A Short Stack of Rejection Letters

For the last three years I’ve been working on a book. The topic is niche, but when it’s done it will meet a need. There’s not a way to know precisely how many hours or how much money I’ve directed toward the project, but I’d guess around six-hundred hours and two-thousand dollars.

Last week I received my seventh rejection email from a Christian publisher. Sometimes these messages landed gently in my inbox like autumn leaves; you see them coming. Other times they hit my laptop with a thud like glass marbles dropped from a skyscraper.

At least the rejection letters have always been kind. They don’t say “nana-nana-boo-boo” or “don’t quit your day job,” the rejection typically being sandwiched by affirmation. That’s nice of them. Let me just show you one of them.

Benjamin,

Good morning. I hope you're having a good week.

I wanted to get back in touch about your book proposal. Thanks again for sending this one our way. I appreciate the book's intent and goal.

We've decided not to offer on this book at this time. I would encourage you to keep shopping it around, or potentially to self-publish. I think this book could be a great resource, but doesn't really fit with our strategy as a trade publisher. I pray you'll have a chance to publish with someone who will be a better fit.

Blessings,
**NAME**

In Stephen King’s popular book On Writing, he tells of keeping every early rejection letter he received and how he hung each to his wall with a metal spike. This, by the way, was the day when authors and publishers printed book proposals and rejection letters and mailed them to each other. The one book contract I have, I had to print myself and scan it back in after I signed it. There’s something anticlimactic about that. Anyway, for Stephen King the rejection letters were fuel. He was a man in prison doing pull-ups motivated by the judge who locked him up.

That’s not necessarily why I’m sharing mine. This blog post isn’t my metal spike. Rejection letters are not my badge of honor, the proof I have skin in the game. I longed for each no to be a yes.

So why share it?

My friend Bryan pointed out to me that social media is often little more than an unbroken, personal highlight reel. And this is why I share. I share my seventh rejection as an act of war against the status quo, my version of a Pinterest-fail, if you will. Real life has more grit, more flaws, more disappointments than our filtered Instagram photos betray. And it’s this version of us—the whole version, the real version, the limping along version, the only version of us there is—that God so loves, giving his Son that we might have life. If this “rejection blog post” is a metal spike, it’s not for hanging my rejection letters but to be wielded as an implement to mortify my vanity.

One more thing to mention. The most recent rejection letter was the final publisher I was waiting to hear from before I made the decision to self-publish the book, making it the proverbial nail in the coffin. So, eventually when I do self-publish, Lord willing, it will fly off the launchpad with a chip on its shoulder, a book no publisher wanted.

And when that day comes, that day when I post a picture on Facebook with a link to Amazon, a post you might wrongly internalize as me saying “Hey, buy this book I wrote; look how awesome it is to be me!” and my apparent success thuds on your heart like a marble because on that day you didn’t publish a book too or eat a fancy steak or add definition to your biceps or get a job promotion, then you will know there is more to the story than our social media glory.

[In the comments below, I’d love to hear about what rejections you’re experiencing and what God is teaching you through them.]

 

* Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.

Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

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At our Christmas Eve service, as another pastor-elder was sharing an offertory reflection, he mentioned the song The Little Drummer Boy. I’ve heard it a thousand times, yet I’d never thought about the lyrics before. The song is about a boy who wants to give a gift worthy of Jesus. But, as he says, “I have no gift to bring . . . that’s fit for a king.” (I’m leaving out a few “pa rum pum pum pum’s.”)

I feel the same. We all should. Before the Messiah, there’s nothing we could give that would bring him the honor he’s due. But that shouldn’t stop us from giving; the little boy plays his drum the best he can.

For the last four or five years, I have spent hours and hours each week trying to assemble words as best as I can into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into articles, and sometimes articles into chapters and books. It might not look like much of a Christmas present for the King of kings—and I’m not very impressed with my own words either—but it’s what I have. And what I have, I give.  

I love the ending of the song. When the boy played for Jesus, Jesus smiled at the boy and his drum. Pa rum pum pum pum. I love that.

Every “note” wasn’t hit perfectly in the fifty articles I wrote last year, including my favorites. Still, I offer them up to the King. May they bring a smile to his face and find a place on his heavenly refrigerator. Me and my words. Pa rum pum pum pum.

1. Pastors Need Healthy Boundaries
Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) Eastern District Blog, January 18, 2017

Pastors are people, and people are finite. This article offers a few reflections about the implications of this truth for pastoral ministry.

 

2. Sometimes God Just Closes Doors
Desiring God, June 27, 2017

Jesus is always enough for you—even when you’re at the end of your rope.

 

3. The Wilderness Makes or Breaks a Man
FAN AND FLAME, August 29, 2017

Peter C. Craigie wrote, “The wilderness makes or breaks a man; it provides strength of will and character.” But what he means by this is not what you’d expect.

 

4. What If Tomorrow Is Even Harder Than Today?
Desiring God, November 4, 2017

If tomorrow is as difficult as today, or is even harder than today, how will we go on? (FYI: I started writing this article almost 7 years before it was published.)

The 50-Week Plan to Finish My Book on Pornography

I was listening to a podcast the other day and heard a musician say one of the most practical things an artist can do to achieve a goal is “going public” with the goal. The pastor who was interviewing the musician mentioned that he agreed, saying deadlines and outside expectations are a good thing for creativity. He added, “If there wasn’t Sunday, I’d never complete a sermon” (Pastor Colin Smith interviewing musician Dave Radford on Readers and Writers).

Here I stand; I’m going public with my goal. I’ve never written a book for a publisher, but this summer I signed a contract to do just that. It’s a book to help men struggle against (not with) pornography. And—Lord willing—by June 25, 2018, I’ll complete the draft of the manuscript.

So what’s the best plan to get ‘er done?

I’m not actually sure what is “the best” way forward. I’m making this up as I go. But below is where the project seems to be trending.

Buy on Amazon

I realize this post won’t interest 90% of my readers, but, as I said above, apparently telling people I’m going to do something is supposed to actually help me do it. Thanks for the peer pressure.

Skimming the 50-week schedule, you’ll notice three things. First, I had already done a lot of research, but not as deep or as wide as is necessary (see Weeks 13–24). Second, because I had already written the book, and it was too long, I need to take out 35% of the words (see Week 25 & 26). Finally, you’ll notice there are numerous breaks where I’m not actively working on the project. Those are strategic too. They provide rest and perspective (you can’t see you the book’s faults when your nose is pressed against it).

If you read any part of this blog post, “thank you” in advance for being your brother’s keeper.

*     *     *

June 17, 2017
Week 1 | Draft of manuscript accepted by publisher; contract signed

July 24 to October 2, 2017
[Week 2 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 3 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 4 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 5 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 6 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 7 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 8 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 9 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 10 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 11 | Take a break from project to work on another book]
[Week 12 | Take a break from project to work on another book]

October 9, 2017
Week 13 | Restart working on this book; read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 14 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 15 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 16 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 17 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 18 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 19 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 20 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 21 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 22 | Read 2 more books on the topic of sexuality
Week 23 | Read 25 blog posts on the topic of sexuality
Week 24 | Read 25 blog posts on the topic of sexuality

January 1 to 29, 2018
Week 25 | Cut down word count by 10,000 words because my previous draft was too long
Week 26 | Cut down word count by another 5,000 words
Week 27 | Rewrite, general
Week 28 | Rewrite, general (cont.)
Week 29 | Rewrite, general (cont.)

February 5, 2018
Week 30 | Send to a professional editor

February 12 to 19, 2018
Week 31 | Send networking email to authors I cite in my book and others who have written on the topic
Week 32 | Send networking emails (cont.)

February 26, 2018
[Week 33 | Break for other projects]

March 5 to April 9, 2018
Week 34 | Manuscript returned from professional editor
Week 35 | Rewrite, general
Week 36 | Send copy to potential “foreword author”
Week 37 | Secure “foreword author”; send to and secure potential “blurb” writers”
Week 38 | Give to my copastor for review and comments
Week 39 | Give to 20 beta readers for review and comments

April 16 to May 21, 2018
[Week 40 | Break for other projects]
[Week 41 | Break for other projects]
[Week 42 | Break for other projects]
[Week 43 | Break for other projects]
[Week 44 | Break for other projects]
[Week 45 | Break for other projects]

May 28 to June 11, 2018
Week 46 | All feedback from copastor and beta readers due
Week 47 | General rewrites; also the foreword and all blurbs due
Week 48 | General rewrites (cont.); send foreword & blurbs to professional editor

June 18, 2017
Week 49 | Submit complete manuscript (including foreword & blurbs) to Rainer Publishing

June 25, 2018
Week 50 | Rest, because—Lord willing—the submittal of the project was completed one week early

* Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash.

Three Sentences that Changed Things for Me

Just a few times a year I share my sermons on my blog. This week and next week, I’m sharing sermons I recently preached from the gospel of Luke. They were in different contexts, one was as a guest in a former church (this week), and the other was in my current local church (next week).

Below is the written introduction to this week’s sermon, as well as the link to listen to the whole thing.

*     *     *

When I was graduating from seminary and looking for jobs in local churches, one particular application stands out in my memory. When they asked about my hobbies, among other things, I wrote these three sentences:

I enjoy reading and writing. This is somewhat strange for me to admit to myself, coming from my engineering background where I neither enjoyed nor did much of either. Yet, as time has passed, largely under the influence of seminary-forced papers, irritation has grown into love.

And it did: irritation grew into love.

They were just three small sentences, but they changed things for me. If you had asked me five minutes before I wrote them, I might have told you this is how I felt, but I’m not sure I would have because I had never articulated the feelings before.

Yet if I’m honest, this hobby of mine—this passion for writing—hasn’t always been contained within its proper bounds, even now. Sometimes the things we love are good things, but our love and our enjoyment of them grow beyond the rightful place and size. Pastor and author Timothy Keller speaks of this as a “good thing becoming an Ultimate thing,” which, he says, is when idolatry happens. He says this because “good things” should never become “god-like things” in our lives.

So, for example, I recently submitted a few articles to various online publications, as well as a longer writing project to a publisher. I confess that too often in quiet moments my mind has drifted to whether or not these articles would be received well, whether they would make the cut, whether or not I was someone who mattered. Too frequently and too easily, my thoughts would drift into the realm of daydream and fantasy.

Your hobbies and preoccupations might not be mine; I doubt for most they are. But I bet you do have something that it doesn’t take much of a lull in the action for you to begin thinking about it. Maybe it’s your hobby or family or career or health. It doesn’t take much downtime for you to pull out your phone, begin browsing, and start daydreaming.

If you had your wishes, what do you want to get out of life? What do you long for? What do you hope for? What do you dream about? What keeps you motivated?

You don’t have to have an answer now, but I will tell you this: I think the way Simon Peter would have answered these questions is altogether different before the events in Luke 5:1-11 happened and after they happened. A huge catch of fish was what he desperately wanted, but when he got it, he realized he shouldn’t have treasured stuff more than Jesus.

[Picture taken by Dustin Tramel at New Life Bible Fellowship in Tucson, AZ]

Five Favorites from 2016

In December, it’s nice to spend some time looking back over the year. This week, I thought I’d share five of my favorite (and most popular) blog posts from 2016. I hope that’s not too narcissistic. There have been some new subscribers recently, and I thought it might help them become more familiar with the things I write.

If you had another favorite (not one of these five), I’d love to hear it! Let me know in the comments below.

*     *     *

1. The Problem with the Pinterest Dream Wedding
Posted at Desiring God on June 6, 2016

Dear engaged Christian couple,

I’m honored that you would ask me to officiate your wedding and walk you through pre-marital counseling. It’s been a joy to see your faith in Christ, your service together in the church, and your love for each other grow.

During our counseling meetings, we’ll talk through things like the lifelong commitment of marriage, becoming a new family, having and raising children, budgeting and finances, and sexual intimacy. These tend to be the sensitive areas that have the potential to bring great joy, but also, at times, great pain in the years to come.

But I’m writing today about your wedding — about the day, the service, and the celebration after.

There seems to be a subtle, but growing, pressure on couples to make their wedding day better than others, a kind of competition to have the Pinterest dream wedding. No one says it outright (it would sound ridiculous). But it happens, and it seems to me like it happens a lot . . . [Continue Reading]

2. Can You Really Become Unoffendable?
(A Book Review of Unoffendable by Brant Hansen’s)
Posted at The Gospel Coalition, June 29, 2016

WARNING: You might not want to read Brant Hansen’s Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better because, as you read it, you’ll have more opportunities to practice being unoffended. 

At least that’s what happened to me several times. As a teaching pastor in a local church, there always seems to be a cluster of people who run a low-grade fever of disappointment with me. Recently, the fever spiked. And despite my “warning” above, I was thankful to have Unoffendable coach me along the way.

But this isn’t just my life, is it? Likely you’ve also found ways to offend others. It’s not hard to do; it’s natural for us as sinners. Moreover, our world—sometimes even Christian subculture—trains us not to have a chip on our shoulder but a lumberyard. We see this when the predictable cultural “buttons” are pushed concerning issues like abortion and marriage, and now bathrooms, but also in less expected ways. Consider John Piper’s article last winter on guns and self-defense. The volley of response articles revealed his article didn’t simply touch a nerve; it grabbed one with tweezers and yanked. . . . [Continue Reading]

3. YOUR BEST LIFE NOW by Joel Osteen (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)
Posted at FAN AND FLAME, July 19, 2016

Joel Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Baptist Church in Huston, Texas. He’s been the pastor there since 1999. Osteen is extremely popular. His sermons are broadcast all over the world. He even has his own Sirius radio station that plays 48 sermons a day (Channel 128, if you’re interested). And he has almost 4.5 million followers on Twitter. I’m one of them.

Yet for all this popularity, lots of people don’t like him. Some of those who don’t like him do so because he smiles a lot and has a huge church (I mean, huuge!). I think these are poor reasons to not like the guy. I’ll point out some better ones in a minute. But before I do, I’ll say that in Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, I actually appreciate several things. For one, I appreciate Joel’s repeated expressions of affection for his father, the late John Osteen to whom the book is dedicated. At one point, I even teared up as Joel recounted the last time he saw his father alive (pp. 247-8). I also appreciated Osteen’s belief in the supernatural; our culture is losing this. “We serve a supernatural God,” he writes. “He is not limited to the laws of nature. He can do what human beings cannot do” (p. 127). I suppose I agree.

However, all of us know people who speak well of their father. And all of us know people who believe in the supernatural. Neither of these—alone—makes a person a Christian. And this gets at my real frustration with the book: Your Best Life Now, though it fashions itself as a Christian book, is not. . . . [Continue Reading]

4. Consumer v. Covenant Relationships
Posted at FAN AND FLAME, July 19, 2016

Each time I share a message in a wedding, it’s a little different. That’s because every couple is different. Below is the most recent message I shared at a friend’s wedding. In it, I talk about the difference between “consumer” and “covenant” relationships. I find this distinction to be a helpful way to explain the greater meaning of marriage. . . . [Continue Reading]

5. Darkness Is My Only Food
Posted at FAN AND FLAME, February 23, 2016

I’m at a theology conference. It’s dinner time and a wonderful looking spread has been provided in the foyer of the mega-church hosting the conference. Just one thing left to do. I look for someone who seems to be in charge. I find a man and woman sitting at a desk. I ask if there is someone here from the catering company because I just need to ask a quick question.

He responds, “They already left. Can I help?”

“Maybe,” I say. “I just need to know about some of the ingredients. I have a few food allergies.”

“Oh, what are you allergic to?” he asks.

I lowered my head and began to walk away. “Thanks,” I mumbled, “I’ll just call the caterer myself.”

Tonight, I’m not in the mood to answer this question because sometimes—as my family jokes—it’s easier to talk about what I am not allergic to than what I am allergic to. . . . [Continue Reading]

[Top photo by Ben White / Unsplash]

Visions of God – A Hymn I Wrote

John Calvin famously wrote, “Man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.1.2).

In other words, there is a feedback loop at work: We can’t (truly) know ourselves until we know God.

In the Bible, when men and women come face to face with God—that is, when the volume of this feedback loop is turned up loud—the response is always the same, and it’s always twofold: a heightened sense of one’s own sinfulness and a heightened sense of the holiness of God.

Several years ago, I wrote a hymn about this experience of coming face to face with God. It’s called “Visions of God.” I included the lyrics and the audio below. I hope you enjoy it.

I based the hymn on the passages where Job, Isaiah, and Peter have dramatic encounters with God (Job 42:1–9, Isaiah 6:1–7, Luke 5:1–11). While these encounters (and the others like them in the Bible) have always been interesting to me, I found it difficult to capture their experiences in a song. People often complain about the music in church, but I don’t think most of them realize how difficult it is to write a good song until they have tried it themselves. This humbling experience is a lesson I’ve had the privilege of learning several times.

I didn’t set the hymn to music. That would have been far more than humbling; it would have been impossible! I’m very thankful that one of my brothers (Brian) is very gifted musically and was able to do this. Brian’s wife (Molly), who is also very gifted, was gracious enough to help him. Though the audio recording below is only a rough demo, I think it turned out very well.

The only other comment that I would like to make on the hymn is that I know it is not the whole story. I realize there is much more to Job, Isaiah, and Peter’s encounter with God than what was felt on the front side of their experience. That is to say, there is more to their experience (and our experience for that matter) than an overwhelming sense of our smallness and sinfulness.  

If I had written another hymn, I would have attempted a sequel to “Visions of God.” In it I would have attempted to write about the great mercy of God in forgiving Job’s self-righteousness and God’s blessing the latter part of his life more than the first; the mercy of the atoning coal that touched Isaiah’s lips and his commissioning as a missionary; and the mercy of the instructions to Peter, “Do not be afraid” and his new employment as a “fisher of men.”

Maybe someday I will write that hymn.

*     *     *

Visions of God

Verse 1
I knew by the hearing of the ear
But thunder, storm, and lightning roared
Now in dust and ashes I repent in holy fear
For my eyes have seen, seen the sovereign Lord

Chorus
To know me as I am
And see You as you are
Sovereign and Wise
Holy and True (x 2)

Verse 2

Woe is me, I am undone
I am a man with lips unclean
Now all my former ways I shun
For my eyes have seen, they have seen the King

Chorus

Verse 3
Faced with the greatness of the haul
I know I am a man with sin
Now to the Saviors knees I fall
For my eyes have seen, the Fisher of Men

Chorus

[Picture by Sam Ferrara / Unsplash]

Riddle My Fiddle – My First Book

View fullsize

On December 6, the book I co-authored, More People to Love, is being released. Can’t wait to share it with you. The popular Christian radio host, Brant Hansen, wrote the foreword. The book will be for sale at Amazon.com for $7.99.

Last week, I received this recommendation from my former boss and pastor, Greg Lavine:

More People to Love paints a vision – to move us from where we are to a place more situated to live out the gospel. It compels us to leave behind comfort and convenience to love people, all kinds of people, specifically people who look different from us.

– Greg Lavine
Senior Pastor, New Life Bible Fellowship, Tucson, Arizona

This is all pretty exciting to me.

View fullsize

My First book. Click to Enlarge.

My mother, however, informed me More People to Love won’t be my first book. Then, she texted me a picture of a book I wrote when I was eight years old! You can see the picture below.

The whole book is hilarious. At one point, I wrote that I wanted to be an engineer when I grow up, or maybe an astronomer. One of those turned out to be true, at least for six years.

But my favorite entry in the book is a poem I wrote. It makes (almost) no sense. If you care to, you can read it below.

I do, however, love the phrase “riddle my fiddle” that I used near the end of the poem. In fact, I’ve now been saying “riddle my fiddle” around the house for the last two weeks. By the way, it’s more fun to say it if you slap your knee at the same time. You’re welcome to use this phrase, too. Seriously, no copyright infringement. You have my permission.

When you go down to the wood, you’re sure to find a big surprise,
For Grammy Nelly has forgot her tell, and Nelly the Elephant quit the Circus too.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall watching Leads United [a British soccer team] score a goal, and Humpty was delighted. Riddle my fiddle!
The cat jumped over the moon. And the Cow watched me riddle my fiddle.

I know what you’re thinking. I was a child prodigy. Thanks.

[Picture by Jared Erondu / Unsplash]

More People to Love, Preface

In early December of this year (2016), Jason Abbott (my co-pastor) and I are launching a book. It’s called, More People to Love: How the Bible Starts in a Garden and Ends in a City and What That Means for You. Below is a sneak peak at the preface I wrote.

How Can I Help?  First, we’ll need a dozen or so “beta readers”—people to read and comment on the manuscript before it’s published. Second, we’ll also need people (hopefully quite a few people!) to promote the book on social media. If you want to help with either of these, please send me an email (benjamin@fanandflame.com or click here).

*     *     *

Jason Abbott and I are teaching pastors at Community Evangelical Free Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Our church is not large, by any means, but we are growing. And the growth is putting a strain on our current building facilities. We’re like a toddler with a onesie that’s getting snug—we can make it a little while in our current outfit, but soon we’re going to need a bigger one. Nevertheless, finding and buying a larger building, as well as selling our old building and moving, is a challenging prospect.

In addition to this, we feel called by God to plant other churches. This probably won’t happen for a few years, but we need to plan for it now. It, too, will be challenging.

Oh, and as if these prospects weren’t enough, our church needs to grow in diversity. Our congregation is not nearly as diverse as our surrounding community. We’ve prayed and talked about this for some time, but now we need to address it in a less passive way. And that’s also going to be hard.

These potential changes (along with a dozen others) while exciting, are also scary. People don’t typically like change, and pastors are people too.

Despite all this, we’re not at the place of despair. Far from it! We’re full of hope. But, in order to see why, it might be helpful to back up. Somewhere in 2012, another pastor sent me an email that said simply:

More people to love.

Thanks,
John

This email changed things for me. When I received it, the church I was serving was growing rapidly. Someone needed to evaluate the current trends and create a plan to accommodate the growth. So I drew from my former career in engineering, opened up Microsoft Excel, and took a hard look at our attendance data. I created pretty graphs and conservative growth projections for the next few years, and I sent them to the staff and elders.

At that time, I was primarily viewing the new people as more of a problem than a blessing. As the pastor who was charged with overseeing the connection of newcomers to the church, I viewed new people as new problems. The line on the graph representing attendance might as well have been labeled “Benjamin’s workload.” For every fifty new people, could I really keep adding five hours to my workweek? At some point, simply trying harder wasn’t going to solve the problem. (Again, there’s that word, “problem.”)

Then, just a few minutes after I sent my concerned email, I received John’s reply: “More people to love.” That’s all it said. I remember staring at my computer screen. The contrast between my approach and John’s was stark. He was ready for adventure, ready to see his story and the story of our church in light of the Big Story of the Bible. I was not.

Following the sting came repentance.

That was four years ago. Now, in the providence of God, I’m at a new church. And the situation is similar: a growing church, a growing workload, and growing fear.

Then I remember John’s email, and I’m encouraged, even excited. It reminds me that the Big Story of God is about the love of God growing and expanding. John’s email reminds me that what started with two in a garden ends with a multitude in a city. And while faithfully living inside this story, God’s Big Story, has always been hard, it’s also always worth it—because God is worth it.

The following seven chapters are about this Big, Always-worth-it Story. These chapters have been adapted from a series of sermons Jason and I preached at our church. But they aren’t simply about our church. Yes, we preached them to prepare our congregants for a potential building change. Yes, we preached them to prepare our local church for the challenges of church planting. And yes, we preached them to prepare our fellowship to grow in its ability to love our surrounding community. But these chapters are about something more fundamental than these objectives. Foundationally, they are not about our church at all. They are about God’s plan, as revealed from Genesis to Revelation, to “make [his] name great among the nations” (Malachi 1:11). In short, this book is about the Big Story of God and seeing our stories in light of his story.

Four years ago, when I received that email, things changed for me: the glory of God in his mission to love more and more people softened my heart and opened my eyes. As you read this book, Jason and I pray that it’ll do the same for you.

* Click here to read the Table of Contents.

[Picture by Jared Erondu / Unsplash]

The Bee Keeps Stinging Joel Osteen

Once upon a time, a true prophet of God issued a challenge to several false prophets (1 Kings 18:20–40). It was a contest to see whose God/god would answer when He/he was called.

I won’t go into the specifics, but let’s just say that as the competition was underway, the false prophets were struggling. They prayed but received no answer. They danced and sang, but still no answer. They even started cutting themselves. It didn’t work either.

While all of this was going on, what did the prophet of God do?

He mocked them, and he mocked their god. He called out, “Hey, maybe your god is sleeping ’cuz he doesn’t seem to be answering!”

Then, later, the prophet added this zinger: “Maybe your god is using the bathroom and, you know, kinda busy. Just saying.”

On the surface, these insults seem vindictive, especially in our age of supposed tolerance. They were not, however. They were invitations to repent. They were invitations to leave behind the folly of falsehood. They were an invitation to embrace the real thing, the real God.

For most of us, it wouldn’t be right to attempt to replicate this type of ministry. The “sanctified insult” is a delicate art, and the prophet Elijah was, as it states in the fine print on car commercials, “a professional driver on a closed course.” Sarcasm doesn’t play a prominent role in my ministry, and it never will. Moreover, I’d question anyone who uses it exclusively.

With that said, however, I do think it has a legitimate place. To some, this probably sounds very “unchristian.” Perhaps. But consider that it was Jesus, among all the figures in the Bible, who was best at needling his opponents. You’re the blind leading the blind; you’ll both fall into a pit. And you think you’re so righteous because you strain a gnat from what you drink, but you only do so to swallow a camel. Oh, and you should probably take that 2x4 out of your eye before you do eye surgery on someone else. These are just a few.

The rightful place of sarcasm is to push a certain worldview to its extreme, to its ultimate conclusions. It’s there, at the endgame of a false worldview, that you can see how flimsy and shallow it really is. And few places I know are doing this as well as The Babylon Bee.

The Babylon Bee is the evangelical Christian’s version of The Onion. The tagline for The Babylon Bee is, “your trusted source for Christian news satire.” In other words, nothing is true; it’s all madeup.

One of the areas that The Babylon Bee is at its best, is when it’s stinging prosperity theologians, especially Joel Osteen. Every time there is a new article about him, friends who know I have an interest in this topic send it to me. When I reviewed Osteen’s first book, Your Best Life Now, I intentionally did so without sarcasm. In that particular review, I didn’t want anything to distract readers from the central, gospel issues. But having been thinking about prosperity theology for some time, I’ll tell you that, in my opinion, when The Babylon Bee writes about Osteen, they do it really well.  

Below are three of my favorite Babylon Bee posts about Joel Osteen. I’ve included the title of the article, as well as a line or two from each. Also, at the bottom, I’ve included a few other articles more generally about prosperity theology that deserve the title “honorable mentions.”

I hope you laugh at these articles and also shake your head in sadness. Remember, the point of the sarcasm is to push prosperity theology to its logical conclusions. It’s here, at these conclusions, that prosperity theology can be seen for what it really is: ridiculous and evil. Therefore—just like Elijah’s words to the prophets of Baal—these articles, while funny, are also invitations to repent. I’m sure it hurts to be stung by The Bee, but better to be stung and learn from your errors than to perish forever in Hell.

Joel Osteen Apologizes For Using Lord’s Name In Sermon
August 29, 2016

HOUSTON, TX—Calling the incident “an unfortunate choice of words” and “a momentary lapse in judgment,” pastor Joel Osteen issued a public apology Monday morning for using the Lord’s name in his Sunday morning sermon. . . 

I Really Need You To Get With The Program, Third-World Orphans
August 11, 2016

I really don’t like using harsh words with people. I much prefer speaking words of positivity and declaring victory over the little challenges that life throws my way. 

But I have to get real for a second. 

All you orphaned, sick, poor, and hungry people out there in those icky third-world nations: I really need you to just get with the program. . . 

Joel Osteen Googles ‘What Is A Trinity’
June 14, 2016

HOUSTON, TX—After stumbling upon a lively debate on Twitter Tuesday afternoon regarding the Eternal Functional Submission of the Son within the Trinity, Joel Osteen, Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church, curiously opened a new tab and googled “what is a trinity,” sources confirmed.

“Victoria, have you seen this discussion online about this Trinity?” Osteen reportedly called to his wife, informing her that he was googling the term after she replied that she had “no earthly idea” what he was talking about. . . 

Honorable Mentions

Humanitarian Organization Drops Crates Of Prosperity Gospel Books Into Ethiopia

Benny Hinn Miraculously Removes Lump From Woman’s Purse

I Honestly Can Not Believe I’m Still Getting Away With This, op-ed by Benny Hinn

Creflo Dollar Takes Brief, Quiet Moment To Stop And Smell Last Sunday’s Haul

[Photo @JoelOsteen]

More People to Love, Table of Contents

Later this fall, Jason Abbott (my co-pastor) and I are launching a book. It’s called, More People to Love: How the Bible Starts in a Garden and Ends in a City and What That Means for You. I’m really excited about it.

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More People to Love is a book about The Big Story of the Bible. It’s about God’s plan, as revealed from Genesis to Revelation, to “make [his] name great among the nations” (Malachi 1:11). At times, our lives can be very difficult. But seeing our lives in light of The Big Story—the beautiful story of God’s unfolding plan of redemption—gives us the perspective we need to carry on with purpose and joy.

Brant Hansen wrote the foreword. He’s a nationally syndicated Christian radio host and author of Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better. I just read a draft of his foreword. Here’s a few quotes from it:

Growing up in country churches, I’d sing along with songs about heaven. And they all evoked the countryside. “I want a mansion, just over the hilltop . . .” and “Just give me a little cabin, in the corner of Gloryland . . .”

Of course Heaven would be rural. It’s obvious. And Hell? Well, I’m just saying it’s overcrowded. Probably has a subway. So draw your own conclusions. . . .

I still love small towns, and still yearn for the familiar. But God has changed my heart on this one. Like Jason and Benjamin point out in this book, Heaven is going to be a city. The old hymns steered me wrong on this one.

I can’t wait to share the whole thing with you.

How Can You Help?

Would you like to help us with the project? In a few weeks, I’ll say more about this. For now, I’ll just mention two ways.

First, we’ll need a dozen or so “beta readers”—people to read and comment on the manuscript before it’s published.

Second, we’ll also need people (hopefully quite a few people!) to promote the book on social media.

If you want to help with either of these, please send me an email (benjamin@fanandflame.com or click here).

The book launch won't be until sometime in December, but below is a sneak peak at the table of contents.

*   *   *

CONTENTS

Foreword, Brant Hansen

Preface, Benjamin Vrbicek

1 | A Man into a Multitude, Jason Abbott, Genesis 1–12

2 | Letter to Exiles, Benjamin Vrbicek, Jeremiah 29:1–14

3 | A Stunning Victory, Jason Abbott, Matthew 4:1–11

4 | The Good Shepherd, Benjamin Vrbicek, John 10:1–16

5 | Not Too Light a Thing, Jason Abbott, Acts 10:1–8

6 | The Death that Killed Hostility, Benjamin Vrbicek, Ephesians 2:11–22

7 | The New Harrisburg, Jason Abbott, Revelation 21:22–27

Epilogue, Benjamin Vrbicek

Notes

[Picture by Anthony Delanoix / Unsplash]

Home Row: Christian Writers on Writing

As with books, the number of podcasts abounds. There’s no point in even trying to listen to everything; we have to be selective.

If this blog post reads like an advertisement, I’m sorry, but I must tell you that my current favorite writing podcast is Home Row (iTunes, Soundcloud). It’s a podcast for “writers on writing” hosted by J.A. Medders.

Medders is a pastor in Texas at Redeemer Church. He’s also the author of Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life, and co-author of Rooted: Theology for Growing Christians. He blogs at jamedders.com. You can follow him on Twitter.

One of the things I love about the interviews is the way Medders gives listeners a “backstage pass” to how the writing process happens for different authors. Writing is a solitary task; I know how I do it, but how does so-and-so create a blog post, or balance family and writing, or keep his heart passionate and undistracted? These very practical questions get discussed on Home Row.

I also found it interesting how—across all six episodes—many of the same authors and writing books were mentioned. Maybe only one show went by where Lewis or Chesterton weren’t mentioned, or the books Wordsmithy by Doug Wilson (the guest of Episode 6,) and On Writing by Stephen King.

My favorite part, however, is the closing 5-10 minutes of each interview. Here, Medders focuses his questions on advice to aspiring writers, and it’s here that my soul soars, like my “inner-writer” is on a zip line down Everest.

Below are some of my favorite quotes from each episode. If you like what you read, be sure to subscribe to Home Row (iTunes, Soundcloud).

*     *     *

Jared Wilson, Episode 1

Wilson is the author of many books. His most recent is Unparalleled: How Christianity’s Uniqueness Makes It Compelling. He was a local church pastor for twenty years, his blog, Gospel-Driven Church, is hosted on The Gospel Coalition’s website, and he now works for Midwestern Baptist Seminary and manages the website For The Church.

The other thing [to consider], especially for young, up-and-coming writers . . . [is the way our celebrity culture] short-circuits [their] the ability to think about having to “pay their dues,” having to put the work in. So I meet a lot of young guys (usually it’s young men) who almost want to be published more than they want to write; they want the short-track to having the book deal.

And it’s great when that can happen, and I certainly wish that I could have gotten a book deal on my first book, but usually you just have to put time in. You need to grow some. You need to become more mature. And do work and stick with it . . . I tell the aspiring writer to not shrink back from having to write a few books maybe before you have one that is published.

Tony Reinke, Episode 2

Reinke works for Desiring God. He’s the co-host of the popular “Ask Pastor John” podcast, and the author of several books, including Lit!; Mom Enough (editor); The Joy Project; and Newton on the Christian Life, which I’ve reviewed here, here, here, and here (respectively).

When you are called to write, you are able to use words in a way that persuades others towards biblical truth, toward biblical reality. And that’s what, [as an aspiring writer], you want to see. You want to publish things, you want to write things, but you want to watch the effect of your writings on your readers. Do they view this as just self-expression? Or are you changing minds, are you persuading people?

If you are, [then] in some small way, that’s likely pointing you to the idea that God has a calling on your life. . . . And even before this [idea of “calling”] is settled, you should be doing a lot of writing. Write as much as you can. It doesn’t mean publish a lot; but you should be writing a lot.

Barnabas Piper, Episode 3

Piper works for Lifeway books. He blogs regularly at The Blazing Center and is the author of two books, Help My Unbelief and The Pastor’s Kid, which I reviewed here.

If you want to write like C.S. Lewis, you have to go read the classics, you have to read George McDonald. You have to read all these people that came before him. . . . 

People who read my dad, for example, and want to write like John Piper are missing the fact that he’s read every word that the Puritans have written and every word that Jonathan Edwards has written. And he’s read the complete works of C.S. Lewis. Those are the guys to start with. And then you might end up writing like John Piper, or you might discover your own voice that is more effective for you anyway.

Tim Challies, Episode 4

Challies is the author of several books, including Sexual Detox and Do More Better (see my review, here). But he’s best known for his popular blog, Challies.com. The below quote from Challies is just a short one, but he put into words something I have been feeling for the last several months: it’s hard to spread creative energy across multiple projects.

I don’t find that those two [blogging and writing books] work very well together. My creative energy can go to one direction or the other, but rarely to two.

Trevin Wax, Episode 5

Wax works for Lifeway books as the managing editor of the very popular, The Gospel Project. His blog, Kingdom People, is also hosted on The Gospel Coalition’s website. He’s the author of several books, including Gospel-Centered Teaching, Counterfeit Gospels, and Clear Winter Nights.

The best advice I could give is to check your heart. Make sure your motivation is to serve people with your words, not simply to promote your own ideas. . . . 

And the second piece of advice would be to write—a lot. Write even if no one is reading; write to get better at the craft. . . . I think there are a lot of people who are in the position of wanting to be an “aspiring writer” who are not necessarily disciplined enough to turn off the TV, turn off the distractions, not play that particular game, and really just sit down and actually do the work of writing.

Douglas Wilson, Episode 6

Wilson is the author of many, many books. Besides, Wordsmithy, which I mentioned above, two of his more popular books are Evangellyfish and Future Men, which I reviewed here. He’s been the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho for over 40 years. He blogs regularly, and with a lot of spunk, at DougWil.com.

[If a non-fiction writer won’t read fiction] basically you’re treating fiction as though it were a distraction, or cotton-candy. “I’m eating a steak here; I don’t have time for cotton-candy.”

But I would say that you have a misunderstanding of what fiction does. The Lord’s entire ministry was made up predominantly of telling fictional stories. So there must be some relationship between fiction/parables to the real world. There are things that you cannot understand in a book of theology . . . if all you read is theology.

BOOKS MENTIONED

[Picture by Luis Llerena / Unsplash]

HOW TO READ A BOOK by Mortimer Adler (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. Touchstone, 1972 (revised edition). 426 pp. $16.99.

In 1940, Mortimer J. Adler published How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education. Since the original publication, the book has undergone several revisions and expansions, even adding a co-author (Charles Van Doren). And in this time, it’s become a classic—hence, the new subtitle: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading.

I read a lot of books; maybe you do, as well. Thus for me, reading How to Read a Book seemed like a helpful tool to improve my reading of all books, a “sharpen the axe before you cut down a forest” sort of thing.

Buy on Amazon

Adler writes in the first chapter, “Our subject, then, is the art of reading good books when understanding is the aim you have in view” (p. 10). He goes on to explain, over the next 400 plus pages, how to achieve this understanding, the kind of understanding that allows for critical engagement of the book and author.

In this post, I’m not going to do a full review. A review of any classic, let alone one on reading books, seems beyond my ability. Harry Callahan, played by Clint Eastwood, famously said, “A man’s gotta know his limitations.” Instead, what I want to do is simply share with you a few of the key questions that Alder believes a reader must be able to answer about a book before he or she can say they have reached understanding of the book’s arguments. You can find these questions below.

But before I share them with you, let me explain what Alder believes these questions are for. Alder argues that if you, as a reader, are able to answer these questions, then—and only then—can you say, “I understand this book.” And he argues that understanding must come before we can say whether we agree or disagree with it, like or dislike it . . . and make a hundred other informed observations. Without this understanding, a reader’s judgments remain superficial.

I found his list of questions very helpful for writing book reviews. Sometimes, I fear that my reviews become too fixated on things that either thrilled or annoyed me. These types of observations, while interesting and maybe even helpful to others, should be secondary to the primary task, namely, the task of engaging the author’s main argument.

I know many of you might not ever write a book review, but maybe there are some books, take the Bible for example, where you want to grow in your ability to understand. If so, these questions certainly will prod you in the right direction.

*     *     *

I.  The First Stage of Analytical Reading: Rules for Finding What a Book Is About: What is the book about as a whole?

1.       Classify the book according to kind and subject matter.

2.       State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity.

3.       Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.

4.       Define the problem or problems the author has tried to solve.

II. The Second Stage of Analytical Reading: Rules for Interpreting a Book's Contents: What is being said in detail, and how?

5.       Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words.

6.       Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences.

7.       Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or con­structing them out of, sequences of sentences.

8.       Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and of the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve.

III. The Third Stage of Analytical Reading: Rules for Criticizing a Book as a Communication of Knowledge: Is it true? and What of it?

A. General Maxims of Intellectual Etiquette

9.       Do not begin criticism until you have completed your out­line and your interpretation of the book. (Do not say you agree, disagree, or suspend judgment, until you can say “I understand.")

10.   Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiously.

11.   Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgment you make.

B.  Special Criteria for Points of Criticism

12.   Show wherein the author is uninformed.

13.   Show wherein the author is misinformed.

14.   Show wherein the author is illogical.

15.   Show wherein the author's analysis or account is incomplete.

(Adler, How to Read a Book, pp. 161-2)

[Photo by Patrick Tomosso]

Roses Are Red, A Tired Cliche

On Sunday, which was of course Valentine’s Day, I shared a short poem before my sermon. The poem—in both a goofy and I hope serious way—critiqued the sappy view of love we have in culture today. And I hope it encouraged us to look to God’s love as the model of true love, whether we are single or married.

If you’d like to hear all of the introductory comments about the poem, which I think would be very helpful, you can listen to the first nine minutes of my sermon below.

*     *     *

Roses Are Red, A Tired Cliché
Benjamin Vrbicek

Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Sugar is sweet. And so are you.

Are these our poems? “Violets are blue.
Sugar is sweet”? I guess that’s true.

Our poems are lame, in culture today.
Romance is cheap, like pots of clay.

We need much more—old truth made new.
God sent his Son, a love rescue.

Think how better, our poems could be,
If from above, this love we’d see.

The flame of the Lord flashes,
Love neither quiet nor quaint.
Its heat dashes and smashes
The sappy portraits we paint.

Loves draws lines in wet cement.
In the furnace of trials,
Marriage vows harden and set.
And love, though strained, still smiles.

Now of singles: in culture today,
“Singles are weird,” so they say.

Not in Scripture. Paul wanted more,
Singles to serve, so love will soar.

Jesus is real. Single was he.
His church his bride, trust him and see.

Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Love more than sweet? God’s love for you.

Faithful God stays, with love like glue.
When Gospel meets, sinners like you.

* Special thanks to my wife, Brooke, for help with a few of the sticky lines.

OTHER POEMS

Lost in December: A Short Story

For the last several months, I've been working hard on a short story called "Lost in December."

It's a story about having a busy schedule, experiencing a miscarriage, and discovering what's really important in life.

I'm giving it away to anyone who subscribes to my weekly updates. You can read an excerpt below. 

Thank you to all those who helped polish this story: Kelby Adams, Carolyn Aiken, Eunice and Keith Davis, Marc DeSantis, Scott and Stacey Ervin, Mike Grenier, Ally Hall, Meghan Jenkins, Brian Neese, Remington Moll, Tom Reidy, Stephen Smith, Megan Spinney, Linda Vargo, Molly Vrbicek, Robb and Diane Vrbicek, Amanda Waddell, Andy Walker, and Mary Wells.

And, of course, thank you to the one for whom this story isn’t just a story; I love you.

*     *     *

Excerpt from "Lost in December: A Short Story"

It had been a cold day in December, and not just for Tucson. It was made worse by the way it forced itself on us. No one had the right coats with them; it had been warm when we woke up.

Allison and I hadn’t talked all day, and we had driven to the Christmas party separately. She had errands, and I had work to finish. But now we made the brief walk from our separate cars to the restaurant together. “I’m glad you could come, sweetie. Did the babysitter show up?” I asked Allison.

“It’s cold. Let’s just get inside.”

That day, even the foothills, which never have snow, were white. My wife had goose bumps.

As I held the door open for her, I commented that I didn’t remember coming to this restaurant before. She said they were all the same. 

*     *     *

If you'd like to get a copy of the whole story, click here.

NEWTON ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE by Tony Reinke (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

Tony Reinke. Newton on the Christian Life: To Live Is Christ (Theologians on the Christian Life). Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2015. 288 pp. $19.99.

I’m not a John Newton scholar.

But likely, neither are you. Likely, you only know the things most of us know: Newton wrote the classic hymn Amazing Grace, and that he was a former slave trader in the British Empire, who, upon conversion, became an influential pastor and author.

That’s about all.

However, if we only know this, then we have only sampled the appetizers about Newton. There’s more. Newton’s life is a spiritual, gourmet grocery store, and author Tony Reinke spent several years selecting and preparing for us a splendid meal. It’s called Newton on the Christian Life: To Live Is Christ.

Newton on the Christian Life: To Live Is Christ (Theologians on the Christian Life)

By Tony Reinke

Buy on Amazon

The book is part of a series by Crossway called “Theologians on the Christian Life”; it’s a series designed to expand our palates. Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor, the series editors, explain in their preface that modern Christians need perspective from the past to correct our overemphasis on the present, on the NOW.

A Focus on Newton’s Letters

Perspective from the past doesn’t necessarily mean biography, however; and this is certainly the case with Reinke’s contribution. There are occasional details about Newton’s sailing career (especially a few treacherous moments), and a few passing references to his marriage (which was evidently quite exemplary), but the focus is not his life—but his letters. Newton wrote volumes of them, a thousand of which have been collected and published. Reinke writes,

I have read and reread every letter with the goal of condensing his core message and collecting his most distinct contributions on the Christian life. (p. 31)

That’s no small task. On every page, the extensive footnotes remind readers of the enormity of Reinke’s endeavor.

And by the way, when you hear “personal letters,” don’t think personal e-mails, or even “thank you” or “birthday” cards. Instead, think blog post: think thoughtful words intended for a wider reading. In fact, letter writing was the social media of the 18th century, Reinke writes (p. 22).

The book is structured in 14 chapters, with fitting bookends that focus on the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ and the insufficiency of self. Other chapters cover topics such as “Indwelling Sin” (Chapter 5), “The Goal of Bible Reading” (Chapter 10), and “Victory over Spiritual Weariness” (Chapter 12).

Some Things I Love

First, I love the writing.

Reinke and Newton are gifted with words, especially fresh metaphors and similes.

Consider these examples from Reinke: he describes the human protections one makes for his or her soul as “castles of cardboard” (p. 53); a Christian who walks in God’s grace as one who will “rub the world’s fur in the wrong direction” (p. 100); and our longings for God as “dehydrated affections” (p. 114). Cardboard, fur, and dehydration—all fresh.

And Newton, for example, describes the remaining sinful desires in a Christian as trying to write with perfect handwriting while sin and Satan keep smacking your elbow (p. 112); of faith surviving inside a Christian like “a spark burning in the water” (p. 116); and preaching his Calvinism as “sugar [in tea]. I do not give it alone, and whole; but mixed and diluted” (p. 26). Scribbles, spark, and sugar—all fresh.

Second, I love the solid theology.

Junk food can taste good, but it’s not good for you. And poison might taste good, but it’s certainly not good for you. In contrast, what I love about Newton on the Christian Life, is that the writing tastes good and works for our health, not against it.

Both Newton and Reinke are evangelical and reformed, which means they love the Bible, cherish the gospel of free grace from a big God, and believe the “substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ is the epicenter of ministry” (p. 56). These are the meat and potatoes, plus the kale, wheat germ, and chia seeds of the Christians life; yet it’s all prepared by authors who make nutrition tasty.

I think it’s for these two reasons—skill in writing and large overlap in theological emphasis—that John Piper says what he says in the foreword about Reinke and Newton. He writes,

One of the most remarkable things about this book is that the voice of Tony Reinke and the voice of John Newton have become almost indistinguishable. (p. 15)

When I first read that, I wasn’t sure exactly what Piper meant, or if it would even be a good thing to have such a blending of voices, but now I see what he means, and I agree—it is a good thing.

Finally, I love the devotional warmth.

I won’t belabor examples, but consider two. On page 158, Reinke encourages pastors in their struggle over the “imperceptible growth” they so often see (or don’t see!) in their flock. And on page 215, he challenges “Christian communicators, songwriters, authors, and pastors” to “display the magnificent beauty of Christ” in all that they do. Both of these spoke to me. You, perhaps, are not a pastor or communicator, but as you read the book, I’m sure you’ll find sections that speak to you with equal devotional warmth; I’m sure of it.

One “Word to the Wise” & One Pushback

First, one quick heads up to readers. The nature of the book, and I suspect the series, lends itself to lots of block quotes. Readers accustomed to skipping these will have some re-training to do, especially when Newton’s poetry and hymns are quoted, as these require even closer reading. But don’t let this scare you. Just be ready to chew this delightful meal slower than normal.

Second is my one critique. Reinke saves his one pushback on Newton for the end of the book, as I have in this review (pp. 260-3). His pushback is related to, what Reinke detects, as an imbalance in Newton’s theology.

Newton, in an effort to be faithful to the Bible’s emphasis on the sinfulness of man—including the remaining sin in a believer’s life which rightly brings God’s displeasure—tended to undervalue something else that the Bible does teach, namely, that in the doctrine of definite atonement, there is “an unbreakable and particular love” that God has for his children, regardless of their moment-by-moment obedience. Or in short, Reinke sees in Newton an overemphasis on God’s displeasure with sin that kept him (and others) from resting in God’s abiding gospel-given favor, the favor purchased on the cross.

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere, right?

A lot of learning happens at the points of contention: learning about Newton, learning about Reinke, learning about Christian thought, learning about joy, learning about the God who made us and his Word that sustains us.

I tend to think more frequent “pushbacks” might have helped us learn these lessons. They might have worked like rumble strips on a highway, that is, kept us alert, whereas smooth sailing, albeit through beautiful scenery, was less engaging—you can zone out. I’m not advocating driving on the rumble strips indefinitely (who wants that book?!), just a tap here and there to keep us attentive.

Despite this pushback, I love the book and highly recommend it.

Reinke writes that he hopes we will think of his book as “a field guide meant to get dirty, dog-eared, and faded in the clenched hands of a Christian pilgrim” (32).

Mine did. And if you read it, yours should too.

* Tony Reinke also wrote Lit! and The Joy Project, and edited Mom Enough (which I reviewed here, here, and here).

[Photo by milo bostock / CC BY]

Chipotle’s Super Short Book Report Sweepstakes

Ode to Chipotle

Just over 13 years ago (4,869 days to be exact), I fell in love—with Chipotle burritos. Their size, their shape, their spice: all of it.

Our first date was on May 25, 2002 in Fort Collins, CO, and I think every month since then, on average, I have enjoyed a chicken fajita burrito with corn salsa and some other garnishes. That’s around 160 burritos or $1,100 worth. If you prefer to measure in calories, that’s around 175,000 … but who’s counting?

The Competition

If you’ve been to Chipotle in the last week, you might have noticed that they are holding a competition. It’s related to the “cultivating thoughts” series which is displayed on the side of soda cups and to-go bags. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, imagine a short story or thoughtful reflection, say 300 words or so, by a popular author. These words stare at you while you eat just begging to be discussed.

Now, back to this competition. It’s called the “Super Short Book Report Sweepstakes.” To enter, you must write—you guessed it—a super short book report for one of the entries in the series. And when they say “super short,” they mean it: just 103 characters. Maybe you’d like to contribute your own report. You can do so here, but you’ll have to hurry. The competition ends tomorrow (9/23/2015).

Laura Hillenbrand’s Ode to Chocolate

I chose to respond to Laura Hillenbrand’s entry. She’s the author of Unbroken (which I reviewed here) and Seabiscuit … and now, as well, the short essay “Two-Minute Ode to Chocolate.”

In her Ode, Hillenbrand traces the global web of activity that must take place for her to enjoy a single square of chocolate. The Ode, in its entirety, goes like this:

It is the simplest ritual of my noondays: A square of dark chocolate, little larger than a postage stamp. For its minuteness, I savor it all the more, closing my eyes as it melts gently, generously, in my mouth, as softly exquisite as a kiss.

Always, I think, I am grateful. In my mind, I follow my chocolate to its beginnings. I see a drop of rain touching red soil, and beneath, a seed waking. Leaves reaching for sifted sunlight. Careful, sure hands unclasping fruit from limbs. A kind donkey pulling a laden wagon. Wise faces bent over an ocean of seeds, summoning sweet from bitter. Roads and rivers and cunning machines that bear the chocolate to me. Someone built that wagon; someone cut that road; someone labored under a beaded brow; someone heeded an inspiration; someone offered love. How wondrous is a world that brings such gifts.

In my little ritual I am connected to that sunshine, those hands, that river, the beautiful alchemy that unites so much in a square of chocolate. A drop of rain that falls on the other side of the world, in a place whose language I may never hear, becomes sweetness on my tongue, thankfulness in my heart, words spilling from my pen, and perhaps a thought, however fleeting, in the mind of whoever reads them.

We are none of us bereft, ever. We slumber in seas of gifts. To wake up to them, to follow their tributaries, is to traverse in every direction, yet always arrive at the same place: Gratitude. Awakening from my chocolate, I look about and wonder: Whose hands made this? To whom do I owe thanks for the song of a wren? For the warmth of a sweater, cool grass under bare feet, the joy of dogs playing, laughter, a whispered I love you, the scent of bread?

I am grateful. I am grateful. I am grateful.

What I Love about It

There is a lot that I love about these 319 words.

I love the concreteness: a square (not a piece) of dark chocolate (not just chocolate); a drop of rain (singular) touching red soil (not the earth or ground); leaves reaching (they are not passive, they reach) for sifted sunlight (sifted implies a forest above); and so on.

And I love the idea of ritual, a word she uses twice. The ancients would climb high mountains to worship, and some of us still do; Hillenbrand eats a postage stamp of dark chocolate.

And I love the way she invites us to view this universe of beneficent activity that is required for mass produced chocolate: seeds, rain, sun, a kind donkey pulling a laden wagon, and oh, speaking of the wagon, “someone built that wagon; someone cut that road; someone labored under a beaded brow.” Indeed they did.

And I love the frequent, but not overdone, alliterations (e.g. melts gently, generously… sifted sunlight… seeds, summoning sweet... Roads and rivers…).

So What’s Missing?

There are other things I love, but the essay is missing something, something important. Did you notice it? I tried to bring this out in the “super short book report” which I submitted to Chipotle for the competition.

Here’s what I wrote: 

LH’s ODE TO CHOC explores the many tributaries that bring us gifts but misses Who is at the headwaters.

I capitalized the “w” intentionally. I love Hillenbrand’s prose, but she simply stops short; she traces these tributaries eloquently around the globe to farmers and seeds and donkeys and red soil and even to the heavens for rain. But while she traces them “in every direction,” her gratitude arrives nowhere, like a perpetual road trip without a destination. Hillenbrand explores the rivers but never to their source—even while asking all the right questions:

I look about and wonder: Whose hands made this? To whom do I owe thanks for the song of a wren? For the warmth of a sweater, cool grass under bare feet, the joy of dogs playing, laughter, a whispered I love you, the scent of bread?

Yes, she concludes with the right response, a tri-fold statement of gratitude: “I am grateful. I am grateful. I am grateful.” But are we so wrong to ask, “Grateful to whom?”

Hillenbrand doesn’t answer her rhetorical questions, but the Bible does. James writes, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:16-17).

Perhaps her statement, “How wondrous is a world that brings such gifts,” would be better written, “How wondrous is the God who gives such gifts.”

The Gospel Heals our Misplaced Gratitude

Look, I love Chipotle, I love chocolate, and I love authors who use words well. I’m thankful for these gifts, and a billion others, but what happens when we don’t locate our gratitude where we ought to? What happens if, like Hillenbrand, we don’t thank the right person?

Consider a student who received a full scholarship to college from a generous donor. Sure, this student should be thankful towards the school and the professors, the authors of his textbooks, the factory workers that produced them, and the trees that became paper. Of course, the student should be grateful for these. But at some point, you ought to thank the person who paid for your scholarship, the one who made the whole experience possible.

But my analogy is not strong enough; what if the person who gave the scholarship was also responsible for the knowledge of the professors and the production of the textbooks and the forests of trees and the rain that waters them and the workers and machines that cultivate them?

Now we are back at the central issue: ultimate gratitude to the One ultimately responsible.

Hillenbrand speaks of how “we slumber in seas of gifts,” but we might press the metaphor further: we are dead, and need more than the smelling salts of gratitude to awake us; we need resurrection.

That’s why I also love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the gospel because God provides a way for sinners who misplace their gratitude to be forgiven, and for forgiven sinners to know Who is at the headwaters drenching us in delight.

#ssbrsweepstakes, [Photo]

More Than Amnesty

Neither every moment nor every aspect of pastoral ministry enthralls. However, I am convinced—through the study of the Word and pastoral life within the local church—that every endeavor to promote connection between God and his people is nothing short of participation in God’s intention for the universe.

Said another way: laboring towards genuine, God-besotted, gospel-community is laboring with the grain of the universe, not against it. And because this is true, our labors to cultivate this type of community are always deeply meaningful, whether we palatably perceive it in every moment or not.

Furthermore, in my experience, as summertime ends and the school year begins, people tend to be more inclined to involve themselves in this type of genuine, God-besotted, gospel-community in a local church. They sign up to serve in the nursery; they join the worship team; they commit to a small group Bible study. 

This year, in order to celebrate the beauty of these commitments and the reconciliation which was hard-won for us by Jesus Christ, I reworked a poem I wrote a few years ago. It’s called, “More Than Amnesty.”

Amnesty means one group has pardoned another group of wrongdoing. But amnesty doesn’t necessarily mean the two groups are now reconciled, and it certainly does not imply that they are friends; it merely means they are neutral.

In the gospel, we have far more than amnesty. Yes, God has pardoned, but the sacrificial death of the Son of God does not bring us into a neutral relationship with God, a merely pardoned relationship.

Rather, through the gospel, we are reconciled with God; we are made his friends; we become beloved sons and beloved daughters of God. That is more than amnesty. And this is what we were made for.

May God stir deeper longings in our hearts for this type of genuinely God-besotted, gospel-community. And may God enable our churches to make greater progress towards it.

*     *     *

More Than Amnesty

In God’s likeness with no shame
Eve and Adam rule and reign
Stretching glory ‘cross the earth
‘til they doubted God’s great worth

Now scorched and frayed and fractured
Father’s connection shattered
Like concrete cracked with hammer
Change Garden’s bliss to clamor

A willful grab for power
Caused Paradise to sour
Now a fire guarded gate
None will circumnavigate

So flounder, flop, flail—long years
Try to fix, yet smudge and smears
To sin’s shackles bondage bound
With no way by man yet found

But wait, but wait, oh—but wait
upon us no crushing weight
Now the curse of sin undone
By the beauty of the Son

More than our forgiven debt
We have deepest longings met
More, more, more than amnesty
A blood adhered family

Restored, redeemed, reconciled
Children no longer exiled
Now, the Father holds us dear
“I will be your God,” we hear

[Photo by Christopher Michel / CC BY]

Creative Nonfiction Writers’ Conference

Dear Pastor-elders of Community Evangelical Free Church: In April, all of us traveled to Orlando for a pastor’s conference. As you know, over 6,000 others did the same thing. And, in my estimation, at least 5,000 of the attendees were males.

Last week, thanks to your encouragement and support, I attended another conference. This time I was in Pittsburgh, and this time, there were only 155 people there. But—and I noticed this as soon as I walked in the hotel lobby—the ratio was reversed: it must have been 85% women.

It was an odd juxtaposition, these two conferences. Then again, I expected that; I was there to learn about different things—not theology and pastoring in a local church, but the craft of writing. Specifically, I was there to learn how nonfiction authors could improve their writing by using elements of fiction—things like dialogue, conflict, tension, scene, personification, foreshadowing, point of view, and character development.

Sarah, the lady who stood near me as we waited for our registration packets, was there from Chicago, where she is a professional writing coach. Jessica, who sat next to me during the Friday morning session, drove 6 hours that morning from Syracuse; she teaches English to high school freshman. All of us were there to learn how to tell stories—true stories—and to tell them well.

But in the late 1990s, so we learned at the conference, creative nonfiction (or narrative nonfiction as it is often called), was relatively unknown. And where it was known, it was mostly decried. For example, a ’97 Vanity Fair article attacked the genre and its leading protagonist, Lee Gutkind, and pejoratively called him “the Godfather behind creative nonfiction.” Gutkind was a keynote speaker at the conference, and he told us that when Vanity Fair published the article, his fellow college faculty members mocked him to the extent that he didn’t want to leave his house.

Now, however, creative nonfiction is the fastest growing genre in publishing, so we were told. Now, narrative law and narrative medicine, for example, are booming. Many forces, many streams have made it thus, including authors like Tom Wolfe and movements like the New Journalism. But whatever its recent origins, we all know that people have loved the power of stories ever since there have been people to tell them and campfires to tell them around.

On the conference website, it says,

The publishing landscape has recently seen a noteworthy shift toward longform first-person narratives. From traditional news outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post to less traditional ones like Slate and Salon, stories driven by a strong first-person voice are taking on many of the most important topics of our time. (emphasis added).

I’m not sure how many at the conference consider matters of faith and the gospel some of the “most important topics of our time,” but I know that we do. And so did the Apostle Paul. He called the gospel a matter of “first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6). Therefore, shouldn’t Christians commit themselves to being the best writers? Shouldn’t we be those who tell the best stories?

I think so; we have the best subject matter.

And for me, I can say that the conference did many other things besides reaffirming my commitment to the craft and stirring my creative juices. The conference also gave me valuable insights into the publishing world, and also it allowed me to explore a dream that rattles around in my heart, namely, one day pursuing a writing degree. It’s a dream that could be many years away, or possibly never materialize, but the conference provided needed reconnaissance.

As well, there were a number of nuggets from the conference that served as reminders for me in my preaching at Community. Here’s just one example. After a woman practiced her book “pitch” to the panel of experts, the panel reminded the author that, while the book seemed interesting and true enough, she still had to answer this question: “why this, why now?” The panel continued, “readers and publishers have to know why THIS TRUTH, THIS STORY needs to be presented in THIS cultural moment.”

The import to preaching is direct. It’s not enough just to preach truth; good preaching must also apply every truth to our particular cultural moment, and even one’s particular congregation. There were additional takeaways for preaching, but my letter is getting long already.

So, thank you, pastor-elders, for your commitment to the continuing education of the full-time, vocational pastors at our church. Events like this help sustain me in the pastorate. I do not want my pastoral ministry to be like a sparkler—bright, yet brief. Rather, I want to be a lighthouse—standing against the waves over the long haul. And your commitment to send me to this conference added cement to my foundation.

With much gratitude, Benjamin

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Lessons about Writing from Three Dribbles and a Jump Shot

A Metaphor

Three dribbles, one jump shot. That’s all.

That’s all that it takes for me to know if someone can play basketball or not. I don’t even have to see if the ball goes in the hoop. It’s mostly irrelevant. How did he catch the ball? How did she dribble it? And what of the shooting form? Was it graceful? Did the technique exude good coaching? You can judge these things quickly.

I know this sounds arrogant; it’s just true.

What I am not saying is that I can know if someone could play (or did play) basketball at the college level. That’s more specific than curb appeal shows. But immediately, I can rule the possibility of college ball “in” or “out.” And I suspect real coaches of the game, those in the business (which I am not), only know this more, not less.

And I suspect this is true in writing.

A Case Study

The other day I was reading a book and came across an epigraph (a brief quotation at the start of a book or chapter to suggest theme), and I knew immediately: “This author can ball.”

The quote was originally from an essay in Time about birth control, specifically, the Pill. The quote reads:

The 1950s felt so safe and smug, the ’60s so raw and raucous, the revolution stacked one on top of another, in race relations, gender roles, generational conflict, the clash of the church and the state—so many values and vanities tossed on the bonfire… the pill became the Pill, the means by which women untied their aprons, scooped up the their ambitions and marched eagerly into the new age. (Nancy Gibbs, “The Pill at 50,” Time; quoted by Denny Burk, The Meaning of Sex, 138; ellipsis by Burk, emphasis mine)

It’s only 69 words, but it’s enough to know Nancy Gibbs can play the game.

Does her whole article cohere? Does her analysis remain fair and equitable, avoiding straw men? Does her prose adequately deal with the personal vestment and intimacy that comes with a topic like birth control? Does her… jump shot go in the hoop?

I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.

Here, we only have three dribbles and a jump shot, and our back is to the basket. But you can see it, can’t you? She can play.

Consider just two lines. First, “raw and raucous, the revolution stacked one on top of another, in race relations, gender roles.” The alliteration of the letter ‘r’ six times subliminally “stack” even as she makes the point that the ’60s stacked on the ’50s.

Second, look at the line “so many values and vanities tossed on the bonfire...” Again, there is subtle alliteration of ‘v’, but notice the concreteness of the fire metaphor: it’s not just a fire, but a “bonfire” in all of its communal, rebellious, and wild connotations (i.e., the ’60s).

For fun, and to test my suspicions, I read the whole article. It’s almost 5,000 words. While knowing nothing of her broader career, I can confidently say that my suspicions were true: Nancy Gibbs can write.

And if I can see this, as a novice, I’m sure those in the business can as well, only better.

An Objection

But perhaps aspiring writers, like myself, may protest to the standard process(es) of publication – the pressure to impress with only a very small sample size.

The objection might go like this:

Query letters to publishers and agents are so short, and in such formulaic, expected structure. And then what of the proposal letter – don’t they need the whole novel, not just a few chapters, to see my awesomeness?

Shouldn’t they watch a whole game, or at least see me dribble around the court for a while, maybe show off some fancy ball handling? Look now – I’m a Harlem Globetrotter.

Nope. They are professionals.

Not perfectly of course – mistakes can happen – but professional agents, editors, and publishers probably know in just a few paragraphs whether a writer has game.

The takeaway for me is twofold.

1. Practice, Practice, Practice

We have to learn the game, and learn it well, before trying to play it on center court. We must work on mechanics, and know the basics of a chest pass. We have to play some pickup games. And every once in a while, sure, we can try a fancy crossover; it’s just practice. But for the most part, we must master the basics.

We must learn the rules for commas and colons. And learn when a semicolon is appropriate and when it’s just being pretentious. Learn how to use indirect quotes and direct quotes. Write some poems and a short story—or write two stories, or maybe twenty. And we need to find some good coaches too, people who can teach me things I do not know, people who can push us beyond my limits, people who can encourage when needed and critique carefully, seeing the typos and the logical fallacies. In other words, we need to practice, practice, practice.

2. Learn to Reverse Engineer

Here’s another takeaway for me: Read (broadly) those that do have game, and then learn to reverse engineer their product.

Reverse engineering is the process of disassembling something and analyzing its components. It means tearing apart something that works and figuring out why it worked in the first place. Steven Pinker, in his recent book on writing (The Sense of Style: the Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century), writes:

The starting point for becoming a good writer is to be a good reader. Writers acquire their technique by spotting, savoring, and reversing-engineering examples of good prose. (12)

Practically speaking, with respect to writing, reverse engineering would mean that when you and I find a striking paragraph, we should pause. Study it. Ask why we liked it so much and what it was doing to achieve its effect. We should disassemble some of it. We should ask if form matches function (e.g. stacking the letter ‘r’)? Or do the connotations of specific words match the overall point (e.g. bonfire)? In other words, start with the end product and go backwards.

If we do this, eventually, with lots of practice, when we shoot the ball it will be more likely to go in the hoop.

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A Parsimonious Worldview

“Parsimonious” means being frugal to the point of stinginess. It means you believe that if you open your hand to give something away, then you’ll never get it back. So you keep the fist closed—nothing gets out. But there’s a negative flipside—nothing gets in.

A parsimonious worldview is like when my youngest daughter insists on going to bed with multiple pacifiers—a backup for a backup for a backup for a backup. The other day, I saw her walking around the house with one pacifier in her mouth, two in one hand, and three in the other. That’s six pacifiers! Just in case, I suppose. But don’t laugh; adults do the same thing, it just looks differently.

The world God has made is not a parsimonious world. Christians, of all people, should know this. God created the world not out of need, necessity, and deficit—but overflow. God didn’t need, he overflowed. And believing this (or not believing this) affects how you live, which in turn, of course, affects how you write.

Therefore, if you think of a gem of a phrase, metaphor, sentence, or paragraph, then give it away. Don’t go walking around with one pacifier in your mouth and five others in your pocket—just in case. Yes, storage and planning are commendable things, but when we hoard, we say something about our view of the universe and the God who created it.

Last week, I shared some writing tips from Anne Lamott, and one of them touched on this very point. She wrote, “If you give freely, there will always be more.”

This week, I thought I’d share an extended quote from Douglas Wilson, a favorite author of mine. In the quote, he says a similar thing. Enjoy.

Excerpt from Wordsmithy by Douglas Wilson

“If a striking expression hits you, don’t hold back just because you are writing an email to your sister. If you think, ‘I need to save that kind of thing from my memoirs,’ you are a stingy writer with a heart like a walnut and you won’t have any memoirs to save it for. Who wants to read the Memoirs of Old Walnut Heart?

Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life

By Douglas Wilson

Buy on Amazon

“Writing ability is a developed and honed skill, and the more you develop and hone it, the more that you will have. Writing as well as you can in every setting is the way to have reserves to draw on when it comes to writing for publication. Pianists don’t have a limited number of C major chords they’re allowed to play in the course of their lives. They aren’t afraid of running out.

“Writing is not a zero-sum game, and so you shouldn’t be afraid of using up all of the colorful adjectives. Extending yourself in any situation is the best way to be able to extend yourself in every situation.

“Zero-sum thinking is the result of people thinking that God is parsimonious. A bigger piece of pie here means a smaller piece of pie there. But our world is a world in which pies grow and those who give are those who receive back again…

“There are two basic approaches to life—one in which the world is a world of scarcity, given to us by the skinflint god, and the other in which the world is a world of endless possibilities, bestowed on us by a loving Father. Guess which world is more conducive to works of real and lasting imagination.” (Wilson, Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life, 83-4, emphasis original)

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