Credo’s Cache

Each week we will be highlighting important resources. Check back each Friday to see what we have dug up for you. From this week’s cache:

1. Seven Tips for Introverted Pastors: By Thom Rainer – Rainer notes: “One gift I wish I had been given when I served as a pastor in four different churches was a mentor who would share with me how to function as an introverted pastor. I made a ton of mistakes! I hope my experiences, both bad and good, will prove to be meaningful to pastors today.”

2. God’s Word in Two Words: By Tullian Tchividjian– What Tchividjian makes clear is that, “The Bible is one long story of God meeting our rebellion with his rescue, our sin with his salvation, our guilt with his grace. The overwhelming focus of the Bible is not the work of the redeemed but the work of the Redeemer. Which means that the Bible is not first a recipe book for Christian living, but a revelation book of Jesus, who is the answer to our un-Christian living.”

3. What is a “Win” for a Disciple?: By Dave Wiley– Wiley says: “There are many efficient ways to ‘win’ the lost. But I wonder sometimes if we have begun ‘microwaving’ believers. That is, I believe many Christians have adopted a ‘get-in-and-get-out’ strategy that God never commissioned.”

4. Why Does Jesus Use the Phrase “I Am”?: By Michael Kruger – Kruger concludes that: “In the end, the ‘I am’ language in John is a likely reference to God’s self-declarations in Isaiah, and thus a dramatic claim by Jesus to be the one true God of Israel.  By appealing to Isaiah, Jesus is not portraying himself as another God, but the one and the same God of the Jews.”

5. Who is Really Leaving the Faith and Why?: By Andrew Hess – Hess concludes that: “There are many reasons why young adults leave their faith, but perhaps the most significant is that they never developed a strong faith in the first place. Instead of trying to appeal to those with lukewarm faith, perhaps we should back up and consider how we can teach parents to cultivate strong, lasting faith long before our children enter adulthood.”

Matt Manry is the Director of Discipleship at Life Bible Church in Canton, Georgia. He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Religion at Reformed Theological Seminary and a Masters of Arts in Christian and Classical Studies from Knox Theological Seminary. He blogs regularly at gospelglory.net.