Two blogs you should be following:

David P. Murray’s Head, Heart and Hand and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/davidpmurray

The Church Report and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thechurchreport

Rediscovering Values is Jim Wallis’ latest book. It is a prescription for economic recovery: applying (out of context) social justice texts from the Torah, together with selective texts from the Gospels (primarily the Sermon on the Mount), while advocating the application of some aspects of Shariah law to the United States banking system (see page 128 of his book).  The result is an over emphasis on social justice and zero emphasis on the necessity of the gospel to fundamentally transform the fallen nature of corrupt sinners before values can have any meaning at all.

Wallis makes the error of applying theocratic texts from the Old Testment, together with admonitions of Jesus from the Gospels (which are limited in their application to those who have forsaken all, denied themselves, and taken up their cross to follow Him)  to the economic and political realities of secular America.

This is a fatal flaw. To quote the Apostle Paul, “the law is good if a man uses it lawfully” (1 Timothy 1:8). There is no better illustration of a man using God’s law unlawfully than Wallis’ Rediscovering Values. Wallis is counting on the law (the Torah, the social justice texts of the Gospels) to do what only the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ can do – make a man righteous so that he actually desires to “do justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with his God.” Man by nature – and by the law – is incapable of pursuing these things outside of his own self-interest.

Wallis is either ignorant of or intentionally ignoring gospel realities, including man’s fallen nature and the remedy for sin accomplished through the incarnation, humiliation, suffering, death (vicarious atonement) and exaltation of Jesus Christ.  He wants to generalize Gospel principles for people who have not been transformed by the Gospel, the end result of which is a kind of humanistic salvation that cleans the outside of the cup but leaves the inside of the cup corrupt.

Bottom line, Mr. Wallis: You can’t apply the words of Jesus to people who have no use for Jesus as Lord. Jesus didn’t come to give general principles for economic recovery or moral values. He came to revolutionize the economy by demanding that we recognize him as Lord – which is why he was ultimately crucified. Wallis is attempting to get the people who crucified Jesus to live by Jesus’ rules without Jesus as Lord.

Wallis’ out of context use of Scripture is too numerous to catalog here, but one of the most egregious is his use of Leveticus 25 (the year of jubilee) to justify forced governmental wealth redistribution. Kevin DeYoung, while not specifically responding to Wallis, offers a proper exegesis of Leveticus 25 in its historical context, which Wallis would do well to consider. You can read DeYoung’s exegesis here:

Social Justice and the Poor (Part 3)

Mark Driscoll makes an interesting point in this article at Resurgence:

 “…administrative structures grow to prepare for numerical growth…”

Most churches wait for the growth before adding ministry programs and never see it because the structure isn’t in place for growth to happen. This structure must include the right programs with the right people leading those programs. 

What are we waiting for? In what areas do our “administrative structures” need to grow in order to see numerical growth? What are these “adminstrative structures”? Should there be a programming priority (children’s ministry before youth ministry before worship ministry before…)?

From Symantec, the internet security people, comes this disturbing list of 100 online search terms used by your kids (ages 18 and under). For kids under age 7, “porn” is the number four most searched for word. “Sex” is number four with kids ages 8 – 18.

The study also shows that many kids are using search engines to find ways to disable or get around website blockers installed by parents.

What are the implications for youth and children’s ministry in your church? Kent Shaffer at ChurchRelevance.com offers this:

From a children’s ministry perspective, it is important to realize that statistically quite a few 7-year-olds in your class are searching for porn and exposing themselves to things much more serious than what traditional lessons cover. Obviously, children’s ministries cannot be straightforward about sex, but being too vague doesn’t work either.

Perhaps there are subtle ways to layer lessons with mature spiritual principles. Ideally, children’s ministry lessons should clearly yet subtly word things in a way that trains, helps, and ministers to the kids who are hurting and/or have picked up bad habits while simultaneously “going over the heads” and still teaching the kids who still have their innocence. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done.

Hooray for decades! Hooray for music! Hooray for lists!

Three lists, in fact: favorite albums of the decade, favorite albums of the year, and favorite songs of the year.

Here we go!

10 favorite albums of the decade

1. Arcade Fire – Funeral

2. Wilco – A Ghost Is Born

3. Radiohead – Kid A

4. Sufjan Stevens – Michigan

5. Bob Dylan – Love And Theft

6. Beck – Sea Change

7. David Crowder*Band – A Collision

8. Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha

9. Jars Of Clay – Good Monsters

10. U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind

10 favorite albums of the year (2009)

1. The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You

2. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

3. St. Vincent – Actor

4. Elvis Perkins In Dearland – Self-titled

5. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing

6. Passion Pit – Manners

7. U2 – No Line On The Horizon

8. Sufjan Stevens – The BQE

9. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast

10. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Favorite songs of the year (2009) (in alphabetical order, by artist)

Alela Diane – Lady Divine

Andrew Bird – Souverian

Animal Collective – Bluish

The Avett Brothers – Laundry Room

Bob Dylan – I Feel A Change Comin’ On

David Crowder*Band – God Almighty, None Compares

The Dead Weather – Bone House

Derek Webb – American Flag Umbrella

Elvis Perkins In Dearland – Chains, Chains, Chains

Fiction Family – Look For Me Baby

Jars Of Clay – Scenic Route

Joe Henry – Death To The Storm

Joshua James – Pitchfork

Major Lazer – Anything Goes

Manchester Orchestra – The River

Passion Pit – Sleepyhead

St. Vincent – Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood

Sufjan Stevens – Movement I: In The Countenance Of Kings

Switchfoot – Always

U2 – Cedars Of Lebanon

Wilco – Bull Black Nova

These songs are all on iTunes, so have fun!