Month: May 2018

Book Reviews, Influence PodcastLeave a comment

A Mental Health Inclusion Strategy for the Church | Influence Podcast

georgepwood

May is Mental Health Month. In today’s episode, Influence magazine executive editor George P. Wood talks to Dr. Stephen Grcevich about a mental health inclusion strategy for the local church. Dr. Grcevich is founder and president of Key Ministry. He is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with over thirty years of clinical experience and extensive research experience evaluating medication prescribed to children and teens for mental health disorders. A past recipient of the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, he is the author of Mental Health and the Church, published this year by Zondervan. (The link … Continue reading A Mental Health Inclusion Strategy for the Church | Influence Podcast

Book Reviews1 Comment

ESV Archaeology Study Bible | Book Review

georgepwood

The Bible is God’s Word in human words. As God’s Word, it is inspired and inerrant, the final authority for what Christians believe and how they behave. As God’s Word in human words, it reflects the time and place of its original composition. Interpreting Scripture correctly, then, means understanding both its divine message and its human forms. Archaeology is one of several academic disciplines that help us do the latter. The interpretive fruit of archaeological investigation is evident in the recently published ESV Archaeology Study Bible, edited by John D. Currid and David W. Chapman. Notable features include the following: … Continue reading ESV Archaeology Study Bible | Book Review

Influence PodcastLeave a comment

How Churches Can Support Foster Parents | Influence Podcast

georgepwood

May is National Foster Care Month. In today’s episode, Influence magazine executive editor George P. Wood talks with Jay Mooney and Johan Mostert about how churches can support foster care parents and thus solve the twin problems of America’s foster care system: capacity and stability. Jay Mooney is executive director of COMPACT Family Services, formerly Assemblies of God Family Services Agency. Johan Mostert is director of COMPACARE, one of COMPACT’S initiatives. To learn more about COMPACT Family Services, go to CompassionateAction.com, or follow it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Episode 139 Notes 00:00 Introduction to podcast 00:05 TruFire Curriculum sponsor ad … Continue reading How Churches Can Support Foster Parents | Influence Podcast

Influence PodcastLeave a comment

Closing the Sanctification Gap | Influence Podcast

georgepwood

In this episode of the Influence Podcast (cross-posted with permission), I talk to Christian Miller about how to close the sanctification gap, the distance between who we are and who we ought to be. Miller is A. C. Reid Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University and director of the Character Project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and Templeton World Charity. He is also author of The Character Gap: How Good Are We? (Oxford University Press). The conversation ranges over insights philosophy, theology, and psychology contribute to closing the sanctification gap. Take a listen!   Continue reading Closing the Sanctification Gap | Influence Podcast

Book ReviewsLeave a comment

Mental Health and the Church | Book Review

georgepwood

In the spring of 1996, I entered an extended season of sadness. Not the kind of sadness where you wistfully wipe a tear from your eye with a Kleenex, by the way. It was the kind where you wake up in the middle of the night sobbing uncontrollably for hours. The sadness lasted for months. A licensed Christian counselor diagnosed me with clinical depression. Through prayer, Scripture, counseling and the help of family and friends, I made it through that awful season, one of the worst I have experienced in my life. One I don’t ever want to enter again. … Continue reading Mental Health and the Church | Book Review

Book Reviews1 Comment

Magnolia Table | Book Review by My Wife

georgepwood

My wife wrote a review of this cookbook on Facebook, and I received permission to share it here: Here’s an honest 3-recipe review of the new Joanna Gaines’ cookbook, Magnolia Table. I cooked a breakfast and dinner casserole, along with a dessert. It’s fairly scathing until you get to the end. Please bear with me. In the order my family enjoyed them: 1) Chocolate Cola Cake, with Chocolate Cola Buttercream (pg. 295): George said it was “phenomenal.” I liked the icing, not the denser cake. I prefer all my cakes to be light and moist. I will make the icing … Continue reading Magnolia Table | Book Review by My Wife

Influence Magazine, PrayerLeave a comment

“Our Father in Heaven”: How God’s Character Motivates and Directs Our Prayers

georgepwood

Today is the U.S. National Day of Prayer. When Jesus’ disciples asked for a lesson in how to pray, Jesus laid out a model prayer that starts like this, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven…” Whom You Pray to Matters The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13) consists of six petitions. When we pray, we ask God that His name be hallowed, His kingdom come, His will be done, our needs be met, our sins forgiven, and our souls protected. Notice the order of these requests. First, we direct our attention to God and His concerns; then … Continue reading “Our Father in Heaven”: How God’s Character Motivates and Directs Our Prayers

Book ReviewsLeave a comment

Brief Insights on Mastering the Bible | Book Review

georgepwood

Brief Insights on Mastering the Bible is one of three volumes in Michael S. Heiser’s 60-Second Scholar series, published by Zondervan. The other two similarly titled volumes have to do with Bible study and Bible doctrine. Each book contains 80, two-page chapters that explain the topic sentence which constitutes the chapter’s title. For example, the title of chapter 43 is “Most of the Material in the Prophetic Books Isn’t About Predicting the Future,” and the chapter goes on to explain why this is the case. Heiser is scholar-in-residence at Logos Bible Software, as well as an erstwhile professor at several … Continue reading Brief Insights on Mastering the Bible | Book Review

Book ReviewsLeave a comment

Three Book Recommendations

georgepwood

Each issue of Influence magazine carries three book recommendations, which I usually write. Here are my three recommendations from the May/June 2018 issue. (They are cross-posted here with permission.) Yesterday, I posted a longer review of Immerse: The Reading Bible, which also appears in that issue. Celebration of Discipline (40th Anniversary Edition) Richard J. Foster (HarperOne) “Superficiality is the curse of our age,” writes Richard J. Foster in Celebration of Discipline. “The desperate need for today is … deep people.” These words ring as true in 2018 as they did in 1978 when Celebration of Discipline was first published. And spiritual disciplines … Continue reading Three Book Recommendations

Influence PodcastLeave a comment

Introducing the AG’s New General Secretary | Influence Podcast

georgepwood

On Monday, April 23, 2018, the Assemblies of God announced that Rev. Donna Barrett would succeed Dr. Jim Bradford in the office of general secretary. Her term beings June 1, 2018. This was an historic announcement, given that Barrett is the first woman in the denomination’s history to serve on the Executive Leadership Team. In today’s podcast, I talk to Barrett about her life and ministry and how God has led her to this point in time. Episode 137 Notes 00:00 Introduction of podcast topic 00:47 Trending Up sponsor ad 01:24 Introduction of Donna Barrett 01:53 Life, conversion and call to … Continue reading Introducing the AG’s New General Secretary | Influence Podcast