One of my favorite places is Mount Hermon, located in the redwoods of Santa Cruz. Founded in 1906, it was the first Christian camp west of the Mississippi. My memories with Mount Hermon began back when I was a freshmen in high school and I attended my first camp there.

Next week I’m preaching in the evenings at Mount Hermon’s historic Summer Family Camp. I’ve been told I’m the youngest speaker they’ve ever had for a Family Camp. I’m honored to have been given this opportunity. It’s going to be a great time, especially as my wife and my boys will be enjoying the camp with me for the week.

I’d appreciate your prayers for my speaking sessions. I’ll be preaching from Genesis, a series I’m calling “Four Unforgettable Encounters with the God of Grace.”

If you’re not familiar with Mount Hermon, check out the links above and consider a visit. And, pastors, you should learn more about Mount Hermon’s Pastor Cabin Program.

After 16 years of serving as senior pastor for Cornerstone Church Francis is sensing the Lord leading him in a different direction.  Despite not having complete clarity on what this means or exactly what is next Francis is stepping out in faith, something he has done for so much of his life.  He announced this decision to the church yesterday no doubt solidifying the start of a huge transition for both the Chan family AND the Cornerstone Church family.  The beauty of this announcement is that it comes in unified peace and hopeful harmony.

Francis Chan is stepping out in faith… from Catalyst on Vimeo.

HT: Catalyst

Now you can also purchase Commit online and read a sample article or two.

The newest issue of Commit magazine releases on Thursday.

Copies will first be available at Thursday night’s Christ, Sex, & The City conference. Cost: $5.

I’m excited about the content of this issue. We have a great lineup of contributors.

I’m excited about what’s happening with The Gospel Coalition: Bay Area. My fellow TGC: Bay Area board members (Jeff Louie. Travis Marsh. Toby Kurth) and I have been working hard towards putting on our second regional conference. Below is all the information. I hope you can join us. Pastors/church leaders, I hope you can join us for the pre-conference. Get more information about this conference and about what we’re doing in the Bay Area at The Gospel Coalition Website.

Christ, Sex, and The City
Discussing the Vital Relationship Between Jesus Christ, Sex, and Our Cities

The best biblical analysis I’ve read on Haiti comes from Al Mohler:

A faithful Christian cannot accept the claim that God is a bystander in world events. The Bible clearly claims the sovereign rule of God over all his creation, all of the time. We have no right to claim that God was surprised by the earthquake in Haiti, or to allow that God could not have prevented it from happening.

God’s rule over creation involves both direct and indirect acts, but his rule is constant. The universe, even after the consequences of the Fall, still demonstrates the character of God in all its dimensions, objects, and occurrences. And yet, we have no right to claim that we know why a disaster like the earthquake in Haiti happened at just that place and at just that moment.

The arrogance of human presumption is a real and present danger. We can trace the effects of a drunk driver to a car accident, but we cannot trace the effects of voodoo to an earthquake — at least not so directly. Will God judge Haiti for its spiritual darkness? Of course. Is the judgment of God something we can claim to understand in this sense — in the present? No, we are not given that knowledge. Jesus himself warned his disciples against this kind of presumption.

Why did no earthquake shake Nazi Germany? Why did no tsunami swallow up the killing fields of Cambodia? Why did Hurricane Katrina destroy far more evangelical churches than casinos? Why do so many murderous dictators live to old age while many missionaries die young?

…In the midst of this unspeakable tragedy, Christ would have us rush to aid the suffering people of Haiti, and rush to tell the Haitian people of his love, his cross, and salvation in his name alone.

If you have any doubts about this, take your Bible and turn to John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That is God’s message to Haiti.

Read the whole article.

As always, I’m looking forward to our church Men’s Retreat. This year we have Tullian Tchividjian as our speaker. Good times will be had by all.

Pictures of the devastation in Haiti. Pray for Haiti.

This Thanksgiving I’m meditating on and putting into action Psalm 9:1-2

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name,  O Most High.

Note the four-fold resolve in this Psalm:

I will give thanks

I will recount

I will be glad

I will sing

Giving thanks isn’t automatic for many of us, especially if our circumstances are difficult. Here we see the Psalmist resolving, choosing, to give thanks. This Thanksgiving, follow the four “I wills” of this Psalm: give thanks to the Lord, recount his wonderful deeds, be glad in God, and sing praises to his name.

Give thanks.

Recount.

Be glad.

Sing.

Why? Because God is God and he’s treated you better than you deserve.

Even if you’re not feeling particularly thankful or glad today, follow the ancient Psalm and soon your feelings will also follow.

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Last Friday The Manhattan Declaration was released, a new six-page statement from the pens of evangelical, orthodox, and Catholic Christians. The statement was written to “reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good,” namely: “the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife, and the rights of conscience and religious liberty”

The declaration was drafted by Robert George, Timothy George, and Chuck Colson. Signers of the statement include J.I. Packer, Randy Alcorn, Tim Keller, Wayne Grudem, Joni Eareckson Tada, Peter Kreeft, Al Mohler, Ravi Zacharias, and many others.

The Manhattan Declaration has now received 88,384 signatures. That number will have gone up by the time you read this. This is a timely document for America and for the church. I think Christians should carefully read The Manhattan Declaration and consider signing it. Take 15 minutes to read the document, then go here if interested in signing it. I signed the document earlier this morning.

Below is the beautifully written Preamble to The Manhattan Declaration. Read the whole document here.

Preamble:

Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide.  We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture.  It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16^th and 17^th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country.  Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.

In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible.  And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement.  The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class.

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.

Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good.  In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.

I’m looking forward to our annual 20s Retreat next weekend. Best of all, I get to fly out my good friend Eric Simmons for the weekend as our guest speaker.

All Bay Area church leaders are warmly invited to attend (anyone who has any type of staff or lay leadership role in a Bay Area church). In preparation, we’re asking all who attend to be familiar with The Gospel Coalition Foundation Documents.

I’m looking forward to watching what God does with this little grassroots gospel group we’re forming.

Bay Area people, spread the word and join us this Saturday. Non-Bay Area readers, spread the word and pray for us.

Cost: nothing
(free coffee and bagels will be provided)

Directions: Central Peninsula Church 1005 Shell Blvd Foster City, CA 94404

How to Register: Don’t, just show up at 9am on May 30th.

SCHEDULE:

Session 1: What is Gospel-Centered Ministry? Justin Buzzard and Mark Mitchell

Small Group Table Discussion

Session 2: Why Gospel-Centered Ministry? Travis Marsh

Small Group Table Discussion

Session 3: How to Build Gospel-Centered Ministry? Jeff Louie

Small Group Table Discussion

Session 4: Panel Discussion/Q&A

PS. See D.A. Carson’s recent interview with CT about TGC and his mention of TGC: Bay Area.