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Yesterday in our services, Charles Lyons preached for our Global Impact Conference. If you were a part of the Northwest family, you know how amazing our services were yesterday. Charles passionately encouraged Northwest to make an impact where we are.

We will planning opportunities for Northwest to partner with Charles’ church, Armitage, in the near future.

Okay… I have been reading Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna. Read this quote from the authors. The quote’s context is the author’s objections to D. L Moody’s primary focus of bring people to Christ:

We believe that by viewing redemption as God’s ultimate purpose, [Moody] failed to communicate the scope of      God’s complete plan.

No evangelist or apostle in the New Testament brought souls to Christ simply to save them from hell. Such a thought was unknown to the early Christians. The early Christians won people to the Lord to bring them into God’s community, the church.

In the first century, people were saved with the idea of adding them to the ekklesia. Conversion and community were not separate; they were inextricably intertwined (I agree…). In the words of Gilbert Bilezikian: “Christ did not die just to save us from sins, but to bring us together into community.

So God sent His only Son not only so we can have eternal life, but also so that we can come together and have a sweet time? Wow. Community is a benefit, not the purpose of Christ’s death. 

It is these kinds of statements that further confirms my thinking that just because a book has been published and marketed well, does not mean that it is truth. Maybe just “truthy” (thank you Stephen Colbert)

Beyond reading and memorizing Scripture, I try my best to read 3 books at month. I intentionally read books that I know I will disagree with, books that place me out of my comfort zone, and books that will nourish my walk with God. Here are my books for January:

 Pagan Christianity, Frank Viola and George Barna, 2008. The title of this book caught my eye. I have always been interested in the roots of current church methodology. As a pastor I have had people tell me that everything is pagan, from Christmas trees and facial hair to rock music. They attempt to reveal that many of our current Christian practices (from choirs to service times) have pagan roots and that we should be aware why we do what we do. I applaud the authors’ attempts to shed historical evidence on why the church does what it does. However, I disagree with some of their conclusions. I was also disappointed when they their sources for their use of Greek words did not come from Greek dictionaries (i.e., D. A. Carson’s Exegetical Fallacies)

IT, Craig Groeschel, 2008. While some may be uncomfortable about his use of the word it to define God’s movement in a church, Groeschel explains the principle quite well. He addresses the often unmentioned question of churches: why do some churches have it going on in every area and others do not. The author does an effective job of relating to pastors who will never pastor a church like LifeChurch.TV. My only concern is that some young pastors may read this book (and it is not the author’s fault) and think that the it can be automatically attained through excellence rather than surrender to God. We all need to realize it is both.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones. This is the bomb-diggity! Can’t wait to meet him. By the way, I was on a train in London last year and met a lady who had been under the leadership of Morgan, Jones, and Kendall at Westminster Chapel. Pretty cool.

 Piper nails it! 

God has been doing some wonderful things… Check out NWBC.TV for more information…

I will write more when I do not have anything else better to do…

I got back from Israel last night around 5pm. I’m exhausted but happy to be with my boy and Laura. I will do my best to post some pictures in the near future but there is a lot on my plate over the next couple of weeks.

I had a great time and still cannot comprehend what I saw and experienced. I will write more later

I am sitting here at my in-laws home after a night of opening presents. The greatest joy tonight was seeing my little boy interact with amazing excitement over each unwrapped gift. In fact, he looked more excited than my wife discovering there is  a sale at Ann Taylor Loft…I believe our Lord loves to give us good gifts and I believe he watches us receive them with great anticipation and excitement…

Here are some other thoughts and happenings in the Brammer household.

1) Update on the surprise I was going to reveal…Laura is pregnant again! We heard the heartbeat today and we praise the  Lord the heartbeat was quite healthy. We will discover whether the baby is a boy/girl sometime in Feb.

2) Dissertation update: Dr. Akin has almost approved the whole thing. I should have it approved over the next couple of days. I want to defend it before Feb is over so please pray for me.

3) I headed off to Israel on Friday and I am stoked. I am going with some great people who will make the trip a lot of fun. My brother-in-law will be going with me. He is an awesome guy who God has done some wonderful things with.

4) My father-in-law met with President Bush last week and the President gave me a tie clip thingy (I do not know what it is). Me and the President are tight.

5) Last year about this time, my grandfather died. He was a wonderful man who lived a full 86 years. A decorated war veteran, he dropped out of school when he was in eighth grade (at least he made it that far ), but he was surely one of the wittiest men I have ever known.

6) My Redskins are surprising me! What a win last night! If they beat the Cowgirls and Jessica Simpson, they are in the playoffs.

7) Speaking of playoffs, I have made it to the championship game in one of my fantasy football leagues! I can’t believe it. The final game is this coming weekend. I will surely get crushed.

Last night I reminded my congregation that it is far too easy to become numb over what Jesus has done for us. In other words, too many of us have “gotten over Jesus.” The motto in the academic world is “Publish or Perish.” According to John Piper, the motto for the Church should be “Cherish or Perish.” We must remember and cherish Christ and His works lest we lose our spiritual vitality and succumb to death.

It’s the middle of November and here are some random thoughts…

1. I will have some major news in a couple of weeks…

2. Our church’s new website will be up in early December. It’ll be good. I promise that it will not be a website without purpose. It will be interactive. No, I’m not talking about playing an 8-bit Noah’s ark video game… I’ll say more later.

3. This Sunday the mission team will present information on our mission trips for 2008. Last year we had around 100 of our church family go…Why not 120 this year? One cool thing that has resulted from our trips last year was a relationship we started with a Zambian friend of mine, Jack, who wanted to go to seminary but couldn’t afford it. All of the children’s ministries at Calvary raised enough money last year to pay for one year of Jack’s room and tuition!

4. Check out my wife’s site: www.laurapagebrammer.blogspot.com. She started it a couple of months ago and, as you will realize, she has not posted anything since. I finally know someone who is a worse “updater” than me!

5. Hilarious…My family and I (uh..I mean…Laura and me. Zachary chomps out on his food) love Mexican food. I’m talking about, sometimes, 3 times a week. Anyway, we have our favorite place, and everytime we go the waitstaff goes all crazy on Zachary. They ignore every other baby. Zachary is the amigo. I am trying to teach him “me llamo Zachary” but all he can say is “da-da.” Also, he loves those of darker skin tone. When a white person walks by, he could care less. However, when a hispanic, black, or asian person walks by, Zachary cocks his little head back and starts grinning. May he never lose that…We live in a very racially segregated city. Preach it boy…

6. Dissertation watch: I recently had the fourth chapter of my dissertation approved. It was a little over 110 pages! I have about 50 more pages to go until I am completely finished writing it. Then I will proofread for about a week and then send it off. It is now looking like I will defend it in mid to late February. I wish I was a little closer to being done but I had to teach at SEBTS this week.

7. College football needs a tournament…at least 4 teams, cmon!

8. Speaking of football, I am 5-5 in our church fantasy league and 4-6 in another league. I will still make the playoffs in both leagues. Count on it.

9. I am soon going to reopen www.mondaymorningleftovers.blogspot.com. Each church member that signs-up will get an email devotion from me every Monday morning. Non-attenders, if you want to be on that list let me know.

10. One of my favorite passages of Scripture right now is Col. 3:15 “Let the peace of God reign in your heart and be thankful.” Be thankful for what God has done, is doing, and will do. Let the peace of God have kingship in your life. Our Lord knows the future. He is never caught off guard.

Okay, that’s enough for now…