Archives: ian-carmichael

The course of Thursday nights

Resource Talk

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In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been pretty enthusiastic about The Course of Your Life.
Perhaps you’re even a bit tired of seeing it advertised here in The Briefing—we’ve included it in every Briefing since the course was launched at the end of 2011. There hasn’t been any other Matthias Media resource that has been given that level of priority. Ever. (Even though we tend to get enthused about everything we publish.) (more…)

A different centre of gravity

Everyday Ministry

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This heartwarming feedback just came in from Dave, a pastor here in Sydney:

I’m not a teary kind of bloke. Last night, though, I was almost at the point of crying as we went around the room and people shared what they’d got out of doing The Course of Your Life. In the week following the weekend away one lady has told virtually everyone she’s met about Jesus and started praying all the time; another lady has cut back her excessive work hours and is praying far more frequently; three men shared how they’ve started speaking about Christian things in conversations at work where in the past they would’ve kept quiet; one of them gets in the car a few minutes earlier each day so he can pray for opportunities to speak about Jesus at work; another guy can’t stop reading Colossians because it’s just so exciting.

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Jars of clay: Being a Christian parent

Everyday Ministry

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I’m glad this article is in the Jars of Clay series. It feels like an appropriate metaphor, because there are few areas where I feel as weak and inadequate for the role God has given me than when it comes to parenting my two children. And I don’t think I’m alone in that. I suspect most Christian parents feel that inadequacy keenly. (That’s probably why over the years most people we have asked to write for The Briefing on parenting have baulked at it.) (more…)

A spot of gardening

Resource Talk

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I want to be frank with you, so I’m just going to say it. I don’t want any argument, okay? There is nothing—repeat, nothing—more boring on television or radio than shows about gardening. If you disagree with me, then I’m sorry, but you just need to be corrected.

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Purity in the age of mobile porn

Up front

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Until recently, I’d not owned a mobile phone. But I was aware of the growing need for one: as the kids get older, my family seems more and more reliant on using mobiles to keep in touch. It was inevitable; resistance was futile.

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MiniZines

Resource Talk

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This is the final instalment in my series of posts introducing the range of new Matthias Media resources that have just arrived in. And today’s takes a bit of explaining. Here goes…

One of the issues we’ve grappled with for many years at Matthias Media relates to our monthly magazine, The Briefing. Each year, writers and editors pour countless hours of thought and hard work into putting together helpful magazine-length articles on a wide range of important topics. The people who happen to be subscribing to The Briefing at that time get the benefit of reading that article. But once it is published, that’s pretty much it; it’s unlikely to see the light of day again or be read by anyone else.

Frankly, magazine publishing often feels a bit ‘vapour-ish’ in an Ecclesiastes kind of a way: here one month, gone the next. Which is a shame, because the articles we publish are extremely useful material.

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It’s time

Resource Talk

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The next in my series of posts introducing some of our recent releases at Matthias Media is about a tract called It’s Time to Come Home.

Let me start by pinching some comments Tony made recently in The Briefing:

With a little reflection, perhaps the continued popularity of tracts is not so surprising. They might not mount mind-blowing theological arguments, or be masterpieces of literature. They might not be trendy or on the cutting edge of digital culture. But they are short. They are cheap. They are easy to buy and give away. And most of all, if you want to start a conversation with someone—or continue a conversation that’s been going on for some time—they are hard to beat.

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By God’s word (Volume 2)

Resource Talk

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The next of the new resources I want to share with you is By God’s Word (Volume 2).

I suspect the majority of Sola Panel readers would be familiar with the name and Bible teaching ministry of Phillip Jensen. For those of you who don’t know, Phillip is the person who started Matthias Media some 21 years ago. (You can learn more about Phillip at his website).

To be quite frank, I don’t think I could name anybody who knows, understands, and loves God’s word more than Phillip. Nor can I think of anybody as gifted at teaching it and applying it to life.

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Getting yourself right side up

Resource Talk

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Over the next week, I intend to introduce some of the latest new resources from Matthias Media.

Today, I thought we might kick off with the brand new book written by one of our esteemed Sola Panelists, Paul Grimmond. It is Paul’s ‘debut’ book Right Side Up.

Like preachers who regularly preach that “The passage we are looking at today is one of the most significant passages in the Bible”, I guess I also run the risk of devaluing the currency when I say that “This latest resource is one of the most significant we’ve published”. Naturally enough, I get pretty excited about all our new resources.

But even when I force myself to apply some objectivity to the assessment, I am going to stick to my guns on the significance of this book for at least two reasons.

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From homosexuality to the gospel

Up front

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Have you noticed how often non-Christians raise the issue of homosexuality with us these days? “Why is the church so anti-gay?” “What do you think about gay marriage?” “How can you be against two people being in a long-term, loving and supportive relationship? Why should it matter what gender they are?” (more…)