Excerpt – John Piper, Calvinism, and Missions: A Way Forward
Piper’s understanding of God’s glory plays a prominent role in his understanding of the Christian life. Piper believes that Christians need to pursue God’s glory, and in doing this they will pursue their ultimate joy. The pursuit of God’s glory as Christian Hedonism. Living like a “Christian Hedonist” will impact the lives of Christians regarding […]
Author’s Perspective: Andrew Fuller and the Search for a Faith Worthy of All Acceptation
How did the book come about? Over ten years ago, I was pastoring a church and attending seminary as a PhD student. I lived in two worlds—the academy and the church. Both worlds appealed to me. I loved the personal connections afforded by pastoral ministry, and I enjoyed discussing academic theology in the classroom environment. […]
John Webster and the Holiness of Preaching
My series of posts on John Webster has attempted to cast him as a theologian devoted to an all-encompassing view of God’s holiness—His complete and utter otherness, and His sufficiency in Himself. It was Webster’s task to retrieve theology from the grasp of a mere spiritualized sociology or a glorified anthropology, and to simply ‘let […]
When God Works Before Your Very Eyes
There can be certain subconscious expectations we have when preparing to go on an overseas mission trip. Perhaps we want to see a certain number of souls saved, or we expect to see a healing or a miraculous work of God. To see the tangible evidence of God’s working is not promised; God does not […]
Spanning the Globe
We often trumpet the global impact of Gateway Seminary. We have been producing graduates for almost 80 years that have served in every part of the world. We have trustees, faculty, staff, donors, friends, and current students in multiple states and countries. Gateway is a global movement for the gospel. Over the next few months, […]
A Rose by Any Other Name
Several phrases have been used by recent generations to describe personally sharing the gospel. These change as language evolves, culture shifts, and word usage adapts. Older evangelism training materials refer to sharing your faith as “personal work.” This phrase described the entire process of initiating a relationship with someone who needed to hear the gospel, […]
A Spiritual Virus
Gospel spreading is supposed to be a viral movement. In the first-century, the gospel traveled person-to-person as believers enthusiastically shared it with their friends and family. While preachers and church planters were important, the gospel spread most rapidly by word of mouth from believer to unbeliever. By that means it permeated societies and cultural strata […]
Finding Fulfillment
When God heals from sickness, restores family relationships, provides a new job, or works supernaturally in our lives in some unmistakable way—there’s nothing quite like it. Its humbling, awe-inspiring, and invigorating. But there’s something even better. That’s when God works through us in another person’s life—particularly as we share the gospel and see them saved. […]
Intentionality
We have a church here in Southern California that is growing rapidly by reaching large numbers of lost people with the gospel. It was my privilege to preach there recently. During breaks between the services, I asked several of their lay leaders for their perspective on the reasons for their growth. The answers fell in two categories. Some […]
Declining Religious Affiliation
A recent article declared “religion in the lives of Americans is on the decline.” That’s news? Anyone paying even slight attention to churches, religious institutions, and religious expressions in public life knows this is true. The decline in religious affiliation among American is real—and many Christians are determined to do something about it. The problem […]