God: The Man Chaser

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The God Chasers cover

There is a best-selling Christian book by American author Tommy Tenney called The God Chasers. If you have seen any Christian bookstore catalogues I’m sure you’ve seen the book or the companion merchandise. It’s been something of a phenomenon. After visiting the US, I was given a copy so I started reading it. Tenney’s pitch seems to be this: there are normal vanilla-flavoured household variety Christians who drift passively along in the slow lane of Christian experience and then there are the God Chasers. They get the scent of God and run him down, passionately pursuing the Lord like hounds on the hunt, like athletes chasing a gold medal. And to the God Chasers comes special blessing because they will not be satisfied with the left-hand side of the peak-hour escalator—they bound heavenward two steps at a time, consumed with overtaking the otherwise out-of-reach Lord.

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Angels in the classroom

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The Case for Angels
Peter S. Williams
Paternoster, 2002, 211pp.

Francis Schaeffer apparently began a university philosophy lecture with the startling admission that he believed in angels. “There really is no point you listening to my philosophical arguments if you don’t grasp the profound importance of this fact”, he said (or words to that effect!). (more…)

Ministry and pornography: some practical help

Everyday Ministry

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As Tony Payne mentioned in his ‘Couldn’t Help Noticing’ column, the Australia Institute has published a report—Youth and Pornography in Australia—the first survey of Australian teenagers’ exposure to pornography on the internet. It shows that 84 per cent of boys and 60 per cent of girls aged 16 and 17 have stumbled onto sex sites on the internet. In addition, 38 per cent of boys and 2 per cent of girls say they have sought out sex sites. For boys, 73 per cent report that they have watched X-rated videos, with 20 per cent accessing these monthly. 11 per cent of girls have watched an X-rated video.

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The living and the dead

Thought

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Contacting the dead—entertaining game, dangerous deception or forbidden magic? With his Bible open and his TV tuned to John Edward, Peter Bolt explores the abiding human interest in hearing from those who have ‘crossed over’. His conclusions may surprise you …

The John Edward phenomenon is gaining momentum. His television show Crossing Over is a regular on cable and has caught the interest of the networks. As an indicator of his rising popularity, apparently Time will soon feature this modern day medium who receives messages from the dead on behalf of the living who happen to turn up in his audience. (more…)

There’s no place like home: the marvellous land of Christian parenting books

Review

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Sandra had just become a mother. Though she had been a Christian for many years, she was completely shell-shocked by the continual demands of her new baby, and felt quite out of her depth. There was so much she didn’t know, and she felt like a failure, even though Kyle was only three weeks old. Other people’s babies were sleeping through already, but Kyle wasn’t. It was the following Sunday that one of the other mothers at church lent Sandra a book, which hinted that if she just followed The Program with Kyle, he would not only sleep through, but become a Christian when he grew up …

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The theology of the Promised Land

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The Land of Promise

The Land of Promise: Biblical, Theological and Contemporary Perspectives
Philip Johnston & Peter Walker (eds)
IVP, 2001, 240 pp.

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is constantly in our headlines. To whom should the land belong? What does the Bible say? The promised land is a difficult issue. There is much said about it in the Old Testament, but very little in the New Testament. Why is that?

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Changing the way you look

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When you look at people, what do you think about? As you walk along the street; when you talk to your work mates; when you meet new people—how do you look at them? What do you think about them?

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Do as I do

Review

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RElational Leadership

Relational Leadership
Walter C. Wright
Paternoster Press, 2002, 230pp.

Walter Wright has collected a range of helpful leadership wisdom into this book on Christian leadership. The sources he draws upon include secular leadership material, his own experience (which includes over a decade as President of Regent College, Vancouver), and the Bible—in particular Jude, Philemon and Colossians.

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A long, hard look at ourselves

Life

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Jane Tooher developed this article on self-image from a conference address to Christian women, but its argument about where we find our sense of self applies more broadly. Her question: is it possible to understand yourself without reference to God?

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Repentance

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It is always interesting to hear the first sermon a minister preaches in his parish, as this is often a key to what he regards as his most important message. And so it is of special interest to note what Jesus preached in his opening sermons.

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Let the word do it

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Church attendance is one of the duties of those who profess to obey Christ, and is a God-ordained means for growth in the christian life. Accordingly, a clergyman often finds himself urging reluctant members to attend more regularly.

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Duty of a minister

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The Christian church is a fellowship and it is a reflection of the heavenly fellowship. This fact is the standard to test certain theories and activities connected with the church. For example, our church services—are they run in a mechanical way, or do we recognize one another’s presence as we sing or pray? Take another example: how should a denominational organization be structured? It is plain that central organization can only be justified if it is a strengthening of the fellowship of the congregation, and this means that centralized authority must be very carefully used so as not to impair the responsibility and reality of the local fellowship. Power is temptation, for power destroys fellowship.

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Interchange: Christian men reply to Elle

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Feedback on the controversial article ‘The Prince and the Porker’ (Briefing #293).

Candy or Depardieu?

If Ms McPhearson’s experience of her husband’s and her friend’s husband’s view of female bodies is true, she and her friend both have my deepest, male sympathies. But let’s be honest with ourselves! Is it only men that are guilty of this crime? As a “fat and ugly” (not my words) bachelor, I daily live with the fact that I won’t find a wife until I lose weight—a fact told to me not only by a Christian woman but by a Christian woman who is actually in full-time ministry teaching other Christian women!

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The Sabbath Rest

Life

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Workaholism

Workaholism is an addiction that needs remedy, much like alcoholism. Its symptoms are clear: long hours getting longer, work priorities overriding family and church; no time for recreation (what’s that?!). Workaholics can’t even go on holidays without taking their ball-and-chain mobile phone or laptop. But what is the underlying disease? What drives workaholism?

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