Posts Tagged ‘Friday Five’

May
10
2013

Loving Someone With Whom You Disagree

Today in my Friday Five interview for Leadership Journal, I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Russell Moore, the newly elected head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. I’ve long admired Dr. Moore for his clear, biblical teaching and his winsome perspective on the Scripture and politics. One of the questions I asked him was about his relationship with the President. You might not expect a friendship between a liberal Democrat and a conservative evangelical, but this is what Dr. Moore said. I think his response gives Christians a good model for how to disagree agreeably:

I have disagreements with President Obama on some crucially important things, such as matters of life, marriage, and religious liberty. I have respect for him as a leader and as our president, and I like him as a person. When you pray for someone every day, it is hard not to love that person, even when he disappoints you in some area or another.

He and his Administration have always treated me with kindness and respect, and I have friends I love in the Administration. We don’t have to agree on everything to work together sometimes, and to seek to understand one another when we don’t agree.

I hope to honor and to pray for the President, as the Bible commands us to do, even when we disagree, and to work with his Administration when we have points of mutual concern for the common good.

I have learned a lot by watching the example of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in his friendship with the President. In a profile of Sen. Coburn in TIME Magazine, written by President Obama himself, of all people, the senator is quoted as saying, “What better way to influence someone than to love them?” I recognize the Spirit of Christ in that statement, and I hope to live up to it.

Read the entire interview here:

May
03
2013

The Key To Successful Blogging

It’s no secret that popular blogger, Rachel Held Evans and I disagree on a number of theological issues. But I consider Rachel a friend and was privileged to interview her for today’s Friday Five with Leadership Journal. One of the questions I asked her was the secret to her blogging success. She said this:

I’ve been blogging for nearly five years, and in that time, have seen slow, steady growth from one or two readers a day (namely, my mom and someone searching for another Rachel Evans), to several thousand readers a day. I credit this growth to two things: consistency and collaboration.

The biggest shift in blog traffic for me occurred when I started writing every day, on a schedule. There wasn’t a single event or post that suddenly grew my platform; it was just the hard work of sitting down at the computer every day and getting a post up.

Rachel was gracious to answer my questions, even some tough ones. You can read the rest of the interview here:.

Apr
26
2013

A Commitment to Holiness and Humility

I had the privilege of interviewing Rev. Samuel Rodriquez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. Rodriquez is a well-known speaker who represents the growing Hispanic evangelical population. I asked him about a recent honor he received:

You were the first Latino leader to give a commemorative address at Dr. Martin Luther King’s annual commemorative event. Was that opportunity a dream come true?

Beyond a dream come true, the opportunity graciously rendered serves as a testimony to the purpose and promise of God for each of our lives. When I was 14 years of age, I saw a television special on Dr. King when a still small voice in my heart prompted me to write, “One day, God will enable me to connect with Dr. King’s family as I serve our communities.” With a commitment to holiness and humility, all things are possible.

I also asked Rodriquez about immigration reform and the misconceptions white evangelicals often have about Hispanics. You can the rest  of the interview here:

Apr
19
2013

The Political Idol

Okay, I had a terrific interview with cultural commentator and author, Eric Metaxas about a wide-range of things including civic engagement, the role of the Church in culture, evangelical subcultures, and the controversial White House Prayer Breakfast. It was brought to my attention that the section of the interview I had previously highlighted might have been controversial in the sense that it didn’t give the full context of Eric’s remarks and given the impression that I agree with the idea that Christians generally create “subpart art.” Alas, that’s not my intention at all. So rather than stoke a controversy, I decided to highlight another portion. In this section I asked Eric about the tension Christians face between civility and courage:

To be merely and nakedly political and to say things and advocate for issues in an uncivil manner will create an idol of politics and results. To worship that idol is to deny the gospel in another way.

You can read the entire interview here:

Apr
05
2013

Out of Ur: Friday Five Interview: D.A. Carson

My first Friday Five interview for Leadership Journal posts today. First up?  Bible scholar and author, DA Carson:

You recently released a book, Jesus, the Son of God. Why the emphasis on son-ship for pastors and theologians today?

The title “the Son of God” is one that is repeatedly applied to the Lord Jesus, so there is a perennial responsibility to understand it. There are two factors that make this responsibility more urgent at the present time. First, sometimes the world of biblical interpretation and the world of systematic theology do not mesh very well. In this instance, how do we move from the various uses of “Son of God” in the Bible to the meaning of “Son of God” in Trinitarian theology? There are important ways of making the connections, but not many Christians these days have thought them through. To restore such knowledge is a stabilizing thing, and an incentive to worship. Second, certain voices are suggesting that we can do away with “Son of God” and other familial terms in new translations for Muslim converts. In my view this is both bad linguistics and bad theology, and needs to be challenged.

To read the rest, click here: Out of Ur: Friday Five Interview: D.A. Carson.

Mar
19
2013

A Big Announcement

So I have a big, really cool announcement about my blog. Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing all kinds of Christian leaders on this blog in a feature I call “The Friday Five.” I’ve learned a lot, made some great friends, and have heard from lots of people about how much they enjoyed learning from this diverse group of Christian leaders.

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Well, starting in April, I’m moving The Friday Five over to Leadership Journal, the fine print and online publication of Christianity Today. I’m excited to team up with my friends Skye Jethani and Drew Dyck and Marshall Shelley and Paul Pastor who operate this incredible publication. This is a great opportunity to bring these types of interviews to a wider audience. And I’m pinching myself, because LJ has long been one of my favorite publications both in print and online. I’ve learned so much from the terrific content. Now I’m part of it, in a small way.

So what this change means is this:

  • We will begin fresh at Leadership Journal with all new interviews. I will probably re-interview folks that I’ve talked to in the past, based on new projects and new ideas. 
  • They will still post on Friday. Most will be print interviews, but we may feature a few Skype ones.
  • The archive of interviews will remain here on my site, so you are free to browse those still.
  • I will have access to a wider array of leaders thanks to the resources of Christianity Today and Leadership Journal.
  • I will continue to offer fresh, original blogs here at my personal site, just not the Friday Five interviews.

I always gain so much wisdom by asking questions of people who know much more than I do. I hope questions I ask will benefit you as much as they do me.

BTW: You can follow Leadership Journal on Twitter: @Leadership_jnl

 

Mar
08
2013

Friday Five: Steve Mathewson

fridayfive-smaller

Mathewson.Steve-2012webI’m thrilled to welcome my good friend, Steve Mathewson to the blog today. Steve is a fellow pastor in the Chicago area and also is a adjunct professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where I’m studying for my Mdiv. Steve pastors Crosslife Evangelical Free Church in Libertyville, IL Steve received a Master of Arts Degree in Old Testament in 1986 from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Ore. and a Doctor of Ministry in 2000 from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. He and his wife, Priscilla, have four children.

Steve is also an author. I wanted to talk to him about his latest book, one that I’m very, very excited about, Risen, 50 Reasons Why the Resurrection Changed Everything. It’s good reading for Christians as they prepare their hearts for Easter.

What motivated you to write this book on the Resurrection?

Three years ago, I had challenged the church I pastor to read through John Piper’s Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die in the fifty days prior to Easter Sunday. On Good Friday morning, as I was nearing the end of Piper’s book, the thought struck me that we needed a similar book for the resurrection. I had been doing some reading on the resurrection and had been studying Romans 8. So I set aside my preparation for the meditation I was to deliver at our Good Friday service and spent a few hours compiling an initial list of “50 reasons why Jesus was raised from death.” I was so moved and in awe of what God had done for his people through Christ’s resurrection that I started writing! I figured I could use this with our church family. But God in his grace has allowed it to be published and available to churches and believers around North America.

You seem more motivated in this book to talk of the theological significance of the Resurrection rather than defending it’s truth claims. Why this approach?

You’re absolutely right, Daniel! This approach has grown out of my conviction that we spend so much time defending the validity of the resurrection that we have little time or energy left to focus on how it has changed everything. We spend a lot more time, it seems, talking about the significance of the cross. This stands to reason because few people dispute that a Jewish man named Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. We rarely have to defend the validity of Jesus’ death. The dispute, of course, is over the meaning and significance of the cross. But the idea of Jesus being raised bodily from death is so controversial! So, when we discuss or preach the resurrection, we usually focus on an apologetic defense of it. This is entirely appropriate, but we cannot afford to lose touch with the theological significance of this element of the gospel.

It seems the Resurrection often gets short shrift in our gospel proclamation? Seems like we emphasize the cross and atonement and “Oh yeah he rose again.” Why is this so harmful?

It’s harmful, I believe, because the gospel consists of two main elements: the death of Christ and his resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 makes this clear. Both elements happened according to the Scriptures and were verified by history–the cross by Jesus’ burial and the resurrection by the witnesses to his post-resurrection appearances. If we underemphasize the resurrection, we lost sight of many blessings of the gospel, including the resurrection-like power we have available to us (see Ephesians 1:18-20). In Philippians 3:10-11, the Apostle Paul says that he wants to know both the power of Christ’s resurrection and participation in his sufferings. If we focus on the latter but ignore the former, we run the risk of becoming gloomy, negative, and joyless.

I wonder if Christians understand all the wonderful ramifications of the Resurrection, especially with renewal and the Kingdom?

I’m not sure that we do! In my experience, we tend to forget that the resurrection of Jesus guarantees our future bodily resurrection (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 and 1 Thessalonians 4:14) and that these bodies will be heavenly, imperishable bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-48). That’s simply amazing! Furthermore, we do not make the connection that Christ’s resurrection has set in motion a series of events that will culminate in creation being set free from its bondage to decay (see Romans 8:21-22). I wonder if we realize how the resurrection makes it possible for Jesus to be our good shepherd forever (see Hebrews 13:20)? I confess that while I’ve studied and preached Acts 17:16-34 several times over the years, I had not really realized how the resurrection is proof of God’s commitment to justice. I could go on, but I think you get the idea!

What is one thing you’d like readers to take away from this book?

Wow, it’s hard to narrow it down to one thing! I suppose, though, that I want readers to take away the New Testament’s emphasis on the present blessings of the resurrection as well as the futureones. In addition to guaranteeing our future resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything about our current lives. For example, Colossians 3:1-4 makes it clear that the reality of our future resurrection has been pulled back into the present and has reoriented our desires. It makes us fruitful (Romans 7:4) and delivers us from a life of self-indulgence (1 Corinthians 15:32. In short, what I want reads to take away is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ has changed everything–now and forever!

Aug
17
2012

Friday Five: Jeremy Roberts

I’m so pumped to interview Jeremy Roberts. Dr. Jeremy Roberts, 28, is the Pastor of Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN.  Previously, he pastored in Tennessee and Texas.  Dr. Roberts served as Adjunct Professor at Criswell College, Dallas, TX and Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA.  Dr. Roberts served on staff with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.  Additionally, he has also served as personal assistant and intern to influential leaders such as Dr. Jack Graham, Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano, TX; Dr. Ronnie Floyd, Cross Church, Northwest, AR; and Dr. Jay Strack, Student Leadership University, Orlando, FL.

Jeremy earned his Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX and a his Bachelor of Science (BS), Master of Arts (MA), and Doctor of Ministry (DMin) from Liberty University where he served as President of the student body.  Jeremy was born in Atlanta and raised in both Dallas and Virginia Beach.  His wife, the former Charity Hope Crisp, is a native of Knoxville, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Union University in Jackson, TN.  They have one daughter, Autumn Faith, born February 18, 2011.

You’ve recently become senior pastor of a historic, traditional Baptist Church. Do you feel pressure in that position–and how would you counsel a young pastor going into a similar situation? 

Yes, Highland Park Baptist Church (HPBC) is an historic downtown congregation.  I absolutely feel pressure serving as senior pastor of this flock. The church is one that is in the midst of transition demographically, methodologically, and pastorally.

The pressure I feel primarily stems from the fact that the church has seen better days and had one pastor, in particular, who was a giant in the history of Christendom.  His name was Dr. Lee Roberson.  Dr. Roberson led HPBC to grow from a few hundred in average attendance to a church with an average of 10,000+ in average weekly attendance, became the first American multisite church, began Tennessee Temple University, started a 100-acre youth camp (Camp Joy), and began a radio station.  All of his vision still looms over our campus although he retired before I was even born.  Unfortunately, our church is merely a shadow of what we once were (in terms of size), but we’re seeing a turnaround.

In addition to all of the importance of making sure one’s relationship with the Lord and their family is where it needs to be, I would counsel a young pastor going into a similar situation to do a number of things:

 A)   Read The First 90 Days by Harvard’s Michael Watkins.  In your first three months as pastor, go into it with a clear plan to begin your pastorate with intentionality.  You can read my 90-day-plan at HPBC here.

B)   Try to meet with every age group in the church fairly quickly.  Hear their thoughts.  Let them talk.

C)  Determine to plant your ministry there.  Fight through the issues.

D)  Begin the process to clarify the vision God will give you.  Tell the church you are seeking God’s vision, and ask them to pray for it.

E)   Stick with the basics of pastoring, especially at first.  Preach the Gospel. Build relationships.  Be patient.

F)   Lead with the 5 A’s: Assignment (give expectations), Authority (give people authority to accomplish their jobs), Accountable, Assess (make sure the right people are in the right positions), and Applaud (praise and reward people)

 You’ve pastored and served in an academic setting. Seems like there are differing callings and skill sets for both. Is that true? 

I have pastored full-time, taught full-time, and now pastor a church with a university.  So, now my ministry is a hybrid of both academia and pastoring, with a greater emphasis on pastoring.  Are there different callings for this?  I believe my calling is to preach.  I can preach if I’m pastoring or serving in academia.

Yes, there are definitely skill sets for both.  There are some professors I know who would serve as lousy pastors, and vice-versa.  The skill sets for academia involve more study and fundraising.  The skill sets for pastoring require more relational skills.  Both are political and require vision and administrative acumen.

I noticed that you’ve served under some well-known pastors, such as Dr. Jack Graham and Dr. Ronnie Floyd. What did you learn from those internships? 

Serving under Drs. Graham and Floyd were amazing opportunities.  The two men are very different types of leaders, but both are extremely effective.  I learned a lot about administration, preaching, leadership, time management, and multisite strategies.

You and I are considered “millennials.” Much has been written and said about our generation of believers. What would you say is different about millennials and their approach to faith? 

Thom Rainer could say a lot more about this than I since he wrote the book on it—literally.  Probably the biggest difference in their approach to faith hinges on a desire to see genuineness about life change over buildings, budgets, and bodies in the seats.

If you could give one piece of advice to a young pastor, what would that be? 

My one piece of advice is for any pastor of any age: stay close and clean. Johnny Hunt says this at all of his conferences, and it always hits home to me. If we stay close to the Lord and clean (pure), we will go a long way in being effective for God’s Kingdom.