Here are some interesting articles I read and videos I watched over the last week along with a few freebies. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Should We Do Altar Calls?
I found Thabiti Anawabile’s recently posted article on Altar Calls particularly interesting. He gives 10 reasons why we do not do altar calls. You can read it by clicking here.
Free Wallpaper
Tim Challies does a post every month where he offers cool wallpaper to decorate your computer. I have been checking back every month since I found out about it to see what he has in store for the month. This week, a new set for May came out. You can check them out by clicking here.
Book Review: Bringing the Gospel Home
Randy Newman, author of Questioning Evangelism, recently published a new book entitled Bringing the Gospel Home. In it he gives advice on how to speak to your family about Christ. Tim Chester, over at The Gospel Coalition, recently reviewed Newman’s book. You can read the review by clicking here.
New York Times Timeline
Here is a great piece the New York Times put together on Osama Bin Laden. It is an interactive timeline starting from the time he was born in 1957. You can check it out by clicking here.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This week Focus on the Family had Eric Metaxas on their program. He is the author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. During the program, they discussed Bonhoeffer’s stand against Nazi Germany. You can read an article by Fox News on Metaxas’ book by clicking here. And you can listen to an interview by Focus on the Family by clicking here.
Evolution of Dance
Here is a video highlighting the evolution of dance throughout the last few decades. It is hilarious! You can check it out by clicking here.
Free Book
Here is a link to a free book on Christianaudio.com. It is Tim Challies new book, The Next Story. You can download it by clicking here.
Christianity Matters 
Interesting piece on alter calls. I just have a few questions. Haven’t Southern Baptist churches traditionally used alter calls? How do you think congregations will feel about stopping alter calls if they have used them for years? While I agree with Thabiti wholeheartedly, one must proceed with caution when removing a ‘golden calf.’ Perhaps strong teaching on the biblical conversion experience is an appropriate starting point. What are your thoughts?
Dustin,
Thank you for your comment. It appropriately raises a lot of questions many will have after reading his article.
I myself believe Thabiti’s article raises a lot of questions regarding the current idea of salvation among Baptists, as well as the purpose of altar calls in bringing people to salvation.
I will have to say, I believe he is pushing back against decades of practice, which may or may not be a bad thing. While I do believe history is an effective measure of our current practices, I am not against re-evaluating the historical use of altar calls; especially, in light of points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9 from Thabiti’s article.
I personally like his approach, which involves sitting down with someone during the week to discuss Christianity in more depth. The question I have is: How do we get those people to contact us, so we can get together with them during the week? In other words, if we are not inviting people down to the front, then how are we finding out who is interested in sitting down to talk further? Some sort of inquirers system needs to be established. But what does that look like?
Pingback: Thinking Out Loud: How do we encourage inquirers? « Christianity Matters
Thanks for posting this good article!
Thanks for your comment.
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Thanks for your comment. I appreciate your encouragement.