Zoo Station (2007) is David Downing’s first novel featuring John Russell. Russell is an Anglo-American freelance journalist living and working in Berlin in the early months of 1939. A former Communist with a loathing for the Nazis, Russell remains in … Continue reading Zoo Station | Book review
“[Black] dignity has lingered in a state of confusion for generations in this country as we’ve faced constant harassment, false theologies, white supremacy, syncretistic evangelicalism, and civic oppression,” writes Dr. Eric Mason. Consequently, the task of such apologetics is to … Continue reading The Nature and Necessity of Urban Apologetics | Influence Podcast
It all started with a pair of sneakers. One Sunday morning in March 2019, Ben Kirby missed church and decided to watch worship videos to assuage his guilty feelings. In one of the videos, he noticed that the worship leader … Continue reading PreachersNSneakers | Book Review
“In 2020,” according to Barna Group’s Five Changing Contexts for Digital Evangelism report, “churches around the world woke up to the extraordinary, urgent need to embrace digital platforms in fresh ways in order to engage with—and sustain—their congregations during the … Continue reading How to Do Evangelism Online | Influence Podcast
Preaching is hard work. Intellectually, it requires the ability to discern the original meaning and contemporary relevance of a Bible passage, then to communicate both in a memorable way. Practically, it demands that pastors do this for different texts on … Continue reading The Big Idea Companion for Preaching and Teaching | Book Review
“The U.S. Assemblies of God has a mandate, a problem, and a need,” writes John Zick in the newest issue of Influencemagazine. The mandate is to evangelize the world. The problem is that youth are underrepresented among AG ministers. And … Continue reading How to Help Youth Discern the Call to Ministry | Influence Podcast
When I became a pastor in 1990, seeker was the term of art for a nonbeliever. Churches such as Willow Creek and Saddleback had popularized the term as part of their attractional ministry model. Rather than emphasizing that a person … Continue reading Apatheism | Book Review
“To say the events of 2020 have been disruptive to our lives is the understatement of the decade,” writes John Davidson. For pastors, however, those disruptions provide an opportunity to rethink ministry in order to increase “the effectiveness of their … Continue reading Rethinking Your Church’s Ministries after COVID | Influence Podcast
Ministry of Women in the New Testament Dorothy A. Lee (Baker Academic) Does Scripture limit the ministries of Christian women based on their sex? According to this book, it does not. Instead, writes the author, the New Testament teaches that “women should have full access to the church’s ministry, whether in lay or ordained ministries, and that this access needs to depend not on gender but rather on a sense of vocation and on the church’s discernment of calling.” In an era of rising complementarianism among some evangelicals, this book offers a much-needed corrective. P.S. If you liked this recommendation, … Continue reading Three Books on Women in Leadership | Book Recommendations
Apologetics is the reasoned defense of the Christian faith. The term comes from the Greek word for a legal argument, apologia. That word appears in 1 Peter 3:15, a classic proof text for apologetics: “Always be prepared to give an … Continue reading Urban Apologetics | Book Review
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