Moore to the Point
By Russell D. Moore. Russell D. Moore serves as the teaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. In addition, Dr. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Find sermons and other resources to help Christians engage the culture from a biblical worldview at www.russellmoore.com.

You Cannot Serve Both God and Mummy: Pharaoh Hunger and the Draw of a Golden Calf Spirituality

— Thursday, January 31st, 2008 —

Hebrews 6:19-8:13

— Sunday, January 20th, 2008 —

Welcome Home, RDM

— Saturday, January 12th, 2008 —

Seven days later, after recovering the lost luggage, drying out after being wettened by the London rain, finding their way to Derbyshire after getting on a train which subsequently broke down and was stuck in the English countryside until after midnight, after eating at the Eagle and the Child while being warmed next to the same fireplace that once gave comfort to C. S. Lewis, visiting the storied universities nestled within the confines of Oxford and Cambridge, minding the gap and dropping the Pounds, drinking more spots of tea than one could ever hope to comprehend, and delivering two sermons at the Carey Conference that surely were considered a “six” (that’s a “cricket” reference, mind you - and that counts for a double meaning here), Dean Moore is coming home.

The flight carrying Dr. Moore and his wife, Maria, should be touching down within the hour. There are four little boys who could not be more excited to see their mom and dad, three of whom are standing around me even now as I type. Sure, McDonald’s is good, but homemade red beans and rice is even better. Being with Phillip and Cami Bethancourt has been great, but they sure can’t replace the love of a mother and father. And of course, staying up a little later than usual suits them fine, but being able to go to sleep knowing that Dad and Mom are downstairs to keep the goblins at bay helps one to drift off a bit more soundly.

So welcome back, RDM. Southern Seminary, Moore to the Point, the Dean’s Class, and - most importantly - four little boys, are sure glad to have you.

This is a guest commentary by Robert E. Sagers, who serves as special assistant to Dr. Russell Moore at Southern Seminary. He, too, will be happy to have his friend home again.

Merry Olde England

— Saturday, January 5th, 2008 —

There will be Hank Williams music in England, at least for the next six days. My plane leaves in a couple of hours for London, where I’ll be speaking and travelling about for the next week. Do not worry. My iPod is with me, and so, thus, are Hank, Loretta, George, and the whole crew.

Moore to the Point will probably be dark for most of that time, but Rapid Fire will be abuzz as Messrs. Sagers and Bethancourt fire away at the goings-on around the world with a Kingdom edge. I will pop in now and again as I am able, from the Land of Lewis.

One of the hassles of a trans-Atlantic trip right now is that I will be in the United Kingdom during the New Hampshire primary. Quick prediciton: Obama wins, big, in the Democratic primary. McCain wins, healthily, in the Republican primary with a stronger-than-expected showing by Huckabee.

I’ll be watching in the middle of the night, hoping the tea is strong enough to keep me awake the next day.

Ten Good Books from a Good Old Year

— Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 —

Some friends have been pestering me not to let the new year come and go without a list of ten which, for some reason, is the New Year’s kind of thing to do. So below please find ten books that stood out to me in the past year. They are not all 2007 volumes, just books I read in 2007. Of course, I don’t endorse everything in them. They are just ten books that come to mind that made me think in the past year. Some made me thankful. Some made me sad. Most made me pray.

1.) The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, edited by Walter Hooper.

Most of the Christian apologists and writers I found so appealing early in my ministry tend to fade in usefulness to me over time. I still appreciate them, but they sit on the shelf somewhere. Not so with Lewis. Each time I read him, I am amazed to see how my thought has been shaped by his in ways I don’t even recognize, often for years at a time. I also am startled by how the longer I know Christ, the more my heart is “strangely warmed” by the Narnian.

You will want to read this collection of letters, from 1950 to Lewis’s death in 1963. Find out why Lewis hated Texas, why he thinks women don’t like the autumn, his tips on clear writing, and what the taste of an orange tells one about heaven. In the midst of all this, you’ll find some arresting counsel on everything from the question of remarriage to a divorcing woman to the teaching strategies of Jesus to tender words of consolation to doubting believers and probing words of encouragement to wavering skeptics.

These letters made me love Lewis more, and thank the Lord for his witness and ministry.

2.) Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, by David Michaelis.

This is the most unexpectedly theological book I’ve read all year. It also may be the most depressing. The author traces the life of the cartoonist creator of Charlie Brown and Snoopy from his days as a fervent, tithing Church of God evangelical to his deathbed, hopeless and angry at God.

The book shows what Scripture has already told us. Human lives need a narrative, a counter-narrative to the reign of death story we see around us. Schulz found his in a narrative of his own making, an alternative world of big-headed children and a wise-cracking dog. Michaelis shows us how the crushing sadness of Schulz’s life showed up in his strip. Hint: the roadside psychiatric stand, the little red-haired girl, and Schroeder’s piano…not accidents.