Mining Grace

Taking a Break

I've just signed on to blog with a few friends of mine about life and ministry in the PCA.  So I'm going to take a little break from blogging here until I can get into a good blogging schedule over there.  Come check us out at Vintage73.com.  Also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Fanatical Persons

I have heard many fanatical persons say the Holy Spirit revealed this and that to them.  Now that is very generally revealed nonsense.  The Holy Ghost does not reveal anything fresh now.  He brings old things to our remembrance.  'He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have told you.'  The canon of revelation is closed; there is no more to be added.  God does not give a fresh revelation, but rivets the old one.  When it has been forgotten, and laid in the dusty chamber of our memory, he fetches it out and cleans the picture, but does not paint a new one.

4 Reasons to Work in a Coffee Shop

My left hand, gently resting on asdf is kept company by an Italiano a few inches away.  I'm a church planter.  I'm in a coffee shop.  I ooze cliche'. 

The problem is that I hate cliche'.  Before I was a church planter I would hear of my church planting buddies spending inordinate amounts of time at caffeine pumping establishment and I would laugh a little. 

But what I've found, now that I've been in Culpeper for 8 months is that coffee shops are actually a great cultural landmark for understanding a community. 

What are some things you can learn by spending time in your local coffee shop?  Here are four.

1. You get to see what people who aren't working or don't work from an office do during the day.  If you're working for Merryl Lynch, you're not going to be at the coffee shop at 9:30.  But if you're unemployed or a self-employed web designer you're probably going to frequent your local Starbucks at some point during the week for java and wifi.  As a missionary to Culpeper I want to meet those folks and find out what makes them tick. 
   
2. Your local barristas are going to give you the best information on your community.  Plug them for two types of information.  First, what are people like who attend their coffee shops and when do they come in the store.  Coffee shop employees are some of the most astute sociologists you'll meet in your community.  Second, what are the upcoming community events.  When someone wants to get the word out about an event they go to the coffee shops first.
   
3. Visit different coffee shops and see who attends which, why, and when.  Go to Starbucks and go to the local joints.  What types of people are there?  When do they come and why are they there?  Do they use the drive-thru or come in the store?  When are they there?  The Starbucks on the north side of Culpeper is a totally different clientele than the local place I'm sitting in off of Main Street.  And the  difference has told me tons about the demographics in Culpeper. 
   
4. It's a great place to meet and talk to people.  Coffee shops are designed to get people talking.  The more they talk, the longer they'll stay.  The longer they stay the more coffee they'll buy.  I've had some amazing one-off conversations about the gospel in coffee shops that I could never have in other places where it's just plain weird to strike up a deep conversation with someone. 
   

Those are just a few of the reasons I spend a few hours a week working in a coffee shop.  If you can think of others include them below in the comments. 

A Gospel without the Trinity

A gospel without a Trinity!—it is a pyramid built upon its apex.  A gospel without the Trinity!—it is a rope of sand that cannot hold together.  A gospel without the Trinity!—then, indeed, Satan can overthrow it.  But, give me a gospel with the Trinity, and the might of hell cannot prevail against it; no man can any more overthrow it, than a bubble could split a rock, or a feather break in halves a mountain.  Get the thought of the three persons, and you have the marrow of all divinity.  Only know the Father, and know the Son, and know the Holy Ghost to be one, and all things appear clear.  This is the golden key to the secrets of nature; this is the silken clue of the labyrinths of mystery, and he who understands this, will soon understand as much as mortals e'er can know.

Six Ways Fathers Pursue Christ in their Fatherhood ~ The Acts29 Blog

http://www.acts29network.org/acts-29-blog/six-ways-fathers-pursue-christ-in-t...

Man, I love being a daddy. 

These impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also; welcoming them into their ‘agape,’ they attract them, as children are attracted, with cakes… Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity, and by display of false compassion have established and given effect to their pernicious errors. See their love feasts, and their tables spread for the indigent. Such practice is common among them, and causes contempt for our gods.

Julian the Apostate, concerning early Christians

One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.

CS Lewis

The Christian needs no argument to make him love Christ; just as a mother needs no argument to make her love her child. She does it because it is her nature to do so.

CH Spurgeon, The Remembrance of Christ

How I Pastor my Family by Justin Hyde ~ The Resurgence

http://www.theresurgence.com/how_i_pastor_my_family

I really enjoyed the humble practicality of this post.

He is not become an Almighty tyrant, whereas he was once an Almighty Father; but his strong love stands like a granite rock, unmoved by the hurricane of our iniquity.

CH Spurgeon, The Immutability of God