Culture Archives

Latest Mac Ads (May 14, 2008) - Have you seen the latest Mac vs. PC ads? My favorites are "Pep Rally" and "Group." (My apologies to all my PC-using friends. But you have to admit these are pretty funny. Right?)... ( Keep Reading » )

Mommy's Got a Brand New Belly (April 17, 2008) - I thought this was pretty incredible: Newsweek features excerpts from a children's book about cosmetic surgery. They write: Tapping into what may be a growing market, a plastic surgeon has written and published a book for the children of... ( Keep Reading » )

Inside Scoop on Shout to the Lord & American Idol (April 12, 2008) - I wanted to highlight a few interesting comments that have been left on my first and second American Idol posts this past week. I was glad that several people with more "inside" information stopped by to share. So here are... ( Keep Reading » )

More on Idol and Shout to the Lord (April 11, 2008) - With all the attention my previous post on American Idol has gotten I've decided to dedicate myself to full-time blogging about the show—all from a Christian worldview of course. I'm viewing this as a form of missionary work. I'm... ( Keep Reading » )

American Idol and Shout to the Lord (April 10, 2008) - Last night I only saw a little of the American Idol special "Idol Gives Back" that raises money for a number of worthy causes around the world. I think it's great that the show uses its huge platform to help... ( Keep Reading » )

Wall Street Journal Article (April 9, 2008) - Several friends lately alerted me that my book I Kissed Dating Goodbye was referenced in a recent Wall Street Journal article. I checked it out and found it interesting. The article, by Donna Freitas entitled Sex Education, examines the practice... ( Keep Reading » )

A Theology of Work (March 11, 2008) - In his book Christian Mission in the Modern World, John Stott makes the point that Jesus calls all his followers to ministry. And ministry is service. He says, "if we are Christians we must spend our lives in the service... ( Keep Reading » )

Tears for Obama (March 7, 2008) - My five-year-old son, Joshua Quinn, has been following the presidential election with his dad. To him it's another sport alongside football and NASCAR. Someone wins. Someone loses. He can understand that. He has seen various candidates on TV and... ( Keep Reading » )

Fairy Tale (February 28, 2008) - I thought ya'll would enjoy a comment that was left on a YouTube clip of one of my sermons:Wow ... This is such a bright engaging speaker. It's too bad he's wasting his life away talking about a fairy tale.I... ( Keep Reading » )

Interview: Professor Robert P. George (January 22, 2008) - Today is the 35-year anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in our country. I encourage you to read Justin Taylor's interview with Professor Robert P. George on the topic of abortion and its politics. Professor George, a... ( Keep Reading » )

John Piper on Martin Luther King Weekend (January 19, 2008) - Today on the Desiring God blog, John Piper writes: Monday is Martin Luther King day. I encourage all pastors and Sunday School teachers to make something of it this weekend. It may be too late to preach on racial and... ( Keep Reading » )

The Story of Stuff (January 1, 2008) - A reader who enjoyed the Affluenza series pointed me to The Story of Stuff. The site features a 20-minute presentation that is very engaging and informative. The description on the site reads: From its extraction through sale, use and... ( Keep Reading » )

Let There Be Light (December 24, 2007) - This week I read the following article by William Wan in the Washington Post. It's the story of two neighbors who carried on a friendly Christmas lights competition for over a decade. There's nothing here about the true meaning of... ( Keep Reading » )

Cell Phones and Presence (December 20, 2007) - In case you didn't notice, practically everything I put on this site originally appeared on Justin Taylor's site, Between Two Worlds. I'm thinking of renaming my site "HT:JT" which means "Hat tip to Justin Taylor" (a Hat-tip is a term... ( Keep Reading » )

Al Gore Hates Divorce (December 13, 2007) - Al Gore Hates Divorce: This is an unexpected reason for keeping your marriage vows: divorce is bad for the environment. (HT:Retro Evangelical)... ( Keep Reading » )

I Need to Learn How to Do This (November 24, 2007) - This is a clip from the French version of American Idol (HT: Steve McCoy). If I could learn how to do this and then incorporate beatboxing into my sermons at key moments when the attention-level of the congregation seems to... ( Keep Reading » )

Is This How Atheists Feel About Narnia? (November 21, 2007) - A few weeks ago a friend emailed me a warning about the new movie The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman. The film is based on the first book in a series of children's books by British agnostic Philip Pullman. My... ( Keep Reading » )

New Movie: Bella (October 27, 2007) - I saw a few snippets of the trailer for the movie Bella this summer at a musical festival and thought it looked good, but didn't hear anything about it until recently. Two days ago a lady in my church named... ( Keep Reading » )

Narnia News (September 20, 2007) - The second installment of The Chronicles of Narnia is coming May 2008. I just saw this poster today. I only wish they could release one Narnia movie a year like they did with Lord of the Rings. But then... ( Keep Reading » )

Don't Blame the Feminists (September 11, 2007) - Two weeks ago I preached a message on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 called "Men, Women and Headgear" that included a discussion of God's good plan for distinct roles for men and women in marriage. As I studied for this message I... ( Keep Reading » )

My One and Only Week on Facebook (August 24, 2007) - Last week, on a whim, I signed up for a Facebook account. I had no friends and no idea what I was doing. So I asked for advice and begged for friends. I got both. A bunch of people--everyone from... ( Keep Reading » )

Facebook Survey (August 18, 2007) - Here's the deal: last night, inspired by my friend (and I mean that in the real-life sense of the word), Kenneth Maresco, I signed up for a Facebook account. This is the first time I've ever tried one of the... ( Keep Reading » )

Discernment and Ali G (July 12, 2007) - Discernment is the ability to distinguish right from wrong, true from false—to "test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil" (1Thess 5:21-22). On the past two Sundays, I've preached on the topic of discernment. In... ( Keep Reading » )

Rebelution Conferences (June 26, 2007) - I'm so proud of my brothers, and so excited for the Rebelution conference tour they've got going. They had their latest conference in Sacramento this past weekend, and it sounds like God did some incredible things there. Here are... ( Keep Reading » )

Simply Christ's Herald (May 19, 2007) - "Paul in his own estimation, was not a philosopher, not a moralist, not one of the world's wise men, but simply Christ's herald. His royal Master had given him a message to proclaim; his whole business, therefore, was to deliver... ( Keep Reading » )

A Pastoral Response to Online Dating (May 17, 2007) - Recently, the team of pastors who lead the single men and women of our church decided to address the topic of online dating. One of the men, Isaac Hydoski, who is a very wise and skilled pastor, wrote a... ( Keep Reading » )

Gray Matters (May 9, 2007) - The team at Boundless is featuring a great little series on discernment by my buddy and fellow pastor and New Attitude guru, Eric Simmons. In the series entitled "Gray Matters," Eric shares five principles of discernment. He kicks off... ( Keep Reading » )

How Do We Respond? (April 28, 2007) - In response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech, our church has created a special resource page that gathers helpful articles, sermons and recommended books. These resources are worth giving attention to not just for processing the sad events in... ( Keep Reading » )

Do You Know Who You Just Walked By? (April 12, 2007) - The Washington Post pulled off a very intriguing feat. They asked one of the world's greatest violinists to play one of the world's finest violins in the middle of rush hour at a downtown Metro station. It was an... ( Keep Reading » )

Mohler on Rights (March 24, 2007) - We've been speaking of our rights. This week, Al Mohler took on the subject with a slightly different slant: Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon warned years ago that a contagion of "rights talk" was ruining our ability to conduct... ( Keep Reading » )

Curtis Allen: Gentle Word (March 19, 2007) - This week, the Boundless webzine features an article by my friend and rap artist, Curtis Allen (a.k.a. "Voice"). In it, Curtis tells the story of the brouhaha over his performance at Bethlehem Baptist Church. Instead of lashing out with... ( Keep Reading » )

Un-Lady Like Conduct (March 6, 2007) - This week, I read about Ann Coulter's crude comments about John Edwards and thought, "I wish some conservative Christian leader would condemn her ungodly behavior." Well, thank God for Al Mohler. His article "Recovering Civility...and Refusing to Deny the... ( Keep Reading » )

Sunnis vs. Shi'ites (March 3, 2007) - Last night I read the cover story from the March 5 issue of TIME magazine entitled "Why They Hate Each Other." Written by Bobby Ghosh, it covers the chasm that has developed between Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq, and which... ( Keep Reading » )

Voice at Piper's (October 31, 2006) - I've posted here before about my friend Curtis Allen, aka rap artist "Voice," and his work. Voice just came out with a new record called The Crucible. You can learn more and listen at www.ihearvoice.com. You can also read an... ( Keep Reading » )

Dylan's No Prophet (October 9, 2006) - Our church is studying 1 Corinthians. The first few chapters focus on the fact that worldly wisdom and God's wisdom revealed in the cross cannot be reconciled. This quote from Bob Dylan during his "Christian phase" is a telling example... ( Keep Reading » )

This Just in: Davinci Code is Fiction! (May 6, 2006) - Tomorrow our church has the privilege of hosting, Dr. Al Mohler. He's coming to give a message on the "controversy" surrounding Dan Brown's book The Davinci Code and the soon-to-be-released movie based on the best-selling book. The other day I... ( Keep Reading » )

Fashion & Following the Savior (April 12, 2006) - Just in time for warm weather fashion decisions, Carolyn Mahaney and her daughters are focusing on modesty this week at Girltalk. Make sure and check it out.... ( Keep Reading » )

Mohler on The Gospel of Judas (April 8, 2006) - The following is an excerpt from Dr. Al Mohler's article on The Gospel of Judas: "What are Christians to make of all this? The publication of The Gospel of Judas is a matter of genuine interest. After all, it is... ( Keep Reading » )