🧰 Resources

My Problem with David Platt’s Radical

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Like many people in the last year, I have read David Platt’s soul-searching book, Radical. Make no mistake, I was a David Platt fan before being a David Platt fan was cool.  I got the privilege to hear him preach years before his name got real big.  Back in the day, he loved Jesus and was committed to his mission.

Here’s a video preview of his book:

Pretty intense stuff.  The book is even more intense.  He unashamedly calls the American church to wake up from their pursuit of the American Dream and live out the gospel in their daily lives.  Russell Moore’s endorsement is right on: “Sometimes people will commend a book by saying, ‘You won’t want to put it down.’  I can’t say that about this book.  You’ll want to put it down, many times.  If you’re like me, as you read David Platt’s Radical, you’ll find yourself uncomfortably targeted by the Holy Spirit.  You’ll see just how acclimated you are to the American dream…”

My problem with the book is this: David Platt is living this out in the context of an existing Southern Baptist church.

And people are forgetting that.

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Overcome

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As our team prayed and collaborated on what songs should be on this album, God began to unite these songs under a single theme: in this world we will have trouble, but we will overcome. In the months of this recording process, we have seen over and over why God gave us these songs in order to minister to those …

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Graduation Gift

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It’s wild to think that I released Freshman 15 a year ago.  As graduation time approaches, if you need a book for a graduating senior, you might think about giving this a try.  I wrote it in part because I got so many books that were a tad fluffy when I graduated.  They were high on the encouragement to “survive” …

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Coming Home

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“Coming Home” is an album made in Addeybug Studios as a fundraiser for bringing our son home from Ethiopia. Coming Home by Travis Agnew Download Chord Charts – Coming Home  

Book of the Week: The Passion of Jesus Christ

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This week’s book of the week is John Piper’s The Passion of Jesus Christ.  Love me some Piper, but I love me some Jesus even more.  This book’s tag line (and what the 2nd edition was renamed) is 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. These 50 small chapters pack so much theological truth into the reasonings Jesus came, died, …

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Book of the Week: Getting Things Done

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This week’s book of the week is David Allen’s Getting Things Done.  The funny thing is I am a week late on this book review because I have had too much to do!  I made it 7 weeks into the new year with a book a week, and I failed miserably on the week I was reading a productivity book. …

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The Shack

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This week’s book of the week is the ever-so-polarizing The Shack by William P. Young.  I have received more questions about this book than I did about The Da Vinci Code.  When people ask, it normally starts like this, “Have you read The Shack? What did you think about it?”  I’ll ask what they thought about it and they want to …

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Book of the Week: Simplify Your Spiritual Life

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This week’s book of the week is Donald S. Whitney’s Simplify Your Spiritual Life.  I first read Dr. Whitney’s book on spiritual disciplines in seminary, and he has one of the most helpful and practical voices to helping people grow spiritually.  In a chaotic world, he wrote this volume to give many bite-size chapters on how to simplify your spiritual …

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Book of the Week: The 5 Love Languages (Which One is Yours?)

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This week’s book of the week is Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages. While I have used the premise of this book often in counseling, I had never actually read the book.  Since this week was a heart book read, I decided to go through this book finally.  The idea is that we all have  primary love language that we …

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Book of the Week: Making Vision Stick

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This week’s book of the week was Andy Stanley’s Making Vision Stick. Stanley is the pastor of North Point Community Church.  He is one of the smartest leaders I have ever had the privilege to be taught by.  The guy breathes organization and systems.  He is often criticized for his use of corporate leadership within the church, but he rebuttles that …

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Book of the Week: The Reason for God

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This week’s book of the week is Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.  You can listen to him explain the book in the video above.  My college roommate, Phillip, told me about how great Keller’s writings were, and since I started my religion course back, I thought this would be a good mind-stretching selection …

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Book of the Week: Forgotten God

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This week’s book of the week is by Francis Chan entitled Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. Chan has been a mentor of mine from events, sermons, and writings.  I believe he has been placed by God in this generation to wake the church up and invite us back to walking intimately with God. In this …

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Book of the Week: Raising Dad

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This week’s book of the week is Raising Dad by Thom S. Rainer and Art Rainer.  I am grateful to Chuck Lawless for recommending this book to me.  Lawless is the dean at the Billy Graham school at Southern Seminary.  His predecessor was Thom Rainer, now the president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In conversations with Dr. Lawless concerning being a …

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Book of the Week: Biblical Eldership

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This week’s book of the week is Alexander Strauch’s Biblical Eldership.  Our elders at North Side have gone through this book as a study.  The book is a biblical exposition of the New Testament model of elders within a local church. While we studied it in groups going over different sections, I took this week to reread it and really …

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Book Reading Resolution (or is it a plan…)

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I used to hate reading.  I mean, hate it.  It had to change in college.  It helped that I began to enjoy what I was reading.  When I had to read through a book on Jesus for class, I got more into reading. Through college, seminary, and doctoral work, my reading lists were mandated to me.  I acquired extra books …

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Book of the Week: Adopted for Life

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This week’s book of the week is Russell Moore’s Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches. Dr. Moore is the dean of theology from my alma mater, Southern Seminary.  He has adopted two boys from Russia.  We got this book back when we were considering adoption.  The only problem was that Amanda was reading it …

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Joy to the World

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Released: December 6, 2009 Joy to the World Angels We Have Heard on High Come Thou Long Expected Jesus Come Lord Jesus (Agnew original) The First Noel Infant Holy Infant Lowly Silent Night O Holy Night Go Tell It On the Mountain O Come All Ye Faithful What, Then, is Christmas? (Nivens original) The Arrival (Agnew loop meets scriptural bliss) …

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Hurry Home

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Pastor Andy Stanley wrote a book entitled Choosing to Cheat which describes the tension between the demands of a family and the demands of a vocation. His premise is that you will have to choose to cheat in one area – either your family or your work will get the best you have to offer. Which one will you choose? …

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What’s Your Love Language?

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In Gary Chapman’s helpful book, The Five Love Languages, he holds that every person has a specific love language that speaks to them most. Do you know yours? Words of Affirmation – You feel especially loved when people express how grateful they are for you, and for the simple, everyday things you do. Quality Time – You feel especially loved …

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Freshman 15 Update

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Thanks for all of you who bought Freshman 15 – I don’t know who all of you are, but thanks!  I pray God uses it in your life! I had some questions about ordering the book from Create Space.  If you order it, it says that you might not get the book until a few weeks.  The reason why is …

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Freshman 15 Released TODAY!

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After a lot of time hyping this thing, it is finally here!  Order Freshman 15 here. Freshman 15 is my first book. Written as a guide for college students and graduating high schools seniors, this book encourages Christians to give weight to Christ in fifteen crucial areas during this pivotal time. Even if you aren’t a college student, buy some …

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Freshman 15

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Freshman fifteen is an Americanized concept proposing that when students conclude their freshman year at college, they are approximately fifteen pounds heavier than when that school year began. Every college student will gain weight in college, but that doesn’t have to be a negative thing. People in the ancient world spoke of giving weight to something as giving it glory …

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Freshman 15 Release Date

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After receiving the third proof copy, everything is a go for Freshman 15.  Woo hoo! I didn’t think I would ever see this day come.  So, here’s how you can get your copy: the official release date will be Tuesday, May 26th online.  I will post the link on how you can get your copy right here on my blog …

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Book of the Week: Family Driven Faith

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This week’s book of the week goes to Voddie Baucham’s Family Driven Faith.  Preparing for our Legacy series, this book has been a huge asset.  I tried to get five best quotes from the book, but I only got to page 51.  Here goes: “In other words, if I am not a good husband, I am not qualified to lead …

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Chapter 15: The Will (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 15: The Will: When I worked on an assembly line one summer during college, I learned the significance concerning quotas.  Each Monday morning, I would put my gloves and goggles on, and I would receive a quota of bottom sashes for skylights that needed to be completed by Friday.  If I could not produce the …

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Chapter 14: The World (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 14: The World: I normally have answers for people when asked a question.  At that moment, I was speechless.  How do you begin to describe the one who has flipped your life upside down?  How do you express the type of love displayed at the cross to someone who has never even heard the story?  …

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Chapter 13: The Family (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 13: The Family: One of my favorite movies when I was a child was the Christmas classic, Home Alone. If you remember the plot line, Culkin’s character, “Kevin,” had a pretty awful family.  He had a brother Buzz who wanted to feed him to his tarantula.  He had to bunk with his cousin Fuller who …

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Chapter 12: The Time (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 12: The Time: I remember the first week of college.  I remember the joy I felt after my ten o’clock class that I was able to go back to my room and do whatever I wanted.  I loved the days when I would go to a nine o’clock class and then come back and get …

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Chapter 11: The Classroom (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 11: The Classroom: History displays a stark contrast to present reality.  Years ago, the greatest paintings, musical scores, and architectural pieces were almost always produced by followers of Jesus.  The most talented painters painted biblical scenes because no greater image could ever fill a canvas.  If a composer developed a beautiful symphony, he must put …

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Chapter 10: The Budget (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 10: The Budget: Besides food and lodging, there are plenty of other spending temptations.  Maybe you have the honest desire to dress like the most popular students on campus.  You don’t want to drive your mom’s minivan when other students are driving sports cars.  With the click of a “Buy” button, you can easily get …

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Chapter 9: The Influencers (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 9: The Influencers: I have formulated a couple of tests to determine if I have gotten callused.  You know you have become callused when a friend asks you how a movie was, and you have to reply, “It wasn’t that bad.  It only had a few cuss words in it.”  Busted.  If you have to …

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Chapter 8: The Outreach (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 8: The Outreach: That episode in college made me realize something: casual Christianity causes casualties.  When we are casual about our Christianity, when we are apathetic about others’ spiritual stages, that indifference causes casualties.  If you are going to believe the Bible and hold that there is no way to a relationship with God outside …

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Chapter 7: The Church Hop (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 7: The Church Hop: Do not fall into the temptation of becoming a spiritual couch potato.  If you have ever uttered the words concerning church, “I just didn’t get that much out of it,” you have totally missed the point.  As a part of the church, you are meant to give yourself away.  It’s interesting …

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Chapter 6: The Party Scene (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 6: The Party Scene: One of the most debated issues in Christianity concerning freedom is that of social drinking.  Denominations differ.  Backgrounds divide.  Experiences direct.  When most pastors communicate to students concerning the sins to abstain from in America, the list normally starts with premarital sex, drinking, and smoking.  These are areas which the Bible …

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Chapter 5: The Purity (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 5: The Purity: The goal is not to see how close you can get to sin.  The goal is to be holy because God is holy (1 Pet. 1:16).  We don’t want to get near sin;  we should yearn to flee from it.  The problem is that many people have never decided concerning the area …

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Chapter 4: The Date (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 4: The Date: The number one danger for college students dating lies in the practice of settling.  It normally falls out like so: A young lady attended a True Love Waits rally when she was sixteen, and during that weekend, she wrote down the characteristics of the man that she believed God desired her to …

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Chapter 3: The Entourage (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 3: The Entourage: This natural progression happens on every college campus in the country.  A freshman arrives at college with great anticipations of living for Jesus.  This freshman had a high school graduation service at her church where she received a Bible, a devotional book for graduates, and was featured in a graduate recap video.  …

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Chapter 2: The Worldview (Freshman 15 Snippet)

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Here’s a snippet from Chapter 2: The Worldview: If you attend a secular university, you will be labeled as a backwards hick if you claim to believe the message of the Bible.  Compared to the state of the church around the world, the university campus should not be classified as full-scale persecution, but most campuses in this country are nothing …

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