A Synthesis of Resurrection Accounts in the Gosepels

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I spent time this week synthesizing the gospel accounts in an attempt to have one, complete Biblical account of Jesus’ resurrection. Because of the patchwork and in some of the chronology I have inadvertently asserted my opinions. The exercise was really helpful for me for those of you who are Pastors, I would encourage you to attempt your own. It’s available for download: A Synthesis of Resurrection Accounts in the Gospels

Keilan @ Pillar

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The uber talented Keilan Creech will be leading worship at Pillar Church this Sunday. Keilan came to work at Pillar Church as a summer intern when he was eighteen, just after graduating from my Alma Mater, Peniel Academy. Keilan grew up on the mission field in Brazil where he helped his dad plant churches and reach people far from God. Keilan ended up spending several years in Virginia leading worship at Pillar Church and Aletheia Richmond.

Keilan has put a face on King David for me. Both write with the same surprising vulnerable about themselves and surprising confidence in the abilities of God. Keilan’s one of those guys who is just wired up to produce songs.. the fall out of his mouth and off of his fingers with little effort.

You can check out his new single, Dying for a Change

You can see him at Pillar Church Sunday morning at 10:30am

Potomac Mills Kiosk Outreach

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Starting April 1st we will be doing a month long outreach at one of the largest shopping malls in the country, Potomac Mills. Potomac Mills has about 18 million visitors a year and we are going to do our best to spread the word to some of them. Please pray for us. If you live in the area and want to help, feel free to send me an email at clint@pillarchurchsbc.com. Here is a look at our cart design.

Randy Newman Seminar

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Randy Newman the author of Questioning Evangelism and several other books spoke at Pillar Church yesterday. It was a very helpful talk on the subject of Personal Evangelism. If you are interested in the audio you can find it below.

  • Sunday Night Seminar: Stream it HERE
  • Sunday Night Seminar: Download it HERE
  • Sunday Morning Sermon: Stream it HERE
  • Sunday Morning Sermon:Download it HERE

At the event, I read a quote by Edward Payson. About a dozen people asked me for the reference after the event so here is the quote and the reference.

Edward Payson was a 18th century congregational pastor in New England, during the second great awakening. “National Preacher” Volume 35, Issue 8 on page 245. What is below is an edited version of the end of his sermon.. i changed a few of the words to modernize it.

I cannot, must not, however, conclude, without addressing a word, my professing friends, to you.  And I hope you will bear with me, if, in view of such a subject as this, I address you with obvious severity.

We all deserve damnation, a thousand times, for our stupid insensibility to the situation of those, who are perishing around us.  We profess to believe the word of God; but can you prove that you believe it?  Do you act, as if you believed it?  Do you believe that many of your acquaintances, your children, are in danger of the fate, which has been so vividly described in the bible?

Dare you go to God, and say, Lord, I believe thy word, I believe that all your warnings and threats will be fulfilled… and then, as if I believed nothing… turn away, and coolly pursue my worldly business, without uttering one agonizing cry for those, who are exposed to this danger?  Dare you go and claim relationship to Christ, and profess to have his Spirit, and then make no effort, or only a few faint efforts, to save those, for whom he shed not tears only, but blood?
Here is what I have to say to you…  go, inconsistent, cruel, hard-hearted professors; go, slumber over the ruin of immortal souls; wrap yourself up in your selfish temporal interests, and say, I have no time to spare for rescuing others from everlasting burnings.  Go, wear out your life in acquiring property for your children, and leave their souls to perish in the fire that never shall be quenched.  Go, adorn their bodies, and banish from their minds if possible… the knowledge of such a wicked disease… .and leave in their chest that immortal worm, which will gnaw them forever.  And when God asks, where is thy child? you brother? you friend? Reply, with the irreverant Cain, I know not, I care not: am I his keeper?

Say, then, Christian, do you believe that Christ died to save you from the misery, which I have so imperfectly  described?  Dost thou believe, that if he had not loved you and given himself for you, the gnawing worm and the unquenchable fire would have been your portion forever?  O then, where is thy gratitude, thy love?

It is expressed in the act of becoming a witness of Jesus Christ to those who are melting into hell around you.

Where are the drowning people?

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Let me guess. You love your kids, you love Jesus and you want your kids to love Jesus. You say to yourself, “Self, If I want my kids to love Jesus… so, I need to read the Bible to them”. So, you load up in the mini van and head over to the Bargain Bible Warehouse where approximately 3 billion beautifully illustrated children’s Bibles  assault four of your five senses. You flip through them, one by one, comparing musical buttons to scratch and sniff. Finally, you decided on one and head to the checkout.

That night, Johnny tucked in tight; you pull out your new purchase and flip it open. Each story takes approximately 17 seconds to read, leaving lots of extra time for you and Johnny admire the pop up pages.

You read each of the stories, noticing the omission of death, blood, wrath, anger and well… anything negative. But the omission doesn’t bother you; after all… we don’t want our kids to know everything about God only the pleasant things.

I find it ironic that we stand ready to stone an adult who manipulates the Word of God to suit his own desires but happily join in the manipulation when our kids are involved.

What does it say about our confidence in the scripture when we conceal it from our own children? What does it say about our discipleship as parents if our children can only handle happy thoughts?

With every word and picture our children consume they are creating a profile of God in their minds. The profile they are getting… God is love, God is always happy, God never gets angry, God loves everyone, the end.

I think there’s a pretty good chance that, if a kid who grew up thinking about God this way, then – by some chance got a hold of an actual Bible – he might think he were reading about a different God.

I want to start a grassroots revolt against all lies in children’s Bible media. The way I see it, if your kids cant handle a Bible story you have two options.

#1 – Don’t read it to them. (This is the one I favor)

#2 – Read them a distorted version, excluding the parts you believe they cant handle.

Tonight at dinner I found myself unteaching a lie my children learned by watching one of those ridiculous Christian films. I think I’m honestly to the point that I’d rather my children watch “Children of the Corn” than “Veggie Tales”.

New Series: Hide & Seek

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At Pillar over the month of April, we are leasing a Kiosk at the Potomac Mills Mall in Woodbridge. Members from Pillar will be manning the kiosk during the open hours of the mall (10:00am-9:30pm) we will be giving away Bibles and other gospel centered materials. The sermon series, “Hide & Seek” centers around the question, “is God hiding from us?” or “If God is so real, why isn’t it more obvious?” I’m excited to see what happens as we begin conversations about Christ in the marketplace.