The Power of God's Names

This past summer I had the chance to be a part of a live studio audience for the filming of a 6-week biblestudy. It was Tony Evans. So it was awesome.

I don't know how well-known Dr. Evans is outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but he is hands down one of the greatest preachers of the turn of the century. It's a long century with a long list of incredible preachers, and we're just barely out of it, but I'd even be willing to say that Tony Evans is one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century.

Anyway... like I said, I had the privilege of being a part of his most recent series, The Power of God's Names, which has just been released, and I cannot recommend it enough. In the trailer below, you'll get a glimpse of Evans's passion and energy; what is trickier to capture in a 59-second promo is the way Dr. Evans digs into the layers of the Bible, helps unpack it with fresh, down-to-earth metaphors, and you see things you hadn't seen before.

Now, it might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I thought just maybe, there might be a few small group leaders out there among our regular readers. Maybe even a few ministers, pastors, Bible teachers... You can get the DVD Leader Kit cheaper here than on Amazon.

For those of you, like me, who don't lead any such groups, and therefore don't have church cash to spend on expensive leadership kits, the book is also available.

Check it out. If you like it, recommend it to your small group leader. You won't regret it. (Until your small group leader asks you for more recommendations because this one was so great... better start doing your homework now...)

Oh! And if you see me in the audience, give me a shout out!!

Was a Bible Study Recently Persecuted in San Diego?

You've already heard most of this. The evening began as a simple Bible Study hosted by a local pastor. As cars lined the street a guest managed to scratch a neighbor's car which led to someone complaining to the police. After realizing a religious meeting was in progress the police actually told the pastor that the Bible study was in violation of county law.

The pastor happily paid for the damage done to the neighbor's car. Meanwhile, the internet and local media outlets were quickly filled with stories about the persecuted church in San Diego - and the thought that your church could be next. (Cue scary music.)

As usual, the news outlets were a little slow to finish off the story. The CAO of the San Diego police issued a statement that included the following:

...I want to say in the most direct terms:
the county has never tried to stifle religious expression and never will... ...I deeply regret that a routine code enforcement issue has transformed into a debate over religious freedom in San Diego county. No one respects the right to free religious expression more than I do and no one would find the infringement of such rights more abhorrent.

Something went wrong in San Diego that night - but we are not facing a persecution in the United States in this way. Unfortunately, some Christian bloggers were too quick to jump to the wrong conclusion. Blogs like this one tell us that the persecution against Christianity found in other countries has come to America. This one claims that Obama is responsible and that the President has an agenda to stop Christianity. It's no secret that I didn't vote for President Obama but I certainly wouldn't discuss him so foolishly even though I disagree with him.

This is persecution - pray this is as close as we get to it.

Far from being government persecution, the letter from the San Diego Police Department (which you can read in its entirety here) actually encourages the Bible study to continue meeting while all parties involved work to reach a solution.

Instead of living in a fantasy world where the apocalypse is upon us let us thank God for the religious freedom we have and exercise that freedom by working in our churches and our communities to be the light of the world.

(source)