The Links

One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was to pull together every now and then links to some of the good articles things that I read on the internet. I'll call this (weekly?) feature "The Links" and it will generally contain 4 or 5 links to articles, some related to Christian living, some to ministry, some to sports and some to .... well, we'll see. I hope you will be blessed and enjoy the things I link to, and I'd love to have you post in the comment section any links along these same topics that you've enjoyed. So, here is week #1 of The Links!

1. John Piper has 6 reasons why he thinks pastors should blog. I'll let you check them out for yourself, but #'s 1, 3, and 5 were influential in my deciding to blog and what I will post about.

2. This post on Kevin Deyoung's blog was challenging. Kevin is a pastor and an author I have enjoyed reading over the past couple of years. He is the author of "Why We Love the Church" and "Why We're Not Emergent (by two guys who should be)". This post is done by a guest to his blog, Jason Helopoulos and deals with the issue of when a person should leave, or stay, in their church. Let me say right off that I love the church I am in and am thankful to be here. I do often have conversations with people who are thinking about making changes and have wanted to give them better counsel. While I don't necessarily agree with everything Jason says here I think he makes a lot of good points and demonstrates a high commitment to his church family in a culture where people move on for some very silly reasons.

3. My friend Brian Aaby is on vacation in Hawaii, but somehow during his vacation he posted this helpful post for youth pastors who struggle, or want to improve on the administrative side of their job. I am certainly one of those youth pastors and I thought this post had some good suggestions that are easy to put into practice. Thanks Brian!

4. The Mariners fired their manager, Don Wakamatsu yesterday. Hopefully it was not because of my previous post about the Mariners season (scroll down if you want to see it) as Curtis Bryan said to me. Geoff Baker is the Seattle Times beat writer, and people usually love Geoff or can't stand him. I think Geoff does a good job and usually agree with most of his analysis. His article about Wakamatsu's firing, Ken Griffey Jr, and the future of the Seattle Mariners is really interesting.

5. Art Azurdia has been a teacher, friend, and mentor to me for the last 5 years. I've been blessed to take several classes from him at Western Seminary, and he preached several times when I served at Riverlakes Community Church. Recently Art has planted a church in Portland, called "Trinity Church" and they are in their pre-launch sermon series called "Distinguishing Features of a Gospel Congregation". Art is a powerful preacher and he has really shaped my view of preaching that Jesus Christ and His Gospel must be at the heart of every sermon. If you are looking for something good to listen to that will strengthen you in your walk with Christ, this is it!

What about you? What links and sites have you enjoyed lately?