the Holy Spirit to work. I encourage you to take a look, and offer your comments, either here or at Slice.

Here I go again...

Talkin' bout the rain/And mulling over things/That won't live past today...

These words from Casting Crowns' hit song Here I Go Again seemed appropriate as I make yet another attempt to enter into the blogosphere. There is a lot of talk in the Christian community about the state of the church today. Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Doug Pagitt, Rob Bell, Don Miller, Brian McLaren, Jon MacArthur, R. C. Sproul... all of them are putting their opinions and their studies out for all the world to see, but yet the two sides don't agree with one another. I'm hoping to find some middle ground. You'll likely see material from other blogs posted here with some of my own thoughts, as well as news from anywhere and everywhere in the church world. Care to join me for an interesting journey into finding just what is truth, and what we need to cast aside? Grab your Bible; you're going to need it, I'm sure. Other reading material is optional.