Articles for tag: LeRoy Lawson

February 28, 2016

Christian Standard

Wrestling with Faith and Disagreeing on the Bible

By LeRoy Lawson My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer Christian Wiman New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013 The Civil War as a Theological Crisis (The Steven and Janice Brose Lectures in the Civil War Era) Mark A. Noll Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, reprint edition, 2015 When a speaker is teetering on the brink of death, ravaged by bone marrow cancer, you pay attention. When he is poet Christian Wiman, sharing his personal insight into the Bright Abyss, readers””religious and nonreligious alike””ponder his every thought. Wiman is struggling””against death, against the danger of being

January 22, 2016

Christian Standard

Evangelical Warning, Improbable Convert, Uncommon Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson The Great Evangelical Recession: 6 Factors That Will Crash the American Church . . . and How to Prepare John S. Dickerson Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2013 Good God, Lousy World, and Me: The Improbable Journey of a Human Rights Activist from Unbelief to Faith Holly Burkhalter New York: Convergent Books, 2013 The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected Nik Ripken Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2013 John Dickerson”s The Great Evangelical Recession is depressing reading. Being told the truth isn”t always an “upper.” This book tells the truth. At least it tells the truth as things stand

December 17, 2015

Christian Standard

Pursuing Unity, Revisiting Assumptions, Winning with Winsomeness

By LeRoy Lawson Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces That Keep Us Apart Christena Cleveland Downers Grove: IVP Books/Intervarsity Press, 2013   Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible”s View of Women Sarah Bessey New York: Howard Books, 2013   The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission: Promoting the Gospel with More Than Our Lips John Dickson Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013   Hearing Her Voice: A Biblical Invitation for Women to Preach (Revised Edition) John Dickson Grand Rapids: Zondervan 2012, 2014 I like introducing people to authors I”ve just met. Recently I read three books that made me want to become better

November 28, 2015

Christian Standard

Competitors, Charismatics, and Caregivers

By LeRoy Lawson Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies Lawrence Goldstone New York: Ballantine Books, 2014 Prototype: What Happens When You Discover You”re More Like Jesus Than You Think Jonathan Martin Carol Stream: Tyndale Momentum, 2013 Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times Jennifer Worth New York: Penguin Books, 2012 Disillusioned. There”s a sad word for you. It means that something you believe or want to believe or thought was true but never checked out turns out to be not so. You believed an illusion, and now you know. Sorrow comes

October 22, 2015

Christian Standard

New Testament Church, New Insights on Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson Renewal for Mission: A Concise History of Christian Churches and Churches of Christ W. Dennis Helsabeck Jr., Gary Holloway, Douglas A. Foster Abilene: Abilene Christian University Press, 2009 A Dresser of Sycamore Trees: The Finding of a Ministry Garret Keizer HarperSanFrancisco, 1991, 1993 Priest, Prophet, Pilgrim: Types and Distortions of Spiritual Vocation in the Fiction of Wendell Berry and Cormac McCarthy Todd Edmonds Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2014 When I was 9 years old, I made my nervous way down the aisle of my home church. I confessed my faith to our minister in front of all those people.

September 24, 2015

Christian Standard

Is Religion the Problem?

By LeRoy Lawson Can We Be Good Without God? Biology, Behavior, and the Need to Believe Robert Beckman Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2002 Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence Karen Armstrong New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014 Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World Lynne Martin Naperville: Sourcebooks, 2014 I bought Can We Be Good Without God? because I wanted to know the answer. It”s not unusual for someone going through a medical, familial, or other kind of crisis to ask, “How does one who doesn”t believe in God get through something

August 22, 2015

Christian Standard

Powerful, Prolific, and the Professor

By LeRoy Lawson   Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Jack Weather ford New York: Broadway Books, 2005 Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues N. T. Wright New York: HarperOne, 2014 Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness Richard B. Hays Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014 When I told a friend I was reading a biography of Genghis Khan, he laughed at me. “You will read anything, won”t you?” No, not anything, but a lot of things! “But why Genghis Khan?” Because I don”t know very much about him, that”s why, and because he was

July 27, 2015

Christian Standard

Growth, Grace, and a Writer I Like

By LeRoy Lawson   Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeing God in the Crucible of Ministry Ruth Haley Barton Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2008 Lila: A Novel Marilynne Robinson New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014 Persuasion: A Novel Jane Austen Originally published in 1817   I”ve written here before about how much I learn from my students. Many books in this column have appeared because they told me I needed to read a favorite of theirs. Ruth Haley Barton is one of those favorites. She is president of the Transforming Center, where she and her colleagues are in the business

July 14, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Claiming the Right Identity

By Mark A. Taylor It is easy, too easy for me to make my identity all about me. Can you relate? For example, many of us take identity from our family relationships. (Whose son are you? Which child is yours?) Or we boost identity with what we can afford to buy or experience. (Is this your new car? You live in that neighborhood? Your cruise lasted how long?) We claim identity from the title behind our names. (Instructor or professor or dean? Manager or director or vice president?) But when life changes””and life always changes””when the job ends or the

July 3, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

A Conversation with LeRoy Lawson

Roy Lawson, 2015 North American Christian Convention speaker, spoke with Mark Taylor about how and why the NACC has changed and prospered and how an older Christian can guard against depression, bitterness, or cynicism as he or she experiences advancing years. See our exclusive interview here.  

July 2, 2015

Christian Standard

An Annotated List of My Latest Finds

By LeRoy Lawson The War of the Worlds H. G. Wells London: Penguin Books, 2007 (first published in book form in 1898) Science and Religion in Quest of Truth John Polkinghorne New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011 Finding Neguinho David Randle New York: Page Publishing, 2014 Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim”s Tale Ian Morgan Cron Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013 (previously published by NavPress, 2006) Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English John H. McWhorter New York: Gotham Books, 2009 Language A to Z (audio download/CD) John H. McWhorter Chantilly: The Great Courses, 2013 The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry

May 25, 2015

Christian Standard

Struggling for Balance

By LeRoy Lawson   Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2014 iGods: How Technology Shapes Our Spiritual and Social Lives Craig Detweiler Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2013 Brave New World Aldous Huxley New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics; originally published in 1932 Chris Smith presented the argument for Slow Church to a small gathering in Erwin, Tennessee. After a season of serious drought, First Christian Church has been enjoying renewal under the steady leadership of Chris”s friend Todd Edmondson. Erwin was a fitting venue, since many of the growth techniques that have

March 30, 2015

Christian Standard

God”s Heart, God”s Servants, a Growing Church

By LeRoy Lawson Life on Mission: God”s People Finding God”s Heart for the World Tim Harlow Pastors.com, 2014 Timeless: Devotions Based on the Sermons of Floyd Strater Kim Hamilton Self published, 2014 (available at amazon.com & lulu.com) No More Dragons: Get Free from Broken Dreams, Lost Hope, Bad Religion, and Other Monsters Jim Burgen Nashville: Nelson Books, 2014 The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Future of Christianity Trilogy) Philip Jenkins New York: Oxford University Press, 2011 The 2014 North American Christian Convention was a profitable one for me. In addition to Ian DiOrio”s Trivial Pursuits, which I reviewed in last month”s column,

March 1, 2015

Christian Standard

Tragic Hero, Seven Great Men, and How to Reach the “˜Nones”

By LeRoy Lawson Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon”s Downfall Elizabeth Drew New York: Overlook Hardcover, 2014 Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness Eric Metaxas Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013 The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated James Emery White Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2014 I have been reliving a nightmare. Not just my bad dream, but our nation”s. Nightmare isn”t even my word. It”s Gerald Ford”s, part of his August 1974 swearing-in remarks. Richard Nixon had left the White House in disgrace. “My fellow Americans,” Ford told the country, “our long national nightmare

February 28, 2015

Christian Standard

A Literary Conversation about Racial Prejudice

By LeRoy Lawson Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power Jon Meacham New York: Random House, 2012 Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Gilbert King New York: Harper Perennial, 2013 Trivial Pursuits: Why Your Real Life Is More than Media, Money and the Pursuit of Happiness Ian DiOrio Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2014 I often make my way through two or three books at a time, one on my Kindle, one for listening pleasure when grunting my way through morning exercises, and a “real book” with paper pages at the office or

February 20, 2015

Christian Standard

We Speak: Previewing the 2015 NACC

By Mike Baker 2015 NACC President God is a talker. In the beginning, he thundered the creatively explosive words, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and everything we know and see came into being. And he didn”t stop there. He spoke throughout the history of his chosen people: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1). But God had more to say, so he reiterated his Word to the world through the person of Jesus. According to the apostle John, “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1),

January 30, 2015

Christian Standard

Assessing a Pope, Learning about Armenia, Reconsidering Depression

By LeRoy Lawson   Pope John XXIII Thomas Cahill New York: Penguin Books, 2008 Armenia: A Journey Through History Arra S. Avakian Fresno: The Electric Press, 2008 The Armenian Genocide: Forgotten and Denied Yair Auron Valley Cottage: Contento De Semrik, 2013 My Age of Anxiety Scott Stossel New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014 On March 13, 2013, the Roman Catholic Church”s papal conclave elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new pope. We commoners held our collective breath. So much depends on the character of the man, his leadership style, his ability to hold together his far-flung, disparate, often

January 1, 2015

Christian Standard

2015 NACC Schedule of Events

TUESDAY, JUNE 23  8:30 a.m.”” Cane Ridge Adventure Tour (tickets required) 9:00 a.m.”” PROPEL Pre-Lab Event (information on page 50) 1:00 p.m.””Logos Bible Software Training (tickets required) 6:45 p.m.””Evening Main Session (Mike Baker speaking) 8:30 p.m.””College Fair 8:30 p.m.””President”s Reception   WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24 7:30 a.m.””Ministry Networking Breakfast (tickets required) 8:00 a.m.”” Ministers” Wives” Breakfast (tickets required) 8:30 a.m.”” Bible Study with J.K. Jones 9:45 a.m.””Morning Main Session (“Next Generation” preachers and LeRoy Lawson speaking) Noon””Seniors” Luncheon with John and Bob Russell (tickets required) 2:00 p.m.””Seminars/Workshops 3:30 p.m.””Performance by Michael Jr., Christian comedian 5:00 p.m.”” President”s Banquet (tickets required) 6:45

December 30, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

New Steps and a New Gift

By Mark A. Taylor Every year at Christmastime I look for a way to give something to someone who can”t or won”t give me anything in return. Usually this means an extra offering to a favorite mission, a check written to a local shelter, or gifts purchased for our church”s project to “provide Christmas” for needy children. I do this because it”s always seemed to me that exchanged gifts are trades, not really gifts. They”re fun, and they can be a good part of office or family celebrations. But true generosity doesn”t happen with rules about dollar limits or gift

December 14, 2014

Christian Standard

For Anyone Concerned about Poverty

By LeRoy Lawson   Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa Dambisa Moyo New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009 Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help Robert D. Lupton New York: HarperCollins, 2011 When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009 Grace at the Garbage Dump: Making Sense of Mission in the Twenty-First Century Jesse A. Zink Eugene: Cascade Books, 2012   I”m writing this month about poverty. Maybe you are on your

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