By Jack Mercer on 2/7/2007 9:24 AM

Recommendation of www.christianitytodaymovies.com

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By Jack Mercer on 9/21/2006 7:23 PM

   Just got back from a conversation with my friends Erik.  Erik who was a part of a youth group from years gone by and now is all grown up with an MBA from Duke, a job with Ebay, and a new fiance' came down for a visit in conjunction with a trip to DC.  He was there as part of a seminar for young political leaders so our conversation turned to the role of the church and politics.  My take is that the church should be wary of political involvement.  Gregory A. Boyd has made some great points regarding how the Kingdom of the World and the Kingdom of God must never overlap with which I agree and shared with Erik.

   Erik on the other hand who is a bit more conservative than me, which by the way he attibutes to living in a fairly liberal west coast city, suggests the church should be more actively involved.  He feels that the church, remember we're talking about the church, not individual Christians, have an obligation to be involved.  Now given I know some folks stop by this blog occassionally I was...

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By Jack Mercer on 9/7/2006 8:56 PM

   If you are interested in how a top rung scientist integrates a very evangelical faith with being a scientist then Francis Collins new book The Language of God is right up your alley.  Collins who headed the human Genome project has written a book that as a non scientist I found absolutely enthralling.  Sandy and I listend to Collins read the audio version of his book this summer over vacation.  We came away from that time deeply appreciative of Collins personal honesty, integrity, and faith.

  While neither Sandy nor I agreed with Collins on every point he tackled some tough issues ranging from evolution, biblical authority, and the ethics of stem cell research.  All the while Collins gave crediible witness to his faith, an evangelical faith characterized by a personal relationship with Christ, which he came to after having been an atheist in his early years.  Especially influential in Collins' pilgrimage was C.S. Lewis whose apologetic is very much visible through out the book.

   Now...

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By Jack Mercer on 9/1/2006 7:44 AM

   The whole blogging thing is new to me so it's going to take time for me to get used to it, however, one thing I've decided on is the major use of this blog will be to clue folks into books, movies, and events that are for evangelicals who like to think.  By that I mean I intend to share with folks summaries of books I've read, movies I've seen, or reports of events I've been to that challenged me.

  How I suspect this will play out is that I will  share reviews of books, movies, and people's idea who I may not agree with in whole, or even in part, but who challenge my basic evangelical assumptions and make me reconsider my current thinking.  The bottom line on this is that just because I review an author, movie or an idea does not mean I agree only that I will not shut myself off to new, controversial, or challenging ideas.   Just saying for those who prefer to have their beliefs to go unchallenged.  If so you may not find this blog yourcup of tea.

   At the same time you may like to know...

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By Jack Mercer on 8/26/2006 6:04 PM

Saw the movie Invincible on Friday.  This is a great family movie but especially great for the Dads or anyone about my age who lived through the seventies.  If you were around during that time you will love the music, seeing the hairstyles (if you can remember when you had hair).  The movie is inspirational, based on a true story, though some of the facts are wrong, and has football.  Works for me.

By Jack Mercer on 8/9/2006 9:00 AM

Something folks are starting to hear a lot about at HBC is the "2:42 Project." So if you're new to the church, you may be wondering what the 2:42 Project is all about. Well it's quite simple really. The church's leadership is seeking to transform HBC into a church that is patterned after the church as it's described in Acts 2:42-47. Specifically, the desire is that HBC would be organized around the five purposes of worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and evangelism. Another way to say this is that HBC is seeking to become a Purpose Driven Church which, in the final analysis, is exactly the kind of church described in Acts. Don't believe me...you could look it up. I hope you will.