I’m switching my main blog address to http://www.JonathanHillOnline.com. I’ll still be posting here on a sporadic basis. However, for regular and fresh content on family, ministry, and the Christian life go to http://www.JonathanHillOnline.com and subscribe via the RSS feed or by e-mail. I look forward to seeing your comments there!
Author Archives: pastorjonathan1
As One Devil to Another by Richard Platt (A Review)
I read As One Devil to Another
As One Devil to Another is well written for it’s genre and reads faster than one might suspect for a book full of “letters.” There are a few points where the author seems to press his view a bit more than the writing style intends to hold, but for the most part the insight into the human heart is spot on and even creepy.
I really liked this book and highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of C. S. Lewis’ The Screw Tape Letters. As One Devil to Another is also a great read for pastors, teachers, etc. who are looking for a reminder or need a refresher on just how easily we are deceived. I give it 5 Stars.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book free from Tyndale House Publishers as part of their Tyndale Blog Network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Pastor Friend: A Reflection on Being a Pastor
Today I am reflecting on the years I have spent in ministry and counting it a blessing to be considered a friend to so many. I’m celebrating four years serving in my current ministry context and nearly fifteen years in ministry all together (counting the near eleven years I spent with my first church). Recently I was listening to a Tim Keller Podcast in which he made a statement that pastors have a unique privilege and responsibility to be a friend to those to whom they minister and as such they often make friends with people who given ordinary circumstances they would never be friends with…
I find this to be true in my own life. I have the awesome opportunity to walk with people of all walks of life through some of life’s most painful and sacred moments.
There have been moments when we were all scared or saddened by life’s events. I have been in the room when we got the news of cancer. I’ve done my share of funerals and hugged the necks and held the hands of the grieving. More than enough times I’ve been called up late to the hospital when their has been an accident. Too often I’ve held a broken infants in my hands. I’ve seen the tragedies of life and walked with families through the worst parts. I have been one of the few who were ever welcomed into the world of the hurting and I have found that you don’t walk through the valley without developing some kind of kinship.
There have also been moments of joy beyond expression. I’ve held hands and plunged you beneath the water and pulled you back to the surface in baptism based upon your confession of Christ. I’ve been in the room when they said the cancer is in remission. I’ve held healthy newborns and helped sneak an air-horn into graduation ceremonies. I generally get the best seat in the house when it comes to weddings and among other things I get to say, “you may now kiss the bride.” I’ve shared in some of the happiest moments that life has to offer and found that you don’t reach the summit of the mountain without developing a friendship along the way.
Beyond sharing these moments with you I have prayed with you and for you. I have poured myself out and asked God to allow me to pour some more. To this end I spent years of my life studying His word so that I might be a competent expositor, leader, administrator, communicator, teacher, counselor and ultimately a better friend. I have begged God that I would clearly speak the truth even when you might not count me as a friend because of it. Because my greatest desire for you is to present you complete to Christ.
I’d be a fool to think that friendship is a one-way street. Through the years as you have made me a part of your family and welcomed me into your homes. I have been blessed beyond measure by your friendship. I have learned valuable lessons. I have eaten vegetables from your garden, dear meat from your freezer and mullet from your cast net. Along the way I confided some of my own fears and insecurities. You have loved me, been to my wedding, held my children, and hugged me and celebrated my birthdays (though sometimes I would like it to pass in obscurity) and anniversaries. Thank you for being a faithful friend to me and counting this pastor as your friend.
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Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan (A Review)
I picked this book up late one evening to read thinking that I’d read it during the evenings all week this week and ended up reading it before work the next day. I just couldn’t put it down. Crazy Dangerous
The main character Sam lives a believable, yet fast paced adventure. He’s a likable guy who just wants to be liked and be part of a group… any group. He makes some pretty dumb decisions along that end up costing him. Mysteriously in the mix of all the action he picks up the motto, “Do right, fear nothing” off a small statue in his Father’s office and presses on with the motto to get himself and others out of some pretty tight jams. A little bit of heroism and virtue go a long way in helping him to protect a friend and save his town from destruction.
I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a well written, well told adventure story. It is about the best I have ever read in Christian Fiction. You can score a copy at Amazon.com for a little more than ten bucks. I give it Five Stars.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson as part of the BookSneeze program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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THE SERVANT KING (from the Jesus StoryBook Bible).
We love reading this Storybook Bible to the kids. Here is another animated story from The Jesus Storybook Bible
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Our Favorite Sins by Todd Hunter (A Review)
Have you ever wrestled with a sin issue? You knew that you had to change, but change seemed impossible. Or maybe you’ve been attending a bible study or even church service and while you feel educated at the end of the event you know somehow that transformation doesn’t just come with education. Something more needs to happen. Then this book is for you.
In his book, Our Favorite Sins
I really enjoyed reading Our Favorite Sins. I had the pleasure of reading it on my Kindle Touch and found myself unable to put it down. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in growing in a relationship with Christ.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson as part of the BookSneeze program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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October Baby: Coming to a Theater Near You!
So I had the chance to check out a new movie the other night with my wife. We went to go see the movie October Baby (due in Theaters on March 23rd). We were initially worried that we were in for a long night of b-rated christian acting but were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the production.
The theme of the movie centers on a young woman named Hannah, who finds out through a medical condition that her parents are not her birth parents and she suffers from her condition as a result of a failed abortion. That is to say that her birth mother attempted to get an abortion, but ended up delivering a live baby instead. Hannah then sets out on a journey to figure out who she is, where she came from, and who her real mother is.
I was impressed with the authenticity with which the abortion issue was discussed. The themes of grace and forgiveness continued to resurface. I appreciate the fresh perspective on an otherwise tension filled issue. My wife and I will be back opening weekend to take it all in again. Check out some of the video’s below and the website to get more information and see if it’s worth your time.
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Lottie Moon (A Biographical Sketch): Conclusion
The life of Lottie Moon cannot be summed up in the matter of a few pages of history. Thankfully her legacy lives on alive and well in Southern Baptist life. Lottie set foot in the world during a unique time for women and for missions. She was born into an age when the world was changing: the south was forced to let go of its slaves and look to them as brothers, women were fighting to have a voice in the public forum, and the missions movement was in a delicate infancy as the second generation of missionaries were taking their place on the field.
Lottie Moon forced the Southern Baptist Convention to think through its convictions about the role of single women in missions. On many occasions, because of the lack of men on the field Lottie not only was responsible to lead men to Christ, but to disciple them in some way as well.[1] Her exploits on the field and need for prayer and financial support from America helped women to organize and rally around the cause of missions.
Though the mission movement was underway in Southern Baptist Life, when the time that Lottie Moon came along, it was not well funded. The Cooperative Program would not come into existence until 1925.[2] Lottie found a way to rally women to fund missions and keep the movement alive for subsequent generations.
Lottie surrendered her life to the mission field upon hearing a plea that the workers were few. She then spent her entire life echoing the same cry. She called for men to be men on the mission field. She blazed a way for single women to answer the call. She made a plea to whoever would listen or read her words and rallied women to organize around praying, collecting money and sending workers into the harvest.
Given her work and her life it is fitting that the offing the Southern Baptist collect in Lottie Moon’s name takes place in December. She was born in December of 1840. She was born again in December of 1858. She entered into eternity in December of 1912. Every December since 1918 an offering has been taken in her name. Today though dead, she still echo’s the words of the Savior in Matthew 9:37, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” [3]
[1] Kotter, David. “Answering Lottie Moon’s Cry: A Call for Dialogue on the Role of Women in Missions.” The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood 13, No. 2 (Fall 2008): 30.
[2] Sorrill, 31.
[3] All Scripture quotations in this paper, unless noted otherwise are from the The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2006).
Lottie Moon (A Biographical Sketch): From Pingtu to Eternity
Now undistracted by love interests and partially influenced by the Crawford doctrines, Lottie entered into a season of impatience.[1] She was increasingly familiar with the culture and frustrated at the progression of her work with the girls’ school. She began to feel pigeonholed into teaching seemingly ignorant children because of her gender.[2] Compounding the sense of missionary claustrophobia was the fact that T. P. Crawford was now trying to exert more and more control over the women at the mission. These issues converged on Miss Moon in such a way as to force her to a decision. She either would return to America or she would press inland to a more fruitful field. She chose for the gospel sake to press in land.[3]
In the fall of 1885, while Crawford was back in America to spread his wildly controversial views and opinions, Lottie set off for the interior. Without Crawford around to stop her and the unenthusiastic approval of her peers, she marched four days inland to Pingtu[4] Catherine Allen notes, “She was thought in her own times to be the first woman of any mission to establish an inland mission station by herself.”[5]
During this time, Moon’s identity was shifting. At times she would identify herself with the people of the interior as “we natives.”[6] She now lived a more itinerate and individualistic lifestyle, renting rooms in Pingtu and maintaining her residence in Tengchow.[7] When absent from the interior she would lament that her heart was in Pingtu.[8]
In the year 1887 she began to contemplate a furlough back to the United States.[9] Her plans were postponed however when three men from a village about ten miles outside of Pingtu knocked on her door searching out the “new doctrine” that Lottie was teaching.[10] Her normal practice was to teach only women and children, yet without any men to send, Lottie filled the role.[11]
This event was cataclysmic for Lottie. She delayed her furlough. She began making more urgent appeals to the Mission Board to send men to the mission field. While she was already active in encouraging women to form around the cause of missions and made appeals for special offerings, it was following this event that she suggested that Southern Baptist women set aside a week of prayer and offering for missions.[12] She wrote, “I wonder how many of us really believe that it is more blessed to give than receive.”[13] This first mission emphasis of its kind for Southern Baptists tied together an appeal for prayer, money, and missionaries.[14]
By October of 1889 a church had been established in the village outside of Pingtu and an ordained Baptist missionary baptized the first eleven members.[15] Twenty years later the church’s Chinese pastor, Li Shou Ting had baptized more than a thousand converts.[16] However the years in between and since were full of persecution and famine. [17]
The former mission sight was languishing in disarray as Crawford began rebuffing the mission board for not agreeing with his views. The FMB was in debt. Yet a great many more missionaries were needed for the work that Lottie Moon had started. She diligently wrote articles encouraging the SBC to send thirty more missionaries to North China.[18] It was harvest time in Northern China and SBC needed to send workers.
Even before this time Lottie had been diligent to keep up communication with the home front and had developed a large support network of women. Her articles were published in various publications and journals and fame of her work spread among the women of the SBC.
At the same time the women of the SBC were beginning to organize around the cause of missions. Though she would return to the United States a few times during her career, it was her writing more than her presence that helped fuel a movement that would lead to the organization of the Women’s Missionary Union and the creation of the Christmas time offering that bears her name.[19]
The last years of Lottie’s life were given in service to China. Near the end of her days in North China she would face war, famine, and persecution, yet she held strong. In 1912 a now elderly seventy-two-year-old Miss Moon was stricken with a mentally debilitating illness. An infection had set in at the base of her skull. For weeks she had been giving her food away to others in the midst of famine. She was becoming severely malnourished and was obsessed with the thought that fellow missionaries and her Chinese friends were starving. [20]
In a valiant attempt to restore her to health the missionaries on the field agreed to send Lottie back to America. However, on December 24, 1912, Lottie Moon passed into eternity. News of Lottie Moon’s death spread rapidly among the now organized WMU and a call to honor Lottie through sacrificial giving was set in place. Just six years after her death Annie Armstrong the former secretary of the WMU proposed that the annual Christmas Offering be named after Lottie Moon.[21]
[1] Allen, The Legacy of Lottie Moon, 149.
[2] Hyatt, 104.
[3] Ibid., 105-106.
[4] Allen, The Legacy of Lottie Moon, 149.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Hyatt, 110.
[7] Allen, The Legacy of Lottie Moon, 149.
[8] Hyatt, 110.
[9] Hefley, James C., and Marti. By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the Twentieth Century. 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1996), 62.
[10] Hyatt, 111.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Hefley, 62.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Bobby Sorrill. “The History of the Week of Prayer for Foreign Missions” Baptist
History and Heritage 15, No. 4 (Oct. 1980): 29.
[15] Lawrence, 161.
[16] Tucker, 237.
[17] Miller, 37.
[18] Hyatt, 112-113.
[19] Tucker, 237-238.
[20] Allen, The Legacy of Lottie Moon, 151.
[21] Allen. The Legacy of Lottie Moon, 151.
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Surprised By Oxford (A Review)
You have to love a story where the main character runs off to grad school a staunch feminist agnostic only to return home years later as a born-again evangelical Christian. You might guess that such a transformation would take place in an environment saturated with evangelical Christians, but could you ever imagine such a thing taking place in the halls of academia? Such is the story of Surprised by Oxford
I enjoyed reading this book. I had the pleasure of reading it on my Kindle Touch
and found myself unable to put it down. I’d end up having to step out for an appointment and would let the kindle read to me while I drove.
Mrs. Webber writes with a witty and engaging style. She pulls the reader in with her vivid description of senses and feelings that one would expect of a master in story telling. She recalls events in detail and brings the reader along on her personal journey to faith in Christ.
I was greatly encouraged by this book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading a personal account of spiritual transformation.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson as part of the BookSneeze program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
