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. Why You Should Consider Living Near Your Church: Nathan Finn – Finn says, “For most of us, it’s easier to be a meaningful part of the church gathered—and to partner with the rest of the church scattered—when we live in the same community where our church’s building is located. I believe it’s ideal to live near your church’s gathering place for the kingdom’s sake.”

2. Trauma is Not a Life Sentence: Paul Maxwell –  Maxwell notes, “to cope. A whole class of wounds that cripple. A wound that buries itself deep in our consciousness. A tragedy too heavy for us. It happens in the past, but asserts itself over and over in the present.”

3. How Long Should it Take Me to Prepare a Sermon?: Dave Harvey – Harvey says, “Preaching prep is no different. The time allotted to develop sermons becomes a blending of proficiency and providence, of work and wonder; we must live in the tension between our well-ordered rhythms and variables not entirely controllable.”

4. The Abolition of Troy Chatham: Jake Meador – Meador says, “The sins of the Shire take place within a place that accepts the natural order. They do harm, but the scale of the damage is typically limited as far as its effect on the broader community. But the sins of Saruman are fundamentally of another sort because they under-cut and jeopardize the order that preserves life for all people. Berry is not wrong, then, to see them as being different and ultimately more destructive.”

5. The Biggest Challenge for Theological Educators: Greg Forster – Forster notes, “Theological education, even on a good day, is a hard job. It always has been. Today, however, theological educators in Western cultures are facing a new challenge. Deep biblical knowledge and interpretation are not widely seen—even by pastors—as having a transformative effect on the way people live. This popular disconnect between knowing your Bible and the way you live is leading us toward a crisis in theological education.”

Matt Manry is the Assistant Pastor at Life Bible Church in Canton, Georgia. He writes at matthewwmanry.com.