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Jeremy Carter said, "So the Sunday before last my wife and I visited the Mars Hill Ballard Campus north of Seattle with my brother and his wife who are regular attendees. This is where Driscoll normally preaches, but he was out that day. W...(read the rest)" in some thoughts after visiting mars hill church.

Jeremy said, "i'm getting in a little late on this, but the "amen brother jolly" was too compelling. so for about two or three years now i've been moved again and again at how important it is for the christian to deal with sin. i...(read the rest)" in deadly sins.

jeff ronk said, "amen brother Jolly." in deadly sins.

cat said, "i'm using this link and some of its references in my biblical higher criticism paper. thanks for the post!" in hi mummy!.

cat said, "i'm using this link and some of its references in my biblical higher criticism paper. thanks for the post!" in hi mummy!.

who wants to be a believer
a new gameshow in turkey is attempting to convert atheists to religion. the show will pit rabbis, imans, monks, and priests against each other in an attempt to woe the atheist(s) to their respective religions.
Entered by taylor on 07.03.2009 at 22:03
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service, 2009.6.28
apologies in advance, sermon only this week (again). jeff covered mark 1:1-15 (notes here).
sermon is available here.
Entered by taylor on 07.02.2009 at 16:24
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web presence
the website for evangel cathedral is certainly showing our sorry selves up.
make sure your speakers are on and the volume is set to 11.
thanks to shaun for the link...
Entered by taylor on 06.29.2009 at 16:45
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service, 2009.6.21
brother hurley had his first day of teaching since moving back to austin, tx, and covered an intro and overview of mark. he's rather high energy, so beware of the multiple times when he knocks the pink recording device off of the music stand.
also, we don't have the full service available this week do to some technical difficulties, but the sermon is here, and his notes are here.
Entered by taylor on 06.27.2009 at 20:08
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our new internet study resources page
a cheater's new testament introduction
i have been working on compiling some useful internet study resources. this is the first in what i hope will be a larger more exhaustive collection of links to sites that will contribute to your biblical education.
Entered by jeff ronk on 06.18.2009 at 17:17
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read the new testament this month
jeff has put together a schedule to help you read through the new testament in a month. my family is signed on for the project, and that means my 7 year old son is doing the reading, so no excuses.
Entered by taylor on 06.09.2009 at 16:48
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service, 2009.6.7
hebrews has been completed; jeff finished the book this week, hitting heb 13:18-25. next week we'll read through the book as a group (probably no posting of the service next week), then we'll be on to mark.
the full service is here, the sermon all alone is here.
Entered by taylor on 06.08.2009 at 13:48
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service, 2009.5.31
hebrews 13:7-17, an encouragement to stay true to the truth they were established with initially.
the full service esta aqui, and the sermon is here, and the notes are here.
Entered by taylor on 06.08.2009 at 13:35
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service, 2009.5.24
yes, we're just playing catch up here...i've been a out of town quite a bit lately, so please forgive the delays. anyway, without further ado, here's the full service and here's just the sermon (covering heb 13:1-6).
Entered by taylor on 06.08.2009 at 13:23
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some thoughts after visiting mars hill church
MHC downtown
so, as part of our little excursion to seattle, laurie and i visited one of the mars hill church campuses today. i wanted to put down some observations and solicit some discussion.

by way of background, mars hill is a megachurch in seattle started by a guy named mark driscoll. it has grown from a bible study to a HUGE multi-campus church in about 10 years. (guessing here: see their site for the real history). as it is now, they have several campuses in addition to the main one in the ballard neighborhood north of downtown seattle. each of the sites has its own pastoral/elder leadership, but the preaching is driscoll piped in. not sure about the nuts and bolts of how that works but he is there on the screen at the campuses.

laurie and i visited the downtown campus (linked above) for a couple of reasons:

  • it was with in walking distance
  • i wanted to see how the campus model functioned in a real life service
  • that location supports our friends over at austin city life, an acts 29 network plant that meets over on 6th st.

we hit the 9:00 service and were pleasantly surprised to see that they also have a hard time starting on time, though not quite as late as we do. the interior had a nice minimalist modern-ish vibe: lots of black, coffee from storyville coffee. the band leading worship was on the bluegrass side of indie; nicely done, not too loud. over all the feel was just comfortable. i liked it.

now for some observations:

  • worship: not overdone; the setting provided a nice atmosphere for reflection/contemplation/meditation of the truths of scripture or songs. it was not emotionally conjured as we sometimes see, it was just nice to have a time to dwell on the passage that was read and projected as the back drop. the music was god focused, biblically based, and well presented. i think that as a church we could tighten this up a bit- work harder to provide an atmosphere that facilitated dwelling or meditation on scripture or our musical expression of worship.
  • as far as the campus model: there does seem to be some legitimate campus pastoral leadership at the sites: i am not sure how this plays out during the rest of the week, or in terms of decision making but it seemed to work. re: piping in driscoll- i am ambivalent here; for one thing it relies on tech- it can be glitchy. we had a rough start this morning. it is less strange to watch the sermon on a screen than i thought it would be, but i worry about the teaching opportunities of the local pastors/elders.
  • they use a lot of house done media- video, print, music, so there is a nice degree of cohesiveness across campuses. to my untrained eye, the quality is pretty good. the video intro to II peter today was quite catchy.

overall it was one of the more pleasant church experiences that i have had: comfortable and unpretentious, well done with out being cheesy. on a downside- they were not overly friendly- same as any church. not unfriendly- just not outgoing to a couple of new faces. of course- laurie and i are not exactly outgoing ourselves so we were happy to just blend in with the scenery.

lets have some questions/comments here. fire away. use this as an opportunity for what we can do to make salina street church more engaging and useful.

i will use this chance to get a little, como se dice, sentimental: i love the church- i love our church; it is my greatest desire to see it built up and strengthened. may god use our efforts to do just that. may we all work together to present every person complete in christ, remembering ii peter 1:1-4 "Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." amen.
Entered by jeff ronk on 05.31.2009 at 17:48
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service, 2009.5.17
this past sunday we covered hebrews 12:18-29, the very last warning of hebrews. no more stern, scary stuff in the book from here...
the full shebang is here, the sermon is here, and...notes are here.
heads up, this sermon is waaay to long, rolling in at 50 minutes. ouch.
Entered by taylor on 05.21.2009 at 19:30
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service, 2009.5.10
well...jeff taught on hebrews 12:14-17, which is a fantastic section. but our dandy little pink recording device pooped out about halfway through the prayer section of our service, so there really isn't anything to listen to.
apologies to you, dear reader, and may such difficulties be few and far between. jeff's notes are available here. feel free to tweet questions or email to elders-at-salinastreetchurch-dot-com.
Entered by taylor on 05.11.2009 at 23:22
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penn says
(posting for jeff) penn jillette, noted athiest of penn and teller fame, on his encounter with a christian proselytizing him. a well expressed view of his thoughts on 'witnessing', from the other side of the equation.
Entered by taylor on 05.09.2009 at 15:43
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fascinating graphic
changes in religious affiliations
this is a really interesting look at changes in religion from childhood to adulthood. the graphic is particularly striking.
Entered by jeff ronk on 05.07.2009 at 9:05
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service, 2009.5.3
heeeeebrews 12:4-13 this past sunday. moving right along, almost done with the book - what will come next?
full service here, sermon only here, and notes here.
Entered by taylor on 05.05.2009 at 19:11
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moral standing
the nytimes has an article exploring how people view their own morality; interesting reading. people tend to overestimate their own morality; 1 cor 10:12,13 comes through here again:
12. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 13. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Entered by taylor on 05.05.2009 at 12:11
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service, 2009.4.26
hebrews 12:1-3 this week. also, i botched the recording, so if you were hoping for some of the singing and other bits of the service, well tough on you.
the sermon, however, is here. Teaching notes here.
Entered by taylor on 04.29.2009 at 16:13
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the new athiesm
more athiests shout it from the rooftops
from the NYT: "Josh Streetman, who once attended the very Christian college that the Pastafarians were about to debate, said he knew the Bible too well to be sure that Scripture is true. Like Mr. Streetman, many of the other students at the meeting were highly literate in the Bible and religious history."
Entered by jeff ronk on 04.27.2009 at 12:32
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service, 2009.4.19
yeah, nothing for 2009.4.12, as that was easter; our easter service is available if you want to read along, but it's distinct from a usual service, comprised of mixed scripture reading, prayer, and singing.
the 19th saw the finish of heb 11, covering verses 32-40. the notes are here if you want them.
full service here, sermon only here.
Entered by taylor on 04.25.2009 at 14:59
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deadly sins
jeff pointed out this john piper sermon on battling the unbelief of lust, in which piper says the following:
My text on that point was Matthew 5:28-29 where Jesus says, "Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell." I pointed out that Jesus said heaven and hell are at stake in what you do with your eyes and with the thoughts of your imagination. After the message one of the students came up to me and asked, "Are you saying, then, that a person can lose his salvation?" This is exactly the same response I got a few years ago when I confronted a man about the adultery he was presently living in. I tried to understand his situation and I pled with him to return to his wife. Then I said, "You know Jesus says that if you don't fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell and suffer there forever." He looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, "You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?" So I have learned again and again from first hand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the warnings of the Bible and puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical threats. And this doctrine is comforting thousands on the way to hell.
Jesus said, if you don't fight lust, you won't go to heaven.

same goes for other sins referenced in that section, not just lust. our attitude towards sin has to be energetic, active resistance; not self-pity, not self-righteousness, and certainly not half-hearted.
Entered by taylor on 04.15.2009 at 17:59
Comments : 4            

service, 2009.4.5
sunday's service covered hebrews 11:23-31, reviewing the faith of abraham - rahab. the full service is here and the sermon by it's lonesome is here.
Entered by taylor on 04.08.2009 at 16:00
Comments : 1            

service, 2009.3.29
the 'hall of faith' in hebrews 11, abraham through joseph. cooler people than we...
full service here, sermon only here. notes here.
Entered by taylor on 04.02.2009 at 16:51
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hi mummy!
amenhotep II and the Exodus...
interested in a little light reading that will get you some serious geek street cred? here's a nice 30 page pdf on the historicity of Exodus and the pharaoh that Moses (god) likely went head to head with. want something with more pictures? try this.
Entered by jeff ronk on 03.29.2009 at 16:50
Comments : 2            

service, 2009.3.22
jeff preached from hebrews 11:1-8, all about faith. the full service (yes, we'll keep posting them) is here, and the sermon only is here.
note: sermon is in vbr 65-80khz. is it ok for you all?
also- trying something new here: link to teaching notes to go along with sermon audio. Hebrews 11:1-7.
Entered by taylor on 03.25.2009 at 16:09
Comments : 1            

conflict of ideas
looking for some wiki reading? how about some cognitive dissonance. in my opinion, it's relevant to the discussion of faith in hebrews, as we have to actively believe in the unseen...
Entered by taylor on 03.24.2009 at 13:02
Comments : 5            

service, 2009.3.15
another super bad recording brought to you by the mad scientists at salina street church. also - does anyone ever listen to the full service mp3s? can we kill those and just do the sermons?
anyway - this week we covered heb 10:32-39. full service here (yanked), sermon only here.
Entered by taylor on 03.22.2009 at 8:40
Comments : 4            

service, 2009.2.8
covered the nasty warning in 10 today (10:32-37).
full service here (yanked), sermon only here.
Entered by taylor on 03.10.2009 at 16:54
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service, 2009.3.1
normal service today; no odd talks, no double sermon surprise, just jeff and hebrews (10:19-25). full service is here (yanked), sermon only is here.
Entered by taylor on 03.04.2009 at 18:30
Comments : 3            

service, 2009.2.22
and we're back, after a while of no posts. feb 15 we took a while to talk about our use of money and how we wanted to do so, so no sermon, no post. feb 22 we made up for the lack of sermons with not one but two boring monologues to stop you in your tracks. the whole deal is here (yanked), or just the boring sermon bits (covering all the way from heb 9:15-10:18) here.
Entered by taylor on 03.04.2009 at 18:22
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service, 2009.2.8
sermon covered heb 9:1-14 today. might be a bit tough to follow at the beginning since we were looking at a lego model of the temple, which you can't see on the recording; view a much better model over at brick testament, though please note that it's solomons temple, not the tabernacle.
whole service here, sermon only here.
Entered by taylor on 02.14.2009 at 12:56
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service, 2009.2.1
today was hebrews 8, including the mega super jer 31 quotation the author of hebrews includes.
the whole service is here, and the sermon all by it's lonesome is here.
Entered by taylor on 02.01.2009 at 15:53
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service, 2009.1.25
just the sermon this week; we were a little low on battery and had to charge during the musical portion of our service. the sermon covers all of chapter 7, a huge chunk that is really part of a bigger section yet. i felt a bit awkward trying to cover so much text, but hopefully it will prove useful nonetheless. available here.
note: the image is some internet vision of melchizedek, perhaps a bit different than i had imagined.
Entered by taylor on 01.27.2009 at 11:43
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service, 2009.1.18
found the pink thing, and with it the recording of jeff covering hebrews 6:13-20.
the whole thing is here, or you can just get the sermon here.
Entered by taylor on 01.27.2009 at 11:37
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where is the pink thing?
no services for the past two weeks? what's up?
well...i kind of failed to get last weeks posted, and then managed to kind of lose the pink recording thing. so i have both sermons on the device, but i can't seem to find it.
Entered by taylor on 01.27.2009 at 10:35
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homework for 2009.2.2
groundhog day homework is...to work on your outlines of col, eph, or eph. you should be in one of those groups already, or just pick one that works for you.
when we meet, we'll look at those and then finish up col 3 and eph 5 (rough comparison)
Entered by taylor on 01.27.2009 at 10:32
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homework for 2008.1.26
read col 3:1-14, eph 5:1-21
compare. contrast. outline them together-ish.
update: i mean col 3:1-17.
Entered by taylor on 01.19.2009 at 18:58
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service, 2009.1.12
hebrews 6:4-6:12 this past week...yup, the sticky passage that makes us uncomfortably debate whether you can lose your salvation or not. notes are here, but they're probably not too helpful.
the full shebang (with singing and everything) is here, and the sermon alone is here.
Entered by taylor on 01.16.2009 at 15:21
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not so fond of it
the nytimes posts a bit on mark driscoll/mars hill, metafilter goes hernia.
Entered by taylor on 01.12.2009 at 14:45
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service, 2009.1.5
started off the new year with the first part of the third warning, hebrews 5:11-6:3.
full spiel here, sermon alone here.
Entered by taylor on 01.05.2009 at 18:18
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homework for 2009.1.19
read phil 3:1-21
- what is the theme?
- what is attacked (the value/belief to avoid)?
- what is praised (the value/belief to hold)?
(update: pushed this a week since we didn't finish last weeks yet)
Entered by taylor on 01.05.2009 at 18:09
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