On February 4–6, 2013, we will gather, God willing, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the annual Desiring God Conference for Pastors. This time the theme is “Brothers, We Are Still Not Professionals: Reclaiming the Centrality of the Supernatural in Ministry.” Just days prior to the conference is the scheduled release of John Piper’s revised and expanded Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry.

This short new ebook Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors, available free from Desiring God, is a celebration and extension of that book — born not only from an effort to whet the appetite for the upcoming conference, but in a hope to bless pastors …

Continue Reading →

A Hindu once asked the missionary E. Stanley Jones, “What has Christianity to offer that our religion has not?” He replied, “Jesus Christ.” Indeed, Jesus Christ is central to Christian belief and practice, and is the driving force in our missiology. He stands at the center of the universe, at the center of the Scriptures, and at the center of our missiology.

Jesus Christ Is Supreme

Jesus Christ is pre-eminent — all things were created by him, through him, and for him (Colossians 1:16). It is only through him that man is saved (Acts 4:12) and only through him that the church is built (Matthew 16:18). It is in Christ, as Ajith Fernando asserts in The Supremacy of Christ, that “The Creator of…

Continue Reading →

It was the day after Christmas, 1862, in the town square of Mankato, Minnesota, that 38 Dakota warriors were hanged at the order of president Abraham Lincoln. After 150 years, it is still the largest mass execution in American history.

Mankato is about 80 miles southwest of the Twin Cities. In 1862, it was a frontier town in the thick of growing tensions between the quickly multiplying white settlers and the increasingly marginalized Dakota natives. The mass execution was essentially the memorable conclusion to what is now known as the U.S.-Dakota War (also known as the Sioux Uprising of 1862, as the settlers called the natives Sioux Indians).

How War Erupted

In the summer of 1862, the…

Continue Reading →

The new stage-to-screen adaptation of Les Misérables (which releases today) is proof again of the enduring power of Victor Hugo’s 150-year-old masterpiece. The novel-turned-musical has been released for film and television now 67 times in the past 115 years.

And although I cannot commend that you go see the newest rendition — mostly due to two suggestive sex scenes involving prostitutes — we don't need the new film to explore the enduring value of Les Misérables.

The classic script for the plays and for the new movie is available online. And all the musical highlights from the new film, including Anne Hathaway’s incredible rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream,” can be found on this new sound…

Continue Reading →

Christmas is the day heaven kissed earth.

The Eternal Word, the golden son of heaven, humbly and willingly took up our comparatively lowly humanity, without ceasing to be God, and entered into the created realm, coming to earth as one of us.

And it wasn’t some kind of circus stunt, for mere show, but for our sake. The Great Move was all of grace and for our rescue. It is history’s climactic expression of love and favor.

Heaven kissed earth.

This way of talking about the incarnation comes from Thomas Goodwin (1600–1680), Puritan preacher, theologian, chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and member of the Westminster Assembly. Goodwin described the wonder of what happened at that first Christ…

Continue Reading →

Jesus was born of a virgin. This is a glory unique to the one God-man.

Of the billions of humans who have lived throughout history, only one person entered the world in this way. There is only one mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), and there is only one human who was virgin born.

Jesus’s distinctive birth is no myth or mere random fact from the Gospels. It is a special honor conferred only on the Son of God incarnate. And it is full of significance for knowing the person of Jesus and the God who has revealed himself in him.

Supernatural, Not Mythical

Matthew and Luke wrote the authoritative accounts. We have no good reason to think either was gullible in the least. Matthe…

Continue Reading →

Jesus says, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 19:29).

What he means is that those who have never seen him in person and still believe in him are blessed.

But that's not easy. We're certainly not prone to think this way. I mean, can you imagine what it would have been like to see Jesus? To see God in the flesh, lying in a manger? To hear the first sounds uttered from his vocal chords? To actually touch him? To touch the Nazarene, fully God, fully man, one person with two natures?

What a privilege that must have been. Surely, this would make our faith stronger. But hold on a minute. That's not exactly how it works. Don't forget what Jesus said.

Jonathan Edwa…

Continue Reading →

A few Pastors Conference reminders:

1. The early bird registration rate of $125 ends December 31 at 11:59 PM (CST). For groups of five or more we have a special rate of just $110 per person.

2. Speakers include Darrin Patrick, Tope Koleoso, Kent Hughes, Jason Meyer, Mack Stiles, John Piper, Tony Reinke and Rick Gamache. See the conference schedule for more details and information.

3. Special guest Mark Dever will open the conference with a two-part seminar on disciple-making and the local church (sponsored by Fidelis Foundation).

We'd love to see you February 4–6 in Minneapolis!

By now, most of us in the West are up to our necks in holiday commercialization. Far too many of us feel like we’re once again stumbling toward Christmas, exhausted and depleted by the most consumeristic season in history’s most consumeristic civilization.

When inundated with the pressures and relentless commercializing of the Christmas season, one memorable personality on the sitcom Seinfeld abandoned Christmas altogether and up and created his own holiday, or anti-holiday. As some of us will recall, it was the father of Jerry Seinfeld’s good friend George — his name, Frank Costanza — who created the December 23 observance called “Festivus” in the 1997 episode called “The Strike.”

Toda…

Continue Reading →

In the summer of 1968, between college and seminary, I read Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. It was then, and is now, spiritually and theologically powerful. Lloyd-Jones was one of the best preachers of the 20th century. Thanks to the grace of digital technology, he still is.

Now these 656 pages are recorded by Chris Allen in five apps for your phone, with about six hours of reading in each app. What is unusual about these apps is that the text of the book scrolls as they are read to you — or you can just read. It’s like getting an audio book and ebook and a player, all in one.

Besides the scrolling text and the audio, there is a built-in glossary of unusual or cu…

Continue Reading →