I don’t know how long this will be up to view for free. Better strike while the iron is hot.

“The goal of existence, according to Nietzsche, is more than survival (as Darwin held). It is the opportunity–or the ability–to discharge one’s strength; he calls this “the will to power” (Kevin Swanson, Apostate, 150).

“Clamour arose in Heorot. Under the covering of dark she [Grendel’s mother] took the arm she knew so well. Grief was renewed, and was come again to those dwelling places. An evil barter was that, wherein they must on either side exchange the lives of men beloved” (J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, 51).

“To be human is to be one who is addressed by God” (Carl R. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, 62).

“The musical Dionysian revolution [which the author contributes to pioneer composer Richard Wagner] captured the hearts and minds of several billion people in subsequent years. Without a cultural revolution in music, Nietzsche would not have nearly the same impact on the world. As the dust clears after the social and cultural atom bombs fell on Western civilization, we can assess the causes of the devastation. Perhaps it was more Wagner than Nietzsche that did the damage–music can carry ideas into the heart of a man, better than prose. Historians chronicling the decline of Western civilization would do well to study the connections between Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner, and the popular music revolution of the 1950s and 1960s [Footnote appended: E Michael Jones, Dionysos Rising: The Birth of Cultural Revolution out of the Spirit of Music (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1994)]” (Kevin Swanson, Apostate, 148-149).

Thom Rainer recently ran this article on his blog.

Ten Ways Millenials Are Shaping Local Congregations Today 

They are the largest generation in history. In the United States alone, they number more than 78 million, even larger than the seemingly ubiquitous Boomers. They are the Millennials. They are changing our nation, our world, and our churches. 

For the purpose of today’s post, I want to focus on changes they are already bringing to our local churches. I have the benefit of a large research project on the Millennials, plus the ongoing conversations I have with members of this generation. And I have spoken with countless leaders in churches about their experiences with Millennials. 

Keep in mind that the birth years of the Millennials: 1980 to 2000. So the oldest member of this generation is 34, while the youngest is only 14. But their impact is already noticeable, and it will be for years to come. Here are ten ways they are shaping local congregations today:

• More of them are attracted to smaller venues. They are thus one of the reasons for the incredible growth in the multi-venue model of churches and the growth of new churches. Leaders of smaller churches should be encouraged by this trend as well.

• They see culture as something to influence, rather than an enemy to denounce. Many Millennials truly have a missionary mindset. They are turned off by those who constantly rail against people.

• They like to cooperate with others. They do not view other churches and Christian organizations as competitors. They are attracted to congregations that are working with other congregations.

• They abhor worship wars. I have a previous post on this topic called “What Worship Style Attracts the Millennials?”

• They love churches that love their communities. One of the first questions a Millennial will ask a church leader is, “What is the church doing to influence, impact, and minister to the community?”

• They are attracted to churches that emphasize groups. The Millennials want to be a part of a congregation that has healthy small groups, Sunday school classes, home groups, or other groups.

• They want to be trained on their schedule. The Millennials truly desire training. But they are accustomed to having that training available when they are able to hear it or view it. Such is the reason that many churches are going to video training while having “live” worship services and small groups.

• They will question almost everything. This generation will want to know why a church does what it does. The most unacceptable answer is, “We have always done it this way.”

• They are slow to join, and slow to leave. Church leaders are often frustrated that a Millennial takes so long to commit to a local congregation. But they are intentional and thorough. Once they commit to a church, they are less likely to leave, especially over petty issues.

• They want to be involved. If a church does not have an intentional plan to get Millennials involved in ministry quickly, they will not reach Millennials.

I love this generation. I love their enthusiasm, their commitment, and even their questions. They are one of the reasons I remain an obnoxious optimist about the revitalization of local congregations.
I would love to hear from some of you Millennials. And I would love to hear from some of the older folks like me who are interacting with this generation. Your comments are always more valuable than my posts.

Proverbs 22:28 — “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

The command to not remove ancient landmarks condenses something Moses told the Israelites as they prepared to enter the promised land. In Deuteronomy Moses tells the Nation of Israel what God expects of them once they have entered, conquered, and taken possession of the land: Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess (19:14).

The command in Deuteronomy 19 and Proverbs 22:28 deters greedy neighbors, especially in a society that lacked the convenience of modern surveying equipment and satellite imaging. They needed physical landmarks in a way that modern man doesn’t. Today if a couple of farmers or ranchers have a dispute about where a property-line is they can refer to a plat map; in antiquity that luxury didn’t exist. Today we can refer to a map, but in antiquity they would have taken stones, stacked them into a physical landmark/monument, and going forward folks could appeal to the ancient landmark if they were trying to figure out where the property-line was. Moving the ancient landmarks would have been a real temptation; Moses was not addressing some hypothetical scenario. God knows how our crooked hearts operate. God knows that dark hearts love to steal when they think they can get away with it.

The Nation of Israel was a type and figure of Christ’s Kingdom. Christ is the Eternal-Creator King and the entire world is His. So, consider this: when Christians go around and tell folks to stop being a Mormon or stop being a Muslim, to repent and be converted, one of things that is implicit in that call to repent/be converted is that all of creation is God’s! Therefore, indirectly we are telling people to stop trying to (re)move the ancient landmarks with their phony-religion. Man is a type of ancient landmark; we were created in the image of God. Human nature is an ancient landmark; our creature-hood is a property line–it communicates “all this creature-stuff is the Creator’s.”

When somebody tries to be an atheist, or tries to be a Mormon, or tries to be a Muslim, what they are doing is trying to move an ancient landmark: they are trying to take their sins and stack them together into a little mountain of rocks and appeal to that sin-landmark and say, “Ha! This human is not made in the image of the Triune God!” Or they try to take their bricks and build a building and say, “Ha! This little patch of dirt on the corner of such-and-such a road is not part of the Kingdom of Heaven! It is part of make-believe-Mormon land!” But they are wrong. Dead, dead wrong. They can attempt to move the landmark of man with their sin, but that doesn’t alter God’s ownership (Creatorship) over all of creation.

The Triune Lord created this world. Not Allah. Not Joseph Smith’s God. And this world was certainly not created by the atheist’s depersonalized goddess “Reason.” And when the Triune Lord created this world he placed at the thematic center of this world a mountain with four rivers running down, and on top of that mountain was a garden called Eden; and then God put Adam and Eve in that garden. And you know what that mountain-garden with man and woman in it was? It was the ancientest of ancient-landmarks; basically a landmark that God put in place to communicate to Satan and all the fallen demons that not only was all of Heaven His, but so too the terrestrial ball with humans that bore the divine image.

But Satan came and tempted the woman and man. They rebelled and their rebellion was a form of moving an ancient landmark. They were attempting to steal glory from God! Greedy hands said, “Don’t care what God says, gonna take that that fruit God said was off-limits. Don’t care where the fence is, if I want something on the other side, well, then I’m just going to pick up the fencepost and scoot it over and take it! Try and stop me.”

But God did stop us. If you refuse righteousness, you will be unrighteous. If you refuse to walk in the light, then you will abide in darkness. If you cast off life, then all that is left is death. Adam and Eve thought they could move the ancient landmark; they thought they could gain more by attempting to be like God, by attempting to usurp God’s glory. They tried to move an ancient landmark, casting off creaturely obedience in exchange for rebellion, and when they did they corrupted themselves with sin. Their rebellion ruined their ethical nature. Figurative real estate increased, i.e. they gained knowledge of what fruit tasted like from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but the acquisition also turned them into sinners. What did Christ say about such acquisitions? Mark 8:36, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

So, do not be a thief; do not move ancient landmarks. Do not steal temporal or physical things. But also do not move spiritual ancient landmarks in an attempt to steal God’s Glory. Do not attempt to move the ancient landmark that man is a creature made in God’s image. Therefore, put on humility. Be humble before the ancient landmarks. Be humble before the Creator by embracing your creature-hood. Be humble before your Lord Jesus; he took on the ancient landmark of human flesh in order to move the landmark back to its origin. Adam moved it with sin and because of sin we couldn’t move it back, but Christ was righteous and he came and dealt with the sin and moved the landmark of human nature back to where it began, back to righteousness! And if you are in Christ then your human nature has been restored to the ancient landmark.

“Words are not simply adequate for the divine purpose in preaching; they are the divinely sanctioned means of achieving that purpose” (Carl R. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, 59).

From the Billings Gazette: “Council Defeats NDO by 6-5 Count”

You can view the proposed NDO that was defeated here.