Watch John Piper talk about the new building we plan to move into this summer.

Read more about this project.

It’s been a busy spring for Pastor John.

Between two clusters of spring events, this year’s writing leave is an especially welcomed change of pace.

March and April took John to San Luis-Obispo for the Desiring God Regional Conference, to Wales for New Word Alive, and to Louisville for Together for the Gospel. All this in the midst of pastoring and bringing the new birth sermon series to a close.

After his leave, John is scheduled to begin a new sermon series, return to Louisville on Memorial Day to speak at New Attitude, and join a colloquium of pastors outside Chicago connected with The Gospel Coalition.

But for now: writing.

John wrote the following last week to ask for prayer from Bethlehem Baptist and Desiring God:

Dear praying friends,

For the next four weeks (April 22–May 22), I will be holed up working on a couple books, one on marriage and the other on regeneration. O how I need God’s help through your prayers. There is a world of difference between God-anointed work and just plain hard work. Thank you for praying for truth and wisdom and love and humility and penetrating, compelling expression. . . .

Leaning on grace through your prayers,

Pastor John

Here's a list of forthcoming books, some of which he is working on during this leave.

• History’s Most Spectacular Sin booklet (June, 2008)
• Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ (September, 2008)
• Rethinking Retirement: Finishing Life for the Glory of God (September, 2008)
• John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God (January, 2009)
• A book on Marriage (no title or publication date yet)
• A book on Regeneration (no title or publication date yet)

Please join us in praying that God would graciously anoint John Piper during this season of communing with God and writing for the joy of all peoples.

Desiring God, like all fallen, finite human ministries and people, sees “in a mirror dimly” (1 Corinthians 13:12). We do not claim to be perfect in what we know. And we do not claim to know all that can be known. Nor do we claim to see what we know more clearly than others may see it.

But we do say with Paul, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13). Though we do not know everything there is to know, and though we do not know anything perfectly, yet we do know many things truly and confidently, because of God’s revelation and his Spirit...

Read the rest of the article.

Strangely enough, prosperity can be a huge obstacle to prosperity, as the rich young man discovered.

“Bless the Lord for the volunteers!” was the cry of Deborah and Barak following the victory God gave Israel over Jabin, the king of Canaan.

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,
that the people offered themselves willingly (volunteered),
bless the Lord! (Judges 5:2)

At Desiring God, we are grateful to join with them in their thanksgiving. From our beginnings, God has blessed us with great volunteers who “offer themselves willingly.” We love the volunteer ministry not merely because it enables us to sustain our pay-whatever-you-can-afford policy, but because it is a reflection of God, the most radically generous person in the universe.

Our volunteers give themselves willingly because they love God and want to join in spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Currently, Desiring God has a team of 40 volunteers who collectively contribute an average of over 400 hours per month. The ages of our volunteers range from pre-teen to over 65, and we structure teams to reflect our love for inter-generational ministry.

Our volunteers represent a broad range of skills, interests and experience that they bring to the organization. They assist in the production and distribution of over 100,000 resources a year. Two of our departments, International Outreach and our Inmate Ministry, actually operate primarily through volunteers.

They stuff envelopes and shrink-wrap They build bookshelves. They pray for the requests that we receive from around the world. They provide administrative and managerial assistance. Some are even involved in database development and computer program design.

Volunteer man-hours for 2007 totaled 4,658 hours, representing an increase of over 300% since the volunteer department was established 2004.

All this and much more is reason to praise God with Deborah and Barak for people who offer themselves willingly.

After Jesus rescued the adulteress from stoning in John 8, have you ever wondered what it was like for her to go home?

We now offer a free shipping option for all orders to the continental U.S.

As 2007 comes to an end (already?) my heart is full of gratitude to God for three remarkable groups of people that by God’s grace made the ministry at DG happen this year. They are gifts from the Father to me and to all who benefit from this gospel outreach.

The first are my precious partners in the day to day work at DG. The DG staff, about 35 full and part-time people, are some of the most godly, creative, resourceful, and life-giving people I know. I’m simply spoiled. The DG office is like a taste of heaven because these folks are so wonderful. I love these dear friends.

The second group is the DG Board of Directors. Sam Crabtree, Peter Hedstrom, Mitch Pearson, and John Piper are men whose prayer-soaked wisdom guides the ship of DG. I don’t deserve to have such leaders. And I am doubly-blessed to have John Knight step off the board to join the staff this January. I love these men.

The third group are the donors whose prayerful financial partnership underwrite all the spreading strategies that the board and staff undertake. Every year God provides our needs through these friends. I’m writing and you’re reading this blog entry because of the graciousness of each supporter. I love these generous partners.

Father, I feel compelled to give you public thanks for these people you have raised up to support Desiring God. Through them you have blessed me so far beyond what I deserve that I simply bow my head in worship. Millions of people have been reached this year because you chose these 3 groups of people to work together to reach them. From you and through you and to you are all things. To you belong the glory forever and ever. I love you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Read about the new offices DG will be moving to in 2008 and how you can help us meet an important financial need.

Join me for a few minutes of amazement in this article. It is the story of the birth of the department of International Outreach at Desiring God. Things have developed so fast and so amazingly that I can’t keep up. But let’s get some glimpses so you can rejoice and pray and—who knows—maybe go somewhere you never dreamed...

Read the rest of the article.

Fifteen minutes before discovering the treasure in the field, the thought of selling all that he owned to buy it probably never crossed the man’s mind. Fifteen minutes afterward he was off to do it with joy.

Read what made the difference.

If you would like to see the people of your church store up God’s Word in their hearts, the revised Fighter Verse Church Resource Kit may be the tool you need to introduce a church-wide Scripture memory program.

We recently received a testimony from a friend of DG who ministers to women at an Ohio county jail. She told us about her relationship with Julie.

When Julie began attending a weekly Bible study at the jail, she was a quiet, stony woman filled with anger, distrust, and doubt that the Bible study or the people ministering at it had anything to offer her. Our friend gave Julie a copy of Don't Waste Your Life and continually welcomed her to the study. Over the course of a few weeks, Julie, by God's gracious and gentle hand, began to soften. She began interacting more in the study, she encouraged her cell-mate to attend, she read Scripture and asked questions. Three weeks after their initial contact, Julie spoke in private with our friend.

"I don't know if I can get this out," tears now rolling down her face. "I walked with God 30 years ago..." Long pause. "This book was for me! You came here for me! I have lived my entire life in sin. Anger and bitterness is all that I have known. I just wanted to thank you for coming here."

Julie was released from prison two days later, saying she was going home, had surrendered her life to Jesus, and was planning with her husband to attend church. Our friend learned that ten days later Julie, at age 44, passed away unexpectedly. She died one month to the day from first receiving love from one of God's servants and hearing the call to an unwasted life. She placed her faith in Jesus, treasuring him above everything else and submitting to him as the Lord of her life, and has now entered into eternal and infinite joy in God's presence.

At the Piper house, on special occasion days, the women do most or all the food preparation and set-up, so the men wash the dishes.

Now there’s a great reason to give thanks!

What turns the 4th Thursday of November into Thanksgiving? Turkey? I know one family who doesn’t like turkey. Their traditional Thanksgiving meal is Vietnamese carryout. But whatever our food traditions, is that all there is? Not if we plan real thanks into the day.

If we want to give thanks, we need only two things. Something we’re thankful for and somebody to thank. Seems so obvious, but I think I need to say it because it’s amazing how many people can say, “I’m thankful for _____ ,” without admitting that God is there to hear their thanks. And they’re certainly not giving him credit for whatever it is they’re enjoying.

Maybe we can get ready for Thanksgiving by giving someone else a reason to give thanks. It might be by food donations we make ahead of time. Or it might be through invitations to our table—someone with no relatives nearby, a newly-arrived refugee family, a lonely neighbor, international students from a nearby college.

And then, how will we express our thanks to God? Perhaps there’s a posterboard on the wall where anyone during the day can write or draw pictures of what he’s thanking God for. Perhaps one of the children will make place cards with a verse of thanks on each, to be read sometime during the meal. Maybe this is a good day to pull out the year’s journals or photo albums or videos to remind each other of all that God has done in our lives this year.

And maybe Dad will begin the meal by leading in a thankful song and reading some words from Scripture:

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods. . . .
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.

(Psalm 95:1-3, 6-7)

This week Olive Nelson passed away at age 94. Olive and her husband, Arnie, were members of Bethlehem for decades until 1994. From 1978 to 1994 (16 years), Arnie and Olive faithfully operated Bethlehem’s tape ministry as volunteers. They diligently ran a tape library for BBCers and they managed a tape subscription service that began to grow significantly during Pastor John’s first 14 years.

Arnie would come in every week and duplicate tapes. I can still see him. He was tall and slim and dignified and had a head of thick, silver hair. He was soft-spoken, and I loved to listen to him. Olive was bright, assertive, and organized. She managed the tape ministry administration by hand-typing all the tape labels (for probably 150-200 tapes per week), and hand-typing all the mailing labels, and she and Arnie would package and mail the tapes. Olive’s database was a black notebook where she meticulously hand-recorded every transaction for every person.

It was the Nelsons' decision to retire in 1994 that prompted John to pop into my office and say, “We need to do something with the tape ministry. I’d like you to make it happen.” The birth of Desiring God as we know it has its genesis in that statement.

Arnie and Olive were the forerunners of DG. Olive’s notebook was the basis for our first electronic database. I modeled our first labels after hers. And our whole electronic audio distribution of John’s sermons grew out of the tape ministry that the Nelsons nurtured and grew.

Thank you, God, for the lives and faithful labors of Arnold and Olive Nelson. It is an honor to remember them this week.

It is with a mixture of sadness, deep gratitude, and joyful trust in the sovereignty of God that I inform you that Matt Perman, our Director of Internet Strategies, is leaving the staff of Desiring God.

Matt first joined the staff of DG in 1998 as a Resource Consultant and was, along with Justin Taylor and others, a part of the remarkable first TBI class. He also ran the bookstore at Bethlehem Baptist Church for a season, which was sort of like giving a junkie the job of a drug store manager. In 2001-2002, Matt worked for DG remotely from Louisville while, in typical Permanesque fashion, cramming a 3-year MDiv degree from Southern Seminary into 2 years. In 2002, he came back on staff full-time as Director of Radionet (radio-internet) Strategies. Our radio program first aired in February 2004. That same year he began to address the "net" side of things and the rest is history.

On August 30, 2006, our new website went live and on September 30, 2006, we laid our traditional radio strategy to rest. Pursuing radio and internet strategies simultaneously was crucial to our understanding the nature and scope of the change occurring in media communications. It is simply hard to overstate the importance of Matt's leadership in helping us navigate these waters, and especially his vision for internet spreading. In two years, Matt went from barely a superficial knowledge of internet strategy to becoming a leader in our ministry field.

So why is he leaving? Believe me, John Piper and I did our level best to keep Matt. But dating from his college days, Matt has discerned what he believes is a calling to integrate spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples with vocational work in the secular marketplace. Through the summer Matt and I talked about this and a potential future at DG (which we both saw as bright!). After much prayer and counsel, Matt and Heidi determined that the Lord's time for them to transition is now. After pondering numerous position offers, they decided on a position at a large company in Des Moines, IA.

So today is Matt's last day. After 9 years it's hard for me to believe. We are sending Matt and Heidi off with our blessing. We wish they could stay, but the Lord has treated us far better than we deserve to have been able to have them so long and we have all been the beneficiaries of tremendous gifts through them. Thank you so much, Lord, for the gift of the Permans.

On September 28th, just before the start of this year's national conference, our executive director Jon Bloom delivered a short address to DG's Philippian Fellowship.

Before he spoke Bloom showed a video about God's work through DG in the life of Luis Arocha and his church in the Dominican Republic. Then, using Luis' story as a model, he unfolded the five goals that guide our ministry strategies:

1. Proximity - make the gospel as available as possible (such as putting it on the web).
2. Access - offer the gospel to as many as will take it (with free downloads and the whatever-you-can-afford policy).
3. Understanding - present the gospel as clearly as we can (by translating it, writing study guides, etc.).
4. Love - point people, through the gospel, to the ultimate Treasure worth selling all our goods to possess (Matthew 13:44).
   
5. Spreading - inspire and equip leaders throughout the world to share the Treasure with others (and rejoice over more stories like Luis').
   

Read Bloom's full address.

See another video about DG's influence in Brazil.

Our site search results just got better. We replaced our search engine software with Google, which means we get our custom tabbed interface combined with Google's search accuracy. We were even able to add new features like spelling suggestion, audio/video options for resources, and add to cart buttons for products.

Here are a few example searches:

• Marriage
• Biographies
• Prayer

We hope this will serve you better when searching our site. As always, please let us know your suggestions!

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was born 304 years ago today (Oct. 5). In celebration, we've discounted our Edwards-related products by 30% through Sunday, Oct. 7:

• The Works of Jonathan Edwards (2-Volume Hardcover Set)
  Regular Price: $54.00
  Sale Price: $37.80
• God's Passion for His Glory (Softcover Book)
  Regular Price: $11.00
  Sale Price: $7.70
• A God Entranced Vision of All Things (Softcover Book)
  Regular Price: $8.60
  Sale Price: $6.00
• A God-Entranced Vision of All Things (Conference Audio CD Set)
  Regular Price: $30.00
  Sale Price: $21.00
• A God-Entranced Vision of All Things (Conference MP3 Audio CD)
  Regular Price: $12.00
  Sale Price: $8.40
• A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: Why We Need Jonathan Edwards 300 Years Later (Conference Audio CD)
  Regular Price: $5.00
  Sale Price: $3.50
• Sweet Sorrow: The Happy Root of Holy Living (Audio CD)
  Reflections on Seeing and Savoring God with Jonathan Edwards
  Regular Price: $5.00
  Sale Price: $3.50
  

(This offer is only available online.)

We also have many free resources about Jonathan Edwards. Here are a few highlights:

• A Divine and Supernatural Light Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God
  The Unrivaled Legacy of Jonathan Edwards
• The Pastor as Theologian
  Life and Ministry of Jonathan Edwards
• A Mind in Love with God
  The Private Life of a Modern Evangelical
• Jonathan Edwards: The Life, the Man, and the Legacy (by Iain Murray)
  
• Free Online Books
  • God's Passion for His Glory
    Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards
  • A God-Entranced Vision of All Things
    The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards
    

You can find other related resources in the Jonathan Edwards topic in our Resource Library.

In the hopes that you will pray for us, I’ll give you the news about Abraham’s daughter. Abraham is my son who serves as the Web Content Manager for Desiring God. He and Molly were expecting their second child on Sunday, September 23. Molly was big and healthy. Everyone was happy and excited about Orison’s little sister.

There had been no movement since Thursday. Molly had read this was nothing unusual, but the doctor said she could come for a check-up if she wished. Saturday morning (September 22) they went to Hennepin County Medical Center. No heart beat. Ultrasound confirms: the baby is dead.

The phone call came to me first. It was Abraham through sobs, “We lost the baby.”

Noel and I arrived in a half hour. No explanation of the loss, not yet. After a couple hours they go home to get ready to induce later in the afternoon. At 1:30 PM they come to our home on the way to the hospital. Abraham’s brothers Karsten and Ben and their wives Shelly and Melissa are there. I read 2 Samuel 12:15-23, John 9:1-3, and 1 Corinthians 15:58 acknowledging that the word play on “labor” in verse 58 is not meant to be cute. We gathered around them and prayed. Ben drove them to the hospital. I went to church and dedicated 9 babies and preached from 1 Samuel 12:1-25, “The Sinful Origin of the Son of Man.” Then I went to the hospital to keep vigil.

At 11:54 PM, September 22, 2007, labor complete, Felicity Margaret Piper was born—lifeless. Abraham and Molly spent an hour or so with Felicity alone. Then the grandparents came in. (Molly’s parents, Bob and Darleen Dillemuth had flown in immediately from Erie, Pennsylvania.) Then Ben and Melissa and Karsten and Shelly and Millie and Talitha came in. All the adults held Felicity. I took lots of pictures and made a slide show to the music, “Be Thou My Vision.” It brings tears.

Abraham and Molly went home the next morning. The funeral is set for 11 AM Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at Bethlehem.

I have wept on Abraham’s shoulder with firm embraces. I have watched other men weep with him. I love the ready tears of strong men. I did not know Felicity. But I have known my son since he was Felicity’s age. When he is broken it affects me deeply. I cry when I see him and when I think about him. He loves being a father. He and Molly were both so excited about their girl. We are all numb with incomprehension. She was so ready and so healthy. The doctor who delivered her said the cord was tight around her neck and that was probably the cause.

Noel and I lay in bed at about 3 AM after coming home from the delivery thinking: This seems so preventable. By God and by man. Yes. So easy. But neither man nor God prevented this. Man, because he did not know it was happening. God, because he has his wise and loving reasons that we wait to learn with tears and trust.

Thank you for praying for us.

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved. Jesus had just asked him for the third time if he loved him…

Read the rest of our September ministry letter.

My wife and I just finished reading through The Big Picture Story Bible with our 2-year-old for his bedtime devotions. We went from Creation to Revelation in 26 simply-told and colorfully-drawn stories. Obviously, a lot has to be skipped over in order to sum up the Bible in 26 segments. But that's this book's whole point: to sum it all up; to give kids the gist of God's word. The whole point of the story of redemption is Jesus, “the forever king.”

Nothing I say could emphasize the value of books like this more than just quoting my son. For the last several minutes he has been reading this book to himself and making up songs about the pictures that he recognizes.

At the beginning of the book, he sang:

Adam and Eve were deceived.
Adam and Eve were deceived.

Then a few pages further, he continued:

Let me find the Philistines.

Finally, he skipped way ahead:

Dying for our sins.
Dying for our sins.
Love me, Jesus. Love me, Jesus.

Jesus and me. Jesus and me.

After that, he put the book aside and went to play with his dump truck.

It is invaluable to me as a dad that my child wants to read and know the Bible. After playing with Fisher-Price people, and before moving on to his Tonka Truck, he wants to sing about Jesus! Obviously, there is more to that than a bulky, brightly-colored, picture Bible, but it sure does help.

It was one year ago today that we released our new website and completed the posting of all 27 years of John Piper's sermon audio. By God's grace, the results have been wonderful to see—for example, each month more than 6.5 million pages are viewed on the site and more than 600,000 audio messages are streamed and downloaded. And these numbers continue to go up.

We are continually striving to make the site more helpful to you and to fill it with even more content. Here are some of the improvements from the last year that you might be most interested in:

• All seminar audio has been posted.
• Hundreds of additional conference audio messages have been posted, including the audio for all of John Piper's pastor's conference biographies.
• Ask Pastor John, a new 3-minute Q&A program, has launched.
• Online books now has an easier interface.
• Downloading audio and video is now easier.
• All sermon manuscripts are now edited for grammar and have been given headings. (The hundreds of sermon manuscripts from before the Internet era had not yet been proofed or given headings.) Many thanks to Dan Brendsel for this incredible labor.

If you are interested in ideas for helping make the most of the site, you might be interested in the site tour that we wrote last summer to introduce what was new on the site (or the abbreviated version). More recently, you may also be interested in:

• What You Will Find on Our Site
• The Website Tips blog category

Thank you to everyone who is using the site, and we hope it is serving you well. Please let us know anything we can do to serve you better in any way.

Thank you to all who contributed to the African Pastor CD Project! The project is now complete and we are wiring $6,000 to Conversation Ministries in Springs, South Africa. They will use the money to purchase a CD duplicator for producing CDs from their church and Desiring God. These will be sent without charge to local African pastors, missionaries laboring in Africa, and to individuals who may have no exposure to sound, evangelical preaching. May God use these CDs to spread a passion for his supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ in southern Africa.