Archives: resource-talk-review

The book and the vine

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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One of the more fascinating books I read last year had the ironic title The Book is Dead. Long Live the Book. It was a book seeking to persuade me that books are history. (more…)

Can’t read? Won’t read!

Resource Talk

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There are some great resources around for reaching people with the gospel—books on apologetics like If you could ask God one Question and Naked God—books that explain the gospel clearly, like A Fresh Start and Christianity Explained—and, of course, there are Bibles and Gospels that we can hand to people to check it out for themselves. (more…)

Give me Fervr

Resource Talk

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The arrival of the iPhone in 2007 redefined the template for the exploding markets of both mobile phones and PDAs. But it signalled something maybe even more significant: the expanding reach of the worldwide web. Since the early 90s, the web has operated primarily through home or work computers. But more recently, we see it penetrating into almost every aspect of life. Now it’s not uncommon to find the web in your car, your phone, your cafe, your school, your fridge and maybe even your parents’ home! (more…)

24

Everyday Ministry, Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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I am one of the few who doesn’t regularly follow the worldwide hit show 24. My days are certainly not as action-packed as Jack Bauer’s. But I know that Bauer’s work isn’t as important as what I’ve been involved in over the last 24 hours of my life. Here are just the climatic scenes:
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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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For those with eyes to see

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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It starts with trying to read the microwave instructions on the back of the packet in the kitchen, and having to move into some better light. Then you notice you’re habitually setting the zoom in Microsoft Word to 200 per cent. The crunch comes when it starts to affect the really important things: you’re some distance from the television and realize you can’t quite make out the score at the bottom of the screen.

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Fighting the new fight

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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If you were a youngish Christian in the 1980s, it is almost certain that, at some point, someone would have pressed a copy of John White’s The Fight into your hands and urged you earnestly to read it. It was simply one of the standard Christian books of the era, and for several good reasons.

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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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The Briefing, to go

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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Back in the mists of time, before mobile phones, before the internet, even before Michael Jackson’s Thriller, there were ‘The SOCM Papers’. (more…)