Two Very Different Reports

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Darrell Buchanan

Two different reports have caught my eye today:

A Barna Research Group report, “What People Experience in Churches”, claims that, in spite all the time churches spend preparing for Sunday, less than half of those who attend church every week say they experience God’s presence in a worship gathering.

Meanwhile, the ASSIST News Service headlines a report from the Daily Telegraph that UK church attendance has started to rise again, particularly in London, as “A Welcome Return to Religion as Attendance Swells in Britain’s Churches.” 

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The Philemon Files: From Paul

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Darrell Buchanan

One of the fascinating aspects of the letter to Philemon is Paul’s pastoral finesse as he seeks to bring the two alienated parties together. It can be seen in the very first words of the letter where Paul identifies himself as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus” instead of referring to himself as an apostle as he so often does in his other letters (cf. Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; Titus 1:1 ). Paul is not going to base whatever appeal he makes to Philemon on his authority as an apostle. He does, however, call himself an “old man” (Phm 9) which likely means that Paul was in his mid-50s when the letter was composed.
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Wandering Web Wednesday

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Darrell Buchanan

A plethora of “Best of” lists mark the beginning of a new year:

Here are another couple of lists that are of a different variety than the “best of” lists above:

On a more serious note:

Enjoy!

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Book Blogging: The King Jesus Gospel–Introduction

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Darrell Buchanan

I had only been at the church a couple of years when some began to express their concern and displeasure over the fact that I was not “extending the invitation” at the conclusion of every sermon. As Thomas Olbricht has noted, historically the invitation was “the request at the close of the sermon for those anxious about their souls to come forward” (see Thomas H. Olbricht, “The Invitation: A Historical Survey,” Restoration Quarterly, 5:1; available online here). My response to the concerned members was to point out that every sermon encouraged some sort of response but that the type of response that was encouraged depended on the message. Unfortunately, many didn’t understand or accept my practice and the matter continued to fester during my entire tenure as minister at that church.
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The Philemon Files: Introduction

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Darrell Buchanan

At only 25 verses, the brevity of Paul’s letter to Philemon makes it stand out among the books of the New Testament. But the letter to Philemon also stands out because it has a real-life, flesh-and-blood dimension: the imprisoned apostle takes a personal interest in the relationship between his friend Philemon and his slave, Onesimus, who has also become a dear friend to Paul.
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