General Archives

Drew and Melanie's Engagement (May 1, 2008) - Here's a shout-out to my old buddy, Drew Garfield, who just got engaged to a wonderful girl named Melanie Dillon. Drew and I moved out from Oregon to Maryland together. And he used to travel with me when I did... ( Keep Reading » )

CJ Mahaney at Ligonier (March 15, 2008) - CJ preached this week at RC Sproul's Ligonier Conference. From what I've heard he did a great job. Tony Reinke tells me the sight of CJ in a suit is eliciting a lot humor. "Wish you could hear all the... ( 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 » )

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 » )

Sarah Brewer (February 19, 2008) - Dave and Jen Brewer are dear friends of ours. We lived next to them for a while, and Dave pastors with me at our church. They have 4 beautiful children, the youngest of which is little Sarah, 18 months... ( Keep Reading » )

Praying for Dr. Mohler (February 14, 2008) - Today, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary posted in a press release that its president, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr, "will require additional surgery after a scheduled colonoscopy on February 11 revealed a [pre-cancerous] tumor in his colon. ....The procedure is... ( Keep Reading » )

Jonathan Edwards in Charity and Its Fruits (February 13, 2008) - "Do you think the injuries you have received from your fellow-man are more than you have offered to God? Has your enemy been more base, more unreasonable, more ungrateful, than you have to the High and Holy One? Have his... ( Keep Reading » )

CJ Blogs (January 29, 2008) - Glory Hallelujah! CJ has entered the blogosphere with his new blog on the Sovereign Grace site entitled " Sovereign Grace Blog: C.J. Mahaney's view from the cheap seats & other stuff." Check it out. Be part of history and... ( 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 » )

Weeping With Those Who Weep (January 17, 2008) - I wanted to share this article that Jon Smith recently posted on the New Attitude blog. Jon is a friend and fellow pastor who serves on the singles team at our church. Jon writes from his experience of losing... ( Keep Reading » )

For Battling Self-Righteousness (January 11, 2008) - "Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." - Thomas a Kempis... ( Keep Reading » )

Gift Idea: Journals (December 5, 2007) - Last night we had our annual Staff Christmas Party—always a wonderful time of fellowship and celebrating evidences of God's grace in those we work with. As a gift from the pastors, all the staff received leather PaperBlanks journals. These... ( Keep Reading » )

Relativizing God's Word (November 16, 2007) - In his recent article entitled, "The Feminization of the Ministry—A Milestone in Britain," Al Mohler comments on the increasing ordinations of female priests by the Church of England. His article points to an even more concerning trend—that of playing "interpretive... ( Keep Reading » )

Learning From Mark Driscoll (November 9, 2007) - My first introduction to Mark Driscoll was his book Radical Reformission. I enjoyed it and was challenged by it. So I wrote him a letter telling him that I appreciated the stand he took for biblical truth and the clear... ( Keep Reading » )

Being Christian in Iraq (October 26, 2007) - I was recently reading an article from the Washington Post talking about the persecution of Christians in Iraq. Here's how it begins:BAGHDAD—Nabil Comanny and his family endured the dead bodies left to decompose along the road in their southern... ( Keep Reading » )

Wildfires in California (October 24, 2007) - No doubt you are aware of the massive fires raging in Southern California, with over 650 square miles burnt and nearly a million people displaced. Mark Lauterbach is senior paster of our sister church in San Diego. He, like... ( Keep Reading » )

The New Banner (October 2, 2007) - My friend Beth Altrogge is the photographer behind the new banner for the homepage. We needed something different, and CJ has been bugging me to change it. The old banner was a close-up shot of one of my shirts... ( Keep Reading » )

Machen on the Word of God (September 13, 2007) - "The Christian man...finds in the Bible the very Word of God. Let it not be said that dependence on a book is a dead or an artificial thing. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was founded upon the authority of... ( Keep Reading » )

An Interview with Tullian Tchividjian-Part 3 (September 8, 2007) - This is the third and final installment of my interview with pastor and author Tullian Tchividjian, in which he shares about his new book, Do I Know God?, his testimony, and his thoughts on our generation. Josh: Tell us... ( Keep Reading » )

Mahaney Interviews Dever (September 4, 2007) - 9Marks just came out with their latest leadership interview. Normally Mark Dever serves as the host and peppers the guest pastors and authors with questions. But in the newest interview the tables are turned as C.J. Mahaney interviews Mark... ( Keep Reading » )

An Interview With Tullian Tchividjian-Part 2 (September 4, 2007) - This is the second part of an interview with my friend, pastor and newly published author Tullian Tchividjian (the picture is one I took of Tullian and his wife Kim during the Billy Graham Crusade in New York in... ( Keep Reading » )

Update: Taliban Agrees to Release Hostages (August 28, 2007) - As an update to my earlier post asking for prayer, I wanted to give an update on, Lord willing, the releases of the remaining 19 South Korean Christians. According to various news reports, Afghanistan's Taliban militants have agreed to release... ( Keep Reading » )

Whose Side Are You On? (August 25, 2007) - I recently did a brief interview with Outreach Magazine about the role of the local church in evangelism. Justin Taylor linked to the article and someone left the following comment, which I respond to below: Comment: Harris explains that the... ( Keep Reading » )

Interview: CJ Mahaney and Discipleship (August 23, 2007) - In December 2005, Adrian Warnock interviewed me about my being discipled by CJ Mahaney these last 11 years. As a follow-up to yesterday's post, I thought I'd share it here: Adrian: Josh, first of all welcome to this blog,... ( Keep Reading » )

New Office (August 22, 2007) - CJ just moved downstairs, leaving his Covenant Life Church office for a new one down in Sovereign Grace Ministries. And I've just moved next door to take his. Though he hasn't gone far (same building), it's strange after having... ( Keep Reading » )

Pictures from The Clash (August 11, 2007) - It's good to be home, but I do miss the kids at The Clash. If you're a Clash attendee, please leave a comment. Hope you had a safe trip home.... ( Keep Reading » )

Report from The Clash (August 10, 2007) - I've been having a great time at The Clash. It's been so good getting to know students from Sovereign Grace churches across the country. Every day I'm aware of God's kindness to our little family of churches in giving us... ( Keep Reading » )

Cravings and Conflicts (August 8, 2007) - Conflict is coming your way. The following article, written by my good friend and mentor CJ Mahaney, recently appeared in Reformation 21. It is reproduced here with permission. CJ leads Sovereign Grace Ministries and has served over 30 years... ( Keep Reading » )

Off to The Clash (August 7, 2007) - This week I'm serving as a counselor at the Sovereign Grace-sponsored world view training camp "The Clash." You can read about the camp and the content of its teaching at their web page. I've been really looking forward to... ( Keep Reading » )

Praying (August 3, 2007) - By now, I think most of us are aware of the South Korean Christians being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Today a friend in Afghanistan passed on some suggestions for prayer, so I post them here for... ( Keep Reading » )

Micah is with Jesus (July 25, 2007) - My heart is heavy today. The three-year-old son of a very dear family in our church has suffered the effects of a brain tumor for more than a year. Our pastoral team and my family prayed for little Micah... ( Keep Reading » )

Photo for our Scrapbook (July 21, 2007) - Life goes by so fast. Too fast. The kids grow. They change in the blink of an eye. That's why our family takes the time to create a family photo album each year. We want to try and capture 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 » )

C.J. T-Shirt (July 3, 2007) - Last month, after preaching at the Sovereign Grace church in St. Petersburg, a guy named Tom presented me with a great gift: a t-shirt with a caricature of C.J. Mahaney and the inscription "C.J. Mahaney is My Theological Homeboy."... ( Keep Reading » )

Today at Creation (June 29, 2007) - Today I'm up in PA speaking at Creation. If you're going to be there, I hope you'll stop by.... ( Keep Reading » )

Turn Off Your Phone (June 28, 2007) - A member of my church named Wes sent this to me and recommended that we play it every Sunday before the sermon. Not a bad idea.... ( 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 » )

Quote of the Day: Schaeffer (June 8, 2007) - Now the death of the Lord Jesus is absolutely unique. It is substitutionary. There is no parallel death to Jesus' death—his must stand as absolute in our thinking. His substitutionary death on the cross, in space and time in... ( Keep Reading » )

Florida (June 6, 2007) - Tomorrow morning, my family and I depart for a long-anticipated vacation in Florida. While down there, I'll speak at two Sovereign Grace churches: June 10 Gulf Coast Community Church in St. Petersburg June 17 Grace Community Church in Bradenton... ( Keep Reading » )

Home From Na (May 30, 2007) - The Harris family is happily reunited and all wearing our Na t-shirts (including Emma's Samantha doll!) It was great seeing all of you at in Louisville. I can't wait till next year!... ( Keep Reading » )

Packing for New Attitude (May 25, 2007) - My brothers, Alex and Brett, who run The Rebelution are the official live-bloggers for New Attitude 2007. Brett just posted a great little video on packing that pays tribute to all the past Na t-shirts. Check it out... If you're... ( Keep Reading » )

Chewy Peps (May 23, 2007) - Alright, boys and girls. Today we're introducing a new feature on the website: random posts about stuff that I like. Food. Clothing. Furniture. Whatever. These posts will feature products and companies. I'll pretend that I'm important and they are my... ( 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 » )

Why Sacrifice? (May 16, 2007) - This month our church is asking the question, "Why sacrifice?" To sacrifice is to give up something valued to achieve a greater goal. Sacrifice isn't a concept most of us are naturally drawn to. Why give up anything that... ( Keep Reading » )

God Wants Your Heart (May 12, 2007) - Today I'm preparing a sermon about sacrificial giving and living for the sake of advancing the gospel. Our church is focusing on sacrifice as we prepare to give to our "Go Forward Fund." This fund was created to accelerate... ( 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 » )

Sovereign Grace Church of Frederick (April 24, 2007) - On Sunday, I had the joy of preaching at our sister church in Frederick, MD, while their senior pastor, Chris Silard, was preaching at Covenant Life. This quick video clip gives a glimpse of this thriving new church that was... ( Keep Reading » )

Praying for Virginia Tech (April 16, 2007) - Please join me in praying for all the families touched by the tragedy that has struck Virginia Tech today. The coming days will be filled with the gruesome details of this mass murder. Let's ask God to keep us... ( Keep Reading » )

Happy Resurrection Sunday (April 8, 2007) - Today I have the honor of preaching about the glorious resurrection of my Lord. I'll preach from John 20:24-29, about his appearance to his doubting disciple Thomas. Studying these verses this past week has increased my love for my... ( Keep Reading » )

CJ's Got Game (April 5, 2007) - CJ was recently at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for a meeting related to Together for the Gospel. During a break one afternoon, he arranged for a basketball game—CJ, John MacArthur, and Thabiti Anyabwile against 3 students. The dream team lost... ( Keep Reading » )

Praying for Godspell (March 23, 2007) - Today I have a little prayer request for you. Members of my church know that tonight our youth ministry is putting on a production of the musical Godspell. They've worked hard and prayed hard under the direction of Cathy... ( 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 » )

The Passing of Dr. William S. H. Piper (March 8, 2007) - I learned late Tuesday night that John Piper's father died. A friend emailed me the news. As a result of his father's passing, Piper wasn't able to speak at the Wednesday evening session of the Shepherd's Conference and so... ( 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 » )

Here We Are (February 28, 2007) - Welcome to the new site. From now on, my blog will be located here, along with a number of other pages and resources that I hope you'll find helpful. Nothing too fancy, but hopefully it will make the content more... ( Keep Reading » )

Miscellaneous (in three life-changing points) (February 14, 2007) - Here's some random stuff: 1. Thanks for all the feedback on the Romans 13:14 cartoons. I've been amazed at all the encouragement I've received from these drawings. Several people at my church have communicated something along the lines of "you... ( Keep Reading » )

NA Promo Video--Update (January 14, 2007) - Now it's on YouTube: See Friday's post below if your church wants to promote New Attitude.... ( Keep Reading » )

New Attitude Video (January 12, 2007) - NA has posted a new promo video. If you are a church leader who would like to use the video to promote NA at your church, you can request the promo DVD and/or promotional package here.... ( Keep Reading » )

A Year of Grace at Covenant Life Church (December 30, 2006) - Each December, my family tries to sit down and recap the year that is almost gone. We list the big and little events that defined the year. It's a chance to reflect on answered prayers and give thanks for God's... ( Keep Reading » )

Elijah, Baal...Merry Christmas! (December 19, 2006) - I just learned that this past Sunday the lesson plan for the children's ministry had them studying 1 Kings 18:1-39, the story of the prophet Elijah (who I happened to dress up as for this year's Harvest Party...see picture). One... ( Keep Reading » )

"Why me?" to "Why you?" (November 8, 2006) - Last month, my friend Kenneth arrived a little late to his son's soccer game only to find him lying on the field writhing in pain. While playing goalie, Chris had collided with two other players, flipped in the air, and... ( Keep Reading » )

How Many Points Have You Earned? (November 2, 2006) - In his book Holiness by Grace, Bryan Chapell retells a humorous old tale of a man who died and faced the angel Gabriel at heaven's gates: Said the angel to the man, "Here's how this works. You need a hundred... ( Keep Reading » )

Slight & Short (October 6, 2006) - This month, the magazine Christianity Today featured a cover story on young, theologically reformed pastors. I was anxious to read it because I'd been interviewed for the article and, if they quoted me, I hoped that I would come across... ( Keep Reading » )

Piper and Driscoll are Friends (October 4, 2006) - I'm grateful that Pastor Mark has posted this note and email exchange showing the unity between these two men. I hope the people who appreciate both of them will rejoice in and reflect this gospel partnership. (HT: JT)... ( Keep Reading » )

Follow Up on Piper/Driscoll (October 2, 2006) - I didn't get to attend the final session of the conference because I was speaking at the local Sovereign Grace Church in Minneapolis. But I have heard that it was the best message of the conference. I'd love to have... ( Keep Reading » )

Desiring God 2006: Day Two (September 30, 2006) - The weather in Minneapolis was beautiful today. C.J., Jeff and I had a great time on the second day of the Desiring God conference. Tonight in my hotel lobby I ran into Tim Challies who is live blogging the conference.... ( Keep Reading » )

Interview with Voice (July 7, 2006) - Stop by Justin Taylor's blog Between Two Worlds for the interview he conducted with Curtis Allen (aka Voice) a talented, humble and Christ-centered rapper who is a friend and member of my church. You can learn more about Voice and... ( Keep Reading » )

Back From Seattle (May 13, 2006) - I spent the past week in Seattle at Mark Driscoll's Reform and Resurge conference for pastors. Six of us flew out early Tuesday and returned via red-eye on Thursday night. (Lord willing, I will never fly a red-eye flight... ( Keep Reading » )

Interview for Driscoll Conference (May 2, 2006) - Next week I'm flying to Seattle, Washington, with several of my fellow pastors for Mark Driscoll's Resurgence Conference for pastors. Here's an interview I did about the conference. If you're going to be there, please come say hello.... ( Keep Reading » )

More Thoughts on Wedding Day Modesty (April 29, 2006) - I don't normally draw attention to comments posted on the site, but the following by a young lady named Juli who wrote in response to someone who disgreed with the previous post was particularly insightful. She writes, Dear sister, your... ( Keep Reading » )

Modesty on Your Wedding Day (April 19, 2006) - If tackling the topic of modesty weren't brave enough in and of itself, my sisters over at Girltalk have opened a much-needed conversation about modesty in wedding attire. No, men, your rented tuxedos and plastic shoes are not the source... ( Keep Reading » )

Redemption Requires Self-Knowledge (April 3, 2006) - In a recent sermon I quoted David Powlison from an article he wrote for the Fall 2005 Journal of Biblical Counseling. In the article Powlison notes that the change and redemption we all long for requires self-knowledge. "Diagnosis precedes cure,"... ( Keep Reading » )

Update on "The View" (March 31, 2006) - I didn't get to see the show myself, but I've been told that the briefest of brief mentions was made of I Kissed Dating Goodbye by the guest host, Myrka Dellanos, who is evidently both an Emmy Award winning Latino... ( Keep Reading » )