Just a reminder that John Piper is preaching tonight at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.

The event is sold out, but no worries—they are streaming it live online.

It starts at 7pm Pacific time. (If you don't know what time that is where you live, here's the math.)

Facebook is good for a few things, besides denying Farmville and Mafia Wars requests. One of them is keeping up with Desiring God content.

Follow the Desiring God page to see blog updates, new resources, videos and whatever else we post right in your news feed.

Also, John Piper’s Twitter account is linked directly into his Facebook site. So if you’re not on Twitter and want to keep up with Pastor John you can find him there too.

We're excited to announce that we have a new option for donating to Desiring God—recurring online donations.

In the past we've asked users to print, fill out, and return a form. (Thanks to everyone who did that! It's still available, but it's still quite a chore.) Now all you have to do is simply check the "Automatically donate this amount each month" button, and you can turn any online gift into a monthly-recurring donation.

The reason we're announcing this is that, as a ministry, we are dependent on God through donations to make things like our website, live events, and WYCA policies possible.

If knowing about this option serves your desire to give, that's great. If not, we understand and remain eager to provide resources and services that help you live out your faith.

John and Noël are in Egypt this week to meet with others in preparation for Lausanne 2010. And since they knew they would be there already, they planned a few other activities as well.

Today they got to tackle one of these other plans and visit several ancient Egyptian historical sites. You can go to Noël's blog for more pictures and thoughts about what they saw.

It's not enough to know that Jesus died on the cross and rose again on Easter morning. People need to know why. They need to know why Jesus was betrayed, why he willingly gave himself into his captors' hands, why he endured their whips and scorn, and why he ultimately died for them. They need to know why he came alive again, and why this true story has everything to do with our lives today.

Don't let those around you just observe another cycle of Easter rituals this year. Give them answers. Tell them why.

To that end, until Easter (or until we sell out) we're offering cases of Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die and History's Most Spectacular Sin at deep discounts—as long as you agree to give them away for free.

See our Easter Outreach page for more info.

We’re now taking applications for Spring and Summer interns for the following departments:
 
Internet

• Web Developer(s) who are proficient in Ruby on Rails. Send us a link to something you've built, and a code sample. (Bonus points if you’ve built mobile apps.)
• Front End / UX Designer(s) who are proficient in [X]HTML, CSS, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Flash. Send us a link to something you've built.

Marketing

• Graphic Designer. Send a link to your portfolio
• Social Media intern who can help manage our various Social Media accounts
• Marketing & PR intern to spread the word about DG products and events
• Web Content intern with strong skills in writing and blogging. Ideal candidates will be relatively familiar with our current Resources and Resource Library.

International Outreach

• Partner Relations Assistants/Intern who will correspond with our International Outreach partners and engage with our vision. Experience and familiarity with cross-cultural ministry is helpful.

If one of these positions sounds like you, send your resume and cover letter to interns@desiringGod.org. Include the position title in the email subject line.

Before you apply, please make sure you agree with our Affirmation of Faith.

For the next five weeks John Piper is on his annual writing leave. During this time he hopes to work on about five projects, which also gives us the privilege to labor alongside him in prayer.

In lieu of new sermons, over the next few weeks we'll be featuring some of his more notable sermons from last year.

At Desiring God our vision for distributing our content online is, "Post all of our content online, for free, without requiring registration, in a maximally usable interface." Today we could add, "and make it available to users at the highest speed possible."

We are happy to announce that as of today all our audio and video content is being distributed via Amazon's CloudFront content distribution network.

What this means for you is that our content is now being served up from servers that are as geographically close to you as possible, rather than simply from the Eastern United States, as has been the case until now.

Our content can now be served from the following locations:

United States

• Ashburn, VA 
• Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• Miami, FL
• Newark, NJ
• Palo Alto, CA
• Seattle, WA
• St. Louis, MO

Europe

• Amsterdam
• Dublin
• Frankfurt
• London

Asia

• Hong Kong
• Tokyo

Content will be sent to you from the closest location automatically. This change will mean faster download speeds for everyone, especially those outside the US. 

We are extremely thankful to God for this amazing blessing of technology that we can use to spread a passion for his supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ, faster than ever.

Tomorrow morning we'll be hosting another live session of "Ask Pastor John." Tweet your questions with the hashtag #apj, and from 10 AM to noon (CT) John Piper will answer them.

Alongside the emergence of Bethlehem Seminary, there is a sister institution, Bethlehem College. The fall of 2010 will mark the admission of its first four-year class.

The reason I can thank God for it, though it hasn’t happened yet, is that we have been doing the same thing in one-year and two-year programs for some time. And all the pieces are in place for next fall’s move to a four-year launch—even an installation service on October 3rd with Albert Mohler as our main speaker.

The curriculum is not traditional. And there will be no football team. We will offer a 2-year degree in Christian Worldview, a 4-year degree in the History of Ideas, a 4-year degree in Biblical and Theological Studies, and a Degree Completion Program.

In other words you won’t come to Bethlehem College to learn a trade or a profession. You come to learn how to learn for the rest of your life—with the glory of Jesus Christ at the center of every idea and every event. We want to impart “habits of mind” that fit students for life-long, Christ-exalting learning.

These habits of mind apply to all objects in the world, but most importantly the Bible. Thus we aim to enable and to motivate the students

1. to observe their subject matter accurately and thoroughly,
2. to understand clearly what they have observed,
3. to evaluate fairly what they have understood by deciding what is true and valuable,
4. to feel intensely according to the value of what they have evaluated,
5. to apply wisely and helpfully in life what they understand and feel, and
6. to express in speech and writing and deeds what they have seen, understood, felt and applied in such a way that its accuracy, clarity, truth, value, and helpfulness can be known and enjoyed by others.

In all of that, our aim is to instill these habits of mind and heart in such a way that they see the glory of God more clearly, love the gospel of Christ more deeply, and by the power of the Holy Spirit spread a passion for his supremacy in all things to all the peoples of the world.

When all this happens in the context of a living, local church, something amazingly whole and strong is built into a student’s life. We hope many of our friends will want to follow the progress of this dream.

We would love your prayers for this new venture. We believe God will use it long after we are gone. If God puts it in your heart to be part of our prayer support, or if you would like to stay in touch with us and follow the news, please join our mailing list.

In September, 2009, we admitted the first class in the four-year program of Bethlehem Seminary. Here at the end of the year I want to give public thanks to God and take some of you with me into this vision. Not everybody. But some of you carry a special, God-given burden for the preparation of future generations of God-centered leaders.

Bethlehem has been training future pastors, teachers and missionaries through The Bethlehem Institute for over ten years. That two year program has now become the four-year Bethlehem Seminary. We plan to admit 15 men every year to the seminary. The number will be kept small so that the vision for mentored ministry and church involvement can be sustained.

At the heart of this vision is the invincible God, the infallible Bible, and the indispensible Gospel of Jesus Christ. We want future pastors to be stunned by the greatness of God. And stay stunned by living in the Bible. And spread this amazement to sinners, who qualify through faith alone because of the Gospel.

We want them to love the church. The real live, blemished, blood-bought bride of Christ. So we sink them into ministry while they are here.

I love sitting with these brothers (There will be about 60 at any one time.) most Thursdays during the school year just talking about the hundreds of real-life challenges that ministry brings. This personal give-and-take is crucial for us.

I love the ministry of the word. I never get tired of preaching to the same flock. I have been doing it for almost 30 years at Bethlehem. There are things students can learn that let the Bible keep on feeding them and their people year after year in faithful expository preaching. We want to teach those things.

We have now called two new full time faculty, one in Old Testament (Jason DeRouchie) and one in New Testament (announcement coming soon).

They call me the Chancellor! It sounds incredibly overblown to me. But Tim Tomlinson is the President, so that title (and job!) is well-taken. And Tom Steller is already an incredibly gifted teacher and dean. And I have more responsibility than teaching. So there you have it: Chancellor.

I am eager to give the last chapter of my life to this vision, as long as God gives me breath and a clear head.

Whoever of you would like to stay in touch with us and follow the news of the new school you can sign up for email updates.

We would love your prayers for this new venture. May God use it long after we are gone. If God puts it in your heart, we would be very happy for you to be part of our prayer support.

As the year winds down, if God has placed it on your heart to help us meet our year-end financial need (we've updated our status), here's important information if you want your gift to count toward 2009:

• Until 11:59 p.m. CT on Thursday, December 31 through Desiring God’s website.
• Until 4:00 p.m. CT on Thursday, December 31 by calling Desiring God at 888-346-4700.
• All gifts postmarked on or before December 31 will receive a gift receipt for 2009 even if received and processed by Desiring God in January.  (Please note: checks with a December date but postmarked on or after January 1, 2010, by regulation are considered donations in 2010). 
  
  Checks can be mailed to:
  
  Desiring God
  PO Box 2901
  Minneapolis, MN 55402-2901

God has kindly provided many opportunities for spreading a passion for his supremacy in 2009. Here are just a few ways that donations have been used by Desiring God this year:

• DesiringGod.org - By the end of 2009, more than 3 million people will have visited our website. Every electronic resource is available for free without registration and we encourage people to share and spread these resources. God’s provision through donations helps keep this resource freely available for people around the world.
• International Outreach -With the goal of addressing “theological famine relief for the global church,” God makes International Outreach possible through donations to Desiring God. Desiring God now has 599 non-English online resources with many more in development. International Outreach also added hundreds of partners to its network in 2009, increasing to 660 partners in 111 countries around the world! Website visits from outside the U.S. have increased to more than 200,000 per month. 
• Whatever-You-Can-Afford Policy - From its beginnings, Desiring God has worked to remove barriers to people more accurately understanding the Bible and developing affections for God, including providing materials freely when someone cannot afford to purchase a book or other resource. God sustains the Whatever-You-Can-Afford policy through donations, which allows Desiring God to provide resources to people who otherwise could not afford them, including thousands of prisoners and members of the military through chaplaincy programs.

A couple of years ago, Rick Steen, a military chaplain and friend of DG, received copies of Don’t Waste Your Life to give to members of the military. Recently, he was assigned to the National Science Foundation base in Antarctica where he distributed his last copies! 

He’s also sending a copy to the library at the South Pole. As Rick wrote to us, “I think it is safe to say that “Don’t Waste Your Life” has made it to every continent!”

Pictured below are some of the men who received a copy. Thank you, Lord, for giving us passionate spreaders! 

Very, very rarely do we mention the financing of DG on our blog. And even now, all I wish to say is this: if you've been a friend of DG for a while and are supportive of our mission, would you be willing to read a brief, one-minute update on our finances as we prepare to close out 2009?

If you are new to the DG website, feel free to pass this right over.

*** Contest closed. Thanks for participating! ***

We have 12 different packages on sale for Christmas this year. One of them is especially for moms.

Leave a comment on this post with one word that describes your mother, and Monday morning we'll do a drawing and send one commenter the set of books to give their mom for Christmas.

*** Contest closed. Thanks for participating! *** 

As Pastor John wrote on Friday, there are real people in our prisons who need to hear the gospel and to be encouraged in their faith.  Desiring God seeks to serve them and the chaplains in those prisons through our volunteer-led inmate ministry:

Individual Inmates

Every inmate who writes to us for the first time receives a welcome packet that includes a letter describing our ministry, a copy of our evangelistic booklet, For Your Joy, a copy of The Dangerous Duty of Delight, and an application for free correspondence courses through Mount Zion Bible Institute. We also send them one other Piper book under our whatever-you-can-afford policy. (If an inmate does not request a specific book, we select one for him or her.)

After our initial correspondence, inmates may request a book once a month.

Currently we receive letters from approximately 200 new inmates every month. We have a group of volunteers who come in every week to read these letters, pray for the inmates and write a personal note of encouragement on the welcome letter. The volunteers also read mail and process book requests from inmates who have contacted us previously.

Prison Chaplains and Volunteers

When chaplains request resources from Desiring God, we work with them to determine what will best meet their needs. We frequently send out sets of 12-15 Piper resources for their prison libraries, as well as multiple copies of books for use in Bible studies or chapel services.

If a volunteer at a prison has permission to take Piper resources in for a Bible study, we'll happily supply books, DVDs and study guides.

We have also produced a brochure for distribution to inmates which includes a tear-off, business reply-paid postcard on which an inmate can select one of five Piper books to receive. We send these out in bundles of 100 to anyone who is able to distribute them in prison.

Will you help us spread a passion for God to people in prisons?  Please contact me for more information!

We are deeply humbled and very grateful to God for the more than 630 people who gave to Desiring God through GiveMN yesterday. 

As we prayed last week about this opportunity and how to present it in a prayerfully-dependent, God-centered way, we had no idea that God would raise up so many people during that short amount of time. It appears that this group of friends gave just over $139,000 in that 24-hour period.  We will know final results, including our portion of the match, in the coming days.

We are also grateful for all those who emailed who cannot give to us right now because of unemployment, health issues, or giving being guided to church or other ministries. We feel your affections and your prayers!

Please continue to pray for us.  This is a great help as we enter December, which is our month of greatest financial need. God is kind to provide that encouragement so early in this year-end season.  And, obviously, we remain dependent on him to provide the rest.

Thank you for being part of God’s provision to Desiring God!

Dear fellow shepherds of God's people,

For over 20 years, we have assumed the foundation of Christian Hedonism at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors. But we have never focused on it. Until now. I thought it was time. Our theme for 2010 is

The Pastor, the People, and the Pursuit of Joy
The Apostolic Aim of Pastoral Ministry

At least twice, the apostle Paul sums up the goal of his ministry in the joy of his people. First, to the Corinthians:

"Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy." (2 Corinthians 1:24)

Second, to the Philippians:

I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith." (Philippians 1:25)

The pastoral implications of being "workers for your joy" are huge. I am still trying to figure them out and work them out after 30 years at this church.

Speakers

Sam Storms

I am eager to have Sam Storms help me. Sam has written extensively on the place of joy in biblical theology and in the Christian life. Sam and I have both drunk deeply at the fountain of Jonathan Edwards. That's one reason why I resonate so deeply with Sam's insights. He will give 3 keynote addresses.

Sam is pastor of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City and President of Enjoying God Ministries. He has served for over 30 years in the pastoral ministry and taught theology at Wheaton College for 4 years. He's been married to Ann for over 37 years and has two grown daughters and two grandsons.

My prayer is that the man God has made Sam to be, and the messages God will give us through him, will make us more and more into the kind of pastors who serve "with joy and not with groaning" (Hebrews 13:17).

Eric Mason

I am deeply thankful that Eric Mason was willing to come and be a part of the conference this year. He is the co-founder and lead pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia. He serves on the boards of the Acts 29 Network and Reach Life Ministries and is an adjunct professor at Biblical Theological Seminary.

When I invited him I said,

When I heard your message on the credibility of the church at Advance 09 [in Durham, NC], I took note especially of the ending where "glory in the church" was the focus. We wear the God-gear for the world to see and go out and buy it (Matthew 13:44, my addition). I wondered to myself, How does Eric relate the pursuit of maximum joy in God to that gear? And specifically, How does he do it in his context? How does the pursuit of joy in God relate in your context to the things people need and enjoy?

He said yes, and I told him to do whatever he thought would be helpful for pastors under this general theme. I expect to be helped.

Bob Blincoe

Every year, because Jesus lays claim on all the peoples, we bend our focus toward the unreached nations of the world. To help us do that this year, Bob Blincoe will tackle the theme of joy in the context of world missions.

I wrote to him and said,

You are a risk-taker and are bold to call others to risk their lives, not in the hobbies of skydiving and hang-gliding and ropeless mountain climbing, but in the proclamation of the gospel. I have heard you speak, and I am eager for you to open your heart for the Muslim world for these brothers.

I am thrilled that he said yes.

Biography of C.S. Lewis

My part will be a biographical study of C.S. Lewis. There is no one quite like him. He does so much good and gets some things so wrong. But mainly I love him and owe him more than I can say. He is in the top 5 dead people who have shaped the way I see and respond to the world. His autobiography is called Surprised by Joy. Not surprisingly, his life is hugely relevant to the conference theme.

Worship

With a theme like the pursuit of joy, I expect our corporate worship to be profoundly rich with great reasons for gladness in God. There are not many sounds I love more than your voices singing at the pastors' conference. We will pray for each other. We will reconnect with friends. We will lug home kilos of discounted books. And we will, I pray, leave empowered to live for the glory of Christ in the progress and joy of the faith of our people.

Eager to see you and worship with you,

John Piper

As of 3:30 p.m. today, God has provided 315 gifts to Desiring God through GiveMN.org!  We are grateful to God for his kind provision to us through these friends of the ministry.

And, as Pastor John tweeted this morning, “zero pressure,” but if you are prayerfully considering a donation to Desiring God, gifts given by 8:00 a.m. (CST) tomorrow morning (November 18) qualify for a match from GiveMN.org.  You can give through Desiring God’s site at GiveMN.org. 

We’ll provide an update on the totals when we have them tomorrow, probably later in the morning.

Thank you for praying for us.

As we reported last Friday, from now until 8am tomorrow, GiveMN will be matching donations made through their website to all Minnesota-based non-profit organizations, including Desiring God. $500,000 has been committed to be given to Minnesota non-profits through this one-day campaign.* 

GiveMN is covering all transaction fees, so 100% of your gift will come to Desiring God.  You do not need to be a resident of Minnesota, nor do you need to register with their site to make a one-time gift.

I tried it out last week and everything worked as they described, including the opportunity to make an anonymous gift if you prefer.

Here’s how to participate:

1. Pray about giving.  If you have never given before, would you pray about financially supporting Desiring God?  We only want you to participate as you feel the Lord leading.  God is good to provide for all of our needs and we are grateful for every person who donates. But we do not want you to feel any pressure to participate except happily in response to God’s call.  And please only give after you have first given to your local church.
2. Visit Desiring God’s page at GiveMN.org between now and 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. 
3. Choose your donation amount and click the green “Donate” button.  You’ll be asked for credit card information and an email address for your receipt.  The minimum amount that can be donated is $10.  There is no maximum, but they limit their match to $2,500 per individual.
4. You’re done!  An electronic receipt will be generated through Network for Good.  It will indicate your donation amount and date, and list Desiring God Ministries as the recipient of your donation.  Desiring God will receive your gift and the match by December 15 from GiveMN.org.
5. You may also choose to give a recurring gift through this site, which requires registration.

* We won’t know how much of the $500,000 matching funds are coming to Desiring God until after all the gifts to all non-profits have been tabulated.  If Desiring God’s portion of total giving to all non-profits is 5%, we will receive $25,000, or 5%, of the $500,000 matching grant, regardless of how much is actually given to Desiring God.

Thank you for your prayers!

Did you know that we depend on God to provide nearly half of Desiring God’s budget through donations? Donations help underwrite everything from the freely accessible resources found here on our site to our whatever-you-can-afford policy to our global spreading opportunities through International Outreach. We are grateful to God for his provision to us through people he leads to give!

Friends of Desiring God recently alerted us to a special matching gift donation opportunity through GiveMN, an organization designed to help create a stronger nonprofit community in Minnesota. Desiring God Ministries is one of the non-profits listed on their website.

GiveMN has a total of $500,000 they are dedicating to match gifts made during a 24-hour period to Minnesota-based non-profits.* They're also covering all transaction fees, so 100% of each gift designated to Desiring God through this site will come to DG.  You do not need to be a resident of Minnesota to participate, and you do not need to register to make a one-time gift.  You may also give anonymously if you choose. 

The matching gift opportunity will be from 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 17 through 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, November 18.

Here’s how to participate:

1. Pray about giving.  If you have never given before, would you pray about financially supporting Desiring God?  We only want you to participate as you feel the Lord leading.  God is good to provide for all of our needs and we are grateful for every person who donates. But we do not want you to feel any pressure to participate except in response to God’s call.  And please only give after you have first given to your local church.
2. Visit Desiring God’s page at GiveMN between 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 17 and 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, November 18. 
3. Choose your donation amount and click the green “Donate” button.  You’ll be asked for credit card information and an email address for your receipt.
4. You’re done!  An electronic receipt will be generated through Network for Good. It will indicate your donation amount, date, and list Desiring God Ministries as the recipient of your donation. Desiring God will receive your gift and the match by December 15 from GiveMN.org.
5. You may also choose to give a recurring gift through this site, which requires registration. 

And please pray for us! Your prayers are an important part of God’s good provision to Desiring God.

* The amount of the match to Desiring God will be determined as a ratio of the total amount given. GiveMN will track the total amount given to all Minnesota non-profits that day, and whatever percentage of it was given to DG, we'll receive that percentage of the $500,000 that is set aside for this project.

So, for example, if $1 million is donated to all Minnesota-based non-profits that day and Desiring God receives $25,000 in donations (2.5% of total), the match to Desiring God would be $12,500 (2.5% of $500,000).

Tomorrow morning, you can watch a Q&A with John Piper live from 8-11 AM, Central Time.

The questions will be a combination of those that have been emailed to us recently and those that are submitted via Twitter during the Q&A.

To send in a question tomorrow, simply Tweet it and add #apj to your Tweet. We'll be selecting questions as they come in.

For those of you (most of you, probably) who can't join us live tomorrow, the answer is, yes, we'll be recording it and making it available within a few days.

Many of you are trying to download the free Desiring God audio book from Christian Audio and having trouble. Their servers are overwhelmed because there's so much interest.

We're happy so many people want the book, but we're sorry for the frustration, too! Please remember the book will be free for all of November, so you may want to try your download again in a couple days when traffic has leveled out.

Our mission at Desiring God is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. By turning a few things around, we can also see what our mission is not - and therefore more clearly what it is.

Our mission is not to create cul-de-sacs, but to spread.

Our mission is not to spread just knowledge about God. It is to spread a passion for God. Head and heart.

Our mission is not to spread a passion for the mediocrity of God or for the overlooking of God or for the assuming of God. It is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God.

Our mission is not to spread a passion for the supremacy of human beings or Western materialism or even you. It is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God.

Our mission is not to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in just a few things, or just a few parts of your life like the time you spend at church, but in all things.

We aim to do this not simply for Americans or Western Christians but for all people groups.

We aim to do this not for the boredom or gloom or sadness of all people groups, but for the joy of all people groups. “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy” (Psalm 67:4).

And we aim to do this not through our own efforts or with an ambiguous God-is-whoever-you-think-he-is God in mind, but through Jesus Christ, who died for us on the cross 2,000 years ago, rose again, ascended into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit, and will come again.

Tim Challies is doing a series of interviews about different ministries. This week, we hear from DG's Senior Director of Strategy, Matt Perman.

Check out the interview if you're curious about...

• How Desiring God began.
• What our main goals are.
• How we want to serve you.
• Why we post everything for free.
• Who our leaders are.
• How big we are—both our staff and budget.
• How we're financed.
• What we expect over the next 10-20 years.